Monday, June 30, 2008

"Carlinisms"

My favorite comedian George Carlin passed away last week, he was full of wit, wisdom and a wry sense of the absurd. These are the qualities I look for in a comedian. I posted a few gems from his desk calender "An Orgy of George" a few weeks back and have decided to post a few more here in the next few weeks to show you the genius of this man.

Things I wonder about the FBI's list of the "Ten Most Wanted" criminals
When they catch a guy and he comes off the list, does number eleven automatically move up? And does he see it as a promotion?

Things I wonder about the FBI's list of the "Ten Most Wanted" criminals
How about when a new, really dangerous guy comes along and they absolutely have to put him at the top of the list without delay? (Call it number one with a bullet," if you wish) Doesn't everyone else have to move down a notch? And doesn't one guy get dropped off? How do they decide which guy to drop? Is it automatically number ten? And how does he feel about that? Does he feel slighted? Does he feel maybe it should've been someone else? Has anyone who was demoted ever killed the new guy to gain his spot back?

Things I wonder about the FBI's list of the "Ten Most Wanted" criminals
One last question: Does the FBI search harder for number three than they do for number seven? I would. Otherwise why have the numbers at all? These are the kinds of thoughts that keep me from making any real progress in life.

In The Future
All the knowledge in the world will be contained on a single, tiny silicon chip which someone will misplace.

Why do they call one sport "Women's Tennis," and then turn around and call the other one "Ladies' Golf"?

Usually when you go to someone's house they offer you coffee. They say, "You want some coffee?" I tell them, "No thanks, I have coffee at home. But I could use a little pancake mix." I try to get things I need.

What exactly is a wingding?

Sunday, June 29, 2008

The Orrs

Kate went to college with a girl who she just reconnected with through Facebook. We found out they live in Manassas and so we had them over for dinner last Sunday. Their son is about 3 months older than Jack, so we thought they might play together. They didn't really interact much, but at 2 they are in their own little worlds - its all about me, still. :)

Denny is married to Shannon, they are a real nice couple and we plan on doing more stuff together in the future.

One of Kate's workmates, Lewis, also stopped in for the first time and we had our regular friends Theresa and Randy, too. Its always good to see the Gertlers.

Here are some pictures of the kids playing in the back yard and the Orrs:







Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Party at the Park

Reet and Ethan.

Jim and Ethan.

Thai Phi and Adam.

Jim and the Stones. (Sounds like a cover-band)

The Stones; Thai Phi, Adam and Ethan.

Theresa, Ethan, Meghan and Thai Phi.

Ethan and Jack, checking eachother out.

Blowing out the candles.

Opening presents.

GG getting thank-you hug.

Katie and her new necklace.

Me and my sweetie.

The boy, lookin' cool.

The Pavilion at the Park

We had a birthday party at the park at the end of the street. I made the arrangements for us to rent the pavilion for four hours, which is a blog entry of its own. Anyway, we rented it from 3 to 7 on Saturday and it cost $40.

Kate drove by there about 10 am and some people were setting-up for a party under the pavilion, so she didn't think much about it since it was five hours until our party would begin, but she made note of it.

Fast forward to after 1pm while Jack is napping and we have finished all the prep work for the party. Kate asks me to go down to the pavilion and check on the people that were there before. I drive down and, of course, they are all still there. So I walk up and inquire about how long they planned on being there. There is a lady who looks to be about 35 that the others deferred to, so I figure she must be the leader, or at least the only one who can speak semi-fluent english.

She says that they were thinking about staying until 5, she estimates. I let her know about our party and that we actually rented the pavilion, this is a surprise. She asks if I did it through the Fairfax Park and Recreation, I correct her and tell her the City of Fairfax Park and Recreation. She looks at me a little confused. Apparently she didn't know she was in Fairfax City and not Fairfax County.

She asks if I have paperwork and I tell her I have a receipt. A guy speaks up and says, how about we stay until only four, maybe five. I tell them that they are putting me in a bad position and this is not a negotiation. I came down early as a courtesy so that this wasn't a surprise when we show up an take the pavilion that we had rented (and they had not).

Another guy says something that was hardly intelligible, so I say "excuse me?" and he shuts right up. I was outnumbered about 30 to 1.

I just restated that I would be back at 3, with the receipt and all my stuff, so it shouldn't be a surprise and hopefully they could be wrapping up their party by then. They had used the pavilion for four hours already and maybe we could use it as well - especially since I had gone to the trouble of renting it.

3 rolls around and they are still there, but I brought the dog with me along with the party stuff. "Bobbi-Boo" is a very friendly, happy dog, she is great with kids and will usually disarm people with her wagging tail and happy disposition. The kids immediately were drawn to the dog and the other party-goers were at ease. They moved from under the pavilion and went to a nearby tree to finish their party so I could set-up and put out all our stuff. Everyone else arrived a few minutes later and the party went great.

