Veruca Salt

I was sitting in the lobby, waiting for my eldest son to finish up his OT appointment. Willy Wonka was spinning on the DVD player, and I was half-watching whilst preventing my youngest son from systematically dismantling the lobby, brick by brick. He can't help it, really. It just comes naturally to guys like him.

Anyhow, I'm asking him to "please stop harpooning the goldfish" when I hear Mr. Wonka greet one of his guests at the front gate. Her name? Veruca Salt. I know that name...

And then yes, the proverbial light bulb flickers on above my head (along with the "No shit, Sherlock!" cartoon bubble). There is a 90s alt-rock band also named Veruca Salt, so my tiny melon finally makes that connection, only a couple of decades behind as usual.

Oh, and for the record, my son was not harpooning goldfish. He was hovering dangerously close to the tank, unintentional malice gleaming in his eyes, always an accident waiting to happen.

You may now return to your regular programming. Which is pretty damn scary, if you believe in The Matrix...

Best...day...evar!

My youngest son turned 5 on Tuesday, and boy, what a day! Let me recap it for you, and then you can decide if it's the kind of day you dreamed of when you were under 10 years of age:

Wake up by or before 7am (he was wide freaking awake when my alarm went off at 7:15am). Open your first present of the day - a Webkinz Lava Dragon - and eat two bowls of Fruit Loops, which you personally selected to be your special birthday breakfast treat the day before.

Now that you have enough sugar coursing through your veins to sustain the average teenager for a week, you get to open more presents! First is a special collector's tin with two new Bakugan inside, followed by the just-released Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for your DS. One "aunt & uncle" sent you $10 cash - maybe you'll play the ponies today?

You are extra smug because your older siblings have to trudge off to Guantanamo Bay - I mean elementary school - for the day, but you don't go to school on Tuesdays. Bonus! So you get to spend your birthday at home with your old man, playing with all your new birthday loot as well as the usual distractions: video games, TV, running around outside, and dreaming up get-rich-quick schemes.

Next, you head off to the local soccer center to have your weekly footie session. You do a good job not picking up the ball with your hands too much, but you are otherwise not focused and really don't have your head in the game. You're kind of tired, a little hungry, and ready to go home NOW.

When you get home, your grandparents show up with a Happy Meal for your lunch. You happily down your chow, show the old peeps your stuff, and yes, open more presents! A Hot Wheel and a Target gift card? Score! When are we going shopping, daddy?

You wear out your grandparents, play a bit more, and then it's time to go fetch big brother & sister from the bus stop. Of course you wear your birthday crown (why yes, you DID celebrate your b-day at school on Monday) and flash your megawatt smile as much as possible.

Time for an after-school snack with the sibs, take in a little more fun, and then head off to Bellevue so the sibs can attend their Tuesday appointment. Your busy day catches up to you finally, as you climb under the chairs and doze off for 10 or so minutes. Daddy wakes you up, but you're not fussy because it is time to go pick up mommy and go to Red Robin's house!

Traffic is a bit sucky, but you cope with it well enough. When you get to RR, your other grandpa is there waiting for you - hooray! You power down a bowl of mac & cheese, mandarin oranges, and a few of daddy's taters (are you gonna eat those fries, dude?) - but no dessert. Say what? Oh yeah, right, you have a Cold Stone ice cream cake waiting at home - schweet!

Triple chocolate death is served (chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate ganache) and a good time is had by all. You open your last round of presents - a LEGO Star Wars tank - and put daddy to work on that bad boy.

Your day ends with you crashed in mommy & daddy's bed, clutching your Lava Dragon, and dreaming LEGO Star Wars and Bakugan dreams. I don't know what else you could have done to top that, except maybe have a Pump It Up or Chuck-E-Cheese party with twenty other screaming 4 and 5 year olds. Heh.

I don't know how he did it, but the little man managed to turn his big day into a 12 to 14 hour nonstop par-tay, complete with multiple present sessions, his favorite meals, and time spent with most of his favorite family members. If I was 5, I like to think I would have enjoyed that day as much as I think my little Taz did.

Family's First Tent Camping Trip!

