Squeezing It In

This year fall was more than a little crazy with the warm weather that extended well into October. In fact, I would say that it wasn't until a day or two ago that the temps dropped into what I would consider seasonal fall weather. For the past couple of months we've had incredibly warm weather, even hot days when we should be putting on sweaters. While I like cooler weather, it has been nice to have the warm sunny days to get stuff done around the house, though when it's warm and damp, things start to get moldy, including our firewood, but that's another story.

Either way, with the warm weather I was able to squeeze in a few more days of painting, which is kind of a weird thing to get excited about but makes perfect sense when you're training to be a real man. I had spent a fair amount of the summer painting the gable end of the house, and pretty much got it done and was prepared to hang up the paintbrushes. However, with the warm weather, I felt like I had to get more done, so I dusted off the brushes and painted the front of the house. Now this wasn't the location with the greatest need, but my reasoning was that it was the most accessible (i.e., easiest), not to mention most visible for anyone who is visiting. Coming from LA, I can appreciate being vain. Also, the front faces North and gets very little sunlight, so the clapboards tend to get a little moldy over time. Factor in the splashing from the rain coming off the roof, and it is in need of regular maintenance. Otherwise, you have a rot problem, as I've learned firsthand.

So I painted it. This section had been painted in the last 3-4 years because me and JH actually extended the entire front wall forward, which was a miracle if there ever was one. During that time, new clapboards and paint were applied, so it was in decent shape, albeit a little abused by the damp weather. No rot as far as I could see, but I think the goal is to avoid it in the first place, right? Once you see rot, it's too late.

Now that the western gable and front are done, I can focus on the one section that needs it the most, the eastern gable, which seems to take the least abuse weather-wise. From there, the backside comes next, though it's been done once, several years ago (again, by yours truly). Sometimes I think back and am floored that I've actually done some of these things. Who would've thought it possible? Now that it's thankfully cool, I think it's time to shelve the painting gear and get ready for some snow.

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Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to NYC Pintura Pintar for the pic.

Captain N

I have to impose upon you a moment of shameless parental pride, but N was named as one of the captains of his team. In the past his teams have usually passed on naming a captain for whatever reason, and I think it had probably been for the best. As was told to me by IC, hockey player extraordinaire, most teammates choose the best player to be captain, when in fact the captain really needs to be a leader and not just a skilled player.

Whatever be the case, N's coaches, who again are hockey real-deal studs (and more importantly, not dads), told the team that they would choose captains, and I wasn't sure how N felt about that. He did mention it, and he also mentioned it again on the day that they were going to announce it, so I think it was on his mind. From my own (completely unbiased and objective) perspective, I think he would make a good captain because he is unselfish and a true team player. He goes out there and always works hard and tries to encourage his teammates to work hard, as well. This didn't seem to work out on his team last year with our old lame program because most of the guys had crappy attitudes and only cared about their own personal glory, i.e., scoring goals. As a defenseman, N tends not to lean this way, In fact, in my once again objective and unbiased opinion, he is a leader on the ice, he's just not as magnetic and “larger than life” personality off the ice. He lets his abilities do the talking.

In support of this, this year his coaches saw it fit to make him an alternate captain. When you watch a hockey game in the NHL, one player has a “C” on his jersey, and as you all know, he's the captain. Two other players have an “A” on their jersey, and they're the alternate, or co-captains. That's N.

I'm not sure what the point of it all is, but I think it's a bit of an honor that N is rightfully proud of. At the very least it indicates that the coaches recognize some level of skill and leadership in our boy, and that's good enough for me.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Mark Mauno for the pic.

Walking Tall

The funny thing about kids is that you feed them and they grow. At least that's the way it works in theory, and in our case, in real life. N has just surpassed me in the height department, and I have to confess, even though it means updating all of this clothes and sports equipment, I'm happy about this development. No more step stools needed for this boy. I think the reason it's somehow more striking with N is that for a long time, he was often on the short side compared to his friends and teammates (and sister). While he was incredibly cute during this period, I think he's okay with being amongst the taller kids. At the very least he's catching up and passing many of the girls he knows, many of whom towered over him at one point. Again, this is not a bad thing.

I'm guessing he's got some more growing to do, but for now, I'll just have to be content relinquishing the crown for tallest man in the house.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Joi Ong for the pic.

