Trick or Treat!

I’m sitting on the couch while S and N watch a Spongebob Halloween special. I cancelled class this morning for the first time in years. An ear infection (I think) has rendered me close to useless. I can’t remember anything (e.g. street names), string together a coherent thought, or even drive with confidence. I hate being sick. Tomorrow morning I MUST attend an important meeting. If my ear isn’t well by then I’m visiting my angry, somewhat terrifying doctor.

So what did I do today? Well, first I sent out some work emails. Then I ate breakfast and took a shower under the orgasm-inducing new shower head (even though said shower head still has some bugs, e.g. it shuts off at weird times). I hit the library to return some books/movies and picked up “Baby Mama” for M and her mom and a travel book edited by Bourdain for me. Then I worked out for thirty minutes while watching some special on hot dogs (Superdawg made an appearance). The workout cleared out my ear a little and felt ok. I don’t have to think much when I work out. Then I framed a few new pieces, hanged them, and worked out for another thirty minutes before showering again and cleaning the front porch. M arrived home with mom not long after. We talked for a while (I showed her the kindle online, she might want it for Christmas) while I screwed around online. They’re off picking up T and visiting Costco now.

M says I should slow down on spending cash. She’s probably right. In the last couple weeks I bought the new showerhead, prints, some Day of the Dead art, and tools. Now, these are things I’ve wanted for a while, and now that M’s working we can afford them, but I agree, I’ll slow down now.

I’ve also eaten too much Halloween candy but nothing epidemic. My weight plummeted earlier in the week. Strange. I didn’t expect that. I was down thirty-five pounds on Wednesday…I’m probably still close.

Ok, more later. Stupid ear.

The boys just returned from trick or treating. Pictures to follow.

Today was quite productive. I fell back asleep until about 7, woke, lifted weights, and ate breakfast (eggs). After a shower I started laundry and knocked out a decent complete draft of a revised course. Then I jumped on the elliptical, finished an hour while watching the football pre-game and the start of the Bucs/Cowboys game, and showered again. M made rice and I opened one of those cans of Indian food I picked up at Whole Foods. Whoo, it was good. I’ll try to get the exact name and post it in the future. After lunch I picked up tea at the local coffee shop and finished a second syllabi draft and departmental update at the library. I also snagged “Vantage Point” for M and her mom from the “Lucky Day” shelf. When I arrived home I caught up on football and ate dinner (tofu/mozzarella/spinach/mushroom salad) and answered the door when trick or treaters rang. We had a shitload, probably 100, many in groups of ten to twenty. I wonder if groups from out in the country drive into town. I always feel badly for the kids soloing with their parents. They don’t look very happy. I hope the parents treat them well. Since I had the house to myself (everyone else was out trick or treating) I burned some CDs for friends and loaded up a new playlist on the mp3 player. The playlist is on now (Fountains of Wayne’s “Valley Winter Song”, to be specific).

Not a bad Sunday night. Candles burn in all the jack-o-lanterns. Good night.

2:32AM. Yay. One of the boys (N, I think) came in the room. M ushered him back to bed but I couldn’t fall back asleep. I guess that’s expected when I fall asleep before nine. Another rocking Saturday night in scenic Port Washington, Wisconsin, ladies and gentlemen. It just occurred to me that the bars are still open. Maybe I should get a beer.

Today was decent. This morning I hit the last of the autumn farmers markets. The vendors all said “see you next year” instead of “have a nice day” or whatever. I guess the air was cold but I wasn’t freezing, and most of the stands had a decent amount of vegetables left for sale. Oh well. Next year. After returning home I knocked out an hour on the elliptical while watching the end of a Travel Channel show on weird McDonalds and the end of that show on Jerusalem’s underground. I upped the crunches to 150, showered, and started laundry. The boys had free video game rein for a while so I ate lunch and watched some of the Badger game. Later M and N left for a birthday party up at the pumpkin farm. I could tell M didn’t want the other boys to hang out on electronic devices all day so I gathered them up in the car and drove to Whole Foods. We had fun. T and S are old enough to walk through the store on their own without constant monitoring as long as they stick together. They whored at the free sample stands while I picked up bulk blueberry granola and weird Indian food in cans. Kelp tempted me, believe it or not, but the package was too small for the price. The boys chose lime soda and we got back on the road, where they counted political signs (heavy Obama territory around UWM) and made up songs. Whole Foods is about the same distance as the farmers market; maybe I’ll start driving down to the city on Saturday mornings now that the farmers market is done for the year.

