Tag: holidays (Page 5 of 19)

A Hunch Proved Right

December 9, 2020 / DB

My Christmas spirit is at an all-time low. I don’t think I’m alone in that this year, nor do I need to explain why. I’ve only watched a couple Christmas movies, I’m not reveling in Christmas music every waking hour, and we’ve had a couple hard discussions about what our family Christmas gathering plans should be.

But one thing has made me happy this season, and that is the life of a local radio DJ.

The same station has been “Indy’s Christmas Station” for something like 15 years now. It is a generic “hits from all decades” station, the kind that you hear in countless waiting rooms and businesses over the course of the year. It is also the station that plays the old American Top 40s on the weekends, which is normally the only time I listen to it voluntarily.

But from Thanksgiving to Christmas, it is my default. I play it in the kitchen, it’s my first choice in the car, etc.

A few years ago I mentally wrote some imagined biographies of the various DJs I heard during the month I spent with them.

The mid-day lady was active in her church and approximately 800 different crafting groups. She worried about some of the songs her program director made her play, so she always tried to include an inspirational message before she spun “I Want Your Sex.” She was worried about her daughter going to college, and prayed every night that she didn’t make poor decisions that would sidetrack her life.

The younger guy who covered evenings was stuck in a format he hated, but it was a paycheck and he had no ambition to look at other stations/markets. Plus his girlfriend had missed her period so he might just be stuck in Indy permanently.

The afternoon shift was handled by an older guy who had a big, jolly voice. I decided he and his wife were former porn stars now living semi-anonymous lives in the Midwest. They lived pretty boring lives but every now and then he thought about those old days, and the wild shit they did in the 1970s.[1]

And for the morning drive DJ, I really filled in the details. He was single and enjoyed watching the Colts and Pacers with his buddies. But he also enjoyed hanging out with the ladies in his cul-de-sac and watching The Bachelor and the latest Hallmark movies while drinking fancy cocktails. And sometimes he caught himself staring through his windows at the neighbor’s private chef, an Argentinian named Raul…

I felt kind of bad about that last one – which is probably why I never posted it – but it made me laugh.

A year ago I was listening and the morning DJ mentioned something about getting engaged recently, and how he had a post about going ring shopping on his blog. As soon as I got home I pulled up the station’s website, found his blog, and looked for the post. I let out a triumphant shout: the pictures showed him shopping with another man! I was right!

Oh, and good for him, of course!

From what I’ve heard the past few weeks, they got married not too long ago. Which, again, good for him/them! Even in 2020 it can’t be super easy to live a public life in the Midwest and be open about being gay. I would imagine he/the station get emails and calls of annoyance and protest anytime he mentions his husband. And I bet some folks have switched to a different outlet. But fuck them.

As happy as I am for him, I’m also more that a little pleased that my imagined biography for him was kind of true. And I wonder how closely my others are to reality. It is little shit like this that has provided a spark this season.

This was obviously the one I’m most proud of. Later I found out he is a legendary DJ because he was one of the first blind DJ’s in the country. A blind porn star is a niche I didn’t know existed! ↩

Holiday Weekend Notes

November 30, 2020 / DB

Well, today begins a new phase in our home’s daily rhythms. C and L are now eLearning through at least mid-January, joining M who has been home for two weeks. Hopefully the expensive Internet access we pay for holds up; our signal likes to drop in the middle of the day which should make for interesting moments when three girls are all in virtual classes.

When I picked C and L up from their final day of classes last Tuesday, L said it felt like the beginning of Christmas vacation. In a way I guess it is. Seems like things have gone fairly well with M’s eLearning. We are hoping that St P’s has used the past five or six months to have a good plan in place and the next five-ish weeks of class can be fairly normal.

It was a long holiday weekend. Let’s get caught up.

Smart devices

I’ve long been intrigued by smart hubs, plugs, lights, etc. But I always held off because I both didn’t see their utility beyond the fun factor, and with a wife who isn’t super tech-savvy, I feared the moments when the devices didn’t work properly and I wasn’t around to troubleshoot.

I knew the new Amazon Echo devices would get a price cut last week, and the moment they dropped, I ordered both an Echo with premium sound and an Echo Dot.

The Dot came first, on Tuesday, and I got it working in the office. I also ordered some smart plugs and got my reading lamp working via Alexa voice controls. The Echo came on Wednesday and…was a royal pain in the ass to get working. While the Dot connected to our home network easily, the Echo struggled. I spent a few hours Wednesday resetting things, moving them around, trying to tweak our network, etc to get it to work. Finally I was successful but it seems like it doesn’t love its network connection.

So I now have the Echo in the office for better sound and to control the lamp. I have our Christmas tree on a smart plug that we use Alexa to turn on and off. And I have the Dot in storage for future use.

Thanksgiving

Our Turkey Day was normal, but different.

