Tales from the Midwest

Here's what's happening

2012-01-26T19:32:00.001-08:00

Hard to believe that it's almost February already. Here's a thumbnail sketch as to what's been going on in the great Midwest:

Henry keeps getting bigger and bigger. The top of his head is up to my nose, and I'm guessing in about 3-4 months I'll be giving him shaving lessons. The hair on his lip is starting to darken and is becoming more noticeable. He is doing what every almost 12 (yes, he'll be 12 at the end of March. I'm not sure I like this.) year old does--he thinks he can grow lip hair, so he's trying to grow a "mustache." So far, he's having almost as much success as I have now. His lip hair seems to be gaining strength, so now I'm staring to see peach fuzz on his chin. His grades are doing better as well--in fact, the teacher is re-introducing him back into the class. She had him sitting at his desk away from the other kids so he could sit and do all of his work at his own pace. Henry has decided that he wants to be back among the living again, so he's starting to bring homework home to finish. I know I've said this before, but I'm hoping that with a little maturity, maybe he's finally figured out how to keep up with his work. We'll see. He also had to watch "the movie" in his class this week--you know, the one where it details all of the horrors of how the mechanics of sex works? He's had sexuality classes at our church, so he feels pretty cocky (hehehehe) about what he knows.

His swimming is also getting better. Last weekend, both he and Charlie were at a swim meet in Ft. Wayne, which is an hour and a half from where we are. He managed to shave 5 seconds off of his time doing the backstroke. He still hasn't quite figured out how to dive into the pool without first sinking like a rock. I keep telling him that the day he finally figures out how to dive in the right way, his times will drop dramatically.

Charlie's report card was also very good--all A's and B's. During the same swim meet, Charlie dropped 12 seconds off of one of his races. He was very pleased, to say the least. Also, over the Christmas break, he finally got to ride the Amtrak train from here to DC. On the first night, Charlie got to experience what I would call the ultimate adventure for every 8 year old boy--he got to ride the train while watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade with me. (We skip over the extra bloody or creepy stuff) At one point as we're walking around as the train was moving, he looked up at me and said, "How do you walk while the train is moving so much?" I almost said it's kind of like walking when you're drunk, but I didn't think that would have been the right thing to say. Anyway, while we were in DC, Charlie also mentioned that he'd like to see the dinosaurs at the Natural History museum. This surprised me a little, as I didn't think he was interested in that stuff anymore. We also genuflected at the feet of the original Enterprise model in the basement of the gift shop at the Air and Space Museum. And, if that wasn't enough fun, we walked by the National Christmas Tree, which was still up at the time. And saw 2 IMAX movies. Pretty good deal when you're 8 years old. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that he's going to be 9 in September. Good thing I have time to get used to it.

Amy is now in the middle of her 4th year at the church, and what I like to see is the big ideas she's getting to keep the church on the up and up. Its kind of like watching two people who are really into each other and how the ideas start to flow and you think to yourself, "Wow! I wonder what they'll think of next!" It's been said that a minister and a congregation become "married" to each other. In many ways, that's true--you have to work with each other, figure out how to deal with differences, how to communicate, etc. The "marriage" is going very well. Last Sunday she gave a sermon about the history of Universalism, which, in sum, is a theology that states that there is no hell and that everyone is saved. Our brand of Universalism has removed the idea of God the Father, but the main idea is still the same. She got a lot of good feedback, and it made her day. Top that with the Patriots winning in the way they did, and it became spectacular. So Amy's getting really good at this whole minister thing :0) It was a rare occasion that she was yelling as much as I was. We were running a youth group meeting that night, and she kept asking me, "How do you deal with this?" She had yelled so much that her throat was sore. I told her that maybe after all those years of yelling at basketball and baseball and football and hockey games that maybe I've strengthened my vocal chords. That's my theory, anyway. We're also doing our Cardboard Carnival in a few weeks. This is the event where you get to build a sled out of cardboard, duct tape and paint. I went to an appliance store today and he's holding 7 huge boxes for us. Now if it would only snow. . .

Speaking of the Patriots, if you heard a loud noise to the west last Sunday, that was the sound that was coming from my living room when Cundiff missed the FG for Baltimore. I was yelling, Amy was screaming, and I was jumping up and down so hard that Henry came storming up the stairs to make sure the ceiling wasn't going to collapse. We also had a guest who fell in love with Boston sports in 1967 when he was doing his medical internship, and he was banging his cane on the floor. It took me almost half an hour to get my chest to unclench. Next Friday, I'm going to trip down to Indy to see what it's like to be in a city that's hosting a Super Bowl. I'm guessing this is as close as I'll ever get to one. (I can't see them hosting on in Chicago, for instance) For laughs, I looked at game ticket prices. Ticketmaster was offering a 6 ticket minimum for $2,600 a piece. So for the low low price of $10,000, you can take 6 of your closest friends and watch some championship football. It's $18 just to tour an empty stadium, to give you an idea of the cost of things. But I must admit, touring an empty stadium where I get to see the Patriots emblem on the field will be worth it. I'll make sure to send pictures.

As for me, I'm a college kid again. I'm three weeks into it, and here are some observations I've made so far:

1. I think being a teacher has super enhanced my bullshit detector. In my very first class, I was looking around and I could tell within the first 5 minutes who were the serious people were and who the posers were. There is one guy who when asked what he's going to do with a paralegal certificate, he said that he's going to open a paralegal investigation business. When the teacher asked him what he was going to investigate, the student didn't have an answer. I saw this kind of thing when I was working the AV geek job I had a year and a half ago--all of the people who were taking Criminal Justice had some kind of ax to grind. I don't want to know what kind of ax this guy has. Maybe being around 7th graders for four years did have some fringe benefits after all.

2. I'm also realizing now that history and education come easy to me. I was driving home last week feeling kind of down that I didn't instantly remember, and understand, what I had read for that night's class. I was very good at reading something history related and getting right from the beginning. Not so much when you're talking about Freehold Estates and Adverse possession. I think I'm getting it, but I realized that if I'm going to do well with this career, I was going to have to (gasp!) study a little harder. I don't have many grades yet, but so far, so good. I've handed in all of my homework, and I'm asking a lot a questions in class. I'll let you know how the tests go.

I've also realized that one of my teachers is probably a Republican. Not that that's a bad thing, especially in Indiana, but I found myself wanting to, shall we say, speak my mind. Before I could stick my foot in my mouth, which is a rare thing for me, I told myself that I'm there to learn, not argue politics.

Did I mention that I'm one of only 4 men in a class of about 25? I'm wondering if the paralegal profession is the nursing of law. I can't help but wonder if all the lawyers were men, and the paralegals were women at some point.

The other big project that we're going to undertake, probably in a few weeks, is to replace our hall toilet that is perpetually running, and pulling up the ancient linoleum that's in there. Amy and I are going to do these projects ourselves. I've never pulled off a toilet before, or laid new floor. There will be pictures of this as well. Keep your fingers crossed.

That should catch you all up--I hope the weather is better where you are. We've had about a week of winter here. It's been kind of a sucky winter--snow one day, 50 degrees and raining the next. It bums me out when there's a nice layer of snow, and a day later it's all gone. We even had our first green Christmas since landing here in 08. At least there's still February! I hope all is well where you are.

Kevin

P.S. Go Pats!!! I'd like to see them crush the Giants. You know what they say about payback. . .

The Night Before Christmas, DeBeck Style

2011-12-24T07:23:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot going on around the DeBeck house since I last wrote to you all--there's so much to tell, that instead of giving you a ton to detail on this Christmas Eve, I thought I'd try my hand at some poetry. I hope you all like it--and I hope that Santa leaves you many goodies under your trees tonight. I love you all--enjoy!

Kevin

The Night Before Christmas, DeBeck style

With Apologies to Clement C. Moore

T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
A lot of creatures were stirring, but so far no mouse.

The stockings were hung on the shelf with good care,
With hopes that St. Nicholas, and Christmas morning, would soon be there.

It’s been a busy season, with both Kevin and Amy traveling,
So far, no nerves seem to be rattling.

Amy went back to Virginia, after Thanksgiving Dinner.
She left Indiana to go and check on her big sister.

Her outlook is good, and she’s doing very well.
She even subs at the local high school, letting students go at the bell.

Joni’s is healing, following rules to the letter,
And their Dad is okay too, always feeling Moor Better.

Church has been busy, and the people so nice,
The congregants, who ask, always get good advice.

This year’s Christmas play went off without a hitch,
Charlie, in particular, the play seemed to enrich.

He took to the stage with a script in his hand,
His natural hammy-ness came through, his performance was grand.

He also worked on two projects with help from his Dad,
Making Power Point slides and videos, which make Charlie’s grades feel rad.

Henry’s grades are going up too, up to the stratosphere!
This makes his parents stand and applaud, and shout, “Here, here!”

They both have done swim meets, they’ve done two in fact,
They have earned some ribbons, they don’t feel bushwhacked.

Kevin went back to Maine, to celebrate his brother’s 40th birthday,
But he also mourned the loss of his Uncle Sparky, who had been a family mainstay.

He got to hang with his sister, and brother in law too.
And their two cats, who would walk around and say, “Mew.”

Kevin got to see parents, uncles, and all kind of cousins,
Some he hadn’t seen in many years, maybe even dozens!

With the help from his friend Dan, he helped get his sister’s Wii online,
So when he left, he knew it would work just fine.

With his sister’s help, he put up Mom’s Christmas tree,
So while his time in Maine was brief, he worked liked a busy bee.

He had to return to the Midwest, where boys awaited news,
Of the goodies that Maine relatives sent—there would be no boos.

So here we are on Christmas Eve, with the tree all aglow,
Slightly bummed out because of the lack of snow.

Everyone is excited, underneath the tree many presents,
Tonight we go to church, we’ll treat Christmas with some reverence.

Next Tuesday we all take a train to Virginia,
Where it might be kind of chilly, too cold for a zinnia.

This rhyme is coming to an end, because last night there was a party,
Lots of kids came to play, but no one named Marty.

The DeBeck’s wish you all well, and hope you’re all having a great holiday season,
And hope you’re staying warm, that you’re with someone worth squeezin.

And Kevin wished to shout from the rooftop so all could hear,
“Merry Christmas to all and we hope we’ll see you all next year!”

Questions Every Teacher Wishes They Could Ask

2011-11-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

My time at the school where I'm working is coming to an end. My last day will be next Tuesday. While I'm sad to be leaving education behind, and in realizing I've been in education for 10 years, it's come to mind that there are questions that I think every teacher wishes they could ask, but can't because, well, they'd get fired. Not that I'm going to, mind you, but these are the questions that come to mind often enough after working with teenagers all day:

Dear Mom and Dad--Why are you enabling your child to either act or become an asshole?

Dear Mom and Dad--Why do you allow your daughter to dress like a whore?

Related to that second question--I guess mini skirts are coming back in style, but to call some of the things I see "skirts" would be an overstatement. A better term would be, "ass cover" because that's about all they do.

Dear Mom and Dad--Why do you let your son walk around like they have a load in their pants?

I guess it's due to hip hop culture as to why this has become acceptable--at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, if I had walked around with my ass hanging out, I would have been

1. laughed at.

2. Been told by principals to pull up my pants and probably held in detention until I did it.

3. My Dad would have barked at me until I did.

I can't imagine that walking around like that is comfortable. I'm not sure what fashion path Henry and Charlie will take as they get older, but walking around with their pants around their ankles isn't going to be one of them.

Another thing about the whole hip-hop thing--the school I work at is mostly rural white kids. What do they have in common with inner city black kids? The streets of Middlebury, IN roll up at 8:00 at night--when and/or where do you have to "fight to survive?" After visiting Virginia last summer right before school began, I started having the fantasy of what would happen if the population of my school switched with the population of a high school in Richmond, VA. I'm guessing the Indiana kids might not have so much to complain about.

Dear Mom and Dad--Why do you allow for your child to swear like a sailor?

Yes, I did swear when I was in high school, and younger, but I wasn't dumb enough to do it around adults. If I did, refer back to the "pants around ankles" rules from above. I've asked this question to some of my fellow teachers, and they don't know either. There are days when I just shake my head and wonder, "When did this become acceptable?"

Dear Mom and Dad--Why do you allow your children to bring all of their electronic toys to school?

I'm beginning to wonder if ear buds have become hermetically sealed in some of these kids ears. Why is it nessiscary to have music going 24 hours a day? I like having an MP3 player like anyone else, but the music has become the new binky for teenagers. On a related note:

Dear Steve Jobs--Thanks for inventing a device that will make the next generation lose their hearing faster.

Perhaps it's best I'm leaving education. I kind of feel like I'm playing out the string at this point. I'm ready to move on to the next phase, which will start in January. My time here hasn't been all bad, but it's not what I want to do. Pushing 40 and making $10 an hour doesn't really make me feel good. Especially when I know I am a very good teacher, but I'm stuck on the JV squad. I know this has been kind of a rant, so thanks for listening. Now all I need to do is get a rocking chair and yell at those pesky kids to get off my lawn. Hope all is well where you are.

P.S. Our newly renovated old 1920's style theater is showing Hoosiers tonight. I never saw it when it was in the theaters the first time around (many times on video) so this promises to be fun tonight. Amy's at a meeting, so it's the boys and me tonight. Can't wait.

Only in Dreams

2011-10-27T10:27:00.001-07:00

So the dreams have started up again. Back in 2008 when we were getting ready to leave Virginia for the midwest, I started having this bizarre fear of death. Granted, every rational human being has a fear of death, but what I was experiencing was, well, odd. I tend not to bemoan the fact that, yes, in spite of my best efforts, I will die someday, but this was something different. I was starting to have visions of looking at people I knew as everything went black. I didn't have panic attacks, but I was freaking myself out with these images that wouldn't let go of my subconcious. Things kind of came to a head when after we had been settled in Indiana for a few months, an actor that I had like, and actually met once, died, I broke down in tears and sobbed for her passing. Bizarre. Now, I never wanted to harm myself, or do anything that would cause people to worry about me, but I just couldn't get the whole death thing out of my head. Finally, after much discussion, Amy told me a few things that put the whole thing to rest, so to speak. She mentioned that moving away from an area is sort of like dying--one makes peace with the idea of leaving, one gives away stuff they don't need, and, saying good bye to those you love. Leaving Maine 4 years before didn't seem to be as hard as leaving Virginia was. Maybe, for me, it was because Virginia was the first place I was truly on my own, away from everything I had ever known, from my 200+ years of family history and so on. The people I met in Virginia didn't know me when I was 8 years old and my 2nd grade teacher hated me or when I was a skinny, lonely, awkward geek in high school. They got to meet the somewhat well adjusted, steady father/family man. Once I realized that the "fear of death" wasn't some odd premonition, that it was my brain trying to make sense of uprooting my life again, the bad mojo started to go away. Getting to know, and having fun with, people in Elkhart helped a lot with that too. Now my life is headed in a direction I didn't forsee when we left Virginia--me leaving the field of education. I haven't given my notice yet, but it's coming up. And I haven't told anyone where I work yet that I'm not going to be here after November. A week or so ago, I had a couple of nights where I had vivid dreams of someone I know dying. I can't recall the exact nature of what the dreams were about, but I woke up after the second or third time it happend and realized, "Oh crap. Here we go again." I don't think I'll fall into the same funk this time--I feel like I know what's coming. Add the fact that my whole family isn't uprooting again. I'll be starting college again in January. I'll be studying to get certified in the Paralegal field, a field that looks to grow over the next 10 years, and the salaries will be more in line with my expereince and education. I'm thinking that the end of those crappy G.I. Joe cartoons in the 1980's were right--knowing is half the battle.

Re-Living Childhood

2011-10-27T09:56:00.001-07:00

In the aftermath of Star Wars, as it is with any entertainment vehicle, other entities look to cash in. This usually leads in the few years after the big blockbuster comes and goes to a lot of copycatting, where there are many movies that have different titles offer the same kind of plot point. For example, after the Saw movies hit it big, there was a rash of what we now know of a "torture-porn" movies where one sees people sliced and diced in the cruelest ways imaginable. I never really understood what the attraction was to those kinds of movies, but it proves my point. Similar to when Cloverfield came out, there were a rash of first person, shaky camera style movies. I was just glad that I don't get motion sickness. Anyway, as I was saying, Star Wars came out in 1977, which led to a rash of Sci-fi movies and TV shows up to the early to mid 1980's. Of course, this was the time when I was getting old enough to watch such shows. I cut my teeth, so to speak, watching Star Trek re-runs that were on from 7-8PM on WLBZ. I watched them because my Mom was watching them. I don't have a specific memory of sitting down and watching Trek with her, but I know that I must have because I've been hooked ever since. In fact, I used to hold up the end of a whiffle ball bat in one hand, and a whiffle ball in another and hum to myself the "Dah dum dah dum dah dum" music from the episode The Doomsday Machine. I did it without even thinking about why I was doing it! I only figured it out years later when I was older.
Now that this seasons new shows are starting to show reruns, and with some time on my hands while Amy watches her, what I call, "chick shows," I've been exploring the internet to see what there is to watch. A friend of mine told me that the entire run of the original Battlestar Galactica was on line. I haven't watched all of them yet--in fact, I probably won't. But I've looked up the ones I remembered most and it's reminded me of why I liked Galactia in the first place--interesting stories, enough action, and, most importantly, space travel. So then it got me to thinking about some of the other shows I watched back then, and the list surprised me a little. Here they are, in no particular order:
Battlestar Galactica
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
The Greatest American Hero
Knight Rider
Voyagers! (Not to be confused with the Star Trek show of a similar name, Voyager)
These shows had much in common--sci-fi themes, pretty good acting, good special effects, most of the time good writing, and the fact that none of them were on very long. Of that list, I think American Hero was on for part of three seasons. The rest of them were on for two or less. I don't know if Voyagers or Buck Rogers are on line somewhere, but the rest of them I've been able to watch again, and, for the most part, they've held up over time. Yes, the hair and clothes are a little dated, but the adventure they portray aren't. So, in a fit of nostalgia, I dug out my copy of the premiere episode of Greatest American Hero last night and showed it to my boys. My youngest, who just turned 8, was so excited that we watched another episode. And I dawned on me that I was about his age the first time I saw it. I don't want my children to be TV addicts, but the idea seemed to trip his imagination a little. Maybe that's what these shows did for me back in the day. And, it makes me a little sad to know that networks probably wouldn't take a chance on shows like that anymore. They would be relegated to cable specialty channels, out of the way and accessible to only to a small audience. But it's nice to know that some of the ideas can reach across time to tickle another generation. In spite of the big hair.
P.S. Now I've got the Battlestar Galactica theme stuck in my head.

Indian Summer

2011-10-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

It's supposed to get up into the low 80's this weekend. I'm not sure what the Indiana term for this weather is called, but in Maine we always called it Indian Summer. It's probably not politically correct anymore, but the description still fits. At any rate, here's the latest news from the midwest.

Charlie is now sporting what I call the "Jack Hamm" look. He's lost both of this front teeth, and the new ones are just barely coming through his gum. If you recall, Jack Hamm was one of the Steel Curtain players from the 1970's Pittsburg teams that didnt' have any front teeth. Charlie's living up the fact that he can now suck stuff though a straw without opening his mouth. I'm not sure how long it will take for his teeth to grow in--if they're not in by Halloween, I told Charlie that he should dress like a hockey player. Charlie is also happy to be on the swim team. He's old enough, and he proved that he could swim one whole length of the pool without help. So not only is he on a team, he's also learning to swim the right way. He's already two ahead of me--he'll know how to swim, and it looks like his front teeth are coming in straight. Charlie is also getting used to being in a high ability group at school, where he's not the smartest kid in the room anymore. I think he likes it better this way--he has said on more that one occasion that he's relieved that the other kids don't come up to him to ask him what a word said on a page. I think I've mentioned that while his classmates last year were reading Dr. Suess, he was reading chapter books. He's also getting used to having more and harder homework to do. So far, so good.

Henry just seems to get taller and more mature every day. He's also enjoyed being on a swim team again, and his body is responding to it. His shoulders have a better definition to them, and his gut is shrinking. He even said to me as we were watching Charlie practice that he "feels thinner." I'm not sure if my brother and I were like this, but it seems that almost overnight he sprouts hair. I was putting him to bed one night and noticed that he has as much hair on his legs that I do. I think some of the girls are starting to notice too. He told me that there are a couple of girls that follow him and another boy around at recess. One of the church members were throwing a party at the church last week, and there was a girl who's also in the 6th grade at Pinewood who knew Henry, but Henry didn't know her. I think it was she who called a few days later and wanted to talk to Henry about something. The reason he never called her back was that as she was leaving a message, and I was checking it, there were other girls giggling so much that I couldn't make out the call back number. The crossing of technology and adolescence hit home with me last week as I flipped open Henry's 3DS, which has on line capabilities. When the picture came back on, I was greeted with a close up of a woman's cleavage with a frilly bra on.
I promptly put a lock on the internet on his 3DS.
We have also worked out an agreement with his teacher that he will do all of his school work in school and not bring any of it home, so that way it doesn't get lost in the translation between our house and school. His teacher has done this sort of thing before, so she's experienced with this. It seems to be working so far--many of his D's have come up to C's and there's at least one B. I'm hoping that by having Henry work this way, he'll finally do well for himself. Of course, that's what I thought would happen by the end of last year too.

Amy is becoming a "world traveler." This past week, she was at a ministerial retreat in Racine, Wisconsin. From what she's told me, the retreat center is located right on Lake Michigan, so she would open her window and hear the waves at night. The bad part? It's run by a bunch of nuns who run it like a convent. Now, I know what it's like when you get a bunch of teachers together away from school, so I'm picturing ministers getting rowdy when the parishners aren't around. I'm guessing that's a hard thing to do when you'll be seeing nuns on a daily basis. So she got home from that on Thursday and is leaving today to head to Virginia to visit one of her sisters. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but Joni was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer, and due to her dilligance, caught it in time so that they removed the one tumor she had and is now undergoing chemotherepy. Her daughter has shaved her head so that she won't have to watch her hair fall out chunks at a time, and from what I've seen and heard, her spirits and prognosis seem very good. Amy, starting in September, is going back once a month to see and check on her and to join in the family rallying around her. All of us, including the in-laws and nieces and nephews, have our Team Joni shirts ready to go. So the boys and I have been having a "Bachelor Week" at the house. Between my job, swim team and homework, my admiration for single parents just keep going up. This realization hits me every time Amy is gone for any extended lenght of time. I know people do it every day--I'm just glad I'm not one of them.

As for me? Again, not sure if I've mentioned this to everyone, but I'm getting out of the teaching business. It's not that I don't love education and the teaching field, but, about a month ago, I had a few realizations:
1. I'm not leaving Indiana anytime soon.
2. I've had one teaching interview in 3 years.
3. I'm turning 40 (!) next year, and I don't want to be 5 more years down the road and still be making $10 and change an hour, with nothing saved for retirement.
So after a lot of discussions and searching for what fields will be opening up, I've decided that I'm going back to school and getting a certificate in the field of paralegal studies. I dabbled with the idea of law school, but one of the teachers I work with used to practice law and said that there have been huge lawyer layoffs over the last few years. Plus, it can cost up to $40K a year to go to law school, and realizing that I'd owe more on loans that I do on my house, law school didn't seem like a real good alternative. I'll be starting in January, and the program goes for one year. I'm hoping by this time next year, if I don't already have a job, I'll be on my way of getting one. This profession plays to my strenghts--finding information and writing about it. I will miss teaching, but I won't miss the feelings of questioning myself after another round of applications get no responses. I'm kind of excited and scared to be going back to school this time--I feel like my brain isn't as sharp as it used to be. Perhaps being back in a school setting will bring it all back, so to speak. I'm more optimistic than I have been for quite some time. I'm also hoping that with me making more cash, I'll be able to get rid of the 1970's avacado green bathroom we have in our house. Keep you fingers crossed.

One last thought--I have an uncle who has bladder cancer, and it's spread to his lungs and shoulder blade. Please send him healing thoughts.
I hope all is well where you are.

Only 3 weeks into the school year, and boy are my arms tired.

2011-09-08T11:07:00.001-07:00

For all of you on the east coast--I'm hoping the rain has let up. And, I hope you're not reading this under water. Here's what's been happening lately:

Growing up in Maine, we always started school sometime around Labor Day. The only exception was Aroostic County, where school started around the beginning of August. The reason for this was that the large potato farms that are up there needed the labor to pick the potato crop. The reason I mention this is that school out here starts about the same time as those kids in "The County," and I'm guessing the reasoning is or was the same--due to agriculture. Most of the farming is done by machine, but the school schedule remains the same. So we've been back for almost a month already. When I came back to the school I worked at since January, I had a few surprises waiting for me. One was that I would be on bus duty at the end of the day, which was no big deal. I also found out that I'd be Mr. Lunch Detention. Needless to say, I was not happy about this development. After the big teacher meeting the day before school started, I literally walked up to the principal and asked, "Why me?" His answer--"It's your turn." Oddly enough, it made me feel better, that I wasn't being punished for some unknown misdeed. I've made the best of it--so far, no kid has totally flipped out on me. I did what any good teacher would do--I laid out the rules and read them to every kid who's come in so far, and stuck to them. I had to throw a couple of kids out a few days ago because they showed up a few minutes late. Knowing that if I allowed that to happen, the rest of the year would only go downhill. And, it's a good think that I keep my hair short--less to rip out as the year goes on. I've also realized that I will be living in the area where I am for some time, and, as a result, will probably have to find some other profession other than public school teaching. In the three years I've lived here, I've only had one interview, which is for the job I now have. I'm not getting any younger, and I don't want to be in my mid 40's and still waiting for the classroom of my dreams to come down the road. I'm not sure where the path will lead next, but clearly I need to find one other than the one I'm on.

Amy is making sure that Henry is a sharp dressed man. Henry, who's still only 11, is about 5' 5" and getting bigger every day. We had to find him a double sized bed because he was outgrowing the twin one he was sleeping in. Amy also listened to Henry about some dress shoes that he was interested in. The shoes are called Sketchers, and he really wanted a pair that had steel toes and soles that had hiker boot treads on them. I was a little weary about him wearing them--I recalled a friend of mine who had shoes like that back when I was in middle school and he took all kinds of crap for them. When he ran in gym class, he would stomp loudly to stop his momentum. We dubbed it his "Buffalo Trot." I had images of something similar happening to Henry. Amy then texted our nephew, who spent his summer working at a fashion magazine in New York, and told her they were the "in style." I was still pretty skeptical, but then today I saw him with his nice clothes and new shoes. I couldn't even look at him. He looked so grown up. And we haven't even hit middle school yet.

Charlie is living the good life as well. He's finally lost one of his front teeth, and those who were charmed by him before are even more so now because he's got the missing front tooth lisp. Just got a report from his teacher saying that he's missing no homework and is great to have in class. He's especially happy now that he can check out chapter books for more than one week at a time. On his own, we even took off the training wheels on the bicycle and started teaching him how to ride. We've only had one lesson so far, but the mere fact that it was his suggestion surprised me. Before, any idea of him learning to ride a bike was immediately shot down by him, so we haven't pushed it. Just maybe we can get him up and running before it gets too cold outside.

As I'm writing this, one of the detention kid is tapping out a tune on the desk he's sitting at. For this, I went to school for 4 years and got a teaching certificate. Gotta love it.

I hope you all stay dry, stay happy, and stay out of detention. Perhaps more later.
I hope all is well where you are.

Requiem for Angus and Josie

2011-08-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

A fitting tribute to our beloved Kitties.

Angus and Josie, revisited.

2011-08-23T20:10:00.001-07:00

It's been 12 hours since Angus and Josie left us, and the house feels strangely empty. I forgot to mention earlier today that I've known the cats as long as I've been with Amy--it's like they came hand in hand with each other. I managed to get through the day without breaking down. Well, much anyway. After I got home from school, and the boys got their homework done, we all had dinner out and went to do some shopping to clean up cat stuff. The boys took the news fairly well--I wasn't home at the time, and they both were upset. Charlie looked at Amy and asked that they could watch some cartoons to help them feel better. We went shopping for cleaning supplies, and they had 2 cat boxes near the end and neither one used them very much. It struck me as I was mopping up the (literal) puddles under these boxes that I realized I'm doing the same thing that happened that I did after my uncle and both my grandparents died--mourn their loss, cry alot, and then clean stuff up and out. Is this part of the human cycle, this ritual? Is ths somehow hardwired into my brain--shock, weep, mourn, clean? What also stuck me is that this was happening cross species, so to speak--the same for humans and animals. I'm guessing this won't be the last suprise I'll get over the next few days and/or weeks, but it was not something I expected. Amy and I drank a beer in their memory tonight. I hope you all do to.

P.S. I don't think it's a coincedence that on the day Angus and Josie leave this world, a earthquake hits Virginia. They were born in Richmond in March of 1994. I wouldn't expect anything less than the earth to move to mark the day of their passing.

Angus and Josie

2011-08-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

I learned early in life that I probably would not have, or be able to live with animals. I've had allergies as far back as I can remember, and a few times those allergies have put me in the hospital. So on the night of December 13, 1996, I went to Amy Kulesza's house for a date. We had met over the previous few months doing a community play, and I was between relationships, so the timing was right. What Amy didn't tell me was that she had two cats. I recall setting foot in her apartment, looking down, and saying, "I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stay." So we had dinner, and watched The Ref. During that movie, Angus crawled up and sat in my lap. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, so I sat and rubbed his head and he purred like a machine. Over the next few months as Amy and I were getting to know each other, I got to know her cats. And what was remarkable about getting to know them wasn't how I was falling in love with them too, it was the fact that I wasn't sneezing, nose running, lung tightening within 15 minutes that I was used to. I could sit with them, pet them, and eventually live with them, without causing me huge distress. I was amazed. So Angus and Josie became the first furry pets I had ever lived with. So many random memories.

Angus sitting on Amy's pregnant belly, and then getting freaked out when in-utero Henry kicked him. He didn't go near Amy for days.

Josie staying away from Henry almost up to the time when Charlie was born.

Josie curling up and purring and making bread on me to a point that she literally drooled on me.

Angus letting toddler Henry and Charlie pull on chunks of fur and gently letting them know he'd had enough.

Whenever Amy or I would play with baby Henry or Charlie on the floor, Angus would be nearby, standing guard. For what, I don't know.

Josie ready to pounce on a neighbor cat in our Brewer apartment when that cat dared to climb the top rail and look into our dining room.

Josie showing off the ultimate kitty smackdown move by wrapping her front paws around Angus's head and bashing him with her back feet.

Bringing Josie home from the Vet and she being so mad that she literally growled while she was chewing her food.

Living at Amy's Dad's house and keeping them upstairs with us, and when we would open the door, they would run downstairs and sit in front of Henry's glass doors and watch the birds chase each other. We called it Kitty Big Screen TV.

In our Ellsworth Apartment, I left the upstairs door open one day and I watched Angus literally push Josie out the door, like they were both making a break for it.

Recently, when Josie was perched on the arm of the couch, if you didn't pet her head, she would cuff you. Josie wanted eveyone to pay the Love Toll.

This year, both of them turned 17, about 120 in human years, and their age seemed to be catching up to them. Josie had lost her sense of where the kitty box was, so since we have been living in Indiana, finding "her spots" has become a greater and greater problem. A few months ago, Angus couldn't use his hind legs, but then the next day, seemed to get better. A few weeks ago, after returning from our church campout, I noticed that Angus's back legs literally didn't work anymore. And, the little spots were becoming huge, smelly puddles. We thought perhaps Angus couldn't get into the box, so we separated them. One day, while downstiars, I watched Josie lift her leg and let go right in front of me. The evidence was becoming clear--their quality of life was going downhill. So today, August 23, 2011, we had them both put down. I've never lost a pet before, and I think I underestimated just how hard it is to make that decision. But Amy and I made it together. I don't know if I'll ever have pets again, but they were the best first pets an allergic guy could have had.

Harry Potter and Summer Vacation

2011-07-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

There isn't much I can say since most other people have said it already--the new movie is excellent, and in particlar the work done by Alan Rickman as Snape stood out. The scene that always makes me tear up is when Harry holds the Resurrection Stone and his parents, Sirius Black and Lupin come back to help him march toward what Harry thinks is his death. The part that gets me is when Harry's mother says something like, "We're always with you in your heart." Deep down inside of me, I hope that's true of the people I have loved and are no longer living. The only minor criticism I have is the death of Voldermort. In the book, he and Harry pace around each other and finally Harry zaps him to the cheering of the crowd. In the movie, Voldermort just kind of evaporates, and when Harry sees people after it's over, it's like nothing has happened. Maybe it's more realistic to what happens in a real battle where the fighters are too exhausted to celebrate anything, but I felt like I'd been on the edge of my seat for 2 hours and pfpfpfpt, like air out of a baloon. I almost stood up in the theater and said, "Really? That's it????" It's not going to stop me from seeing it again, and maybe I'll get a better feel for it once the "AARRRR" feeling of adrenaline won't be there. But I did feel a little dissapointed. It's like the first time I saw Order of the Phoenix--I thought the way Voldermort "possesed" Harry was kind of lame, but over time I kind of got used to it. Anyway, I'm wondering what you all thought, if you've seen it--what did you think?

The rest of vacation

Now that the Harry Potter Rush is over, instead of giving you a blow-by-blow account of our three week, 11 state trip, here are some of the highlights:

I love Boston, but hate driving in it.

Two of the women that I love in my life have songs that have their names in it--the Pure Prarie League has a song titled, "Amie," pronounced the same way as Amy, and of course, "Allison" by Elvis Costello. I imagine that at some point in their lives, some drunken idiot would pull one of those songs off of a jukebox somewhere in some sort of attempt to show their dedication. Both songs are about men who act badly, by either leaving the women in question, or just by giving up. Yeeesh.

We brought a lot of Maine and Pennslyvania beer back to Indiana with us. As we were leaving the Hannaford in Saco, Maine with three cases of beer in the car, and one case of Moxie, I was starting to feel like Snowman in Smokey and the Bandit. I even have a copy of "East Bound and Down" on my Mp3 player. There were no sightings of Smokey's on my tail, however.

