2013/05/15 18:00 Yesterday Alice was Batgirl. Today she was a princess. We went to lunch at Subway with Adison.

Batgirl.

2013/05/14 23:00 Tristan was upset that Alice was playing with his super hero stuff. He said, "You can't play with that. You're a girl. And you're always going to be a girl." He said it like an insult. Poor little boy doesn't realize yet that Alice can do whatever she wants and be whoever she wants. Girl power and all that.

Karen got to take a short little nap after work before we went with my Mom and Dad to the Spaghetti Warehouse for a Mother's Day dinner. Brego is great company and is always up for a nap.

2013/05/12 16:30 Karen had a rough week. She had to work both Saturday and Sunday this week. I have been retired for almost ten months now. I still remember how frustrating and tiring work can be at times. Karen is a great Mom to our children and she is great with the grandkids. The best 'Bamma' ever. She deserved better than she got this Mother's Day and always has.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms I know. Enyoy your day.

2013/05/12 11:00 Today is Mother's Day.

Adison at Hopshire Farms and Brewery.

The newly completed home of Hopshire Farms and Brewery.

2013/05/11 22:00 Adison, Sean, and I went to the grand opening of Hopshire Fam and Brewery today. Adison is friends with the family that owns the new business. We were impressed with the facility and enjoyed tasting some beers. When we left Hopshire we stopped at Ithaca Ale House for lunch and then headed back to Syracuse. It was a very nice day.

2013/05/10 14:00 Karen took a half days vacation today. I told Alice that Bamma was on her way home and she went and waited for her by the front door. She fell asleep while she was waiting.

Waiting for Bamma.

Baby birds.

2013/05/09 11:00 Checking in on the baby birds. I only saw two. Don't know if the other is hunkered down or maybe something bad happened to him.

Tristan checking out the Tiki Bar at BJ's Wholesale club.

Having fun at BJ's Wholesale Club.

The little girl really likes Minnie the Mouse.

Alice is always goofing around with glasses.

2013/05/08 21:30 It was an uneventful day today. Alice and I hung around the house and I tried not to hurt my back anymore. I am seriously hoping that if I take it easy for a few days this back pain will go away. Adison came over later in the day and we all went to BJ's Wholesale Club.

Mallory and Adison after the finish of the Mountain Goat.

I left Empire Brewing and Armory Square and headed over to Clinton Square and the finish line for the Mountain Goat. I made it to the finish line before Adison and I was most likely not as tired as her. I snapped her picture at the finish.

I had some time to kill while Adison ran the race. I had wandered over to Armory Square and decided to duck into Empire Brewing. A cold pint and a bowl of their Big Easy Gumbo at the bar is a great way to pass some time. I struck up a conversation with the guy seated next to me at the bar and it turns out he was doing the same thing as me. His girlfriend was running the Mountain Goat.

Mallory and Adison before the start of the race.

It was a beautiful day in Armory Square and the trees were in full bloom.

The YMCA running club got together for a group photo before the start of the Mountain Goat. Adison is in the blue jacket on the far right.

2013/05/05 23:00 Adison ran in the Mountain Goat race today. The Mountain Goat race is a 10 mile race run every year in Syracuse. The Mountain Goat race is known for its grueling hills. I drove Adison to the race. We met up with her YMCA running club for a photo before the race. I put some sunscreen on her, it was a hot day with a lot of sun, and I saw her off at the starting line.

Alice was playing with Bamma's glasses.

First day of karate lesons.

I guess yes nap.

2013/04/26 16:00 Alice took a nap today and it was much more comfortable than the one she took yesterday.

More comfortable.

2013/04/26 23:00 Tristan is taking karate lessons on Friday.

Entrance to the cafe at the Red House.

The basement level of Subcat studios.

2013/04/25 16:00 I tried to get Alice to take a nap. She threw a little tantrum, "No nap! No nap!". A few minutes later Michael found her like this.

2013/04/21 22:00 I went to an open house at Subcat studios. There was a concert at the Red House that same evening. I heard some local bands that I hadn't heard before. I had a good time.

