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Standing by peaceful waters

On Friday we journeyed to Coos Bay to attend the memorial service for Tina’s grandmother, Ruth, who died a couple of months ago. Ruth had Alzheimer’s disease during her last years, so her passing brought about mixed emotions. Although it probably sounds weird, the funeral was one of the best I have ever attended. You can read all about it on Tina’s blog.

While we were there, we stayed at The Mill Casino (mentioned in Vital Statistics a few days ago). I considered playing some no-limit Texas Hold ‘Em but never really got the chance. I did spend about 5 minutes playing a penny slot machine called Mr. Cashman. After I read the help screen and switched to playing all three lines, I put myself in the black quickly and not long after that won big. I walked away with a 480% profit on my $1 investment.

The drive back yesterday was long and rainy. I noticed my left shoulder popping with even the slightest hand/finger movements so I had to do most of the steering with my right arm, a practice to which I am not accustomed. I thought I might have slept on it wrong and made a note to call my doctor today to get to the bottom of the problem. However, when I walked from the parking garage to my office this morning I realized the cause of my pain – I have been lugging about 15 lbs of laptop around on that shoulder intermittently throughout the weekend. I brought two laptops home for the boys to use in the hotel room. I guess that’s the last time I do that.

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Vital Statistics

Miles driven yesterday: 227
Weight lost: 44 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 9
Hours billed this week: 37
Current reading: The Prince by Machiavelli, Running With Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
Recent listening: XO by Elliott Smith, Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coverville, Taking The Long Way by Dixie Chicks
Recent viewing: Colts at Cowboys, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Battlestar Galactica, Dr. Who, Scrubs, Bruce Almighty, Buccaneers at Cowboys
Recent playing: n/a
Recently accomplished: Numerous Harvey runs, recycled cardboard, cleaned and lubed bike, paid bills
Imperative To Do: Finish old blog entries, build new computer for Thomas, rake, clean garage, fix laundry room door, RMA old Tivo drive
Cool Link: The Mill Casino: From where I write this

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Walrus gumboot

Tina’s mom’s surgery to reattach her right index finger was successful. The accident also cut off the tip of her right middle finger, but they were unable to save it, but they contacted a injury lawyer from https://www.fieldinglaw.com/dallas/personal-injury-attorney/ to help with this. Tina really wanted to drive down to NM for Thanksgiving, but fate conspired to keep that from happening.

After Graham served his suspension Wednesday morning, he returned to school that afternoon. However, that night Tina woke to the sound of him vomiting in the bathroom. He stayed home sick Thursday, vomited that night and then stayed home from school Friday, too. Because it was very cold and windy, he also had to miss football practice and his last possible game yesterday. His team has another game next week, but we’ll be out of town at Tina’s Grandma Ruth’s funeral. He’s feeling much better today, but they don’t have school all of this week.

Tina got sick Friday night and has been resting and puking since then. She’s starting to recover and eat today, but she’s still weak. There’s no way we could manage a trip to NM now.

Thomas and I have not gotten sick yet. We both braved the wind and cold yesterday for his last football Saturday until next season. It was trying, but we both made it through. I was chilled all day after we got home, though. Winter in Oregon sucks!

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: n/a
Weight lost: 46 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 10
Hours billed this week: 26
Current reading: The Prince by Machiavelli, Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs
Recent listening: Coverville, DrugMusic, KBOO Bike Show, NPR Story of the Day, Science Friday, Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Prine, Necktie Second by Pete Droge, Back To Mine by Morecheeba
Recent viewing: Heroes, CSI: Miami, Cold Case, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Countdown, Medium, Sportscenter
Recent playing: Zuma, Halo
Recently accomplished: Rebuilt Tivo Season Passes, fixed leaking downspouts, recreated Tivo wishlists, groceries, book shopping, created an account for Thomas on my computer (stop gap measure), removed toothbrush from bathroom toilet, babysat Graham for the morning, had my CPAP results downloaded, installed Harvey
Imperative To Do: Recycle cardboard, finish old blog entries, build new computer for Thomas, rake, clean garage, fix laundry room door, RMA old Tivo drive
Cool Link: Salmon in the Bike Lane (short commercial at the beginning)

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Zero tolerance


Graham’s school has a Zero Tolerance policy for fighting, which will go a long way in explaining his suspension. His referral (at left) describes the incident as:

Student on top of Graham. Witnessed Graham slug student in face.

Evidently, Graham and his friend Garett were playing a game that they had made up. Garett became frustrated with the game and tackled Graham somewhat playfully. Graham asked him to get off but he didn’t so Graham punched him somewhat gently. This is when the teacher pulled them apart and sent them to the principal’s office with a referral.

When Tina received the call from the principal Graham was sobbing uncontrollably. He was afraid of getting in further trouble and ashamed of what had happened. Because of the zero tolerance policy, the principal had no choice but to suspend Graham and Garett from school. She showed a little bit of mercy by suspending them only for the next morning.

