Cops again.....

"That's my sister man! I'm not gonna let NO man beat on her. Unless she's married to him!"

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Another sign that I'm aging quickly. In the past week I have

1. Gladly gone to bed at 8 pm (twice)
2. Watched Jeopardy, Cops, and America's Most Wanted
3. Cursed at a "stupid, reckeless teen-age driver"
4. Held a Tupperware party (Online at least)
5. Joined Weight Watchers.

Now If I can just find a jazzercise class or a Jane Fonda workout album, my transformation will ge complete.

Unfortunate Headline

I occasionally visit the website www.fark.com. It has a compilation of stories from around the globe. I hate that the poorly worded headline takes away from the seriousness of the story. But tell me if you can get past the headline on this one without a chuckle.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080128/wl_csm/okidnap

Deep thoughts.... By Rob Ritchie


Driving to work earlier this week, Kid Rock (aka Rob Ritchie) was on my favorite morning show. I've been a fan of his since his mainstream debut. Because of course I too wanted to "Be a Coooow Booooy Baby" (I can still hear my young nephew singing along at top volume)


I enjoyed listening to him talk about several things, one of which was spending part of his summers in Traverse City, Michigan a place where I have spent considerable time. (There were several jokes about the "Cherry Festival" that takes place there each summer, and how it might have to be renamed if Kid were to attend). but I digress


My favorite part though was when talk turned to downloading of music. Apparently Kid's work is not available for download on sites such as iTunes. Part of the reason is that he likes for an album to stay together. Another part is because no body really knows how much money he has in a song, so how can they just decide to charge one price for it. Then he talked about illegal downloads. I admit that I was a fan of Napster back in the day, so I was interested to get his take on it.


He offered the very best reasoning against (illegal) downloading that I think I've ever heard. I won't be able to word it as well as he did, but I'll give it a try.

"I'm rich (says Kid), so what can I say about it. But you know who else is rich? Tommy Hilfiger. So if you need a new sweetshirt, don't buy it. Just take it. Also rich? Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Don't buy your computer steal it!"

I loved it. I think I'm going to have to go and buy the new album.

You like me... you really like me..... (you is singular in this case)

My favorite blog is http://www.thirdworstpoetinthegalaxy.blogspot.com/

I will admit that often what Third Worst writes about is over my head, but I try to follow along. Plus Third finds humor in some of the same things I do. There is a Seinfeldian quality to Third's life observations.

So you can imagine the honor I felt when not only was my blog once linked to by Third Worst, but was recently awarded the coveted "Blog of Steel" award. (All right, so I don't know how coveted it is, how it works, or anything about it, but give me my glory!)

I just hope that I can be more dedicated to the "Blog of Steel" than I was to the Buns of Steel. Cause as we all know.... Baby got Back!

Crack for Babies

Murph is a riot. Everyday his personality comes out a little more and we can't help but laugh at him. He's quite ornery, and I'm going to blame that on the Chief.

We've started giving him Gerber Puff snacks. I've had a friend describe them as "Baby Crack", and I have to agree. He sees the container and will start bouncing up and down waiting for us to give them to him. I've tried to explain to my mom that Murph is a goldfish and will eat as many as you give him, but she hasn't caught on yet and just keeps feeding him more. The dog loves it because the ones Murph drops on the floor he gets to eat. I swear there are times when I think Murph pushes some on the floor just so the dog will come closer.

The little monkey is up and crawling on all fours now, and getting faster everyday. Which means that we have to be faster to keep things picked up and out of his way. He has a new game that he thinks is the funniest thing ever. He will crawl around the couch out of our sight, then sit up and wait for us to come after him. Once we peer around the corner he will burst out laughing, then turn and dart off hoping that we chase him. His favorite target now is the dog's food and water bowl and he will be there before you know it.


Here is what you need to know. To a seven month old.. THIS

Looks a whole lot like the sweet little Baby Crack star shaped puffs. So the first time Murph saw the dog food bowl he about freaked! He thought he had scored! So now every time we put him down he makes a bee line to the dog bowl. So far, i think we've stopped him before he's actually gotten any into his mouth, but I have a feeling it is only a matter of time.

Surprisingly the dog isn't as happy about sharing his treats as Murph is about sharing his.

Circle City Cops...

Chief and I are watching Cops. I know, but I SWEAR there is nothing else on. It happens to be an episode from our capital city.

When describing the call the officer had just responded to, he says, "She just sat there and let him do what ever he wanted. I mean any kind of physical abusement"

"Abusement" I say, ever so proud of my fellow statesmen.

"Yeah," replied Chief "Abusement. It's like amusement, but better."

Like amusement but better.

An Update

It's been brought to my attention that I need to give you an update on a past post. So for those of you taking score, here you go.

Patient Student of Supply and Demand.....1
Selfish Wii Scalping Bastards...... Zero!

The Chief and I had stumbled onto a website called www.wiialerts.com. People mocked us for getting emails letting us know when stores got Wiis in stock. They mocked louder when told that once after getting a text message at 3 am, the Chief sprinted to the computer to try to get one.