One of my favorite Random Amy Quotes, as we were driving down the Mass. Turnpike. "If I would have gotten closer to them I would have flipped them off." What caused this to happen was that as we were on said Turnpike, an older couple in an older car weaved in and out of our lane multiple times. This is what driving in MA will do to a person.

Other Random Amy Quote: "I put the crap in Crapplebees." The other favorite phrase in the car was "Dropping a Duce." As you can tell, 18 hours in a car can make a family a little punchy.

Everytime I heard a Bruce Springsteen song on my Mp3 player, the same thought would occur to me: "What's he going to do without Clarence?"

At one of the hotels we stayed at, the pool lights were on, but the overhead lights weren't. It was kind of romantic except for the fact that our two children were swimming in said pool.

Speaking of pools, our first night in Maine my Mom and sister came to join us at our hotel, and my Mom got in with the boys to swim. I have generally sworn off hotel pools because

1. I like my manhood where it is, and

2. The boys are big enough where I don't have to get in with them anymore, so I relax by the pool instead.

This particular evening, Amy and my sister wanted me to get in with everyone. I really didn't want to. So my sister and Amy start laying the "guilt" on me to bribe me to go swimming. The only problem was, I was lauging so hard that I just wanted to hear more stories from my sister about the stuff she has to do for my parents, and Amy saying things like, "Oooh. If only your mother had a son that loved her enough to go swimming with her and the grandchildren." Yes, eventually I got in the water. I've also discovered that my children are kind of like puppies who have grown up--neither Charlie nor Henry know their own strength. Since they are used to roughhousing with me in the water, and now that Henry's only a foot shorter than I am, I'm getting beat up every time I get in with them. Such is life, I guess.

While on the Chamberlin Bridge watching the fireworks, my brother starting telling what I like to call "Uncle Chris" stories. Since I don't get to see my brother very often, he often has tales to tell of his work as a journalist in northern Maine. He told us the story of how he got lost in the Maine woods for an hour after covering an accident on a rural Maine road. I won't retell it here because I can't do it justice, but suffice it to say it was on that night that I was reminded that I come from a family of story tellers. Maybe not in a traditional sense, but story tellers nonetheless. At one point, Amy did in fact lean over and said, "Uncle Chris, tell me another story." Very funny.

Before the fireworks, Amy was going to take Henry back to our hotel room because Henry sees a lot of food an feels it's his job to eat it all. So he had a bit of a tummy ache. He eventually felt good enough to join us on the bridge just before the fireworks started. While in VA, he and his best buddy saw Monty Python's Holy Grail for the first time. So in trying to convince Amy that he was feeling better, Henry recited the lines of the almost dead guy on the cart. "I can walk! I'm feeling much bettah!" I'm glad Henry has seen that movie at 11--I think it's funnier at that age.

This trip also marked the first time I slept in a camper--my parents house, since all of us kids left, is now filled up with their stuff, and it's spread out because there's no little kid stuff there anymore. So my parents borrowed a pop up camper and the first night Amy and I stayed in it, and the second night, Charlie and I slept in it. I've wondered what it would be like to stay in one, and now I know. I've often said that someday I'd like to have a trailer camper to go camping in. I must say, I was a little suprised at how comfortable it was. Will I run out and get one? Not very soon, but it's nice to know that they are that comfortable.

Having a pre-teen in the car who's having his first rush of hormones made it difficult at times to stay in the car, if you know what I mean. Henry quite hasn't gotten down the concept of showering and putting on deoderant often enough. So I had to fumigate the car once we got back to Indiana.

At a rest stop in New York, saw a most interesting sight--a guy taking a leak with one hand, and holding an IPadd with the other. Ain't modern technology grand?

As we were going through Ohio, which takes forever, Amy and I started to compare Dad Sighs. You know the Dad Sigh--when the Dad can't quite express themselves, and sighs instead. I've noticed I've acquired the Dad Sigh whenever we're trying to get out the door, and suddenly Henry or Charlie decided that there is something they need in the car, but couldn't think about it 5 seconds earlier, and we've got to get somewhere in a hurry. Amy and have figured out that her Dad's Sigh is more of a "What were you thinking?" kind of sigh, and my Dad's Sigh is more of a mark of exasperation. These are things that get us through 18 hours and a lot of flat land in the car.

Speaking of Dads, my Dad had his gall bladder removed after we left Maine. I'll spare you the details, but he is recovering well and is happy to be off the bland diet that he was prescribed before the surgery.

Charlie and I also got to see our first Portland Sea Dogs game while we were at Ferry Beach. The Sea Dogs are the Red Sox AA team, so some of them have gone on to play for the big club. The Dogs lost that night, but some cool stuff happened while we were there.

1. Some randome guy gave us a ticket to get in.

2. This was Charlie's first trip to Hadlock field outside of Amy's uterus.

3. He got a Sea Dogs rally monkey with some cash he'd been saving up.

4. I got to wear my spiffy new Red Sox jacket. I felt studly wearing it.

5. Just as we got under the bleachers at the end of the game, the rains came. It was perfect timing.

Whew! I hope your summer is as eventful as ours. We have two bunnies in our basement, and we're watching someone elses cats to pay the cosmos back for having an awsome house sitter while we were away. I hope all is well where you are.

Quick trip to Virginia

2011-06-20T05:24:00.000-07:00

Our original plan was to be in Maine starting yesterday, but due to the untimely death of a friend of Amy's, we've had to make a two day detour to Virginia. We left White Plains, New York yesterday thinking that we'd be in the car for 5 hours and we'd get to have Father's Day with Amy's Dad. Traffic in New York, and then in Delaware took care of that. The traffic was so bad in Delaware that it went from the New Jersey line all the way to Maryland. We got off the highway and found a back way into Maryland and finally picked up 95 close to Virginia. I had also forgotten that the Beltway near where we used to live is being widened, along with a new branch for the Metro being built. As we approached where our exit used to be, Amy looked up and said, "What fresh hell is this?" It came back to me at that point that there was a big debate as to whether they should put the Metro under ground or not. By driving around the mess that's being created, I hope they're happy. I'm also a little surprised that these projects are going forward--Virginia has joined the ranks of states that have, as I like to call them, Idiot Governors. We've got one in Indiana, there's one in Maine now, and Virginia has one as well. I thought most Idiot Governors were against spending money on infrastructure because, well, it might create jobs or something. (There's culture wars to fight!) So, we're only in VA for two days, so it's pretty much a hit and run, so to speak. Then it's off to Maine, where, hopefully, there are no traffic jams.

Other stuff

My sister in law has Cosmopolitan in the bathroom for reading material. It's a magazine that I wouldn't ordinarily read. (Go figure.) Over the years I've noticed that Cosmo makes it's money on sex tips. I've been browsing this particular one while in the bathroom, and have read all of these ornate things women should do with their men. I feel like I want to write to them and simplify things for their advise writers. Here's what my article would say:

"Walk into a room naked. Then say, 'You wanna?'"

I know, it would be hard to sell magazines with that, but men are simple creatures. (Some might say simpletons, but you get the drift.) Why complicate something that nature has made easy?

Henry knows he's maturing, physically. I'm not sure it's infiltrated his whole brain yet. When I opened the car to pack yesterday, I noticed a distinct, shall we say, odor. We made him shower before we left. He's perfectly comfortable wearing the same clothes for days at a time. He hasn't figured out he needs to shower more then once a week. I know he'll get it at some point, but it seems the pre adolescence roller coaster fun ride has arrived. Goodie for us.

One more Henry fact--he's taller than my sister in law. I think this is going to be a theme on this trip.

That's all from here--I'll have more tails of sex tips and traffic jams in the coming days. Hope all is well where you are.

Counting our way to Maine

2011-06-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are at T minus 2 days and counting. We've got a house sitter, we're in the process of making that final push for laundry, and getting the car ready for the big trip. I can't wait for you all to see my shiny new car. I'm doing stuff to it that I've never done before--I actually bought Armor All to clean the dashboard and vacuumed out all of the crud on the floor before it becomes permanent! So while the cleaning goes on, here are some other things that have been happening in the DeBeck house.

First of all, if you want to get a feel for a down home, genuine Maine accent, watch the above.

Makes me feel at home just watching it.

Henry and Charlie sold a sleep over for our services auction, and last Friday was the day. We had a total of 10 kids in the house. You're not reading that wrong--10 kids! It made me happy that we have a front and back yard, and a park nearby. In the days leading up to the sleep over, Amy and I thoroughly cleaned out each boys room. I went to move Henry's mattress into Charlie's room and felt something funny under Henry's pillow. I pulled out a sheet of paper that was a printed picture of a presumably Indian woman smiling knowingly at the camera. It was a head shot, so there was nothing "funny" about the picture, but I was a little suspicious about where it was located. I asked Henry and he told me that he just used her face for one of the new games he's playing on his new DS. He got a new DS for getting high honors on his report card. (For those of you who aren't familiar with video games, it's a new hand held video game system that plays games in 3D, and has all kinds of new bells and whistles on it. Henry's been jonesing for one since they came out a few months ago.) One of the games that is hard wired in the system lets you take pictures of people's faces and then they fight each other. I think. Anyway, when I asked him why this was hidden under his pillow, he said it was, "Just about her face." I looked at him and said, "Henry, it's never just about the face." At that point, he smiled, looked down at the floor, and handed over the picture. When I told Amy about this, in her mind this confirms that we're probably going to have dark skinned grandchildren. Even in his early life, he seemed to gravitate toward non-white girls--be they African American, Hispanic, or anything in between. At least there won't be any "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" moments if that comes to pass.

Back to the sleep over --the glory of doing this sort of thing with older kids is that they pretty much police themselves. We had water/water balloon fights, a dinner where they made their own pizzas, and then we all sat down and watched Return of the Jedi. The girls who came over claimed Henry's room instantly, to a point of making sure that the boys did not come in, no matter what. The next day when everyone was cleaning up and getting ready to leave, one of the older girls (The age ranges were from 11 to 5.) said that the boys room seemed to have a "cleanliness problem." Amy had to break it to her that that never goes away, either. So no kids died, were maimed, or otherwise harmed, except for one little incident where someone got a door to the face. Glad I don't have to do that every day.

Speaking of service auction items, tomorrow I'm hosting a Star Trek Movie Marathon. We're watching the best movies--2, 4, 6, and the newest one that came out in 2009. I've got my uniform shirt ready to go, we have Tang to hand out as parting gifts for everyone, and I'm going to be making uniform shirts for our top Trek trivia winners. It will be a geek's paradise. In the middle of all of this, the woman we've contacted to be our house sitter will be coming over. I hope we don't scare her away.

That's the big hits this week--I'll try to write as often as I can about our Maine trip. We hope to be in Virginia some time in July. I hope I get to see as many of you as I can! Hope all is well where you are. Now back to cleaning.

The End. . .Of the School Year

2011-06-02T08:22:00.001-07:00

Today, Thursday June 2 is the last day of school for Henry and Charlie. I don't get out of school until next Tuesday, a fact they remind me of every day. Amy's been busy with end of the year stuff--we've made four cakes, a dozen cupcakes, and Amy's headed up a baby shower for Henry's teacher. Whew! On top of her minister stuff, Amy's been like a whirling dervish the last month or so. She's really looking forward to our tripping off to Maine (I am too, of course) and I understand why. Things got tense yesterday when one of the other PTO Mom's went off on Amy because she didn't buy the right popsicles. I'm not kidding. The person in question apologized later, but it's a bit of a microcosm of what leading the PTO has been like this year. Amy was, at one time, a corporate cleaner of sorts. Way back when, before the ministry called to her, she was a manager at Blockbuster in the stores in and around Washington, DC. She got so good at her job that she would go into under performing stores, fire the riffraff, physically clean them up, and get them up and running again. She brought those skills to the PTO, as things were running like a little country club. Of course, when a person comes into a situation to try to change things for the better, the people in charge tend not to like change. So Amy's had an uphill battle this year. She, and I, thought that after all the dust had settled, and she's getting the PTO back to where it should be, we have the Popsicle incident. I have never understood power stuggles in organizations that are designed to help people. Then again, I expect that the people that are involved in such organizations to act as grownups, not as old teenagers. I saw it in the Star Trek fan club that I was once in, when my Dad was president of the Little League I and my brother played in, I'm begining to see it at the school I'm working at, and now I'm watching Amy suffer though it with the PTO. This fall, she's looking to have an official election of officers and is looking to hand the reins to someone else. I can't say I blame her.

In other news:

Henry's going to be a sixth grader next fall. I'm glad I have the summer to get used to this.

Charlie's going to be a second grader next fall. I'm glad I have the summer to get used to this.

You know you're living in the midwest when your family is shopping at a Target, and an announcement comes over the loudspeaker that everyone needs to get to the rear of the store because there is a tornado warning and no one is allowed to leave. That was us last week. We all sat in the back hallway, a "secure hallway" as the employees told us, and waited the storm out. So the four of us sat in the back room while the thunder rumbled and the rain pounded the roof. I did have thoughts of the Home Depot in Joplin, MO as we were sitting there. If I'm ever in a car and need to run in somewhere, I'm headed to the back of the store. In case you didn't hear what happened, people ran into the Hope Depot and hid along the front wall of the store, then the tornado ripped the roof off and the front wall collapsed. I haven't heard if they pulled anyone out from under the rubble. After 30 minutes, we got the all clear signal and on we went with our business. I almost called this Another Sign I'm Not in Maine Anymore, but then again, they had tornadoes there yesterday. Crazy.

The pleasures of being a homeowner--in the last three weeks, I've had to mow my lawn more than I did all of last summer. I guess that's what happens when it rains for a whole month. I also had another homeowner first--I laid down mulch in my front yard. Last summer, I took out a bunch of shrubbery in front of the house. I've wanted to do something with the spot I cleared out, but it would involve hours and hours of digging out stumps, so I kept putting it off. Amy came up with the idea of just taking some of the old bricks that are in our back yard and throwing some mulch on the ground to make it look pretty. I wasn't sure how it was going to come out, but lo and behold, it looks pretty sharp. It didn't' even take me long to spread it. I'm thinking I might get a few more bags to make it really look good. And to cover up the spouting weeds.

While I was moving the aforementioned bricks, I found out we have a very little neighbor in the back yard. I moved a brick and saw something small and gray dart out of the way. After I yelped and told Henry I was okay, I realized that we have a little field mouse living there. I had inadvertently taken the roof off of his house. I looked and saw that he (or she) had built a little nest in between the bricks. So I carefully put the brick back on and told the boys to just let it be. I figure that a mouse is better living in my back yard and not in my basement.

Well, by the time I get home today, the Last Day of School Party will be in full swing. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be walking into, but I have a feeling it will entail a slip and slide, water balloons, and a lot of cake. I hope to see most of you this summer. The DeBeck Summer Tour will begin on June 17th!
Hope all is well where you are.

The Rapture

2011-05-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

To you all--I hope you enjoy the Rapture tonight. It's supposed to hit around 6:00 tonight, so if you're one of the chosen, Congratulations! Save me a seat when you get there. And if you're not? Have a fun time rioting and looting! (I think I'll finally get that second big screen TV and Blue-Ray disc player I've always wanted!) As for what I'll be doing, around 5:58, I'll be standing on my front lawn with a Sam Adams in my hand, recreating this famous scene from the movie White Heat. Enjoy!

Is it May already?

2011-05-11T05:45:00.001-07:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but April was a depressing month. All it seemed to do was rain, rain, rain. Did I mention that it was about 15 degrees below normal? Granted, we didn't get a foot of snow on April 1, (April Fools! Mother nature style.) but it seemed to be a long, dreary month. I also realized a few days ago that I hadn't written to you all in quite some time. Well, here's the latest update:

Charlie

Not sure if the info got to you all, but Charlie's been accepted into the PEP program next year. PEP is the acronym for the gifted and talented classes, and Charlie's reading scores were quite literally off the charts. I'm not sure what this means as far as what kind of work he'll be doing, but I think he'll be a little more challenged than he was this year. His teacher's been very good in working with him and giving him special projects to work on, but I'm happy that he'll be in a whole class of kids like him. He's reading chapter books while his classmates are still reading Dr. Suess. Which has led to another right of passage that I'm not sure how I feel about yet. Charlie will now read himself to sleep, and for the last few weeks, I haven't been reading a story to him every night. Changes with Charlie happen all at once--when he learned to talk, he went from babbling to speaking full sentences. When he learned to walk, it was almost like he was rolling around on his belly, stood up one day, and starting walking. So the fact that he went from me reading to him to him reading by himself doesn't surprise me. I've also redone both boys rooms and have revised the books in their rooms. All of the chapter books that Henry's to old for now belong to Charlie, and all of the Thomas, Clifford, and Arthur books are now boxed up. Charlie was very happy with this development, and he spent the first two days after re-organizing his room reading the last couple of Harry Potter books. Yes, he's reading Harry Potter books all by himself. Last Thursday, it was the K-2 spring concert. Couple of things I've learned about these kind of concerts:
1. The kids the music teacher pics to read solo are scared of the microphone, so no one understands what the hell they are saying. And
2. I think the kids practice the songs for months, but come show time they're so scared, the forget the words, and no one understands what the hell they're singing.
Since no one knows what's going on, the fun is watching the kids do the interpretations of the words. At least the select few who remember the words. Charlie of course was moving his hands, his body, and shaking his head as much as possible. After the show was over, he asked Amy and I if we ever got nervous on stage. We both told him that getting nervous is the way to get ready and perform your best. I think he got a little buzz out of it--he didn't cool down until 45 minutes after the show. He told us that at first he was nervous, then he started having fun. My little Thespian.

Henry

Have I mentioned that Henry's only 6 inches shorter than Amy? I'm also beginning to think that Henry might have the artists soul, not a sports participating soul. Next year, as a 6th grader (gulp!) he gets to start to learn to play an instrument. He's been playing piano for the last year, and he's getting pretty good at it. Amy's a much better convincer than I am--when the paper came home, and I asked what he wanted to do, his initial reply was, "Nothing." I felt like I wanted to launch into my best, deepest Dad voice and say, "You're going to learn something, and you're going to like it!" Fortunately, I'm married to someone who can say the same kind of thing but with a little more panache. So after long conversations, Henry has decided to learn to play the viola. He seems happy about it, and I am too--a little music ability can go a long way. I'm also noticing that while he is still dismissive of the idea of liking girls, there seems to be something going on between him and one of his friends that's in his classroom. Two times in the last few weeks, the girl in question has called Henry to see if he would like to go to PTO skate night, and then last weekend, asked to come over to hang out. A few months ago, when Henry discovered that he had emerging lip hair, said he was trying to grow a mustache. I kind of scoffed at him at the time, but now I'm starting to see his upper lip darken slightly. I think every boy in their early adolescence thinks they're going to grow a full mustache and look like the coolest kid ever. I'm wondering how long it will take before he realizes that it doesn't quite work that way. I can't even grow a mustache now, even if I tried. And, have I mentioned that he's wearing a men's size 9 1/2 shoe? That's only a size and a half smaller than mine.

Amy

Amy decided to try something new a few weeks ago--she colored her hair and had her nails done with some kind of polish that doesn't come off. It's coating is called shellac, and so far it's lived up to it's billing--no chips yet after a month being on. When she first suggested that she wanted to color her hair to cover up her gray, I suggested that she try being a blond for a while. After I emerged from my coma from being whacked upside the head, (just kidding--it was just a smack on the shoulder. I think.) she colored her hair her natural color. And the hair stylist put some more bounce in her hair as well. So of course the fun began of bouncing her hair and referencing the Charlie Brown character when she talks about her "Naturally curly hair." Amy has also caught the antiquing bug. She caught the bug while looking to by a vanity to put in our bedroom. The style she likes is called Waterfall, which was the dominant style from the 1930's to the early 50's. One of the people in the congregation is also looking to outfit her new house by trolling in many of the local antique places and resale shops. Between her guidance and Craig's List, Amy's been going bonkers trying to find the exact vanity of her dreams. With my new, smaller car, picking up the one she wants has been proven a little difficult, but we're looking to get the one she wants sometime this week. And, as Amy has said, she'll have one corner of the house that girly. I guess that's tough to come by in a house full of men/boys. Amy has also been the PTO president this year at the boy's school. I can't go into great detail, but from being on the outside looking in, it's become apparent to me that some people never leave high school. Or at least, that mentality. I'm not sure she's going to do it again next year. The church is on the up and up--statistics are showing that attendance is up from a year ago, which makes our lives easier.

Me

I just had an evaluation from my principal a few days ago. I knew it was going to be positive, but I know that no matter how good I feel about the job I'm doing, I feel a little tense going in to it. After we chatted for half an hour, it became clear to me that I will have a job come next school year, if I can't find anything else. It was the first time I've walked out of a meeting like that and not wondered if I'm going to get fired or not. My first 2 years in VA were big learning curves for me, and the feedback was not always good. By the time we had left VA, I had finally figured out how to teach. Story of my life--I figure things out by the time it's over. Once the adrenaline wore off, my day went very well. I'm also digging my new car--my little green Ford Focus. I miss the cargo space of a wagon, but I don't miss the frequent fill ups at the gas pump. I'm sure that Saturn got decent mileage, but what I like about the new car is that it gives you how many miles left before you hit empty. I've gone as low as 1 mile to empty just to see how far I can push it.
One of the other highlights lately is that on Sunday, which was Mother's Day, one of the music ladies at church asked (or drafted, some might say) a bunch of us men to sing "There's Nothing Like a Dame" to the women in church. We only had a few rehearsals, but, as the old theater phrase goes, we brought the house down. Amy got up to speak after we finished and, well, she was speechless. We did our job right. If I can find the person who filmed it, I'll pass it on to you all. For some of you that have known me for a long time, singing is not something that comes natural to me. My problem was that I was trying to sing out of my range. I'm a bass, and if I keep my voice tone low, I can do pretty well for myself. Granted, I'm not signing up for American Idol anytime soon, but it is fun to sing in a group of people.
As I mentioned earlier, Amy's caught the antiquing bug. It's infected me, too. One day a friend of mine and I went around to some of the stores that are in town and I saw a sign for an estate sale. As I went walking through the garage of the house, I saw what could be my personal Holy Grail: A Super 8mm projector. I've been looking for one for a few years now because I had shot some movies of the boys when they were very little, and have had no projector to show them. This particular projector is a sound projector, although I haven't figured out how that works yet. It also came with a tape recorder, and as far as I can tell, the person is supposed to run a movie with a cassette tape and that's how you get your sound. I bought both for $10, so I was feeling pretty spiffy when I got my new/old stuff home. I turned on the motor and the lamp, and both seemed to work. I flicked the switch to see if the stuff would turn to run a movie, and nothing happened. Feeling full of myself, I took it apart (see Mom and Dad! I knew this skill would come in handy some day!) and noticed that the drive belt had broken. In fact, it had broken and had turned to goo on some of the pulleys. So I scraped off what I could, and went on E-Bay to get a new belt. While I was waiting for the belt to arrive, one of the websites I found mentions that one could also use a O-ring from a car engine as a belt. So I got one of those, and after an hour or so tinkering with it to see how it works, I got it on! I greased up some of the gears, and Viola! A working projector! We haven't had the time to show anything yet. I've also shopped on E-Bay and found a cartoon to run on the projector for $10. I'm not telling the boys and I'm going to suprise them with a cartoon before showing them the home movies we have. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I've always wanted to be a movie maker. Perhaps now will be my big chance?

Well, the weather is finally getting warmer, and the school year is winding down. I'll be done with school by June 7. The boys will finish the week before me, so of course they will laugh at me as I head out the door in the morning. Only 3 1/2 weeks left! Some of the students have checked out already, which makes my job that much more fun. Anyway, I hope all is well where you are. Hope to see you all this summer!

High School

2011-04-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

So this year is my 20th high school reunion. It doesn't seem possible that I've been away from that hallowed institution for that long. Being 18 feels like a long time ago, but not being in high school. I have mixed feelings about what it meant to me. If you ask anyone I went to high school with, chances are most of my former classmates hold me in high regard. And, I was involved with many activities in high school--I managed sports, was on the speech team, and even tried my hand at drama. Does this mean I went places, partied, and have memories of all the ribald times I had? In a word, no. Part of the problem, and it might even be the whole problem, is that I grew up in the era of Nancy Reagan and "Just Say No." With many kids, at least from my perception, it didn't seem to take very well. Me? I bought into it hook, line, and sinker. And, I made my feelings known at the time. So it's no wonder that I was never invited to anything. What bugs me further is the fact that this still bothers me. I'm almost 40, with two children and a wife I love, and a life that has very little to do with what I did, or didn't do, 20 years ago. So the date for my reunion has come down, and of course, it's a time when I can't be there. Living in the midwest makes it hard, and expensive, to travel to the northeast more than once a year. So my big plan is that while I'm there, I'll contact those that I would like to see from my high school days and at least be able to say hi and perhaps share a drink with. But I have this deep, dark fear that I'll be left standing at whatever venue I've chosen and, like Peter Brady, jump every time I hear a car go by, thinking that the party is about to begin, and no one will show up. Then I'll see the pics of the actual reunion, and I'll know that I missed something. Again. My wife was able to pull something like this off a few years ago, but part of my anxiety is that women, or my wife at least, is able to pull people and events together. Whenever I try to do the same thing, or at least it's how I feel, it falls apart because I missed something. Thank goodness for this space--I don't want to drive my wife nuts about this. I know it's about my own fears and anxieties and I can't burden her with this stuff. But then the question comes to my mind--Why should I care? It's not like I have a lot of stories to talk about. Some of my classmates I literally grew up with. Maybe that's the connection. Well, as time goes on and I see who's interested in meeting me while I'm in Maine this summer, you'll probably be hearing more about this. And maybe I'll pull out my class ring, put it on my pinky,(it doesn't fit around my ring finger anymore. Neither does my letter jacket.)and hope for the best. I'll keep you posted.

The Curse rears it's ugly head.

2011-03-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

I seem to have a curse on me. This one has nothing to do with Babe Ruth, although that one got put to bed 7 years ago, but every time I get close to paying off a car, something happens and I have to start all over again. For example, my first car, which was a Pontiac Sunbird, was $700 away from being paid off when the head warped. My second car, a Pontiac 5000, was paid off, then I hit a deer. The next car I sold before I paid it off, which leads me to my 2001 Saturn station wagon. Amy and I figured that we only had 4 payments left on it, and that perhaps we could go a while before having to start up new ones again by the end of the sumemr. The car is 10 years old and has 133K miles on it, and I've literally driven that car up and down the east coast and halfway across the country. So this morning I'm on my way to work when I noticed that the light was green. A split second later, I noticed that the carin front of me was stopped. So I hit the break. Not fast enough. I hear a bang, the hood folds, and it seems the Curse of the Almost Paid Off Car hits again. The guy I ran into was okay, and there was almost no damage to his car. In fact, the only way one could tell that it was in an accident was the few red streaks on the rear bumper. I think I hit the break and was slowing down when I hit him, and the front of my car went under his. The only pain I've felt so far is that I think I jammed my left wrist. But I don't think it's worth a 2 hour trip to the ER so they can tell me that I need to take some Tylenol. So begins the trail of paperwork, and the wondering what kind of car is next. At one time, I had dreams of something a little bigger, like a minivan or similar. With gas prices being what they are, and of the travelling that we tend to do over the summer, I'm thinking that if I had my drothers, maybe a Honday Fit is what we need. The rental car I'm driving is a Chrystler Seabring, and it's all black and has an input for my MP3 player. I took the boys and a friend to PTO skate night tonight, and blasted loud music. It's hard to drive slow when you've got Cilt of Personality blaring in your radio. The kids liked it too. The other big news of the day today is that Charlie and I figured out the hard way that the cats have been mistaking his bin full of Legos for a cat box. I'm working my way through the pile of Lego bricks to clean any yellow stains off of them. So the highlight of my day tomorrow will be if I can get to work without smashing another car. And I know I will because I'm not even paying anything on this car.

What's new

2011-03-23T07:57:00.001-07:00

It seems spring has finally sprung. The boys are running outside with no coats on, even thought frost still forms on the cars, and the high school kids that I deal with seem to be upping the crazy. I keep waiting for the last big snow storm, but just maybe the snow's done with. That's that one big difference between here and Maine--that feeling doesn't go away until April.
Anyhoo, here's what's happening.

When I was a kid, I spent a chunk of my childhood in the hospital due to my asthma. It seemed to happen frequently, but as I get older, I wonder just how often it was. Well, it seems that my asthma has decided to give me a reminder of the good old days, so to speak. I think I've got some kind of chest cold, because that's where things have seemed to settle. For normal people, if their chest is just a little congested, no problem. For someone like me, big problem. I've gotten used to not having to think about asthma so much. I haven't had to go to the ER yet--I've been to the doctor's twice instead. So I'm on with my old friend Prednisone, and today I started an antibiotic. I'm hoping that the elephant on my chest goes away soon. It's a real pain in the ass. Or the chest, so to speak. Today Charlie started his day with a nebulizer treatment, and probably a doctor's office visit. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?

Another big piece of news is that I'm officially looking for a classroom position. Now, in the area where we live, due to a down economy and a Governor that thinks any idiot can teach, the positions around here are pretty scarce. And we had considered (Amy and I, that is) sending me back to VA and working there for a couple of years, earning some cash and getting my career back on track. The big downside of course is that there is a 10 hour drive from Elkhart to Sterling, so I'd have to actually live away from my family. Neither one of us are really crazy about the idea. So I started hunting online for jobs in Indiana. So far, the closest one is 30 minutes from my house. Almost all of the other ones are 2-3 hours away, so if I got hired for any of those, I'd still have to find a room to stay in during the week, and I'd be away from the fam for that long (Anyone have King of the Road spinning in their heads?) There are no perfect solutions, but we're trying to find them. Many of the people who live around here are having to do such things--Amy and I have the luxury of time so we can at least toy with other ideas. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can come up with something where I can work full time and be around at night. I'll keep you all posted.

The boys are also trying a new experiment. They have both stated that they want to grow their hair out. I've been fighting this for the last year or so because short hair is just easier to maintain--one less thing to argue about when it's time to rush them out the door in the morning. So all I've heard about in the last few weeks is how much better they look with longer hair. All I see is shaggy hair over their ears. I also have to fight the urge to tell people they're growing out their "hair helmets." I guess I wouldn't have made a very good hippie after all. I am going to take them to the barber in a week or so to level out bangs and get rid of sideburns. I guess I'll have that much, anyway.

Did I mention that Henry will be 11 next week? Did I mention that the top of his head is up to my adam's apple? God help me.

Amy got to go on a bender last Sunday, only without alcohol. In an increasing effort to make sure she has some time off, I bought her a ticket to see Willie Nelson. While that was going on, her alma marta, Virginia Commonwealth University, or VCU, was beating the crap out of Perdue, which didn't go over very well around here. On her way home, she got to hear her favorite John Pryne song, Paradise. It seems the cosmos was giving Amy a break for a change. Of which I was very happy for her. Now if only VCU can win again this week. . .

High school drama isn't limited to just students I've discovered. One of the teachers, who's very good at what she does, has high aspirations for her kids. Unfortunately, the clientele that she has isn't very high caliber. Which is of course, why I'm involved. She wants her students to learn to study and read and take notes on their own. The kids I deal with aren't necessarily good at those sorts of things, and aren't the best organized. So I asked for a vocab sheet that she wanted the students to hand in later in the week. I asked if I could have an extra copy, and she told me that all of her copies were handed out. I told this to the teacher that I'm the assistant for, and she fired off an e-mail complaining about this to the principal. A while later, the teacher in question e-mailed back asking why two of the kids I had taken out had similar quotes used on a paper they had been assigned that day in class. So I did a tap dance asking for "clarification" on what she would want me to do next time I take the students out to help to avoid such troubles in the future. My "boss" looked at what I wrote, and said that in the process of doing my job, I probably shouldn't have to ask such questions. I looked at her and said that I'm merely trying to keep the peace. I didn't know that along with dealing with kids of varying disabilities and emotional problems, I'd have to be a diplomat as well. I'm discovering that having my own classroom is going to be easier than the job I'm doing!

Kids are coming, so I better go. Or something like that. I hope all is well where you are--and warmer.

One more thing. . .

2011-03-03T21:28:00.001-08:00

I forgot to mention this earlier, but we're looking into finally replacing our bank vault, I mean dishwasher. The other night Amy asked me to look at the bottom to see how it's hooked up. After reiterating that I didn't know what I was doing, I took off the part that's near the floor. As I looked at all of the innards, I noticed on one of the motors a manufacturing date. The date? 1970. I'd often told the boys that the dishwasher was older that me. Now I know for sure.

Hope all is well where you are.

It's not even the Ides of March

2011-03-03T18:53:00.000-08:00

Life has been exciting around the DeBeck house recently. First of all, we've had a couple of warm spells so most of the snow has melted. It's still chilly outside, but we've had a couple of warm days, and some rain. I can actually see my front lawn, such as it is. Anyway, I'm beginning to think that cars are like people--as they get older, they start to break down. I think our newer car, our Hyndai, is aging faster than my Saturn wagon. This week, Amy was running some errands when she noticed that the temprature guage was all the way in the red zone. Come to find out that the radiator had cracked. So she called a tow truck and a day and a half later, voila! A new radiator! My car was next. For the last month or so, it's been leaking antifreeze into the passenger side of the car. I don't know how or why it's leaking on the inside, but it is. A few months ago, I thought I had it fixed, but when the inside carpet starting to turn green again, and the coolant light started turning on again, clearly it was time to get it looked at. So we picked up Amy's car and swapped in mine. Amy was taking me to my school this morning, and despite the nice, new radiator, the inside of the car was freezing cold. A little further down the road, the temp guage was red-lining again. So we pulled over and our mechanic drove out to where we were sitting and told us to come back and see what he could do. Turns out, not only had the radiator shit the bed, but the thermostat had fried. So between running me out to my school, which is about 30 minutes from my house, to Amy doing her regular Minister stuff, to me being in charge of our services auction this Saturday, this weeks been a little crazy. So pray to the car gods that our old cars can heal long enough to get to the places we need to get to. Yeesh.
A few random observations from where I'm working:

So the Duck Hunt Squad seems to be breaking up--I'm guessing with the warmer weather the heavy jackets start to go away. It's being replaced with the Eminem Squad at the end of the school day. It's a bunch of boys who stand near the door at the end of the day who look, and maybe want to act like Eminem. I can't help but wonder if they think they're a bunch of tough guys. This school is literally out in the middle of corn fields--it's not like they have to patroll the mean streets, because, well, everything closes at 8 PM. On a side note--not sure if you all watch the Grammy Awards, but Eminem was on there and won one. He looked angry the whole time he was on and accepting his award. I'm guessing growing up in Detroit will do that to a person.

