They said it would happen. One day it will hit you, the shock will slide off of you and something will catch you like a perfect punch and knock you on your ass. I crashed yesterday by the memory of my father. I was waiting on the delivery of my kids’ new playroom computer and it just smacked me. There is no rhyme or reason to where it came from. My heart just caved in on itself.

I did pick myself up well enough to teach guitar that night and the new student is great. She’s got a great right (strumming) hand and she was excited with the new scales and modes I gave her for homework. I’m predicting my biggest challenge with her will be to keep her eagerness to learn sated.

I spent the rest of the evening watching both the Phils (’atta boy Cole with that complete game shutout!) and Flyers win (loved watching Malone get his lunch fed to him by a very pissed off Hatch). And what’s that? Timmonen and Coburn could be back by Game 5? Oh boys if you can just stave off elimination for another game… who knows?

I read some more of On the Road and watched half of North by Northwest (which is awesome by the way).

This weekend, I’ll pray for a break in the clouds so I can finish painting the canoe and perhaps get my flower beds mulched. I’ll run for sure. I don’t want my heart to fold inside out on itself again, but if it happens, it happens.

Oh and I got these shots from Mother’s Day… as you can see my nephew Zach and I are buddies…

• USA Political Election Logos 2008-1960
• body bakery - yikes!
• Foo Fighters Hilarious 2008 Tour Rider
• The Very Angry Caterpillar

until it’s just like Norman Rockwell

I worked on three new blog themes for the owner of NitroVideo last night, had a quick phone call meeting with a fellow developer on a new project, fixed a count issue with NitroVideo, talked to the kids (had a pep talk with Bubs about his behavior in school and told Pumpkin a story), did yoga, watched a movie, and drank some Malbec.

I wish I could write more about myself, but I don’t really know what to say. I’m still not sleeping well. I’m still numb. I miss 3 people so badly - Bubs, Pumpkin, and Dad. I feel like they are all away from me in a cosmically not right way. OK, enough of this… back to work. I’m working from home this morning, waiting on a new computer to be delivered for the kid’s playroom (the old one died). I need to work my ass off to pay for this unexpected expense, but the kids need it.

Movie Review…

Eagle vs. Shark - if you love Flight of the Conchords as much as I do, you definitely need to see this film featuring Jemaine Clement. Jemaine is seen still honing the über awkward Kiwi persona he perfected in FOC, but the film is a sweet, albeit uncomfortable love story about a man’s quest to kick the ass of his high school bully nemesis (who turns out to be in a wheelchair present day).

• Fuck it! We’ll do it live! - and the Dance Remix and Colbert’s Take
• Every Simpson’s Couch Gag
• This Peanut Looks Like a Duck
• LOLManuscripts

I had a really good guitar lesson last night with Becca. She didn’t do well with her homework from last week, but she gave me some insight into how to help her better. She needed more explicit instructions with what I was writing in her lesson book. I really appreciated her telling me so, I have been worried that she was going to quit and it would be a shame, she has a great ear. I could tell she enjoyed the lesson more with me writing down all the nuances we were covering in her book and breaking down the songs a bit more. I always enjoy these lessons more when I learn something too.

Well, I’m officially playing taps on my bugle for the Flyers’ season. They are just too decimated in the defense corps to mount any sort of resistance to the Pens. At the onset of the playoffs, I knew that I didn’t want to see the Wings and Pens in the Stanley Cup Finals, but that is exactly what we’re gonna get. Bleh. Oh and by the way, Versus announcers… will you please just get it over with and ask Cindy Crosby out on a date. It’s embarrassing. I know you don’t like it whenever he gets hit, but dear lord, just ask the girl out already. I like hockey… you know the real kind, with hitting, not this ice capades crap.

Movie Review…

Ghost Dog : The Way of the Samurai - this film really surprised me. I’ve always liked Forest Whitaker, but my impression of this film was it was just a lot of cool and bad dialogue (which seems to be common in comic book-esque movies). I was actually mostly right on both counts, the mood of the film is great, the soundtrack by RZA is solid - hip hop beats upon sometimes Asian themes, the photography is sublimely prefect, and Whitaker is great. The dialog is OK, but every scene involving the mafia the dialog dials down dumb and it’s terrible. Being the book nerd I am, I also dug the references to literature in the film. In terms of Whitaker’s body of work, I’d rank this performance behind The Last King of Scotland, but before Bird. This is an artistic film that can maintain the interest of your buddy that loves testosterone fueled gangster films with shit blowing up all over tha fuckin’ place.

• Dave Devries’s Monster Engine
• MUTO
• President Bush in Worldwide Advertising
• Things Younger than John McCain
• Funny Chinese Proverbs

I got a bunch done last night, which proved to be good, I didn’t get to talk to the kids… got crickets for the lizard, got cat food, stopped by Mom’s house and took her recycling out (poor Mom seems to have fractured her foot again - she gave me a bunch of lamajoons), stored some more stuff in the attic, mailed another copy of my Daddy Reads DVD (last one was scratched… I had recorded myself with iDVD on my iMac reading stories to the kids - once again, thanks liv for this idea), worked on a couple of blog designs for NitroVideo and ShopCurtainRods, updated the Battleship New Jersey website, read another chapter of On The Road, and watched a movie.

Movie Review…

August Rush - this was a movie recommended to me by my ex-father in law… I hate calling him an ex, he’s such a good guy (literally, his name is Guy)… screw it, he’s still my father-in-law… I have just made it so, by the powers vested in me. A lá peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! There. Anyway, this film is good, the musical performances are better. I was somewhat surprised that the most recognizable name in the film was responsible for the worst performance (Robin Williams). The guitar playing in this film is really cool (that alone is worth the price of admission). This is a rated PG movie, so there are some seriously hokey moments, but this really was a good film.

• The Symbols on My Flag and What They Mean By Jack Handey
• Flower Art
• Creepy Slacks Ad from the 70s
• i love blow - it’s an energy drink… for strippers apparently
• Cloud Cult in the WSJ - (thank you Chris) if you haven’t heard of the Cloud Cult, you should, they will kick your ass in half