Up To

A self-imposed week of no TV, DVDs, etc. Surviving it primarily by embracing the fact stores and nurseries are already pushing Halloween. Tyler has been far less irked than I feared, and now isn't asking at all for his fave shows. Starting him at the Waldorf School last week may have been a subconsious motivator for all this. (Any experiences with/opinions of the place? I'd enjoy hearing them.)

Otherwise, mostly making four-legged friends:

Revelations Of The Binary Kind

It's possible to have a clean house and a two-year-old boy who consumed video entertainment that day —

or

— a wreck of a house and a two-year-old boy who did not.

It's not possible to have both.

Blogger Court Advantage

Aw, the other Sacred Heart Academy kids don't have a prayer. Isn't there some kind of unfair advantage rule that comes into play when your Dad is just a notch below Ernie's House of Whoop Ass, and he blogs your school fundraiser? ;)

Though she must already have racked up enough points to prompt some sort of contest-rigging inquiry, go give Bridgett your support anyway; there's some great stuff available, especially if you have kids, nieces, nephews, etc. Fundraisers apparently have come a long way since the '70s!

Covering The Bases

To revisit the summer's work life balance discussions here a bit, a further note of finality concerning my former employment was struck when I threw away my now invalid health plan cards. My son and I are lucky, we just switched to my husband's plan. Not everyone has that safety net, and a new study underscores just how untenable individual health insurance options are in this country. See Forbes, Private Health Insurance Hard to Get and Costly: "When people lose their health-care coverage, many turn to individual private insurance. But too many find private plans either unobtainable or unaffordable. . . ."

Something for law firms and other businesses to bear in mind in the work life balance equation: particularly for those availing themselves of part time alternatives in order to satisfy parental obligations, lack of health coverage is simply not an option.

And Now For A Way To Squander 68% Of Your Day!

Thanks Jeff Jarvis and Viral Video Chart people, just what we bloody needed: the Viral Video Chart. (Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the Internet.)

Try to stop yourself from linking at least one. Just try.

[Update:] More video sortage, courtesy of Metacafe (which also rewards submitters financially based on traffic — $5 per 1,000 views — and doesn't require an exclusive license to do so). Via J.D. Lasica.