Kramer was being held at the Department of Youth Services (DYS) juvenile detention center for possession of a firearm and intent to distribute narcotics. I was visiting him.

Kramer went to a friend's hearing at the courthouse.
He forgot about the metal detector and being padded and frisked before entering the courthouse.
He had a gun on his waist and crack in his pocket.

He walked across the street to a gas station and stood beside a vending machine.
He looked around to make sure no one was watching him.

If there's a gamer in your house, chances are that a game called Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is on his Christmas list. Maybe you've even bought it for your young'n already: the game grossed $310 million dollars on its release day, November 10, and earlier this week passed the $550 million mark. But before you wrap it up and put it under the tree, do you know what you're actually buying?

Have you heard the news? The Beatles are back! Well, sort of. On Wednesday, September 9, The Beatles: Rock Band will introduce the greatest band of all time to a new generation -- not to mention their parents. See, this isn't just some re-mastering of old records (although those will be released on Wednesday, as well). This actually lets people play along with the Beatles, using specially made instruments that work with popular video game consoles.

I lifted it. My left hand on the barrel of a 9mm, my right hand tightly gripping the clip, and my index finger on the trigger. My heart is racing rapidly. “He deserves it,” I thought. He walked out of the building, and I squeezed the trigger. The bullet hit him in the head. I reloaded and squeezed again. Reloaded and squeezed yet again. I fired 243 shots and got 89 hits - 36% accuracy. Adrenaline was altering my common sense. Points are deducted when you hit an innocent victim. I hit three.

Okay, so unemployment is at 6.7%, we've apparently been in a recession for 12 months, and terrorists are plaguing civilized nations around the world. The last time things were this bad, ordinary people sought comfort in the dim confines of their local movie theater. In 2008, may I suggest video games?

The other day I was in the waiting room at T.'s speech therapy place, grading papers and waiting for T.'s 45-minute session to end. T. was in the back with her speech therapist, and I was trying to make the most of the precious 45 minutes of child-free time I had. There were a few other parents there, in a waiting room littered with toys and books and puzzles. One mom, whom I had never seen before, was also waiting there with her young daughter, while her older child finished his therapy session. The little girl was about T.'s age.

I’m not one for doing the blog-retread thing and simply reporting on a story that ran somewhere else (though I do think about it quite a bit). But then I saw the story about some parents who have let their kid drop out of high school to pursue his dreams of…(wait for it)…becoming a professional Guitar Hero video gamer.

K-Man, G and I were at the local kiddie crack house disguised as a pizza place last night. The Kid was running around from one shiny object (pinball!) to the next (drive the car!) with all the enthusiasm (and lack of success) of a dog chasing its tail.

In the midst of this excitement, I needed to use the facilities, which meant G had to leave her Caesar salad (strangely great for such a place) to watch K-Man.