sure, it wasn't a stretch for me to encourage his interest, but the idea was his. so i helped him get set up and now he's runnin' with it on his own. obviously there's a lot for him to learn about everything, but he certainly picked up how to include anchor tags and links into the body of his blog posts. [sniff] i am....so proud. lookout world, here's Loren's personal cyberspatial psychocornucopia, available at internetworked terminals worldwide (void where prohibited).
2005-05-18
2005-05-16
wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'...
...and if life imitated music, i wouldn't know where i'll be tomorrow. however, at this particular moment that doesn't appear to be the case. tomorrow will find me once more upon the road at a very early hour, first northbound to deliver Loren unto his other home front (where i trust he'll meet with no sudden illness to prevent his attending school) and then southbound to do battle once more upon whatever steel minions await a taste of my carbide blade (as it were). [note: this posted after midnight, but for me, it's still Sunday night --inf]
Friday the 13th lived up to the hype last week. the air compressor that fried at the end of the work day Thursday brought the shop to a standstill before anyone got there (i saw this coming), and the forklift sprouted a hydraulic leak- bad timing considering we had to move 6 months of accumulated crap away from another CNC machine, mothballed since long before i began working there, which they had someone coming in to work on that day. they're talking about running a second shift, or maybe having me start early from now on so they can keep the machine i'm running most of the time running more of the time. that was an interesting sentence to type. the owner, Scott, bought a new part to replace the one that fried on the compressor and i went on a mission to Home Depot for some brass pipe fittings to get it all hooked up, and fixed it with Nic. the same guy who came out to work on the hydraulic systems for the CNC machine also fixed the hydraulic leak on the forklift; it was only a blown hose, an easy fix. three of us moved everything that could be moved by hand away from the CNC machine, no small feat. lack of manpower contributed to a large accumulation of unorganized stuff (read: bigass pile of crap) in that area. at some point someone needs to step up and organize that shop. it's one of my strong points (i've done it in most of the shops i've worked in- i have a low tolerance for disorganization in a shop environment) but my experience tells me it's going to be a monumental undertaking in that place. picture large piles of drill bits thrown together in a drawer without regard for size, then extrapolate throughout the entire shop with every conceivable form of tool and material present. it would take someone a solid week to put a sizable dent in the mess. sooner or later the bullet's going to have to be bitten by someone.
speaking of organization (like the segue?) Loren's notebook was clean and well organized at the end of the school week, and he turned in all the missing work it was possible to get credit for, just like i asked him to. i stopped off on the way home from picking him up at his mom's and bought him a pack of cards (which played carrot to one-week-of-no-TV's stick). bought us both a slurpee too- just the trick considering it was a little muggy and warmer than it's been. Loren mentioned he remembered the time he got a slurpee with me when he was really little and he dropped it on the way out of the store, spilling it all over the pavement. i think he was around 4 then. he was really upset at the time, but he bucked right up when i gave him mine- which he also remembered. i'm guessing that's one memory that'll stick with him if he still remembers it.
this weekend went by quickly. Loren and i spent much of it in the company of family. Friday night we spent eating a little frozen pizza and taking in the last two new episodes of Star Trek to be aired for the forseeable future. the first was the conclusion of a storyline begun last week, and the last was an interesting close to the series, depicting the formation of an alliance which would eventually become the United Federation of Planets. the entire episode was tied in to the ST:TNG episode in which Riker wrestled with a question of honor, as one of the minority of survivors in the ill-fated, and subsequently covered-up, testing of a banned cloaking device aboard his former ship, the Pegasus. in the ST:TNG episode, upon the rediscovery of the formerly lost Pegasus, though sworn to secrecy concerning the incident, Riker eventually chose to inform his current commander, Captain Picard, of the circumstances surrounding the ship's disappearance. in the ST:Enterprise episode, Riker used a holodeck simulation of the Enterprise's final days to both objectively watch the historic events and interactively participate with the crew members (posing as the ship's chef) in order to gain some insight before making his decision about whether to reveal his knowledge of the Pegasus incident. it was an interesting choice to tie the final ST:Enterprise episode in with an existing episode of the ST:TNG series; it was also strange to see Johnathon Frakes and Marina Sirtis portray their ST:TNG characters from an existing episode after so much time has passed- they've both visibly aged since the ST:TNG episode, but the producers ignored that fact and executed the storyline without trying to hide their difference in age. it was pretty khoul to see Picard's Enterprise depicted again in the final ST:Enterprise episode.
after TV, Loren and i spent a very short time reading The Wishsong of Shannara again; he was pretty disappointed when i fell asleep before making much progress. again he spent some time making an effort to wake me up, with very limited success. by the time i actually woke up enough that i might have been able to continue, it was well past time for him to hit the sack. this is getting to be something of a habit on Friday nights, and he's not pleased with me. i hate feeling like i've let him down.
Saturday morning came early for me (i'd certainly gotten enough sleep) and i woke up well before him for a change. i let him sleep in. we got ready in time to head out to Ethan's soccer game, his second of the season. Nichole asked me to referee the game, but i declined. then the light bulb appeared over my head and i suggested she ask Loren. he agreed, and was granted the whistle. Ethan's league is a non-results-oriented affair, as they're all between the ages of 5 and 7, and it's a pretty informal game setting. Nichole and Chris sum up the experience for the kids as, "At this point, it's all about the snack," which is both accurate for 90% of the kids and funny. Mom and Dad were there, and Cole (who was a bundle of energy throughout the game, and showed a remarkable amount of restraint for a 2 yr old boy who likes nothing more than a ball of any variety). my folks invited Loren and i out to dinner, with no real plan in mind, and in the end all questions of where and when and how were left up to Loren. he chose dinner in, at Gramma & Grampa's at around 6pm. we went home in the meantime and Loren promptly went out to hook up with his friend Josh. he traded some of his Dragonball Z CCG cards to Josh for a whole slew of Josh's Yu-Gi-Oh cards, a deal i tried repeatedly to nix. Josh suggested it himself, but i figured he'd regret it eventually- it wasn't even close to a fair trade. evidently Josh's (15 yr old) sister agreed and told him he needed to get something more than the three cards of Loren's he'd bargained for. Loren was accommodating and they reached a deal which Loren still ended up quite comfortably on the better end of. soon we were on the road to Gramma & Grampa's. barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes and peas were the fare of the evening, and Loren watched some cartoons while we all caught up a bit. we played a few games of Uno, with Loren's attention (and mine) divided between the game and the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoons on TV. Mom won the first two games, with Dad coming in second both times, and Loren and i split the games for third place. then we retired to the dining room table to play a couple more, Dad winning one, me winning the second. my apologies to all the seriously die-hard Uno fans for my appalling failure to remember which of us took 2nd, 3rd, and last place in those final two games- simply shocking, i know. it was a relaxing evening, and we all enjoyed ourselves, including Chowder, who in the absence of my Most Excellent nephews wasn't outside the whole time due to Cole's unbridled fear. then it was back home for Loren and i, arriving well after bedtime, but we ignored the hour and made up for Friday night, reading a fairly sizable chunk of our aforementioned book despite the impressive bruise-blue circles under Loren's very tired eyes.
