One year on...

As of 2:30 pm today, I have been a resident of Hibbing, MN for one year. The wind chill aside, I like it and think I'll stay.

Lil' Porgy's BBQ, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

1. I worked there and will still eat there.
2. I joined the Lil' Porgy's group on Facebook.
3. I have begged, pleaded, paid and blackmailed people into sending me sauce whenever I lived far away.
4. I have deliberately scheduled time away from family and friends to eat there.
5. I own a store t-shirt.
6. As pictured here, I have been seen cuddling a bottle of sauce as if it were a crying child ("There, there, daddy's spicy little fellow. You know you are delicious.").

And since BBQ is one of the signs of an advanced and civilized society, why do we still eat bolagna?

If you are what you eat, then I am ham.

During the visit to my folk's, I ate plenty of ham. I like ham, but really!

12/23: Arrived in CU, where Dad was slicing the Xmas ham. Miri and I had ham sandwiches for dinner.
12/24: Dad put ham in the breakfast omelets.
12/25: The ham was officially served for dinner.
12/26: Visited my buddy Carl, who served us leftover ham from dinner with his folks.
12/27: Stopped by to see my old friends, David and Sharon, who gave us Virginia ham sandwiches for lunch.
12/28: Somewhere between Rice Lake and Superior, WI, Miri and I consumed the ham sammies that Mom packed for us.

Tonight, I shall eat Chinese buffet, where there is NO HAM!

You know you are in northern Minnesota when...

...it is 25 degrees warmer than it was six hours ago, and it is still below zero!

I'll Be Home for Christmas

For the first time since 2003, I'll be home in Chamapign on Christmas. I'm very excited to see my family, especially since so many of them will be meeting Miriam for the first time. So please wish us luck on the long trip and a Merry Christmas to you all.

Here is the King to sum it all up for me!

My new second most favorite song

You gotta seach my blog to find my favorite...

Two captions

Since I created both of these captions for this really funny photo, I submit both:

"Attempting to get sympathy from the judge, OJ breaks into his rendition of 'The Robot.'"
or
"To remind the judge of his status as a football hero, OJ strikes a pose like the Heisman Trophy."

Either way, it is great to see him in prison garb!

Fleas on the dog

I count the "official" beginning of the Christmas season when I hear the first Christmas-related song on the radio on Thanksgiving Day. Regardless of the fact that the holiday stuff starts to show up at Wal Mart around Halloween.

Anyway, the season started for me at 8:30am on Thursday, November 27 (Thanksgiving Day). I was in my car, on my way to deliver a special "Black Friday" version of the local free shopper, when the oldies station played "Feliz Navidad" by José Feliciano. Not the best holiday song, but so much better than "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."

So, Merry Christmas. Yeah, that's right, I said it.

Don't shoot me, I'm just the piano player

Miriam channels a young Elton John...

Winter sets in

When I first moved to Minnesota, it was already winter. My body was set for a Kansas winter, so it only registered the cold. Now my aged body is realizing that it now lives in northern Minnesota, where it gets cold earlier, the temperatures are considerably lower and stay longer, AND it is always cloudy. So, like all reasonable mammals, I want to hibernate. I sleep 10 hours a night, am sleepy all day and eat anything that can't or won't fight back.

My tiki room is a cave-like room in the basement with a big, comfy chair. I may get in there and not come out till April.

The up side is that Frippen wants to get his walk over with FAST!

Linus would have voted for Obama

Then why did we vote? Is it really this simple?

Why "time outs" were invented

"Never raise your hand to your children - it leaves your midsection unprotected."
- Robert Orben

I'm Ready!

Ready to eat, even when asleep. That's my girl!
(Thanks to Aubrey for this most excellent shot!)

I remember!

It is going to be a long 4 years...

Where the girls are

I'm bachelor-man this month, as Cole and Miri are visiting her folks in Terrace Bay, Ontario. They run a motel there and needed help for their final month before the winter shut down. I miss them, but Frippen and I are enjoying the quiet (as I'm sure Cole is as well).

The only problem is this: how will I ever get my gravy fix at Thanksgiving?

Dog videos

Why it is good that dogs can't talk:


Why dogs should not go deep sea fishing:

Think, people!

A rant

Ladies and Gentleman, let me just say this: I am sick to death of being told to "grow up" or be referred to as "needs to grow up." And this is not the preamble to some comedy bit, joke or Jimmy Buffett reference. I am genuinely angry.

I am a grown up. I have grown up. If there are things about my personality that are annoying or child-like, it is not because I have not "grown up." It is because I am human and need a few things to support my emotional well-being, not because I have the mentality of a 6 year-old or stunted emotional development.

Are there things that I do or want that seem childish? Yes, on the surface. But if you look a little deeper, or contrast them with all the very "grown up" things I want and do, you will see that they are my very human way of trying to maintain emotional stabilty in the face of some very bad times.

I get up and go to work everyday in order to support myself and my family. I successfully pulled myself and my family up out of dire economic and geographical circumstances. I can drive without mishap, iron out problems at the bank, get my daughter dressed and fed. I survived a horrifying emotional collapse after my first wife left. I can budget and balance a checkbook. I don't leach off of my friends, family or government AND take responsibilty for my actions. I thank people when they help me. I don't begrudge my wife a few nights off or wanting to hang around with her friends instead of me. I know what it means to be a father and husband. I don't need sex to make me feel good or fulfilled. I have accepted the fact that my relationaship with my wife is not the same as it was when we first got married. I have grey hair, wrinkles, high cholesterol and hypertension.

Now, why do I need to "grow up" because I want praise for a job well done or be thanked for something I did that was helpful? Why is it "childish" to miss people who I love when they are not there? Why do I need to "be a grown up" when things make me feel unhappy? I am a grown up, because all these things are natural for all humans, even mature ones. I would need to "grow up" if I didn't look at my life, see what me problems are, then try to change them or accept them.

All my life, I have battled low self esteem. Lately, it has been particularly bad because of the nightmare in which my family and I have lived. I have not curled up in a ball and wept till someone else came along to pick me up. I did it myself. Because I am a grown up.

Maybe you will see this rant as another clue that I "need to grow up." If so, you need to stop being judgemental and find out more about me. Believe it or not, I don't live in my parent's basement.

I will now climb down off my soapbox and return to my life. My grown up, mature life. And that's all I have to say about that...