The New York Museum has a Sesame Street display in the NY metropolis section. Alice would love to see Oscar the Grouch. She likes Oscar.

After we left the New York Museum we headed home. Halfway through April and there were snowflakes in the air. We passed many spots where there was still snow on the ground, spots along the tree lines where the sun hasn't been strong enough yet to send the snow packing for good. Where is my Spring? On the final leg of the road trip we stopped for lunch in Cazenovia. We were going to have pizza at Caz Pizza. We got there about ten minutes to three and Caz Pizza didn’t open until three. I’m glad they weren’t open because we went next door to Henneberg Tavern to wait. Henneberg Tavern was a nice place and had some nice beers on tap. The bartender was very friendly and we had a good time there. After a couple of beers we walked back over to Caz Pizza.

Lobby of the New York Museum.

Mastodon and mastodon baby.

New York State Capitol at the north end of the plaza. On the east side is the "Egg".

On the west side of the plaza are the four 23 story towers.

2013/04/14 18:00 After we left the Council Rock Brewpub Saturday we headed back to US Route 20 and pressed on to Albany. We stayed just outside downtown Albany. We were looking for a cheap motel and we found it. I wasn’t comfortable giving out my credit card so I paid cash and they never even asked for identification. It was old and the rooms were small. We went bowling and ate dinner at the bowling alley. We shot some pool and then went back to the motel and drank some of Sean’s homebrews and watched a “Bates Motel” marathon. Truth be told we didn’t drink enough beer. I heard Sean laughing when he went to the bathroom and all he said was, “wait until you have to go”. I woke up about four in the morning and went to use the toilet. The sink was so close to the toilet that you had to squat down and slide your legs under the sink in order to get seated on the loo. Sean said it was kind of like taking a dump in a NASCAR cockpit. We got up Sunday and went into Albany and went to the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza. It is known more commonly as the Empire State Plaza and informally as the ‘South Mall’. Construction of the complex lasted from 1959 to 1976 and the project cost two billion dollars. The complex consists of four 23 story office buildings called the Agency towers; Agency 1, Agency 2, Agency 3, and Agency 4. Part of the complex is the ‘Egg’. The ‘Egg’, named for its shape, is a theater. The Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd Tower is a 44 story building that is the tallest building in New York outside metropolitan New York City. The north end of the plaza is the old New York State Capitol which dates from 1899. The south end of the plaza is the Cultural Education Center which houses the State Museum which was our destination for the day. We spent a pleasant morning wandering through the exhibits at the New York State Museum. And then we headed home.

The bar at Ommegang.

Khan Tiki Mon, aka me, at Council Rock Brewpub in Cooperstown, NY.

I have to admit that I am feeling a little sorry for myself tonight. I seem to be living under a black cloud of late. Of course Karen slaps me out of it and tells me to stop moping. Still, in reflection, I spent Friday night in the emergency room. I had a tremendously painful experience passing a kidney stone. I must have picked up an infection in doing so because Saturday night I had uncontrollable shakes and shivers, projectile vomit, and explosive diarrhea. I slept all day Sunday and so lost the whole weekend. Today I had to go to traffic court. I always have sat for hours waiting to get called anytime I have gone to traffic court. Today I was an hour and a half late and when I got to court they had already closed up for the night. On the way home from the futile and wasted trip I hit a deer with the van. The deer ran right out in front of me. I hit the brakes but still clipped the deer in the hind quarters and my headlight is smashed. There was no sign of the deer except some hair on my cracked headlight housing.

Broken headlight.

RIP (rest in peace) Annette.

2013/04/09 23:00

We did some crafts. Tristan made an Elephant hat.

"The only thing better than cake is ice cream".