We have one of those freaking huge family tents that's been sitting around in a closet for at least the past three years. It was a 10-year gift from Nintendo, my wife's previous employer. Our youngest son is almost five, so we decided it was finally time to use the aforementioned tent.

The scene: Lake Easton State Park. This park is a mere hour's drive from The Shire, which is always nice. The kids didn't even get the chance to ask "are we there yet" or request a restroom break. We arrive, check in, and head to our site. The clan goes to locate the nearest bathroom and water spigot, and I busy myself setting up the tent. It's a nice one, and my only real complaint is that it lacks privacy flaps on the front doors. You know, the upper half of the doors are mosquito nets, and in most tents, there are zip-up flaps on the inside of the doors for privacy. But the rain fly works just as well if you let the front down, so no big deal.

One of the first things I noticed about our site was the amount of litter on the ground. And by litter, I'm talking about small stuff - bottle caps, pieces of wrappers, things of that nature. I guess it's the Boy Scout in me, but I was taught two things: 1) Don't Litter! and 2) Always leave your campsite cleaner than you found it. And it wasn't just the stuff in our site - there was some on the nature trails, by the lake, in and around the restrooms. What is wrong with people? I must be getting old and grumpy now that I'm in my early 40s. But honestly, what is so fucking hard about using a trash can, or sticking your garbage in your pocket until you get back to camp?

Overall, we had a great time. The kids and the family hound had a blast, got dirty as all getup, dropped some hot dogs in the ashes of the fire, ate s'mores, and manged to not freak out at night in the tent. We were there just under 24 hours, which goes by too fast, but it was just right for the first time. Next time we'll go two nights, and see how that goes. And yes, the last thing we did before we got in the car and left was to make a thorough sweep of the camp site. It's easier to explain the "always leave your campsite cleaner than you found it" concept as "you need to pick up litter, even if it's not yours, because the animals who live here can't do it themselves."

It felt good to go tent camping, and it's been waaaaay too long (our last trip was about 13 years ago, pre-kids, holy schnikes!) so we were overdue. I hope to one day take everyone on a true back country hiking/camping trip.

Yeah, but it's a dry heat, Sarge.

On Thursday, we had an indoor soccer doubleheader at WISC. First game started at 6:20 followed by the 7:10 tilt. I'm happy to report The Crew came away victorious both matches!

When it gets hot around here (like it was on Thursday), WISC turns into an industrial-sized convection oven. The field is housed in a rectangular warehouse made from mostly corrugated metal (steel? tin?) and it is just plain HOT in there. I was sweating within the first 5 minutes after kickoff, and as my wife likes to point out, I'm a goalie and I was just standing there.

The boys who had to do the actual running around and scoring did great! Everyone seemed to just be clicking, shots were hitting the corners, one-timers were beautifully struck, and the passing tape-to-tape, to steal a hockey term. No one passed out or pulled themselves due to the heat, so chalk one up for staying hydrated and also a well-timed sub rotation.

I was a little worried I would be sucking wind because I've been hiding in my air-conditioned house during Seattle's "Killer Heat Wave 2009!!!" but that was not the case. Like my mates, I played a great pair of matches, and felt good enough to even play a third (thankfully that didn't happen). I have to wonder if playing indoor was actually easier than outdoor - we were out of the direct sun, with the tradeoff of slightly higher temperatures indoors - at least I think it worked that way.

All things considered, I'll be happy on gameday this week to play in cooler temps.

You want fries with that shake?

The advantage of taking Jennie for a walk after sundown is, of course, a much more comfortable walking experience. It's still warm and muggy, but it sure beats hot and muggy.

Anyhow, we're scooting along and I was struck by a random thought: If this kind of night was taking place say about 20 years ago, it was TOTALLY the kind of night where one hops on his motorcycle or jumps in her car and heads over to a place like Burgermaster or Dick's for a nice cold milkshake. And most likely this trip involves at least one if not more good friends.

I could see that scene in my mind's eye because it actually happened many times over. Sitting in someone's car or perched on our bikes, talking shit, laughing, joking, and just hanging out. I see a lot of kids hanging out at the Top Food parking lot, and I can't help but to wonder, why aren't you guys hanging out at (anywhere but a grocery store parking lot)? But maybe they don't care where they are, because they're hanging out with their friends and having a good time.

