Stripping! It's not what you think...

Get your brain out of that gutter.

I spent most of my Saturday off stripping the old wall paper in our bathroom with the help of my mom and wife and kids.  It was actually fun.  and i kinda like the new appearance of the room with just the plaster and wall board, little scraps of wallpaper and glue still clinging in spots waiting to be scrubbbed/scraped off while we prepare to paint.  The old dingy room is getting a new look.

I was pondering this after i dropped Jake off at school this morning and realized a theme.  kinda the frying pan to the back of the head as the Lord showed me a connection to other things.

I also shaved my moustache off a couple weeks ago.  I was done hiding behind it.  I was never one to believe much that facial hair meant you were hiding but, as I looked back at the past, oh, 20 years, I realize I came to Corning with a full beard, mustache, and long enough hair to tie into a small pony tail.  Over the years, the hair got shorter, the beard became a goatee and then just a moustache.  I would chew on the moustache when it got too long and it would smell gross at times.

So I shaved it off.  My son didn't want to get in the car the first afternoon after school until I spoke.   He wasn't sure it was me.  People at work tell me I look good. neater.  Younger.  15 years younger to be exact by the usual estimate.

And I felt better.  I have dealt with some old baggage and struggles.  I can't believe I carried some of this stuff around for so long.  Not that shaving the moustache got rid of the baggage but what i got rid of made me appear younger.

And I didn't do it because I thought I would look better but because I was sick of the old thing.  Too much time spent making it more presentable, like old wall paper that no longer serves its purpose.

Now I'm starting to wonder why a couple of people at work are growing out their facial hair.  Wonder if they are trying to hide something from themselves...

Random Thoughts...

To answer the question posed, I geuss Billy Joel doesn't write classical music, although John Williams can be found in the Classical music section of a store.  He would be writing orchestral Music.  Point conceded.  I don't sweat the small stuff.

Do I really want a President whose first name is the larval form of head lice?  Just to be non partisan.  I picked on the DNCC last time.

The Patriots lost again.  Close good game though.  I geuss there was a bad ref call.  I don't watch Patriots games for the reason that they always will start to embarass themselves while I am watching.  Yes, I watched last years Super Bowl.  I have also come to the conclusion that bad ref calls are part of the game.  Like weather.  They just happen.  If the game is that close, there are other problems than a bad call.

Does anyone else feel like both presidential candidates have done such a good job convincing me that neither of them should get the job?  Is Mickey Mouse running again this year?

A good driving habit kept me from having a car accident today.  I was at McDonalds getting coffee and was waiting for traffic to clear enough on the 4 lane to get out of the lot when a very nice guy in a truck waved me in front of him.  Having the previously discussed good habit of only pulling into the near lane when turning onto a four lane, I was missed by the driver moving up the left lane of traffic, as he has the right to do because there was no traffic there.  Wouldn't have been pretty.

Jacob has a new Darth Vader sweat shirt that has a zippable hood that looks like a Darth's mask which he proudly wore to school today.  He got it on a BTS shopping spree with his grand-mother Saturday.  He became upset in the car as I dropped him off because the kids were already moving into the school when we arrived.  He would not be able to show them the cool clothing because they are not allowed to wear the hoods in school.  I was proud of him for knowing the rules and wanting to obey them over his own desires.  He would have to wait until recess or after school.  Small stuff.

There's a good christian song about the little things which drive us crazy.  i can't remember the artist.

It's called 'The Little Things.'  It's kinda a fun song.  Give it a listen some time.

Is our country's economy caught in a ping pong game between the 2 political parties?

I would say that this one wasn't so random but calling the presidential race and the economy small things doesn't seem right.

Maybe I should call the random thoughts editions Small stuff.

HAND!

Aaaah! Autumn!

