Author Archives: jeb

Roller Skating

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In continuing celebration of Loren’s birthday, Danny and I met Nicole (who spent the night – a rare privilege), Lauren, Jeanie, and John to go roller skating.

Nicole was pretty good, probably because of all the practice she has skating over at Gramalie’s. Danny was determined to get around the rink, but his feet kept scooting out from under him. About one hour into it, he got his roller legs, and had me escort him around the rink.

Nicole and I got to skate around once or twice together, but keeping Danny from cracking his head took most of my time and effort. The group finished off the celebration at McDonald’s for 69¢ cheeseburgers. Warm, sunny weather with strong, cool breezes.

Kathy had to work through all of this.

flat-line.pngAt night, Grant came over to join Kathy and I for a good scare from the movie “Flatliners.” Grant was so scared by several of the scenes that it gave me and Kathy the willies. Grant’s a good guy to have at scary movies.

Aliosis

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We all went to Jeanie, John, and Loren’s house for Loren’s birthday and spaghetti. John is a looking-for-work Eastern mechanic. John has two aquariums, a big salt water aquarium and a smaller fresh-water one. The smaller one has lots of gold fish. It’s filled with waves of darting oranges and gold. He uses these to feed the big salt-water fish that putt around waiting to be fed.

The kids like to watch John feed the little flashes of gold to the big flash-eaters. They all yell, “Oooooooh!” Then they ask him to feed the big fish more little fish.

I was thinking about getting Danny and Nicole two gold fish in a gold fish bowl.

The four adults played several rounds of a word game called “Balderdash.” One person picks a card and reads a word out loud. Everyone writes down the meaning of the word (the words are very uncommon or out of date, so rarely can you figure out what it is.) The card-chooser then reads everyone’s definitions randomly, including his or her own, and including the actual definition. Then all, but the chooser, tries to guess which definition is correct.

My crowning achievement was getting everyone to guess that Aliosis was “brittle fingernails.”

Evening Walk

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Nicole suggested we go on a walk tonight after dinner. I had come home while it was still day light. It was 82 degrees. So we took a walk to the apartments next door. Swung on a bench swing together as the sun set. Snuck back into our complex by walking over a fallen tree that crosses the creek dividing the townhouses and the apartments.

Blue Ribbon at Work

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blue-ribbon-genius.pngThe 10 managers of the eastern division gave me a blue ribbon today. Apparently these things are very nice to get. Only after I got mine, did I notice 3 others hanging in various departments.

That’s the old Hitchcock Axiom at work. When I was a kid and found out who Alfred Hitchcock was, I was amazed at how he began popping up in movies, jokes, and books. How could he have never existed before?

The ribbon was in appreciation for my help with the Macs.

I smell a big project coming on.

The ribbon is hanging on the refrigerator. Nicole and Danny are quite proud of me.

Prank Calls

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The night before Frank and Stephanie’s wedding.

Kathy thought we should call up Frank’s house and leave harassing messages on his answering machine. Something to cheer him up after the rehearsal dinner.

So we spent two hours making calls combined with various selections from our CDs.

Kathy: “Should he or shouldn’t Frank get married?”

Jeb: “I don’t know.”

Mick Jagger: “Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it!”

Kathy: “What do you think Stephanie will be thinking as she goes up the aisle?”

Aerosmith: “Walk this way!”

Jeb: “What do you think Frank will be thinking when the minister says ‘You may kiss the bride’?”

Bruce Springsteen: “When we kiss… Ooooh. Fire.”

Kathy: “I’m glad Frank found Stephanie. Remember what he used to always say?”

John Couger: “I need a woman who won’t drive me crazy… one who knows the meaning of ‘Hey, hit the highway!'”

Jeb: “Yeah… you know what they call her- Highway Steph.”

Kathy: “But you know what he’ll be saying a year from now!”

Fine Young Cannibals: “She drives me crazy!”

Kathy: “I’m kind of worried. What if the limo breaks down between the reception and the hotel?”

Jeb: “You know Frank. He’ll think of something.”

Beetles: “Why don’t we do it in the road…”

Kathy: “Well I wonder what Stephanie will be thinking.”

Dire Straits: “I want my MTV.”

Jeb: “I wonder what the two newlyweds will be thinking at the end of their long day?”

Doors: “This is the end…”

I hope Frank and Stephanie enjoy that tape as much as Kathy and I enjoyed making it.

Greedy Ducks

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greedy-duck.pngKathy and the kids met me at Harland at 5 pm. They brought a picnic and some clothes for me to change into. It was the nicest day of spring so far, so we drove out to the monastery in Conyers for a picnic dinner by the lake.

Several geese, ducks, and squirrels greeted us. Otherwise it was very quiet. The ducks actually jumped up on the backs of the picnic table benches to investigate what kind of goodies we had. Both Danny and Nicole fed them multi-grain crackers.

They didn’t like potato salad.

Kathy came within 3 inches of having a squirrel take a cracker from her hand. But the greedy ducks frightened him away.

Three Parties for Two Sacraments

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Last weekend was packed. Frank’s bachelor’s party at the farm was Friday night and Saturday morning. Steaks on the grill, Liar’s Dice, Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey (!), and shooting guns down by the river were highlights… (only lights?) Frank, Bennett, Harrison, Richard (Mr. B.), Teddy, Jimmy, Ken, Rod, Oliver, and me made ten.