So if you haven't had a good laugh or at least cracked a smile about the times you and your friends used to cruise up and down the Kirkland waterfront, go dancing at your favorite club, or chow down on pizza or milkshakes, I highly recommend it. Doesn't cost you a dime, and is almost guaranteed to make you smile.

TK

Sure, I can laugh about it now...

Today was totally "one of THOSE days." You know the kind - where just about anything and everything goes awry. Nothing super crappy like the dog ran away or you got a speeding ticket or some heartless fucker ate the last Skinny Cow in the freezer. Just a slow but constant accumulation of things blowing up.

Around 4:10am, my daughter wakes me up because she has managed to tie her hair in a knot. How does one tie a knot in their hair in the wee hours? I do my best to de-knot her hair, and partially succeed. Later, I will find out that she got up again around 5 or 6 and cut out the offending locks with some scissors. Thankfully, she does a nice job and there are no huge clumps of missing hair dotting her precious scalp.

I think this rude awakening, along with general tossing and turning, causes me to oversleep. I wake up at 8:10am, about 30-40 minutes later than usual. I go into Drill Sergeant mode, barking orders and herding the troops as fast as I can. Eat breakfast! Get dressed! Brush hair and teeth! Shoes and socks! Off to the bus stop! GOGOGO! We manage to make it to the bus stop with 5 minutes to spare.

My folks then arrive to watch Nik while I go to school to help out in Hope's class for the last time this year. Nik is not happy, and pitches a huge fit. Sorry about that, mom and dad.

Today at school, the 2nd graders were all launching their flying objects (no kits or other pre-made rockets, etc). There were some pretty neat creations, some nice tries, and a few duds. Hope assembled a balsa wood glider that I made using plans off The Intertubes (Google "chuck glider" and you'll get the general idea). I cut the pieces, and Hope glued them together and painted her plane. We did some test flights Monday evening, so we know it flies. But Hope couldn't quite grasp the launch sequence (hold glider by tail, hold rubber band launcher with other hand, and loop rubber band on notch under nose). She looped the band under the nose and then back over the glider, and held the launch stick behind the glider, so when she let the glider loose, the torque tore the tail off the plane. She took it pretty well, and only mostly blames me. After all the kids were done, I launched the backup plane I had with me, and it sailed straight and true for about 40 feet. It works, I tell you!

Head home to pick up Nik and head back to school to pick up Lukas, and then bring Nik to his last day of preschool. Nik decides he wants my folks to bring him to school, so I can go get Lukas and hopefully Nik will have a good drop off - sometimes he decides to have a fit, other days he can't wait to get to school. I have trouble getting the car out of Park and into Reverse. I blame Nik for hanging on the shift lever when he plays in the car, because that's just the sort of thing Nik is capable of.

After coaxing the car out of Park, I get Lukas and we get back into the car. (Cue up ominous car trouble music now, please). This time, I cannot for the life of me get the car out of Park. I was *this close* to snapping the fucking shift lever off the fucking steering column, but my calm side prevailed, and I consulted my owner's manual. What do you know, there's a little slot on top of the steering column that you can jam the key down into, and manually shift out of Park. Saved! This means I'm not dead in the school parking lot, but my car is still FUBAR.

Back home, I call the dealer and arrange to have it looked at today. Bonus! And the super-neato extended warranty (which has already been used at least once before) is still in effect. Double bonus! So my folks follow me to the dealer.

Whilst en route to the dealer, the school nurse from Nik's school calls. We start to discuss his ears, as he is suffering from a sudden earache from hell. I say we start to discuss this, because right as I'm telling the nurse about Nik's ear tube history, my phone dies. I had let the battery get low enough that a couple of calls drained it dry. Fuck! So the nurse calls me right back, gets my voice mail, and calls Tracy, who is then unable to get ahold of me. Sweet!

Thankfully, mom has cell phone so I can call the nurse back and tell her I will come pick up Nik ASAP. We drop the car off, head back home, and I pick up Tracy's car. My folks take Lukas back home and I go get Nik. When I get to school, he's in the fetal position with one of the teachers holding a wet cloth over his bright red ear. They take such good care of him - thank you, ladies!