2013/04/04 23:00 Today we went to an “Elephant and Piggie” party at the Dewitt Community Library. “Elephant and Piggie” are a series of books by Mo Willems. Tristan was talking about the party for days ahead. Karen was concerned that he might have imagined it to be much more than it was going to be and that he’d be disappointed. I told him the party might not be all that he hoped it was going to be. He said, “That’s okay, as long as there’s cake”. I said that there might not be cake. We got to the library early and so we went back to the kid’s section to kill some time. They have a bank of computers for the kids to use. I am sure that they have all kinds of controls on them. Tristan sat at one computer and Alice sat next to him at another computer. There were other kids there on other computers. I got a Fortune magazine and sat at a table nearby. Alice is a menace when it comes to buttons, knobs, levers, etc. She has to push and manipulate everything. A few weeks ago we were at Tristan’s doctor’s appointment and I was at the window filling out paperwork. I picked Alice up and sat her on the ledge. Suddenly she lurched forward, leaned into the window, stretched out, and turned off the woman’s fan. Too funny. I apologized and said this little girl has to push every button and flip every switch. She is especially dangerous when it comes to electronics. If you let her touch your phone within a matter of minutes you will no longer be able to use the phone. It will take an hour to undo whatever it was she did. If she gets a hold of the TV remote you can’t watch TV for an hour until you figure out what she did with that. So, I’m sitting in the library reading Fortune, I look up to see the kids on the computers. All the kids are playing games and their screens have those bright primary colors and there are balls bouncing and animals dancing. Except Alice’s screen looks like the source code from ‘the Matrix’. Her screen is black and white with long strings of commands and codes furiously scrolling down the screen. I’m thinking, great, she’s into the operating system. She’s probably going to shut the library down any minute now. I was just hoping she would leave the ventilation running. It was time for the party to start. Books were read. Some crafts were done and some games played. There was no cake. There was ice cream though. Tristan’s verdict, “This was the best Elephant and Piggie party ever”.

Nick, A.J., and Danielle at bowling.

After our trip to the MOST Karen and Theresa had to bowl in our league. I kept the kids occupied bowling at the other end of the lanes while Karen and Theresa did their league bowling. I got some great babysitting tips from Nick and A.J. including the most important one which is, "Don't make Danielle mad and she won't bite you". After bowling was done I went to my pool league. I won. First time I ever won. And it was what they call a rackless night. I won the 'vig' for the break and then won every game, never lost the break, and so I never had to rack. I have to admit that it felt pretty good.

...some green screen fun. Tristan, Nick, and A.J. play in a basketball game.

...a giant heart you can walk through

...rockets

...the space shuttle

2013/04/03 23:00 Karen, Michael, and I took Tristan and Alice to the MOST today. We met Theresa, Nick, A.J. and Danielle there. The MOST (Museum of Science and Technology) is a lot of fun and there is a lot to do there.

Last night Karen and I took Tristan and Alice to see the new movie “The Croods”. The happy meal toy today was a ‘Crood’ toy. Tristan put it together by himself.

We had lunch at McDonalds. It was Michael, Tristan, Alice, and I. Alice got new socks in her Easter basket. The socks have Minnie Mouse and friends on them. While some kids may feel cheated getting clothes as a present Alice loves her socks. She carries them around, still in their package, and cuddles with them like they are a plush toy.

"I love my socks and my bunny!"

Say what?!

Let me think about that for a minute.

2013/04/02 14:00

2013/04/01 23:00 Tristan had been asking to watch a scary movie. Karen said can you get something scary that’s not too scary? I got the classic film “Gargoyles” from 1972. The basic plot is an anthropology professor and his daughter stumble on a nest of demon gargoyles living in the desert. The movie won the Emmy for special effects and Stan Winston shared in that. Stan Winston went on to do two of the “Terminator” movies,” Aliens”, John Carpenter’s “The Thing”, “Edward Scissorhands”, etc. Of course the effects done in 1972 are cheesy by today’s standards. Karen didn’t appreciate the movie. It is a low budget gem that has many fans. The movie has a small part by a then unknown Scott Glenn, Jennifer Salt rocking some 70s halter tops, and of course the special effects that are part of the history of the improvements made in that department. Tristan liked it.

