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1.  Today is my birthday!  It’s already gone… interestingly.  I’m not sure if my boys are in bad moods or if I’m still crotchety from being woken up by Nick rushing into the bedroom to tell me Mommy needs help in a panicked voice while Harper dumped cereal all over the floor and Rhonda tried to make breakfast.  I don’t care what the alphabet says – coffee before chaos.

2.  My wife kinda rocks.  She bought me an awesome watch, wrote incredibly sweet happy birthday post for me, and is baking birthday brownies as we speak.  Love that woman.

3.  My mother and grandmother got tired of  listening to me tell everyone that I don’t really need anything and just sent checks.  My mom also sent an incredibly sweet note that almost made me cry, which is weird because my mom doesn’t really do sweet.

4.  I’ve always had a problem with low self esteem and feeling like I don’t really fit in, so I’m always inordinately touched when people go out of their way to say good things about me.  When my family tells me they’re proud of me?  Yeah, Momma ’bout made me cry.

5.  I think my dad may have bought an iPod to replace the one I burnt out a few months ago. At least, all signs point to this.  He’s been asking me what iPods are good and asked questions about particular models and generations, so… I think there may be an iPod in the mail.

6.  I’m annoyed that I need an iPod at all.  I own an HTC Hero with an upgraded minisd card, so I can just play music through that without having another gadget to haul around.  Unfortunately, some idiots ruined things for the rest of us at work by texting when they should have been working, so now phones have been banned from work.  Some people are mad at management, but I can definitely see their side of this one.  They’re not paying us to listen to music, they could easily have banned any electronics on the floor.  And having management stop everyone who is looking at their phone to see if they’re listening to music or texting is a huge waste of resources.  We have a lot of very smart, but immature people at work, so management has had to make some very stupid rules that sometimes make me feel like a child.  It would be easy to be pissed at the bosses, but I’m pissed at the people who made those rules necessary.

7.  I expected some negative backlash for my “Intolerant of Intolerance” post, but the feedback has been all positive.  I’m pleasantly surprised.

8.  I’m amused by people’s shock that Conan O’Brien didn’t win the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Show.  I mean, I love Conan as much as the rest of the world, and it would have been cool to see him win as a final “Up yours!” to NBC, but nobody beats The Daily Show… noooooboooodyyyyy.

9.  Have you donated to my Heartwalk yet?  Unless your name is Lisha Spellman, we both know you haven’t.  Get on that, would you?

10. Yeah… time to go celebrate my birthday.  I’m out.

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2. I had to kill a rattlesnake before our vicious little dog decided to throw down and get herself bitten. That’s one of the downsides to living in the country.

3.  One of the upsides?  Raleigh (the dog)  tried making friends with a fawn the other day, and one of Rhonda’s cousins found one that got stuck in a marsh and was apparently abandoned by his mom. The boys got a big thrill from both. So being this close to nature has its good and bad points.

4.  Which somehow brings me to my next point.  Anyone who follows me on Facebook or Twitter has seen me occasionally post culture shock moments tagged #welcometomsyankee, or “Welcome to Mississippi, yankee! ” Rhonda thinks they should be expanded, or at least collected, into blog posts.   Would any of my three readers be interested in that?

5. The images from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were horrible, but here’s the thing: N.O. only caught the outer edge of the hurricane. The main reason for the damage there was because corners were cut when the levees were built and they failed.

The worst natural disaster in the history of the United States hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast and people are still rebuilding their lives. Not to diminish the pain and suffering of the people of New Orleans, but it’s a slap in the face to people around here when they’re made a footnote at best and the President blows them off on the anniversary to sit in the Big Easy. But hey, we’re not a major media marketing and thus of no interest.  Mass media doesn’t care about poor people.

6. Who says complaining never got you anywhere? Last night, six days after I whined my butt off about all of the overtime we’ve been working, my supervisor told me that this will probably be the last week.  Sure, they claim that it’s because we’re almost caught up, but we all know that they fear my displeasure.

