We are home!

And we have a new baby!

Joseph Edward was born Dec 28th at 9:11am. He was 8lbs, 8oz, and 20 and a half inches long.

You can look at pics here.

All in all this experience was way better than the last, what with the 22 hours of labor and the emergency C-section at the end and all the blood and what not.

This was a lot smoother and scream-free. The birth was better, the recovery was better, and the nursing staff was better. Even the free shit the hospital gave out was better.

So. We are home. You can call if you want. We will be chillin' for a week or so, just getting to know that baby.

-J.

Tomorrow

I will be a dad for the second time. Having a planned c-section is awesome for the planning stage of the pregnancy, but shitty for everything else.

It is supposed to happen, barring any emergencies that may push us back, at 9:00am. I hope by the end of the day to post some pics or something. I'm trying not to freak out, and the only thing I'm really worried about is Jackson's reaction. I know he'll get over it eventually, but I still worry.

In other news:

Our christmas was a lot of fun. We had a good time. Jackson got so much Thomas the Tank Engine stuff, one could choke a rhino with it. Jen and I got both a new video camera and a new digital camera. Lots of filming will be done. yay. My favorite thing I got was my "Tulsa Peeps Unite" shirt. It has a robot on it.

Um... That's it more soon.

-JP

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

awwww....YEAH!

How many times can I say that I am excited? One more won't hurt.

I am excited. Click here.

See what I mean. That slow blink at :57 is driving me nuts.

I have an ear infection.

As well as a sinus infection. Here is the story:

On the plane trip home from Denver after Thanksgiving, I felt a little under the weather, but chalked it up to travel yuck. Then I got really sick, and spent two days in bed with the lights off, wishing for sweet slumber to shroud me in his purple cloak, or death. Or some shit. I wanted to feel better. So I did what any man would do, and exceeded the recommended dosage of several over the counter drugs and floated back to work. After a while, I felt better but had lingering stuffies and a chest mucous that was being expelled at an alarming rate. I was missing my healthy smoker's cough anyway (I more or less quit back in April), so I didn't mind.

About a week ago, my ears were all plugged up, so I went to town with the off-brand Q-tipTM or cotton swab. My right ear felt line, but my left was a little poppy after a day, so thinking I missed something I went back at it. I went a little too far, and lost hearing in my left ear. I frantically searched google, and found that this happens all the time and that there is even a warning on the box. I guess only the name brand does that, because I checked, and it wasn't there. Based on what Internet said, I assumed that I either pushed a heap of wax way far back, or ruptured my eardrum. I decided to wait it out. A week later, I had developed a distinct ringing, reminiscent of the few days after seeing Skinny Puppy or Ministry live. I decided it was time to see the doctor.

Once there, The Doc looked me over, and when she got to my ears, she couldn't even see in there. We have to irrigate, she says. A while later, the nurse shows up with a giant plastic syringe and a bucket full of a mixture of Hydrogen peroxide and hot water. I hold this smaller bucket with a notch cut out for the ear up to the side of my head, and he proceeds to squirt the stuff into my ear with the strength of a fire hose. On the third or fourth try, I can suddenly hear again!
"Whoa! That did it!" I say.
"um.... Yeah." He says, and shows me what's in the little bucket. It is not pretty.
The Doc comes back and looks in my ear.
"Oh, yeah," she says. "You have an ear infection.
Well duh.

I am now on antibiotics. And some kickin decongestants, that may have been half-way made into meth already. I'm happy about my ear. Don't let those things go, kids. Oscar Wilde died from an ear infection, you know. And you don't want to be like Oscar Wilde do you?

-JP

ICE STORM!!!

So, um, yeah. There is an inch of ice covering the city. A quarter of a million people don't have power, and I would say 85% of the businesses and all of the schools are closed. Airport has no power. Bush declared us a disaster. The first time he's been right about something. Good times.

Check this out. Kinda cool.

I work for a 24/7 news organization, so I still have to come in. Yesterday I totally spun out on the highway and went off the road and down the embankment, luckily landing facing the correct way on an on-ramp, so I could just get back on the road, which is what I did. No harm done.

Jen and the boy are at home and going a but stir crazy, so they may go to the mall play area because of course the mall still has power. She and the rest of the city. They might make the grandparent rounds today, just for a change of scenery.

Jen's Dad has no power, so he may be staying with us tonight. It will be our luck that as soon as everybody gets to our house, the power will blow.

-JP

So, um

These photos have been making the rounds lately. I don't know what they are for, but they are kind of awesome. Maybe as part of Lindsey's sentance, she has to hang with comic nerds as a community service.

There is also this. Iron Man looks pretty good. I'm actually excited about that movie. Also this. Fun.

In other news: Jackson is very excited about Christmas. I'm not sure he really knows why, but he knows that the world is building to something and that it involves flashing lights and shiny things.

I think that's all I have right now.

-JP

I have to say...

...That the poster for the new Harold & Kumar movie is pretty damn awesome:

Traveling with a 2 year old..

Is not as difficult as you'd think. I had him on a little tether, so that helped.

Anyway, I went to Denver for the Thanksgiving holiday. I had a good time. I didn't get to see nearly anybody that I wanted to see, but I had a boy in tow, which meant that the family hogged me a bit.
The trip out was nerve wracking, just because it was the first time me and the boy had to deal with travelling on our own. Security went smoothly, though I don't know why I was forced to take his shoes off as well. It went so smoothly, in fact, that we were left with a long time to wait, and yes, the plain got delayed by about 45 min. Jackson was excited to get on the plane, but once we were on it, he didn't realize that we had to stay on it, and after about 5 minutes, he started saying: All done. Wanna go now! When the plane finally took off, he conked right out. whew! We stayed at my mom's new condo downtown, which had an awesome view. We settled in with the fam. Thursday we ate turkey. I chased Jackson around all day while Tim's kids talked about home theaters and motorcycles. Jack heard them talking and said: "Motorcycle go Vroom! Vroom! Crash!" which is surprisingly accurate. I went out that night and saw Jeremy, Cain, Kindra and a few other random people and had a really good time. We even saw a fight that spilled out og the bar across the street. Fun.
Friday was spent primarily at my Dad's house, and was also very pleasant. We ate at Carmine's and played with my Dad's model train set. Jackson took a giant sploogy dump and we had to wash all of his clothes. Fatherhood is awesome. I had dinner that night with Aaron and Amy, and they are wonderful people, I tell you.
Saturday I went to Pablo's and hung out all morning.




We ate Lunch, and were on our way. This time, the plane was delayed 2 hours, and Jackson was so friggin' bored by the end of it, he was happy to crash out in the canned air. Now, I ask you this: Why in the hell do airports not have a children's play area like the mall does? Do you know how many marriages that would save? Airports suck.
We made it home, and I spent two whole days sick in bed. I don't know if I caught it on the trip or when I got back but it was a doozy. Hence the late holiday posting. Sorry about that.

-JP

I watched a lot of movies this weekend

And I don't know why.

Jackson stayed at PaPa B's house Saturday night, but I'm not sure that made any difference. What was weird was the scope of movies I watched this weekend. First off was Pan's Labyrinth,
a movie about a young girl who is immersed in a world of faeries, sprites, and other woodland creatures, and should definitely not, under any circumstances, be viewed by children. NOT a kid's movie. That being said, it is a wonderful, dark, disturbing movie and I loved it. I like that the whole thing could very well be a construct of the little girl's mind, and just a coping mechanism. Or it could be real. What I didn't get was the title, though. The 'Pan' character is actually called The Faun, and the Spanish title translates to The Labyrinth of The Faun, and there is no character anywhere called Pan. So why Pan? Are Americans just more familiar with Pan? Is Greek mythology more widely read than Shakespeare? Does it just sound better? That last one is my guess, because it does. Trailer here.
Next was The Misfits starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Eli Wallach. An oldie but a goodie. More interesting because of what was going on off screen. Monroe was in the middle of both a mental break down, and a divorce from the movie's writer, Arthur Miller, and was spiraling down her path of drink and pills. She had to attend the premiere on a day-pass from a psychiatric center. She was dead within a year. Clark Gable had a heart attack three days after filming ended, and died 11 days later. It was the last movie for both. John Houston spent most nights drinking and gambling in Reno, where the film was shot. Montgomery Clift was his usual pill popping self. It seems the title could refer to the characters or the cast & crew.