My admiration for people who work with Special Ed kids and make it their life's mission keeps going up. My boss, so to speak, has to teach a group of unmotivated, emotionally damaged children every other day. I fortunatly, most of the time, have to deal with them one on one. There's a few I've gotten to know, and I like working with them. But to do all the paperwork, deal with the kids, some of whom can't be bothered doing any work, dealing with parents and administrators, and the regular teachers themselves, I'm amazed that the Special ed people aren't taking sips from flasks all day. I'm hoping to get a classroom again--that job's a little easier. I try to take away little victories every day. Some days are easier to do that than others.

The boys

Amy and I have been worried about Henry. There seems to be only two things he really cares about--video games and food. We've been scratching our head as to what we could get him into that would interest him. A few days ago, the local newspaper ran a story that had a bunch of recipies on it. Henry saw this and immediatly asked if he could save it. The recipie is for blueberry ketchup that is put on porkchops. So he's plotting ways to make it, even to a point of saying that he'd actually eat pork to see what the flavor is. Not sure where this will go, but I'm hoping that this just might lead to something. Chef Henry? Or Henri? Keep your eyes peeled. . .

The big news with Charlie is that he's lost his next tooth. It's interesting to see how different the boys are. Henry, when he was loosing teeth, seemed to lose them in bunches. Charlie is more of a one at a time kid. The big news this time was that he finally pulled one out himself. The first one fell out by a sheet pull, and the next one was due to a piece of popcorn. Charlie was feeling quite pleased with himself. He's also reading chapter books on his own, while most of his classmates are reading Dr. Suess and struggling with it. About a week ago, he tested to see if he's eligible for the accelerated program, which around here is called PEP. He said the test was easy--we'll find out soon.

I think that's all for now--Hope the sun is shining where you are, and the snow is meting. Baseball opening day is about a month away, so spring can't be far behind, right?

How about that snow?

2011-02-08T08:46:00.001-08:00

I like winter as much as the next guy, but I think a line in Groundhog Day describes how most people are feeling right now,
"I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life."

After the big snowstorm blew through our area, I was not looking forward to killing myself shoveling out the driveway. As I resigned myself to the task, a couple of high school guys came walking down the road, looking to shovel people's driveways. We chatted, agreed on the price, and I went back inside to watch some basketball while my driveway got cleared. The boys were outside playing in the snow with our neighbor, so I was feeling very continental. I don't think I'd experienced a blizzard since leaving Maine 7 years ago. (Has it been that long?) I'm not sure Charlie had ever seen one, so he was pretty excited. The boys got two days off and a delay--the district where I'm working got one day off and two delays, which is just as well due to the fact that I don't get paid if there's a snow day. So we're living in a winter wonderland, and I'm starting to dream about warmer climates and wonder what spring will feel like. Now that football's over, I'm reading with some excitement/jealousy about the start of spring training. Some year I'd like to visit, just to say I've been there. Anyway, on to bigger and better things. . .

Random thoughts about working in a high school

One of the teacher's last name who works here--Cockman. As Dave Barry used to say, I swear I'm not making this up.

One of the kids I have to keep an eye on from time to time his first name is Pavel. I have to fight the urge to ask if his last name is Chekov.

A long time ago, when I got my first job in education, I often told people I felt like I was on the JV squad, looking for a way/break to get promoted to the Varsity. In an odd twist of fate, I'm back in that position again. The good news is that when a classroom position does open up, I'll actually know what to do this time. And due to my 2 1/2 hiatus, I'm not looking past the job I'm doing now in hopes that if I just "bide my time" that I'll move up just because I'm here. But there are times when the paperwork gets to be a little overwhelming.

So far, in the school I'm in, I haven't seen any fights, or pregnant girls. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

One of the things I have to do on a daily basis is to stand in the hallway at the beginning of school and make sure that all the students come in and don't tussle with each other. There's a group that comes in every morning that I've dubbed the Duck Hunt Squad. I don't know if they're all related, or if they're a bunch of couples, but there is a group of about a half dozen kids that wear camouflage heavy coats to school every morning. Being in a rural area, it doesn't surprise me that people are prone to hunting. It's one of the ways I like to amuse myself in the morning while trying to stay warm.

The kids here are generally nice to each other, but there have been a few bumps. One, they all have electronic devices hermitically sealed to their ears. Two, the whole swearing thing has be bewildered. At the risk of sounding like and old man, if I had said the stuff that I hear in the halls sometimes, I would not be sitting here writing this. How did this happen?

As I'm getting to know the kids, I'm trying to get to know the adults as well. I've signed myself up to run the scoreboard during a student/faculty basketball game, and I'm going to do my rendition of Sea of Love for a talent show sometime in April. Stay tuned.

Since I'm working in special ed, there are quite a few kids I have to keep track of grades and try to help. Some kids won't even help themselves. I've discovered that I have to practice what I've called Educational Triage. Since I only have limited one on one time, I figure I have to help the kids that I can save. One kid, who's a senior, most of his schedule is all of the english classes he's failed in the last three years. And he can't be bothered to even try to keep up his work. I, and my compatriots will do what we can, but it's hard to help someone who just doesn't care when I know I could spend that time with someone who could benefit more from my help. It might not be the right way to think, but it's a realistic way to operate.

Overall, I'd say that I like my new job--it's steady, every day, and more importantly, I get paid! And it's nice to be around teachers again. I really missed the camaraderie that comes with working with people in the trenches. Where I had subbed here before, I almost expected the same kind of give and take I used to have where I worked in Virginia. It dawned on me that the reason I had that give and take was the fact that I had worked with those people for 4 years and stuff like that takes time. And, in high school, there typically aren't teaching teams. So I had to tell myself to relax and not jump the gun.

Other stuff

Amy's been suffering attacks on and off from Vertigo again. I had to stay home one day because her head was spinning so much that she literally couldn't get out of bed. She's got medication that helps take the edge off, but it knocks her out cold. On top of this, she's had to do another memorial service, preach the good word on Sunday, had a filling in one of her teeth, and take the boys back and forth to school. She was also rooting for the Steelers in the Super Bowl, so that was a bit of a disappointment. We had about half a dozen people over to watch the game. When asked what she wanted on her birthday, it was to invite people over to watch the game and not talk about church stuff. One of the local Baptist ministers that we've gotten to know pretty well is from western PA, and he came over in full Steelers regalia, including a Terrible Towel. He brought over his youngest boy, and he and Charlie weren't seen for the entire length of the game. So we all had fun, stuffed ourselves with munchies, and mourned the loss of the Steelers. Next year, the game will be in Indianapolis, which is cool because it's only 3 hours away from Elkhart. If the game is held, that is. If it does happen, there's no way we'd be able to buy a ticket, but I'd like to go and experience the ambiance of a Super Bowl.

Henry had a good time during the game too. He sat and watched most of it with us. (I'm hoping that wanting to play football filters through his brain!) After everyone was asleep, Henry spent most of his time puking in the bathroom. We thought that maybe he'd eaten too much, which he has done from time to time, but then we found out that one of his friends who came over spent the night in the bathroom as well. So he's home recovering for a second day. Poor kid had broken blood vessels all over his face yesterday.

Both boys are enjoying what it's like to have a neighbor their age. She's the same age as Henry, but they all have fun together, especially in the snow. I think I'm experiencing the joy my parents must have felt when my siblings and I would get dressed up and go sledding for hours on end. There aren't many hills nearby, so they have been building snow forts for the past week or so. I get a cheap thrill by having them put their snow stuff on and I don't have to freeze my tail off to get them to go out and play. I'm hoping this continues when the weather gets warmer.

Well, I think that sums up what's been happening around here. Think spring--It's Truck Day at Fenway Park, which is the day that all the players equipment is sent from Boston to Florida to start spring training. Warm weather can't be that far behind, can it? I hope all is well where you are. And that you're warm!

What's Happening

2011-01-18T19:39:00.001-08:00

Now that the disappointment of the Patriots loss has worn off, or something like that, here's what's happening in the midwest:

Last week I started my new teaching job. I'm not in charge of a classroom. At least, not yet. I'm working with special ed kids who need individual attention. I started the week that mid-terms were going on, so I did a lot of reading tests and, for lack of a better term, babysitting kids who can't handle being in a regular classroom. At one point, where one kid was trying to take a test and almost literally pounding his head on the desk, while another was yelling epithets at the first one, I had the feeling that I was in charge of the booby hatch. I had to talk myself down from the PTSD flashbacks I started to have, recalling the horror of my first year of teaching in VA. Over the next few days, and many test readings, because, it's part of what I do, I realized that working in a special ed room was not going to be like working in a classroom. In a classroom, I would have an idea of what to expect from one day to the next. This job, not so much. The experiences that I've had before will help to a certain extent, but I find myself treading water more than usual. What might work to motivate a kid in a normal classroom will set off someone in a special ed classroom. I'm fortunate to be working with a person who has a very good bedside manner, so to speak. She used to teach elementary school, and has a quiet, calming demeanor. I've seen her in action a few times already, and I'm glad that she's in the room until I get my bearings about me. It's nice to get up, go to work, and earn a paycheck again, and get paid a decent wage. One thing's for sure--I'll never try working in retail again. Cross my fingers.
Henry
There's a line from the third Godfather movie that goes something like, "I keep trying to get out, but they keep pulling me back in!" Just when I and Amy think that he's done stuffing work in his desk and not bothering to do it, it comes roaring back again. He made honor roll last quarter, and his grades are up to A's and B's. So I foolishly assumed that just maybe Henry had gotten to a point where he was keeping up his work and wanted to succeed without Amy or I having to push him. Amy went into his classroom today and found a bunch of papers not done, a project that had been neglected, and his plan book unfilled since returning from Christmas break. Needless to say, neither one of us were happy. This is the latest drama of Henry and his every changing body. I finally admitted to myself that the inexorable march to adolescence has finally arrived. Not that I had fooled myself into thinking it wasn't happening--I was just in firm denial. My denial vanished when one day last week Henry leaned over me to get something, and I got a very strong whiff. Of Henry. I told him he needed a shower, stat. I had last Friday off and Amy and I arranged a Welcome to the Beginning of Adolescence Basket. We filled it with shampoo, deoderant, and body soap. He also has a faint outline of peach fuzz on his upper lip. You gotta look real close to see it, but it's there. It reminded me of my aborted efforts to grow a moustache. To this day, I can't seem to grow one. Henry's not up for shaving lessons yet, but I don't think they're far into the future. Did I mention that the top of his head is up to Amy's nose now? He's up to the base of my neck. I think I'll be looking up to him before high school.
Charlie
His report card was stellar as well. We all celebrated with a Pizza Hut pizza last week. When both of our kids were little babies, Amy and I never subscribed to the theory that you should let your baby scream all night so that they teach themsleves to go to sleep. It seems that now I'm reaping the rewards for this. Towards the end of last summer, I would read to Charlie, kiss him goodnight, and walk out of his room. Then school started. Charlie kept asking me to stay until he fell asleep. I would try to reasure him that nothing in his room had changed, there were no monsters in his closet, that he really wasn't sick/had a headache/leg ache/stomach ache. I even tried playing music, but nothing worked. So after many arguments with Charlie, and some with Amy, I finally realized that he isn't ready to go to sleep by himself. It didn't really hit me as to why Charlie was giving me such a hard time when Amy pointed out that I had someone in my room until I was 20 and she was 17. Now that I'm not trying to find a way to sneak out every night, he's going to sleep easier. Go figure.
Amy
Much of what Amy's been up to, I can't really talk about, because, well, there's stuff that she can't even tell me. There have been some days when she comes home from church related business and collapses on the couch. Heavy on the head who wears the crown. Or in her case, tiara. The church has been getting some good publicity lately. One of our members writes for a newspaper insert in one of the local newspapers, and interviewed me for our version of the Cardboard Carnival. Granted, I stole the idea from Bangor as WKIT uses it to raise money every year for youth stuff. Here's the link to the interview, and I think you'll see some familiar faces in the article:
http://digital.ipcprintservices.com/publication/?i=57648
Another one of our members sent out a press release and there will be more pub this coming weekend. I'm wondering what kind of turnout we'll have for our carnival next Satruday. I'll make sure to send some pics when the time comes.

I think that just about wraps things up here--I hope you all cheer or Pittsburg this weekend. Not that I have much love for the Steelers, but I just want someone to bust Rex Ryan in the chops. Literally. Not that I'm bitter or anything.
Hope all is well where you are.

Sad, sad day.

2011-01-08T13:49:00.001-08:00

Sad proof today that when you have a large amount of people use violent words, you get violent results. I'm looking forward to the shirking of responsibility by the likes of Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and the whole bunch. These are the kind of people who are shocked when a lion attacks a person after said person pokes and teases the lion over and over again.

My foot in the door.

2010-12-20T19:51:00.001-08:00

Just a quick update to let you all know that after wondering the education wilderness for 2 1/2 years, I finally got my foot in the door. I'll be working as a teacher's assistant at Northridge High School starting on January 10 until the end of the year. I don't know if this is considered full time, but I'll be working 5 days a week and I'll be helping kids in freshman english classes. In a way, I feel like I've gone back to the future a little--my first education job was as a teacher's assistant at Caravel Middle School in Carmel, Maine. Back then, I was helping 6, 7, and 8th graders with reading issues, so this time around I'll kind of be doing the same thing, only with older kids. The part that really excites me is that this is the same principal that I interviewed with a month ago, and at that time he mentioned that a social studies teacher would be retiring at the end of the school year. I don't know if this principal is really looking out for me, or maybe my luck is finally turning around career wise, but I'm happy that things seem to be looking up. So I'll keep you all updated as things progress.

Quick note on the boys--today was the first day of winter break. Amy brought home some of Henry's friends--all girls. Yes, my boys survived in one piece. And I tried to engage them all in a round of poker. Yup--two weeks, coming up!

Hope you all have a White Christmas!

Update

2010-12-16T15:21:00.000-08:00

Remember all the stuff I talked about the other day when Henry proclaimed himself a "chick magnet?" My denial bubble has officially popped--Charlie told Amy that Henry was looking up stuff on the computer that he shouldn't. When Amy noticed that Henry was typing in the word "sexy," he told her that he was trying to find pictures of pretty girls. I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry.

This video pretty much explains how I feel:

What's Happening Now!

2010-12-14T10:55:00.001-08:00

It's finally happened. Not exactly as I thought it would, but it's finally happened. I'm working all week in a school again. Not teaching, and not for long, but I'm getting up, making my lunch, and working in a school again. A few months ago, someone who goes to my church mentioned that libraries might be looking for subs. Figuring that I had nothing to lose, I called the woman who's in charge of school libraries for the Elkhart district. After a long conversation, she told me that maybe there was money to train me, maybe there wasn't. So I didn't think I'd lost much in that conversation. About a month later, the person who calls for subs for Elkhart asked if I'd be interested in a long term sub job at a library at one of the elementary schools. Now, ordinarily I don't sub at elementary schools because, as I've told Amy, I like being around little kids, and I like playing with them, but I can't imagine trying to teach them something. I went in with Amy to help out one day in Charlie's classroom. I helped two kids for an hour. They needed help figuring out numbers and letters. By the time I was done, I was exhausted. And this was just two kids!!!!! I've figured out that I'm not anal-retentive enough to completely run the lives of 15-20 children for 8 hours a day. I admire those who can do it, but I think I would be worn out by the neediness of young children. Subbing in a library, however, is a different thing--I'm not in charge of kids, and all I have to do is check out and check in books and put them back on the shelf. When I heard that a long term sub was needed, I pictured working for a month or two and earning some cash and finally feeling useful again. I was a little disappointed to learn that the time I'm signed up for was the week before and the week after Christmas break. The woman I'm filling in for is having an operation, and she is intent on coming back as soon as she can. She also has other health problems too, so I'm inclined to think that maybe she won't be back as soon as she would like to be. At least this week, and the week after break, I'll almost feel like a real teacher again. Yesterday was my first day, and it was also our first snow delay of the season. The hardest part so far is putting books back in the right place. I did a 2 hour training last week, and the way she has things set up is that there are the regular book stacks, and there are two carts of other types of books--reading level specific, Spanish books, and one cart of books that talk about science fair stuff--their science fair is coming up before the break. I worked one summer at a Blockbuster Video in Virginia, and this job is very similar--check people out, put stuff away where it's supposed to go, help people find what they're looking for. The kids are a lot nicer than the grownups of Reston, VA, thank goodness. This school also has a lot of African-American and Spanish students, so learning names are going to be a challenge as well.

Henry

Henry came home last week and proclaimed, "Hey Dad! I think I'm a chick magnet!" He later went on to explain that one of the girls that was giving him trouble at the beginning of the year was now sticking up for him. Henry then talked about all the girls in his class that like to talk to him. If you recall, a few months ago, when cornered by one of his buddies, also a girl, when she tried to get Henry to fess up to who he "liked" he burst into tears and said that he wasn' t ready for that kind of stuff yet. What a difference a few months can make. A week or two ago Amy and I went to a grown up Christmas party. Charlie was sleeping over at one of his friends house for his birthday, so Henry hung out at the aforementioned pals house. Her Mom told us later that she let Henry play her DS and they sat cozied up on the couch under a blanket. Amy told her that it probably meant more to Henry's buddy than Henry. Her Mom said that it was just fine with her. I think in southern Indiana there are nice caves we can move into.
In other news, Henry seems to be coming around as far as getting his work done. Amy and I make it a regular habit to check his bag at the end of every school day, and talk to his teacher when the instructions on what the homework is becomes fuzzy. On one of his most recent poster projects, Henry did such a good job that his teacher put his poster on display. Henry is also going to participate in the school spelling bee. No date on that yet, but I'll let you all know how he does. It makes me very happy that he's finally gotten the idea that homework needs to be done, and done well to get good grades. Now if we could just get this girl thing figured out. . .

Charlie

Yesterday, Charlie did a presentation on earthworms. I wasn't able to see it, but it's a project that he and his teacher have been working on. Charlie reminds me of Wile E. Coyote--Charlie's turning into a Super Genius. He and one other kid are miles above the rest of his class as far as reading level--Charlie has decided to read the first Harry Potter book on his own. So the earthworm project went like this--his teacher drew a picture of an earthworm, and Charlie labled all the parts by himself. He then did a presentation on all the facts he read about earthworms. Apparently, he not only delivered facts about earthworms, he did some performance art with it, such as when talking about where to cut earthworms in half to make more earthworms, he did a slash across his throat and tilted his head sideways to illustrate his point. His teacher, when wrapping up the presentation, called it the Charlie Show. One of his classmates then asked where he could find the Charlie Channel. So I guess hammyness is genetic.
For all the advanced stuff that Charlie does in the course of the day, bedtime is still a challenge. I've been trying to wean him off of me sitting in his room until he falls asleep, but now he's resorted to various aliments to get me to come back into his room. His favorite seems to be the old "My stomach hurts" routine. I know I'm being played, but what else can I do? I could fight him and have bedtime take 3 hours, or sit with him for 10 minutes and wait for him to pass out. It's aggravating--I envision all the other parents of 7 year olds who get to say, "Good Night!" and walk away and feel jealous. I know when they're grown up and gone that I'll have many fond memories of what life was like when boys were small, but I don't think the bedtime histrionics will be one of them.

Amy

It's getting near Christmas, so of course church life is getting crazy. A few months ago, we looked at the calender and saw that between Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the following Sunday, we are going to be at the church three days in a row. During her last minister's retreat, one of the ministers she met told her that she took the whole month of Janurary off. I'm not sure how that will play out, but it's an idea that Amy is considering. The day after Thanksgiving she had to do another memorial as one of our member's died the previous October. Amy has now done more memorials than weddings so far. So she, and the rest of us, are hoping that there won't be any memorials that will have to be done in December.
Amy and I have also marked 14 years since our first date. The date is easy to remember because it's December 13, the same day as my brother's birthday. My how time flies!

Well, I think that should just about fill you in on all the goodies going on. I have this nagging feeling a put a book back in the wrong place. Whenever the actual librarian comes back, no matter how well I keep the place, I have this feeling that my name is going to get cussed out. I hope you all have a merry and white Christmas where you are. Have a drink of egg nog on me!

Since Election Day

2010-11-22T17:44:00.001-08:00

Here are some of the highlights around the DeBeck house of late:

I know I dropped you all a line about my losing on Election Day. The reception for the Elkhart County Democrats was at the Knight of Columbus hall in downtown Elkhart. Two years ago the place was full and people were in a party mood. This year, it felt more like a funeral. Literally no one in that room won. Even the few incumbents lost. After the night was over, and having a few beers to numb the pain, I called my Dad and found out that he lost too. Not a good night for the DeBeck men.

What helped get me over the hump, so to speak, was two things:
1. I volunteered to run the clock for Pinewood home games. They do the seasons different for the elementary schools here--first the girls season, then the boys after Christmas. This isn't a job that most normal people like to do, but for some reason, I do. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I couldn't play basketball, and it was one of the few ways I could be involved with a game and not send myself into an asthma attack doing it. I also think that it's a geek thing to want to play with something electronic that allows one to play with a giant buzzer.
2. My birthday was two days later. Thanks to my awesome family and the group of men that I've gotten to know since landing here 2 1/2 years ago, it was a fun night. Amy made dinner, and I got a pizza cutter and a bottle opener that are in the shape of the original Enterprise. I also got a shirt that has one of the ghosts from Pac-Man on it, and a friend of mine gave me a bunch of Star Trek novels to read. The night ended with ice cream cake and poker, with a original series Star Trek episode to boot. A nice way to get over the post election blues.

This past week, I worked for 4 days straight subbing. First of all, I had forgotten how much of a grind teaching can be. If I were working full time, I would have a set schedule to get used to, and eventually, I'd get into the flow of day to day life. As a sub, it's hard to get into any kind of routine because every school is on a different schedule. Without going into gory details, here are some of the highlights:

I now know which schools I don't want to work full time at, if given the choice. I'm not sure if I've subbed at a lot of schools where the families/kids are well off, or if I've just hit the right classes, but last week was a wake up call. One of the days was at one of the local high schools, and, to put it nicely, the lunatics are running the asylum. It had been a long time since I'd been around kids who have absolutely no regard, or respect for, adults, teachers, or authority of any kind. I started having PTSD flashback of my first year of full time teaching. The difference now is that I know it's not me that's setting these kids off. My first period, there was one student that kept talking at the top of their lungs, and swearing to boot. I was put into teacher/prisoner mind set, which goes something like this: "Do I just deal with this kid for 45 minutes because getting them out of here would be even more disruptive? Or do I want to call down to the office, have someone come get this kid, and have to be disrespected and yelled at until someone gets here?" I decided that I would wait until the end of the period, call down, and make sure they didn't show up for the end of the day. I will give the administration credit--at leas they did something about it, and the student in question wasn't there at the end of the day. On my way to lunch later that day, two fully dressed Elkhart police officers went walking briskly by me to break up a girl fight. I'm glad they had their vests on. The topper of the day was when I tried to ask a student, who in the first class of the day was getting baited into fighting the loudmouth student, how they were doing. I was going to follow up with something like, "That student had no right to talk to you like that." Before I could get that out, she looked at me and said, "I just don't like you." and walked out. At that point I mentally crossed that school off of my potential job list. And the other teachers mentioned to me that the statistics are showing that the suspension/expulsion rate is higher for African-American/Hispanic students, so the administration is trying not to suspend kids in those areas so the state won't come in and take over the school. Yep, the state of education in the United States.
The other school I crossed off my "bucket list" was the middle school that feeds the high school I just mentioned. One class I spent most of my time just trying to get them to stop talking. And I threw out my first kid since I started subbing here. The highlight of the day was that I was sent, for one period, to fill in for a male PE teacher. That day, the students were doing exercise stations around the gym. So I got to bark at the kids when they were dogging on jumping jacks and Queen's Chairs, and they didn't yell back at me. I started to see the appeal of teaching PE.

It was a relief when Friday came, and the new Harry Potter movie was coming out. I had organized a weekly showing of the previous 6 movies to catch people up. And I organized for a group of us to go to a showing on Friday night. We had 25 people signed up, and they all showed up. I won't give away any details of the movie, but the writers have done an excellent job of boiling the story down to it's most basic parts. I was so into it that I forgot it was going to end at some point. I won't tell you where it ends, but one scene ended, the screen faded to black, and I was on the edge of my seat to see what was coming next. When the credits came up instead, I involuntarily yelled, "OH MY GOD!!!!!!!" Amy told me later that I was so loud the whole theater heard me. I had to sit for a few minutes to collect myself to get over the shock. My advice to you all is to first, read the book. Second, see the movie. I'm glad they split it into two parts, but the bummer about that is now we have to wait until July to see the end. To tell you what kind of impact this has on my church, there are two campouts that happen in July, and they are both waiting on the release date of Part 2. Gotta love the crazy UU's.

Amy

Amy has become the President of the Pinewood PTO. The other person who was doing it had to quit, so Amy has stepped in. She's busting out her Blockbuster skills and putting them to use again. Back in the day, she was what I would call a "Hatchet woman," meaning that she would go to underperfoming Blockbusters, fire those that weren't performing up to snuff, hire new people and get the store up and running again. So it is with the PTO. One person stormed out of the first meeting that she ran, so she's off to a flaming start. I had this image from the movie 48 Hours in my head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axb2IogkztY
So now she's a Minister, Mom, and PTO chief. No wonder I don't work full time--she's doing enough for two people..

The Boys

Henry had his second piano recital last weekend. I think he's getting really good at playing. While he was up there playing, he had a calm, confident look on his face. As a reward for playing well, his teacher gave him a song book with Christmas tunes in it. For the past few days he's been playing random songs from it, without us nagging him to practice. I'm hoping that he's at a level now that he plays because he wants to, not because he has to. He's even goofing around with it a little too, hamming it up while he's banging out Jingle Bells. At school, I think he's finally settling down a little. He doesn't seem to forget his homework as much, and his grades are all steady B's. So I have my fingers crossed that just maybe he's pulling out of his funk. I hope.

Charlie missed three days of school last week. He came home the previous Friday, said he didn't feel well, and crawled into bed at 6:30 and didn't wake up until the next morning. At one point, he had a fever of 103. I had to sub the following Monday, so Amy took him to the doctor. I'm usually the one to take the boys to doctor's appointments, so the doctor knows me pretty well. He hadn't seen Amy in a long time. So when she took him in to the office, after waiting for 2 1/2 hours, the doctor looked at Amy and said, "So, are you his grandma?" She calmly mentioned that she was Mom, and, according to Amy, didn't miss a beat and kept talking to her and Charlie to find out what ailed him. It turns out he had an ear, sinus, and lung infection. Yeeesh. So it was back to the Zithromax, and by last Thursday, he was ready to go back to school. He's still a little congested, but I'm hoping it will finally go away when he's not around other kids over the Thanksgiving break. It seems he's been fighting some kind of infection or other ever since school started. I'm hoping when the cold weather finally comes and stays, it just might kill whatever's been floating around in the air.

Well, I've started putting Christmas lights out already--I've got to draw up a blueprint to figure how many extension cords and fixtures I'm going to need to spread my Christmas empire. Clark Griswold, here I come! I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. I wish I could have you all around our table this year. Hope all is well where you are.

Not a good night to be a DeBeck man

2010-11-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

So I lost by 2,000 votes and my Dad lost for the first time in 12 years. I had a feeling that I'd be going down in flames, but I was hoping Dad would make it. Now I can't get this song out of my head. Damn it.

Politics makes strange bedfellows

2010-10-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

Last night the local chapter of the NAACP held a "Get To Know the Candidates Night" kind of function. It was the first time that I've participated in such a function, as either a candidate or a spectator. The office I'm running for is the low man on the totem pole. I'm running for Township Board, which is just one rung above dog catcher, so I figured it was a win-win situation. The office doesn't have much power--the townships pay for fire and EMS protection and help people who need money (poor relief it's called around here) so I figured I'd say my piece and hope that maybe if people see me up there with the rest of the candidates, just maybe I can garner more votes this way. The crowd wasn't what I expected--there were more candidates than audience members. And, to their credit, two Republicans showed up. One is running for sheriff, and the other for state legislature. The night started with everyone having two minutes to give their campaign schpeels, then the audience would be allowed to ask questions. One of the first questions was why there weren't more minorities employed by the sheriff's department. The Republican candidate, who works for the sheriff's department, got up and cited the statistics how many Hispanics and how many women were already employed (Did you know that women were a minority? I didn't until last night.) and he ended his statement by saying, ". . .And I'm not going to lower the standards for employment if I'm elected." After the night was over, one of my friends in the audience, who is also the head of the county Democratic party, said my eyes looked like a cartoon character--they looked like they were about to pop out of my head. I did a double take--I said to myself, "Did he really just say that?" Another friend of mine, who also goes to my church (half of the Democratic party goes to our church. Literally.) sat with his head in his hands, shaking his head. I'm happy to say that the people in attendance gave the guy a chance to explain himself. The follow up question was asked by an older lady, with a bit of an angry tone in her voice, basically said, "What do you mean by that?" He backpedaled so fast it sounded like the noise that Fred Flinstone makes as he's running down the road. When I got home after the night was over, and told the story to the rest of my family, Henry immediatly and without prompting said, "That's racist!" After we kissed him and told him how smart he was, the thought occured to me--Why does my 10 year old understand this, and not a grown adult? How does that happen? One more thing about this guy--the candidate in question discussed how he's using prison ministries to help the people incarcerated, ". . .now and perhaps for eternity." Yup, this guy's a christian soldier.

The other highlight of the night came when the other Republican candidate spoke. He's running for state legislature, and he's 24 years old. Every time he got up to speak, he sounded like a suck up teenager, trying hard to please the adults in the room. At one point he mentioned that he's a homeowner. My instinct was to get up and ask, "How the hell can you own a house at 24? Did you and all the other kids in the neighborhood scrape together enough cash to buy a clubhouse? Were the treehouses not available?" 24? Yeeesh.

Amy recently spent the weekend in Virginia, seeing all of the "sistahs" and various friends. She had a good time, but it also reminded me of why I never would have made it as an adult alone. I'm glad I had a house project to work on while she was away--I'm building my own "man cave" in the basement. There is one room downstairs that was unfinished by the previous owners. In fact, it was the guys work room. Over the weekend, the boys helped me clean it out (they were told that if they helped me, they would be allowed to get mohawks for Halloween. This should be interesting.) So I had something to focus my energy on. There were nights that I would stay up to late, and times I felt like I was pacing the living room because I was getting bored just sitting around all by myself. In more ways than one, thank God for Amy.

Today both boys have "Harvest parties" I'm guessing because they can't call them "Halloween parties" anymore. Either way, they're both coming home sugared up, getting ready for the big night. The Elkhart police have said that trick or treating will be Saturday night, so we're 24 hours away from crazy candyland. Wish us luck!

Hope all is well where you are--and I hope you all get lots of chocolate!

All the latest news

2010-10-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that it's the middle of October already. Where to begin? I'll start with the oldest child.

Henry

Henry's football season wrapped up this week. His team only played three games, but it was enough to whet his appetite. For those of you who know him well, you would not be suprised to learn that he's a lineman. Mostly defense from what I've seen. While I was watching his games, I had to be careful as to how I cheered for him. My instinct is to yell things like, "If he's blocking you to tight, step on his foot!" or "Throw him an elbow right at his nose!" From what I've seen, he gets in his stance well enough, but when it comes to actual blocking or rushing the passer, he just kind of stands up and watches the ball go over or around him. I'm just happy that he found a sport that I think he'll like playing and isn't too complicated to figure out. Granted, it's flag football, so I don't know how this will change if he keeps up with it and has to wear pads and helmets in middle school. Henry's next biggest problem--girls like him. And I mean like him if you know what I mean. A girl he knew in the 3rd grade is in his class again, and they're getting to know each other. One of the things I'm doing with the church is to show all of the Harry Potter movies in preperation for the release of the new on in November. Henry's told his new/old friend that we're showing them and would she like to watch them with us? So she came and enjoyed herself. As I was wrapping up cleaning the church, Henry was in the backseat and she was leaning over the front seat, grilling him about something. Come to find out later that she had asked him who he liked. Henry said, "No one." Apparently, this was not the right answer. She told him he had to choose. Henry then started to cry, sobbing, "Why can't everyone just leave me alone????" After everyone had calmed down, Henry expressed that he just wasn't ready for the whole girl thing. His friend seemed to understand. Another girl in his class has been such a nudge that Henry was going to start a "gender war." The details are fuzzy, but from what I understand was that Henry was giving piggy back rides and was taking riders by weight. This girl started giving him a hard time when he asked for anyone over 60 lbs. Not sure why this would set anyone off, but after taking guff from her, he said that he would meet her with water buckets and balloons and water pistols and have a gender war. From what I've heard, he had recruited quite a few boys before we told him he had to stop. When he came home to tell us all that had happened, Amy sat him down and told him that even though he might not be interested in girls, it's always good to have girls as friends and to ignore those that are mean to you. We told Henry that maybe what he should do is walk up to her and say, "I can crap bigger than you." Amy volunteers in both boys rooms and she met said girl. I'm not sure what she said to her, but Henry came home today and said to Henry, "Your Mom's scary." Amy then went on to describe girl language to Henry. She might have said Amy was scary, but is was her way to tell Henry she's backing off. I'm very happy Amy's here to tell our boys these things.