The past several years we’ve participated in a huge Drumstick Dash, walking as a family with about 10,000 other people.[1] We had no interest in doing that this year, so instead joined some of S’s high school friends and their families as the walked through their neighborhood. It was a nice way to socially distantly see some friends and burn a few calories.

After that we hosted most of our in-town family, 15 in total. We lucked out with the weather. It was dreary and occasionally a little misty, but it was also about 50 with little-to-no wind. We had our outdoor fireplace and a fire pit lit, with seating areas for all. As our guests arrived we opened all the windows in the main floor of the house to keep the air moving. Between the ovens and stove and the people, our house stayed very toasty. And it was just warm enough outside so we could all eat al fresco without our food getting cold.

Now I guess we wait and see if anyone gets sick over the next two weeks to see if this was a success or a disaster.

I’ll tell you what was a success, though: my bird. I cooked the hell out of it this year. I was on the verge of overcooking but got it out at the perfect moment when it smelled and tasted awesome. Between that and the fires outside, it smelled like I had cooked it on the grill. Really, all credit goes to Whole Foods, where I got this year’s bird. It was the first time I got a brined turkey and I think that will become my routine.

High School Football

We made it through a full season of high school football in Indiana. The state title games were on Friday and Saturday. Saturday were the more important ones to us. BCHS played for the 3A title game in the afternoon, with several St P’s kids playing important roles. M laughed when she saw several of her classmates on the sidelines and getting their championship medals after the game.

The last game of the year was the one we cared about most: Cathedral vs 7–5 ZHS, a school that got hot at the right time and ripped through the top half of the north bracket. CHS had been beating the snot out of people all year. They only had one loss, by four points, to the undefeated team that won the 6A title Friday. Their only close win was a three-point victory over the team that won the Ohio large class title game 44–3. We figured the championship game would be another blowout.

It was, then it wasn’t, then it was.

CHS got up 22–0 without looking very good, but then ZHS worked their way back into it. They cut it to seven and had the ball a couple times but could never get the tying score. In the third quarter the Irish got a 75 yard touchdown pass, a stop, then another quick score and put the game away, winning their 13th state title 46–28.

M chose not to go; none of her friends were going and fans were limited to sitting in small groups of reserved seats, so there wouldn’t have been a proper student section. Instead she sat on the couch and watched with us, telling us which players were nice and which ones were quiet and which ones were dating which girls. That was almost an entertaining as the game.

C did go with a friend. The highlight for her was seeing two freshman girls get in a fight over a boy. She and her friend got bored and left early. She walked in our door just as the game was ending, which was kind of funny.

M was excited that she gets to buy some state champions shirts now, so she understands the true meaning of being a sports fan. She was also bummed that it happened in a year when she was only able to to go two games. Most of the fall she sat in her room while I listened to the games and texted her scoring updates. Another thing Covid has ruined.

Still, good ending to a great year. Last fall I went to almost every game, driving M and her friends around the metro area. This fall my routine was to listen to the games on the radio as I hit golf balls in the yard or dicked around on the Internet. I guess I need to find a new Friday pastime now.

Decorating

As is our tradition, all the holiday decorations went up Thursday. The girls did most of the tree decorating, which was a nice change of pace.

S and I had put the lights on our outdoor trees three weeks ago, on a Sunday when it was nearly 80. With the little nephews around on Thanksgiving, we decided to turn those on Thursday. The four-year-olds did a countdown and I flipped the switch, much to their delight.

KU Hoops

The KU-Gonzaga game was right during our meal prep and eating time, so I recorded it to watch later. When I saw the final score and read a summary I decided not to just delete it. But I was encouraged by what I read later in the evening. Everyone said that while KU struggled on defense, their offense showed some signs of real potential. Lots of parts that would likely fit together better after several weeks of games. Oh, and Gonzaga is really freaking good. Their game with Baylor Saturday is going to be a must-watch.

I did watch the St. Joe’s game Friday. And I was super-frustrated through the first 30 minutes. As you would expect from a team that has so many newcomers and no true point guard, KU just could not get into a flow on offense. And defensively the looked totally lost.

Until Bill Self put in redshirt freshman Dajuan Harris for the first time midway through the second half. He’s skinny, not super tall, and hardly a burner bringing the ball up. But the moment he stepped on the court, the game changed. He made a couple great defensive plays. He made a couple terrific passes. He got Marcus Garrett off the ball. Everything was smoother with him in the game. It went from a frustrating, one-possession game to a blowout in about five minutes.

KU plays Kentucky here in Indy tomorrow night. Well, they are scheduled to play. Both Gonzaga and St. Joe’s have reported positive Covid tests since they played KU. So we’ll see. More KU hoops thoughts later in the week.

That’s about it for our holiday weekend. It is spitting snow this morning and the windchill is supposed to be in the 20s all day. The girls are all in front of their devices getting educated. It’s not the worst day to stay inside.

Hope all of you were able to celebrate the holiday in a safe and healthy manner.