T and S returned to their electronic devices upon our return home. Dan called, so we talked about school issues (I still think most “walk throughs” are stupid) and the like. I had falafel for dinner and mostly avoided the first wave of Halloween candy. The front porch was a disaster so I marshaled the kids into a cleaning force then decided, while they were on a roll, to get them to clean their room. They didn’t like the idea but they did a decent job. Of course, I had to lean on them, esp. N, about every five seconds to stay focused. Later I also had to lean on T for almost breaking a new Day of the Dead night light. I love that kid, I swear, but sometimes he goes into outer space. I struggle with the balance of high expectations and pushing my kids to do the right thing and remembering my oldest son is ten years old. I imagine most dads go through the same struggle. I’m amazed at how resilient T can be; he seems perfectly happy ten minutes later. I love him.

Anyway, later I continued with the Sedaris before falling asleep. Today should be interesting. I was planning on driving into the office but I’m not sure I will because bad weather is supposed to move into the area. Here’s the weather channel website quote:

“Windy. A few showers from time to time. High 49F. Winds W at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph.”

Those winds are a bitch on the highway. I mean, they’re not horrible, but they’re reason enough to avoid driving to work on a Sunday. Maybe I’ll hit a coffee shop with the laptop instead.

I hear yogurt and blueberry granola calling me. Good night/morning.

T's latest comic, title, "What the bleep?"

The boys are on the couch with me. Well, T is on the couch with me, drawing, one of his comic strips, while S paces back and forth eating pretzels and talking about video games. T, by the way, adds sound effects to his comic strips as he draws.

I think M and N are upstairs.

This has been a long week and I’m somewhat frustrated with my lack of productivity. I taught pretty well, I guess, and I facilitated/attended a shitload of meetings, but it seemed like every time I sat down in my office to write and revise syllabi somebody came through the door with a boatload of bullshit. Oh well. I might go into the office Sunday and I will shoot, I tell you, anyone who stops by to chat.

What’s been going on at home? Not much. The space is clean, more or less. Tonight we took the boys to Tello’s, a restaurant in town, because M had a gift certificate. I’m not big on taking the boys out just yet. The two older boys are ok but N is still too young to sit still for long and I feel like I have to monitor him every second. Restaurants aren’t fun or relaxing when you have to be ever vigilant. I’d rather order a pizza and eat at home. However, I can see M’s point…the boys need to learn to do the restaurant thing sooner or later.

I just kicked T off the couch for kicking my computer three times in a row.

What else happened? I attended both boys’ football games. T played well, his last game of the year, S was fine, I chatted on the sidelines with a couple women I know who are on the Obama campaign. Rain has fallen the last few days, like the rain I expect on my birthday, cold and hard. The cooler weather is welcome. I’ve knocked out 60 minutes on the elliptical every day except Tuesday and lifted early in the morning Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday. I can’t walk down the hall at work without someone commenting on my clothes. I guess that’s ok.

The boys are driving me a bit nuts now. S keeps trying to look at the screen. Hard to type when the boys keep asking you questions (“how did you get so fast at typing, dad?”) every two seconds. They’re good kids. I’ll miss this when they get older.

More later. Oh, I finished the Bryson and started the Sedaris. Good so far.

When was the last time I wrote? Friday? Well, this weekend was decent. The weather held up for what feels like the last warm stretch. The wind is picking up as I write and rain should arrive by morning. I’m ready for cold, grey late October.

