Jeannie Doesn't Mind the Corners

Another week over.  A good week.  Got to hang with the Beej twice, got to hang with A-Train, got to hang with Pat, got to play geek games.  Also, of course, got to play with my little boy (this week we got him his first balls to play with [no comments, please]) and my lovely wife.  She made a funny joke about not minding the corners that only BJ and Aimee got to hear and if you missed it, well, you should come over to our house and hang out more often and you wouldn't miss things like that. 

I also went to the dentist this week for the first time in over a decade.  At the behest of my wife, because my mouth is turning into something that looks and smells like this:

You can thank E. Elz for bringing that picture to my attention, by the way.  Anyway, I hate the fucking dentist, and I'm sorry for the profanity but there really is no other way to say it that gets the point across.  I hate the fucking dentist more than I hate anything in the world, and to be honest I really think there might be something wrong with people who want to stick their hands in peoples' mouths all day.  And then, like, poke at their gums with sharp tools.  Doesn't that seem wrong?  So anyway, I'm going back to the dentist in approximately a month and they're going to drug me up and then do all the shit they need to do, and for the sake of my wife and son I am going to try and be a good example and see the dentist with some regularity (but probably not frequency), or at least not be such a big baby about the dentist so that my kid isn't a baby about the dentist and hygiene and going to the doctor and all that baloney. 

I tell you what, it's a good thing that we don't keep doritos in the house because if we did I would eat about a bag a day, and the poops that eating a bag of doritos causes are not something I want to be dealing with all the time. 

Blinker

Tonight as I drove home from work I was stopped at the light where I turn from Perring Parkway onto Echodale, and a car pulled up behind me that had the brightest blinker I've ever seen.  Seriously.  You could've used the thing to guide ships in the harbor on foggy nights.  It lit up the whole intersection and all the houses and apartments and stuff that are around the intersection. I hated it, and it also made me feel proud of my little humble blinker that seemed to have downcast eyes and lit up maybe the area 2 feet in front of it. 

And then I got home and went in the bathroom to take a leak and saw some of Sam's clothes on the floor left over from when Jeannie must've given him a bath tonight, and it made me miss him and wish he was awake so we could play.  And then he woke up a little bit (on his own, I didn't have anything to do with it) and I heard him cry out in his crib and I immediately started praying, "Pleasegoddon'tlethimwakeup, Pleasegoddon'tlethimwakeup, Pleasegoddon'tlethimwakeup...," and so far it has worked, he hasn't woken all the way up.  I think it might be the light from the bathroom that lights up some of the hallway, and then because there isn't trim around his bedroom door yet, the light in the hallway must go into his room a little bit.  Cause he seems to stir a little whenever somebody goes into the bathroom, even quietly.

I finished re-reading The Lord of the Rings, and I enjoyed it.  I think I enjoy all the info that is part of the story but isn't in the actual story most of all.  I mean, all the stuff that's in the appendices and of course all the related material in the Silmarillion and stuff.  And I also watched the movies, which I did not enjoy very much.  Too much CGI, of course.  I don't understand why people like movies with really blatant CGI in them, because to me they always look really really bad.  Just awful.  And I guess I just can't get past that.

So I'm currently without a book to read, and that hasn't happened in awhile, and I even don't feel like re-reading Infinite Jest or any Kerouac again, and that hasn't happened in, like, forever.  So I need suggestions on what book to read next.  I would like something big and life-changing and something that has the power to define my thirties the way IJ seemed to define my twenties.  Thought about trying some Murakami but I read a little bit of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle at work and couldn't really get into it.  So, suggestions?

"Your Bag of Poop Smells Like Poop."

Big Fans of the Sausage

Jeanners and I have been making some homemade pizzas lately that have been outstanding.  I attribute the pizza awesomeness to the fact that we recently purchased a pizza stone, and also recently started putting Italian sausage on the pizzas regularly.  And a good dough recipe that makes nice, crispy, relatively thin crusted pizza. 

Where is the Jeanners?  I arrived home from my Monday-morning meeting a few minutes ago and Jerns and Sam are not here.  No note left, either. 

PEOPLE I AUTOMATICALLY LIKE:

1.  Old men with military service advertised on their hats
2.  African-American kids on skateboards
3.  Stutterers
4.  Nuns


Jeanners is home. 

Yesterday had it some beautiful weather and we were all able to get outside and do a little bit of work in the yard.  Sam is still getting used to grass and soft ground and doesn't quite know what to make of it all yet.  But he seems to like being out in the sunshine and the breeze, and really likes it when he gets to play with our neighbors' dog, Cameo. 

What Are You Looking For in a Pope?

Why is it that when the Jeanners and I have a kid, and life feels interesting and actually worth writing about, that there seems to be no time or energy for writing?  Well, I will say that I am sacrificing much-needed sleep in order to stay up and write in this blog (although I'm also sacrificing much-needed sleep in order to stay up and drink this much-needed G&T). 

