just wanted to mention that the new pic at the top of my blog is real and not doctored in any way. that is my house, and there is a “dead end” sign in the front yard of my house. it was one of a number of things tamara and i didn’t notice about the house until after we’d moved in. at the time i liked to joke about the sign being in our front yard. (if you hadn’t noticed, i kind of have a fascination with failure and like to play up failure and slacking.) over time, it became true more than just funny. although it’s still funny, if you have the right kind of sense of humour.