I don’t remember what I did yesterday. Oh, I ran errands, cut the grass, hit the farmers market, etc. Nothing too exciting although I wasn’t looking for excitement. I managed to work out for an hour and felt pretty good. Last night I fell asleep early. This morning I woke early, around six, and hit Target by eight for a dining room lamp. My eyes settled on a floor lamp with a cool shade (sort of like the one I have on my office shelf) but I passed a few table lamps on such intense clearance that I couldn’t resist the bargain. I picked up a decent lamp, purchased a new shade, and drove home. My energy was flowing by this point so I cleaned out my car, took it to the vacuum place, carefully emptied the garage window of broken glass, took the glass to the gas station for disposal, filled up the car with gas, framed a picture, hanged the picture in the bathroom, lifted weights, and knocked out thirty minutes on the elliptical while watching the Bears/Vikings game. Then, while M was at some church thing and T had a friend over, I cleaned the office, living room, dining room, kitchen, upstairs hallway, and upstairs bathroom before knocking out another thirty on the elliptical. Not a bad day, eh? I also made acorn squash with apples, blueberries, and brown sugar. Tonight I’m going to try to read and get to sleep early. Tomorrow will be a long but hopefully productive day in the office. I need to give form to some syllabi ideas.

I’m ready for autumn. I don’t feel as if it’s here yet…too warm. Bring on the cold.

M and the boys are finishing the latest Indiana Jones as I write. I’m tired…this was a hellspawn of a week. Where do I start? How about with Wednesday? I went into work early, came home to hang out with T, who was home sick, went back to work in late afternoon, met S at his football practice, then came home and got the kids to sleep because M was sick. After everyone was asleep I went on a mad, stress-induced cleaning jag. I felt like I was totally in action/reaction mode, and I was kind of loud and spazzy by the end of the night. On Thursday morning I hit the coffee shop because I was afraid I wouldn’t get anything done in the office before class started if people kept coming in to talk with me. M called near 7:45Am and said the doctor called and said T had strep. So I picked up T and took him to work, where I taught assessment while he played Nintendo DS in my office. I don’t think I strung together a coherent thought throughout the entire session. Later T and I picked up strep medicine for both of us, came home, and collapsed. By the way, if there was any advantage to T’s stretch of sick days it was the fact that he and I watched the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy together. Anyway, by about dinnertime last night I was ready to collapse. By this morning I had been up in the middle of the night two days running.

I decided, not long after waking, that I needed a calm, mellow day in Port. After everyone left for school I burned some discs and gathered a few packages together. I hit the post office, sent the packages on their way, and returned home to work out. I lifted (up another five pounds) watched the last episode of the first season of Weeds from the elliptical. A quick shower later and I was on the road. First I hit the hardware store (full spectrum bulb, figured it was worth as the light wasn’t working, but the light appears to be broken, not the bulb), Michaels (white construction paper for N, charcoal and charcoal paper for me), Kohls (nothing), and Costco. Oh, I also picked up iced tea (snow buds) and loose tea (snow buds as well) at the downtown coffee shop. Clouds filled the sky, with the sun peeking through at intervals, and I felt calmer than I had in a week. M and the boys returned home not long after me. They peeled apples with this weird apple peeler device and made faces on plates with the apple slices. I ate a sub (Costco sub bread) for dinner and later discovered the bread had a shitload of calories. Oh well, I was hungry. After dinner Shadow and I walked through the autumn woods (see pics below). We returned home near dusk. M and the boys were watching the latest Indiana Jones, but I wasn’t in the mood, so I took a bath with Bill Bryson’s book on Europe before firing up the computer for the journal.

The boys seem wired now, but I’m pleasantly tired. You can smell autumn in the air. I have more to say, beyond the day’s blow by blow, but I’ll save it for tomorrow. Good night.

Shadow and I walked in the woods late this afternoon...here are some pics.