What's been going on?  This:

1.  work
2.  keep an eye on Sam and change his poopy diapers and give him food and keep him entertained
3.  little tiny steps of progress on the house

For the past few months Jeannie and I have been trying to decide what type of flooring to have in our kitchen, when here Sam goes and makes the decision for us:  our kitchen floor will be made of stepped-on Cheerios and corn puffs ground into old hardwood by shoes and feet.  

Jeannie and I have just bought tickets to hit St. Lou in early April.  I hope to take a trip to K-ville to see Ron Rybs.  Also want to spend some quality time with the fam and let them soak up the wonderful terribleness of a baby becoming a toddler. 

I purchased the TX-8050 Stereo Receiver about a week ago (nobody got it for me for my birthday) and so far really like it.  Next step is to buy some speaker wire and set up some speakers in the kitchen so I can blast my fucking Car Talk in several rooms of the house. 

The post that I just linked to in the previous paragraph is called "BTC's", and I have no idea what BTC could possibly stand for except "Big Time Cocksucker."  That might have been what I was thinking when I wrote the post but then again it might not. 

I ate too many peanuts today.  Tummy ache.  A lesson never learned. 

Romance In the Air

Yesterday Jeannie brought Sam to visit me at work (always makes for a fun day in and of itself) and also brought flowers and a card that said that she had gotten a babysitter for the evening and that we would be going out for a nice dinner.  Pretty awesome!  So when I got home from work, Nyoka came over to babysit, and the J-Dog and I headed over to an Indian restaurant that was new to us, the Ambassador Dining Room.  Very cute, relatively expensive, romantic place in Charles Village.  The food was very good, the fireplaces were nice and warm, and we had a very enjoyable dinner.  For a minute I even forgot that we had a kid.  Then we spent about an hour walking around Charles Village, which we hadn't done in such a long time, and an hour was about all we could handle before both of us were pretty worn out and ready for bed.  So we headed home around 9:30, hung out with Nyoka for a little while and then went to bed around 10:15.  What a fantastic surprise evening.  I am a very lucky person. 

Since Sam was born, I've been taking a few film pictures here and there, and I finally used up the roll the other day and went and got them developed. Some pictures turned out pretty well, some pretty bad, but it was fun to take a little stroll down down the lane of memories of the last 10 months.  Also fun to be reminded of how crazy his forehead was there for awhile.  I'm glad that he's growing into his head.  Ha Ha. 

Tomorrow is the last event at the new theater for awhile:  a public open house.  Should be pretty low-key, I think, much less involved than there was for the fundraiser-type party there a few weeks ago.  We're still waiting to hear whether we got a major grant that we had applied for.  Whether we get the grant will kind of determine whether we move forward immediately with the renovations or whether there is a pause while we round up some more money.   Of course, we'd like to move forward right away, but it's probably more realistic to expect a pause.  But somehow the history of the company has always seemed a little charmed when it comes to lucky business things of this nature, so who knows.

The Jeanners and I are spending the afternoon cleaning out the basement a little (while Sam plays in a cardboard box) to get ready for lots of stripping of doors and trim.  Fun times await. 

Nobody Steal This Idea, It's Mine.

The other day Jeannie and Sam and I took naps, and mine was particularly good.  During it, I had a dream about a musical instrument that was a cross between an accordion and a pedal steel guitar.  I believe it was made from an ivory-like material. 

Anyway, I just wanted to get this idea down before I forgot it. 

Catching and Throwing (Up)

Well, Jeannie's birthday on Tuesday was not low-key.  It was disgusting.  She and I both had some form of food poisoning, or maybe a super-strong, super fast version of the flu, and took turns running into the bathroom every 20 minutes.  Thank god we took turns.  When we bought this house, we were worried about only having one bathroom, and we described this very scenario to ourselves with worry - 'what if we both get sick and we only have one bathroom?'  Well, it turned out OK, although there were a couple of close calls.  And we did have a "Dan Will Shit in the Bathtub" contingency plan all worked out, but luckily never had to call it into play. 

The worst part was that Sam was sick with a cold, and so awake for a good portion of the night, at one point wailing in his crib while Jeanners and I were writhing on the floor of his bedroom, moaning, groaning, and hating life. 

So anyway, we're both feeling better now, thank you very much, and life has resumed its busy pace.  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and a bit falling-behind, mostly due to the fact that my days off recently have been filled with ChesShakes building stuff rather than getting-stuff-done-around-the-house stuff.  I think a nice long vacation is in order. 

Today a little family time in the morning, then I head off to work in the afternoon.  Tomorrow, a little family time in the morning and then I help Pat get ready for his show and get a few things done at the building. 

Hokey-Dokey, Sam is requiring my full attention.  Must go!