7. This is pretty good timing, too, because my birthday is next week and Rhonda is taking me out of town that weekend to celebrate my aging and our six month anniversary, because we’re still cheesy like that. Also, because it’s an excuse to get away and relax and we both need that desperately.

8. I… have opinions. Some of those opinions are very strong, but my strongest opinion is that everyone has a right to their own.  So when I disagree with you, and I guarantee we disagree on something, I will usually make my opinion clear, but I can still usually understand and respect your point of view.

My father… has equally strong opinions, often in opposition to my own, also freely expressed. And he doesn’t really respect other points of view. At least that’s how it seems to me, but I think we’re all somewhat critical of our families, especially our parents, so I may not be a fair judge on this one.

Anyway, I’ve been pressuring the old man to join Facebook so that he can see the pictures of the boys that we always post.  It slipped my mind that I’m also frequently expressing my strong opinions on Facebook. You can imagine the fun this has caused.

This may have been a tactical error on my part.

9.  I love my kids.

10.  I also love my wife and I would like to spend some time with both before I have to leave for work, so…

Stay geeky!

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2. More work griping – we work until 11pm Friday and have to be back in at 6am Saturday. I have a commute of a little over an hour. It’s not worth driving home for about three hours of sleep, so I just sleep in my truck. You have no idea how happy I am to get home Saturday afternoon.

3. Last one that’s work-related.  Because of that crazy, ever-changing work schedule, I had to cancel my trip back to Florida for Jude’s fourth birthday party. I know he’s too young for it really to matter and it’s a sure bet that this won’t be the only birthday that I’ll have to miss, but it’s the first and I’m a little heartsick.

4. I’ve grown increasingly weary of people who have nothing better to say than regurgitated bile. Neither Liberals, Conservatives, illegal immigrants, or terrorists will tear this country apart. Hate, bile, and intolerance of eachother’s different backgrounds, cultures, and views will ruin our country and tear it apart. This applies to liberals and conservatives equally.

5. I’ve been so stressed, busy, and slightly disgruntled over things lately that I’ve lost my humor somewhere.  I still laugh, but I used to crack more jokes and take life (and myself) a lot less seriously.  I need to find that side of myself again.

6. Skip a few, because it’s late, I’m tired, and my life is boring.

10.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m participating in the Gulf Coast Heart Walk this year and I’m hoping to raise some money for the cause.  All money goes to the American Heart Association to help fund research and education for the prevention of heart disease and strokes. You can donate online at this link to donate online and I’ll still receive credit for raising the funds.  If you would rather write a check to the American Heart Association, and/or don’t want to meet the $25 minimum that is required at that link, contact me via one of the methods on my “About” page and we’ll work out the details.  I’m thinking about setting up a Paypal account to accommodate people who prefer that method, so let me know.

You've been a wonderful audience, goodnight.

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Second, I’ll be participating in the 2010 Gulf Coast Start! Heart Walk and will start begging for donations soon, possibly later today.  I’m thinking that I will probably set up Paypal to accept donations for those that don’t want to deal with checks and maybe I’ll just have people e-mail me for my address if they would rather write a check.  I’ll post later once I work out the details on my end.

I’m sorry I haven’t been updating.  A few days after my last post, things got crazy at work and we’re so busy that I’m currently putting in almost sixty hours per week and have one day off (today) that I try to use up by spending as much time as possible with my family.  I’d like to say that I’ll be pack to regular posting soon, and I’ll try, but things are still insanely busy and I don’t want to make promises that I can’t keep.  My best suggestion is to subscribe to my RSS feed and you’ll be notified whenever I actually do post.

That’s all for now.  Watch out for that Heart Walk post later today or tomorrow morning and I’ll see you when I see you.

Stay geeky!

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1. I very rarely get sick. When I do get sick, though, it seems to stick with me. I’ve had a chronic cough for over a week now and I just can’t seem to get all of the gunk out of my chest. It’s keeping me (and my wife) from getting a good night of sleep, I always have headaches from the pressure of the coughs, and I’m just generally miserable. Pity me.

