Yep, He's Mine.

For the astute viewers, I am making the exact face that Jackson is. This was not intentional, just genetics. He does the same one-eyebrow raise thing I do, and has the same double-jointed thumb I have. (My Dad and my brother have double-jointed thumbs, though at a different spot.) It would be difficult to deny this child in any court of law.

kudos to Brian B. for the pic. We had a wonderful time at the party, though Jack did not. He cried all night until he passed out. Just like that one girl you knew in high shcool. He's a bit of a drama queen, you see.

Stupid Things I Have Done #2

I once was talked into putting Carmex on my eyeball. I spent the next several hours blinking uncontrolably, while a tingling sensation washed over the right side of my brain. And let me tell you, the more you rub, the worse it gets.

-JP

Where's my beer?

I think Jack is ready for football season. He will join the rest of America, on the couch, in his undies, belly protruding from under a dirty t-shirt, staring at a little talking box for hours on end, getting fatter.

It amazes me at times that he doesn't just get up and go into the kitchen for a cold one, and some more salsa. He looks like such a little man.

The gang's all here!

Driving Miss. Sadie

Curious Jack

This is one of the few pics where his eyes are open and he is not pissed off. Kudos to Norm for taking this one

Bottom 10

#10 - inconsistent highway speeds

I now drive an hour each way to and from work every day. I have now realized that cruise control is the greatest thing ever, and more people should use it. I get all fulla road rage when I go to pass somebody, and they pick that time to realize that they had been going too slow, and speed up, so's I cant pass. OR when people start to pass me, and decide to just pace me instead, and camp out in my blind spot.
If I owned a Road worrier kind of car, I would run these bastards off the road.

Vivid Imagination

more baby

This kid is the coolest. He fusses like crazy sometimes, but then he falls asleep on my chest, and I don't care anymore.

-JP

Stupid things I've done #1

Long ago, in a drunken stupor, my friend Larry and I moved some traffic cones we came across late at night. We move them so that eventually the cars were forced to go the wrong way down a one way street, on the other side of a concrete barrier. We parked at a good vantage point and watched as people tried to figure out what the deal was. Most cars just went back to the other side at the next crossing, or drove between the cones. We sat there for hours, listening to old Abbot & Costello recordings and drinking more beer, even going so far as to go get more alcohol and come back.
As the sun was coming up, and rush hour began, a cop came along to fix the problem. Someone had evidently called to complain about the cones, but not about the two drunk teenagers laughing hysterically in the car down the way. The cop was about half way through moving all the cones, when we could see that a moment of revelation washed over him. He put all of the cones back to the way we had set them, and drove down the block. He then proceeded to start writing tickets to people for going the wrong way down a one way street.

We could not have asked for a better pay off.

kid no sleepy

Disaster movies

I love disaster movies. Actually, I love movies where lots and lots of people die. Shakespeare's tragedies were always my favorites, and I am the only person who has sat through Titus more than once.
Zombie movies hold a special place in my heart, as massive ammounts of people die twice. I like it even more when the death is totally indescriminant. Keep in mind, that as a film lover, most of these movies are never what I would concider good. I mean, come on, Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis are gonna save us from a giant meteor? Piss on Ben Affleck. There are exceptions, of course. 28 Days Later is wonderful, and Peter Jackson's Dead Alive was one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Then there are some that are almost good, bit do something that really pisses you off. Case in point: The Day After Tomorrow. Lots of death. There is even an entire sequense where giant tornados destroy Los Angeles for no reason at all. It has nothing to do with the plot. So far, so good. people drowning, freezing, falling off buildings and generally having a pretty poor time. Oh, how are the principles gonna make it? (BTW - you can usually tell who is going to survive by how famous the actor is.) Then they go and ruin it. There is a whole sequence where Jake Gyllenhaal gets attacked by wolves. Fucking wolves!! How stupid is that? It was one of the few times in my life that I have actually thrown something at the TV. The others were Iris because there was no point to that movie, and Signs because M. Night Shayamalan is a one trick pony, and his movies are stupid and predictable now. All this wonderful creepy build up for an alien that looks like Barney. Fuck M. Night. Fuck him right in the ear. Overrated bastard.

