Crap!

I guess ambiguities always come up when dealing with rules. In the initial CD Game post I had this rule:

3. I encourage you to include as much information about the track as you want, or can find. Extra credit may come into play to break a tie. Whatever you want to include will be welcome, but don't knock yourselves out too much. I don't need the name of the assistant engineer from the recording session.

That passage implies that extra credit info will be considered when breaking a tie. Since receiving some game submissions, however, I've been scoring with extra credit on a track-by-track basis, including it in the total score. This could lead to someone who missed some vital track or artist info getting a higher score than someone who got everything right but who didn't include any extra credit info.

Seeing as I added the concept of Extra Credit to the game because I was hoping to benefit from Extra Credit in the last round hosted by Graculus, where I was sure there was going to be a tie, Extra Credit will only break a tie between people who have the same base score based on their answers for title and artist.

I hope this doesn't cause any problems, but it seems the most consistent and fair way to do it.

Friday Kid Blogging

Today's been a little annoying, filled with computer problems, so I'm getting to blogging late. I want to apologize for yesterday's post. In it, I said that Lovely Wife did some funny things, but when I relayed those things in the post, it wasn't at all funny. I don't know what happened.

Every morning, when I get up to run, LW brings CBK Jr. into bed with her. Usually after my run, I'll get The Bear up and he'll get into bed with the other two. Sometimes he gets up by himself and joins them before I'm done. The morning of this picture both boys were very sleepy, so LW let them stay in bed a while longer before breakfast.



The CD Game is rolling along. One person has already sent in her answers, and another has submitted a partial tracklist. I'm still waiting to hear from a couple players that they received the CD. Sorry the mail is taking so long to you Canadian folks.

iPod: Symphony No. 4, 3rd Movement and Symphony No. 1, 2nd Movement by Beethoven.

The Game is Afoot!

Three people have received the CDs and have begun listening. I just want to remind people about Extra Credit. Any extra tidbits of info you know about the songs, or happen to find out during your research, will add to your score if you include them in your answer. They should also be true, so don't make shit up.

Good luck, everyone, and don't forget to email me with the time you open the CD. Players from the East Coast and England have already emailed me, but, mysteriously, I haven't heard from anyone else closer yet. Hmmmm....

Thursday Wife Blogging

No, this isn't a post by Lovely Wife, and it won't be a regular feature, but Lovely Wife did some funny things last night.

1. Before she went to bed she was reading her biology text for her class. After she turned out the light she couldn't get to sleep because the bio info was still swimming in her head. When I finally came to bed, she started spouting biology facts like Jonathan Lipnicki in Jerry Maguire. "The interphase is made up of G-1, or gap one, and is characterized by growth, synthesis, and G-2, or Gap 2, also characterized by growth. DNA replication occurs during the synthesis stage." (I'm paraphrasing.)

2. After it was obvious that we weren't going to fall asleep, we went to the kitchen where she started snacking on chocolate chips, raisins, and sunflower seeds, mixing them in her mouth. Enjoying the late-night nosh, she asked me, "Want me to make trail mix in your mouth?" Which sounded really, really dirty. And not the good kind.

ipod: "Life's Too Short, Little Ndugu" by .Moneen., "Amphibious" by Jimmy Eat World, "You're Lucky to Be Alive" by Braid, "Your New Aesthetic" by Jimmy Eat World, and "Grace Car (live)" by Braid.

I know this is mean, but...

I'm starved for material.

I was skimming Yahoo Personals today, trying to complete the next installment of Real Beautiful Women (remember that?), when I stumbled across this striking woman:





And when I say "striking" I mean slightly frightening. I'm not calling her ugly. I'm sure she's a very nice woman who would really like to meet that special someone. It's who she resembles (to my eye) that frightened me. Who does she look like to you?

Tell me in the comments. I'm curious if you see the same thing I did.

iPod: Symphony No. 7 (not sure which movement) by Jean Sibelius, Symphony No. 3, Movement No. 5, by Roy Harris, and Choral Fantasy in C by Ludwig van Beethoven(That's right, breaking out the classical! You can thank Scarlet for that.)

