"Lock the doors and close the blinds -- we're going for a ride..."

Immediately after my stint working at the University of Maryland, I headed up a trip to Germany for Jewish college students for about three weeks. Amazing experience, and amazing students I worked with. I was also fortunate enough that K was able to come along...

Anyway, on the trip was a nice young woman. Samantha (not her real name) was often very cheerful and happy, but sometimes over-emotional. She appeared to want to impress everyone all the time. She had grown up in Los Angeles, and claimed to have been friends with Hollywood fixtures. James Brooks, executive producer of many comedies including "The Simpsons?" Her dad and he were good friends. She had also name dropped several other celebrities.

While we were on the trip, Latin percussionist Tito Puente had passed away. She jumped at the opportunity to tell us that she knew not only Tito Fuente, but also the rest of the Fuente family quite well.

Yes. Fuente. with an "F."

Perhaps its an extremely trivial point that I'm getting worked up over, but this simply blew all credibility I had of any of her stories. And I hated that it had happened and that I had heard it. Because she was a really nice persona and since then the "Tito Fuente" incident is how I'll remember her.

The reason I bring this up is because I was having a conversation with someone who claimed that she was such a big fan of Monty Python. His biggest fan, to be exact.

Monty Python is a "they," by the way. Honest mistake? Perhaps. But if one is such a big Monty Python fan, wouldn't s/he know some interesting trivia about the troupe? Such as: Monty Python isn't a person?

I know, I know... I'm getting worked up over nothing...

In other news, Av is saying phrases. Most are very cute. Some are just babbling. But yesterday I'm almost positive he uttered a phrase to my dear wife that sounded a lot like...

"Show your boobs."

Which means he's been listening to Howard Stern again while we're not around. We're doing our best to change the station when he's in the car...

But Howard's okay nowadays. We think of him as family. Actually, he kind of is in a way... Because Stuttering John and I are second cousins! Yup. We're pretty close to the whole Menendez family...