Author: Dave

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who got my digits?


Stayed home sick again, blah.

I know I’ve been remiss in posting pictures to Keaton’s gallery, but that’s because our camera is kaput, busted. I have, however, managed to scour the web and find some semi-recent pictures of our little darling which were hosted at the websites of friends. Here then, courtesy of Suzyness, is the joint 30th birthday party I shared with Kristi, where Keaton makes several cute-as-can-be appearances. Enjoy. There, hopefully that will help quell the nastygrams from friends and relatives hungry for a Keaton fix.

Everyone keeping an eye on The Universal National Service Act of 2007? It’s a new bill introduced in the house, and its purpose is stated as follows:

To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements of the uniformed services…

OK. Sounds straightforward to me. A draft+ kind thing. Not only is there compulsory service in wartime, but apparently we must all perform “national service” for the “furtherance of national defense and homeland security.” I hope this is something as simple as being prejudiced against Muslims or towelheads, that sure would be easiest on me. Anyway, keep an eye on this one, it’s bound to make some news if it makes it through the first set of hoops.

Sharaun and I both got new debit/credit cards today, along with a note that our old ones “may” have been “compromised.” So, I had to go onto every bill I pay via auto-pay and update the card details, not to mention change my pin number. What a pain in the ass. And, I’m sure that “may have been compromised” means someone hacked into their database somehow, since it seemed to be a blanket mailing thing. I check our account pretty regularly, and hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary (aside from Sharaun spending a bit too much at places like the Gap, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx), but I downloaded the statements and went back through them using AceMoney as a fine-toothed comb. Nothing seemed amiss, so I guess we’re cool now that we’ve got things all changed up. Stupid identity thieves, scourge of the internet age.

Wow, what a random entry. Goodnight.

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the doctor is dead


Stayed home sick, slept most of the day, tended work e-mail over VPN when awake. Went to the doctor around noon, which of course means went to the “nurse practitioner.” Not that I have anything against RNs, but why even call it a doctor’s office if you can never see the dang doctor? In the imagined past that lives in my head, I remember when doctors used to come over to your house with their little black bags. You had a family doctor, he knew your history, knew your family, you could go see him if something wasn’t right. Nowadays, I have no doctor. Sure, there’s a name on my insurance card, but I’ve never even met the guy. Five years and I’ve only ever seen different RNs. They get the job done I suppose, but it seems like the notion of the “family doctor” may be dead. Anyway, I got a standard antibiotic so it went pretty much as I’d expected.

What is it with the doctor’s office and waiting? I got there, I’m the sole guy in there, and I’m still left sitting in the lobby reading some article about Wal Mart’s risky gamble in expansion into China. Fifteen minutes later, I’m taken back, weighed, and transfered to a little room where I’m once again waiting – this time for twenty minutes. I know no one else is in the whole place, when they walked me back to my room I passed the open doors of empty rooms, saw scrub-wearing lackeys eating lunch. It was just me and an office full of people who were making me wait. I hate that, bugs me.

I’m way up in the double-digits on the times I’ve spun Neon Bible now, and I must say it’s held up well. I was a bit worried that the here-and-there style leaks may have ruined the whole “flow” of the album, but not so. It’s good, really good, can’t wait to get an proper rip (the full leak was still a dodgy 160Kbps max) and eventually the real disc. Sharaun and I agreed we’ll likely break our concert moratorium when the ‘Fire comes to San Francisco. Yeah. Get a babysitter, convene the crew, and go see them live in the city. Damn, I’m old.

Goodnight.

Posted on

so little rain


Damn, the new auto-save feature of WordPress 2.1 screwed me. I had this entry open on two computers, wrote a bunch on one, which was subsequently erased by the auto-save of the still-open entry on the other PC. Anyway, it’s Sunday and I’m feeling sick – the same congestion crap I’ve been dealing with for a couple weeks at least now. The TheraFlu seems to be working now though, thankfully. I felt so bad earlier today, I considered not going into work tomorrow, but then I figured that may have been a little premature.

We’ve had so little rain thus far this winter. I miss a good rainy week. Usually, the rains start around Halloween, I know this because they’ve often hampered my don’t-wanna-grow-up decoration efforts. The usually stick around, making the colder months here somewhat expectant of gray skies and showers. This year, though, we’ve had so little. Maybe it rained while we were in Florida for Christmas, I don’t know – but I kinda wish it would rain a little now. I mean, I had to turn on my sprinklers, something I’ve never done in winter since being here, because my lawn was looking a little bit too much to the “dead” side of it’s winter hibernation browning. But, I do love the sun, and something about a chilly day that’s sunny makes me want to use adjectives like “crisp” and “bracing.” Those adjectives, right? If it’s not going to rain, I wish someone would let me know – I mean, I could pull the hammock out and take a nap in the “crisp” sunshine… or something similarly literary.

