9/12/04--Interesting weekend

Hmm....well this has been an interesting weekend, to say the very least.  As I predicted earlier in the week, Uncle Ivan the hurricane decided to head to the west where he will no doubt be causing grief to the Mexicans along the Yucatan.  So much for all the work we did at the office on Friday, after our "emergency meeting" in the morning....before we left, we all had to throw plastic wrap around our computers and desks, which were then held down "securely" with masking tape. 
I found myself trying to imagine just what the plastic wrap and masking tape was going to do if confronted with a blown out window and 160 mph winds.  Hmmm....my money would be on the winds, but hey, maybe I'm wrong.

We had sort of an up and down weekend at home....on Saturday morning, I had one of those long talks with Kellie about something that I heard at work.  It had hit a little too close to home for my liking.  Someone had told me about a defendant that was in magistrates who was charged with a sexual act on a minor.  Apparently, this girl had started talking to this guy in a chatroom, and the usual lies were told by both of them apparently.  The girl claimed to be 15, and the guy 25.  They ended up meeting at the Barnes & Noble about 2 blocks from my house, and doing the whole makeout session in the backseat.  They met at the same location a week later, and the guy took the girl to an apartment, where thank God he didn't rape her, but he did some....hmm....shall we say "inappropriate" things with her.  What was scary was that the girl lived 2 streets over from us and was, in reality, 12 yrs old (the same age as Kellie).  I tried to explain to Kellie, not too necessarily scare her, that this was one of the reasons that we monitor what she does on a computer.  That this guy (who was actually almost 30) could meet a teenager in a chatroom is a pretty scary thing.
So last night, I decide to hook up with RPM and go to the Van Halen concert.  Now, anyone who knows RPM knows that he still has the first quarter he ever made and so naturally he hadn't purchased tickets yet.  He was planning, as always, to do the old scalp routine---which is basically what he does for every concert.  Face value?  What?  Are you out of your mind???  So we're out front, and unfortunately for us there's also about another 20 people all of whom are trying to snag tickets also.  Now RPM,who wouldn't dream of paying face value (did I mention this?) begins to immediately undercut every offer we're presented with by at least 50%.
The closest we got was a guy who offered us two tickets for $80 (which is below face--but not by much).  So RPM says..."how about two for $40?"  Well naturally the guy isn't going to take that....and almost out of spite walks over to the first person he sees and promptly sells them the tickets for $60.  UGH.  So anyway, the bottomline is that we do NOT get into the concert, which is kind of a drag because I really did want to see them....but it was a learning experience.  RPM swore that he had never not been able to get tickets, and was almost incredulous at his inability to do so.  So I get home, and as I walk through the door, Kim hits me with the bad news.  She had gotten a phone call from one of Kellie's teachers, informing her that Kellie had failed to turn in an assignment.  When the teacher asked Kellie why she hadn't done the assignment, Kellie told her it was because she had lost the book.
Naturally, she hadn't bother to tell us about the conversation or the lost book.  She hadn't bothered to tell us as we took her to the football game on Friday night and watched her hang out with all her little cheerleader girlfriends.  She hadn't mentioned it before she played in the pool all day on Saturday.  And boy does that get me steamed.  To me...that's like lieing---and I tell the kids that there is no offense worse in our house than lieing.  It hits at the very crux of all the things we try and teach the kids.  Dishonesty is the ultimate insult to us as parents.  So Kim says that she has already told Kellie that she has taken away her phone priviledges for 3 days and I then added 3 days of no television and no computer.  Well, to say that the additions weren't to her liking would be quite the understatement.  She leaves for her bedroom in a mild huff, and I hear her telling her mother how boring the next couple of days are going to be.
"You know what's killing her," Kim says, "its the no t.v. thing."
"Well of course it is," I said, "that's why I did it.  Maybe now she'll learn a lesson."
So when she comes out to say goodnight she is being quite the little snit, and I remind her of the age old adage--provided to us by....ahem....Mr. Michael Brady.
"Never go to bed angry."
And I remind her that her mom andI have never gone to bed angry at one another.
(And I can't believe I've found a woman who is capable of doing that with me as her husband, but hey--you get lucky, ya know?)  So she goes to bed, still snooty, and this morning she gets up and begins to give me the old "silent treatment".  Now mind you, I also had mentioned to her last evening just how much I hated that, since the lovely former Mrs. Me # 2 was an accomplished master at that tactic.  So we're driving to church in silence, and we get home...more silence.  And I'm really starting to get pissed.  I tell Kim that I was thinking of ADDING days onto her "no t.v." sentence.  So then, much later in the afternoon as I'm cooking dinner on the barbie, she suddenly begins waving hello to me.  Oh boy....here we go.
"Oh, I'm sorry....is that your little way of letting me know that your now ready to talk to me?  Well guess what?  Now I'M not ready to talk to you!  I told you last night that I you shouldn't go to bed mad, and let it stew....but you did and it happened.  And guess what?  It happened to me also and now I'm mad too.  So now you have to wait until I get over it."
The great part was when I walked into the living room and the dreaded Hank the father-in-law asked me if I was yelling at one of the dogs (??--how in God's name did he come up with that based on that conversation?).  I told him, no...I was yelling at his granddaughter.  The look on his face was priceless.
So then, later in the day, I called Kellie into the living room and had another talk with her.  I told her that I had lived with the silent treatment from someone else named Kelly for almost 9 years---and that I wasn't about to start that again.  I told her that I was thinking about ADDING to her punishment, but that if I did that I would've been doing it just to be spiteful, and that wasn't the right thing to do.  So I told her that I was going to reinstate her t.v. priviledges a day early (what a guy, huh?  I'm a regular Ward Cleaver!)  Well, at least tonight I got a kiss good night from my daughter.

And what a great sports weekend for yours truly!!!  First of all, my Irish, rising like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes, put the proverbial ass whoopin  on (to quote Jim Mandich)  MEEEEEEEEEECHIGAN.  Oh Lord, was this one sweet.  If N.D. could beat Michigan, Boston College & USC every year, I might be able to accept the occasional losing season.  Remember the name---Darius Walker.  His first game as a member of the Fighting Irish and he goes for 115 yds.  My oh my!
Then, today...its the Vikings just slapping the Cowboys from pillar to post.  Duante throws for FIVE touchdown passes, and thank God I have him as my QB on my fantasy team this year instead of Rich Gannon--yeah, that's a slight upgrade.  And then there was the sight of Keyshawn, despite an admireable effort, getting bounced on his head after one hit in the secondary.  Man, it doesn't get much better than that.
Anytime you can beat the Cowboys, and cause consternation to Jerry Jones--owner of the single worst looking wig in sports--its a good day.

Later,
jeff