I'm Just A X-Mas Kinda Guy

It is January 12th and I just took down the Christmas tree. It's a good thing I don't do lights on the house.

Hot Dogs and Pupsicles

Conversation between father and son while driving home.

“Hey Dad, what smells good? It’s making me hungry!”
“You don’t want to know.”

The problem was that we were not driving by a restaurant. We were driving by the local veterinarian. I had noticed this before, lots of smoke coming out of a large smokestack on the property, and the smell of BBQ. No, it is not a Vietnamese vet.

I don’t know if I could bring myself to take my dog to a place that disposes of the not so lucky patients.

Then there is this alternative.

Back in the early 90’s I worked for Domino’s Pizza. One of the restaurants that I worked at was in a strip mall, right next to a veterinarian. This guy didn’t incinerate the unlucky ones; he froze them. I guess he had a freezer that he kept the corpses in until a truck came to pick them up. There were many nights that we watched the heartless “pick up” guy toss frozen dogs and cats from inside the building into the back of his van. It was a long toss too, maybe 15 to 20 feet. Sometimes a leg would break off, but it was frozen solid so it wasn’t too gross, just sad. We made lots of gross jokes, but I think we all thought deep down inside, those pets deserved better.

So on the topic of pets let me introduce you to the new member of my house. His name is Ernie. He is a 13-week-old Labrador retriever. Sherri had a Lab when she was a teenager and always wanted another one. We also think the kids should get the opportunity to have a puppy when they are young, so Christmas morning we sprung Ernie on the kids. It was quite the feat hiding the little guy all day Christmas Eve Day.

A Bipolar Post

Caller ID is a great thing. I love ignoring that call from the LA Times or Emperion Marketing, which usually come at dinnertime or late in the evening.

One call I kind of hate taking is the one from Red Rock Canyon School. If it isn’t the scheduled therapy call at 3pm on Wednesday afternoons, it usually means Sarah is costing me money, or has kicked someone’s ass. When I got the call last week Friday evening I was reluctant to pick it up.

The person on the other line was Dr. Bob. This is usually a sign that something has happened, and it had, but Sarah had nothing to do with it. Apparently one of the new students managed to hang himself in the shower. Dr. Bob had the awful job of having to call all the parents of children under his care and tell them about what had happened, and how devestated they are.

I feel sick for the parents of that young man. I’m sure they thought sending him to Red Rock Canyon School was going to protect him from doing this kind of thing.

I’m not going to rag on Red Rock Canyon School. I’m sure they feel like crap, but there must have been some sort of lapse on their part that may have made it a little easier for that boy to commit suicide. I just know this place has done a pretty good job controlling and helping someone I couldn’t, my daughter Sarah.

This brings me to the happy-cheery part of this post! Sarah is probably 60 days away from coming home. She will get to do a home visit in about 2 weeks, then she will graduate from Red Rock Canyon about 5 weeks later. This program is designed to take about 9 months but my girl was having so much fun she hung out for 18!

We haven’t figured out what we are going to do about school. She will still have two more years of high school left when she gets back, and we are not sure if she can handle the regular public school environment. On-line school sounds like too much freedom and too easy to screw up for a teenager, especially mine. I know the two college classes I took on-line were tough.

Does anyone have any ideas out there? How do those Spears girls handle school while working? Maybe I shouldn’t ask.

Diabolical

I’m not sure what to think about this conversation.

Alissa (my soon to be 7 year old daughter) - Mom, I’m going to ask Santa for a cell phone.
Sherri (mom/wife) - Santa doesn’t give cell phones to 7 year olds.

Moment of contemplation.

Alissa -Then can you ask Sarah (my 15 year old daughter) to ask Santa for a cell phone and then she can give it to me.

I think it’s funny now, but in 6 years who knows what that little diabolical fiend will be thinking.

Christmas Idea

I have been involved with the same fantasy baseball league for about 18 years. Most of us are really good friends. One year one of the guys put together a CD for everyone in the league. It wasn’t just a bunch of songs that he liked. Each song on the CD was dedicated to each team in the league. So there was hidden meaning to each song. One guy’s team was the doormat of the league; his track was U Can't Touch This. The guy who made the CD burned Sinatra for his team, My Way. It was really fun to tease another manager about what song his team got. I enjoyed that CD for a long time. It was a great gift.

I thought I would share that as a Christmas idea for my blogging friends that stop by and leave nice comments. With all the downloadable music that is available, it is probably an easy thing to do. Most bloggers hang out in groups. Why not make a CD with each track dedicated to a blogger? Here is an example from my PPE list. It should be playing on the player right now.

Mocha Momma-Black Coffee Inn Bed
Queen Of Disfunction-Superfreak

Here are some other tracks that would be on my CD.

Hyperbolic Hermitage- Renegades of Funk (Rage Against The Machine). I’m not going to let her librarian persona fool me. I’m sure she is a renegade of the atomic age.

Long Drives To Nowhere- Nowhere Road (Fastball). How do you get to Nowhere? Nowhere Road.

Rantings of a Crazy Woman- Pump It Up (Elvis Costello). Kristi stopped breast feeding this week.

Seeking Camelot- I’ve Done Everything For You (Rick Springfield). G was in love with Dr. Noah Drake back in the 80’s, probably still is.

White Hot Magik- Never There (Cake). What the hell Nora, where have you been?

This Side of Patty O- Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad (Meatloaf). Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics.