Landscaping

Wow am I over my head... What an exhausting weekend I had. Once again, my personal savior Brian came over and gave me a hand. Earlier in the week, he offered to deliver some wood chips from a neighboring village that he works for. With all the recent storms, they had lots of quality "green" trees that were chipped to get them out of the streets. After the pile fills up, the village has to pay to dump them somewhere. For nothing, they dumped three buckets full from a front-end loader in my driveway. That's how it started.

Once Brian showed up after lunch today, we got to work. The tally:
-2 trees cut down
-untold number of vines removed from fence
-6 bushes removed from front of the house
-3 rogue bushes/trees removed from around garage
-potted plants staged in front of house to take place of the bushes
-1.5 tons of wood chips placed around house and garage (and more are coming next week to complete the job)

What am I going to do when this man moves to California? He's single-handedly motivated my ass to accomplish a dozen or so projects around the house/car/etc. He has no fear. I'm afraid that I won't finish what I've started.

Brian, if you're listening, don't pay any attention to me. Live out your dreams. Enjoy the opportunity. It may never come along again. I'll be here. Come back when you're ready. I'll keep in touch.

In Eric's care

Katie flew out of town on a business trip Monday and Tuesday. She arrives home tonight. That said, I had my first night totally on my own last night. I think I handled the situation pretty well. Amanda is still alive; she made it to and from daycare without incident yesterday. Here is a brief rundown of the day in the life of a single dad starting Monday morning.

4:00 woken up by Katie's alarm; car to pick her up and take her to O'Hare
4:55 Katie feeds Amanda one last time
5:00 Katie departs for flight out of town
6:00 I wake up
6:10 tend to Amanda who wants attention
6:35 Amanda on bathroom floor while I shower (the shower soothes her)
7:00 depart house for day care
7:20 drop child off at day care, walk to train
7:40 hop on express train to downtown
8:15 at work
-------------
5:15 depart work
5:32 take train, walk to day care
6:10 have Amanda, headed home
6:30 arrive home, unpack child and stuff
7:00 start to feed bottle to Amanda
7:30 change diaper, put Amanda in crib
8:00 eat dinner
8:30 jump on call for work
10:30 Feed bottle to hungry and awake Amanda
11:00 I go to bed
1:15 Amanda crying, soothe her with pacifier. No bottle
4:00 Amanda crying, soothe her with pacifier. No bottle
5:30 Amanda crying, failed to soothe her with pacifier. Gave her bottle
6:30 Shower
7:00 change Amanda's clothes and diaper
7:30 drive to day care, drop off Amanda
8:15 back at house to work from home
3:00 blog about the past 36 hours.

Knute Rockne, All Amertican

As sad as this sounds coming from an alumnus of Our Lady's University, this was the first time I was able to watch "Knute Rockne, All American" in its entirety. What a great story. However, in true film making fashion, they take two hours to build up the story line and then resolve the story in only five minutes.

For example, the Rockne Memorial building (where I playe basketball and exercised while an undergrad) was but a side note just before the credits roll. Additionally, the "House that Rockne built" better known as Notre Dame Stadium received the same attention. Sure, the storyline was about the man and not what was left behid, but it seemed to be in poor form. Of course I have 68 years post-movie to make these statements. In 1940, things were different. Frank Leahy had yet to arrive on campus and rekindle the winning tradition to Notre Dame.

Ill church

A socio-religous connundrum: When you're feeling ill, should you still be compelled to go to Sunday mass? Both Katie and I woke up with sore throats feeling generally icky. Church is such a socially interactive place where you shake hands, touch objects, etc. that it becomes a breeding ground to pass along germs and sickness.

While channel surfing, I ran into a braodcast of Sunday mass (not sure where from). It's one of those little things you cannot explain. It's one of those times in your life where you don't get what you want, but somehow get what youu need. So, I continue to watch and feel I am in some way fulfilling my obligation...

