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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Parker chatter

Lisa just called to say I'd have to remove the dryer vent when I get home. 

"Why?" I asked, a little pissy. The thing had just been installed, then taken out and replaced when the contractors sealed the new glass block windows.

"Because you hadn't replaced the outside cover yet, and so Parker decided to dump two pairs of shoes down the vent," she said.

That little bugger . .I'm sure he will be the class clown. He always has a smile on his face and THE Hollywood-perfect look of mischief in his eyes.

He's even begun to tolerate me, throwing a shoulder against me (his best version of a hug for his Daddy) when his Mom asks him to, but still grunting and barking when I ask him on my own.

He's Momma's boy right now, always quick to hug and cuddle with her.

We've still got him in his crib, tho' he FINALLY crawled out of it on his own shortly after we moved into the house. We've since installed the handy dandy crib tent to confine him.

He's also very behind on his speech. He will say 'mom' and 'bye', and as recorded here he once said 'lub  you too', but that's it. He doesn't speak - he grunts.

He knows what's going on and understands you just fine, and I believe he thinks in sentences. He just doesn't say it.

More on P-Diddy Wee Diddy later.

Jerry Falwell Dead

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who founded the Moral Majority and built the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University, a school executive said. He was 73.

I'm not sure why I'm writing about Falwell's death, since I know next to nothing about him. I was simply shocked to see the headline on Drudgereport and felt the need to repost it here.

I'm serious when I say I don't know much about him, or any televangelists for that matter. My Mom sternly forbid us from watching so much as a second of the 700 Club as a child, or any of the host of preachers on TV in the '80's.

Weird - even today I feel strongly creeped out about the subject, like it would be akin to watching a cult.

The things that stick with you from childhood.

[admission: Sometimes I do watch Pastor Scott for a minute or two on cable, but not for the sermon. She's just pretty yummy. Shame she's probably as upright and pure as she seems :)]

Friday, May 11, 2007

YaYa's K5 picture

Here's YaYa's kindergarten photo. Personally, the wife and I think she looks goofy, and for that reason we orginally skipped getting a copy. A month or so I got to thinking that it would look awkward having a one-year gap in the photo record so we ordered a copy directly from the photographer.

We toured another school, a public one, this morning. It was, honestly, awe-inspiring. Less impressive building, older interior, crowded classrooms, a more casual dress code . . and Kindergarten work on the walls that blew the socks off of our current school.

I'm talking about full page stories the kids thought up and wrote down in nice, neat handwriting.

Because her birthday is past the cutoff point YaYa might have to repeat K5 if she goes there but that might be for the best. We went in there bragging to their staff about YaYa being able to read and write. Then we walked straight into that homework display.

It was like bragging about your fastball and then running into Roger Clemens on the playground.

So why go there at all? A myriad of reasons, not the least of which is my kids are/probably always will be the poorest at her current school.

Some folks there drive Lexus's, others brand new Toyota's. I drive a '94 Aspire.

But that isn't the only reason. I guess I'll shut up about it unless/until we decide for sure to move her, but my faith in private school is certainly shaken a tad.

Lots to think about.

BTW - today is the 16th anniversary of my confrimation in the Catholic Church. [17th? Naw, I'm sure it was '91]. No real reason to remember it, save for the fact that my wife and I were talking about how rapidly my life changed at 20. I told her I actually had two epihanies, one then and one on a retreat before my confirmation when I realized I didn't want to be the quiet, reserved guy anymore; that all the people I admired were outgoing and talkative.

I never quite made the jump, at least not fully, but it marked a sharp turn in my life.

Amazing what I guy remembers.

How our purchase of Nostalgia Ave affected LuLu

First off, I'm not sure if it should read 'effected' or 'affected'. Reckon I should have checked on that before making it the title of the post.

We're going to skip ahead a little bit because an event of this week ties in with what transpired Feb 1st.