the next morning (this morning) saw Loren downstairs watching cartoons when i finally rose around 11am- a respectable beginning to a rainy Sunday. Loren and i made our traditional Sunday Big Brunch, pancakes, eggs and sausage, while we listened to acid jazz streaming over Rhapsody radio. we both put our noses in our books while we ate. Loren's nearly finished with Magician:Apprentice and i've just begun the 4th book in the same series, A Darkness at Sethanon. Loren watched some more cartoons and examined more closely the cards he gained in his latest bartering session. i cleaned up the brunch mess while he gathered his Lord of the Rings edition Risk game so we could start a new battle. i knew we'd never finish it (especially considering it's been long enough since we played we had to make a thorough trip through the rule book) but it was good to start a new game. sometimes it's fun to get into a game that's going to take a long time to finish. we broke from the game to watch the Sonics thoroughly trounce the Spurs in game 4 of their 2nd round NBA playoff series, at Key Arena. the first two games were in San Antonio and the Sonics lost them both, then the Spurs came here and lost the next two. an impressive team effort propelled the Sonics to beat the Spurs soundly without Radmonovic or Lewis. Radmonovic went down in San Antonio, for at least the remainder of this series, with a severely sprained ankle. in the same game, Ray Lewis went out less than two minutes later with his own sprained ankle. he was able to return for the next game, albeit fairly hampered. Lewis went down in the first Seattle game, with some sort of toe problem. everyone seemed to come up big for this game though, including Damien Wilkins in an impressive showing, especially defensively, especially from a rookie, from the bench. Luke Ridnour finally got some shots to fall, including 15 points in a great third quarter. the Sonics managed to make the Spurs play their game, a crazy game bordering on out-of-control at times, which seems to work for them. at the start of the game, Loren intended to read his book on and off while watching, but he couldn't help watching the whole thing play out. i get the impression he really likes watching basketball, more than most sports, which is great in my book. basketball's by far my favorite sport to watch, and you can't help but think Loren's going to get something out of watching the pros play (besides the plain old fun of watching the Sonics!). i really hope he plays basketball next year, it was fantastic watching him out on the court last time around.
after the game it was time for a simple dinner, some fish sticks and tater tots, and we watched some more of the Trigun DVD series lent us by my friend and co-worker Nic Crowner. thanks Nic! the farther we get into the series, the better it gets. all too soon it was time for Loren to shower up, and then we retired to the couch for the last of this weekend's Shannara sessions. no, i didn't fall asleep or i wouldn't be sitting here typing ;)
that brings us up to date, and it's time to crash. i'm sorely tempted to ignore my fatigue, have another cup of coffee, and dig a bit further into A Darkness at Sethanon....but damned if 4:30am doesn't come earlier than it did when i was a spry young whippersnapper of, say, 35.
PEACE and a good week to all.
Friday the 13th lived up to the hype last week. the air compressor that fried at the end of the work day Thursday brought the shop to a standstill before anyone got there (i saw this coming), and the forklift sprouted a hydraulic leak- bad timing considering we had to move 6 months of accumulated crap away from another CNC machine, mothballed since long before i began working there, which they had someone coming in to work on that day. they're talking about running a second shift, or maybe having me start early from now on so they can keep the machine i'm running most of the time running more of the time. that was an interesting sentence to type. the owner, Scott, bought a new part to replace the one that fried on the compressor and i went on a mission to Home Depot for some brass pipe fittings to get it all hooked up, and fixed it with Nic. the same guy who came out to work on the hydraulic systems for the CNC machine also fixed the hydraulic leak on the forklift; it was only a blown hose, an easy fix. three of us moved everything that could be moved by hand away from the CNC machine, no small feat. lack of manpower contributed to a large accumulation of unorganized stuff (read: bigass pile of crap) in that area. at some point someone needs to step up and organize that shop. it's one of my strong points (i've done it in most of the shops i've worked in- i have a low tolerance for disorganization in a shop environment) but my experience tells me it's going to be a monumental undertaking in that place. picture large piles of drill bits thrown together in a drawer without regard for size, then extrapolate throughout the entire shop with every conceivable form of tool and material present. it would take someone a solid week to put a sizable dent in the mess. sooner or later the bullet's going to have to be bitten by someone.
speaking of organization (like the segue?) Loren's notebook was clean and well organized at the end of the school week, and he turned in all the missing work it was possible to get credit for, just like i asked him to. i stopped off on the way home from picking him up at his mom's and bought him a pack of cards (which played carrot to one-week-of-no-TV's stick). bought us both a slurpee too- just the trick considering it was a little muggy and warmer than it's been. Loren mentioned he remembered the time he got a slurpee with me when he was really little and he dropped it on the way out of the store, spilling it all over the pavement. i think he was around 4 then. he was really upset at the time, but he bucked right up when i gave him mine- which he also remembered. i'm guessing that's one memory that'll stick with him if he still remembers it.
this weekend went by quickly. Loren and i spent much of it in the company of family. Friday night we spent eating a little frozen pizza and taking in the last two new episodes of Star Trek to be aired for the forseeable future. the first was the conclusion of a storyline begun last week, and the last was an interesting close to the series, depicting the formation of an alliance which would eventually become the United Federation of Planets. the entire episode was tied in to the ST:TNG episode in which Riker wrestled with a question of honor, as one of the minority of survivors in the ill-fated, and subsequently covered-up, testing of a banned cloaking device aboard his former ship, the Pegasus. in the ST:TNG episode, upon the rediscovery of the formerly lost Pegasus, though sworn to secrecy concerning the incident, Riker eventually chose to inform his current commander, Captain Picard, of the circumstances surrounding the ship's disappearance. in the ST:Enterprise episode, Riker used a holodeck simulation of the Enterprise's final days to both objectively watch the historic events and interactively participate with the crew members (posing as the ship's chef) in order to gain some insight before making his decision about whether to reveal his knowledge of the Pegasus incident. it was an interesting choice to tie the final ST:Enterprise episode in with an existing episode of the ST:TNG series; it was also strange to see Johnathon Frakes and Marina Sirtis portray their ST:TNG characters from an existing episode after so much time has passed- they've both visibly aged since the ST:TNG episode, but the producers ignored that fact and executed the storyline without trying to hide their difference in age. it was pretty khoul to see Picard's Enterprise depicted again in the final ST:Enterprise episode.