Charlie

The biggest news about Charlie is that his reading skills are going off the charts. While most of the other kids are reading picture books, he's reading chapter books all by himself. The other day while we were watching Henry's last game, Charlie was reading the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He blew through 20-30 pages while the game was going on. He might have been able to read more, but he stopped every page and told me what month he was on and showed me each of the pictures that were there. He's also been struggling to get rid of the lung croup that just won't let him go. We've been nebulizing him at least twice a day for the last week or so--at least now he's not coughing his head off like he was. He's also been battling monsters--for a while, every night he'd lie down to go to sleep, and a few quiet moments would go by, then he'd start sobbing. The theme of the "dreams" would be that something would happend to Amy and I--turn into monsters, die in some horrific crash, that sort of thing, Henry would abandon him, and he'd be left alone. Moving the night light around his room, sitting with him, nothing seemed to help. Finally I found a classical music CD that I bought years ago, turned that on, and that finally seems to have turned the tide. Before school started, I would kiss him goodnight and walk out of his room with no problem. Now I'm sitting in there and sometimes have to rub his back to go to sleep. I'm hoping that maybe he'll be able to go to sleep on his own by the time he hits high school.

Amy

Amy finally got to go on a minister retreat. This one was in an Inn located in a state park. There was minister programming, but Amy wanted the full retreat experince--she stayed in her room and slept all day. She did discover one thing that will bring all of us back there some time this winter--this place had a fully fuctional tobaggan run, complete with refrigeration. The church year so far is going well--we started two services and expanded the RE program, so now both worship and religious ed have expanded along with out new building. This of course has Amy working harder than before, but everything is going in the right direction. On top of that is of coursse, educating our 10 year old the ways of girls. Invaluable insight.

Me

Along with my housewife duties, and running the RE at church, I've gotten to sub a few days this past week. The district that has called me lately is one of the more well to do districts. Working in this district reminds me a little of working for a prestigous law firm--they pay you shit because you get to say you work for a high power, well known firm. This district has a ton of money, a mostly white student population, and subs are treated like student interns. I mentioned the mistake I made one day thinking that I could leave before the end of the day because the teacher I was filling in for had their planning period in the last period of the day. They had me alphabetizing files for 45 minutes. Just a little shot to the ego. Anyway, I was at the high school in this district last week, and a thought occured to me. Have you all seen The Blackboard Jungle? The old Glenn Ford movie? The jist of the movie is that Glenn Ford takes a job teaching in an inner city high school. He of course gets frustrated dealing with the juvanile delinquints and wants to leave. He visits his old college to try to find a better school. The scene I'm thinking about is when Ford is walking around a suburban white school where all the kids are doing jumping jacks and doing everything the teachers tell them. The mentor looks at Ford and says, "Your talents aren't really needed here. You'll make a bigger difference where you are." Ford agrees, and goes back to teach those dirty inner city kids. Now that I've had expereince teaching in that kind of situation, what teacher in their right mind would give up the easy suburban school to teach at a place where you don't know if the rims are still going to be on your tires when you leave for the day? Or if the kids are going to be crawling around on the floor? (That actually happened to me my first year in Virginia.) The next thought I had was what would happen to an inner city school if those kids had access to the buildings that these suburban kids do? Some other random thoughts:
My first job that day was to sit in the cafeteria for study hall. The kids, for the most part, behaved themselves, so I sat down to read my book. A few moments later, an older gentleman sat down next to me and literally started telling me his life story. He's 83 and shows up 3 hours early, and doesn't get paid for it, because he doesn't want to sit around his house and get bored. His wife died, so he's all by himself. More power to him, but I don't think I'd want to hang out with teenagers when I'm that age, assuming I make it that far. I'm not sure why, but this happens to me and Amy alot. We must put out a "Tell Me Everything About Your Life" vibe or something. He was interesting to talk to, anyway.
The kids I dealt with that day were all AP English students. It was amazing--I told them to do something, and they did it! It kept happening all day. I'm still not sure how to handle this.
This school has 3,600 kids in it. There are towns in Maine that has fewer people.
This past week, I went back to the school that I'm starting to call The School That Holds Ghosts of Students Past. The first time I subbed there, I saw half a dozen kids who looked like students I had in VA. I literally did a double take at least two or three times. Anyway, in my second go round, I was in an English class where the kids were reading The Giver. It's a bit of a strange book, and it was interesting to hear their take on it. The kids were a little squirmy because I was the second sub in a row for them. So instead of having them answer a sheet of 9 questions by themselves, I broke it up and had them work with each other. For the most part, I think it worked. One kid who couldn't stop moving around the room said to me, "I have ADD--I can't help it!" I bring trivia card and Life Savers with me to fill time at the end of classes, and at the end of the day a few girls hung around and asked me if they could have an extra Life Saver. Usually I don't give them out, but I was feeling generous. They all walked out saying, "You're the best sub ever!" So I guess for one day I was the popular teacher. Who knows what it will be like whenever I go back.
One other thing--one of the kids last name was Grocock. Poor bastard.
Around the house--I borrowed a friends saw and have knocked back the rain forest that has been forming in the front of the house. The brush pile I had set out was taller than me at one point. The good news is that I can see the front of my house, and I've cleared a patch out back so that now there is a two seated rocker outside now. There's still more plants to trim/buzzsaw, but after living here for a year, I'm finally winning the battle for my yard. I also fixed the window we broke into last year when we locked ourselves out of the house. It's amazing what you learn when you don't want to pay someone else to do it. I've also started doing little things in our basement--organizing our storage room, painting over the puke yellow that dominates down there. With help from a church person, we took out the corroded sink that was down there and now our old microwave is down there. So in case the apocalypse hits and we need to hide down there for a while, there will be beer to drink and popcorn to pop. Yup, I've got a plan. I'm hoping over the next few months I can totally get rid of said puke yellow and start hanging pictures. I'm also trying to figure out a way to finish our unfinished room, one stud at a time. I might not be working full time, but I've got to stay busy or I'll wind up sitting on the couch all day. And that would suck.

Whew! I think that's everything. The leaves are turning color, and now they're starting to fall. Something else to add to the to do list. Hope all is well where you are.

The End

2010-09-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Now that the Red Sox have been officially eliminated, I think this song by Michael Caine sums it up best. Now I just hope someone beats the Yankmees in the playoffs. Yup, that's all I got.

More news from the Midwest

2010-09-23T18:28:00.001-07:00

Almost the day after I sent my last correspondence, stuff started to change. I did something that I never did before, and probably won't do again--I walked out of a job. The big reason I did this was that reality slapped me across the face. My second week at Staples, I worked 30 hours. I wasn't expecting a huge check, but when I opened it and saw that for my efforts, I earned less than $200, I knew that my term there would not be long. The week I quit, I was only on for a few days, but due to the tricky schedule of being married to a minister meant that I would have to find someone to fill in for me. Feeling that I had already ridden that merry go round, I felt it was better to just walk away. When informed of my decision, the manager was not very happy with me, and I haven't had the guts to go back since. In the end, it was for the best. I've also figured out that whatever the next step is going to be for me job and/or career wise, retail is not the solution. I'm not sure what the solution is, but schlepping for a little more that minimum wage while trying to support a full time wife with two kids just isn't going to cut it. Of course, I had to learn this the hard way. (As usual.) So I'm back to square one, sort of. I've patrolled some websites for full time work, but everything is either far away or I'm not qualified for. In the meantime, it's back to going with kids on field trips and making sure homework and housework gets done.

We've had to switch gears with Henry too--he was sliding into old, bad habits again--not doing work, forgetting stuff, grades getting hammered as a result. So we switched him out of the "high ability" classroom and put him in a normal classroom. It hasn't been easy--lots of arguments, punishments, and cajolling, but I think between us and his new teacher, I'm optimistic that just maybe he'll pull out of this. Amy and I figured out that what was happening was that everyone, including us and his teachers, were so taken by his high reading ability that we were overlooking his bad habits. It was a fight all the way to the end of 4th grade, and Amy and I were not up for another year of it. Keep your collective fingers crossed--I hope this will put Henry back on the right track.

One more note--Today is Charlie's 7th birthday. He woke up VERY early--not sure how early because, well, I was trying to sleep, but since it's a school night, we're having his friends over on Saturday. We did give him one present today--a model of the Mystery Machine, complete with Shaggy and Scooby Doo figures in it. We worked on getting it together. Charlie was almost jumping out of his skin to get it ready. We also went to a wearhouse that has a bunch of bounce house/slides in Kalamazoo, MI. We then dined out at Red Robin, and Charlie got himself a free hot fudge Sunday. No cake and ice cream, but he'll get that and a house full of his pals on Saturday. My basement might never be the same again.

And, I'm now wrestling with the fact that my youngest is now 7. I don't think it's hit me yet.

Well, that's all from the midwest--hope all is well where you are.
Kevin

What's Happening Now! Or something like that.

2010-09-13T18:08:00.001-07:00

Where to begin? The boys have been back to school for almost 3 weeks now. Both boys like their teachers. Charlie's teacher told me today that she mentioned the word extinction and Charlie was the only kid who knew what the word meant. That's my boy. Henry is getting his feet under him as well. Last week we found out at the last minute that he had a project due on the novel Hatchet by Gary Paulson. Of course he hadn't done much on it, and it was due by last Friday. For many years, my brother, sister and I would wait until the last minute to finish science fair projects, written papers and the like. It seems that the chickens have come home to roost. I think I can feel some of my parent's pain now. Some other good news about Henry is that he starts football practice this Wednesday. Ever since he did a three day football camp back in May, he's been jazzed to play. The way Central High has been playing so far this year, they could probably use him now. (They've lost all three games so far, and have only scored 16 points. Not pretty.) I'm anxious to see what he thinks about it after he's been at practice for a few days. I still have dreams of other kids bouncing off of him, but we'll wait and see what really happens.
I've been busy as well. About three weeks ago, I got hired part time at a Staples store. As far as grunt jobs go, this one isn't bad. Some of their policies are confusing. As part of my new employee training, I was forced to watch a movie that told the story of how evil unions are. Do you recall in Charlie Brown when something would make Charlie mad a little black cloud would form over his head? I walked out of the office with a black cloud over my head. I almost went to find a union and carry a card with me just to be spiteful. After that, as I was perusing the "benefits" package, I found out that they recognize same sex couples. That kind of blew my mind. Then I wondered what would happen if a gay couple came in with union cards trying to organize the workers. It's nice to trip off to fantasy fling land every once in a while. My job there is to put up freight and help customers find the stuff they're looking for. So far, so good. They've given me the flexibility in scheduling that if I get a sub job, I can teach during the day and schlep freight at night. It was a shot to the ego to discover that it pays about $7.30 an hour, but money's money. So my legs are sore as I get my "teacher legs" back, and I've noticed that my biceps are getting bigger, so there may be other fringe benefits to doing this as well. The managers seem to be pretty laid back, but I can't help but wonder what will happen when I screw something up because, well, it's not a question of if, but when. I was feeling kind of sorry for myself after my first few days on the floor lifting stuff over my head, (and my body reminding me that I'm not 25 anymore) it was then I realized that it's been 11 years since I've done work like this. I felt a little better. That is, until I tried to get up from my first break. Yeeesh.
Subbing
The sub jobs I've had lately have been in a district that I haven't worked in before, so I'm getting to know a bunch of new schools. Last week I worked at one called Grissom Middle School. For those of you who don't remember, Gus Grissom was one of the original 7 astronauts when the space program was started back in the early 1960's. I didn't know that Gus was from Indiana. Anyway, he and two others died in 1967 when they were testing the Apollo 1 capsule, so it's nice to see that there's stuff named after him. So I got the call to sub there. First of all, the school is literally in the middle of nowhere. There's acres of corn, and then a tall brick school, and that's it. The building is fairly modern, so that was a nice touch. I didn't know what class I was subbing for, only to discover to my horror it was an all girl health class. I had visions of dealing with hormonal, emotionally crazy teenage girls for the half day that I was there. They all had tests to do, so my morning was very quiet. I went to a computer class at the end of the day, and I think I'd forgotten how rowdy middle school boys can be. Kind of made me wish I was back with just the girls. Some other random thoughts about Grissom:

My Admiral Kirk voice in my head kept saying, "Grissom. This is Enterprise calling. Do you read?" Watch Star Trek III for the refrence.

I've discoverd I like subbing in middle school better than high school. I'm still bigger than most of the kids, and, chances are, I won't see any pregnant teens.

Their day starts at 9AM. It also made me wish I was working there.

The other middle school I was at last week was Discovery Middle School. This building is 12 years old, and built right next to the Indiana Toll Road. I was there for two days. It was also the first time I had teacher deja vu--I saw at least half a dozen kids that looked like students I had in Virginia. I was starting to think that it was the ghosts of students past coming back to haunt me. The class I filled in for this time around was an actual social studies class. Since this was in a new building, all the rooms had digital projectors. 8th grade history in this district was U.S. History from early explorers to the Civil War. I felt like beating my head against the desk. This is SO in my wheelhouse it's scary. Anyway, it was an interesting two days--the kids had to do internet research projects on early explorers. Each day ended with a little excitement.

1. The teacher I filled in for had his planning period the last period of the day. I made the foolish assumption that I could just leave. Instead, the secretary had me file papers in alphabetical order. I wanted to scream, "I AM A CERTIFIED, EXPERINCED TEACHER--NOT A GODDAMNED FILE CLERK!!!!" Realizing that screaming at people would not be a good way to make an impression, I swallowed my pride and started sorting papers. As I sat there cursing my fate, I realized that I should have just stayed in the room and kept my mouth shut. So I vowed to myself not to let that happen again.

2. The next day, they asked me to fill in for an orchestra teacher. I walked in at the end of the day not knowing what to expect. The actual teacher was there, and explained to me that all I needed to do was to count the time for them to practice their violins and they would take it from there. Since I have the rhythm of a tree sloth (I often told the students I had in VA that I'm the whitest guy they'll ever meet.) I was stuck as to what to do with a room full of violin playing 7th graders. I worked out a system with them--one of the kids would come up and give the time, and I would stand there and shush everyone. It worked pretty well. There was some time at the end, and the teacher had left her computer on, so I pulled up an old Bugs Bunny classic, "Baton Bunny," where Bugs conducts and orchestra. I told the kids as the bell rang that that cartoon was my formal orchestral education. I thing they liked it. I can't help but wonder what the teacher thought the next day.

That's all for now--there's more to tell, but I'm pooped. Till then!

Hope all is well where you are.

My Love Letter

2010-08-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Johnny Damon:
The reason why Sox fans booed you was because you joined the Yankees. You should have known better. If you decide to come back to Boston, we'll love you again.
Sincerley,
Kevin, a true Red Sox fan.

12 Years, School, and Working for the Man

2010-08-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was our 12th wedding anniversary. Friends of ours came down from Michigan the day before and we dusted off the old wedding video. Some random thoughts as we were watching it:

My face used to be a lot skinnier. I looked in the mirror after it was over and decided that my face isn't any bigger--I've just matured. Or perhaps it's all the sleep deprivation after kids arrived.

It reaffirmed for my just how beautiful Amy was that day in her wedding dress. And how perfect Castine was.

Of my groomsmen, there's two I don't even know where they are now.

As we drove off after our reception, I remember hearing all of the stuff they put on my car falling off as we drove down the road. Or how my cousin who worked at the Brewer Car Wash laughed at us the next day as we tried to wash off all of the soap they put on my car.

Since Sunday was our anniversary, Amy did a sermon in honor of the day. It was called, "How Science Fiction Will Save the World." I wish I could send you a link to the podcast, but it hasn't been kept up. I helped her with some information, but the rest she found out herself. I was very proud of her--she's not a geek by nature, but I think after 12 years, I just might be rubbing off on her.
While she was writing her sermon, and trying to play host to our Michigan friends, the night before all hell seemed to be breaking loose. As she started writing it, she got a pastoral care call, so she didn't even really get into the text of it until 10:30. If that wasn't enough excitement, our ancient dishwasher, instead of washing the dishes decided to puke water instead. There was about a half inch of water in our kitchen, which of course flooded our basement. She's trying to take care of one of the church people, friends are watching TV in our living room, and I'm cursing a blue streak (remember that scene in A Christmas Story when the kid talks about the string of swears that hang over Lake Michigan to this day? That was me.) and frantically dry vacing my kitchen and basement, hoping that our nice basement doesn't turn into a petri dish for mold. Amy stayed up late, did her minister stuff, and came home and collapsed. She thought she would take a one hour nap. When she woke up 4 hours later, we sat and tried to figure out how to spend the rest of our anniversary. There's a drive in movie theater about an hour from where we live, and that night one of the choices was Despicable Me. So we all hopped into the car and when to the Tri-Way Drive In. On our way there, Amy and I were trying to figure out what was the last move we saw at a drive in. The last one for me was Herbie Goes Bannanas. (The first time I saw Star Trek II was at the Brewer Drive In. Yup, I'm old.) Amy's was something from the 70's, so it had been some time for us. The big difference now from when we were kids is that this drive in didn't have the speakers that hang out your window anymore--according to what screen you were watching, each had it's own FM freqency. It was a hoot. We got some bug bites, but overall is was a great family thing to do on our anniversary. The highlight of the whole evening was watching the intermission movie. At one point, the intermission film was talking about how this drive in showed all the stars from today. The only picture I recognized was Robert Redford and Barbara Striesand from The Way We Were. Amy and I sat and laughed and realized just how perfect it was to be there. I'm hoping Amy and I will get to go back and "experience" the drive in with no children before it closes down for the winter.
So the kids are back to school. I've applied for sub jobs. The only problem with sub jobs is that one doesn't know if one is going to work on a day to day basis, or for how many days in a row, so I applied at Staples. Today the interviewed me, and I accepted their offer. I'm going to get trained next week. The only time that I almost ran out the door was when I was told that I'll be making $7 and change an hour. Being 37 years old, I thought that that kind of pay was behind me, but since no school district is knocking down my door and I don't know when the sub phone is going to ring, I figured I need some steady income, regardless of how small it is. The big difference from the last time I tried this is that the scheduling is flexible--where I was working at Ivy Tech, it never changed, 6 days a week, with no benefits. One of the benefits for Staples is that at least I'll get an employee discount. I don't know how much yet. So, starting next week, I'll be working for the man again. The other good news is that at least I won't have to say, "You want fries with that?" And if the sub phone does ring, on the days I'm not making copies for other people, I'll earn some extra money. Remember the bank vault dishwasher? That's first on my list when I start getting a paycheck.
One more word on the beginning of school--so far, both boys like their teachers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
The weather is supposed to be getting hot by the end of the week. I hope all is well where you are.

Quick thoughts

2010-08-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

Just scrolled through pictures of my brother's 20th high school reunion. This means two things:

1. My 20th reunion will be next year, which means I'm getting old, and
2. I almost wish I could have gone to his reunion--I think I would have more fun there than with mine.

I was on the committee to organize our 10th reunion, and some of the highlights were that the DJ didn't show up, and that's what I was in charge of, so I felt like an ass, and someone that I thought was a friend of mine mourned the marriage of another one of my classmates (I'm guessing she still had the hots for him, even though he treated her like shit while we were in high school. Go figure.)and later when I tried to join in the conversation, told me loudly to shut up. Maybe in another 10 years I'll secretly say that I actually graduated in 1990--I'd probably have more fun.

Maine and Beyond

2010-08-09T19:58:00.001-07:00

Our Summer of the Travelling DeBeck's has come to a close. The boys start school next Tuesday, or, as I've been calling it, Parents Liberation Day. Our last few days in Maine were spent on the coast, which is where every vacation in Maine should end. A couple of people at the Ellsworth UU church put on a lobster bake, and the person who hosted the bake was right on one of the main bays in downeast Maine. I'm not a big lobster eater, but Amy is and she was happy as a clam. So to speak. The night ended with a group sing, and me helping another guy start a huge bonfire. I'm a bit of a pyro, so lighting up a huge pile of brush was kind of fun. The fire got so hot that people tried to make smores, but had to stand 4 feet away from the flames. It also caught some of the hosts lawn on fire, so the night ended well. I spent most of my time looking over the water, watching the sun set and trying to take in all of the sights and smells with me back to the midwest. I love where I live, but nothing beats the smell of pine mixed with saltwater and the cool dry air of a seabreeze as the sun goes down. It was also during this gathering that I learned that Charlie may have a knack for music. A few of the people brought their drums with them, and he was keeping time with the best of them. I'm convinced that he gets this from his mother. Henry wasn't interested in the food or the music, so I brought a deck of cards with me and the two of us along with another person at the party played a few rounds of blackjack. I didn't teach my son to gamble, but it was a bit of a refresher for him with his math skills. This is what I was telling myself. So after we left we stayed the night in the hotel that 12 years ago hosted almost all of Amy's family when we got married. It was fun watching Henry and Charlie swim in the same pool that I had memories of my soon to be niece and nephew doing cannonballs and cartwheels into it years before. Amy preached at the Ellsworth church the next day and we headed south. On our way out of Maine, Amy found out that a girl she used to nanny for was visiting a relative in Portland. Last time Amy saw her, she was 7. Now, she's 17 and thinking about college. Funny how time slips away. . .
We stayed the night in Boston at a bed and breakfast that is run by the UUA, and since Amy's a minister, we got a reduced rate. The place is on Beacon Street, quite literally next to the MA state house. Back in 2003, little Henry and I went to the Public Garden and took his picture on the Make Way for Ducklings statues that are there. If you're not familiar with the statues, they were put there in honor of Robert McCloskey's book, Make Way for Ducklings, which of course takes place in Boston. Charlie was very intent on having his picture taken there, too, as I told him that he was there in 2003, but still growing inside of Amy. After our tour of the garden, and watching the giant swan boats go by, we picked up Amy and I thought we would be headed out of town. Whenever I'm in Boston, I dream of going past Fenway, imagining what it will be like to see a game in there someday. We had a good time in Maine, but Amy didn't get the rest that she was hoping for. I just assumed that we would start heading west. Amy, as always, is full of surprises. We drove right up to the souvenir shop which is right across the street from Fenway and decided that we would get some new Red Sox goodies. Yes, I got a little tearful. I found myself wishing I could fold the whole building up and take it with me back to the midwest. After we chose some well priced items, which was hard to do, we hit the road, our ultimate destination being a hotel around Syracuse.
We pulled in around 9ish, and I can honestly say that this was the first time I'd seen a hotel, literally, in the middle of nowhere. As we were following the directions to find it, it was one small country back road after another. We started to worry that perhaps we were so tired from being in the car that we were starting to hallucinate. As we drove down one of the last rolling hills, there it was--in the middle of a cornfield. I had images of Field of Dreams where a baseball field comes out of nowhere, surrounded by the ghosts of players past. As I got out of the car, I half expected to see men standing in front of the hotel wearing baseball uniforms from the 1920's asking me if this was heaven. (How dissapointed would they have been if I had said, "No--it's Syracuse!?) After a classy dinner of red hot dogs and smushed buns, it was off to bed.
Our last day of travel was quiet, except for the side trip to Wegmans in Erie, PA. Amy had grown to love the Wegmans that was near us in VA, and I think she got the same feeling that I had the day before in the Red Sox shop. We finally made it home by 11 that night, and to say that we were road weary is an understatement. It's been quite a summer.

Since the Trip

Two days after we got home, the boys and I were off again, this time to Chicago. During our services auction, I bought tickets to see a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Looking at the calendar, and seeing that the game we chose was a few days after returning from Maine, I thought, "No problem! It's only Chicago!" Well, Amy had her pesky job to get caught up on, so the boys and I took Ceridwyn with us. (She's become the unofficial older DeBeck sister to Henry and Charlie. Because every family should have a 12 year old older sister.) I had been by Wrigley once, but never there to see a ball game. For the second oldest ballpark in the major leagues, it's held up well. Before it got fixed up, Fenway under the stands was like a dungeon. I can't help but wonder if Wrigley's been kept up over the years because it was bright and roomy. My favorite t-shirt that I saw for sale said this on the front:
"Jesus said to the Cubs--Don't do anything until I come back"
I guess if your team hasn't won anything in a century, at least it's good to have a sense of humor about it. Of course, growing up a Sox fan, I know where they're coming from. I'm glad I'm not their place anymore. What struck me most about Wrigley is how old fashioned it is. There is no Jumbotron, no loud music between innings, and the only music that was heard was organ music. I felt transported back in time looking at the architecture of the roof, the seats that are on the roofs of the buildings across the street, and looking up at one of the few hand operated scoreboards still left. They were playing the Cincinatti Reds, and, according to tradition, one of the Reds hit a homerun, the bleacher sitters threw the ball back. The Cub outfielders would toss their warm up balls into the bleachers between innings as well. If one didn't mind being cooked by the sun, as there is no cover out there, it would be cool to experince that sometime as well. The Cubs lost, of course, but it crossed my mind that I had been to Wrigley and Fenway all in the same week. Granted, didn't see a game at Fenway, but for now it will have to be close enough.
The other night, as the boy's summer break is winding down, they watched the movie Home Alone. The last time I saw the movie was when it was in theaters (gulp!) 20 years ago. I came home from a church meeting to find that the boys were sleeping in the same room. Apparently, there is a scene where Kevin, the kid left behind, imagines that the furnace is a big mouth laughing at him. This had the effect of scaring the crap out of both boys. So for the last few nights, Charlie has asked to sleep with the lights on. Tonight, we watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. At the end of that movie, Harry fights a giant snake with big fangs. Both boys were non plussed by this. Nope, I don't get it either.
One more thing--by travelling by car back and forth from the east coast, Amy's knee has decided to revolt. Yesterday, she was having trouble getting around and since I was painting her new office at the church, sent the boys in to get some milk. In Amy's words, here's what happened next:

So I say to the boys, ok, I'm gonna walk/limp into the store (Martin's grocery store-kinda big, our usual place) and get in a line. Henry, will you walk directly to the back wall and grab a gallon of the skim milk we drink? Sure, mom. Charlie pipes up and says, I'm walking with Henry, ok Mom? Sure, Charlie, and remember, nothing else--just milk. Charlie says, Henry, if any strangers walk up to us, we'll scream, right? Henry says, yep, we'll be real loud and yell, get away from us you bastard!

I couldn't stop laughing, and by then it was too late to tell him that he shouldn't use such language. Oh, my.

Yep, those are my children. They will swear at strangers, but be scared by laughing furnaces. That's my life.
School starts next week. I call it Parent Liberation Day. Can't wait!
Hope all is well where you are.

Trip to Maine, in the middle.

2010-07-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday afternoon, and we're sitting by the pool without a cloud in the sky. Some of the highlights so far:

Returning to my home church in Ellsworth was more emotional than I thought it was going to be. I went last year when just the boys and I came to Maine and it didn't quite the same. I think the difference this time was seeing Amy in the pulpit--all sorts of memories flooded back to me. This is the church where I found that religion had a place in my life. It was also the first place where Amy found her footing as a minister. I even saw people that I haven't seen in 10-15 years. All of this washed over me as Amy was preaching and I had to fight the urge to start blubbering. My life literally changed in that church. The warmth of the people overwhelmed me. It was good to be there, and we're going back one more time this coming Sunday.

I forgot to mention this little incident as we were leaving Niagra Falls. As we were leaving, a car full of teenagers pulled up next to us, and the kid in the passenger side started saying something. Amy was driving, and all I saw was a skinny punk with a 12 year old type moustache with his mouth formed in the shape of a O. We had our windows rolled up, so we couldn't hear what he was trying to yell. Since we were in the right hand lane, these guys were riding in the passing lane. We just kind of ignored them. So we passed them slightly to get rid of them. A few minutes later, they came up again and apparently wrote something on a piece of paper that was supposed to offend us, or something. The only thing is, these guys were so stupid that they used pen on this paper and I couldn't read what they said. So a bunch of dumb assed punks tried to chase us out of Niagra Falls. Their mothers must be proud.

We got yelled at last night at our weenie roast. At the height of the gathering, we had about a dozen people. We weren't even being loud--just a bunch of people, most of them older than me, just hanging out around the fire, cooking hot dogs and eating beans. (I got to cook them last night. Yes, Amy and I slept in the same tent.) An RV tried to pull into the area next to us. We had kind of spread out, so we quickly cleared cars and stuff out of the way. I'm guessing it wasn't fast enough, because the camp manager came down and told us that, . . .when people park wherever they want, it creates chaos!" So, not wanting to get booted out, we dutifully moved cars and we got to stay. It ain't a party until someone gets snippy.

After all that excitement died down, when it was just the four of us sitting around the fire, a person about two rows over started singing. I'm guessing he thought he was pretty good because, well, he could play a guitar. Imagine me singing while playing a guitar, only worse. We had to keep quiet in our laughter as he started belting out Waylon Jennings songs. We actually tried signing along, but it's hard to sing while giggling under your breath. And thus our second night at the Red Barn came to a close.

We finally have our camp set up, with lights and everything. The air is dry, and smells like pine. Even the bugs aren't that bad. More later!

Hope all is well where you are.

Trip to Maine, day 2 and 3

2010-07-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

As is often the case when travelling, it's not how you get there, but what you see on the way. We left Erie with the knowledge that we were off to see Niagra Falls, take a quick look, then drive like hell to get to our hotel in MA. What was going to be a 10 minute stop turned into a 4 hour stop. And I must say that seeing video and movies of the Falls does not do it justice. The sheer power of the water is overwhelming. People have often told us that the Falls are better seen from the Canada side. Since none of us had passports, and we wanted to keep our time to a minimum, we just stayed on the American side. As soon as we parked the car, we could hear the rapids. As we got closer, and looking at them, just seeing them from the shore made my hands sweat. As we walked closer to the actual Falls, the scene from Superman II came to mind. For those of you who don't remember it, there's a scene where a kid is on the wrong side of the fence and is falling and catching himself over and over again. Of course he slips and plummets down the falls and Clark Kent does the quick change into Superman to save him. So I made sure that both of my children understood that no one would be climbing on the other side of the fence. They seemed to be okay with that idea. Anyway, after standing and admiring the Falls for about 30 minutes, the boys and I went up to the observation tower. Now, I can climb on ladders, walk on the roof of my house, and hang from rafters to hang stage lights, but standing on that platform made my feet tingle. Henry walked up to the railing and was just fine. Charlie was nervous and would have nothing to do with the railing. I was okay about this. It was a cool way to look at the Falls, but I just couldn't bring myself to get close to the railing to really see it. After having a great lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, we were off to get to MA before too much more time was lost. As we made our way across New York State, it was becoming obvious that making it all the way to eastern MA just wasn't going to work. So we stayed in a place that's in Windsor Locks, CT, which is just across the state line from Sringfiled, MA. The Springhill Suites we stayed at is a new building, but the design was decidedly retro. The living area in our room had an almost early 1960's look to it--the couch had a lime green color with a low back with a space age design to it. Amy later described it as stepping into a Jetson's episode. As I was flipping channels, I found NESN, which is the New England network that carries Sox games. I almost ran up and hugged the TV. By the time we were ready to go this morning, it was almost 11 AM. It seems to be the theme so far--wanting to get up and go early, but it's 11 AM before we do. Our highlight of the day is that we stopped for lunch at the 99 Resturaunt which had a banner that read, "If the Red Sox win, kids eat free." Yup, it felt good to be home.
After fighting tourist traffic to get into Maine, and construction traffic once we got in, we pulled into my sister's house for dinner tonight. The content of the converstations kind of blur in my mind, but when the dinner plates were cleared and the stories started to flow, I knew that this was what I had been waiting for. Every time I come back here, and I think I've said this before, but it feels like I never left. Everything is so familiar. Maybe this is one of those mind tricks your brain plays on you to keep you from going crazy. So here I am, the boys are asleep, Amy's finishing her sermon, and tomorrow we pitch our tent for the week. I know we just spent three days in the car, but it's well worth it. If you're in the area, we'll be at the Red Barn Campground the rest of the week. We plan excursions back to Portland and Lincoln as the week progresses. Hope all is well where you are.

Trip to Maine, Day 1

2010-07-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

We left about 3 hours later than we thought we would--so instead of making it all the way to Syracuse, New York, we stopped in Erie, PA. Oh, and I should mention that I managed to get camping gear, pillows, kids, and electronic devices packed in the car without the use of a car top carrier. Granted, the back window looks more like a porthole, and passing cars on the interstate has become a whole new challenge, but all of our stuff is crammed into the back of the car. So we hit the road around noon, and while slugging our way through Ohio, here are some of the highlights from the trip:
By exit 91 on the Ohio Toll Road (they don't call them turpikes in the midwest!) one of the street names that we passed under was called Fangboner Road. I'm not kidding. Amy was driving at the time and all I had to say was, "Did you see. . ." and we both started laughing. Amy seems to think that the road name might have something to do with the Twilight series.
At our first rest stop, we saw a bunch of Mennonites climbing out of a big passenger van. They had to be Mennonites because Amish wouldn't be at a toll road rest stop. We of course burst into a chorus of Amish Paradise as we walked in, and I had to shush Amy before they busted out the old school punishments on us.
Neither one of us has ever been to Erie, so by the time we were getting close, we figured that we would take the first exit that said Erie. We drove in and around Erie for about an hour before we realized that our hotel was not in the downtown area. I don't know how many people live here, but as far as regular downtowns go, it wasn't in bad shape. Some of Amy's family is from this area, meaning western PA, and the one thing I noticed, and that she told me, was that there are still neighborhood pubs all over the place here. It seemed on every street corner there was a bar that had ads about live music every weekend. As we were driving around, we were flipping radio stations and heard the announcer say someting about going outside. Only it sounded like going ootside. When they gave the temprature update and said that the high might even go up to 30, we finally figured that we were listening to a station from Canada. As a kid, I would tune in the Red Sox and sometimes get stations out of Quebec. Of course, I couldn't understand a word they said, but it felt like it was a world away. Anyway, we finally found our way to the hotel. Do you remember in Monopoly when you get rid of all of the houses and build hotels on all of your property and how they're lined up all in a row? Our hotel was a group of 5 that had walkways that attached to a waterpark in the middle. When Amy booked the hotel, she didn't know about the water park. The minute the boys saw it, of course the alarms went off. It turns out the same guy owns all of the hotels and built the water park to attach to the hotels. Talk about a real life Uncle Pennybags. Another perk we found out after we got in was that the room had a jacuzzi for a bathtub. I wasn't sure we'd get Amy to get on the road the next day. I also found out the hard way that I shouldn't use Windex to clean the screen of out laptop. An inkblot like shape appeared on the screen as Amy started to work on her sermon as we settled into our room. We tried to do surgery on the screen to dry it out, but to no avail. So after sitting in the jacuzzi and winding down from our first day on the road, we all went to bed around midnight. More to come shortly!
Hope all is well where you are.

