That’s what is happening all over the Middle East this morning. Why? Because the terrorists have won again. Yes, Indiana’s 7th congressional district elected a Muslim - a MUSLIM! - to represent them in the US House of Representatives for the next ten months. It’s a well documented fact that every single Muslim in the world has the exact same world and political view (Muslims never, ever fight each other), so surely this means our enemies are taking over our government.
Tonight was dads’ night at M.’s preschool. There’s nothing quite like spending an hour with a bunch of wound-up three and four year olds. As with their Christmas program, M. had been letting details of what was going to happen tonight slip for a couple weeks. They’ve been diligently practicing songs and on occasion she would bust into one in front of me. So I kind of knew what was coming.
Today, while playing in her toy kitchen, M. said the following things: “I’m just going to pop this into the fridge.” And, “Hi, I’m Rachael Ray.” And we almost never watch any of her shows anymore. I’d prefer she pick up some proper Italian pronunciations from <a href=“http://www.giadadelaurentiis.com/">Giada</a>.
Every now and then, I write something and forget to post it. What lies below is an example of that. I only thought of this while reading a book this week that revolved around the same subject. I’m glad I found it. I finally caught VH1’s documentary <a href=“http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/vh1_rock_docs/122259/episode.jhtml">NY 77: The Coolest Year in Hell</a> this week. If you’re a fan of music, pop culture, or just American history, you owe it yourself to track it down.
Senior Night is awesome. It might be my favorite part of the basketball season, which I think shows that I’m aging a little bit. I’ve become a sucker for saying thank you and goodbye to the players that have represented your team for four years. I love looking back and seeing how players have grown over their four years on campus, both as players and people. And perhaps my favorite part is how, at least at KU, it seems like the guys at the end of the bench who never get to play always come up big on Senior Night (Big being relative, of course).
I donned my reporter’s hat Saturday and drove down to the natatorium at IUPUI to cover the Indiana boys swimming and diving championships. I hung out with some swimmers in high school, so I understand how swimmers are second only to wrestlers when it comes to strange high school athletes, but had never been to a proper meet. It was an interesting afternoon. First off, people go crazy at these things.
I’ve come at this a couple different ways and wasn’t terribly satisfied with the results, so I’ll give this a third shot and see what happens. It was ten years ago today (February 22) that my mom was killed in a car accident. As with any anniversary, in some ways it seems like yesterday, and in others it seems like it’s been a lot longer than ten years. As I’ve thought about this, I realized that there is about a 14 hour stretch of time from that day where I remember everything that happened, that I thought, that I said, and that I did, beginning at 6:00 PM when my step-dad called and told me she had been in an accident.
So I’m kind of addicted to eBay. We won’t get into the details, but since I finally checked it out last summer, I’ve become a bit of a fiend. I’ve sold some things, bought some things, but most tellingly bid on some stuff I absolutely did not need. Fortunately, all the Don’t Need items went to someone else. I’m not going all Woody Boyd on the Home Shopping Network. For the most part, I’ve found eBay to be awesome.
Another streak is broken. Saturday night, S. and I went to see our first movie in a theater together since 2004. One of her sisters informed us that we would be going out and she would be watching the girls, so we decided to go crazy and see a flick instead of just going to dinner. We caught Juno, which I thought was as good as everything I had heard about it.
My daughters are becoming nudists. It’s pissing me off. Yesterday, while I was off getting groceries, M. came prancing downstairs after her aborted nap buck naked, according to S.. Last night, while I was doing some stuff here in the office, she came strolling in naked again. Making matters worse was, right behind her, C. wearing only a diaper and one sock. And I’m pretty sure if she could have figured out how to get that sock off she would have.
As reported, the family has returned, intact, from our adventure to Colorado. The top of the line bullet points are that the girls earned an overall B+ for their behavior and S. and I have decided we’re not traveling with the girls again until they are both at least five. The flight out was mostly uneventful. C. was fussy for about ten minutes in the middle, but otherwise fine. M. loved the airplane toilets, which is surprising.
I forget if I’ve mentioned it, but tonight we head to Denver for a wedding and then a couple days in the mountains. It will be C.’s first trip on a plane, which of course presents all kinds of interesting scenarios. Fortunately, we’ll have two aunts and an honorary aunt sitting in the same aisle as us, so we’ll have five adults to handle two kids. And we’re flying on Frontier, which has the sweet TV screens in the seat backs.
It’s Super Tuesday. Indulge me in a little politics. It seems trite to say that I’m throwing the immense weight of the blog behind the candidacy of Barack Obama simply because he is campaigning on a promise to bring change to this country. After all. doesn’t every candidate claim to support change of one kind or another? Isn’t it more important to select a candidate that offers a platform or area of expertise that you believe best fits the nation’s needs?
Things are finally getting better here. C. was sick again all night last night. I finally broke down and got sick. A rough morning for some of us, but I’m feeling almost normal again and C. was looking much better before her nap. M. went back to school and was her now-normal bossy self upon her return. Now if we can just keep S. from regressing and getting sick tonight, we should be out of the woods.
I was hoping for a laid back weekend. A rest from the sickness of last week. Surprise, surprise. (Warning: more puke talk ahead.) Saturday, M. was feeling a little better, although certainly not her normal self. She ate a little bit, but didn’t seem to be into the food that much. I went off to cover my basketball game. That was cool. There was a big event down at the Pacers' arena that featured five high school games.