But mock no more! Shortly before Christmas, dear Chiefy was at work when his cell phone vibrated with a new text. He was surprised to see that Amazon had Wii's in stock. He was hesitant. (We'd gotten our hopes up before you see), but when he hurried to the computer he was able to get logged in and infact PURCHASE A WII! And not for those over inflated prices, but for the retail price. He did pay $15 extra to have delivered the day after Christmas, but that was less than it would have cost us for sales tax or gasoline.

So now that we have the Wii I've developed a new obsession. I must tell you, I've heard the kiddies talking about Guitar Hero 3, but had never tried it out. But now that I have, it safe to say....

I Rock.

No seriously. I know this might shock you, but I rock out.

The Chief will even tell you how good I am. I'm the one who gets the high scores. I'm thinking about joining the summer festival tour. Or starting my own tour. I'll call it La La pa Awesome. It won't get in the way of my teaching job, but I can still live life on the road and party hard. Well as long as the show is over by 8 pm.

Now if only I can find some Sun-In and a can of Rave to get my hair just right.

and the student becomes the teacher

The first time I ever got a flat tire was in my own drive way. Which is good I guess since I could just go right inside and call my Daddy (bio, not sugar). Of course on the outside that's all fine and good. Until you meet Daddy. He has his own style of teaching. He came out, said something to the affect of "Sucks to be you", then sat down to watch me change it. I was pissed! I cried, and got mad at him, my mom got mad at him. "That's not the way MY dad taught me!" she yelled. "Did you learn anything?" he smuggly answered? He never buckled. He said he did it that way so that if I was on the side of the road at 3 am, I would know what to do.

Damn it. His approach worked. Years later when I had a blow out on a major interstate, I calmly pulled over and changed my own tire.

My dad is one of the smartest guys I know. He can take apart and fix anything. He once fixed the power locks on my car with wood chips and super glue. Who thinks of that? And who gets that to work?

When I was in college a roommate of mine had some car trouble. From 100 miles away, she called Dad from the Auto Repair Store where they were suggesting the $300 worth of parts she would need to fix the problem. He got on the phone with them and said, "Let me get this right. You are going to charge her that much to go in and unscrew this piece, replace that piece, and screw back on the cover? I don't think so!" She left with her $20 repair.

I tell you all of this to give you some insight into his evolution to a man of the 21st century. A few more facts to keep in mind.

He is 61 years old and he has NEVER used a computer. This year he bought my mom (also a techno newbie, meaning she can email and play a mean hand of solitaire) a brand new photo quality printer/scanner/copy/fax/coffee maker for Christmas.

Over break, I installed the printer for him and held several small training sessions. We limited our focus to scanning, cropping, and printing an existing picture. He would rather NOT have to turn on the computer for anything.

He did pretty well, and only had to call me one time to come to his rescue. I was only a mile away at my cousin's house, so it was no problem. I went right over and we got things taken care of in no time.

Flash forward.

Last night at 9 pm my time (10 his) he calls me from over 200 miles away with a printer issue. Do you know how hard it is to try to talk someone through something like that? I am sadly NOT a member of the Geek squad, so my knowledge is limited. Then I had to deal with explaining some terminology. Think back to before you knew what "desktop, background, or double click" was. Look at the top right corner of your brower? How would you descibe those three little boxes? Min, Max, and Close right? Or would you say minus, box and times (as in multiplication) as my dad did? I give him credit. He is making the effort. Stepping outside of his comfort zone.

I was MUCH more kind than my dad was when teaching me about a tire. Then again, I'm not sure that at 3 am he is going to be able to scan, crop, and print a picture.

Saturday night after I had gone to bed in a Tylenol Cold induced coma, my dear Chief came to me to tell me that a senior at my high school had been killed that day in a car accident. He wasn't a student of mine, and I didn't know him. But that didn't change how I reacted.

I felt like I had been punched in the chest.

Instantly I am taken back to the night my senior year in high school when the phone rang, my mom called my dad into talk, and then called my little sister and me in to tell us that a close friend had been in a serious car accident. He died two days later. I remember it so clearly because that was the exact moment that I became an adult.

Two short years later I was sitting in friends dorm room when we got that call that one of my oldest friends had been killed that morning in a car accident.

I've been through the same things that his classmates and friends are getting ready to go through. I wonder if a decade from now they will still have a t-shirt hanging in their closet that he left the weekend before he died. Or if his football number will still be ingrained in their mind. I wonder how many of the students in this building became adults this weekend.

I'm also affected in another way. Always before I was on the friend side of things. But now, as a parent to an amazing little boy, my heart is broken for his parents and family. I stayed longer than usual at the sitter's house this morning because Murph had woken and was smiling at me. How do you recover from the loss of a child? If I still can't get rid of a shirt from over 12 years ago, how would I function with that great of a loss? I don't think I would ever recover.

I wonder how many of the students in this building became adults this weekend. And I wonder how many of the adults stayed with their little ones a little longer this morning to sit and watch them smile.