Blog Vomit

I decided to just write today. This is going to be kind of stream of consciousness, so I won't be able to list the iPod songs. I feel badly for not posting anything of substance lately. I've been using the CD Game and my kids as total crutches for not having any real content of my own to use. Then I read all the other blogs on my list of favorites, and I feel guilty. You deserve so much more. Sadly, this is that more for now. Actually, I'm going to rely on one crutch for a second. I found out today that a song on the CD that was going to be kind of tough to figure out is now easier. So that's good news for you players. I was really looking forward to seeing how many people got it the old way, though. I don't do this a lot, but now I'm going to talk about my job. It's boring. Obviously, since I read so many blogs each day. Anyway, my boss, who is a really nice guy, came in to my office last week and told me that he was concerned at how much I was instant messaging with my wife. This took me aback because I don't IM with my wife that much. Maybe two times a day, for no longer than 5 minutes. Sometimes I'll IM with a friend, but that's even more rare. [Redacted - Looks like someone was playing with scissors again!] Anyway, I told my boss that the IM wasn't really a problem, and he seemed to believe me. I didn't get very defensive or confrontational, though, because I do waste time at the office. It's not that I don't get my work done, though. I do. I can do the work I need to get done on a daily basis within an hour, usually. It's just not that busy for me right now. If you want to give me more work, that's fine. But don't scrutinize how I spend my time when EVERYONE in my company routinely wastes time.

Damn, someone talked to me and broke my rhythm. Anyway, my boss just told me that he walked into a hair salon one day and got his hair cut by a guy named Ken Doll. Wow! That's weird. So that's the end of my work rant.

I've been thinking about ending the charade of my nickname. No one has guessed what it means, although one reader knows and another reader SHOULD know by now. I don't think there's much point to it anymore. Other bloggers whose sites I visit can easily find out who I am, and whenever a blogger emails me, I almost always give out my name. It's like that person is now in the inner circle, and I can let them in on the secret. But actually, there's no outer circle. I've got my regular readers, and I've got people who are looking for Jill Wagner. None of my regulars worry me to the extent that I don't want them to know who and where I am, and the Jill fans aren't going to be stalking me. So I'll think about it. I'm also working on a new banner, but I can't work too hard on it, because THE MAN is watching lately.

I just got an email on my work account. It's probably spam, since our spam filter sucks. Let me check.

It was semi-spam. Something from FedEx, who I regularly use. Not totally unsolicited, unhelpful, or anonymous like regular spam.

About the Brain Squeeze, I'm going to confess that I missed a question about Calvin & Hobbes book titles. I was in a hurry, and I mistook "The Babysitter Strikes Back" for "Revenge of the Baby Sat." Had I paused a moment and realized what I was reading I'd be in the lead right now. Of course, I didn't realize that at the time, and only wanted to hurry up and finish. Oh well, still a good score.

I'm hungry! My wife sent me an email about an Omaha Steaks special offer on Filet Mignon, with 6 steak burgers thrown in. The picture on the email is what made my stomach grumble. My wife and I have been on a diet of sorts, competing to lose weight before we go to the beach in Florida in the summer. We're eating smaller portions, less snacks, and less sweets. I lost 7 pounds in the first week. That was good. I thought my resolve to not eat would be better in the second week, but so far I've been hungrier and more tempted. I won't crack, though. Not because I want to win the contest that badly, but because I know I can do it. I lived on about 1200-1500 calories a day for three months when I lived in Denver, and exercised about 5 days a week. I lost like 35 pounds in that three month period, and that's why I had the confidence to dress myself in a Playboy Bunny costume for Halloween (see HNT post below). Needless to say, if I were to cheekily cross-dress for Halloween right now, it would have to be in a Playboy Burka to preserve decency and my dignity. But we'll see how I look in June after a couple months of consistent exercise and disciplined eating. I'm going to have to start doing crunches and push ups, too, if I want to tone the flabby parts, and I'm not looking forward to that. Ugh.