Empty Theater

Pretty much every muscle in my body feels sore right now.  I've been heading down to the theater the last couple of days and moving a lot of stuff around, and I think my body is not used to doing that kind of thing on a regular basis anymore.  There was a fiasco with a Genie lift yesterday that involved about 6 guys attempting to move the thing in a manner in which it was not designed to be moved.  The moving also involved a car jack, several two-by-fours, and a cart.  And it (or some other activity that I did) has left me feeling sore.

All the activity has been in preparation for the "Empty Theater Party," which is where we opened up the building to some of the movers and shakers of Baltimore, a chance to bring in potential donors and let them see the space and hopefully share our enthusiasm and get them interested in helping with the project.  And there was tasty catered food and lovely decorations and some live music and a couple of short speeches.  But most of the day was left for mingling and schmoozing, two activities at which I am no good, so I spent most of the day talking to people that I already knew or walking from place to place as though I had something important to do.
 


















Tomorrow is the J-Dog's birthday.  I fear it will be a relatively low-key one, but she'll be at work most of the day anyway. 

What else?

Spent a good part of my morning sending e-mails about conduit.   

Everybody needs sleep.  I really should just stop writing and GO TO BED. 

No More Farts!

Not much to write about lately.  Jeannie's been busy with work stuff, I've been busy with building-related stuff and work, and Sam's been sick with cold and ear infection.  So he hasn't been sleeping well, which makes everyone exhausted.  Although Jeannie and I are the only ones showing it.  Actually, during the day he's great.  All smiles, good naps, playing well.  But it seems like when he's sick he just wants to take little naps during the night, too, and wake up every couple of hours and do some more playing.  All of this is exacerbated by the fact that we (Jeannie) took down the bedroom door a week and a half ago to refinish it, and it is currently downstairs in the basement waiting to get painted.  So at night it's kinda like he's yelling right there in the room with us even though he's down the hall.  It's pretty sucky.



[portions of this blog post removed to protect the innocent.  or not so innocent]



This Sunday is a big party at the new building, a party for the movers and shakers of Baltimore City.  A party where we hope to raise money to pay for the renovations.  We're kind of banking on the fact that once people get inside the building and see how cool it is, and see the architects' plans for what the building could become, they will want to help us.  I think if I had money and saw the building, I would want to help.  Although I've realized over the years that I tend to not think in the same way as those people who have a lot of money.  I get along with them and enjoy their company (for the most part), but I don't really think like them.

Been craving a homemade hamburger lately.

Once in a Lifetime

Ugh, it's too early for the little dude to be up.  But he sure is cute, sitting back here on the floor, playing with his toys and smiling at me.  But, yes, it's too early.  But I got up early with him because he's sick, all stuffed up and having trouble getting air in through all the snot.  And because I want the J-Dog to try and get a little extra sleep.  Who knows

If You Were on ER, Who Would You Be?

Last night the Jeanners had to take Sam to the emergency room because he rolled off the changing table while she was getting him ready for bed.  She took literally about 1 second to reach over to the left and grab a fresh diaper and he rolled right off the table.  She said that after he hit the floor he was stunned for a few seconds, then he started wailing, his eyes rolled up into his head, and he threw up.  So that was enough cause to take him to the ER, I think. 

She called me at work and told me what happened, and I met her at the hospital, and by the time I got there about 30 minutes after it had happened, he looked and acted pretty normal.  One of the doctors noticed that he had a big ol' knot on the back of his head, and that combined with the fact that he threw up made them decide to do a CT scan to make sure there wasn't any internal bleeding or anything.  So they checked him out, and everything looked ok, but they decided to keep us in the hospital overnight so they could keep an eye on him.  He's seemed fine and back to his normal, smiley, cute self.  So we got home this morning at around 10, and I pretty much spent the rest of the day in bed until I had to get ready to go to work this evening.  The Jeanners, I think, also turned in pretty early.  She's asleep now in the other room. By the way, I would also just like to say that I have reached to pick up a fresh diaper with him on the changing table about 500 times, so it's pure chance that it happened while she was here and not me. 

I actually really kinda like hospitals.  I mean, I hate being in one tiny cramped room for extended periods of time, just waiting.  And I hated the experience of Sam's delivery, but as far as the people go, and the actual buildings, I really love them.  My experience has been that the people are all really nice, or super talented and efficient and pleasantly confident, or a combination of all of those things.  And the buildings have all been clean, and efficient, and have the combined qualities of a super-insulated hush and a noisy bustle.  I don't know.  Maybe it's because I've always been at the hospital because of someone else's situation.  Maybe I wouldn't like hospitals if I was the one who was sick or if I was the one having a baby pulled out of my loins. 