Changing My Tune

Sorry for my absence, no excuses other than life and laziness. I've been thinking a lot about work and not that I would ever take for granted flexible hours, decent pay, and a paycheck, but recently I've been thinking the work is pretty hard and I'm not as thrilled about doing it. Again, I'm not in a position to whine, I've got a lot to be grateful for, but for the past several weeks work has been a bit of a downer.

First off, the hours are long, though only for one or two days a week, so I shouldn't complain, right? The general feeling at work is sort of grim because the shifts start early and go so late into the evening. On the one hand this means more money, but on the other, it means an extremely long day. When I speak with other people they all share in my discontent, but like me, are slaves to our paychecks. Somebody's got to fund our fabulous lifestyles.

The work atmosphere has changed a bit, as well. Sometimes it seems like we're being pulled in all these different directions, covering multiple events, dealing with the consequences of maybe our employers biting off more than they can chew. I understand the desire to put the guest's wishes first, but maybe saying “no” is just as important. Either way, the past couple of weekends it seems like there's too much going on, and staffing seems a bit down.

Finally, the work has changed. There's a lot more heavy lifting and preparing for the next day. I used to do that for conference services and I completely understand the need to share in the workload, but it's just a drag when you've served guests for 6-8 hours and then, after they leave, you have two more hours of work ahead of you. Somehow, something needs to change. Then again, I guess it has, and this is the end result.

On this note, I have to say that I think it's not as worth it as it used to be. I'm not saying I'm going to quit, not even close, but I think the other catering gigs are looking a little more appealing. I used to think it was more worth it to work at the Inn because the shifts were longer and I could make more money, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's that's still the case. Private catering shifts are about half as long, so you make half as much money. However, you start later and end earlier, so you can salvage some of your weekend nights. It's way more relaxed, and all you do is food - you set up, serve, clear, and you're done. We don't move tables or set up for the next day. Generally speaking I'm out of there by 9:00-10:00PM, versus 12:00-1:00AM for the Inn. The privater catering folks are much cooler, as well, about taking any leftover food.

I'm not sure what will become of this, but I'm guessing something's going to happen. It always does.

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Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Stephen Geraghty for the pic.

Resourceful Kids

Okay, not to be the shameless and obnoxious (well, maybe a little) parent who spouts on about their kids, but I have to relay a small moment that made me very proud of them. To be clear, I think A&N do things on a continual basis that make mom and dad incredibly proud, we just choose not to parade them on social media to everyone on the planet. I still find this sort of boasting a bit distasteful, but clearly I'm in the minority on this one.

This past weekend was crazy and since I was working and mom had to take N to his game over an hour south of here and A to her evening activities. For the record, I originally asked for that night off, but they asked me to come in because the schedule was crazy. I was well within my rights to say I needed it off, but I decided to help them out. Because of this, I missed my son's first game and put mom through the ringer, so it's a bummer on a lot of levels. I felt guilty and in certain ways regretted it, but such is life.

Either way, good things can come out of bad, or should I say “less than ideal” circumstances, right? Mom and the kids were scrambling out the door and, for reasons that are a mystery to me, her car battery was dead. Mom was a little rushed because they had time constraints (1.5 hours to the ice rink with a stop in the big city), but A&N knew just what to do.

Now the simplest thing would have been to call AAA, but who's got time for that, especially when you have two resourceful kids that watched a lot of MacGyver growing up? They were calm, cool and collected and told mom that they could just bump start the car, and all three of them proceeded to do just that. Sure enough, they got the car started within a few minutes and were on their way. When mom relayed this story I thought, “Wow, what cool kids.” How many people their age, much less a majority of adults out there, know how to bump start a car with a dead battery? As for kids, I would say zero.

Okay, that's enough of my carrying on. I thought it was a cool story, and it highlights one of the life skills that is going the way of the dinosaurs.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Omer Zeki Sadullah for the pic.

Seduced by Tech

I used to pride myself in using old fashioned tech, especially when it came to phones. It's sort of silly in retrospect, but at the time I didn't think it was necessary. I mean really, who needs a smartphone? 

I do, that's who.

This became apparent to me only after I went out and upgraded my flip phone to a smartphone. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not about to spend a load of money on a phone ($1000 on an iPhone, get real), but I did upgrade and my smartphone has been incredibly handy. I text frequently, and Google maps has saved my butt more than a few times. Plus, when I'm at work at the Inn, I can check my emails on the phone. I have to admit, an upgrade in this department really has paid off. Best of all, it didn't cost me an arm and a leg, and I can keep my Tracfone account, so no locking into long term contracts with steep penalties for just breathing.