On the way home, Nik announces his ongoing need for a large blue Bakugan. I decide it will aid my cause, since he might focus on it more than his ears. Also, I had promised him a new toy once school was over (today was his last day). On the way home from Target, the fuel light comes on. Gah!

No sooner do I get home when the school nurse at Hope's school calls. Now Hope isn't feeling well to boot. Nik decides that he has to go with me, I tell him no, he suffers a complete and total China Syndrome. I leave him at home screaming bloody murder (sorry again, mom and dad) and go get Hope. The upside of this turn of events? I cancel Hope's weekly trip to Friendship Group, so we don't need to drive to Bellevue and back in the middle of rush hour.

While all this is going on, Tracy is on the phone trying to get Nik in at his doctor's office today. Medical phone tag ensues, and the bottom line is we can't get him in until Wednesday morning. Now that the Tylenol has kicked in, Nik is in a happy place, so this is not an issue.

Oh yeah, we are still waiting to hear about my car. Turns out to be some rear brake light switch that made things lock up (you cannot put the car into gear unless your foot is on the brake, and I guess this faulty switch said my foot was not on the brake, even when I was pushing the brake pedal through the floorboard at the time). It's a quick and cheap fix, but I still end up paying around $80-90 as my deductible is OF COURSE $100. Ah well, the car is fixed and ready for pick up.

I guess at this point in time, things start to smooth out. I gas up the car, pick up Tracy, pick up my happy car, and head home. Eat dinner, take Jennie for a nice, long walk, and watch all 3 kids fall asleep more or less right away at bedtime. It's a miracle.

So not total catastrophe, but just a seemingly endless series of "are you kidding me?!?" events that came at me one after another. All I really want to say is THANK YOU mom and dad for spending all day with us, driving around, watching kids who were sometimes nice and sometimes screaming, and for letting me use your phone. If you guys weren't around today, it would have been a total clusterfuck, I shit you not.

TK

Les Miserables

Whilst awake and channel surfing the other night, I came across the 1995 version of Les Miserables. I had previously enjoyed both the 1998 version with Liam Neeson as Valjean and Geoffry Rush as Javert, as well as the 2000 version with Gerard Depardieu, so I had to see what this one had to offer. The spin is that it takes place in France as the Nazis are sweeping in, and Fortin/Valjean agrees to spirit away the Jewish Ziman family to freedom. I'm not sure which version I enjoyed more, but they were all very enjoyable and I recommend them if you're in to the classics.

I have come to enjoy subtitled movies, most notably The Count of Monte Cristo miniseries from 1998, again with the aforementioned Gerard Depardieu. The 2002 movie was decent, but I would totally watch the miniseries over the movie.

If I had to pick between the two stories, I would choose The Count over Les for sure. If you're a hater of all things French (Freedom Fries lovers need not apply) don't bother, if you are sophisticated and cultured (unlike me) go for it.

What literary classics do you enjoy on the big screen and/or idiot box?

The Origins of Dunkin' Donuts

Crows. Crows invented Dunkin' Donuts! OK, so technically they didn't create Dunkin' Donuts, but I think they may have been responsible for the concept of dunking bread products into liquids in order to soften them up before consuming them.

Several crows hang around our house, as they know I'm good for handouts of bread crusts and leftover sandwiches, among other culinary delights. I'm fairly confident it's not a murder of crows, just one or two pair of crows, perhaps mates? Anyhow, I recently cleaned out the little sandbox in our backyard, and Nik partially filled it with water. He's so helpful!

I noticed the crows landing on the sandbox, and assumed they were drinking or even bathing in it. But then I watched as one of them dropped a chunk of bread into the water, and then tore off a piece and ate it! And it dawned on me that here are these crows, taking chunks of dried/stale bread, and dipping them into water to soften them up in order to consume them. I'll be damned.

But then again, it shouldn't come as a huge shock, as I have previously read that crows are rather intelligent, and can even recognize individual faces on humans. I suppose I just thought it was cool to see these crows in action, doing something rather ordinary that I otherwise may have overlooked in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Clean Sheet, Perfect Night

At last! After all the planning, all the talk, the expectations, and a few predictable jabs from North American football fans (you know, the game where fat guys grab each other and fall down), Sounders FC played their first MLS regular-season game.