Next up was The Black Hole, a movie I haven't seen since I was a little kid, but I remember loving it back then. If you forget that this was put into production solely because of the success of Star Wars, and the obvious scientific shortcomings, then the movie still holds up. It is slightly fragmented, as the writers were obviously unsure of how to merge the epic, sweeping, slow pacing of standard sci-fi up to that time, ie 2001 and the like, with the obvious appeal of fast paced action ala Star wars. The mix is clunky, but the movie is still interesting on many levels. My most vivid memories from seeing it many times in my youth, are the scenes where Anthony Perkins gets killed, which is way less disturbing than I remembered, and battle in the greenhouse, which was actually cooler that I remember. I still love the double barrel guns they use.

While doing chores and whatnot, we watched (on cable) The Devil's Advocate, one of the more stomachable of Keanu's pre-Matrix roles, and Pretty Woman, (wife's choice, natch.) a movie I realized would never work if made today. Or if they did make it today, it would have to be Julia Robert's first day as a prostitute rather than having been one for some time. You can't have a hooker as a likable character any more. Actually, now that I think about it, it didn't really work then either.

Then I finally watched Transformers. Way better than I thought it was going to be. This is due to a number of things. First, Shia LaBeouf is a much better actor than anybody, especially Michael Bay, realized. Second, Optimus Prime having the same voice was brilliant. Third, the way the bots transformed was just friggin' awesome. Also, the show-stealing cameos made the movie. John Turturro and Bernie Mack were both awesome. And before you say or think it: Plot, Schmot! These are Transformers, fer cryin' out loud. Now where's my Go-Bots movie?

I also watched Dawn of the Dead again. Crap-ola I love that movie. Snyder is a genious in his own little way. He will do great things with Watchmen.

In other news, this guy ---->

and I are going to Denver this week. He is very excited to go on a plane, even though he has done so twice already in his short life. And a cruise ship. He keeps telling anyone who will listen that he's going on an airplane on Wednesday.

I am... anxious to say the least. Jen can't come because she's too pregnant, so it will just be the two of us in the thick of holiday travel season. Wish me luck.

-JP

Holee Molee it's windy.

This must be how Chicago feels when it's really windy. Or anywhere else where it is really windy. It doesn't have to be Chicago, I guess.
Is Thanksgiving really next week? How did that happen? For all you Denverites, I will be in the bid D Wednesday night until Saturday afternoon of said Thanksgiving week.
We should hang. Maybe Friday night, we could get some Chinese because I'll be sick to death of American food by then. Then the drinking. A trip to Denver is not complete until you enter a plane or car to go home, and you are completely hung-over, sleep deprived, and cranky.
Anything fun going on these days? I am anxiously awaiting the Winter season. I realize that it has been winter for some time for a lot of you, but dammit, I haven't seen hide nor hair of Mr. Frost. It was 73° yesterday and sunny and I had to take my hoodie off during my walk with Jackson around our new neighborhood. This is not winter.
We are all moved in, and warm and happy in the new house. Jack loves it and the dogs don't give a shit unless you have food.
Unfortunately, being moved in means I will soon have to turn my attention to a bunch of projects that I have been putting off due to either my homelessness or my using my homelessness as an excuse to procrastinate.
These include:
-The Boxing poster of Eloi vs Morlocks I've had in my head forever
-The caricature of of a famous news pundit and his daughter I said I would do months ago
-The DVD cover and inserts for The Evildoers press packet that is way over due
-Updates to NGV5, six months late (and zombies are out of style now)
-A painting/assemblage for my in-laws foyer
-Framing a bunch of original art I've collected over the years
-Finishing the design of the tattoo I want, and then actually going to get it (maybe I'll do that in Denver hmmm...)

There is probably a lot more that I have forgotten about, or cannot recall at the moment. Work work work. I need to start using my down time at work to advance some of these causes.

Any help would be appreciated.

-JP

Happy Halloween from...

Mua HA HA!

I got my cat back.

And a big thanks to Leslie for cat-sitting for the last month or so. She seems to not really give a shit about the house, which is fine. It's the mark of a well-adjusted cat. I heard a great quote somewhere once: A house can be a home if there is no cat, but how would it know?
Most of our stuff is moved in except for us. We just had to go and move right close to a holiday, and our favorite one at that. Lots to do around Halloween when you have a kiddie.
Last night we went to the Zoo, with B&G, who brought Gavin, and Carissa & Brianna (sp?). We had a great time, an more importantly, the kiddos had a great time. The Zoo is fun. It marked the first time Jackson has had a large amount of candy all at once. It also marked the first time he crashed and fell into a sleep that could rival some comas out there. I expected him to have a long white beard when he woke up. But alas, he woke up at 6:00, rearin' to go. Next week will be better. Daylight savings will have taken effect, and he will appear to wake up at a proper hour.

In other news:
I really don't have any other news.

-JP

Homo(ner) Again!

We closed on our new house today! It is a bit far out into the 'burbs for my taste but it is also a bit big and new and still under warranty for in-town, so whatcha gonna do? The guy who owned it before us was a contractor which worked to our extreme advantage in two ways. 1) He did a massive amount of updates to the house, and he did them WELL. 2) We got way more bang for our buck, as it were, when they agreed to pay up to a thousand dollars worth of repairs needed per the home inspection, because he did them himself, and saved on labor, meaning more repairs. Rawk for us.
So we will finally be out of the In-laws house. They are great, wonderful, giving people but I am ready to leave. I am ready to have my own space.
I will miss Norm and his weird OCD quirks, though. Like how the trash gets picked up on Tuesday morning around 9am, yet we have to gather up all our trash on Sunday because he places the trash out at 7am Monday. Or how he believes that our dog's urine contains miracle plant-growth properties, because there are random spots in the back yard that grow a little greener than the rest of the lawn. Miracle dog urine is the ONLY explanation, he says. I suggested aliens, but he said I was full of shit. Or how he's on that awesome drug that makes everybody quit smoking, and readily admits that the actual craving to smoke is long gone, but he still smokes about a pack a day. And takes the extremely expensive drugs to quit smoking at exactly 7:00pm every day, because "They don't work otherwise". Or how even though he goes through a $10.00 "mega-pack" of beef jerky each and every day, he'll drive to a completely different wal-mart if the one in Sapulpa only has the smaller, and thus somehow gayer, "mighty-pack", which he won't buy because "That's just throwin' your money away".
What I won't miss is the uncanny ability he has to magically be standing where ever I happen to need to be. Or how he'll eat more of Jackson's food off of Jackson's plate than Jackson does, causing me to make a second batch of whatever it was that I made. This after I, not 15 minutes ago, offered to make extra so he could have some, to which he always answers no. When he says yes, it's actually worse because he'll stand over me, telling me how to cook microwave bacon properly, which I can't do because he's standing in front of the microwave. And, of course, how he's always up in my shit.
The good FAR outweighs the bad, however, and given some of the relationships I've seen with in-laws over the years, I have one of the very best. They have given me and my family a roof over our heads rent-free for several months, and their hospitality is more generous than I would have ever guessed.
Now I have to get the fuck out.


That is all.

In Rainbows...

So my good friend Sarah has this post, in which she asks weather or not Radiohead ripped her off in some weird dollar to Euros and/or hidden fees fiasco when she bought their new album. My friend Brandon had a similar problem, and he figured out that since Radiohead were in England, they were using pounds instead of Euros, or the other way around or something, and yes, his transaction was a little higher than he expected. But he still got the album, and he got it for cheaper than he would have in a store or on itunes, so he's okay with that. It's all about the art, right?

