Better later than. ...

Sorry again for not making any entries. Our Internet was down for a bit.

I was amazed at how vulnerable we are here without the Web and e-mail. Suddenly we couldn't pay bills, talk to friends, keep family informed of what's going on or check in on the weather or work or my porn sites ... oh, I mean, check on Web sites of deep, meaningful, socially significant discussions. Yeah. That's what I mean.

So. ...

Last week was Elspeth's 11th birthday. The photo is above. She looks like she's ashamed of her parents for singing too loudly or just making her look bad in front of her friends. And that's true.

We went to The Lost City in Holland Township. It has laser tag, video games and mini golf. Seems like all the kids had fun.

Other stuff

I was pondering Geodude's comments about WHTC radio here in Holland and, honestly, I don't know how the station stays on the air. I think it might be the sports the station broadcasts. I listen to the Detroit Lions and Detroit Red Wings through this station, and it also plays the Holland Blast basketball, Hope College basketball (men and women) and football and high school sports. I bet there's money there.

And I think the unprofessional, racists comments reflect a large part of the Holland community anyway. Diversity is only OK when African Americans, Hispanics and Asians stay within acceptable "white" limits, that is, they all act white.

Hey, now that ought to get people talking!

I haven't been bicycling yet this season. Too cold and snowy. We had about 2 inches of snow Friday and it's still below 32 degrees this Saturday morning.

I am doing a blog for work about cycling. You can check that out at www.hollandsentinel.com, then click on the Blogs button and look for my face. I look pretty pissed off in the picture. I guess that's my natural state.

Thought: I want to put the snow shovel away!

Morning thoughts

I'm up early this morning because my body still is not used to getting more than about 5 hours of sleep. You know, there's not much on TV at 4:30 a.m.

I wanted to share my lament about local radio. I was listening to WHTC out of Holland the other morning. I have to listen to it as part of my job, otherwise I would blot this station out of my mind.

Anyway, the hosts had their regually scheduled garden guest on talking about squirrels. A caller asked if devices that make noise will work in scaring off the squirrels.

No, replied the garden guest.

Squirrels don't have rhythm, says one of the hosts.

"Except the black ones," says the garden guest. All laugh.

I almost fell out of my chair. This is the same radio station that allowed its morning DJ to make jokes about watermellon during a segment on Martin Luther King.

If I need a reminder that racism is alive and well, I just need to look out my own front door.

Thought: Why can't morning radio just play music?

Horsing around

I think I mentioned that the family trekked off to Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids last weekend to enjoy the butterfly exhibit. It was great!

We did take some time to roam about the grounds and, of course, made our way to the giant horse. Above, Elspeth was having some fun with the statue.

Both girls are at the Hope College Young Writers Workshop in Holland. I'm glad they're both excited about the writing process.

Thought: Yes. The horse at Meijer Garden is anatomically correct.

What to do?

So I had my first scheduled Saturday off in almost 17 years. What a strange feeling.

I took the girls to their morning art class, had a great breakfast with Jayne and her mom at Respite coffee shop in Douglas (I strongly recommend the breakfast burrito), went to Menards to get some new blinds (ours have been broken and we've had them for more than 14 years) while Jayne and her mom went shopping, then went to the Saugatuck library to do some research on area one-room school houses, talked to the librarian Martha whom I haven't seen for months, went to Oval Beach to walk on the shore and be awed by the ice, then picked up the girls.

All by noon.

Later in the day, I took the girls to the Fennville playground (the pictures won't upload yet, but I'll try later).

Note there's not much snow left. My apologies to our friends in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York who were just buried in snow Saturday. I watched The Weather Channel reporter stand out on the Lake Erie ice in Buffalo to report the storm. Silly man. I hope your shovels are still working.

Of literary

I finished "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells last week. Those Victorian writers are a hoot. Funny how the professor would be disgusted by the Morlocks when they have the mental agility to adapt to circumstances and learn, but the Eloi do not. I guess the Morlocks just weren't cute enough.

I'm reading "The Odessey" now. I finished "The Illiad" last year or so, and the "The Aeneid" before that. So I've read them out of order. I've read sections of "The Odessey" before -- some even in Latin a million years ago -- but never the total product.

Thought: Now I can say that I officially hate Mondays.

Diving into the car pool

I've completed the transformation from night shift to the day side at work. I've become normal.

After 17 years of working nights and weekends, I am no longer scheduled to work Saturdays! What will I do? I'm a Monday through Friday guy.

With this transformation, I've immediately become more conservative, cut my hair and wear a suit. Well, not really. I have started sharing a ride to work with my wife, though.

It's nice to ride together (though I'm a terrible passenger in bad weather!). Once we drop off the kids, we have some time to chat before Jayne drops me at work. Then, she picks me up on the way home and we get to talk some more.

How wonderfully normal!

I figure I lost most of my social contacts and friends not because I'm a real bastard, but because we could never get together when they had days off -- the weekends. Now I'm ready to rock. Is anybody home?

In other news

Back in the real world, though. ...

-- We had a scary day back on Feb. 29. At about 3 a.m., Jayne heard a thud. She ran downstairs and found her mom on the floor. Jayne got me and we helped her mom up -- luckily no broken bones, but some nasty bruises -- and Jayne got her to the doctor later that day.

Seems she blacked out on her way into the bathroom and fell. The doctor thinks it was a combination of low blood pressure and a sinus infection.

-- Alyssa has an ear infection. Luckily, the big chain stores around here don't charge for amoxicillin. Really. Free prescription medicine. Viva the revolution.

-- I had to take the Kia in for brake work today. Lots on bumping and grinding, and not the good kind. I pick it up Thursday. I expected a much more expensive bill, remembering the same work on the Corisca that topped $400. The Kia came to about $260.

-- Coincidentally, we got our tax refunds back today. Timing is everything.

Thought: It's almost bike riding season!