I am almost back from a thirty hour bout with the “please kill me” flu. Yesterday morning M called me at work and told me T had a sore throat and wanted to stay home from school. None of my kids abuse the fake illness route (in fact S has never missed a day of school in his life…it’s a weird point of pride for him…he calls it his “record”) and, since he’s old enough to stay home on his own, we agreed he could watch tv or whatever until after my 9AM meeting ended and I could drive home. He and I watched the first Lord of the Rings film and hung out on the couch. Near two or so I started to feel sick. By six I was shivering in the bathtub, the full-on flu rendering me pretty much useless. You know the flu that makes you say, “ok, I have to get up and walk across the room. I think I should walk across the room, but that’s pretty far. Do I really want to walk across the room? Ok, I’m going to work up the energy. Here we go. Straight across the room…now.” That kind of flu. So I cranked the heat in our room, crawled under my sleeping bag (god, I love that sleeping bag) and tried to sleep. I woke at eleven, read some Bryson, and fell asleep again on the couch until six. The night was warm and breezy, so I left the window open and took in the fresh air. This morning I downed two Tylenol. T and I watched “The Two Towers” (sidebar: Fuck, those movies are long) and by noon he wanted to return to school and I felt well enough to accompany N on his pumpkin farm field trip. Todd from next door and I carpooled since adults don’t fit on the bus. The field trip was a success. I’m glad I went, as I had attended both T and S’s kindergarten pumpkin farm field trips as well. Plus I feel badly for the kids who sort of wander around on their own. But the kids had fun, I think, and most of the parents seemed fine.

I’m tired but I think I’ll hit Costco and maybe OfficeMax. Tomorrow I’m breaking my “work at home Wednesday” rule and driving into the office. I need to put in an appearance after a couple days at home. Plus, I’m sick of my living room. More later. Good night.

Shadow on the couch...

Huh. I had forgotten I had written early this morning. I could be out eating dinner with last year’s Assisi group but I decided to forego that invitation. What a surprise, eh? Instead I took all the crap off of the front and sides of the refrigerator, cleaned the surfaces, and hanged up a few of the boys’ art projects. The kitchen looks immeasurably better without the clutter. Why didn’t I do this years ago?

So I caught up on working out and my mood has improved but I think our family spent a bit too much time together lately. They’re ready for tomorrow’s school. M slept a little later than usual, as S was up late last night, so the boys and I hung out until she woke. I worked out on the elliptical from 7:45 until 8:15 and thought I’d take T and S to church while M and N stayed home. M said she’d rather take them to Target for Halloween costumes. Worked for me. Instead of church I cleaned most of the first floor (how did it get so messy so quickly?) and burned CDs for friends. M called, once they were finished shopping, and picked me up before we all headed to the new playground on the bluff. The space is pretty cool and we ran into a couple of friends right off the bat. This guy I know through the boys filled me in on a shitload of baseball coach gossip (yes, such a thing exists) until we decided to head home. M left for work not long after so I let the boys play Wii while I lifted and knocked out another thirty minutes on the elliptical. Once finished I showered and kicked the boys off electronic devices. They got involved in a beanie baby war while I read the Sunday paper. M arrived home near three, when T and I drove over to Best Buy (ran into a former student, I was glad to see he was doing well because he was kind of nuts when I knew him), Michaels (grand opening) and Dick’s (gleaming but still too expensive). Later I ate a salad and fake chicken nuggets for dinner and finished Crosley’s “I Was Told There’d Be Cake” (full review on GR tomorrow). The refrigerator surfaces cleaned I sat on the porch for a while with Shadow then came inside to write.

Not a bad Sunday, I guess, but I’m still a bit hyper. Not sure why. My knee feels better. Tomorrow morning I’ll run. Good night.

Did I mention I haven’t slept without nightmares in recent memory? Not sure why. More later.

Why good morning, everyone. A little past seven here. The boys are on the couch, alternating between the television and video games. All three are under the same cover. While the weather is supposed to hit eighty today, and I don’t mind summer’s last gasp, the air is still a bit cold. I’m not sure what we’re doing today, but I should get out of the house and into the sun.

