Ryan writes, "People who sign their name M.Ed. annoy me"
Me too.

To save chocolate lovers from the agony of a potential candy bar shortage, McLean candy giant Mars is investing $10 million in a five-year project to develop cacao trees that fight drought, disease and poor harvests. Mars will announce today that it is partnering with IBM and the Department of Agriculture to sequence and analyze the entire cocoa genome.

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I spent the weekend in northern Minnesota at the International Wolf Center and the Vince Shutte Bear Sanctuary, pretending to be a National Geographic Photographer. You can see my Wolves and Bears slideshow over at flickr!

Earlier this month Barack Obama discussing his reasons for leaving his church, and then mentioned what he was looking for in his new church home . . .

My -- again what I want to do in church is I want to be able to take Michelle and my girls, sit in a pew quietly, hopefully get some nice music, some good reflection, praise God, thank Him for all of the blessings He has given our family, put some money in the collection plate, maybe afterwards go out and grab some brunch, have my girls go to Sunday school. That's what I am looking for."

And then, a few days later Stained Glass Confessional reviewed Lars and the Real Girl, and then commented on how it reflected the kind of church she wanted . . .

I wish I could assume that if I walked into church with a life-sized doll, no one would do anything but love me. I wish I could assume that if I took a life-sized doll shopping, someone would help me without giving me a funny look. I wish I could assume that if my best friend showed up with a life-sized sex doll, I would do nothing but love her.

Me? I have nothing profound to say.
Except I wish that good churches weren't so difficult to find.

I miss my Solider boy
He's so far away
He makes my head spin around.


Listen to the Original Tune Here

I am going to orbit around the moon (and you can too!)
NASA is collecting names to be placed onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. The deadline is June 27, 2008 for the submission of names. Sign up to go to the moon right here!