An afternoon at Bradford Beach

This afternoon I took my four kids and YaYa's friend Anna down to Bradford beach - alone. Yikes. It went smoothly, and we spent 2 1/2 hours down there enjoying the water and playing in the sand. Those who know me well know that although I don't avoid the water since the drowning incident, I traditionally wouldn't think of taking the kids to a pool/lake alone. This was progress.

This Afternoon

This afternoon I took my four kids and YaYa's friend Anna down to Bradford beach - alone. Yikes. It went smoothly, and we spent 2 1/2 hours down there enjoying the water and playing in the sand. Those who know me well know that although I don't avoid the water since the drowning incident, I traditionally wouldn't think of taking the kids to a pool/lake alone. This was progress.

The Adjustment Bureau

We just got done watching "The Adjustment Bureau" w/ Matt Damon. It was a good flick, but nothing earth shattering.

The Warren, Arkansas Tornado of 1949

Today I spoke to an old black man who told me about a tornado that hit his farm on Jan 3, '49, when he was 14 yrs old ("I never forgot the date"). His family survived but his house "exploded" and "one black man" was killed; the tornado moved on to nearby Warren AK & killed 54 whites. 

The man claimed angry white residents wanted to even the score by their own hand, but I can find no record of that in the limited web search I did to verify the story.

Specifically, he said that white residents "said God must have been a nig*er that day" because of the uneven death toll.

He said he and his Dad were in the barn and were cut and bruised, but that his Mom, who was in the field, was thrown a distance but uninjured. He also told me the name of the dead black man, but I only remember the first name of Jimmy. He said his Dad found debris in their field from farms 40 miles away.

Amy Winehouse

RIP Amy Winehouse, dead at the appropriate rock star age of 27

30 Rock

Last night Lis & I finished streaming season 1 of '30 Rock'. I remain a tepid fan of Tina Fey, but the show itself is LOL funny, and Alec Baldwin is *so damn good *  I  completely forgive him for being a whackadoodle Democrat. I look forward to watching Season 2, right after we catch up on the second season of Teen Mom.

Paper Mache Art

It. is. Hot

A - Current temp, according to JSOnline? 93 degrees, w/ a 'feels like' of 99. The temperature at chest level on my back porch, according to our outdoor thermometer? 120 degrees PLUS. And yes, it works. B - That dog bite is really throbbing today, and I have a full day of work ahead to make sure it feels real purty. Yay Me.

A Fight . . . at College for Kids?

I just took a call from a UWM administrator who said that Yaya and LuLu got in a fistfight with each other over a pony tail holder. I think I squashed it over the phone w/ copious threats of violence of my own, but c'mon -only my ^%* kids could be expelled from college before they even graduate grade school.

I love the rain

outside on the porch, enjoying the rain and thunder. The air smells funky tho, like it does when you clean out a fish tank. Odd.

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

Lisa polished off Jaycee Dugard's book in under a day. She enjoyed it (as much as you can enjoy something of that nature) but noted that the book was very simply written, as befitting someone with a 5th grade education (or a ghostwriter matching the voice of the subject).

Winne-the-Pooh

Today, as planned for weeks, Lisa took junie to see the new Winnie The Pooh movie. It was her 'special day' while the other kids enjoyed College for Kids at UWM. Aside from the insanely high ticket prices for a kids matinee, they had a great time. I'm told the movie was sweet, funny, and the perfect length to keep a three year old entertained. A nice mother/daughter day.

Dog Bite

Just got bit by a dog at a friend's house. One second it's happy & wagging its tail, the next it's taking a chunk out of my leg. Any dog'll turn - bet on it. It's not horrific, or I'd have better things to do right now than update social media, but he took a nice little morsel of Stud Steak from my upper leg. Lisa says it needs stiches, but "since you're not a a girl, or pretty, I guess you can just let it mend on its own"

Update: it's fine folks. Ugly and swollen and sore to the touch, but I repeat: a weight induced heart attack or stroke will be my undoing, not the bite of some mutt.

Fireflies in the Daylight

My Owie

[REC]2

There was a point in the film [REC]2 when I paused the DVD and literally said "Wow!". With a single short scene this foreign language sequel stepped outside the tired limits of the genre and created something new, a glorious mix of horror staples turned on their head. (and it was scary too). Well done. Well bleepin' done. I am sooooo happy right now; I love a well done story.

Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan

finished reading 'Very Bad Men' by Harry Dolan, a well written and moody mystery set in Michigan. Worth a read.

Behind the Burly Q

Last night Lisa & watched "Behind the Burly Q" a documentary about the rise and fall of Burlesque. While the subject matter is mildly adult, it's a fun and nostalgic 90 minutes, and features interviews w/ Alan Alda (son of a Burlesque dancer and singer) and the daughter of Burlesque comedian Lou Costello (of Abbot and Costello). Fun to watch, but melancholy, as many of the interview subjects have since passed away.

At the playground

@ the fernwood playset w/ lisa, smiley and junie

btw overprotective parents/grandparents SUCK @ a playset. The kid should b able to handle a playset w/out u issuing 500 caveats. If they are dumb enough to die on a plastic slide, then neither God nor Darwin wants 'em around anyhow.

A Certain Point

You know you've reached a certain age and weight when you complain about pain in your arm & your wife asks if u have chest pain too. U know you've reached a certain point in ur marriage when she asks it & sounds hopeful.

