As if that isn’t a creepy enough title, the reality is that I have been wandering around on FaceBook looking for alums from my high school in Hartford, Michigan.
I found a couple, but found more of their kids. That is creepy. Am I some kind of freak that I am so into this internet thing? What is this saying about me?
Hmm. Hopefully I didn’t freak too many folks out. I am harmless, guys. Really.
Just a little off center.
Namaste.
Taking it easy this Labor Day morning. I have some major housecleaning to do, but right now I am just hangin’ and watching the news.
Took a small journey through the past, looking at what I was doing last year at this time and it seems that I was just a might bitter about having to work on Labor Day.
I also had one of my kids celebrate a birthday.
I didn’t have a Sheetz burger last night, I had frozen pizza, but it looks like my eating habits haven’t changed much over the past year. Nor my way of looking at things.
MLW and The Princess are coming home tomorrow. Consequently I have to clean up the beer bottles, and do the dishes. We had folks in on Saturday who painted, and finished putting up the cabinets in the kitchen. Now all we have to do is to paper the walls and the kitchen is done. That is exciting. We also upgraded the electrical service in this house finally. Now I can run the dishwasher and the microwave without popping breakers.
Looks like things are looking up.
What is going on in your world?
Namaste.
I was thinking that tonight would be a little more noisy than what it is. Sundays in our little town is usually a pretty sedate affair. Couples out walking their dogs, or just to be with one another. Kids riding back and forth the street.
We have an really good ice cream store just up the block. Rakestraw’s is what it is called. They used to make the ice cream on site, but that has gone the way of walking safely at night. But that being said, what ice cream is bad? None as far as I am concerned.
Regardless, tonight is like an indian summer night during the school year which is in direct conflict with this being the last summer holiday weekend. There should be music blaring, charcoal burning, and kids playing and laughing in the backyard.
Bummer. Summer is really over.
Namaste.
Verizon has a catchy little commercial wrapped around that little phrase. Started out with the one geekly looking guy walking around with his telephone out asking
“Can you hear me now?”
And a lot of us bought it. Hook, line, and sinker. Me, and MLW included. See, a year ago we were with another cell phone carrier. And not happy. Seemed like we were being nickel and dimed to death. Rate increases, and we weren’t getting that great of reception. And then a few of MLW’s friends started talking to her about Verizon.
You see, MLW goes camping in the Fall with some of her High School classmates. In the mountains of Pennsylvania. All of her buddies were able to contact their significants without any problem. MLW had to borrow one of their phones to call The Princess and I.
That did not go over well. It was an inconvenience that did not need to be. So we started talking about changing carriers, and because I got a corporate rate from Verizon, we went with them.
Then we had to pick out phones. Me, I am not cool so I went with a Nokia flip phone. I works. It rings, life is good. But The Princess had to have a Strawberry Chocolate, and MLW had seen The Razr. That was that for them.
Until MLW found that her nifty, cute little phone got worse reception than what she had with the old company. So I called Verizon and told them our concerns. The nice lady on who answered the phone suggested that I take it to a Verizon store, or kiosk at the mall and have them do a “download”. And I did. Unfortunately, the nice young man at the kiosk told me that there wasn’t a whole bunch that could be done. That the Razr was a quick produced phone to match a competitor and would never equal the reception I get with my Nokia.
And I had to go back home and tell that to MLW. Not good. What was even more frustrating to her is that on our vacation last week, both The Princess and I had wonderful reception on our phones. While MLW had zip. So, she would have to use one of our phones to make any calls that she wanted to make.
Verizon, I am asking nicely. Please get me a phone that gets the reception that you advertise, is stylish, and I can afford for MLW. She is a hard working woman who has to put up with me on a daily basis. Let’s help the woman out, ok?
Thanks.
Namaste.
Is it wrong for me to use the Jo Bros as a title knowing that it will rank higher in Google searches?
Knowing that some tweener in the middle of the night is going to be searching for some sniglet of information that she doesn’t already know about her one true love, and end up here? Is that wrong?
Somehow the parent in me wants to know what the heck that tweener is doing up in the middle of the night doing searches, instead of being in bed like they should be.
Moving on.
Only a scant few hours lie between me and 13 tweeners who will be coming to my house to help The Princess ransack and destroy said house. Yes, you read that correctly. 13 girls. All between the ages of 12, and 13. In my house. Overnight. And I have to work the next morning. Go to a meeting, actually, but it is a meeting that I can’t nod off in. Bummer.
The tweeners descend upon our house at 6pm Wednesday evening. We will do the obligatory present opening thing to get it out of the way first, and then we will be piling into vehicles to ferry said tweeners to The Sports Emporium.
Ominous background music inserted here.
At the Emporium of Sports we will be playing a raucous, and blood-thirsty game of laser tag. I get to play. Because I whined about it. After that, we come home. Eat cake, ice cream, and fire up the computers in the house so that dancing and merriment can commence.
I will be retreating to my back yard with a beer, ok lots of beer, a cigar, and The Roxinator. She doesn’t do well with large groups of people. She can’t focus on everything that is going on and it makes her fretful. Wimpy hound.
During all of this I just know that Google will be getting billions of hits off of my 2 computers for The Jonas Brothers. The Princess is going to their concert on Friday, while a couple of her friends saw them last week in Hershey. We were on vacation at the time, so she was unable to attend that particular show.
Much wailing, and gnashing of teeth inserted here.
So, you are now up to date on the goings on in my life. Other than the return to the soul sucking waste of time called my job that I had to return to yesterday.
But I don’t talk about work here.