Now, I didn't have those problems because I got it off a friend from work, so I really didn't pay anything for it. I think it was all an elaborate marketing ploy, but it worked. People seemed to love the concept. I know it did, and I had every intention of buying it. I was going to give them about $10.00, but when a guy at work waltzes up with the thing on a flash drive, what are you gonna do? I am weak willed, everybody knows that.
On to the album: I love it.
OK Computer is arguably one of the best albums ever made ever, and is the benchmark I use for all other Radiohead albums. Kid A was close. Amnesiac a little further away. Hail to the Thief and The Eraser were complete let downs. I don't hate them, but When I have OK Computer and Kid A sitting there in the same pile, I'm gonna reach for one of them. I do the same thing with The Pixies. Bossanova and Trompe LaMode always take a back seat to Doolittle and Surfer Rosa.
In Rainbows, especially when compaired to The Eraser, really lets you know that Radiohead is a group effort, and not the All Thom Yorke Show, unlike some bands like The Cure or Coldplay*. The mellow, guitar-driven tracks are like seeing an old friend, back to their usual self after getting out of rehab. And I an sure Phil Selway is happy to be able to actually drum again.
They keep the ethereal, psychedelic aspects that remind me of bands like Tones on Tail and Galaxie 500, back in the '80s, and are what made Radiohead great, like a rock band conceived completely under water. And there are some solid lyrics in there. All in all, I think they are back on the right track, and I'm happy for it.

In Geek News:

Wil Wheaton is interviewed for BoingBoingTV:



He goes into a nostalgic narrative, summarizing a story he's written for his new book, about that time in many of our young nerdy lives, when we had our allowance in our hands and found ourselves staring up at the wall of action figures at the local K-Mart (back before they were ghetto), trying to decide weather to save our cash for something big like the Millenium Falcon, or to go ahead and get the instant gratification of holding Greedo in our hands right then and there. I have to say that he hit the nail on the head with that one, and this was something my brother and I struggled with every weekend of our lives until we discovered girls.
I was always the saver, my brother the spend it now type, and I would hold that over him every chance I got. Like when I pulled out some Halloween candy sometime after thanksgiving, or when I bought a rare back issue of Groo the Wanderer that one time. It made him furious. He ended up stealing a good portion of stuff from me over the years because he just couldn't stand it. We are still like that to a certain extent. I can't wait to get a copy of Wil's book.


That is all.

-JP





*Let it be known that I cannot stand Coldplay. Overrated and dumb.

Just like everybody else does....

Things like this make me happy that the interwebs exist.

You know what else makes me happy the interwebs exist? My friend Joey has a radio show that broadcasts from a public radio station in Austin. He has a Jazz show on Wednesdays, but on Friday nights he has a goth, industrial, new wave show that is as awesome as they come. So I sitting here listening to the Smiths on my computer and i didn't put it on. YAY! He even gave me a little shout-out. Awww...


Jen failed the first test for gestational diabetes. SUCK. Now she has to eat this awful all-carb diet all weekend, and she gets to do another even nastier test next week. I hope she passes. The same thing happened with Jackson and she passed the second time so everybody cross your fingers.

In Geek news: The new Star Trek movie is getting cast with the best people ever so far. Oh, you want proof? They cast Simon Pegg as Scotty. Satisfied? I am. We also get Harold as Sulu and Sylar as Spock. Can't get much better.
Also, Captain America is back from the dead and he has some spiffy new duds.

Um... that's it.

Feuling My Silent Rage

So....
Jackson has a new thing. Well, actually 3 things. 1) He's been waking up in the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to sleep until we leave for school, and he gets a nice 30 minute nap while I get to dodge road raged South Tulsans. Sometimes he's visibly upset, and cries for while, but sometimes he's ready to party. Or wrestle a bear. Or go bungee jumping. 2) He has found his whine. This eluded him for some time, but now that he has it, he's decided to make up for lost time and whine loudly and with much feeling. About everything. 3) A natural progression from #s 1 and 2, he has decided to test the waters concerning the length and intensity of fits. Screaming and ranting and yelling for hours at a time. Last night he scored a hat-trick, and nailed all three. You have never seen anything more pathetic than your own kid crying at the top of his lungs in the dim light from the microwave in the wee hours wearing no pants or diaper, as he had torn them off in total frustration. All this adds up to me feeling a little more empathy with Alec Baldwin. I don't agree with what he did, not by a long shot, but I understand it. I'm cranky in the morning anyway, and adding an extra three hours to my morning is not a good idea. In a weird bit of coincidence, TAL did a story about just this phenomenon this week. I was happy to hear that Dan Savage was having the same problem. If we were in our own home it would be one thing, but we are still with the in-laws until the beginning of next month, and they invariably wake up and stick their noses in our business. They are just trying to help, I know, and they do, but sometimes I wish they would just shut their door and let us work it out.

In other news (about time, ya whiny bitch!)

Heroes is back, and although I do love it so, NBC has decided to add what seems like an extra 10 minutes of commercials to each episode. I actually timed it, and at one point there were 4 minutes of commercials, 4 minutes of show, and another 6 minutes of commercials. SIX! Get back to the show. I'm not buying a friggin' Swiffer!
I have given up on Bionic Woman and Journeyman. They failed to hook me. Journeyman will never be as cool as Quantum Leap was, and Bionic Woman makes me feel like I'm watching the actual '70s version, though unironically. Starbuck isn't even cool anymore.
The one new show I actually like, Reaper, is going strong, but I don't think it will last. Not OC enough for the CW, I think. Hopefully Sci-fi will pick it up, where it can live happily for years to come.

In still other news, we just had a river development plan here in Tulsa shot down. I have mixed feelings. I really think the city needs something like this, and though I am unsure if this particular plan was the best they could have come up with, at least it was something. The opposition was angry and fierce, and was mostly along the lines of "no more taxes" and "let's not give anymore power to the government" and "just use the money he already have more responsibly", and I can understand that. But now all bets are off and I have a sinking feeling that Tulsa will continue it's downward spiral to becoming a ghost town. I look at the river every day as I drive in and I keep thinking that there should be nothing but bike paths, Frisbee golfers and smoothie stores littering the banks, not old mattresses. But I'm used to Denver, I guess. I love Downtown Tulsa, I really do. If there were decent parks, some awesome condos, a good school, and a grocery store down there I would totally live there. But I guess I'm just used to Denver. I could go months with barely touching my car. I miss that feeling that the inhabitants of a city actually cared about it. I just don't get that here. I'm sure they do, and a lot of them will tell you that that is exactly why they voted down the river tax, but still. I've never been anywhere where the people seem to hate their own city so much. I think the river will get developed anyway. It will be slower and more at the hands of private entrepreneurs, but it's too good of an idea to ignore.

-JP

A few small things that made me smile...

First off, you know those girls you see in cars that are either really small and really expensive or really big and really expensive? They are usually wearing white framed sunglasses, look a little bored to be in the car, and are just way too attractive for their own good? You know those girls. They're everywhere. I saw one yesterday while waiting to cross the street, and she was digging out the biggest booger ever. Just swirlin' away up in there. She even checked her nose in the mirror, decided it wasn't booger free enough, and went back at it. I guess some people don't realize that glass is clear. I guess one could take small comfort in the fact that she made it to her destination with nasal passages free of obstruction.

Second, we may have found a house to buy yesterday. I don't want to get my hopes up because the other two times we went through the house buying process, we didn't get the first one we put an offer in on, and why should this time be any different? Still, the house is nice and the price is right, so I can't help but be a little excited. I missed out on the Smallville* premiere and ER to go look at that house and I am not one bit sorry for that.

Does anybody else think Jessica Alba has an odd skin tone? It isn't quite olive like most people of Latino descent, and it isn't quite white-girl-with-a-tan either. Not that it makes her any less attractive, mind you. Which, as the Nerd I am, I only realized once she started doing comic book movies.

The week of new shows has been pretty okay, I guess. Heroes was awesome as usual, though I don't think they can push it too far past two seasons. Twin Peaks taught us that the public can only take so much weirdness without a pay-off (I'm lookin' at YOU, Lost).Bionic Woman kind of sucked. The villain was way better than the heroine, and Miguel Ferrer needs to stop accepting the same role over and over again(He plays the same guy he played in Point of No Return and RoboCop, and a dozen other shows and movies). And it another in a new crop of shows that have British actors playing Americans, ala House. Bionic Woman, Life, Journeyman... All Brits. WTF, Mate? Reaper was awesome and funny and poorly edited and I hope it lasts past this season. We get the gift of Ray Wise, another RoboCop/Twin Peaks alumni, like Ferrer, ad the Devil, and he's fantastic. I missed a few I wanted to see that I'll have to catch in re-runs. Medium is back in January. I am very sad to see The Dresden Files wasn't picked up for a second season, and that Veronica Mars went bye-bye too. At least we get Kristen Bell on Heroes this season. She picked Heroes over Lost (suckers!).

Um... Now that I'm done geeking out. Jackson decided that 4:00 am was the time to get up and start playing today. So the wife and I had to get up too. He, however, got to konk out on the drive to school, where as I, did not. So I stopped for a massive coffee, or rather what I thought was going to be a massive coffee, and ended up being only a 16 oz coffee and they still charged me five bucks for it. Why do they call it a Latte? Because it costs a Latte, that's why. After working in the coffee industry all those years, I really hate paying for coffee now. I just feel somewhere in the back of my head that I shouldn't have to, I guess.



*Please don't tell me what happened, I am... aquiring it as we speak,.. um... write? whatever.

Forever in Flares

So tonight we had to go to the Sprint store for some service that the people on the phone told us we had to go into the store for, but the people at the store told us we had to call on. This dispute did not get resolved. Go fig.
We were hungry on our way there so we decided to hit the chick-fil-a, because they have a play area for toddlers. And we have a toddler who likes to play. In areas. Little did we know...(dramatic pause)... that they were having a "Fabulous 50's Night" to celebrate their 40Th anniversary. All the staff was dressed in what their parents, who were born in the late '60s, early '70s, told them people in the '50s dressed in. The Guys just put on paper hats and white aprons. They weren't trying too hard. People dressed as cows (the mascot of the place that serves chicken) greeted us from the corner and at the door wearing over-large Elvis style sunglasses. As was the Elvis impersonator.
There were a few things amiss about their party that Jen and I noticed right off the bat. 1) 40 years ago was 1967. 2) The Elvis impersonator they hired was dressed as the 70's Elvis, with a white jumpsuit(which was adorned with beads on both the tassels and the sash. But awkwardly. like Indian beads. only crappy). 3) Said Elvis impersonator was singing Neil Diamond songs.
He knocked them out of the park, though. Best Neil Diamond I've ever heard from an Elvis in a fast-food joint. The meal was yummy as always, and we got free brownies and root-beer floats.
Jack played happily in the play area. The slide was way more interesting than some dumb-ol' Elvis.

-JP

Two books that made me very nostalgic

So I have read two books in the last couple weeks. Both of which got me thinkin' about about my misfit high school days, though I would never in a million years want to return to those days (except maybe armed with my current brain).
The first was The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Gothgirl,* about a nerdy comic book obsessed freshman who hates his step-dad, is prone to migraines, stays up all night making comics because he is an insomniac, and is slowly falling in love with a Goth girl. I could have easily described myself that way when I was a freshman in high school. Anybody could have described me that way in high school. The main difference being that I had more than one friend and listened to better music. I could have easily turned into this kid were it not for an older brother and the fact that I met Joey randomly in the hall about a month into my freshman year, forging a life-long friendship, but more on that in a future post.
The Second was The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and I have to say that this is one of the best books I have ever read, and I have to give a huge shout-out to Ann for telling me about it. I read it in three 2-hour sittings. It has a very Catcher in the Rye feel to it, and that book is mentioned several time throughout the story. Told in a series of letters to an anonymous reader, the main character Charlie is going through his freshman year in the early 90's, and seems to be some sort of super-genius who can't deal with social situations very well. Kind of like the scientist who's assistant has to follow him around with a sandwich because he forgets to eat. That kind of guy. He befriends two of his classmates and goes down an interesting road filled with new experiences and a welling up of passion that Charlie just can't seem to give into. What made this book so special to me that the characters described were the same people I hung out with during the early '90s while I was in high school. I new these people and I had similar experiences and listened to the same music and I really identified with this poor kid who couldn't quite make himself do some of the things he really wanted to do.
Good books, both. They are quick reads as well, so check 'em out!

In other news:
I want to thank Jeffrey Rowland for this. PostSecret is pretty cool, but there is definitely a Degrassi Jr. High drama quality to it, and I think people just make shit up so they can see their silly postcard on the web. Don't they realize how flippin' easy it is to be on the web? You're reading this right? That's how easy it is.



JP: Out.


*If you like either of these, you can also check out The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl , about a girl who works in a coffeeshop and draws comics and gets to save the world for real from an otherworldly gun-slinger. Fun.

A Quick One...

Not much happening right now for no good reason. No bugs, no moving, and the big project I have been working on tirelessly for the last few weeks or so has been implemented, and most of the known bugs worked out of it. I finished the last thing on my massive work list yesterday, and crossed it off. I then looked around restlessly and realized that I didn't have anything to do, which was a new one on me since arriving to my new vocation. Weird feeling.
In Other news:
Somebody who walks the same path I do from the company's parking lot to downtown likes bananas(a word I never know when to stop typing). I know this because this person leaves the peals on the ground. Most mornings, there is a fresh one lying there as i walk along. There are also many many other peals scattered about that this person has left during their earlier travels. The oldest ones tend to shrivel up and blow away into the train yard after a while, so I don't really know how many or for what duration of time this has been going on. For some reason this really bugs the crap out of me. Why can't you just throw them away, mystery person? Or even wait to eat it until you get to work? I know that they are biodegradable, and that sometimes the pigeons eat them, but seriously, pick up after yourself.

That is all.

And we sit and wait...

Well, things have settled down a bit. We moved, my Dad came for a visit, then my Mom came for a visit, then we moved again, then had the other set of grand kids here for a visit. This weekend was more calm until our car broke. Not really broke, but they can't put the put the plug for the oil pan back in, so they can't put any oil in it, so there it sits until Monday. Other than that, things are good. Having live-in baby sitters is awesome. We can just run off to the store if we want to.
But we still live with the parents, so there is an inherent lack of privacy. I got walked in on whilst taking a dump the other day. I can usually hear Norm's office TV louder than the one in the living room even though he has the doors shut. Things like that.
Jack is talking up a storm. We were eating dinner the other night, and I had a bit of red beans and rice on my face, and hey said: Hey daddy, wipe your face. About as snidely as I would have.
He's also a little mimic, so watch your language.

So a lot of people have been asking me for more of Norm's recipes. I have bad news for you all. He has no more. He eats only those things and variations of those things. Jen bought herself a pint of Butterfinger crunch for her preggers self the other night on her way home from work. We had to run some errands, and when we got back it was gone. Let me just tell you that when a pregnant lady is expecting there to be some ice cream to be in the freezer and it isn't, you'd better replace it pretty quick. He also has a tendency to eat large spoonfuls of whatever we're cooking right out of the pot while he walks by. Then he puts the spoon back in. That's pretty annoying.

And it is 9/11, or as some have called it, patriot day. Whoopty-do. Put a flag on your car. It is literally the least you can do. And the up shot is that it benefits nobody but sticker manufacturers. Send a care package why doncha.

In other news:
The new Iron Man trailer is bloody kick-ass. It will be the able to challenge the awesome comic-to-film awesomeness of Hellboy, Spider-man, and 300. At least until Watchman comes out. Speaking of, there some booty-rockin' pics from The Dark Knight surfacing through the inter-ether. Heath doesn't look too bad.

Oh and all the stuff you heard is true. Britney sucked. She looked like a slutty weeble wobble.



-JP

Well... There it is.