Yesterday was a weird day. N woke me at 4 and I couldn’t get back to sleep. Normally rising that early wouldn’t throw me much but my sleep patterns have been slightly off anyway so I felt discombobulated and vaguely ill most of Saturday. N barfed a couple times around sunrise so we decided to take Saturday easy. S and I drove to the West Bend farmer’s market (only a few weeks left) and picked up peppers and cheese. S also bought a cookie shaped like construction equipment. On a lark we bought Italian soda syrup at the small West Bend coffee shop and stopped for club soda the creepy rural Piggly Wiggly we pass on the way home. Later I found out the coffee shop marked up the syrup from 7 bucks (what you pay on the net) to 15. Man, I understand that making money in the coffee shop business is hard, but don’t rip me off. Anyway, later N and I hung out while M, T, and S took in the opening of the new local playground. I didn’t work out all day and felt all weird. Bleh. I read alternated between reading Sloane Crosby and cruising the net. Later I finished rearranging the living/dining room and…well, that was pretty much it. Today could go either way, but I’m determined to render today positive. I better start now. Might go for a run after M wakes. Good day.

I’m sitting in the rocking chair in the newly revised living room. Yes, I know we moved furniture a few weeks back I made a few minor adjustments today after M mentioned a dislike for the couch in the middle of the room. I pushed the couch against the south wall, moved the keyboard to the east wall, and tilted the television so people on the couch could see the screen (although the unit looks somewhat precarious while tilted, I must admit). The tall plant is also now in the dining room. M likes the set up but thinks we should switch the keyboard and the elliptical. If the elliptical fits she may be right. We’ll see.

Anyway, I’m listening to Labradford’s Me Media Naranja while I write. Goddamn, this is a great record. James and Sean, this disc is coming your way soon.

So today was pretty good. I woke later than usual, past six, but M said I needed the sleep and she’s probably right. After a quick shower I drove into work an hour before the first meeting. P came upstairs, since I left a note taunting him on his door, and we chatted for a while. I didn’t get much done, but I had my laptop with me, so I took my laptop to the first meeting and knocked out my load sheets while people were talking about things of which I had already heard. Later, while going through graduate surveys, a female colleague tried to jog my memory about a student by saying the student was “stacked”. Sometimes I really like my job. Anyway, after the meeting was over I decided to cut out early on a beautiful day. After a quick and somewhat meager Costco visit I returned home and ate eggs for lunch. I answered some hanging emails before lifting weights and knocking an hour out on the elliptical. Yes, I worked out for about an hour and a half. And it felt normal. Interesting. The boys arrived from school not long after I showered and moved the furniture around. Apparently N started out badly this morning, saying he didn’t want to go to school, but he did well the rest of the afternoon. I snagged a pizza from Papa Murphy’s (the lady in front of me drove me fucking nuts…decide what you want, crazy lady) while the boys watched television. After eating we played football until I got sick of the kids bitching about 1) each other, and 2) my throws. I took a bath and finished Housekeeping (review on GR soon) before M and I watched the end of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” I probably should go upstairs and say good night to the boys but they’re up late and I’m worried I’ll distract them.

So this morning I informally polled my colleagues and discovered perhaps a third of them are attending tomorrow’s inauguration. I thought we had to go! Well, I thought we unofficially had to go. I know it’s not in our contract. In fact, the U email on it was pretty sneaky…one of those “please tell us if you’re not coming” emails. I’m not stupid…I’m not replying to that sucker. I’ll take my chances, if I’m not attending, on their failing to notice my lack of presence. Anyway, I’m having second thoughts on attending now. But I have second thoughts on attending every big university event. I honestly think I have some sort of social disorder related to formal university gatherings. Well, the disorder transcends university gatherings. I’ve always hated weddings, dances, any event where I had to dress up and couldn’t hide in a darkened stairwell or abandoned coatroom. T at work said I was going to have to pick some things and attend them, if I expected to advance, but I’m worried that advancing would mean I have to attend more of those events. Could I get a psychiatrist to sign off on my disorder and never attend another again? Can that be done?

Tomorrow I want to hit the West Bend Farmer’s Market. I think we’re down to three farmer’s market weekends. I’ll miss them when they’re gone. T has been asking to visit the Kettle Moraine Woods but he may renege. I have to cut the grass. Corey at work said he might want to hang out if we skip the ceremony. We’ll see. Good night.

I’m tired, already, and I think I’ll sleep on the couch. The new humidifier will provide enough white noise for me to sleep.