I just got a new cell phone, and I set the ring tone as the CTU phone ring from the show 24. My wife and I think it's cool, but I know it really makes me a big dork. No one who has heard it yet even seems to notice. Sigh.

Okay, that's enough of that. Have a nice day, everyone.

Game On! (Sort of)

The CDs have been sent out, and depending on where you live, should be arriving in a few days. English and Canadian contestants may need to wait a bit longer. Send me an email when you get it so I can start your clock. If you don't have access to the internet or email when you receive the CD, try to email me as soon as you can with the time you got it. I think we're all mature adults who don't cheat, right, ACW? Once all the submission are in, I will tabulate the scores, post the track listing, and give the results. So check your mailboxes incessantly and get ready to play!

iPod: "We Work the Black Seam" by Sting, "Time Stand Still" by Rush, "One Note Song" by Tenacious D, and "Dirty Frank" by Pearl Jam.

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Thanks to everyone who signed up for The CD Game (and the one who just wants a CD to listen to)! The turnout was much better than I expected. I'll try to mail the CD's out Saturday. Remember, send me an email or leave a comment on this post with the approximate time you receive the CD so I can start your clock. 48 hours after that I need your track list with titles and artists.

In other news, I can't seem to get Blogger to publish an HTML line. It shows up in the Compose window, but it's not there on the published blog.

Here's a test:

---

UPDATE: See? There's supposed to be a big blue line above this text. Anyone know why Blogger won't publish lines made with the hr tag?

Friday Kid Blogging

An Instant Message exchange with my wife:

lovelywife: So, The Bear is doing thank you cards
cbk: Cool
lovelywife: He is supposed to write "I love it"
cbk: And?
lovelywife: He writes the "I love"
lovelywife: and goes to write "it"
lovelywife: he writes the T first
cbk: oops
lovelywife: And then he says, "I love tit"

That's my boy! You can pass on a lot even without genetics.

As for CBK Jr., Lovely Wife left his breakfast on his high chair tray and walked away for a second. You can guess what happened.

I was so looking forward to saying "I'm Batman!"

But it turns out I'm Spiderman. (As seen on JaG's site.)

Your results:
You are Spider-Man
You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.

Spider-Man - 80%

The Flash - 70%

Superman - 65%

Hulk - 65%

Robin - 58%

Green Lantern - 55%

Iron Man - 50%

Supergirl - 43%

Catwoman - 40%

Wonder Woman - 33%

Batman - 30%

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

March Madness, Baby!

I'm not a big basketball fan, but when I fill out a Final Four bracket, I become rabid for the teams I picked. Tonight's amazing comeback by UCLA over Gonzaga was SO sweet, seeing as I have UCLA in the Final Four. It really was heartbreaking for the Zags, but if their star, Adam Morrison, is going to break down and cry on the court before the game's even over, then your team doesn't deserve to go any further. Seriously, Dude!

And this from a guy who cries easily. Movies about death and kids, sure, but I wouldn't sob after losing a game, even a big one.

Go Texas, too, who had an exciting win of their own.

The CD Game Update - The Prizes!

Four people have signed up for The CD Game so far. In an attempt to lure even more people into the fray, I am revealing the Fabulous Prizes the winner shall receive:

A vial of salt rocks from the Great Salt Lake and a Salt Lake City coffee mug filled with delicious Utah salt water taffy!



[Click for larger image.]

So come on people, email your address for the Mystery Mix CD and join in the fun!*

*For those of you already signed up, please don't drop out now that you know what the prizes are.

iPod: "Pony's Last Trick" and "Secret Santa Cruz" by The City on Film, "Pain" and "Episode Four" by Jimmy Eat World.

Damn Funny!

I didn't watch the whole thing, but last night's South Park was brilliant! Isaac Hayes is gone from the show, so they put clips of past recorded dialog into Chef's mouth, with hilarious consequences. And of course they couldn't help making him a pedophile and indirectly slandering the Scientologists as a "fruity little group". Those guys routinely go too far, but it's awesome every time. I still haven't seen the Terry Schaivo episode from last year. I hope I stumble upon it in reruns because I hear it was legendary.

