After reading the wikipedia entry on Mandy Patinkin, I thought I’d mention famous people doing cool things. Reasons why MP is my new hero…

1. He’s been married once, to the same person, since 1980
2. He learned to sing in temple choir, and still performs in Yiddish to celebrate Jewish culture
3. He celebrated his one year of cancer-free life by taking his son on a 280-mile charity bike ride for The Arava Institute Hazon Israel Ride: Cycling for Peace, Partnership & Environmental Protection
4. He studied at Julliard with Kelsey Grammer and recommend him for the role of Frasier.
5. He won an Emmy award for Chicago Hope and then quit… so he could spend more time with his wife
6. He quit Criminal Minds because, “I loathe those violent images and I want no part of that type of violence. I work with the writers and producers constantly to try and tamper that violence down…I want to see more humor coming to television… I want to live long enough to see the appetite for comedy become greater than the appetite for violence.”
7. He still says “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die,” at the end of his concerts (I know this… because I was at one and saw it and it was awesome.)
8. Have you heard him sing? Yeah… wow.

So. The world has good people in it, too. Just thought we could all use the occasional reminder. Thank you Mandy Patinkin, for living a life that gives hope.

Try one of these for size. Sure, some of them aren’t paid (or aren’t paid great)… but the benefits package? Can’t be beat.

Alexander Skarsgard: “Always be curious, because curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.”

Andre Gide: “Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.”

Rita Mae Brown: “Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment.”

George S. Patton: “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”

Henry David Thoreau: “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

I know I haven’t written in awhile; I’ve been doing the family holiday bounce. Tonight I’m sitting at my parents’ house, full on good food while my husband and sister talk about wine.

Life is good. I hope yours is, too, however you’re spending the ends of ’09.

… my German/Irish/Italian husband and I (a Scandinavian/Celtic/Gaulish girl) could produce this child? Any?