Hey Joe

Prayers and good vibes please

My nephew is currently in the children's section of the ICU at UC Davis Medical Center dealing with pneumonia and other complications.

He was brought down from Butte County Monday by ambulance after it was determined that the local clinic was not equipped to deal with such extreme cases, and his case was bad. Lisa and other family members spent Tuesday at the hospital while Donald had surgery Tuesday to scrape out his lungs. He spent last night sedated with a breathing tube down his throat and another tube draining the fluids. Apparently this morning his blood pressure dropped and he went into some sort of shock. My understanding is that the infection somehow got into his blood, which then required a blood transfusion. At this time he remains sedated. Lisa will likely go back up on Friday or Saturday. My brother-in-law and the family appreciate any prayers anyone cares to float up.

11-1-09 - Update

The lad has had his ups and downs, though overall he's been improving. The breathing tube has been removed and he was thought to be well enough to move to a semi-private room, however I guess his blood pressure then dropped again and he was having difficulty breathing w/out the aid of an oxygen mask, so now he's back in ICU. Apparently this is all the result of undiagnosed strep, which is how the infection got into his blood stream.

 

Thank you to all who have offered their prayers and good vibes and have been concerned enough to write. All are appreciated.

R.I.P. – Soupy Sales

        

Soupy Sales

1926 – 2009

He's dead. What else can I say, other than it was a smart move changing his name from Milton Supman to Soupy Sales.

Elevenses – another downside to unemployment.

"Joe, where have you been? We know you're unemployed so, what's the deal with the posting drought?" – Concerned Reader, if any reader were concerned enough to actually write.

Because I know you care, the other day I toasted and consumed my usual morning English muffin before taking the boy to school. Upon my return I fried up a couple of eggs with some sourdough toast to enjoy with the last of my coffee. By 11:00 I was heating up some left-over Chinese food. At 1:00 I was reheating some pizza.

It has become painfully obvious that I'm going to have to make a concerted effort not to graze (though arguably a couple of slices of pizza probably goes beyond grazing) during my tenure at home. I've been feeling very tired and listless lately, and I'm guessing that pizza normally isn't prescribed for a quick energy boost. I pray to God that I'm wrong, and if anyone has evidence to the contrary please forward it to me, toot-sweet.

Today, however, I'm proud to say that I watched some of Gangs of New York. Well, that's not exactly what I'm proud of, but while I was watching it I did a brisk, 20-minute walk on the treadmill. How do you like them apples? And for the rest of the day my energy level was much better. Exercise – who knew?

Lest you think I'm spending a lot of time watching TV (or are not yet convinced as to exactly how big of a goober I am), I also pulled out my old Bearcat Scanner that's been hidden away for a years.

Our home is close to a major thoroughfare and we hear a lot of sirens. Nosy bastard that I am, I'm always wondering what's up? It's kind of fun to listen in on the happenings of our local coppers – perhaps responding to a domestic dispute, liquor store hold-up, or city park flasher – while sweeping the floor or folding a load of laundry. And let's face it, how cool would it be to listen in while the cops were involved in a high-speed pursuit only to discover that they're chasing your next door neighbor?

Scanners are pretty neat. I first discovered them during a visit with Lisa's grandparents in Wisconsin. See her grandfather had an old scanner on the table in their kitchen nook, and we'd have it on in the evenings while playing cards. When we returned from our visit well you can bet that I hustled myself right on over to The Base Station, a now defunct CB Radio shop in downtown Concord, and picked me up my very own scanner and a book of all the local radio frequencies. Great fun!

Lord do I need to find a job, stat.

Because I know you care

So I had Sears out this morning to do a little D&C on the old refrigerator. Figure we have the service contract and it's free and all, so we'd be crazy not to take advantage of it, am I right? I said am I right?

So here's Fridge-Boy sucking out about 2 lbs of dust and cat hair from betwixt the coils of yon cooling unit. Good Lord, but my life is exciting.

So this afternoon the boy comes home, right? And he pulls my old trombone (joke in there somewhere) out of the trunk of my car, because of course he has to mess around with anything that makes a lot of noise.

It's been in my old bedroom closet at my parent's house since 1979. I'm considering selling it to KC and Jenny for their boy, though, I'm not sure they'll want it because, well it's old and has seen quite a bit of action from my wild days as a Mustang with the Pine Hollow Marching Band. Hoo boy, if that trombone could talk, the stories it would tell! Crazy stories. Arousing-ly sordid stories full of excess and hot chicks. Mind you, it would have nothing to say about my not getting any chicks in the band, or about throwing up in my own lunch bag after a long bus ride, or about how this a-hole drummer used to always call me a wop, or about how, as an 8^th grader, I was rank and section leader of the trombones and how at practice I used to have to march my crew, a bunch of smartass 7^th graders, around the halls of Pine Hollow, and how they never listened to nor respected my authority. No, sir, none of those rank and putrid falsehoods would cross its bell.

Now if you'll excuse me I have pizza to eat, and Vincent Chase, Turtle, Lisa and the rest of my Entourage are waiting on me.

R.I.P. – Captain Lou Albano

Louis Vincent Albano

1933 – 2009

 

Pro wrestler and music video icon, (I stole that from the headline) Captain Lou Albano died today of natural causes.

Not sure what "natural causes" means exactly. Wouldn't any non-accidental death be considered a natural cause?

Albano gained world-wide fame as Cyndi Lauper's father in the 1983 "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" music video. Back when MTV actually played music videos, this one was in ultra heavy rotation.

