It' really not so bad. It's old and crumbly and severely mismanaged. There's corruption and more political backstabbing and bickering than I've ever seen.  The taxes are so freaking high, sometimes I want to pass out but the population is actually starting to grow for the first time in 40 or 50 years and home prices are up 15% in the city, and they sale in weeks, not months if they're kept up. We're also getting a brand new shiny theater downtown. Maybe a renaissance is coming. It's home.

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Happy New Year!

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04 January 2004

The Panthers keep pulling it off. I seldom get off on watching sports on TV but how can you not be excited when your hometown boys keep doing it.  I was walking through Home Depot today with my Panthers shirt and got stopped three times to talk. Why was I at Home Depot you ask?  We noticed some loose tiles in the shower and some deteriorated grout holding them in. I pulled them off to reattach and re-grout them but found a mess.  It's wet and needs to dry and the backerboard needs to be replaced.  I guess we'll be showering downstairs for a while if Kaleb doesn't mind.

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06 January 2004

Everybody thought I was crazy, didn't know what I was talking about.  But I found some when we were in North Carolina over Christmas.  These swings are still hanging in Union county and are awesome because they are big and you can go as high as you want and it would be almost impossible to fall out of them because you're in a cage.  They were removed from most parks like most of the fun stuff several years ago because of lead paint problems. I want these in my backyard.

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10 January 2004

After highs of about 4 degrees the last couple of days and minus ten expected tonight, I'm feeling good. We live in the least stressful place in the country and the game I just watched was the best ever as Carolina beat St. Louis and advance once again on their way to the big one.  Definitely the most exciting game I've ever seen.

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14 January 2004

Burr...
Minus 12 now and minus 30 wind chill.  The car is warming up.  It's freaking cold.  High of 0 tomorrow. Gotta go. Did I say BURR?

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15 January 2004

	Pushing on the soap dish, it was easy to see that water was getting behind the tiles and it had started to rot. They had not been sealed in quite a while.
	The tiles had to be removed along with all the rotten area and then replaced with a new piece of cement backer board.
	Low and behold, it doesn't look like shit. Last weeks project complete.

Duncan hates this bathroom with all his heart.  We'll probably replace it in the next couple of years.  To me, it reminds me of the bathroom in the house I grew up in, circa 1950's.

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18 January 2004

SUPER BOWL BOUND!!!

I've hated Philadelphia for a LONG time.  Revenge is sweet.  To bad I won't be in Charlotte for the game.  Houston, New England, here we come!

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21 January 2004

This past weekend, I re-covered the seats on the dining room chairs.  Tonight I decided some placemats to match would be nice.  Besides a button every now and then and some strange stuff from crafts class when I was a kid, I've never sewn anything.  I have a cable connection to the internet, I don't need any instruction, right?  How hard could it be to sew?  Duncan has a sewing machine so I could just use that, right?  I cut the material and even the backing stuff that I bought by myself.  Now it's time to sew, right?  Let's see, how the hell do you load this bobbin? And how do you thread this big spool of thread?  How does the bobbin thread mix with the other spool?  OK, I think I did it. I pushed the pedal.  Now what?  I pull the material and it stops.  I try again but nothing.  How do you work this thing?  I'm a gay boy whose mom didn't teach him how to work a sewing machine.  I don't think she knows how either though.  I give up on the sewing machine.  I'll do it by hand.  Three hours later and numerous pricks to the fingers, it's done.  It actually doesn't look that bad.  One down, three to go.  Here's to all who have mastered the art of sewing.

I'll watch South Park now and then a Cops rerun.  It'll make me feel better.

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23 January 2004

I haven't heard anything about Captain Kangaroo in years.  I guess it shouldn't surprise me that he went to visit Mr. Greenjeans today.  He was on TV a long time before I came along and a long time after I was on to bigger things, you know, The Electric Company and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

Did that damn Bunny get on your nerves too?

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27 January 2004

When I was 18, I registered to vote. Being the independent thinking person I thought I was, I registered unaffiliated. In North Carolina, I had the option of voting in the Republican primary if I wanted. Several years later, I had the option to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries. I voted in every single election including primaries and runoffs except for a couple. When we moved to New York, I registered unaffiliated. I then found out only party members aloud. I guess on March 2nd, Super Tuesday, I'll be sitting watching from the sidelines. I guess I understand the reasoning, but at the same time, you alienate a lot of people. Why not embrace people who are somewhat disenchanted from the political system? I may change my party affiliation but haven't decided for sure. Today, I will vote though. Only through a small article in the paper did I learn there is a vote on school bonds today. Seems very secretive and a waste of money because on March 2nd, they must open the polls again. Last summer there was a very unpublicized school election that nobody new about. A couple of months later, they had primaries and a general election. What a waste of money to open the polls for one issue.

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The weather system that has been hitting the east coast is coming this way at last. Seven to fourteen inches is what's predicted at this time. We've really been lucky so far this year with only a couple of dustings in January. We did get a couple of feet earlier in December though and January has been COLD. We've only had two days with above normal temps and that ain't changing soon. Most days have been 10 to 25 degrees below normal. I'm ready for some melting.  I'm ready for some green.

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Last week I took Kaleb back to the doctor.  I was supposed to bring her back after a month just to make sure the hormone levels are correct.  Her skin didn't seem to be getting any better and thinking it may be some sort of infection, he gave her antibiotics for it.  That's three times a day. She also had an ear infection for which she has ear drops twice a day, and don't forget the thyroid pills, also twice a day.  And then there's the frequent baths. She's on more stuff than my dad.  Almost immediately, we saw improvement so maybe all will be ending soon.  The baths wear me out more than her I think.

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I took her to the park yesterday afternoon.  I saw some kids playing hockey on the lake the other day and thought I'd get some pictures.  They keep the ice scraped because ice skating on the lake is pretty popular around here.  Nobody playing hockey, just some kids playing after school on the ice.  One kid fell and the others walked away as the one kid screamed that he couldn't get up.  He finally got up as the other kids exited the park.  It was kinda humorous actually.  I wished I was on this the whole time.

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30 January 2004

For the most part, I'm pretty easy going.  A big exception is when I don't get a good nights sleep.  I guess it's because I usually sleep like a rock.  The traffic outside the window doesn't bother me even though our bedroom is not too far from the street.  An exception has been the previous two nights.  If you don't live in the rust belt, you're not too familiar with the concept of a snow plow. In the south, they're the trucks that clear the interstates and a few major roads that nobody ever sees because they're stranded at home waiting to get out of the driveway.  Here, they're big loud trucks with big blades on the front scraping the road making even more noise.  They're everywhere and they go very fast and do a very good job.  They make a lot of noise when you're trying to sleep.  Hence, my grouchiness the last couple of days.  Last night, NyQuil.  Today is a good day.  This also makes me feel good.

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