A Full Day

Sunday being my designated Project Day, I did the following, most of it with Lu's help: put up the outdoor Christmas lights, weatherized the outside cellar door, cleaned the backyard, sealed off the interior cellar door for the winter, did some grocery shopping, fixed the step machine, got rid of three boxes of crap in the basement, put Lisa's NKOTB jackets and sleeping bag in vacumm seal bags, and put 40# of sand in the base of the boxing bag stand. Candy Cane lane looks doubtful, in part because I'm pooped, in part because Junie and Smiley were absolutely no help at all on any of the projects.

Paul Walker

I didn't know Paul Walker as an actor, haven't seen any Fast & the Furious movies, and don't remember him in Pleasantville. Still, a human is a human, so RIP.

We Blew It (but innocently)

YaYa is upset we put up the tree in her absence. She was there when we bought it but headed out to Grandma's before the decorating. But as I told her, Mom did 96% of it, as she always does, because she likes her tree just so; all the rugrats did was hand her some ornaments and hang a couple at the end. They were also stuck going to Mass, cleaning the yard, and putting away laundry; think she'd still want to trade places with them? :)

The Christmas Tree Kerfluffle

.....You do this every year.. without me.- YaYa

That's horrible Dan! U should wait for grace n I this is the 2nd year I can remember u guys put it up without her... Smh... - Mindy

^ THANK YOU MINDY  - YaYa

*keeping my mouth shut, bp through the roof*

Bp? - Mindy

Blood pressure.... Not his fault or doing. All me. Take it up with me. I almost always do it black Friday, like my mama before me. Also prefer to do most of it Alone as I'm picky. Judge as u will :)   - Lisa

Note: YaYa is upset we put up the tree in her absence. She was there when we bought it but headed out to Grandma's before the decorating. But as I told her, Mom did 96% of it, as she always does, because she likes her tree just so; all the rug rats did was hand her some ornaments and hang a couple at the end. They were also stuck going to Mass, cleaning the yard, and putting away laundry; think she'd still want to trade places with them? :)

Black Friday 2013

Longest line of the day? Joann Fabrics, of all places, where the line not only snaked around a roped off queue but continued down about 40% of the store's considerable length. Second place? Easily Kmart, where the line was awe-inspiring but rather quick. No line of note at Dollar Tree.

Alas, the one item I needed to buy on Black Friday I failed to procure, and off-sale I may not be able to pull it off this Christmas. Won't be the first time I've had to improvise, but . . . sigh. I did get a few deals on smaller items last night, and *fingers crossed* my co-workers hopefully scored on two items for me earlier this morning. So far today we've cleaned and rearranged the living room and we're gearing up to go buy a Christmas tree, with some talk we may cut one down ourselves. 

Happy Black Friday everyone.

Jane Kean

RIP 90 year old Jane Kean, aka "Trixie"  from the Honeymooners :(

Don't Bathe a Cat

Happy 45th Birthday Jon Knight!

Also this AM - the kids decided to bathe our cat Angelcakes. Allegedly this was for her benefit, but in reality it was just a few minutes of authorized idiocy for the kids. Now I've got a bathtub that smells like the pis* of a scared kitty, cat hair all over the tub, a rumpled but cleaner, emotionally scarred cat, and three towels coated with wet cat hair. 

Yay Team Slap!

Wow

A video for the song "The Way" by Ariana Grande just came on the TV. I swear to Gawd, for weeks I've heard this on the radio and thought it was a surprisingly good Mariah Carey tune. That girl has some pipes!

Frustration

"Tolzein would have been on his back or throwing INT's [today], we saw 3 losses with him, I don't need to see anymore" You're an idiot, sir. This is a poorly constructed, shoddily coached Packers team, currently led by a QB [Flynn] that is a favorite of the coach despite being laughed off the roster of many a better team. Where are all the Matt Flynn/Ted Thompson fanboys now?

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

Went out to dinner with the in-laws, Lisa, and the two youngest - Lu was invited to a friend's celebration and YaYa was babysitting. Good food, good time and good company. Then it was home for a nap before hitting the stores for some early Black Friday deals. You don't like shopping on Thanksgiving? Move to Russia you commie scum. :)

Wal-Mart was busy but calm, but almost every advertised item was sold out by the time I entered the store. Unexpected deals on smaller items however, so it might be worth your time tonight. Walgreens slower than usual. K-Mart seemed busy but I didn't stop in. I have two people hitting Menards on my behalf at 6am. I'd ask for people here on FB to keep an eye out for deals on item X for Christmas, but since YaYa  is on FB now that avenue is closed lol

Junie

Chicken Soup

Best Dang Chicken Soup we've found at the grocer

Wait a Sec

SPOILERS: With the War Doctor now worthy of the name "Doctor" isn't Eccleston now offically the 10th Doctor, Tennant the 11th, etc.?

