Dear Friends,
I’m way too scattered to focus on one topic today, so get ready for a rollercoaster ride. This last week was a wild one. Wild kids, re-establishing patterns and routines, death, and looming on the horizon, taxes.
I’m very lucky to have an awesome father-in-law who takes care of our taxes, but still. I don’t want to write about it, so I won’t.
*****
Suns lost to the Hawks the other night. I didn’t watch the whole game. I went to the gym instead with Liam and blew off some steam while continuing to try and process my friend’s death. Something about pushing my body to perform feats of meaningless strength made me feel better and I enjoy the time with Liam. He shares his life with me as we walk the track during our warmup, and I feel connected to him.
I watched enough of the game to know the Suns were going to lose. Atlanta is such a tough matchup for them. They are long, can shoot, and active on defense. They were also up for the game which is great for the Suns. Teams want to knock off the top dog and the Suns better be ready for lots of games down the stretch that will have intensity not quite at playoff level, but high enough to notice that the game is moving at a different speed.
Deandre Ayton looks super rusty and that’s not good. I wonder if he has lost a little focus after having yet another injury. He may be the personality type to get down on things like this and let it get in his head. I’ve noticed Cameron Payne is the same way. He takes multiple games to get back in a rhythm and first those first few, he’s almost a liability out there. We’ll see what happens after the all-star break. Suns need him and Ayton playing their best.
*****
Watched some taped Austin City Limits episodes last night. I was really impressed with Jade Bird and Dayglow. Neither of them really blows me away musically but I did enjoy the energy and talent I saw on that stage. How cool would it be to be at one of those tapings? Of the two, I enjoyed the music of Jade Bird more than Dayglow, but Dayglow has such entertaining stage presence. I can see why people love these performers.
Austin City Limits is such a wonderful show. I record them all and invariably end up enjoying each one, even if I have no idea who the artists are each night. Occasionally, it will be someone who I really like or know a lot about, but most the time lately it is someone brand new to me. There is such a wide, wonderful world of music out there to explore. The hidden gems of the COVID era are going to wonderful to find in the coming months and years.
The other night I watched a recent episode featuring Duran Duran and wrote a fairly buzzed blog post (yet unposted) about the band. I had been drinking some heavy English Ale and it was treating me right. I wonder if my words make any sense.
*****
I struggle to get rid of things.
Some of you know this about me and probably have had a good chuckle about my packrat-ishness. I’m not sure where it comes from, well, that’s not true. My mother tends to be a packrat, too, so I probably learned it from her. I have this feeling, always, like I will need some memento/paper/trinket/pair of socks/shirt I never wear, whatever, at some point so I should probably hold onto it/them. I’m getting a little better about throwing things away, donating them, giving them to the kids, etc., but I can do more purging.
Today is the start of bulk trash day and I really need to dump some things. We have a lot of work to do in our backyard to get it back to where we feel good about it and I’m ready to clear the way to progress. We had our backyard dialed in years ago and looking good and then I decided to buy a ramp and put it smack dab in the middle of what would have been a nice backyard. The ramp killed the grass and Rhondi nearly killed me.
It's going to be nice to unclutter some of the yard, though, today. It’s also always interesting to see what people take out of our pile of things we don’t want anymore. Sometimes it is so random, and I must think, “What are they going to do with that?” One man’s trash truly is another man’s treasure.
I love that Liam and Teresa want my old t-shirts and jackets and such. I’ve got boxes of music t-shirts that I am slowly doling out. I know people pay a pretty penny for this stuff sometimes, but I would rather the kids enjoyed it than making a few bucks here and there.
I’m also getting better at stopping myself from buying clothes I don’t really need. The shopper in me is strong and when I see a pair of work pants in a slightly different color than those I already have for a good price, I start to talk myself into buying just one more pair. Same with work shirts. Costco is a monkey on my back, and I often feed the habit. An example of this happened recently. When Rhondi got back from Maine, we realized we were ill prepared for the days when we spend more time there. Costco came to rescue, though, by having a ton of jackets and super warm flannels on sale and we are now stocked up.
The kids are interested in flannels now, too, so I’ve got people to dump some of the extras on over the next couple of years. I think I have about 8 flannels in my closet, and I don’t live in Maine just yet.
I might have a problem.
See you tomorrow.
The blogger wearing his current favorite flannel.
Comments