Yesterday’s run was tough! I thought we were done with all that plus 90 degree crap… but oh no! I endured 7.42 miles around Cooper River Park. I was so sweaty that I spotted dried lines of salt on my face while driving home. I thought that was kind of cool, last time I had that was sailing on a choppy day (but instead of sweat, it’s salt water).
After our run, Abbe and I made a really good dinner – tilapia marinated with soy sauce, pinch of garlic salt, and a pinch of red pepper; sliced up squash with butter, salt, pepper, and topped with zucchini bruchetta; and baked sweet potatoes. Abbe wrapped up the fish and veggies in foil and I threw it on the grill. I really should have taken pictures, because it came out awesome!
Sneaking up to scare Abbe while sewing…
Movie reviews…
Cold Souls – at a certain point, these medium-cool, Wes Anderson-type movies need to have some sort of something that happens, not just situational awkwardness. I love Paul Giamatti, but this film literally had no soul.
I paid a pile of bills yesterday and I’m stressing. Still no word back from the interviews last week. No (paying) jobs are coming in. It was just one day, but it’s enough to get one’s complacent juices flowing to say the least. I got approval on the draft of the Climate Skateboards website, will be starting on a demo for a construction industry web/SEO portal project (a possible business with a good friend from my days at Georgia Tech, George Tivy), a possible project with Tink’s husband, Hoop, and I’m doing research on building a mobile phone/gaming portal with my friend Terry (of NitroVideo fame).
I was just thinking, I really don’t have much to blog about and then this happened in my kitchen… a little bird let himself into my house through a small hole in my screen door. The bird saw an irresistible tuft of Yogi’s fur on the kitchen floor which apparently would make the perfect material for the addition he’s putting onto his nest. I got the bird out safe and sound, despite Ziggy springing into action… and knocking over a nice bottle of scotch in the process (FYI, Nina – no scotch was harmed in the making of these images)
Last night was Bub’s parent-teacher conference and although I haven’t been getting phone calls about bad behavior and his grades have been excellent, I was a bit anxious to get the final confirmation that he’s doing well from his teacher. And he is. He needs to work on writing stories, not necessarily handwriting (although that needs help too) – just creative writing. So his teacher and I talked about ways for him to work on that. She suggested a journal (hmm, a private blog?) and if writing on a computer makes it more fun for him, that’s fine too. I also started having Bubs read by himself after he and I do some reading together at bedtime too. It gives him some independence and he also likes a few extra minutes before bedtime too. He’s been reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid : The Last Straw and really enjoying it. We also started a Neil Gaiman children’s book – The Graveyard Book.
Back to the conference… when I sat down, I asked Miss Held if I could tell her something first before we reviewed Van’s progress.
I told her about how his mother had been getting a phone call every day because he was acting up in class. About how the teachers were unable to get him to do anything in class and how he always complained when asked about school about the teachers being mean and the other kids picking on him. Now when he’s asked, he tells you, “great, another good day as usual.” And I’m not kidding. His test scores are always A’s now. He grumbles a bit when asked to do homework, but he does it and is learning to take his time (again, the handwriting). I thanked her for her efforts. Miss Held told me that I’m doing a great job with him. That meant a lot.
Hey everybody, I wanted to let you know that Abbe will be doing the 2009 Philly Asthma Walk and needs your sponsorship. You can sponsor Abbe, by going to the Sponsor Participant link and entering in her name “Abbe Meck”. This is a charity close to my heart as I have a son who suffers from asthma. Please give if you can.
Yesterday was so damn perfectly karmaic. Last week was the school book fair. I forgot to send money with Bubs and one of his assistants lent him $10 to get a few things. I sent him to school with $10 to pay the nice Mrs. B back. That afternoon while picking him up, Mel – a classmate’s mom came by and said, “I owe you $10″. I had forgotten all about this, but last week, her two girls, Emma and Abbie had set up a lemonade stand. The kids and I stopped for a few cups. All I had were a couple of tens. I asked if it was OK to give them a $10. They said sure and gave me one quarter back. I figured, hey no big deal. But I guess Mel noticed that her little girls made out a little better than expected selling 25 cent cups of lemonade. I’m trying to think of something we could do with $9.25, maybe plant something – a trust tree? I dunno.
