Valetine's Day, Remembered

I remember that Valentine's Day like it was yesterday...

The snow filled the streets and the medical bills emptied my pockets. Luckily, I had the snow to fill them again. I had spent the last 6 months debating whether or not I should make a big deal out of Valentine's Day. Should I use it as a chance to declare my true feelings? Should I be bold? Should I dress up? Should I pay for the meal, if there is one? As I walked down the street, I raised my arms and shouted "YES!!!!" to all, but thinking "we'll see" to the last.

Earlier that morning, I laid my navy blue suit on the bed. Fresh white shirt hanging on the door. As I got dressed, or spiffed, I remembered that my dress shoes were gone. Don't want to get into it, but they were gone for good. The only other shoes I had were my Nikes. Nikes with a suit? I pride myself on being GQ, so no. No big deal, lots of people wear jeans with a suit coat and tie. Well, my jeans were dirty so I threw on my sweat pants, in the interest of time. Plus, they're red and it was Valentine's Day...you do the math. I couldn't find the tie I wanted, so I decided to forgo wearing one, altogether. Open collar - a sexy dude staple. It also meant I wouldn't have to worry about irritating what my doctor called a "nonhuman-like" rash on my neck. Whew. Too bad I already took a handful of Advil in preparation. Airing out that rash felt so good, I decided the heck with the shirt.

I arrived at her house, but no one answered when I knocked. Was she home? Did she still live there? After all, I hadn't talked to her in 6 months, not wanting to do anything to screw up Valentine's Day. Since it was only 4:15a.m., I decided to hang out in her front yard. I got a fire going so my hands wouldn't be cold, should she want to hold one or both of them. Yes, it would have been better to start the fire away from her house, but the only wood I could find was from her bushes, and if you think I was going to risk getting dirty by ripping out some bushes - you're crazy. I had already cut my finger on them, just trying to grab a small branch. It was as if Cupid himself was showing me that this girl was truly the one burning in my heart when the house went up in flames like that. Total goose bumps.

I knew that time was of the essence, especially since I wanted to spend some one on one time with her and neighbors were already starting to come outside. Talk about a street full of early-risers! I decided to leave her a note telling her "Happy Valentine's Day!", but I remembered I left my red marker in my suit pants. There would be no point in any of it if I couldn't write in red ink - I mean, at what point are you just turning Valentine's Day into any other day?! But wait - my finger! The cut on my finger was still bleeding pretty steadily. I rushed to a large spot of snow-covered lawn and started to write my sweet note, using my new-found red ink (wink again to Cupid!) and nature's own snow. Cursing my lack of hemophilia, I realized there wasn't going to be enough blood to write the whole note. I quickly focused on the point, that I wish her a happy Valentine's Day. Quickly I wrote "ENJOY YOUR V.D." and ran off, to go wait by the phone. The call never came. It's my fault - I should have worn my black suit coat.

Sam: New and Improved

Friday was a big day for Sam. He got tubes in and adenoids out. Everything went well and we're really happy that we got this done. There's a chance Sam can now hear 100% better and the adenoids were the size of caramels, so he should be able to breathe a lot easier.

Since everything was done to him, he's been even happier and more fun than he was before. He's really been cracking us up. And we're so thankful to have a kid who is hyper and going a million miles an hour, but always takes periodic brakes to walk over and hug us. Then he goes back to playing like crazy. He's awesome and we love him so much.

Below are some pics from the weekend...




Thursday night. Sam is all clean and playing before bed, with no idea what the next morning holds for him.



More playing. More drooling.



Two best friends. The one Sam clearly loves more than he loves his own parents. And the dog has never even changed a diaper. He'd rather eat one. Seriously.



Sam loves to hug him and go, "Ahhhhhhhhhhh."



Sam's favorite human. By far.



Sam and me.



6:00a.m. Friday morning. Sam hung out with me while I got ready.







Hanging out in the waiting room, which was the size of a mall.



Sam, after they gave him some drugs to chill him out. He really got mellow.



This is just a cute picture of him after he fell asleep in the car yesterday, right before being taken to bed.

