I paid $2.93 for gas this morning. Tomorrow we head south where there seems to be some sort of gas shortage or some sort of a scare of a gas shortage. According to the Charlotte Observer, many stations are out of gas due to a run on the stations driving prices up even farther. I just don't know how much of the problem is due to people being scared and how much is actually due to the pipeline being down.

Other news has Duncan only staying in North Carolina for a few days because of new work obligations. We're still leaving tomorrow but it won't be the same.

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07 September 2005

After watching my nephew get married Saturday, I got to see people from his mother’s side of the family I haven’t seen in 15 or more years and I can’t tell you how refreshing that was. It’s weird how you have to take sides in a divorce and you really have to forget about a lot of people. I've spent the rest of my time so far visiting other folks I haven't seen in quite a while. In doing such, every muscle in my body is aching. I spent a good part of Monday in the pool playing chicken and throwing kids around. Did I mention I was too old for that stuff? Duncan had to fly home early because of work obligations yesterday so I’m on my own for a while. Today, I’m going to meet my brother for a while and hopefully escape to the beach for a day or two though those plans aren’t quite set in concrete yet. The weather is beautiful and the stress of work is far away at least for the time being. More driving ahead...

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12 September 2005

Ten days on the road, I'm home. Tired and more later but here's a picture only to prove I was there. Very few pictures this time.

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13 September 2005

After my nephew's wedding on Saturday, Sunday was the day to just hang with my parents. We decided to head off to Charlotte to just explore and visit old family friends. We did some serious exploring including many places that just don't exist the way they did several years ago. My dad got really confused. These are places that he went on a regular basis but he just didn't get that they were so different. He repeatedly asked when we were getting to my brother's house because he lived just down the street. He doesn't live anywhere close to where we were. One of the things he does is repeat the same question over and over again, not because he doesn't remember the answer but because he doesn't remember asking the question. Things from 5 or 50 years ago, he can remember perfectly. We had dinner at Skyland, it was good. I wonder if they knew we were right beside The Charlotte Eagle, a leather bar, as we drove by and my dad read the sign.

Monday was the day to visit Duncan's family. I actually played in the pool most of the day while they settled some business with their parent's estate. Tuesday I took Duncan to the airport then headed to Rockingham to hang with my friends Ray and Tommy. This was the day we were supposed to head to the beach but since Duncan was back in New York, I was on my own. Wednesday I headed unannounced to Charlotte for some exploring and hooking up with some old friends. Strange how people work during the day. I talked David into making a road trip on Thursday to the beach with me so we were off. I got a call from my brother while we were down there that they were taking my mom by ambulance from a hospital in Statesville where they were doing a routine procedure to The Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte to have a stint put in. So I spent all day Friday in the hospital with her for an operation that was supposed to begin at 8:30am that began sometime after 3:00pm. My mom was fine in the morning but got increasingly nervous during the day. Before they took her, she took my hand and told me we'd have to take care of my dad because he couldn't take care of himself. As I took care of my dad, it became clear how much they love each other but it's also clear how she was right. He can't take care of himself. Most of the time he is just fine but at times, he becomes very confused, especially if he doesn't take his medicine or if he is late taking it. My mom came home Saturday morning and is just fine. It's my dad I worry about. I made it home Sunday evening to see Duncan just in time for him to fly out of town for the week on Monday.

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15 September 2005

Did I mention I finally made it by Lupies with David and Mark last week after almost a five year hiatus. I also made it by Skyland, Biscuitville, and a real fish camp. No BBQ this time though. Give me some southern food. I also had an unusual experience at the Chick-Fil-A. While driving through Maryland, we stopped at one and while I was walking Kaleb, the lady told Duncan "God bless you" as he left. When I stopped at a Chick-Fil-A in Charlotte, the cashier said the same thing to the guy in front of me as he left. I've never seen this before. I was kind of dreading it after I placed my order but when I left, she didn't say anything and for some reason, I was disappointed.

I would also like to say how kind everybody at Carolinas Medical Center was to my mom and my family during her stay, including the hot nurse who looked just like Matt Damon.

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20 September 2005

"Why should a female hip-hop artist have to spend time in an urban concrete jungle while other female prisoners are assigned to rural, suburban-type prison camps?", says Lil' Kim's lawyer.

Shut Up Lil' Kim! Nobody cares about you, you fake big tits bitch! Go to jail and take your punishment for hanging out with all your gangsta trash. Both Martha Stewart and yourself lied now take your punishment. You lied about a shooting, you know with guns and ammo. She lied about some stock transactions. Yea, she should have been in prison a lot longer, but then, so should you. It pisses me off when I go to work every day, pay my taxes, don't steal or kill and trash like you two thinks you should get away with anything. You both get too much news time and you're both POS.

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Am I supposed to feel good for buying gas for $2.83 this morning? I guess I am. The weather's so beautiful I don't care. There's no hurricane here. I spent the morning taking pictures for my someday to be finished Schenectady page. I think I'm on year three. I found this house in the middle of a city neighborhood. I love the over abundance of wrought iron.

I then thought I came upon the narrowest house I'd ever seen but remembered the second house close to where we lived in Raleigh.

I was riding, and God forbid we complain about a road resurfacing project around these parts because it happens so infrequently, but when a good old concrete road gets paved over, it's sad. I noticed The Brookshire Freeway in Charlotte had been paved over last time I was there. It was built in the early 70's in the style of the time as all the concrete sections were poured separately and as you ride over them, you could feel the sections. I miss the clunk clunk clunk clunk of the old road.

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A few houses down lies the soon to be big purple house. They painted the garage first a god awful puke purple and the top of the house a nice color blue. Who could pick such an awful color I asked myself. Not a nice lavender or one of the many shades of purple that this homo's pallet would have surely enjoyed, but a dark deep bluish purple which cannot be explained in words. Seems someone has come to see the light as the garage has now been used for color experiments and the bottom of the house is turning a delicious color of deep purple as we speak. I think I'll like the big purple house.

Happy 60th birthday Stewarts. My favorite convenience store.

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26 September 2005

Two stories in the news today: Female teacher at Christian Brothers Academy, a boys school, charged with three counts of rape (statutory on a 16 year old student) and drunk driving gets 6 months, 2 months after good behavior and time served. Male church music director gets 1 to 3 years for sexual misconduct (oral sex) with a 15 year old. It's somewhat lopsided don't ya think?

This morning I dropped Duncan at the airport for two weeks. I think I've seen him about 10 hours this month.

I see 86 is dead at 82.

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I got a chance to work in the yard the last couple of days and for the first time in a while, I got a little bit of satisfaction out of the whole deal. It seems our yard has just gone to crap this year, not that it was that great to begin with. I always thought we'd have this green lush yard with flowers and trees and such. We have the trees and plenty of flowers, but instead of lush green grass, we have dirt and weeds. We had perennials and roses coming out the ass. Many of the perennials look like weeds and the roses just laugh as I watch them continue to look like crap. In an effort to minimize the work it takes to keep a postage stamp size yard in shape, I tore out most of the rose bushes and one big perennial garden which accounts for not even a third of them. Next step, there's gonna be some grass planting going on.

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