Just a quick little note to update the ol' blog.

iPod: "Stay Six", "Bells", and "Lashing Out" by Hey Mercedes.

A Return to Normalcy

After losing 6 straight games and effectively exiting the playoff race, the Boston Bruins inexplicably won two consecutive games against two of the best teams in the league. One of the victories was by shootout. Prior to that game, they had lost all of their 7 shootouts this season.

Luckily, they returned to form last night and got spanked by the New York Rangers. It's so much easier when things are as they should be.

UPDATE: Here's what I'm talking about. Tonight, after twice leading by two goals, the Bruins committed 4 penalties, only had 4 shots, and gave up two goals in the third period. They had nary a shot in overtime, and of course lost in the shootout. That's the Bruins team I've come to expect.

In other news, I'm organizing a search party for Anonymous CoWorker. Who's with me?

iPod: "The Ledge" by The Replacements and "February Stars" by Foo Fighters.

Wanna Play The CD Game?

The Weird Bird Guy started a game on his blog, simply titled The Game, that I am now passing on to you all. Basically, if you want to play, I send you a mix CD I made. You then try to identify the title and artist of each song and email me the track listing. I won Grac's round, and now it is my duty and privilege to begin another round. I have the CD all set. It has 20 tracks. The rules are as follows:

1. I will mail you the CD. Upon receipt, email me to tell me you have it. I will then start your clock for turning in your track list. You have 48 hours to email me your answers.

2. You can use a variety of resources to identify the tracks: your own mind, internet, friends, etc. I have verified that all of the tracks can be identified, some more easily than others.

3. I encourage you to include as much information about the track as you want, or can find. Extra credit may come into play to break a tie. Whatever you want to include will be welcome, but don't knock yourselves out too much. I don't need the name of the assistant engineer from the recording session.

4. If you would like to play, send me an email to cbk2000@excite.com with your name and mailing address by 5 pm Mountain Time on Friday, March 24. I don't need all your information, just enough to get it to you. If you only want to give me a work address or PO Box and a nickname, that's fine. I will not divulge any of the information you give me to anyone at all.

5. The winner will receive a fabulous prize, which has yet to be determined. It may be some kind of Utah souvenir, but won't be lame.

6. For my own curiosity, but not for extra points, please note on your responses which songs and/or artists you recognized just by listening to the CD. I chose many non-album tracks (B-sides, soundtrack and compilation tracks) in an attempt to introduce the players to some lesser-known stuff.

7. I understand that people have different tastes in music, but I hope that you enjoy most if not all of my selections if you get a chance to hear them.

I have two players so far, and I know they will welcome more competition. Sign up soon!

In Poor Taste

A long time ago I had a feature on this blog where I would post the amusing subject lines of my spam emails. That didn't last long, but today I would like to share a spam message I received this morning.

Subject: Secret to attracting beautiful women!

Don't be left behind!Millions of men are already benefiting from using pheromonsto attract women - without them you are at a disadvantage!Don't let the other guy get the girl.Arm yourself with Ultra Allure pheromones tonight!Check out the site for yourself:http://www.curbaz.biz/ph/?77

And then there's a large space until it concludes with this:

chugging you exhale me, vermeil chink spree . application you helmut me, oatmeal lap .delectate you igor me, jones . armstrong you sadism me, arty buchanan. hypnotic you debase me, guardhouse hermite hove copernican . digestible you sima me, dallas atwood fluent audiotape .curbaz.biz/u.php

That's very weird, but not terribly exceptional. Until you see who it's from:

"Elliott Smith"

I didn't know that these scum spammers were using the names of DEAD celebrities to lure you to click on their links. It's bad enough when they use the names of people who are still alive, but this crosses a whole other line. Maybe I'm just too sensitive because I'm an Elliott fan, but it really pissed me off, and I thought I'd share it with you all. What fuckers!

iPod: "King of Pain" by The Police, "First It Giveth" by Queens of the Stone Age, and "Grace Car, Part One" by Braid.

