This is going to be a quickie… So, let’s just get right to it, and not waste time making excuses.
I downloaded the Instagram app this weekend, and here’s my first offering. Is that a great pic, or what? It captures the essence of Andy. He’s a fantastic animal. Some days, when I’m feeling especially whiny and pussolated, it feels like he’s my best friend in the world. I love that dog. …Even though he smells like an open grave.
If you want to friend me at Instagram, or follow me, or whatever the hell, please do so. I don’t really know what I’m doing yet, but I’ll eventually get ‘er under control.
What do you think about this? It doesn’t surprise me, whatsoever. Nope, not one bit.
Last night at work I had no Mountain Dew pick-me-ups, or Snickers boosts, or anything of the sort. I’m trying to take the doctor’s advice, and cut down on caffeine and salt, and maybe drop a few pounds of riffle weight while I’m at it. Yesterday Toney made me a gigantic salad, with all manner of ingredients (including grilled chicken strips), which I’m going to eat for lunch this week — instead of those Marie Callender’s sodium bombs.
So far, so good… I’m not going crazy with it, just making a few minor adjustments. I like real salads just fine. What I don’t like, are those slimy “healthy” versions. So, this shouldn’t be too much of a chore. And I use very little dressing, so it’s gotta be a fairly decent alternative to the frozen salisbury steak and taters every day. Right?
The older boy got his learner’s permit on Saturday, and Toney and I let him drive a lot during the weekend. It was nerve-wracking, as well as excruciating. He does pretty well (undoubtedly better than I did), but he’s still in the very early days of this thing, and is far from an expert.
For one thing, he wants to drive too fast. On a long stretch, near our house, he was going 40 in a 25. I told him to slow it down, and he gave me a little lip.
“You drive this fast on this street,” he said.
“I’ve been driving since 1979,” I replied. “And you’ve been driving since 10:30.”
“9:30,” he corrected.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to downplay your immense driving experience. Just do what I tell you, and don’t argue. Or you’ll be back on your bike.”
And that’s pretty much how it went. But he’s fine. He’ll have the feel of everything in a week or two, and will improve quickly. And I’ll just have to grit my teeth until then, and try not to grasp the dashboard in fright. Shit.
Over the weekend Toney and I talked about maybe making a trip to Atlanta this summer. We’ve planned such a trek before, and it didn’t pan out. But we’d love to take the boys down there, and show them around. The older one was born there, but we moved to California when he was six months old. So, it’s completely foreign to both of them.
It’s really weird, since that city was so important to both Toney and me, but we haven’t been there in almost 15 years. And the boys don’t know it, at all. So, we’d like to take Black Lips Houlihan to my parents’ house, and continue to Atlanta for a few days. We’ll see if it actually happens. I wouldn’t be placing any large bets on it…
And I’ll use that as our Question of the Day. It’s fairly basic: Do you have any travel plans for the summer? If so, please tell us about it. Use the comments link below.
We haven’t traveled since the hefty Warner Bros. checks stopped arriving, and we’re going to try to change that during the summer of 2012. I’m feeling Atlanta’s pull, and also Myrtle Beach. We’ll see how it goes. What do you have cooking, on the travel front? Please bring us up to date.
And I need to stop right here.
See you guys next time!
Now playing in the bunker
Follow Jeff on Twitter and Facebook
My summer plans involve staying inside where there is A/C. I will perhaps go outside come September.
I too just signed up to Instagram and took a GORGEOUS picture of my dog. Then, when I went to upload it to facebook, I somehow deleted it. I spent the next two hours trying to figure out how to salvage deleted pictures. Her next picture (which I posted) has her looking scared and pissed, just wanting the goddamned treat already.
I’m too broke to make vacation plans. Of course I daydream about where I’d like to go (UK, Ireland are my tops) but I’m resigining myself to figuring I’ll probably never get to go. (Booooo!) Instead I’m just hoping to save enough cash to maybe go somewhere fancy for our anniversary. Maybe after we’ll come home and watch some old TV show we’ve never seen on Netflix. Romance, baby, romance….
“9:30.”
Awesome.