The Day of the Doctor

small SPOILERS: It was my great honor to re-watch "The Day of the Doctor" today, this time with all four kids. Not only did they watch with rapt attention, they asked to watch a Doctor Who special afterwards, even when I gave them free reign of the remote. They also displayed copious amounts of Whovian knowledge - OJ spotted the re-numbering of the Doctors, and called out the apparent conflict with the canonical # of Time Lord regenerations; YaYa spotted the fourth Doctor and asked for a copy of his scarf, and Junie, God Bless her, asked: "How can it [the TARDIS] be biggah on the inside?" :)

Puzzles the Library Dog

There is a service dog that comes and visits are Library, Last Saturday "Puzzles" was at the Franklin library, and OJ read to the dog.  I scheduled another appointment for Dec. 14 to see if another grandchild would like to read to Puzzels.  Puzzels is the sweetest dogl, besides Lady, that I know of.  Here is a picture. - Jeanne

Manning You Let me Down

Andddddd, with Peyton Manning's lame fantasy stats yesterday, I lost my game by a hair and fall to 5-7, ending the playoff hopes for the Bay View Slapjacks. Curse you Denver, home of that vile Elway!

A Strip Tease at the Thrift Store

So Lisa and I spent part of the morning on the road, and at one point stopped at a Goodwill. While we were there we kept crossing paths with a gorgeous young Asian woman. Or, if you want to be fair and view it from her perspective, she kept crossing paths with a gorgeous middle aged Pole. 

Anyhow, fast forward to the checkout lane. Lisa waited in line while I wandered to a Christmas display in the showcase. I glanced up and saw the woman enter one of the dressing rooms. Nothing unusual there. Except she didn't close the door. She didn't even attempt to *not* prop it open. And there, in full view, she began to unbutton her blouse and slowly slipped it off, taking her time while she unbuttoned the shirt she was going to try on . . . 

"Dan," Lisa said.

"In a minute" I replied

"I just need to know if there are any Santa pins in that display."

"Yeah, ok, just a sec"

"Her boobs will be there when you're done looking. Just glance to your right and tell me if there are any Santa pins"

[there weren't - what a waste of my time! Ugh! Wives!]

Later the woman came out of the dressing room and got in the next line over. She bought only a pair of infant sleepers. 

"Where were the clothes she tried on?" I asked Lisa. "She didn't put any away."

"I think she probably wore them out of the store," she said. 

"You think so? Why didn't you tell the manager?," I said. 

"He saw her show too. You think he cares about a $1.50 shirt? Would you?"

Good point.

What Were They Thinking?

Just got up from the basement and discovered that the load of laundry the kids had done had apparently gone unbalanced, stopping the load. No big wup, as it had included some bedding and the fancy new washer is too sensitive to proceed if it detects a drop in municipal bond rates in Finland. 

BUT, my kids ignored that fact and took the dripping, soaking laundry and tossed it in the dryer. The damn dryer was literally dripping water, and this, what - six hours after it was put in there? Ugh. Sometimes the cats have better commons sense.

Interested?

Still haven't seen the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who, BTW, as I'll be damned if I watch it while making dinner, breaking up arguments, or yick-yapping like I had to do during the bout. If I don't get around to watching it today on the DVR, is anyone interested in seeing it tonight on the big screen?

RIP to the Microwave

We had a bit of a scare yesterday. LuLu reported smelling a bad odor, like burning plastic, and while I ignored her at first (she reacts to smells like I react to rodents) the odor was soon undeniable. We couldn't locate a source for it, and after a good while I had to contemplate that maybe something was wrong with the wiring in the walls, and wouldn't that just be a grand start to the Christmas season? Thankfully we at last discovered that it was the microwave. It wasn't running, but something in the motor had shorted out and it was going to go Chernobyl. So, we're down a microwave. Not a wallet breaker, but certainly a wallet-bruiser at this time of year.Junie was panicked, saying we'd have no way to cook. I answered by rapping my knuckles on the stove. "Uh, yeah wight Dad," she said. "how we cook soup or popcorn on dat?"

