Rip

On Thanksgiving my uncle Wayne White passed away. It was unexpected, though his health hadn't been very good for the past couple of years. Our family was around, which was great and if he'd had a choice I think he would have been okay with the circumstances.

Wayne was a character straight out of a movie, a charismatic person in in cowboy boots, a fast car, and more tall tales than I had ever heard from any ten sources before. I would come to know in later years that many of them were true. Though at face value it was almost impossible to say witch.

He was a restless person and didn't like to stay in one place all that long. He stayed with us often when I was a kid and had a toothbrush at our house for years. As a little kid I would wonder into his room and wake him up, he's always get up and play with me whether he wanted to or not. As soon as he stood up I would say "boots!" and he would put on his boots, hand him his watch "tick tock!" pull him into the bathroom and say "teeth!" and after he brushed his teeth I would pull him off to play in my room or to go watch cartoons . At this point he would be wearing only his boots, watch, and underpants, but went along with me anyway laughing the whole time.

As I got older he didn't stay with us as frequently, but we remained close. My family always went on at least on trip a year with him and his wife Janice. It could be Helen, or the mountains in North Carolina, or even Mexico Beach Florida to the Driftwood Inn, witch will always have a place in my heart. Mexico Beach became something of a ritual and every year from ages 11-15 we went with Wayne down to the gulf and we would eat shrimp and oysters, and go to Tyndall air force base to find shells. To this day all over the Driftwood Inn grounds if you know where to look, you will see two W's with a circle around them.

He knew people everywhere, or so I thought at the time. This was often true, but as often as not his "friends" were perfect strangers. He treated nearly everyone like a friend and could strike up a conversation with a rock. It didn't even need to be a particularly bright rock.

Wayne was bigger than life in a lot of ways, he had been on a NASCAR pit crew and knew Richard Petty and Dale Earnhart. He claims to have changed tires for both during races, because at that time he was the fastest. I have heard from other sources than him that this is true, so it could be. He also would tell of how they would bend the rules to get an edge, I won't get into details and risk incriminating anyone but I will tell you this NASCAR is the 1970's was probably at least as ingenious as NASA in the same era.

What most people remember about Wayne is the flash, he loved effect it may have been what he was best at. He wore two tone shirts before Garth Brooks, had fast cars and had a dramatic flair unrivaled by all but the most over the top Hollywood actors.

He let me drive his Camero on an actual road when I was eleven, a move that no other adult I know would have made, but he did. Often we would get a phone call from a strange number,invariably it would be Wayne saying, "guess where I am." He could be anywhere, but it was always somewhere you wanted to be. The beach, mountains, wherever.

 I tried this same thing my sophomore year of college to equally dramatic, but disastrous results. My parents still groan about it three years later.

All the things I remember most about him are just scratching the surface. In more recent years I would discover he was intelligent, thoughtful, a pain in the ass, and one of the most genuine people I have ever met. If Wayne didn't like you there was probably a good reason for it and it was your loss. If he made you mad it was probably because you loved him.

A few years ago, I think it was Easter, the year after my Gran-Gran passed away I was walking out to his car with him because he "had to go" which he often did. After saying our goodbyes he turned around gave me a hug, and said, "I love you buddy" with a sheepish almost embarrassed grin.

He will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him friends, family, all of the customers of his extermination business who he would surely count as friends also,and everyone else who knew\\
 and I think he would be happy to be missed. At his memorial yesterday there were few dry eyes and I think he would have approved.

So I titled this post Rip but it is not by any means "rest in peace", Wayne was known as "Rip" by many people though I never knew how he got that moniker. Never thought to ask, it just fit. Sort of how like you don't think of why we call automobiles "cars". He has peace now, but I doubt he would be happy resting.

 As I write this I can hear him saying to someone right now, "well, I gotta go".

What if Your Soul Doesn't Like Chicken Soup...

You may or may not know this, Rainn Wilson(better known as Dwight Schrute from the Office) has recently co-authored a book based on the website that he is affiliated with, Soulpancake/Soulpancake.com. They challenge you to look at life in new ways, and look at all the questions that you never really thought you would hear answers to.

Recently he was on the Rachel Ray show and they made Soulpancakes I thought they looked awesome so tonight I made some. They were in fact incredible.

Here is a picture of the "Soulpanckes" they put bacon in the pancakes, did you hear that?

Bacon inside of the pancakes, GENIUS!

They were super tasty, and the website is also really cool. Here is a link to the website, so that you can expand your mind and read the recipe for "Soulpancakes" yourself.  SoulPancake / SP Content / What's YOUR Life's Big Question? Note that they put cinnamon in the syrup. Again, GENIUS.

I wasn't the only big fan of them, the notorious food critic HK White also enjoyed them. Maybe more so because she heard the word cake, which sold her on them.

Mmmm bacon cayke.

 I have had some people ask about the titles of my blogposts, and why they are so strange. Almost all of them  are some sort of pop-culture reference, like a book title, song title or line, or something from a movie. They are usually pretty obscure, which is why almost no one knows what they are in reference to.