This year’s race was first broken up into smaller waves that left at hour-intervals and eventually cancelled. ↩

Weekend Notes

November 2, 2020 / DB

Here we are, the week many of us – a plurality of those who voted four years ago – have been looking forward to for an entire election cycle. And it dawns dominated by a sense of dread. Regardless of the results of tomorrow’s election, I think the US is on a horrible course, one where democracy is constantly subverted by a vocal minority. Where intimidation and voter suppression has become a normal part of one party’s methods for hanging on to political power. Where we are pushed to hate each other more than seeking common threads that can allow us to move forward. Where people who know nothing attack those who have spent their entire lives become experts on a given subject. Where “brands” are more important than belief.

I wish I could say that any of that is going to change in 2021 if/when different people are inaugurated. I fear even if there is change, that is just going to embolden those darker elements and they will spend the next four, eight, however many years continuing to tear our country apart in the name of saving it for their narrow, minority view of what it means to be American.

The US needs a reset button. Neither Trump nor Biden nor anyone else out there has the ability to push it, though.

With that out of the way, I will get into some weekend notes.

Driving

It was a HUUUUUUUGE week for one of our girls. Last Wednesday M passed her driving test. Saturday morning we went to the BMV and 30 minutes later she walked out with her driver’s license.

I thought it was somewhat appropriate that she nearly ran a red light on our way to the BMV. I mean, seriously…

Based on most of her recent drives, though, she seems comfortable behind the wheel. She still has plenty of areas for improvement, but has gained a lot of confidence in her months of practice.

She got to drive solo for the first time Sunday afternoon. She is working on Sundays as an assistant to her aunt who is a personal chef. S went to pick her up and was going to have M drop her at St P’s for L’s game, then drive home alone. When S got to the game she told another mom what was going on and that mom said, “Oh God, I’m having a panic attack for you.”

M made the seven minute drive without incident, although she did say it was “weird” to be driving alone. S asked her if she wanted to fill the car up with gas on the way home and she said no. Funny how they want to drive, but don’t want to do all the other things that come along with it.

She’s been bugging us about a car for her for a couple months. It doesn’t help that she has two friends who can’t get their licenses until 2021 but their parents have already bought them cars. Another friend turns 16 today and woke to a new car in the driveway. We’ve been looking a little, and trying to develop a plan. We keep debating whether to get her a used car, or to pass S’ current car down and then one of us starts a new lease. I imagine we’ll get it figured out in the next few weeks.

M is really hoping to be able to drive to school soon. I would enjoy going to a single-school drop-off again. CHS does not usually give out parking passes to sophomores. With the parking lot slightly reduced because of construction tag availability is even more restricted this year. Another friend with a soon-to-be driver asked the principal and was told sophomores can only get passes when there are “extenuating circumstances.” We told M she needs to go into the office and find out what it will take to get a pass, but she keeps putting it off. Again, she wants to drive (and get her own car) but doesn’t seem interested in the work that goes along with that privilege.

Very excited to make the call to insurance later today and see how much our rates go up. Oh well…

We have local nephews who are passing all kinds of fun milestones which reminds us of how those baby/toddler/preschool years with so many of those moments. They sure stretch out when you get to the teen years, but when they come along, they are pretty, pretty, pretty big. And while those childhood markers come fast and furious, they don’t usually change the parent-child relationship that much. But driving is one of the first steps in your child beginning to spread their wings and separate from you.

It is nerve-wracking, for sure. I’m not a big worrier when it comes to my kids. I assume if they are at a friend’s house that the parents are keeping an eye on things and our girls normally make good decisions. But putting a 16-year-old in a car is kind of frightening. You hope that they are being careful, that they are paying attention, but in the end you can just hope for the best and that they make it home safely each time they leave on their own.

Halloween

All three girls did stuff for the holiday, but only one of them did anything traditional.

M first joined a bunch of friends at the girls state championship soccer game. CHS was playing a team they lost to 1–0 in September. They came up short again, losing 4–3 on penalty kicks after a 0–0 draw through regulation and overtime. After that she went to a friend’s house to watch movies and hang out.

C went to a small, co-ed party. The kids were outside at a bonfire with an adult bonfire nearby to keep everyone in check. I know the parents who hosted are kind of hardasses about some teenage stuff, so I’m assuming the shithead boys in C’s class didn’t try to do anything dumb.

L joined a group of friends to dress up as the crew from the Toy Story movies and trick or treat. She was Buzz Lightyear. She had a great time and got a lot of candy.

S and I celebrated our night alone by getting take out sushi then watching different shows on different screens. How romantic!

We set out a bowl of candy but the only kids we had were the granddaughters of our neighbors who were in town from Maryland.

Hoops

L’s team went 0–2 last week.

Midweek we played a school that is always really good. Warming up we saw that they were tiny but practiced really well. They ran little plays, hit pull up jumpers, and otherwise appeared like a team that plays together for more than the CYO season.