So. We loaded the last of the stuff into the pod last night. It will be picked up tomorrow, and that will be the last of the bug house, other than the fight to get our deposit back. The cat was not happy to be moved again, and she'll have to do it again this weekend, as Leslie has been gracious enough to keep her for a while. We plan on chilling for a while t save up some cash, pay off some debt, and mooch off the in-laws. I am sick to death of moving things around, so I'd like to put that off as long as possible. This does involve staying with Norm and his wacky eating habits, but at least I have back up from my wife and kid this time. Here's a funny thing: After Jack's birthday party, we had a bunch of those little individual serving ice cream things, the kind that used to come with a little wooden spoon-shaped thing, left over, and Norm ate 4 of them in one sitting. The best part was that he was totally unashamed about it. He didn't get 4 of them one by one. He just grabbed all 4 at once. I think he would have grabbed more, but that was all that was in there. Monday night, we had some leftover pizza, actually about half of a large pizza, so quite a bit of pizza. He ate it all in one go with mustard on it. yum.

We also found out yesterday that Jackson will be a big brother to another boy. YAY! My brother mentioned that, try as he might, he couldn't imagine a Powers girl anyway, so it's just as well.

Um... That's it.

-JP

In which I have to move again...

Because of the bugs.
We got an exterminator and I put a massive amount of crap on the lawn, and in the crawlspace and have sprayed the house every few days and the fuckers just won't leave. I just got my cable hooked up, too. The last straw was on Saturday when Jen went to pick out an outfit for Jackson's birthday party, and there were three roaches in his drawer, that scattered when she opened it. That was it. we are out of there. We are going to stay at the in-laws until we either find a new place to rent or a new place to buy. We may just hang there, and bank some cash for a really sweet down payment, depending on how much annoyance is involved in living there.
The landlord was being pretty cool about it, but his wife was not. Jen got in a pretty good argument with her on the phone the other day, and that pretty much sealed the deal. I think that it we are out by the end of the month, having been there less than 30 days, we should get our deposit back just fine. We are going to try to move all our stuff into a storage unit over the weekend, so if you would like to help out with that, give me a call.
In other news, Jack had his 2 years old birthday party, a month late, on Saturday, and it was a big success. We all went to incredible pizza, a join put on this earth for kids parties. We all had a good time. A lot of people showed up. Jack made out like a bandit with a heap of toys that are sadly going into storage this weekend. He played the toddler version of whack-a-mole, and rode the little train a lot. Then he crashed out and slept for two hours.

That's all I got.Have fun.
-JP

In which we internet-stalk...

So Jen did some interwebs sleuthing, and it turns out that dude from next door at our old house was put away for 2 years for selling meth and cooking it in his house. The other two people who lived in the house at the time got much smaller stays, which means they probably testified against him. He and the wife got married shortly after he got out, and the two of them moved in with dear old mom next door.
Only one of the 4 kids is their own progeny. The oldest is from when Dude was in high school, and the twin girls are hers from some time before as well. Only the kid that just turned two is theirs. This made us think:
Wait a sec, ... that means he was still in when the kid was conceived ... that means that he was the result of a conjugal visit ... yuck ... and she was preggers when he got out and they got hitched at the court house ... classy.
The meth use does explain the two's erratic behaviour and their extreme skinniness. (In looking through arrest paper work, the wife was brought in a few years ago weighing 135 lbs, and her most recent arrest shows her weight at 105 lbs.) And the complete lack of any memory.
And the jail time certainly explains the crappy tattoos. All of it explains why neither of them can get a damn job. Now I an REALLY glad we moved.

Speaking of:
The bugs are getting fewer and further between. On the advise of a Kettler, I bug-bombed the crawl-space. That was kind of fun actually, like chucking tear gas into a heating vent. We are starting to be able to close both eyes when we sleep.
I wish the animals were any flipping help. They just stare at the bugs as they scurry across the floor, Even the cat. Bloody useless, they are.

The visit with my Dad was fun. We took Jack to a Drillers game, and he had a really good time. Now every once in a while, he'll say: "Wanna see base ball!"
So that's cute.
Jack started at a new day care yesterday, and I think he loves it. He gets a little upset when we drop him off, but from what they tell me, he gets over it pretty quick. He was in a really good mood when I picked him up so let's hope that stays the norm.
Um... that's it.

-JP

We are Tulsans again.

Well, we are all moved in. Kind of. There is a lot less room in the new place, but we knew that. Our stay here is completely temporary, so we just have to decide what not to unpack. I think the china and the comics are staying in their boxes.

What we do have room for, apparently, is bugs. Lots of bugs. All kinds of bugs. The kitchen was pretty filthy when we got in there, and we slowly started seeing the signs of an infestation. We cleaned everything real good, put all kinds of traps and what-not down, sprayed inside and out, then called an exterminator. He came yesterday and now the house is airing out. It should take care of the problem with minor maintenance here and there.

I really hate that I'm renting again. The majority of what we have to unpack is out, we just have to find a place for it all.

Jackson is very excited because he got a toddler bed shaped like a VW Beetle. Now all we have to do is get him to actually go to bed in it. Jackson, like his father, doesn't like to go to bed early. He'd rather stay up and see what everybody is doing. So we usually have to put him in his crib at bedtime, and once he realizes that we mean it, he'll settle down and go to sleep. The car bed has no rails or anything, so he'll just get up, and come out of his room. We're working on that.

My Dad is coming to visit tonight and for the weekend. I get to see him rarely, and Jackson gets to see him even less, so I'm really glad they'll be able to spend some time together. Our new house is right by the Baseball field and my dad is a big baseball fan, and the Drillers* are The Colorado Rockies' farm team, so there is that, too. Other than that, we're going to do some touristy shit, and have a generally pleasant time.

Then we get a weekend to ourselves, and then my Mom is coming down for a visit while we plan a very belated birthday party for Jackson.

If you wanna come, let me know. Jackson likes tractors and fruit snacks.

I finished the new Harry Potter book, and I have to say it is a bit of a let down.

!!!! Spoilers !!!!

The whole series has been building up to a show down between Voldemort and Harry, and hinting all along that Harry will ultimately prevail because he has the ability to love, and Voldemort doesn't and ergo Harry is better no matter what. So after 6 big books and years and years of build up, Harry wins because of a wand mix-up. Lame.

Also, I spotted a major continuity flaw: Dumbledoor gets the Elderwand because of a duel. They make a big deal about how that wand was unbeatable in a duel. You can steal it, but you can't win against it in a duel. What's up with that?

The previous book set up a situation where the three main characters quit school and go hunting for the remaining horcruxes. The pay off here was a big let down. They spent the majority of the time hiding in a tent for months on end wondering what to do next.

I did love the Battle of Hogwarts, Though Ron and Hermione were strangely absent for most of it. In fact, most of the action scenes were awesome. I do have to say that I like the Voldemort of the movies better than the one of the books. He way more menacing.

!!!! Spoilers End Here !!!

Well that's all I got for now.

-JP

*why does their logo look so communist propaganda-ish?

The less one has to do with their neighbors..