Sam News

This morning, we took Sam to an ENT. In the last 3 or so months, he's had 5 ear infections and that's not really a good thing. So, tomorrow morning at 7a.m., we'll be up in Plano getting him ready to get tubes put in his ears and his adenoids removed. The tubes are no big deal; they put you under for about 2 seconds and insert them, then wake you up. The adenoids thing takes a little longer, about 15 minutes. They go in through the mouth and yank/scrape them out. They say Sam will be back to normal a couple of days later.

It's really a no big deal procedure, but it still isn't fun to think about my little boy being knocked out while several tools go in his mouth and all the way up to his adenoids.

I feel especially bad because my DNA is responsible. I had all the same stuff done when I was a kid. So did my brother, sister, two of my nephews, and soon, another nephew. It's a Thomas thing.

With exception to the actual procedure, we're really excited about this. Poor little guy has had to put up with pain, congestion, and not being able to sleep well at all. This should make his life a lot better. I'll let you know how it goes!

(This is not Sam.)

A Simple Task

The other day, my neighbor across the street asked me to pick up his newspapers for him while he left town for a couple of days. He's a really nice old guy, so I happily agreed. It was really important to me to make sure I came through for him, mainly because of a previous mishap. Anyway, I got the newspapers, no problem. The morning he came back in town, I made sure to remember to get those papers to him ASAP. I put them in the one place I knew I'd see them, to remind me: the shower. I took them out of their plastic bags and hung them over the towel rack in the shower. A few minutes to soap up, about 5 to shampoo, about 12 to allow for total conditioner activation. I turned off the shower and looked over to see the soaking wet newspapers, gushing black water down the tiles. All I could do was roll my eyes and smirk...once again, the world is against me. But not without a fight...

I ran and got dressed, then grabbed the now useless newspapers and threw them in the trash. I even set fire to them. I don't know why. I thought about my neighbor and how I could make it up to him. Aha! His car - he loves his car. I guess when it takes you 10 minutes to walk a few feet; you appreciate a machine that allows you to go the same speed as the rest of the world. If I got his car washed, he'd forget about the newspapers and thank me for my kindness. The newspapers would be yesterday's news, literally and figuratively.

I, of course, didn't have the keys to his car, and the old man was paranoid enough to lock it, possibly due to a previous mishap between me and him. Time being of the essence, coupled with my darn machismo, I decided to smash the driver-side window to get into the car. Window smashed, alarm sounded, hot-wired, and before I knew it, I was ready to go wash and wax. As I was backing out, the old guy came running after me, screaming. It then occurred to me that a black ski mask wasn't the best thing for me to be wearing. But hey, I wear what's clean and it was laundry day. I jumped out and ran to him, thinking the fastest way to reveal myself was to give one of my trademark bear hugs. You wouldn't believe how fragile old people are. Give me a break.

I guess one of my nosey neighbors caught wind of the fracas, because the cops showed up in record time. It turns out, cops, though physically capable of receiving one of my trademark bear hugs, don't care for them. I apologized for not being a mind reader and knowing that. I think that had it not been for a previous mishap, the cops would have chuckled, patted me on the back and sent me on my way. But, as the world's latest 'check mate' against me, I ended up in the back of the squad car. I'm on a break from my court hearing right now. The judge just said I would pay for my crime and some other stuff. I didn't want him to think I was mad at him for society's bizarre laws, so I hurried over to give him one of my trademark bear hugs. An obviously jealous bailiff freaked out. I'm sitting in some room now. I guess its lunchtime. I got my fingers crossed for some pizza.

American Idol: Spotlight on Randal

I'm sure any of you who read this blog and went to ACU know Randal Senter. He's a cool, laid-back guy. As you read yesterday on this blog, I thought I saw him on American Idol this week. It turns out, I did. I got a hold of Randal and he agreed to give all my loyal readers an All-Access Pass to inner workings of American Idol...




From Randal...

