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Today was about 70 degrees in the sun, slightly breezy, with some high clouds, with very light humidity. The flowers are in bloom and birds are happily tweeting away.
In other words, it was perfect. And it's also days like today that remind me of how beautiful the Cape can be in the spring, which is my favorite time to be here.
Find me a place to live like this year round, and I'll figure out some way to move there.
As you may know, the Frickin' Van II is a conversion van. More specifically, it started life as a 1996 Chevy G1500 cargo van, and was modified using parts from a now-defunct company called Glaval. The top was chopped off and replaced with a high-rise fiberglass cap that enabled the company that made the van to install a TV and about six inches of additional headroom, and it has amenities like a thick carpet, wood paneling, special lighting, and big, comfortable "Captain's Chairs" in the front and middle, as well as a bench that can recline into a bed.
Well, the Frickin' Van II now has 235,000 miles plus on it, and amazingly, the drivetrain is still going strong. Say what you want about Chevrolet, but they know how to build heavy-duty fleet vehicles. I wish that the rest of the van was holding up as well as the engine and transmission. At 14MPG on a good day, the van doesn't get very good mileage, but it's been a solid performer and is quite comfortable. It even made it to Florida and back last year.
A lot of the electrical equipment doesn't work right anymore -- the second stereo in the back is shot, for example, and the bench no longer reclines into a bed. The A/C doesn't work and we're starting to have starter problems. Plus the "Service Engine Soon" light comes on, and my mechanic can't figure out why -- it doesn't have any emissions problems or other major issues, so we think it's just a faulty sensor somewhere. Again, with 235K miles on it, and given the price I paid my sister in law for it, I have limited expectations.
The latest problem happened on Sunday. We were driving to my mother's to pick up James, who had slept over the night before. On the way I leaned back to grab the cell phone out of my pocket so I could call her, when I heard a loud snap.
The driver's seat is one of those captain's chair style contraptions I mentioned, and it's mounted on a power platform that enables you to adjust distance from the pedals, tilt and height using a short joystick. The seat itself is mounted on that platform using four anchor points. Apparently those anchor points have been slowly cracking or breaking over the years -- I've felt the seat getting gradually "looser," if you will, but that push I gave it yesterday was the straw that broke the camel's back. The last anchor point finally broke free entirely.
The first thing that happened was that the seat dropped a good four inches to the floor, and swung upright quickly. Driving 40MPH down the road, that caused a few moments of sheer terror, I can tell you. I think I've finally gotten it into an acceptable position for now, but clearly I have to get it fixed quickly.
I'm dreading the calls I'm going to have to make tomorrow. Finding a place that can service the specialty parts on conversion vans is difficult enough; finding replacement parts for Glaval conversions is possible, but it's going to be one of those things that requires more time and more money than it probably should.
It's been a stressful-as-hell few weeks, and this weekend hasn't been any help, unfortunately. Despite the fact that the kids have been able to break up the weekend with sleepovers and playdates, we still had quite a busy weekend. My cousin Cara, who I haven't seen in several years (since our cousin Jennifer was married), dropped by, and we were happy have her by, though the house was (as usual) in total chaos. Still, we managed to get the kitchen and living room half-presentable.
The biggest crisis we've had was last night -- James got a stomach bug from somewhere, we're not sure where, and ended up spending several hours throwing up and having diarrhea. So that was pleasant. Having experienced a similar problem back in January, I felt really bad for him. Today he's okay, although he's still a bit whiny and, not surprisingly, his appetite is off. But we're just trying to keep him hydrated and keep the complaints down to a minimum.
I ended up going grocery shopping last night, and I'm constantly amazed and horrified by what it ends up costing to feed the family and keep clothes clean for a week. Last night's tally totaled $175, including a few bottles of detergent and household cleaners (always the most expensive portion) and that's after coupons.
That was the third big shop I've done in a seven day stretch; a week ago I'd grabbed almost $250 worth of groceries, and mid-week I'd stocked up to the tune of $80 or so. Plus a trip to K-Mart to stock up on two 300 ounce bottles of All detergent, which were on sale for $10. That's a great price, and it'll keep us well stocked in day-to-day laundry detergent for a while. Bonnie keeps the washing machine and dryer going practically non-stop every day usually just to try to stay on top of all the kids' laundry, so I guess it's little surprise that my electric bill regularly tops $200 a month.
Earlier this month. Obviously.
Clerk: "What's today's date? May fidth, right?"