after TV, Loren and i spent a very short time reading The Wishsong of Shannara again; he was pretty disappointed when i fell asleep before making much progress. again he spent some time making an effort to wake me up, with very limited success. by the time i actually woke up enough that i might have been able to continue, it was well past time for him to hit the sack. this is getting to be something of a habit on Friday nights, and he's not pleased with me. i hate feeling like i've let him down.
Saturday morning came early for me (i'd certainly gotten enough sleep) and i woke up well before him for a change. i let him sleep in. we got ready in time to head out to Ethan's soccer game, his second of the season. Nichole asked me to referee the game, but i declined. then the light bulb appeared over my head and i suggested she ask Loren. he agreed, and was granted the whistle. Ethan's league is a non-results-oriented affair, as they're all between the ages of 5 and 7, and it's a pretty informal game setting. Nichole and Chris sum up the experience for the kids as, "At this point, it's all about the snack," which is both accurate for 90% of the kids and funny. Mom and Dad were there, and Cole (who was a bundle of energy throughout the game, and showed a remarkable amount of restraint for a 2 yr old boy who likes nothing more than a ball of any variety). my folks invited Loren and i out to dinner, with no real plan in mind, and in the end all questions of where and when and how were left up to Loren. he chose dinner in, at Gramma & Grampa's at around 6pm. we went home in the meantime and Loren promptly went out to hook up with his friend Josh. he traded some of his Dragonball Z CCG cards to Josh for a whole slew of Josh's Yu-Gi-Oh cards, a deal i tried repeatedly to nix. Josh suggested it himself, but i figured he'd regret it eventually- it wasn't even close to a fair trade. evidently Josh's (15 yr old) sister agreed and told him he needed to get something more than the three cards of Loren's he'd bargained for. Loren was accommodating and they reached a deal which Loren still ended up quite comfortably on the better end of. soon we were on the road to Gramma & Grampa's. barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes and peas were the fare of the evening, and Loren watched some cartoons while we all caught up a bit. we played a few games of Uno, with Loren's attention (and mine) divided between the game and the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoons on TV. Mom won the first two games, with Dad coming in second both times, and Loren and i split the games for third place. then we retired to the dining room table to play a couple more, Dad winning one, me winning the second. my apologies to all the seriously die-hard Uno fans for my appalling failure to remember which of us took 2nd, 3rd, and last place in those final two games- simply shocking, i know. it was a relaxing evening, and we all enjoyed ourselves, including Chowder, who in the absence of my Most Excellent nephews wasn't outside the whole time due to Cole's unbridled fear. then it was back home for Loren and i, arriving well after bedtime, but we ignored the hour and made up for Friday night, reading a fairly sizable chunk of our aforementioned book despite the impressive bruise-blue circles under Loren's very tired eyes.
the next morning (this morning) saw Loren downstairs watching cartoons when i finally rose around 11am- a respectable beginning to a rainy Sunday. Loren and i made our traditional Sunday Big Brunch, pancakes, eggs and sausage, while we listened to acid jazz streaming over Rhapsody radio. we both put our noses in our books while we ate. Loren's nearly finished with Magician:Apprentice and i've just begun the 4th book in the same series, A Darkness at Sethanon. Loren watched some more cartoons and examined more closely the cards he gained in his latest bartering session. i cleaned up the brunch mess while he gathered his Lord of the Rings edition Risk game so we could start a new battle. i knew we'd never finish it (especially considering it's been long enough since we played we had to make a thorough trip through the rule book) but it was good to start a new game. sometimes it's fun to get into a game that's going to take a long time to finish. we broke from the game to watch the Sonics thoroughly trounce the Spurs in game 4 of their 2nd round NBA playoff series, at Key Arena. the first two games were in San Antonio and the Sonics lost them both, then the Spurs came here and lost the next two. an impressive team effort propelled the Sonics to beat the Spurs soundly without Radmonovic or Lewis. Radmonovic went down in San Antonio, for at least the remainder of this series, with a severely sprained ankle. in the same game, Ray Lewis went out less than two minutes later with his own sprained ankle. he was able to return for the next game, albeit fairly hampered. Lewis went down in the first Seattle game, with some sort of toe problem. everyone seemed to come up big for this game though, including Damien Wilkins in an impressive showing, especially defensively, especially from a rookie, from the bench. Luke Ridnour finally got some shots to fall, including 15 points in a great third quarter. the Sonics managed to make the Spurs play their game, a crazy game bordering on out-of-control at times, which seems to work for them. at the start of the game, Loren intended to read his book on and off while watching, but he couldn't help watching the whole thing play out. i get the impression he really likes watching basketball, more than most sports, which is great in my book. basketball's by far my favorite sport to watch, and you can't help but think Loren's going to get something out of watching the pros play (besides the plain old fun of watching the Sonics!). i really hope he plays basketball next year, it was fantastic watching him out on the court last time around.
after the game it was time for a simple dinner, some fish sticks and tater tots, and we watched some more of the Trigun DVD series lent us by my friend and co-worker Nic Crowner. thanks Nic! the farther we get into the series, the better it gets. all too soon it was time for Loren to shower up, and then we retired to the couch for the last of this weekend's Shannara sessions. no, i didn't fall asleep or i wouldn't be sitting here typing ;)
that brings us up to date, and it's time to crash. i'm sorely tempted to ignore my fatigue, have another cup of coffee, and dig a bit further into A Darkness at Sethanon....but damned if 4:30am doesn't come earlier than it did when i was a spry young whippersnapper of, say, 35.
PEACE and a good week to all.
