Category: lil’ chino

the coming spawn

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weekend on the carpet


I spent most of this weekend laying on the ground playing with Keaton. It was fun and gloriously lazy. Now it’s time to close it out, sadly, as the clock ticks towards midnight on Sunday. It’s gonna be a tearful goodbye, as a desk in a cubicle is nothing compared laying on the carpet with my daughter.

Last Thursday, on the way back to work after lunching at home, I decided I felt like smoking my pipe. So, I pulled out one of the smaller-bowled ones I got years back in a batch of estate pipes I got on the cheap from eBay and packed it with my favorite tobacco, Frog Morton On the Town, and happily puffed my way back to work. It was nice, and I think I’ll do it more often. I have less guilt about stinking up my truck because, well… that truck is a piece of work as it is… a little stank won’t really kill its curb appeal or anything. Also last week on the work tip, in the unfortunate bits of work sandwiched between waking, lunching, supping and sleeping, I was quite busy and really pretty productive. Good for me, as I’m still coaxing all the hamsters back into their wheels after coming back off vacation.

A third track from the Arcade Fire’s pending album hit the internets this weekend, this time through the official website as a goodie embedded in a flash page (of which the source was quickly decompiled in short order to get a direct-download link). Again it’s a little darker sounding, and again it’s been getting a fair amount of “can’t hold a candle to Funeral” flack around the water cooler. I dunno, that’s three finished tracks now, and yes they sound good – but I’m not sure anything can live up to my expectations. I fear I’ve doomed this album to the sophomore-slump before even hearing it, and that just ain’t right. Hopefully, I’ll eat my words when the full thing leaks. Maybe it’s just because I haven’t taken the time to really put on my headphones and listen to them – I’ll make it a point to do that soon.

Finally, I feel the need to express my thanks for my wife and friends – who setup not one, but two 30th birthday parties for me (one being a surprise party on my birthday, and one being a joint party with Kristi). Furthermore, special thanks to Cynthia – who not only made both my cakes, but decorated my 1st one in a “Pink is the New Blog” theme, took my picture with it, and sent it over. (For those unfamiliar with “Pink,” it’s one of the ‘net’s most popular gossip-blogs.) Anyway, turns out I made Trent’s Saturday post (scroll down towards the bottom for my cameo). Now, don’t go thinking I’m a huge gossip-blog guy or anything… I’m more of a casual fan (I go there mostly for pictures of Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Alba) and the whole thing was Cynthia’s idea – but it is cool to see your mug on the internet. Way to go.

Goodnight, until the next time.

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stronger than zyrtec


After some flight re-routing and multiple-hour delays, we finally made it home to Northern California yesterday. Draggin’-tired and zombified, I decided not to blog and instead give myself a nice easy comedown before an early ~9pm lights-out. Vacation was wonderful – reinvigorating and restoring for my spirits. The time spent with friends, the time spent with family, the mid-afternoon catnaps and warm weather: all of it worked like a trip to an old-timey “sanitarium,” shaking the white-collar dust off my boots and reminding me what life’s pace should really be like. Well, OK, perhaps that’s a bit romanticized for a mere two-week respite from the millstone, but it certainly did improve my outlook (I give work three days max to settle the clouds back ’round my head, though). Seriously, though, Florida was great and we had a splendid time there – but it’s also good to be back.

Before I get into it then, I’ll go ahead and break my dry spell by posting a backlog of Keaton pictures. These stretch back over the weeks I’ve neglected posting because of work stress and/or vacation non-stress. Check ’em out here, but make sure to remember to come back to read the rest of the blog when you’re done.