Clerk 2: "Yeah."
Delivery guy: "Cinco day Mayo."
Clerk: "Whassat?"
Me: "It's a Mexican national holiday."
Clerk 2: "Ain't that like Spanish New Yeah?"
Me: "A big victory over the French back in the 1800s."
Delivery guy: "Well, alls I know is I'm goin' out drinkin' latah."
Clerk: "Ahh you shuah? I know some Spanish people and they ain't nevah mentioned Cinco day whatevah befoah."
Me: "Are they Mexican?"
*blank stare*
What was it that Marx said? The working class is revolutionary or it is nothing. Well, in this case, it sure as hell ain't revolutionary..."
Nstar arrived today and hooked up the lot across the street to electricity, so they're able to work without having a gas-powered generator running. I can still hear the construction workers run their circular saw, and the compressor comes on occasionally for their nailgun, but the difference in volume level is quite remarkable.
Construction in the lot across the street from us continues at this hour. For the first time in three days it;s nice enough for them to work, so there's a swarm of guys putting together the house across the street.
I can't fault them for their efficiency, but one thing that I really dislike is the noise. I threw open the windows this morning to let in the sunshine and fresh air, and since about 7:30 it's been an endless stream of noise -- the hammering of a noisy gas-powered generator they're using to power their electric tools.
It's enough that I had to close the windows -- I couldn't hear Bonnie asking me questions, much less my own thoughts!
It definitely makes me think that I absolutely *don't* want to live or work in this house if and when we ever do any major remodeling or addition work.
So Applebee's has a new ad pushing a new cheeseburger made with 100 percent Angus beef.
James saw this ad and a moment later asked, "Mummy, what's anus beef?"
Thanks so much for canceling Jericho.
Jerks.
I have a treadmill, and I have a desk, but this looks like a better solution -- one I might actually use.
Please make it possible for iCal to automatically add an alarm when creating a new appointment. Kthxbye.
I can say pretty definitively that when I was in my early 20s, I never pictured myself as the father of three kids living in a Boston exurb. I thought at the time that I'd probably be kid-less until my mid-30s, and until then try to live some sort of semi-urban bohemian lifestyle.
This was, of course, not to pass. By the time I was in my mid-20s I had one kid and another on the way, and moved farther and farther from the city until I found myself more than an hour from anything resembling an urban landscape.
The tradeoff hasn't been bad, for the most part, but I do feel a bit out of place when I go to school functions or other events in town and realize that I don't share a lot of commonality with the other people my age here, or the other people who are in the same social stratus as me.
Finally, a book has been written on this subject, and it's great. It's called Alternadad and it's written by Neil Pollack. This guy is an expert in pop culture, his wife is an artist, and they've had a kid, and this is his story as a dad trying to balance that very bizarre dichotomy of trying to stay hip and cool while you're wiping snot off your kid's face; trying to be responsible as a parent while making sure that your kids still know who The Ramones are.
Anyway, I know at least a few of you who read this blog are in the same boat as me. Check it out of the library or take a gander at it in the bookstore. I think you'll like it.
Earlier this week we had an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) meeting regarding Emmeline. It's an annual event that most parents of children with special ed dread. We tend to go in with the "a team" in our corner, so it's become easier to bear over the years; this year we had two reps from Emme's after school program, our ed advocate, and a rep from another program that works with the family, so it helped balance it out between the school and the family.
We weren't really looking for a lot of new services this year. We just wanted to iron out some wrinkles in her Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) which the school falls back on when Emme runs into difficult behavior patterns; not at all uncommon for a kid who has bipolar disorder. So the meeting went well and everyone left.
On the way home, Bonnie said to me, "You know, it probably wouldn't be as easy if we didn't come with the people that we do."
And thinking back on it, I suspect that she's right -- before we started coming to team meetings with a team of our own, Bonnie and I often felt outnumbered and outflanked. It's sad but true -- the lesson here is, never go to an IEP meeting alone.
Yesterday (Saturday) was Free Comic Day, so we trekked down to Gateway Etc. Comics in East Wareham, which was the nearest independent comic shop near us -- about a half an hour away. Nice guys -- they had a long table all laid out with the free titles being offered this year, gave us bags with promotional posters for the upcoming Silver Surfer Fantastic Four movie, and were very welcoming.
