The Armchair Expert

I have been binge-ing a podcast lately called Armchair Expert.  It is a two-hour interview show where Dax Shepard interviews his friends, mostly celebrities but occasionally phD's and other experts or pseudo-experts on a particular topic.  I'm not sure why I am drawn to it, but I do find it entertaining and occasionally profound in a relatively shallow way.  Does that make sense?  Is there such a thing as shallow profundity? 

Anna turned 4 two days ago.  Read about her birth here.

Jeannie turned fortysomething ten days ago.  I don't have her birth story on here.  But for her birthday gift this year, she got what she needs most:  time to herself.  She rented a house somewhere in the country and she is there now, reading and journaling and probably meditating.  She and I are very different -- when she is left to her own devices, she gravitates towards things that actually make one a better person.  When I am left to my own devices, I usually end up in a tiny pool of alcohol, ice cream, and TV.  Although, I am proud to report, I have not had any booze since September 28th.  No big terrible problem that caused me to stop, I just found that regular drinking was really messing with my sleep.  If I had a drink I would fall asleep wonderfully 3 hours after having that drink, but then I would wake up entirely 6 hours after having the drink.  So I was getting like 3 hours of sleep a night (fast math), and was then just generally cranky and useless. 

A-train has moved back to Pittsburgh.  Happy for A-train, sad for Dan and Jeannie, but also happy because we had a really great visit with her a few weeks before she left.  Really really great.  Met at a restaurant for dinner and then instantly like 3 hours had passed.  She's pretty much the best.  I remember when I met her on the day of the Pigtown Festival...

My latest musical crush is a guy named Henry Jamison.  I think if I was a little bit better musician, and a little bit more literate, and had put more focus into music, that the music I ended up recording would sound like his songs.  For a good place to start, check out the song Through a Glass from his album The Wilds. 

Tonight I took my kids to Chuck E. Cheese's and then out to dinner at a Chinese buffet.