"Gargoyles"

2013/04/01 11:00 This morning is April the first. I was afraid that we would be starting the month of April and still have snow on the ground. I woke up this morning and there was no snow anywhere on my property. It was not too bad a morning. It was maybe a little chilly. I went to Home Depot to get some things I needed for a project I was working on. When I came out of the store it was snowing. It was a fairly heavy snow and it was sticking. This is so annoying. I want my Spring to be here. There were 356 page views of the website in March. I now have 75 pages on the site.

April Fool's Day.

khan tiki mon's rants and rambles v.7.25

The Rants and Rambles continue. Are they becoming more thoughtful? More reasoned? More interesting? ... Didn't think so.

This latest iteration of my rants and rambles will be much like past versions. The key components will be unchanged. There still may be too much information shared and I am still most definitely weird as all get out. I am hopeful that perhaps with time my ramblings may become more reasoned and may at some point have some useful insight. Until that time has come, and it may not ever, then it is best to accept the warnings offered and please read at your own peril. It is time now to ramble on!

I find the weather somewhat depressing. Probably because it reminds us just how small and insignificant we are. There is no reasoning with or controlling of ‘Mother Nature’. When you can’t beat the weather I find it helps to drink the weather so I am consuming Dark n Stormys tonight. The Dark n Stormy is a drink popular with the sailing crowd and my brother-in-law, an excellent sailor, impressed on me the proper way to make a Dark n Stormy. The ginger beer goes in first and then the rum, in this case Cruzan Black Strap (yum), floats on top. As the dark rum settles into the ginger beer it resembles storm clouds. Another bottle of the Cruzan Black Strap bites it tonight.

My favorite umbrella, wooden with a canvas top, was also toast in the path of the storm.

Lesson learned.

2013/05/29 21:00 A destructive wind blew through the neighborhood today. I had been so happy with the work I had completed over the weekend which included setting up my tent/ awning that we were going to use for Tristan’s party in the backyard. The wind shear or whatever it was only lasted a minute or so but it was enough to total my two hundred dollar tent.

2013/05/29 14:00 Don't give a little girl chocolate when it is 80 degrees out.

It was just a lazy day today. Hot and muggy. Alice was very excited today because she had an outfit with pockets. I guess this was the first time she had pockets and she told everyone we met that she had pockets.

2013/05/25 22:00 Alice and Brego are best buds.

Playing with Brego.

2013/05/22 21:00

Alice in the biggest puddle she could find.

2013/05/21 23:00 Kids can make anything an event. Today it was a rain storm. The day started with Alice and I meeting Michelle and Adison downtown for lunch. We had a nice lunch at La Taqueria. After lunch Michelle went back to work and Alice, Adison, and I walked around Armory Square a little. It was a nice day with no signs of rains to come. Later in the afternoon there was a heavy Spring shower. The kids went out and played in the rain. They took their umbrellas and still managed to get soaked. The umbrellas were more for playing with and less for protection from the elements.

2013/05/16 18:00 Tristan came home from school and I made him a typical after school snack; glass of strawberry milk, animal crackers, and a bowl of whipped cream. I was changing Alice's diaper and I started to become concerned that there might not be enough wipes in the house, that there actually might not be enough wipes at WalMart (at the WalMart warehouse).

Alice at Onondaga Lake Park

2013/05/16 14:30 Alice and I had lunch today at The Retreat in Liverpool. After lunch we stopped at Onondaga Lake Park and saw all the baby geese.

Alice and Adison enjoying lunch at Subway.

2013/05/07 22:00 We had a hobby horse that we left outside over the Winter. I am calling it a hobby horse for lack of a better description. It did not do so well in the harsh weather. The first time Alice went to get on it this Spring it broke. Karen and I decided to throw it out. Karen asked that when I threw it out to cover it up on the trip to OCCRA (Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency) so that Alice wouldn’t see it and be upset. She did love that little hobby horse and continued to play on it even though it was broken. I decided to fix it. I haven’t been able to accomplish a lot because of my back. I decided to set the bar low for today. I told myself that if I was successful in fixing the hobby horse that I would reward myself with a Dark and Stormy. There is Barritt’s ginger beer in the fridge and I have a bottle of Gosling’s Black Seal rum at the ready. Alice and I went to Home Depot and I bought an oak dowel to replace the dowel that had broken. With my bad back I couldn’t lift my Dewalt miter saw so I used a hand saw and a miter box to cut the dowel to length. I drilled some holes for the screws and then installed the new piece. If this story had a happy ending I would be talking about how I enjoyed the Dark and Stormy. Unfortunately the strain of carrying Alice at Home Depot or maybe the squatting and kneeling needed to fix the hobby horse aggravated my back and I was forced to take another muscle relaxer. I had gone a couple of days with no medication. It is advised not to drink alcohol while taking the medication so even though I was successful in completing the small task I had set for myself I didn’t get my reward.

