Sunday's on the phone with Monday, and Tuesday's on the phone to me...

The event-horizon has been reached. The eagle has landed. The burrito has ground beef in it. We have prevailed.

The Prince is potty trained. Check that off the list.

I make this pronouncement a mere 33 days (give or take) after making it my New Year's resolution. I cant' take all the credit, his mom helped enormously. There are still some refinements to make, mostly regarding bedtime (pull-ups are OK, diapers are now for babies), but it's been a smashing success. There ya have it: our first kid took us nearly 5 years, by child #4, we've shaved two full years off that. I smell improvement. And, best of all, I don't need to wipe up human waste every day.

I left two items off my "best of" list. The first, Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You" is fun and catchy. Certainly not what I like to admit listening to, but I like it and I like her. So.....

The other was "So What" by Pink. I have no idea if that's a 2009 song or not, but in 2009 it was new to me. I am slowly fading into obsolescence, and no longer fully recognize the landscape.

The Grammys slammed this home. Years ago I knew most of the bands and all of the songs. I blame the horrible programming on radio. It's a wasteland of songs you've heard for 30 years. Especially what passes for "rock radio." Ugh.

My first son turned 9 yesterday and yes, the cat is in the cradle with a silver spoon. Carol made a cake and I made chili (per The Previous Prince's instructions) and he was given several gifts. His favorite being a Snuggie. Which I will use in an hour or so when I sit down to read my biography of Raymond Carver. What a fantastic invention! A blanket. With sleeves! I'll be napping within 10 minutes. The nurses will thereafter bring my tapioca so I can take my medication easier.

He got Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, which is kind of fun. I was/am a comic geek and the joy of playing a video game based on comic book superheroes with my son is....well, it's joyful. Ok, so the description was a bit of a letdown. I can't decide if I like slicing up bad guys with Wolverine or clobbering them as Spidey. Both are fun, but I really wanna use the Hulk and go all King Kong on this game.

Hmm....I think I need a job.

I saw on CNN this morning that, in New Hampshire, the Fed has sent over $30 million dollars and created all of 79 jobs as a result. Hell, here I was thinking that kind of scratch would create - oh - idunno - 3,000 jobs?! Is that so crazy? Seriously, how dumb can people be? Ludicrous, really.

Which leads me to Tim Tebow and the opinion of Sally Jenkins in today's Washington Post. I thought she wrote a well-reasoned piece defending Tim Tebow and his stance on the issue of abortion and his right to have a 30-second spot during (gasp!) the Super Bowl. I agree with her, 100%. The message being promoted in the commercial is preachy - sure. And it espouses the viewpoint of those who would call themselves pro-life. So what? Is that somehow wrong? Face facts, folks --- most of the electorate knows their mind on the abortion issue. This PSA is going to persuade pro-life folks that their position is correct and persuade pro-choice folks of....nothing. I am no authority, but I think the stats back up the fact that over 50% of the country describes themselves as pro-life (who's pro-death? I don't know any. Also, pro-life should equate with "anti-death penalty", killing is killing, BTW).

The article also points out that confessed virgin Tebow is an anomaly in the world of highly exposed athletes. I guess people expect their on-field heroes to misbehave and treat women badly. This guy, allegedly, doesn't. Not a bad role model, huh?

So, read it if you're interested. It's on the Washington Post's site, I'm technically inept and thus can't insert a link. I'm missing several chromosomes or something like that. Can't do it.

As for Sunday's game, Dwight Freeney is supposedly injured. Is he, or will this be the miraculous Willis Reed moment where the great warrior emerges from his team's tunnel, hobbling out giving it his best shot and - shock!- has the game of his life. Paul Pierce did it. Reggie White did. Dan Fouts. Favre. Painkillers do wonderful things!