Well, if you can believe this, I'm toying with the idea of upgrading once again. Nothing extravagant, just something with a little more storage. The big reason for this is that I have to constantly offload apps because the phone tells me I need to open up storage, and what kills me about this is that I don't download a lot of apps. Sure, I've downloaded a few, but not enough to warrant these alerts. I installed a 32 gig SD card but through some completely lame and ridiculous twist of fate, I can't put apps on the card, mainly just photos. If I could put more apps on the card I'd be golden, but since I can't, I'm looking into more space.

Not a lot, just a little more. To give you some perspective, my phone is an archaic model that only has about 2 gigs of storage. In the phone world this is basically what the cavemen used to use, and I know most of you are laughing at me right now. To help clarify this point, A's phone has 128 gigs of storage. The difference is staggering. All I really need is a few more gigs, which an upgrade to an 8 gig phone would accomplish, or even a 4 gig. Now 8 gigs is still tiny by today's standards, but light years better than what I have. Best of all, I can probably upgrade to an 8 gig phone for about $35-40, and still keep my Tracfone plan.

I'm not a big fan of constantly upgrading my tech, but since everyone else is, new technology that is more than adequate for my needs can be obtained for an incredibly low price. It's a shame in a way that we're so wasteful, but it does open the door to some good bargains.

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We'll see where this one goes. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Hamza Butt for the pic.

Dental Woes on Top of My Dental Woes

This is pretty lame and sort of emblematic of the problems with the healthcare system, but it turns out my dental problems were not resolvable this past week and I have to go in for yet another procedure. Bust first, a little background. Now I'm not proud of this but several years back I went to the dentist for the first time in about 15 years, I kid you not. Throughout college and afterward I didn't go a dentist, and I had good dental insurance when I lived in NYC. It had just been so long and I have to confess that I was a little scared to actually see a dentist because of the scathing rebuke that awaited me. So I waited.

15 years later I finally went to see one up her in New England, and if you can believe it, I didn't have any cavities. The dentist, whom I really liked, jokingly said, “See you in another 15 years.” Boy was I stoked, and I felt like I was given a second chance by the dental gods. My dentist, however, ended up retiring the next year, so I went to his replacement, and it turns out the happy story wasn't so happy after all. There were a couple of cavities lurking in the back molars, which he filled, and that's when the problems started.

I have to take responsibility for my actions, or lack thereof, in having cavities, but before I had an intervention I was problem free. Now I had two filings in my back molars, both of which cracked, albeit not at the same time. The first one cracked a couple of years ago, chronicled in excruciating detail in this blog (I think), and just recently the second one cracked. This time around the pain was bad, but nothing like last time. My dentist thought they might be able to salvage the tooth so he sent me to an endodontist for a root canal. As it turns out, the tooth was beyond repair, so now they're sending me to an oral surgeon.

My point is, why can't my dentist just pull the thing out? That's what I (sort of) wanted in the first place, mainly because the thought of a root canal made me miserable. This, I learned, was unfounded because the procedure was actually painless. Now, however, I have to wait a few weeks to see the oral surgeon for a consult, after which he will then remove the tooth. My question is, why all this specialization? I don't think endodontists even existed when I was growing up, and you only went to oral surgeons to have wisdom teeth removed.

It wouldn't be so bad except that my tooth kind of hurts, and eating on that side is a bit of a challenge. While I'm not thrilled about losing yet another molar, since it needs to be done, why no just do it? So much time gets wasted on filling in paperwork and consultations.

Oh well, my whining and complaining isn't going to accomplish anything, which in my opinion is all the more reason to keep whining and complaining.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Harvey Lester for the pic.

Dress Code

One thing that's kind of interesting about N's new hockey team is that the coaches, who are young academic hipsters and hockey fanatics (i.e., they've both played at a high level), are implementing a dress code. Nothing too crazy, but the players are being asked to wear khaki pants and an oxford shirt to games; ties and coats are optional. I think it's cool since it makes the kids embrace a certain degree of respect for the game, and by extension, themselves. As I mentioned the coaches are young (compared to me) and played real deal hockey. The head coach played junior hockey in Canada, which I think is one step away from the pros, while the other coach played college hockey at Rensselaer, which RR might appreciate.