I've always wanted to do the American Idol thing and this time was my last time before I "aged out" so I figured what the heck. I ended up down in Austin that week anyway for work so it worked out perfectly. I went and picked up my ticket to get in on Tuesday night, which was cool because I got to sit right at the front row of the stadium and watch everyone where I ended up sitting. Thursday morning was the day for the auditions so I got up there about 4:30 or so and waited...forever! (that is where I ended up getting my face on TV!) We were supposed to get into the stadium by 7 but they were shooting more video and so we didn't get in until nearly 9.

Ok, so here is the disappointing part to all of the American Idol fans.
You don't walk straight in and go see Paula and the gang. I know, they make it look like we all get to see them, but you don't. Its the lie of television! We waited in the auditorium, yelled and screamed for Texas for about an hour for the cameras, then they had us go 4 at a time into the middle of the auditorium. They had set up about 10 booths, each manned by 3-4 producers of the show, who all looked like 19 year olds for the most part. They took our pictures and had us in a queue to go in front of the producers. I ended up with three of the most nervous girls I've ever met. We went to our booth and then we had to wait while one of the producers went to the restroom. But then, the HEAD producer guy comes and takes his place. Not good. He asks, " so does anyone wanna go first?" and no one stepped up. So I figured I'd be the gentleman and just do it. Again, not good. I did ok, being a little nervous myself with the big producer guy staring at me. I sang "Rock This Town" by the Stray Cats. It was ok, but do you know how hard it is to pick an a song! So the other girls sang... Yikes! They could have picked any of them to be on the blooper part of the show. It was too funny. But, after a few minutes of listening to them get cut off, the producer says, "Great job you guys, but I don't see what we are looking for today." Grrr... So I slowly walked past them and out the door, hearing cheers and screaming from people who were presented the golden ticket to see Simon. Of course that is the other deception. They had to come back on the next day to see them. If you watched the show, it doesn't look that way! You should have seen some of the people that made it. Wow. Oh, and the Austin guy with the dress they showed on TV, yeah, I ended up in the bathroom standing right next to him while he...uh...you know...

So that is it. I made some fun friends while I was there, and then I ended up on the show. Hey, that's 1.25 seconds of national TV time that I didn't have before! I was the key point of that clip too! :) I guess I'll have to wait to get discovered. Yeah right!

New Sam Pics

It's been a while since I posted some pictures of Sam, so here you go...




Sam doing his Indian call. I'm afraid he's saying, "Attack my dad!"


This is what Sam looks like from Bruce's perspective.




The vet put that gay scarf on our dog. We didn't.


Sam, right where he wants to be.


Sometimes he'll settle for being with me.


This is Sam going to the bathroom in his pants. Trust me - we know the face and grunt all too well.

A Conversation With Boston

In the almost 7 years since I graduated from college, there is one question my old friends ask me more than any other: "What's Boston up to these days?"

It seems like the whole world knows Andy Boston. He has more loyal fans than any rock star on the planet. I've mentioned his blog before and have a link to it on this site. Now, for all those who miss shooting the breeze with him, here's a short conversation with our old friend, the legendary Boston...



Most of my readers know you first from ACU. What made you choose ACU, as opposed to A&M, where your dad went?

I was accepted to both and looked hard at the accounting program at both. I decided on ACU because of the size of the classes and because ACU seemed friendlier and more personal. A&M was just too big for me.

What is your favorite college memory?

This is a tough one because I have so many great memories, especially from my Junior and Senior years. I guess that I would have to say that "Study Group" has to be my most favorite memory. For all that don't know what I am talking about, ask Blair for details. He was there for every one.

You own a lot of DVDs and have an impressively diverse collection of movies. List 5 of them, as a random sample for us.

I don't own that many DVDs, only about 500
The Blade Trilogy
The Die Hard Trilogy
Ice Age
All of the Star Wars Series
Paint Your Wagon

The same goes for your music collection. What’s your favorite band, favorite song, why it’s your favorite song, and what’s the CD most people would be surprised to know you own?

Favorite band is The Dave Matthews Band. I don't have a favorite song because I get lost in all of them. The top two songs on by play count on my iPod are "Crush" by DMB and "Uncle John's Band" by the Grateful Dead. I love both of them because all my thoughts and emotions just fade away and the music overtakes me. My most odd cd would either be my AC/DC live two disc set or my Garth Brooks collection (because I hate country music and I don't know why I own these cds and I never even listened to them).