After we bought the house we realized that it was impractical to keep LuLu in her school. It was 10-12 minutes north of our old place, and would  be a 20-25 minute ride once we made the move.

Also part of the discussion was the financial end of things. That $200/month tution looked mighty large once our housing payment tripled in size.

With reluctance - with sadness and regret - we decided to pull her out of K3.

Her last day was Feb 1st, a Thursday during Catholic Schools Week. That afternoon the school held a dance. We came in the midst of it and went with her class back to their classroom.

We had homemade cupcakes coated in Nerds candy.

 [Lu was/is cupcake obsessed. For 9 months or more she has consistently brought up the subject of her upcoming 4th birthday and the cupcakes she desires to celebrate it. If you anger her or hurt her feelings she will quickly announce "You not have any cupcakes on my birthday!"]

Then I led the kids in the TootyTot dance. It's a ridiculous song where you wind up with thumbs up, knees together, elbows back, feet apart, tongue out, eyes shut, and spinning around.

The class seemed a little confused at the sight of a 300# man acting like a fool.

Part of my sadness that day was the strong feeling that we would have bit the bullet and kept YaYa there if it had transpired two years ago. A part of me thought we were shafting Lu, but I know in my heart that it was both impractical and foolish to keep running across town for of all things a K3 class.

This is Lu with her teacher Ms. Weiser

This Monday Lu and I returned to the school, to keep a long held promise that I'd have her visit with her old friends. They were all happy to see her, from the kids to Ms. Weiser to the office staff and the music teacher, but Lu herself played shy and didn't say a word to anyone.

What was worth noting was that despite saying she didn't miss school for these past three months, once she set foot in the building she was eager to show me all the different ways to get her or there, and which door led to what room, etc.

She even seemed to get over some comical anger at her friend Autumn. Lo' these many months she was quick to say "I don't like Autumn. She not my friend. She a tattletale."

But once we saw her, it was "Can she come over?"

Lu also talked constantly about her 'friend' Montarian. In truth her teacher said they rarely talked and even more rarely hung out together, but Lu seems fascinated with the name itself.

After the school visit Lu and I went to the Washington Park Library, where she gave a puppet show in the giant wooden robot/stage they have there. We then went to the West Allis police station to pay a parking ticket and got McDonalds.

A nice day together, just Lu and her Daddy.

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Dance Pics 2007

Here's this years crop of official dance portraits. This is LuLu's first:

and YaYa's 3rd.

I'm not sure why they loaded so small. When I'm done with the post I'll try to correct the problem.

I have no idea what dance YaYa's doing but Lu does a charming little "Hey Daddy, I want a diamond ring, bracelets, everything, etc" number.

Today she sang out "Hey Mommy, I love my Daddy" to the tune. :)

[Lisa herself took dance on Monday's, the same as the girls, but recently dropped out as the pregnancy progesses. Man let me tell you, the months have flown by with this pregnancy. Six months in already? Wow.]

[The 6th also marked my 6 month anniversary without a cigarrette. I celebrated by gaining another three pounds]

Their recital is coming up so look for more pics of the crowd at the show.  


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Thursday, May 10, 2007

Lost: The Man Behind the Curtain

A hell of an episode, start to finish. Heck, I even liked Locke now and then!

So Ben is a disturbed killer who murdered his own father and played a role in slaying his people, the members of the Dharma project - an event called the  'Purge'. The Others are really the "Hostiles" and may or may not be both immortal and descended from the Black Rock.

Jacob is real, but invisible to all but Locke and Ben - or can Ben not seem him either? That would explain the anger that led to his 'murder' of Locke, since it would seem Locke is the one destined for Other greatness, not Ben.

Jack is still on the right team, and still in command of the Losties. Good for him, and the show.

I really enjoyed the episode, and I'm pleased to hear the show is renewed through 2010.

On the other hand I have ignored the final season of the Sopranos. I'll probably watch it, but right now the idea of sitting  in front of the tv for it just makes me ill - and I don't know why.

