Faux-Friday's Feast!

(Friday's Feast website has suffered a catastrophic meltdown of the database. However, Bethany at "Bethany's Paradise" has stepped up to save the day.)

What are some of your favorite websites?

I have a huge list of websites I visit regularly on the lower left side of my blog (scroll down to see). But as far as daily visitors, Yahoo! is my homepage and has an awesome set of tools to help me find my feet in the morning. The Drudge Report is always good for my morning news fix, and Comics.com satisfies my comics cravings very nicely, starting with Arlo & Janis. Also I'm a huge space junkie, so Space.com is just awesome for that. My preferred political site is run by the lovely and gracious syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin. I visit these sites every-single-day -- and sometimes more frequently.

If you had boy/girl twins today, what would you name them?

This is kind of a sore subject with me (said the man whose name is "Long John.") "Cute" names often stigmatize kids and leave them with horrific memories -- I can only imagine what it would do to twins to be named something "cute" like Billy and Jilly; or Mike & Ike; or (god forbid) Pete and Repeat. My aunt Mary Jayne showed remarkable restraint and wisdom (which is why she's my favorite aunt) naming her twins Barbara and Susan -- likewise my cousin Bob with Monica and Melissa.

My Aunt Marilyn (when she was pregnant with my cousin John) told people if she had twins they would be named Tennessee Gideon and Ernestine Alabaster. I'm forever grateful her son Jonathon was a singleton -- although I'm fairly sure she was kidding . . .

What was your favorite grade in elementary school? Did you have a favorite teacher?

My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Phillips, played bridge with my grandmother (also a teacher) once a month -- so I lived my whole fourth grade year in terror she'd tell her something. That was pretty bad, but my next year (Fifth Grade) was when Mrs. Cook read us "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien. We were all enraptured, and it started both a lifelong love of Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and reading generally in me.

What types of punishment did your parents use while you were growing up? Which were most effective on you?

My mother and father were divorced before I was 5 years old; and mom didn't believe in physical punishment (with me at least -- I was taller and bigger than her anyway) so she was a master of guilt. I think I'd rather she had beaten me.

Can you parallel park? Did you have to parallel park for your driving exam?

I can; I did (in a snowstorm, no less); and I try to parallel park at least every six months to keep in practice. I can and have parallel parked a limousine before on a side street near Wrigley Field in Chicago (in three parking places) to save on parking costs.

~~JD~~