We were down 12–10 at halftime. That alone was a victory as arguably our best player is out quarantining. We got back a girl who missed our first three games quarantining and she looked utterly lost. She was so nervous she got called for traveling 3–4 times, and she’s normally one of our better ball handlers.

It fell apart in the third quarter. I’m not sure if we scored. We made a little run late but still lost by nine.

Sunday we played a team that features a girl that is nearly six feet tall. Seriously, in sixth grade! We played against her in kickball and she was awful, but we heard they run a bunch of clear out plays for her so she doesn’t have to move very much on the court. Even knowing what was coming didn’t help. She bullied us early and we started the game down 12–0.

It never really got better. They played a zone with her in the middle so even when one of our girls finally made a move to the lane she was there waiting.

And our girls totally lost their minds. We have two inbounds plays, two press break plays, and just one zone offense. We’ve been practicing them for two months. For some reason five of our seven players decided not to run any of those plays correctly. When the other team pressed three girls would run up court and leave L to face three defenders alone. On our baseline inbound play no one broke the correct way. It was maddening.

When we got home I fired up the Google machine to look into easy zone offenses for youth basketball to see if I could find something else for us to run since everyone plays zone.

(Quick aside: zone defenses should not be allowed in youth basketball. They are lazy, they don’t teach the defenders how to play, and they prevent girls from developing offensive skills as the game turns into a bunch of passes on the perimeter until someone turns it over. CYO basketball, especially, which is full of girls who play basketball for a month every year, should ban zones. I also think pressing should not be allowed since most of these teams struggle to get the ball up court under the mildest of pressure.)

Anyway, I checked four different coaching sites and all four suggested the exact offense we run. So I guess it’s on us, the coaches, for not teaching the girls how to make good decisions or follow our instructions.

Luckily for us we get to play this team again in two weeks in the first round of the tournament. Maybe that tall girl will be quarantining. Or maybe our girls will all grow six inches in the next 13 days. And maybe we’ll have all eight of our players for the first time all year.

Post Holiday Notes

September 9, 2020 / DB

A late return after the long holiday weekend. My in-laws have been in town since last Wednesday, which has adjusted my daily routine a little.

Our Labor Day weekend was pretty low-key. Friday night was so cool that we kicked on the outdoor fireplace for the first time this season. A couple of the girls hung out with friends on Saturday. On Sunday we hosted a light family gathering at the pool.

Last week we had absolutely perfect, early fall-like weather. Windows open at night, the air on for maybe a couple hours in the afternoon. Summer came roaring back yesterday, though. I played golf in the morning and my shirt was completely soaked before I hit the fourth tee. I think it’s the hottest round of golf I played this season. Sadly the word “hottest” only applies to the weather and not to my game. More on that whenever I get around to another golf post.

We are in our final week of kickball. Last night C’s team had a 10-run lead at one point and then had a couple bad innings on offense, but still went into the final inning with a three-run lead. They got two of the first four kickers out and seemed on the verge of their second win of the year. Then their opponents suddenly kicked the ball better than they had all game, our defense let us down, and we gave up 15 runs. We could only muster one run in our half of the 7th and gave our opponents their first win of the season. I should be used to how C and her teammates fold under any kind of negativity but last night really stuck with me. The team they played were not very good but our girls just kind of meandered through the game. They could have easily doubled their lead, perhaps even run-ruled the other team. And then that last defensive inning really sucked.

They have the final game of their careers on Thursday.

L’s last game is tonight. She’s been threatening to not play kickball anymore for over a year now, but this could for sure be her final game, depending what she does in the spring and if she is still interested in club soccer a year from now.

Her basketball team has had five practices. We tried to put some offense in yesterday. It’s a pretty simple five-out, motion offense, but it does take some time to understand where the cuts are, where you move to when the girl next to you moves, where the open spot the cutter should end up in is, etc. I’m hoping they can grasp it in time for games so we aren’t running the same plays we’ve been running for five years.

We’ve had very good luck with phones, both S and I, and M and C since they got theirs. We’ve never cracked a screen, permanently lost one, dropped one into a lake, etc. C’s phone is suddenly acting super wonky, though. Taps on the screen are not registering while phantom taps can take over and launch apps or attempt to make calls she wasn’t trying to initiate. It was almost like the phone had been hacked and someone else was controlling it.

Last night I did all the troubleshooting I could – hard resets, restoring the software, etc. – and nothing seemed to work. This morning I took the case off and it seemed to be working more normally. At least there aren’t the phantom taps. But a section of the screen still appears not to work. She drops it roughly 175 times a day so I would not be surprised if something inside has become disconnected even if the screen has not shattered.

L is pretty excited that she finally gets a phone of her own when her birthday rolls around in four weeks.

C’s grade had their first student test Covid positive since classes began this week. Fortunately the student was not in her room so we just got the generic email from the principal rather than a call.