You’re going away for a long time and have to choose one of the following to take with you: your birks, a Spyderco knife, your sunglasses, your i-pod

Why?

Depends on the the situation. If I am going into the woods, my Spyderco knife because it can save my life. If I am just going on vacation, I gotta have my Birkenstocks. They are my most comfortable shoes and I hate regular shoes.

What are your daily duties at work?

I don't have the time to give you all of my responsibilities here at work. To put it shortly, my dad and I run a store. I am responsible for all of the operations of this store. Here is a list. I deal with customers, answer the phones, order inventory, deal with product reps, go to the bank, manage employees, stock product, fix problems (with people and with equipment and property), and so much more that I don't want to bore you. I don't have a stressful job, but I do work 7 days a week and 10 hours a day. If something happened to my dad right now, I could run this business with no hick-ups or problems.

You’re originally from Ennis, so this won’t offend you. It’s widely known that most people from western Colorado have an IQ similar to garden-variety chimps. In addition, many of them have shotguns. Does that worry you? Also, are you concerned that because of this lack of intelligence, some of the cooks at restaurants and fast food places won’t think to wash their hands after they use the restroom?

Never really thought about it. My IQ is only 142 (had it checked recently). The sad thing is that most of the people that live around Gunnison Colorado have at minimum a college degree with most of them having a master's degree. People around here give up a lot to live in this wonderful place. Yes, we have guns and we know how to use them. I can't remember the last time we had a murder or any incident from a local involving a gun.

Are you worried about having excrement in your burgers?

Anyone that really knows me, knows that I don't worry about anything. My mother is always on my back about that because she is a worrier. I don't ever think about what someone might or might not do. I haven't died or anything from anything I have eaten so far, so who cares. Especially if you don't know the difference.

If someone wanted to visit your area, would you recommend they come in the winter or summer?

Depends on what you want to do and if you are hot or cold natured. If you like to ski and want to see snow and don't mind a high of 15 most days then I would definitely say WINTER. It is my favorite season. I love it here when it is cold. It doesn't hurt that I hate hot weather.

Summer is also a great time here. It usually only gets close to 80 on our hottest day and there is so much more to do. It is great and I enjoy it quite a bit. The fishing is incredible and you can go up and get lost in the woods and not worry about a thing.

Really, it just depends on what you want to do. This is a great place and has so much to offer year round. I wish I could experience more of it than I am able to do. Working here, you don't get to enjoy it as much as you would if you visit.

What are your favorite blogs out there?

The only blog I look at are by my best and dear friend Blair. He is the reason I have one of my own. I don't post much on mine because there is nothing new or note worthy to post.

There are many movies that were followed by more than one sequel. What do you recommend as the best movie series?

You can't go wrong with the Star Wars series. The Blade series is also up there for me. For whatever reason I am a huge vampire fan. The Die Hard series is also a great series. I don't believe you can say that there is just one "best" movie series. I am excited to see Underworld Evolution. I hope it is just as good as the first. Can't wait.

If you were given the means to go out and buy any vehicle, what would it be? Give details.

This more would depend on where I live. If I lived in Texas, I would buy a Porsche Carrera GT. Hands down, that is my favorite sports car. Living here, I would buy a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and lift it 5 to 6 inches, put knobby and oversized tires on it, and put a winch on it. I am thinking about buying a Wrangler now and modifying it similar to that.

Many remember you as a loyal employee of the ACU bookstore, where you worked for 4 years. What was the most popular item students bought and why?

I loved that job. It was great. I got to see and talk to everyone. The pay sucked, but being able to talk to everyone made up for it. Most popular item had to be that wonderful "blue book". Every English teacher had exams that made you have to have one or two of those things. We went through more of them than Dr. Pepper in the long neck bottle (#2).

You have a lot of friends in the DFW area. Would you consider moving here – why/why not?