 

 


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Another Boring Book Review - High Profile

I just finished Robert B. Parker's High Profile, a Jesse Stone novel.

While it is true that I normally binge on an author's work before tiring of him and moving on, it just happens that I picked up this book because of it's pretty cover.

Gotta love that Library glossy plastic dustjacket.

It's a pretty good read. As usual, Jesse needs to kick his kooky ex to the curb, and as usual he doesn't.

Beyond that, a fine little mystery set in fictional Paradise Mass.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Weight Loss, Lost, Misc. Junk and Baseball

So I now weigh 5 pounds MORE than I did 50 weeks ago when I started Weight Watchers.

On the plus side (no pun intended) the 6th of May will mark 6 months without so much as a drag of a cigarette.

I suppose it's time to 'recommit'. I need to stop using the smoking as a (legitimate) reason to stuff my face and get back on the program.

Oh, man will that suck for awhile.

* * * * *
Lost is back on track, and answering questions at a startling rate. Now granted, some of these 'answers' have long been deduced by diehard fans (Locke's Dad is the 'real' Sawyer? Oh my, didn't see THAT coming) but its still great to see the confirmation.

So is there new life - again, no pun intended - in my theory that the characters are dead and in purgatory?

Probably not - the 'crash' scene was probably a ruse to divert attention from the true site, and all these 'you're dead' lines will wind up being so many red herrings.

My theories:

1. Kate is pregnant by Sawyer.

2. Cooper is either a) a manifestation of the island and not real  b)soon to be resurrected by the isle and/or c) both

3. Jack and Juliet are in cahoots in an end-around against Ben and his plan.  Possibly a wheels-within-wheels plan between Ben and Juliet in there too - we'll see.

4. Naomi is another Henry Gale, an inflitrator for the Others.

I'm enjoying the season and can't wait for the finale.

* * * *

The Yankees are looking mighty pathetic so far this year. It's too early to say adios to the season, but they need to turn it on.

On the flip side the Brewers are rocking the National League Central. I guess every 25 years - 1957, 1982, today - the city manages to produce a winner.

I hope :)

* * *

I am deeply disappointed with my home office. It is everything I thought it would be, but I feel disconnected from the family when I use it. I'm used to having the computer in the living room with the TV; now it's in a seperate room all by it's lonesome.

That'll take some getting used to.

The Possum

Here's some photos of YaYa at my work. Sometimes it made more sense to bring her back to work with me after school, rather than journey all the way back to our old house.

Here's my bulletin board. Note all the girls' drawings/photos and the horrid reminder of my term as AOL's First Guest Editor. The dinosaur is from LuLu.

Normally she'd snatch something to eat and then go on barbie.com, pollypocket.com, or disneychannel.com on my laptop.

This particular day a possum was out in the parking lot. I've seen deer, hawks, possums, snakes (caught one and had YaYa hold it), Praying Mantis, and coyotes in my years there.

Which is dang odd, considering I'm smack dab in an established commercial area in the midst of the city.


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Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Hundred Dollar Baby

I just finished Robert B. Parker's Hundred Dollar Baby. 

April Kyle, a troubled teenager Spenser turned over to the care of a NY Madam decades ago (over the course of two novels) is now a Madam of her own. When her high-class brothel is threatened by goons looking to extort her she hires Spenser to take care of the problem. What follows is a web of  lies, murder, and tragedy.

In my opinion, this is a fine return to form after years of watered-down, predictable  novels. The writing is sharp, the normally nauseating Susan-Spenser love surprisingly tender, the plot engaging (for this character driven series) and the expansion of April Kyle's character entertaining.

As usual, in a nod to his own two gay sons, Parker uses the homosexual Teddy Sapp in the book. Unlike previous efforts, when he beat you over the head with it to prove a point,the character's sexuality is not much of an issue.  Some might also say Susan is annoying - and she is - but for Pete's sake she's been around 30 years; give up on Parker dumping her character, will ya?

A highly recommended book. Check it out.