Category: general

Where I put something when I’m too lazy to categorize it.

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like a big girl

Working on being strong.I guess it feels like dinner is so late because I’ve been home from work since around 3 o’clock today.

Yeah, I managed to sneak out and dial-in from the couch for the last couple hours (the boss was out the door just in front of me, and no doubt those who work for me continued the domino).  So, even though it’s only 7 o’clock now, the smell of the roast Sharaun’s got in the crock pot is making me feel like I’ve not eaten in days.  (Trust me, that’s not true at all… just today at lunch I had a burrito that I’m still surprised fit entirely into my insides.)

I gave up on TV hours earlier, switching on the holiday music channel on the satellite instead (I don’t have XM anymore, as I downgraded my TV package to the most basic levels allowed in some strange media protest slash money-saving scheme).  I took the time as an oppotunity to read the new Newsweek that came today… but sometimes news just ain’t where it’s at.  So, bored with that, I instead had a tickle-fight with Keaton.  That can always make a guy smile.

Lately, Keaton’s been coming into our room partway through the night and trying to get into bed with us.  Most times she’s successful, as either Sharaun or I will hoist her up by her armpits and nestle her in between us.  Some times, however, she doesn’t manage to wake either of us.  In these instances, she doesn’t simply give up and return to the comfort of her own bed… she just makes her own little bed right there on the floor next to ours.  No blankets; no pillow; no nothing.

In the middle of the night last week I woke up to find one of Keaton’s baby dolls next to me in bed.  Thinking it odd, and not remembering a baby doll in bed with me at the beginning of the night, I decided to think about it a bit.  “How on earth did Phoenix get here in bed with me?,” I pondered.  I sat up to get my brain working a bit better, and happened to look down.  There, huddled in on herself in a fetal position, was Keaton.  Sleeping on the carpet about two feet below me.

I got out of bed and scooped her up, rousing her a bit.  “Keaton, how long have you been here?,” I asked her, sliding her cold little body under the comforter in our bed.  She mumbled something, but not an answer.  Then, as I took my place next to her, she lifted her head and asked me in her little sleepy voice, “But Dad, did you feel me touch your arm?”  “No baby, no I didn’t.”  Awwww man, I felt bad: Here she had tried to wake me, wanting to join us in our bed, and I hadn’t responded.  So, like a faithful dog, she simply curled up as close next to me as she could.  (Is it wrong to compare your daughter to a dog?)

Anyway, I felt bad.  But, I know that, in the long run, we have stop letting her into bed with us.  I have to admit it’s hard to do, I really like knowing she’s there next to me – sometimes she even puts her little hand on my arm or shoulder, or cuddles her head up to my face.   Alas, as much as I like her being there with us – I don’t want it to become an every night thing.  So, Sharaun and I agreed this morning to take a harder line next time she toddles in clutching Laka or Claudia or Emilia… time to go back to your own bed, like a big girl.

Wish us luck.  Goodnight.

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tumbleweeds and me

Work is slow.Cold and rainy where we make our home this week; snow just a few hundred feet higher up the hill.

Saturday I forced Sharaun to be complicit in one of my cleaning/organizing jags, and we tore through dusty closet shelves, cluttered and overspilling bedside drawers, and under-bed catacombs.  And, after shifting storage locations for an innumerable amount of useless junk, we managed to actually rid ourselves of a good bit and better hide the rest.  Sunday night I made hot cocoa and we rented a movie.

Keaton awoke that day from her nap and was burning up, carried a fever throughout the night.  She was running hot off and on all Monday, but we keep it down by dosing her with Motrin.  Even when that girl’s got a high fever, she’s bright and bubbly – the day she ever gets really sacked by a cold is the day I’ll be worried.

You know… I’ve never had much need for country music, but if you read here with an regularity you likely remember me softening quite a bit on that position over the last half of this year.  Think of it as a “country awakening” or something; my personal realization that almost no genre or style of music is, in a wholesale sense, “bad.”  Well, I suppose there are exceptions – death metal being the one coming to mind.