Doubt it. Seriously, I love all you guys and wish you the best but that lifestyle down there is not for me. I am too simple and easy going. I would shoot someone. Also, your weather sucks. Way too hot. I actually have a great life here in Colorado, the only real downside being the lack of quality women. That sucks for me, but I am not as worried as some people about getting hitched. If that is in GOD'S plans for me, then it will happy no matter where I am.

Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme, or Jack n’ Jill – which makes the better donut?

Jack n' Jill hands down. There is nothing better than getting up on a Saturday before everyone is awake, cruise down to Jack n' Jill's and get some of their wonderful donuts. Blair and I did that most Saturdays our junior and senior years, usually before I went to work.

There’s been some talk of you coming out with your own bumper stickers. Give us one or two ideas.

You have been smoking crack again and it shows. I don't know where you came up with this, but here goes. This one is my modo most of the time: I don't discriminate against anyone, I just don't like any of you bastards.

Creativity has never been my strong suit or something that I am decent at. Sorry.

This truck belongs to the Great Dane, I am just his chauffeur.

You have at least one Radiohead CD. What do you think about their music? What’s your favorite RH song?

Blair bought me the only Radiohead cd I have and I hate it. There music sucks and makes me want to kill myself, my dog, and everyone around me. I don't have a RH song that I like, so there is no favorite except maybe the brief bits of silence between each song. I know most of the readers of Blair's blog love Radiohead and my prayers are with you and your families.

If you could go to one concert, which one would you go to?

Easy, Dave Matthews Band. I know Blair hates this group, but they are my favorite and for some strange reason, they usually are the top selling and highest grossing band every year.

What do you think the punishment should be for teenagers who take heroin? Drink and drive? Get into the black trench coat/Goth look? Watch the WB?

The punishment for teenagers who take heroin is two fold. First take the parents and throw their ass in jail. Kids are more important than work and everything we run around for. Parents should be held to a higher standard. I know even the greatest parents can have kids that go astray and thus there should be an investigation into their lives before we throw them in jail. The kids, place them in rehab, then in a specialized jail, and then to the army. Give them love, structure, rules, and disciple. Then teach them something and give them a purpose.

I hate people who drink and drive. Taking away their license isn't enough. First offense, you take the person to jail for 20 days and then over to under-privileged countries and show them how well they really have it. Make them work over there helping them for 3 months. Second offense, you take them and throw them in jail for a year in a prison that makes them work hard labor. Third offense is it. Third, deport them to the one of those countries they worked in, revoke their citizenship, and leave them there.

The black trench coat/Goth look is their right as people and as citizens. They have as much right to do that as I do to wear jeans. I may not like that, but they aren't hurting anyone. The only things I would recommend would be for schools to stress that this look doesn't work anywhere but school, streets, and slums. If you want to be successful and make a great life for yourself, you need to clean up and hit the books.

There isn't that much wrong with the WB, but there isn't that much quality programming on it either. Then again as I notice most the other stations I can say the same thing. Our television choices are lacking diversity and quality. Sad thing is that most of the tv I watch these days consists of the Military Channel, Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, Cartoon Network, and some of the network stations. My favorite shows on the networks are: CSI, CSI: New York, Boston Legal, and Law and Order. All of those, I wouldn't recommend to kids, so hopefully something on the WB relates more to them and their interests.


Thanks to Boston for indulging me by doing this.

Sunday Morning Bullets

Sam has a cold, so he and I are hanging out together this morning, while Nicole is working in the nursery at church. Here are some things of note:

Humility...

• It took about 5-10 minutes for Sam to quit going to the door, bang on it, and say "Nana? Nana? Nana?etc..." [Nana=Mama]
• It's hard to be cocky when you take your shirt off and your own son looks at you and starts laughing.
• I think the dog was laughing, too. Then they looked at each other like the shirtless me was some inside joke.
• It warms my heart to know that my dog loves me so much. Then I see the way he obsessively loves any dry turds we come across on a walk.

Misc...

