a new perspective

"perspective" was fine when we had a 2.5 game lead. now i'm back to being as fired up as a fat guy when the stuckey's buffet runs out of home fries.

my only solace is that the braves are eliminated.

perspective

i was watching the mets game the other night (i know, a risk factor for coronary disease right there), content that they were up 3 runs against the marlins in the 5th inning, and so i went to read molly a book before bed. she chose some richard scarry book with scenes "all around town" or something like that. one particular page was of a fire company (staffed by pigs, as is the norm in richard scarry world) rescuing people (actually foxes) jumping from a burning building. the firepigs were using one of those old rescue trampolines to catch the jumping fox. molly was clearly confused (about the rescue effort, not the pigs-as-firefighters thing), and it took a fair bit of explaining on my part to get her to understand why someone would jump from a building.

this immediately conjured flashbulb memories of those horrific pics of people jumping from the WTC towers before collapse. i couldn't get the image from my head, and quickly turned the page to a nice beach scene with a hippo lifeguard and some bears making sandcastles.

in the time it took me to read that book and get molly to sleep, the mets had blown not one, but two different 3 run leads, and proceeded to lose the game in extra innings. i went to bed seething about the outcome. then my thoughts moved to how frustrated the players must have been, and how they would likely be lying in bed having an even harder time falling asleep than i was.

then my thoughts moved back to that richard scarry book, and the jumping foxes, and the jumping people, and i thought that no matter how frustrated i was about the game, or the players were about the game, that we'd all wake up in the morning, and hug our kids, and go off to another day of work.

perspective.

happy molly day

molly's b'day today- she came downstairs with me this AM, the boys were eating their breakfast before school, and said to her "happy birthday molly!". her response: "thank you. where's my cake?"

back to school

boy, i thought i'd be better at this blog thing- gotta post more and keep this interesting.

back to school last week. here's a shot of the boys in their unis:




owen started 2nd grade, brendan 1st. so far, so good. brendan's statement last week: "first grade gets funner and funner every day!" that is, until the grammar lessons start.

next step, her own iphone

put molly in a "big girl bed" this weekend. it's been in the basement for months, but she's had no desire to leave the crib so we hadn't pursued the transition at all. still had no desire to give up the crib, but we finished a room makeover for her this weekend, complete with purple ceiling, pink walls, new chair rail, new mini-chandelier, and felt it was the right time to bring out the bed.

so far, she seems to like it- we'll see how things go next week when the boys are back in school and we're all in more of a routine.

save jeffy!

unsettling report in the delaware news journal today...it seems they've pulled the family circus from their daily comics page! a call to arms has been raised by none other than tom keane, wilmington resident and brother to bill.

so do your part to support family humor in delaware. call the number listed in the above link (last letter on the page), or e-mail betsy price, features editor of the news journal at beprice@delawareonline.com. tell them the finks need the family circus, for their sanity and for blog material.

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here's my family circus moment from this past weekend- walking out of church yesterday, the kids give the priest hi-fives. molly says, "you know what? i smacked god's hand!" always knew she was strong-willed, but rebuking the hand of god is a whole new level.

the music man

went out today and bought a guitar, bringing the total number of instruments i own but can't really play to 7 (2 harmonicas, 1 acoustic guitar, 1 acoustic/electric guitar [the new one], 1 bass guitar, 1 keyboard and 1 saxophone).

the whole bass guitar thing (and subsequent dads-as-rock-stars band thing) started when my friend wyatt tried to teach me to play guitar. too many strings, so i downgraded from 6 to 4 and picked up the bass. been playing around with the old guitar lately, and felt it was time to try again at 6 strings.

so beware- someday you may see a dilf acoustic show with 3 guitars. "patience", anyone?

first ever finkipedia contest!!!

hey kids- here's something fun to show your creative sides. inspired by uncle googs' comment on the post about maine, and his and my love-hate relationship with "the family circus" (see christmas letter, 2006), i propose to you a challenge:

come up with a great family circus-esque tag line for any entry or part of an entry over the next few weeks. while the world of fink is your material to work with, "the family circus" is your canvas, so their characters should be used. (use googs' post from the 8/19 entry as your example)

post your submissions in the comments section of the applicable post; i'll cull through them all and post as many as i can in a poll at the bottom of the blog in a few weeks.

who posted this entry? NOT ME!

on tap next week- granny's colonoscopy!

kids are off to jersey for a few days with my folks while erin's in DC. during the school year, my mom will come down here to stay with them while erin works, but in the summer, they often go to NJ. fun for them all, because they do a lot of day trips to parks, lakes, the crayola factory- tons of fun stuff.