In other news, my Dad went skiing for the first time today.  He's 75.  My mom got him a gift certificate to go skiing at this place near their house.  I think it's something that he's wanted to do for a long while.  He's always been pretty athletic, although in a run-all-day sort of way rather than a get-pumped-and-huge sort of way. Anyway, I am weirdly proud of him, because I know that he was excited but also nervous and scared about it, too.  And trying new things is not usually his strong suit.  So I'm glad that my Mom got him the gift, although if he had hurt himself (a pretty good possibility), I probably would've said she was crazy for giving him the gift. 

Anyway, let's all try something new tomorrow that scares us a little bit.  Also, let's avoid trips to the emergency room.  Is it possible to do both? 

2 Birds

Earlier this evening, I was going to write a blog post called "2 Birds," which referred to me going to the bathroom and writing in my blog at the same time.  I decided it was too crass, and didn't do it. 

Then the Jeanners and I watched "Sleepwalk With Me" and had a fire.  It was pretty wonderful.  We've been having quite a few fires lately, and I have to say, I'm really enjoying them.  Sitting by the fire with Jerns and watching a movie while the lil' dude is sleeping feels pretty perfect.  Although at the moment I smell like a campfire, which I'm not really a fan of.  But it's worth it, I suppose.

Tomorrow we meet Ian at the new building to map out a plan of attack for the 'day of service' on Monday, during which time a bunch of people will show up at the building prepared to clean and repair and spruce up, and it is my job to have jobs for everyone and keep things running smoothly and try and make sure that everything gets done the way I want it done. 

Maybe tomorrow morning there will also be time for Tasty Breakfast before I have to leave for work. 

Don't feel like writing anymore. 

The Continuing Adventures of Don & Jenny

Tonight at work I was hit by a couple of different waves of nostalgia.  Nostalgia for all the various folks who have worked in the music dept. with me over the last 10 years and who have (mostly) gone on to bigger and better things, and with whom I used to have a decent amount of fun amidst the soul-crushing boredom and soul-sucking Customers.

Then had a smack of nostalgia for the days of hanging out with Ron R. back at Truman.  Made me decide that a goal for the summer (or whenever we happen to visit the Midwest) is to take a day to drive up to K-ville and have lunch with Ron.  I haven't seen him since me and J-Dog's wedding. 

I am typing this on a new computer that Jeannie and I purchased off the website WOOT after receiving a "heads up" from Jeannie's brother (who knew that we had been looking for a new computer).  Anyway, this new computer is pretty snazzy and has a backlit keyboard that I am currently taking advantage of.  It also has a hard drive large enough to fit all of our music files, which is pretty exciting.  Now I can listen to Fischer J. Price without having to hook up an external drive.  Maybe 2 people just got that joke.

YOU DO NOT EVEN WANT TO KNOW WHAT JEANNIE IS DOING RIGHT NOW.

I got keys to the new building, which is exciting, although the waiting around for the full-time job to start is starting to make me a little nuts.  So close yet so far away.

I bought a CD the other day of Jack Kerouac doing some reading over some piano playing by Steve Allen.  I really like it, but I think you'd need to be a pretty hardcore Kerouac fan already in order to enjoy it.  I'm really surprised by how much he sounds like Allen Ginsberg when he's reading.  Maybe he was trying to imitate Ginsberg or Ginsberg was trying to imitate him, but there are lines where it really sounds like Ginsberg reading.

Alright, Jeannie wants to go to bed so I must stop writing or go to another room or something. 

Best Day Evah

Saturday ended up being pretty much the best day ever.  It all turned out exactly as described:  the breakfast was huge and awesome (eggs, pancakes, fauxsage, toast, juice, all covered in syrup), and there was a family trip to the market and some napping, and Nyoka came over for dinner, and we christened the new fireplace doors (which worked fairly awesomely) and watched Gran Torino, which is a movie that we've been attempting watch for like 2 years now.

I've got the next two days off work, and I'd like to get out of the house with the little dude, bu not sure what I should do.  I'd like to go somewheres indoors because the cold weather seems to be giving him some windburn on his delicate little cheeks.  I think it's probably time for him to start growing a beard.

Work has gone back to being ridiculously boring.

Nothing else going on, so I shan't bore you with unnecessary blah blah blah-ing.

Twenty Thirteen

Tomorrow Jeannie and I both have the day off.  We'll start it with a family trip trip to the market and then a lumberjack breakfast for the lady and myself.  Then maybe we'll try and get some shit done around the house.  Maybe it'll actually work.

Been busy at work the last week or so, getting things back to normal after the X-mas rush.  All-in-all, work was not too bad.

Had a low-key New Years'.  Katie the World Traveler and her beau, Than, came over, and we chatted and looked at pictures and ate some homemade pizza and then we were all in bed by 10:30.  Wild and crazy, indeed.  Woken up at midnight by fireworks and (presumably) gunfire.

Sam has been super cute lately.

CSC will officially take over the building downtown soon.  On the 8th we'll go in and see what needs immediate cleaning up so that we can have rehearsals in there, and also start getting it ready for a fancy-schmancy potential donor party in February.  Exciting times.