There’s a little pile of tiny dead ants on the floor in our guest bathroom, there’s another pile in the shower, on the edge of the tub. I killed them, sprayed them with death-spray – you can buy it at Wal Mart. Anyway, the pile of long-dead ants is a like a lesion, an outward sign of the terrible state of our house right now. Ant lay in waste on the bathroom floor, clothes litter the bedroom, the scraps and drips of past lunches mark the floor below Keaton’s highchair. We gotta get our act together, we gotta clean this place up. I go onto Sharaun the other day, gave her the same old, “You have to change this, Keaton’s going to learn by what you do, and then I’ll have to pickup after two slobs.” You’d think that was a paraphrase and that I might’ve applied a bit more tact in reality, but no, it’s relatively faithful to the dialog. Anyway, I have to do my part too – but starting from less-than-spotless, it’s hard to strive to maintain spotless. If things could just stay clean, I’m convinced Sharaun could learn to maintain. But, alas, there’s a pile of dead ants on the bathroom floor and I’m here typing.

Man, the Fratellis sure are blowing up lately. Looks like the advertising firms must read my blog, 9th place on my list apparently gets you Safeway and an iTunes ad. Get the album though, you’ll love it. Oh, and man, how on Earth did the Band of Horses album not make my Top 10 for 2006?! I call fraud, who made that damn list?

Hey, it’s clouding over, maybe it’ll rain.

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ready for the weekend


8pm and Keaton’s in bed so the laptop came out. Or, the laptop came out because Keaton’s in bed. My domain seems to be completely down, so I’m writing in EditPad in the hopes it’ll be up later and I can post. I could go on and put down my standard sentence about how busy work was today, using words like “whirlwind” and “crushing,” because it was – but I wont. Oh, just did. Anyway, I’ve got a glass of nice wine and have already done the dishes, and I’ve got a glass of nice wine. I did? Oh, must be the wine.

Recently, I traded in my Maxim subscription for a Newsweek subscription. This was partly instigated by Sharaun, although I don’t think it was any sort of edict. More of a suggestion, I think. Her logic being that Maxim may not be the right magazine to have around the house for baby Keaton. I’m not so alarmist, but do see the logic. I’d much rather Keaton see her dad perusing a Newsweek instead of a Maxim (actually, in order to see me perusing either, she’d likely have to catch me on the john… and that’s just undesirable all around). I sometimes think it’s silly to think of those kinda things when she’s not even one, but then again right now she’s learning action-for-action and word-for-word from us. So, I suppose sacrificing soft-porn ain’t such a bad idea. I mean, I’ve still got the internet for the real-deal.

Three more Arcade Fire tracks leaked tonight, that makes it just two shy of the entire thing. Thing is, the tracks are of varying quality and source. I’ve never seen anything leak like this, the randomness seems almost deliberate. Makes a guy wonder if it might not be the work of some savvy PR guy with a knowledge of the internets. Maybe leak a track every week or so in passable quality, something like a buffet of free-appetizers that always has a really long line and is only a front to sucker you into buying a full-price dinner at the end of your drawn-out, unsatisfied wait. Whatever, I’m happy to have what I have – I just want a proper!

Also in music news, the rumor mill is abuzz about the iTunes/Beatles deal. Apparently, it will be announced during the Super Bowl that all the original studio albums will be available, and remastered at that. The Beatles catalog finally remastered and available digitally… wow. I can only hope it won’t be some iTunes “exclusive” that’s not released on physical discs – I’d hate to be stuck with M4As.

I want tomorrow to go fast. I want it to be over before I know it. I’m ready for the weekend.

Goodnight.

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so, i’m set


Didn’t write yesterday, my normally allotted time was spent supping and drinking with customers. It was good though, lots of that “schmoozing” stuff that business is all about. Work blows. Buuuut, after work there’s home (or, to the overworked, “not work”), and, at home, it’s awesome. I get a few hours to play with my daughter. Tonight, I played with her on the couch – she likes to climb on me and I like to let her.

Speaking of Keaton, it’s been quite a while since I updated her pictures. This not because I’m lazy, I mean, I am, but it’s more because our camera finally completely gave up the ghost. So, Monday I ordered an SD700 IS, and we hope to be flush with pictures again in short order. Look for them. I was a little bummed that the camera came with a puny SD card, but then perked up when I read it could support MMC. A while back, I bought a 1GB MMC card for my cellphone, and I’ve since upgraded phones. So, I’m set. I just wonder if MMC is slower or otherwise suckier than SD somehow.

Sharaun’s got me watching American Idol again. And, once again, I find myself positively confounded by some of the “stinkers” they trot out on these first-pass episodes. I love watching these peoples’ hearts break. Sadistic as it is, I get a warm happy feeling inside when I realize that the person who’s up there singing so badly I think they must just be taking a piss is really and truly giving their all and firmly believe they are God’s gift to singing. To see that moment when it begins to sink in, that the gift they believe they are endowed with is no gift at all. It’s doubly enjoyable if the one taking the berating refuses to believe they are terrible, and decides to continue to live deluded. Seriously, I sit there and pretend not to watch (gotta maintain my “cred” with the wife), all the while rooting for these saps to bust out in tears. I honestly have a hard time believing these people aren’t acting, because they seem so utterly disconnected with reality. I wrote a good paragraph about it three years ago, check it out.