DeBeck Summer Tour, continued

2010-07-21T21:38:00.001-07:00

When this summer started, we, Amy and I, thought that it was going to be a low key summer. We wanted to explore the Midwest, see more of Indiana, that sort of thing. Well, here it is near the end of July, and so far we've been to Minneapolis, Northern Virginia, and tomorrow we head out to what I like to call God's Country, or Maine. We didn't think we'd be headed to Maine this year, but thankfully my home church there needed some preaching dates to be filled, and we were more than happy to oblige. I like to chronicle the trips I take so that those of you who can't come with us can know what we're up to. Two weekends ago, my church held a camp out in an area called the Indiana Dunes. It's a beautiful spot right on Lake Michigan--the beach rivals anything that's off the east coast. This beach also has some added attractions--to the east, a coal fired power plant that has smokestacks that look like Three Mile Island. To the west, another industrial plant that makes loud noises that no one can seem to figure out what it is. One of my fellow campers thought it might be the Kraken, but the creature didn't show it's face. To the northwest, on a clear day, you can see the outline of Chicago. The boys and I spent one night there and Amy joined us the following night. While we were all there, and listening to raccoons fight over the food they were stealing, Amy and I talked about how to get the boys to Virginia to see the friends they left behind when we moved. We came up with the idea to unpack from camping, wash all clothes, repack, and head to Virginia. VA is "only" 10 hours from where we are, so it seemed like a good plan. We spent three days there, and it was a whirlwind three days. Our trip coincided with the two year anniversary of the DeBeck's leaving Virginia, so it seemed like the gods were approving of the plan. Driving to VA, the few times we've done it since we moved away, always seem to entail two things:

1. It will rain like hell through western PA, and

2. No matter what time of day, we'll run into traffic.

We made it to Maryland before both of the above happened. The rain wasn't too bad, so I started to count my blessings. A few minutes later, the traffic slowed down and I thought to myself, "Welcome home!" It was an accident, and it didn't look to bad. This trip the boys and I stayed with my sister in law in Sterling. The highlight of the first night was watching Joni explain to my 10 and 6 year old sons why the Bachellorette was choosing one guy over another. She used a word that was once the name of the Bond woman in Goldfinger. I think she's used to watching TV with her 20-something children. It help set the tone for the fun that would happen over the next few days. I won't bore you with all of the details, but here's some of the highlights:

I was a little fearful when on our first day there, our favorite barber shop was gone. I started to pull out of the shopping center to see that they had just moved. The guy who ran it remembered all of us. Very nice touch.
Henry's best buddy in the whole world has always been a little shorter than him. Henry's always been able to pick his buddy up off the floor and quite literally carry him around like a sack of potatoes. His buddy is finally catching up to Henry size wise, but he's as skinny as a beanpole. At one point, while we were visiting, he jumped on Henry's back and rode around like a prize winning horse jockey. It was very cute.
Charlie, on the other hand, is a little younger than his pals, and almost all of them were a head taller than he was. Here's to hoping for a growth spurt over the next year or so.
I got to be an adult for a few hours--a friend of mine from the church we used to go to, and one of the Moms of the kids the boys got to hang out with, we got to hang out at a bar in Leesburg and solve all the worlds problems. I even played for the the old David Allen Coe song, "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" because Amy called me and I kept calling her "dear," as I'm apt to do. She had never heard the song before, so she got a big kick out of it.
Visited one of my best friends and her husband while we were there, and the boys got to play an old school video game. When we were packing to leave VA, I gave her my old Nintendo--yes, the original one made 20 years ago--and the boys got to play a Zelda game. The graphics were positively primitive compared to the stuff you see today, but they were into it. It took some doing to get the old machine fired up, but once it was working, it worked like a champ. Gotta love the old stuff.
So the boys got to see their friends, I got to see some of mine----and even the humidity wasn't too bad. The overriding thoughts that I had as I watched my children play with kids that they've barely seen in the last two years pick up where they left off. Sometimes they needed a little nudging, but it was amazing to see nonetheless. I've heard people toss off casually how kids are resilient. Whenever I would hear people say something like this, it made me think that just maybe they hadn't seen the sadness in the eyes of children as they have to say goodbye to friends they've made. But just maybe there's something to it after all. It also reminded me of the choice Amy and I made 6 years ago to leave Maine to find our destinies elsewhere. I've often told people, and probably written it here too, that I love Maine and I miss being there, but I think if we had never left, I feel like I would have missed out on something, even though I didn't know what that "something" was. I think going back to VA proved to me that the "something" is the people I, and we, have had the good fortune of meeting and getting to know. While sitting at that bar in Leesburg, my other friend and I talked about how some things seem to transcend time and space. It may have been the beer that was flowing in my veins, but after witnessing my children play with friends they're barely seen and act like nothing had changed, I was starting to think that maybe there's something to it. I hope that the next time we're there, that first of all, Amy's with us, and two, we'll get to see the people that we missed this time around.

So tomorrow, the DeBeck Summer Tour continues, as we start to make our way to Maine. Last year, it was just me and the boys, so I'm excited that it will be the whole family this time. It's late, and I'm driving for 9 hours, so if you're reading this and you're a Maine person--we'll be seeing you in a few days. So much for the quiet summer.

I hope all is well where you are. I'll try to update more often on this trip.

GA wrap up

2010-06-29T20:02:00.001-07:00

I was in the process of writing out a long and angry response to how GA and the plans for Phoenix had changed, but with some time and distance, literally from everything that happened, I think I can properly put things in perspective. Those of you who know me well know that sometimes I have a bit of a stubborn streak where I get locked in to a certain idea of how things should be, and when events don't go the way I think they should, I get upset. Or, as Amy so eloquently put it, bitchy. I'll spare you all the minutiae of how it all went down, but the end result is that we will not be boycotting Arizona in 2012, and we'll be running a so called "Justice GA," which is a GA where the business meetings take place in big churches instead of a big convention center, and the UU's that show up will spend the rest of their time marching and protesting. After the vote, I wrote on Facebook that we had sold out. The big sticking point was the fact that the Unitarian Universalist Association has contracts with the hotels in the area, and if no one shows up, the UUA would be on the hook for $600K. I'm not angry about the result anymore, but very disappointed. I felt that we as a religion had a chance to make a big statement, and we blew it. As the resolution was being debated, I stood in front of 1,000 of my fellow UU's and said to the effect that I felt this was half-assed, that we'll sort of have GA, but we'll sort of boycott. Yes, I actually said half assed. As I walked and sat down, I wondered if everyone in the room hated me. They didn't as it turned out. So after the vote was over, and I had a burning feeling in my gut that wouldn't go away, I called the one person who's had more experience in these kinds of political battles--my Dad. He's been on the Brewer City Council for the last 10 years or so, and has had to deal with stuff like this. He was able to talk me in from the ledge, so to speak. I might be 37 years old, but it's still nice to hear the calming voice of your parents every once in a while. After I managed to get my emotions under control, and attend the Plenary the next day, my outlook was back to normal. Even though I don't agree with the final outcome, there are some things I can feel good about:

Just maybe the law in Arizona will be gone by then, so all of this will be moot.
If people can figure out a way to make GA cheaper by not holding it in a convention center, more people could go.
Maybe protesting could help.
I also got to see some of the people I had become friends with from the various churches that I've been a part of over the last 15 years.
I brought home some new stuff to use in Sunday School--most of the curriculum we have have pictures of kids with mutton chops on the cover, so Amy and I are slowly looking to update our library.
So after spending that afternoon hanging with the boys at the pool, and driving around Minneapolis sightseeing and taking pictures, life seemed to be okay. So I arrived at the closing ceremony feeling pretty good. I ran into another church person, and he looked at me and said, "Guess who showed up in the last Plenary session. Al Franken!" Do you all recall the scene in Finding Nemo where Marlin and Dori are in the deep, dark water and they see a light? They're both talking about how good the light feels, then suddenly you see the source of the light--a fanged, ferocious fish that is ready to eat them? Then Marlin says something like, "Okay--good feeling gone!" As I sat through the other Plenary's, and as other Minnesota dignitaries came to the main stage, I kept saying tongue in cheek that Al Franken was next. To know that he showed up and I could have seen him and instead skipped out brought it all back. The closing ceremony was wonderful, but I was too busy wallowing in self pity to really enjoy it. After it was all over, the woman who is the Moderator, came over and gave me a hug. The Moderator is the person who's in charge of the Plenary--think of her like the Speaker of the House in Congress. So Monday we left Minneapolis, and stayed in the hotel in Madison we stayed in on the way up-the place that's got the cool pool. Some thoughts about Minneapolis:

It's one of the cleanest big cities I've ever been in. Our hotel was in what is called "The Warehouse District" and even that area with some of the older buildings is in pretty good shape.
The new ball field where the Twins play is perfectly situated with plenty of parking, and looks gorgeous.
Our hotel was also close to the Red Light district, but even this was limited. Although it was a little hard to come up with an explanation as to why we couldn't go into a theater named Dreamgirls. After all, it was a movie, right?
Our hotel was about a mile from the convention center--I walked home a couple of times because Amy was tired of driving. I had my Mp3 player with me. It helps to get one into a walking rhythm by listening to Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Greenday.
I was riding with an older member of the church, and he hates driving through Chicago. So I decided to listen to his advice and go around. I got home around 3:30. Amy drove through Chicago, and got home around 5:00. I've noticed that when I listen to people's advice, life tends to get better. Henry also had his final ball game of the seaons tonight. I still didn't get to see him hit the ball, but he walked and got plunked twice. The second time I was coming back from the snack shack with Charlie and saw the pitch seemingly hit him in the face. When he didn't immedatly shake it off, I ran back and got ice. It was later that I found out that the ball hit him in the shoulder first. Whew! So now all children are sleeping, and I'm home again, ready to clean up the house for a house guest this coming weekend. She's one of my teaching buddies that I worked with for 4 years. In fact, we both started at the same time, so we supported each other a lot that first year just to survive. I'm looking forward to seeing her and showing her around. Hard to believe that it's almost July--time flies when you're having fun! I hope the weather's nice where you are--I gotta get up early and mow the lawn tomorrow! Hope all is well where you are.

Making the Sausage

2010-06-25T05:35:00.001-07:00

It has been said that the process of democracy is like watching sausage being made--it's gross to watch, but in the end, you get a tasty result. Today was my first foray into the sausage making process. As I mentioned in my earlier message, I went to a mini assembly. A little lesson as to how UUism works. Our governing body, which is called the Unitarian Universalist Association, accepts from member congregations ideas that gets discussed at General Assembly. Some of the topics up for discussion this year are about ending slavery, immigration, green energy. You get the idea. There is a time limit from the time the idea is purposed to the time it will either be adopted by the UUA or put aside. The mini assembly that I went to first thing this morning deals with making our denomination a peace making church, in line with the Quakers and the Mennonites. After reading the proposal, there was some wording that I thought made us as a religion look a little wishy washy. I think it's one of the big image problems we have as religious liberals--we're seen as people with long hair, listening to the Dawn of Aquarius, dancing in an open meadow with butterflies fluttering around talking about how the man is keeping us down. (I think pot smoking might be in there somewhere too.) So I figured I'd do my part to put some backbone in our religion. I purposed an amendment, someone else thought the same way, and I got it passed. Great! I sat for the next hour listening to others, just to see what it was all about. I noticed that there are certain characters endemic to every UU large meeting. In no particular order:
The "Can't We All Just Get Along" wimpy person.
The "I'm Angry At Everything" person.
The "I'm A Huge Drama Queen and Blow Everything Out of Proportion" person.
The "If There's One Letter Out of Place, I'm Going To Have A Temper Tantrum" person.
It was interesting to watch this all play out. At one point, there was a 15 minute argument over if the word solidarity should be used instead of ally because if Israel bombs Iran, does that mean they're our ally, or are we in solidarity with them? I wish I were kidding. After expereincing that for a while, I went to a workshop on how to run church meetings better. Got lots of good tips there. Scanned some curriculum in the exhibit hall and crashed at our hotel. Our room is about a mile from the convention center, and since Amy was busy with the boys, I walked back. I'm happy to say I'm not as old as I think I am, due to the fact that it took me about half an hour to get back. In my teen days, I would power walk a mile in about 13 minutes. I guess I haven't lost that much of a step! Anyway, the afternoon mini-assembly was going to be a dandy--the big topic of discussion this year is about pulling General Assembly out of Phoenix, Arizona in 2012. I say we should boycott, like many other businesses and communities are doing in protest of the oppressive immigration law that was passed a few months ago. Like the first meeting I went to, people were there to offer amendments to the proposal of should we boycott. By the time the meeting ended, I was ready to spit nails. The reason wasn't just that many of the people in the room didn't agree with what my position is, but the amendments that were being offered, in my opinion, are trying to have it both ways. It's like saying some people should go so the UUA doesn't lose $650,000, we'll walk and protest and everything will be wonderful. Since most of our congregations are made up of white, middle to upper class people, that's just dandy. But the city of Phoenix and the state of Arizona will get millions of dollars, the people of GA will go home, and what will change? I wanted to make this point during the session, but each time as I got closer to the mike to speak, the person in charge would say, "Ok. Do we want to keep debating or vote?" Of course, the vote was to end debate. This happened THREE TIMES IN A ROW!!!! I had to fight the urge to say, ARE YOU ALL FU$#ING NUTS????? Maybe this is why politicians have sex scandals or steal money--they're driven mad by all of the political infighting and frustrations which leads to almost nothing getting done. It's also dawned on me that I've become "I'm Angry At Everything" person. Thus begins my baptism into politics.
While I was banging my proverbial head, Amy took the boys to the Mall of America. Inside this mall, is a rather large Lego store. I've seen the pictures--there was a life sized, made entirely of Legos, Jango Fett, a T-Rex, and Woody from Toy Story. What the boys are most excited about is that on the third floor is something called MagiQuest. Think of it as a video game where you get to move from stationt to station with actual magic wands that make things move for real. Ever since I got home, this is all I've heard about. I'm going with them tomorrow--I'm curious to see how all of this works.
The other highlight was visiting Nye's Polinaise Room. It's a polish resturaunt, and on the weekends, they have a real live Polka band. Amy's trying to get a group to go Friday night. Since babysitters are hard to come by, I'll be in the room with the boys while Amy goes back to her polish roots. The food was really good. It was a good way to end a frustrating day.
Well, I'm off to do battle in the Plenery. Think of what I did yesterday as a committee meeting, now it goes to the full Congress. Wish me luck!

Shipping Up to GA

2010-06-24T12:44:00.001-07:00

Every year, the Unitarian Universalist Association has an annual meeting called General Assembly. It's held in a mid-major city, and changes location from year to year. This year, it's in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since Minnesota isn't that far from Indiana, we decided that we'd all go as a family. I haven't been to a GA since 2003, so it's going to be a treat to go to one again. We took two days to get to Minnesota, stopping off in Madison, Wisconsin. I've noticed a new trend in family hotels--not just pools to swim in, but pools with stuff. This pool had a water slide, a ship that spewed water, and fake trees all around to make it look more like you were outside. The boys, of course, loved it. I even went down the slide myself a few times. Charlie tried his best to work up the courage to go down the slide, but he just couldn't do it. He had a good time anyway, splashing in the fake shrimp boat that the smaller kids play on.
This year, there are two of us who volunteered to be delegates to the convention--me, and a gentleman who's 89 years old who joined our church about 4 years ago. He wanted someone to travel with him, so I volunteered. He's got a new Toyota Prius (the excelerator hasn't gone crazy yet!) complete with a built in GPS. It has a female voice, so he's named it Mandy. For most of the trip, Mandy kept telling us to get off the highway and go crazy routes to where we were trying to get to. Fortunatly, he brought maps to make sure we were staying the course on the main highway. We got tired of her midirections, so I did something radical--I read the instruction manual. I figured out the way to program her so that we'd stay on the the main roads. She worked great after that!
Some random thoughts about Wisconsin:
Growing up and living in Maine until I was 32, it seems that no matter what road you're on, if you're out of a bigger city/town, all you see is a lot of green. Wisconsin is very similar, only instead of pine trees and trailer homes, it's rolling hills and dairy farms.
The part of Wisconsin we drove through seems to be a tourist haven. I think I saw at least 4 water parks, two Yogi Bear campgrounds, and lots of fireworks stands. I wonder what would happen if you crossed all three of those things?
I don't know what caused them, but there are some natural rock formations in the northern part of the state, right before you cross into Minnesota. When the boys saw them, they naturally thought they had found Hogwarts.
After being the car for two days, we finally arrived in Minneapolis. I bid my traveling companion farewell, and Amy and the boys and I settled in at our hotel. When we started looking for cheap rooms, there were a few that were outside the city center that were priced reasonably, and since we had driven the whole way, we figured that we'd just drive in and out every day. After we unloaded our stuff and got stuck in rush hour traffic, we thought better of this strategy. I was starting to have Beltway PTSD flashbacks as I saw cars slowing down and waiting as we weaved and curved around construction and a hard rain shower. So we agreed that while Amy was meeting all of her minister homies for Minister Days, the boys and I would walk around downtown Minneapolis and try to find the better hotel that Amy had found on the internet. Well, long story short, when you combine 90 degree heat, two boys who've been cooped up in a car for the better part of two days, and no water to drink, by the time the night was over, everyone was a little gumpy. So the next day, we drove Amy in town to do her minister thing. The boys and I packed up and swam in the pool for two hours, and then moved to the new hotel. It's amazing what a little sleep, and some swimming will do for one's sensibiliites.

To open General Assembly, every church that is attending brings a banner. A person from said church carries their banner to open the convention, and it's an awsome sight. Think something like the opening ceremonies from the Olympics. Our organization is small, so it's reaffirming to see that you're not the only church out there. For the first time, I got to carry my churches banner. What made it extra special is that my cousin Wayne came all the way from Maine and carried the Ellsworth churches banner. Back in 1999 I went to my first GA in Salt Lake City, he carried the banner that year as well. I wanted to walk in with him, behind my home churches banner. Why? It was in Ellsworth that I found my spiritual home, so it was there that my life changed direction and led me to where I am today, both spiritually and physically. It was my way of seeing where I, and to a certain extent, my whole family, where we had come from and where we are going. It was a cool circle of life type moment. And, being an attention whore, it's cool to walk around a huge crowd of people, waving a flag and having said people clapping and cheering me one. In fact, I kept thinking of the line from the old 1960's protest song For What It's Worth:

A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side.

The other highlight of the night was the blessing to start the proceedings. I'm not sure what was going on before he took the stage, but he was talking about the intersecting circles of our faith, and how they were lubercating and penetrating each other. Maybe he got a little to- high on the banner parade. Anyway, if you wish to see what this looks like, here's the link:

http://www.uua.org/events/generalassembly/2010/ga2010/165845.shtml

One more highlight--seeing people I've gotten to know over the years in the various congregations that I've been part of over the years. It's like a big reunion, without the pictures on your name tags that shows how much you've aged since you saw each other last. It's a cool thing to be reminded of the bigger picture and just how many other people "out there" believe in the same things you do.

GA stuff officially got started today, so there's more to come--Amy's coming with groceries. I'll let you all know what it's like to be in meetings when the democratic process is under way. Like watching sausage being made? It's all true. Talk to you all soon!

Since School Let Out

2010-06-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's funny--when kids are out of school for the summer, I lose all track of days. I think they've been out for about a week and a half. It's been an eventful time. I'll try to summarize:

Henry--He finally got his first hit since he started playing Little League again. He tried it in Virginia, but I knew his first season seeing live pitching wasn't going well when on the first day, he was throwing with one of his coached and he got nailed in the face with a baseball. It went downhill after that. He played last year and got used to being on a team again, but he didn't do to well because he'd hadn't played in two years. I was a little surprised that he wanted to play again this year. His team last year had a handful of players that were really good, so some of the other boys gave him hell for being too slow etc. This year, most of the kids all seem to be about on the same level, so Henry's having a better time of it. Over the course of this season, he's been staying in the batters box more (he used to back out on every pitch) and finally on Thursday, he finally made contact with the ball. I wish I could describe it to you, but it also happened to be the night I had to volunteer at the concession stand. Henry was very pleased with himself, and I kept telling him how proud of him I was. I'm also getting a preview of teenage drama. Granted, Henry's only 10, but I think this is a warm up for things to come. One of his buddies invited him to a birthday party. The buddy is female. They've been close all through the school year. Just this week, Henry started talking about not going to her party. I feel like I had one of (hopefully) "manly" conversations with him. He kept saying over and over again, "All she wants to talk about is feelings." I smiled, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Better get used to it." We found out today that the real reason he was upset was that she had stopped coming over every day. Her Mom's hours at work changed, so she was staying at home with her more. I have my fingers crossed that he's having a good time at her party today and just maybe they'll like each other again. Henry has also expressed an interest in playing football next fall. The elementary teams play flag football, so no worries about helmets and pads and that sort of stuff. I got very excited to hear that he's interested in playing. The top of his head comes up to my collarbone, and he's weighing in at about 125 lbs, so I know no one will be pushing him around. There are times when I wrestle with the two of them and if Henry pins me, I can't get up. Next week, the new high school football coach is doing a three day elementary football camp. I think it must be a Dad thing, because now I'm having dreams of seeing my boy as a huge lineman, watching defenders bouncing off of him as he blocks the opposition. A Dad can dream, can't he?

Charlie--I'm wondering if he's growing into some kind of preacher. On a few occasions since school got out, we've been having philosophical discussions about God. Much of this stems from the fact that he went to a pre-school that was at a United Church of Christ church. Amy and I felt comfortable sending him there due to the fact that when one looks at the broad spectrum of Christianity, UCC is almost as liberal as UU. (In fact, the running joke is that UCC stands for Unitarians Considering Christ.) When Charlie graduated last summer, he and all of his classmates got junior Bibles. Now that Charlie is starting to read, he dug it out yesterday and read some of the stories. This book has made the storied kid friendly, so there isn't any fire and brimstone in it. The other day, after the two of them had an argument about something, I can't recall what, I sent both of them to their rooms to cool off. Charlie came sauntering out a few minutes later and asked for paper and some tape. Not thinking much of it, I gave it to him. A few moments later I heard a loud thump on the floor. I checked to see what was going on, and Charlie had wrapped his junior Bible in the paper, taped it shut, and threw it on Henry's floor and told him it was a gift from God. (Signed by Him as well, on the cover. Although the writing looked a little familiar.) This is the second time he's done something like this--last week, he kept telling Henry that he thought someone broke into his room. I walked in and saw clothes and books all over the floor. We've been reading Hardy Boys books, and I think Charlie's imagination moved into action. Some of our theological discussions have been about if God is perfect or not. I've been telling him that I don't think anything is perfect because He created imperfect beings. We chewed on that for a while, then he did his book drop. I can't help but wonder what he'll come up with next. Charlie's baseball season is going well too. Today, in fact, he got his third hit of the season. I took them both to see a minor league game the week school ended, and for the most part, they were engaged in the action. The best part for them was the fireworks afterword, but I'll take it where I can get it.

Both of them--their cousin Ryan came to visit last weekend, and I must say, it's gotta be cool to be 10 and 6 and have a 20 year old cousin. He played video games with them, swam in the pool, went fishing, and the big finale, spent a whole day in Chicago. We all went to the Art Institute, and Henry got his picture taken with a genuine Van Gogh in the background. The highlight for the boys was going to the Navy Pier and taking a water taxi back to our car on the Chicago River. Monday night as the train was pulling out, Charlie kept asking if we could get on the train with him. They were also heavily involved in planting our garden yesterday. Not everything is in yet, but we planted three of the five beds we've got. A few weeks ago, we pulled all of the weeds out, and now I have my fingers crossed that just maybe we can change our plant killing ways. The boys also helped me clean up and organize our garage. I can now open the door and not feel embarrassed. Yes, I did pay them some money for helping me, but one man's bribery is another man's motivation.

Last night, none of us had to be anywhere, so we rented Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, ate pizza and had chocolate pie for dessert.

Overall, their summer is off to a good start.

Amy and me--every year, our religion meets to do it's business, called General Assembly. It moves around every year, and this year, it's in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It's about 12 hours from here by car. This is the first one I've been to in 7 years, and for the first time, I'm going as a delegate, representing my church. Two years from now, GA is supposed to be in Phoenix, Arizona. The question will be should we boycott Arizona due to the repressive immigrant laws that just passed. I'm looking forward to the debate on that issue. The other delegate is a gentleman who's 89 years old. Some people in the congregation had some reservations, and rightfully so, about him driving the whole way and back alone. So I'll be riding with him. Maybe sometimes he'll even let me drive. GA is great--we'll get to see people we usually don't get to see, shop for stuff that's hard to find, and take many useful workshops back to my congregation. And I must say, I like the idea that with that many religious liberals on one place, it's got to scare the hell out of someone. The hotel we're staying in on the way up and back also has a water park built into it, so it will be a nice break from the driving.

Well, I think that just about covers all the good stuff. I hope your summer is off to as good a start as ours is. The highlight of my summer hits at the end of July. It will mark the 1 year anniversary of us buying a house. And it will be the first time in 6 years that I WON'T BE MOVING!!!!! That fact is as almost exciting as going to GA. At any rate, hope all is well where you are.

Memorial Day and Lost

2010-05-30T20:12:00.001-07:00

As you all know, tomorrow is Memorial Day. It's a day in which we as Americans are to honor those who fought and died for our country. It got me thinking about all of my relatives who have served over the last 50 years or so--My Grandfather who was a Merchant Marine during WWII, my step-Grandfather who was in the Navy at the same time, my Father In Law who was the helmsman of the U.S.S. Pasadena and spent some time in Occupied Japan once the war was over. My Uncle on my Father's side who volunteered to fight in Korea but was sent to Iceland in stead, my Uncle on my Mother's side who signed up and worked in communications during Vietnam, my other Uncle who was a drill sergeant for 30 years, and my cousin who did the same thing after that. I have a feeling I might have missed some, but the main idea is that they have all done something I am unable to do. For that, I admire them all for what they went through and suffered. So to them all, I say: Thank you.

I don't know how many of you are Lost fans, but the last episode aired last week. The reaction that I've read seems to be mixed. I think many people wanted a nice, clean Fugitive type ending where all the loose ends would be tied up in nice little knots. Well, if you've ever watched Lost, you know that neat, clean endings didn't seem to be in the show's DNA. I know I might be in the minority, but I liked how it ended. Were all of the mysteries solved? No. At the the important ones were. I was a wreck during the last 45 minutes or so. Why? Well, deep down, I feel like it touched part of my soul that I know is there, but not sure how to express it. I'm not a Bible thumper when it comes to religion, and if fact, up to about 15 years ago, I didn't think there was a place in my life for spirituality. (One guess as to who changed all of that!) I used to put down people who were certain about Heaven and who would be waiting for you on the other side after you die. Now, I kind of admire people like that. It takes away much of the anxiety about death if one knows for sure what the next step is. I've always said that my philosophy is that of Blood, Sweat and Tears. Do you recall the song, And When I Die? There's a line that goes like this:

I can swear there ain't no heaven
But I pray there ain't no hell.

So when it comes to the idea that, yes, I'm going to shuffle off this mortal coil, it makes me a little nervous, scared even, because I don't have that certainty that others do. As I'm watching the final scenes when all of the Flight 815 people realize that they're all dead and their souls have found each other and were going into oblivion together, it made me a little teary eyed. Perhaps sobbing is a better word. All of you on this list that I've been sending updates to over the last 2 years, you all mean something to me. I don't think I say this as much as I should, but I hope when the time comes for me, I hope I get to spend eternity with all of you. I hope, down to the marrow of my bones, that somehow we will all get to meet again. I just don't want the afterlife to start to soon, if you know what I mean. I love you all.

On to more corporeal matters. . .

This weekend, Amy has decided to take a quick Minister's retreat, somewhere in the Ft. Wayne area. The boys and I have lived the bachelor life over the last few days. In my effort to do more things with them around the house and less in front of the television, we've stayed busy. On Saturday, we pulled all of the weeds out of the garden that was left by the people who lived here before us. The former man of the house was a master gardener, and in his actual garden, he left 6 raised beds to plant stuff in. One of them has since rotted away, but the boys and I got out there early in the morning and pulled and raked the soil, so now it's ready for planting. The last time I was involved with a garden, I was about 10 or 11, and I helped my Dad water and weed the little one we had out back. I've never planted anything by myself. Usually if people give us plants, they die a quick and painless death. I'm happy that a couple of people in our church, who actually know what they're doing, are going to help us plant next week. It makes me happy that we're going to grow food that we'll actually eat, but it will also give us all something to do over the coming summer months. The boys weren't really happy to be out there pulling weeds and moving flat bricks around to cut down on the weeds growing back, but they stuck to it and did what they could. Henry was able to help more, because, well, he's bigger and older. So after we got that done, it was on to putting up our Redneck Pool.
We bought it at the end of the summer last year, so this is the first time we've put it up. After a few hours of figuring out how to blow up the outer ring, which I used a pump to do, filling the water, hooking up the filtration system, running into one of my little league parents who have a pool and told me what chemicals to put in it and weeding out all of the leaves and bugs today, the boys had a splash party with some of their church buddies today. While they were playing, I noticed that something didn't look right. One side of the pool seemed to be listing to one side. Since this pool doesn't have any poles to hold up the side, our circular pool was looking a little oval shaped. I have since figured out that the supposed flat piece of land that I thought I was putting the pool on has a slight grade to it. The conclusion that I have come to is that to fix it, I have to drain the pool and move it about 3 feet the other way. Next week, the pool process starts all over again. As I was sitting poolside watching the kids play, I had visions of Clark Griswold looking out his window and imagining all of the pool parties he was going to have the next summer after his pool was built. Yup, I'm living the suburban dream. Oh, and I make sure that my lawn looks nicer than my neighbors.
After the pool was up and the water was flowing in, I decided it was time to cut down some of the bushes in my mini-backyard. We have a privacy fence that the previous owners built to go around their in ground pool, that was subsequently filled in after the kids grew up and moved away, but the fence remained. We're not getting rid of all of it, but we're getting rid of a section so that we can see out into the rest of the back yard, or as I've started to call it, the Back 40. I crawled on my side to chop down these offending Yew bushes that is getting in the way of my clear view of the Back 40. I'm still feeling the strain on the backs of my arms and legs. But damn it, it looks better already.
Our night ended by going to see the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. This is based on a new series of books about a kid who has just entered middle school and is keeping a journal of how things go day to day. I have not read them yet, but Henry owns all of the books and loves them. The movie got the Henry seal of approval, and even if you haven't read the books, the movie is very funny. This movie has somehow inspired Charlie. When I woke up this morning, the first book was on the couch. I asked Henry if he was re-reading it, and Charlie chimed in that HE had started reading it. I didn't know what to think at first, but then I sat down next to Charlie and he read me a whole paragraph with not much help. I just counted my blessings to know that I have two children who like to read.
I'm also starting to get an idea of Charlie's creative mind. I was sitting at the computer catching up on stuff when I heard him tell Henry that he thought someone had gone through his room. Neither one of us paid much attention until I walked down the hall and noticed that Henry's clothes and books were all over the floor. Charlie kept insisting that he didn't do it, that someone might have stolen something from Henry's room. Henry tried to get Charlie to fess up, but Charlie kept to his story. Yesterday he came out with a bag of miscellaneous toys and told me he was collecting clues from some crime. I've been reading him Hardy Boys stories, and I think they're going to his head. I'm wondering what "mystery" awaits me tomorrow.
It's been said that no good deed goes unpunished. One of my neighbors decided that she was going off to Indianapolis to whoop it up for one night and asked me to watch her dog. Her house has an alarm system and gave me the code to shut it off when we went in to let the dog out. So right before I put the boys to bed, we went to check on the dog. When I've done this before, she'll come over to me and let me pet her, but she won't go outside and do her stuff. So when we went over tonight, I opened the back door and then realized I didn't shut off the alarm. So I punched in the code, and it didn't shut off. Do you remember the sound of the fire alarm in school when there would be a fire drill? Imagine that noise, but about 100 decibels louder. I kept punching in the code over and over again, but it wouldn't shut off. Fortunately, her alarm is not hooked up with the cops anymore, so I didn't have to worry about how I was going to explain to a driveway full of cop cars why I'm really not breaking in. It went on for so long that the dog, literally, started howling. So I grabbed her and took her to my house so at least if the alarm was going off while I called the company to figure out a way to shut the thing off, at least she wouldn't be tourtured by the sound. And, since she wouldn't come on her own, I had to carry her. I didn't realize how big she was until I had to pick her up. I got her to my house, was about to lock her into my garage, and she took off for her house again. By the time I tracked her down, the alarm had reset, and the boys and I went home. Yeeesh.
Well, I hope that you all enjoy your barbeques tomorrow and that the weather is nice, the alarms are shut off, and the pools are not listing to one side. Amy comes home tomorrow, so just maybe the universe will reset itself back to normal again. Hope all is well where you are.

William Shatner - "Rocket Man" (1st Generation Copy)

2010-05-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

It's like finding the Holy Grail--I've heard of it's existence, but I had never seen it. I'm shocked that the whole place wasn't cracking up. I think I woke my wife up when I was watching this late at night. CLASSIC!!!!

Saying Goodbye to and Old Friend

2010-05-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

I don't know what the average life is for a vacuum cleaner, but the one that was given to me 10 years ago has finally bit the dust. The control that moves the belt and thus moves the brush to vacuum the floor won't move, and I don't know how to fix it. This vacuum was given to me on Father's Day back in 2001 or 2002, I'm not sure. It has survived for 10 years and 3 states and 6 moves. I don't know if I'm going to take it to someone to see if it can be fixed, or get a new one. As I set it in the garage, I said, "Goodbye old friend." I'm sure going to miss my trusty old blue Kenmore.

