Thursday Quick Hits

• The boy is doing well after the first day of school No complaints so far and he actually had homework...
• Diet still going strong. Feels much better since moving to Phase II, a bit more selection to eat and I am making right choices outside of the home. I am not eating out at all (ie fast food) but we have had 2 different situations at cookouts and I did very well, eating right.
• Rescue Me gets better and better every week. Please be watching it! Last night was fantastic!
• If you like baseball, baseball cards or autographs; go see my new site at Waiting For The Mailman, my son and I send baseball players baseball cards, a nice note and a SASE and lots of them will send them back signed. We might do some baseballs this winter. Check it out, we are having a blast!!!
• Speaking of baseball, man my Yankees are turning it on. 14.5 games back, now 5 behind the Red Sox and tied for the Wild Card. I love this game!!!!!
  

Today You Are A Man...

Well not really but I just left my son at the bus stop, it is his first day of High School. My wife and I are now the parents of a Freshman. We got a flyer for CLASS RINGS in the mail yesterday. Unreal!! I do not feel that old but then again I must be. He is ready, he had a great summer doing some things I never did and having a great time doing them. Band, amusement parks, camp and a 85 mile backpacking trek in New Mexico, add baseball, Yankee stadium and some free time and he was pretty well packed. Good for him, wish him luck this year. He will need a little help!!!

South Beach doing well. We did very good last night and I just made a nice lunch for myself. My parents and I went to breakfast after the boy left. I had an eggbeaters omelet (tomatoes and onions) and one slice of wheat toast. It was good and I am not hungry. Good for me!!!

Tonight is the only night I do not have to be somewhere. As soon as I am done with work I am right back here and into my shorts and into my chair. It is nice to have nothing to do for once...

Sanity Returns...

We made it through the first phase of south beach. Two weeks without any carbs or fruit got to me at the end. We are now on Phase II and the menu is a bit better. I feel good and the clothes are fitting better. Let us see where this takes us.

It was the final weekend for the boy. School starts on Wednesday. He is ready and able to make it a great year. We will ride him hard until he shows he can continue where he left off last year. It will be hard the first few weeks but we will get through it. We had our summer Court of Honor with the Scouts last night. The boy said like 20 people came up and told him how much he matured this summer. "Looks like a man" was said several times. I also let him pull the car into and out of the garage yesterday, gave the wife a heart attack.

Two TV updates:

Watched the John From Cincinnati finale last night. WHAT THE FUDGE?!?!?!?!?!? I gave it a shot but man oh man did that thing jump over my head. It was an interesting show but for the love of Pete dump it and get back to Deadwood, now that was a show!!!!

On the other hand if you have BBC America and are not watching Jekyll you are missing out on FANTASTIC television. Incredible acting by James Nesbitt (sp?) and the story is awesome. Yes it is a modern retelling of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, but man oh man is it good. Do yourself a favor and find it and watch it. They are on episode 3 so you have not missed too much.

Final note: when you stop by please leave a comment. I know it is selfish but I like to see who is visiting and what they have to say. Have a great Monday!!!

Tuesday's With Bryan

Well it is official I am an old man. This morning the boy and I got up and left for an appointment. It was Freshman registration time at the High School. He got his ID photo taken, signed up for a yearbook and bought season tickets to the football games (for us to watch him at marching band). He stopped and talked to a dozen or so people and then I left for work. A new stage of life is upon us. I hope we can all survive!

Yesterday was also a bad/good day for the boy. He was dropped off at Band Camp by Grandma and then she got a call from him saying come pick me up there is no spot for me this year. My mother drove over in 5 minutes flat walked into the band room where the 2 directors were speaking. She pointed at the one not talking and gave him the come here motion. She was told that because he missed the first week of camp (which they knew about because of Philmont) they wrote him out and he no longer had a spot. But please come back next year. She wouldn't leave and then talked to the head director. For 30 minutes they talked behind closed doors and then we they came out he had a spot. Band Nazis. He has a spot and has to learn a new instrument but I am still hot about it. He left me a voice mail (I was doing the news) and you could hear the heartbreak when he said he was calling Granny to come pick him up. Thank God my mother was there, I would have went through the roof and he would have be banned for life when I was done with them. She kept a cool head and explained the WHOLE family is already involved doing Fundraising and Water duty, etc. He gave up Fall Baseball for this and that is the way they treat a 2nd year Band member WHO WANTS TO BE THERE!!!!! The thing that gets me is the fact that the head director is an EAGLE SCOUT and when we told him the boy was going to Philmont he said enjoy, it is a once in a lifetime chance, there will be a spot here when you get back.

All is fine in the end but man I am still pissed!!!