My favorite Zombie Movies:
28 Days Later
Shaun of the Dead
Dead Alive
George A Romero's Night of the Living Dead
Cemetary Man
My favorite Disaster movies: (or movies where a lot of people die)
Them
The Hindenburg
The Posiden Adventure
Richard III
Reservoir Dogs

-J.

One week

Well, little Jackson is a bit over a week old now and I have learned a few things.

I have learned that to sustain levels of sleeplessness I haven't seen since "back in the day", is a lot harder when I don't have cigarettes, drugs, and insomnia to help me out.

I have learned that extreme emotions are meant to be experienced separately. Seeing Jack for the first time and being extremely happy, while a team of doctors were digging through Jenn's abdomen and there is blood everywhere, and being extremely worried, was a situation I just couldn't wrap my head around.

I have learned that my suspicions that the female of the species is the stronger of the two are most deffinately true. That is one tough chick. Hours of go nowhere labor, a c-section requireing the doc to make the hole bigger half way through to accomodated Jackson's 14" head, staples, stiches, no sleep, pain killers and feeding the little dude every 2 hours! I am not that strong.

I have learned that most of my past or current problems don't mean dick.

I have learned that you can keep your life, personality and habbits when you have kids. You just have to tweak things a bit.

I have aslo learned that I have a lot of friends that genuinely care about me and wish me well.
And the same to all of you.

J3

JWP!!

JWP IS HERE!
Jackson Wesley Powers was born on Sunday.That pic is of me completely terrified because Jenn was about to have a C-section. Everything is fine, and Jenn is doing wonderfully!Jackson is huge. He was 9lbs, 11oz and almost 22 inches long.Born July 17 ay 10:54 pmJenn is hurty, but good. Jackson eats like The Nothing from Neverending Story so as to maintain his fat rolls.Have a look at him in the pictures area. He's a cutie.

More later

arrrgh! It's touchin' me balls!

We just had a giant fuck-up with our house. There is this crazy Inspection Co. called Knox who screwed both us and Jen's Parents over the last few weeks.
They aren't licensed, and they are running a sale right now, so a bunch of people are using them. The In-laws had them out to their house a few weeks ago, and they wrote this scathing report that made it seem as though the house was about to fall over, and they lost the deal because of that. Just our luck, we get the same company and the same inspector. He wrote an equally scathing report on our house. Stupid shit that makes no difference. Our house passed FHA two years ago, and all we have done nothing but make improvements and remodel since then, and now it doesn't pass. WTF? FHA is the most strict loan you can get. He put things in there like: Evidence of wallpaper and wood paneling, which is gennerally used to cover structural defects. huh? I have no wall paper or paneling. The brand new water heater i had professionally installed a month ago was "sub-standard" and our breaker box was not 10 feet above the ground, and therefore a fire hazard. TEN FEET? That list just went on and on like that. I guess all 60 year old houses are supposed to be up to current standards.
So the buyer backed out.
The loan on our new house in Stillwater, (awesome) was contigent on our other house being sold, so we're probably gonna lose that deal too.

adultism

Boy howdy!This week, my house sold. Super cool. We're gonna make a lot of money off it. It was only on the market for six days. This meant that we had to suddenly find a new house in Stillwater quickly. We thought our house was going to take longer to sell, and that we had more time to look, but we didn't. So this weekend, we went up there and looked all day, and the last one we saw was awesome, so we're gonna buy it. It is more expensive that I'd hoped, but really cool, and if we use some of the money we make off our house to pay off our consolidation loan, and the credit cards, and put the rest down on the new house, we should be just fine. We don't have a car payment anymore, so that helps too. We also have a baby comin'. Any day now. So we have to have a baby, do all the inspector's repairs, which may include getting a new roof, and they aint cheap. we have to close on two houses and move from one to the other all in one day. Our savings are shot, because I got a new car that could actually handle a 1 hour commute. Plus we need earnest money and all tha shit for the new homw loan. Stressful!!

