Reality Me

Author: Doug McCaughan

  • Juggling for health

    Last night I made it to the Knoxville Jugglers Club! It has literally been years. What a pleasure! The group has very talented jugglers so we were able to feed clubs (multple jugglers all passing clubs to a single person), 3 person run-a-round (a crazy aerobic club passing routine), passing of 6 7 and 8 clubs, and other assorted fun.

    The club meets 2 Tuesdays a month at the downtown YMCA. Resisting the urge to sing was hard. Man what a building! I must go back with a camera. I felt like I’d jumped back in time with the dark, hardwood basketball courts, polished block design building with inlaid marble, stairs that look like they belong in ancient government buildings, and narrow staircases that make you think you are going to a maintenance area but really lead to a track that looks like the set of Roller Derby. The track honestly doesn’t look like people should run on it, instead something motorized should be speeding around it.

    The hour and a half of juggling did wonders for stress relief and my body, albeit slightly sore, is thankful for the exercise.

    Remember to mark your calenders, I will be juggling at Children’s Mental Health Week Day at the Zoo, April 29 from noon to 1:00pm.

  • Are you skilled?

    Because everyone needs a talent…

    …and then she returned to her job at NASA.

  • Failing Dad

    Cathy and I bill ourselves as "approachable parents." We want our children to feel comfortable approaching us on any topic including sex, drugs, and so forth. Apparently there is something at a genetic level that keeps children from talking to parents.

    Sarah is currently in honors math. I am proud that she excels. Sarah yesterday brought home a note explaining that she will not be invited into Algebra I because she has failed her last 6 tests and told the teacher she "doesn’t want to be in Algebra I." Throughout the past grading period I’ve constantly asked, "how are you doing?" only to be told "fine." My trust has been betrayed. I neglected to talk to the teachers and get regular reports on Sarah. I let her down but the onus is not completely upon me. I cannot help those that do not seek help. I all but begged her to ask for help and she hid her test results from us.

    Repercussions? 1) Severely limited extracurricular activities in the 8th grade until she shows responsibility and caring about her studies. 2) Much more parent/teacher communication next year. 3) Calendar planning skills to be enforced.

  • Things you don’t want to hear

    Dad, I thought it was just going to be a poot.

  • Touch the puppet head

    So Amy, Evan and Cathy are heading to the zoo to visit with Aunt Carmen, Gabriel and Abby. This will be Evan’s first trip and Amy is bouncing off the walls. I am dying to go! This afternoon/evening we have Sarah needing to be picked up from afterschool activities, Noah needing to be dropped off then picked up from Karate, and Cathy has a meeting at the same time as the Juggling Club. If I attend the Juggling Club I can enlist another juggler to help me at this year’s CMHW Zoo event (Saturday, April 29 from 10am-2pm – I perform from 12-1).

    These choices give me ulcers. Had I woken when I wanted I could have accomplished enough work to feel justified in taking some time at the zoo today but I didn’t. I don’t want to make Cathy skip her meeting but the juggling is good therapy and I’ve wanted a 2nd juggler to attend the CHMW event for years. I’m going to skip the zoo, work hard today, and juggle tonight.

  • From the mouths of babes

    Tommy: "Mom. Why are bubbles coming out of the wardrobe?"

  • Baby Talk

    So when Evan, 10 months, shoves his pacifier in my mouth, do you think he is telling me he doesn’t want to sleep?

  • From the mouths of babes

    Tommy: "As soon as I live alone, I’m going to pour to much cereal in my bowl. I don’t care how you teach me."

  • One of my mantras

    I am certain the children will tire of hearing this one day: "People who complain without offering solutions are just making noise."

  • Miracle Animals

    Dog walks on water

  • US to nuke Iran

    So, did anyone not see this one coming?

    US considers use of nuclear weapons against Iran
    WASHINGTON (AFP) – The administration of
    President George W. Bush is planning a massive bombing campaign against
    Iran, including use of bunker-buster nuclear bombs to destroy a key Iranian suspected nuclear weapons facility, The New Yorker magazine has reported in its April 17 issue.

    One former defense official said the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government,”

    the possible use of a bunker-buster tactical nuclear weapon, such as the B61-11, to insure the destruction of Iran’s main centrifuge plant at Natanz

    “There are very strong sentiments within the military against brandishing nuclear weapons against other countries,” the magazine quotes the Pentagon adviser as saying.

    The adviser warned that bombing Iran could provoke “a chain reaction” of attacks on American facilities and citizens throughout the world and might also reignite Hezbollah.

    “If we go, the southern half of Iraq will light up like a candle,”

    [Source]

    Which of course is one reason we are in Iraq. (in my opinion)

  • Climbing

    Sarah, the deprived, is off to go rock climbing today with her church group. I found out as I dropped her off that I could have gone along and participated. That would have been a pleasure but might have put a damper on Sarah’s never ending search for independence. If it is too rainy, they will switch to hiking. I am happy to see her participating in such great outdoor activities!

  • Storms brewing

    Storms are brewing both physically and euphemistically. Expect us to be without power in a few hours. The storms last weekend set a tree leaning precariously over the powerlines at the end of the street and the power company refused to do anything about it.

  • Bush Gets Scolded

    A member of GW’s audience in NC gave him his mind.

    “While I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water,” real estate broker Harry Taylor told Bush at a town hall meeting. “I have never felt more ashamed of nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington.”

  • My Life…

    …is often like the beginning part of a Calgon commercial.