Trinkets

This single container of industrial glue is over 100 years old. The story of how it made it's way into our home is simple. It's the story's tributaries that are abundant... and more than slightly odd.


A maintenance man at our apartment building in Columbus gave Erica that little treasure. That's the short of it.

DECC

I actually might like this photo more. They were taken for reference for some signage we're doing.

DECC

Hanging at the Convention Center.

Focus In

I've heard snippets of snippets that suggest this is what babies see for the first few months of life... Christmas trees. Not a bad way to look at the world.

Penny Slots

Tell me soothsayer... what lies ahead?

'Bout that Time

Ring Ring

Coming through.

Projex 3.0

Finally! A battery charger. Yeesh. Things should go a lot smoother from here on out.

Street View

Northside in the early morning.

Bad news. I can't find my battery charger.

Projex 2.0

When I would shoot the hoops growing up, I got into the habit of making 10 free-throws in the row before I could put the ball down. Make nine, miss the last? Start over. I got pretty good at it. Rhythm... spin, three bounces, bend at the knees, release and accentuate the follow-through.

I started out with the intent of taking a picture everyday for a month. Clearly, that hasn't happened. Time to start over.

More Shelves

I. Can't. Stop.

What Goes Around Comes Around

Every first year photography student at UC has taken this shot. In fact, I've taken this shot.

Not the City, Findlay. Findlay, Findlay.

Had to stop and get some turkey... for tacos. Turkey tacos.

Downtown via The Charles

It's how I get to work.

That was some serious rain this morning. I went running in it. Felt like I was water skiing.

Hey Hey Hallway

It's just been that kind of day... a dark scary hallway kind of day.

All You Need is Love

He/she (?) greeted me this morning as I went to hop in the car to head to work. I have to believe this is the bug kingdom's way of making peace.

Door Frame

One picture. Each day. No matter how boring or bad it might be. I can do this. I may or may not comment on the subject.

But I will today...

Those pieces of "wood" that make up the frame look a thousand years old. They're only five. I got 99 problems but that door frame ain't one.

Straighten Up

Nothing sobers you up quite like a long walk home up this street. Trust me on this one.

Straight Street is crazy straight and crazy steep (the steepest part is hard to see in the photo). Coming from Piqua, it still makes me a little nervous to take anything down this hill. Now, imagine life without I-75 and add another half mile to the street. I imagine that's the way it was back in the day.

Over the course of .87mi the land rises well over 300ft and most of that rise happens in about .4mi. I'm sure there are cities with steeper streets but I haven't seen them yet.

In Retrospect

I came across an unpublished post today. Laying in Wait was written on March 15, 2011. Those bumps are now three months old and as it would turn out, Erica was having actual contractions. Three days after I wrote this, we were in the hospital making sure those girls didn't prematurely exit.

Looking back, there was such an air of uncertainty. Everything was about to change but neither of us knew how. The title of the post seemed appropriate. I was present, ready to be a dad... whatever that was.

...

I haven't talked much about our twins. My wife isn't a huge fan of social media/blogging. I don't blame her and actually commend her on the fact that she's about the only person I know without a facebook account. When used, these outlets, just like this blog, are nothing more than a way to express oneself.

I have a second cousin that friended me recently. I accepted the request and while I'm not on facebook all that much, when I am, it's inundated with crap that she says and her friends comment on. If energy is neither created nor destroyed, I feel like her and her friends are thus making some Amazonian insect extinct simply by filling the internet with senseless jibber jabber. The fact is, if you post something, it could very well end up on the screens of God knows who. After doing hundreds and hundreds of google searches for reference material, I can tell you that some people post waaaaaay too much concerning their family and personal life.

But it remains that Erica is now almost 32 weeks along and with twins typically coming 3-5 weeks early, we're pretty much ready to make the drive any day now. At this point, my "anxiety" contractions are daily. When we first found out, I would wake up panicked, about once a month. Finding out they were twins only increased that frequency and now that she thinks she might be having actual contractions once or twice a day (maybe some Brixton Hicks), holy crap.

But I'm enjoying this time. We still are making final arrangements in the nursery and trying to finish up final details in the kitchen, but we always make time in the evening to watch two babies do somersaults in Erica's stomach. You can can see whole limbs protrude and recede. Twitches reverb and disfigure her entire stomach. Recently, they both stretched out at the same time and Erica's stomach would've made for a good crossbar. It's amazing just how sensitive they are to touch. Actually, it's all just really amazing.