We are going to Newport OR this summer. Hubby and I lived in OR for about 6 years. Our daughter was born there, but we moved when she was 3. The coast is one of my favorite places. Good friends from OR are meeting us there and we are all renting a house for a few days. I really hope the reality of the trip lives up to my expectations. My daughter is excited to see her “best friend” from when she was 3. Should be entertaining to see them together now.
I know nothing about Instagram and plan to keep it that way.
Jera, the Oregon coast is so cool! What is also cool is renting an old lighthouse keepers house on the Washington coast from the State of Washington. They are quite reasonabely priced in the off season. The State Parks deparrtment also rents these cool officer and NCO houses at some of the old Army forts north of Seattle.
Have a great trip to Newport…it WILL live up to your expectations.
Newport or where?
I really suck at making circuit boards. I think my beagle was sensing the self-doubt this weekend and would come sit on the floor with me while I pouted about sucking.
I had a salad for dinner last nigh. It was soon followed by half a dozen granola bars and a fits full of potato crisps. Now I’m all greasy. I don’t think my body knows how to digest lettuce, so I just secreats out from my pores and scalp.
I have to go see a lunger for my summer travel.
You could just wrap your boys in wet blankets and make them point heat guns at eachother for a few days. That’ll be like Atlanta.
icy,
Did you try that Batch PCB place? Sounds like you’re trying to do the full homebrew route. One of the reasons I gave up was my inadequate ironing skills.
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My ironing skills are spot on. It’s my etching that is a problem.
i looked inot the Batch PCB place, but they want all sorts of files and crap I don’t have.
I print my circuit patterns off of madbeanpedals.com and it’s just a pdf.
Express pcb or pcb123 had some pretty simple software from wht i remember.
CLASSIC! Teach him how to drive a stick–every one should know how to drive a manual car–no matter what!!!
For one thing, he wants to drive too fast. On a long stretch, near our house, he was going 40 in a 25. I told him to slow it down, and he gave me a little lip.
“You drive this fast on this street,” he said.
“I’ve been driving since 1979,” I replied. “And you’ve been driving since 10:30.”
“9:30,” he corrected.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to downplay your immense driving experience. Just do what I tell you, and don’t argue. Or you’ll be back on your bike.”
Amen.
Everyone should learn with a stick shift, if they want to use an automatic later that’s fine.
Everyone should learn how to do math long hand, if they want to use a calculator later that’s fine.
Does anybody still manufacture stick shifts? Seems like all the basic sedans are strictly automatics, and all sports cars have switched to paddle shifters.
If you’re stuck in the mountains of Central America and the only vehicular choice is a 80s-era Wrangler or Suzuki Samurai, knowing a shift might make sense.
But are there any cars on the production line currently that are equipped with clutches and stick-based manual transmissions?
You can find ’em. But I don’t think you can call them standard transmissions anymore. I think Suzuki’s still have them and possibly some models of Toyota.
I prefer them because I know most people can’t drive them.
I only buy stick shifts, and I only buy new cars. So yes, you can get them, thankfully 🙂
Lots of cars and small trucks are still available with manual transmissions, thankfully. I feel the same about automatics as Jeff feels about pickles and mayonaise.
Most cars made today are not available with a stick shift, at least for the US market; those that are tend to be marketed as either sports cars or econoboxes (Corvette, Yaris). If you want a medium-size four-door sedan with a manual shift, the pickings will be slim. Extra-slim if you also want all-wheel-drive.
I too only buy manual transmissions. This is one small area where I can have some control, and damn it, they’re just more fun. A double-clutch downshift makes me happy in some small way.
Finally – since very few people know how to drive a stick shift anymore, it follows that very few car thieves know how to drive a stick shift, so it’s a form of theft-proofing.
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Audis, Subarus, BMWs, some VWs, there aren’t many.
What I really want is an E Class wagon, diesel, stick shift, 4Matic, cloth interior, no fancy electronic crap – AKA a German taxicab, but there’s fuck all chance of MB USA selling those here.