my mom called yesterday to confirm the pickup time for today. she was on the cell in the car (which, even when not driving, she feels awkward doing), and left a message with owen. she told him that they (she and my dad) were going to a wake at a funeral parlor (my parents are long islanders through and through, and still refer to funeral homes as "parlors"...well, maybe "pauluhs"), and wanted to be sure they were still picking the kids up at the decided-upon time. she then hung up because, of course, it's unsafe to be on a cell phone in a car.

owen passed on the message as "nana and grandpa eddie are picking us up tomorrow and taking us to a funeral". took several hours for us to get through to them again to figure out the real story.

back on track again

just back from a week on the maine coast- great time. weather was terrific, kids had a blast, and we took advantage of several opportunities to throw back to days of fink past. stopped in fairfield on the way up and back, driving around campus and grabbing lunch at the firehouse deli on the way to maine, then dinner at penny's II on the way home. saw an old friend of the kent family in stratford, CT, had dinner in brunswick, ME with cindy, raj and their kids, and spent most of the week at the beach with stacey, irish and their kids. pics on the way later in the week.

quick tale of taking things for granted. never occurred to me that molly had never really seen the ocean. sunday night we took the kids out to the beach as soon as we reached the condo. had to hold molly because she wasn't too keen on the sand at first. she pointed forward and said, "what's that?". "that's the ocean!", i replied. she pointed and asked again "what's that?", as the waves crashed onto the beach. "those are waves", i said. she paused, stared at the waves for a second or two, then waved back.

back on track

not much going on last week, hence the lack of updates.

the kids and i hauled out to LI saturday for a BBQ with some old high school friends. great time, dampened a bit by the sudden passing a few days before of our friend jen's dad. nice to catch up with those who were there though. the ridiculous traffic getting there and back always serves to remind me why i don't live there anymore (as if i needed much reminding anyway).

the scream

you only need to hear it once to know it's different. not like any other scream you've ever heard. something about it immediately tells you there's something terribly wrong.

we'd heard it once before, last march. the five of us were getting ready to go out for an after dinner walk. owen was in the backyard, jumping from one cement slab of our raised septic tank to the other. he came up a bit short, and hit the cement face first. we were in the garage, getting molly and brendan ready, when he screamed. it was obvious from the sound that it was more than a scrape, and in the few seconds it took us to get to him, he had blood everywhere. took 7 or 8 stitches to close the cut, but he's no worse for wear now. even has the zigzag scar between the eyes to go with his harry potter glasses.

heard the scream again tonight. all 3 kids were in the backyard on the playset, while we sat at the kitchen table talking and watching them thru the window. it was brendan this time, letting out a scream that made owen's sound like a whimper. we didn't see anything happen, but from the house could see him sitting on the ground at the base of the slide. erin was convinced he was bleeding, i thought for sure he'd broken his leg. he knew exactly what had happened: "I GOT STUNG BY A BEE!!!!!" sure enough, the stinger was still there, right in the middle of his shin. he continued to scream as we brought him in the house, and as if the stinger had a direct connection to his sound card, he stopped almost immediately when we pulled it out.

a little ice, a band-aid, and about 10 minutes of extra attention were all it took to return him and the house to a sense of normalcy. i told him that even though he was just fine, the bee was not, because it would die without its stinger. erin thanked him for taking one for the team and ridding the world of one more bee. he said, "you're welcome, but it still hurts".

share a little love

continuing to find more and more uses for this blog. here's another- to promote good causes. my good friend ted is riding his bike much farther than i thought he could even drive, all in the interest of raising funds for the MS society. ted's mom rosemary passed away in june from complications from MS. you can read all about his endeavor here, and leave a pledge should you feel inclined.

thanks from both of us.

spreading the good word

kiddie quotes, stories, and my deep thoughts will only take this blog so far. as writer, editor, and publisher, i have sole control of all content and will humiliate you all as i see fit. i promise, no compromising pictures, but stories are fair game, as well as anything in the public domain.

i'll be gentle to start- the only humiliation here is me sharing your accolades with the world, as your grandmother might have done when she told everyone in her bridge club how you got the citizenship award at your junior high graduation. here then are a few huzzahs for some in the finkosphere...