Broken hobby horse before repair.

Alice enjoying the fruits of my labor for the day - a repaired hobby horse.

2013/05/07 12:00 Alice and I went to the bank today. She wore ballet shoes with Pluto socks, jean shorts, a lion T-shirt, white wool mittens (it’s almost 80 degrees today), and a Batman hat. “Be whoever you want little girl. Just always be yourself.”

Baby birds. Maybe a day old in this picture.

Momma bird on the nest.

These were the eggs on April 27th.

These are not more hat pictures.

2013/05/06 18:00 A couple of robins built a nest on my backyard lanai using one of my crab decorations. I now feel responsible for making sure they are safe until they all vacate. It has put a damper on my Spring cleaning.

2013/05/06 14:00 There have been comments that I post a lot of pictures of Alice in hats. This is true. The little girl does like hats. These pictures technically aren’t ‘hat’ pictures although there is a head covering involved.

2013/05/03 18:00

2013/05/02 17:00 I have not taken a pain pill for about twelve to thirteen hours. I am still in pain but I can manage it. I am still taking the muscle relaxers. I can walk with little problem including stairs. Bending over or twisting in any way causes me a sharp pain. I am hoping to be mostly back to normal, or what passes as normal for me, by the weekend. It is a really nice day today. Spring seems to be here in earnest. I just wish I had been more mobile today so that I could have enjoyed it more.

The latest entry in my 'Alice takes a nap' series. The little girl fell asleep in Uncle Michael's room.

2013/05/01 17:00

2013/05/01 15:00 May Day! Today is the first of May. I am somewhat incapacitated. It’s been a long couple of days. I was getting into the van on Saturday and I felt a snap or twinge in my back. The back pain got progressively worse Saturday and I wasn’t doing too well on Sunday. I really couldn’t bend over at that point but like an idiot I still mowed the backyard and did a fair amount of raking. By Sunday night I could barely move because the pain was so intense. Monday morning I knew I had to go to urgent care or the emergency room. I had Karen come home from work and she took me to urgent care. I was able to make it out to the van despite the excruciating pain. I made it to van but I wasn’t able to get into the seat. Thanks to the stow-and-go seating I was able to lie in the back of the van like a big slab of beef. We got to urgent care and Karen went in to get a wheelchair. They let her borrow a wheelchair but no one could assist. I’m guessing that’s an insurance rule. In the parking lot I’m not their responsibility. You have to cross the threshold to be of concern. I ended up getting prescriptions for a muscle relaxer and some hydrocodone for the pain. I can walk now and I can get up and down the stairs but I can’t bend over or pick anything up. I still get terrible twinges of pain. I am testing the limits of my pain tolerance what with the kidney stone a couple of weeks ago and now with this back pain.

I scolded Brego for letting a dachsund beat her but Adison confessed she might have been the weak link holding the team back.

Preparing to cross the finish line.

At the starting line.

2013/04/28 17:00 Adison and Brego ran in the Six Leg Race at Onondaga Lake Park this morning. It was a beautiful day at the park and I was glad that I had gotten up early for the race.

The Red House Arts Center.

At the bowling banquet. Karen wasn't as drunk as she appears.