Friday Kid Blogging

I've been busy with some things today, and don't have any really good kid anecdotes, so I'll just post some insanely cute baby pictures.





The Bear had an assembly today, and he recited two poems and sang a song with his Kindergarten classmates. It was so cute, and Lovely Wife and I were so proud, we started to tear up. All he was doing was naming body parts in French. We're ridiculous!

My first, and ONLY, Half Nekkid Thursday

I know I said I would never succumb to such comment-whoring exhibitionism, but JuicyA is out on vacation, and I offered to fill her void for the week. Wait a minute, that didn't sound right. I offered to take her place this week, and in honor of some of her recent HNT posts, I'm following through on my pledge and doing it in fishnet stockings.



So enjoy it while it lasts, because it ain't happening again. And in case you're wondering, this picture is from Halloween a few years ago. I didn't dress up just for HNT. I think I still have those pumps, though.

This is where all the madness started, BTW.

Happy HNT!

Meet Frosty.

We had a "flash" snowstorm over the weekend that was over by noon, and The Bear and I made a snowman in the front yard. It was the first that The Bear had ever made, so I was happy to
be teach him how to do it. Frosty looked pretty good after we were done.


As the snow started melting, he started having some balance and facial feature problems.


By Tuesday his head had fallen off and completely disappeared. Now he's just a big snowball.

So that's all I got today. My stomach feels weird, and my eyes are blurry, so I'm not very talkative. There is one thing I'd like to ask all of you, though. How do you feel about the Brain Squeeze? A lot of people have been playing lately, and I love that. Some people have also been getting some very impressive scores. There still seems to be a lot of insanely obscure questions on it, though. Are you satisfied with it, or would you be open to change? I'm suggesting another quiz with the same basic categories, but hopefully more general and without ridiculous questions like what Lovely Wife had the other day:

"In what year did pianist Vladimir Horowitz return from his first retirement due to a breakdown caused by Spastic Colitis?" Or close to that. That's pretty ludicrous.

So let me know what you think about a small overhaul. Are you happy with the status quo, or ready for some changes? Thanks, everybody!

I Can't Drive 55!

Here's a video I found today of a really cool experiment/statement made by some college students in Georgia. The video's kind of long, but worth it.

An Extraordinary Act of Public Obedience.

iPod: "Emma Discovery" by The Anniversary.

Erratum

I like to be precise, and to acknowledge my mistakes. It seems that in my attempt at being humorous I fell victim to overstatement. I used the word "pedophilia" to describe the situation where a Boy Scout performs cunnilingus on a Brownie, who is a girl younger than a Boy Scout. While the definition of "Pedophilia" can include the sexual attraction of an adolescent to a younger child, there are two problems with my use of that word.

1. "Molestation" would have been a better word to describe the act, because Pedophilia describes a mental condition, thought to be incurable, and is a much more narrow term than "molestation". All pedophiles molest, but not all molesters are pedophiles. I'd draw the Venn Diagram, but I don't want to take the time in MSPaint.

2. Considering the age at which I was told the joke (by our "good friend" M. Deutsch, Jade) and the likely context implied by the joke (as graciously pointed out by The Girl in Camouflage) "Sexually Acting Out" would have been the most accurate term for the act performed by the disturbed, wayward Scout.

I apologize for being loose with the terminology.

But you have to agree, "pedophilia" is funnier than "sexually acting out". I mean, c'mon!

Post Script 1: Apparently I can also succumb to prolonged sarcasm. I assure you that it is directed solely at my wife, who challenged my use of the word, and not at TGIC.

Post Script 2: It takes a brave man to do Google searches on "What is pedophilia" and "sex between young children". I hope the FBI can keep an open mind.

CBK Angry!! CBK Smash!!!

CBK promised Girl Scout Cookies on Friday. CBK NO HAVE GIRL SCOUT COOKIES YET!!!