Today was a good day. I woke a little later than usual and decided to start with lifting rather than the elliptical. After breakfast and a shower I hung out with M and the boys until everyone left. The day’s schedule bounced around in my head but I decided to hit the library, Kohls, and Costco before settling into work. Since I had time to kill I cleaned most of the messy first floor before leaving. I picked up three books on reserve at the library first, then scoured Kohls’ racks in part because they had a lot on sale and in part because Costco didn’t open until ten. I walked around for a while but decided only on a light long-sleeved pullover. I have four or five now but this one, sort of an off white with brown piping, is probably my favorite. Why is everything at Kohls long-sleeved? Is that an autumn thing? Maybe I should go to another store. After Kohls I stopped at the new Dick’s Sporting Goods. God, that store gleams, gleams I tell you, but in contrast to my earlier hour absolutely nothing was on sale, although some of the running clothes looked very cool. Costco was pretty much empty when I entered, and I didn’t need much, so I cruised through the aisles, reveling in the Costco air conditioning hum, before returning home. After lunch (eggs) I worked on a new syllabus for a solid two hours. I think the revision is coming along and usually I enjoy the work. Still, I’m going to need to involve others soon because, 1) I can’t fucking do all the work myself, and 2) I shouldn’t do all the work myself. The program will be better as a team effort, although I can’t say I trust the entire team just yet. But I trust most of them, which is more than I can say for the team a couple years back. Once I felt burned out with the syllabus, I worked out for a solid hour on the elliptical while watching a season two episode of “House”. This was my first longer continuous session on the new machine. I think the resistance is a little tighter, in a good way, and I was covered in sweat by the time I finished. My knee held up pretty well, just a little pain near the end, but I couldn’t complain much. After 125 crunches and a shower I cleaned the kitchen and headed over to the boys’ school for pickup. I chatted with a few parents in the lobby, including punk rock Brian, before dismissal. After we arrived home I threw a pizza in the oven and let M, who wasn’t feeling well, crash on the couch. The boys ate pizza, apples, and apple juice before T, S and I drove over to the Y for S’s football practice. Dan and I talked on the phone between T and I’s informal football sessions.

The journal sounds more like a blow by blow diary today. Even more than usual.

I’m about 160 pages into “Housekeeping”. I’m liking the book but I sort of want it to be over. Reading this novel wears me out.

Good night…maybe I’ll dress up for work tomorrow.

My favorite library chair...

Wasn’t I on a plane to Assisi this time last year? I think so. While I would love to return someday I’m happy to be on the rocking chair, under the full spectrum lamp, 4:44AM, Wisconsin. Good morning, Monday. Today is the kind of day on which I wish I could get a good seat on the CTA and read on my way to work. But I drive, so I can’t read, but at least I can listen to NPR. I’ll probably work out soon, sneaking upstairs for my clothes, careful to avoid waking anyone while I feel around in the dark for my jock clothes. Then I’ll knock out thirty minutes on the elliptical to the Sunday football highlights on Sportscenter. Like I said, good morning.

What did I do yesterday? I slept a little later, until close to eight, since I was up past midnight watching the Cubs lose (yay!) and re-reading Azerad’s chapter on Big Black. T apparently barfed in the sink at some point in the morning, earning both of us a free pass from church (double yay!), so he played Civ 4 on the computer while I worked out and cleaned the first floor. At noon both the Brewers and the Packers were on television. I watched the start of both games but grew bored and decided, after one of M’s friend’s arrived, to cut over to the library to start Housekeeping. The library’s lights were off by accident, leaving the natural grey illumination to bathe the space. I sat in my favorite chair (I’m going to post a picture soon) and delved into the wonderful book, just what I needed on an autumn afternoon. One of the librarians eventually turned on the lights. I guess I didn’t mind. After an hour I slipped out and drove home. M’s friend was still visiting so I attempted a run but discovered after reaching the bottom of the bike path that perhaps my knees are not made of titanium and perhaps I should think twice about running when hurt. I walked home, caught up on the net, and drew with N for a while. Later I lifted weights and hung out with the boys while M planned for the week. I also drank tea and read a bit more of Housekeeping before falling asleep on the couch. Oh, I thought my mp3 player was dead but in the middle of the night I remember the reset function and the device seems to be functioning now. Whew.