In other Keaton news, over our holiday she really seemed to sprout like a weed – learning new things like “cruising” and opening drawers and cabinets and possibly even saying her first word (it’s hard to tell, but she sure does seem to say “hi” in the right context and with good repeatability). Maybe, if her first word does turn out to be “hi,” it’s a good sign socially… or something. Sometimes I see her in a certain light and am taken aback by how “big” she is. In those moments, I instantly feel like I’ve not been paying enough attention, like things shouldn’t be allowed to change this fast, like I’ve she’s somehow changed while I wasn’t looking, while I blinked. To see her tiny legs holding her up when I can remember well the days where we cheered her as she struggled to roll over… that’s something, I tell ya. I have this fear I’m gonna take a nap and wake up to her in miniskirts and eyeliner…

Three days ago I decided to go off my allergy pills, cold turkey. I’ve been on them ever since my run-in with anaphylaxis, and had, at a couple times since then, ran out for a day or two before refilling the prescription – which, without fail, resulted in an intense all-over itching. I never had this whole-body itching thing before I started taking allergy pills, and for some reason I got the idea in my head that, maybe, I’d become reliant on their histamine-stomping powers so much that my own system had become weak. Also, I had begun to loathe the $15 a month which we were shelling out on the pills. I got to thinking, is itching really that unbearable? I mean, is it $15 unbearable? Plus, I have this notion that if I’m able to just stop taking the pills, my body will step up to the challenge and once again begin its regulation of histamine, unassisted by modern medicine. In the meantime though, I’m a red, blotchy, itchy mess – and am having to rely on my tremendous mind-over-matter fortitude to mentally block out the prickly fires on my skin. I can do it though, I’m convinced I’m stronger than the Zyrtec.

Two songs, people… two songs. That’s what’s leaked so far from the Arcade Fire’s upcoming 2007 release (which, consequently, is totally mastered and ready for release – and therefore literally begging to be leaked… can you imagine being the scenster who ups that badboy?… talk about instant kung-fu). See, it was only supposed to be one song, “Intervention,” released exclusively on iTunes. But, something went wrong… I’ll let Win explain it himself (I know this is old news to those who are up on the wold of the ‘Fire):

The song that people have downloaded from the US side of iTunes is called “Black Wave/Bad Vibrations,” and it is the next track on the record after “Intervention.” I guess it is sort of charming that we can send the wrong song to the whole world with a click of a mouse…oh well. The real “Intervention” will be up soon…

Turns out they accidentally pushed a mislabeled and completely different song from the album onto the US iTunes. The mistake was corrected with a quickness, but not quick enough to prevent the bits from filtering into the ether and eventually making their way into the P2P universe. So now, there’s the supposed-to-be-released track and the accidentally-released track floating around (and in heavy rotation in my iPod). Both are good, and have my Pavlovian instincts wetting my chin in anticipation. I also think it’s cool that the band “gets” that illegal downloading is inescapable, and is creative about it, saying: “… there will be a paypal link up on arcadefire.com for those who have downloaded the songs without paying but still want to give some money to www.PIH.org.” Way to be progressive guys, way to be.

Before I go, here’s some linky goodness that spoke to the new father in my, check out this article on the extreme hoochiefication of today’s girl-type youth.

Goodnight.

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lazing around


The cold weather was a fluke – we’re back to the 80s here in Central Florida and it’s nice. I’ve, of course, reverted to my standard t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flop wardrobe and am loving it. It’s hard for me to believe that we’re basically at the end of our vacation – two weeks can really fly by and I’m in no way ready to go back to work. In fact, the bad memories I left with are still fresh enough to put a sour taste in my mouth just with the thought. Ugh, but, back to work I’ll go…

Keaton showed her signs of first post-fever roseola rash today, starting off as just a bunch of spotty red prickles mainly on her chest and back. Apparently, they’ll get a little more pronounced before fading. She also woke up in a nasty mood, fussy and crying and overly sleepy as well as not wanting to eat – she was also tugging on and rubbing at her ear. Now, ear-tugging/rubbing can either mean teething or an ear infection, and I’m voting for teething and I think I attribute the general crankiness to either the same or the roseola residuals – but we’re both hoping she hasn’t somehow managed to develop an ear infection on top of her outgoing roseola. When I was a kid I was plagued by ear infections, and she’s already had one now… just hoping she doesn’t take after her dad in that respect.

Last night our little family spent the night, as we always do when we’re in town, with Sharaun’s grandmother. I actually love that pre-assigned sleepover every time we have the chance to do it. We usually sit up late talking and playing games: dominoes or Yahtzee or Uno or something, and then wake up early and have breakfast together before lazing around the house until noon or so. This visit was all the more enjoyable as it came on the heels of a day spent motoring around Florida, in the heavy Orlando traffic and back, and as such the “downtime” felt all the more down. Those times, enjoying family and friends, are among the few things which make me wish we did live closer to what I still consider “home.” Not that I would now abandon California and pull up stakes – but I do admit I wish Sharaun could be closer to her family. Then again, I wish we were closer to my family as well – so it unfortunately cuts both ways.

