Cyber Stalking
As I’m sure you can imagine, I’ve been thinking about Michael Jackson the last few days.* I’ll have some thoughts on the self-proclaimed King of Pop eventually, I promise. That third kid really is affecting my blogging, no? (Yeah, yeah, Farrah died too. And Billy Mays and Ed McMahon for that matter. I was about two years too young to…
Gearing Up For Superhero Season
I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve received an e-mail from someone who happens upon the blog that goes along the lines of this: Dearest Blogger, I recently found your wonderful weblog and have enjoyed it immensely. I especially enjoyed your recent post about potty training your daughter / watching a sporting event on your couch / the…
Not What You Think
So I bet you’re thinking, “Man, he’s got a new baby laying on his chest every night. He’s probably been watching a boatload of football and baseball.” Wrong. Unlike four years ago, when then three-month-old M. slept on me for hours at a time while I watched the Red Sox- Yankees and Cardinals – Astros do battle in their epic…
Paragons Of Customer Service
We’ve been trying to sign the girls up for swimming lessons using the city’s parks & rec website. We kept getting an error saying we were already registered in their system that we couldn’t work around. So S. called and got a fairly young guy on the phone. After a couple minutes of fruitless explanations of what she wanted, basically…
Friday Notes
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…
Where Did The Week Go?
I’m not sure what happened to this week. Seriously, it seems like it was just Sunday night and I had grand plans for a bunch of blog posts, a bunch of projects around the house, and so on, and here I am on Friday having accomplished little if any of that. That’s what a cold going through the house will…
The Lost Art (A Rant Of Sorts)
Lost arts: The bounce pass. The stolen base. Good customer service. As we were working on our various projects around the house this winter and spring, I kept a mental list of customer service issues we had with the various contractors and businesses we worked with. There were a lot of unreturned phone calls, which are always annoying. To be…
IBM Presents You Make The Call
Every baseball fan remembers You Make the Call. I think it should apply to real life as well. So here’s my conundrum. Friday, I was out running errands and sitting at a red light near a middle school as the kids were getting out. A series of buses were making the left turn onto my street. After my light turned…
Unloading
A lot of ground to cover and, suddenly, nothing but time to do so. Here goes. 3000 words? We’ll see. Grab a beverage and dive in at your leisure. A commenter asked Friday how I was celebrating the end of my grad school classes. Well, here’s what I did. First, I grabbed a big, fat carnitas burrito at Chipotle. Normally,…
Pops
I love those random moments when you remember someone from your past and it makes you laugh and smile. Today, while unloading the dishwasher or folding laundry or some other domestic chore I tackle with aplomb, I suddenly remembered my boy Pops. I know a few of you remember Pops, too, but for those who have no idea who Pops…