Good news

I quit my job to be a stay at home dad. At least for this summer. And for the first weekend of JazzFest. And in July at my 20 year high school reunion. And for the week in May when the three of us go on vacation. And for the week in August with the grandmas when we go to the Outer Banks. But first he needs to get here.

Great news

The Ballards (brothers from Metairie who own WOW) have agreed to purchase PJs and bring it back to New Orleans. I grew up a few blocks from Steve, and we used to play football in an empty lot on Tartan Dr and at Girard Playground. (He eventually walked on the Tulane Football team and became a starting receiver. He honestly caught every pass thrown his way.) These guys are a class act. Great job, Ballards!

Cycle of Life

As Kate and I get ready to have our first child, my mom called with some bad news. My uncle, her brother, passed away. His name was Donald Dieterich, but for some reason we all called him Uncle Busty. My mom always claimed he was crazy. I always thought he was a riot. He lived the kind of life I always wanted to - he drank and smoked, played pool, talked too loud, cursed a lot, and enjoyed every minute of it. There are stories that I have heard of him hitchhiking home to Amite, LA just in time to head back to his post wherever it was. The stories all seem to indicate that he was in search of a good time.
He was a good man. His second wife, Shirley, had a stroke a while back, and he was doing his best to take care of her. It wasn't easy. He even became incensed at some tenants at some her properties and did something that got him in trouble with the law.
In December he went to the hospital. He ended up with double pneumonia. He rallied, talked to his brother on the phone, cursing that he wanted out of the hospital. But he was never able to get his full lung capacity back. His family made the difficult decision last week to let him go peacefully. That must be one of the hardest things a family can do. I know they loved their dad, and I know they will miss him. I know I will.
May you rest in peace, Uncle Busty.

Pick One

I don't remember the first time I played this game, but now you can all play. Choose one from each column to create a new (and perhaps crude) Dr. Seuss movie.

Horton	hears	a Who
	blows	a What
	fondles	George W. Bush
	tastes	a scientist
	smells	a bucket of chum
	farts on	a scarlet tanager
	squishes	Dothan, AL
	drinks	the Rebirth Brass Band
	dances with	himself
	transmorgriphies	a used car salesman
	annihilates
	wanders off from
	cuts
	burglarizes
	tortures

I woke up this morning dreaming about this one. (If I didn't have to rush out the door...)

A governor	has to get sex from	a prostitute.
A movie star	is being made famous because she is
A senator	picked up a man who he thought was
A young woman from New York	should’ve just hired
It’s always great a holier than thou politician	was busted with his phone number in the contacts of
Vince Marinello	was caught spending money on

Intrigued and surprised.

By this I am intrigued. I would go every chance I got.

And I am surprised by this. It cost a measly $20 to get all 4721 songs and TV shows off my iPod. Wahoo!

Now, I just need to download TivoToGo again, and all is well. I should have made copies of those New Orleans shows when I had the chance.

Weather, Email, and Music

The last week has been horrible in terms of weather up here. Last night the wind was howling and the power surged a few times. When I went to check on the computers, one refused to start and the other is slow and messed up. I have lost all my music on iTunes, all my email and organization, and tons of other things that I haven't thought of yet. The recovery appears to have worked for now. Now after painting I will work on recovering whatever else I can and installing new programs.

PS - I gave my two week notice. I am out.

Pick one

Bethlehem, PA is the home of MuskFest which sounds like it should include the greatest music in the world, no limitations on country, region, or city given.

New Orleans is home to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival which sounds like it should be have musical acts, arts, and crafts from only one small American city.

However, closer examination reveals the following -
MusikFest - Headliners - Earth, Wind, Fire. Poison (the original lineup), Lez Zeppelin, and Dennis DeYoung. Jethro Tull and Roseanne Cash will also be making appearances. Each of these concerts is extra money. The actual daytime fest features far less known acts of local origination generally none of which is well known even around here.

JazzFest - Headliners - Allison Krauss, Billy Joel, The Neville Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Tim McGraw, Santana all for the low price of 40. Beer is 3. Then there are the really good acts like Galactic and Tab and Anders.

Guess where I will be?

Awesome idea

Today, nearing the end of the remodel and the end of the pregnancy, my wife and I took a trip out to Babies R Us to return some items and get some necessities. Wow, I never knew there was so much stuff. We also stopped at Linens And Things for kitchen supplies to help organize the new cabinets. I love looking at items at the checkout so I noticed that there was a box of JellyBellies labeled BeanBoozled. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that each color jellybelly had the potential to be delicious or disgusting (vomit or peach, licorice or skunk spray, pencil shavings or banana, etc.). So I mentioned that I would probably not like the skunk spray one. The girl behind the counter said, "But you would be ok with the vomit?" My wife rapidly announced that I taught middle school. The girl seemed to understand my particular perspective. Of course, as I was leaving I realized that this would be absolutely perfect for my classes. I must find a large bag. Soon.

And the nasty ones are really nasty. Really. I still haven't had a vomit one, though.