November 20th - I'M A LITTLE SKEPTICAL THAT YOU ARE LAUGHING OUT LOUD AS MUCH AS YOU CLAIM

Since the whole family is away on vacation, and I will miss the e-mails and phone calls in the meantime, I feel the need to post some random tidbits. If it's anything like the last vacation I missed, I'm sure I'll be hearing plenty.

During one recent conversation my Mom asked me about my 'dating' life (in reality more like the lack of...). Regardless, her advice to me was to 'just remember, don't bring home any souvenirs'. It’s only a little disarming when your Mom tells you not to get pregnant. Aside from the massive amounts of random and unprotected sex that I’ve been having, I’m pretty sure that getting knocked up is not something I’ll be worrying about anytime soon.

In another phone conversation she started telling me about her new bestie that works at the Post Office. At some point she dropped the fact that she thinks he is from Nairobi because that's part of his screen-name. Aside from being amazed she knows what a screen-name is, when I asked why she had his screen-name. Apparently he is interested in Cape Verde and would like to 'correspond' with me. Of course this leads to the usual, “he seems nice and safe, but then maybe I just gave your information to someone who may be POSTAL”... - oh my Mom and her ability to crack herself up.

And just because she told me this three times now, I feel I should commemorate it on the blog. Apparently our little pissy paws is quite the handsome dog. The groomer, vet, and a couple of other people were all raving about how cute Mr. Riley is. So now instead of being called "little shit" or "pissy paws", he's now been promoted to "come on good lookin'". I should mention that "little shit" in my family is generally accepted as a term of endearment. I also feel the need to make it known that we all adored Riley well before people complimented him on his good looks.

In other family news, my Dad and his friend Rob have been volunteering to help restore the oldest ship that was made in New York. It’ll sail the Hudson River for the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's journey up the river. Sounds awesome, and knowing what my Dad is capable of I wanted to see pictures. My Dad told me they have some posted online at onrust.orgonrust.org. I go to check it out, and the website is for some foreign band. Nothing against foreign bands, but I was expecting something a little more along the nautical lines. I tried unsuccessfully to google it, but couldn't figure out if he means the Half Moon, or some other ship. I'll keep you posted once I figure this out. My Dad did tell me that while they were repairing one of the beams he wrote Kathy and Jim in a heart, “you know, my trademark”. It’s so cute I almost vomited in my mouth.


I definitely get hit by the sodade on occasion (how could I not), but ...
“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.” - Kurt Vonnegut