Anyway… as the year turns colder and greyer, and the doldrums I’ve been navigating at work persist daily – I’ve decided that some good, solid country crying music suits my mood quite well.  Explains my recent wont for the earlier works of Waylon, Willie, Merle, and the like.  Some of these whiskey-soaked ballads just “click” during downtimes like these… guess country is good for something after all, eh?

The aisles at work are already showing early signs of Christmas evacuation, even ten days out.  It’ll only get worse (or better, depending) as this week works its way into the short one following.  I like it, actually, because it affords me an opportunity to get some work done without interruption.  And, being honest, it also makes for a great “sneaking out early” environment.

When it’s just the tumbleweeds and me holding down the sawmill, I don’t feel as guilty about heading for the homestead to finish the day remotely from the couch and spend some time with Sharaun and Keaton.  A wise manager once told me not to “waste” vacation time on Christmas, advising that most of our customers and we too effectively “shut down” around the holidays – making for some great “short days.”  Since we usually head south for Christmas, this’ll be the first year I’ll actually get to try that advice.  I so desperately need some “don’t care” time, I pray the advice is sound.

Until tomorrow then, wish me luck at shirking work, K?  Goodnight.

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optioning tradition

Another hump-day.  Right now I’m simply counting down until my folks get here.  I’m actually not taking any “true” vacation while they’re in town, but I have high hopes that work’ll be light enough that I can phone it in for a good portion of the time.  End of year is typically quiet, so cross your fingers for me.  OK, go.

A couple of bloggers I read regularly lately wrote nice little bits about what they termed “Christmas tradition.”  I found their timing (while ultimately probably predictable, taking into account the season) quite, well, timely.  See, Sharaun and I had decided that, with Keaton nearing an astounding three years old (proof, in my opinion, that time is a cruel, cruel thing), it’s time we started a Christmas tradition that’s based around our little family.

Mostly this just means that we’re going to try and do Christmas at our home and not travel each year.  It was a hard choice, as we both love being with extended family – holidays or not – but I think it’s a good choice.  Now, neither of us is opposed to traveling on occasion, but for the general case I think we’re going to start doing Christmas at-home.  Of course, family can come to us – that would be great – and, in fact, this year my folks are going to celebrate Christmas at our house, which will, I think, be the first time since way back in college I’ll have been able to wake up on Christmas morning with them there (neat).  But, again, an at-home Christmas as a family is something I feel is important, and that’s the real goal here.

So, Sharaun’s been in charge of getting us some family-type Christmas traditions.  Sounds funny to say we’re “creating” or “starting” tradition – but, really, what else is it?  A young family with no history of the time together and a need to inject something static to build memories and enjoy the occasion.  I’m not really sure what she’s got planned, and we are in fact marching closer and closer to the holiday with nothing established as-yet.

To be fair, we did just get back from our Thanksgiving vacation late last week, and our tree is still in some 25%-done state due to busy evenings and busier days (boxes and Christmas flotsam currently litter our living room, and, as much as I love the holiday, the mess is killing me).  We hope to have things up and cleaned by the weekend – but who knows; things need to at least be in cheery Christmas order by the time my folks arrive, I say.  And, if we’re diligent, we should be working on establishing some Christmas rigor for the family to boot.  Let’s hope.

Anyway, I think it’s interesting to hear bloggers of a similar age and family-status mulling the same things.  Perhaps there’s hope for our generation after all, and maybe we won’t end up a bunch of MTV and reality-TV –suckled ne’re-do-wells.

Nothing more today, I’m out.  Goodnigh.t

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odd thing to be self conscious about

Hey Tuesday… how are you doing?  Me, I’m OK.

We totally turned on the heat today when we got home from Oregon – first time this year.  Was 64° in the house when we got home and I couldn’t handle it.  Especially since I had made up my mind that I’d be phoning in the afternoon shift at the sawmill from the couch rather than stick to my original plan of making my way into the office after our flight.  A guy’s entitled to change his mind, I do say.

Anyway, heat or on off, this house smells downright shut-up musty.  It’s like that not-quite-nasty but not fresh-cut roses smell that the closet sometimes takes on when the dirty clothes hamper has gone a little too long without attention.  Somehow, having the place shut up with no air circulating for just a few days spread a subtle funk not unlike that overfull hamper scent all around the house.  It’s really bugging me right now… and it nearly ruined my 5pm “just punched the clock” one-hour nap.  We gotta open some windows up in this mug.