I feel like I have a little bit of heartburn, although I have there's no reason I should have heartburn.

Mayans Lie

The Jeanners and I are back home after spending a few days in St. Louis for Christmas.  It is good to be home, good to have Sam back somewhere familiar where there's room to stretch out a little bit, and time to take him outside, and time to just sit and play and have life get back to normal.  The traveling and X-mas parties and such really threw off his schedule and he was waking up in the middle of the night, ready to start his day, and just made him a little bit crazy.  Which made Jeannie and I pretty exhausted for a lot of the trip (except for when Jeannie's Mom took Sam for a few hours and I got to take the greatest 4-hour nap of my life.  Seriously, it was the nap that I've been waiting to take ever since the little Dude's been born.), and a little crazy, too.

Work ended up being not too damned bad this year, probably the most pleasant holiday season I've ever had there.  No real pain-in-the-ass customers, adequate # of people scheduled, etc.

My favorite parts of the Christmas break were:  getting to spend some time with Jerns' brother and Grandma, both of whom were staying at Jeannie's folks' house, hanging out with E. Elz and J. Knese sans Sam and feeling a little bit like the hip adult that I no longer am, and chatting with some nieces and nephews about relationships and how generally sucky it is to be in your twenties and faced with some life decisions that seem to be (and I guess are) monumental and life-defining.  Anyway, I do not envy any of them right now, and I'm glad my twenties are over and that I made a few big choices back then and that the choices seem to be working out pretty well.

Katie the World Traveler will be at our home soon, fresh from the wilds of Africa.  It'll be good to catch up and see the girl again after an absence of a few months.

It feels good to be home!  I don't even mind being up before 6 this morning because I am up before 6 in my own damned home!

Solo

The Jeanners left town yesterday morning, early, in a mess of holiday travelers at the airport, and it's quite a story.  But it's her story, so I'll let her have the opportunity to tell it if she wants to.  I'll just give this teaser trailer:  picture the J-Dog running through a packed BWI airport, with no shoes or belt, carrying Sam, trying to get to her gate.  At like 6:30 in the morning.

Anyway, so they're gone, and I am stuck here tending the home fires.  Been at work yesterday and today, and it's been super-busy, but really no Christmas-ruining moments or anything.  I haven't blown up and cussed out my boss this year or anything.  And I gave my co-workers their Christmas presents and they all seemed to like them.  Especially the hypercolor t-shirts I got my boss and another co-worker.  I'm pretty happy with those gifts.

So last night after work I passed the time by wrapping presents and giving myself a haircut.  Tonight I installed our fireplace doors (went relatively smoothly).  Tomorrow after work it's clean house and pack clothes.  Monday is work and then flight to St. Lou and then Jeannie's family's Christmas party.  It'll be nice to see the Jeanners and the Little Dude.  Tonight when I got home from work I went to hang up my coat and I saw his little red jacket hanging on the hook and it made me miss him.  Although last night I was looking forward to having a Sam-less night of uninterrupted sleep and sleeping in (until 7:15).  But I still ended up waking up at 3 in the morning and then again at 5, thinking that I was hearing him.  I wasn't.  Although when I talked to Jerns on the phone tonight she said that Sam's schedule was all sorts of screwed up and that he ended up waking up this morning at like 3 in the morning.  Ugh.  I hope he is a little closer to normal by the time I get to St. Louis.

I think that's all I've got.  Another busy day tomorrow, I'm sure.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like St. Patrick's Day

Well here it is, a week before Christmas and it's like 60 degrees and sunny and moist.   Very spring-like.  I'm about to take a walk to the liquor store with Sambone.  I love taking little kids to liquor stores.  I don't know why, exactly.  But it's not as bad as it sounds, because in Baltimore you can't really buy any alcohol (beer, wine, anything) except at a liquor store, with very few exceptions.  So it's not like I can just run down to Schnucks and pick up a six pack.  So off to the liquor store we go.  And geez, this time it's not even for me, it's for a co-worker's X-mas present.  So get off my back, already!

So anyway, it's really eerie not having any winter weather, like, ever, but I guess I might as well take the little dude outside and enjoy it a bit.  I've been working more day shifts at work lately and so there have been more days where I haven't gotten to spend much time with the dude, so it's been nice to hang out with him today.  And I've gotten a bunch of laundry done and some cleaning done so that after we leave town and come back we're not coming back to a place that is dirty and shitty, which is always a downer after the holidays. 

We got our fireplace doors the other day!  Woo-Hoo!  Just in time for the 60 degree days of winter.  Now I just have to install them.  Should I try and install them while Jeannie and Sam are out of town this weekend (which will be easier because there will be less baby around when the hammer-drilling is occurring) or should I do it sometime when Jeannie is here so that she can talk me out of suicide when I get in over my head and screw everything up? 