2. The poison ivy, however, is gone! Well, except for the large spots of dead skin that are still flaking off. I don’t know why I always put off going to the doctor when prednisone wipes the stuff out within a few days.

3. Rhonda completed an awesome grocery shopping trip this weekend. She bought two weeks of groceries for only slightly more (we’re talking like within ten or fifteen dollars) than we usually spend on a week! This may seem like a silly thing to be proud of, but we’re always looking for a way to cut down on our expenses and she did an amazing job.

4.  I don’t know how this happened, but Harper will be a whole year old on Friday! It feels like only a few days ago that he was born and we were falling asleep together in the big easy chair in his hospital room with his mommy. And only a day or two later that I was falling asleep holding his hand while he was recovering from surgery for pyloric stenosis. I’m not sure that I approve of this whole “growing up” business.

5. Rhonda is far too sweet to mention it, but I think she slightly regrets not having a wedding with a reception and all that.  This weekend, her family is throwing a big cookout for us to celebrate our wedding.  Granted, we’re also celebrating several birthdays, but I still think it will do us both some good.  Want to come?

6. I watched the Lost finale. So yeah…that…happened.

7. I get really annoyed by people who complain about spoilers.  I realize that not everybody can watch a television episode or movie or read a book right when it comes out, but that’s when you avoid the places and conversations that may spoil what happens.  It is not my responsibility to protect you from spoilers, people – do not make your problems my problems, especially when it infringes on my ability to enjoy things that I made the time to experience.

8.  I forgot what eight was for!

9.  I truly appreciate my father-in-law’s generosity in letting us stay here while we get on our feet, but I hate the way he treats my wife sometimes.  He never does it when I’m around, but I’m always hearing how he talks down to her and treats her like she’s stupid or chastises her for not filling a more “traditional” role as a mother and wife when I’m not around.  Rhonda is about the least stupid person I know and I love that we try to share responsibilities, no matter what gender they’re traditionally assigned to.  I will always treasure the year I spent as a stay at home dad while my wife worked and if it came down to me missing out on sleep before work or missing out on seeing my kids for a little while, I’d rather give up sleep.

Some have floated the theory that he’s intimidated by women, but that seems totally bizarre to me.  Considering his mother raised him and his brothers and sisters alone, you’d think he’d have more respect for women.

10.  Not done with my soapbox yet.  The fact that this is typical behavior for our politicians in Mississippi drives me insane.  I have read more hypocritical speeches and bald-faced lying out of leaders since I moved here than I have in my entire life – and I’ve had two Bushes as governors.

I’m not saying Mississippi politicians are corrupt, but I heard Haley Barbour is holding a “Going Out Of Office” sale this year.

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Light some candles, burn some incense, sit back, and enjoy.

THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK

LET us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats	        5
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question...	        10
Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?'
Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,	        15
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,	        20
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;	        25
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;	        30
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go	        35
Talking of Michelangelo.

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, 'Do I dare?' and, 'Do I dare?
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair --	        40
[They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin --
[They will say: 'But how his arms and legs are thin!]
Do I dare	        45
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,	        50
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
  So how should I presume?

And I have known the eyes already, known them all--        55
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?	        60
  And how should I presume?

And I have known the arms already, known them all--
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]
It is perfume from a dress	        65
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
  And should I then presume?
  And how should I begin?
      .      .      .      .      .
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets	        70
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?...

I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
      .      .      .      .      .
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!	        75
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?	        80
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet--and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,	        85
And in short, I was afraid.

And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,	        90
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: 'I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all'--	        95
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
  Should say: 'That is not what I meant at all.
  That is not it, at all.'

And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,	        100
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor--
And this, and so much more?--
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:	        105
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
  'That is not it at all,
  That is not what I meant, at all.'
      .      .      .      .      .	        110
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,	        115
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous--
Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old ... I grow old ...        120
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.	        125

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown	        130
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

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1. As you may have noticed from the reference to “my lovely wife”, Rhonda and I finally got married!  It was a fairly simple affair – we just went to the Mobile, AL, courthouse and did the deed.  Our “honeymoon” was a night away from the boys in the swanky (by our standards) Downtown/Historic District Holiday Inn and boozing the night away with some good friends.  Rhonda keeps threatening to write up a post about the whole thing.  If she ever carries out her threat, I’ll make sure to link it up.