It’s a very sad day. M. was supposed to go to her first birthday party for a friend from school today. It is going to be at one of those places where they sell playground equipment, but rent it out so kids can go crazy inside on cold days like today. She was very excited. Then she started puking this morning. We’re staying home now. Shades of me on Halloween, when I was a kid, and got sick every other year and had to stay in rather than go trick or treating.
I like to say that music keeps me young. I’ve managed to stay in touch with what the cool indie kids are listening to despite the fact I’ll officially push into my late 30s this year. As my tastes have changed over the past four years, getting younger as I grow older, I’ve in turn pushed some of the mainstream music I grew up on out of my library. But there are the guilty pleasures I can’t get rid of, no matter how uncool they might be.
Two fun things. First, C. puked all over the couch this morning. Well, that’s not really fun for any of us, but if you think your day was bad, at least you didn’t have to clean that up. Second, Stephen Colbert is finally getting the recognition he deserves.<a href=“http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gG6ETB-rL6LIKTh1J0P1cwwZV9UgD8U7ENMG0">This is brilliant</a>.
If anyone knows how to get a 20-month-old to sleep through the night, we’re open to all suggestions. As if it wasn’t bad enough that C. still can’t master sleeping, and in fact has gotten worse over the last month, she’s come down with a mother of a cold that is making things even more fun at night.
“If you live in Kansas City, you kind of have to be a KU fan.” George Brett, 1/14/08, ESPN. Thank goodness he married a KU alum! When I was in school and he came to a game, it was always a big deal, with the students pointing to where he was sitting and chanting his name. I wonder if the kids today even notice a guy who quit playing 14 years ago?
A lot of ground to cover today. I’m sure you won’t be surprised that it was well after 2AM before I was finally able to relax and go to sleep last night. It didn’t help that literally the moment the Orange Bowl ended, C. started her mid-night act. So forgive me if this is even more disjointed than usual. The Game: I have spent the last month reminding myself that this was a great, great season for KU football, the bowl game was a reward for what happened over the first 12 games and an exhibition, and that no matter what happened against Virginia Tech, it would not change how I feel about this team or what they accomplished this year.
Orange Bowl. Iowa Caucuses. A pretty big day coming up on Thursday. And, if you live on the east coast, you apparently think that the two might interfere with each other. It started about a month ago in <span style=“font-style:italic;">Newsweek</span> magazine. In a column that laid out where each Democratic candidate’s support was coming from, Jonathan Alter claimed that Barrack Obama might be in trouble because he had a lot of young people supporting him, and they might decide to stay home and watch the Orange Bowl, featuring fellow midwesterners Kansas, than go out and vote.
There’s a slight dusting of snow tonight, leaving the remaining holiday lights in the neighborhood to look particularly dazzling. It feels like the week before Christmas instead of the first week of the new year. So, hey, happy New Year to everyone. I hope you all made it through the holiday unscathed. Our girls apparently resolved to not sleep in 2008, because we had much screaming last night until we gave up at 3AM and I ended up in the basement with C.
There are many things I admire and love about my wife. She’s compassionate and kind in every aspect of her life. She knew what she wanted to do early in life, went for it, and not only reached her goals, but has excelled at every step along the way. She has more patience with children than I do. Wait, she has more patience when it comes to everything than I do.
This is hard work. How do I filter all the music I listened to this year, and I listened to a ton of music, into 20 songs to represent the entire 12 months? In the end, that’s exactly how I managed it: what songs most represented the past year to me? What songs will I always immediately think of in the context of the year they were released later in time?
We made it. The bulk of the Christmas rush is over. I realized something this week. When you’re a kid, Christmas is like rolling a boulder up a mountain: it seems like it’s going to take forever to get to the big day. As an adult, though, it can be a bit like being in an avalanche: things start spinning out of control and you feel like everything is zipping by you at 1000 MPH.
“If I had one wish that I could wish this holiday season, it would be for all the children of the world to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace." Actually, that was Steve Martin’s wish back in 1986. But trust me, my sentiment is the same. (See below for the entire text of his SNL Christmas wish. I do want to wish all my friends, family, and even the occasional guest who visits here a happy and safe holiday season.
I’m just now watching my first Christmas movie of the year (Christmas Vacation), my traditional first movie each year). Between the four movies I own and the 3-4 I’ve added to the DVR in the last month, there’s no way I’m getting through them all, for the second straight year. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. M.’s Christmas program last night was great. It was exactly the kind of benign train wreck a kid’s Christmas event should be.
It’s fun to finally be experiencing Christmas through the eyes of a kid again. M. is old enough this year to figure out what’s going on. Tonight, her preschool has a Christmas pageant. They’ve been practicing songs for it all month, and along with those songs, since she attends a Catholic school, has come a scaled-down version of the religious aspects of the holiday. In between singing the songs she’s learned this month, she talks about the baby Jesus and all the people waiting for him.
I heard a rumor people are gathering in Kansas City tomorrow night to celebrate the life of one of the finest artists this nation has ever produced. I will not be making an appearance at this year’s Sinatra Party. I do hope all of you celebrate safely, though, and honor his memory in the proper way. I’ll find something nice to drink tomorrow night after I spend some quality time with the snowblower.