Today we spent the whole day tooling around the Capital Region in the Jeep, topless of course. The weather's finally warmed up this week for this type of thing. Oh, how we've missed it. We ate all three meals out and I usually don't even eat three meals. (Snacks not included) We also picked out colors for the kitchen and even made an attempt to pick out some flooring. Our cabinet doors arrived this week so we may actually make some progress this month. May was the 4th coolest on record but June is here with a roar. I also got some relaxing time on the back porch today after giving it a fine paint job this week and all the flowers I planted earlier are starting to come in with a beautiful vengeance. I seemed to have a purple and pink complex this year when I planted.

My web host was giving me fits this past week. I seemed to have everything straightened out now with very little interruption to the up time.

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Heat, work, paint, jury duty, and more work. Oh, and more heat too. It's been insanely hot lately. Last Thursday, we were leaving the house at 12:30 AM to buy and then install an air conditioner in the middle of the night. The past two summers we've been up here, we did fine without an air conditioner because even though it may get hot during the day, the nights cooled down reasonably nice. For more than a week, it's been SUMMER TIME. The usual lows are still in the 50's and highs in the 70's. Lately, the highs have been in the 90's and lows in the humid 70's. The freaking house just won't cool down. Are we spoiled pussies or not? Work has certainly been sucking lately. Some days I just dread going in. Fortunately, for the next couple of days, I don't have to go in at all. Unfortunately, I'm on jury duty. Although, it's somewhat boring during the sitting around, the trial is somewhat interesting, learning how the system works and paying attention so a good verdict can be rendered. I'd still rather not be there. The kitchen is finally under construction again as the colors have been chosen and the walls have been painted. Did I mention it's hot? It's hard to update when it's hot.

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If you look up jury duty in the dictionary, it would say, "Very much like watching CSPAN" or "The act of repeating the same thing over and over again".

Of course, we're not allowed to talk about it until after it's over which isn't hard at home, but during recess, you have to watch every word you or anyone else says. It's just natural to leave a situation and talk about it.

Things I can say:

1. The judge is very cool.
2. The litigant's attorney is senile.
3. It can be extremely boring.
4. The bailiff falls asleep.
5. The rest of the jury is cool.
6. We got to leave early today. (Also cool)

I'll (We'll) never know if Michael Jackson is guilty or just a freak. I never wanted to believe he was but I really started to not long ago. I guess the defense did their job to put reasonable doubt in my mind because again, I'm not sure. Growing up, I loved me some Michael Jackson. In the early 90's when he was first accused, he paid them off with $20 million. That's the thing that still bugs me the most. If someone accused me of the same and I had all his money, I would spend every dime I had to discredit them. I can only hope he was innocent and just a freak. And by the way, if you have kids, don't let them spend the night with and accused child molester. If you do, maybe you should spend some time in jail too.

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Pac-Man is 25. I remember being a kid hanging out at the Putt-Putt Golf and Games (and Games was added around that time) listening  to Joan Jett, "I Love Rock and Roll", Blondie, "The Tide is High", and anything Go-Go's. Many tokens were bought courtesy of my job at Carowinds and either I was just too shy or my sex drive had not kicked in yet because all kinds of cuties hung out there. Who am I kidding? I had no clue what was going on with me at that time...just that I liked to look at boys rather than girls. I still do. No more Pac-Man fever, just Grand Theft Auto.

I am an alternate on the jury so I'm hoping today will be the last day as closing deliberations are scheduled for today.

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A few things about jury duty. Some people try really, really hard to be a part of the final jury. These are the most annoying people on the jury. On our jury, we had one of those. Some people try really, really hard not to be on the jury. They usually end up getting off. We did have one of those on our jury also. Jury duty wasn't so bad but it could be extremely boring. I think I'd rather have been at work. After carefully listening to all the testimony and deliberations, we heard the jury instructions, and then I, along with another were excused because we were alternates. I don't know how the case turned out but as we walked away, we both basically agreed on our thoughts about the whole thing. Maybe next time I have to go through jury selection, I will stand up like the 70 year old retired marine lady and proclaim her hatred for lawyers after the last experience she had on jury duty. Personally, I think they were scared she was going to kick there ass.

Today's mission. I will work on painting the kitchen again just to see how long I can stretch this thing out.

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Stewart's is giving away ice cream cones today for dads. I walked in and they asked me if I was a dad and I said, "No, I'm not a dad". After I said that, it really hit me, I'm 40 years old and I'm not a dad. It's doubtful I'll ever be a dad. I've never really thought a lot about it because that's just the way it is. I got on The Northway, the day being beautiful with the windows down, and started thinking about it. It was like somebody smacked me in the face. I got all teary eyed and just thought to myself, I am not a dad. I'd be a good dad. (I'm a good dad to my dog.) It was a strange feeling. Whenever I pass a park and there's some sort of kids baseball or soccer game going on, I always think, that'd be kind of cool. I'd stop but I always think they'd think I was some sort of perv or something. Happy Father's Day to my dad.

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Last night was a strange night. Seldom do I have trouble sleeping but for some reason, my dad was on my mind. Specifically, his funeral, I don't know why. I have a half brother from my dad's first marriage who I've had very little contact with over the years. He's about twenty years older than me and has kids not much younger than I am. He and my dad have a strained relationship. I don't know if it's more strained or just non-existent. He always paid child support but I don't think he really had any custodial rights. I remember him coming to the house a few times growing up and I remember us going to his house a few times over the years. Ironically, my dad and him don't live that far apart now but they rarely visit. I started thinking about his funeral and what is exactly proper when it comes to when he walks in, where he sits or does he just sit with everyone else. He is his son. I'm sure he'll show up, I'm just not sure what's expected. My dad and I talk about everything but he rarely talks about his first marriage to anyone.

Then I started thinking about Duncan. Where is he supposed to be during my dad's funeral? My folks are still pretty closeted when it comes to us. I want him sitting beside me but it's a pretty unusual time for them to be outed. Frankly, I don't give a shit if they tell anyone or not. That's the big reason I don't really visit my aunts and uncles anymore. I don't live in the closet anymore. Not anywhere. I guess I have something to talk about with my folks this weekend. Maybe tonight I won't be up at 4AM.

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The kitchen project continues. This morning I started working on it and after 30 minutes, I decided I'd had enough. It's a good day for a Jeep ride before it just gets too freaking hot. May was one of the coolest on record. "Where's the warm weather?", we asked. June has been one of the warmest. The summer's what makes upstate New York so nice. It doesn't get too hot too often. Maybe the kitchen will get some work tomorrow.

A confession. I've become one of "them". I did karaoke Saturday night for the first time. I feel so dirty... At least it was Billy Idol.

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Quote of the day from local DJ via Duncan. "I hope we get some rain to get rid of this humidity." It's been raining quite hard for the last hour and it seems the humidity has not left us. What do you make of that? Everybody knows you need the sun to come out to burn off the humidity. That's when it feels nice.

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My brilliant moves of the day include aiming the TV remote at the garage, turning it on and expecting it to open. Strange how it didn't. And then offering Kaleb a lick of my ice cream cone and expecting her to just lick it. Totally not understanding my dog at all, I explained to her to "just lick it" and offered it to her again. I'm not sure which of us just doesn't get it. Maybe the paint fumes are getting to me.

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