"Murphy was an optimist!"
Annnd they’re off! (to a bad start) January 16, 2010 9:49 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Family, Of Being Dad, Sarah , add a commentSarah has a portfolio review today near Nashville for a summer art program where she would get to live at a university and work with some very talented people. This is very important which is why I cringed when I saw Cathy’s tweet:
Why is the teenager dressed like a clown for her portfolio review? [Source, Twitter, @cathymccaughan]
After a grueling day yesterday, I failed to do the standard road checks last night. This morning as the girls were walking out the door, I found a nail in a tire. The same nail I found in the same tire weeks ago and forgot about. No problem! I could plug it in minutes only I was out of plugs. 30 minutes later, I had purchased plugs, discovered McDonald’s at Northshore and Pellissippi still has free air, fixed the tire myself, signed a conversation with an old friend, and had two very upset women driving to Nashville. Good luck Sarah!
add a commentCathy wants me on the icy roof December 5, 2009 11:59 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Christmas, Daily Life, Family, Holiday, Of Being Dad, Publishing, Video , add a comment add a commentFrom the mouths of babes October 21, 2009 6:49 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Cathy, Daily Life, Evan, Family, From the mouths of babes, Noah, Of Being Dad , 1 comment so farI dropped the milk. The cap popped off and poured all over the floor.
Me: "DAMMIT!"
Evan, 4 years old: "Dad said dammit."
Mom: * gives Dad eyeballs *
Amy, 7 years old: "Moooom! Evan said dammit!"
Evan: "No, Dad said dammit."
Amy: "Don’t say dammit."
Noah, 13 years old: "Evan, don’t say that. It’s a dirty word."
Evan: "No! Dammit. Dammitdammitdammitdamitdamitdamitdamtdatmdaaaaammmmmmmit!"
Mom: covering her face in towels to hide her laughter.
Dad: hiding in the fridge unable to breath laughing.
Uncle already! I get the message. Mouth meet soap.
1 comment so farFrom the mouths of babes October 14, 2009 5:43 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Cathy, Daily Life, Family, From the mouths of babes, Of Being Dad , add a commentAmy, 7 years old: "I’m not going in my room because Sarah is asleep in there."
Me: "Sarah isn’t in the house."
Amy: "Then what’s that big lump in the bed?"
Me: "Personally, I wouldn’t call my mother a big lump."
My husband sense is tingling August 26, 2009 1:41 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Family, Of Being Dad , add a comment
I know..it could be that Cathy is bitter over yesterday’s overwhelming lack of specialness. But that’s not it. Something is amiss. Usually this means I am forgetting a commitment. Or there is something important to the Venusian
Happy Anniversary Cathy! August 25, 2009 11:44 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Family, Holiday , 4commentsCathy and I were married at Gatlinburg’s Ye Ol’ Tyme Photo Boothe and its been one grand adventure since then!
Saturday I was making grandiose plans to make grandiose plans for today. I remembered our wedding anniversary! This morning I received an email from a great friend wishing me a happy anniversary. She’d remembered; I’d forgotten! Today is Tuesday which means we stick to the family tradition of Domino’s Two-fer Tuesday so for our bronze anniversary we are having BBQ chicken pizza.
I cannot put into words how much I love Cathy! She moves me in so many ways. She has brought so much happiness into my life!
Cathy I love you! Happy Anniversary! I look forward to many more!
4commentsFrom the mouths of babes August 10, 2009 4:53 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Evan, Family, From the mouths of babes, Of Being Dad , add a commentI hugged the wife then Evan, the 4 year old, ran to us with arms stretched wide and exclaimed, "group hug!" Where’s he get this stuff?
add a commentfrustrationfrustraTIONfruSTRAIONFRUSRATION! July 29, 2009 2:45 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Cathy, Daily Life, Evan, Family, Of Being Dad , add a commentI’ve spent the day trying to accomplish something that should have taken 40 minutes and is preventing me from doing the things I really want to be doing today. Something that I’m not even getting paid for. I feel that I’ve been constantly interrupted. At one point I declared, "I’m taking the next 40 minutes and finishing this" during which time I was interrupted 3 times. So finally a crisis hit. Minor. The 7 year old, the 4 year old, and the dog went missing in the creek. Normally this would not be a big deal but we’ve had substantial rain these past couple of days. Also, I believe there is a sinkhole in the creek that the children do not know about. It’s mostly covered with debris right now. It’s not really on my property and I’ve been wanting to clear the debris away to see if it is the entrance to the rumored cave that is supposedly nearby. Right now, I simply know that water flows into the ground through the debris at that point and I don’t want the children near it. So I channeled Coach Boomer (which I only now realized is one of my heroes, Bruce Campbell!) for some echo location and proceeded to be anything except that great TV dad that I so aspire to be. Several tears later, everyone is safe but mad at me. And I feel like crud.
add a commentWe are only human July 28, 2009 11:53 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Family, Of Being Dad , add a commentEither she was wrong or I was wrong but it doesn’t matter because now it’s not right. Dammit damage control is expensive!