Those calls are what all us parents fear right now. The call to come get your kid because they’ve been exposed, their siblings also need to go home, and your entire household probably needs to be tested. Thus I puckered up a little bit this morning when I got a call from school. Thank goodness it was just L asking me to bring her the homework binder she had left at home.

The Fourth

July 8, 2020 / DB

I never served up a summary of the holiday weekend.

Our family from Denver were in town and stayed with us: S’s sister, her husband, and their two kids. It was weird picking them up and dropping them off at the airport, which seemed mostly deserted, at least from the curb-view. Not that IND is often a super-busy airport, but a holiday weekend usually means you have to double- or triple-park when doing curbside drop-off/pickup. This week I had any number of choices of spots right at the curb.

Have to admit it was a little odd having guests from out-of-town right now. It wasn’t something I dwelled on, but there was always that little voice in the back of my head wondering where they had been back in Denver, if they had been safe, who they had been around, etc. I’m sure they were thinking the same thing about us. Now we just hope everyone stays healthy for the next couple weeks and all that worry was for naught. We’ll go through the same thing in a couple weeks when we go to Captiva Island.

There were three family gatherings of different types. We hosted the Fourth of July gathering, which was fine. I think we had 25-ish people here at one point, a decent chunk of which were under the age of five. It was hot and humid, so most non-eating activity was confined to the pool. That’s why we built it.

My brother-in-law and I got out for two rounds of golf. I got beaten up a little, and playing on nicer courses was a big reminder of both how easy my home course is and that my overall game needs a lot of work. I shot 99 and 104, although I felt like I played much better in the 99 round. The big right miss off the tee was in play most of the time, although I was able to tame some of those down to more of a fade than a slice. I’ve been watching videos and reading articles about swing path, exercises to square the club face up, etc. in an effort to get that under control. If I can get more consistent off the tee that will go a long way to being able to both get my scores down and not get chewed up on the better courses. I did enjoy both the company and playing on nicer tracks.

We had planned on taking L and his son to the pitch and putt course Sunday. But L spent a little too much time diving onto a slip-n-slide Friday and her stomach muscles were so sore she could not swing a club. Throw in Sunday being the hottest day of the week and we decided to stay home and make a big breakfast instead. Not a bad decision.

These big family weekends take a lot out of you. I have no desire to cook, shop for groceries, or do much of anything else right now. The heat index pushing 100 doesn’t help. We’ve stretched the leftovers out as far as we can. This morning I made a quick grocery trip and got as little as I had to that gave us a couple dinner options for the next few nights.

And that, my friends, was how we spent our Fourth of July weekend.

Memorial Day Weekend Notes

May 26, 2020 / DB

Holiday number two of the Coronavirus era has come and gone. Memorial Day weekend was especially strange here in Indianapolis since there was no 500 mile race to dominate local events. The race has been pushed back to August, for now. But the month of May is the biggest month of the year in Indy, and the last three weeks have felt extra empty without all the race prep and coverage. Even as someone who is not a race enthusiast, my nearly two decades here has made the rhythms of May feel like an essential part of the beginning of summer.

It would have been a fine race day, too. Warm, humid, pop-up storms on the radar but which never threatened Speedway.

We spent much of the weekend in the pool. It has been warm enough so that the heater stays off and the water remains at the perfect temperature. A few friends of the girls rolled in and out over the past few days.

We also hosted a family gathering Saturday, which also served as a fourth birthday party for one of the nephews. We did get storms that afternoon, and had to rush everyone out of the pool and gather all our toys before the rains hit. Fortunately the boys all got to swim for an hour or so before they had to get out.

C and L are officially done with school for the year. I have to admit I wasn’t sure what day was their final day. There was a virtual field day built into the schedule, assignments for the last week were kind of sparse to begin with, and I think we had all checked out long before whatever the actual last day was. I would mock my parenting but I think most of us are in the same boat: let’s just get this year over with and, hopefully, find some normalcy in the fall.

We did get confirmation that Cathedral plans on beginning classes on time and in person in August. I would imagine days will not be the same as they were in early March, but the school has not shared any details about what protections/restrictions/requirements will be in place. M was excited to hear that she will be back on campus in three months, though.

We’ve had a mostly benign but annoying development over the past month at our house. Right above L’s room, where several sections of the roof come together, there are two small sheltered spaces. With the way that the roof falls, while they are outside our attic space, they are also above the ceiling of L’s room. Each of those spaces have become home to nests. One of them is full of baby birds. These birds wake up at about 5:30 every morning, squawking for their breakfast and rattling around in that space. L is an early riser, but 5:30 is a little early even for her. Worse, with the heat of the past week, we’re getting some odor into her room. A nest full of growing, shitting and pissing birds does not smell good.

The big issue is that the nests are beyond the reach of my extension ladder. There is a secondary roof about 10 feet up that, if I had the right equipment, I could get up to and place another ladder on to get at them. But I’m not about to hoist one ladder up another and then hope it remains in place while I fight off momma bird to stick my hand in and yank out the nest.