So there they sit... head to head at this point. Getting bigger every day. We go for another growth ultrasound this week but judging from the last one, I'd say they're nearly four pounds... if not slightly more. That's a lot of baby. But we'd like it if they got as big as possible so we can take them home sooner rather than later.

Piqua's Finest

My sister has mentioned several times with more than a little animosity that she's never graced the pages of my blog. Well Meg, be careful what you ask for.

Three Thoughts for Week Ending 06.11

We'll make this quick.

Conservatives use Michigan as their whipping boy, berating it for being such a waste of a state because it was apparently run into the ground by Democrats. It's possibly, but not quite, as true as its contrasting element, Cincinnati... stifled by the short-sightedness and conservative attitudes of its inhabitants. Maybe? Hamilton County's lovely demographic reminds me of Microsoft Windows 2000.

end of thought one

I was thinking the other day... why do senior citizens vote for things they want to see happen? Things they care about? I know this sounds cruel and unusual, but wouldn't it make more sense for those 60+ in age to align their votes with someone... well... younger? How does killing the streetcar and other assorted public transportation projects affect a 75 year-old that rarely, if ever, drives? Just sayin'.

end of thought two

How does Deters have another job? Those conservatives like to tell you how much they love their God, their money, their freedom and in roundabout ways, their bigotry. You can be racist as hell on the radio in Cincinnati... we'll call it a good way to increase ad revenue.

end of thought three

I Saw This The Other Week

Heading home via Spring Grove, I saw this shipment of military surplus goods and had to take a picture.

Who uses tanks anymore? That's so WWII.

More Tidbits

Terrible picture, some may say, but I like it... and am, thus, posting it. Since bringing them home, I've found it very hard to refrain from hugging them with all I am.

Tidbits

It's been weeks, I know. I have excuses, you may know. Babies. Two of them. Girls. Eleven minutes apart on a rainy, rainy afternoon in April. Their total weight was barely nine pounds but one standing on top of the other would've been just shy of three feet. They are impressive. Life is impressive.

Mine, in particular, is different. I still work. I still sleep. I still run. I still internet. But mostly, I worry too much about making sure those two babies are ok. Are they cold? Are they hungry? Are they up to their eyeballs in their own poo? Are they ok? Will they always be ok?

Emma and Arleigh are four weeks old today. 28 days. I'm not going to lie... it feels like 2800. We'll find what works and what doesn't soon enough. At this point, we're pretty content being inundated by babies.

Birfdays

The weekends keep flying by. So much so that I will start a post and then inevitably have to discontinue said post and when I pick back up where I left off I notice that everything needs to be changed because "later this week" or "this past Sunday" no longer applies so I'll keep this short and sweet.

We celebrated my niece's third birthday on the 18th. It was a casual affair but we had a good time despite the weather. Her and I are forever doomed to lousy weather around our birthdays. Her mom went to the trouble of making that Barbie cake as well. We didn't have nearly as hard a time eating it.

And that's the short of it. Erica and I were both sick at various points last week making sleep tough to come by. I did get a lot done with the house as far as organization goes. I finally got the closet system installed to a stopping point upstairs. I got the second crib set up and the babies' room organized. It's basically one big crib. Insane. There is no such thing as a modest crib anymore... just cheaper materials in the same gargantuan cribs. I wish I would've done a little more research on that end. Now they'll each have full beds when they get older but where in the hell do you stick two full beds!?! That's right, two separate rooms. It's a shame what McMansions have done to standard home furnishings.

We attended a birthing class all day Saturday. Enlightening to say the least. Very good information but all I could think about during the video segment was how awful a hospital environment must be when you're in hours and hours of labor. It's cold and drab. Why can't we make this better. Look at the Dutch... they're look is sterile yet inviting. Nothing we can do about it now. So are we ready? Who knows. I'm getting pretty anxious, watching Erica's every move, every grimace, every labored movement. Today marks the 29th week and those little guys are about three pounds apiece. Three pounds! That's six pounds of baby! I have sanctioned her to the couch at this point. She listens sometimes and she moves things around behind my back some other times.

The butterflies are aflutter more and more. Time is growing short.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda

In an attempt to curb my complaining, I've tried to attach this stipulation to my criticisms...