And did anyone else hear this sick-on-so-many-levels joke as a kid:

I was in the Boy Scouts, but I got kicked out.
Why?
For eating a Brownie.

I mean, WTF? It's either cannibalism or pedophilia. BTW, I don't think the Boy Scouts kick you out for either these days.

iPod: "Bleed American" by Jimmy Eat World, "I'm Afraid of Everything" by Braid, "Caveman" by Jimmy Eat World, "Killing a Camera" by Braid, and "Milwaukee Sky Rocket (live)" by Braid. (Apparently my iPod is doing a Braid/Jimmy shuffle.)

Friday Kid Blogging

1. The Bear got some birthday money, and Lovely Wife took him shopping. At the entrance to the store, he noticed the vending machines that sell lots of crap and candy. He always wants to buy stuff from those, and LW decided to indulge him on his birthday. He chose to get some jewelry from the "Bling" machine. This is what he got:

He decided to put on the birthday crown when I got the camera out. He's such a ham. (The yellow stain is from a large gum ball he bought for himself. We do wash our kids' clothes, in case you're wondering.)

And close up:


Last week he put on some plastic rings, a baseball hat sideways, and said to LW, "What up?" We were afraid that ghetto culture was invading his Christian private school, but he told us he saw it on a commercial. Now there's a Moebius Strip for you: Ad agencies put stuff they think kids will like in their commercials, but kids end up liking it because they see it on TV, so they propagate the images. LW told him that's how "gangbangers" dress, but I'm not sure he got the concept. I don't think we need to worry, though, because he's also been fascinated by the commercials for the mermaid movie "Aquamarine".

2. CBK Jr. learned how to do a new trick with his mouth!



He did it for about two days, and had us rolling, but then he stopped. Now he likes to make noises like a baby Wookie and like R2D2.

I'm trying to keep up some momentum here

So I'm writing a post.

I can't help but get really jealous at the weird things that happen to other bloggers. I love reading about the silly, scary, funny, crazy things that go on in their lives, and I wish I had some similar experiences to relate to you guys.

But as it is, this is my life:

- Get up and reluctantly run on my treadmill in the garage. (Except this morning. I wimped out.)
- Wake up The Bear and get him in bed with Lovely Wife and CBK Jr. to snuggle.
- Shower, dress, eat breakfast.
- Supervise The Bear getting ready for school, wring hands as he loses focus and goofs off. (BTW, The Bear goes to a private school, so that's why he wears ties, but only on Thursday and Friday.)
- Drive The Bear to school and drive to work.
- Sit at my desk, play trivia quizzes, make some phone calls, and draft some letters.
- Wonder if I have anything to blog about today.
- Eat lunch while surfing the web.
- Wait out the rest of the day, minimizing productivity.
- Drive home, eat dinner, probably watch some cartoons with The Bear.
- Watch TV shows with Lovely Wife.
- Watch some more TV while Lovely Wife goes to bed.
- Go to bed.

There's never any strange phone calls or visits, hilarious hi-jinks while out on the town, creepy old men hitting on me and/or my wife, animals doing entertaining things, or any other particularly amusing characters that would make for a good, funny blog post.

Now, I'm not complaining about my life, I have a great life. I'm complaining about the lack of good blogging material my life offers me. I wouldn't want to change my life, but if some funny stuff could happen to me while I was living it, that would be welcome. I'm certainly not the type to over-stretch a mundane experience into an attempt at hilarity with excessive use of hyperbole. I'd rather life threw hyperbole at me than me have to make it myself.

I'd also rather win my own damn quiz every day! I guess competition is good, though.

Okay, here's something weird: The Hairy Lobster (not a euphemism).

And Invasion is getting good, right before ABC takes it off in favor of another stupid crime procedural. Bastards!

iPod: "Jimmy Go Swimmer" by Braid, "Haven't Been This Happy" by Hey Mercedes, "The Middle (Demo Version)" by Jimmy Eat World, "Opener" by Jimmy Eat World, "So Excited to Sleep" by This Is Me Smiling, "Trials" by The City on Film, and "Lucky Denver Mint" by Jimmy Eat World.