Alright.  I should really go pay attention to the kid over there. 

Laser Light Show

Jeannie and I have changed our schedules such that she now goes in to the office on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and then I go into work on Thursday night.  So I'm finishing up the third day in a row of hanging with the little dude and I have to say, I'm a little bored.  Not that there isn't literally tons of stuff that I could be doing (literally - if you wrote down everything productive that I could possibly be doing on its own little scrap of paper, and then put all of those scraps of paper in a Rubbermaid [TM] tub, that Rubbermaid [TM] tub would weigh one ton), but it's just that all of the things I could be doing are 1000 times more difficult to do while watching a child than they would be if I wasn't watching a child.  So I think to myself, "Oh, I'll just hang out here with the kid, and then I'll do __________ when Jeannie's home and I don't have to watch the kid."  Except that whenever Jeannie's home I just want to hang out and play with her, so nothing ever gets done.  And I'm bored. 

Anyway, nothing too exciting going on.  Did some Christmas shopping, although I did most of my Christmas shopping this year either online or over the phone. 

The Jeanners heads to St. Louis a week from tomorrow, and then I'll be following a few days after that.  It'll be another quick trip this year, but hopefully we'll get to see everybody we want to see. 

The other night in bed I put on a laser light show with two flashlights.  It was OK. 

Sorry, Mom and Dad

I would just like to say that I'm not normally the type of person who uses the expression "cocksucker" lightly in public.  And even though my mind is very often a filthy cesspool, I try and keep that shit to myself amongst those with whom I am not very closely acquainted.  

I blame the lack of sleep.  Which, by the way, seems to have been solved by two Nyquil-filled nights. 

Oh, and shit doesn't really count as a bad word anymore, does it? 

I would like to catch up on sleep, you cocksuckers.

You know, I thought that once the kid started sleeping through the night that life would get rosy again and I'd never feel sleepy again.  But it turns out that because he wakes up every day sometime between 4 and 5 in the morning, I'm just as tired now as when he was waking up at 2 in the morning and then going back to sleep until around 7 or so.  Damn you, baby boy!

Here's what I want:  elves watch the baby for about 2 days, Jeannie goes away (if she was here I would want to hang out with her.  Plus, her incessant coughing has been keeping me awake), and I sleep for 2 days.  I think 2 days would do it.  Get me caught up.  I just need a little catch up.  Probably I should just go to bed right now. 

Everybody's been sick lately, especially Jeannie, and me only a little bit.  It's felt like for about 4 days now that I was about to get sick, but then I never actually get sick.  Just sinus pressure in the head and a little congestion and the hint of a sore throat in the mornings.  Jeannie had the full blown thing with running nose and coughing and bleagh and blarg (meaning just general crappiness).  Sam had runny runny with big snot bubbles coming out of his nose when he laughed or breathed. 

Work has not gotten shitty yet, but shittiness is looming on the horizon, like a flock of crows ready to take a collective dump on the windshield that is my work life. 

Weird thing is that I've actually been having trouble sleeping when it comes time to make sleepy sleepy.  I get into bed and start thinking about too many things, and I have the damned Travolta/Newton-John christmas CD running through my head.  Ugh. 

Enough for now.  Bastante. 

I'm now going to send my mom an e-mail with a video of my kid taking a bath. 

The Lord of the Danneriliion (or, There but not Back Again)

I am currently in the midst of re-reading a bunch of JRR Tolkien stuff.  Haven't read it since I was about 12 or 13.  Reading The Hobbit at work and The Silmarillion at home.  Enjoying them both.  It's pretty amazing how different his 3 major works are (those 2 plus the Lord of the Rings), and yet they all tell different parts of the same massive story.  Quite a body of work.  I think that the Silmarillion is my favorite.  Very lush and poetic storytelling.  Not much dialogue.  Pretty much my favorite type of writing.  I remember when I was a kid reading books I would pretty much skip any paragraph that looked like it might be descriptive, and just jump to the dialogue.  Now I'm essentially the opposite.

Also, and I know I'm about 3-5 years late on this, I have started using Spotify, which is pretty danged awesome.  I'm a little curious about how it's NOT going to prevent anyone involved in music from making any money.  Or at least prevent people involved in music from making the gobs of money that they 1) used to make 2) might have one day made 3) dream of making one day.   Still, as a listener, it's pretty danged awesome. 

The Sambone has a bit of a cold.  Poor little dude.  [He's still in a pretty decent mood, though, although I'm currently starving him a little bit to try and wait until Jeannie gets home to feed him.  Cause I know she'll be ready to feed him when she gets home and that way she won't have to pump.  I hope she's not mad at me for revealing the secret that she sometimes pumps milk out of her breasts in order to feed our young baby.]

If she is mad at me, I might erase the bracketed text, along with this and the next sentence.  If I do have to erase it, I will replace it with this sentence:

"Well, that's all I've got right now.  Gotta poop!" 

