Facebook - March 23rd - 29th

MARCH 23RD

i ‎@ 2:30 I heard somebody mucking around downstairs & there was Ginger, digging in the fridge. From that point until 4:45, she cried, screamed begged to go to the bathroom, & decided to 'read' in bed. Finally we erased nearly a decade of parenting rules and tossed her in bed w/ us, where she made a habit of shaking us awake whenever we nodded off. It was the worst night since, whew, probably since Lu was a baby.

As usual, Ginger was up at quarter to seven. Only now, as we are on the verge of leaving for her weekly playgroup, has she fallen asleep for a nap. Which means I either wake her up and invite hell into my life, or dissapoint Smiley, who gets off the school bus on Tuesdays yelling "Paygloop today?".

11:27 am - Dangnabbit. Smiley's at my elbow begging to go. Not gonna wake up Ginger, I'm too "tired to put up with her at the moment. As a sub for the playgroup I offered to take Smiley to the store later to replace some play-dough Ginger ruined, but Smiley just looked sad and said he didn't want anymore because Ginger would just "woon it". Gotta find some way to rescue this day, I've wasted half of it already.

4pm - I've turned the day around (knock on wood) in the past four hours. Met up with my friend Tre & ran an errand with our kids, at long last had our van taken in for service, ironed out some bills, have a turkey & mashed potatoes cooking on the stove, and played w/ the kids outside. I even have a subject for a new article, which I hope to hammer out before the day is through. Yay Dan-Dan.

7pm - Allright, I'll say it: Gaga will be this era's Madonna, provided she can stick around and adapt over time. I'm not a huge fan of this song [Telephone], but the video . . . I haven't seen a woman's prison this hot since Linda Blair was made to, uh, 'befriend' Bridgette Nielson in 'Red Heat'.

I didn't RTA {about Dancing with the Stars) and I don't care if you do either. I linked it just for the pic of Shannen Doherty, an on-again/off-again member of my List of Five since the days of 'Our House' and 'Heathers

Curious George - believe it or not - has its origins in a Jewish couples escape from the Nazi invasion of France.

He who allows himself a rest will fade into oblivion - Vasari

MARCH 24TH

My nephew got his temps today, so I picked him up from the DMV, took him to St. Adalbert's cemetery and put him behind the wheel. By the time we left his driving was much smoother, and he learns fast. Congrats Jonah!

I stopped at a gas station before work. After paying I turned around to leave, in the process throwing my shoulder into a woman who was close enough to reach in and tickle my prostate.She stumbled backward and down to one knee. I apologized and went through the motions of concern, but really - learn the value of personal space - how small of a turning radius did she expect a 300# man to have?

RIP to Stuart Kaminsky and actor Robert Culp

MARCH 25TH

Late last night we watched "The Fourth Kind", a quasi-documentrary about people being abduced from their beds by aliens at 3 in the morning. We were asleep by one a.m. No lie: at nearly three on the dot I sat straight up in bed, convinced I heard Lauren mucking about. I went through the dark house, only to remember the movie when I looked at the time. I promptly retreated to my bed and hid under my blankie.

RE: BLOCKBUSTER'S TROUBLES: Good. Here's hoping you go painfully into the good night, courtesy of Netflix, PPV, and Redbox. Maybe you shouldn't have acted like the biggest corporate bully ever while you enjoyed your monopoly.

This road must lead somewhere/is it somewhere we want to be? - Yann Martel

My DVR has been on the fritz, screwing up the taping of Lost (sob), Dr. Phil, and many others. Time Warner has now agreed to bring out a new, larger capacity DVR today. That means I'll have to reprogram the 84ish shows we have scheduled to tape, lose Smiley's bday wishes on Sprout, *and* Dear God - we'll lose the four or five hours of NKOTB footage we have stored. I may just cut my wrists.

1 of the few memories I have of my paternal Grandma, who died when I was 7, is of arguing w/ her that I had never-ever, in my whole life, slept. Minutes later I was asleep on her basement floor :) Today, Smiley picked up the torch. He does not sleep, he doesn't dream. When I pointed out that I ck on him when I go to sleep he claimed he's "a'way fakin'" & gestured that he props his eyelids open. The circle is complete.

3pm - Cable guy just left. My DVR was bad, and so was all the line running into the house. I could swear I saw that line installed, spankin' new, in 2007, but he claims it was 15 years or older. So it was 2 hours of drilling, running line, and climbing poles in the alley. The kids were awful & Lisa had to finagle the car out of our spot around the Cable van, which meant going into the neighbors yard & then out. Fun.