Easter egg hunt and Ted and Nancy’s with hamburgers and hot dogs on Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening. Lots of kids. Frank, Mike Holsey, and I escaped for a while by sitting outside in the rented van.

The rented van was for the women and Stephanie’s bachelorette night out. They had a blast. Ted O. came over and watched the The Name of the Rose with me, sharing a six-pack of Samuel Adams. Good movie.

Kathy got in at 4 am. I only wanted two brief answers:

1. Is everyone o.k.?

2. Did you all do anything you shouldn’t have done?

She answered yes and no respectively.

Then she started laughing and giggling. I was entertained until 6 a.m. with all the details. Wish I could have traded places with Forest, who drove the van.

Sunday featured Eric’s christening. We were late by a few minutes, but made it in time for all the key parts. Seems Bob gave Carol directions to St. John Neumann while Carol was on the phone with Kathy. The directions I ended up getting consisted of 4 street names with no turning information. And of course, their was a key fifth name missing from the middle of the list. Almost missed getting to be THE GODFATHER.

We went to Carol and Bob’s for lunch where we got to talk with Bob, Sr. and Pat.

Brownies at the Talent Show

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We all went to Nicole’s talent show at Pleasantdale. We had to stick it out to the end because the Brownies were performing “Old Time Rock ‘n Roll” second-to-last.

The problem is that the cafeteria isn’t made to be packed with people for two hours. The only source of air is the double doors. So after the first hour, most of the oxygen is gone, and you’ve got a big green house effect going.

Nicole enjoyed dressing up 50’s style and wearing lots of makeup. It also helped that she got to wait in the green room where there was extra oxygen.

The evening was dedicated to the troops. One of the troops even manned the lights.

A Well Person’s Cup

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Stayed home from work with a bad cold and Danny. Learned the maxim: “Black holes have no hair” in Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. Ted let me borrow it.

As Nicole came to tell me good night, I told her not to kiss me because I was sick. “I’m going to hug you good night,” she said, giving me a germ-free hug.

And this made her think.

“Dad, if you’re sick, and a well person drinks from a cup, then you drink from that cup, will you get better?”

“I’m afraid not. You can get germs from a sick person’s cup, but you can’t get cured from a well person’s cup.”

She was a little disappointed, because it seemed like a good idea.

And of course, it was a terrific idea. In fact, as she sleeps in the other room, I wish I had said, “Let’s try it and see!” I think she would have enjoyed curing her Dad.

She’s thinking a lot. Good sign. The other day she asked me if I had ever flown in a spaceship. How could I resist letting her down. “Sure,” I said. (“In books,” I didn’t say.)

“Wow! What kind?” she asked.

“I’ve been in several, but my favorite was the Millineum Falcon.”

“Have you been on planets?”

“Some,” I said. I had just taught her the song, My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizza Pies (Swanee River), to help remember the order of the planets. She had been to Fernbank and learned about some of the planets. That’s where I learned the song.

So she went through the list asking had I been on each planet and what was it like. Kathy was grinning in the corner of the dining room. Nicole’ eyes just got bigger and bigger. She even acknowledged that Pluto would be too cold to go to.

“I wish I could go to other planets,” she said.

“You can. Do you know what you have to do?”

“Oh yes, you have to spin around in one of those big spinning things. Right?”

“Well, astronauts do that. But all you really have to do is read. That’s how I went to the other planets. I read about them in stories and books.”

She didn’t seem as disappointed as I thought she would. Instead, she just asked more questions.

Maybe you can get better drinking out of a well person’s cup.

McMountain Climbers

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Left the kids on the edge of Mirkwood tonight. Hope they don’t have bad dreams.

Saturday we got kicked out of the house by a house looker. We scrambled to do a quick clean up, then piled into the Fox and headed for McDonald’s for lunch. We ordered five 59¢ hamburgers. The kids played on the McPlayground afterwards while Kathy and I sat in the sun on a McBench, McWatching our McKids. It was a McCool day, but McSunny.

Being able to see Stone Mountain in the distance from Jimmy Carter Blvd., we decided to climb it. Bought a $20 annual pass, parked at the base of the mountain, put the traditional pennies on the railroad track, and started climbing.

Nicole was the first to the top. She would run ahead then either wait for us or run back. Danny almost made it. I almost didn’t. Had to carry him up the steep, last several steps. I was pretty winded. The mountain was pretty windy. But we all made it. We rested on the sunny, sheltered side of the concession stand. The trip down was a lot easier, especially once we got into the trees which protected us from the brisk breeze.

The pennies were nowhere to be found. Danny and Nicole are sure someone took them. Next time we’ll place them farther down the track. Stone Mountain is a lot more crowded that it used to be. Even your smushed pennies aren’t safe. Tourists probably think they’re war relics.

Went to church Saturday night. That’s working out a lot better with Kathy working through Sunday afternoons. Went over to Teddy and Nancy’s after dinner to watch a movie. Ended up talking until midnight, never starting either of the two movies we had rented. Danny and Shawn stayed up almost as late, whispering in bed about the sleeping Nicole.