My beautiful daughter with Mark.
Elliott looking pretty awesome with Mark's Dad.
2015/09/27 22:00 Adison and Mark took the little baby Elliott to a wedding yesterday. Karen had made some spiffy wedding clothes for the baby.
2015/09/23 17:30
2015/10/09 10:00 I am once again looking at the world on the level. I got my glasses straightened this morning. I was in Florida at Ohana: Luau by the Sea last weekend and there was a tragic hot tub accident (rum was involved) and my glasses were bent. I went to see my optometrist and the optician on staff fixed my glasses. I didn’t wear glasses for the longest time. When I did start wearing glasses I went from no glasses directly to bifocals. I wore that first frame I got for twelve years. This frame I am wearing now is only my second frame and I have been wearing these for four years. I’m not sure why I go to the same eye care center all the time because while my frames last a good long time I can’t say the same about the lenses. I don’t know if it’s shoddy construction of inferior materials but the lenses usually only last a year or two. They lose strength and become weaker and less effective and then need to be replaced. The first thing I do in the morning is put on my glasses and the last thing I do at night is take them off. Since the glasses are so important to me and since I have no intention of avoiding hot tubs and rum I am thinking that maybe I should get some back up glasses.
Door frame complete and ready for paint.
Uncle Michael and the little baby Elliott.
2015/10/07 18:00 I had a doctors appointment today and so Karen took a vacation day to watch Elliott while I went to see my cardiologist. I had a sonogram of my heart done. Everything is checking out just fine. I have lost over ten pounds so far this year and my numbers are all improving. Since it was the two of us, Karen and I, we watched the dog Winnie too.
2015/10/08 17:00 I had Superior Seal here today to seal the driveway. They did a nice job and it looks good. Now that the driveway is sealed I can put up a new Rubbermaid shed. The shed we had wasn't big enough for the kids bikes. I ordered a bigger one and it is being delivered. The new shed will hold the snowblower this winter. The old Rubbermaid shed was moved into the back yard.
I finished the siding on the front of the shed. I need to build the doors.
Two coats of paint.
I think Tristan had fun.
Phil Reynolds is touring in the U.S. He is from Vicenza, Italy.
Starting the door frame. I used pocket screws to put the face frame together.
Some of Adison's friends.
2015/10/05 10:45 I had a good time this last weekend. Rum, Ohana, rum, the Mai Kai, some more rum. Dark n Stormys in the hot tub until sunrise. This morning I was back to work at grandpa daycare. The little baby Elliott is amazingly smart. Only about nine weeks old but this morning he said, "I missed you Pop".
2015/09/19 09:00 Working on siding the shed today. I needed a piece of J-channel. I took my helper to Home Depot with me.
Monday through Friday the little baby Elliott sleeps on me. On the weekends it is Brego's turn.
2015/09/19 09:00 Yesterday, Friday, Karen had the day off from work. She did most of the little baby Elliott watching and so I got to do some work on the shed. I got the door frame built, two coats of paint on the door frame, and half of the front sided.
2015/09/20 17:00 I took Tristan and Alice to the playground in Fayetteville. They played on the playground equipment for a little while and then we took a walk down by the water. I am going to the SubRosa concert at SubCat tonight. Show starts at 6:00.
Being lazy with the dogs today. I have the day off from being the baby whisperer. Doing the dog whisperer thing today.
2015/09/16 11:00
Alice is a good cousin.
2015/09/30 20:00 I am leaving very early tomorrow morning for Florida and the first Ohana: Luau by the Sea.
2015/09/21 19:00
Retirement is tough.
This latest iteration of my rants and rambles will still be much like past versions. I will continue to share way too much information. I will continue to be as weird as always. I am most likely still incredibly boring.
I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand —
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep — while I weep!