You could not have scripted this any better. The stands were packed with a sea of bright green jerseys, jackets, hats, and oh yes, scarves. The standard pre-first game pep talk from the suits (and plenty of boos for the guv). I think Drew Carey already has his playoff party booked. The band playing the old-school Sounders ditty (da dah dah, da dah dah...), the Sounders flags waving in the crowd, and the overall energy in the stadium. Oh, and the soccer horns - my wife hates them - there were plenty of soccer horns to be seen and heard.

The home team scores early, and it was all downhill for NY from there. The officials allowed a lot of contact, showed a few yellows, and took the usual amount of blame and abuse. Cap it off with a shutout, and sportswriters everywhere can bang out their "local boy comes home, pitches clean sheet" stories. Fans and owners go home happy, knowing that no matter what happens from here on out, they witnessed a magic night that cannot be taken away.

First of all, I would not have been there unless my friend Phil comes through and scores us free tickets to the match. Phil is a great guy - fellow footie nut, goalie, former co-worker at various shared stops including Nintendo, just to name a few redeeming qualities - and even though he works for the WSU athletic department (boo, hiss), it is because of his connections there that my Husky ass (as opposed to husky ass...walked into that one) was in my seat tonight. So I must swallow my purple & gold pride and salute the crimson & grey - go Cougs!

And my wife gets lots of hugs and kisses too - she could have gone to the game, but when our childcare plans went south, she took charge and came home early so I could go - who loves ya, baby?

The days leading up to the game were spent emailing and talking with Phil, trying to iron out the logistics. After my last gather-kid-at-bus stop-run, I dash off to the Park & Ride to catch a bus. Get to the P&R with five minutes to spare, and then spend the next hour listening to my iPod and texting my wife and Phil. One of the messages I get from Phil is a pic of Drew Carey (Sounders minority owner) as they march from a gathering point near the stadium and parade to the game. Phil, as usual, has crackerjack timing and happens upon the mob just as they are heading out.

We meet up at the field in front of a giant inflatable football (you know, soccer ball) and head in. There are smiles everywhere, high fives, whooping, hollering, and just a kind of noise that I've always associated with soccer. It's so fucking cool!

And the seats? Club level, Aisle 232, Row Q, Seat 5. I've had worse (like the seat behind a steel support beam at Fenway Park), but for this game, I'd sit on crushed glass. Awesome seats. A bit shy of midfield, behind the benches, looking down on Kasey Keller going through his pre-game warmup routine.

After a Freddie Ljungberg sighting (looking dapper in a tailored suit and acknowledging the masses), and the thankfully brief pre-game fluff (including flags from each United Nations member, and a bunch of young ladies in Sounders colors who move a lot like Seahawks cheerleaders), it is finally time to kick this thing off!

Fredy Montero scored less than 12 minutes in, so right away it set the crowd abuzz and erased any possibility that Seattle would suffer as did Toronto FC, who took something like nine games to score their first goal when they joined MLS. After each goal, everyone was high-fiving, screaming, and holding up their scarves. A young guy next to me even gave a gentle high-five to an infant in from of him - awwwwww.

So from start to finish, it was just an exciting and entertaining match. Kasey didn't have much to do, but when he did, it counted. One point-blank reaction save, and one to send a screamer over the crossbar was about the extent of his night. After the game, people were laughing, smiling, singing, and talking to everyone like we all knew each other. Well, in a way, we do - we're all soccer fans.

I hope this level of enthusiasm continues for the duration. 22,000 season ticket holders is a great start, even better than hoped for by the suits I'm sure. And it's a far cry from the A-League and USL days of the post-NASL (boy, I'm just full of it tonight) Sounders, who played in front of crowds of several hundred to a thousand or two fans for the most part in venues much less shiny and happy than Qwest Field.