Whatever be the case, I think N is into it because not only is he respectful of the game and the coaches, but he likes wearing ties. Lord knows he's got enough of them, including all of mine. Plus, he looks good when he dresses up.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Ellen for the pic.

Tables Turning

Recently A has become interested in old school forms of music, i.e., vinyl records, if you can believe that. I know it's been a bit fringe trendy for a long time, and I didn't really give it much thought until now. I figured it would just be a blip on the screen and then fade away, but somehow vinyl is still popular in certain circles. Since A is a music officionado, she's mentioned now and then the interest in getting a turntable, though it's not a priority at this point. Nonetheless, the mere mention has put the idea on dad's radar, and over the past few months I've kept my eye out for one at the Listen Center or through the town listserve.

A few have showed up at the Listen, some of them pretty nice, though not as cheap as I'd like. Ideally I wanted to get one for free, because let's face it, I was not about to drop a lot of money on a record player. Plus, there was the added threat of facing mom's scorn at procuring yet another piece of equipment to take up space. If it collects dust and isn't used, we're talking a double whammy of angst. Plus, who buys vinyl anymore? We don't even own any, though I used to have plenty when I was younger.

As I mentioned a few showed up at the Listen but I was reluctant because they were on the pricier side. I felt bad, but A said it wasn't a big deal, and she was sympathetic to my domestic concerns, especially since she's been in my shoes. Well, as luck would have it, our friend and neighbor, CF, was trying to get rid of his old turntable and I said I was interested. In fact, he was looking for an old bike for a friend, which I happened to have, so we worked out a swap.

The turntable was kind of cool, though I know nothing about them in this day and age. Clearly this was an older model, and it had a custom made case that CF made himself. It was heavy, however. I got it home and wasn't sure how mom would react, though A and N thought it was pretty cool. I even bought some vinyl at Listen for $2. They have stacks of old records, some of them so cheesy that you wouldn't believe it.

Either way, this is where the story gets good. As it turns out, the turntable didn't work (oh great). I plugged it in and the thing didn't turn. What good is that? I was sort of bummed but figured I could just tell CF it was broken, then deal with it. However, N said he'd like to take a look at it. He got out his tools, the same ones he uses build drones, and went to work. He literally worked for a few hours on that thing, cutting, snipping, and soldering, and by the end he got the darn thing to work. I was so impressed, not to mention stoked because now the machine had legitimacy in mom's eyes since it had become N's project. Don't you just love when that happens?

What was also cool was that he fixed it and tested it with an amp and speaker that he created from scratch. He builds these things, so maybe that's why he wasn't too intimidated about fixing it. We hooked it up to our stereo, which we rarely use, and lo and behold, the thing works. We cleared out some space in the stereo cabinet to make it as incognito as possible, though mom found it immediately. I think the kids explained the situation and she was very agreeable about the whole thing, probably because her “budding engineer” of a son brought it back to life.

Of course, this means we'll have to start keeping our eyes out for vinyl, but it's not a rush. That turntable is not going anywhere soon.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Jonas Smith for the pic.

State of Retail

They say that traditional retail is in jeopardy of disappearing because of the internet, and I can kind of see this happening from firsthand experience. I'm a bit skeptical about the demise of brick and mortar stores, but stats tell a different story as more and more people are buying online. I know I prefer just getting something online, not only because it removes the hassle of shopping and driving, but also because it's often cheaper. However, I also think that people like the shopping experience, and maybe it's good to get out of the house now and then rather than sitting on one's computer all day. Plus, even though this seems like the next wave, I really can't imagine buying groceries online. Amazon thinks differently.

Either way, some retail stores seem like they are having trouble, especially some of these big chains, not to mention malls. I'm not a fan of malls, anyway, but when you into them and they are empty, I find them completely depressing. We experienced this back in LA, and I see it whenever I go into the retail district up here. The one tiny mall we have is always empty, and certain big chain stores like Kmart and JCP have 3-4 customers max. Walmart still seems to draw them in.

My original point that has gotten lost in my rambling is that I was attempting to buy some jeans at JCP online, and it kept failing on me. Like many stores, you get free shipping if you pick them up at the store, but more importantly, I can easily return the clothes if they don't fit. The pitfalls (and there are many) of online shopping is that obviously you can't try them on, and you have to pay for return shipping. Once you find something that fits, it's easy, but it takes a little legwork to get to that point. Buying online from a store that's in the vicinity (I'm reluctant to use the word “local”) means that you often get the free shipping, and if it doesn't fit, you can easily return it for free.

