Masculinity

The car is now fixed
Also my hands are dirty
and I feel manly

I was going to write a whole entry about masculinity but I decided instead to write a haiku about my evening that made me feel manly... is a haiku about masculinity ironic?

I was also going to write about how patient I was with my wife while lying under the car reattaching the bumper... years ago I would have been yelling within minutes, but I think I'm much calmer now.

Car alarmed

Having our car here has been really awesome. It's a perk, not a necessity, but it sure makes lots of things easy. Unfortunately our sweet little Honda Civic has also had its fair share of tragedy. In the slightly less than one year that we have had it here it has:

-gotten its front bumper slightly knocked off its seem
-gotten its front bumper scratched
-gotten its license plate stolen (we only have one so that was a pain)
-gotten its rear bumper scratched
and just THIS MORNING
-got its back bumper completely knocked off!

I'm especially annoyed because, of course, we weren't left a note or anything. Blarg!


***UPDATE***
The pbf fixed the bumper! Well, as fixed as it's gonna get. It took us an hour and a half and we had to go to Lowe's and we were laying under the car in the parking lot and the pbf got his new shoes greasy and his jacket and then we had White Castle and Brian had two margeritas!

Catch up!

BeBe's helping me to catch up on homework that I am behind on because of our vacation... I wouldn't trade the vacation in though.














Here's a sneak peek at the pictures from our trip though... when I have time I'll add more. Maybe I'll give flickr a try.

Lake Flacid... PLACID! I MEAN PLACID!

Friday morning we head to the Lake... don't come back til Monday evening. I'd type "gone fishin'" on the blog, but it's so cold there they've taken the boats off the lake and ice fishing hasn't started yet.

Early this week a friend that went vishing saturday night/sunday morning (36 hours) gave me a steak from his first ever sword fish and some tuna. It was tastey... made the wife eat some sword fish even though she's not a fish eater.

100th post for wife and man

I've been cranky as of late. To my wife, I'm sorry... (note the public apology is not the only one she will receive, but it gives me sex appeal, no?)

Having been in my job now for a year and a few months, I see that it is extremely cyclical, and the current cycle of producing next years registration catalog (scheduling faculty over a year in advance) is a stressful one. I make no apologies for blogging at work. My boss hinted that I should work from home today but if I did that I would have never left the bed today and that would be worse. Though, I suppose that's expected of people on a Friday the 13th. (my dad died on a friday the 13th... i'm just sayin'...)

Today is my favorite kind of weather... suns out and it's brisk and in the 50's.

Yesterday I was told that I look like Clint Howard... the other man standing there agreed completely... i don't see it.
Yesterday I had the music of The Delgados stuck in my head but I couldn't remember their band name for the life of me...

I'm going to go post some photoshop stuff on the media blog and then maybe call some faculty.

(blogger.com's spell check doesn't include blog or blogging... if I changed to their suggestions, I would be flogging on my bloc)

Stewing about my beef.

So, through this professional Voice & Speech group I belong to I have signed up to be mentored. I have been preliminarily paired up with two possible mentors! It would be very exciting on a personal and professional level to be in the classroom observing, making contacts, etc. Yesterday at 5:15 I had a first phone date scheduled with one of them. This particular woman is the head of the MFA Acting program at a prominent NY area College. We scheduled this last week, it's been on my calendar. Big Stuff.

Last night I made Beef Stew. I'm been cooking a lot since my teaching hours are great and the PBF is getting smart in Grad School. I follow the recipes and it takes me awhile but I'm learning and nothing has been a total disaster. Yet. I started my stew last night at 4 o'clock. Rinse. Peel. Chop. Cook. Drain. Add. Mix. Cook. Sit. I finished at 6:06. There I was checking my e-mail when my phone started to ring with an unknown NYC number. I asnwered and simultaneously realized I HAD MISSED MY PHONE DATE! Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! My mentor's smooth, voice greets me. I hooted and hollered about my Beef Stew. She now must think I'm crazy.