The Better.
Case in point, and a main reason why I am not to sad to see Stilly in my rear view window:
The first year and a half that we lived in our current house(current for 3 more days as of this posting, anyway), Everything was awesome. Our back yard is tiered, and looks out over woods that have as of yet been undeveloped. So while out on the deck, we could just chill out and look at the trees. When I still smoked, this was my all time favorite pastime. We'd lounge out there, eat, read the paper, whatever.
About 8 months or so ago, our neighbors daughter, her husband and their 4 kids came to live next door. Now, while they aren't the most white-trashy people I've ever come into contact with, they're in the top five. They used to come for visits (and by "visits" I mean dumping off the kids and high tailing it for the weekend) quite often and we thought that was the case for a while, but after a few weeks, and after noticing all of their belongings piled up in the garage, we realized things were a bit more permanent.
The Dude in the family next door is a full on red-neck. He has his last name (Kaiser) tattooed on his back in an Old English font. He shaves his head. He never wears a shirt. He speak as though he is constantly stoned, and he might be for all I know. Either that or he drank his mind to mush back in high school. The wife, who is also the daughter of the woman who actually owns the house, is an out of work hair dresser who weighs about 6 pounds. The kids seem okay. The oldest is maybe 12, then the twin girls, and a toddler a little older that Jack, who is rarely in anything more than a diaper rain or shine.
Dude doesn't work, and we have cobbled together that he is in the midst of some sort of workman's comp legal battle. That's why they had to move in with mommy. That's why the wife works at the Git 'n' Gallup. That's why the car got repoed.
The reason this is a problem:
Our Deck is on the west side of our house. Their patio in on the east side of their house. Their house sits slightly higher. That means they can see everything we are doing over the fence. Including when we are in the hot tub.
So Dude is a bit dumb. He seems not to do much other than hang out on the back porch and smoke cigarettes. All day. He doesn't have music playing, he isn't on the phone, and the isn't reading. He just sits there without a shirt smoking. Every time we would go out on our deck, there he was. And the second we were out there, he'd try his darndest to make small talk that amounted to asking the same questions over and over, like what our names were and what we did for a living. But mostly he would just stare at us in a really unnerving way, and listen to our conversations and smoke. After a while, we started not going out there as often, and when we did, we would peek out first to see if he was there, which was risky because if he saw you, he'd start in with the questions, and then you were stuck. Jen threw a girl's night party once, and he stayed over there staring at them until 3 AM. He was actually a good part of why I quit smoking. I was just sick to death of seeing him out there. If I went out front instead, he'd be there too. After a few months, we quit going out back all together except to mow or grill.
But then we started seeing him and his family everywhere we went. At the store, at the park, next to us in traffic, all over the place. Every time, he'd run through the questions again.
When I got my new job, and it came time to sell that house, we actually told our Realtor not to go out back if Dude was out there. So last night was the last bit of crazy I hope I have to deal with.
We are moving this weekend, and have been packing like mad, giving away a heap of stuff, selling a bunch of stuff and throwing away a bunch of stuff. Last night I was loading up the truck with good will stuff about 10:30PM. I go out there, and there is Dude in his underwear in the middle of the street yelling,
"Whoever you are, I'm gonna kick your ass!"
I quietly go back inside and watch him through the window for a while as he keeps yelling to nobody. When I think he's done, I go back out there with a box for the truck, and he leaps out of the shadows, still in his undies.
"You seen anybody messing with my door?"
"No."
"Somebody keeps trying to open my front door," He says, bleary-eyed and slurring his speech a little. "I keep hearing the latch jiggle, and when I run out here, nobody's there."
"I don't know, man." I say, "I haven't seen anything."
"I think it might be the Chinese guy next door that has a crush on me," He says. "I ain't never seen gay Chinese guys before."
I see where this is going, and pry myself out of the conversation as quickly as possible. I shut the garage door and decide to load the rest of the stuff in the morning.
The Chinese guys in question is just one Chinese guy, who is just polite and dresses well, not gay. And if he were, I don't think Dude would be his type.


I am anxious to move.


-JP

A year and 6 months longer than the Macarena

Dear Jackson,

Well look at you, kiddo. 2 years old. That's more than the rise and fall of a few third world dictatorships. A hell of a lot more than some relationships I've had in my life. Less than how long I've had my glasses or have been to the doctor.

I have to say that I am awfully proud of you. You have learned a lot in the past year, and have taught me more. You figured out which one of us will cave in first depending on the situation.
You figured out that you can get two treats if you ask one grandparent in the kitchen and the other out on the patio.
You are getting really good with the fork, and with drinking out of a big boy cup.
You remember everybody's name now, and even though your mom and I are the only ones who understand what you are saying most of the time, you seem to be okay with that.
You hate it when the dogs sit on your blanket.
You love tractors, cars and airplanes with a crack-head like fervor.
You don't care that paw-paw gave you a horrible haircut, you love him just the same.
You are a happy, well adjusted little boy, which is more of a reflection of your mother than me, I'm afraid.
And although you know full well what a fit is and when to use it, we don't really care because we know that someone who is only two years old has very little control over their lives, and would like to keep what little control they do have. You make up for it in kind, as in that day a few weeks ago, when I hadn't seen you for a few days, and when I poked my head around the corner, you yelled my name and ran as fast as you could, arms wide open and I scooped you and your big smile up for a hug .

Two years ago, I had just started a new job, was moving to a different city and was awaiting a child. All of those apply today as well, though I hope I'm handling it all a bit better. Just relax and keep in mind that every time I shake things up like this, things usually end up better than they were before. Usually.

I do it all for you and your mom, buddy. You two are the best things ever, and your little sibling will be the icing on the cake. Actually, most cakes have icing, so maybe new baby will be a figurine or something.

I love you, son. Happy birthday.

-Dad

A New Recipe

This one is called Tomato Mash-Up

You will need:
-An insane amount of gigantic tomatoes from the guy with the cart or from the farmer's market or where ever. (These can NOT be acquired from the grocery store for reasons I will explain later.)
-An insane amount of salt
-An insane amount of Mustard.

Get the biggest plate you can find. Slice Tomatoes into "shapes"(once again, no two should match). Arrange the tomato shapes onto the plate, in a flatish pattern or just a big pile, It won't really matter. Add salt to top. Add mustard.
As with other foodstuffs that Norm consumes, leave the plate on the table for a good half-hour or so. When you come back, grab a fork and take the plate outside to the patio. Light a cigarette. Mush everything together into paste as you simultaneously eat the "meal" and smoke. When finished, proclaim that those were "perty good tamerters"


Now there are two things I don't get:
1) He insists on having fresh tomatoes right from a local farm, and won't touch the ones from the grocery store. Then he pours salt and mustard on them in such quantities that there is no possible way he or any other human could tell the difference.
2) What the hell is with having everything sit for so long before he eats it? And it isn't just food he makes for himself, like how he makes sure he's the last person in a buffet. And it isn't about letting it cool down because he does it with hot and cold stuff, though he puts the cereal in the fridge, so maybe it is. But he can drink coffee right out of the piping hot carafe, so maybe not.

Maybe he's just a freak.

-JP

Update...

This--->

(The whole container) along with an entire package of Club Crackers,* is what Norm had for dinner last night. He swears that not only is this the best ice cream ever, but that he invented it years ago. He's been mixing birthday cake and frosting into his ice cream for ages. I, for one, believe him.

So anyway...

The festivities for the independents day were cancelled in Stilly, so we're going to go to Tulsey town. Where Jen's parents live, they are up on this big hill, and can see more than a few displays. So we'll just sit there, maybe grill out, maybe give Jack a sparkler.

That's all I got.

-JP

*I was hoping to see him actually scoop some ice cream onto the crackers, or even spread some on with a knofe, but I was denied. He just took a few bites of ice cream, then ate a few crackers.

Cooking with Norm

Welp, First off, I'd like to apologise for the lack of art lately. I don't have a scanner at work, and since I am staying at the in-laws during the week, I have no scanner there either.

I do have a picture of my kid for ya:

That is the look all of you make while reading my blog. Why on Earth do you bother? That haircut, BTW, is the standard "Okie Burr" given to him by his grandfather. Not my idea. Not Jen's either, but he started right up the middle, and at that point, he had to finish it, lest Jackson has Harkonnen blood that I am unaware of.

Living with the in-laws (especially Norm, Jen's step-dad) is proving ... Interesting. This is the only time where somebody's eating habits, unrelated to cleanliness, has gotten on my nerves so much. I have no idea where this man learned to eat, but it wasn't anywhere I've ever heard of.

Let's go through some of my favorites:

note: For a lot of these, you will need an Insanely Large Bowl (ILB). I just measured the one Norm usually uses, and it is about 2 Quarts. For reference, because I know most of you don't know what the fuck a quart is (because you are either foreign and use the metric system, or American and dumb), the pitchers that we all used to make kool-aid in as kids, that's about 2 quarts. It's a BIG bowl.

1)Tomato-cracker "soup"

You will need: Two cans tomato soup, an entire box of Club crackers, a fist full of shredded longhorn sharp cheddar cheese, and an unhealthy amount of salt.

-dump both cans soup into pot to cook. Do NOT add water.