Terders and faerts

If I had a time machine right now, and could travel to any time or place I desired, I would go back in time and not eat whatever is was that I ate that is making my farts smell like this. 

You should feel bad for me because, for about a day and a half, I have had several songs from the new John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John Xmas CD stuck in my head.  Specifically, "This Christmas," and "Baby It's Cold Outside" (which somehow manages to sound, simultaneously, exactly the same as every other version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" you've ever heard AND worse than every other version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" you've ever heard). 

My son has started making solid turds.  It's weird.  I know I should be happy about this because it means that he's healthy, and he's processing solid food well and able to move it through the ol' alimentary canal well, but it really makes me kinda sad.  It's almost a little too adult, like he's started carrying a little briefcase around or reading the Wall Street Journal or something.

Work, so far, has been not-too-bad this holiday season.  The worst is yet to come. 

I just want to go on record as saying autumn seemed especially long and especially beautiful this year.  It also seems like it's almost over. 

I just Googled 'alimentary canal' to make sure I was using it correctly.  It's been a long time since grade school science class and I've forgotten a lot.  Turns out, though, that I'm a fucking genius on this one. 

I also just Googled 'genius' because it looked funny. 

I'm off work tomorrow.  I will be babysitting Dr. Babykins, however, so I'm not planning on doing anything productive or exciting.  I am merely planning on having a fun day with my little dude, maybe going for a walk, singing some songs, doing some standing, having some "play-by-your-fucking-self" time, and of couse meals and naps. 

Also considering buying Christmas lights!  Multicolored ones if I can find 'em. 

Quadriplegic Dogs of the Snowlands

If you were trying to find pictures of dogs that had skis for legs (or skids) you might try typing the title of this post into Google (or the search engine of your choice).  Or you might not.  Anyway, we tried it last night and we were unable to find any pictures of dogs with skis for legs.  They must be out there.  It was pretty easy finding pictures of dogs with wheels for legs, though.

Had a good time with Beej and Aimee last night, although Abby couldn't make it.  We ended up not playing any games, though, just eating some very average food and talking a lot and drinking drinks and then talking about "getting Snood."  I got a little bit tipsy, but comfortably tipsy.  I wasn't falling over or anything and I didn't wake up with a hangover.  Which is good, because Sam was up at his usual 6am and HE WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY HUNGOVER PLAYMATES.  Do not test him on this point. 

Tomorrow is Turkey Day, and the Jeanners and I have no real plans, just lots of little stuff we'd like to do.  We will be missing the Ohio crew and Uncle Rico.  Haven't talked to Rico in awhile, and I hope he is doing well.  Hopefully we'll be able to catch up at Christmastime in St. Lou.

I've been playing a little bit of Super Mario Bros. 2 lately.  I never played it very much as a kid.  I'm not very good at it.  In fact, I'm downright bad.  But you know what?  There are lots of other things that I'm ok at so I don't feel too bad about it.  I could probably beat you at ping-pong so shut up. 

Now I'm in a bad mood.  Thanks a lot.  Happy Thanksgiving. 

Prepping for the Beej

Tomorrow night A-Train, the Beej and his betrothed, Abby, are coming over for a dinner of pizza (or some other carryout food), and games.  I am tres excited about this.  Tres means "very" in Franch.  I like to say "Franch" more than "French" because it is more fun.  Sometimes I ask Sam if he wants to French kiss.  And then I go in for a French but he doesn't do anything.

Tomorrow I have to give myself a haircut.  I also have to clean the bathroom.  I also have to go to the grocery store and buy tonic, Coke, Sprite, eggs, and some sort of snack chip.  Also have to go to the liquor store and buy gin and beer.   I also have to sweep some areas of the floor in our house, most especially the bathroom floor, the hallway, and our bedroom.  Originally, cleaning the kitchen was on my list of things to do tomorrow, but the J-Dog cleaned the kitchen while I was at work tonight.  She has earned my love for another week or so. 

Sam went like 4 days without pooping.  He is normally a pretty regular guy, so I was worried when he went like 4 days without pooping. 

Awhile ago I wrote about a lung issue that I was having.  I am happy to report that the lung issue seems to have gone away.  I haven't had to use the inhaler for about 2 months now.

I gotta poop, and it's getting so I can't think straight because of it.  So I'm gonna do us both a favor and stop writing now. 

To Be Young, Gifted, and Black

In a few minutes it will be the J-Dog and my 8th anniversary.  Woo-Hoo!  Happy Anniversary to us! 

We are not really going to be doing anything special for this one.   The Jeanners is working tomorrow, and I'm taking Sam over to the CSC offices while I have a meeting with Ian about lighting in the new building.  Then we're tentatively planning on getting some carryout from Koco's for dinner. 