The best part, though, was that they had tons of back issues for sale for a quarter a pop. That's right, 25 cents each for magazines that originally cost $2.25 or $2.50. I went insane. We had about $26 in cash between us and I spent every single cent on back issues of stuff like Usagi Yojimbo, Flaming Carrot Comics, Transformers (for James), X-Men, Spectacular Spider-Man and lots more. Picked up some manga for Emmeline, even.
Driving back from the Y with James in the van, I took my usual circuitous route, via Race Lane in Barnstable. We ran into stopped traffic, and up ahead I could see an NStar bucket truck and other vehicles parked, and saw a lot of police lights. That's when I saw the command and control vehicle for the Barnstable County Sheriff's Department, along with ambulances and fire trucks.
As we drove by, I realized why there waqs such a ruckus: A small airplane had crashed. It was flipped over onto its cockpit. No word on the local news as to what happened yet, but it was dramatic: I'm sure the news crews will be there soon enough.
5:05 AM: RATATATATATATATAT
5:15 AM: RATATATATATATATAT
5:25 AM: RATATATATATATATAT
Woodpeckers: Nature's unwelcome building demolition crew.
This new game show on Fox hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy is the most depressing pile of shit I've ever seen on television in my life. And I include such fare as "The Littlest Groom" into that.
The premise, if it's new to you, is that contestants test their skill in rudimentary subjects such as grammar, vocabulary, science and geography by answering mostly multiple choice questions set at various grade levels. There are six kids up on stage with them that answer the questions as well.
In the style of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" contestants can rely on the kids themselves for answers, three times anyway, and in the single episode that I watched it was absolutely depressing how often the contestants went to the kids for answers.
We're not talking about the sort of questions that you might find at some super-elite private school. We're talking about pretty simple stuff, like "what whole number is the closest to the square root of 50?"
I'm math-retarded -- I had to take Algebra three times in high school -- and I could still riff off "7" without thinking about it. This guy -- who does mortgage finance for a living, for Christ's sake -- guessed "25," but the kid assigned to him for the question saved his bacon.
The question that stumped the one guy I watched was the definition of "transpiration," which all of the fifth-graders got. So he walked away with $175,000 to start his sports bar with.
Heaven help us that it's come to this.
For what it's worth, my kids love this show. Because the adults act like imbeciles, for the most part, and the kids are clearly the more smart, together ones.
I've decided that Robert has many things in common with Naruto Uzumaki, hero of the popular anime and manga series "Naruto:"
A) Both have blond, unkempt hair (Robert's is longer)
B) Both have blue eyes.
C) Both are hyperactive.
D) Both would like to be ninjas when they grow up.
E) Both would prefer to eat nothing but ramen.
F) I occasionally suspect Bob, like Naruto, is possessed by a demon.
A few weeks ago Jim told me I wasn't going to WWDC, Apple's annual developer conference, which happens in June this year, in San Francisco.
To be honest I was a bit disappointed -- last year was my first WWDC, and I got a lot out of it, both at the few sessions I sat in, and also having the chance to talk with developers that I don't get to see a lot of outside of events like Macworld Expo. It's also going to be the first opportunity that developers will have to get their hands on a feature-complete version of Mac OS X v10.5 "Leopard," which is due to be released in October. It's also around the same time that Apple plans to ship the iPhone, which I'm very excited about as well. So it's a real confluence of events that has Apple nerds like me drooling.
Anyway, on Monday, Jim told me that I was going after all, so I booked my flight and hotel room. So if you're planning on coming to SF for WWDC and you'd like to get together, please drop me a line.
Personally, I think the plan was to send me the whole time, and Jim was just being sadistic. Ever since he grew that beard he acts like the devil.
We spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing about the cat -- anthropomorphizing his behavior, for the most part. One the aspects of this is the legend of Fishus, Max's patron god.
Max treats the cabinet where we keep his canned food -- dubbed the Cabinet of Wonders -- with an almost religious fervor. He rubs it, he sniffs at it reverently. He comes to it several times a day and yells at it. If he could light bowls of incense in front of it, I'm sure he would.
So we've accommodated Max's lack of ability to speak human language by developing a whole mythology around the Cabinet of Wonders. It's centered on Fishus, who, as far as Max is concerned, is the benevolent god who delivers cans of stinky wet food unto him. Sort of a furry version of Santa Claus. Santa Claws, if you will.
We mere humans may be the vehicles for actually feeding him the cans and bringing them in from the outside world, but it is Fishus who is to thank for this bounty.
Bonnie's even created a little mantra for Max: "Oh mighty Fishus, bring me something delicious!"