As a Christmas gift to a long-time buddy, and fellow music-nut, here in Florida – I spent a lot of time over the past few months ripping every last remaining CD I own, and then doing a massive re-organization and cleanup of my entire digital music library. My goal was to give my buddy a well organized hard drive filled to the brim with every single piece of music I own. And, even though it literally came down to the last few hours on the last day before we headed to Florida a nearly two weeks ago, I was able to get the files sufficiently organized, centralized, and copied over to drives. I stuck them in the pockets of my jeans, folded them, and placed them in my suitcase. Then, when Sharaun and Keaton and I went over to Bob’s (that’s my buddy) house for dinner (a fine southern meal), I gifted him with them. The next day I had a message on my voicemail from Bob, sounding more giddy than I think I’ve ever heard him, saying things like, “Dave, this shit is amazing… where on Earth did you get The Crazy World of Arthur Brown?! I used to have this in vinyl…” Make a body feel good.

Although, I will admit that there were a couple not-entirely-selfless motivations in play here: 1) to have an off-site, remote backup of my music, and 2) to receive those “why isn’t so-and-so’s album ‘whatever’ on here?” for new music leads. Either way, it was a good exercise for me in that it helped me get my collection uber-organized, and since it got Bob smiling it was all the more worth it.

I likely won’t post Monday as we’ll be in the air and technically it’s a holiday, so look for me again on Tuesday – back in the C-to-the-A and back at work chained to my cubicle. Until then, I love your shapes.

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otters, herons, and fishies


Cold winds bloweth, spake the weatherman, and thus it was so.

Last night we had a fire here at casa-de-inlaw, and I even donned my longpants and Christmas-new shoes to fight back the chill. Now, I’m not talking igloos and icicles, but it’s definitely a change from the impossibly neutral warm temperatures we had for the first part of our visit. I believe that the same humidity which makes the heat so much more oppressive here also makes the cold feel a lot colder. It’s nice though, actually, as I didn’t end up packing the khakis and jeans and thin sweaters for naught, and Keaton can get into a whole other alternate wardrobe of cute for showing off. Not only Keaton, as Christmas giving found me the new owner of a new haute couture sportcoat/blazer thing (pinstripes and all). I haven’t got to wear it quite yet, but am looking forward to it once we get back to the lower temps of Northern California.

Been a whirlwind couple of days here on the vacation tour. Orlando and back, several hours in the car, and crammed-in visits here, there, and everywhere. As is standard fare for the last few days of our jaunts here, we’ve once again booked up a busy schedule before our early morning Monday departure. We did, although, have some time today to sit outside and enjoy the weather at a natural springs north of Orlando. I took Keaton down her first playground slide, and she got to see otters and herons and fishies. Speaking of Keaton, she’s recovered nicely from whatever she had, but we still haven’t seen the telltale rash/breakout that’s associated with roseola – so who knows if that’s what it was or not. I’m just happy her fevers have passed and she’s feeling better again.

Thanks for all the comments lately friends – makes it easier to keep writing. Until tomorrow, take care.

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roseola


Well, a restful and easy Christmas day was followed up with a fitful and restless Christmas night. Keaton was up and down with her fever, which peaked at 103.5° F around 1:30am. I called our on-call pediatrician who suggested we give her some Tylenol, but we’d already exhausted what we’d brought with us and not much is open at 1:30am (especially on the day that had just so recently been Christmas). Poor babygirl didn’t want to sleep unless she was being held, so I ended up trying to catch my Z’s as she slept with her sweaty little head in the crook of my arm. The doc also recommended we take her in for a checkout first thing next day. Being thousands of miles from home, that would be a little difficult, and our options were limited. Luckily, Sharaun’s mom works at a pediatrics office here and was able to sneak us in. The doctor that saw her said she most likely has roseola, a common viral infection in children.