Anyway, this didn't seem to work out with JCP. Every time I ordered a pair, they canceled it because they didn't have the jeans in stock. I tried about three times, slightly varying each time, and I kept getting cancelation notices. Talk about a pain, why not just say they are out of stock before I go through the whole ordering process? I finally gave up and looked to Amazon, which happened to have free shipping and free return shipping. Say no more.

While I have some issues with big internet companies taking over the world, you have to give Amazon some credit, they sure do have their act together. The older more traditional stores seem a bit behind the curve, but I guess that's why their all going out of business. I'm not sure what the future holds but I'm guessing there is both good and bad on the horizon.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to tim putala for the pic.

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Meet the Parents

It's interesting for both N and I (and eventually mom, I'm sure) playing in a new organization. Our old place was chock full of people we knew very well. In a way we were one of the older established families because we had been there so long. Now we're over in the big city and it's a whole new set of parents to mingle with. The difference is that since we're in the big city, it's a lot more hip and happening parents who are basically doctors, lawyers, and Dartmouth professors. We're talking a whole new set of interests, and for that matter, values. I'm finding that I have to re-learn the art of conversation.

I think N is fine because he really just wants to play hockey, and while these are more of the guys he'll probably see if he takes classes at the school, I'm not sure how many long term friendships will come of it. I can say that after 5 years over at our old program, not too many connections have been maintained, at least not for him.

Boy, life sure is complicated. In the beginning I was pretty anti-social, just hanging out in the corner and watching practice, but I'm opening up a little more to the big city parents, trying to get to know them, and they've been very nice. Their kids are all high hockey performers so that's a big topic of discussion, but slowly I'm getting to know more about them.

This should be interesting. Yet another topic to fuel my neurosis as the season progresses. I will say this - joining the big city program has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone and forced me to confront new and sometimes terrifying situations, like meeting highly successful parents who are hip and attractive. Not too many SAHDs in this group.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to osstat for the pic.

Split Decision

Summer is over and now that we are in the midst of fall and winter is knocking at the door, I decided the time to cut wood has ended and the time to split has arrived. While I like to pretend that I'm a real man by splitting it all by hand, the truth of the matter is that I have a fairly substantial pile of blocks that are too hard to split. I probably could do it with a lot of effort, I just don't want to spend 30 minutes with each one, so I've made a request to our good friend AM to borrow her splitter. She is so cool about letting us use it, I can't even begin to express how I much I appreciate it. I just have to arrange transportation, which isn't the easiest thing, but a drop in the bucket compared to the benefits.

Once we get the splitter, A&N (probably mostly N) can assist, and then we can set our sights on getting the wood pile done. Then again, it's never really done, is it?

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Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to macguys for the pic.

Finally Getting It Done

Okay, like other important maintenance projects that I've put off, I finally went out and got an undercoating put on the Mighty Fit, in the hopes of preventing it from turning out like this. Undercoating is something you would never dream of doing if you lived in California. In fact, you've probably never even heard of it, I know I never had. But when you live in New England, the frame and chassis of your car take a beating from the brutal winters. Our last car, the Mazda, was running fine when part of the frame rusted out and the back wheel essentially broke off. I was driving around town, thankfully going slowly, when the back wheel disconnected from the frame. It was a bit of a bummer.

It did, however, highlight the fact that cars are vulnerable to the elements, especially corrosion and rust from all the salt on the roads. Granted, up here they don't salt as heavily as they do in the bigger cities, and I think the Mazda suffered from our time in Providence. Also, we didn't care for it as well as we could have, which meant regular and frequent car washes with particular attention paid to the undercarriage. This is key.

Since we've owned the Fit we've washed it regularly and I think (hope) that it is in decent condition. Undercarriage washes are a regular part of any car wash, so it gets done fairly frequently. Even still, I've been told by several people in the know, including the Amazing PR Man, that an undercoating is a good idea up here. For those of you who don't know what it is, an undercoating is basically spraying a protective film over the metal on the bottom of your car. In the past they've used petroleum products, which is essentially oil, but are now moving more toward wax/paraffin based undercoats. That's what I got.

Since it's wax based, I've been told that they don't apply it in the summer, and usually wait until fall. That way you get the protection before the winter comes. Winter is too late, and in the spring it's not as critical because you don't have road salt. So I guess fall is pretty much the only time they do it. Hey, I'm new at this, too.