2005-05-11
lack of activity = lack of posts
work. watch basketball. read Silverthorn. do laundry. sleep. repeat. hard to make something thrilling to post when your week consists of mainly that. so i'll delve backwards into last weekend i guess.
last Friday Loren's mother took off to go shopping or something, by my place, while i went to her place to pick up Loren after work. growlz. crashed out in my truck at her (deserted) place waiting for her; buzzed her a few times on her cell. eventually i got tired of waiting and headed home; intercepted her on the main drag and acquired my son....albeit with Phoenix and his friend James. someone had decided it would be a good night for them to have a sleepover, and since Loren was coming, my place was elected. nevermind the fact that neither of the other two boys had so much as a change of clothes, toothbrushes, or anything else that commonly accompanies kids bound for a sleepover...it happened. i was pretty grumpy about all my wasted time (and another wasted trip to Granite Falls) but managed to make it through the evening with the boys. i was thoroughly unprepared for company- not enough clean dishes (or food ready to prepare for that matter) for the additional bodies so i spent a little money i didn't have on some pizza. Loren sat with me and watched Enterprise (though in truth his mind was more than a little occupied with his latest issue of Nintendo Power). the other two boys were less than heroic in their efforts to keep the noise down, so i missed much of the dialogue. never considered myself much of a stick in the mud, but i have to admit that left my banana somewhat irked. they made their way outside for part of the show, and after the pizza showed up and they'd eaten, i sent them upstairs to play. Loren hung out with me. eventually all three young men retired to the den to watch The Demented Cartoon Movie (Loren for the umpteenth time- he's thoroughly impressed) and my weariness soon gave over to full fledged sleep on the couch, at the ripe old hour of 9:30pm. i woke sometime around 2:45am and found all three boys still up and about....not really surprising. i got them all ready to sleep, but Phoenix and James wouldn't stop joking around (Loren was more than ready to succumb to the sandman) so i separated the two younger boys, setting up Phoenix on the couch downstairs- that did the trick. sometime between 9:30 and 2:45, they managed to drink somewhere between 8 and 12 cans of pop and eat half a box of swiss cake rolls. boys will be boys i suppose. Loren only copped to one pop, and said he didn't eat any of the junk food. have to admit i was a little surprised he didn't try to stop them or wake me up during all that, but he's not the house police. i told him he was in charge earlier in the evening but i guess i'll have to wonder what he'd do if he actually wielded the authority, since he doesn't excercise the right. in any case, i believe Loren copped to his own part in the fridge raid truthfully, so the other two really binged.
in a parallel train of thought, Loren looked pretty well, though he occasionally sounded hoarse, for a boy who missed all but 1 day of school last week. have to admit i'm a little (maybe more than a little?) upset at his mother for letting him stay home when he was well enough to live it up all week while he missed school. Loren defended himself by telling me he really felt bad in the mornings but improved later in the days. i'm trying to help Loren bail water out of his dicey schoolwork boat and that wasn't exactly an example of his mom helping him patch leaks. really, missing a bunch of school over an itchy throat was the last thing he needed, when he just got on a bit of a roll. growlz. it's one thing if he's really sick (i'm not a sadist) but from talking to him on the phone it was obvious he wasn't feeling all that bad. i talked to him tonight on the phone and he told me he's finished all the work he missed except one thing. if that's true (and i'll only believe that when i see it, since he's been "wrong" answering that question many times at this point) i made him promise me that the remaining one would be done by tomorrow. i'll be inspecting his school notebook again Friday- hope he remembers that and takes care of business like i showed him; i'd hate to have to discipline him after he's been doing so well.
i intended to make it to Ethan's first soccer game on Saturday, but getting a late start and having company in the house nixed my plans in that regard. actually, if i'd had definite info on where and when the action was going to take place i'd probably have made a greater effort to get there. here's hoping i can get Loren out to the next one.
spent a little time lately cruising used book stores for the aforementioned book i'm reading, and managed to find all the books in the series (10 titles) scattered amongst half a dozen stores. it was a little more of an investment than i'd planned to make, but since i know i'll read through them, i'll count it as cheap entertainment and leave it at that. Loren started the first book in the series (Magician: Apprentice) and he's worked his way halfway through it. it's always khoul to see him take to a new book. he's got a bunch on his shelves he's never touched, but i've been guilty of that too, and he'll either get to reading them or not- they're not going anywhere. better too many books than too few, and i count it lucky he likes to read.
sunday i made it over to Mom and Dad's for Mother's Day; picked up Mom a bottle of wine. always nice to see the folks, and the trip south doubled as a chance to get to a used book store in the area. happily they had the very book i was looking for. didn't realize my nephews were visiting Gramma & Grampa until i let Chowder loose into the house and he barrelled right in and terrified Cole, who probably scared the crap outta Chowder with his awesome display of raw lung power. Ethan was a bit nervous but handled it very well. Cole eventually warmed up to the concept of "friendly dog" enough to view him with through the window as he hung out outside- where he spent the remainder of my visit. Cole asked me a little later what the thing hanging on the wall was (Dad's guitar) so i took it down and let him strum while i fingered chords- the boy's got rhythm- and Ethan joined in the fun. i played some myself, and Cole seemed to like the music, getting his groove on a lil' bit. eventually i put a little spin on the whole thing by singing a song about "my friend Chowder" and Cole seemed to appreciate that. Dad contributed to the lyrics, notably at one point where i'd sung my improvisation into a corner with a line like "and Chowder likes to eat..." (can you see where this is going?) of course Dad finished off the line "...little boys". i saw it coming and was sorely tempted to go there myself, but he beat me to the punch. Cole took it in stride, and immediately went back to the window to check out m'dog.
then it was back home for me, to watch the Sonics get absolutely Beat Down by the Spurs in game 1 of the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs. ugly. very ugly. tonight they fared a little better but still couldn't manage a win, so they'll come home to play a couple (three?) down 2-0 going in. they've seriously got to step it up on defense if they hope to have a chance, and they're shooting's gotta average a lot higher than the high 30s they shot this game. didn't know the Spurs could run like that, but i missed most of the latter half of the season this year, so it's not surprising i didn't know what to expect from San Antonio.