-When bubbling, transfer soup to ILB.

-Crush every single club cracker from the box (3 rows)and add to ILB.

-Add cheese and salt (because the salt from the soup and off the crackers just isn't enough), stir.

-Place in microwave, cook for 2 min, then leave it in there for a while so the crackers soak up the soup.

What you should get is a paste of sorts that is yellow, orange and red. You can eat it right out of the bowl with a spoon, or on heavily buttered toast. Around here, bread is unheard of, so the best option is usually the former. Be sure to eat the whole thing in one sitting.

2)Pizza Monstrosity

You will need: 1 DiGiorno supreme pizza, a massive tomato*, a fist full of shredded longhorn sharp cheddar cheese, and an ungodly amount of French's Yellow Mustard.

-Remove pizza from box.

-Cut tomato into "shapes" of no discernible rhyme or reason.

-Add tomato and cheese to top of pizza in no kind of pattern you ever heard of.

-Cook as normal, insuring that the new cheese is burnt, and the frozen cheese stays that way.

-When done, cut like a normal pizza, remove two pieces and lat on plate ass to end.

-Add mustard in copious amounts to top of pizza.

-Add a dash of salt.

-Exclaim: "This is the best god-damn pizza you ever gonna eat!" to all within earshot.

3)Breakfast "meal" (to be eaten at night)

You will need: Honey Nut Cheerio's, Grape Nuts, 1-3 bananas, sugar, two kinds of milk.

-Fill ILB with all ingredients listed above in as large of portions as you can muster.

-Place ILB in fridge.

-Go outside, smoke a cigarette, watch the first part of the O'Rielly Factor, wander around for a bit.

-Remove ILB from fridge.

What you should have is a brownish-white... thing. The sugar should have dissolved the banana, and the Cheerio's and Grape Nuts should have soaked up a good portion of the milk, though the mixture should remain very liquid. So much so, that it is difficult to carry without spilling, and as you walk yo the living room with it, you should leave little spills in your wake. When you notice these upon your return to the kitchen, mumble a string of curses under your breath.

And the self-explanatory ones:

4) ILB full o' shrimp

5) Cheese n' Pickles

6) An entire 12oz bag o' beef jerky

These are just a few, and not even the most interesting. He insists on putting mustard on most things he eats, and nothing crunchy usually works it's way in. It makes me not want to eat anything.

-JP

Well, I started my new job today. I think it went really well. I like all the guys I'll be working with, and I had a fun lunch with a few of them. I get into he meat of the job tomorrow because a snafu of sorts over the weekend meant that the guy showing me the ropes was off today.
I think I'll have a good time, and it seems like this is the first job I've had that I can still see myself in ten years down the line.

In other news:
We had a great week end where we celebrated father's day and a few June birthdays all at once. Better to get them all out of the way.
We sold the crappy ass '88 Volvo that had no air conditioning to a woman to give to her teenage daughter, for $500. They did not get a deal. That is exactly what the car is worth.
We did a small bit of shopping, including the bridesmaid dress that Jen will be wearing next week in Robin's wedding. Lucky thing the Wedding is soon, or Jen wouldn't be able to fit in the dress.

I think that's it.

-JP

Grub.

So there it is. Jen is 11 weeks on, and the baby is due Jan 3.
We are both very excited.

Not much else to say. I start my new job next week. Robin is getting married the next, and Hopefully our house will sell soon, so I don't have to commute.

waiting.

-Jason.

Transmogrification

First off, if anybody out there wants to be a rock star, watch this video over and over again to get some pointers.






The White Stripes and The Raconteurs are bands that I really like despite their massive popularity. See diagram. For once a band is popular because they deserve it, and not because the Clear Channel and MTV programmers were bribed into over playing them and insisting that you should love them and you should go to the concert that we happen to be sponsoring and here is some free swag that you don't need and visit us for a free hot dog at some shitty car lot that we also have an in with where you can hear that same song played from the back of a van...


IN OTHER NEWS:

The following has mostly broken out, so I feel safe in telling you all straight out. I seem to love to totally disrupt my life and the lives of my loved ones about every two years or so. First off, I just got a new job. It is as a Graphic Designer for the Tulsa World Newspaper. I am very excited.
This means that I will be packing up my family and moving back to Tulsa. So I'm going to have to commute or stay safe places until we sell our house and find a new on to either buy or rent in Tulsey Town. I also need to start packing. I have a lot of stuff. I will miss certain aspects of Stilly and I will miss most of the people I've met, and I will for damn sure miss the coffee shop. Stilly has been a good experience overall, and has been great for Jackson. I'm sad to pull him out of his school and daycare because they both do a bang-up job. But I have come to realize that if you don't have anything to do with OSU and are a professional with any kind of ambition, then your options run a tad short. So off we go.

So the other news is that Jackson is going to be a big brother. Jen was keeping it quiet, but the word has pretty much been spread about by the rumor mill*, So I am here to tell you that yes it is true, and Jen is due in early January and don't call us screaming congrats or anything like that or I'll have Jen puke on you.

So, um... Yeah. I have a lot to do. I should get to it.

-JP


*By "Rumor Mill" I mean the Kettlers. And my Mom.

Big changes.

More later.

Not really an SB

Here are all the Doctors hastily scribbled on post-it notes. It serves no purpose.

Jen threw a Batchelorette party for Robin this weekend I assume they had a good time. I don't know because the boy and I were not invited. We hid out in Tulsey Town until the dust settled, and all evidence of penis cakes and what not were cleared away.

Then I crammed a whole weekend's worth of chores into a few hours Sunday evening.

Other than that, not too much going on. I hear rumors that the Turner Burner is coming OK way, so that will be fun. This weekend is my 5 year wedding anniversary, so that's cool.

I am very excited for the Heroes season finale tonight. So I just want my day to go by faster.

That is all.

He just keeps being awesome.

See what I mean? Also, Campbell's bit as an obnoxious french waiter in the Spidey3 film is full-on awesome. Not since Patrick Stewart's turn as an obnoxious french waiter in LA Story has a geek-hero been so entertaining as an obnoxious french waiter.

Good news here. They dropped the charges against the ATHF guys after they did some community service. They shouldn't have even had to do that, but at least they didn't get charged as terrorists. The article does say that there would be a problem with proving intent with that anyway.

This is pretty funny, too.

What else?

Did everybody call their mothers yesterday? Did anybody call anybody a mother[SHUTCHO MOUTH!] Just talkin' 'bout Shaft!

I had a nice weekend at Aunt Grace's house, except that every body got weird sicknesses independent from each other. Jack had this nasty fever and Grace threw up so hard her nose bled. I had massive sunburns from dealing with Grace's crapped-out lawn mower (Lonny is off with the Guard cleaning up Greensburg, so we offered to help out), and Jen was on no sleep because of an overnight fundraiser at her work. We had a really good time despite ourselves.

Now I'm back at work.

meh.

But you know what? I kind of like Mondays now. Heroes is on Monday, and I usually have an extra helping of web-comics and blog updates to pour through.

-JP

Rain

Rain rain rain...... Big storm......rain rain.... Tornado....rain rain rain...

And that's about it. The weekend had a break, and I did yardwork with a great furver, then it rained again.

See? That's been going on forever now.

SB 26 - Big Fat Nerd

So, let me tell you a little story about my youth. (this gets nerdy) The very first episode of Dr. Who I ever saw was 'Robot", written by Terrence Dicks. It was the first 4th Doc Tom Baker Episode as well. He first hit the screen in 1974, so this was either America getting the eps really really late or repeats in syndication, because I saw it in like '83 or '84.

This is important because I had already seen Jedi at this point. As a nine year old kid who was teetering on the edge, about to fall into the abyss of geekdom, and not being old enough to care about production costs or good writing, this was a good episode to start with. It started a lifelong ... not so much obsession ... but devotion to Dr. Who that would persist into my '30, with only occasional breaks for actual obsessions like Teletunes or for the show going off the air for a decade or so. Even then, I read the comics and the novels from time to time. Jeff was the real fan, and I was kept updated by him as well.

