White Lightning Axiom: Redux: dull boy walking

Monday, June 18, 2007

dull boy walking

There is a whole bag of goodies I get to share with you all from this past weekend. Friday night included! Well, Thursday too if you want the dull details of me sitting about and drinking beer after beer from 1615 hours till 0015 the next morning. Yeah, that's a lot of beer and It's hard to keep a good buz going when your super-accelerated metabolism burns through everything you put in your maw before it even gets to the gut. Either way, I pretty much bumbled through the next day half aware and partially uninterested in doing anything but making it to quitting time. You have to abuse yourself every once in a while so you realize just how 'glamorous' this kind of lifestyle really is. Fabulous! I did get to talk to some interesting people while I was there though. Yep, I can almost remember their names too!

Speaking of toxic lifestyles and products, I've gotten a few emails from friends and family about Jovial Jake's collection of Thomas the Tank Engine toys. Apparently, putting arsenic in tooth paste and substituting paint for baby formula was not good enough for the Chinese export fraud ... they now go the extra mile to find paint with lead in it for children's toys. Trying to find paint WITH lead in it is like trying to proselytize the joys of Jihad to the Buddhists. Futile here in the States and other industrialized nations. Indeed, we are getting our just deserts. Ok, ok ... off the soap-box. We went through the 1000 or so items that Jake has and found about 5 or 6 items that were on the list. Fortunately, they were recent acquisitions and were barely out of the box so no 'chewing' had occurred. He's over that behavior, but sometimes things are too tempting. Going to have to introduce him to chewing gum, but the Ever Patient Mrs knows that he will end up doing the same thing I do .... swallow it. Yeah, I know, 'ick'. It HAPPENS!

Speaking of parental oversite, the GrandParentalUnits came down from the FOB on a resupply mission. You see, they were running low on hugs-n-kisses from the grand-kids. The Tyrannical Twins immediately began clamber all over them the minute the Big Black Truck came to a stop and the cab portals opened. Fortunately for me, This meant that I would get an extra few sets of hands to help wear down the twins over Father's Day weekend. Gramps went to town and sanded nearly all the 1000sq foot floor that will be Jakes room and helped me set up the polyurethane containment work-room for the chair-rail and molding in the garage. With all that out of the way, we got to kick back and sit in the shade for a bit while the Twins engaged in mortal combat to see who got to sit closest to Gramps. Ok, have I ever mentioned that my Dad is my biggest Hero? No? Are you sure, I'll have to have the team do some research on that. You know that Gramps is the Shiznaz when you wake up at 0915 on Sunday to find that the Tyrants are happily eating breakfast and are already dressed for church. 0915 already!? But, but, the Tyrants usually start pounding on my head at 0515 on Sunday morning! So yes, Grams is a Hero figure that is a suitable role model for my children AND can get them to sit still while he tries desperately to give a disquisition on opening gambits in chess involving Knights, Pawns AND Bishops with the Queen as an anchor. Kinda like family life, where the queen is both revered and feared for she is the gateway to the King. King Dad.

This week, I'm on the Russian Roulette pager duty of 'on call' 4th level support. I could get no calls, I could get 3 a day. Sun spot activity could cause massive network failures and the switch-board will light up and klaxon alarm will sound out proclaiming that the beleaguered public is no longer able to view Girls Gone Wild : Blondes at their leisure. Yeah, that happened once before. Priorities folks ... not predilections for strolling Piccadilly. In any event, if I actually post ANYTHING, it will be due to the whims of fate. As an upbeat ending, I'll give you this: I was demonstrating the first staff form in TSD for my parents and for giggles, I gave Jake a walking stick (about 3 foot tall) so he could 'play' along. He did his best and darned good job of mimicking my every move. Some of the more complicated maneuvers were short-circuited, but he was about as happy as a puppy with two peters. Damn sharp of him.

UPDATE: I read this over at Sand in the Gears and it really should be a required read for all fathers:

I lay awake for a time after the house was completely dark and silent, thinking thank you over and over in my mind, whispering it to God. And he must say I know when we think him for our children, because he is a father too. It is good to be a father. More fathers should try it. If I can get this right, I keep telling myself, the rest of it doesn't matter. Be a good husband. Be a good father. The rest of it fades away almost as soon as we are cold in the ground. Help me get this right. That's what I whisper to God in between the thank yous.