Reality Me » Tommy

From the mouths of babes

Doug McCaughan — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:40:34 +0000

Tommy: "We need a kitten."
Me: "No we don’t."
Tommy: "I’ll take good care of it."
Me: "When you have your own place to live, you can have a kitten."
Cathy: "If you clean the litter box for our cat every day for one month, you can have a kitten."
Tommy: "Yea!"
Me: "Make it six months."
Cathy: "One month."
Me: "I don’t want another cat!"
12 days later, Tommy: "12 days and I’ve cleaned the litter box every day."

I think I have roughly 18 days to build Tommy a small apartment near Amy’s clubhouse.

Wednesday

Doug McCaughan — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:49:45 +0000

I cannot improve upon Cathy’s Pulitzer Prize worthy post. Do read!

Of Being Dad – Where I explain life

Doug McCaughan — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:57:29 +0000

This morning I had the occasion to explain life to my 20 year old:

You eat, sleep, shit, shower, contribute to society, and play. Live a simple, honest life. Basically, follow the 12 points of the Scout Law and you’ll be happy.

Of Being Dad

Doug McCaughan — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:20:38 +0000

File this under things that make me twitch.

Tommy, in a phone call to me: "By the way, my laptop hasn’t worked for the past week and a half or so. Says something about no bootable media."
Me: "Did you install anything recently or drop it?"
Tommy: "No but there are two screws missing on the bottom."

Of Being Dad

Doug McCaughan — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:20:38 +0000

File this under things that make me twitch.

Driving Video

Doug McCaughan — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:25:15 +0000

From the mouths of babes

Doug McCaughan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:32:50 +0000

Tommy, 19: "I can’t find the snake."
Me: "What happened?"
Tommy: "He was on my lap. I fell asleep."

The snake is fine. It just had a good explore.

From the mouths of babes

Doug McCaughan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:23:07 +0000

Teenager 1, after walking through the mud, cracks joke: "We’re lucky. In Tibet they’d pay thousands of dollars for this treatment."
Me: "You really don’t know what Tibet is, do you?"
Teenager 1: "No. Well, it has something to do with religion."
Teenager 2: "Yes, it’s in Jerusalem."
Me: "Uh, no."
Teenager 1: "I think it borders China."
Teenager 2: "Well it has something to do with the Jews."
Teenager 1: "It’s mostly a tourist attraction right now."
Teenager 2: "Yup. A tourist trap."

Happy Birthday Tommy!

Doug McCaughan — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:52:56 +0000

My son turns 19 today! I’m getting him a t-shirt that says, "I turned 19 and all I got was this stupid blog post." I am proud of Tommy’s accomplishments. He has grown up to exceed everyone’s expectations. Happy Birthday Tommy!

School Costs How Much?!

Doug McCaughan — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:02:11 +0000

Ooops. I screwed up the paperwork. The financial aid office has explained that we have to pay 100% out of pocket for my son’s Fall college…on Tuesday.

I’ve explained it to the younger children like this: "Since your brother is going to college, we are going to be eating Ramen…lots of Ramen!"

Another Snow Day

Doug McCaughan — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:06:28 +0000

Monday saw school canceled early. Yesterday the road conditions did not permit school and the children stayed home to play.Today, it is too cold for school. Even Lincoln Memorial University closed leaving the question "how will students living on campus eat today?" Perhaps we need to have some homebound lessons.

Why do we blog?

Doug McCaughan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:40:12 +0000

One reason I blog is for the memories. Some trackback spam caused me to re-read my post Such an inappropriate dad and that started my day off with a smile because that picture and Tommy’s statement show he far exceeded what The They ever thought he would do. Without the blog (and the trackback spam) that memory might have faded.

From the mouths of babes

Doug McCaughan — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:55:59 +0000

Tommy, back from college for 9 days: "Dad, is it normal to have all the skin on top of your foot just die?"

From the mouths of babes

Doug McCaughan — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:17:41 +0000

Tommy has returned from college for a 9 day Thanksgiving break. Noah is home from school. Evan is up from his nap. Cathy has taken Sarah and a friend to the movies.

Evan, raising one finger then another like a peace sign: "I have Noah at home. I have Tom at home."

Love and importance!

From the mouths of babes

Doug McCaughan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:52:29 +0000

Dad, excited to see Tommy calling from college: "Hello!"
Nothing
Dad: "Hello?"
background noise
Dad: "Tommy, you there?"
Tommy: "Tech support question."
Dad, of course, why else would family call me: "What is it?"
Tommy: "My friend’s computer boots but goes to a blue screen before getting into Windows."
Dad: "Does he have a warranty with someone?"
Tommy: "BestBuy but the nearest one is in Knoxville."
Dad: "Then he needs to find a way to get to Knoxville."
Dad: "Okay. Can you boot into safe mode?"
Tommy: "Same thing happens."
Dad: "Is this a desktop or a laptop?"
Tommy: "A laptop."
Dad: "Has this computer been dropped?"
Tommy: "Well, yeah."
Dad: "Go to BestBuy."