Namaste.
More commonly known around me as the Jo Bro Info.
Yesterday the Brothers Jonas were on Oprah. I was channel surfing and came across them. Notified The Princess and got out of the way because she planted herself in front of the TV. And when they sang she headed for the bedroom, shut the door, and locked it so that she could be alone with her flame Nick.
The whole fam was there. Dad Jonas, Mom Jonas, Frank “the tank” Jonas, and of course The Brothers Jonas. And they sang, and they capered, and they made the pre-pubescents in the crowd swoon.
Along with The Princess. She was happy.
But the Jo Bros have not called her as of yet to tell her that they want her to come Meet and Greet when she goes to their concert in Scranton.
That is not making life around Casa Dodd happy.
Get on the stick Jo Bro’s!!
Namaste.
98 degrees, partly sunny. Wind coming at you like a tornado. Water temp at about 80.
Tell that you aren’t jealous.
So there we were. Slathered sun screen on all of our exposed extremities. Gathered all of our various chairs, towels, boogie boards, drinks and headed to the shore. Like an itinerant band of gypsies. Joining with the rest of Mom’s, and Dad’s dragging their various kiddos kicking and screaming so that they COULD HAVE SOME FUN, DAMMIT.
Gotta love being a parent on a hot, muggy day. The kids would have been happy to hang in the house/motel room in the air conditioner, watching Sponge Bob. Mom, and Dad though were having none of this. They had spent GOOD MONEY to bring their kiddos to the ocean so that they could HAVE SOME FUN, DAMMIT.
Watching people on the beach is finally fun. I have gotten to the age where I know that any girl on the beach is not going to be looking at me unless I just happen to be in her line of vision. I am a bald, 50 year old man. Anyone on the beach is going to be either the age of MLW, or of one of my kids. Sometimes being/getting old is liberating. With that being said, I then get to zoom in on the kiddos. I love kids. Just can’t eat a whole one. Watching the way boys and girls are the same up until they hit around 8 or 9. When they are in that 0-6 stage they all want to get out and chase waves. And that has got to be the cutest thing in the world. Listening to their laughter mixing with the sound of the waves.
That is music to my ears.
Time to get back into the air conditioning so that I don’t spontaneously explode into flames.
Namaste.
I was looking for vacation posts from last year and came across this one that was written just before we went.
What the hell is it with me, anyway?
“I have these weird patches of poison ivy on both of my legs.
And on my left arm.
The patch that was on my head seems to be gone. Thankfully.
I have been taking benedryl the last couple of nights to keep from scratching. It is not working that well. And the real pisser is that the patches on my calves not only itch, but they hurt like a bitch also when I scratch them. And heat makes them scream at me, “SCRATCH ME, SCRATCH ME.”
And then they hurt like hell when I do.
I am not getting this. And I am not happy about it.
Luckily, vacation is coming up in 10 days. I can’t wait.
Which is a stupid statement, because unless I hit the lotto this week, all I will be doing is counting down the days. But, I over explain.
Come August 18, my Wife, The Princess, and Pierce will be getting in the van and heading south to North Carolina. And the ocean. And sand. And alcohol for me. We will be carting along 2 cases of Dodd Legacy Red Ale for my imbibing pleasure. Haven’t figured out what we will be eating that first night, but think that either pizza might be the ticket.
Will let you know.
Namaste.”
At some point in my 50 years on this planet, you would think that I would learn.
Sheesh
So what ya been up to?
Me, I have been taking steroids. Yeah. ‘Roids. I am ‘roiding.
Prednisone, to be exact. Why, you might ask, am I doing this? Well, the story begins just about 10 days ago.
MLW and I decided that there were some ivy plants along the one side of our house that needed to be gotten rid of. And me, being the way that I am, got in the middle of the stuff and started ripping and tearing. Soon I was knee deep in vegetation. And it seems that some of that vegetation was poison ivy.
Not good.
I react badly to poison ivy. Really badly.
I struggled with it for a few days, doing the cortisone spray and sterile gauze pad thing, but that came to a quick end on Friday when my leg swelled up. To twice its normal size. Which is pretty big.
Anyway, MLW took me to the ER and they gave me some prednisone, but not before I had to hear that Dr. and MLW give me what for for not paying attention. Gee, thanks.
Prednisone is pretty interesting if you have never taken it before. I have, and I never look forward to it. After taking it, my head starts racing, and I have no patience for anything or anyone. Add to that the benadryl that I am taking to make sure that I don’t itch, and you have a really nice chemical cocktail. With the steroid the voices in my head are screaming “SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTTHEHELLUP!!”, and the benadryl is telling me “Dude, take a nap.”
Such fun when you work in a retail establishment.
So that is where I have been.
What have you been up to?
Namaste.
I did my last reminder about Jubilee Day on my Pennlive blog.
The first one I did drew a couple of reactions that were pretty funny to me. There I times that I do write tongue-in-cheek. And that can be misconstrued. Too bad. I still think it is funny.
Jubilee Day is a one-day street fair that has been going on in Mechanicsburg since the 1930’s. It is a really big deal around here. This year The Princess will be at the Outer Banks and unable to go with me. And this year will be the first time in about 5 years that I won’t be working on that day.
Yah!
Sausage sandwiches, fries, beer, and I forgot to mention the deep fried mushrooms. You can’t have Jubilee Day without fried mushrooms. I love fried mushrooms. Almost as much as I loved the burgers that I made last night that had cheese, and portobella mushrooms mixed in them. They were the absolute best.
I am making myself hungry with this talk.
Must stop now.
Namaste.
