Category: Daily Life

Ramblings, often stream of conscious, journaling the events of my life.

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Children, left to their own…

So this morning had a plan. At 5:15am I would be on a video conference with London that would end at 6am. At 6am I would rouse Noah, make sure he was fed, clothed, etc and send him off at 6:54am to his last half day of the 5th grade. At 7am, I rouse Sarah, make sure she is fed, clothed, etc and instead of sending her to the bus at 7:34am I would drive her to make sure she was at school early (8am) so that she could participate in BNN’s filming the 8th grader’s last day.

Plans! Technical issues got the video conference off to a late start. I got Noah started then checked on him to find him staring blankly at our barren kitchen. He didn’t want cereal so I ran down options: oat meal, cream of wheat, eggs, … We hit on eggs! So I roll into EduDad and prompt Noah to get a frying pan while I get a bowl and crack two eggs into it. Noah looks in the closet where we keep glassware, then he looks in the drawer under the stove, and finally in the cabinet by the stove where pans are kept. He adds some milk to the eggs and we beat them well. The pan is oiled and cooking commences. I instruct him on when and how to stir the eggs and I return to my video conference. 20 minutes later I check on him and he is still stirring the most well-done eggs you’ve ever seen. I failed to tell him when to remove the eggs! "I was waiting for you to come upstairs so I could ask what to do." Why didn’t he come downstairs and ask for help?! Of course, I feel rotten. With one minute to spare, he slams down his burnt eggs and goes to his bus.

I rouse Sarah and return to my conference call. We wrapped at 7:46am which was still enough time to get Sarah to the school but she’s AWOL! And Noah left the stove on! I call Sarah’s phone, the one she left at her friend’s house, and leave a voice mail but I know what she’s done. In her desire to be an independent teen and trying to not interrupt my work, she has acted on her own. However, as a parent, I want her to always say goodbye! I want her to say good morning. I want her to sneak into her mother’s room and get her mom a peck on the cheek! AND we had a plan. I was supposed to drive her to school.

I find the choices they made this morning amusing and good for their growth and learning; however, I feel that I bungled being a dad this morning. I feel I let Sarah down.

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Marriage has challenges

I think one of the biggest challenges in marriage is finding new ways to piss off your spouse so that they don’t get bored with the old ways of pissing them off. Watch for my upcoming book release, "365 Ways to Tick Off Your Wife" and its sister publication, "365 Ways to Apologize (Without saying the word sex)."

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Calls a parent never likes

Tommy, "Our bus just got hit. I told the officer I didn’t do it."

The school bus experience has been horrid this year. There is no lack of irony in the year ending with a bus accident. Tommy’s description was that a trailer clipped the back corn of the bus and the bus didn’t even move much. His friend’s mother called and said, "the bus got side swiped!" The accident happened within walking distance of the school but they are making the children wait until another bus can come to move them from the accident scene to the school. Since it is a short bus of special needs students, that does make sense.

I had hoped we could arrange for Tommy to ride the regular bus home at least once this year. I think he is fully capable of handling the regular bus. Getting off the short bus would alleviate so much turmoil! And possibly introduce some.

Update: Tommy called, laughing, to declare, "we’re on tv!" Looks like WATE got the footage. Guess we will have to record the news tonight. The kids on the bus sounded way out of control.

Update 2: Some more details.

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Seeking

One adult male seeking a mind. I believe it was lost in the vicinity of Knoxville, TN. If found it can be identified with its resemblance to a piece of swiss chess combined with a fuse panel in the process of shortening out during a lightning storm. Synapses may be firing erratically. Pieces of the mind may be dead from excessive stupidity during the college years. Feel free to lobotomize and return at your earliest convenience. I think I the thing.

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My Moral Code – Yin and Yang

What kind of person am I?

Today a lengthy funeral procession led by 2 slow moving police cars drove north on Morrell Road while I drove south. I threw on my hazards, turned on my headlights and jumped to the right side of the road. One private vehicle followed my lead going instead to the turn lane in the middle while a Bellsouth utility truck pulled up behind me and turned on his headlights. A dozen other cars drove past looking at us like we were crazy while I pondered who died, how had they lived, and would my life be worthy of such a procession. I felt it was the right thing to do.

When I park at a grocery store there are always carts nearby. More often than not, I grab one or two as I walk from the car to the store. I am going that direction anyway. I feel it is the right thing to do.

Today as I sat in a turn lane waiting to cross two lanes of traffic to get to my side street, I watched numerous cars run over a board in the street. This was a 2×8 with metal lips installed on either end that is what people with pickup trucks use as one side of a ramp for loading a lawn mower or 4×4 into the back of their truck. Obviously one had fallen out of someone’s truck unnoticed. As each car hit it, the board jumped into the air and spun erratically. When the traffic broke, instead of turning, I press my hazard lights on leaving several cars stuck behind me. I then jumped out of the van, grabbed the board, and flung it to the side of the road where it would not be danger. I felt it was the right thing to do.

On multiple occasions, I have stopped the car to get a dog out of the road. Each time I felt I saved a life and prevented an owner’s grief. I felt it was the right thing to do.