ok that brings everything up to date and i'm officially out for now. --PEACE
last Friday Loren's mother took off to go shopping or something, by my place, while i went to her place to pick up Loren after work. growlz. crashed out in my truck at her (deserted) place waiting for her; buzzed her a few times on her cell. eventually i got tired of waiting and headed home; intercepted her on the main drag and acquired my son....albeit with Phoenix and his friend James. someone had decided it would be a good night for them to have a sleepover, and since Loren was coming, my place was elected. nevermind the fact that neither of the other two boys had so much as a change of clothes, toothbrushes, or anything else that commonly accompanies kids bound for a sleepover...it happened. i was pretty grumpy about all my wasted time (and another wasted trip to Granite Falls) but managed to make it through the evening with the boys. i was thoroughly unprepared for company- not enough clean dishes (or food ready to prepare for that matter) for the additional bodies so i spent a little money i didn't have on some pizza. Loren sat with me and watched Enterprise (though in truth his mind was more than a little occupied with his latest issue of Nintendo Power). the other two boys were less than heroic in their efforts to keep the noise down, so i missed much of the dialogue. never considered myself much of a stick in the mud, but i have to admit that left my banana somewhat irked. they made their way outside for part of the show, and after the pizza showed up and they'd eaten, i sent them upstairs to play. Loren hung out with me. eventually all three young men retired to the den to watch The Demented Cartoon Movie (Loren for the umpteenth time- he's thoroughly impressed) and my weariness soon gave over to full fledged sleep on the couch, at the ripe old hour of 9:30pm. i woke sometime around 2:45am and found all three boys still up and about....not really surprising. i got them all ready to sleep, but Phoenix and James wouldn't stop joking around (Loren was more than ready to succumb to the sandman) so i separated the two younger boys, setting up Phoenix on the couch downstairs- that did the trick. sometime between 9:30 and 2:45, they managed to drink somewhere between 8 and 12 cans of pop and eat half a box of swiss cake rolls. boys will be boys i suppose. Loren only copped to one pop, and said he didn't eat any of the junk food. have to admit i was a little surprised he didn't try to stop them or wake me up during all that, but he's not the house police. i told him he was in charge earlier in the evening but i guess i'll have to wonder what he'd do if he actually wielded the authority, since he doesn't excercise the right. in any case, i believe Loren copped to his own part in the fridge raid truthfully, so the other two really binged.
in a parallel train of thought, Loren looked pretty well, though he occasionally sounded hoarse, for a boy who missed all but 1 day of school last week. have to admit i'm a little (maybe more than a little?) upset at his mother for letting him stay home when he was well enough to live it up all week while he missed school. Loren defended himself by telling me he really felt bad in the mornings but improved later in the days. i'm trying to help Loren bail water out of his dicey schoolwork boat and that wasn't exactly an example of his mom helping him patch leaks. really, missing a bunch of school over an itchy throat was the last thing he needed, when he just got on a bit of a roll. growlz. it's one thing if he's really sick (i'm not a sadist) but from talking to him on the phone it was obvious he wasn't feeling all that bad. i talked to him tonight on the phone and he told me he's finished all the work he missed except one thing. if that's true (and i'll only believe that when i see it, since he's been "wrong" answering that question many times at this point) i made him promise me that the remaining one would be done by tomorrow. i'll be inspecting his school notebook again Friday- hope he remembers that and takes care of business like i showed him; i'd hate to have to discipline him after he's been doing so well.
i intended to make it to Ethan's first soccer game on Saturday, but getting a late start and having company in the house nixed my plans in that regard. actually, if i'd had definite info on where and when the action was going to take place i'd probably have made a greater effort to get there. here's hoping i can get Loren out to the next one.
spent a little time lately cruising used book stores for the aforementioned book i'm reading, and managed to find all the books in the series (10 titles) scattered amongst half a dozen stores. it was a little more of an investment than i'd planned to make, but since i know i'll read through them, i'll count it as cheap entertainment and leave it at that. Loren started the first book in the series (Magician: Apprentice) and he's worked his way halfway through it. it's always khoul to see him take to a new book. he's got a bunch on his shelves he's never touched, but i've been guilty of that too, and he'll either get to reading them or not- they're not going anywhere. better too many books than too few, and i count it lucky he likes to read.
sunday i made it over to Mom and Dad's for Mother's Day; picked up Mom a bottle of wine. always nice to see the folks, and the trip south doubled as a chance to get to a used book store in the area. happily they had the very book i was looking for. didn't realize my nephews were visiting Gramma & Grampa until i let Chowder loose into the house and he barrelled right in and terrified Cole, who probably scared the crap outta Chowder with his awesome display of raw lung power. Ethan was a bit nervous but handled it very well. Cole eventually warmed up to the concept of "friendly dog" enough to view him with through the window as he hung out outside- where he spent the remainder of my visit. Cole asked me a little later what the thing hanging on the wall was (Dad's guitar) so i took it down and let him strum while i fingered chords- the boy's got rhythm- and Ethan joined in the fun. i played some myself, and Cole seemed to like the music, getting his groove on a lil' bit. eventually i put a little spin on the whole thing by singing a song about "my friend Chowder" and Cole seemed to appreciate that. Dad contributed to the lyrics, notably at one point where i'd sung my improvisation into a corner with a line like "and Chowder likes to eat..." (can you see where this is going?) of course Dad finished off the line "...little boys". i saw it coming and was sorely tempted to go there myself, but he beat me to the punch. Cole took it in stride, and immediately went back to the window to check out m'dog.
then it was back home for me, to watch the Sonics get absolutely Beat Down by the Spurs in game 1 of the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs. ugly. very ugly. tonight they fared a little better but still couldn't manage a win, so they'll come home to play a couple (three?) down 2-0 going in. they've seriously got to step it up on defense if they hope to have a chance, and they're shooting's gotta average a lot higher than the high 30s they shot this game. didn't know the Spurs could run like that, but i missed most of the latter half of the season this year, so it's not surprising i didn't know what to expect from San Antonio.
ok that brings everything up to date and i'm officially out for now. --PEACE
2005-05-04
soundclick stats
some (most?) who chance to be reading this at this particular moment (be that when it may) are likely aware i have a smattering of my songs posted online. the main site i use to host my MP3s is soundclick.com, and the link to my little corner of the soundclick universe is at the top right of this page, the first link in the 'local content' section. i'm not sure exactly when i last posted the soundclick usage stats, but since i check them every so often (at roughly monthly intervals), i took a few minutes to lay out the current stats and post them here. in the SONG STATISTICS section below, the first number in each row (after the year), is song plays (times streamed), and the second number is downloads. in that section i've also included statistics from other sites for those songs.