The worst first impression I have ever made.

soof-yawn

We went to the Sufjan Stevens show on Saturday night. It was really great. We're old fogies now so those shows in theaters where you sit are prefect for us.
His opener My Brightest Diamond was really good too.

I have to have a costume for Halloween time... In Sufjan glory, I'm considering dressing up as a State. What state would you like to see me be? I'm considering my birth state of Tennessee, but I'm open to suggestions... happy to try something different.

wife bags

McMüller wrote music for my video.

Groceries

Wanna go shopping with us? Of coure you do!

NOW WITH VIDEO!

warm tummy

I'm eating some kind of hot beef and vegetable and barley(?) soup. It's nice because I can feel the heat sliding down to my tummy.

Last night in class I was taking notes and the professor jumped topics so quickly I decided I needed to stop writing in print and start writing in cursive. I have no idea how long it's been since I've written in cursive but I couldn't do it! I mean, I tried and stuck with it, but it looks so bad and I spent too much time focusing on how to make letters than on the lecture. Naturally my cursive m's were cursive n's and my cursive r's were non-existent.

After class the wife and I had Thai with some old friends. They're both single and in their late 30's early 40's. They act like a married couple, but I could never actually see them being together.

Today is the wife's last day working at the zoo this year... yip yip!

Last night before class started I was talking to my table neighbors about the readings and discussing how we all google the stuff after we read it to find some clearer understanding. I told them that wikipedia had been quiet helpful and that from it I discovered that Heidegger (one of the authors) was a nazi... that helped explain some things... The two girls were like "you should bring that up tonight!" and then as our instructor was preparing the projector to show us a clip from Blade Runner he said "Does anyone know what Heidegger's political views were?" but I wasn't paying attention because I was excited to see a clip of Blade Runner (which I've never seen). The girls shouted in unison that I knew the answer but before I could figure out what they were talking about another guy shouts "He was a Nazi!" there went my chance of being the Apt Pupil (<--- oh man that's my best pun ever!!!)

Photos will come soon on my media blog, and perhaps the response paper that I wrote for my theory class... he graded on Pass/Fail but the P at the top of my paper looked more like a q and the "True, Nice" at the end looked more like a "See Me" (maybe I just was afraid of failing so I construed it to be bad... or maybe he forgot how to write in cursive too)

it's the most wonderful time of year

I did NOT want to leave the house this morning. I really just wanted to play hooky from work. I think part of that is because it really feels like fall. The temperature is supposed to stay in the 60s today which is perfect for opening the windows and bundling under some covers in the bed with hot coffee and a book. If I could have stayed home, I would have read all day. But I'm at work and that's fine because there's plenty to do. I'm sure that there will be more days like this in a few weeks that I can enjoy.

Every Christmas of my childhood my dad's dad would call my brother and I and read us "The Night Before Christmas." I rarely saw him. He left my grandmother when my dad was my age, and moved down to Georgia. He died when I was in high school. Cancer. My dad looks like him. I look like me dad. My dad left my mom when I was 13. Now he lives in Georgia. I wonder if he will call my kids every Christmas and read to them over the phone.

yellow teeth reward

I just finished a post on my media blog, so I'm rewarded with posting on wife et man.

Yesterday I was walking on 5th Ave. headed to see my academic advisor to get advice on academia. I was on the phone with the wife and I watch an elderly lady fall as she's crossing the street... her face smashed against the curb. I tell the wife "i gotta go", hang up, and am one of three people to help the lady stand. Of course her mouth and face are bleeding. The lady is in her late 60s, early 70s and I dont' think she's homeless, but she's rough around the edges (nasty fingernails, older very used clothes, ect.). She's having trouble talking, and I notice that she has nasty long yellow teeth. Then she reaches in her mouth and pulls out a couple. The Italian guy that has stopped has pulled out his cell phone and is asking "what is the number for 911" (seriously, I'm not making a bad joke). The lady dressed in scrubs (thank God there is a medical person here cause I HATE blood) is looking through her bag for tissues. The Italian guys puts his phone in my hand, "you talk. my english not so good." So I talk with 911 as he and the nurse lady help the lady apply pressure to her gaping holes. By this point, I notice a tooth had gone through her upper lip creating a large hole in her face where her old lady mustache is. I turn as not to vomit. As soon as 911 confirms an ambulance is on its way, I let the nurse know, hand the Italian man back his phone and let them know I am leaving. Again, I don't do trauma well.