Other than that, all is well. Jenn is doing wonderfully, and as the baby is ginormous, we're gonna see on wednesday weather or not we can induce. I think he'll be okay with it as we are full term, and if Jackson gert any bigger, she won't be ablr to push him out.My new job still awesome. I stil cannot believe I landed such a cool job. I make enough money, that I am less weirded out about the higher mortgage looming ahead of me. A good score.Congrats to Craig Conner on the birth of Daniel.

Happy Motoring!

-JP

Dilbert

Okay, I'm not complaining about my new job. I love it. I am doing less and getting paid more than ever before. I guess I'm just not used to corporate life and society. Before, when ever I'd see three or four guys with short sleeves and ties in a group somewhere, I'd think to myself in a dorky inner voice: "Hey, did you guys see Dilbert this morning?" It kind of summed up that kind of guy. After a few weeks here in Corporate America, I have seen that exact scene play out more than once. The guys errupt in laughter so full, they start crying.
I have seen people go totally ape shit because someone brought in bagels. Those horrible 40 packs of cup-cakes with the massive ammount of icing that you see at the grocery store, are cause for great celebration. People would buy special hats if they could on cup-cake day. And the treats disappear faster than a pack of smokes at an AA meeting. The same guy comes back over and over again till they're gone.

I'm not saying these are bad people either. I'm sure they are on the whole very nice and lead very full lives outside of work.

They just kind of scare me.

JP

moving

Off to Stillwater we go!! Jen's job gave her a giant thumbs up for working out of her house in Stillwater after the baby gets here. This means we are a movin' again. This also means that we get to keep our surprisingly large salaries (for us at least) and we don't have to pay for day-care, which costs a surprisingly large ammount of money. Cost of living is a little cheaper, and we get all the amenities of a college town, like cool shows and interesting people, and attractive college kids wandering around, and better coffee. There are only 50,000 people here, not counting students. This is a big deal for us. I'm really excited. We can get a bigger house, as we have to allot a room to use as a home office, and get to write that off of our taxes. I know there are a few of you out there who think I'm going soft. But I just want to dispel the roumers and reassure everyone that I am still the urban rebel I always was. I'm just doing it from a small town with a family, working for one of the largest electronics companies in the world. Punk's Not Dead

the book of Job

So, after almost two months of searching and searching, wondering if Jackson was going to be born into the welfare system, I have finally landed a job. A real one. With an office or a cubical or something. It is as a graphic designer for Creative Labs Inc. You may have seen their Zen brand of MP3 players or have a Sound Blaster in your computer. I'll be designing a little for their website, but mostly their print stuff. It pays more than double what I've ever made in my life. The only shitter is that it is in Stillwater, OK, about an hour away. The town is smaller than Tulsa, but is where OSU is located, so its pretty cool. We may move there depending on how the job works out, and what Jenn can swing with hers after Jackson gets here. Houses and cost of living up there are really cheap, so Jenn probably won't have to go back until she wants to. But I will have gone fronI an really excited that I didn't have to take a shittier job just to get by, and that it is a direct hire and not through a temp place, as one is responsable for me being unemployed in the first place. fuckers.So I start on Tuesday, and I have to find a new car soon because my POS truck can barely make it to the coffeeshop. Wish me luck!

Bandwagon

This is another list thing.
I compulsively make lists because I don't trust my own memory.* This was passed along to me by my good friend Brian who will now have to suffer through reading it. It is a Top Five thing about music. None are in any real order.

Top Five Lyrics That Move My Heart: Luckily Brian has renamed this one to something more managable.

Lyrics That Make My Inner Unicorn Cry:
1 That Was The Day - The The
Seriously. I met my wife at a the the show, and we danced to this song at our wedding. I get a smile every time I hear it. Some commercial is using it, and when I see it, a little aww comes out.