I’m not sure if I’m driving into the office today or not. I have to grade papers. Ooh, my laptop’s battery is almost cashed. Better wrap this up. Have a good day.

I’m watching the Brewers playoff game as I write. The Brew are up 2-0 in an elimination game. I’m kind of wired…probably too much diet coke today. A special on Assisi starts in fifteen minutes. I stumbled on the listing while cruising through the channels looking for something to watch before the game started. I guess I’m in sort of a wired, bad mood tonight…not sure why. I think I’ve been inside too much. Maybe I’ll hit Borders later.

The last few days have been fine. Well, Thursday night work issues emerged but instead of returning home and eating seven quesadillas I decided to go for my second run of the day. Although the run both relaxed and energized me my right knee began to throb by the third mile. I decided to skip the run Friday morning and drove into work instead. After leading an excellent meeting I decided to blow off an afternoon meeting and head home to clean. I stopped at Costco and picked up some food (falafel!) and a new humidifier. I lifted, cleaned (kitchen was a disaster), and waited for the new elliptical to arrived. The delivery showed just early enough for us to make the high school homecoming parade. There isn’t much to see, just high school kids walking in the middle of the street, but the boys had fun anyway. After we returned home M took S and N to the homecoming carnival while T played next door. I took the empty house opportunity to watch the first half of “Iron Man”. S, after arriving home, asked to hit the football game. We drove over for the first half. I’ll write more about the homecoming game tomorrow…I’ve discovered there are certain types you see at every high school football game, and I need to get my thoughts on paper. Anyway, I fell asleep on the couch while reading Azerad’s chapter on Husker Du. I haven’t been able to get into new books lately. I’m in a rut.

This morning I woke, tried to run, and decided within a quarter mile that running on a bad knee would be a bad decision. The cold weather didn’t help. When I returned home I started building the new elliptical but decided I needed new tools in order to do a good job. Tools are a regular point of contention between M and myself. I have shitty tools while my neighbors have the fucking Home Depot in their garage. M also buys the cheapest tools available. As we have a little more cash lately I drove to the hardware store and dropped 100 bucks on different types of wrenches and a red toolbox. I want to be able to find all my tools without a forty minute search. Anyway, I put together the first half of the elliptical but, because I promised the boys I would play football with them at N’s soccer practice, I left everything set up in the dining room and drove over to the Y. A few of the soccer coaches didn’t show. The kids were all waiting in long lines to kick. N kicked once, got bored, and started playing soccer with his brothers at another goal. I was fine with that decision. After practice I finished building the elliptical with minimal difficulty. M thinks I can’t build anything, but I did ok with this project. So far. After some falafel and the rest of Iron Man (good not great) I tested out the new machine. I had to pause the machine twice to tighten a couple bolts but otherwise the workout went well. My right knee hurt, even with the reduced pressure of the elliptical, but I survived and I was glad for the exercise. What did I do for the rest of the afternoon? I’m not sure. I suppose I sat around and acted bitchy. Oh well. Maybe I’ll get out of the house later.

I’m in the rocking chair, hopefully looking forward to a long, slow evening and an early bed. This morning I woke a little later than usual, just before six, but because today is Wednesday and I work from home I could slack a bit. Although I didn’t feel particularly up for the exercise I snuck out of the house at 6:30 and hit the pavement for a run. I used the google pedometer site and decided that my route is probably close to four and a half miles. After yesterday’s day off I felt strong, only stopping to walk through a couple steep inclines, and knocked out the stretch in about 50 minutes. That’s not tearing up the course, obviously, but that’s pretty good for me. Three deer crossed in front of the police station as I ran. Very cool.

After I returned home I showered quickly, ate breakfast, and took T and S to school. I hit Kohls for Brewers t-shirts. How often do the Brewers make the playoffs, you know? I found some cool shirts, on sale, for both the boys and myself (M didn’t want one) then headed home. Although I had a hard time getting started I managed to grade about twenty-five papers, work out, do a couple loads of laundry, and otherwise stay more or less focused. Maybe tonight I’ll drag T to the library. I could use some time in the corner chair. More later. Good night.