Three days ago Megan and I took the door off Harper's crib, thus making it into a daybed. The first two nights she slept fairly well and it was more or less without issue. Last night, I was awakened at 5AM with a tiny face next to me whispering ,"dada heeey dada."

Hey, I can think of a lot worse things to be woken up by. Though I still jumped out of my skin.

November Rain...

There is no language in the known world where the phrase "as easy as bathing a toddler" has ever been uttered. There are several reasons for this:

1)You will get wet, very wet. You might as well wear a bathing suit.
2)They will cry even if the shampoo in their eyes in tear free.
3)You will have to clean the bathroom after you finish because they get water EVERYWHERE.

This is Harper sleeping with the blue blanket I mentioned in the last post. My parents have hundreds of pictures of me as a toddler sleeping. I used to think it was because I slept often, but after asking about it, and experiencing the strange phenomenon known of as baby sleeping habits I know why.

They were documenting it.

So when the were awake at three in the morning watching me bounce off the walls, they could look at the picture and say, "yes, here is the proof, he has slept before. It could happen again..."

Harper is no better about sleeping, so I have begun the nocturnal documentation also...Chalk that up on the list of things I never planned to do.

Earlier this summer Megan's cousin gave us a baby carrying backpack for hiking. Harper and I have been using it often exploring the "wilderness" wherever we happen to be. I may have mentioned this before.

This is us climbing Kennesaw Mountain, Harper looks really happy, I know. Unbelievably she has actually fallen asleep  in that thing. This is about two miles into a three mile hike, so she's actually holding up really good.

After consistant bashing over the last two months I must make a small concession. The Fall does have one leg up on the other seasons, that doesn't completely redeem it but is still pretty amazing. That is the sunsets, good Lord. Fall sunsets are amazing, the light is just amazing, like fire on the horizon painting the world with big fat brush strokes that you just don't see in other seasons.

This is sort of a poor example, but the storm clouds are pretty majestic also.

So go out and enjoy the rest of your weekend, I hope its a good one. If your out at night look for Jupiter it's really close right now.


If your a sports fan, Braves relief pitcher Peter Moylan has started a blog that is candid, charming, and often embarrassing to read. I think you'll like it petermoylan.com is the URL go check it out.

Things...

Like just about every kid since the invention of bed linens, Harper has a favorite blanket. Unlike most kids her age it isn't a small one with a Mickey Mouse print on it or any sort of blanket marketed to children; she has about fifty of these and doesn't love any of them particularly.  No, her favorite is a large furry blue blanket that used to be mine. It's big enough to fit on a full bed, and she adores everything about it.

I have had it for several years, my mom got it for me when I had just had ACL surgery and was hobbling around "Bed Bath and Beyond" with her.I felt it sitting in a bin in the middle on an isle and commented that I might could use a new blanket, feeling sorry for me and my pain med addled state mom got it for me.  I slept with it, at school in my dorm. It was often smelly, covered in "Icy Hot" and didn't get washed near often enough.

When Harper was born it found it's way into a compartment in our entertainment center with a few other blankets(now having been cleaned properly several times), and about six months ago Harper discovered it. We had often used it to keep warm while watching TV, but Harper claimed it as her own. She falls to sleep clutching it's over sized fluffy corners. If it were a lighter shade you could almost think that she was Linus from the Peanuts cartoons.

Thinking about the blanket reminds me of my college dorm rooms, freshman year I had a room in the middle on the hall on the top floor of the worst dorm on campus. It was usually infested by ants, the communal showers had things growing in them older than me, maybe even my parents and the heater was only a heater in theory.

Having said all that it was a really good experience, I had two roommates at different times though neither of them for very long. One moved out to live with a friend who's roommate never showed up, but I got to know him and he was a pretty cool guy. We even roomed together again later. The other guy was also cool, but we had opposite schedules so we would constantly wake each other up waking up or coming in late.

All in all I had a room to myself for 6 for the 8 months I was in that room. I liked that because it cleared up a lot of space for my clothes and I could engage in all sorts of activities that another person might not love. I only used lamps which kept the room pleasant but ill lit. I dabbled in beginners yoga, played strange music(I got on a Ravi Shankar/ Ali Farka Toure kick) and made tea with cats claw, a foul smelling herb that boots your immune system and induces drowsiness.

I also used "Icy Hot" like an addict, I have had a titanium plate in my left leg since I was 12 that is still uncomfortable during the Winter months. So intense workouts during January it hurt like you can't imagine. Or maybe you can, but I hope not. So every night after workouts I put the Icy Hot all over my leg, I bet that room still smells like it.

So the gross dorm that I initially hated brings back some fond memories, something that I wouldn't have bet on during week one.

Got No Future, Great Big Past...

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. What with all the things going on in life, I either haven't had the energy or just couldn't actually sit down to write what I was thinking.

I got my annual sinus infection this past week, I get one every year about this time without exception. It's a terrible reminder that my lips will now be chapped until April.  There are so many great things about the winter; my daughter's birthday, our anniversary, Christmas, winter GM meetings...kidding about the last one...sort of.

The weather is not one of them. 