And speaking of the Sounders of years past, we now know that Vancouver has been awarded an MLS franchise, and it looks like Portland may land one as well. That means an instant three-way West Coast rivalry with more history than any other MLS club can boast about in my opinion. The Whitecaps and Timbers (hopefully they keep their old names in some form as well) and Sounders just don't really like each other. And good rivalries can often generate great games, so let's hope that is the case.

The night ended with a burger at Red Robin (oh my god, the smell of garlic fries at the game was killing me!) and hanging out with Phil. I really can't think of a better night, unless it involves a bus full of Hawaiian Tropic swimsuit models looking for a couple of oil boys (except in this movie Phil and I get on the bus, but are hunted down and dragged from the bus by our chainsaw-toting wives). Let's call it Dumb & Dumber III: Tom & Phil's Best Day Evar!

Ole, ole ole ole...

Where did all my heroes go?

NHL heroes, that is to say. I read about Martin Brodeur winning his 552nd game on Tuesday (which makes him the all-time leader in Wins), which is really cool. Plus, he's only four shutouts away from taking the lead in that category as well. Way to go, Marty!

I first played ice hockey back in 1975 in the Eastside Hockey Association. My Squirt House team was sponsored by John L. Scott. I used a CCM stick and Cooper gloves. If I ever get a new scanner, I'll post my team and individual photos. I had the face of a cherub, and the heart of a killer. You can laugh if you want, but I will cling to my fantasies regardless.

My favorite book at the time was a big yellow tome titled Pro Hockey Heroes of Today by Bill Libby. All the greats of the late 60s and early 70s are in this: Orr, Cheevers, Hull, Esposito, Mahovlich...if it wasn't buried in the closet with my stash of "must keep forever" books, I'd list them all right now.

Hockey didn't last long, though. Too expensive and too time-consuming for our family. Gave T-Ball a whirl, and then ended up playing soccer...but that's another entry for another day.

Fast-forward to the early 90s. I was working at Nintendo, and my friend Blaine suckered me into his Fantasy Hockey league. My long-dormant romance with the NHL was back on the front burner! I rediscovered the game, and have not stopped the affair since. Thank goodness for CBC and Hockey Night in Canada, because I miss NHL2Night on ESPN2 with John Buccigross. JB alone is worth an individual entry (note to self...).

So many players were in their prime, or just coming of age back then: The Legion of Doom (Lindros/Leclair/Renberg), Fedorov, Bure, Jagr, Hasek, Potvin (Felix the Cat)...way too many to list at the moment. But even the grinders and role-players were important - Dave Gagner, hell yeah! Heady days, indeed.

Then a funny thing happened...we had kids, and suddenly I didn't watch a lot of hockey any more. I still had games on, but never watched them start to finish. The sports section in the Seattle Times kept me up on standings, and those crazy guys at ESPN/ESPN2 and ESPN.com kept me up on the players and everything else.

Back to present day: Now, all I see and hear about are guys like Crosby, Ovechkin, Kane & Toews (there is hope once again for the Blackhawks), the brothers Staal, and a new breed of young netminders. But where are MY guys, MY heroes, MY grinders and unsung PP killers? Here's a rundown on a few random names:

Paul Kariya (Cha-cha-cha): now an old man at 34 and with St. Louis, his 4th team. When he's healthy, he's good for just under a point per game and still an asset on the PP.

Sergei Fedorov: even older than Kariya at 39, plays for Washington, and is also on his 4th team. His offensive output is greatly diminished, but he's in his 17th year, so he's unlikely to score 120 points again (93-94, with Detroit).

Pavel Bure: The Russian Rocket had back-to-back 60 goal/100+ point seasons in 92-93 and 93-94. The man could skate and score. His career ended in 2003, cut short by injuries I think.

Eric Lindros: The Big E played hard, and got hit hard. Too many times to the head, as he retired in 2007 after 13 years and 4 teams (I sense a pattern here). #88 was one of the new breed of big, strong players who could score often AND hit like a train.

Dominik Hasek: He's Gumby, dammit! The Dominator is retired (4 teams - I'm not making this stuff up!) and was as talented as he was quirky.

Chris Chelios: Are you freaking kidding me? 24 years and counting. This man is the T-101 of the NHL - relentless and seemingly unstoppable.

Dave Gagner: One of my favorite grinders. 719 points in 946 games. And now his son plays!