Apropos of his death, Albano and I share a birthday, July 29. And here I thought the only "famous" people who shared my birthday were Melvin Belli , Peter Jennings and the Black Dahlia. But enough about me.

So anyway, Albano is dead. What more do you want to know?

Rainy Tuesday

 

Soggy streets.

I was on a ladder at 7:15 yesterday morning scooping out my gutters. I'm thinking it probably makes more sense to clean the gutters before it rains; but I'm not an expert on these things.

At least the fence is still standing

Nellie, who normally disappears outdoors from 7:00 to 7:00, opted instead to take a nice, long nap.

Jackie enjoyed the fact that she got to stay warm and dry yesterday.

Sonny never travels very far from food and shelter.

R.I.P. - Al Martino

Al Martino

1927 – 2009

Time has silenced The Voice of Johnny Fontane.

Singer/actor Al Martino, died yesterday at the age of 82. A legendary singer in his own right, Martino is probably best remembered as the godson to Marlon Brando's Godfather in the 1972 classic. Martino played singer Johnny Fontane whose character was loosely based on Frank Sinatra.

 

Day of the living dead, with French fries

So I'm into my second full week on the dole, and like Bob I feel half useless. And what's with this pen in my hand?

*rimjobshot*

Anyway…

Yesterday, however, the girl had the day off for Columbus Day. I had a bunch of errands planned and asked her if she wanted to join me and then go to Chili's for lunch. I was shocked when she agreed to go without any cajoling on my part. I don't know if it was the lure of a Chili's Old-Timer with bacon, or the chance to spend a little one-on-one time with dad. But I didn't rock the boat by grilling her and just enjoyed her company.

The nice thing about running errands with dad is that dad wastes no time – get to store, return item, get out of store, go to next store, repeat. We hit Staples, Target, Macy's, and Kohl's all in under two hours. And that includes a pretzel delivery to Lisa's classroom and a 20-minute exploration of one of them Spirit Stores.

A little tip for your Halloween decorating plans; zombies are in this year. Personally I'm a huge fan of the zombie, and the girl and I saw several cool zombie items that, if we actually had the dough and, frankly, the room to store the crap for the other 11 months of the year, we'd have definitely purchased.

The girl was strangely drawn to the baby zombies; undead infants if you will. I think the girl's mothering instincts might be slightly askew.

 

And then there was the "crawling zombie."

This lovely lady is on some sort of rolling contraption, and as you walk by she beings slithering toward you. Very cool.

After Kohl's we swung into Chili's where the girl got her burger fix.

I opted for the Cheese steak sandwich; good, but oddly unsatisfying today for some reason. Maybe it was all those fries that left me feeling beyond satisfied. I have no will power when it comes to French fries. Or pizza for that matter.

We saved the Costco trip for last because there would likely be a few bucks worth of meat products that would need to get straight home to the freezer. Unfortunately we happened to hit Costco during the lunch hour rush so the parking lot was just that. But we maneuvered through without much difficulty and got the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

On the way home I surprised the girl by pulling into the empty church parking lot and giving her her first driving lesson, something she's been begging for since she was 13. It's funny how something that is so second nature to a 28-year driver is completely foreign to a first-timer. Things like how far to turn the wheel, and how much pressure to apply to the brakes, or how to put the car in drive. Anyway, she got a huge kick out of it, and after a couple of go's around the lot she was really getting the hang of it. I politely declined her request to drive us home though. I really didn't want to end father-daughter day in the hospital, dig?

In other news, for those who may be interested, I believe I did well on both my interview and test last week. Thursday's dispatcher test wasn't terribly difficult, at least it didn't seem to be, which may mean I failed miserably. Either way, I should hear if I'll be invited to the "oral boards" (I'd better start practicing) in 2-3 weeks. Friday's interview with the credit union went very well. There was a definite rapport between us, and I think I've got the qualifications they're looking for. Again, I likely won't hear anything until later this month, but I feel good about it.

Oh, and I also watched To Live & Die in LA while ironing shirts

So unemployment officially sucks ass. Regardless of how much "work" there is to do at home none of it is the type of work that brings a sense of satisfaction that one is contributing to the support of his household.

So far this week I've:

• Gone to Kohl's
• Gone back to Kohl's
• Grocery shopped
• Drug store shopped
• Performed household chores
• Tried my best to avoid noticing how many chores need to be done
• Dropped kids off at school
• Cursed all the non-working people on Facebook that spend their days working out and going to lunch
• Picked kids up from school
• Handled snack and homework duties

I do have a few job related things happening this week though. A friend offered me $50 per page for polishing/editing/rewriting some documents for his web site. Tomorrow I'm testing for a sheriff dispatcher position. I'm not sure it's something I want, but they called so I answered. On Friday I'm interviewing with an Oakland based credit union for a communications specialist position, which could be a good fit.

So… at least a few things are happening.

So what's happening with you? You don't call you don't write.

Ciao, regular paycheck. I will miss you.

And now, the end is near
And so I face, the final curtain.
My friend, I'll say it clear,
kiss my laid-off ass.

And so it goes. My cube has been stripped like a $10 whore, or as we liked to call it around here, a Marni. I've been given my pro-rated final check and am waiting to go to lunch with a few folks before I turn in my key card and computer. Believe it or not though, I'm still working on a final story for our quarterly magazine. I put it off until the last minute of course, and I'm waiting on a quote from someone. I could say eff it, but that's not how I roll.

How's that for dedication, Future Hiring Manager? You're nutty if you don't want a guy like that working for you.