Sharaun’s been off planning Keaton’s first birthday, you’d think it was a coronation. We’ve got invitations, grandparents making the trip into town, and even a theme. I wonder what my first birthday was like? I’ll wager I didn’t napkins that matched the plates that matched the bibs that matched the invitations, I’ll wager there weren’t invitations at all, in fact. Kids are a great excuse to indulge, to join the consumers for the good of the economy. One day though, we’ll be able to show her pictures that prove how much we love her, monetarily, even.

Before I go, I thought I’d pass along this list of “gay bands” which Christians should watch out for. My favorite part is down near the bottom:

In Our effort to keep this list up to date we’d appreciate your help. If you know of a band that is Gay or propagating a Gay message please email us so we can update.

Hahaha! If I know of a band that is gay?! Wait.. John Mayer is gay?! Goodnight.

Posted on

keaton will have an opinion


Monday morning, another blur of a workday… I like it busy, goes faster.

At nights I started this new thing: no laptop until Keaton goes to bed. You’d think this would be something I’d just do, being that I’m literally on the computer all day as my job – but it’s not. I frequently get home from work and pull my laptop, which I just put into my bag no more than ten minutes ago, out of my bag. Yes, you’d think I’d make it a point to give myself a “break.” No, I don’t. Because, you see, when I get home I have all these “home” things I want to do on the computer that, for the most part, I don’t do at work. No, no porn. Mostly I want to check a few message boards I lurk on, check what’s new in the world of music blogs, make the political and world news roundup, whatever. Like I said, I, for the most part, at least, don’t do that kinda stuff at work.

So anyway, I’ve been making it a point to leave the infernal thing in it’s el-cheapo laptop bag at least until Keaton goes down. This way, I find I’m more prone to actually enjoy those few hours I get with her each day. Usually, I see her for thirty minutes in the morning, an hour at lunch, and maybe three hours after work – and not that I need to “force” myself to pay her attention during those times, but I feel like I should do what I can to make them matter. So, no laptop until she’s down – that’s the rule.

I got my hair cut Sunday afternoon, mostly because I was long overdue but also partly because I’ll be “face-to-facing” with some customers this week and want to look somewhat presentable. As luck would have it, I ended up in the chair of the same ebullient Vietnamese immigrant whose fervent patriotism I’ve commented on before. I don’t mind the guy, actually kind of like him, and anyway he’s not why I’m writing this story. Sitting across from the infinite mes in the infinite chairs stretching deep into the infinite deep of the mirrored walls was a young girl. She was ten, in fact, I heard the Saigon Turtle ask her mom as he entered her information into the haircut-computer.

Being that she was getting her haircut on the opposite side of the room, our backs were to each other, but I could see her face by virtue of the mirrors. She was pretty, as far as ten year-old girls go I suppose, with long brown hair that the pierced-up stylist had twisted up in clips and was busy spraying down with water. Now listen perverts, I’m not saying this young girl was pretty because she was “pretty” like that, I’m saying it because, as a father of a daughter, I couldn’t help sneaking glances and thinking to myself, “Keaton is going to be that old one day.” The stylist asked the girl if she ever wore her her “this way,” and pulled a large swath of it back around her ear in the mirror. “Yeah, sometimes,” she replied. “Some day,” I thought, “Keaton will know how she ‘sometimes’ wears her hair back behind her ears.” “Some day,” I thought, “Keaton will have a little black purse with nothing important in it, just like that girl.” “Someday,” I thought, “Someday.”

Half of me can’t wait for the day when I can walk down to the park with her, maybe kick around a soccer ball or fly a kite or have a picnic. The other half of me stares into her little blue eyes before I put her down to bed and wishes silently that I’ll have just a little more time with her as she is.

Here’s a bunch of random stuff to round this thing out.

Another Arcade Fire track leaked today, still waiting for the whole thing… still waiting.

Upgraded to WordPress 2.1 today, things went smoothly and the backend improvements are nice. Just another step towards bringing you the best blog possible (step one would be to improve my writing, but I’ve somehow jumped ahead and began toiling on the minutiae instead).

Before I go, and I know this has been making the rounds lately, I just had to post the Andy Griffith vs. the Patriot Act video. Check it out below (I actually know this particular episode quite well) and see what one of my most treasured TV icons has to say about eavesdropping and the law. On a side note, who’d’ve thunk little ol’ Andy Griffith of Mayberry to be a terrorist sympathizer. He obviously hates our troops, and I find it disgusting. See for yourself:

Goodnight.