Anybody in Milwaukee know of a good, reliable - *and cheap * - place to have a sewing machine serviced? The arm by the bobbin isn't catching the thread to complete the loop; er, that's my layman's explanation for it anyway.

YaYa came in the door from play practice sporting a drawn-on beard and mustache. Smiley caught sight of her, cocked his head to the side, thought a moment and asked "Gwacie . . . you a boy now?" W/out annoyance, she answered "No Smiley, it's fake. My character in the play is a boy." "Oh," he said, "O-kay" and walked away.

Helen Keller once said "Gahhgrrr berkic dahhh errr waa waa!".... It's as true today as it has ever been - Carlos Harmon

MARCH 26TH - YaYa is en route to opening night of her mesmerizing portrayal of Raja in Kipling's 'The Jungle Book'. Break a leg kiddo!

Congrats to Tennessee! Normally I bleed Big 10, but in this instance my respect for Bruce Pearl trumps conference loyalty. A heck of a game, start to finish.

MARCH 27TH - In addition to my earring, back in place after yrs, I also used Lisa's lhair dye to highlight my hair Thurs night. It adds body & dimension to what was already a stunning display of God's workmanship. I *wanted* to rough up the goatee by dyeing it blood red or growing it long enough to split and double-braid, BUT . . I guess, like my proposed Match Game logo tatoo, that's it's just *too cool* for Lisa to handle.

My Dad and I went to YaYa's play tonight and she did great - a lot more lines than I thought she'd have! Good job baby girl!

Congrats to the Pius Lady Popes for taking the Division 1 State title - and ending a drought that went on far too long!

MARCH 28TH - Every yr or two I'm drawn to studying the battle of Stalingrad, and it's that time again. I just finished Beevor's 'Stalingrad', a solid study of the battle that emphasizes the Kessel over the horrific urban warfare of Aug-Nov. Of course the Wermacht needed to be stopped, but the 6th Army deserved a better fate than what awaited them in Stalin's hands - & they certainly deserved a better General than Paulus.

Congrats to Duke and Coach K! Hot Dog! I'm only sorry Tenn couldn't outlast MI State, but man those were two great games (even if my viewing was interrupted by the Smurfs, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Caillou). I'll go on a limb and predict a Duke/MI State title, w/ my allegiance going to Duke.

MARCH 29TH - ‎"Have you ever paused to compare your own blessed lot with a fool's?/Can't you see how fortunate you are?/ [in grief] You have worn yourself out through ceaseless striving/you have filled your muscles with pain and anguish/And what have you acheived but to bring yourself/one day nearer to the end of your days?" - The Epic of Gilgamesh Book X

In America Sports, "Villian" and "Much Hated" simply mean "Damn Good" and "Consistently a Winner".


re: the discovery of the remains of Errol Flynn's son: I'm genuinely happy for the Flynn family, although I'm sure it's a bittersweet day for them. Sean Flynn, a well respected combat photographer, disappeared in SE Asia in 1970. You've probably seen the story on TV, or read about it in books on Vietnam, even if you've forgotten the name. It appears - although testing needs to be done - that his remains have finally been returned.

Caption under a pic of the USS Arizona, from the 1941 Army-Navy Game program booklet, dated November 28th 1941 - a week before Pearl Harbor - : "A bow on view of the U. S. S. Arizona as she plows into a huge swell. It is significant that despite the claims of air enthusiasts no battleship has yet been sunk by bombs."

‎"Only the gods live forever. Our days/are few in number, and whatever we acheive/is a puff of wind. Why be afraid then/since sooner or later death must come?" Epic of Gilgamesh Book III

I've finished reading the Epic of Gilgamesh, a poem written ~1750 B.C. in what is now Iraq. It's the tale of a heroic king who arrogantly angers his gods, who then strike down his only friend and equal. It is a story of friendship and loss, of the value of living life to the fullest and, pervesely, of the futility of human life. Powerful stuff, even from a distance of 4000 yrs.

Dr. Phil is playing in the living room; the Dr. Phil 'Family' to be precise. Question for the FB world -does anyone know what happened to the Mormon 'Dr. Phil Family' he used to help each week? The family w/ the hot, 'Danny Girl' Mom who had an affair w/ a man of a different race, got knocked up, gave the baby up for adoption and then finagled financial help from the adoptive parents? They just went AWOL. What gives?

Finally FINALLY got our van's transmission replaced after five months!! Of course, good w/ the bad, as I was pulling into the shop my Escort went belly-up. I had to push her in from the median and leave her in the parking lot. Lisa's bummed, but the way I look at it, that car was in need of work for a bit - 'twas nothing but the Grace of God that she held out until that moment. That'll do pig. That'll do.