Beautiful dreamer,
wake unto me;
Starlight and dewdrops
are waiting for thee.

Shhhh! Stop making all that racket dragging your eyes across the screen! You’ll awake him from his beauty slumber.

Most people don’t accessorize when they sleep during their commute but this guy is a dedicated, professional napper. He’s fragile and needs a sleeping mask and ear plugs. To me, it’s a bit over-the-top.

I’ll bet he has a leopard print sleeping mask at home and wears a frilly little pink something to bed. Tee-hee. It’s a shame that Hammacher-Schlemmer doesn’t manufacture a portable sensory deprivation chamber for him.

Good night, sweet prince. When you awake, you’ll be in the magical kingdom of Manhattan.

Over the weekend we rented I Love You, Man with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. It’s about a guy who has a lot of acquaintances, but no close male friends. Hijinks ensue when he sets out on a series of “man dates” to try and make some friends. It’s suppose to be a comedy but I found the whole thing a bit unsettling. It hit too close to home and felt more like a documentary than a comedy.

A lot of New Jersey is horribly over-developed. Do you guys know what a bash and build* is? The state real estate PACs bury their hands deep inside the local politician’s pockets and tickle their balls, so they generally get whatever they want. There are, however, some really beautiful tracts of land that were set aside as nature preserves. I can’t imagine how this was allowed to happen. Perhaps someone was light on a bribe one week.

We like to take walks in the nearby woods. (3-Year Old Daughter calls it “The Jungle.”) There are some walking paths of varying lengths that take you on a twisty stroll through the trees.

I am so torn between this life and the life I live(d) in New York. I love them both equally but for different reasons. Admittedly, it’s a happy problem. And don’t worry. I hang on my cross for plenty of other things that carry a lot more weight than this. But it is a conflict, nonetheless.

Just look at them.

I’m not trading this for concrete and asphalt. I know people have been raising kids in the city for many generations, but The Daughters and Mrs. Wife seem genuinely happy here. Remember: Happy wife. Happy life.

So here I’ll stay. When I think about it, it’s really not such an unbearable banishment after all.

* Someone buys a small house—usually a cape or a bungalow—demolishes it, and erects a garish multi-million dollar vertical monstrosity in its place.

Spare yourself my blathering today and please read this deeply moving and poignant post over at *E* Deconstructed.

Please be more mindful of how you arrange your Latest News links.

This is downright uncaring. It’s like when the New York Times runs a story about a family being blown to bits in Baghdad right next to an ad for some bauble at Tiffany’s. It happens ALL the time. It’s crass.

Today is the 5-year anniversary of Google’s IPO. When Google went public, I instructed my financial advisor to steer clear because, as we all knew at the time, internet stocks are fun to read about but nothing that a serious investor would include in his portfolio.

The strike price was $85/share. It soared past $600/share in 2007 but has since settled in at a still quite profitable $445/share.

It’s a FACT: When it comes to high finance, I don’t know my ass from my elbow.