My Afternoon

@ the art museum w/ Junie. that went better than expected. Now @ uwm union waiting on the rest of the kids

Vanishing on 7th Street

Saw "Vanishing on 7th Street'. Bad acting, bad everything. I wish this had vanished from my queue.

The Fighter

You know how I've said the Best Picture Oscar should have gone to "Social Network" instead of the overrated "King's Speech"? I take it back. KS still didn't deserve the nod, but "The Fighter" did.  We streamed it last night on Netflix and it was wonderful.

The Viewmaster

in the van, waiting on Lu's return from a scout trip. Junie is in the front seat w/ me, using a Viewmaster I had as a kid to "take picshures" of a doggy in a nearby window. 

April 1st thru the 11th

April 1st

B4 school we sat the kids down & told them plans for Lu to get her own room were scrapped because, vasectomy doc be damned, we found out we were going to have another baby. It was an April Fool's joke and they totally bought it. Still, their reactions were a surprise. YaYa was happy (!?), LuLu was upset, and the two little ones didn't know how to react but seemed pleased. It's a shame it was just a joke.




April 2nd

I just finished reading Felix Gilman's "The Half-Made World". It is a beautiful, lyrical novel that will never get its due because its part of the 'steampunk' genre. But know this: rarely did three pages go by before I was again awed by his ability to capture a moment or a thought with the perfect, economical use of words. Easily the best written book I've read this year.

Lisa, to a Lump dressed in a velvet skirt, mismatched oversized boots she borrowed from her siblings, no shirt, and a large multi-colored bow tie she swiped from a clown costume: "Lump, LuLu's friend is almost here to pick her up. Go upstairs and stay out of sight until they're gone. We need to hide your . . . odd ways."

Lump has dark, beautiful long eye lashes. You're welcome kid.




April 3rd my friend Erv's 37th bday

Maupassant used to advise, “Get black on white.”

James Thurber: “Don't get it right, just get it written."

Lisa bought the two oldest tiny cross stitch kits to entertain them while introducing them to the craft. Sadly, they worked on it for a day before misplacing bits of it.





April 4th

Gotta love the honesty from CBS during halftime of the NCAA Championship game: Worst half of championship basketball ever. Awful. Sad. A competition to see who can play worse. A horrible showcase for the NCAA, etc.

Not the greatest start to the MLB season, finishing today with a record of only 3 -1. Ah well, we'll do better. I speak of course, of my beloved Yankees. My hometown Brewers, OTOH, stand at 0-4. I do count myself as a Brewers fan, but 37 years of dissapointment has tempered my confidence. I'm not a Cubs fan - every half century or so I'd like to see a championship.

Arod, Greatest of the Great, sits at .357 with 2 doubles, 2 homers, 3 walks, and 4 RBI's in four games. I bow to thee!

Oooo! There might be a revival of the late great Goldman's store here in town

April 5th - my Mom's 64th birthday/voting day

00:12: Ok, bedtime folks. If you're in WI, please go out and vote tomorrow (unless you plan to vote for someone other than Stone and Prosser, in which case take a siesta from voting and relax at home with a beer. Go ahead, I won't mind - and future Milwaukee County residents will thank you!)


If you want my predictions for the local election: I think Prosser takes the W, Abele grabs the County Exec, and the Bay View hating Terry Falk keeps his school board seat.



[I was right on all counts, but what a rocky road it would be to get there]

Here are some nature shots I took on the walk home from the polling place





From Lisa: I love you hunny....


April 6th

"We've done really well with teenage death songs"
- Eddie Vedder, on "Lost Dogs" liner notes for 'Last Kiss'



April 7th

Justice David Prosser picked up more than 7,000 votes and took the lead in the Supreme Court case after a reporting flub in Waukesha County. Yowsas - great news, but cue the conspiracy stories.

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” - Edmund Burke

"I like my beasts fast and my bass down low, put it on my headstone yo!" - Lisa

We just finished watching Christina Aguliera in "Burlesque". I'm not sure why the reviews I read last year were bad. Sure, the plot was predictable, but what, you rented it expecting The French Connection? The music was good, the women were hot, and the romance was sweet. I liked it.

April 8th

Manny Ramirez has chosen to retire from baseball rather than face a ban for testing postive for banned substances. Wow.

off of work and straight to doc w/ Lump for an earache/drainage

[this was a bad infection. She'd complained her 'tooth' hurt for days, and we were waiting for her dentist to return from vacation to schedule an appt, but once her ear drained the way it did - ickily, it ran down her cheek - it was obvious her ear and not her tooth was the problem. She took antibiotics for ten days and on a follow up had a clean bill of health]

April 9th

"Unless you're ashamed of yourself now and then, you're not honest." - William Faulkner

You needed to contain a story like a disease, before it spread. - Edward Conlon

Superstition brings bad luck. —Raymond Smullyan


April 10th

"When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras"

A beautiful warm day, a fresh column off to the paper, a short day of work ahead of me, and then a day off w/out any (known) obligations Monday. Sounds good to me.


April 11th

"The Winklevosses are not the first parties bested by a competitor who then seek to gain through litigation what they were unable to achieve in the marketplace," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski. "At some point, litigation must come to an end. That point has now been reached." - judge rules Facebook settlement stands