But what I do do well is calling 911! I called my wife back to tell her what happened and she laughed and said she was glad I got in my annual 911 call. She jokes that I call 911 at least twice a year, more than anyone she knows. I promise, I don't call to chat. I see something (i.e. drunken idiots fighting in the street) and I call. By this point as soon as the operator answers, I know to imidiately tell them the borough I am in and the exact cross streets.

sleeping ain't easy

Last night I had my first Foundations of Media Theory class. The instructor ended up sitting right next to me... not a bad thing. He was nice and energetic and fun. Lots of reading each week with 4 750word papers will be due this semester and 1 3,200 word term paper. I came home excited about the work from my classes but fearful of the amounts. I think my social life (and blogging life outside of down time at work) will become non-existent.

I had left my phone on vibrate last night, so when my sister called at 1:30am, I had no idea. When another call from my oldest sister came at 3:30am the vibration of the phone on the dresser woke me up. I think I said something hateful to the wife about the phone, but this was just me talking through my sleep. She got up and grabbed the phone and we discovered it was my sister... she didn't leave a message and I couldn't get back through to her. There was a message from the 1:30am phone call, but it was blank. I called my middle sister at 3:40am even though I was afraid of waking her 2yr old. I figured it was important. Seems my mom had some kind of allergic reaction or something and went to the local hospital. Then they took her to a hospital in knoxville. I talked to my oldest sister this morning and she said mom was doing better but was staying for observation and might stay tonight. I'm sure I'll hear more later.

then I dreamed that one of my favorite bands, eisley, died in a car accident.

Then I got up, went to the gym, rode the train to work while reading for school, and now I'm here. Guess I should do some actual work now!

Go Bucks!

The wife is very dramatically watching the ohio state vs. texas game. She's cheering and making loud noises and screaming how she went to school with one of these guys.... This all after I said how much I hate watching sports on tv.

I had my first MA class today... foundations of media design. I have to keep a blog for the class. http://jimmysmediastudies.blogspot.com/
I went to art school... I'm very used to having to keep a sketchbook for a class, which was an option, but he'd prefer we keep a blog.
It's going to be a lot of work, and this is just one class... I have my other first class on Monday night... that will also be a lot of work too I'm sure. Anybody wanna take over my every other Tuesday night coffee shop gig?

Hoff

Watch this to the end. It's amazing.

Comment on your favorite part. Mine is when he's flying directly behind himself.

9-1-whaaaa?

Okay, seriously... I wish that the networks weren't planning on showing so many Sept. 11th shows. Or, just not airing them in NYC. Middle America and the south can 'enjoy' those programs if they want, but no thanks. I mean, I wouldn't want to watch a show about my father dying.

That's just my 2¢ but whatever. When the majority of NYC residents said they didn't want to go to war over the attacks on Sept. 11th, nobody really listened then either.

stepping off the box now.......

Foxy

I just watched the documentary "Outfoxed." It doesn't have the best production quality, but the information was really interesting, and scary.

Kiss kiss splash splash

I got a Sea Lion kiss today. It was from April.

baby shackles

Something about Justin Timberlake's new song SexyBack (http://myspace.com/justintimberlake) reminds me of McMüller's song that is with his video of serrating a peanut (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9057557839511555129&hl=en). Perhaps a lawsuit is in order.

3 Day Weekend!!! Followed by 4 10 hour work days and my first class on Saturday.

The weather has felt a bit like fall lately... I love fall. I love Winter. I love Spring. I kinda like Summer. I think I just enjoy season changes.

I'M bringing sexy back.