The Letter D

Just a small insight into the letter D and his life.

Name:
Location: United States

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

When it pours...it rains

Todays word is DAMP!

Main Entry: 1damp



Pronunciation: 'damp
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle Dutch or Middle Low German, vapor; akin to Old High German
damph
vapor

1 : a noxious gas -- compare BLACK DAMP, FIREDAMP
2 : MOISTURE: a : HUMIDITY, DAMPNESS b archaic : FOG, MIST
3 a : DISCOURAGEMENT, CHECK b archaic : DEPRESSION, DEJECTION

WOW who knew there were so many definitions for that word!

Well, it has been raining almost non-stop for four days here now. I think I saw my neighbor Noah, laying the foundation for his ark this morning.

Of course with the bad weather comes other problems. My back has started to act up again. Damp cold weather throws it into fits. I've had a pretty good past two months with it so I guess I shouldn't complain...but where's the fun in that?

Last night, got home and the kids had waited up for me so we could do a birthday cake and I could open their presents. Kind of made me forget about the bad events of the day.


40 Years Ago










In 1964 (the year you were born)


Lyndon B. Johnson is president of the US



After riots break out, Panama suspends relations with he US



Cassius Clay becomes heavyweight champion when Sonny Liston throws in the
towel in the sixth round in Miami Near Anchorage, the strongest earthquake
ever to strike North America kills 117



Worst soccer disaster in history occurs when rioting and panic kills over
300 in Liverpool



Hundreds of white college students work for civil rights in the south during
"Freedom Summer"



South Africa sentences Nelson Mandela to life in prison



Kemeny and Kurtz create BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction
Code), an easy to learn high level programming language



Nicolas Cage, Jeff Bezos, Rob Lowe, Elle Macpherson, Courteney Cox Arquette,
and Keanu Reeves are born



St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series



Cleveland Browns win the NFL championship



Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup



"I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles released in the US, sparking
Beatlemania



The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, breaking television
ratings records



The game show Jeopardy! debuts on television



Mary Poppins, starring Julie Andrews, is the top grossing film

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

What a Day!

Today's word is DMV

For those not in the United States that stands for Department of Motor Vehicles...otherwise known as the endless void of standing in line.

Well, today was a fun day...NOT! Spent 4 hours down at the courthouse trying to get the final papers on the divorce signed and filed.

Personally I think they do this thing the wrong way. I think getting married should take endless hours of waiting and signing papers and an approval by a Judge. Getting divorced should just take the two of you to go down and get a Divorce License, sign it, pay the $20 and be done with it.

Forms to fill out forms was the name of the game today. Of course the fact that we had downloaded the forms off their web site and filled them out only to bring them in and find out they don't accept those forms any more made it all the more fun. After 4 hours with a Family Lgal Facilitator (Nice fancy name for a paper pusher) I was sent across the street to have a paper noterized when I suddenly discovered, upon presenting my drivers license to verify my idenetity, that the license had expired LAST YEAR!

So now I will be making a trip to the DMV to have it renewed and then to a Notery to have the paper signed. Then back to the courthouse on November 23rd to turn in all the final paperwork.

Did I mention it was raining cats and dogs today as well? Great way to spend my birthday no? Maybe next year I can manage something better....like getting hit by a bus!

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

I feel old

Today's word is "Development"

Main Entry: de•vel•op•ment
Pronunciation: di-'ve-l&p-m&nt, dE-
Function: noun
1 : the act, process, or result of developing
2 : the state of being developed
3 : a developed tract of land; especially : one with houses built on it

Where does the time go? Am I really that old? What does time and age have to do with development? Everything!

Fourteen years ago where were you? I know where I was. I was at the Sharp Hospital…walking down the hallway with a 10 pound 13 ounce blanket wrapped bundle of joy in my arms...otherwise known as my first child…Djr. Man has the time flied past and that small (ok, so 10 lbs 13 oz is not all that small) bundle has some how, against my permission (and knowledge) has developed into a young man of 14. Damn I feel old!