Pacquiao/Rios

Finally got around to watching the Pacquiao/Rios match last night. I know it's supposedly evidence that Pacquiao is 'back', but would a journeyman like Rios have gone the distance five years ago, much less avoided hitting the canvas once? Eh, I'm not sold. I did get Olivia to watch it with me, largely (I think) on the strength of Jessica Sanchez' grand rendetition of both national anthems, which nailed her to her seat. Parker watched a few rounds and wanted to know what the No-Swell/End-Swell was, while Lauren was aghast at the cut above Rios' eye and asked me what happened, which shows a charming lack of attention to what she supposedly watches! LOL

The Boxing Area

I'm doing my best to ignore my children as they argue non-stop this morning. Anywho, yesterday Smiley and I cleaned out a good chunk of the basement and set up a workout area: a step machine, the boxing bag, weight bench, and even a wall-mounted cabinet to hold our gloves and wraps. The thing is, while I didn't mind the workout it took to get the area together, now that I see all the equipment sitting there all purty and stuff . . . I reallllllllllllllllllllly don't feel like using it! LOL

My Junie

Doctor Who - The 50th Anniversary

Following exactly one day after JFK’s assassination, another event that loomed large in my childhood took place: Doctor Who, a low budget children’s sci-fi show, premiered on the BBC.

As with Kennedy, I didn’t become aware of the phenomenon until the 1980’s. By that time, if I can get my own memories in sync with the chronology, they were already on the Fifth incarnation of the Doctor (Peter Davison) and it had become a worldwide cult favorite.

I don’t remember where I saw my first Who, or when, but I remember gobbling up the slim Target novelizations of each episode and imagining what the companions looked like, so it was at best a fleeting glimpse of the show itself.

Later, a PBS station here in Milwaukee began playing Doctor Who in chronological order every night at 10pm, one half hour episode at a time. I’d often pull up a chair in my Grandma’s kitchen and watch it with her – oh! The sacrifices she made for me! I enjoyed Hartnell, was not as in love with Troughton as most people seem to be, adored Pertwee (still my favorite Doctor) and was fond but not overjoyed with Tom Baker, etc.

Did I mention I fell immediately in love with Sarah Jane Smith, and still feel a pitter-patter at the mere mention of her name?

Around the time the PBS station caught up with the Davison era I stumbled upon a Madison affiliate that was broadcasting the very first episode of the 7^th Doctor! It was probably a year old by then, but no matter; to me I was blown away at the “awesome” special effects, which seemed sooooo much more advanced than the rubber suit monsters I’d been watching every night!

I joined a national Who fan club and subscribed to their newspaper, once writing in and objecting to their casting the BBC of the “enemy”, and getting a personal response in turn. I had a Doctor Who mug, and a Tardis key on my key ring. My Mom crocheted me a reasonable facsimile of Tom Baker’s scarf that I still use. For my 15^th birthday my Grandma bought me a retrospective of the show’s first quarter century. I frequented the Turning Page, a niche bookstore on the East Side that specialized in Who, and my Dad let me drive all the way there when he was teaching me to drive.

I LOVED that show.

And then it was cancelled, packed off forever into the land of reruns. Our PBS station refused to pay for the rights to the show and it was dropped from their schedule. The Turning Page closed. A Fox TV movie introduced us to the 8^th Doctor but did nothing to revive the series.

Life went on.

I was happy to hear the show was returning in 2005 but was no fan of the overwrought, cynical acting of Christopher Eccleston, and let’s not get into how awful John Barrowman is as an actor. I barely paid attention to the series.

And then came Tenant . . .

He brought the show back to life for me. The charm, the wit, the excitement and the humor, it was all there again, in spades. He never quite trumped Pertwee for me but man, it’s close.

(Mat Smith ain’t too bad either)

Now the show is more popular than ever, a true global phenomenon. I wish more people realized that the pre-revival Who was darn good stuff worth watching, but I’m not going to argue with success. Today marks the 50^th anniversary of the show, and what a milestone that is! 50 years is a heck of a stretch for a business, a marriage, or even a building to acknowledge; but a TV show???

Wow.

Congratulations to everyone connected with Doctor Who over the last fifty years. I tip my hat to all of you, and wish you fifty more to come!

What an Odd Refusal!

I offered to take in my JFK memorabilia to Lu's class - original newspapers, contemporary magazines, LP's, photographs, books, a plaster bust, etc - to tie in with today's anniversary, but my offer was rejected by her social studies teacher.

"Maybe next year," he wrote.

Yes, yes. Because the *51st* anniversary is the perfect time to use media attention to generate interest in a historical event.