Published writer, compulsive reader, Old School Whovian, Match Game enthusiast, NKOTB fan, data hoarder, and - surprisingly, given that list - married with four kids. Welcome to my take on life, fatherhood, entertainment, and whatever strikes my fancy. Enjoy!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
The Job Fair
@ job fair
2 comments: One, job fairs bring out a boatload of desperate people, myself included. Waited in line an hour & they said it would be the same or worse all day. Times are tough.
Two: Not the greatest interview of my life, which is sad since the bar is set rather low. I had to prompt him to bring up anything other than BN, which is least impressive part of the resume by far. What a shit way to kick off the 1st day of freedom (aka school year).
1st Day of School 2011
Today is the first day of school for the year, and the first day of school EVER for Junie!
Height and Weight Growth!
In a before school weigh/measure here at home, Smiley came in at 3# later than he did at the start of summer, and gained an INCH in height. He is now 55# and 48 1/2" tall.
I think that by 14 or 15 Smiley will pass me in height, and eventually in frame (tho' not weight, hopefully). You can tell he's got a body that's built for size, and there's not much baby fat on him at all. As for football, I can't quite picture Smiley wanting to play at this point - he's the most chicken little boy in the world, God love 'im - but hopefully, by high school he'll be ready.
Ya know, come to think of it, Junie towered over a lot of her class this morning. It can't be that she's older than her K4 classmate as she just turned four this month. LuLu, on the other hand, seems to take after my maternal Grandma!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
2011 fantasy draft
Less than half an hour until my fantasy football draft . . .
update -
Results:
1. Michael Turner RB Atlanta
2. Peyton Hills, RB Cleveland
3. Desean Jackson, WR Philly
4. Mario Manningham, WR, Giants
5. waived in trade
6. Sam Bradford, QB, St. Louis
7. Cedric Benson, RB, Cin
8. Lance Moore, WR, NO
9. New England D
10. Jay Cutler, QB, Bears
10. (compensation pick) Brandon Jacobs, RB, NYG
11. Johnny Knox, WR, Chicago
12. Gronkowski, TE, NE
13. Rob Bironas, K, Tennessee
14. Marcedes Lewis, TE, Jacksonville
15. Derrick Mason, WR, NYJ
16. Arizona, DEF
Friday, August 26, 2011
Another Eyebrow Scar
LuLu cracked open her eyebrow, hit heads w/ a friend on the trampoline. Sigh...maybe she just wanted to be in the eyebrow scar club? She's the third of our kids to get stitches in the same spot. What's the chance Lauren's eyebrow will be scar-less? - Lisa
Summer Is Almost Over
Can't believe summer vacay is almost over. Going to miss the unstructured cuddle time w/ the kids, with no need for matching socks or alarm clocks! But I'm sure the structure of school, volleyball, dance, scouts will be a welcome change-up too. First year that all 4 will be in school all day long....wow! Time flies when you're really busy!!! - Lisa
LuLu Gets Eyebrow Stiches
@ St Francis ER w/ the family. LuLu got hurt playing w/ a friend and got a decent slash above her right eye.
That sounds too dramatic. It's stitch worthy but hardly dire.
awww....she was so much braver then this pic depicts! - Lisa
finally out @ 840pm. Geez. 3 stitches btw, and she was a trooper
Hurricane Irene
I just saw a radar pic of hurricane Irene. Whoa. To anyone on the East coast, take care. Our prayers are w/ u
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
On my lunch yesterday I finished reading "Dune Messiah" by Frank Herbert. Once again, I walked away stunned by how effective Herbert was at creating the universe of Dune, right down to the different language and speech patterns. I greatly enjoyed it.
22 Runs??
22 to 9? Holy 27 rings Batman. The Yanks set a MLB record with 3 grand slams in a single game Thursday.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Look for me this Sunday
The Journal-Sentinel is going to publish a column I wrote about the 10th anniversary of 9/11. It'll be published in the Sunday edition of 9-11-11, the first time my writing will appear in the hallowed Sunday 'Crossroads' section.
Doctor Who Series 6
OK, I just finished the first disc of Series 6/Pt 1 of Doctor Who. I thought "The Curse of the Black Spot" was lame, lame, lame, and in retrospect I shoulda/coulda/woulda fast forwarded the whole dang thing. OTOH, "The Doctor's Wife", the episode written (mostly) by Neil Gaiman, rocked. I love the notion of the TARDIS interacting with the Doctor, and I'm pleased to see a bit of the mythology expanded upon - a pretty neat trick for a show in it's 48th year.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Sports Illustrated Issue with the Brewers on the Cover
This is going to earn me more anger than it's worth, but I wish all the Brewers fans clamoring for a copy of SI would nut up and quit acting like rubes. We are a large metropolitan area with a franchise in its fifth decade, and yet the cover of SI inspires such childlike idiocy. Good grief - a DT from Nebraska was last week's coverboy! To paraphrase Lombardi, Milwaukee, act like you've been there before.