Tonight we went up to the Wal Mart to pickup some sundries we’ve been out of while we’ve been traveling individually and together the past couple weeks.  Of course, because of the time change, when we left the house around 6pm it was pitch-black outside, like the dead of night.  For some reason, I feel like a bad person wheeling our two-and-a-half year old into a Wal Mart under the curtain of night.  Something about a toddler riding in a shopping cart at America’s biggest discount retailer while the color of the sky (rightfully or not) deems the young should be fast asleep in bed.  An odd thing to be self conscious about, no?

For a while now, a couple friends of mine have been urging me to read the book Into the Wild. With admonitions akin to, “Dave, you’d love that book man – this guy was a true modern-day tramp, outdoorsman, a real Kerouac kindred-spirit.”  Well, last night Sharaun happened on the DVD of the movie-adaptation at my folks’ place.  Since she’d been wanting to see it for a while, we popped it in and settled back for the flick. Now, first off – I truly enjoyed the movie.  Second, holy crap what a sad ending.  I mean, at the end of that movie I felt drained… Not like Schindler’s List sad, but sad nonetheless.  As we climbed into bed, I told Sharaun I felt like scooping Keaton out of her little closet-room and hugging her tight.  Sad sad sad.

OK then, that’s a night for me.  Love ya, until later.

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from north to a little less north

Sunday night and I just got done singing and reading Keaton off to sleep.  Well, at least I hope I did; we’ll see if she ultimately stays in bed.

It’s our last evening here in Oregon with Grammy and Grandpa, and we took the opportunity to go out to dinner with my brother Frank and his girlfriend.  A place up here does a free-dinner Sunday for all veterans prior to the Tuesday holiday in their honor, so my dad and brother wanted to take advantage of that.  Was a nice meal together as a family, and Keaton was as well-behaved as ever.  So, a good evening.

Tomorrow we have to head home, catching a morning flight back to California from which I’ll go right into work (hitting my desk sometime after lunch, I suspect).  I’m not very excited about the prospect of waking up at 5am to catch the train to the airport where we’ll catch a plane to California where I’ll drive myself to work.  Sounds like an early rise-time for what amounts to a drawn-out frustrating commute to work.  Hey – nothing to complain about though, was a good trip and we enjoyed the mini weekend-vacation thing.  We even got to check out a local church up here this time, which is something we’ve been wanting to do when we come here (yeah, we got our Lord on).

Today, Sharaun somehow convinced me to accompany her to the mall for some recreational no-purchase shopping.  Normally, this is an activity up with which I will not put, and I avoid it at all costs.  Today, however, I was suffering from a mild case of cabin fever and agreed to tag along.  Now, when I do this, I know before we’ve even left that I’ve made a mistake, have erred in judgment.  But, I try to put a positive spin on things and at least find small ways to keep myself entertained as crap dance music plays way too loudly in my ears and she paws through racks of clothes.

Today, I took comfort in laughing at the clothing of others.  Most of these were girls, and most were teenagers.  I just love the time and effort you can see in the things they wear, purposefully chosen to look different and edgy and to make them “stand out” from every other girl in skinny jeans and fuzzy ankle-boots.  I got a kick out of imagining their primping process, getting every accessory just right: The gold bangle bracelets and retro-60s beaded necklaces; the wide hair-bands and multicolor knit scarves; the overly-spritzed perfume and overly-thick makeup; so premeditated, such perfection.

As we wandered stores that felt more like clubs inside, me straggling behind in a daze half-expecting to to stumble onto a bar somewhere in the dark maze of Kanye-styled plaid sweaters and $30 80s-colored tees, an idea struck me: Why not build a “mall for men?”  A man’s mall.  Not that women would be forbidden, heavens no, just a mall targeted at the male demographic.

