Fox?

Yes my name is Fox. Fox Albert. For those who don't know the origins of my name, allow me to elaborate. As the legend goes I, the bright eyed, mohawked young lad you see to the left, received my name after much debate and consideration on the part of my parents in the eleventh hour of my mother's gestation. Truth be told, they were undertaking the dangerous and often fruitless journey of coming up with a "unique" name. You need only consider "Bluebell" or "Apple" or "Camera" and it is not a stretch to envision the unfortunately named child on the playground years from now being made to eat sand -- again.

As the story goes, mommy and daddy had to this point visited every Barnes and Nobel to scour baby name books and had visited every conceivable baby name website to no avail. Oh there were some contenders mind you, "Dutch" was thrown around, as was "Rudolph". No comment. One evening when all seemed bleakest, mommy asked daddy who are his favorite photographers. Daddy fancies himself to be a photographer. Well, "Ansel" was out of the question for obvious reasons aside from the fact that my middle name "Albert" was already established. "Ansel Albert" is an open invitation to a sand sandwich. By the way, "Albert" comes from my great-grandfather Albert Rudolph as pictured to the right (handsome devil). In vain daddy tossed a few more names of favored photographers out there, but none stuck or had that elusive "unique" quality my parents were going for.

Then, in a stroke of what can only be described as genius, daddy picked-up his copy of Naomi Rosenblum's A World History of Photography to see what historic photographic figures names might fit the bill. Enter a privileged English gentleman and inventor of the Calotype, William Henry Fox Talbot, pictured to the left. Now William, or "Bill" is too common a name for parents looking for a distinct boy moniker and we already have a Henry in our family (a fine strapping young lad), that left "Fox".

So the story goes, Papa threw "Fox" out there expecting mama to reject it faster than a tax cut when to his surprise, she stopped. She thought. She said "that might work". We had a winner, provided I did not come out with red hair, a recessive trait somewhere in my gene pool. There it was, "Fox Albert", in part for a beloved grandparent and part for a famed photographer and inventor. Not a bad combination.

Let me put to rest here and now any notion that I was named for any of the other Foxes circulating out there. I was not named after any of the depicted "Fox" characters pictured below nor any other Fox who might be lurking in the shadows.

And that is the story of "Fox". William Henry Fox Talbot and Albert Rudolph, thanks guys for letting me carry on such fine names. I hope to do them justice.

- Fox out.

No I've got a thing then ...

Telemarketers, man what a drag. Is there anyone out there who actually buys the junk they hawk? Yeah, I need a free ski weekend in Vermont -- what's that? All I have to do is sit through your timeshare presentation? Why not? And while you're at it, go ahead and scrape my gums. Free ski weekend -- my last diaper!

I mean I could use a free vacation, who couldn't. The past twelve months have been gruel, gruel and milk, and lately some solids now that I have these teeth. I'm particularly fond of the mandarin oranges and of course pumpkin pie! Not such a big fan of the vegetable group though.

But I digress, telemarketers, the junk mail of the phone lines. Thank Heaven for caller ID that's all I have to say. I long for the simpler times. When it was all milk and honey, well no honey of course what with the whole salmonella thing going on there. Plenty of milk though. Milk at my beck and call, sleep all day if I wanted, my diapers changed for me, laying around all the time, attention 24/7. Yes, those were the days.

I'm sure it just gets better from here on out. I was cute way back then though wasn't I! Man have I grown. Wow, I'm nearly twice as tall as I was and nearly three times the weight. If that trend continues I'll be a ten foot tall 600 pound line backer in no time! Ha! Call me now telemarketers! Yeah, I'll come to your free ski weekend and no, I won't be sitting in on your timeshare presentation! Got a problem with that?

Mom, where's the milk??!!

Bozo, eat your heart out.

Ever have one of those bad hair days? Ladies you know what I mean. You wake-up to discover you've been "sleep-combing" with a balloon whisk and a stick of butch wax and now you cannot do a thing to tame those fly-aways. I mean, you'd have done better to have styled your hair with a Black and Decker cordless drill -- blindfolded.

I had a night like that the other evening. I cannot confirm the balloon whisk theory mind you, but if the ends justify the theory then the proof is on my head. Sad isn't it. You go to bed, squeaky clean from your bath, hair all washed and dry not expecting to wake-up looking like half of Bozo's wig.

It's a good thing I have such high self confidence. The way my old man was laughing at my hair and chasing me everywhere with the camera made the paparazzi on that unfortunate Spears woman look like the Raiders' defense against the Vikings. Nothing.

I cannot blame him though, it was awfully unruly, fortunately I am cute enough to pull it off. All I have to do is smile and show him the teeth I have poking out of my bottom gums. He melts. I can do no wrong. Keep that in mind for the future ladies, just smile.

Come to think of it, this is far better than waking-up to hairs all over the pillow. Count your blessings where you can. I wonder if male pattern baldness runs in the family? Hey dad, let me get a good look at the top of your head!

(A big thank-you to Eli Hamann for the plug on his blog the other day. Check out Eli, the certified baby genius, at <http://www.hamanneggs.blogspot.com/> Thanks Eli!)

Bonus: A little video of what it is I do ...

Have your cake, or turkey, and eat it too.

OK, my second Thanksgiving is now under my belt (literally I think I still have some stuffing stuck to my leg). I have to admit I was a big fan of the cranberry sauce, who would have guessed? Not so excited by the green bean casserole, although the dogs seemed to like it ... I do however want to thank the powers that be for pumpkin pie! I mean who knew!??
And why haven't I been eating this at every meal? What delightful ambrosia, what gastronomic perfection, where do I get more? Seriously, open that big box in the food room and slice me up another serving of that heavenly
sweet concoction. I know what I am grateful for, the fine folks at Sara Lee. Bless that woman and her wicked confections. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for my mommy, daddy, and big brother too. And also for my toys and clean diapers, but pumpkin pie! Do you remember your first taste of pumpkin pie with whipped cream topping? Yeah, you'd be exclaiming your delight too if this were your first taste. Talk about a sugar rush, whoa. I was a crazy man after that sugar injection. Could have stayed awake until Sunday if I had not crashed. I think you get my point, pumpkin pie is awfully good. I recommend you have another slice, forget the diet, live a little. My point is, be thankful for the little things. Pumpkin pie for instance. Now, how do I get another slice ... ???

Fox out.

Fox Albert

Hi Everybody, After a long absence, and a change in venue, I'm back. I appreciate everyone's interest in the website, but it was too much to keep up with. And thanks to my cousin Eli, I think this is a much easier way to stay in touch with all my peeps. A special shout-out to my 847 dawgs, Big Finn and He Ain't Heavy, He's My Cousin, Elijah. Keepin' it real. Also a shout-out on this, my second Thanksgiving, to all the Hamanns out there (you know who you are), and also

to all the faithful foxhamann.com visitors, thanks again for your patronage.
Well, what have I been up to? Let's see, moved to New York state, cut a few more teeth, been crawling all over the place, learning to pull myself up on everything, and I've even taken a tentative step, yes, just one, but it was all on my own and a bit scary, soooo ... I'll keep you posted, right here, on that progress. Also, had a birthday, my first. Thank-you, thank-you. Like the shot of me stuffing my face? Yup, that's a birthday shot. Lookin' good aren't I!

Well, its about time for a nap, and a diaper change. Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving, eat lots of turkey for me (mine will be pureed I'm sure ... not quite the same). Stay tuned Fox fans as this blog will be updated on a regular basis (unlike the website!).

Fox out ...