Hopefully I'll be able to do this again one day, and wax nostalgic about Sid the Kid and Sam Gagner. It's been fun.

Admiral! There be owls here!

OK, so in Star Trek IV it was whales, not owls. But if I heard whales tonight, that means they can now fly, or the west coast is underwater...

A couple of nights ago, I was walking Jennie and heard some owls calling from the trees just down the road from my neighborhood. Very soft "hoo-hoo" type calls, but very much audible as there was no road noise to interfere right then. I thought that was pretty cool.

Tonight, as Jennie and I were almost home (and in roughly the same spot as the other night), I heard what I assume was an owl screeching. It was flying around, as the sound came from several different locations. Somehow, that was even cooler than hearing them go "hoo-hoo."

I guess it's time to read up on the local owl scene. With any luck, I might even spot one on the wing. Hopefully I'm not trespassing, because I don't think I want a pissed-off owl dive-bombing me. I seem to recall they can be rather territorial, or perhaps just protective during mating season.

Just another reason to not always have the iPod on all the time. You never know what you're missing out there.

Rants and Raves and Manners

OK, I admit it, I'm something of a dinosaur - I still read the newspaper (you know, it's made out of paper, contains news and other stories, comics, sales inserts, etc). Some might question the logic - why pay for something that you can read for free online? And ya know what? I would agree with that logic on a purely unemotional economic level. But for some reason, I just need to hold the paper in my hands. Granted, I can no longer sit around and read it without interruption (having kids will do that to you) but I can pick it up and read bits throughout the day, time permitting.

The Sunday Seattle Times runs a "Rant & Rave" column, and one of today's Rants was about inconsiderate theatergoers who use phones during movies. I agree 100% - if you are going to watch a movie, turn off your phone, put it away, and enjoy the movie! If you are expecting an important call, or need to be available to talk to your babysitter or stock broker or pet rock, fine, just make sure you know how to set your phone to silent mode/vibrate, and take your call OUTSIDE in the hallway. Please? Is that too much to ask?

But what really got me about this Rant was the closing: "Adults should know better and parents, please teach kids manners about the right place and time for electronics use."

Amen! You would think adults should know better, and you would hope parents are still teaching kids manners. I know, I know, we live in a different time, technology has marched on, most kids would boggle if I broke out my old Sony Walkman - you know what I speak of - it's about the size of a Buick, and plays TAPES for crying out loud! But come on, people, just because we have cell phones and bluetooth headsets and iPods doesn't mean we are granted the right to be an ass in public.

I think a lot of kids pick up bad habits from their parents. If mommy and daddy call/text/do the Google in places like movie theaters, it must be OK. I would be mortified if any of my kids grow up to be rude and inconsiderate brats. And I'm not just talking about texting at the movies - I'm talking about everyday life.

Don't make a cashier wait while you gab on your phone. Say 'thank you' when a server refills your drink. Hold the door open for the next person behind you. Let a fellow motorist merge into traffic in front of you. Hell, let two or three drivers merge in front of you. What's that going to set you back, 5-10 seconds? Get over yourself already. We are all busy in our own ways, but I'm no more important than the next guy, even if the next guy is a clod-kicking hillbilly who talks on his cell phone during a movie.

I'm not talking about following Miss Manners' playbook to the letter, I'm talking about simple common courtesy. It seems like a lapse in our collective common sense is causing us to lose sight when it comes to treating others the same way you want to be treated. People who are innately rude probably won't ever change, but the rest of us can do the best we can, in particular setting the example for our kids.

I guess that's why I'm fairly optimistic about our future - if we see each other acting civilized, it sets the example. And if we pass along common sense and common courtesy to the next generation, maybe people will stop using technology as an excuse to act like an asshat, and start acting a wee bit more civilized. Well, I can hope, anyhow.

Oh, and I'm not lumping all teenagers and twentysomethings into the "stoopid kids and their stoopid phones" lot - I've met quite a few of these younglings who are more socially aware than I ever was at that age. But it seems like the age-old demon of peer pressure and the "but everyone else is doing it" excuse continues to hold sway over better judgement.

Rant mode off. Time for bed!