Friday, October 21, 2011

Music.

I finally realized why I love some artists and songs more than most. I grew up in the suburbs. I've lived a pretty suburban life. So I've never really protested anything, I've never really been oppressed, I've been bored, I've been in love, I've had a crushingly awful job and I've had lots of vacations to the beach.

So when I hear Squeeze's "Pulling Muscles from a Shell", it hits me where I live.

I wish I had a motor boat
to pose around the harbor

I understand that. I've lived that.

Steely Dan knows suburban angst. Squeeze knows it too. Joe Jackson gets it.

We think we're pretty smart
Us city slickers get around
And when the going's rough
We kill the pain and relocate
We're never married
Never faithful not to any town
But we never leave the past behind
We just accumulate
So sometimes when the music stops
I seem to hear a distant sound
Of waves and seagulls
Football crowds and church bells



Saturday, October 15, 2011

Rainy day

You need rainy days every now and then to remind you how nice it is to have good weather. I've lived where there's 4 months of perfect weather every year and it gets boring. You forget how nice the weather is because it's perfect every day.

So yay rain.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Riding at night.

Got caught out late on my bike tonight. Riding at night is a really different feeling. It feels smoother, like floating, like gliding above the ground. It's quieter, peaceful.

Somehow, I hit less bumps and potholes.

The only thing I can compare it to is cross country skiing in fresh snow at night, going downhill, skis buried except for the tips, floating, gliding, free.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Pride.

Is it wrong that I'm prouder of the work I did tiling my kitchen than I am of anything I did in the last year at my former job?

Field trip!

Off to the pumpkin patch with my daughter's preschool class. Her favorite part? Petting a kitten.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Go for a ride.

Phone calls taken care of, tile grouted and caulked, time to go for a ride.

Headed south and east of Madison. Some nice rolling hills, some beautiful scenery and cloud free skies.

There's something about riding that clears my head, makes me focus. I've had a lot more time to ride lately, and I'm not minding that.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Seeing something new.

Well, that's something you don't see every day.
I stumbled across a controlled burn the fire department was doing today. Never seen anything like it.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Doing something new.

I've never done any tiling before. I've read a little bit, watched a video on youtube but that's it.

We've spent the summer slowly remodeling the kitchen. the backsplash is about the last thing left. We picked some tile, bought it a while ago. But I've been afraid to get started, afraid it might be a slog, afraid it might be hard, afraid I might screw it up.

But today, I got started. It was easier than I could have imagined and it looks great.

I love it.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Today was a good day.

I did something I love today- I went for a bike ride. Nothing fancy, not all that long, just an hour around the lake. But it really felt good to get out. Couldn't have asked for a better day.

Yesterday was a bad day.

It shouldn't have been- it was my daughter's first soccer game, my parents came to visit, I cleaned the house and everything should have been good. But I was depressed, so all I managed to do was mope, occasionally putting on a brave face.

There was a moment of pure joy as I watched my daughter run down the field, kicking the ball towards the goal. I'm so proud of her.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Hanging out with my daughter.

She's almost four years old. It won't be long before she's too busy, too cool to hang out with me. But today, we hung out. We played, we went to soccer practice.

Sometimes, it's like I can't see the forest for the trees- I get bogged down in the little annoyances of trying to get a strong willed little girl to get dressed, brush her hair, eat her lunch. But when I step back, I see the whole picture, a wonderful afternoon with a little girl who's just like her daddy.

Friday, September 16, 2011

A good shave.

The razor belonged to my grandfather. I never really learned how to shave when I was a kid- my Dad has had a beard almost as long as I can remember.

But somehow over the course of years, I pieced together the proper ingredients for a good shave. When it's done right, my face feels better than it did before I shaved.

There are a hundred ways to shave faster, closer. It's a ritual. It's slow. The foam is heavy with oils, the brush is just stiff enough, the hot water is perfect. And then the shave, slow, short, repetative strokes. Don't try and take it all off in one go, just relax. First my left cheek. Then the right. The mustache is next, followed by the neck and then the chin, leaving the toughest hair to sit and soften the longest.

More hot water to rinse my face, then a dab of aftershave cream.

Perfect.
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Thursday, September 15, 2011

A friend once told me



Once when I was feeling down, an old friend told me to do something you love every day. So that's what I'm going to try to do.

Today, I rode my bike to the store to get a soda. Simple pleasures. An old Schwinn, a crisp fall day (even though it's still summer) and a diet Coke.