I hate cold, I hate rain, not overly fond of ice in whatever form it is being hurled at me. A lot of people experience what some people call the "long dark night of the soul". Winter for me is sort of a small version of that, I get grumpy and start  doing outrageous things like denying the existence of the United Nations, and trying to prove that the chemical reaction responsible for happiness can be replicated using star fruit and fresh eggs.  Call it the "long dark teatime of the soul" 

I strongly suspect during this part of the year that people find me insufferable, or at least mildly annoying. Apropos that I would be fated to going to several job interviews during this time.

Oh well. 

Harper slept nearly all night last night, it was miraculous, the time falling back has messed up her normal wake up time. Which means I have a built in 7am wake up call whether I like it or not.

It's just magical.

I have mentioned Harper's strange eating habits before so I thought I'd list some things that she likes to eat for your amusement:

Soup- it hardly matters what kind HK loves "schoop" Vegetable, Miso, Chicken, Ramen. It doesn't matter, she loves "schoop"

Peanut Butter-I HATE peanuts and everything that can be made from them. However when we discovered that Harper would eat peanut butter crackers I had to put up with the smell, because it was giving her the protein she wasn't getting from all the chicken she was throwing on the floor. Recently she started breaking apart her crackers and eating all of the peanut butter off...

So Megan has a bright idea, we'll just give her a lump of peanut butter and a couple of Ritz and let her go nuts. This is a fantastic idea...except the guy who gags at the smell of peanuts has to clean them out of EVERYTHING.

Cake- I think she likes the idea of "cayke" even more than eating it. If it's on TV or nearby she says, "cayke mmm-mmm good!" 

Pickled things- Cucumbers, okra, I suspect eggs or pigs feet also. She loves pickles last night after dinner she ate four pieces of pickled okra, I have no idea how she keeps it down. Kids hate weird textures, and that is just downright odd, slimy, slightly furry things, that are hollow on the insides and chock full of seeds. Ewww, but she likes them.

Condiments- Ketchup, Ranch Dressing, Soy Sauce...Whatever food is only the means to get condiment to her mouth. Recently we have stopped giving her them, almost at all. This is why, she'll take two chicken nuggets to eat about a third of a 20 oz ketchup bottle. So you can see the dilemma.

If you've watched the Conan show that is new on TBS you may have seen the super-group Fistful of Mercy who preformed tonight, the band consists of Ben Harper, Joseph Arthur, and Dhani Harrison(that's George's son to all you Beatlemaniacs) and tonight Rage Against the Machine guitar man Tom Morello preformed with them and it was pure magic. I have been fans of all of these artists for years but just found out last week they had worked together, go find their album "As I Call You Down" and buy it, encourage all your friends to buy it and you will not be sorry.

this isn't the Conan performance but it is an awesome tune nonetheless. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcg9scKfbhM&playnext=1&list=PL5CE4E28BF9B0AD45&index=17

Have a good night, and since it's cold outside, warm up with a cup of tea and some "schoop".

And Another Thing...

Tonight was a park night. Harper gets extremely antsy when we have to stay inside all day, which doesn't happen too much only on rainy days or freakishly cold ones. 

If you live in Georgia you know there haven't been any of those so far this year.

So we go to the park, the park that we typically go to is different than your normal playground and open field setup that many in the area have. It boasts tennis courts, baseball and softball fields, a driving range, a skate park, several playgrounds, and a senior center. It's really more of a community hub than just a park.

We played on the different playgrounds where Harper has rediscovered slides, (she used to love them but got scared one time and wouldn't go down them for a couple of months) played on swings and made general merriment. We watched six and seven year olds play a baseball game, and eventually made our way up to the driving range. 

It was closed which was good because it gives her a really big open field to run around in. As we got to the top of the hill that it is on I noticed some deer on the edge of the field, a minute later Harper did also,"oooh wasat?"

"those are deer"

"ooooh deau"

" you want to go see them?"

"YES! OKAY"

we creep up on them and as we get closer Harper got more and more excited, eventually running at them screaming "HEEEEYYYY DEEEEAUUUUUUUUU!!!!! HIII GUYS!" and scaring all eight of them away and making her very sad until I told her to find them we had to creep around quietly and look for them. 

So for the next ten minutes she creeps around on her tiptoes whispering "shhhh dada, deau. Shhhh."

If you have an (almost) two year old, or have had one, or have ever seen one before, you know that ten minutes is a gigantic amount of time for them to do anything. You have never seen anything funnier.

We never found the deer but Harper did jump off of the playground (at a much too high location) she must have realized this around the time she jumped because she grabbed onto an overhead bar. She hung there for just seconds but I bet in those three seconds she yelled "DADA DOWN!" eight times.

It's a wild ride being a parent. Sort of like a roller coaster than you can't get off of.

The midterm elections are coming up and though I refuse to get political in this blog i'd like to give you all this tidbit. A little theory I have.

In no circumstances should someone who is capable of getting themselves elected be allowed to do the job. If you want to get something done right, get someone who is passionate about the issues, but for whatever reason doesn't want to be involved. People forced into power, for whatever reason seem to do a better job.

Except Caligula...but no theory is perfect.