2013/04/21 09:00 Last night Adison and I went to see “Jurassic Park” in 3D. Adison really wanted to go and I’m not one to turn down an opportunity to go to the movies. The 3D didn’t really add that much but it is such a good movie that just seeing it on the big screen again it was worth it. After the movie we went and had a beer at the new brewpub open in Destiny called ‘Gordon Birsch’. It was nice sitting and talking and hanging out with my daughter. I’m being selfish when I say this but I hope she stays close to home when she finishes her Master’s degree. I really love being able to hang out with her.

2013/04/19 23:00 I spent a pleasant evening at Casa di Copani with my fellow 'Gutterflowers' at the annual bowling banquet.

Alice learned how to blow out the candles. She really had a lot of fun with that. Karen must have re-lit a candle for her ten times. "Again!".

2013/04/18 20:00 We celebrated Alice's second birthday tonight. Lots of Minnie stuff. The girl likes Minnie.

2013/04/17 11:00 Most of the time I don’t remember my dreams when I wake up. When I do remember my dream most of the time it is a nightmare. When I woke this morning my dream, a nightmare, was still vivid. I was a disgraced Viper pilot in “Battlestar Galactica”. I haven’t watched that show since it went off the air years ago. Anyways, Starbuck and I were trying to save the universe. No one wanted to fly with me. I finally convinced them to trust me. I led everyone into a trap. Almost everyone died in the ambush. And mostly horrible deaths like burning to death trapped in the cockpit. So, yeah, it seems there was a pretty good reason not to want me on the team. My bad.

2013/04/15 23:30 Today is Alice’s birthday. She turns two today. We will have a little party for her on Wednesday. Today is also tax day. I actually filed my taxes already. First time I ever got them done and filed early. In a more shocking development there was what appeared to be a terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon today. Two bombs went off and the last reports I saw said that there were three people dead and over 130 wounded. Many of the wounded are in serious or critical condition. The stock market was shaky today and now with this terrorist attack it’s unclear how the market might react tomorrow morning. I am managing my retirement portfolio and will need to watch the market in the morning and probably make some moves. There are people whose lives have been shattered and I am calculating how it impacts my investment portfolio. Does that make me a bad person? I don’t know. I think you can feel empathy for others and their situation and then still go ahead and do the things you need to do without feeling guilty. Life goes on until it doesn’t.

2013/04/16 23:00 Tristan and I went to see “Peter Pan” tonight at the Civic Center. Cathy Rigby was Peter Pan. It was a good production and Tristan enjoyed it. We were leaving, walking to the van, and Tristan said, “Pop, I wish I could control everything”. Wow. I thought about that for a minute. Tristan is only six years old and doesn’t realize. I told Tristan, “No. You don’t want to control everything. Believe me; you don’t want that kind of responsibility. More control would be good, maybe a lot more control, but not everything. That’s just too much responsibility”.

Small glasses of beer.

Sean at Caz Pizza with some beer samples.

2013/04/13 23:30 Sean and I left about ten in the morning for our weekend road trip. We were planning to take US Route 20 to Albany. US Route 20 is the longest road in the United States running from Boston, MA to Newport, OR. It is also the longest road in New York State. Prior to the opening of the thruway in the 1950s US Route 20, or the Cherry Valley Turnpike, was the primary east-west route in New York State. When we got to the intersection of US Route 20 and Route 80 we detoured south along the Glimmerglass Lake to Cooperstown. We were planning a late lunch at Ommegang Brewery. We stopped briefly in Cooperstown, walked around a little, and stopped in the Cooperstown library. At the lebrary we saw an art exhibition. The featured artist was a Daniel Tennant, maybe a distant relative? While we were walking and looking into shop windows I spied an advertisement for a brewpub called Council Rock Brewery. We went to Ommegang. It was a little difficult to get to because a bridge was down and I didn’t have my GPS (loaned to my daughter and never returned). Ommegang was bigger than I expected. The brewpub, or café, was very modern. I had a BPA, Belgian Pale Ale. It was good and well-made but not really a style I care for. Too much citrus and the coriander was too much. There was a wait for a table for lunch so we left and decided to try and find the Council Rock Brewpub. We located the Council Rock Brewery, set back from the road behind a Sunoco gas station. It’s a small place and family operated. The beers were excellent. Our bartender was also the waitress as well as the owner. She apologized that her husband, the brewer, was home sick. She also apologized for not being attentive when, in fact, that’s what she was – attentive. It was a friendly place and we struck up a conversation with some of the other patrons. I had more fun at Council Rock than at Ommegang and I liked the beers better. Council Rock has only been open for ten months and they have an expansion in the back that we were told would be opening soon. I think another trip to Cooperstown will be on tap for this Summer. After we left the Council Rock Brewpub we headed back to US Route 20 and pressed on to Albany.

