i’m writing this from philadelphia which is crazy if you knew two weeks ago i left north carolina to drive to new mexico. a business trip brought me to philly and i’ll let my eloquent friend, who was sporting enough to accompany me on the trip, tell of the drive to new mexico.

of additional interest in his account is that we had made a similar trip from cleveland to st. louis almost exactly ten years earlier.

after reading his post, i asked -

what will we do for our “china” anniversary?

to which he responded –

next we’ll cross the nation, coast to coast, in a car.

deal?

deal. and for the first time in my life i have a clear twenty year plan.

friday we had a fire in our backyard, saturday we went to durango colorado.

we almost didn’t make it home because the fire on the horizon soon became cause to close the highway.

this region needs a drink.

friday afternoon natalie called…

natalie: where are you?

me: at the house…

natalie: do you see a fire?

me: no, should i?

natalie: you don’t hear fire engines?

me: now that you mention it, i have heard been hearing them in the background

natalie: we can’t get the house, the fire department has blocked the road and says there is a fast moving fire down there

me: really?

natalie: yes, get your computers, kitty (logan’s favorite stuffed animal) and get out of there

me: ok, i’m leaving now

natalie: call me when you’ve gotten out and we can figure out where to meet

as i was hanging up the phone with natalie, rose, the owner of the place we’re staying called…

rose: are you at the house?

me: yes

rose: is there a fire?

me: i haven’t seen one but there are lots of fire trucks in front of the neighbor’s house and natalie just told me they’ve closed the road

rose: my friend called and said the fire is in our backyard

me: really?

rose: are you leaving the house?

me: yes, right now

rose: can you open the gate so the horse can escape and get out of there?

me: i’ll do that and go

as soon as i hung up with rose, the fire department was knocking on the door…

fireman: are you the only one home?

me: yes

fireman: you need to evacuate the premises – there is a fast moving fire heading this way

me: do i have five minutes, ten minutes, more?

fireman: ten minutes top

me: ok, i’ll get out of here

as i pulled out of the driveway i could see the fire had reached the next door neighbors but fortunately the fire department was between the woods on fire and the neighbor’s house. thirty minutes later they let us return home having brought the five acre fire under control.

for the past few years logan has loaded the beatles red and blue compilation cds in to an old stereo we have in the living room. although there are hundreds of cds in our cabinet, she has landed on these two disks and wore them out.

when i recently came across an old ipod i decided to load it up with those beatles cds and a few of her other favorites and let her have it to play on a little boom box in her room.

it may have been a mistake since she now spends much more time in her room than ever before and judging by her singing in the shower she has memorized a few new songs.

when i went in to comb her between bars of “petrov, yeleyena, and me” by the flight of the conchords, which is funny enough on its own – she said:

“you know my favorite part dad, when the guy lowers his voice and says ‘”OoOooooOooooh… someone obviously isn’t getting any” – that’s sooo funny”

yes, logan, it is.

the past few weeks i had to make a number of trips to the office. because i wasn’t going to be home as usual we reviewed with the kids what to do if the sitter didn’t arrive.

we gave them phone numbers to call. they got one of the two right.

we gave them instructions on what to say in their messages, explicitly directing them not to scream emergency unless there was truly an emergency. i’ll let you decide how they did there.

the first call – from ethan:

the second call – from logan:

after spending the night at a friend’s house, his daughter helped me get a bowl of cereal the next morning. it was the same cereal we have at home so i to her:

me: just like home.

her: but i bet your kitchen is much cleaner.

me: what makes you think my kitchen isn’t messier.

her: you seem like a very organized man.

something from me to you. i love you. from my heart. from every side. i love you. i was sad as could be, i wanted you with me. i wanted you with my heart.

happy father’s day. i was lucky to get you at birth. i love you dad as vast as the solar system. i loved building the deathstar and london bridge (lego kits).

you just don’t hear “20 of my favorite roller girls were involved” often enough…

a friend’s response to my birthday wishes –

greeting:

i’m not going to lie – it was facebook spam that reminded me today was your birthday, but i still can’t go online to post happy birthday to your wall… so i’m doing the old fashion way, via email ;-)

happy birthday

response:

“old-fashion” = “e-mail” that’s awesome

I know exactly how you feel. FYI, you are like one of three who actually sent an e-mail (vs ~150 Facebook posts)

Truly a sign of the times…

Thanks Matthew! I actually had quite an epic birthday celebration. About 20 of my favorite roller girls were involved. Need I say more?

seriously, i was rooting for a team from dallas last year and now oklahoma this year? its almost, i did say almost, too painful to root against lebacle james.

when the guy on the left walked in to our meeting today it took me a few seconds to believe it wasn’t my friend on the right…

if only the guy on the left had arrived in a purple pimp suit, or dripping wet because he decided to come in via the fountain in front of the office these two people would be indistinguishable…

i haven’t had much to say lately because i have been feeling more like a spectator than the driver of the events in my life.

that needs to change before i wake up and realize that i am tyler durden…