The Almost Homecoming

The Almost Homecoming
Originally uploaded by CyberJazzDaddy.

This is the outfit that my daughter and her mother got together for Homecoming. Very Stevie Nicks, they thought.

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a break up in the Kitten's life with really bad timing. It was very amicable. Their paths diverged in the wood and the took opposite forks. After that she just wasn't up to seeing all the other cozy couples at the dance.

Her afternoon was filled with watching and episode of Doctor Who we have on DVD with a friend who hadn't seen the finale of season 3. Kitten was even ok that this friend stopped in between her Homecoming hair appointment and getting her nails done.

Later, though, my poor little girl did have a little trouble when things got slow and she couldn't get her mind off it. But she recovered enough to take pictures of her friends in their Homecoming attire before they went to the dance.

After that is was "Daddy Date". I took her over to the grandparents house (they we out and have a killer home theater set-up), and we had a little Tim Burton film fest. She said she enjoyed the evening after all.

The mom was still disappointed that she didn't get to use the fun get-up.

Do it. Do it! You know you want to. Go ahead--talk like a pirate. . .Arrg.

My pirate name is:

Black William Kidd

Like anyone confronted with the harshness of robbery on the high seas, you can be pessimistic at times. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

And my Wife:

My Wife's pirate name is:

Mad Jenny Bonney

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Oh, and if you have a Flickr account you can scroll to the bottom where the language choices are and change your choice to "Arr" and Flickr will talk to you like a pirate! How stinkin' cool is that!

Just a little

Sitting here. Empty house.

Bear gone with Mom. Dentist. Having work done. Hope he manages all right. Poor little dude. Sending up little prayers.

Got to go get Lemur from school soon. He likes having his dad home. He's eager to do homework because we're doing it together. Now that I'm home and can.

But for now, just sit. Just quiet.

Robo bought a new cell phone yesterday with his birthday money. Prepaid. He feels like he's part of the world now.

Daughter has play practice tonight. Her first real part on stage in a main High School show with lines and everything.

It's fall of her Junior year. They're doing The Crucible.

In the fall of my Junior year, at this same school (with a different director), I did The Crucible.

She's playing the character of Mary Warren.

In that fall of 1985, her mother was in this same play with me, playing Mary Warren.

At our first read through, her mother came in wearing purple sweatpants and a matching purple sweatshirt.

My wife told my daughter if she goes to her first rehearsal and sees someone wearing purple----run.

Update: Bear and mom return. Puffy little cheek. Apparently there were tears. He's ok now though. Has to go back in future to get other side done. More prayers.

For the Mom

Last night I was at Lemur's soccer game with my mom and she happened to mention that she really missed reading my blog at night before going to sleep. It has been a while. I've kind of been busy with life a little, and she totally understands, but at the same time I also know what it's like to check a blog day after day, watching it like a perpetually empty mailbox for the day when the bliss it provides will return. So tonight I've set aside time to write a little. It may not be anything particularly wonderful, but it will be words on the screen. (And a little love to the momma).

If you have been following my Twitter postings on the side bar there, then you are no doubt aware that I am currently on my Sabbatical from work. What is going on there is that our very young company (young to the business world, put a pillar that has stood the test of time by Internet standards) has decided to give an incentive to it's workers to stay with the company. This incentive comes in the form of an extra 4 week block of paid time off after each 5th year of service. I kind of believe that we are the beneficiaries of our main company offices being in the Tech Valley in CA. I understand that the job market is pretty brutal out there and so companies have to be extra aggressive to keep the talent. And here I am in the middle of fly-over country loving every crumb that drops from the table.

Since this is such a remarkable thing for a company to do, many people in the office take once in a lifetime type trips to celebrate. I've heard of more than a few marriages have planned their happy day around this break so as to take an extra long honeymoon. One manager that I went to high school with has a brother-in-law living in Switzerland, so he took his family to spend the month in Europe. There was even one gentleman who lived a life long dream and followed the Yankees on the road, taking in 21 games in that month in several states.

And then there's me. I'm not in a place to do anything so grand. The money isn't there for a fancy trip, so I'm simply living every simple little thing I'm not able to normally because time doesn't permit when I'm working. I did start my break by attending a three day music festival in Sioux Falls SD with my oldest two, which was amazing. We may have to make that an annual event. If I can't get to Cornerstone, this is the next best thing.

Before that I was checking the Ditty Bops website for concert dates and got a great surprise. I had seen that they had gotten as close as Kansas before and thought that this was the only group I knew the Lemur would get into, so I thought it might make a good road trip for us since he wouldn't be much interested in the festival, except for the fact that I was doing something with the other two and not him. As it turned out, they were coming through to Lincoln, only an hour away! So we loaded up and went. It was an all ages show in a little dive attached to a local watering hole in the downtown area and we got back way after his bedtime on a school night, but it was so worth it. Those girls are Fantastic live. I can't wait to see them again. It was his first proper real concert and he was so tuned into the whole experience.

Since then I've been living the simple life, working around the house, fixing little things that have been hanging around my neck for the past several years. Patching a hole in the driveway, finishing the fence, going through the stuff in the attic. Also doing things with the family that I usually miss out on. Such as attending the soccer game I mentioned at the top. Also, picking up the kids from school, helping with homework. And because they are at school part of the day, the wife and I have taken advantage of that time to get a little re-acquainted. Just being alone in the house together is a unique occurrence. We've taken walks, gone down to the locally owned coffee shop in the middle of the morning, rented and watched movies in the middle of the day. We've even had our first eBay sale (I think I made a whole buck).

None of this is even mildly impressive and I'm sure I'm going to have a workmate or two who will silently (or maybe not so silently) feel I've squandered this rare gift. But far from squandering, from my perspective I've cashed it in a very rewarding way.

And I even snuck in a trip to the Apple store. Have you seen the new Nano? It's a crazy small gorgeous little piece of wonder!