• The much-anticipated trailer for the movie 16 Blocks is now online. Bruce Willis is the main guy and it's directed by Richard Donner, who directed such films as: Superman, The Goonies, and Lethal Weapon 1-4. Here's a link for the trailer: http://16blocks.warnerbros.com/ (click 'View Trailer')

Moronity

You humans and your bizarre ways. The new world order is here and now and it's called Selfishness. Already today, I've been smacked in the face with this harsh reality. On the way to work, two cars were in front of me - BOTH going 20mph, for like two blocks. It's bad enough that I had to be surrounded by little kids on bikes the whole time, but going 20, too?? It's like all of the drivers were in on it: Let's mess with that attractive guy, just because he has the nicest car. I went to Starbucks, hoping some hot coffee would ease my tension. I knew what would happen even before it happened: the girl at the counter stared right at me and asked what I wanted. "Hello - I was just in here a couple of weeks ago! I want the same thing I wanted then." Get a memory or get out of sales.

I haven't gotten many calls today, my birthday, which can only mean one thing: Sprint is screwing up again. When I think of all the people who haven't been able to reach me, I get furious. And guess what - no e-cards either! Murphy's Law. Hallmark is on the fritz, too. I sent myself one and got it, but isn't that always what happens?! It's like when your car stops making that funny noise right when you get to the shop. I called Hallmark.com, but hung up after they stuck me on hold for like 50 seconds. Then I called our tech support guy to see what's wrong with my email account and why I'm not getting many today, of all days. He said everything's working fine (of course). I told him he should be on TV, with acting skills like that.

Later today, I'm going back to the store where I bought my running shoes. I clearly have it in me to run about 6-8 miles a day, but the shoes I got are totally screwing up my pacing. I have to work a million times harder just to run in those things. I get out of breath and tired after like 3 minutes. It's called quality manufacturing, New Balance. Look into it or get out of the biz.

Man, the weekend can't come soon enough. I can barely make it each week with the bozos up here at my office. No one has a sense of humor. It's just like in school and at my other jobs. The funniest stuff on the planet gets wasted on people who think everything is "immature" or "racist" or the over-used "that's just wrong." You're just wrong, dude. Get out of my face and go buy some more of your name-brand clothes. Sucker.

I thought about going to a movie this weekend, but everything sounds boring. Van Damme films are like fine wine these days: hard to find and not for amateurs. Albertsons is the only place to find anything good to watch. Their bins have all the films that the theater owners are too naive to understand. Most tragic fact: there are significantly less ninjas than there were 60 years ago. That'll keep you up at night.

I better go - I'm getting the vibe up here. The one that tells me everyone is acting like they don't know it's my birthday...at least until the gigantic surprise party they have cooked up. I don't know when it's going to happen, so I better get some stuff done. It's cool - at least I'll be slightly surprised. ;)

Christmas 2005

We had a great Christmas. Here is a list of some highlights and then a slideshow for your enjoyment...

Christmas Highlights
- Tons of food. Really - tons. I think I messed up my body permanently.
- Picking up "Big Sam" (Caire) at the airport.
- A great family-oriented Christmas service at church, with glow sticks instead of candles, for the kids.
- Seeing all of the little cousins in matching PJs and cool PJs for the older cousins
- Reading (and videoing) "The Night Before Christmas" with Nicole and Sam.
- Staying up, watching Christmas movies and putting Sam's toys together.
- Having a great Christmas morning at home with Nicole and Sam.
- Getting a visit from Santa (aka my dad), who sounded more like a drunk Sinatra/Tonto than Santa Claus. "hoHO darr Sam! It's Santa! hoHO!"
- Going to Nana & Pops (my folks) to eat a big breakfast and open gifts with all of Sam's cousins.
- Taking a nice, much needed Christmas day nap - all 3 of us.
- Cooking casseroles for Christmas dinner.
- Watching Sam play with his new stuff.


Click on the image to view pictures from the trip.

Once you click on ‘View Pictures’, choose to view as a slideshow.

Breaking A Horse: A Confession

It's Friday night and I'm alone. Not really alone...Bruce is sitting at my feet, probably silently planning his escape, or worse, first homicide. Sam is quietly sleeping in his room. Snoring, but still pretty quiet. Nicole is having a fun girls night out/slumber party with her sister, mom, and grandmother at a hotel just 10 minutes from here.

