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!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Congratulations LuLu! First Communion May 8th 2011 (Mother's Day)
Today was my LuLu's First Holy Communion, and it will take several posts to tell the tale. For an appetizer, I thought we'd start with these photos of my lovely girl. I'm so proud of her!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Gardening Season has begun!
If you've been paying attention, you know Smiley is obsessed with plants, flowers, trees, gardening, and anything involving seeds and dirt. To satisfy this itch we planted a small garden last year, but the soil in my yard is so poor it yielded next to nothing. After some consideration I we decided to follow the "Square Foot Gardening" method of author Mel Bartholomew this year, and establish raised garden beds that don't depend on the native soil.
My mother-in-law, Smiley and I made the trip to Home Depot Saturday morning for the supplies, then enlisted the help of YaYa and a lil' red wagon to unload the van.
For each of the two boxes, I used 2x6 boards in four foot lengths and fastened them with deck screws to form the frame.
The sound of the drill drew the other kids outside to 'help'.
By the time frame one was done it was time for the kids' swim classes, and a cold, sporadic sprinkle of rain had started. I finshed the first frame and filled it with topsoil, peat moss, and some compost, butunderestimated the amount I needed and didn't have enough to fill the second box. I concentrated on finishing the first one before any serious rain began.
As part of the 'square foot' method, the 4x4 foot box is divided into 16 seperate growing areas, laid out by a simple grid of lathe that 'floats' above the box. Because I know my kids, I figured it would 'float' its way to pieces on the trampoline. So I secured it on two sides. Aside from one piece I forgot to pre-drill (which promptly split), it was pretty easy to rig together.
Come to think of it, the whole project was easy-peezy. Now I just have to fill the second box, grid it out, and get to a'plantin'. Here's hoping we get a better crop this season!
My mother-in-law, Smiley and I made the trip to Home Depot Saturday morning for the supplies, then enlisted the help of YaYa and a lil' red wagon to unload the van.
For each of the two boxes, I used 2x6 boards in four foot lengths and fastened them with deck screws to form the frame.
The sound of the drill drew the other kids outside to 'help'.
By the time frame one was done it was time for the kids' swim classes, and a cold, sporadic sprinkle of rain had started. I finshed the first frame and filled it with topsoil, peat moss, and some compost, butunderestimated the amount I needed and didn't have enough to fill the second box. I concentrated on finishing the first one before any serious rain began.
As part of the 'square foot' method, the 4x4 foot box is divided into 16 seperate growing areas, laid out by a simple grid of lathe that 'floats' above the box. Because I know my kids, I figured it would 'float' its way to pieces on the trampoline. So I secured it on two sides. Aside from one piece I forgot to pre-drill (which promptly split), it was pretty easy to rig together.
Come to think of it, the whole project was easy-peezy. Now I just have to fill the second box, grid it out, and get to a'plantin'. Here's hoping we get a better crop this season!
The only thing that writers write for themselves are shopping lists
"I do not belong to that gang of bad writers who say that they only write for themselves. The only thing that writers write for themselves are shopping lists . . . All the rest, including laundry lists, are messages addressed to somebody else. They are not monologues; they are dialogues."
- Umberto Eco, Confessions of a Young Novelist. (emphasis mine)
When I first read those words they spoke to my heart; it so aptly describes me that I'm surprised I didn't write it myself. I certainly wish I had.
I can say with absolute certainty that I have never strung together more than a dozen words without first considering an audience. Never mind that my 'audience' was usually composed of exactly no one, and the words were destined for the trashbin. They were 'important'.
This practice even predates my ability to print letters. I still have a copy of a story I dictated to my Grandparents when I was four years old. It always irks me when I stumble across someone who professes to be a 'writer', yet refuses to submit their work. At four I knew the only point to spewing words on paper is to share the noise in your head. Why don't they?
Of course, that opens the door to the question of personal and artistic integrity. If I'm sitting here typing my "deepest darkest emotions" with one eye on a Grandma in Budapest who might someday buy a copy of the text, I can't in all honesty claim my words will reveal, well, all honesty. Consciously or not I will edit it to the liking of my Unseen Reader.
My most glaring example of this trait: a diary I kept in 1994. In those pages I glossed over some embarrassing tidbits, eliminated a few anecdotes, and most telling, actually made sure to include some (true) dirt to spice it up for the reader. It was so nauseatingly forced I couldn't bear to keep the diary going. It lasted all of a week.
That's a good sign tho', no? If I had the self awareness *then* to recognize and fight the need to tidy up the world, I think I'm pretty safe in saying there's a raw honesty running through whatever I write now.
So, Unseen Reader, I thank you. I thank you for keeping the fires of my imagination burning, for forcing me to always improve my work, and for - every once in a while - actually being a real, live reader who enjoys my work.
See you soon.
Dan
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Something's gone goofy here. I woke up with shooting pain from my wrists up to my elbows, and I barely had the strength in my hands to take apart the bikes this morning & replace their inner tubes. It's prob this flu that's been making the rounds, but I feel like an old man, and I still have a workday ahead of me . . .
Smiley becomes a Tiger Cub Scout!
This Monday (May 2nd) me and Smiley attended his first ever Tiger Cub Scout meeting!
He'll be going into 1st grade next year, making him eligible for the Scouts, so when a flyer came home encouraging us to join up we jumped at the chance. Truth be know, I've tried to get him enrolled for a few months, even emailing the local council office.