Monday Morning....Da Da Dada Da Da

Ouch, the first week of the diet is over and so far so good. I miss some things and others not at all. The hardest part was seeing the Bourne Ultimatum without popcorn!!!!! We also had 3 birthdays this weekend and I had NO CAKE!!!! Today was bad in the fact that I left my lunch at home. I was able to get a chicken Asian salad at McD's and it was OK. I think the dressing had a lot of sugar because it BURNED my mouth. At least I was able to go there and walk away with just a salad, even though I would love a No.2 with a vanilla shake.

The boy is back from Philmont and is GREAT. He had a wonderful time and would love to do it again. He also said he would love to work there once he turned 18 and could become a Ranger. That is awesome. He looked great (lost 10lbs) and talked alot about it. We are hoping to have some pictures later this week so I might post one or two.

The niece and Sister-In-Law are back home after about 6 weeks visiting. They had a great trip and we spent some nice time with them. It was a nice weekend send off as my brothers and sister and related family members all got together for a nice BBQ/birthday/welcome back boy party. We celebrated both my brothers' and my mother's birthdays. Some family friends stopped by and we ended up playing apples to apples until after midnight.

Now I have a week full of scout activities. I have something EVERY night till Friday. Should be fun and long. I just hope I can survive the diet on top of all of this...

Pics...

Not much to say today. Really quick actually. My grandmother leaves for home this morning and I am going to meet her and say goodbye. The boy left yesterday for the adventure of a lifetime. In preparation for spending 10 days in the wilderness of New Mexico he got a haircut. Very drastic to say the least but it will be great in the end. The desert can get VERY hot and shorter hair keeps you cool. Plus 10 days without a real shower can lead to all sorts of nasties living in there... Enjoy the weekend.

Late Night...

Suffered from Heat exhaustion this weekend. We were out and about in the hot sun all day Saturday and come Saturday night we all had wicked headaches and no appetite! Needless to say a lot of TV and AC was in store for Sunday.

Father's Day was spent sleeping in and then an awesome meal at the local Irish Pub with the whole family. We spent the afternoon there and then back home to NOTHING! I sat and watched some TV, spent some time with the family, wrote some letters to ballplayers with the boy and sent them cards to autograph for us. It was a nice relaxing Father's Day!!

Today is one of my late days. I have to work nights this week (sucks) for a vacationing Director. I do not complain much at work about it as I have a nice schedule normally so this shift a few times a year (the boss also uses me on the AM shift as well) is fine. The less waves you try to make the better it is when you really need something. For example, I asked for a few days off in July, someone had already picked them (and she has seniority) but the boss felt bad she could not give them to me. She told me to a) pick some other days and b) she was changing the schedule to have me work that weekend but now will call in someone else to do it so I can have some time off that week that I wanted. It works out for me as it was not an important event I was taking off for and I did want that weekend for travel and now I have it.

So here it is almost noon and I will be taking a shower and then running some errands before I head to work. Seems nice to be able to watch a movie this morning and still have 4 hours to get stuff done...

Summer Time Blues...

The boy is out of school and now sleeping in the next room. It will be a long summer for him so I figured he could use some rest.....

Some quick hits:

Lost our first playoff game last night. The boy caught the entire game and started us up with a 2 out 2rbi single to put us on the board. He also caught 4 stealing and tagged out 2 at home. When we got home he cried because his 2nd at bat was an out and if he got on base, he said, he could have scored on the next hit and helped start a rally. We had a good talk and he realized that he did his part and that is all one can ask...

The Sopranos made it's final case Sunday night. Good thing we watched it or else we would have been spoiled rotten as it was even on SportsCenter!!!!! I am still processing it. I was annoyed at first but have been really thinking on it. And then realized what a great show it was and that even after it is done it leaves one thinking...

Went to buy a sprinkler on Sunday and came back with a 50' Plasma TV. I do not know how it happened but there we were in the store looking at the TV's and then we were loading it into the car. WOW, now I need to contact our satellite people and get a High Def receiver in here. So far even with regular satellite AND a High Def antenna for local channels it is AWESOME!!! Can not wait for DiscoveryHD and ESPNHD and HBOHD...

Sunday Wrap Up

What a weekend so far:

The boy has finished the 8th grade and I am now the parent of a High Schooler. If that does not make you feel old I do not know what will!!!! He finished strong, aside from the Ipod incident, so we have hopes for high school. He has a very busy summer ahead of him and I am sure he will have tons of fun. I am very proud of him, we have some issues to work out but overall he is a good kid.