add a commentFrom the mouths of babes July 27, 2009 1:45 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Evan, Family, From the mouths of babes, Of Being Dad , add a commentEvan was cuddling lovingly with Cathy. His head was resting upon her chest as she held him. As I walked by, I stroked his arm as I admired him and continued to toward my office. As I hit the stairs, I hear an excited, curious voice exclaim in question to his mother, "Did you have 3 hands!?"
add a commentFor my wife. Who really has a thing for spiders. July 25, 2009 8:16 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Family, Philosophy, Publishing, Video , add a commentI warn you. Watching this will forever change your life…uh…yeah…Well…maybe not but once you press play you won’t be able to stop watching.
add a commentWe’ve been raided! July 16, 2009 1:08 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Family , 2commentsThe adults are severely outnumbered today!
And on an adult note, Cathy and I had the unique pleasure to hang out socially, with no children, for several hours last night with excellent company while indulging in great Mexican food, fantastic wine, a wonderful view of the lake, in a secluded part of Knoxville.
2commentsChild Protective Services – Don’t read this July 2, 2009 11:15 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Cathy, Daily Life, Evan, Family, Health, Juggling, Noah, Of Being Dad, Sarah , 4comments
Here’s some additional information about the rolla bolla from my comment on Cathy’s flickr set:
4commentsI now get to tell a story which may or may not add a little bit of a technical appreciation for what’s happening in this picture. My rolla bolla freaks other jugglers out. Mine is completely homemade. It uses a 4 inch diameter thick pvc pipe. The board itself happens to be exactly the same length as a shelf in a homemade bookcase I built for my dorm room in college because it is one the shelves which happen to be precisely 19 inches in length. Most jugglers are more accustomed to using rolla bollas closer to 3 feet long. For instance, Dube’s is 29 inches (btw, there’s your spec).
Juggling is all about physics. This is center of gravity trick. The longer the board, the greater the center of gravity. In essence, if you drew a line from the ground up to the top of your head (or the head fo the person on your shoulders) that divided your torso symmetrically and simply made sure that line never passed over your foot, you would never fall down. Since my board is so short, there is very little room for error. One way to cheat the physics is to use a larger diameter piece of pvc but frankly the 5 inch pvc tends to flatten a little taking away from the visual effect (in addition to simply being disproportionate to the other equipment and plain ugly).
Regarding the pvc when making a homemade rolla bolla. I learned the hardway that the pvc pipe should be the same width as the board (or slightly larger). If it is smaller you create a third degree of freedom and you might as well be doing this trick on top of a ball.
Don’t use those stupid stoppers on the bottom of your board! If you look at the Dube rolla bolla you will see that the underside of the board has stops at each end. This prevents the board from flying at high velocity to your left or right severely hurting people. Instead the board stops and you go flying at high velocity to the left or right breaking yourself and the people standing beside you. When we were first learning this trick. My brother fell off the board and sent it flying into a filing cabinet. 3 days later we were still trying to open the drawer. Without the stoppers you can safely take the board to the very edge without falling. I mean the very edge being exactly at the halfway point on the pvc pipe. Instead of the stoppers, control your board.
You can break things with a rolla bolla! These things may include: glass, bones, teeth, spines, and metal cabinets. When learning to stand on a rolla bolla do these things:
- Get a partner! Have the partner stand behind you with their arms underneath your armpits but not touching you. When you fall, they will spot you and keep you from breaking yourself
- Make sure your feet are at the edges of the board.
- Wear shoes!
- Practice daily in short spurts
- Start with the board touching the ground on one side and about one third of the board on the pipe. Starting by jumping up to a horizontally balanced board is cool and fun but an advanced trick that will land a beginner on their hind side.
The rolla bolla will increase your balance, develop your abs and back, and tighten your buttocks.
Warnings!
- Don’t let people stand to your left or right. I cannot emphasize this enough.
- If you fall…er…when you fall, think of yourself as being on a skate board or inline skate. Protect your wrists! Better to belly flop on concrete than to impact your wrist, elbows and knees
I will happily get together with anyone that wants help learning the rolla bolla.
My Wife: Guest Blogger/Bad Parent June 17, 2009 7:19 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Cool Sites, Daily Life, Family, Of Interest , add a commentMy wife is a guest blogger at Scholastic Parents and a bad parent. Share your thoughts with her.
Read all her Scholastic Parents guest posts. Jump in and feel free to comment on each topic.
- Be anything you want to be, except that
- “Let’s go to the book store.”
- controlled chaos
- beginnings and endings
- It’s all fun and games until someone enters puberty.
- Lampyridae Hunting
- Rewards – obvious and otherwise
- (Scholastic Introduction): Making Summer Plans in a Tough Economy
Note to the DJ June 13, 2009 12:25 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Family, Humor, Murph, Sex, Touchy Subjects , add a comment
When trying to have an intimate moment with the wife, romance turns to comedy when the music switches from Led Zeppelin to Meatloaf’s "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" mid-act. I think that’s the first time in my life I’ve actually been able to act that song out…while the song was playing!
