Regular Dad

Yup, I'm back to dealing with the generator.  Again.  But this time from a place of acceptance.  I know it's my fault and it's time to undo my wrongs.   I haven't gone on any religious rants in a bit.  So let's get to it.  All sparked by our really good tile guys.  So I had to bottle most of this up to stay in their good graces.   We finished the final season of Euphoria.  Don't worry, I do a pret...

Do I really have to finally admit that I'm over the hill?  Have I truly left my peak behind me instead of pretending I can still make a new peak?  Or am I just having a bad week and this is how it's manifesting?   The kids are officially at sleep-away camp.  And sweet jebus it couldn't have come soon enough.  It was only like 1.5 weeks of post-school and it was rough.  Now comes almost 4 weeks of...

The baseball seems to never end.  But at least this time I wasn't sitting in a hot-ass field all greased up with sunscreen watching the kids lose for 6 hours.  Oh wait... And yay, summer camp has started.  And the other wants to do tennis clinics.  It's okay, I don't mind getting up every 90-120 minutes to drive kids around.  It's not like I'm trying to work and maintain my sanity or anything. Oh...

Well I'm once again broken by a week.  Nothing tragic, it just walked me right down little by little.   We had hours and hours and hours of baseball.  All victories, but it's still A LOT of hours at various fields.   We had a middle school graduation.  On a Tuesday morning.  Followed by a nice lunch.  And then an on-line barrel pick from Copper & Cask Then more baseball, a friggin HOUR FROM HO...

Well, this has been a week of multiple screw up.  I somehow recorded this and then just never editted and published it.  I kinda see how that happened given how the week went, but it's weird that it never crossed my mind.   And yeah, if you were confused about a couple things last episode, here is the background that you were missing.  But we take a walk down memory lane for a bit, and then discus...

It was yet another weekend of unexpected minor chaos.  The dog acted up, Myles blind-sided me with a rediculous question, and Hayley took off back to Long Island.   But I was still able to get some mental healing time by my firepit and everyone got to everything they needed to get to.  And I got some chores down.   That said, weekends for the rest of the summer better find some damn chill, or this...

Draining weekend over here.  I did get to serve my peak baseball role; substitute bench coach.  Yell out batting order, positions, then just hype up the kids and yell basebally things.  Unfortunately for 6 hours.  The long-awaited master bathroom reno has officially begun.  It was a long weekend of last-minute emptying of our bathroom and closet.  Lots of donations, lots of Buy Nothing, but lots o...

Well, it finally happened.  We have a ton of deer around us.  And I spend a lot of time driving during deer hours.  And telling my MIL she shouldn't be so paranoid because no one actually hits a deer.  And so I hit one.  Well, it kinda hit me.  Either way, front 1/4 panel, bumper, headlight are all done.  And right before Mother's Day, no less.  Which was definitely not our best Mother's Day.  Bot...

Of all the car maintenance I have to perform, I've honed my brake job skills quite a bit over the last 8ish years.  But for whatever reason, Jaws decided it wasn't going to go down without a fight.  A big fight.  A break multiple tools kinda fight.   And really that was the gist of the week.  Other things happened, but they all got over-shadowed by the Tragedy in the Driveway...edy.   Enjoy!

That title might be over-stating it a bit, but I realized in editing that I reference wizards twice.  So it must be a sign.   Anyways, I feel like I'm magically back to full power again.  Or at least as full power as I can get.  I'm motivated, I have energy, ready to take on everything and crush it this summer.  Which is good, because it was a full weekend.  Wizards bball, soccer tournaments, base...

Another fantastic Boys Baseball Weekend in the books.  Now hopefully I didn't really dive into the history of these trips last year, because that's what I'm doing again.  If I did, well there's probably different flavors this time around.  We golfed, we pickelballed, we day drank, we baseballed.  We had multiple first-time-for-thats.  And really, there was a clear loser both times.  Huh.   And I j...

Remember a couple weeks ago when I woke up Monday and felt super happy and energetic and positive?  Then the day just slowly wore me down to normal?  Yeah, this was like that, except it was an entire week.  And it didn't wear me down slowly.  I strolled into the room all happy and post-vacationy and just took a sock full of quarters to the face.  And nuts.   Whiskey review!  aka The Bit That Never...