TOTALS:
TTL SONG PLAYS : 1842
TTL DOWNLOADS : 276
TTL PLAYS / DWNLD : 6.674
TTL DWNLDS / PLAY : 0.150
TTL PLAYS / HIT : 0.974
TTL HITS / PLAY : 1.027
2004 STATISTCS:
PLAYS : 1351
DWNLDS : 174
PLAYS / DWNLD : 7.764
DWNLDS / PLAY : 0.129
PLAYS / HIT : 1.090
HITS / PLAY : 0.918
2005 STATISTICS:
PLAYS : 491
DWLNDS : 102
PLAYS / DWNLD : 4.814
DWNLDS / PLAY : 0.208
PLAYS / HIT : 0.755
HITS / PLAY : 1.324
Total Page Views '04 : 1240
Total Page Views '05 : 650
Total 1892
SONG STATISTICS:
A Little Bubbly [demo]
'04 : 131 11
'05 : 30 7
Total 161 18
* unsignedbandweb.com: 9 streams, 4 downloads
All F*ed Up [no vocals, as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 37 11
'05 : 6 6
Total 43 17
America [as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 46 5
'05 : 25 6
Total 71 11
Coward [as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 39 7
'05 : 16 5
Total 55 12
Distractions [live, dry]
'04 : 102 8
'05 : 35 5
Total 137 13
Distractions [live]
'04 : 179 10
'05 : 33 8
Total 212 18
* unsignedbandweb.com: 12 streams, 3 downloads
Dtune [demo]
'04 : 50 8
'05 : 28 6
Total 78 14
* betarecords.com plays: 8
Escape [as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 40 12
'05 : 30 7
Total 70 19
Happy Song [demo]
'04 : 44 7
'05 : 28 5
Total 72 12
High Wire [as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 30 5
'05 : 22 3
Total 52 8
I Wanna Disappear [demo]
'04 : 38 6
'05 : 26 6
Total 64 12
Jus' Dyin' [live outtake, as recorded by Pat Fagg]
'04 : 31 5
'05 : 9 5
Total 40 10
Jus' Livin' [live, as recorded by Pat Fagg]
'04 : 24 5
'05 : 13 4
Total 37 9
Liquid Motion Experiment #2 [demo]
'04 : 170 20
'05 : 49 4
Total 219 24
* betarecords.com plays: 5
* unsignedbandweb.com: 14 streams, 4 downloads
Lullaby [live]
'04 : 162 9
'05 : 31 3
Total 193 12
Now Is The Time [as recorded by ThoseDudes]
'04 : 18 6
'05 : 12 3
Total 30 9
PiBuWiFaSur [instrumental, as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 28 6
'05 : 9 4
Total 37 10
To Hell With It Anyway [as recorded by ThoseDudes]
'04 : 31 9
'05 : 19 3
Total 50 12
Too Easy [no vocals, as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 34 10
'05 : 6 4
Total 40 14
Tracers [instrumental, as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 31 5
'05 : 21 4
Total 52 9
Unspoken [as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 86 9
'05 : 43 4
Total 129 13
* betarecords.com plays: 9
* unsignedbandweb.com: 17 streams, 3 downloads
TOTALS:
TTL SONG PLAYS : 1842
TTL DOWNLOADS : 276
TTL PLAYS / DWNLD : 6.674
TTL DWNLDS / PLAY : 0.150
TTL PLAYS / HIT : 0.974
TTL HITS / PLAY : 1.027
2004 STATISTCS:
PLAYS : 1351
DWNLDS : 174
PLAYS / DWNLD : 7.764
DWNLDS / PLAY : 0.129
PLAYS / HIT : 1.090
HITS / PLAY : 0.918
2005 STATISTICS:
PLAYS : 491
DWLNDS : 102
PLAYS / DWNLD : 4.814
DWNLDS / PLAY : 0.208
PLAYS / HIT : 0.755
HITS / PLAY : 1.324
Total Page Views '04 : 1240
Total Page Views '05 : 650
Total 1892
SONG STATISTICS:
A Little Bubbly [demo]
'04 : 131 11
'05 : 30 7
Total 161 18
* unsignedbandweb.com: 9 streams, 4 downloads
All F*ed Up [no vocals, as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 37 11
'05 : 6 6
Total 43 17
America [as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 46 5
'05 : 25 6
Total 71 11
Coward [as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 39 7
'05 : 16 5
Total 55 12
Distractions [live, dry]
'04 : 102 8
'05 : 35 5
Total 137 13
Distractions [live]
'04 : 179 10
'05 : 33 8
Total 212 18
* unsignedbandweb.com: 12 streams, 3 downloads
Dtune [demo]
'04 : 50 8
'05 : 28 6
Total 78 14
* betarecords.com plays: 8
Escape [as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 40 12
'05 : 30 7
Total 70 19
Happy Song [demo]
'04 : 44 7
'05 : 28 5
Total 72 12
High Wire [as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 30 5
'05 : 22 3
Total 52 8
I Wanna Disappear [demo]
'04 : 38 6
'05 : 26 6
Total 64 12
Jus' Dyin' [live outtake, as recorded by Pat Fagg]
'04 : 31 5
'05 : 9 5
Total 40 10
Jus' Livin' [live, as recorded by Pat Fagg]
'04 : 24 5
'05 : 13 4
Total 37 9
Liquid Motion Experiment #2 [demo]
'04 : 170 20
'05 : 49 4
Total 219 24
* betarecords.com plays: 5
* unsignedbandweb.com: 14 streams, 4 downloads
Lullaby [live]
'04 : 162 9
'05 : 31 3
Total 193 12
Now Is The Time [as recorded by ThoseDudes]
'04 : 18 6
'05 : 12 3
Total 30 9
PiBuWiFaSur [instrumental, as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 28 6
'05 : 9 4
Total 37 10
To Hell With It Anyway [as recorded by ThoseDudes]
'04 : 31 9
'05 : 19 3
Total 50 12
Too Easy [no vocals, as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 34 10
'05 : 6 4
Total 40 14
Tracers [instrumental, as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 31 5
'05 : 21 4
Total 52 9
Unspoken [as recorded by Infidel]
'04 : 86 9
'05 : 43 4
Total 129 13
* betarecords.com plays: 9
* unsignedbandweb.com: 17 streams, 3 downloads
2005-05-01
the weekendend
another two day respite from the trials of a work week is just about finis. Loren's upstairs in the shower, and i'm getting ready for our nightly wind-down, before an early Monday morning start. 4:30am comes early enough, to be sure, and an hour later we'll be on the road, first taking Loren back to his mom's for another week of slogging it out in school, then i'll be headed back south to rejoin the battle on the machining front.