Excuse me while I take a walk down memory lane:

1st year – Unlike some fathers, I actually looked forward to getting up in the middle of the night to nurse and change my little rug rat. Many nights I would fall asleep, slouched in the rocking chair with the bundle of joy and pride on my chest emitting enough heat for a small furnace. I think perhaps that is why Djr and I are so close to this day. It was during this first year that I also discovered that he had a liking for potted soil. His mother, Thing 1, always had large potted plants in the house which were just at the right height for him to crawl to and help himself to the soil. Gave a whole new meaning to the term “Dirty Boy”.

2nd year – I well recall our “game”. He’d waddle over to the book case and proceed to pull all my books off of it and then site there with this “Look what I’ve done” smile on his face…proud as can be he was. I’d move him away and put the books back on the book case. He’d sit the patiently waiting for me to be done and then waddle back over and take them off again.

3rd year – Can you say Power Rangers? I believe that during this year I saw every episode of the Power Rangers they ever created. OK, I admit that I liked watching them as well….there! Ya happy now!?! Many hours spent snuggled up together on the couch watching the flips and jumps. I also recall doing a lot of reading to at this stage in his life. A lot of bonding time which looking back now seems like it was not nearly enough.

4th year – Work was very busy this year but I still recall the highlight of it. A Bigfoot Power Truck. This was a small version of the Monster Truck called Big Foot that ran on a large 9 volt battery. He drove that truck all over the place outside and inside when he could. He had gotten a bike for his birthday but never learned how to ride it because he never touched it. He wore out a set of wheels and batteries on his Big Foot. Of course I ordered a new set and new batteries. I lost track of the number of times I was “run over”. Good times for sure.

5th year – I think this is where things changed. Two very important events happened in this year of his young life. One, he started school and two, Thing 1 and I got a divorce. I was laid up with a back injury so before the divorce thing happened, I spent a great deal of time at home with him…taking him to kindergarten and picking him up afterwards (it was only half a day after all). Though things went south with Thing 1 and I, when he graduated from Kindergarten, I was the only one there to see it.

I know that they can not always stay the way they were and that as time moves on, so will they. Every day brings new experiences to them. Some good and some bad. Life is an ever changing thing and they will change along with it…no matter how we wish that they wouldn’t. While a part of my heart longs once again to be able to hold him in my arms and rock him to sleep while keeping him safe and warm my brain knows that he has to make his own way in life and the best I can do is be there with him when he does. Still, why do they have to grow up so fast!?!

He’ll always be my baby.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Time flies...just not fast enough

Today's D word is decapitation.

Main Entry: de·cap·i·tate
Pronunciation: di-'ka-p&-"tAt, dE-
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -tat·ed; -tat·ing
Etymology: Late Latin decapitatus, past participle of decapitare, from Latin de- + capit-, caput head -- more at HEAD

Sorry for the delay in posting folks as well as for the choice of words. The above term should be used for Lawyers as well as marriage mediators.

There I was believing that all was fine and that I’d be going to court on the 19th of this month and my divorce would be finalized. Thing 2 and I paid a marriage mediator $300 apiece to do the paperwork and submit it. There is a 6 months waiting period here in Cali. Well I never received word of the court date till Thing 2 informed me of it. Contacted the mediator and it appears that nothing has been done other than the petition to get the divorce. We has spent an hour and hal talking with the guy about the things we had agreed on and left his office believing all we needed to do was wait for the 6 months to be over. Turns out on the petition he merely said that we’d submit our agreements later. He even managed to put Thing 2’s name wrong on the paperwork.

Now, does he not only have the nerve to say that he’ll finish everything else for an additional $500 he also claims that I never paid him. Thankfully it was by check so I will be getting a copy of the cashed check to show otherwise. Needless to say this has not been a good week!

I wonder if I can do a double decapitation on him, starting with the lower one of course!