Playing In Quicksand

Hello. Well today marks the end of the February challenge by Nablopomo to blog every day. Except for the weekend we spent in Wisconsin Dells, I faithfully completed the task. I could have blogged on vacation. I had the lap top along. I was just having to much fun to stop though. No excuses. I made a conscious choice and I’ll live with it.

I’ve asked myself why do this. It’s a good question. There is no pay, so I don’t do it for money. I’ve got some folks who keep tabs on  the site and they follow from everywhere. Places like England, Ghana, Australia,  and quite a few of the fifty states have been represented, which is great. However, too few people take the time to comment on my writing or to share a story of their own, so at times this writing feels like it’s being done in almost total anonymity. It’s kind of unfortunate because one of my hopes in the beginning was to have some dialogue with anyone who took the time to read what I’ve written. To share ideas or opinions and possibly make some more online friends in this virtual neighborhood we live in. Ever the eternal optimist, I’ve not given up hope of this coming to pass, just yet.

My life isn’t really all that interesting. While my situation may be somewhat unique (50 something dad to two young daughters, extended family issues, etc.) most of my and my families days are quite ordinary. I try to take a humorous look at the incredibly average things that happen to us, assuming along the way that these things happen to others as well and that they may feel like sharing a story or two themselves.  Like I said earlier, hope springs eternal.

So, with all that said, why do I do this. Well, I’ve got to admit that it feels good to share a feeling sometimes, even if you don’t know if anyone else see’s it. I’ve found this entire exercise to be very cathartic. Sort of like standing alone in the middle of the woods and screaming at the top of your lungs. Not that I’ve ever done that, I’m just saying, you know?

I guess this has become my online journal. I’ve received some very nice comments about my writing and my writing style (I hadn’t been aware I had a style) and I’ve also received a few comments of the “left handed” variety, but it’s o.k. If you’re going to put you’re self out there like I’ve chosen to do, a thicker skin will be a requirement. While my skin has become tougher through the years, some shots still sting a little. Years ago, those kind of comments and attitudes would have been enough to make me stop, to make me quit. But these days, it just makes me all the more determined to continue.

I guess in the final analysis, I do this for me more than anything. It’s a chance to do something creative and to share my opinion or get something off of my chest. This site has allowed me to meet some new folks and to reconnect with some dear old friends and hopefully there will be much more of that. I’ve not yet tried to tackle anything to controversial but I must if this is to have any hope of growing. Maybe that’s what it takes to get comments. We’ll see.

So in closing, I’d like to thank anyone who’s bothered to take the time to read what I’ve written. They may be at time seemingly aimless ramblings but they are original thoughts, not taken out of a book and regurgitated just to say I’ve written something, and they are mine. And I’m o.k. with that.

I’ll talk to you again soon, when I’m out here playing in quicksand.

Good evening. I wrote a few nights ago about how we were starting to look for another home. About how we were going to take our time and that we’d know it when we saw it. How we’d have “that” feeling, remember? Well, yesterday and today were the first two days of our quest for other housing and all I can report is that we haven’t seen the one we want yet. We have yet to be overcome by “the feeling”. I’ve been overcome by a few other things that have give me “a” feeling, just not “the feeling”.

We  have traveled a good twenty miles to the south of where we live and a good twenty miles to the north of where we live, and all this did was establish a north/south boundary for us. A limit as to how far we are willing to go in those directions. We’ve yet to have a reason to go east or west but I sense that time will be drawing near soon. My hope is that the boundary limit is something less than twenty miles. That somewhere in this vast square mileage jungle we’ve created lies a home that fits all of our  requirements, modest though they be.

I’m sure that if we call enough phone numbers, answer enough e-mails, follow enough arrows on signs, that eventually we will be driving along when the sky will open just a crack and a shaft of light will fall down from the heavens and shine on the structure that we will inhabit,  and once settled,will hang onto like grim death. But until that day, our search continues. So if you’re driving around in the fox cities area sometime in the near future and happen across an SUV with two unruly children in the back and two exasperated looking parents in the front, wave and smile. It might be us. Out looking for “that feeling”.

I’m done for now but before I go, I like to report that my six year old daughter Grace lost both of her front teeth this weekend. My how fast the time goes. I love you Gracie.