So looks like I’ll be having some critter control service out soon to both eliminate the nests and seal off those openings to avoid future issues.

We’ve also had a nest right outside our bedroom for over a year. It is wedged in between the gutter downspout and the siding, and actually bothers M more than us because of how her room and our room are positioned. We’ve had three sets of baby birds in it over the past year. I may go on a nest jihad and remove it once its babies have flown away.

Throw in some rabbits, lots of squirrels, a pair of ducks, bluejays, sparrows, robins, grackles, various finches, and as many as 20 geese at one time, and our property has quite the wildlife presence!

Covid Chronicles, 4/13

April 13, 2020 / DB

Well, it is April 13, Easter is behind us, and after a week-plus of fine-to-perfect weather, suddenly it feels like winter again. Currently the winds are roaring, the sky is filled with thick, angry clouds, and the windchill is a nippy 26 degrees. Ah, life in the Midwest!

These last gasps of winter this time of year always suck. Over the past week the trees have all budded out; flowers and ornamental grasses are emerging; and the yard is that almost painful shade of green that comes after some rain, some warm weather, and its first cutting of the year. Everything visual screams spring. And then you step outside. Oh well, soon enough we’ll be bitching about the heat and humidity.

We had a successful, modified Easter Sunday. While we had no direct plans with extended family, we did get almost all of S’ siblings and parents together on a Zoom call. Later we had our own Easter dinner. We had ham – grocery store rather than Honey Baked but it was fine – shrimp, company potatoes. M made deviled eggs. We had a salad. C and L did most of the work on a fancy cake. It didn’t quite turn out like the Pintrest pics but most of the errors were in the parts that I did, so they get an A for their work.

We also had two birthday drive-bys over the weekend. On Saturday we cruised over to the old neighborhood as M’s buddy was turning 16. We ended up hanging out in the street for 30 minutes or so, chatting with many of our old neighbors while casting eyes at our old house to see how much work the new owners had done. Sunday L had a friend turning 12 and we were part of a large parade outside her house.

I love these. It sucks for kids to not be able to have parties, go out to dinner, etc on their birthdays. But these drive-bys will ensure they are special and memorable.

With so much time to waste, I find myself doing a lot of Ebay browsing. I don’t normally spend a ton of time on Ebay. Every now and then I’ll buy something on it, usually for things adjacent to whatever my hobby of the moment is. It’s been years since I’ve sold anything on the platform. These days I find myself looking at golf clubs a lot. My instructor told me to wait to buy clubs until we have my swing more locked in. Who knows when I’ll get to see him again, let alone get out and play. Yet I keep scrolling through clubs I’m interested in, putting ones I like in my Watch List. I’m also spending a lot of time on 2nd Swing and other used club sites. I haven’t bid on anything on Ebay so far. But I have put several clubs into my basket on 2nd Swing and others to reveal their discounted price. I feel like I don’t have much willpower right now and a purchase is bound to happen.

In the real world, the numbers and news seem to be shifting in a more positive direction, even if slowly. In general this is a good thing. Fewer sick people, fewer people dying, less crowded hospitals, etc.

I worry greatly about this news, though. I worry about all the people, encouraged by a large swath of the media and political world, who are using this as an excuse to ignore the scientists and doctors who have warned us about the scale of this pandemic. I worry that the President is going to ignore how the worst numbers were always a long-term projection, not just about April/May, and use it as an excuse to drop social distancing recommendations. I worry that even people who have taken this seriously, who have followed the guidelines for hunkering down, will combine these numbers with their restlessness, with their financial concerns, with their desire to get back to normal, and also will rush to get back to normal too soon.

Outside New York, Seattle, and a few other hot spots, we Americans have been extraordinarily fortunate so far. As bad as our numbers are, they seem to be focused on those distinct areas. Emergency departments in many areas are not seeing the flood of patients they expected. Numbers are trending the right way. But that doesn’t mean this is over. Flattening the curve was never about ending this quickly. It was about giving our health care system a chance to manage the crisis. Part of flattening the curve meant stretching the pandemic out over the course of this year and into next year, when a natural second wave was likely to hit anyway. If we jump back into normalcy too soon, all those worst-case scenarios will come flooding back into the realm of the possible, just in June or July or August rather than April.

This is a deeply sucky time. Until our government(s) demonstrate the ability to manage it properly, we all need to resist the urge to completely jump back into our pre-Covid routines. We may be able to slowly lift restrictions, a few at a time. But the lives we led in February aren’t completely coming back for a long time.

The New Year

January 2, 2020 / DB

Happy New Year, everyone!

We had our annual boring New Year’s Eve, with a twist. Although we stayed in, M had five friends over for the evening. As we were banishing them to the basement for the evening, S and I cleared out our liquor cabinet and beer fridge down there. It’s the first time we’ve ever done something like that. Although we were reasonably sure the items contained in each would not have been disturbed by M and her friends, we wanted to prevent anyone making a bad choice. We didn’t say a word to M about it, other than pointing out that we had stocked the fridge with soft drinks for her and her friends to enjoy.

