Parental Affirmation of the Day

Every so often (or maybe more often than every so often) I have my doubts about my parenting skills. Like, maybe I am giving the kids a bad example by playing video war games or not taking them on some new educational jaunt each weekend or maybe, even, raising my voice a little when they ask me for the fifth time in 48 seconds if they can watch Thomas the Tank Engine now.

Then I see something like THIS. (Words fail me at this point so feel free to editorialize here.)

And I realize that, compared to some, I Am Super Parent. I am Ward and June and Ricky Ricardo (sin Babalu, por supuesto) and Dr. Spock and Dr. Sears and Gomez Addams and Cliff Huxtable all rolled into one ball of Perfect Parenting Goodness. And so is Mrs. JJ Daddy-O, too. (Not that I ever doubt that, honey.) Is that the Soft Prejudice of Low Expectations at work? If so, I am willing to live with it.

Quotes Of The Day

Roy Scheider died a few days ago, and he was the star of, among other things, the movie All That Jazz, which is what they call a "semi-autobiography" of Bob Fosse, (I think so Fosse could include unpleasant traits of the character representing him but still have deniability that they were his own faults or actual deeds) which made me think of of this Fosse quote which I had written down a while ago:

"If you think you can do better, then do better. Don't compete with anyone, just yourself. When you are in trouble or have a dilemma, ask yourself, 'What's the important thing?' And when you wake up in the morning, ask yourself how you can be a better person, not just a better performer."

and for some reason, this always makes me think of this quote:

"First thought, best thought." - Allen Ginsburg

which always makes me think of this one, from Goethe:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."

Call them the Anti-Procrastinators.

They say married people do live longer....

They say married people do live longer....

But this guy probably is not what the statisticians had in mind
[note, sorry about the dead link, I should have cut and pasted the article]
His next stop after getting out of the hospital will probably be at the jewelry store to get a "gold medallion so big it keeps the bullets off your back" as the saying goes.

What Big Boi is doing these days...

What Big Boi of Outkast is doing these days.

"An adventuresome, exhilarating evening featuring the world-renowned musical artistry of Grammy Award-winning Antwan 'Big Boi', Patton as well as artists of Purple Ribbon Entertainment. Daring, progressive, and soulful, these very talented artists perform a stunning collaborative piece, LIVE on stage with Atlanta Ballet's exquisite dancers. Pure Innovation.

Preliminary song list for big include such tracks as “Morris Brown” from the Idlewild soundtrack, “The Way You Move” from Speakerboxx , and possibly, one of OutKast's defining songs “Bombs Over Baghdad”."

Contains adult langage. [gee, no shit]

Will there be a number called "Dance of the Sugar-plum Pitbulls"?

Open for Business

If you have been looking at this blog- and I know there's at least 3 of you, you're probably wondering: when is this slacker going to get around to adding any real posts instead of just relying on widgets and lists?
I guess I have put it off long enough, so here is my first real post:

.....well, sort of, it will be a kind of a meta-post, since I am mostly thinking about blogging and posting and... why do I want to do this?

I'm 44, or as I like to say "forty fuckin' four", since I can't believe I'm not still 20.
I live in Savannah, GA.
I have a job in the wonderful 24/7 world of telecommunications and 3 kids under the age of 6, a hundred year old house and all the usual commitments of the family guy; my day is pretty heavily programmed.
I don't have a lot of hobbies, who has time? Shootin', music, photography and goofing around on the web is pretty much it.
I have never kept a diary and I have never been much of an original writer; I have always been better at editing something that's already been started.

The post ideas I have saved for later use are all over the map: raising kids, cool gadgets, political crap that bugs me, music and movies, interesting blog posts I have found, etc., etc.

Mostly, I think I am doing this because, as the cliche goes: the days are long, but the weeks fly by. I am exhausted at the end of each day which has seemed to go on forever, but before you know it... January and winter and 2006 and my thirties... are gone. Maybe this will help me slow things down a little, or at least give me something to look back on to remember what the heck I was doing way back when (6 months ago).

So, there you have it, I can't promise much, but I will try to be interesting, if not profound.

Maybe my motto should be "Better than splog"

Under Construction

Hey, folks! I am trying to get my blog up and running, but in the meantime, you can take a look at my links over on the right. Actual posts coming soon!