I’ll talk to you tomorrow when I’m sure I’ll be playing in quicksand, again.

Hello. I’d like to apologize but I have no desire to really write tonight. It’s been a long week and I’m mentally and physically tired, so if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to go get comfortable and relax. Hopefully my batteries will recharge and I’ll be able to at least make the attempt at writing something semi-entertaining.

So good night for now but I’ll talk to you tomorrow when I’m sure I’ll be playing in quicksand, again.

Hello. I stopped and got a haircut after work today. Wait! Don’t leave yet! I am going someplace with this. I know that my haircut isn’t important to anyone else but me, but while I was in the chair, I struck up a conversation with the stylist about hair cuts that I found to be very interesting.

First off, the place I go to get my hair cut is one of those “haircuts for guys” places. You know the ones, free peanuts, free coffee, every t.v. tuned to ESPN. It’s great! And it made me remember how barbershops used to be. Barbershops were for men only. Now that’s not to say that every once and a while a girl would get her hair cut there, but it was almost exclusively the domain of the male.

I got my hair cut by the same barber for 30 – 35 years. Adam was his name and the last time I saw him he was still cutting hair. Then barbershops gave way to the “family styling center”, a place everyone in the family could go to that had a special room just for guys. This was o.k. but it was hard to have the atmoshere that a good old fashioned barbershop had when the smell of some lady getting a perm hung heavy in the air. It’s just not quite the same. And in a strange and unnerving twist, there was a period of time when the perm was being done on a mans hair. I never understood that. To each their own I guess, but not for me.

So to be able to go to a place for a haircut dedicated to men is like stepping back in time except with peanuts and cable.

I was reminded recently by an old friend that I used to wear my hair pretty long. Shoulder length or longer. Hair! ( that’s an inside attempt at humor for anyone reading this who’s old enough to remember the Cowsills). Guess I felt like letting my freak flag fly. (Crosby, Stills, and Nash anyone?) But it’s an ironic twist for me to wax nostalgic about barbershops. I guess barbershops bring back some good memories for me and I’ll take that anytime.

That’s all for now. Gotta go check my hair. But I”ll talk to you tomorrow when I’m sure I’ll be playing in quicksand, again.

P.S. Don’t forget to vote on “Awful or Awesome”!

Good evening. I was sitting here pondering what to write about and drawing an absolute blank. I had nothing. It’s a very pedestrian Wednesday, nothing much exciting happening, not even anything remotely interesting.  I had spent the last hour or so listening to music and decided to make myself a cup of coffee when inspiration struck. I’ll write about a few of my favorite things. Hey, I know it’s not necessarily an original thought, but what do you want. It’s Wednesday and I’ve got nothing.

Drinking coffee and listening to music qualify as two of my favorite things, either together or separately. Another favorite of mine is reading the newspaper. I love reading the daily paper, and this can also be done in combination with coffee and music also. I sensing a theme here.

With Spring on the way, I’d list golfing as a favorite activity of mine. Now, this isn’t generally done in concert with the other things I’ve listed previously, but there is generally a bit of drinking that follows golf, just not coffee. But don’t worry, I’m quite a responsible drinker.

Another favorite of mine which I enjoy to do while having a few adult beverages is grilling out. I am a die hard charcoal user and can make a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon pass drinking a beer, listening to a baseball game on the radio, and cleaning my grill. That’s what I call fun, and if friends stop over, all the better.

This isn’t a complete list by any means, but it’s a start. I’ll try to add to it as time goes by. And please feel free to pass along your own favorites. I’d be very interested to find out what you do for fun or just to relax.

I’m done for tonight. Take care and I’ll talk to you tomorrow when I’m sure I’ll be playing in quicksand, again.

Hello again. Let me begin tonight by saying thank you to the Rolling Stones for the masterpiece whose title became tonight’s theme. I’m not necessarily the biggest Stones fan but they have a few songs I would number among my favorites like “Satisfaction” and “Under My Thumb”. But “Gimme Shelter”  would be my favorite by them. Great stuff!

Now where were we? Oh yeah, I was going to explain where in the hell I was going with this. Well, those of you who know me will understand immediately and those of you who don’t know me will will learn another fun fact about me tonight. We moved to the Fox River Valley area almost two years ago and when we did, we just decided to rent an apartment for the time being so we could just get settled before the weather started to get bad. Well now our lease is coming to an end and we really have to have more room, so we’re moving. This might seem like any big deal to some of you, but this will be move number eight ( I think ) in thirteen years together with my wife.