My no automatics rule means I can’t buy things like KIA minivans, which is a real shame 😉
You drive a stick, you ride in an automatic. Loved my Toyota SR5 back in the day. That bastard would climb a tree.
I just found out that a Dude Ranch about an hour from where I live has the cheapest prices of the entire YEAR next week. I think $129 per person, which includes ALL MEALS and all activites. They have a pretty cool indoor water park, and I haven’t been on a horse since the unfortunate accident of 1993. My friend is there now – I told her to find out if they have a bar. If so, I’m on my way for a few days.
Other than that, I’ll try to get out to the beach when I can. The drive sucks and there is constant traffic out in Long Island.
We were supposed to go to the Bahamas last month, but the cat got sick and died so we canned those plans.
And I’m sorry but how fucking stupid does one have to be not to realize The Titanic was real? Holy hopping Jesus. I bet they think Pearl Harbor was an HBO event. And what about the Holocaust? Jesus, I’m getting so mad I can kick a cripple.
“Jesus, I’m getting so mad I can kick a cripple.” Just so you know, I’m going to use that in a conversation as soon as humanly possible. Thanks!
The Titanic was real? What?!?! Does that mean Avatar was real too? OMG!
Avatar is not real. Transformers on the other hand was as real as it gets. But it was back in the early 70s. Remember the fuel crisis? That was those bastards drinking up all the gas and oil. The average Transformer only got about a half mile to the gallon.
They were in the mid west and had to be stopped. They had large tracts of land and were growing pot and everything else.
Yep, they were real alright…
Transformers grew pot? Why didn’t anyone tell me?
Those monsters that used to hang out under my bed and in the closet – were they real? I already know they weren’t growing anything.
Got at LEAST 9 months off starting next month and going to Seattle. Great Summer coming up 🙁
No concrete travel plans for the summer. I hope to get to Cincinnati for a couple more ballgames this summer and I’ve been invited to spend some time with my friends in California. I haven’t been there for awhile and really want to go back but the thought of air travel keeps me from even checking on prices. Maybe I’ll just quit my job and drive out there, stay a couple of months, see how long it takes them to kick me out. Damn, I think I just wrote a pilot for a sitcom.
Come to Ocean City, Jeff. Me and the Missus and the ‘not-so-secrets’ will be there from August 11 – 18.
Jeff…we moved out of ATL 10 years ago and I’ve only been back one time since then. Trust me, when you go back you’ll remember why you left and why you’ll never want to go back again – the traffic and overcrowding are UNBEARABLE now, perhaps even moreso on the secondary roads than the 6-lanes-each-way freeways.
If titanic was real then was Apollo 13? Field of Dreams?
Bullshit.
Me and the girl are gonna hit Boulder, CO in June for this bit of retardedness:
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/11069
Other than that nothing set in stone. I’ll fly back to OKC a few times and we’ll try to get her here. We need to sneak across the californian border so we can add that state to the Bang list. And since we’re over that way we might just spend the night inPAhrump. Just so I can say I humped in Pahrump.
Would like to hit a reds game or 81, but that’s not happening.
Unless you live in a cave, I cannot image how someone would not know the Titanic was real. People…seriously…get your fucking head out of your ass. THE most well known maritime disaster in history will disappear because of ignorance before the rusticles eat it away at the bottom of the Atlantic. Sad.
As far as vacation goes, we’ll go on several weekend camping trips including a 5 day stint to Jamboree in the Hills. My boyfriend wants to go somewhere with a beach for a week I vote for Key West but nothing has been decided.
Ummm the most well known maritime disaster was the wreck of the SS Minnow.
A close second would be the Oceana crash from a few years back.
Yah, I didn’t realize Gilligan’s Island was real until recently, I think the show probably made it appear more pleasant than it really was.
They were always whipping up those coconut cream pies, so how bad could it have ben?
Also I haven’t been to Atlanta in about 11 years and 2 years before that. That place changes faster than a Romney campaign promise Heyyyy yoooo!!
Hubs and I might get out to OHIO this summer.
We are party people I must say.
He wants to look at Indian Burial Mounds(aka dirt)and I want to visit the grave of an ancestor buried in a Confederate Cemetary in Columbus.