One of the things I like about it here in Central Florida is the deep roots the people seem to have to the area. People know people, know history, and have long and storied memories. Families know families from generations back, who used to run what auto shop; who owned what florist; who taught 5th grade for thirty years; etc. People know the land too, what used to be on that corner before the bakery, and what before that; just how long ago that tract of new manufactured homes used to be ranchland; which fishing spots have been hot in which years, and where to go now to land a red sure-thing. Folks’ lives are more ingrained into their surroundings because they’ve been here and seen things, and I like that sense of memory. We’ve met families with roots in California, I’ve written about them before, so I know they’re not a phenomenon exclusive to Florida – but here it seems like the percentage of folks who’ve been here for generations is higher. It’s a good connection to have, and enviable.

Well folks, vacation continues… take care.

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gifts, spoils, and fevers


Christmas in Florida came with thunder, lightning, and rain.

Since storms here are front-page news, all the network affiliates broke into their regular programming to report today’s Storm of the Century. The coverage here is downright paranoia, with all sorts of doom-and-gloom “what if” scenarios (“if the winds down a power line and lightning pops a gas main, we could’ve have a disastrous situation” type stuff), and minute-by-minute tracking of the storm cells moving across the state. We sat and watched the satellite coverage track the eastward march until we could see the darkness on the horizon, then took Keaton outside to watch. She pointed and looked as it got dark and the winds whipped the trees around, and laughed at the rain. We certainly felt Californian sitting out in the rain like it was a spectator sport, but I miss a storm with some good tropical-style gumption.

As of Christmas eve Keaton’s been running a fever. We swung into a 24hr pharmacy on the way home from a family get-together and bought a thermometer (which we didn’t have in the “travel kit”) and I got the job of sticking in in her butt when we got home. I feel bad for her, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from her attitude that she’s feeling anything less than normal. It’s the first “real” fever she’s had, and being a first-time parent I was of course a bit over concerned. But, she’s sleeping and eating and playing just fine, so I guess we’ll just keep and eye on her and maybe even chalk it up to teething… poor babygirl.

Been spending the past couple days on a downloading spree, as my favorite invite-only tracker gave users a weeklong Christmas gift of “free” downloads (i.e., not ratio impacting). Spent a good amount of time researching and looking for a breakbeat mixtape I had back in highschool that I’ve been searching for ever since I lost track of my copy. After years spent listening to classic early 90’s breaks trying to reconstruct the tracklist, I’ve pretty much decided I’ll never hear the exact mix again – but I did manage to pull down some great old skool tracks that bring back great memories. Too bad the “high speed” connection here at the inlaws is pathetic as all get-out.

Goodnight friends and lovers.

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mouth like an ashtray


First night “out” in Florida. Beers and cigarettes with old friends.

Could’ve done without the cigarettes, but such is my vice and I’ve exhausted that subject many times prior. I like taking my time to write, vacation is good for that, snatching a few minutes here and there during the day with no midnight deadline looming over me or “writing windows” which I must work within. Ran into an old friend at the local brewpub, whom I hadn’t seen in some ten years, and had a great time catching up and talking shop (even though I was many years his junior, I used to be his manager when we worked together at the record store). I like learning what people I used to know, even just as fleeting acquaintances, are doing now. I guess most folks enjoy a good round of “where are they now?” Anyway, Keaton was asleep and I touched her soft little face when we finally hit the sack around 1am. I’d had the perfect amount of spirit, enough to make a plea for marital relations (a plea that fell on deaf ears), but not enough to wake up with a headache (although my mouth tasted like an ashtray).

Today my day went like this: wake up around 7am and hand babygirl to mom for a wakeup boob; go online and load up the blog to see if anyone commented on my “best of” entry, and make a couple changes when I realize I forgot a couple albums (too late to shuffle them into the rankings now, the deed’s been done); no comments on the entry, time for to evacuate the bowels and wash the scent stale smoke and beer from my skin; play with babies for several hours, both my own and those of friends come to visit; finish the first volume of the books I’m reading; take a nap; blog. I’m telling you, it’s mindless, aimless bliss. I have time to really sit and enjoy playing with Keaton, and to appreciate how happy she can make her relatives when she smiles and coos and makes mean faces when I tell her “No” as she tries to grab the spoon during feedings.

Substance or no, it’s done now. Until tomorrow.