Hit the Sam*s Cl*b yesterday to get some stuff for a little party we are having today for the boy. Just family but we wanted to celebrate his graduating. While there we always stop at the DVD section to see what it out and cheap. To my great surprise there were the complete seasons of Babylon 5. Those not in the know will say so what, but those who know of it will say AWESOME!!!! I have been looking and looking for these for YEARS! They are available on ebay and such but at great expense, I got the first 2 seasons some time ago for 40 bucks each (a bargain down from 80) so I have been looking for the last 3 and there they were for 22 bucks each! I got them and then gave them to the wife and said, Happy Father's Day. She asked what?!?!?!? I said, get me nothing and just wrap these up next week...I am happy like a little girl!

Is It Friday Yet????

Well one more day left for school and one more day left in the work week. It has been the longest week for so many reasons.

I am getting lazy again. I have not worked out this week at all. I should be out there every morning but I cannot get up and do it. Maybe next week when the boy no longer has to get up I can just set the alarm and get out and go. Maybe I will even bring him with me. Get him ready for Philmont.

The wife was offered a new branch, which is sort of a promotion. While it is a lateral move title wise, it is a larger branch and a substantial raise. The new branch is also down the block which means a 5 minute commute and not a 25 minute commute. Less time = less gas, less gas = more money for us. So with the nice raise there is also the nice chunk of gas money gone!!! Win win in our book.

When To Let Go...

The boy is 14 and entering High School this fall. He is at the age where he is too old to coddle yet too young to be left on his own. I look at him now and look at myself at the same age. At 14 I had been drunk once, kissed a girl, took my bike out after school and did not come home until the street lights came on. We would sneak our Dad's Playboys out and once found a Hustler in the park and kept it hid for weeks always going back and checking it out. I wandered far from home on bike or foot.

I was also a good student, Boy Scout, Alter Boy and on the Baseball team, Basketball team, Swim team, and Soccer team.

How much freedom does he get? Currently he always asks to do things and yet sometimes I feel we are suffocating him as his friends seem much freer then he. The teens are not only confusing for the child just entering them, they are confusing for the first time parents......

Long Weekend...

What was supposed to be a nice relaxing weekend took a turn for the worse when I got a call on Friday afternoon from the school nurse. "You child threw up, he needs to be picked up." Gee thanks. So the boy was sick all weekend. We did some housework around his sleeping, saw my brother and his wife when they came down for a BBQ and generally stayed home and did nothing. The kicker is that once again the boy has "lost" his Ipod. We are so PISSED right now but he is really sick so it is hard to deal with this while he is in a drug stupor (Tylenol Flu) and puking and coughing all night.

He is at the docs right now, the kicker is there are 5 days left in school and he had perfect attendance until today......

Who's That Knocking....

The men are here to replace the roof and when I got back from working out they were in place and working hard. Now I am sitting on the PC for a few minutes and all I hear is someone knocking on the roof. BANG BANG BANG BANG, the dog is going crazy thinking someone is at the door. She finally calmed down, thank God!

Heroes ended last night. Since you might not have watched it, no spoilers. I will say however that this was one of the best shows in a long time. Fantastic writing, great acting and a story that, while the whole family can follow it, did not dumb it down like so many other shows. STICK AROUND to the very end. The show ends and then they start Season Two so beware! We will be getting the DVD on this one and following it during the off season on line. IF you missed it, you missed the best show of the year, so pick it up when the DVD comes out or look for it on SciFi Channel. Great stuff!

The boy is turning into the man. He is becoming what we thought he would be. He has his hiccups but who didn't at that age. We are keeping the fingers crossed for a good summer. I can see my wife's heart break every time he does something "grown up" and she realizes he is not that 9 year old who would come back to mommy for everything.

PS David Bowie fans check THIS out.....

Alone Time

It is Saturday morning and the house is empty. The boy is off hiking in the wilderness for the weekend and the wife left early to get to work so she can be home by noon. That leaves me to just hang out in the underwear listening to Bob Seger!

I think I will play some video games today waiting for the wife to come home. I still have a PC game I got for Christmas that is still in its original wrapper so maybe I'll install it.

All I want to do this weekend is mow my lawn and then enjoy the day. The house is clean, the bills are paid, we can shop this afternoon and then are all done! It will be very nice to just relax on the weekend. I have a few projects I want to do (compost box in the back yard, edge the lawn) but they can wait, no rush.

School is quickly coming to an end. The boy sis make some steps in getting the grades up. All except English in which he does not like the teacher and the entire semester is based on one book. We shall see what happens.

The Razor...

Like one of my regular reads (Brent) my son is of that age where things are growing on the body. Now I am a hairy man. I have had a mustache since 1988. I shaved it off once in the mid 90's and my son freaked out because he did not know who I was (he was 5). It grew back quickly and I have had it ever since.