yesterday Loren and i took it pretty easy, neither of us did a great deal. he was unsuccessful locating any of the neighbor boys to hang out with, so he came back and we played a little poker. he was a little rusty, it's been a while since we played last, and i took a bunch of his money (read: my money, lent him for the game) before we'd had our fill of cards for the afternoon. we watched Van Helsing, which i knew he'd like. it was a campy adventure/horror flick with some pretty decent special effects, and a lot of over the top scenes. entertaining, but not a serious attempt at a monster movie by any means. can't remember the name of the actor who played Dracula in it, but he was the campiest of them all, he looked like he really enjoyed putting a comic spin to the role where he could. i got a great kick out of seeing (damn i can't remember his name either!) the actor who played Faramir in The Lord of the Rings as a comical friar somewhat akin to Q of 007 lore- he did a great job. totally freaky to see him in that role. for me, he's forever typecast as one of my favorite characters from the Tolkein novel. all the actors in Helsing did their part, in a flashy low budget movie, meant to be light entertainment, and it fulfilled its mission.
Loren's creeping up on me, so i'll finish this post later.
ok i'm back. miss me? didn't think so. let's see...where did i leave off....
ah, yes. we ate lasagna (one of Loren's favorites) Saturday night. no, i didn't get all culinarily motivated and become an Italian chef extraordinaire, it was frozen lasagna from Costco- Loren's obviously not very picky about his lasagna, he loves it. i cooked it about 10 minutes longer than the directions say and it came out better for it, a lot drier than usual. next time i'll have to let it go even longer and see if it comes out even better. that's about the extent of my culinary experimentation.
i suppose this train of thought is the correct one in which to mention i tried my hand at concocting some homemade Irish cream licqueur Friday night. i conscripted Loren to help with the project, and although a little reluctant at first he got into the spirit of things soon enough. i chose a middle-of-the-road Irish whiskey for my first attempt(s), and let Loren dip his finger in it to get an idea of what we were using to make the stuff with; he liked it, though i'm sure he wouldn't have if he'd taken a whole sip. the recipe i tried for this first attempt didn't much resemble the remaining Irish cream i had in the house, so i winged it a little from there, and ended up with something much closer, and easier to make. the final ingredients used in this first batch are thus:
1 pt heavy cream
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/4 oz plain unflavored gelatin (1 envelope)
1 generous cup of Bushmill's Irish whiskey
2 tbsp chocolate syrup (mostly darkened up the mixture)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
in the end, i'd have to say this recipe is a little light on the whiskey; it could prob'ly use another 1/2 - 3/4 cup, and the gelatin seemed to detract from the whole thing, as it didn't seem to mix well. i used a whisk to beat this stuff up for awhile, and after bottling it (in an old Irish cream bottle, of course) i shook the crap out of it (Loren enjoyed his part in that also) but i think the results might have been better if it had been blended, like most of the directions for the recipes i've found call for. unfortunately i don't own a blender, so i had to make due. if it's meant to thicken it up, i think it's unnecessary, the stuff is probably thick enough on its own, and the gelatin plain old didn't work. maybe it would be different with a blender. many of the recipes i've seen also use honey, and i bought that and enough other ingredients that i could experiment with any of these recipes, so the next batch i try will likely have some honey it it too. the end product this time is certainly drinkable, but not perfect. i'm sure i'll get closer in a couple more tries.
so back to present events. today Loren and i went through his school notebook; he's still got a way to go before he gets the organization thing licked- as evidenced by the immense stack of paper we got rid of. when i'd finally reduced it to what he actually needed to hang on to, it was down to maybe half a dozen assignments in progress, an assignment planner, a math book, and some blank paper. gone now are the paper airplanes (Loren reverse-engineered a particularly complex one he found in his desk in a class and promptly recreated the design a couple times), the graded homework and quizzes from October '04 through the present, the assignments he didn't realize were in his notebook and started again, and a plethora of drawings (some of them quite good!). i traded out his ever-present Dungeons & Dragons manual for something a little less likely to distract him from his studies in his other classes (he's been bringing it to school for his reading class, but i get the feeling it's been doing double duty as a source of inspiration for the aforementioned drawings and non-school-related stuff). i've told him that for him, this quarter, there's no such thing as 'extra credit' assignments- he's to treat them all as if they're regular assignments and turn them in- i don't want to see zeros for extra credit when he's struggling with grades. i found a two page list of extra credit assignments he could do at any time for his social studies class, and as this class seems to be the only one for which his current grade is actually lower than the one he received on his last report card, i told him he's to pick any of them he wants, 1 per week, and do it. he couldn't really argue with the fact that if he's got time to draw pictures in school, study hall or not, he has time to draw the maps and/or floor plans of imaginary lands and/or castles (etc) that will qualify for extra credit in social studies. seriously, from what i can tell of the difficulty of the average assignments given him in his classes, there's no excuse for any of the students to be failing. hmmm....have to admit some of the math stuff he's working on at the moment threw me a curve ball i wasn't prepared for- it was difficult enough that i couldn't just glance at it and intuitively figure it out- but he's got a grasp on it, which means he's at least paying attention in math class. good job there, bud :)
note: since it's come to my attention that Loren's taken to reading this meandering monologue when he gets computer/internet access at school, i'll occasionally be including comments to him- WAAAAASSSSSUUUUUUUUUUP Loren?!?! hope everything's beyond khoul for you today.
this afternoon we spent some time over at the Sargents'. good times :) Ethan overheard Nichole's end of our phone conversation and that was the end of aspirations toward a nap. we played some ball in their back yard, which was fun. Ethan's got a great swing and it should serve him well should he decide to take part in tee ball this summer. Loren tried to pull the boys up some steps in their wagon but they took a backward dive. that's ok though, i nailed Cole in the face with a wiffle ball trying to pitch him one; he wasn't very happy about that, but he was a good sport. even got to have a beer with Chris. all too soon it was time to mosey homeward, and we came home and had some dinner and watched a little of the Trigun anime series lent me by my co-worker Nick. Loren's seen the show a couple times before and he likes it, so it's a hit. it's going to take a little while for us to make our way through it (5 DVDs' worth) so i hope Nick's not in too big a rush for it back. we'd have more time if it was summer, but for the moment we're making the best of our weekend time.
we put a couple more chapters of The Wishsong of Shannara behind us this evening, and that brings me up to the present- and time to go sit with my own book a bit before hitting the hay.
thanks to Loren for another great weekend. bring on the week!