In happier news, my Mom and sister are coming for a visit tomorrow! It doesn't look like we're going to make it to Maine this summer, so I'm very happy that they're coming here. I'll spare you all the details, but they're flying into Grand Rapids, Michigan and will be here by tomorrow night. Amy and I have compiled a list of the stuff that we're going to do, and of course the boys are excited as well. I can't wait!

Both boys are literally counting down the last days of school. School starts here in the middle of August, so they're done by the beginning of June. June 4 is their last day, and every day when I pick them up from school, they make a big deal of how many days are left. It's also counting down my last days without kids during the day, so it's the parents quandary--the kids get their freedom back, while the parents lose theirs. They're also both playing little league again this year. I was a little surprised that Henry wanted to play again, but he happily signed up and he's off again. He's still a little skittish at the plate. His last game he was standing in and a pitch went a little inside and it whacked him in the thumb. Last year, this would have precipitated tears and pronouncements of never wanting to play again. This time he shook his hand and trotted down to first base. The opposing coach tried to get the umpire to declare a foul ball because it his his hand which was holding the bat. I almost got up and got all Little League Dad on his ass, but the ump calmly explained that it hit Henry's hand, and therefore he gets a free base. Nothing like good old fashioned sportsmanship. Charlie is at what is technically called Coach Pitch, but instead of a coach trying to pitch and potentially hitting little kids, which is what I would be afraid of, there's a machine that's kind of like a catapult that pitches the ball in the same place every time. Charlie's had a hard time trying to figure out how to hit, so I worked with him after a game on day, and sure enough, by the next game, he got two hits. I've been worried that somehow my boys missed something about how to swing a bat when I realized that I was 12 before I was comfortable at the plate. I'm hoping that I can get them comfortable a little sooner.

Amy's life is about to get a little easier. The building expansion is almost done, and our churches yard sale is this weekend. I was involved in the final walk through by the builder (no big deal--I just happened to be there.) and there are little things left to do, but for the most part the big stuff is finally done. It's a great space--when we get more pics up on the web, I'll send you all the link. And she's doing a wedding this Friday in front of 4 people. That's what I call an intimate affair.

As for me, my last day at my job was a week and a half ago. I feel like I've spent that whole time playing catch up--with church and house stuff. I'm finally down to one room with wallpaper in it, and hopefully that will be gone by the end of the summer. The whole family and I are going to our churches General Assembly, which this year is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It's a 12 hour drive from here, so it's not to far away. I've signed up to be a delegate to represent our congregation and to vote on the business that conducted. I've always wanted to get involved in this way, and now I'm getting the chance. I'm not sure if I sent this to you all, but in the regular office I'm running for, I was running unopposed and got 390 votes in the primary. The hard work comes near the end of the summer, as I'll be putting up signs, knocking on doors and shaking people's hands. If I manage to win, I'll be the third generation of my family to get voted into office. My Great-Grandfather was elected to the Maine Legislature, and my Dad is still a City Councilor in my hometown. So keep your fingers crossed! This past Sunday I drove up to Detroit to catch the Red Sox. It was the first time I've ever been there, and what I saw was a little startling. The new ballpark is beautiful, but the area around it is surrounded by empty buildings where all the glass is busted out of the windows and old blinds and shades are hanging out, blowing in the breeze. It reminded me of all of those post apocalyptic movies where the guy is running through the deserted streets as the aliens/disease/disaster is about to hit. The mayor there is starting a program to tear down 50,000 homes to shrink the size of the city due to the amount of people who've left. I knew things were bad there, but I had no idea it was that bad. And of course, the Sox lost. I haven't seen them win in person since 2005, when I went to Baltimore on three straight days to watch them. The people around me were nice, even though I had my 2007 World Series Champion t-shirt on with my Sox hat. I also paid my respects to the Ernie Harwell statue before I left. It was a good trip (I went with 4 other guys. I was the only one under 50) but of course the result of the game was not what I had hoped for. Near the end, I had a charming conversation with a 4 year old girl. She looked at me and said, "Do you hope the Tigers win?" I looked back at her and said, "Weeel, not today." Her parents and her Grandpa got a big kick out of that one.

There's a pile of laundry and guests coming--the weather cleared just in time! Hope all is well where you are!

Happy Anniversary

2010-05-03T15:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the 40th Anniversary of the day my parents got married. Earlier this year, when someone asked my Dad what he would like to get my Mom, his reply was, "A medal." Here's to 40 more years--it gives me something to shoot for!

Arizona and General Assembly, part 3

2010-04-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the response I got from Peter Morales, who is the President of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Yes, he actually answered my e-mail:

Kevin,

I have issued a statement, along with other faith leaders, denouncing Arizona's new law. Immigration reform has been one of the top issues on which I have worked.

As for GA in 2012, we are reviewing the situation. Part of the complication is that we would pay almost half a million dollars in penalties.
Peter Morales

Short and to the point. I'll be anxious to see what happens. I read somewhere that an idea would be for everyone to wear "I am an illegal immigrant" on a t-shirt or button. I think if GA isn't moved for 2012, that's probably what should be done. Just a thought.

Arizona and Generall Assembly, part 2

2010-04-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

The leadership of the UUA didn't waste any time getting back to me. Read on:

Dear Kevin,
Discussions and information-gathering are just beginning on how the UUA should best respond in multiple ways to the Arizona law, which the UUA will join others in challenging on constitutional as well as ethical and humanitarian grounds. Any action of the GAPC will be in close consultation with the President and the Board of Trustees, as well as with allied organizations in Arizona. So it's really too early to say what actions around GA 2012 (for which we have signed contracts with Phoenix) might be part of the response. There are a lot of factors to be weighed and possible paths to take. I'm sorry I can't be more definitive than that, but I can assure you that the issue of the law is very much on the radar screen of UUA leadership.
Thank you for asking.

Yours in faith,
Beth McGregor
Chair, GA Planning Committee

I had the feeling I wasn't the only one that came up with this idea. I guess we'll wait and see where it goes from here. If I get any other responses, I'll drop them here.

Arizona and General Assembly

2010-04-27T06:22:00.001-07:00

I'm sure by now that you all have heard about Arizona passing a highly restrictive, discriminatory anti-immigration law that allows cops to stop anyone, anytime and ask for proof of residency, even if the person is not breaking the law. Every year, my religious organization, the Unitarian Universalist Association holds a meeting called General Assembly where the business of the association is conducted. This year, it's in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In two years it will be in Phoenix, Arizona. This is a copy of the e-mail I sent to the head of the GA board of directors. Not sure if it will make much of an impact, but I think this is something that needs to be discussed.

Greetings! My name is Kevin DeBeck, and I have been a UU since 1997. I am currently a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Elkhart, Indiana. I know that as a UU, one of the events that is most looked forward to is General Assembly. Due to the size and scope of GA, I understand these things take years to plan. However, due to the recent draconian anti-immigrant law that was just passed in Arizona, I wonder if there has been discussion of changing the location of the 2012 General Assembly. This law violates every one of our 7 Principles, and our organization should have no part of spending time and money in a state that sanctions discrimination. I'm sure you've gotten many e-mails on this topic over the last few days, and, since I don't know how these things work, I wonder if pulling out is even possible. But if it is, I believe it would be a strong statement about who we are and what our religion stands for. Thank you for your time and effort.
Sincerely,
Kevin DeBeck

If I get an answer, I'll let you know.

Hello There!

2010-04-26T07:37:00.001-07:00

Much has happened since I last spoke with you all. Life has been extremely busy. Starting in two weeks, I think it will start to slow down a bit. I've resigned the job I got back in February. Not because that it was awful, or that I couldn't stand it, but the hours I work conflict with Amy's ministerial duties. Since it's her salary that we live on, it doesn't make much sense for me to work hours that put that job in jeopardy. Next Saturday will be my last day. What's strange is that deep down, I knew it was the right thing to do, yet when the day came to hand in my resignation letter, I felt nervous, almost disloyal. It brought me back to a conversation my best friend and I had years ago--the double standard of how jobs end--if one quits, generally you give your employer a two week notice, yet said employer can can your ass at a moments notice. It's been rare in my life that I've left a job on bad terms--I've only been fired once. My current boss took it well, although the look on her face told me that she wasn't really happy about it. Once the deed was done, however, I felt a strange feeling of liberation. I knew this job wasn't going to be one that I would be doing for the rest of my life. But over the last few months, when I've been thinking about what it is I want to do, deep down, I still want to be a teacher. With the public school systems losing positions left and right, I think I'm going to try and find a position at the college level. In my time here at Ivy Tech, I've seen some of the Social Studies teachers in action. Or lack of action. Some of these classes start with a full classroom, and by the time the class is over, literally no one is left. I've tried to listen to some of these teachers, and I get bored. I KNOW I can do a better job. Since most college jobs require at least a Master's Degree, and the fact that I now qualify for in state tuition, I think the time has come to go back to school. Does this guarantee that I'll get a job when I've accomplished said degree? Hard to say. But it's become obvious that waiting for the public school systems to come back up to speed isn't much of an option. Most, if not all, of the private schools are run by religious orders, so looking there isn't much of an option either. (I don't think that I'd even get in the door of those places--the lightning would strike before I could even walk in the door.) So that's the plan in my head right now. And I'll also have more time to work on the house--our plan right now is to have all of the wallpaper gone, walls painted, and floor refinished by the end of the summer. There's also plants to tear out in my backyard. It amazes me how fast the grass grows when it rains.

Amy's been crazy busy. One of our beloved congregants died unexpectedly at the beginning of April, so she's had her work cut out for her. Since we arrived in Indiana, Amy has done 11 funerals and 7 weddings, not all of whom are from our church. The last three have been pillars of the church, so each of the memorial services have been huge affairs. On top of this of course is the building expansion, which is quickly coming to it's conclusion. Our church has even managed to pull a video together on our overseeing organization's website. Here's the video for your perusal. It's on the right hand side, halfway down the page:

www.uua.org.

The production people contacted Amy, and she sent out the word to the tech savvy people and sent the footage and pictures off to be edited. It looks great, and, more importantly, makes our church and Amy look good. Well, Amy looks good anyway, but I think you all knew I'd say that. So she'll be looking to take some time off, hopefully, in the near future.

The boys are excited--school has a little over a month left. Their last day is the second or third day of June, so it's coming up fast. Henry will be happy to be out of the 4th grade. His teacher hasn't been, well, the best teacher Henry could have had. It's been a struggle to get him to get work done, or to hand it in once it's done. I have to tread somewhat lightly because I used to see 7th graders pull stuff like this all the time, and now it right in my backyard, so to speak. He seems to have finally leveled off. He's lost his DS more times than I care to admit, so maybe we're finally getting through to him. I just hope that his teacher will take a better interest in Henry next year. The one good thing from this year, however, is that he's got a buddy to pal around with. I have to be careful and not say she's his "girlfriend" but it's pretty obvious that she digs Henry. I don't know where this will go as they get older, but I hope that they keep in touch. She lives across the park from where we are, and she's home with just her older brother in the afternoon, so I think she's pretty happy to come to our house and play. Last week, the girls in Henry's class had to watch, "The Video." You all recall how in the higher elementary grades that the boys and girls were segregated so that the girls could watch the movie on periods and becoming a woman. I didn't experience this until the 6th grade, but with kids maturing faster than they used to, I guess it's inevitable. Henry's buddy was upset by what she saw, and apparently Henry piped up the he'd just taken a sexuality course through his church, and if she needs to borrow his book, he'd be more than happy to answer any questions she might have. Our religion does a lifespan sexuality course, based on the principal that humans are sexual beings from the day they're born. Henry's done two of these classes so far, so his knowledge is probably a little ahead of where most of his peers are. So it's nice to know that Henry's looking out for her.

Charlie had a drive-by intestinal flu last week. We were out running errands, and he kept saying he was feeling queasy. I was almost home when I heard a cough and splattering in the back seat. Fortunately, he only missed one day of school and in the process of cleaning up backseat puke, I cleaned out my car for the first time this spring. There's not much sibling rivalry between him and Henry, but last week it reared it's ugly head. Charlie was having a day when he was just feeling angry, and after all of the yelling and punishments were done, he said that Henry gets to have his friends over and he doesn't. We had to explain to Charlie that Henry's friends are older and can come to our house by themselves, while Charlies friends aren't old enough to do that yet. It was a bit of an eye opener for Amy and me. When Henry's buddies do come over, most of the time Charlie plays with them anyway. It's another aspect of the Parent's Curse coming back on me--when I was that age, I was jealous that my sister was "getting away with everything." Now I see it with my own children. Makes me wish I was a little more enlightened in my younger days. In spite of this, Charlie is doing very well. He's even reading on his own--every once in a while, we'll get out Hop on Pop, and he'll read every word, for the exception of the two big ones at the end of the book. It reaffirms for me that we did the right thing in holding him back for a year. His birthday lies in the gray area for when he should start school. We thought it would be good for him to do another year of preschool to get used to the routine of getting up and going to school every day. So far, so good! We're also reading the last Harry Potter book together. I haven't gotten to the end where the battle of Hogwarts takes place, and I know I'll be skipping over the more explicit parts. I've already skipped over some of them (the scene where Dobby dies, for example,) but overall he's glued to the story. It's fun for me because I get to read it again. I wondered whether if I should read it to him, but I figured Charlie would like to know how the whole thing ends. So I'll have to tread lightly from here on out.

Whew! I think that sums everything up. After the job is done, I'm envisioning getting my garage organized, then planning to finish the only unfinished room in my house--The Man Cave. I made a list of what needs to be done in there, and I think it's the project for the fall/winter. After I figure out how I'm going back to graduate school, run a campaign, get kids back and forth to school, and figure out ways to have Amy get some time off more frequently. Never a dull moment here in the midwest. What's made me really excited about the next few months is that my Mom and sister are coming in May, and my one of my old teaching buddies will be coming in July. I told both of them that they should expect to be put on display--I want everyone here to meet them. Oh, and did I mention that I'm coaching Charlie's baseball team again this year? Opening Day is this Saturday--we might even have our first game. I'm getting schedules on Wednesday. Off we go!

I hope all is well where you are. Tell the people closest to you that you love them.
I love you all.

It's Frustrating

2010-04-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

I always look forward to the beginning of baseball season. And I know we're only a few weeks into the season, but right now it's frustrating to be a Red Sox fan. They can't beat the Yankees, they can't beat the Rays. I watched this today and realized this could be the highlights of the last few games, now that they've lost 4 in a row and are on their way of losing 5. Makes me happy I didn't spend the money on an MLB package this year. I know, I'm sounding like the typical overreactive Sox fan. But this ain't pretty to watch. Maybe I'll dig out my 2004 highlight DVD's and drink a beer and cry myself to sleep.

My first decade as a parent, and other stuff.

2010-04-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

Henry officially turned 10 on Tuesday. He was on my mind all day Tuesday. Part of the job that I have to do is write the current date on attendance sheets and video tapes (yes, someone still uses them) and I had to fight the urge to write 3/30/00 on all of them. Memories flashed though my head--Amy in labor all day, the nurse, midwife, and Amy between contractions singing Joni Mitchell songs, hearing "How Sweet It Is" as Henry drew his first breaths, holding my little baby and feeling the awesome responsibility of what might lie ahead. And the ridiculous feeling we had a few days later when we put little baby Henry in a car seat that would fit a toddler. (All you could see was the top of his head!) This baby is now up to my collar bones and getting bigger every day. It's a little shocking how fast 10 years can go by. As for Henry, he's had a blast. Last Saturday, he had his friend birthday party at Eby Pines Skating Rink. Old fashioned, I know, but we went on a PTO skate night, and both boys were hooked. Neither one of them can skate very well, but they had fun nonetheless. Oh, and the other draw to this particular skating rink is the laser tag room at the other end. I arrived well after the party was underway, and they were all red faced and excited about who shot who how many times. I started to wonder how silly it would look for adults to do this sort of thing, because, well, why should the kids have all the fun? Yesterday was birthday, part 2. My father and sister in law are here, and two of his loyal buddies came over and celebrated again. His birthday meal was grilled cheese with cinnamon bread and smiley fries. The rest of us had grilled chicken with veggies--all yummy. We went down to what is becoming known as "The Birthday Room," which is the TV room downstairs. It makes me happy to see that Henry has loyal friends around him--they support each other and, more importantly, get along very well. Joni, my sister in law, also noticed that the girl that Henry pals around with, seems to have it bad for him. Henry likes her, but doesn't "like" her, if you know what I mean. I guess this sort of thing starts early!

Charlie's been under the weather recently. As sure as the sun rises and sets, when Charlie gets a runny nose and cough, eventually he'll get an ear infection. After staying up with him all night on Wednesday because his ear was hurting, we went to the doctor, and surely enough, his right ear was beat red. We're on day 2 of anti-biotic's, and he's back to regular old Charlie. He also got a prescription for Tylenol with codeine. The added benefit of this is that Charlie's slept past 6:30 the last few days, so it's the gift that keeps on giving!

In other news:

My father and sister in law visited us all last week. I was very happy that Henry the Elder came to our new house--he looked over our furnace, cleaned some of the filters, and helped me install a new thermostat. I might not be until next winter before I know if it all worked, but the first few days they were here, and it was still cold at night, the house seemed to be warmer. We didn't want to put them in the basement, so Henry took our room, Joni slept in Henry's room, the boys stayed in Charlie's room, and Amy and I slept in the living room. It was well worth it--Amy and Joni had a vision quest to come up with ideas for the dining room, and as I mentioned, Henry and I put up a new thermostat. I also generally don't watch American Idol, but Joni wanted to watch it, and part of the entertainment was the snarky comments that we all made about each contestant. Think American Idol combined with Mystery Science Theater 3000. Amy and the boys are headed in that direction next week when Elkhart has their spring break, so Pap-Pap and Aunt Joni will get to see the boys more. As for me? I'll be working and having the house all to myself. I still haven't figured out what I'll do more--strip more wallpaper or attacking the overgrown plants in my backyard. I guess it will all depend on the weather.

One of the classes I'm "in charge of" is a criminology class. In most of the other classes, most of the students tend to be women. In the criminology classes, the students trends toward men. I can't help but wonder if these guys see themselves as cops or prison guards. They have not said anything that would set off any alarms per se, but in the way that they carry themselves makes me worry what would happen if they were actually given positions of power. I have visions in my mind of all the cliche movie characters about the big bellied sherriff who rules a small town with an iron fist. It's almost like with what little knowledge they have about law inforcement, and the law in general, now they feel that they're ready to "clean up this one horse town." Wherever they go after this class is over, I'm hoping that someone else sees this as well.

Henry and I starting working on ridding the yard around my house of black gardening border. Henry's been neglecting his school work again, so instead of punishing him, which doesn't seem to be working as well, I figured a little physical labor might do the trick. Since I'm not a gardener, nor do I plan to be one in the near future, I'm pulling most of the border. I don't know how long it's been since the previous owner maintained the massive gardening, but most of the border stuff was underground, so it's effectiveness was over. Eventually, I'm hoping we can trim, and get rid of, most of the plants around our house and have a nice, green lawn. It's also not lost on me that I'm saying the stuff that I used to make fun of in other people. Funny how perspective changes when one becomes a home owner.

The weather is finally getting warm, and the grass is greening up. I hope the sun is warm where you are.

Joe should heed this advice.

2010-03-24T05:38:00.001-07:00

As cool as the signing ceremony was yesterday where the President signed the health care bill, and sent conservative heads exploding, I think Joe needs to take advise from Hank and Kid Rock. Enjoy.

The Way We Were, and 2012

2010-03-23T06:17:00.001-07:00

I watched a movie last night I didn't think I'd want to see. Amy brought home The Way We Were last night. Amy has been telling me that the back drop of the movie was the Red Scare that took place in Hollywood in the aftermath of WWII. So I'd figure I'd watch it and give it a shot. I'll start off by saying that I'm not a Barbara Streisand fan. I think she's stuck on herself, and she has a highly inflated ego. But that's just me. Anyway, I watched it, and I'll say it wasn't bad. You know when your watching a movie and thoughts and feelings start to nag at you? These were some of the thoughts that started nagging at me as the movie went on:
1. Some movies you can tell when they were made. This movie was set from
1937-1947. Yet I couldn't shake the feeling that it was made in the 1970's. I'm wondering if perhaps they had a hard time doing period pieces back then--all that polyester.
2. I like Robert Redford's acting style. Yet I couldn't see how his character, the rich, pretty jock on campus, would even take a second look at someone who was Streisand's character--dumpy, loud, and not that attractive. As the movie went on, they had the same arguments over and over. So I'm supposed to be surprised when they break up? This is somehow supposed to be sad? He should have dumped her ass back during the war. Did he really think he'd change her? Or she change him?

Anyway, I've also watched 2012 finally. Sometimes when I watch these apocalyptic movies, they give me the creeps and I brood on it for days afterword. Not this one. Granted, for much of the movie I was on the edge of my seat, adrenaline pumping as the people escaped disaster after disaster. But I couldn't help but wonder what it was like in the writer meetings as they were putting the script together. It's like they tried to use every natural disaster cliche ever created.
Writer 1: "Hey, did you hear that Yellowstone was once a huge volcano? Let's blow that up!"
Writer 2: "And, let's make huge Tsunamis that roll over ships!"
Writer 1: "People have always said that Southern California would slip into the sea. Let's do that too! This will be fabulous!"
So, I feel that I fulfilled my obligation to my sci-fi geekness. But not much beyond that. And until next time, the balcony is closed.

Score one for the good guys.

2010-03-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

It's a damn shame that Teddy didn't live to see the day that major health care reform passed. It's not what I would have wanted--some kind of socialized system, or public option, if you will, would have been better, if for nothing else, to screw over the insurance companies that have been doing that to their customers over the years. But, something is better than nothing, so I'll take a small victory over none at all. I also heard that Teddy's widow went to his grave to "tell" him what was going on. It reminded me of the scenes in graveyards all over New England when the Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004. I think both have some similarities--both were long fought for, and they both rallied back when the majority of the people thought they were both done for. So, it's onward and upward from here. I'm hoping that in future years, we'll see something like a Public Option come to pass. Then, I think Ted Kennedy's vision will be truly realized.

Friendship and being wicked smart.

2010-03-17T09:26:00.001-07:00

It's supposed to be in the 60's today and tomorrow. Of course, there's a chance of snow Saturday into Sunday, so as we say in Maine, if you don't like the weather, wait a minute. Anyway, here are the recent goings on here in northern Indiana:

I have heard from Charlie's teacher, and from Amy, who volunteers in Charlie's classroom, how smart he is. I have kind of known it, just from hearing him process the things he thinks about (he's a verbal processor. And it doesn't stop until he goes to sleep.) Yesterday, however, I got a taste of just how on the ball he is. His teacher has started sending home book bags, little readers in zip locks to practice on at home. While Henry was working on his homework, Charlie and I sat down to read a couple of his books. The first book we did had some bigger words in them, so Charlie needed some help sounding them out, which he did rather well. I had to help him on a couple of them. Then we got out another reader that was a little easier. Not only did he read all of the words, but by the time we were done that particular book, he was reading and almost doing his verbal interpretation of the words! I then asked him to get out our copy of Hop on Pop, and sure enough, he knew almost all of those words too. Needless to say, I was a little shocked, and very delighted to see that he's reading like this already. I didn't tell Charlie this, and I won't, but he's reading at a higher level then Henry did at this age. Henry, of course, caught up and went beyond what most other kids are doing now, so it just took him a little longer. I've said before, Amy and I need to stay on top of Charlie to make sure he uses his power for good, not evil.

Over the last few weeks, Henry has had his buddy over almost every day. The fact that it's a girl surprises me a little bit, but the fact that she's nice to Henry and that they strategize how they're going to attack a certain video games creates a camaraderie that transcends the cootie factor. And there are times when she comes over, she'll say, "Come on! Let's ride bikes!" So she motivates him to move around a little more. So, they're very good for each other. And, she's home alone for most of the afternoon, so we feel good that she's with us and not in a house all by herself. I can't help but wonder how this will play out as they get older. Will they stay in touch? Or will they drift apart? There are some people that are out there that I've known since I was 6, but until the advent of Facebook, I hadn't really kept up with many of them. My hope is that they do stay close, and just maybe they'll get through adolescence together, maybe making middle school a little less traumatic.

Construction as returned to our church. After about a three week wait for the roof trusses to arrive, they're finally going up. An added benefit to the new roof construction is that they're re-doing the old one, which is a good thing due to the fact that they found some rotten wood under the shingles. Due to this and hosting three different events last weekend, Amy's pretty pooped.

Speaking of Amy, I think she's getting spring fever. We spent our afternoon yesterday going through boxes in our garage. I had managed to pile most of the "stuff" on one side, but now it's spread all over the place. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Eventually, we'd like to re-arrange our garage to, you know, park cars in there. We found all kinds of things--I think we even unpacked a box that hasn't been unpacked since we left Maine. Amy mentioned that what she liked about going through all of our stuff was the fact it was in OUR garage, not a small storage unit that we're paying though the nose every month. Like everything else with our house, it's going to look great, over time. We're almost on the verge of getting our bathroom and bedroom painted. And today, the fix it guys are coming back to look at our dishwasher. It's worked the last few times I've washed dishes in it, so, maybe the bank vault dish washer will hold on just a little longer.

In anticipation of our return to cable, a friend of mine and I installed outlets for the cable for downstairs, so that there aren't wires hanging out of the false ceiling. Nothing makes me feel more manly than going to the hardware store, buying stuff, and using drills to drill holes and screw stuff into paneling walls. I've also realized that home improvement is more fun with other people helping than just doing it by myself. And yes, when we were done, we sat down and watched Star Trek. The best of everything!

That's all from Indiana--I hope all is well where you are.

Bike Gangs and Star Trek

2010-03-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

It's finally starting to warm up in Indiana. Most of the snow is gone, it's been in the 50's the last few days, and green is starting to show through again. Henry has two buddies that live near by. One is a girl in his class, another is a boy that was in his class last year. On Monday and Tuesday, they both came over and all of us got out our bicycles and rode around the park that 's across the street from our house. The boys are finally getting a taste of what it was like when I grew up--specifically, what a real winter is like. A week ago before the big warm up, both had said they were tired of snow and wanted it to be warm again. I mentioned to them that you can't really safe until about April, but then again, that's Maine standards. I'm not sure if it snows much in Indiana in March. Anyway, yesterday Charlie didn't want to ride his bike, so Henry and his two buddies rode off together. Henry didn't master bike riding until the summer we moved here, and as I saw him ride off, I could hear Amy's voice in my head from a year and a half ago, "Henry, someday you're going to have friends who ride bikes. I'd hate for you to miss out on that." I don't know if Henry realized that now he gets the payoff for learning how to ride. I kind of hope he doesn't--he's just riding around, having fun like the other kids. And what makes me happy is that he's got two good friends who like to come to our house and play, or ride, or anything else they can think of. And they're nice to Charlie, too. Henry's male friend, when he comes out of the walker door at the end of the day, give Charlie a hug every day. Very nice.

I've inadvertently continued a tradition, even though I didn't think I was until a few days ago. 30 years ago, one of the local TV stations in Bangor broadcasted Star Trek from 7:00 to 8:00 every night during the week. This is how I was introduce to sci-fi, and my love of Star Trek. It's led me to many great things in life--a fan club that I belonged to, where in my adolescence I felt like I belonged to something bigger than me, to many of the friends I've made since moving here. One of the local stations is showing Star Trek, Remastered from 7-8 PM every night. Why it's called Remastered is that CBS took all of the orginal series episodes and re-did all of the special effects. It's like seeing them brand new all over again. A few weeks ago, I started watching them at night. Both boys started watching them with me. It dawned on me that this is what my Mom did with me. Now, I don't let them watch all of them--some of the third season episodes are dumb. (Spock's Brain, anyone?) And the other day, an episode titled, "A Private Little War," was on. This episode is an allegory of the U.S. involvevment in the Vietnam War. I figured a 6 and almost 10 year old might not grasp the concepts of Communist containment, so we skipped that one too. But if it's a good one, we'll sit and watch it. Charlie's so into it now he's learning how to tell time, specifically when it's 7:00 o'clock, and will grab my arm and say, "C'mon Dad! Star Trek's coming on!" Yep, a chip off the old block.

The guest list at DeBeck Manor is starting to fill up. At the end of this month, my father and sister in law will be visiting. My Mom and sister will be here in May, and a good friend of mine will be here in July. This serves as motivation to get rid of more wallpaper and paint, paint, paint!!

Amy has been a little under the weather the last few days. Her old friend vertigo has come knocking again. I took her to the hospital on Sunday to make sure it wasn' t anything more serious than that. After she was inspected, injected and generally looked over, it was determined that it was indeed vertigo. This past Sunday we had a kid service, complete with a play about the Sneetches. It came off without a hitch. I got to direct it, which was more fun than I thought it would be. It made me miss being in a classroom, so I think I might teach Sunday School next church year. At any rate, Amy's feeling better, and most importantly, not dizzy.

Well, that's all from the midwest. I hope it's getting warmer where you are.

2010-03-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, a rapper accused Mitt Romney of trying to give him a Vulcan Neck Pinch while supposedly defending himself from said rapper. Well, here's a tutorial from the old pro himself in case you find yourself in similar circumstances. Enjoy!

The story of why Verizon doesn't know it's ass from it's elbow.

2010-03-04T05:28:00.001-08:00

At the risk of using a cliche, all of this started a week ago when we took the boys to the roller skating rink. I had just gotten out of work, so I didn't really feel up to strapping any kind of skates on, when we see the parents of one of Henry's buddies come over. We all decided to move to one big table and chat. By this time, Charlie is running out of gas, as was Amy's friend that was visiting from Battle Creek. (Yes, this is where Kellogg's is headquartered) What I didn't know was that Henry's friend's Mom works for Comcast. If you recall, we decided to go cableless about a month ago. Not having cable has been easier than I thought it would be. The deal she was talking to Amy about was better than what Verizon has given us so far. A few days later, as we were contemplating if we should go back or not, Amy decided to call Verizon to see if we were under any kind of contract. Now, you'd think that just a simple question, "Do we have a contract with you?" wouldn't take that much time. Remember--this is Verizon we're talking about. Here's what Amy learned after an hour, yes, an hour on the phone with Verizon:

1. Our number was either given or shared with someone in Florida.
2. Somehow the bundle that was supposed to be internet/phone under one name, mine, was split. So instead of paying one fee for both, we're paying two fees--one for phone, one for internet, and paying almost as much as we were under Comcast that had a cable box with it. AND we've had to call them at least 3-5 times due to technical problems. AND as Amy was trying to find out what could be done about this newest problem, she was put on hold at least 3 times and shifted from one department to the other. This is why Verizon doesn't know it's ass from it's elbow. Apparently, these departments don't talk to each other.

So it was easy when Henry's friend's Mom came to talk to us about all the fantastic things that Comcast could do for us. I'm not thrilled with going back to Comcast, but I'm pretty fed up with Verizon. Makes me wish the government would use that anti-trust power and break up these huge companies. If there were a local alternative, I would do it in a heartbeat. But there are none. By the end of March, we'll be back in the Comcast fold yet again. I'm wondering how long it will take for Comcast to dick us over again. I know this looks like we're giving up on going cableless, but it's more like we're tired of incompetence of Verizon. How much time and energy we've given Verizon over the last month and a half? And they STILL don't have it right? AAARRRGGG!!!

In other news. . .

I had my first Indiana high school basketball experience on Tuesday. Elkhart Central High School was in their sectional tournament, and in the first round, they were playing their cross town rivals, Elkhart Memorial High School. Central is where the boys will go eventually (!) so I thought this would be a good time to get the boys to a big game to root on their eventual school. I know that when most people think about Indiana high school basketball, they think the movie Hoosiers. That movie was based on a real life high school, Milan High School, in 1954. The baskeball tournaments were open tournaments in those days, and Milan was the smallest school to ever win the state championship. (In fact, it was dubbed the Miracle of Milan High.) In the final four in that year, Elkhart High School, because there was only one back then, lost in the semi-final round to the team that Milan would later beat. (I think it was a team from Ft. Wayne.) So Elkhart, sort of, has a connection to the movie Hoosiers. About 10 years ago, Indiana introduced a class system to their basketball tournaments so the small schools have a chance to win something. So as we walked into Northside Gym, which can hold up to 2,000 people, we could feel the excitement in the air. It brought back many memories for me, walking into Bangor Auditorium for all those years of seeing tournament games where I grew up. Indiana high school basketball gets talked about nationally, but Eastern Maine basketball could give them a run for their money. It almost felt like coming home to me. And I was happy that I could give my boys a chance to feel it too. I had invited a couple of friends of mine to join us and we found seats behind the Central bench. I won't recite how the game went, but my team lost. Again. Central was behind by as much as 20 points and in the 3rd quarter, got as close as 5, but didn't get any closer. So for Central, it was one and done. I also realized what happens when you get more than one Star Trek geek together at once. We were trying to shout encouraging words to our team, and they kept coming up short. So we started yelling things like, "Eject the warp core!" "Red Alert! Shields up!" My buddy who was sitting next to me said that the game should be settle using Lirpas. It would be too hard to explain, so I'm attaching this link to explain it for me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amok_Time

I think the Ahn-Woon would have been more effective.

The game started at 8 PM, so it was a late night for the boys. Sleep came rather easily that night.

Well, that should just about do it. My father and sister in law are coming to visit at the end of this month, so we're pretty excited. Not only will they see our house for the first time, but it will motivate us to paint our bathroom and bedroom. One room less of wallpaper!
Hope all is well where you are.