Now my son seems to want to join in the family tradition. Unfortunately it is that "I am 14 and just able to grow a little hair" type of mustache. So this past week I went and bought the boy some disposable razors. Now when the wife saw them in the shopping cart I thought she would faint. We are old enough to have a child who needs a razor. The package is sitting on the bathroom sink waiting for me to show him how it is done without killing himself.

Well I have 2 problems. One is that when I do show him, it will be official and I will be the father of a boy that shaves (shudder). The other is that I am not too sure I am the man for this. Shaving the upper lip is a tricky situation and except for one time in 1998 I have not done it in almost 20 years. I am sure we will all be fine. He will be happy to be rid of that awkward stash, I will pass on a father/son rite and we can both tease the wife about how old she is to have a shaving son!!!!!!!

Tuesday's With Bryan

Welcome back...

Quick Hits:
The boy took a bat to the head yesterday at practice. It was a swing stick bat but it did put a nice slice in the scalp that did bleed for awhile. He seems fine but will have a small scar on the head. It wouldn't be baseball season without him getting whacked.

The neighbor is building the fence I knocked over. I bought wood for it last week and was out there getting ready when the boyfriend came over and said he wanted cedar instead of the pressure treated I had. I figured sure, I knocked it down I will replace it. He then said I could just buy the wood and he would build it "his way". Even better for me. He's a little weird, wouldn't figure my neighbor falling for someone like him...oh well to each their own.

Book Report: Just finished The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn yesterday. For those not in the know it is the story of Mr. Kahn and his life with the Brooklyn Dodgers. As a boy in Brooklyn he grew up within shouting distant of Ebbett's Field. Then as a young man he was a sports writer that covered the Dodgers and then as an older man he went back to visit the heroes of his youth. These were the Dodgers of Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Carl Erskine, et al. It is incredible to see the dynamic between players and writers at that time. Then to see what the "Best Team in Baseball", a team that dominated baseball for a decade, broke the color barrier and won a World Series; becomes after20 years. All were out of baseball (except Gil Hodges) and all were working hard to make ends meet. People forget that the players of yesteryear were paid nothing and had no fall back or had the free agent option. It is a fantastic look at one of the greatest teams in baseball history and what they put up with as the first integrated baseball team. I highly recommend it! Check out my Book Page at Ex Libris...

Holy Smokes, Friday...

Quick week. I took it off from exercise as I was tired all week. I have been getting up earlier all week so that I will be able to hit it hard next week.

Busy weekend. Have to mow the lawn and according to our weather people I will also shovel the driveway. The boy has 2 baseball practices and 1 hike. He also has plans for a date on Saturday. He worked his butt off and finished his project ON TIME and very well. Is it an A+, I don't think so, but it is definiately B+ and up material!!

Is there anything better than Half Price Books? I dropped by really quick the other day and left with a Stonewall Jackson bio, The Boys of Summer and a trilogy omnibus from Britian that I have been wanting to get.

And for no other reason then I can, here are some more vacation pics.....

View from our seats

It was VERY cold (it snowed in the 7th)

Tradition, YMCA by Groundskeepers during 7th inning stretch

Rainy Wednesday

It is raining and dark and I am up way too early today. I cleaned and did dishes, payed bills and got all my morning internet out of the way. I am now going to leave early and pick up some water for work.

The boy did us proud last night as he worked his butt off on a project he waited a little too long to start. It is due on Friday, he had about 2-3 weeks to work on it but he just finished the book on Sunday. He knocked it out yesterday, and did it very well. It looks very good and he took the time to do it on the computer and put a lot of thought into it.

I need to hit Target before work to get a new case for my Ipod. I broke the belt clip on the old one last week and need a new one if I am to work out tomorrow....gotta have the tunes!!!!!

Some Vacation Pics

The boy meets Yankee Stadium!Three generations, the boy, me and my grandmother (the boy's Great Grandma!)Monument Park, Thurman Munson, no other caption needed.

Tuesday's With Bryan

Lazy bones, that's me. I tried to get to sleep early last night but I could fall asleep. Then the dog woke me up at 3:13am AGAIN. Same time, I took her out and then went back to sleep. I am wondering if something is going off and making her upset. I am not going to stay up until 3am so it is a working unprovable theory.

The boy is working hard on his project. He did a good job last night and even got his baseball practice in. He is doing well. I had a talk with the wife last weekend. She is tough on him, I think because her mother was VERY tough on her (anything less than an A was means for punishment and yes an A- is less than an A). So she is finding a happy medium and easing up and he seems to be reacting to it. He is in that moody I am 14 act now and I think the constant back and forth with his mother was taking the toll on the both of them. We shall see.