2.  Harper is walking! He’s been pulling himself up and even standing on his own for a couple of weeks, but didn’t have the confidence to try more than a few steps.  Last Wednesday, though, he decided to go for it.  While we were waiting for Jude’s mom to drop him off, Harper got up and just started toddling.  Two steps was about normal.  Then he took another, and another, and made it to ten steps before toddling over.  He’s gone a little farther every day since and seems very proud of himself.

3.  Jude left yesterday.  I may or may not have cried a little when he left – I can neither confirm nor deny.  I’m already missing him like crazy and August seems a long way off, but I’m also kind of glad for the relative peace in the house since he left.  It’s also nice to be able to stretch out in our bed again without little elbows jabbing me in the ribs.

4.  I’m really impressed by how good Nick is with Harper.  He does get irritated, like any big brother would, and occasionally just wants to hide out in his room, but he also goes out of his way to look out for Harper.  Occasionally, he even yells at Mommy and Daddy to be nicer to his baby brother.

5. A big reason for my lack of posting is that I’ve been working and adjusting to working an evening shift.  I’m sure part of it is that I’m just happy to be working after a year of unemployment, but I’m really enjoying my job.  It’s challenging without being impossibly hard, There’s pretty good support if I have any problems, and we have awesome benefits.  I get pretty much every holiday off (paid!) and the company partnered with the county in a free clinic that we have access to the day we’re hired.

6. There is constantly some sickness, usually in the form of a cold, circulating through this house.  Rhonda almost always catches it, and I rarely do.  This time, though, I seem to have caught it.  I rarely get sick, but I seem to pay for it by getting really sick when I finally catch something.  Between this and number 7, I’m in for a miserable week.

7. I developed a rash last week.  At first it seemed kind of mild and not itching that bad, so I wasn’t too worried about it.  But now I’m starting to notice it spreading, getting more red, and more itchy.  I think I have poison ivy or poison oak, and that’s not good.  This is the least disturbing picture I have from my last poison ivy outbreak:

Like I said... this is the least disturbing, the others are much worse.

So yeah… I need to go to that free clinic.  Sadly, I don’t have the fifteen dollars for the meds I know they’ll prescribe for this.  I may have to tough it out until payday on Friday.

8. I’m no longer questioning my geekiness, but I am realizing that my inner geek is… morphing, I guess?  I’m into more adult things these days, or geeking out on a more adult level.  I haven’t read a comic in ages and, while I’m mildly interested in what’s been going on in comics, I don’t really miss them all that much.  I guess I’m just too busy.  Yes, this probably means that For The Love of Comics has ended its run. I’ll keep paying the hosting fees and all that, but I don’t see myself updating it again any time soon, if ever. I probably will begin writing about things that I’m geeking out about here, like books and some cool toys I’ve found for the kids.

9. Since moving to South Mississippi, which is highly conservative, I’ve found myself getting pushed further left, or at least more vocally left-wing.  I’m not really going anywhere with this point, it’s just something I’ve noticed about myself recently.

10. Rhonda and I are starting up a blog focused on the small, tragically unwired town we live in. Rhonda gives a nice explanation of our vision in her Tuesday Ten post today, which I’ll quote for you here.

We live in a small town that is so not connected to the internet.  The few hiring businesses want you to send in a resume… via snail mail.  People shop and do business in surrounding cities, because they don’t even know what’s available to them here.  And the local newspaper (published once a week, on Thursdays) is very sad.  The “writers” have very biased views… and they show in the articles.  I’m pretty sure you can pay for an article too (if you agree with the editor’s views, at least).  We hope to bring something new and fresh to the table, and we’ve gotten a lot of good feedback about our plans!

Jokes about launching a new blog when I can’t even keep this one updated, while very accurate, should be kept to oneself.

And that’s ten!

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