Responding to Responses

Constant Reader writes:

and speaking of t-shirts. you've seen my ob/gyn "we deliver" faux ups t-shirt. i'd love to commission a certain graphic artist who's blog i follow to brainstorm something new and hilarious... just putting that out there.

I have not seen said shirt, but I'd love to. I'd also love to make a shirt design. Let me brainstorm, and I'll post sketches for you.

congratulations on 4 years. and faster runs. just bought a new pair of running shoes myself after my first powderpuff practice of medical school. no suprise here...they're making me a linebacker. but i did sack a QB today.

Your Baby Daddy has taught you well, Padawan. We watched a little preseason football last night, and Your Sis is itching for the real deal to start.

We hosted Kathy and Travis for dinner in yet another summer-extending evening. She made a curry dish using a Malaysian/ZuluNatal mix and a homemade cucumber yogurt sauce. She knows her stuff, that one. Tania, their exchange student, is headed to Universite Paris X-Naterre and is probably on her way to becoming an ambassador. She wants to study Spanish and Russian. Somewhere is a yokel teen boy with no clue what his one-time summer fling is doing now.

What's the news on your car?

Picture of the Day
Everyone wants to stay on vacation.

Party-versary

Four years ago, as I write this, You, Lauren, and Your Sister were getting dolled up for the formal wedding ceremony. I was herding the set-up crew. About 12 hours later, we were watching The Village alone as no one took our party invitation seriously, and we opened wedding gifts til 2 in the morning. You've done a lot in four years. We've done some too.

I ran my 2-mile course in 16:56, a new record. I hustled down the first hill and chugged up the same hill to end quickly. I cut more than 30 seconds off my time from yesterday and more than 20 off my previous best. I've noticed these last two days that I'm warm for hours afterward. My metabolism is burning something, and this morning it's last night's smores.

Another teacher party saw us sipping homebrew beer (not ours), eating zucchini muffins (not ours), and making and gobbling smores (not ours). We all decided to copy this once a month on a Friday to be determined by vote. We volunteered to host the first wingding. Already, also, the buzz has begun on new administrator foibles and how the teachers should handle them. Nothing that directly affects Your Sister as yet.

She already warned me she'd work this weekend, and I have plans to fill my time. I intend to do a little of a lot.

Picture of the Day
The Innards Metro.

Eating and Running

I made a deal with myself: Buy a new game, spend an equal amount of time on the piano or drawing. I may have to craft a schedule. Mayhap. Perchance. Possibly.

The garden bounty means lots of veggie segments to add to the Spaghetti Bucket. What we don't add to salads or side items is frozen in Tupperware. When that container is full, we make sauce. Last night, that sauce was dinner. It was good too. Your Sis added tomato paste to coagulate it, and it went over noodles. I grew up around gardens. I have my own garden. I may never get over eating stuff I grew.

Your Sis has a big workshop presentation today, and she spent last night prepping for it. I killed time reading. Popular Mechanics features an article on the Mythbusters. After reading that, I polished off the West Wing scripts I started at the beach. If I thought we could get away with it legally, I'd add them to my theatre script suggestions. We've talked about performing famous TV episodes, and I liked the idea before I saw some actors struggle with comic timing and delivery. I'd love to do a West Wing episode onstage. There are three roles I could do easily: Josh, Toby, and Sam. I could do that. That would be ripping fun.

The scripts hold up better than some filmed episodes. The first season was a light romantic comedy with a flute-heavy theme song. Then the second season started with an assassination attempt, and the series turned to stronger stuff. The banter remained, and the wit kept the show afloat in bad times.

You know, this might be the material for that radio play I wanted to try. Maybe maybe.

I also just found out that there is a second script anthology from the show. It must be mine. I have spoken. And typed. But the speaking came first, and you must take my word for it.

I ran this morning, and I'm creeping closer to a sub-17-minute run time for 2 miles. That's good progress. That makes me feel good. Then I read in the paper where high-schoolers are running 5ks in the same timeframe. That makes me want to dive into a McDonald's burger bin. Still, I'm in good shape, and I want to revive my biweekly 5ks soon. The mornings are getting darker, so I need to get started.

Picture of the Day
Your non-medical science of the day: the sun's closest and farthest distances from the earth.

We Didn't Know Enough

A last-minute invitation led us to bar trivia, and thus the week was kicked off.

But first, are you OK? I hope you didn't wake up to surprise aches. Also, did you slug any nurses yesterday? Not that we blame you.

I took a copy of Monster of Florence to Jack of the Wood and held a table for the others. Your Sister, Angela, and Dan arrived about an hour later and much trashy food was devoured. Our team name was an joke between Your Sis and I from a recent trip to Target: Big Sushi and the Free-swinging Bananas. We did OK at trivia, and even lead one round, but we faltered quickly to the middle of the pack. I did win a t-shirt for shouting out an answer in the verbal round; I knew Patti LaBelle sang lead on Lady Marmalade.

I mentioned to the others my plan to perform at the next work convention. This devolved into a small argument with Your Sis about why I don't sing around the house.

My take: She hates all the songs I want to sing.
Her take: If I've never heard you sing, how can I hate the songs?

Anyway, she's a wrong, wrong person who is wrong. I suggested some songs I could learn within three years, including '80s songs. The Police, for instance. During my inebriated ride back, the Police came on the radio, and Your Sister dared me to sing. So I warbled. The song ended, and Your Sister looked at me with menace. Big wifey menace. She thought I was good, and she was mad I hadn't done this in the decade we've known each other. (Psst: Again, wrongness. We sang a Chicago song a few months back.) I think her hearing was warped by the evening in the bar. Also, who can't sing Every Breath You Take?

We chose the stain we want for the new bookshelves, and hopefully we'll have them up before next month.

School begins soon for her, and the teachers are restless. We did the bar thing with one teacher lady, and another is throwing a pre-semester party Wednesday. They want to wring all the summer joy they can before heading back to the salt mines.

The script committee chairman asked us members to come up with a list of ten plays I consider feasible and popular. We'll then whittle our lists to one and choose the season from that. I doubt there will be a next season. They've squandered their money and burned out the actors. Like me. I don't want to even walk into the new building to see a play, much less volunteer to work a show.

Picture of the Day
Behold the next House.

Return to Norm

I don't know how I cobbled together four Vaders, but I have. The most recent one, I do know, was a gift from Your Sister, and I carried him in my shoulderbag during the work convention. He's a vintage, late '70s figure. Vinyl cape and all.

Your Sister introduced me to a game called Bananagrams. It's like Scrabble, except there's no board or letter values. It's fun, and I would have enjoyed it so much more had she asked to play it after letting me unpack the PS3. It sat in the TV room and siren-sang to me for almost an hour.

We watched Dark Knight on the new Blu-Ray player, and it was gob smacking. It truly is an upgrade in graphics and sound. We gasped at the cityscapes more than any explosion. Every window was clearly delineated. Every building was crisp and sharp. The close-ups of the actors threaten to fish-eye. Theatres should go digital to approximate this level of quality. It's a different viewing experience, but I don't see us replacing our DVDs. We'll use the Blu-Ray for special films and documentaries.

The WiFi allows us to use the TV as a PC monitor, and we surfed FaceBook from the couch. Extraordinary.

The garden is awash in roma tomatoes. We have clusters of them dragging the vines to the dirt. We're harvesting the jalapenos too. The squash and cucumbers are on their last legs, but the corn is still going strong.

Picture of the Day
Back to work.