Yesterday, I wrote about Maddy’s Etsy Store, unbeknown to me that I would be receiving this in the mail yesterday…
Some days, you try to do a lot of good and the universe might be too busy to notice. And then there are days like yesterday. I have a theory on that… I think it has something to do with keeping the hummingbirds happy…
Movie reviews…
Quantum of Solace – this was not too bad. I think the newer Bond movies (post Roger Moore) have been getting closer and closer to being good action movies.
I got mucho done yesterday – went to PT/OT, stopped by the library, picked up a new doorbell and gutter guard (which are surprisingly cheap), taught a guitar lesson (sorry about those nasty 7th barre chords Carolyn), installed said doorbell, hopped on the roof and installed said gutter guards, recorded myself reading two stories for Daddy Reads Volume 2 (I Love My Pirate Papa – very sweet, highly recommended for father-son reading and Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend – Scaredy Squirrel is the bomb-diggity), watched the end of Into the Wild (which was awesome), put up a wall art mural in Viv’s room (see below), folded a load of laundry, cleaned the kid’s bathroom, talked to the kids on the phone (a hummingbird came and buzzed right by my head whilst talking to Bubs), read a few pages of Big Sur, and then watched the first half of Trois couleurs: Rouge.
This weekend I want to try and increase my run another mile (back has holding up fine thanks to the hard work of my physical therapists). I can’t explain how happy I am to be running again. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get the sketch of Ariel on Viv’s door too. I also need to do a little bit of research into teaching younger kiddos guitar as I have a new student starting next week, my buddy CJ. CJ, is the son of my friends Chad and Meredith and if you remember from the summer, that was his birthday party we attended with Jungle John (suspected turtle lover).
Ok, the noggin is better today. I worked through it once it downgraded from a category 5 headache. I got a lot done on the Marty project and on the OS Commerce project too. I’ve got a ton of stuff to do this weekend and I hope to get the following list done before the Eagles game tomorrow afternoon. Here’s the list…
move chifferobe into fourth bedroom, move other furniture around
go get a voltmeter and test out heating element and timer in dryer, avoid electrocuting self. go to Sears and buy replacement parts as needed
shovel rocks and move to parking spot out front, this will probably take 3-4 hours and rearrange all vertebrae making me laying on the couch watching football all day Sunday a necessity, not a choice, mind you.
build new client admin area forms (PHP/MySQL)
Marty project – extend polls script to work with WP MySQL user tables and other business rules we discussed
Marty project – build admin area forms
OS Commerce curtain rods site – fix pricing issues, build faq, shipping, returns, and contact us pages
Note: items 4-7 can all be done while laying on the couch, that is why it is crucial that items 1 and 2 are done prior to 3. After 3, it’s anyone’s guess if I’ll be walking after hauling all those rocks. If item 3 doesn’t turn me into a whimpering baby, I’m going to practice the ride to work Sunday morning (c. 26 miles). That will ensure the need for said couch/football watching/napping all day.
I talked to the kids last night for a bit on iChat, it was short, but I was happy that Bubs talked to me longer than usual.
After turning off the shitty Phillies, I watched Brick before bed. I thought the concept of the film was great but the acting was poor in my opinion. I know based on reading the reviews, I’m supposed to like this edgy indie film, but I thought it was so-so and the lead actor was about almost as bad as Hayden Christensen (horrible actor that plays Anakin Skywalker in some of the Star Wars prequels). Another thing that bothered me about Brick was the score, it was really obtuse and that’s not what a soundtrack is supposed to do. I mean creating uneasiness with the music is a neat, but that’s not what the composer was shooting for that I could tell, because the quality of the tones was just poor in a lot of places. And being someone who is a stickler for this in my own music…well, it bugs me. The other thing and I always get hung up on this, was the dialog. When a story is supposed to be about a real life problem, having teenagers talk like Mickey Spillane detectives just doesn’t seem believable. I remembered watching Grand Canyon and thinking, this film is great and I’m glad this was made, but people just don’t start spouting off philosophy in existential metaphors when towing each other’s cars or getting confronted by L.A. gang members.
eSellOut.com – weird stuff for sale on eBay, like a heart-shaped potato chip.
Ok, the noggin is better today. I worked through it once it downgraded from a category 5 headache. I got a lot done on the Marty project and on the OS Commerce project too. I’ve got a ton of stuff to do this weekend and I hope to get the following list done before the 
After turning off the 