The whole incident reminded me of something that happened to me when I was in fifth or sixth grade. My sometime best friend, Gretchen Eastman, had undergone a growth spurt that made her bigger than most of her peers. Kids are cruel and we were no exception as we continually taunted her by calling her “Grape Ape”. Eventually, she grew tired of the name-calling but I was slow to pick up on that fact. One day on the playground she simply decided that she had had enough. When I continued calling her “Grape Ape,” she reared back and decked me right in the face. I don’t recall if I fought back, but I do recall both of us being sent to the principal’s office for the “fight”.

I remember sobbing uncontrollably myself both at the prospect of having been sent to the principal’s office and by the fact that I had my clock cleaned by a girl. It’s hard to say which was more humiliating, but I can tell you that my visits to the principal’s office were rare by that time. I remember that my hands and arms felt very wet from all the tears. I’m not sure what the end result of the fight was, but I’m quite sure that I was not suspended. Our principal (and neighbor), Mr. Harnack, had mercy on us and probably felt that I had undergone punishment enough.

This incident with Graham, much like many other things that happen in my boys’ lives, makes me long for the simplicity of 1970s small-town Iowa.

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It pours

Today’s lone news was going to be about fixing the long-plugged toilet in the boys’ bathroom with my new closet auger last night, but that pales in comparison to the news from this morning and this afternoon.

Tina’s mom cut off one of her fingers in a table-saw accident. She’s scheduled for surgery on another finger tomorrow or the next day. We may drive down to NM next week to visit them and help out.

Graham was suspended from school today. He and a football teammate received a half-day suspension for fighting during recess. Details are still forthcoming, but the suspension will be served tomorrow morning.

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 368 miles
Average speed: 9.5 mph
Weight lost: 44 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 8
Hours billed this week: 40
Current reading: The Prince by Machiavelli, Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs
Recent listening: Coverville, DrugMusic, Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses by Slipnot, Iowa by Slipnot, Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Authorized Greatest Hits by Cheap Trick
Recent viewing: Species II, Species III, South Park, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Mavericks at Suns, Sportscenter
Recent playing: Zuma, Halo
Recently accomplished: Put Tivo in working order, talked to Thomas’ principal re: lack of text books
Imperative To Do: Recycle cardboard, finish old blog entries, build new computer for Thomas, rake, clean garage, fix laundry room door, RMA old Tivo drive, Tivo wishlists
Cool Link: Marmaduke Explained

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First election, last election

I still remember the first time I voted. Voting in Riceville was always at City Hall, where there were probably two or three booths. The helpful election volunteer explained the whole process and what I needed to do. There were levers, I remember, and there were two big levers. One you could pull to vote all-Democrat and the other you could pull to vote all-Republican. At the time, I thought that was handy but something I would never use. I scrupulously considered all my options for each race and voted according to my conscience. Something I have done in every election since.

But yesterday was different. Yesterday it seemed like there was a message to be sent and the only way for the intended recipients to hear it would be a massive Democratic victory. So I voted Democrat in every single race that had a Democrat running. Now the message has been sent. Will it be heard and heeded?

How was the message sent? Let me count the ways:

  1. Democrats will now control the U.S. House of Representatives
  2. Democrats are guaranteed at least a tie in the United States Senate, with a very good chance of taking control (depending on how the recount goes in Virginia)
  3. Donald Rumsfeld resigned
  4. Rick Santorum lost
  5. Ted Kennedy won
  6. Democrat Ted Kulongoski won a second term as Oregon governor despite heavy negative campaigning by his opponent in the waning days of the election
  7. 28 states now have Democratic governors
  8. Four out of five U.S. House seats up for election in Oregon went to Democrats
  9. Democrats prevail in 10 of 14 Oregon Senate races and retain control
  10. Democrats win 24 of the 42 available seats and gain control of the Oregon House
  11. Oregon turnout is expected to reach 71 percent when all votes are counted
  12. All but one of the state-wide ballot measures went the way I voted
  13. No local ballot measure I voted against won

There were a few downsides:

  1. Joe Lieberman won his Senate race. Can his vote be counted on?
  2. Same-sex marriage bans were approved in six more states. Either people don’t understand the whole freedom concept, or I’m missing something.
  3. Hillary Clinton won by a large margin possibly encouraging her to run for President in 2008
  4. Harold Ford lost his Senate race in Tennessee but did you see his concession speech? Wow!
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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 354 miles
Average speed: 10.6 mph
Weight lost: 42 lbs.
Hours of sleep last night: 8
Hours billed this week: 10 (1 day)
Current reading: The Prince by Machiavelli, Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs
Recent listening: Authorized Greatest Hits by Cheap Trick, Greatest Hits by Bob Seger, Stardust by Willie Nelson, Europe ’72 by Grateful Dead, Coverville, KBOO Bike Show
Recent viewing: Wolfen, Without a Trace, Cold Case, Colts at Patriots, Heroes, CSI: Miami
Recent playing: Zuma, Halo
Recently accomplished: Paid bills, cleaned filing cabinet, bought Tina’s birthday present, voted
Imperative To Do: Follow-up with Thomas’ principal, recycle cardboard, finish old blog entries, get Thomas’ computer to boot, rake, clean garage, install new permanent Tivo hard drive, fix laundry room door
Cool Link: Faith Hill is a bad loser: Even if she was joking, it’s disrespectful to the winner.