Next came deciding where to go, which is never a simple thing when neurotic dad is involved. As with everything in life, there are too many choices, coupled with the fact that every business that has anything to do with automotive repair is jumping on this procedure. It's becoming fairly regular when you live up here, and more and more people in the know are recommending it. From first hand experience I can see why.

I ended up asking our local Honda dealer, and they pointed me to two places, one of which I ended up choosing - Kidder. It's funny because I've driven past them countless times and didn't really give them much thought, until now. I washed the car the day before and then took it over to the shop, where it took about 30 minutes. It's been something I've been meaning to do, and now that I've started it, I feel much better. It was explained to me that you should do it for a couple of years and then go every other, so that's something to keep in mind. Also, don't do any hot undercarriage washes, which is kind of a drag because what else is there?

Too much to think about, for now I can rest a little easier when that first snow comes. Then again, that just means I'll have to start shoveling, right?

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Stephan Ridgway for the pic.

Dental Woes

This is a bummer, to say the least, but it appears that I'll be needing some rather involved dental work done, namely a root canal. I can't think of too many things in life that elicit the dread that a root canal does, and for good reason. I had a root canal done when I was a little kid. I must have been about 8 or 9 years old, I can't even recall, but it was a pretty miserable experience. In retrospect, I'm not even sure why you'd have a root canal done on a primary tooth, but times were different back then, right?

Needless to say I'm not jumping for joy to move ahead, but move ahead I must. I've been assigned an expert in root canal procedures, better known as an endodontist. I was under the assumption that your dentist just went in and drilled out the nerve, but clearly I was wrong. Personally I figured they could just pull the darn tooth out, it's in reasonably poor shape, but the goal here is to save as many teeth as possible, right? This becomes more relevant as you get older, when everything starts either falling out or falling apart.

Oh well, we'll see where this one goes. Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Joel S for the pic.

Still Time

It sure seemed like we were on the cusp of fall about a week back when the weather suddenly turned cool. Suddenly seems a bit oxymoron because let's face it, it's time for cooler weather, so we shouldn't be surprised. However, right before the temps cooled down, we had a crazy stretch of really warm weather, almost hotter than any stretch we'd seen all summer, if you can believe that. It was good for hitting the beach, but not so much for everything else. Either way, it was hot, and then the temps suddenly dropped overnight by about 25 degrees, I kid you not. It was a bit jarring, and suddenly we were burning wood every morning, which is more like it is supposed to be.

Then, out of nowhere, we have gotten another stretch of warm weather. Yesterday it was about 80 degrees with high humidity, and it sure felt like summer. I was talking to our neighbor at the farm and he said we really need some rain. I guess you don't really think about drought conditions at any other time besides summer, but it can happen in the fall and spring. Winter not so much.

The weather hasn't been miserably hot, so I can deal with it, and another silver lining, if you can call it that, is that I can continue doing some outdoor projects that I didn't get to over the summer, namely painting the house (for the record, I totally feel this guy's pain). I can split and stack wood in the snow, if need be, but painting is a trickier project. You really need moderate temperatures for the paint to dry properly and withstand the brutal New England winters. I've been told that the days need to get above 50 degrees to paint, and I'm hoping that gives me another couple of weeks, at least. Maybe more.

I'm aiming to paint the other gable end of the house and finish the front. Last year I started on the bottom half and for whatever reason, and there are many, didn't do the top half. You can see the line of demarcation where the new paint ends. This time around I'm hoping to paint the trim and finish the clapboards. I'll hit the front first because it faces north and doesn't benefit as much from warm sunny weather. It's also the most accessible since it's not as high as the gable end, which require a 30 foot extension ladder, which I am not a fan of. Plus, on the gable end, I'm dealing with wasps galore. Like the other gable end, I'll work up to a certain point and then stop to avoid clashing with the little buggers.

We'll see how my master painting plan works. I'm hoping to avoid relegating this project into the realm of pipe dreams, because let's face it, I can't make my way to being a real man by just splitting firewood and making casseroles, can I?

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Kim Skotak for the pic.

