Stoned Faces Don't Lie

My dad has been in and out of the hospital and rehab centers since mid September. He just came home today and hopefully things will go well.

Obviously none of this has been fun for him but he did come out with one great story. He had one day where he was really doped up on painkillers. At one point, he was asked who he was and he said, "Doug Sahm" (of The Sir Douglas Quintet and The Texas Tornadoes fame.) Later he insisted that he was in the hospital because they were shooting a remake of the The Buddy Holly Story and he was playing Holly. I'm not sure if he meant that he was playing Holly or he thought that he was Doug Sahm playing Holly. Either way - pretty great.

Apparently later that day, he also was asking the guy giving him an MRI how they fit all the cattle in such a small room. I'm not sure if this was part of The Buddy Holly shoot or not. I love that he remembers this stuff. Who knows what comedy gold that happened that he doesn't even remember? Between this story and my mom hallucinating that she had won a house for me on Oprah, my parents sure have great drug induced fantasy worlds.

Me and my pops, Doug Sahm, back in the 70's.

Snowed In

This is what we saw when we opened the door today. I love the imprint of the door on the snow.

I climbed out and made my way to 5th Ave to bring home some coffee and kielbasa. It was fun to walk in the street.

I hopped over the fence again to get back to the front door. SHR and the boys greeted me.

This is as close as they would get to the snow.

After breakfast, I borrowed a neighbor's shovel and made a path for us to get out. After the boys' nap, we went over to our next door neighbor's house so the boys could play with their son Hugo and so the adults could imbibe.

Tomorrow the boys have no choice - play time in the snow.

Pick and Climb 2010

I didn't make a movie like I did three years ago. I barely even watched any of it. But I did take many pictures of the boys while they played during it! Check them out here and here. Don't miss the end of Part 2 where Marc saved my family from possible disaster!

Back in the Summer

SHR took our first trip together without the boys. We went to the Twin Cities because we just couldn't leave twins behind.

Hey - look the Metrodome still had a functioning roof!

We visited many of the places that Marc, Jamie, and I visited back in 2004. First up - Al's Breakfast in Dinkytown.

It was just as good as I remembered despite the attitude from the should-have-been in Williamsburg doofus behind the counter.

Last time, I was at this old mill, I was about to be roped into some sort of Marc shenanigans.

The view from our hotel.

Not since my visit to Chicago in 2006 was I so enamored with taking photos of people's reflections.

This has been the header of this blog for months, might as well officially post it.




No mini-golf this time, but the spoon is still there!

Competing wedding parties!



A Juicy Lucy. Yum. It was good but still not as good as the Krispy Kreme burger.

I don't even remember where this was. It was near our hotel and looked super cool but was also absolutely completely empty.

Just like in 2004, the bar of choice.

The food was good but not as good as the sign. That's a hard act to follow.

For the baseball games we went to on on the trip, check here and here.

I Blame Cathie Black

At 8:15 on Thursday morning, I received a phone call from a public school in Brooklyn. They wanted to know if I was available to sub that day. What? I asked the woman how they had my name since I hadn't ever subbed in the public school system. I explained that I had tried to sub last year but due to the hiring freeze, I hadn't had any luck.

She explained to me that a principal had to write a letter nominating a teacher to sub for the school. I knew this information already because I had unsuccessfully tried to get one from a few schools in my neighborhood last year when I wasn't working. I explained that I now had a job in an independent school so I wasn't available to sub.

I asked her how she had gotten my name though. She mentioned that she had my resume. I asked if there was a letter attached to the resume. Sure enough there was. It was dated March 2009. So basically, they had my resume from when the school was one of many that I was trying to get a job at before the hiring freeze. Sometime between March 2009 and now, my resume had been transferred from possible applicants for a head teaching job to the sub folder.

I thanked her for the call and she mentioned that I should keep trying to sub since the principal at their school did write nominating letters. I reiterated that I wasn't looking to sub any longer and the call ended.

After the call, I really began to think about it and I have a number of questions.
1. Why didn't they call me last year? I would have loved to have received this call in December 2009 when I actually wanted to sub.

2. How could I possibly have subbed for them if I hadn't gotten a nominating letter from the principal?

3. They wanted me to work that day, no questions asked. I never interviewed with anyone at the school. All they had was my resume, yet they were going to allow me to come in and be alone in a classroom with a bunch of kids? What the hell?

Actual photo of the woman I spoke to.