There's a couple reasons I love where I live.  I know taxes aren't great and the town is strange but I love New York seasons.  I love all four but, to be honest, Summer is my least favorite.  Hot days make me a lethargic.  Humid days are just plain uncomfortable and hard to handle, especially with a wife and child with asthma problems.  I do enjoy the golden sunlight and the outdoor activities but the threat of sunburn, Jake got burned twice this year and he had sunscreen put on both times.  Re-appliction was the issue and once was at park program, and heat exhaustion, Jake and Steph fell prey to that this year as well, take some of the joy out of it.  I don't like looking out the window at a bright sunny day but knowing that we can't go out to play because of the heat index.
Then again, I'm a precipitation freak.  And I love to watch the leaves turn colors in the fall.  Just like I love to watch the barren branches start to green with buds in the Spring.  And then, suddenly, there are leaves and flowers.  And, yes, pollen.
Sometimes I think I like Winter because most people don't.  Invariably, when I tell people I like winter, I am told that I must ski.
Nope. Never have.  Don't foreesee it happening either.
The long, cold darkness, as someone called it recently.
I find sunny days in the winter after a good snow to be brilliant!  All that white is so beautiful and refreshing!  It's like a purification! And I still like snow angels!
I don't mind the driving as much in the winter either, having grown up in the country on back roads.  I've been in ditches and skidded out.  My mom once did a 360 in the car she was driving me to school in.
I love seasonal changes.  I get bored of the same thing all the time.  Days of heat that seem to wilt us worse as they continue.  Everyone says they love it but they get more irritable as the heatwave continues.  Tempers flare and I find myself in 'discussions' with people anout the cruelty of dying plants on the sales floor or why are we biased against Macadamia nuts.  We carry all other sorts.
Seriously.
I love rain.  I love wind.  I love snow!  It's beautiful.  I love to look at ssingle flakes on a windshield.  I love the patterns of frost as the coat the world.
Dew is cool as well.  I enjoy fog.
Seasons of the planet are like seasons of life.  You can either sit there and complain about what its like outside or you can enjoy it!  Find the good in it!  I also like winter because I don't have to mow the lawn! 
And, as I always say, its more fun to warm up with someone you love than to cool down!

HAND!

A view from above...

I go back to work today after 10 days of vacation.

Not that I didn't work over my vacation.  I got a lot done around the house, as you probably know.  Started repairing the driveway.  Got  a good start but ten bags of asphalt got the job half done.  I have to wait until payday to get more.  I'm still sore but then again...

Climbed up onto my roof yesterday.  Scary experience for all.  While the top is flat, getting there was very steep.  I might be sore from that too.  Got a nasty contusion on my shin from crawling up and down what had to be a 75 degree angled roof.  And I do mean crawling.  The highlight was when I went to put my foot on the first wrung to get down off the roof onto the relative safety of the ladder, there was no way I was planning on trying to get lowered to start on the second wrung, the cuff of my pant leg snared the top of the ladder side.  So my left foot was flat on the wrung with part of the ladder up my pant leg and there was no room to put my right foot unless I turned to face out from the ladder and I was having trouble getting my foot up high enough to get it free...

I could almost hear my guardian angel sigh.  Leave it to me to get into a situation you would only find in a Vacation movie...

I survived and got down safely, obviously.  Probably mostly due to fervent prayer from the family.  The roof is patched with tar now.  I got all the way up there with a brush in my back pocket and used a rope to get the can of tar patch up next to me, no way I was going up that roof with the can in my hand or even mouth.  I think I grabbed the edge of the roof with my teeth once when I started skidding backward on my ascent.

You home repair specialists know whats coming next.  I needed a putty knife, not a brush.  IT LOOKS LIKE A PAINT CAN! OK?

So, my family finds a putty knife, actually a paint scraper  but it worked.

While waiting for them to find this stuff, I took the time to do something which, I think, I have become known for.  I made the best of a tenuous situation.  I cracked jokes, my personal stress reliever.  I scanned the neighborhood.  I looked at the clouds and the sky and the sunlight on the trees.  It looked like rain was on its way but I wasn't concerned about that.  Sure that would make the descent problematic but that was in the future.  I had enough problems for now.

The work on the roof was easier than the preparation and clean up.  I didn't realize I had hurt my leg until I went to shower and saw the bleeding.  Adrenalin can be a wonderful thing.

I couldn't have done this alone.  I am afraid of heights.  My head gets tight and my spine starts to vibrate.  A panic lurks in my head ready to pounce on every nasty danger...

I hope the wind doesn't pickup...

The extension ladder felt like it would snap in half and the incline of the upper roof...

And my family telling me I didn't have to if I thought it too dangerous.  I did feel it was very dangerous.  My brain was screaming for me to give up.

But I couldn't live with that.  I wanted to try harder and defeat these fears and do the job.  I could do it.  I knew it could be done.  People do stuff like this all the time. 

And I didn't want to give up in front of my son who is at that age where the stuff I do in front of him will become parts of who he is.  I wasn't reckless.  I thought things through.  I took my time.  And I prayed alot.  I'm sure he heard me reciting the 23rd Psalm on my way down to the ladder...

I didn't do it.  I had a lot of help, mostly heavenly, to complete the job.

Proof you say?

As we started taking down the extension ladder, rain began to fall.  Good thing I hadn't worried about it.  It was already taken care of...

HAND!

What now?

Football is here.  I love this sport but, yeah, these guys make a lot of money.

So don't politicians.  Do we really need a 4 day convention to tell everybody something we already know?

And Nascar, and other races, isn't the fuel supply tight enough?  Pollution?  Anyone? Anyone?

When all was hunky-dorey, no one really thought about where we should cut back and what are un-needed expenses.  Most american families are making these decisions now.  Where to shop, how much to buy, how to cut down on extra trips.

But some of the people out there think this is business as usual.  Things may be fine now but, some day soon, hollywood might find out that the price of movie tickets and popcorn is just too high.

Add into that the cost to drive there.

Or to go to a sporting event.

And then there's the time investment.

I didn't get to watch too much football today because I had other things to do; a roof to patch, decorations to hang, a family to spend time with who don't enjoy football.

Just a thought tonight.  The Steelers/Broncos game is entertaining.  Everyone else is in bed asleep so I can spend the time to watch it...

HAND!

Random Thoughts!

Like I really have anything else...

Does it bother anyone else that the Democratic Convenition acronym is DNC? I geuss if your a Democrat it doesn't. Actually it does, I heard it called the DNCC on the news yesterday.

Just so you know, I'm a registered Nothing.  Not an Independent.  I am a registered voter.  I know that means I can't vote in Primaries but when was the last time that mattered.  Bob can tell me I'm sure! LOL!

I actually think a lot of the problem with the country night now is the 2 party system and the liabilities that come with it.

I'm gonna get Comments now...

We rented the original Pink Panther 2 last night, still very funny, and I pointed out that the credits came at the beginning of the movies back then.  Now they put hidden scenes at the ends of the credits so you'll sit through them.  I usually sit theough the credits because I want to take note of all the people who have worked hard on a movie.  i'm probably one of the few who can recognize several composers by their movie scores.

I hear Billy Joel is supposed to write Classical music.  Maybe he should do some movie scores.

I still can't get over how half-starved looking women are supposed to be attractive.  Wasn't it Julius Ceaser who said he would rather have well fed friends as they are satisfied and less likely to stab you in the back?

Have you seen the ads for the new tv show where there is no power so people have to use crossbow and such to defend themselves?  I didn't know handguns needed electricity.  My daughter pointed out that it takes electricity to make ammo. I informed her that guns existed prior to electricity.  Well, captured electricity.

Which reminds me of one of my favorite lines from a great movie.

'They used to say a demon lived past the speed of sound.'

The Right Stuff.  With Neil's passing, now would be a great time to go rent that.

Micheal Duncan Clark died Monday morning.  We have had a slew of great actors and writers leave us.  I revere MDC because a person of his physical dimensions you would think would only be an action movie star.  He was very talented.  His roll in Armageddon is my favorite.  I used to sing the theme song from that movie as a lullaby for Emily.

And anyone who has heard my singing knows that I shouldn't sing lullabies.

Another of my favorite songs, and now Emily's too because we taught her to listen to the words, is Time After Time by Ms. Lauper.  I still remember the first time Emily got to see Cyndi Lauper in a video.  She was amazed by her looks. 

Remember when you didn't have to be attractive to sing well?  Or need a synthesizer? And bands played their own music?

And you didn't have to be attractive to be a great actor or national leader?

They say Kennedy won a presifdsential election partially because of the first televised debates...

I geuss those thoughts weren't so random after all...

What a difference...Redux!

And traffic is mostly back to normal today around town and near Jake's school.  Go figure!  Where are all the cars that were parked and the parents dropping off their kids and the traffic jams of people dealing with buses!  The high school went back into session today so I thought it would be worse but we'll have to go to Stephanie for that story as she took Em to school.  Or Em drove herself.  And a friend...

I'm glad the roads were less busy.

But it seems odd that the day of so much importance, yesterday, has now become the next day and its all routine.  The kids are still getting used to having to return to school.  One day is like a trip to a boring museum during the summer...

My kids like museums.  They beg to go to museums.  Museums they have been to EVERY year, sometimes more than twice.  I have weird kids.

Now the little students are going to be realizing that this WILL be an everyday thing.  I think the second day is important too, if not moreso. If you can get them excited about the year now and keep their interest this first week when they still are thinking about all they used to do during the day all Summer...

Swimming, going to museums, playing video games, day trips to someplace fun...

Then they have a better chance of staying the course.  Being focussed!

Jake came home from school and the first words out of his mouth was the Math test they took in class that he did awesome on! It was easy and he only got a couple questions wrong!  And he did perfect on the Time quiz!  He can even read a not-digital clock! (His words)

There's some good teaching going on in those two statements.  Nothing succeeds like success and you have to know where you are to get where you're going.

If you need some more conversation on where I get that, don't hesitate to ask.

Jake blames his Star Wars wall clock for his ability to read dials.  He says he just looks at the pictures.  Something most be sinking in...

Now if I can just find children's workbooks on how to be a video game designer...

HAND!