(BTW, belated congrats to Prince Fielder for becoming the first MLB player in 2011 to notch 100 RBI's.)
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
On Gadhafi
While the world seems all giddy-goo over the likely fall of Gadhafi, I call B.S. You're ditching a known but neutered bad guy in exchange for a bunch of unknowns who will - I'm sure - install a fair, democratic gov't that is pro-US & believes in equality of the sexes, the right of Israel to exist, & freedom of speech. OR they'll install a Sharia gov't that'll serve as the Iraq for the next generation of American soldiers. Either/or. What a crock.
fred, let's try to speak tonight, once i get some more who under my belt
Better Off Ted
A few nights ago we finished up season 1 of "Better Off Ted". It was a very funny, very well written show that deserved more than the chance it received.
Cronos
I watched the Mexican horror film 'Cronos' last night, the 1993 directorial debut of Guillermo del Toro. I liked it, and actually thought it was very sweet at times.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Audrey Rose
Watched the '76 horror flick "Audrey Rose" starring Anthony Hopkins. Awful, boring, and lame.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Quote
"The best lie is silence. It's consistent, it speaks volumes and you never have to remember what you said last time if you remember that the last time you said nothing." - Steven Moffatt
Thanks Fred!
My friend Fred sent me the new season of Doctor Who via BBC America (all praise Fred!). "The Impossible Astronaut", the series opener, was a grand Who tale full of action, humor, and twists. Moffatt is a hell of a writer, and Dr. Who is lucky to have him at the helm. Also, Farscape's S4E5 "Promises" was excellent, just a prime example of why the show deserves more attention than it gets.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Farscape: House of Cards by Keith R.A. DeCandido
I finished reading 'Farscape: House of Cards' by Keith R.A. DeCandido. I read a scathing review of it on a fan site, but it was a fine novel for what it was, and it captured the character's voices very well. As for the review, chalk it up to typical fandom b.s.: namely, a belief that u & u alone are the guardian of all that is 'true' and good in ur niche of the sci-fi universe. It's that mentality that gives sci-fi fans a bad name. W
Saturday, August 13, 2011
That's Why
On why she became a writer: I didn't want to work. It was as simple as that. I distrusted work, disliked it. I thought it was a very bad thing that the human race had unfortunately invented for itself.
-- Agatha Christie
Friday, August 12, 2011
The Monkey Bars
@the park w/ the kids. Lu is zipping along on the monkey bars. Meanwhile Smiley who threw up 3x today, is sitting w/ me. He just scolded the girls for going up the slide - a daddy in training
my sick boy :(
and here's a pic at the house
Found it!
@ long last I found YaYa's missing volleyball (she's never even had the chance to see it; it vanished the day we bought it). To think, if before today I'd only lifted the entire ten foot trampoline by myself, balanced part of it on my back, and hacked through weeds the size of mature marijuana plants to discover it in the foliage layer beneath it, we'd have found it before. How could I have been so lazy in my prior searches?
A Question
Serious query: IIRC the income tax was enacted ~ WWI. How did the fed gov't raise revenue in the 140 yrs before that? Sure, they didn't have SS, Medicare, and 1000 useless cabinet positions, BUT it was still a world power that funded the Civil War, The Great White Fleet, the construction of canals, dams, etc. So where did the $ come from, and is it still a viable source of moolah?
102 Minutes: The Untold Story of The Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn
On lunch at work I finished reading '102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers' by Jim Dwyer & Kevin Flynn. Powerful stuff, and very well written. I recommend it, especially given the upcoming 10th anniversary. I will say that a few times I caught the authors repeating information. Whether or not that was sloppy editing or a fault of the division of labor (or both), it was jarring each time it happened.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
News
Forces in Afghanistan have wiped out the Taliban group that downed the US Special Forces chopper; a case of too little too late. Closer to home I'm happy I no longer have to suffer through back-to-back political ads, and even happier that the silent majority stepped up again and did what needed doing. The will of the people is the law of the land, and no amount of chanting & obnoxious protests will change that.
Monday, August 8, 2011
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