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Three Good Things for Sunday, March 17th

1. The Leprechaun Brothers. St Patrick's Day doesn't have the same resonance for me that it did in college, when it was a great excuse to drink all day. Being sober definitely takes the gloss off the major drinking holidays, and I've also always felt resentful about holidays that come with a dress code and enforcement mechanism. Excuse me, you want to pinch me on what basis?!? That said, I do love the yearly excuse to revisit three of my favorite Muppets: https://youtu.be/OCbuRA_D3KU?feature=shared 2. Stringsfest. Yesterday the two older kids participated in the annual Stringsfest, in which the students in the strings programs of every elementary school and middle school that feed into the high schools in town perform a concert in the high school gym. This means close to a thousand kids and probably thrice that many family members and teachers filing an entire giant-ass gym to capacity.  When I played in this as a kid, my dad described the sound of it (unbeknownst to me) as
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Three Good Things for Friday, March 15th

Beware!!! March 15th in Ohio was usually warm enough that a couple of guys could sit in the rocking chairs on the student union porch, drinking beers and hollering at passersby if they didn't seem to be in an appropriate state of bewareness, and that's just how my friend Pendar and I spent several Ideses. For tonight's post, photos from Ides of yore. 1. March 15, 2020, taking a walk to Vilas Beach with the kids. 2. March 15, 2016, puddle selfie on a walk in Oakland. 3. March 15th, 2012, sorrel blossom in Oakland.

Three Good Things for Thursday, March 14th

Another day where I'm dragging my finger over my phone feeling too beat to blog. It's honestly good - I've been busy at work getting several projects up and running, and after a period of feeling a little stalled out the wheels have started turning and it's exciting to see things falling into place! The downside is that it's a lot of executive function energy and the end of the day has been finding me pretty fried. Geez, I even fell asleep on the couch tonight after dinner and I don't know when the last time was that happened! But I'm so grateful to be feeling the kind of tired that is the result of hard work, rather than the numbed out stupefaction of stumbling through meaningless tasks.  Okay, three good things before I totally run out of gas: 1. Pi Day. When your kids ask what the family plans are for Pi Day, at 5:15pm on Pi Day, the temptation to reply, "none whatsoever," is tremendous. For me, at least. My wife Sarah is made of sterner stuff,

Three Good Things for Wednesday, March 13th

I've been busting my little heinder at work the last few days, so have not had much writing energy in the evenings. I've got a couple longer bits in mind to write about tomorrow, but tonight is another bite-sized nuggets edition: 1. Leo the Killer. That's what happens if you dare to move a toe underneath the blanket. If you dare to move a toe on top of the blanket, he will lick you until your skin hurts. 2. London Fog. My current favorite coffeeshop order for those times when I can tell I'm on the verge of the caffeine jitters. 3. Camera Kwanon. I know it wasn't for very long, but it still tickles me that the Canon camera company was originally named after the Buddhist goddess of mercy and compassion. If I wasn't more of a Nikon guy I'd consider getting this as a tattoo.

Three Good Things for Monday, March 11th

This is going to be short, and I'm going to take the easy scapegoat and blame Daylight Savings. So a quick 3 before bed: 1. Crocuses. They're up everywhere, and I'm resigned on some level to how early this Spring has sprung. For the moment I'm glad to be microdosing color again. 2. Girl Scout Cookies. They got me this past Saturday. I engaged in one of the classic blunders: going grocery shopping with a $20 in my pocket. Gaze upon the burdens of my error! 3. Jack. This little dude got a clean bill of health at his first vet appointment today, and charmed the socks off of everyone he met. The vet thinks he might be as young as six or seven months, and that a lot of his frustrating food fixations might be temporary. He's an awfully sweet little scamp and I'm awfully glad he's part of the family.

Three Good Things for Saturday, March 9th

I don't care what the apologists say, Daylight Savings is an abomination and I am dreading spending the next week in a fog, feeling slightly out of synch with life and yearning for a nap. Out of my grumpiness tonight, I am stretching to name my Three Good Things: 1. Sauerkraut Chocolate Cake. Photo of sauerkraut cake from the Atlas Obscura article It's real, and having had it once, I can verify that it's unobjectionable. The question of "why" does hover over the whole affair, but the results are not worth questioning. I'm no great shakes as a baker but I'm going to try to give this a shot sometime this week. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/chocolate-sauerkraut-cake 2. The Grid Method. Prominent British YouTube Minecraft personality, OwenJuiceTV My oldest kiddo just finished this art class assignment, and is rightly proud of his work. While he's thrilled at the verisimilitude, I am so taken with the character and quality of presence. We were drivi

Three Good Things for Friday, March 8th

I remember learning that the literary trope of having the weather echo a character's emotional state was called "the pathetic fallacy". Fair enough, but it's been a gray, cold, rainy day outside and a gray, cold, rainy day inside for me. Call me pathetic, but it's the way it is this Friday. Bright spot: Lucas's third grade music class concert. Incredible what an impact an energetic and caring teacher can make on a roomful of kids. He even had them adjusting their dynamic range on the songs that had a percussion part! Okay, the good things: 1. Stay Awake. Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films. On the back it says it's dedicated to the immortal memory of Gil Evans. It is a tremendous, joyful, and very very weird album. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stay_Awake:_Various_Interpretations_of_Music_from_Vintage_Disney_Films My Dad introduced me to this album when I was a kid by asking me to guess which song Tom Waits was covering