• we finally know what googs does all day long- no better use for a medieval history masters than as a futurist. (those who do not learn from the past, blah blah blah)
• in case you're a large multinational insurance company involved in a bitter legal dispute, we've got a man for you. way to go, joey.
• congrats to mike and maura on the arrival of katie rose- start saving for the sweet 16 now

weekend wrap-up

no sharks this weekend, just some lazy time at home interrupted by a few trips to the driving range. brendan came into our room saturday AM dressed and ready to start his day, wearing some shorts and a collared shirt- clearly, something had gone eerily wrong during the night. his motive- he wanted to go to the driving range, and he knew that the course we go to requires collared shirts even at the driving range. now how's a dad supposed to say no to that?

no pics from the driving range, but here's a random one from last week when the "chefs" were making dinner...

when all else fails, go with the longest answer

off tomorrow to take my family medicine recertification exam. once every 7 years, need to prove to those who certify these things (and ultimately those who determine how much of your hard-earned insurance dollars i deserve to receive) that i can still make correct decisions on health matters when presented with multiple-choice questions. too bad patients don't read textbooks or give me a choice as to what i think they may have. not likely to see any questions like these tomorrow:

1) a 28 yo male presents as a new patient after leaving his other doctor because he was misunderstood. he is healthy other than his chronic low back pain, which has been refractory to all treatments except vicodin and soma. unfortunately, his pain is worsening because of his new job and he left the prescriptions he received from his last physician at his cousin's house in virginia. he is allergic to ibuprofen and tramadol. physical exam is unremarkable except for poor dentition and several large tattoos. at this point, you should:
a) rewrite his prescriptions for a 90 day supply with 3 refills, as he has requested
b) instruct him on proper lifting techniques and posture, refer to physical therapy
c) extol the benefits of chiropractic care and its effectiveness in similar situations
d) suggest he may want to find another less gullible physician
e) refer him to a pain management expert, since his pain is obviously far beyond your capacity to treat him

2) a 46 yo female complains of a 3 day history of sinus congestion, similar to all her previous "sinus infections". her symptoms include headache, mild rhinorrhea, and sore throat. she has no fever, though in the mornings she has a cough productive of "very dark green, thick stuff". she smokes 1 1/2 packs of cigarettes a day. proper treatment for this patient includes
a) an antibiotic
b) a cough syrup with codeine
c) a decongestant
d) a note for work for the rest of the week
e) a 20 minute discussion about the symptoms of the common cold, appropriate treaments for the common cold, advice on smoking cessation and the dangers of smoking, and then ultimately a prescription for an antibiotic, a cough syrup with codeine, a decongestant, and a note for work.


wish me luck.

random links...

...to a few things that caught my eye during my trip around the web this lunch hour:

- great photo here, makes a much better desktop image than that awful stonehenge one you're still using
- give a woman manna from heaven, and she'll eat for a day. give her worms, and she'll fish all week.
- mark my words, the cubbies are making this move to deal kendall, possibly packaged with a pitcher for an all-star 3B whose team won't negotiate an extension until after the season. you can say you read it here first.

our clever little land sharks

here's the other purpose for this blog- to share the joys of finkville with all of you.

this past weekend erin and the kids went down to calvert county, maryland to visit our friend (and molly's godmother) ciaran and her dog atti. they took a trip to the calvert marine museum. nothing says fun like sharks and face painting.

enjoy the photos.

the stars are out

thanks to all who've checked in so far and left comments (ha ha, HA HA HA, ha ha). i've really enjoyed some of the e-mail conversations/debates we've had over the years, and think that the comments section here could serve that very purpose. i figured a site merely about what's going on in our daily lives might not keep everyone's interest, so i hope that many of my posts turn into discussions and debates on the comments page.

picked up the newest release this weekend from a band called stars, album is titled "in our bedroom after the war". stars' last disc, "set yourself on fire" won them fair acclaim in the indy world (for good reason), and this one should do the same. a bit different, but solid album. listening to their disc reinforced to me how many great songs and bands are out there that deserve more radio airplay. there's no reason why several songs on this disc shouldn't be on pop/rock stations everywhere, but i guarantee you'll never hear them. i don't claim to be any kind of music expert, but it seems to me that there are more and more songs that have great critical acclaim and are "radio-friendly" by anyone's standards, but have never or will never be heard anywhere other than maybe college radio and a few satellite channels.

here's a brief list of songs just from the past year or two that i think should have gotten major radio airplay, but never did. check them out on itunes or elsewhere, and burn yourself a disc of them. great summer listening. (thanks to puddin, googs, d-train and others who steered me towards some of these)

stars, "my favourite book", "ageless beauty"
fountains of wayne, "someone to love", "new routine"
rock kills kid, "paralyzed"
brandston, "earthquakes and sharks"
camera obscura, "lloyd, i'm ready to be heartbroken"
golden smog, "corvette"
hard-fi, "cash machine"
nada surf, "always love"
youth group, "shadowland"
death cab for cutie, "crooked teeth"

don't judge a book by its cover, or a song by its title and artist. 30 second sound bites should be enough to convince you these are radio-worthy. you may add to the list, but not subtract. fire away.

go shorty, it's ya birthday

a quick happy happy to my baby sis, who leaves the coveted 18-34 demographic today. here's hoping you've got a homemade pinata to swing at, just like the old days. happy birthday b.