Randominity

1. Anyone watch 24 on Monday? I couldn't believe the ending. It was one of the great endings of an episode, especially how they silenced the clock beeps. It reminded me of the ER episode when David Krumholz's psychotic law student attacked Carter and Kellie Martin's character. Very powerful stuff. Poor Edgar!

2. I am in love with Brown 'N Serve Sausage. Yummm!!!!!


3. The Boston Bruins MUST have the most one-goal-margin games in the NHL this season. Too bad they've lost more than they've won. Bye bye playoffs. [sniff]

4. I don't mean to brag, but I had one hell of a fantastic Nooner today. Aww yeahhhh!

5. The title of this post is not a real word.

6. Did I mention the sausage? Oh yeah.

7. The Bear's birthday party is at a pool this Saturday, and I don't want to go in the water because I'll have to take my shirt off and present my flab to the world, but my wife is making me so I can play with CBK Jr. in the water.

8. My wife's not really making me do it, and she'll be angry that I said she is.

9. This is the ninth item on this list.

10. I wish more people were consistently playing the Daily Brain Squeeze (link on right). Especially Daisy, but at least she has a good excuse.

11. I only included numbers 6 and 9 above so I could have 10 items on the list.

iPod: "Rockstar" by Jimmy Eat World, "My Life" by Braid, "Our Weekend Starts on Wednesday" by Hey Mercedes, "Carbon Scoring" by Jimmy Eat World, "Boy Destroyers" by Hey Mercedes, and "Que Shiraz" by Hey Mercedes.

Happy Birthday, Bear!

Today is The Bear's sixth birthday. I met him when he was about two and a half and can't believe how much he's grown. If you doubt that you can love and cherish a child that is not "of your loins" as much as one you made yourself, let me dispel that myth for you. We took to each other immediately, and he is one of the largest sources of pride, humor, love, worry, and sheer happiness I will ever have in my life.* If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.










Please forgive the amount of pictures, but as you can see, it was hard to narrow down to just a couple.

* Tear Tracker: I wrote this post, and started to cry.

I don't think I like this "work" thing

As in answer to my complaints about having no motivation at work, things keep coming up that require me to get off my blogging ass and get things done. Some of the stuff I don't mind doing, and will hopefully improve my situation here once they're accomplished. Other things, old crap thrown at me by my former "boss" because he can't retain a single piece of information told to him longer than 30 minutes ago, piss me off.

Oh well, I don't really have anything to talk about anyway. Had a super relaxing weekend. I didn't do squat except eat, watch TV, and play with CBK Jr. I actually watched practically all the Oscars last night (on DVR, fast-forwarding over the boring stuff) and thought they did a good job of time management. There were some pretty shitty cases of people getting cut off, usually pairs where the second person didn't get a chance to speak, but it wasn't that bad. As for the host, I thought Jon Stewart brought some funny material, and ad-libbed well, but he's just not suited to the venue. His stuff fell flat in such a large theater full of people "out of his league" so to speak. He's a small stage and TV guy, whereas the room was full of movie types. I don't know, it just didn't seem to fit that well.

And since I didn't see many of the nominated movies, I don't have much reaction to the winners/losers. I was surprised to see Crash win, but I wouldn't have voted for Brokeback Mountain if I was an Academy member.

Okay, back to the grind. I'll talk to you all soon.

iPod: "25" by Veruca Salt, "Lonely as You" by Foo Fighters, and "Omaha" by Counting Crows.

Friday Kid Blogging

The Bear is unusually hyperactive lately. He's either running around the house pretending to be a ninja, a superhero, or someone who shoots guns (that is, until we express our unhappiness with him shooting guns, in which case he changes it into a freeze ray). Lately not only is he a well known superhero, like Spiderman (which he changes to Spiderboy), but he makes sure to let us know that he also has the power to change into any superhero. He really is cute and fun, but when we're trying to relax, take care of a crying baby, or, in the case of Lovely Wife, study, it can get on our nerves easily.