Since marriage, I've gone through a slow and painless metamorphosis. I have always been a loner. A rebel. Maybe not a rebel, but a loner for sure. I've always been fortunate enough to enjoy the pleasure of my company. Even more than other people enjoy it. I lived alone for a total of 3 years and loved every second. But things have changed. I have changed. I need Nicole here. Somehow, I've forgotten how to function on my own. She knows this, loves this, and reminds me of this. I become Regarding Henry when she isn't here at night. Being the great wife, she left fresh ham, potato casserole, and even cookies here for me. All I have to do is heat it all up properly and enjoy a nice dinner. Properly is the key word. As I sit here, eating my bowl of cereal for dinner, I'm slowly being filled with paranoia. I have Sam's monitor up full-blast; something I haven't done in forever. There are plenty of movies to watch that I've enjoyed for years. Die Hard being, of course, the pinnacle. Nicole doesn't appreciate Lt. John McClane as much as I do, so it's the perfect movie to watch, especially during the Christmas season. But instead, I'm doing this. I'm thinking about all of Sam's stuff I'll need to pack for his 2-3 hour stay with Nic's family tomorrow and stressed. What if I forget something major - like diapers or sippy cups? Will CPS find me?

I feel the need to call Nic for everything. Man, I hope I'm still potty trained tonight. Sam sleeps through the night, but I have this feeling he's going to wake up. I really hope I hear him. This is the first time I've been alone with him at night. Nicole says I have a "really weird" snore, but hopefully that won't overpower Sam's cry, amplified 1,000 times by the monitor 2 inches from my face. I kind of feel like Kevin in Home Alone, knowing that Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are waiting outside in a van, planning their burglary. Maybe I should use mannaquins and loud music to simulate a riotous Christmas party in the house.

Isn't it weird how pathetic I've become? I wonder if Bruce is sitting down there thinking, "It's Friday night and I'm alone with HIM. This sucks. Merry Christmas, Bruce."

It's true: when you get married, you become one. Even for guys like me. The truth is, I like it. I like it a lot. I like being half of a whole. Even though I'm the less capable half.

I have to go now...I think I hear someone prowling around outside. I have to get all of our Christmas ornaments and Legos and place them strategically under all of the windows.

Just try to get me, Pesci.

Best Albums of 2005

I'm very proud of my collection of friends. Unlike most people, whose prerequisite for a friend is that the person be as similar to them as possible, I have an extremely diverse group of friends. Each one of my friends is an expert in one or more areas that interest me. They're like the A-Team or the Mission: Impossible team. I need to (and will) spend more posts referencing their expertise and sharing it with my loyal readers.

What spurs me to do so is one of Chris Smith's latest posts. Among several other things, Chris is an expert when it comes to music. The dude knows every single band, singer, songwriter, etc. I mean it - he really does know everything that's out there, usually long before the rest of us ever do. This is no real revelation to those of you who know him. Anyway, every year, Chris lists the "Best of" in music for that year. It's usually stuff I've never heard of. Luckily, I'm on the short list for a mix CD of said music.

With no permission, here is Chris Smith's "BEST ALBUMS OF 2005"

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separation sunday -the hold steadys
devils and dust -bruce springsteen
black sheep boy -the okkervil river
i'm wide awake, it's morning -bright eyes
apologies to the queen mary -wolf parade
andrew bird & the mysterious production of eggs -andrew bird
illinois -sufjan stevens
the great destroyer -low
transistor radio -m. ward
x&y -coldplay
spelled in bones -the fruit bats
songs for silverman -ben folds
plans -death cab for cutie
z -my morning jacket
gimme fiction -spoon
twin cinema -new pornographers
clap your hands and say yeah -clap your hands and say yeah
where you live -tracy chapman
the magic numbers -the magic numbers
picaresque -the decemberists

neil diamond's 12 songs was also great. there was a lot of great stuff this year. guero by beck. prarie wind by neil young. lesser knowns like songs of green pheasant and jeff hanson. this was a good year.
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