There isn't much to cheer about when the economy is imploding, but every now and then a collector has to dump his wares or a comic store goes out of business... and then emerges the inner hunter in otherwise-sensitive and empathetic 11- and 5- ("almost-six"!) year olds. Long boxes of back issues showed up outside Halfprice Books all over our fair city, and the boys were there to claw over the corpse. It made an old dad (his own arms bloodied in the carnage up the shoulders) proud. All thanks to Anne and Ryan for the tip-off!

One week after the boys tonsillectomies, they are doing great (although E may have developed a slightly unhealthy relationship to the painkillers). The first few days were rough, but both of them were heroes from the start. Here are some pictures of them right before their surgeries:


The week recovering was a blur of liquid painkillers, jello, pudding, videogames, movies about obscure sports (all starring Will Ferrell), and Lost, which the boys have discovered after years of listening to their parents go on about it. Really, not much to complain about... for B and J. For the boys, the pain was brutal at times, but they turned the whole thing into an adventure and taught their old folks a lesson or two. (E somehow has an ability to be operatic and stoic at the same time; G, on the other hand, is a total rock).

On with the show!