I believe in karma. I believe what goes around comes around. I believe all things balance. Yin and yang. I sometimes lose focus on the big picture and fixate on a turmoil in my life which leads me to question my beliefs. And then I remember all the fortune that befallen me, the smiles and laughs I share with friends and strangers, the help from out of the blue I clumsily try to refuse, and the reminder that I could have been wearing my good shoes when I stepped in the dog poo, and then it all comes together and I am assured that in the end there is harmony. It is the right thing to do.

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Do you look at your money?

silver dime

Dimes are my habit. I always look at the edge my dimes. See, before 1965 dimes were minted out of silver. You can tell a silver dime by looking at the edge. If its solid, it’s silver. Post 1965 dimes have an edge that shows half copper and half nickel. The actual composition of a post 1965 dime (and quarter) is 75% copper and 25% nickel due to the Coinage Act of 1965. Coincidentally, a few 1965 dimes were accidentally minted in silver and those errors bring a fine price to a collector.

As a child, I fancied myself a coin collector (but didn’t we all). As an adult, when the hard times came my coin collection bought bread or gas without even the effort of looking for a doubled die error. What remains are the oddities. I have 3 silver dimes including a Mercury head from 1939 and two Roosevelts from 1952 and 1964. They are not in mint condition but they sure are cool to hold! And I can still remember the excitement I felt the day I found one of them in my change.

What’s in your pocket?

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My Wife’s Not-so-special Birthday

Cathy and Molly

This past weekend my wife had her birthday on Saturday and Mother’s Day on Sunday. I let her down. I'm spackling, go away Cathy says this picture is how I looked all weekend; she wrongly assumed I was mad at her. Deadlines have loomed and accounts were drawn thin. In an attempt to make everything come together I tried frantically to get work done while squeezing in lawn mower repair and drywalling; if money didn’t work out, at least I could give Cathy a nice lawn and finished bedroom for her birthday. Unfortunately, nothing worked out. My grandiose plans were falling to pieces. I had failed to get the children to make gifts or collaborate on handmade cards or even buy her a present from the children (much less the same for Mother’s Day).

Fortunately, the grandparents opted to take all five children for Friday evening and most of Saturday! Cathy and I had a relaxing evening together but I did not slip away to get her a card or gift. Saturday I tried to get yard work done and the mower ran for 2 minutes before declaring it was dead dead dead. Dead lawn mowerI spackled but the joint compound I am using takes 24 hours to cure each coat and I cannot sand if Cathy and Evan will be in the bedroom within a couple of hours of sanding. the ol' pry open the door and use a coat hanger trickWe shopped but Cathy was always by my side. Finally we decided to go to the mall and I knew I could slip away but we opted to pick the children up first and I failed to find a good excuse to be away from Cathy and the children. Bad dog I tried slipping away with the children but Evan made shopping impossible. In desperation, at the end of the day, I asked Cathy if she wanted to be involved in her purchase but all I did was upset her.

For Mother’s Day, we spent the day at Cades Cove. The day was a blast despite ending with the keys being locked in the van in the middle of the wilderness and Molly eating two sets of $50 blinds.

Next holiday I’ll do better!

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Absentee Blogger Minded

So Cathy noted that I haven’t blogged since Thursday which is uncharacteristic of me. Seems the tenants in my head have been having some heated debate over the direction the next chapter of my life must evolve.

The loudest tenant seems to think that we have some opportunities in front of us in the form of 8am to 5pm employment which could greatly change the level of stress this body carries, reduce the chance of heart attack, provide some stabilization of historic cash flow issues, and provide other stabilities to our family. That tenant seems to think that blogging "Seems the tenants in my head…" could cause a literal minded human resources person to circular file our resume.

Another tenant is claiming that we have a good situation with a small company in town and although it does not pay that much does provide flexibility and predictability. That tenant admits the small company causes some hardship for the family and is hindering getting some high risk/higher reward work completed. This tenant believes we should maintain the status quo.

Yet another tenant points out that the status quo is not being entirely fair to the small company nor the higher risk/higher reward company. That tenant suggests we let the small company go and put all eggs in the high risk basket. And also points out that developing a cash cow of our own, which brings in some predictable revenue, would reduce the risk.

A tenant with a nervous, squeaky voice suggests a merging of status quo and high risk by bringing on some staff or contractors.

The lunatic tenant in the bunch thinks we should spend all of our time on the house and with the family and seriously expects money to fly out of our butt.

The cacophony between the debaters makes thinking about anything very challenging.

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Sunk and drowning

So I am scuba diving and I am deep. Real deep! There is a mermaid swimming beside me. Her name is Cathy and she is drop dead gorgeous! Her red hair floats around that beautiful face with such fair skin and seductive eyes. Her perfect breasts[NSFW] accentuate the elegant curves of her waist and hips. She twirls showing off her tail which ends at a wonder set of buttocks. She takes my breath away! Oh no! I am out of air. I look down and see the enormous treasure I sought. I could grab it but I may never reach the surface! I hear Cathy sing. She wants me to stay with her. Another diver collecting water samples offers to let me help him in his research; in exchange, he will give me air but I cannot have my treasure, it will be an eternity before we surface, and I must be apart from Cathy.

My new favorite movie quote: "I think I’m in a tragedy!"