I heard from two other friends who had to make similar adjustments within their homes as their kids hosted people for New Year’s. Parenthood is fun.

C went to a friend’s house for the night. Which left L stuck with us and M’s crew. She didn’t really mind. We played some Madden. At one point in the evening she was watching videos on her iPad, S was watching a TV show on her laptop, and I was watching a movie on my iPad. We were the perfect representation of the modern, connected family I guess. It made me chuckle.

Normally New Year’s Day is when we take all the Christmas decorations down. A couple of the girls whined about the short holiday season and asked if we could keep everything up. We decided to put off taking the indoor decorations down until the weekend but we did take advantage of the fairly warm day to get all the outside lights taken down and stored away.

I watched a fair amount of football yesterday. The Rose Bowl was sure entertaining.

The only bummer of the New Year is that M and I are fighting colds. She’s coughing like a 60-year smoker. The cold is all in my head and I feel like my ears are stuffed with cotton. I’ve taken long naps each of the past three days, which sounds fun, but they’ve been the kind of naps where you wake up feeling worse than you did when you fell asleep. Better this week than last, I guess.

I hope all you of you had happy and safe New Year’s celebrations as well.

Decade in Review

December 31, 2019 / DB

I love the turning of the calendar. A new year is an opportunity to look back on what you’ve experienced over the past 12 months while building anticipation for what is to come in the next 12. When the decade is rolling over, that just makes it more fun.

I have vivid memories of Christmas break 1979, watching various decade-end retrospectives on TV, hearing ads that pulled the arrival of the ‘80s into their copy, and getting very excited about the new year. And I recall my parents giving me weird looks when I emerged from my room with signs that greeted the new decade. I guess we should have all known in that moment I would forever be obsessed with the eighties!

The 2010s were a more relaxed decade in our house than the 2000s were. Where the last decade brought marriage and three kids, this decade was all about our girls growing up. They all went to school, lost a ton of teeth, learned how to ride bikes, and played a lot of youth sports. I feel like S and I are pretty much the same people we were 10 years ago, although with a few more pounds and a little less of the natural hair color we had the last time we welcomed a new decade.

Over the past day I’ve done a quick review of the site’s archives. I read the subject lines and summary paragraphs of every post for the past ten years. Here are some of the biggest highlights of that period.

2010

The Colts lost in the Super Bowl
I covered the best high school basketball game of my writing career
I went to my first (and only) Indy 500
M started kindergarten and our St. P’s career
The Royals traded Zack Greinke

2011

(This year is incomplete because I lost about six months of posts because of my meddling with the site)
I attended Peyton Manning’s last game as a Colt
I ran the Mini Marathon
We spring breaked in Hilton Head
We purchased our first family fish
I began my review of the James Bond movies
KU fired a football coach

2012

The epic final Kansas-Missouri basketball games
Indy hosted the Super Bowl
KU made it to the national championship game with a memorable run
Peyton Manning left Indy
I ran into LeBron James and yelled at Mario Chalmers in an Indy hotel
We bought our lake house
I started brewing my own beer
C started kindergarten
The Royals traded Wil Myers and I was pissed

2013

We went to Disney and Captiva Island on two different trips
S got a new job
The Pacers damn near beat the Heat in the conference finals
The Royals contended until deep in September
We had a family wedding in Boston

2014

I refused to watch the greatest comeback in Colts history
We began the year with two massive snowstorms and bitter cold that cost us an entire week of school
The Jojo and Wiggs experience arrived with so much promise but ended with a whimper
We got rid of our minivan
Casey Kasem died
We bought a boat
L started kindergarten
The Royals made their first magical October run
I made my first trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse
I watched Kentucky absolutely destroy my Jayhawks
KU fired a football coach

2015

We returned to Captiva
The first mega-epic KU-West Virginia game
I bought a camera
A crazy storm made things very interesting at the lake house
The Royals freaking won it all

2016

I lost my stepdad
I coached L’s basketball team
I saw KU lose to Villanova in Louisville
S got to appear on TV several times
Prince died
We went to Orange Beach, AL for spring break
I saw Frightened Rabbit perform twice
I became kickball coordinator
I read the Harry Potter books over a three week period
We spent Christmas in Denver

2017

The BIFM experience
The second mega-epic KU-West Virginia game
L wore high tops to First Communion
Our last fish died

2018

KU-West Virginia played three more mega-epic games
We went to Mexico for spring break
KU made the Final Four
M finally won a city championship in kickball
Scott Hutchison died
We bought a new house, moved, sold the lake house and boat, and after a long wait sold our old house here
We survived three weeks without internet and cable
S and I went to New York for the first time
I became golf-curious
KU fired a football coach

2019

I argued with our gas/water company to get a correct bill after six months
KU’s Big 12 streak ended after 14 years
M won a city championship in volleyball
S nearly missed our spring break because her passport was expired
We went to Cancun
Tiger won the Masters
M went to DC and graduated from St. P’s
C rocked the city track meet
We built a pool
We went to San Diego
I took my first golf lesson and became golf-obsessed
M started high school
Andrew Luck retired

I’m sure there are some big things I missed along the way. But seems like it was a pretty interesting decade. I’m glad I survived it. I hope we are all lucky enough to gather around whatever the device of the day is in ten years to do this again.

