Back on this side of the continent …

Back from Spokane.
The conference was a conference. I listened to a few talks. Yada yada yada.
There was a great band one night, the best rockabilly band in the Pacific Northwest, the Dusty 45s. These guys could play anywhere. Nashville would be lucky to have them, and I say that as a former Nashvillian and frequent [...]

Cross country

Ahhhh. I love the West.
Wide-open spaces, views for miles. The mountains (or, at least, really big hills), the giant pines, the crisp, cool air.
Spokane’s just like I imagined it. Maybe Google Earth had something to do with that.
And I wasn’t disappointed with my hotel room, either. The Davenport is a beautiful example of a gone-by [...]

Like ships passing in the night, only better!

Trish needs to see her family, especially her parents, every two or three months.
I don’t.
I don’t even need to see my family that often. For most of them every couple of decades is just fine.
My in-laws live a 10-hour drive away in Kentucky, and I dread the trip. We seldom fly.
But one of my friends, [...]

Birthday chronicles V: no place to hide

It was my idea to save the bike for Ella’s birthday, so I hid it in a little attic nook accessible from our bedroom. It’s a little space under the roof, under the gable. You know.
Trish told me last night: Ella came downstairs and said, “Mom! I found my bike!”
She was holding a little shark [...]

Fair play

Last year the pony ride was the highlight of our trip to the North Carolina State Fair.
This year, she wasn’t interested.
“What do you want to ride?”
“The roller coaster!”
Fortunately, she was too short to ride the big roller coaster. So she settled for the pre-schooler ride, the Dragon Wagon! And the ferris wheel, the spinning teacups, [...]

I mean, I love it!

The last time Trish had her hair colored I made the mistake of saying this:
“Wow. Is that the color you wanted?”
Saturday I improved a little, with this:
“Oh. They made it darker.”

Birthday chronicles IV: The big purchase

We did the big-box bike shopping.
I just wasn’t that impressed. But I didn’t want to spend a wad o cash.
So last week I stopped into our friendly local REI store. There was a 16-inch yellow bike, the Firefly, on sale! Only $100!
That’s still a lot to spend on a bike for a kid who will [...]

Scoped

I woke up around 8:30 tonight. The last thing I remember is a nurse saying, “turn all the way over on your left side, and you’ll start getting very sleepy.” That was around 2:30.
I’d asked for the good drugs.
When I woke up I asked Trish if I had embarrassed myself. “Only when the nurse said, [...]

Noble Nobelist

I had a pretty cool day at work yesterday. It’s the kind of day that makes it worth going back, every now and then.
A professor at the university where I work won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
I don’t know him well. I’ve only spoken with him a couple of times. But it was [...]

More musings

E: “Dad, what’s this?”
Me: “That’s hot sauce.”
E: “Here. You’re hot.”
(This made Trish laugh, a little more than usual.)
………………………….
E: “You’re a very handsome man. No, no. You’re a very beautiful person!”
…………………………
Tomorrow I’m going to get scoped. From the top-down, thank goodness.
E: “Are they going to look in your stomach?”
Me: “Yes.”
E: “Are they going to open you [...]