Having seen Jedi by this point is important because of the slave girl outfit. As with most boys, and a few girls, in a certain age group and demographic, that slave girl outfit was a bit of a turning point in my life. It made me realize that girls were more than targets for propelled dirt clods. And I, along with everybody else, never told a sole. Which brings us back to "Robot". This ep also featured Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elizabeth Sladen, as a plucky reporter trying to make a name for herself, but people give her a hard time because she's a girl. She also had these big doe eyes that a nine year old Jason found totally cute. That actually may be why I tuned back in the next week, and after a few more I was hooked. So there.

What else?

It is my Mom's birthday, so happy birthday Mom. I seriously doubt she reads this blog, but you never know. If she does then I should have had a lot of explaining to do before today.

I saw Spider-Man 3 last night. It was good, but not the strongest of the three. It was a bit choppy, and I think they didn't learn the lessons concerning overindulgence that X-Men or Batman taught us. They just tried to cram too much in there, and even though there was simple way even the odds, the whole last third of the movie seemed really forced. Effects were really good, and even though I was never a big Venom fan, they did a good job with him, and he's in it a lot more than I thought he would be. The thing that really bugged me was that in the whole "temptation" sub-plot where Peter is hanging out with Gwen Stacy was silly to me because the obvious choice would be Ursula, the awkward, and completely hot neighbor across the hall. Idiot.

Okay. So that's it. I gotta go back to work.

-JP

SB 25 and Kites in Denver

Here is a sketch of some of my favs from Heroes. I am ball-bouncingly happy that said show is back on the air. Waiting a week was bad enough, but almost two months? Piss off, NBC.

In other news, I had an awfully good time in Denver. Thanks to all of you who made my stay as awesome as it was. I got to see some new Friends like Margi and Lisa and old friends like Terrence ( I used to call him "Terry", but that has since been disallowed.) and Dave.

The Drive with Mr. Joey was the funnest part. Back in the day, Joey and I would Road trip all the time. At least once a summer, usually more because back then we had shit jobs and no responsibility and could take off for a few weeks without our personal realities crumbling. We get along well in the car and have almost the exact same taste in music and snack foods. The trip took less time than I figured, but since we outfitted his 97 Civic for Hyperspace, it's got a little more pick-up off the line.

We stayed again at the Empty Condo of the Mom which, much like the Model Home in Arrested Development, is the default place to crash for my family. No one has actually lived there for years, but if one of us is visiting from out of town, too drunk to drive back to the sub-urbs, just broke up with significant other and got or needs to bring a hooker somewhere discreet, then the Condo is the place to go. My Brother and his wife were waiting for us there Friday night and it was good to see them because I hadn't seen my brother in a few years. They spent the majority of the weekend at StarFest and had a good time. My mom had stocked the Condo with food and whatnot, so we made a big breakfast each morning since that was the only time we knew we'd all be in the same room together.

I went to Sputknik, Gabor's and The Skylark (not all in the same night), And saw a too many people to mention by name and had a lot of fun, only a small portion of which involved porn.

Sunday Emily decided we should all fly kites. so that's what we did.

See? I tell no lies:

This was the first time I came back to Denver where two things happened, or rather didn't happen. 1 - once we parked the car, we didn't touch it again till we left. Which is probably because we 2 - never left the hill. We walked everywhere. I never went past Broadway, Colfax, Cheesman Park or 6th, with the exception of the bar. I usually make it into LoDo at least once, but not this time. Weird.

I'm back in Stilly now, and even though I had a great time, I was ready to see the Wife and the Shorty (Sgt. Shorty now).

Joey made his way back to Austin without incident, and I was sad to see him go. We really need to make it down there for a visit. He and Laura are up on us like 3 visits now.

That is all.

-JP

SB 24

Um... I have no way to explain the above pic. I will say that I have suspected for a long time that my brain doesn't work right. Too much happy time in high school.

The Good:

-I and Joey V are leaving for Denver in about 24 hours. I hope to be knee deep in friends and whiskey once I get there. Make that happen.

-Jackson has figured out that if he uses his little wagon full o' toys and gets a running start, he can knock over the baby gate. He then runs into the back part of the house yelling the baby equivalent of "FREEDOM!"

-I'm totally excited to see Hot Fuzz. Anybody in Denver want to go see that with me?

The Bad:

-Cody will not be joining us on the D-Town trip. He says that all the rain has hampered is earning ability for the last few weeks. I guess I can see that, but he's still a weenie.

-TODD Goldman, the maker of David and Goliath tees, has been caught red handed ripping off a web comics creator. This story is all over the interwebs, thanks to a Juxtapoz article, and hopefully Todd Goldman will burn in hell for it, or maybe just be put out of business. There is now a whole site devoted to his obvious rip-offs.

The Ugly:

-April is indeed the cruelest month. With the exception of my good friend Aaron Taylor having his birthday in April, the month pretty much sucks. OKC, Columbine, This Virginia Tech thing, That plane crash that killed all those OSU basketball players. The Bees getting killed by cell phones. Kurt Vonnegut dieing. My horrendous allergies that smack me around all month long with a bigger hammer than usual. Piss off, April.

-Speaking of the VT shooting. I hate to sound rude of insensitive, but having been in Denver during the Columbine shooting, and only a few years removed from high school I have to get this off my chest. Here's what will happen: There will be a massive outpouring of concern and solidarity, rightly so. Then the extremes will come out of the wood work. The Right will yap about more security, The Left will yap about gun control. Not realizing that the answer is somewhere in between, they will not waver their extreme points, and nothing will get done. It's what happens every time there is a school shooting, and obviously it hasn't worked.

Also, I have to say that I don't like the camera hogs. People who had nothing to do with the incident or any of the people involved, but end up on the news four times a day. Back in high school, a kid got killed huffing the crap that they put in fire extinguishers. When news hit the school, there were these kids who would sit in the hall crying and asking why him, and all that, and none of them knew him, They just wanted attention. I've always hated that. It happened at Columbine, and it happens whenever there is a major tragedy. Those people don't need your shit. What does that get you? 5 seconds on TV and that's it. Your false sincerity blows.

So, um... Yeah. That was a bit of a downer. Sorry about that.

have a nice day.

-JP

Thought dump 2

Well, after public outcry from my last post, I have decided to link to the jack pose.

Click at your own risk.

Thought dump:

I am going to be in Denver over the weekend of the 22nd, so adjust your plans accordingly.

So Nick Cave has a new band. Well, not a new band, but an old band with a new sound. A sound so different, they decided to change the name. Grinderman is their name and I have to say that this description pretty well sums them up: "Foul-mouthed, noisy, hairy, and damn well old enough to know better." The album is good and entertaining in the way that your drunk, racist uncle is. You'll ignore the intolerance because his stories are so fucking awesome.

I love my DVR. I really don't watch live TV anymore. Having a shorty makes that cumbersome anyway. Most of the time, I'd rather spend the 3 hours a day I really get to see him playing with blocks and tonka toys on the floor that watching Boston Legal anyway, so I just record everything I might want to watch and wait for him to go to bed. The last week or so, Ive been really into a book anyway, so once I'm done with that I'll just stay up some night watching oodles of cheesy sci-fi till 2AM and be in a crabby mood the next day when I hit the message boards.

I lent Jen my ipod so she could take it on her business trip this week. I'm using a little flash based job that I won in some raffle here at work a while back. It won't work with itunes, but I don't need a music subscription service to use it, just drag and drop from my music files. That's pretty handy. I hate the interface, but the sound is really really good. I'm surprised. It is super tiny, too. I like that.

I've been listening to Kevin Smith's podcasts lately. They are incredibly entertaining. Kevin has no censor button on his brain so the sickest shit comes out of there in a very matter-of-fact kind of way. And he curses more than anybody I've ever even heard of. Fun stuff, but not safe for listening in groups. Keep it in the earbuds.

I wonder why spring is being such a bastard. Does he really put that much credence to what that stupid groundhog dictates?
"Six more weeks!" says the groundhog.
"You know what," says Spring, "Fuck you."

-JP