For every complaint, there must be a solution.

So this solution doesn't necessarily stem from a complaint. It's more like an idea. They happen from time to time... once a year, maybe twice. Never more than twice. This particular idea has been a long time brewing. Now, it could mean that's it's a nasty porridge by now or a well-rounded chili that's ready to be eaten.

Let me just preface this by saying that I didn't fail high school and high school didn't fail me, but I wasn't ready for college upon completion of my senior year at Sidney Lehman Catholic. It's not that I wasn't prepared to take the classes college offered... I just didn't know what the hell I wanted to do.

And I'm not saying what I have to offer is any kind of solution but I know something like it would've been a win-win situation for me and Toby Keith's favorite country, the good ole U-S-of-A.

What it involves is a year of service upon graduation from high school in one of two areas... the job corps or the military corps. Your choice. If the choice is the former, you're placed in a public works program outside of your region allowing you to experience other ways of life in your country. The better your grades, the closer you are to your choice city. Jobs are based on four years of information collected from your high school guidance counselors. You'll work on road projects, provide assistance to the elderly or any other number of jobs that 18-year-old men and women could fill. The military already wants you to make your choice the latter. They spend quite a bit on advertising and recruitment. They could save that cash, at least the majority of it, with a program like this.

Yeah, I know it's got all kinds of holes in it but the bottom line is that it's a mandatory public works program that would employ hundreds of millions for room, boarding and a small stipend. They would get to travel and experience idependence. And I hear everyone saying, "Well, that sounds like college," and you're right but college anymore is about getting out of the house and partying. Maybe that was just me but I feel it's lost it's focus recently. Going to college doesn't hold water like it did 40 years ago. And there's nothing like having to wake up for a 7am start time with a raging hangover. Gets old quick. And if you can't cut it in the job corps, say hello to boot camp.

After their year of service, individuals can use credits earned towards furthering their education so they're not burdened with a mountain of debt after college, cashing them in immediately for a down payment on a home or dolling it out in the form of tax breaks for the next ten years.

Truth be told, this stems from a small inkling of guilt... the guilt I feel for never having served this country. I'm not saying I should've skipped school to go into the military but that was the only option – as far as I was aware – available (our guidance counselor sucked). I didn't learn about Job Corps until I was 27 or 28. No joke.

With all the talk about changing this country's momentum and future, I think it's high time we stop sending stuck up shits to business school (much like myself even though I went to design school) so they can learn to cheat the system. Let's show them what an honest day's work looks like.

Shot Callin'

My boss's son is a sixth grader in the Sycamore school district. Recently, he and 105 of his peers signed up to play basketball. My boss received an email saying they were one coach short and some of the kids would have to be cut. She bravely volunteered so that all the kids that wanted to play could. Just one problem. She doesn't know a single thing about basketball and she'd soon be a head coach.

Basketball has always been my number one. It was the sport I played the most, liked the most and knew the most about... which isn't saying much... so I decided to help. Why not, right?

Well, I can't make promises about how this season's going to turn out. We have one scheduled practice a week. One! I need one practice just for the wind sprints these little punks should be running. Maybe I was just as big a punk as some of these guys, but I don't remember anyone on my team walking through a layup drill. I do not take kindly to such things especially when it would be far easier for me to enjoy a nice dinner at home with my wife and spend the rest of the evening relaxing. I have a new-found respect for coaches (some of them). I can't imagine doing this every night of the week along with the actual games on the weekends.

But then some kid realizes (you can literally see it hit the back of their brains and bounce back to the front) that the drop step move he learned in practice works really well against a defender in a game and at that very moment, you know why you signed up for this.

Onward young b-ballers! May you forever play defense with your hands up! If not, I have a really taxing drill to help you remember.

Better Late Than... Nevermind

Ahh Christmas. It's already forgotten... except for the paper shredder and ceiling fan (labor included) I got. Erica's gift was outstanding... a four-pack of tickets to UC basketball games. A friend's wife had the idea and a few of them went in on it. We've already attended one and were treated to a victory. Primo!

Lots lies ahead in this new year of 2011. My mom had some kind of cross-stitched piece of art she'd hang in the house when we were younger. Usually in her bedroom. It read, "Lord, grant me the patience to endure my blessings."

It's a good mantra. I might take it for my own.