It's no Garden State

Obviously.

But we also recently watched Troy, and enjoyed it. Est quod est.

(Okay Drew, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in a death match -- who wins?)

Ted Was Right

Watched Garden State.

Loved it.

Really, This is Fun

Dude said "ever."

Lunch with Kevin Today

Best listener I know. Thanks, bro.

This is Exciting

19 boxes of fun arrived here today.

Reason I Love my Wife, Number 422

She just came down the stairs carrying the Wonton and singing sweetly to him. The selection was "Row Row Row Your Boat," but the only part I caught was the end:

"Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, shove it up your ass."

He's discovering his smile these past few days and that's fun, but it'll be years before he realizes just how funny his mom is.

All the Good Music in the World...

And it's "Baby Got Back" that I've got stuck in my head.

Top Five Reasons I Continue to do the Occasional Sunday Morning Talk for my Evangelical Friends

(in no particular order, and off the top of my head, sort of)

1. it makes me wrestle with things that would otherwise never come up.

2. come on, where else can I get 50 people to shut up and listen to me talk for 15 minutes? (Yes, Jared, I'm done in 15 tops these days -- sorry you were around for the other extreme.) I'm ashamed to admit it, but I dig that.

3. it gives me a record of my...what's the word, Ted?...suspicions over the course of time. Like a kind of a journal. Frequently I look back and wonder what the hell I was thinking, but there it is like...like...like footprints in the sand. Ah...

4. I enjoy writing immensely and don't seem to make the time to do it without some kind of deadline in front of me. A real one. One where if I'm not ready to go I stand up in front of a roomfull of people and look like an ass. [Interestingly, I don't seem to be able to write much of anything else. I've tried to write stories -- even made an abortive start at something a bit longer -- but for some reason I can't build any momentum. I can't even write anything interesting for my Tuesday people. It's almost like I have to have something to push against -- like trying to move without any friction (that's the metaphor I'm after, isn't it Warren?) So maybe it keeps me productive.]

5. Maybe something way down low inside me thinks that someone there will hear something helpful.

Thanks for asking, hermano.

It's 5:00 on a Saturday

Regular crowd shuffles in.

No, wait.

I love being up this early. I don't love getting up this early, but once I'm up, it's aces. So peaceful.

I've spent all my "free" time this week writing for Sunday -- I'm going back to the Thing tomorrow to talk to them. (hey -- eight "t's" in a row!) Four people have asked me this week why I keep doing it and I've given four different but honest answers -- proof, I think, that either, A) there are lots of reasons, or, B) I don't know why. At any rate, once this week's Sunday thing and next week's wedding are behind me I ought to have a minute for the bloggery.

ONE

Why I Love My Wife, Reason # 162

She insists that we refer to the baby monitor as the baby molitor.

"You know," she says, "because of Paul."

Over the Weekend

Watched The Last Samurai. Liked it.

Nicole and my new Magnet

So Jack left a magnet for me in my drawer at work -- one of those ribbon shaped magnets. You've seen them, (surely Cincinnati isn't the only place where there so very ubiquitous,) originally they were yellow and had to do with "Supporting Our Troops," but since then I've seen them for all kind of stuff -- breast cancer, save the manatees, gay pride, let's bomb some brown people, happiness is being a family, God likes our flag better than yours -- you name it. I think they cost around $4, and if that's the case someone is getting seriously wealthy because they're everywhere. Some cars even have mulitple versions -- four and five of these things lined up across their trunks like little soldiers. And they're just magnets; I wondered for a long time what kept people from stealing them until it dawned on me that since everyone in the world has one, there's no need. Everyone but us, that is. Until this week.

The one that Jack left for me says, "Remembering Lou Gehrig -- 4 -- Beal ALS." Jack's wife, (and our friend,) Janet is living with ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and we just named our firstborn after the guy, and this particular magnet I'd never seen before, so I like it. Ruthie's already filched it for her own car.

Anyway, I open my drawer at work the other day and discover this magnet and am showing it to my friend Andy and Nicole happens to be there. She's probably 21 years old and is a sweet girl. She looks at this thing and says, "Who's Louie Gering?" And I say, "Really Nicole? Do you not know who Lou Gehrig was?" And I get a blank stare, so I give her the short version -- greatest first baseman of all time, the Streak, all around good guy, played with the Babe, (she'd heard of him,) contracted the disease that bears his name, (what were the odds?). And all the while she's giving me this bewildered look like she's trying to figure something out. Finally Andy pipes up and says, "Hey, didn't you just name your kid after him?" knowing that we had. And Nicole says, relieved, "That's why that name sounds familiar!"

That's messed up.

Busy...

so very busy

A Nerd in the Making

The Wonton's just a month old and he's already been to the zoo three times.

This is fun.

Ted Told me this Years Ago

"O monks, even if you have insight that is pure and clear but you cling to it, fondle it and treasure it, depend on it and are attatched to it, then you do not understand that the teaching is like a raft that carries you across the water to the farther shore but is then to be put down and not clung to."
--Majjhima Nikaya

Yeah Ma, it's Good

Watched In America last night. Made me weep.

Reason I Love my Wife, Number 377

So there's this wine tasting that Ruthie and I have been going to most Friday nights for about two years. And every Friday night for two years we've talked with Larry and Carmen and Ralph, who work there. Wonderful people all and dissimilar enough that you 'd never mistake any of them for any of the rest of them. Carmen is a sweet lady who brought Ruthie fancy water to drink while she was pregnant and Larry and Ralph help us discover which wines we like. Larry especially is the kind of guy I can go to and say, "Larry, I liked blah, blah, blah last week, but not the other one." And he'll make a suggestion and Life is good.

Except that, after two years, I've taken to calling him "Ralph."

For no reason. After two years without a hitch I now regularly look him in the eye and say, "Thanks Ralph." And then something like, "Dammit!"

And as we pulled out of the parking lot tonight, Ruthie and I -- I having yet again called Larry "Ralph" -- I said, "Why can't I call him the right name? I never used to have any trouble; now it's mental or something."

And my Beloved said, "You're Chuck Knoblauch."

And I love her so.

I'd Forgotten

Ashley Peacock rocks my face off.

Epilogue to February 24th's Story

I arrived late from work for dinner with at my mom's with her and hannaH's family. Sat down and scooted my chair in and just as I was about to stab myself a piece of chicken, Sam, who was next to me, stayed my hand, looked me in the eyes and said, "This isn't a phone; it's supper."

I think that he's messing with me now.

Formula Stinks

What a Ballgame!

Adam Dunn's second tater landed about ten rows behind us and then just as I was about to ask The Ruth, "How long do you think they'll leave Looper in?" Joe Randa ended it with one of his own. I think the best part was that the Mets wasted a twelve K performance by Pedro.

We made it -- baseball's back.

Might be Fun

If MSU can pull the upset tonight it'll set up a dominant number One vs. a tough intraleague underdog for the championship. Just in time for the 20th (has it really been that long?) anniversary of 'Nova over Georgetown. Hmm...

Helluva Run

Illinois was better.

Go Spartans.

This Was Fun

Ran into a guy today whom I'd worked with at Central Hardware when I was in high school & college. Hadn't seen him since 1992. I said, "Hey Bill, how's it going?" And he said, "Hey Ben. You must be loving this Final Four -- that's your two favorite teams." Dude remembered that from all those years ago.

Here We Go

I've been waiting for this game for nineteen years.