Welcome to the world, Sufian!

My BFF Jen R. and her hubby Ammar welcomed little Sufian Alexander into existence last night at about 2:45 a.m. Tunis time. He weighs 2 kilos 764 grams and measures 51 cm. According to Ammar, he has Jen's eyes and nose and his mouth — and he has blue eyes! (Both Jen and Ammar's moms are blue eyed.) He's going to be one heartbreakingly good-looking kid, I know it.

Anyway, I am so excited for them, and really looking forward to meeting Sufian when we visit Tunisia next year. Little does he know it, but he's going to be one of the many surrogate kids I expect to look after me in my childless old age.

Congratulations, Jen and Ammar!

Nobody ever died wishing they had more stuff

It's official: I am neglecting this blog. I might just take it down. I think if I try to write one more thing for one more outlet my head might explode, or at least the part of my head that knows how to make words.

And yet, where else can I rant about things like this truly horrible site, Zebo.com, which bills itself as "the world's largest repository of what people own"? The site's visitors are greeted with: "List what you own, then see who else owns that. You are known by what you own, so list your best stuff." Although it's set up as a social-networking site, it's actually a shopping site — it's not enough to brag about your best stuff, you've got to buy MORE stuff.

Just for the record, I am not a socialist. I believe that enlightened capitalism (a form that we don't currently have much of) has the best chance of solving social problems and motivating people to be productive. But I also think advertising is a plague on this country, a fungus that is trying to creep into every aspect of our lives.