Back Again (literally)

Getting old and growing wiser are clearly not always in unison with one another, especially when you're talking about yours truly. I brilliantly went out and re-injured my back playing hockey (beautifully depicted in this pic), and let me tell you, it's a complete bummer. The best part about this tale of woe is that I actually hurt it while tying my skates in the locker room - it's almost too crazy to even believe. I was lacing up my skates and started to tighten them when I twisted around in a strange manner, at least I think it was strange, and tweaked my back. I felt it immediately, and let me tell you, I was so bummed. The familiar throb of pain was emanating from the usual location on my lower back. I stopped what I was going and tried to stand up and stretch, which helped a little, but didn't alleviate the problem. The other guys were probably tripping out on me if they even noticed me, which is probably more accurate.

I was able to lace up my skates and even played hockey, which in retrospect was probably not the best idea. Stupid is as stupid does, right? It did dawn on me, however, that if I went down on the ice, I might have a hard time getting back up. I didn't get too crazy and if you can believe this, my back didn't really hurt as long as I was standing upright, or in this case, skating upright. Sitting doesn't hurt too bad, either. It's really the transition from sitting to standing where it hurts the most.

Whatever the case, I'm suffering now. I hurt my back on Monday and played hockey again on Thursday, so clearly it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be, but it's a bummer nonetheless. The kids and mom were teasing me by indicating that I needed to come up with a more dramatic story about how I hurt my back - tying my skates just wasn't cool enough, though it's funny for the dork/klutz factor.

Being hurt puts a bit of a damper on splitting wood and doing my condition workout, though skating twice a week is pretty hard work in and of itself. The pain is not as excruciating as what I've experienced in the past, but it is a challenge to stand completely upright. I have a major stoop. Could this be my destiny?

I also worked on Saturday night and I think that exacerbated things a bit. Then again, just about everything exacerbates it, so I might was well stop whining about it (too late) and just deal. I have noticed one thing - it's important to keep moving as opposed to lying on the couch and feeling sorry for myself, even though I would like to do the latter more than anything.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to George Gertner for the pic.

Visiting Cincinnati

We just got back from a family visit in Cincinnati, and if you're like me and come from California, it begs the question, what exactly is in Cincinnati? Then again, when you live in SoCal, the entire mid-section of this country is a bit of an enigma, not to mention the northeast. There is actually a lot going on in Cincinnati, and after traveling across the country a few times, I can honestly say it looks like the rest of this country, including many parts of LA. Just lots of roads, cars, people, shopping, and eating.

Cincinnati itself actually has a lot going on in the arts, culture, sports, etc. In fact, I've been told by a number of reliable sources that their symphony orchestra is one of the best in the world, and the University is well recognized (they have a hockey team, but we didn't have time for hockey - bummer). We didn't have the chance to explore these options on our visit, but I think if we spent some time in the city we'd find it much to our liking. I experienced this when we went to Columbus, OH, which was a pretty cool city. More interesting than a California Boy would think.

It was nice seeing family, whom we see about once a year, and we got the killer tour of the Amazing PR Man's place of work. For the record, it's a lot cooler than any place you or I, or for that matter 99% of the people we know, work. He builds airplanes, WWII fighters, to be precise (these are two examples of his blood, sweat and tears), and we got to see the fruits of his labors. Pretty darn cool.

Plus, it's nice having meals made, especially when DR makes them. The food was amazing, we loved the desserts, and I didn't have to cook a thing. It's nice for everyone to see how much the kids have grown, and everyone enjoys catching up, especially since it's a once-a-year thing. We also got to celebrate a couple of birthdays.

The visit was short, but quality over quantity, right? The trip home was rather uneventful, and thanks go out to DR for the excellent sandwiches she made for us for the trip home. They really saved the day. We landed around 9:00PM, then made the long drive home, adding another 2.5 hours. The pitfalls of traveling when you live in New England.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Droning Road Trip

There was a drone race down near Boston and N wanted to go down and give it a go, for which I give him a lot of credit. It's not easy entering into something for the first time, especially when you're not sure where you stand in the hierarchy. I think it helped that he went to a race and just watched to get some perspective. Coming away from that he told me that he thought he could hang with the big boys. Plus, he was able to set up his own makeshift course at home and practice on his own time.

Now getting to this race was going to be the tricky part. In the past, when situations like this arose, he would sleep over at his buddy's house, who is a drone race extraordinaire, and they would head down together. The problem was that there were complications that made this not entirely plausible, so we decided that we'd take him down ourselves. This, of course, meant that yours truly was going to do the driving. Since we've been driving down that way a lot for surfing, it wasn't such a stretch to drive another half hour past Boston and go to the race, and I was curious to see what an actual race was like. The one big bummer, however, was that I worked the night before and got home late. I went straight to bed but had to wake up around 5:00AM to get there on time. I figured that since I wasn't surfing fatigue wouldn't be a huge issue, which wasn't entirely accurate, but more on this later.