Father's Day

While I spent the majority of my first Father's Day "in the dark", it was not as bad as one would think. I awoke at 7:30am (terrific to sleep in that late) to an electrical outage caused by a tremendous storm that swept through Chicagoland eventually downling power lines all over and affecting 140,000 ComEd customers. I was able to focus time with family. We had lunch at Panera and then dinner at Noodles and Company. We couldn't eat at home; can't risk opening the refrigerator and spoiling the food. Oh, the suburban adventures.

I rounded out the evening with a cigar and a (still cold beer) on my front steps with a candle for light while I peered down the block looking for signs of life. Neighbors chatted with flashlights in hand and the air was deathly still. It was a nice end to the evening.

As I was closing my eyes in bed preparing for the worst overnight as our food began to rot in our refrigerators, the ceiling fan spun up and we were back in the 21st century once again. The time, 11:30pm. I made sure there were no issues throughout the house and all was right in the world.

"Next to me in the blackness lay my oiled blue-steel beauty. The greatest Christmas gift I had ever received or would ever receive. Gradually, I drifted off to sleep, pranging ducks on the wing and getting off spectacular hip shots."

Electricity

We had a nasty storm this morning and down goes the electricity. We've had a bad run the past few weeks.

UPDATE 11:30PM: Power is back on. Almost 16 hours without power. Some Father's Day we had - all outdoors!

Night out revisited

I'm on the train now thinking over my night out. Have you ever had that moment (from your own, unique perspective) where you ask a friend of the opposite sex, "Remind me again why you're single?"
I had that moment tonight. Check that, I've had this moment in my head for over a year but only spoke out about it tonight. I was out with several coworkers tonight and (for the sake of the argument let's call her) 'Jami' joined the party.
'Jami' is smart, sexy, fun and (most-importantly) single.
She's the type of woman that I would be attracted to if I were single. I'm not, so let's leave the questions about my fidelity right there. Her dating status - over 30 and single but actively searching for a man - has always perplexed me. She has a commanding presence when she enters a room. There must be some critical flaw that I cannot see.
I'm compelled to help and told her that I'd be a great wingman. However, this nasal congestion prevented me from joining her and the group at the very loud venue they were headed to. It would have been painful. I feel she's looking for the "6-foot 3-inch former football quarterback turned stock broker who's in his late 30's and looking to settle down and start a family in the next 18 months". Wonder how hard those are to find?
My thoughts shift to my family at home and how I feel disconnected at times due to work or this or that; it bothers me. I received a quote from a VP today that stated, "The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother". Father Ted Hesburgh, C.S.C. said that; what a great quote.

Night out

Tonight was my first night out after work in quite some time. It felt real good to be out and about on my own. After a while the guilt sank in that my wife and child were home and I was out drinking. On top of that (for those keeping score) I have not been sleeping lately and working long and odd hours which probably lead to the sinus congestion I currently experience...

The heat is on

I'm on a marathon conference call for work at the moment. I took a step outside the house for some fresh air. Wham! It's still 80+ degrees and breezey. It's a nice departure from my meat locker basement. This old house needs better HVAC, but it would be cheaper just to purchase a newer home I think. I'm not in that market.

UPDATE: It's 2:15am and I just got off my call. Woo hoo.

Power's out

First prolonged outage since we moved in.

Mish-mash

Topics to note:
-Got out on Saturday with my buddy Brian on the moto. We put 75 miles on the bikes, saw another buddy's "gut and rehab" house and then put some burgers on the grill. He's the best. I will miss him if he and his wife relocate.
-Biggie ups to my colleagues for putting forth a tremendous effort this weekend. I'm very proud of Joey.
-Attended a family party today for a First Communion. I really enjoy the company of Katie's family.
-Just had a brown-out and I'm working a support incident at the moment (yes, it's past midnight); that could be a bad sign.

Eric rides again

I got out for a motorcycle ride for the first time this season. It was nice, I really needed to blow off some steam. It was only for a couple hours and only a handful of miles, but noteworthy nonetheless.
There is an unexpected side-effect, however - guilt. I cannot help feeling guilty for abandoning my wife and child that I haven't seen all day to go out and do what most see as "play". It's so much more than that and as the saying goes, "If I have to explain it to you, you just won't understand."