Roller Skating

2010-02-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

Every month, the PTO (formally known as the PTA) sponsors a night at the only roller skating rink in the area. Until last night, we had always missed it, due to swim team, homework, etc. Both boys got a bee in their bonnet that they wanted to go this time around, so at 6:30 last night, off we went. My experience with roller skates is minimal at best--the few times I went to skate parties, I clung to the wall and hoped that I wouldn't fall on my face. (I have since discovered that I can move around better on roller blades. Not sure why.) Neither one of the boys has ever worn roller skates, although Charlie has had some experience on ice skates. Translation--I wasn't sure how they would do. As we entered, the first thing they both saw was that there were plenty of black lights. It even got more exciting when I got their skates, and the laces were florescent orange. I also discovered that Charlie would have an advantage over Henry--Charlie's skates had one wheel locked, so his wheels would go only in one direction, where Henry had just regular skates. I thought this was kind of unfair--why don't they make beginner skates for bigger people? I made sure to tell Henry not to feel bad if Charlie was standing and moving around while Henry was stuck to the railing the whole night. He smiled and said, "Ok, Dad," got to his feet, and off he went. Both boys had friends there, so as they both tried to get around, they had kids to talk to. At one point, I noticed that Henry was sitting by himself and it sent a pang of regret through my gut. I felt a little jealous of those kids who could strap on a pair of skates and move effortlessly across the floor while I struggled to stay on my feet. Maybe today's kids are less judgmental from when I was that age, because as I was worrying about how left out Henry might feel, a couple of his friends skated over and talked with him. They even tried to go around the circle together once or twice. Towards the end of the night, Henry came over to the side to rest. I hugged him and told him how proud of him I was that he didn't give up trying to skate around. He looked at me with his big, cheesy smile and said, "Thanks, Dad." They both want to skate again (Charlie lasted long into the limbo contest, so his competitive juices got fired up.) which makes me happy. Maybe I'll even strap on the roller blades and see how far I can get. I even asked one of the adults I knew--How does a person learn how to skate? Is there some magic formula? Or is it just practice, practice, practice? In my mind, I can't figure how to go from barley standing up to skimming around like Brian Boitano. Any suggestions? Anyway, hope all is well where you are.

I bow at your feet!!!!

2010-02-24T07:23:00.000-08:00

I am a geek. I am very self confident in my geekyness. However, when I see someone out geek me, I feel like I want to do the old Wayne and Garth routine of, "I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!" Here's a guy that has just set a record for reciting, in broadcast order, all 79 original Star Trek series episodes. He did it in a minute and a half. If I were 15 years younger, I might try to top it. Here's to you, uber Star Trek guy!

"She's not gonna let us out."

2010-02-20T05:11:00.000-08:00

My beloved Witches were up by 7 in the fourth quarter last night, and were ahead by 3 or 4 with about two minutes to go and they couldn't hold on. As Edward Little pulled ahead with less than a minute left, I thought of this movie. When Brewer was ahead, it was like the skies were clearing and the way home was becoming obvious. Then the clouds rolled in, and, well, you know the rest. So Brewer is 22 years and counting when it comes to winning the big game in basketball. As sad as I might feel today, I know how the actual players are feeling today. To them, I would give this advice--the pain will go away, the sting will eventually fade, but the memory of it will quite never leave you. You can at least enjoy the fact that you got one step closer than Bangor did, what little comfort that might bring.

For the team I was on, sitting on the end of the bench as the time ticked away in that state game against Morse, we didn't have the comfort of playing a close game. It was pretty obvious by the 4th quarter that we weren't going to win. What made it worse was that the Gold Ball trophy was brought out and was on the scorer's table--so close you could actually touch it. Near the end I looked down at the players, and many of the seniors were openly weeping. This shocked me. These were rough, tough, big players. And they were crying? I think it was that moment when the enormity of what was going on hit me. In my own limited 15 year old freshman mind, I thought, "Well, we'll just have to come back next year and try it again." It was two years later that we got back to the tournament, and then we lost in the first round. Brewer didn't win another tournament game until 1995, and that win came on a buzzer beater, half court shot. My hopes are that just maybe it won't take another 22 years to get back to this game. Just maybe next year Brewer can win it. Just maybe.

One Step Away. . .

2010-02-18T09:11:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling fired up today. Brewer High School won their semi-final game against Hampden last night. It wasn't easy--Brewer was down by 13 at one point, but rallied in the second half and won. I literally was on the edge of my seat the whole game, scared that this season would end like all the other ones in the bast 22 years. My stomach was turning somersaults, and I had to work to keep my voice down--at one point, I did mange to wake up Henry as he was trying to sleep. Makes me wish the digital TV was still in the basement. Anyway, I grunted and rooted my way through the game, with the result I was hoping for. I was so pumped up that I had a hard time sleeping last night. The mere fact that I've been out of high school for almost 20 years isn't lost on me. So as I'm reveling in the feeling of victory today, a thought did cross my mind--Why does this mean so much to me? I don't know any of the kids. I don't even know the coach. Probably almost all of the teachers I had aren't even at Brewer any more. Well, for one thing, it's brought back some pleasant memories of something I never in a million years would have thought that I would experience--being a part of a winning team. I liked playing sports--I just wasn't as good as many others were. I loved watching basketball, but knew that I would never play it--to much running, and I was a severe asthmatic. I knew, even at 15, how special it was that I, little Kevin, was part of something that hadn't happened, at that point, in 28 years. Part of it is to the fact that my high school was better known for blowing the big game instead of winning it. (Sound familiar, Sox fans?) Granted, we didn't win the state title that year, which left a bitter taste, but we got some measure of satisfaction that Brewer at least go to that point. Beating Bangor twice within a two week span to get there helped too. Another factor is the satisfaction of having your sports support rewarded. Like the 2004 Sox--there was finally a happy ending. For my school, and for the current team--I have my fingers crossed that they too will come away victorious. And just maybe, just maybe, Brewer can finally get that monkey off their back--that big, gold Basketball. I think I'm going to look through my stuff and see if I can find those individual medals when the team wins something. . .

One down, three to go.

2010-02-14T06:45:00.000-08:00

As I was getting ready for the big game last night, I went digging through some old stuff. I have kept an envelope of stuff from that 1988 winning season, and I found this picture. I know someone, somewhere has a team shot of all us under the basket after the game was over. I'm happy that I have this one. For one thing, I can see how skinny I used to be. Another thing, I can see why I cut my hair short. So Brewer beat Skowhegan last night by 10 points. Next up--Hampden Academy. I have my fingers crossed!

Cheer for the Brewer Witches/Cheer for the Brewer victory. . .

2010-02-13T07:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight begins another tournament run for my Alma Marta, Brewer High School. They are ranked #1 in Eastern Maine, probably for the first time since 1984. It's worth noting that Brewer has never won a state title, winning Eastern Maine Championships in 1960 and 1988. Many people in Brewer note that the best chance for Brewer to win a state title was 1984. Brewer, for once, had one of the best players in the state, Steve Smith. (In fact, he was the first guy I ever saw dunk in a high school game. It was after he had scored his 1,000th point. When he slammed the ball home, I have never heard a louder noise. It took almost 20 minutes for the place to calm down.) He had switched high schools the year before, and spent his senior year at Brewer. The year before, he was at Wells High and won a title with them. I was in the 6th grade that year, and me and my whole family went to the title game against Lawrence. The game went into over time, and of course, Brewer lost. It was the one of the first sports disappointments I had in my life up to that point. It braced me for the Red Sox World Series choke that would happen two years later. My Dad had been bringing my brother and I, and eventually my sister, to games as soon as we were able to walk, so my feelings for my team and school run pretty deep. In fact, my siblings and I were the third generation of my family to graduate from Brewer High. I had seen the letter that my Dad had earned in high school, and wanted to earn one myself. I wasn't that good at sports, so I wasn't sure how to do it. My brother showed me the way. He was a manager for football, basketball, and baseball and earned his letter. My freshman year, I decided to follow in his footsteps. When basketball came around, I was right there with my brother. We had a pretty good team that year, but wound up in 7th place when the Tournament rolled around. I'll spare you the details, but we upset two teams, one of them Bangor, which was even sweeter, to get to the title game. We played Presque Isle in the title game--they were ranked 8th--and we rallied in the 4th quarter to beat them. I've read by various sports writers that as fans, we can celebrate championships with teams, but, as fans, we're still apart from it due to the fact that we didn't help the team win. Granted, I didn't play on the floor with the guys who did win it, but I was on the team. After that final buzzer rang, I was so happy that I almost hyperventilated. When you win a title in Maine, all the players and managers get individual awards. Since I was the youngest player on that team, my name was announced first. I can still hear the baritone voice of Norris Nickerson echoing in my head, hearing my name announced to the whole Bangor Auditorium. I wasn't a drinker back then, but I think I was quite literally high at that moment. A week later, as we were about to walk out onto the floor of the Cumberland County Civic Center, we all stood there and looked at each other. The coach looked at us back and said, "Who knew that we would be here?" We then proceeded to get our asses kicked by Morse High School, who was in the process of winning three years in a row. I hope, starting tonight, that just maybe, this team will win something my team wasn't able to. Hey, if the Red Sox can win two World Series, why can't Brewer finally get the Gold Ball?

"I'm just carrying on an old/Family tradition!

2010-02-13T06:19:00.000-08:00

I meant to post this when I mentioned that I've agreed to run for the township board where I live. It's called Osolo Township, and here's a card from when my Great-Great Grandfather ran for the Maine State Legislature. He represented the towns of Holden and Clifton, and, I believe, was a Holden town selectman for years before he joined the Legislature. Of course my Dad is a city councilor for my hometown, Brewer. If I can manage to get elected, I'll be the third generation of my family to hold office. I have my fingers crossed!

TPS reports, and on being a Grade Whore

2010-02-13T06:17:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've worked in any kind of office. I know why I'm here--to do a job, earn money, and stay out of everyone's way. One of my duties is to fax papers from where we are to the where the teachers are. One of the classes took a test, and with 10 people in the class, and the test being 6 pages, according to my Brewer High School math, that's 60 pages to send. The little fax machine that's in the office that I work at is too small to handle that kind of volume. So I went to the Student Services office to send all that paper. I looked down, saw a South Bend number programmed in, and sent all 60 papers. Apparently this caused a shit storm to happen. Now, I will admit that I should have checked the number. I arrive at work on Friday night to a long letter on how the Dean of Student Affairs called the Dean of the campus I'm at to yell at the woman who's my boss. And she got a sternly worded e-mail. And this e-mail went through the whole system. So I'm guessing that my name is mud. Remember--this is only my second week on the job. In one of my favorite movies, Office Space, the main character is being interviewed to see if what he's doing is valuable enough to keep his job. He tells the interviewers that he has 8 bosses telling him what to do, and 8 people that talk to him when he makes a mistake. I'm starting to know how he feels.

I'm the kind of person that when I know something, I speak up. Since the space where I work is shared with a classroom, sometimes I get to listen in on the lectures. On Thursday, the Environmental Studies class was there. The teacher brought up the subject of invasive species. He asked the class if they knew what the invasive species was that was making it's way up the Mississippi and might make it all the way to Lake Michigan. Silence. I waited to see if any of the people were going to answer him. I couldn't help myself any longer. I looked around the partition, whispered, "Asian Carp," and slunk back. One of the people buzzed in, gave the teacher the answer. The teacher, properly impressed, said, "Very good!" The class all laughed, and I waved my hand as they thanked me. I then wanted to keep participating, but I went back to work instead. Even though I've been out of school for 8 years now, deep down, I'm still a grade whore. If you're not aware of what a grade whore is, it's the kind of person who works on papers for hours and hours to make sure that everything is just right. Or who knows the answers when the teacher asks a question. I would have thought that perhaps that part of me had been put away. I guess not so much.

In other news. . .

Charlie and I went to the doctor at the same time yesterday. He started hacking and coughing and runny nosing last week, which usually means that an ear infection isn't far behind. Then I noticed that I started hacking and coughing. We both did nebulizers on a daily basis, and finally realized a doctor's visit was needed. Charlie has Bronchitis, and I've got a sinus infection. Fun, fun, fun! We're both now in Zithromax, so I'm hoping that by next week we'll both be cleaned out.

Sunday is of course, Valentine's Day. Henry wanted to have some friends over not just to celebrate, but to enjoy the fact that they have Monday off, too. Growing up in Maine, I never realized that the third Monday in February was a holiday because we always had that week off from school. Plus, it was Tourney Week in basketball, so it was almost like a holiday for a whole week. Anyway, the boys have Monday off and are having a sleepover Sunday night. I think some sledding might be involved on Monday as well. Henry has invited two of his buddies over--both girls, interestingly enough. As soon as Henry mentioned who he wanted, Amy immediately had visions of tea parties dancing in her head. I've made something for Amy for Valentine's Day, which I can't disclose here due to the fact that she reads this. I hope the sun shines on you, the snow begins to melt, and you're with someone you love tomorrow. Hope all is well where you are!

P.S. My high school boys basketball team starts their tournament run tonight at 9:30. They're ranked #1 in Eastern Maine, which is, I believe, the highest ranking they've been since 1984. I'm going to be sitting by my computer with popcorn cheering them on. Go Witches!

Yesterday, a snow day.

2010-02-11T06:37:00.001-08:00

The day has finally come--the boys got a snow day today! The snow we got is not nearly on the same level as what's been happening in Virginia, but finally enough fell at the right time to call school off. Charlie is celebrating by watching Scooby Doo, and Henry is tuning into the latest Ben 10 on line. When they both saw the official word on the news this morning, the both started doing a dance--spinning in a circle while holding each others hand. Very cute. Charlie now also thinks he's got ESP because the night before, he said he had a dream that school was going to be closed. I'm not worried about this--although, if he crawls out of bed and tells me that he sees dead people, then I know we're in trouble. Another sign that we're in the dead of winter--both boys are hacking and coughing with runny noses. Charlie of course is now saying that his ear hurts. As sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, when Charlie gets a runny nose and a cough, an ear infection is sure to follow. At some point today, I envision another trip to the doctor's office. How's that for ESP? I only work 4 hours today, so Amy only has to deal with cabin fever for that long.

Later in the day we went and saw Planet 51 at the cheap movies. I'm glad we didn't spend more than $1 apiece on it. It was okay, but the movie seemed to be obsessed with aliens eating brains. There was a scene where a doctor actually removed two people's brains. It wasn't gross--the boys liked it. But it was bordering on the obsessive. And the characters all seemed one dimensional. So, it was a good snow day movie, but not one I'd want to spend any more money on.

The boys weren't awake when I left this morning--I wonder if they were disappointed when they saw that the roads were clear. Easy come, easy go. I hope all is well where you are!

Stuff that's been going on, and why Verizon sucks ass

2010-02-02T07:35:00.001-08:00

Where to begin? My job search actually worked--it was a slight shock to the system that in an area of 15% unemployment that I would get an interview, much less a job. Yet, here I am, working at Ivy Tech as a Distance Education Technician, or, as I have told people, the AV kid who gets paid. My duties so far are, in no particular order, turning on the TV's and camera, making sure that each class is dialed into where the teachers are teaching from--most are coming from Warsaw and South Bend--handing out papers, tests, making sure that the students are signed in, taping (yes, with actual video tapes!) each class, and just in general making sure things are going smoothly. The hours are great--I'm here from roughly 7:30 until 12:30, so I get to wake my children up and pick them up from school. I'm celebrating my new found financial influx by getting the breaks fixed on my car so they don't sound like I'm grinding up a pound every time I stop. Yesterday was my first day. Some highlights:

I managed to piss off the HR director. My crime? I bought a parking pass. I was told that I needed one, so I walked up to the student affairs office and got one. I also got my fancy new employee number. Since the HR director hadn't passed on my paper work yet, she felt that I was going "over her head." Yep. A great way to start a new job.

I watched one of the teachers yesterday. He was a biology professor, and from what I saw, he was what we used to call a spazz. I can't really describe it beyond that. Another one of the teachers looks like Angela from The Office. No word yet if she owns a dozen cats.

I had to get a laptop cart for a class. Since I was dealing with adults, I figured that I could open the case and have them ready on the desks as they came in. Nope. The procedure is that as each person comes up and gets one, I have to take their driver's license and lock them up. I started having PTSD flashbacks to my time in VA teaching 7th graders. I would have each kid sign their name, inspect it, then give it to them, then reverse the process when they returned it. The 7th graders I dealt with liked to pop off the letter keys. Apparently at community college, they like to steal the computers. Is this what they call moving up?

Speaking of flashbacks, waaay back in the early 1990's, with my first go round of college, I went to Husson College, now Husson University. I had a work study job working in the adult ed department. I did things like answering the phones, filing stuff, filling out paperwork. It's funny how life brings you back around sometimes.

Verizon

We recently had a falling out with Comcast, so we thought we'd simplify our lives and ditch the cable box and go with Verizon for phone and Internet. The Verizon signal got turned on two weeks ago. Of those two weeks, we've had both phone and internet functional for about 4 days total. I literally spent about an hour and a half each day last week on the phone to get someone, somewhere, to fix what the problem was. At one point, the internet worked but the phone didn't. Then they fixed the phone, and the internet didn't work. Finally, what the problem was that somehow we had ordered two different lines into the house where there was only one. All they had to do was delete an error message that had occurred. On one of my many calls, the guy on the other line told me I had to wait 24 hours for them to delete this error. And he couldn't tell me what the error was. After the 24 hours expired, Amy called and found out that the error was the two lines, and she deleted one of them. Yes, you read that right--it takes a whole day for someone at Verizon to press a button. When things were finally fixed by this past Sunday, we hoped that would be the end of it. Wrong! Amy went shopping yesterday and came back to realize that the internet was down again. So she spent 45 minutes on the the phone with them to discover that the error message had come back on. Through all of this, I find myself wishing that there was some local company that did the things that Comcast and Verizon do. But since we're stuck with companies that are too big to fail, or something like that, it's like picking the lesser of two evils. I'm thinking that by the end of February, we'll be back to Comcast. Off we go again!

Other stuff

Last Saturday was our second annual Cardboard Carnival. For the second year in a row, it snowed just in time to hurtle down the hill in a cardboard box. Both boys, and many of their church friends, had tons of fun. I helped build Charlie a box version of the Twin Pod Cloud Car, which for non-sci fi geeks, was seen in the Empire Strikes Back when Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon were trying to land on the cloud city of Bespin. Anyway, Charlie liked his box, and since it seats two, various people went down the hill with him. Henry tried it, but because it was built to fit a 6 year old, Henry's legs hung out the back as he went down the hill. High entertainment. Another highlight was when one of our Sunday school teachers arrived, and held on to her dog as she went down the hill. I think he liked it because when they got to the bottom, he would go running off into the woods. Amy inspired me to build a Sullenburger plane, complete with stick figures on the wings, waiting for rescue. Each time I went down, I got a face full of snow. It's hard to see when all you see is white and your face stings with cold. But it was fun!

Henry is now taking piano lessons. So far, he seems to like it. I'm hoping that he'll really take a liking to it so then he can teach me.

Charlie gets distressed when other kids don't behave. Every day, he comes home with another sad story of one of his friends not doing what they're supposed to be doing in class. Charlie has set a goal for himself that he gets a green mark in his folder every day of the school year. When you get green in your folder, that means you have behaved well over the course of the day. It excites me that, even at his age, he's setting goals for himself. Henry also made the honor roll last semester, so it seems the help we've been giving him is paying off. This week he has to finish a Native American project. He chose the Chippewa, which is an interesting group of people. One of the aspects of his project is a visual aid. He discovered a recipe for a type of bread that the Chippewa make. It's pretty much like Native American doughnuts, which is why Henry's interested in making it. Amy surveyed the scene and noticed that most kids produce something more realistic, like a poster or diorama. We're thinking a poster with the fried bread.

Our church expansion is going well, despite the cold and the snow. We now have a floor for the upper part of the building, and the walls might be going up today. Last Thursday, as the Book Club was breaking up, someone noticed a little kitten outside the door. They brought the kitty inside so she could warm up. At first, Amy and another church member brought her to our house, but since there was no place to put her where our cats would beat her up, we took her back to the church with food, water, and a litter box. She's been there ever since. We're not sure what to do with her. We haven't even come up with a name for her yet. But for now she's fed, warm, and safe. And very cute.

Well, I think that should do it from here--for my friends in VA--have fun in the snow! For my friends and family in Maine--stay warm! I hope all is well where you are. And that you're not a Verizon customer!

Quick note 2

2010-01-28T08:21:00.001-08:00

Interveiw went well--the hours and my duties all work with me and my schedule. I have my fingers crossed that this works out. The duties are making sure that tv's and video cameras are working, that people can get on line to take tests and access websites, and the hours are in the morning during the week, done by 12:30. PERFECT!!!!! Now I just hope she hires me. I kept telling her of my education expereince, and she kept saying that she was "worried" that I'd get hired away to teach a class. (Which would be kind of cool.) So I think I made a very good impression. Send good thoughts my way--she told me it would be the middle of next week before she knew. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.

It's bloody cold here in Indiana--we had a wind chill this morning that was below zero. And the snow keeps lightly falling. . .

Quick note

2010-01-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

This is just a short update. Our new phone number is up and running, but I'm hesitating in giving it out yet. You see, I feel like I'm living in an O Henry story--today Verizon came out and fixed our phone. Now our internet doesn't work. Before, our internet worked, and the phone didn't. I think I understand people who live in tree houses and eat berries for a living now. So there's another tech person coming to our house to see if the internet can work at the same time as the telephone, which is of course what we're paying for. The good news is I have an interview tomorrow at one of the community colleges in the area for a part time librarian position. I have my fingers crossed. In case you're wondering how I'm sending this, I'm at the church because, well, the phone AND the internet works. Off we go! Talk to you all soon.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes Turn and Face the Strange

2010-01-23T06:59:00.000-08:00

Yes, the times they are a changin here at the DeBeck house. In no particular order:

1. I've decided to come out of hiding and find some kind of work. However, in an area that is suffering 14% unemployment, it's easier said than done. To the marrow of my bones, I know I'm a teacher, but the local district has place a freeze on any new hires, I haven't gotten a call to sub since school started back up at the beginning of the month, and the few teacher assistant jobs that are out there keep getting filled internally. Did I mention that our esteemed Governor is also cutting $300 million from education from the state budget? So I've started looking at colleges, and I don't have enough education to fill those jobs. I feel like I'm getting a taste of what many people have been experiencing here for the last year and a half. I'm in a sort of job limbo--I know what I want to do, but there might not be a market for me to do it in. Next week, I'm going to get my resume together and start looking at the private schools that are in the area. I'm going to avoid the bat shit crazy evangelical schools because, well, I just don't think I'd fit in. If that doesn't work out, I've also applied at other non-education jobs, but haven't heart anything from them yet. In a strange sort of way, I've kind of come full circle. One of the reasons we left Maine is that there were no teaching jobs. Here we are again, 6 years later. I'm not sure what the next step is--I think I see more education for me in the future. I'm just not sure in what yet.

2. In the spirit of trying to save money, we've decided to ditch cable. Sometime in the next week or so, I'll be calling Comcast to break it off. We've switched our phone and internet over to Verizon, which isn't' a much better choice, and our home phone isn't working yet, but we are done with being ignored by Comcast. I've always had cable--even as a kid, we had the kind of cable where you could see the local channels up to channel 20, I think. Amy and I realized that any of the shows that we like to watch are now all on line, so it's not like we'll miss the shows we like. The only thing I'll miss is being able to see live sports, like whenever the Celtics or Red Sox are on ESPN or TNT. We haven't disconnected yet, and I know the day is coming, but I feel like a wino about to loose his bottle. I haven't started getting the shakes yet, but I know it's coming. We're working on getting a digital converter box and an antenna. I don't think tin foil taped to the wall really cuts the mustard anymore.

3. I've been asked, and I've accepted, a chance to run for an office. I'm going to be running for a spot on one of the local Township Boards, in my case, Osolo Township. If you recall your history, townships were the way that land was divided up so that as people settled in these areas, there would be boundaries for people as they bought up properties. In most states, townships have gone the way of the Do Do, but in rural parts of Indiana, it's literally the only government there is. Maine still has township, but it's literally where no one lives out in the western and northern parts of the state. In Indiana, township boards have actual responsibilities, like paying for fire and police protection, fixing roads, that sort of stuff. One of the main reasons I was asked to run is that the Republican party has a virtual stranglehold on township and county governments. Of the 88 township board members that are in the area, only 3 are Democrats. To say that we live in a Red area is an understatement. So yesterday I went to the county courthouse in Goshen and put my name on the ballot. There's a primary in May, which I'll run unopposed, so I have my eyes on the prize for November. It's the kind of office that doesn't get a lot of notice, and the state legislature is trying to abolish them, so I have my work cut out for me. I might be running for something that might not exist in 4 years. I do have a game plan--since most people don't know me from a hole in the head, I'm going to get a map of the township, a list of registered Democrats, and start knocking on doors some time in August/September. I'll also get some road signs as well. As I was filling out the paperwork yesterday, I had a mixed feeling of excitement and dread. I started having visions that this would be the humble beginnings of a political career, culminating in my getting elected to Congress or something, but then I bring myself back to Earth when I realize I haven't won anything yet. And, just to let you all know, I may be hitting you up for a small campaign contribution later this year--as long as I don't get more that $500, I won't have to file any paperwork. This is the first time I've run for anything since high school, and I hope this campaign will be more successful than that last one was. In my speech to my senior class, I promised not to raise taxes, and I even think I called my opponent a liberal. (I based my speech on what had gotten the first George Bush elected. I figured if it worked for him, it might work for me.) When I noticed that my opponent for Senior class vice president was wearing a black, clingy dress, I knew then I was doomed. I'm hoping I'll have better luck this time. And I think I'm running against another man.

In other news:

Henry got his first swim meet ribbon last weekend. It wasn't for placing in one of his races--it was for shaving seconds off of his previous best time. Since this swim team has more kids involved, Henry does okay in his individual races, but his overall time doesn't place him high enough to win anything. So this ribbon was some good news. We're also working on his latest school project--the Chippewa tribe, which he chose. His note cards are due on Monday, so we've got our work cut out for us this weekend. And he's made a friend who's about his age--who's name is Harry. Henry and Harry--sounds like a sit com, doesn't it? His parents are the only ones that talk to Amy and me. I guess I haven't learned to play the parent games to get in with the In Crowd yet.

Charlie is very excited about next week--next Tuesday marks the 100th day in the school year. So it's going to be an all day party--every kid gets to bring in 100 of something, and they get to sing and march through the whole school. I'm not sure when this started, but it's kind of a cool way to get kids excited about counting that high. There's also a girl in his class who thinks very highly of him--in fact, she's already calling Charlie "her husband." Have I mentioned that she's smooched him on the cheek already? Ahhh, nothing beats romance in kindergarten! Somewhere, I think my Grandfather is smiling.

Amy is also learning to play nice with the other kids. Yesterday, she went to her second consecutive PTO meeting in and effort to organize a spring fair at the kids school. Life is busy for her too--she's going to the church every day to watch the church building expansion. The foundation is poured, and next week the framers come and start building the actual frame of the building. If you want to watch this happen, Amy has started a blog about the progress that's going on. Here's the web address:

http://uuelkhart.blogspot.com/

Well, I think that should wrap things up from here--I'll drop you all a line when our home phone is working right again, and if our number gets changed. Talk to you all soon, and I hope all is well where you are.

Kevin

Licences, and Other Things

2010-01-11T17:37:00.000-08:00

Have you had to renew your drivers licence recently? To give you an idea of what it's like now, fast forward to about the 4:17 mark, and it will give you a good idea. I finally decided to update my licence to reflect my new address. But because changing my address meant getting a new licence, again, here's what I had to bring with me:

My birth certificate.
Not one, but two utility bills.
My social security card.

Just to change the address on my licence. Fortunately, the lines at the DMV weren't that long, and the staff there did a good job getting me through. It's all part of the federally mandated "Real ID" that everyone will have to get. As I was waiting to take my new picture, a thought occurred to me. I think that the terrorists have won. Think of all the crap we normal people have to do now just because some asshole strapped explosives to his nether regions and couldn't blow up his manhood. Besides taking everything except a note from your mother just to get a new address on a driver's licence, you have to wait in lines for hours, take off your shoes, leave behind any water bottles, take off your belt, and now you're not allowed to get up from your seat in the last hour of a flight. I'm thinking that eventually we're all going to have to strip naked to get on airplanes, and then some other asshole will have explosives buried in a orifice somewhere, so then we'll all have to submit to body cavity searches. Then the airlines will wonder why no one wants to fly anymore. It's sort of like teaching 7th graders--in any given roomful of kids, there's always one smartass who has to disrupt the rest of the class on a regular basis. As a teacher, you then spend more time with the trouble maker to get said person to behave than you do with the kids who actually do as their told. As a result, the kids who behave, suffer. I think our country is the rest of the good kids who are suffering because of the smartasses.

I've always likes sports, even when I wasn't particularly good at playing them. I keep track of stuff that's going on back in my hometown, and as of right now, my old high school team, the Brewer Witch boys basketball team is #1 in Eastern Maine with a 9-1 record. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of my graduating from that hallowed institution (!) and some would wonder why I would still care about how the teams are doing. Well, my freshman year, I was the manager on a team that won a regional title, the first one for Brewer in almost 30 years. We got creamed in the state title game, but ever since then, it's been my hope to see Brewer win a title again. The boys team hasn't even made it back to a title game since 1988, so it's been a long time coming. As it was when the Red Sox won in 2004, after I had moved away from New England, so it is with my old high school team. With all of this in mind, as I was cleaning up our bedroom last week, I found my old letter jacket. I can remember how much I had wanted to earn a letter after I saw the one my Dad had. When I got one, I wore that jacket all through high school. I even found my Eastern Maine championship jacket that we got after the season was over. I'm happy to report that while both were a little more snug than they used to be, they both still fit me. Since both the Patriots and Red Sox have let me down, I'm hoping that the Witches will come through. Neither boys nor girls teams have ever won a state title, so it would be nice to see the Gold Ball come to Brewer for a change.

Henry did his swim a thon on Saturday. And I must say, I'm very proud of what he did. In an hour and a half he managed to to swim 100 lengths, or 50 laps. It's a 25 yard pool, and since I'm no good at math, you figure out how far he swam. He was very proud of himself, and so to celebrate, we took him out to the dinner of his choice, Pizza Hut. I want to give a big thank you for all of you who contributed to his fund raising. He was tired, but very happy.

Speaking of the Patriots, the boys had the unofficial older sister over after church yesterday. An old friend of Amy's, who lives in Michigan, had come down to visit, and had brought goodies with him. One of the goodies were remote control cars. After Amy went out on an expedition to get ice cream and batteries, the cars were going full tilt up and down our hallway and basement. Nothing cures the playoff loss grumpies more than hearing your kids playing and laughing with each other, and sitting by a fire in a fireplace, nice and warm.

About a month ago, we got interviewed by the local paper about what it was like to walk back and forth to school. The big quote that Charlie gave was that he didn't want to freeze his butt off all winter while trying to get to school. Well, he for sure isn't because I'm driving him to school every day. They insisted we walk to school one morning while it was snowing, and decided that going by car wasn't that bad after all. (Plus, I tod both of them that now they can tell their kids that they walked to school in the snow uphill and how rough they had it.) So I pick them up at the end of the school day every day. A new wrinkle to this is that one of our neighbors broke her foot and can't pick up her daughter, so now we bring her home. One of Henry's new friends, who kind of likes him, if you know what I mean, noticed that I was giving this other kid a lift, so then she wanted a ride home too. So all last week, I've got 4 kids in the car and taking them to homes around where we live. I couldn't help but wonder if this girl who's in Henry's class wanted a ride because it was cold, or because she wants to sit next to Henry, smushed in the back seat. I think only time will tell. While I'm happy that this girl seems interested in Henry, I remember some of the stuff that boys were saying about girls when I was in the 4th grade, and it makes me want to find a nice warm cave to hide out in.

Charlie, I think, will be going to a birthday party this coming weekend, and the girl who's birthday it is, said it was going to be a spa party. I don't think Charlie knows what he'll be getting himself into. This friend also, while watching the beginnings of the hole digging of the expansion for our church building, decided to give Charlie a smooch on the cheek. I think this key piece of information was not mentioned to her father. I'm not sure if Charlie feels the same way about her, but he likes playing with her, and her family is super nice. So we'll see how that goes.

I guess Mark McGuire is ready to talk about the past.

A true sign that I'm a geek extraordinare--a friend of mine loaned me a book with the title of, "The 25 Dirtiest Political Campaigns in U.S. History." I'm reading it now and I find it very exciting and informative. Yup, I'm a geek.

Speaking of our building expansion, you can keep track of how things are going at http://uuelkhart.blogspot.com/2009/12/big-dig.html Amy is now at the church every day to check on what's going on, take pictures, and makes sure everyone is updated on the progress of the building. It should be finished some time in May. Very exciting!

Well, I think that should just about catch you up on everything. I hope you're staying warm--find a buddy and hug tightly! Hope all is well where you are.

Out of the Ballpark

2009-12-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I don't watch Rachel as much as I should, but I saw this last night and I think this is the closest I've seen her to getting angry. As well as she should. She hits it right out of the ballpark. Enjoy! Hope you're not getting buried in the snow! Happy New Year's Eve!

Wrapping up 2009

2009-12-30T18:06:00.000-08:00

Here it is, the next to the last day of the year. I've been thinking about what has happened over the last 365 days, and, well, life's been busy. I'm not going to do a month-to-month breakdown of stuff, but it's been quite an eventful year. Here's some of the stuff that's happened:

Got to see my first Presidential Inauguration.
Got to be the only white guy on the bus on the way to and from said Inauguration.
Got to shake the President's hand a month later.
Got to spend 3 weeks in Maine. Too bad it rained almost the whole time there.
Famous people I got to meet--Los Lobos, Doc Sevrensen, Bill Simmons, The President, John Irving.
Staffed the Democratic Party booth in a overwhelmingly conservative area. That was a challenge.
Got to help a friend renovate a building to expand his business.
For the first time since I lived with my parents, I'm living in a house again.
Got to experience the shortest and easiest move in my life. Hopefully, the last move for quite some time.
Got to let out my inner Clark Griswold for Christmas.
I have a basement to play in again.
Currently witnessing the joy of my youngest as he goes to Kindergarten and make new friends.
Assumed a leadership role at my church for the first time since I left Maine.
Reconnected with some friends I'd lost touch with--thank you Facebook!
Witnessing the expansion of my new church home.
Watch Amy grow into her job as Minister.