We headed down and got there with plenty of time to spare. They spent the first hour setting up the track and the actual race got started a little late. N had pre-registered so they were expecting him, and they did a quick walk-through to familiarize themselves with the course. It was interesting to see range of people racing, from kids to grandparents. N was on the younger side, and I think I identified one kid who was definitely younger, but everyone else was the same age or older. Sometimes much older, and I'm talking grandpa aged. One other thing I noticed was the absence of girls or women, but maybe that's to be expected.

Regardless of the age, all the racers were very cool and supportive. They chatted together and gave each other tips, and offered their equipment or gear when needed. I didn't sense a lot of overt animosity, though the goal was clearly to win. The whole scenario reminded me of a high school track meet, with heats and rankings and then an eventual final. The timing is similar, too, taking up most of the day, much to my dismay. I figured we would get there at 9:00AM (that's why we left at 6:00AM) and they'd race a few times and we go home at noon. Boy was I wrong. They race heat after heat, with warm ups, practice heats, qualifying heats, and then the actual racing heats. So many damn heats. I was chatting with SMA's dad, JA, who has been to a countless number of these races, and he said he bring several projects along with him to occupy his mind. He said they often go well into the evening, but I wasn't having any of that. I guess the hardcore drone pilots will find just about any excuse to fly.

One thing interesting to note is that these guys are at the forefront of a fairly nascent sport. They are literally pioneers, and one interesting aspect of this is that they all make their own drones and modify them to enhance performance. There are all sorts of things they can do to make them faster, lighter, or more maneuverable. At first glance you'd think that the faster the better, but that's not always the case. Since they have to maneuver through a course, too much speed can be detrimental. It's all about finding the right balance, and that's where the art of racing comes in. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

N was ready to rock and roll and he did fine, struggling a little in the first warm-up heat, but completing the course the second time around. Judging from the other racers, just finishing the course in one piece is an accomplishment. After warm up they got pizza and drinks, and then came qualifiers. Then the actual races. N finished around the middle of the pack, which is pretty darn fine when you consider that this was his first race. The I'm not sure what the future holds but I think he should do more races, especially since he's got a dad who's willing to cart him to farthest reaches of New England. Outside of that, I'm not so sure.

The race actually ended sooner than I was led to believe, which meant around 3:00. That's still a long day, from 9:00 (6:00 if you include travel time) to 3:00. I was tired and hungry, but couldn't eat too much because I had to drive home. Even still I drank a large ice coffee on the ride home but still felt the irresistible tug of drowsiness. We stopped at the toll in Concord to get him some dinner, and actually ran into two friends, one of whom is our neighbor. I got N a chicken wrap that wasn't (surprisingly) too expensive.

We got home in the late afternoon and I felt like I could finally eat some food, whereby I proceeded to engorge myself and then take a “phat nap.” This, in addition to all that coffee I drank, didn't seem to affect me that evening as I slept just fine. Funny how that works.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Bashir Naimy for the pic.

Hockey Begins

N had his first practice last weekend, and so far, so good. He indicated that he's way out of shape, and he looked like he was wheezing a bit on the ice, but that's how one gets into shape in the first place, right? Since the big city program is more hardcore, they start earlier and offer pre-season condition and skills practice, both of which N balked at. In retrospect, I think he would have benefited from taking part, and I think he would agree, though he might not admit it.

Either way, it's a new start in a new program, and with a new coach, no less. I've been told that the big city program is trying to get away from having parents coach the teams, and sure enough, this year they have young Canadian guy (from Montreal) taking the reigns. He's a post-doctoral student over at the college, and he wants to coach youth hockey. Sounds good to me.

He's already reached out and let us know what he hopes to accomplish with the boys, but at the very least, I think it's good to get a fresh perspective on the game. Plus, when parents coach their own kids, things always get a little complicated.

Several of N's teammates are still playing soccer, so a little more than half of the skaters were out there, but enough to get some drills done. Best of all, yours truly didn't have to lace up his skates and act like I know what I'm doing out there. Somehow I just don't do a good job of faking it.

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Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Bradley Reiter for the pic.