One thing we did do yesterday, that was not officially anniversary-related but does fit in nicely with the idea of us getting something nice for ourselves, was buy some adult furniture.  Adult furniture where the different pieces match each other.  Pretty crazy shit.  But anyway, our front room, which hitherto had been pretty much just a storage room for baby equipment, is starting to look like a real live living room.  It's looking like this:

Imagine me rubbing your feet and playing guitar while you lay on the couch and a fire burns slowly in the fireplace behind our new fireplace doors (not pictured) and we eat nachos.  Actually, we're gonna try not to eat while we're on the furniture, because pretty much everything I eat has either tomato sauce or salsa in it, and it is impossible for me to eat anything without spilling some on myself or the world around me. 

Sam has turned into a pretty decent sleeper.  He's been going to bed around 6-6:30pm and sleeping until around 4:30 or 5am.  It's pretty awesomefor Jeannie and I to have the evening to ourselves, although his early bedtime does cut into our cocaine and sex party routine. 

I think that's all I got.  The title of this post was taken from a Nina Simone song that has been in my head because we've been listening to the Meshell Ndegeocello cover at work.  She also does a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" that is pretty awesome.

Sordid Butt Juice Chanting

I went, last night, to a movie.  At the theater, by myself.  An 8:45 show that got out around midnight.  Jeez, I haven't done that in, like, a million years!  First of all, I never go to movies.  Second of all, when I do go to movies I go with the J-Dog.  Third of all, I am usually in bed by midnight.  But anyway, I went to see Cloud Atlas, which is based on a book of the same name which I had read and enjoyed, and its scope is epic enough that I wanted to see it on the big screen.  I'm glad I went.  While there are parts of the movie that weren't great, and they changed some of the stuff in the book to make it a little bit more cheesy and Hollywood, I still enjoyed it.  And although the movie is close to 3 hours long, there was only about 10 minutes or so where I was feeling like things were getting too long.  And the air was crisp and cool as I walked out of the theater to my car, and I don't know, it just felt nice to be out on my own doing something. 

I am on the second of two days off with young Samuel, after having worked 7 busy days in a row getting stuff set up at work for Christmas.  The hurricane screwed up some of the prep time for the Christmas set-up, so I had to cram about a week's worth of work into 3 days.  Which is why the days were busier than usual.  Anyway, it feels good to be off, and it's been fun hanging out with Sam, and he's currently sitting in the high chair playing peacefully by himself.  Which is the best thing in the world. 

Been feeling weirdly emotional lately, kinda like I need to sit down and cry for about an hour.  But not in a bad way.  More like a "my-life-feels-pretty-damned-perfect-and-I'm-scared-to-lose-it" kinda way.  Pretty much the exact opposite of zen.  Ugh.  I don't know how to be zen and have a kid. 

Jeannie and I made a list of a lot of the stuff that we need to get done on the house.  I will tell you that it is a very long list. 

The diet is going pretty well.  I feel like I'm losing weight but still eating somewhat reasonably and not starving myself.  One good thing for aiming for 1500 calories a day or less is that even if you miss, you still end up under 2000 calories a day. 

The title of this post comes from old refridgerator magnet poetry that hasn't been on our fridge for probably 3.5 years. 

My Mushroom Cap

Here's a picture of Jeannie and Sam on his first Halloween. 

Jeannie spent about 70% of the three days that we were at home together working on the damn things.  She was having so much fun.  It was nice to see her getting so much enjoyment out of a little project like that. 

Going back to work yesterday su-hu-ucked.  Catching up on 3 days worth of shipments, 3 days worth of customers, and trying to get ready for Christmas was no good.  Plus, I was in a little bit of Sam n' Jeannie withdrawal. 

So anyway, Sam's got a little bit of a cold right now, and he's a little more pukey than usual, so we've just been spending a normal day at home (although we did walk up to Harvest Fare earlier and buy a variety of soup products).  We've got a branch in the back that needs to get cut up, but I probably won't do it today because it's still a bit rainy and damp and gross.  Although, we're in November now, so it's probably gonna be that way for awhile. 

Time to do some dishes.

4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)

Hurricane Sandy is having its way with our front yard right now.  Actually, it hasn't been too bad yet.  We still have power (knock on wood), and its just been windy as hell and rainy as hell.  I think the worst is still to come, though.  And they seem to be getting hit a bit harder to the north, in New Jersey land and New York. 

The Nobes was closed today, so I had the day off work (I was supposed to go in tonight at 5), although I did go to my doctor's appointment this morning.  Everything on the ol' bod-ola is lookin' pretty danged good, I must say.  Although I've put on 3 lbs since February.  My guess is that if I hadn't been dieting recently it would've been more like 5-8 lbs. 

Wow, that was big gust of wind that just gusted. 

Today I saw for the first time trees swaying at the trunk.  Like, big trees.  Kinda spooky. 

Dinner making time.