O God! Can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream? ... "A Dream Within A Dream" by Edgar Allen Poe
Rants, Rambles, and Ravings. Is life an illusion? Asking that question is probably a symptom of angst. Angst is defined as a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically unfocused and about the human condition. And then there is existential angst. Existential angst, also known as anguish or dread, is akin to fear before nothing. In the case of normal fear one can usually take definitive measures to remove the object of fear. In the case of existential angst, where the fear is before nothing, then no constructive measures are possible. Sometimes I think that I might be having an existential crisis but then I accept that fact that it is really more of a lifestyle than something fleeting like a crisis.
Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colours from our sight.
Red is grey and yellow white,
But we decide which is right.
And which is an illusion??? … “Late Lament” by the Moody Blues
khan tiki mon's Rants and rambles v.9.70
The birthday girl.
2015/09/22 22:30 I took Robert to WalMart tonight so he could get something for a friend of his. I went to use the restroom and there was a very wet floor by the water fountain. I slipped and went down like a ton of bricks. My arm caught on the drinking fountain and it was the only thing that stopped me from going right to the floor. I got a nice bruise on my arm where it hit the fountain. Of course I do bruise easier since I am taking Plavix daily.
I started this new page and I changed the name of the previous page. The previous page had been named Khan Tiki Mon’s Rants and Rambles V.9.71. I changed the name of the previous page to Khan Tiki Mon’s Rants and Rambles V.9.62. This new page is now Khan Tiki Mon’s Rants and Rambles V.9.70. The version number is supposed to give some idea as to where in time the content on the page occurs in that year. Apparently on the previous page I did the math wrong and so I had to rename it. I don’t know if I have made any other math mistakes in the past but I am not going back to check. I will not be changing the names of any other pages. One thing I will have to do is start sub-pages. I now have over 100 pages and the navigation is getting unwieldy.
It has been a couple of weeks that I have been doing daycare for the little baby Elliott. I was getting a lot of stuff done before but now that has all kind of come to a halt. It is really difficult to get anything done while I am watching Elliott. On the weekends I have Tristan and Alice here and sometimes that makes it hard to do anything then either. I am having some work done on the house. Among the things I am having done is siding. I signed the contract and I am hoping they will start the first week in November. I have stuff that I need to get done before that work starts. I am getting nervous.
I am going to Florida October 1st through the 4th. I am going to the first Ohana: Luau by the Sea in and around Fort Lauderdale. Karen’s Mom is coming to visit before I leave to go to Florida. She is flying into Philadelphia to stay with Karen’s brother David. I am going to drive to Philly and pick her up and bring her back to Syracuse. Not sure if I am driving her back to Philly or if Karen or David is.
I have been watching some shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime while I feed Elliott his bottles. I watched the first three seasons of “Continuum” on Netflix. “Continuum” is reminding me of the “Terminator” movies because of the time travel but it is more political. I really enjoyed that one. The fourth season of “Continuum” is playing now on the SyFy channel. I watched the fourth season of “Longmire” also on Netflix. That’s a great series and based on how this fourth season ended I guess they are hoping for a fifth season. On Amazon Prime I watched “Catastrophe” and I thoroughly enjoyed that. It is a very funny but intelligent comedy.
2015/09/24 20:00
The little baby Elliott is only 8 weeks old but he is very advanced for his age. Smart as a whip he said his first words today. I asked him if he wanted to take a ride in the van and go to the pool store with me and he said, "Okay, Pop". It was hard to understand because he does goo and gurgle some when he talks but I understood him.
2015/09/21 09:00 I went to the SubRosa concert at SubCat last night.
Tristan and Alice playing "look what I can do."
Breast milk in the fridge. Ready for another day taking care of the little baby Elliott.
2015/09/26 14:30
2015/09/27 13:00 I drove to Scranton, Pennsylvania today. I drove to the Waffle House there. I met Karen's brother Dave and their Mom. I brought my mother-in-law Liliana back to Syracuse.
Only one side left to finish and then the siding for the shed is done.
