a mild itch

Got into Vegas from Shanghai just an hour or so ago.

Upon seeing this shiny place ringed by desert again, I didn’t expect to have such a strong emotional reaction.  Maybe the jetlag contributed, but being here again after this summer’s RV trip, for only the second time in my life, just smashed down on me and almost made my eyes water.  It’s not like I’m remembering something that happened twenty years ago, either – we were here back in July.  I think it’s a testament to just how impactful that trip was on me.

Maybe I didn’t realize exactly how broadly the journey effected me, and to some extent maybe I’m still settling back into things and coming off that road-high.  Writing might be one example of this.  I know in my head that at some point I’m going to call this sounds familiar dead-time “the big gap.”  That I’ve already named it for future writing means I’m getting closer.  More telling still are the ideas for entries that have been jumping into my head again; on plane flights, in taxis, on the soccer field, the shower; the usual places.

It could be that I haven’t seen my family in two weeks, and won’t for another few days before we meet again in Portland.  Missing them and being here, a place where, even if we didn’t really have the best time in the world, I was last together with them on this wild transforming journey, surely plays a part.  I miss my family.

So I don’t know… but I’m going to go out and walk the strip a bit (after a shower to wash the full day’s travel off me) and see if I can catch further nostalgia.

Until later then.

nicking time

This Friday afternoon I’ll slip out of work a little early and head home.

Once there I’ll double-check that I’ve got all my gear in order: Backpack, tent, sleeping bag, food, fire, water, bugspray, sunscreen, fishing pole & tackle, pistol.  Keaton will be in the garage as I do this last-minute sanity-check to ensure we’re ready and I’ll use that time to foster more excitement about our trip.  I’ll cinch up the pack and chuck it in the back of the GMC.  I’ll ask Keaton if she’s gone over her pack, made sure she’s rightly-provisioned and is ready to go, I’ll get her emotionally involved and also be giving her a lesson on what to bring for a successful overnight backpacking trip.  I’m hoping she’ll be full of anticipation and excitement and anxious to get on the road and on the trail.

We’ll head up the mountain around 4pm so we can park and put feet to earth by 6:30pm.  We’ll race the sunset to try and get to camp, 2mi in from our starting point, by dusk.  After setup and a late dinner we’ll have a small permit-be-damned fire and roast marshmallows and bundle up against the nighttime chill.  Come morning we’ll wake with the sun and eat a backwoods breakfast, I’ll ask her to help me get it ready and be part of the team, while contemplating the beauty of God’s creation and the benefits of solitude.  No Saturday morning cartoons, no couch to lounge on.  In the heat of the day we’ll go bug-catching, try fishing in the creek, throw a Frisbee, hunt for some Geocaches.  We’ll take a light lunch wherever we are around 1pm.  Around 4pm we’ll pack it in and I’ll again require her assistance – she’s going to walk away knowing she was an integral part of our camping success story.

We’ll be back home again by nightfall Saturday, a short 24hrs later and returned to the comforts of home – don’t want to overdue the “fun” on our first daddy/daughter sojourn.

I can’t wait.

making room

Hey internet.

Seems I’ve traded writing for something else.  Not sure what it is yet, but pretty certain the swap came on the RV trip.  Sharaun suggested perhaps it’s a better sex life.  If so, I made the right choice and the writing will come back eventually, it’s all about the balance.  No but really, being on that trip made me think about how the folks of old and how they lived in much closer quarters than do we today – coexisting in a one-room cabin in relative isolation from other humans aside from your spouse; no wonder they had bigger litters in the old days.

Wait; where was I… oh, yeah.

To put it simply: writing has been hard.  I sit down almost every night with the best intentions and end up with nothing.  I feel surprisingly little guilt about it, which I think means that it’s not something I’ve “given up” but rather something that’s not coming easy these days.  I’ve been writing so long that I don’t think it’s something I can just quit.  Until I get back on the horse though, I’m going to be unashamed about how long I go between posts here.  I just don’t care enough to force it when it’s not right.  Like other “healthy” habits I’ve let go the way of the dodo, writing will return and return strong… I’m just going to have to wait it out.

Let’s see… what’s going on…

Oh, Coco is crawling now – crawling all over the place, no need to call the developmental people with their slide rules and pocket protectors and physical training.  In fact, in the past week Cohen’s been all about what they call “cruising,” which is where he pulls up and “walks” by aid of his hands on tabletops, couches, or anything else.  He spends more time on his feet now than crawling, which I consider a clear signal that he’s wanting to be walking, and likely will be here shortly.  Like Keaton, he’ll be late gauged against “the norm” or other kids his age, but like with Keaton I couldn’t care less.

Don’t know if I wrote about it, but he can talk too.  His first word was “uh-oh,” and now he’s got “mama,” “daddy,” “sister,” “Keaton,” and “kitty” too.  He also recently got an award from President Obama for being the “Cutest Baby on the West Coast.”  OK that last part is bunk; but he can talk and crawl and is almost walking.  In fact I told Sharaun I think he’ll be walking on his own by month’s end.  She says I’m optimistic, but it’s true so I didn’t punch her or anything for sullying my good name.