Happy New Year to you all!

Christmas Notes

December 30, 2019 / DB

As my post yesterday said, we have closed out the family portion of our Christmas break. Here’s what we were up to over the last week.

Like every year, Christmas Eve was a day of manic getting ready. There was prepping as much food as possible for the brunch we were hosting the next day. That included detailed evaluations of what foods/beverages could spend a night in a cooler and what items needed to stay in the steady cool of the fridge. This is a low-key super stressful act, as one wrong decision could wreck your meal or, worse, turn a delightful holiday gathering into one remembered for when Uncle D gave everyone a stomach bug.

We attended 4:00 Mass, which meant we had to depart our house at about 3:00 to make sure we got seats and weren’t banished to standing in the entryway. Which meant the girls started getting ready shortly after lunch. We actually got terrific seats but my complaint was that we sat with our backs to the entryway. I like being able to see people come in, nod to friends, maybe stroll over and share a Christmas greeting with some of them.

From there it was on to our first big family gathering, the annual Christmas Eve dinner at my sister-in-law’s house in our old neighborhood. If I’m counting correctly there were 26 people in attendance. Always great food and company. But, man, these things wear me out. Back in the day we would get home, put the kids to bed, and I’d crack open another beer or three while doing those final toy assemblies for under the tree as I watched A Christmas Story and chatted with whoever was staying at our home that year. These days, though, I’m so stuffed I just sit on the couch without a drink, waiting for the bloating to go down so I can sleep comfortably.

Christmas morning! We actually had to wake two girls up this year; L was the only one who was wide awake at the appointed hour. They hustled downstairs and quickly dispatched their gifts. M got an essential oil misting thing, some LED lights for her room, and her ears re-pierced. C got Air Force 1’s, a new sweatshirt, and the second piercings in her ears.[1] L got two Xbox games, some art supplies, and Cookie Monster pajama pants. We still don’t understand why she asked for those but, whatever, they made her happy. The girls had a hard time coming up with lists so this was a year I was thankful we have always stuck to the three gifts rule.

We will be adding some concrete to our driveway soon, which will create more parking space for teenagers. After that is poured, we will put in a basketball hoop, which is mostly for L but her sisters and their friends will mess around with, too.

After gifts it was time to get the oven stuffed for brunch. I made four casseroles, we had ham, and other assorted Christmas fare. This meal was attended by 19 (I think).

Christmas evening our Denver relatives arrived. They dropped by for a quick dinner and hangout session.

Thursday was another big family gathering. Everyone met at our house, jumped on a chartered bus, and headed out to Speedway. The backroom of a restaurant was reserved for a dinner that celebrated both the 10th birthday of our nephew from Denver (that day) and the upcoming 80th birthday of my father-in-law. We had 30-ish people at this event. Part of the proceedings were to take a full-family picture as well as one of 12 of the 14 grandkids who were able to attend.[2] Following that, we hopped back on the bus and went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to drive through their Christmas light display, which was pretty spectacular. The Denver cousins spent the night with our girls after.

Friday was a laid-back day. C had volleyball practice. M went to a movie with a friend. C, L, and I played Settlers of Catan for the first time.

Saturday was our annual Christmas dessert gathering at our house. Usually this is Christmas afternoon but we moved it so everyone could attend. We were again pushing 30 people. Fortunately while it was dreary, the temperature was pushing 60 and we were able to sit on the back porch without needing the fireplace going. The Denver family departed from the party to the airport. Our Boston family spent the night with us before hitting the road back to home early Sunday morning. And the in-laws flew back to Florida Sunday afternoon.

Whew! It was such a whirlwind. But it was great to have everyone home and together for a few days. It was hard to catch up with everyone – you would angle to talk to someone, get interrupted, and then never get another chance. That is the downside of these large gatherings.

It is certainly stressful to host. I was always more relaxed on the nights when I wasn’t in charge of the proceedings. And there was really only one event when I kind of checked out, and that was more because I was feeling a little under the weather than because of the stress or company. Our girls were mostly well behaved. There were a couple teenage moments. But S and I were far more relaxed than her siblings who are chasing little ones around. We do not miss that!

And now I’m here on the evening of December 29. As with every year, those days from Dec 18 or 19 to when all your visitors depart just fly by.

They got their ears pierced earlier in the week so they had them for the gatherings. ↩
Ages: 20, 18, 15, 13, 11, 10, 8, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 9 months, 2 weeks. I think… ↩