There are probably more highlights, but I think those are some of the best ones. I hope you all enjoy New Year's Eve, and hope that 2010 will be even better than 2009! I hope all is well where you are.

Getting there. . .

2009-12-29T21:55:00.000-08:00

This is entry 99 for the year--I know this might be a cheap way to get to 100, but hey--a guy's got to have goals in life, doesn't he? I'll make No. 100 more interesting. Till then!

Christmas and other stuff.

2009-12-29T21:15:00.000-08:00

I know that this is a little late, but here are some of the highlights of Christmas morning in the DeBeck house:

Henry was the first to wake up. When he strode into our room, we asked him what time it was. He told us it was something like 5:45. So we told him to grab his stocking and wait in his room for other people to wake up. I fell back asleep. What didn't seem like much time later, he came in again, anxious to get started. So, thinking it was about 7:00, I flipped my phone open.

It was 5:30.

It then dawned on us that Henry had read the number backwards. What he had seen was a 2. So when he woke up, it was 2:45. Realizing that we were fighting a lost cause, we all woke up. In a searing case of irony, Amy and Henry had to wake Charlie up. They serenaded him with a rousing rendition of We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Over the next few hours our living room was covered with new goodies and wrapping paper. After it was all over, Amy took Henry into the bedroom and took a nap. Our afternoon was spent at the church with other people who didn't have other places to be, or just wanted to get out of the house and enjoy the company of others. I got to try out my cool new Star Trek Scene It game. Thanks Mom! My parents also sent us oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies. Even as I approach middle age, nothing beats getting homemade cookies from your mother. I also got a frame with half a dozen old pictures of me with my siblings from the time we were kids to adults. It helps with the homesickness. Overall, a very good first Christmas in the new DeBeck house.

Other stuff going on:

I'm learning the definition of what "drafty house" means. Granted, it's not as cold here as it is other places, but our house got built on to twice. Some days the only time I feel warm is when I'm wearing my winter jacket and hat. Inside. I'm not sure how this will play out for next winter, but I need to find a way to keep the heat in better.

Pulled up one of the old rugs that's in our basement last night. Pulling it up was easy--cleaning up the mess was another story. I know I mentioned this earlier, but what amazed me was that what had been the padding under the rug had literally disintegrated, leaving a fine yellow powder to clean up. At first, I was just going to use my old trusty vacuum cleaner, but Amy suggested that I break in the mini-wet/dry vac they got me a few months ago. By the time I was done getting the sand like substance off the floor, I had filled half a trash bag of powdery stuff. This proves yet again why Amy's the brains of the outfit. Had I used my regular vacuum, I would have either had to keep putting new bags in, or repeatedly empty the one I had. Since we don't have a permanent solution to what the floor is going to be down there yet, we dug up a couple of our old throw rugs and some carpet remnants from when the upstairs rug was replaced. Amy also had mentioned that she could smell a strong smell coming from that rug. I didn't doubt her, but I couldn't smell it. Once I dragged the old rug out of the basement, even I could tell that something had been removed because it smelled better. I couldn't smell the bad smell, but I knew it was gone. Amazing.

Tonight we're having our first sleepover in the aforementioned basement. I lit the fire in the fireplace, and after I turned the lights off for the kids to go to sleep, I sat there in the dark for a few minutes. Watching the flames dance and hearing the wood crackle, it almost felt like camping out. With our basement, we even had a woods scene to enhance the effect. If it wasn't 20 degrees outside, I'd almost think about pitching a tent in the back yard.

The building expansion has a long last started at our church. I'm envisioning the day, about 4-5 months from now, Amy standing in the new entryway with giant scissors cutting the tape and dedicating the new wing of the church. It's kind of cool to be here while the building is being built. I can't wait to see the finished product!

Hard to believe that it's almost 2010. It marks the end of the first decade of children for Amy and me. It's amazing how much your life changes when you have children to raise. It's hard to remember what it was like before I had children. Next March, Henry will turn 10. I remember 10--it was a good age. I hope Henry finds it to his liking. On this same note, Amy and I watched My Sister's Keeper the other night. I've not read the book, and I know the ending was different from the book, but the movie was heavy enough without the melodramatics. The scene that really got me was when the dying daughter was standing on the beach and taking in all of the sights and sounds one last time. Why it got me is that if I knew the end was coming, that's exactly what I'd be doing. Hearing the ocean, smelling the air, and trying to feel every sense to it's maximum. I'm optimistic that this sort of thing won't happen to me for some time. And I think that this movie is every parents nightmare--trying with all of your might to keep a sick child alive, only to lose in the end. I thought that the movie was well done. I don't have the guts to read the book.

Well, it's late and Charlie probably has another early morning call waiting for me. I'm going to wrap up and try to stay warm. Hope all is well where you are.

Carpet stuff

2009-12-28T17:53:00.000-08:00

I have a whole new respect for carpet installers. Tonight, I've pulled up the old rug in part of the basement where, hopefully, someday, there will be a hard wood floor. For now, we'll be satisfied with not having our basement smell like old carpet/cat pee with some left over throw rugs on the cement. The rug was so old that the padding underneath had disintegrated to a fine powder. Imagine vacuuming out a beach in your basement, and that should give you an idea of what I've been doing for the last 2 hours. The people who do this for a living--I sure hope they get paid shitloads of money. There's more to tell, but I've got to finish getting Pismo Beach out of my basement. More to come later! Hope all is well where you are!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas. . .

2009-12-24T13:13:00.000-08:00

It's a little after 4 PM on Christmas Eve. There's still snow on the ground, and we got a bunch of boxes from my family and in-laws dropped, literally, on our doorstep. There's still a Christmas Eve service that we need to get through. One of the remaining questions is this--Will my children make it past 3 AM to start Christmas? I can only hope. I've been feeling more homesick this year than usual, and I've been trying to figure out why. I haven't been at my parent's house for Christmas since 2004. I don't recall feeling this homesick in the last 5 years. I can't help but wonder if the reason it's hitting me harder is the fact that this is the first house I've had Christmas in since I lived with my parents. For the first few weeks we lived in our house, I half expected for my parents and siblings to appear out of nowhere. The mind can play funny tricks on a person. I've been thinking about my Grandfather, too. When I was a kid, we'd always go to his house on Christmas Eve and open presents and enjoy the company. One of the pictures I have on my bookshelf is a picture of my Grandparents with a Christmas tree behind them with a picture of my uncle beside them. Anyway, I don't want to get all maudlin, but I just miss my family of origin, and I miss those relatives that aren't with us anymore. I'm looking forward to watching my kids open presents and destroying the living room tomorrow. And with an assist from technology, I'll get to see my parents, and the boys will see their grandparents as well. So I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and give those you love an extra hug and kiss.

Me and Stephen. Sort of.

2009-12-23T05:27:00.000-08:00

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Ahhh Stephen King. The more I read about him, the more he seems like a normal guy who just happens to write stories that scare the shit out of you. I recently read his book "On Writing" and he lays out how you, with a little luck and some steady work, can become a writer too. I've been writing these entries for about a year now, and the thought has crossed my mind to give it a shot. Granted, I don't write stories that would curl your hair, but writing tends to be a solitary activity, and I don't know if I can cut myself off from humanity every day to accomplish the amount of writing it takes to be successful. The closest I ever came to that kind of job was when, in an earlier life, I thought I could work in radio and be a world famous DJ. The first steady radio job I had was weekend overnights in a little radio station in Lincoln, Maine. The station was located on the road to the town dump, and in the middle of the woods. When you work overnight hours, you obviously don't get enough sleep. So near the end of my shifts, especially on Sundays, I would start to get really paranoid. Lack of sleep + out in the middle of nowhere = The Shining. So I learned the hard way that I don't do well in isolation. I like writing these entries. So I guess this will have to do for the time being. And as for Steve--it makes me happy to see that he can poke a little fun at himself. And the fact that he's a fellow Mainer.

Today is the first day that we aren't planning to have a house full of kids. Monday was Henry's party, and yesterday was Charlie's. We had 13 Kindergartners here yesterday. I think I'm going to slip a flask to Charlie's teacher after the break is over. I can't imagine keeping a lid on a whole roomful of 5-6 year old kids, and on top of that, trying to teach them something. Now, the kids that were year weren't bad kids--they just take up a lot of energy. Toward the end of the party, I tried to have them watch a Christmas special in our TV room downstairs. After waiting for 15 minutes for them to stop squirming and jostling for blanket cover, we finally started watching Charlie Brown. I tried my teacher method of pausing the movie and waiting for them to stop moving all over the place, but I gave up after a while. Henry stayed out of the fray yesterday because he woke up and was sick again. This time I think it was some kind of food that didn't agree with him because after he puked, he felt better. Poor kid has petikia all over his face after he was sick. Today I think we're going to visit Santa Clause and tonight, the present wrapping will begin. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Thanks for staying with me this whole year!

P.S.--Hard to believe that we're at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century. I feel like this is the first decade of my life that I've been a full fledged grown up. I'm happy to be ending it in my own house! Hope all is well where you are.

Subbing with Stand and Deliver.

2009-12-16T08:19:00.001-08:00

This past week I subbed for two days in a row in the same class. It was a pretty simple job--high school math class, do some work, show a movie. The movie of course was Stand and Deliver, based on a high school teacher who teaches mostly lower class Spanish students in East Los Angeles calculus where they pass the AP calculus test. Even though the movie came out 20 years ago, I had never seen it. Before I talk about some parts of the movie, after spending two days with this class, I began to realize something. When the day comes that I'm working full time again, I don't think I want to teach high school. The kids that I was with weren't disrespectful towards me, but they sure liked cutting each other down. And I would hear, at least 2-3 times a day, kids yelling out the F-word, with no fear or regard of who hears it. Now, I'm no prude, but if I had just yelled that out and a adult heard me when I was in high school, I don't think I'd be writing this right now. I don't understand what's happened--did parents just give up and let their kids swear with impunity? Too much TV? HBO comedy specials? I really don't get it. And with all the other problems that happen on a day to day basis in high school, administrators can't be standing on every corner either. It depresses me. Anyway, about the movie:

Overall, I see the appeal in it, and that has held up well over the years. What I like about it is that it's not the cliche white teacher saving all the black/hispanic/you name it minority from themselves kind of plot.

As the kids were watching it, I couldn't help but wonder if they realize how close they are to the types of situations that the students were in the movie. Maybe that's why they liked it so much.

It's funny to see what changes in 20 years. Some of the stuff that Escalante says to the students would probably get him fired today. Like when he mentions to one of the girls that she's got more boyfriends than Elizabeth Taylor. Then again, teens today don't know who Elizabeth Taylor is anyway.

In case you haven't seen it, Escalante, played by Edward James Olmos, works himself so hard that at one point, has a heart attack. I think this is the ideal that non-teachers have about teaching--working yourself to save every kid that you can. If every teacher did that, the teachers would have no family life, health problems, and in the end, not much would change. But I guess that's me being cynical.

Overall, it was as good as I heard it was. And for the most part, it held the kids attention. It's all I can ask as a sub!

Other stuff

Henry got a piece of what Charlie had a week and a half ago. Fortunately for Henry, it didn't seem to hit him as hard. He woke up Monday morning, puked for 2 hours straight, slept for 3 more, and was fine by the afternoon. He even went back to school the next day. I have my fingers crossed that it doesn't hit me or Amy right around Christmas. That would truly suck.

This coming Sunday, I get to do a reader's theater of A Christmas Carol. It's an adaptation that was written by Dickens himself, so the words and the flow are from him, which just adds a layer of cool. In discussion of how many of us are going to be miked, the woman who is directing us, looked at me and said that I wasn't going to be miked. Glad to know I haven't lost my touch. I'm also singing in the church choir that day. Don't worry--I'm not singing a solo--I'm back in the bass section. That way I can blend in and get in touch with my inner Barry White.

Our house is essentially decorated--I now have lights around the garage door, the front door, and the edge of the front of the house. And I've hung garland all through the house, and Amy and I hung up a cabinet in our dining room. Now all we have to do is figure out how the gas stove works in the dining room, and we can eat in there and not freeze. Having a lot of windows in pretty, but doesn't heat very well when it's 15 degrees outside. Now I know what it means to have a "drafty old house," to quote George Bailey.

The boys are very excited for it to be cold enough for snow. We haven't had much yet, but even when there's just a dusting on the ground, they both get out their boots, hats, scarves, gloves, and insist on bringing their sneakers to school. They also ask me, regardless if the snow is to dry to pack, if they can make snowballs. Gotta love their enthusiasm.

Charlie's got a girl who's hot on his tail in his classroom. I'm not sure if I should tap him on the shoulder and say, "Atta boy!" or if I should cringe. Her little brother had a birthday on Monday, and I think Charlie's getting an idea of what life would have been like if he'd had a little brother or sister. It being a birthday party, they all had loud party favors. His friend has a identical twin sister, the younger brother, and a 3 year old sister. So when I got to their house to pick him up, they were all blowing the party favors. Charlie crawled out to the car and said, "My head hurts! It was so loud in there!" I think Henry was secretly laughing to himself.

We're having kid parties next Monday and Tuesday next week. The boys get two weeks off for Christmas, so their last day is Friday. Which of course begs the question, "What am I going to do with them for two weeks?" I'm hoping there's snow to play with.

Well, I hope this week before Christmas finds you all well and excited for when the big guy comes down the chimney. Hope all is well where you are.

It was 30 years ago on December 7. . .

2009-12-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

I was perusing my usual websites the other day, and on trekmovie.com, it made a note that on December 7, 1979, that Star Trek: The Motion Picture made it's debut. Until this year's Trek movie, it was Trek movie that made the most money. Hard to believe, due to the fact that of the original 6 movies, this one is considered one of the worst ones. It doesn't have the fast pace that the next 3 had, or the high drama either. I didn't know this, but apparently some call it "The Motionless Picture." In my humble opinion, Star Trek 5 is the worst one. (It was directed by William Shatner. 'Nuff said.) So after seeing some clips on Youtube, and listening to some of the music, I decided to brush the dust off my copy and give it the once over. Some random thoughts:

Releasing it on December 7? Maybe not one of the wisest ideas.

Since this, at the time, was the first new Trek in 10 years, the first half of the movie has the sense of, "We're getting the band back together." I was only 7 at the time, so I didn't get to see this in it's full screen glory. How cool it must have been to see all of the Enterprise crew back together, doing all the cool Trekkie stuff that fans were used to seeing. I wish I could have experienced it. Some of the better moments are the few interactions between Kirk/Spock/McCoy as they are getting used to each other again. Also in this clip, you see Scotty telling Kirk how much he liked/missed him. Since James Doohan really didn't get along with Shatner, it shows how much of an actor he really was.

The music is amazing. The scene that's above here still gives me goosebumps. In talking about this with my Trek buddies some years ago, one of them mentioned that she cried during this whole scene. When others kind of laughed at her, she mentioned that it had been 10 years since they'd seen the Enterprise. They made her look sharp.

After watching it again, I have a better understanding of why it's called The Motionless Picture. From the time the Enterprise enters the cloud, it seems all we are looking at is their faces as they see all the pretty patters fly by. I wonder what that was like for the actors to stare at a screen for hours and days on end. They must have been bored, too.

I think it's the only original cast movie where the Enterprise isn't shot/blown to pieces.

I have a soft spot in my heart for this one. Nothing really bad happens, except for a few ships get absorbed by V'Ger, and they all fly away happy by the end of the movie. Why I don't totally dismiss this move like many Trek fans is that this was the first attempt at taking a low rated, fan supported TV show and make it into something big and grand and epic. This was also the only movie that Gene Roddenberry was actually involved with--after all of the cost overruns, and lack of critical acclaim, Paramount pretty much cut him out of the process for all the movies that followed. It set up the next 5 movies that were, for the most part, fun to watch and experience. If it weren't for The Motion Picture, there would have been no Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock, ect. It made the 80's a more enjoyable. Sure, it's slow and the actors find themselves sitting around through much of it, but it brought back the idea that the future was something to look forward to, not to be feared. What also makes me a little sad is how many of them are gone--James Doohan, DeForest Kelly, Majel Barrett, Gene Roddenberry, Mark Leonard, and a host of others who worked in the background of the show. Robert Wise, who directed this movie is gone too. There are only 6 movies with the original cast, and with those that are still alive, they're getting older too. It's almost like looking at a photo album of years past and thinking about loved ones who are no longer among us. So the debate will rage--which was worse--1, or 5? Well, you know my answer. Live Long and Prosper.

How Times Have Changed

2009-12-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

In years past, before I was a homeowner, I would scoff at the gratuitous decorations that people would put in/around their houses for Christmas. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, I feel like I've got 11 years of catching up to do, in one Christmas season. Today, I started to put more lights on the outside of my house. I managed to fall only once, as I put the ladder in the dirt and flipped over when I tried to stand on it. The ground was a little too soft, and I landed in one of the many bushes that's in the front of my house. (Side note--I'm hoping most of them are gone by this time next year. Don't tell Amy.) I've only managed to get up to the front door due to the fact that the peak of the roof over the garage is about 20 feet off the ground, and my little 3 step step stool won't quite reach. So I'll either have to buy one, which will happen eventually, or depend on the kindness of strangers. I'm also looking into extending the candy cane line that I started near my front door to reach all the way down to the end of the driveway. Hooray for conspicuous consumption!

In other news, Charlie is still suffering from whatever stomach virus got a hold on him. It's been a day and a half of puking and high temperatures. Also yesterday Henry decided to give the cats a sprig of catnip that a friend gave us. Judging from the amount of cat puke that I found about an hour later, I'm guessing that Henry might have over done it. To top it all off, as I was getting ready to go to choir practice--yes, I sing in a choir--and getting Charlie's room ready for another night of sickness, I stepped in something. As I was cleaning my shoe out, I realized that one of the cats had decided to take a dump in Charlie's room. Quite a day for bodily functions.

Well, now that I've got some lights up, all we need now is some snow! Hope all is well where you are!

Los Lobos, and how I'm becoming Betty Fu**ing Crocker

2009-11-25T19:09:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, Amy went online and found that a couple of her favorite musicians/groups are coming to one of the local small colleges to perform. She got season tickets to the Goshen College concert series. The first one we went to had Doc Sevrensen playing with a trio of Mexican musicians. Last Saturday, it was Los Lobos. For those of you who aren't familiar with who they are, they've been together for about 30 years, and the biggest mainstream success was that they performed the soundtrack to the movie La Bamba back in the late 80's. Amy's been a big fan for longer than that, so she was very excited to see them. Before the show started, they announced that they would be signing autographs afterward. I got very excited--it's been a good year for getting autographs, so I thought that this would be a good way to continue. Amy wasn't so sure. The music was excellent. They did some of Amy's favorites--not ones that I knew very well. They did to a version of La Bamba/Good Lovin' that was very good. So they wrapped up their set, and I grabbed the program that had their picture on it. I ran down stairs to be the first in line. It worked! But of course, they came out for an encore, so I watched that on a digital TV they had set up in the lobby. They busted out a Mexican folk song, and to totally wrap things up, sang Cinnamon Girl. As I was standing in the lobby, and they played the first few notes, I thought it sounded awfully familiar. Wow it was great! So after they wrapped up Neil Young, I stood in line, the first one there. As I was waiting, Amy came down and realized that she could actually talk to them. She's better at these things then I am. I try to say something intelligent, but I usually make an idiot of myself. She held a few minutes conversation with them, and she wanted to take a picture. Of course, when I took the camera out to get it ready, the batteries were dead. After scrambling for a few minutes to try to find more power, an actual camera guy snapped a photo of Amy with the guys. Amy gave him her card, but didn't expect to get a e-mail copy. Imagine her surprise when they showed up in her e-mail the next day. I've attached a copy of it. Sometimes a little persistence pays off. . .

Amy left to go to do her first funeral at Arlington Cemetery on Monday, so it's been me and the boys living the bachelor life again. Between school and swim team, we've been pretty busy. Henry had his first swim meet on Saturday, and he had some mixed results. His first heat, he finished second, but got disqualified because he started off using the wrong stroke. The other two he did okay. His next meet is next weekend, and it's a home meet, so no travel this time. His first meet was in Ft. Wayne, so we stayed in a hotel on Friday night. Charlie came with us too, and what makes me happy was that he was able to hold it together in the down time between Henry's races. I think the main reason he wanted to go was to stay in a hotel room. After that was done and the concert was over, Amy and I had told the boys that we would make them goodies to take to school on Wednesday, the last day before Thanksgiving break. Amy even found a recipe to make turkey shaped cookies. Well, she left, and I didn't have the time/talent to do the stuff that she wanted to do, so I made cupcakes instead. Henry's class has 22 kids in it, and Charlie's class has almost 30. So I started making them while I was making dinner. I got a taste of what a 1950's housewife must have dealt with. I'm making grilled cheese and noodles on the stove, mixing the next batch of cupcake batter, and waiting for the next round to come out of the oven all at the same time. I've always held women and mothers in high esteem, but my respect for them went up for them even more as I was doing all of this and trying to get Henry to finish his homework. What was even more shocking was that I didn't burn anything! So I fed them and got them off to bed, and started frosting 60 or so cupcakes. I started channeling my inner Joni again and got them all ready for today. The first class that I brought them into was Henry's class. I know that as a teacher, anyone coming into a classroom is going to disrupt the class. I almost felt bad when I tried to sneak in without any of the kids seeing me. I'm guessing you can figure out how well that went. I almost made it to the back of the room before Henry saw me. It's funny--he looked up, saw me, and almost jumped out of his chair. His teacher put Henry in charge of handing them out, and a good time was had by all. Later in the day it was Charlie's turn. Once his teacher got the kids to settle down, I handed them out to everyone. Then they all watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. It's an interesting experience sitting with a room full of 5 and 6 year olds. I of course sat next to Charlie, and one of his friends decided that she'd like to lay on me too. So I had two little kids kind of laying in my lap. It was a nice, warm feeling. Anyway, as it got to the part in the show where Snoopy does battle with the lawn chair, listening to them laugh and squeal with delight was almost as much fun as handing out the cupcakes. It reminded me of the old footage of the kiddie shows, like Howdy Doody, where you hear the kids screaming and laughing through the whole show. By the time the show was over, many of them randomly came up to me and gave me hugs. I even sat in the circle with them as the teacher asked each one of them what they were thankful for. So spending a few hours making cupcakes and hanging out in my children's classrooms has made me realize how lucky I am. Lucky enough to be able to be present with my boys as they go through school, and lucky that I am getting to know their teachers and who they hang out with. I guess that's one of the things I'm thankful for.

We tapped off our final bachelor night (hopefully, the last one for a while!) by going down into the basement and watching the most recent Star Trek movie. I fast forwarded all of the sex/scary parts, and Charlie really got into it. I had taken Henry to see it over the summer and he had really liked it. For Charlie, it's not so much the story as how much stuff 'splodes. I had to stop it a few times to explain to Charlie some of the finer plot points. The highlight of the evening was at the end the movie, Charlie stands on the end of the futon, beats his chest with his fists, and yells, "Yipeekiyayyyyy!" For a split second, I had the fear that somehow he'd seen Die Hard, where Bruce Willis says to the bad guy, "Yipeekiyay motherfu**er." When all that came out of Charlie's mouth was just the beginning of the phrase and not the end, I breathed a sigh of relief. And yes, I had one of those proud father moments where I realized that I'm passing a valuable tradition on to my sons--the love of Star Trek. Brings a tear to my eye.

I'm looking forward to watching the Macy's parade tomorrow, and putting up the Christmas tree, and, of course, Amy's return. Hope all is well where you are.

The Power to Crush Other Kids, and Bi-Focals

2009-11-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

Find more videos like this on RetroMacCast

Today was the day that Henry would finally get to do his oral report on the book "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler." He's in an accelerated reading group, and they all had to do an oral report either in groups or as individuals. Henry decided that he could do it by himself. He also needed to have a visual to go along with his report. He decided that he wanted to do a slide show, which touched my techno geek heart. Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, we searched through four different sources, three being of the online sort, pulled pictures from the internet, and the two of us sat and wrote out what he was going to say and match pictures to it. I had Henry stand in front of me and practice making eye contact while he was reading from his sheet. His report was due on Tuesday. Henry didn't get to do it until today due to the fact that his teacher was sick for three days. So today was the big day. I asked his teacher to get a digital projector. I haven't been in a classroom on a full time basis for a year and a half, so I had forgotten what happens when someone or something different comes into the classroom. I got there as they were working on math, and they were supposed to be quiet. As I set up the projector and computer, Henry's teacher tried to keep the class quiet, but to no avail. So I got everything set up, the lights got turned off, and Henry stood in front of the class. His voice was clear, he made eye contact, and as the pictures matched what he was talking about, pointed to it with his hand, just like you see the weather guy do during the 6 o'clock news cast. I, of course, was feeling very full of myself, even licking my finger and saying "Ssssssss" as I touched my butt. A couple of the other kids did their report, but of course they didn't match the majesty of what Henry had pulled off. As the class was leaving for lunch, I had the urge to start a touchdown dance in the classroom, singing, "Ooh yeah! Ooh yeah! Your project sucked! Henry's rocked! Ooh yeah!" It reminded me of an old SNL parody commercial where two kids are sitting together and one pulls out his nicely written report, and the other pulls out his report filled with computer generated charts and graphs. It ends with the slogan, "McIntosh Jr. The Power to crush the other kids." Yep, I was feeling it today.I think Henry was feeling it a little too. As the teacher was giving advice on what each kid did well, Henry piped up with, "I did that so well because I did a presentation in the second grade where I had to dress up like Albert Einstein." I whispered in his ear that it might not have been the nicest thing to say. Amy was helping out in Charlie's class and came down to see the festivities. As we were leaving, we both mentioned that Henry was gaining a healthy ego. She talked to Henry's teacher before we left to let him know that we teach our kids humility too. But NOT TODAY BABY!!! WOHOOO! I gotta be careful--I might turn into one of those annoying stage Dads.
Later in the day I got my taste of humble pie. I've noticed that my vision has been getting a little blurry, and I've been getting these pounding headaches when I read something close up. Last week as I was scraping wall paper downstairs, objects far away from me would look blurry for a long time after staring at a wall for a few hours. Today I visited the eye doctor. A few years ago when this started to happen, I got a pair of glasses that were pretty mild, but helped clear my vision as I was teaching. Those glasses broke about a year ago, and it's the first time I've had an eye exam in about 4 years. So after going through all of the lenses and covering my eyes, I learned two things:
1. My left eye is my weakest eye, and
2. I'm going to need bi-focals.
Yup. Bi-focals. Years ago when my Dad would lift his glasses to read something up close, I used to laugh at him. Looks like the joke's on me now. I asked the optometrist a few questions to make sure that I wasn't suffering from some crazy disease or something. Nope--she just reassured me that it was just a natural byproduct of getting older. But the fun wasn't over yet! She then gave me a glaucoma exam. I've never had my pupils dilated before. Now I know, without the smell and high and munchies, what it's like to be high. First of all, I got a clean bill of health. Afterward, however, my vision reminded me of the old style movies where you see the damsel in distress in kind of a fuzzy light with a ring around the outside of the picture. I tried looking at my phone to see what time it was and I couldn't even read it. I went to a store to do some early Christmas shopping and I couldn't even read labels on anything. I did manage to drive myself home, but when the boys looked into my eyes, I think it freaked them out a little. My eyes are focused enough now so that I can type this, but it was really weird not being able to make things out. Well, now that I'm getting bi-focals, I can sit on my front porch and yell at the kids to get off my lawn.

Other random thoughts:

I hope you all have caught and/or watched the mini-series World War II in HD on the History Channel. What they did was search the world for 2 years to find as much color footage to WWII and make a documentary about it. I've seen the first 5 installments, and the first thought that comes to my mind when I hear men who have fought in a war and about their experiences is that it's a miracle that anyone survived. And it makes me think of my Grandfathers--one was in the Merchant Marines, and another was in the Navy. Both have passed, and it made me wish I could go back in time and ask them about their own experiences. And it's also made me realize how much I miss teaching. I wouldn't show them the whole thing--it's 10 hours long--but the stories are compelling, and the clarity of the footage is remarkable. It made me think of the 7th graders I used to see on a regular basis. I wonder what they would think of it.

The boys are starting to get excited about Christmas already. I am too--Amy and I plotted out where the Christmas tree is going in our living room. And much to Amy's delight, a Christmas Tree Shop opened about 30 minutes from where we live. We walked around in it the other day. I think I was about one of 5 men in the store that day. Yes, I counted. I'm envisioning me pulling a Clark Griswold and lighting up the house so bright that airplanes try to land on our street. It's funny--I never used to be this way about Christmas. But now that I've got a house, I want to find the brightest lights and find the tackiest displays anywhere. Maybe I have been spending too much time in the basement. So if you all see a massive, bright light to the west, don't worry--it's just my house.

Well, I'm waiting for Amy to come home from the store to make turkey shaped cookies for the boys to hand out in school next week. And Amy and I are going to see Los Lobos Saturday night, and Saturday morning, Henry has his first swim meet in Ft. Wayne. Another busy weekend for the DeBecks! I hope all is well where you are. Pray for snow!

Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night. . .

2009-11-13T06:07:00.000-08:00

Well, my brother's paper is up and running again. And it's cool to see him quoted and interviewed in the Bangor Daily. I kind of wish they'd taken a better picture. . .

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/129302.html

Congrat to the Lincoln News!

The night God got mad at the DeBeck boys.

2009-11-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday I was taking Henry to his swim team practice when IT happened again. I was sitting at a stop light, talking to the boys when all of a sudden, I heard a loud BANG! At first, I thought maybe a tire had blown out but when I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the grill of a truck, I realized what happened. And I wanted to start banging my head on the steering wheel. I got rear ended. Again. Almost in the same spot where I got hit last winter, the only difference between now and then was on that day the road was a skating rink. So after I checked to make sure that the boys were okay, I got out to see how bad the car was banged up. I half expected to see the whole tailgate smashed up, but there were a couple of knocks in the rear bumper. This marks the third time in the last two years that I've been hit, and each time I was a sitting duck. What is it about my car that makes people want to hit me? Anyway, the people in the truck that hit me came out to make sure that we weren't hurt. It was a young guy and an older guy. I don't know if they were related, but they kind of acted like they were. At first, they wanted to exchange insurance and phone numbers. It was then that I remembered that when I got hit last winter, we didn't wait for the cops and when it came time to fix the damage, the other insurance company was no where to be found, and there was no police report, so nothing could be done to pay for the busted tail light that I got out of it. I was determined to stick it out. So I called the cops and waited. And waited. And waited. The other two were in a hurry, and after a while the old man started swearing at me. I went into my teacher brain and stayed calm and didn't say to him, "Listen asshole. YOU HIT ME!!!!!" At one point, he threatened to leave and I was about to tell him to go ahead because I had his plate number and he would be cited for leaving the scene of an accident. It was then that the cop finally showed up. Did I mention that I called three times? While I was waiting and biting my tongue, my back started to stiffen up. Now that I'm a veteran of getting rear ended (I know there's a joke there somewhere!) I've noticed that in the initial hit, you never feel anything because of the shock and the adrenaline hasn't worn off yet. After about 10-20 minutes, then the pain/stiffness sets in. So the officer arrived, took both my licence and registration, and went back to call stuff in. While I was sitting there contemplating another few hours in the emergency room, I noticed that the cop started walking back towards me. I looked down to check something, and by the time I looked back up, all I could see was his nose and the top of his head. The road where I got hit is under construction, and what none of us saw was that there was a big hole next to the manhole cover beside the road. The officer never saw it coming. What scared me was that a few moments before, Amy had come out to take the boys and head home, and I had walked them by where the hole was and didn't see it. I'm glad I didn't have them walk on what I thought was the grass! So finally everything got settled, and I drove myself to the emergency room, and managed to get out in a relatively speedy hour and a half. They gave me some good shit, I mean muscle relaxants, and sent me on my way.

When I got home and checked Facebook later that night, I found out that the newspaper that my brother works for had burned to the ground. Chris was one of the last people to leave the building of the Lincoln News, and about the same time that I was getting rammed, the paper that he's worked for since 1998 went up in smoke. I called him to see how he was doing, and even though it was late at night, he still had a shocked sound to his voice. I've read since then that the editor was determined to get the paper up and running again and they're trying to publish their regular edition this week. I was scared that for the first time in 11 years Chris would be out of a job and left to wonder what his next move would be. I was also happy that he was safe from harm. Yup. It was the night that God didn't like the DeBeck boys. It left me with a few questions, like:

Why does God hate my cars?

Isn't one DeBeck brother getting smashed enough?

Why did the Yankees have to win again?

Being a Unitarian, I don't really expect and answer. But I would really like to know why.

In other news, since Amy and I decided to keep a closer eye on Henry's homework, his grades on his tests have gone up. Since Amy outlined how to write his cursive letters better, his writing has improved too. Next Tuesday, he's got an oral project due, and since Amy's in The Great White North, it's up to me to help him pull it off. We'll be spending a lot of time in the library this weekend.

When Charlie learned that it was just the three of us until Monday, he started asking me if we were going to do "manly" things. I told him that I didn't know what we would be up to. So when I told him that we'd be having pancakes and sausage for dinner tonight, he said, "That sounds like a manly dinner." With a straight face. Today being Veteran's Day, the boys had a program at their school today, and apparently this video they watched talked about Arlington Cemetery in Virginia. So we talked about the Tomb of the Unknowns and who and why people are buried there, and I mentioned that we have a couple of distant relatives buried there. Charlie seemed most interested, so I dug out the photo albums and showed them my great uncle, Vern, who is buried there. That led to showing them more pictures of me when I was a kid and young adult. Damn, I was skinny back then. Anyway, after we were done and it was time for bed, Charlie said, "That was a manly thing to do." Since Amy isn't here, I guess anything we do is going to be the manly thing to do. I showed them that I had taken out an old shower downstairs and Charlie said, "I bet you felt manly after you got it out of here." So it will be interesting to see how long this lasts.

Well, I hope that wherever you are, your car doesn't get hit, your place of work doesn't burn down, and that you do manly things, even if you're not one. Like the man said, let's be careful out there. Hope to hear from you soon.