I offered the other group one of the picnic tables since we wouldn't need all of them and they were more than glad to make use of it. I don't think there were any hard feelings, but I sure do wish the city would do a better job of letting others know about the rental schedules, like tacking up a notice or something.

I have a few more suggestions for Parks & Recreation department, too.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Love the Cat

Jack loves the cat, but the cat isn't used to being emotionally vulnerable, so he takes some time to open up. Doesn't stop Jack from giving him a hug, though.

Jack Rabbit Visits

The jack rabbit still visits every once in a while. He's kind of shy, but its a nice surprise when he does decide to stop by. This time, Jack got to see him, too.

Just for Fun

I was taking pictures and asked him to give me a funny look, so he did this...

More Pictures at the Fritz's






Jack's 2nd Birthday at the Fritz's

We went over to Grandma and Granddad Fritz last weekend for some fun. We got to swing in the back yard (Thanks Granddad) and walked around the pool (Thanks Grandma) and played golf with his new golf clubs, too.

We had lunch/dinner, too.

Did I mention it was Fathers Day, too!?! The boys got me an iTunes card (Yeah!!) and Kate got some very nice handbags from Karen and Tim. Yep, we exchanged cards and had some birthday cake in honor of Jack's second birthday, too. What a day. So many celebrations.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Me and Jack


More Golf

Jack hitting the golf ball.

The Next Tiger Woods

So jack loooooves his golf set and he has been playing with them every time he gets home. He is now hitting the ball regularly and connects well (better than me).

Remember, he just turned two.

I Like icanhascheezburger.com

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Updated Links

So I updated the links to the right of this post and renamed them "Diversions". These are some of the links I will visit on a semi-regular basis - check them out if you get a chance and let me know if any of them are your favorites, too.

I cam partial to the fail blog and icanhascheesburger for entertainment purposes, you just can't beat a picture of a kitty saying something cute. I also like checking out my sisters blog on her hectic life - she has a wry wit and doesn't take any prisoners, and I quote from Jerry Maguire; "...and I DIG that about you!".

Happy Birthday, Bill

Kate's cousin and Jack's Godfather, Bill had his birthday celebration on Sunday, so we went over for some fun and good eats. When it came time to blow out the candles, Jack got in on the action and knew exactly what to do - didn't even wait for a one, two, three, just blew em out.

I hope Bill still got his wish.

More Pics from Celebrate Fairfax

We rode the Carousel and a ride that was bumblebees that just went around and round. He liked the rides, but couldn't go on any alone because he wasn't the minimum height of 32 inches.

I got to ride a few rides, though and even tried something new, riding a Segway, which was pretty cool, I thought. Once I saw the pictures, I see why Kate wasn't impressed, I had to wear the Tard helmet and I was pretty shaky for a few minutes. I did settle in quickly, though, but it does take some time to get used to that feeling.




Celebrate Fairfax

Celebrate Fairfax was held on June 6-8 this year and those three days were some of the hottest days of the summer, so far. Huuuumid.

I volunteered to work the Libraries booth Saturday morning and of course had to set it up that Friday as well. It was easier than the year before when the heat index was 105 because of the high humidity.

This year the humidity didn't arrive until Saturday afternoon and stayed until Tuesday evening. After serving a few hours Saturday morning, I came home for a few hours while Jack had a nap (and I took a mini-nap) and when he awoke, we went back to the fair to enjoy it as a family.

It was blazing hot and humid by that time. I noticed there were a lot less people there than from previous years, about a third less, probably. I dropped by our booth to see how the volunteers were doing and they were sitting and sweating. They weren't getting a lot of traffic, nobody wanted to know more about the library, they wanted food or rides or some sort of liquid refreshments.

Exxon/Mobil had a Nascar car for their "booth".



Visiting the Petting Zoo


Jack and a Donkey (or a Burro, I am unsure)




Jack loves School buses, so when he saw the bus, he had to go in and see what the fuss was all about.


Jack and me riding on the Carousel, he loved that.

Catching Up

The last few weeks have been a hectic mess. When Kate got back from North Carolina from seeing her sister, she brought a nasty cold with her that stayed with us for the last month. After Kate got over it, Jack got it and then a week later, I got a version of it. Sore throat, aches, fever, chills, sweats and lots of runny noses.

It took me three or fours days just to feel human again. That was one nasty bug, but the good news is that since it was a virus, it can't get us again.

Kate had to go away for a few days for her PML (Project Manager Leadership) group where they do all those hokey exercises and team-building stuff. She also got to do some kayaking.

That first night, we had a big thunderstorm that knocked out our cable, so we didn't have any TV or internet for the next two days. It came back up about thirty minutes before Kate got back from her trip.

Jack missed his mom, so when she got home he ran out to see her, she was pretty happy to see her, too. I think he was just sick of me. Both of us didn't sleep well for those few days.

Glad things are back to normal.