The point to that story is that when he exhausts his favorite superheroes/characters, he moves on to others. He's not content to stay with a few stalwarts. To my knowledge The Bear doesn't know much about the Power Rangers. I've never seen him watch the show, and he only has a couple PR toys he randomly received as gifts or prizes. This morning, however, he was giving me a lesson in Power Ranger-ology.

"The Red Ranger is Black" he told me.
"Well, which is he? Red or black?" I asked, knowing full well what he meant.

We circled that for a while until he made it clear that the uniform was red, but his skin is black. Then he told me:

"The leader of the Power Rangers is a dog."
"Wow, I didn't know that," I replied.
"You need to watch more Power Rangers," he lightly scolded me.

Thus endeth the lesson. I guess I've got some homework to do.

Here's a picture of CBK Jr. sleeping. Among his toys is a large red bone, given to him by one of our Chihuahuas, when she noticed that he had his own collection. She's a sweetie, but she's seven years old and pees and poops on the floor at night. That's pretty freaking irritating.




Have a great weekend, everyone!

Call me George Clinton

Because I was seriously deep in the funk yesterday. I'm feeling better so far today. Yesterday's call went well and my run this morning didn't exhaust me. While listening to my iPod on the treadmill I finally opened up and accepted the brilliance of The City on Film. I'm totally, unconditionally sold now. I'll never doubt Bob Nanna again.

And one thing is returning to normal. The Bruins, up a goal on the NHL leading Carolina Hurricanes going into the third, gave up 2 goals and lost the game. I don't think that Olympic break did the Bruins' goalie Tim Thomas any good. Grumble.

iPod: "Tethered" by Fossil and "X Ray Man" by Liz Phair.

Warning: Self-Indulgently Whiny Post

What the hell is going on lately? Nothing's tripping the Excite-O-Meter, if you know what I mean. Well, that was overly suggestive, so perhaps you don't know what I mean. Let me explain: I have next to nothing to write about here. I'm not even commenting much on other blogs, which is strange because I see that as my real blogging talent. People I email don't write me back (no, not you, someone else). My Daily Brain Squeeze keeps spitting out ludicrous questions and alienating those who play it.

I don't have any friends. Seriously, if it weren't for blogging, my only "friends" would be about 4 or 5 people from my past who live several hundred miles away and with whom I communicate only occasionally.

I'm running about 4 times a week, but I'm not improving my speed or losing weight. I shaved off my beard to discover a double chin growing on my face. I have to run in the morning which sucks and makes me tired before I even get to work.

And then there's work! I don't want to do it. I have no motivation. I'm supposed to make what could turn out to be a pretty confrontational call right now, and I don't want to. I feel like I'm going no where with my company (and that my company is going no where, too), but I don't want to do anything to plan for a new job/career. Frankly it scares me to think about having to prove my competence to prospective employers. I'm also convinced that I'll have to take a cut in pay no matter where I go, which means that my family will live in a cramped house in a crappy neighborhood for several years to come.

Whatever I've accomplished in life seems so meaningless or wasted (except for my wife and kids, of course). Why the hell did I go to law school if I didn't want to practice law? Why did I run a marathon if I was just going to get overweight again and not do another? Why do I have zero work ethic when I know so much of my family's well-being relies on me being productive? I've got a wonderful family situation going, but professionally and personally I've got nothing. When I try to imagine what I'll be doing in 2, 5, 10, or 20 years, I can't see a thing.

And why is it that privileged people like me worry so damn much about such stupid, trivial things like the state of our own happiness when billions of people around the world and throughout history have weathered real crises, dealt with real hardship and despair, and handled real threats to their existence with nary a self-pitying narrative to show for it?

And when did I become such a big crybaby/complainer? What's up with that?

I expect I'll be back to normal soon, folks. Winter's almost done.

ipod: Stuff I was too lazy to keep track of.