I really thought we were done moving when we bought our house in Manitowoc but then, downsizing by a former turned me into a landlord and me and my family into gypsies. So now we begin again to search for more permanent shelter, a search that has us exploring every possibility and checking map quest constantly to find out where that town is located in relation to where I work so I”m not driving thirty minutes one way to go to work.

We love living here and this has very quickly become home to us, but we are at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to where to live. We’ve begun to rely on friends and coworkers for opinions on topics ranging from schools to neighborhoods to shopping to doctors to, well you get the idea. While we’ve been thankful for all of the help, where we end up will come down to what it always comes down to. A feeling. That feeling you get when you look around and think about what it would be like to entertain there, to have Thanksgiving dinner there, your children’s birthday parties, what it would be like to just sit out back and watch the kids play while doing nothing at all. That feeling. That’s what it will come down to.

So we’ll take our time looking around and remain confident that we’ll know it when we see it, because while we’re looking for shelter, what we really are looking for is home.

That’s all for now, but I”ll talk to you tomorrow when I’ll be playing in quicksand, again.

Hello. Today’s title should be “When At Rome” since Hotel Rome is where we stayed in Wisconsin Dells this past weekend, but it doesn’t sound as good. We spent two nights at Mt. Olympus Water Park and we had a blast! Wisconsin Dells is proof that you are never too old to have fun. There were all age of people there from small babies to grandparents and every age in between. From wading pools to swimming pools to ten story water slides, there was something for everyone. And if you had enough of the water for awhile, you could walk next door and go to the amusement park, which featured a roller coaster, go cart track, and quite an extensive arcade area.

For the record. I went down every water slide in the building and my favorite was the ten story slide without a tube. I’m not sure if this makes me an adrenaline junkie or not, (probably not) but it sure was fun.

We’ll probably be going back sometime in early fall. We’ll probably try one of the other parks this time and also get in some shopping, which wasn’t really possible this time. But if the next trip is anything like the last one, we’re sure to have a great time. I’ll try to get some pictures posted soon.

My wife and I have many discussions about many things. The subject matter could be almost anything. Music, movies, a particular news item, etc. I’ve always enjoyed the back and forth, the giving and taking of opinion between us. So, I’ve decided to try to involve any of you who might be interested. If you look at the right hand side of my site nearer the bottom, I’ve created a daily poll called “Awful or Awesome”. Everyday I’ll post a topic and you can vote whether you think it’s awful (dislike) or awesome (like). Hopefully, folks will find it fun and please leave comments if you’d like. In the spirit of the season, the first poll is “The Winter Olympics”.

Please take the time to vote. Your opinion matters. Thanks for playing along.

I’m going for now, I need to get out and vote. But I’m sure I’ll talk to you again tomorrow when I’ll be playing in quicksand, again.

Hello. First let me apologize for using the words from an awful song as the title for tonight’s edition of quicksand, but it seems to fit. We are spending tonight getting ready for a two night mini vacation in Wisconsin Dells. I forgot how much work vacation is.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m looking forward to giant water slides, lazy rivers, and hot tubs very much. Even mild winters seemingly have no end at some point, so we do what we can to maintain our sanity until Spring comes to stay. But with the amount of stuff we are bringing, you’d think we were taking an extended driving tour of the U.S. At last I understand how the castaways on “Gilligans Island” ended up with the amount of things they had on the island. There is no such thing as over packing for a three hour cruise.

Well, that’s enough complaining. I’m sure we’re going to have a great time. I’m reminded of the words of my late father who couldn’t of been more right when he said, “just remember, bad vacation is better than good work”. That man sure had perspective. Miss you dad!

And with that I must leave for tonight. A lot of packing left to do. I’ll talk to you again tomorrow when I’ll be playing in quicksand, again.

Good evening. I like food. All different kind of food. Desserts, main dishes, vegetables, casseroles, you name it and I probably like it, or would at least be willing to try it.  My wife is an excellent cook, which makes us a perfect match. At least in that respect. Living over here in the valley offers the chance to chose from many different restaurants and a wide variety of of food choices.