This is the sky I was looking at tonight. Sometimes I wish I was different. I wish I was somebody else. No one in particular just someone else. A clean slate. I feel that anything good and decent that I might have done was an accident at best. Unintended consequences. I am not sure why I can get so unhappy at times. I don't like not being in command of my emotions. How can I go from being on top of the world one minute to feeling the weight of the world within an hour. Am I a waste of time and will I leave something other than a stain? I am feeling pretty sorry for myself tonight and it is not pretty.
My WalMart bruise is getting some nice color to it.
2015/09/21 15:00 I didn't have to watch the little baby Elliott today and Karen was off from work. I got to do some more work on the shed.
2015/10/04 20:00 I got back today from Florida. Karen picked me up at the airport. I had a very good time. This was my last big trip for 2015.
I checked in on my website when I got back. This last month of September I had the most site visits ever at 1,704. I can remember years ago when I averaged about two hundred.
2015/10/06 23:30 I had the two Robs working today. I went and picked up Rob V. after the little baby Elliott got picked up. We got a lot of the area next to the pool cleaned up. There was a lot of wood that needed to be cut and we had a pretty good fire.
2015/09/26 19:00 I woke up this morning to the sound of sirens. I figured there might be a house fire nearby. The sirens seemed to get louder and I realized they were police sirens and not those from a firetruck. I thought it was odd because I live in a quiet suburban area. The sounds got louder and it now sounded like a high speed chase was going down right outside my bedroom window. I heard the police start yelling and that’s when I figured out my grandson was playing a video game on his I-Pod in the next room.
Oh no!! The little baby Elliott has had a big accident. Blew right through his diaper. What a mess!... Not really. Just playing with my granddaughter Alice’s novelty fake poop. Some inappropriate baby humor.
2015/09/23 08:00
2015/09/25 23:00 I went to Solvay High School tonight to watch some football. Sat with my friends Michelle and Trevor. Michelle's son was playing but he was injured and out of the game before I got there. I couldn't get Tristan or Alice to go with me. Last year they had fun going to a game.
2015/09/19 12:00 In a couple of hours Karen and I are taking the kids to Adison's house for a birthday party. It is Winnie's first birthday (Winnie is a dog). Adison sent this picture of the little baby Elliott chillaxin' while his Mom was getting ready for the party.
Dylan Jane is a singer songwriter from Philadelphia. I really liked her lyrics.
"That's why you should be kind
to the lost souls that you find
'cause lord knows you are blind
to the path they came thereby."
Brego meeting one of the guests.
She tries hard and she works cheap. I pay her in donuts.
The front of the shed with the old doors removed.
My little buddy and I.
Cake for humans.
Siding complete on half of the front.
2015/09/19 20:00 Karen and I took Tristan and Alice to Adison's house today for Winnie's first birthday party. Winnie is Mark and Adison's dog. It was a fun party. There was cake for the humans and cake for the dogs. At least one human liked the dog cake better. He said the dog cake was like a big granola bar.
Dogs chillin'
2015/09/26 17:30
2015/09/15 15:00 Life should be an adventure. We need to explore new things. Andre Gide said, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” In the spirit of adventure and to test our personal limits the little baby Elliott and I did something we have never done before. We ventured forth and left the comfort and familiarity of our home and went to the grocery store. This first outing was kind of a test. We made it to Wegmans and we bought some Swiss cheese. We checked out and quickly returned to the van. The entire foray took minutes. The mission was a success and I think we will try it again tomorrow and we will try to get more than one item.
2015/10/09 18:00 Dinner at Tully’s tonight.
2015/09/14 13:00 Yesterday I took Alice to the Golden Harvest Festival at Beaver Lake Nature Center. It was cool but not too cold and while everything was damp after all the rain it didn’t rain while we were there.
2015/09/14 09:00 I awoke at first light. It was a chilly and dreary morning. The rains continued. I ventured out and headed north to my daughter’s homestead. There I picked up my charge for the day; the little baby Elliott. I bundled him up and brought him back to my hearth and home. Here I will watch over him, care for him and keep him safe, until my daughter’s toils for the day are done. It’s what I do.
Existential angst.