Things at home are normal: Sharaun let me get a flagpole and an American flag.  I fly it most days, putting it up in the morning and taking it down again at night.  She bought a UF flag and we fly that on Saturdays instead.  I tried to do laundary and threw in some orange leggings at the bottom of Keaton’s hamper and they bled all over everything and ruined stuff.  Sharaun said they were dyed for Keaton’s Halloween costume last year and she had purposely been avoiding them down there at the bottom of the hamper.  Last Halloween?, I asked incredulously.  One year in the bottom of a hamper.  Keaton’s doing well in kindergarten and playing soccer on the weekends and dancing too – I believe we’ve got our yuppie-parent dance card all filled.

See, first time I’ve written in weeks where it felt good.  It’ll come; just give me time.  Goodnight.

too much vermouth

I thought, “Why not try to make my own martinis?”

How Draper of me.  How 1950s Catholic.  What’s one need, anyhow?  Some olives: check.  Some vodka: check.  Some vermouth: check.  Ice and whatnot, sure.  Some years back, I don’t even recall the occasion, we were given a cocktail mixing set.  I think it was the “thing” at the time, a little metal bar set with tongs and strainer and whatnot.  When I pulled it down from the back of the top shelf this morning it still had tape on it, just like the day we pulled it from the box.  I gave the thing a thorough cleaning and double-rinse in preparation for its inauguration.

And a few jiggers later I was sitting in the garage listening to Neil Young with a buddy from South Africa (I needed a martini-experiment guinea pig).  It was hot today so the garage wasn’t all that comfortable, and there were flies in there (I have this theory that they’re attracted to smoke, the barbecue and pipe seem to draw them in).  I have a thing for fresh air (says the guy who just wrote about flies and smoke), so sitting in a camp chair in the garage where it’s shady is an upgrade to sitting inside (and not being able to smoke a pipe, too, I suppose).

The drinks came out OK.  Too much vermouth.  Would’ve made another to hone the mix but didn’t need another.

‘Night.

two evenings

Just a little short thing tonight.

Two evenings sacrificed rebuilding and and lovingly re-configuring my HTPC just so it can play old Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Genesis, and Playstation games.  Two evenings where I monopolized the television doing so, frustrating my wife.  Two evenings where I was able to forsake actual work, as in sawmill stuff, in favor of a “fun” kind of work.  Two evenings where I went to bed too late because I’m OCD and have to have things working perfectly or all figured out before calling it a night.  Two evenings just spent nerding-out for hours on end, painstakingly configuring something I don’t really have the free time to indulge in all that much.

So what did I get?  In the end what was I after?

That’s my five year old daughter just whomping-up on Mario 64.

That’s right.  She picked up the controller and started directing Mario like she’d been doing it forever.  I sat and watched her play, giving her tips on how to avoid the Bob-Ombs and Goombas, showing her how to do the slam-jump thing using two fingers at once, and in general just enjoying her enjoying something new.

So maybe Sharaun wasn’t entirely bought-into the “need” for another source of entertainment… but man we sure had a blast racing in Mario Kart.

Tomorrow maybe I’ll show her the 8-bit Little Mermaid game… goodnight.

shirtless

Happy Tuesday, people of the internet.  Welcome to the place where I’m trying to write again.

Worked from home today, mostly out of fear that yesterday’s stomach bug might’nt have fully passed through my system.  Seems like it was an overly-cautious move, as it’s back to normal in the bowel movement department and I’m craving spicy burritos again.  There are times where I’ve been sick in the past and wondered, “Could that have been food poisoning?”  This time, I knew it was food poisoning.

It’s OK.  Despite being on meetings all day, working from home, or “WFH” as we say, can have perks.  Take for example the fact that, until sometime between noon and 1pm at least, I was able to work with the house thrown open and fresh air all around me.  More, I situate myself next to the sliding door into the backyard and get direct sun from about 9am onward.  You know, thinking about it, I haven’t had a shirt on all day.  Counting the hours I was asleep last night, that means I’ve been free from the shackles of the foreign textile industry now for almost thirty hours now – a feat for a modern American (at least from the waist up).  Also kinda rad to have done all my business meetings shirtless.

Cavemen conducted all their business shirtless, too.  Braining other cavemen, spearing fish, dragging cavewomen by the hair for coitus; all sans their Hanes.  Today I talked about frequency domain simulations, shirtless.  Never before have I been so close to my neanderthal kin.  One blood, cavemen; one blood.

Night.

 

on the couch

Woke up at 4am last night and was called, by animal urge, to the loo.

The water-closet part of our bathroom is little more than that, a tiny sarcophagus with a toilet and a magazine rack, a plunger and a toilet brush.  From that 4am visit on I decided the place could be quite homey.  Maybe out of necessity, as I was tethered there until the sun came up and then the rest of the day Sunday.

Earlier in the day it was just my gut ailing me.  I made a list of the things I ate or drank, tried to see if there was anything unique which the family hadn’t had too.  Nothing really stuck out.  Around midday I could tell I was running a fever in addition to my intestinal distress and that led me to think I was battling some bug and not just a bad bit of cheese or off sushi from Friday night.

I spent the entire day on the couch, slept for most of it.  I listened to a lot of music and drank lots water.  Somewhere in there I queued up a lot of Pink Floyd, the albums I don’t listen to much like Obscured by Clouds and Animals.  The family attended me, Keaton bringing me water and rubbing my belly.  Laying there I was wondering what was going on in my gut.  I imagine these little flagella-having viruses hammering some soft pink lining.

Couldn’t have happened at a worse time as far as work is concerned.  I have an obstacle course of a week ahead of me and don’t need to be waylaid by a stupid stomach bug.

Goodnight.