Think about it, you could have electronics, hardware, books, a movie theater, a food court with beer, sporting goods, music and movies, gadgets, tobacco-products; the list goes on and on.  Oh, and there would be clothing – but only male clothing.  No female clothing stores, no candles, no salons, no soaps or lotions, no jewelry or sunglasses, no knick-knacks, no baby stores, no make up or belt stores or purse stores or shoe stores (aside from sneakers and other male-centric footwear).  Each store would have a minimum of ten always-staffed registers so there’d never be a line, and strategically-placed recliners and TVs showing sports would provide quick access to a moment’s rest.

I wonder if that would tank… being that men typically dislike shopping anyway and, as I’ve noted above, tend to look at chicks the whole time they’re at malls anyway… maybe a dude-centric mall wouldn’t go over so well after all.  Ahh well, it was a thought.

Well folks, I think I’m outta here for the night… love ya and I’ll chat ya up tomorrow if blogging goes as planned.  Goodnight.

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see you at the booths

Hey internet. Didja?

I’m going before work bright and early; depending on the coast you’re on and the time you’re reading this – I may in fact have already been. Think we’ll get a definitive result tonight? Not sure… but I sure hope so. We’re off to Oregon on Wednesday and I’d like to be able to know who’s taking office come January. Here’s hoping. Ready, set, blog.

Three random paragraphs I wrote and  have no way to make slick segues between, presented in no particular order:

I’m pretty sure that when I took “science” back in middle school that someone along the way taught me that the average lifsepan of a common housefly is about twenty-four hours; a single day.  In fact, unless I totally imagined that (for some oddball reason), I recall thinking how crappy that was.  Birth, a dedicated search for both potato salad and a suitable mate for procreation, and repeated attempts at escaping by flying headlong into closed windows (not even knowing what a window is or why you can see, but not fly, through it).  But man, that was a bunch of bunk.  There’s been a fly in our house for days now.  How he survives, I have no idea… but 24hrs is a load of dook.

Don’t know what I was thinking about doing a picnic today with Keaton on my “working from home” daddy-daycare day, it’s been cold, cloudy, and rainy for the past few days. I guess I was just in some daddy-n-daughter time fantasy world.  Instead, we decided to take a walk over to a local eatery, rain and all.  We both crowded under my large umbrella and braved the elements to have lunch together.  It was one of those salad-bar places so we both kinda hunted and pecked of my plate, veggie-style.  By the time we’d finished eating and chatting, the rain had subsided for our short jaunt back home.  The walk in that direction is mostly uphill and I thought up the idea of challenging Keaton to a “race” to the top in an attempt to at least let her expend some energy before naptime.  Was fun.

Finally decided to try and sync my iPhone Safari bookmarks with my “standard” bookmarks today.  I use a server-based bookmarking application called SiteBar to store/access my bookmarks.  That way, I can access/edit them in any browser and anyplace in the world – instead of having them locked to a particular application on a particular PC.  I used the SiteBar “export” feature to get an HTML bookmark file which I could import into Interner Explorer (which I don’t use, so was void of bookmarks), then told iTunes to sync the IE bookmarks with Safari.  Worked like a charm and it’s really nice to have the entirety of my usual bookmars on the device – really helps make the internet more usable.

OK folks, off to get one final pre-voting day dose of punditry before I sleep on my intended vote one last time (and, wait for my wife to get home from her short out-of-state trip!).  Have a good day, and I’ll be talkin’ to you tomorrow.

Goodnight.

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halloween bash ’08 in pictures

Hello again from Monday.

Wanted to have this done last night but had a ton of redeye to process out (not very skillfully, as I was in a rush, I may add) of the costume contest photos.  Anyway, I got through about half yesterday and finished up early this morning prior to “going in” to virtual work here on the couch with my laptop, cellphone, and bluetooth earpiece.  So, what do we have?:

Click here to see the Halloween 2008 costume contest.  Looking over the pix, I notice there are more than a few folks we missed getting snapshots of; so if you were there and have pictures we missed – send ’em along.  And remember, you can vote on the pictures to voice your favorite.  Have fun!

Click here to see a bunch of randomly-chosen, totally un-retouched candid photos from the evening’s festivities.  Enjoy!

If you weren’t there, you totally shoud’ve been!  Love ya, have a good Voting Eve!