This is both good and bad. It’s a lot of fun to try something new sometime but there is always the possibility that you may not particularly care for this new choice. But still when good food, nice atmosphere, and great service come together, the dining experience can be memorable.

I’d like to briefly tell you about two recent dining experiences of mine. As tonight’s title implies, this is meant to be food for thought.

Last Saturday we took a trip back to our old hometown, Manitowoc, WI. On the way, we stopped for breakfast at a small cafe in a town called Forest Junction. The name of the cafe is Railway Junction and we had been there a time or two before. It’s nothing fancy on the inside but that’s not to say it’s not nice. I would describe the feeling I get when I’m there to the feeling you’d have if you were sitting in a friends kitchen. Comfortable. Now the food is wonderful. I had the “Orange Blossom Special” which was a layer of potatoes, onions, peppers, and sausage topped with two sunny side up eggs. Delicious! But the best part is the toast. Yes that’s right, the toast. Most people don’t recommend restaurants or cafes based on the quality of their toast, but I’m making an exception in this case.

The toast is homemade and cut thick, like Texas toast, Then it is buttered while still warm with real butter. Toast to die for. I could literally go there and just have toast and coffee and that would be fine. Now I know how Dan Ackroyd felt in the “Blues Brothers” when he walked into Aretha Franklins diner and ordered just toast.

So here’s a “toast” to Railway Junction in Forest Junction. A wonderful breakfast experience.

Also, we recently had the opportunity to try a new place in Appleton called Po Boy’s. It’s a New Orleans style restaurant with many classic New Orleans inspired dishes. There are quite a few different Po Boys, which are,for lack of a better way to describe them, a Louisiana style sub sandwich. There are also items like Muffaletta, Catfish, and Gumbo. The food was good. Not outstanding but solid. A lot of different flavors going on in this type of food. Also, the portion sizes were quite large.

The service was good and it didn’t take long to get our food. They also give you a Nawlins’ name that they will call out when your order is ready. Mine was “Randy Neuman”.

Not a big place, but it’s got that “new” restaurant feel to it. I’ll be back. The food was good and different from some of the other choices out there. Worth a try in my opinion.

Well, that’s it for tonight. All of this writing about food has got me in the mood for a snack. I’ll see what I can find. I’ll talk to you tomorrow when I’m sure I’ll be playing in quicksand, again.

Hello. There is a great line from one of the all time great movies (in my opinion) “Terms Of Endearment” where Debra Winger says to Jeff Daniels on the subject of parenting “as hard as you think it’s going to be, you wish it was that easy”. That may not be the exact quote but it’s close and sums up exactly how I feel today.

Having children has been the highlight of my life. The best thing I will ever do. But sometimes I wonder, for the briefest moment, what the hell I was thinking about. I mean really, didn’t I learn anything from my own childhood and what I put my parents through? Evidently not.

I’m  probably being a little hard on myself. I know I talked with my kids infinitely more that my parents did. Now to be fair, my father wasn’t a talker. He was never gonna sit me down, listen to my problems, and offer some opinion or advise based on his years of experience. That wasn’t his style. And my mother was a teacher all day and a housewife when she got home from work. And with three other children in the house besides me, the chances we had to talk were few and far between.

So I learned like a lot of kids did, on my own by making mistakes, a lot of mistakes, or from my friends, who advice also led to mistakes,a lot of mistakes. So I guess it’s not really a surprise when my kids learned the same way I did. Living in another city doesn’t help, but technology being what it is today, living apart from my kids can be overcome.

As a parent, there are times when you think your doing it right, when everything seems to be working out it looks like you’ve finally come through the worst of it. And then there are those times when you begin to doubt everything you’ve ever done for or said to your kids. When you more insecurity than they probably do.

That’s where I’m at today. Not quite sure how things go to hell sometimes and unsure if there’s anything I could have done to change what’s happened. Maybe even feeling a little bit guilty that I wasn’t just a little bit better at this whole parenting thing.

I’m sure I’ll feel better tomorrow. Problems are just opportunities to improve ourselves or our situation. Try to find the positive, no matter how far we have to dig for it. And never give up. It’s not our style.

Hey, maybe I know a little more about this whole parenting thing than I’m giving myself credit for. Time will tell.

I’ll talk to you tomorrow, when I’ll be playing in quicksand, again.