Well you didn't wake up this morning'Coz you didn't go to bed
You were watching the whites of your eyes turn red
The calander on your wall is ticking the days off
You've been reading some old letters
You smile and think how much you've changed
All the money in the worldCouldn't buy back those days
You pull back the curtainsAnd the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying accross a clear blue sky
This is the day your life will surely change
This is the day when things fall into place
You could have done anything if you'd wanted
All your friends and family think that you're lucky
But the side of you that they'll never see
Is when you left alone with the memories
That hold your life together like glue

2 The State I Am In - Belle and Sebastian

There is always a moment in one's lives when one realizes that they need help.The line: Oh Love of mine would you condesend to help me 'cause I'm stupid and blind. That always gets me.
I was surprised, I was happy for a day in 1975
I was puzzled by a dream, it stayed with me all day in 1995
My brother had confessed he was gay It took the heat off me for a while
He stood up with a sailor friend Made it known upon my sisters wedding day
I got married in a rush to save a kid from being deported, Now she's in love
I was so touched, I was moved to kick the crutches From my crippled friend
She was not impressed cause I cured her on the Sabbath, So I went to confess
When she saw the funny side, we introduced my child brideTo whisky and gin To whisky and gin
The priest in the booth had a photographic memory For all he had heard
And he took all of my sins and he wrote a pocket novel called"The State I Am In"
And so I gave myself to GodThere was a pregnant pause before he said ok
Now I spend my day turning tables round In Marks & Spencer's
They don't seem to mind

I gave myself to sin
I gave myself to Providence
And I've been there and back again
The state that I am in

Oh love of mine, would you condescend to help meCause I'm stupid and blind
Oh and desperation is the Devil's work, it is the folly of a boy's empty mind
Now I'm feeling dangerous, riding on city buses for a hobby is sad
Why don't you lead me to a living end
I promised that I'd entertain my crippled friend

3 Untitled - The Cure.
There is a nasty teenage break up in there.

hopelessly adrift in the eyes of the ghost again
down on my knees and my hands in the air again
pushing my face in the memory of you again
but i never know if it's real never know how i wanted to feel
never quite said what i wanted to say to you
never quite managed the words to explain to you
never quite knew how to make them beleivable and now the time has gone
another time undone
hopelessly fighting the devil futility
feeling the monster climb deeper inside of me
feeling him gnawing my heart away hungrily
i'll never lose this pain
never dream of you again

4 Tom Traubert's Blues - Tom Waits.
This is a great song antway, but now I always think of Basquiat every time I hear it.

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did
I've got what I paid for nowsee ya tomorrow, hey Frank, can I borrow
a couple of bucks from you, to go
Waltzing Mathilda,
waltzing Mathilda,
you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
and I'm tired of all these soldiers here
no one speaks English, and everything's broken
and my Stacys are soaking wet
to go waltzing Mathilda,
waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
now the dogs are barking
and the taxi cab's parking
a lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me
you tore my shirt open
and I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmill's I staggered, you buried the dagger in
your silhouette window light go to go
waltzing Mathilda,
waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her
and the one-armed bandit knows,
and the maverick Chinamen,
and the cold-blooded signs
and the girls down by the strip-tease shows go
waltzing Mathilda,
waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
no, I don't want your sympathy,
the fugitives say that the streets aren't for dreaming now
manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories
they want a piece of the action anyhow go
waltzing Mathilda,
waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
and you can ask any sailor, and the keys from the jailor
and the old men in wheelchairs knowthat Mathilda's the defendant,
she killed about a hundred
and she follows wherever you may go
waltzing Mathilda,
waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me
and it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
and a wound that will never heal
no prima donna, the perfume is on
an old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
and goodnight to the street sweepersthe night watchman flame keepers
and goodnight to Mathilda too

5 Danny boy.This is the best song. Ever.
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying
'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow
'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.
And if you come, when all the flowers are dying
And I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.
And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be
If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.
I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.


More to come.*on many levels