At any rate, he was quickly absorbed in the activity of the night, while I sat through an orientation section. I filled out the application with pride. Lisa has been heavily vested in Girl Scouting with our girls; now it was the boys turn to shine! I intend to be involved in the Pack right along with Smiley.
We'll be attending a few events over the summer, but by and large his Scouting experience will begin in the Fall. We'll be breaking new ground together. While I was a Cub, Webelos, Boy Scout and Explorer, Tiger Cubs are a program that begin a few years into my Scouting years.
Smiley made and decorated a pair of spinning wood tops, got a welcome folder with a hologram, bookmarks, and baseball cards, and went home with a balloon and a cookie in his belly (and on his face!).
Congrats Smiley! I'm so happy for you!
He'll be going into 1st grade next year, making him eligible for the Scouts, so when a flyer came home encouraging us to join up we jumped at the chance. Truth be know, I've tried to get him enrolled for a few months, even emailing the local council office.
At any rate, he was quickly absorbed in the activity of the night, while I sat through an orientation section. I filled out the application with pride. Lisa has been heavily vested in Girl Scouting with our girls; now it was the boys turn to shine! I intend to be involved in the Pack right along with Smiley.
We'll be attending a few events over the summer, but by and large his Scouting experience will begin in the Fall. We'll be breaking new ground together. While I was a Cub, Webelos, Boy Scout and Explorer, Tiger Cubs are a program that begin a few years into my Scouting years.
Smiley made and decorated a pair of spinning wood tops, got a welcome folder with a hologram, bookmarks, and baseball cards, and went home with a balloon and a cookie in his belly (and on his face!).
Congrats Smiley! I'm so happy for you!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
So, the Prez is cool with lifting the ban on photos of American KIA's, and w/ releasing photos of alleged abuse by our military - but he won't release a photo of OBL because he's afraid of offending our enemy. [crickets chirp] Wouldn't that be the same enemy that drags bodies through the street and beheads reporters on camera?
Some long overdue reviews from 2009
Back in '09 I read Robert B. Parker's Chasing the Bear, a young adult novel featuring a teenage Spenser.
I'm not sure how canonical the book is, as it moves Spenser's birth forward by several decades and eliminates some long-established facets of his life. It was nice to finally glimpse the all-male family dynamic that created the character, but I was visibly jarred when 'Spenser' was mentioned as a family name. To my recollection, the adult series has always been coy about never mentioning if it was his first or last name.
I liked the book a lot, and thought it was a great way to introduce Spenser to a future generation of buyers. What bothered me, however, was that the teenage Spenser kills a man. In defence of another, certainly, but even so, was it appropriate given the age of the character and of the intended reader? I don't think so.
At around the same time I rented the movie Mirrors, starring Kiefer Sutherland.
I remember I was alone in not liking it, but pbbbtttt. My opinion is the one that counts - it's my blog ain't it? So I stand my assesment: predictable, not frightening and average at best.
In '09 I also read Stephen King's Firestarter
It was written for a younger audience, and it shows. It's one of his weakest efforts, and it reveals the egotistical biases of King's generation. To overthrow the status quo and reveal the 'truth', they go to the only source that is independent and bold - Rolling Stone magazine. I didn't know whether to laugh out loud or gag.
That bit of hee-hee aside, it was an OK book, just nowhere near the level of King's usual standards.
I know folks love Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, but I have to admit the one and only book I've read (Storm Front, the first in the series) fell flat.
I could tell Butcher was a good writer, and I enjoyed his style. I just find it hard to get into witches/warlocks/fairies, etc, and I found some of the plot paint-by-numbers.
I'm sure the rest of the series is great, but with all the books on my "To Be Read" pile, do I want to devote the time to giving him a second chance? At this time, the answer is 'no'.
I'm not sure how canonical the book is, as it moves Spenser's birth forward by several decades and eliminates some long-established facets of his life. It was nice to finally glimpse the all-male family dynamic that created the character, but I was visibly jarred when 'Spenser' was mentioned as a family name. To my recollection, the adult series has always been coy about never mentioning if it was his first or last name.
I liked the book a lot, and thought it was a great way to introduce Spenser to a future generation of buyers. What bothered me, however, was that the teenage Spenser kills a man. In defence of another, certainly, but even so, was it appropriate given the age of the character and of the intended reader? I don't think so.
At around the same time I rented the movie Mirrors, starring Kiefer Sutherland.
I remember I was alone in not liking it, but pbbbtttt. My opinion is the one that counts - it's my blog ain't it? So I stand my assesment: predictable, not frightening and average at best.
In '09 I also read Stephen King's Firestarter
It was written for a younger audience, and it shows. It's one of his weakest efforts, and it reveals the egotistical biases of King's generation. To overthrow the status quo and reveal the 'truth', they go to the only source that is independent and bold - Rolling Stone magazine. I didn't know whether to laugh out loud or gag.
That bit of hee-hee aside, it was an OK book, just nowhere near the level of King's usual standards.
I know folks love Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, but I have to admit the one and only book I've read (Storm Front, the first in the series) fell flat.
I could tell Butcher was a good writer, and I enjoyed his style. I just find it hard to get into witches/warlocks/fairies, etc, and I found some of the plot paint-by-numbers.
I'm sure the rest of the series is great, but with all the books on my "To Be Read" pile, do I want to devote the time to giving him a second chance? At this time, the answer is 'no'.
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