Road trip tomorrow. I can't take the van because the headlight isn't repaired. Sean and I will be hitting the Cherry Valley Turnpike in the morning travelling in the Yaris.

I debated what to do about the damage done to the van from hitting the deer. If I turned it into the insurance company I would have to pay the deductible and I’m sure the total damages would have come to over a thousand dollars easy. I can live with the small dent in the hood and the slight blemish on the front fender. And so I opted to just have my son Michael replace the headlight assembly. I went to NAPA and bought the replacement headlight assembly. It didn’t fit. I bought the wrong one. It seems I have the LX model. Having the slightly more upscale model means the parts are a little more expensive (I returned the wrong headlight assembly and paid an extra fifty bucks for the LX headlight assembly). The LX headlight assembly wasn’t in stock but rather is in the warehouse in Indianapolis. I won’t have the new headlight assembly until Wednesday probably. The broken headlight assembly has been removed and so I am driving with the empty socket. I think I am all right to drive in the day. Sean and I are going on a weekend road trip tomorrow but with no headlight I won’t be able to drive.

2013/04/12 23:00 Close. But, no Friday the 13th. Too funny!

2013/04/08 23:30 Annette Funicello died. It’s very sad. She was one of the original Mouseketeers. I have fond memories of the Mickey Mouse Club from when I was a child. I’m sure what I was watching were syndicated re-runs of the show. I remember getting home from school and running from the bus to the TV because the Mickey Mouse Club had already started. There was no TIVO or time shifting then. I saw the serial starring Annette where she played the poor orphaned girl. Later Annette transitioned from child star to singer and actress. She gained fame in the ‘beach blanket’ film genre. I think that maybe most people today don’t give her enough credit for her musical career. I was one of them. That changed three years ago. I was listening to a podcast on ‘Radio Free Bakersfield’. It was the March 22nd 2010 episode RFB174 – Dusty and Rikki Go Hawaiian – and I heard the song “Don’t Stop Now”. I loved it and couldn’t wait to hear who the artist was. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it was Annette. I became a fan anew. Annette Funicello was diagnosed with MS and she fought the disease for about twenty five years. She lost the fight today.

Last night was Karen’s ‘Girls Night Out’. While she was enjoying some down time with her girlfriends I went to the ER and passed a kidney stone. First time I ever did that and it would be fine with me if it was the last. It was not a lot of fun. When you are in the hospital now they want to know what your pain level is for pain management. Dislocating my finger was a 10. The kidney stone was a 9. Having the heart attack was a 7. The pain started around noon but didn’t get really bad until about eight at night. I went to the St. Joseph’s ER around ten or ten thirty. I passed the stone about eleven thirty I think and all told the ordeal could have been much worse I'm sure. I am now peeing what looks like pink lemonade which is a little disconcerting but I think this too shall pass.

2013/04/05 11:00 Tristan’s spring break week comes to an end today. I am exhausted. We went to the movies on Monday. We saw “The Croods”. We came home that night and watched a scary movie on DVD “Gargoyles”. On Tuesday we all went to Chuck E. Cheeses. Wednesday it was lunch with Adison at the Brooklyn Pickle and then a trip to the MOST (Museum of Science and Technology). After the museum we went bowling. Thursday was the Elephant and Piggie party at the Dewitt Community Library. Whew!

2013/04/06 10:00

Tristan is a great big brother and put Alice in his lap to hear some Elephant and Piggie stories.

One of the neighbors lost a large tree.