Oh yah! Good times……
Don’t be to hard on the boy for driving too fast, he’s got a point when he points out ‘you go this fast’. I grew up in a family of speed demons, I got the same thing, to which they got the exact same response. Lead by example as they say.
Now, get one thing into his head, always be on the look out for anything and everything around you becuase your number one task is to not be afraid to slow down to the speed limit when you see anything that remotely resembles a cop–you get a ticket, you get to pay for it. Number two: Pedestrians, don’t go blasting past them, they have the potential to call the cops on your ass if you happen to be going nuts in a residential area.
Rule One has saved my ass numerous times. Paying attention pays off. I’ve only got one speeding ticket to my name, and that was for the princely sum of $37.50. Only becuase I did not heed rule one. Today, that ticket would be considerably more.
My travel plans will be around the local area. Nothing cast in stone, just point the car in a randomn direction and drive.
Great shot of Snoop-Manny-Man. Looks like a happy fellow. Doesn’t have that,”Please come get me out of this fucking nut house”, look I thought he’d have.
And yeah…I’m sure you’ve been a great role model over the years for the boys. Some warning signs you might look out for is when he starts whipping his hands through his hair at crosswalks and starts yelling at people who back in…..just sayin’
Seems like only yesterday we learned about the secrets.
I’m waiting for the mysterious daughter to show up to revive the blog if it starts to falter.
I drove out to Asheville cuz that’s where you were
Where you married into money and pills
And I wanted so bad to be good with you now
But the fact is that you never will
Because some become lovers because of the sex
Sometimes they just become friends
In our case, we just became bad at it all
And never got good at it again
Oh Atlanta please need me
Like I needed you
Let your sweaty embrace open wide
Cuz Atlanta I’ve fallen
Like some people do
And I need all your ground to survive
(Cuz Atlanta I’m smothered like some people get
And I need all your air to survive)
Is it a problem if my moobs keep getting the the way of my cheesburger?
The pics of those Twitter victims indicate they are all young. We’ve stopped teaching history in our schools, and those who don’t know history are condemned to sing “My Heart Will Go On” until hell has icebergs.
jtb
Journalism!
where she was pronounced death, police said.
Better put a pair of clean underwear in the glove box for when your oldest first merges onto the interstate in heavy traffic on an on-ramp that empties into the left lane.
My son didn’t go too fast. He was more of a wait-til-I’m-in-the-trunk-of-the-car-in-front-of-me-before-I-touch-the-brakes kind of a student driver. The nightmares eventually stop…the teeth grinding not so much.
I’ve never understood why anyone still cares about the Titanic.
If I said I’m unkillable and someone killed me because they were an idiot, are people going to care 100 years from now?
There were some years I felt pretty unfuckable. That one seems to stick.
ice…
Without minimizing the importance of your own life, the Titanic carried 2,223 people; 1,517 of whom died as a result of the sinking. I think it’s a combination of the shock of the sinking of an unsinkable ship and the significant loss of life that still resonates a century later. There were no cats on board.
jtb
…not even in the band.
Right, which is why the band played Nearer My God to Thee instead of Sweet Georgia Brown.
What’s the difference between Joan Collins and the Titanic?
Only 1,500 went down on the Titanic.
When both my son and daughter started driving they were way ahead of the curve. I thing it was all the years at go-cart and NASCAR amusement parks.
All we have planned for this summer is a long weekend to the thousand islands for some diving. Spent all our vaca savings on a 25th anniversary trip in January sans the kids.
I have to go to the Family Homestead in New England, just like every year. And just like every year, my dad INSISTS on holding it on the 4th of July. While it’s always good to see the fam, that drive up I-95 is never good. Especially in the summer, especially on a holiday. The whole thing just doesn’t seem like much of a vacation to me.
No kids here, so I have not taught them to drive. I, of course, was a quick and gifted pupil.
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My Summer is already planned for me. Short very sweaty sessions followed by slightly longer periods under the long cool exhalations of Dr. Fedders. I have come to dislike Summer. There are a couple of concerts planned for Fall and I hope I can get there.