PEACE
yesterday Loren and i took it pretty easy, neither of us did a great deal. he was unsuccessful locating any of the neighbor boys to hang out with, so he came back and we played a little poker. he was a little rusty, it's been a while since we played last, and i took a bunch of his money (read: my money, lent him for the game) before we'd had our fill of cards for the afternoon. we watched Van Helsing, which i knew he'd like. it was a campy adventure/horror flick with some pretty decent special effects, and a lot of over the top scenes. entertaining, but not a serious attempt at a monster movie by any means. can't remember the name of the actor who played Dracula in it, but he was the campiest of them all, he looked like he really enjoyed putting a comic spin to the role where he could. i got a great kick out of seeing (damn i can't remember his name either!) the actor who played Faramir in The Lord of the Rings as a comical friar somewhat akin to Q of 007 lore- he did a great job. totally freaky to see him in that role. for me, he's forever typecast as one of my favorite characters from the Tolkein novel. all the actors in Helsing did their part, in a flashy low budget movie, meant to be light entertainment, and it fulfilled its mission.
Loren's creeping up on me, so i'll finish this post later.
ok i'm back. miss me? didn't think so. let's see...where did i leave off....
ah, yes. we ate lasagna (one of Loren's favorites) Saturday night. no, i didn't get all culinarily motivated and become an Italian chef extraordinaire, it was frozen lasagna from Costco- Loren's obviously not very picky about his lasagna, he loves it. i cooked it about 10 minutes longer than the directions say and it came out better for it, a lot drier than usual. next time i'll have to let it go even longer and see if it comes out even better. that's about the extent of my culinary experimentation.
i suppose this train of thought is the correct one in which to mention i tried my hand at concocting some homemade Irish cream licqueur Friday night. i conscripted Loren to help with the project, and although a little reluctant at first he got into the spirit of things soon enough. i chose a middle-of-the-road Irish whiskey for my first attempt(s), and let Loren dip his finger in it to get an idea of what we were using to make the stuff with; he liked it, though i'm sure he wouldn't have if he'd taken a whole sip. the recipe i tried for this first attempt didn't much resemble the remaining Irish cream i had in the house, so i winged it a little from there, and ended up with something much closer, and easier to make. the final ingredients used in this first batch are thus:
1 pt heavy cream
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1/4 oz plain unflavored gelatin (1 envelope)
1 generous cup of Bushmill's Irish whiskey
2 tbsp chocolate syrup (mostly darkened up the mixture)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
in the end, i'd have to say this recipe is a little light on the whiskey; it could prob'ly use another 1/2 - 3/4 cup, and the gelatin seemed to detract from the whole thing, as it didn't seem to mix well. i used a whisk to beat this stuff up for awhile, and after bottling it (in an old Irish cream bottle, of course) i shook the crap out of it (Loren enjoyed his part in that also) but i think the results might have been better if it had been blended, like most of the directions for the recipes i've found call for. unfortunately i don't own a blender, so i had to make due. if it's meant to thicken it up, i think it's unnecessary, the stuff is probably thick enough on its own, and the gelatin plain old didn't work. maybe it would be different with a blender. many of the recipes i've seen also use honey, and i bought that and enough other ingredients that i could experiment with any of these recipes, so the next batch i try will likely have some honey it it too. the end product this time is certainly drinkable, but not perfect. i'm sure i'll get closer in a couple more tries.
so back to present events. today Loren and i went through his school notebook; he's still got a way to go before he gets the organization thing licked- as evidenced by the immense stack of paper we got rid of. when i'd finally reduced it to what he actually needed to hang on to, it was down to maybe half a dozen assignments in progress, an assignment planner, a math book, and some blank paper. gone now are the paper airplanes (Loren reverse-engineered a particularly complex one he found in his desk in a class and promptly recreated the design a couple times), the graded homework and quizzes from October '04 through the present, the assignments he didn't realize were in his notebook and started again, and a plethora of drawings (some of them quite good!). i traded out his ever-present Dungeons & Dragons manual for something a little less likely to distract him from his studies in his other classes (he's been bringing it to school for his reading class, but i get the feeling it's been doing double duty as a source of inspiration for the aforementioned drawings and non-school-related stuff). i've told him that for him, this quarter, there's no such thing as 'extra credit' assignments- he's to treat them all as if they're regular assignments and turn them in- i don't want to see zeros for extra credit when he's struggling with grades. i found a two page list of extra credit assignments he could do at any time for his social studies class, and as this class seems to be the only one for which his current grade is actually lower than the one he received on his last report card, i told him he's to pick any of them he wants, 1 per week, and do it. he couldn't really argue with the fact that if he's got time to draw pictures in school, study hall or not, he has time to draw the maps and/or floor plans of imaginary lands and/or castles (etc) that will qualify for extra credit in social studies. seriously, from what i can tell of the difficulty of the average assignments given him in his classes, there's no excuse for any of the students to be failing. hmmm....have to admit some of the math stuff he's working on at the moment threw me a curve ball i wasn't prepared for- it was difficult enough that i couldn't just glance at it and intuitively figure it out- but he's got a grasp on it, which means he's at least paying attention in math class. good job there, bud :)
note: since it's come to my attention that Loren's taken to reading this meandering monologue when he gets computer/internet access at school, i'll occasionally be including comments to him- WAAAAASSSSSUUUUUUUUUUP Loren?!?! hope everything's beyond khoul for you today.
this afternoon we spent some time over at the Sargents'. good times :) Ethan overheard Nichole's end of our phone conversation and that was the end of aspirations toward a nap. we played some ball in their back yard, which was fun. Ethan's got a great swing and it should serve him well should he decide to take part in tee ball this summer. Loren tried to pull the boys up some steps in their wagon but they took a backward dive. that's ok though, i nailed Cole in the face with a wiffle ball trying to pitch him one; he wasn't very happy about that, but he was a good sport. even got to have a beer with Chris. all too soon it was time to mosey homeward, and we came home and had some dinner and watched a little of the Trigun anime series lent me by my co-worker Nick. Loren's seen the show a couple times before and he likes it, so it's a hit. it's going to take a little while for us to make our way through it (5 DVDs' worth) so i hope Nick's not in too big a rush for it back. we'd have more time if it was summer, but for the moment we're making the best of our weekend time.
we put a couple more chapters of The Wishsong of Shannara behind us this evening, and that brings me up to the present- and time to go sit with my own book a bit before hitting the hay.
thanks to Loren for another great weekend. bring on the week!
PEACE
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