Spring Break hath Sprung!  Or it did sprung.  Springed?  Whatever.  We had a very good trip to see Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks.  Luckily we only caught the tail end of that west coast heat wave.  But hiking in the Valley of Death when it's 90s is still freaking hot.   And that's really it.  I mean, we saw 2 awesome national parks that have amazing terrain that beats everything we h...

My ode to Friday:  It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times.  Some real highs and low in that day.  Which, as is typical, lead to a very sluggish Saturday morning.  But we rallied and had a great rest of the weekend.   Who wants to hear an old story from my Purdue days that really has no meaning excpet for making me laugh?  Nice.   I've got a recommendation.  Which is more of a reminde...

Once again we're back in a cycle of introspection.  Sure it's healthy and all, but it's not a process that's enjoyable.  At least future me will once again be better for it. And if that wasn't enough, the kids took their fort building (in the rich neighborhood's field) too far and now people are pissed.  I told them not to steal fence rails, but did they listen?  Nooooo. March Madness is here!  Of...

It's Pi Day!!  A glorious excuse to bake, and proceed to eat most of, a pie.  Because of family duties I couldn't buy my preferred filling, but obviously I have enough supplies on hand for 1 good pie.   I jumped the gun a bit in my comments on One Battle After Another winning awards.  I don't watch the shows or particularly care who does or doesn't win anything.  But my review (aka grievance) is l...

Another week, another combination of misjudgements and misfortune on my part.  No, they weren't technically related, but they did happen at the same time.  It's not easy to get pretty much everyone in the house annoyed/mad at me.  Except the dog; she loves me unconditionally. It's spring and I'm once again proclaiming that I'll reclaim my claim to the basement.  It's off to a slow start, but I'll...

Another exhausting week of too many activities and not enough sleep.  Mostly driven by a desire to ski super early on Sunday and then play hockey Monday like normal.   Trump and Israel have become unlikely bedfellows in a new war in the middle east.  For all the anti-semitism he and his followers bring, he doesn't hate their military prowess in the region.   The NBA might finally be having a recko...

I'm 100% in on the winter olympics.  I've been loving every day so far.  Skiing, curling, luge, bobsled, biathelon, all excellent and hugely enjoyable to watch.  Am I now a winter over summer olympic guy?! A strange sense of contentment has come over me this week.  It hasn't been an easy week, and nothing noteably good has happened.  So maybe something really good is finally happening.  Or it's a...

My Monday started off on the wrong foot, briefly improved when I played Shinny, and then steadily went downhill.  Ending with me bleeding and wondering if I broke my f'n thumb (still inconclusive).   But I think I know what's going on with the chimney.  I could be wrong, but my theory makes a lot of sense.  Not sure exactly how we fix it, but I'm sure a pro will know. I'm sure you've been waiting...

It may come as a shock, but I do actually believe in a version of karma.  Kind of a...midwestern karma.  Like, be cool and happy and people will return that same energy.   I got me some more Driftless Glen.  But is it still worth hauling it back from Chicago?   And my chimney issues are continuing.  There's a cold backdraft coming back in the water heater flue.  Which prevents those from venting p...

We have survived what became a disappointing snowstorm.  Err, I mean, 8" is a HUGE amount.  Of snow.  Delivered in one night.  Totally wasn't hoping for more.   I've got our BWCA permit for this summer.  Did my big-boy thing and scored the exact permit I wanted.  Next up, planning details.  Middle West Spirits Michelone Reserve Bourbon.  Over-hyped like everything else coming out of Ohio, or a sol...

Sorry I missed a week, but things went pretty sideways last week and I just couldn't get it done.   Big news, our 5yo goldendoodle was diagnosed with Addison's disease.  And it came on with really no warning.  Couple days of worrying, night at the doggie ER, but we're back to normal now.  A normal that involves a life of hormone replacements.   Pop quiz, at my age, do you think a 2-day span that g...

Yep, that was one of my more douchey titles, but I'm really fighting to not think about the Bears game and therefore have less brainpower than normal for everything else.   2025 will go down as a successful year.  Was it the year I hoped to have?  Not quite.  But I do feel like I moved the needle in a positive direction on almost everything.  High Wire Distilling's Jimmy Red Double Oak.  Crappy cr...

The holidays are upon us.  Am I ready?  From a gifting and travel standpoint, sure.  Am I mentally and emotionally ready?  We'll find out.  It won't be the relaxing, chill time with my family from the days of old.  But I'd be naive to set my sights on that.  Once again, I've gained slightly more awareness on how the Christmas machine tends to steamroll everything else.  Which is just the way the C...