Outer Banks the last week of July. My first time but I’ve heard nothing but good things.
Also four days in Canaan Valley, WV with about a dozen of my buddies. We’ve been doing a four day early May trip every year for about 20 years now. Beer, cards, grill out every night. A consistently great time.
my brother is getting married early september so im flying out to denver for a quick 3 days then turning around on the 22nd of september and flying to clearwater via tampa for my actual vacation with my friend chris. she owns a retirement home down there and we are going to see harry potter world and relax.
My family and I might be going to Ocean City, MD in a couple of weeks, if we can work it out. None of us have been there before.
The only problem, we have to take our son out of school. I am not real crazy about that. But, it should be a lot of fun. Our son has never seen the ocean.
If you’re in Ocean City shoot up to Rehoboth Beach and check out Dogfish Head brew pub.
I hope it works out. I venture that seeing the ocean for the first time will be a more memorable and enriching experience for your son than a few days of school.
Jeff –
If you guys come to Atlanta, you should consider an informal meeting of Surf Reporters. Unbelievable as it sounds, since you left, Atlanta has become the craft beer mecca of the southeast. While you are here, be sure to check out The Brick Store Pub – http://www.brickstorepub.com/ – and right in your old L5P stomping grounds, the Porter Beer Bar – http://www.brickstorepub.com/ – both of which were polled in the top ten beer bars worldwide on ratebeer.com. Even Manual’s has some pretty good taps these days.
And if you want to do some fancy-schmancy grocery shopping, the Whole Foods on Ponce has 6 growler taps and you can buy a pint of draft beer to drink *while you are shopping*. Pretty cool.
Anyway if it appeals to you, pick a spot for a gathering of the reporters and we can all hoist a few.
–greg
Simple plans this summer. The wife and 2 boys will fly to Austin to stay at Grandma’s. A week later, I’ll fly my daughter in from California, then spend two days on the road with her driving to Austin. Then we all drive to Port A, get two condos to accommodate the 5 of us and two brother-in laws and their wives, 2 kids apiece, grandma, grandpa. A third brother-in-law, wife and 2 kids are a maybe.
3 days on the beach, drive back to Austin, drop off the wife and 2 boys, then 2 days back on the road with my daughter, then fly her home to California.
So that’s 4 round trip airplane tix, and enough gas to drive across the country, two beach front condos at peak season, two nights hotels on the road, and I gotta feed everybody.
I HAVE LEARNED MY FUCKIN’ LESSON. WHEN THE WIFE ASKS WHAT I WANT TO DO NEXT SUMMER, I WILL HAVE MORE OF AN ANSWER THAN “I dunno. Why don’t you handle it?”!!!!!!!!!!
Yeesh.
It may not officially be summer, but I’m traveling outside of the US for the first time next Thursday. Headed to China for 9 days to visit a friend
Anybody else out there have any suggestions for places to hit in Shanghai or Bejing?
McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King, KFC.
Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City are fascinating in Beijing. Try to see the frozen corpse of Mao whenever it’s trundled up from his subterranean refrigerated bunker. If you can make it out to one of the less-touristy parts of the Great Wall, go.
In Shanghai, be sure to visit the Bund, and I recommend the Bund Tunnel for a trippy ride. In general, Shanghai is much more pleasant than Beijing — less dirty, less humid, more Western.
Sounds like you’ve been there and know it well. Can you recommend a place to get some halfway decent Chinese food? A buffet or something.
I was there briefly six years ago and, sadly, did not try much of the local cuisine. I had my 11-yr-old son in tow. He wasn’t an adventurous eater and I didn’t want him to get food poisoning. So we ate a lot of meals at Subway. Lame, I know. Had one great meal of BBQ ribs at a Holiday Inn in Beijing, but I couldn’t tell you where it was.
Thanks mlberry! I’m glad somebody took me seriously… We are going to hit all three places you recommended in Beijing, I look forward to it. I’ll have to remember the Bund, I’ve surprisingly never heard of it before but it looks really cool! Appreciate the advice
This is the guidebook I used. I found it very handy. Have fun!
http://amzn.to/HWmhqD