Harry's Ruminations

Most of my Saturdays involve me getting to "sleep in" to 7am. Today was special--I got to sleep in to 8:30, at which point Bella declared, "Well, I've been awake for 2 hours at this point, might as well get up." To encourage domestic sanity, Whitney and I have an arrangement--each of us gets alone time for around 4 hours each weekend. Traditionally, Whitney gets hers Saturday mornings 'til 1pm. Yep, I'm to be a single parent for the next 4 hours or so. Easy enough, right? Actually, it's pleasant. Usually. I have great kids--conversant, responsive, unspoiled. They appreciate time with Dad, especially when he puts the laptop down and unplugs his NPR-podcast laden iPod. Today was going to be great--we'd take the recycle to the recycling center, hit a motorcycle shop or 3, maybe con our way into a test-drive of a car with a manual transmision, then hit the UK arboretum and some other goings-on in Lex. Plans change. Got everyone in the van, loa...

(As related to Kim Tegge, the lone coffee holdout at work) Stage 0: Coffee?! BLECH! Does smell good, though. Stage 1: Coffee?! BLECH! I'll take a Mocha Frappuchino, please. Stage 2: Coffee?! BLECH! I'll take an instant French Vanilla Cappuccino, please. I drink one of these every couple of weeks or so. Stage 3: Latte, please. I can't stand coffee. This is my first one this week. Stage 4: Hmm...no latte? No Starbucks? Need something...I'll take some coffee with my cream and sugar. Never had this before. Stage 5: Dark roast Starbucks house blend with a shot of cream. You know...maybe a couple per day. Stage 6: Black coffee. Any will do. 4 cups per day. Stage 7: Reheated black coffee from yesterday while I'm brewing the extra-strength coffee at 5am because I've had a coffee headache since 4:30. 6 cups per day. Actually, I can't remember how many I drink per day. I NEED ANOTHER CUP! So, where do you fall on that scale?

This morning, my daughter Maria, had a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy at an outpatient surgery center in Lexington. She did very well, considering. She wasn't happy to have all that pain when she awoke. She cried, and I held her in the recovery room as they took the IV out of her left arm. The nurses and staff at the outpatient center were attentive, answering our every question. We took the slow trip back to Georgetown in the Cube (still no van 'til next week), and she dozed lightly with mom keeping her company in the back seat. Since then she's taken her Tylenol 3 (with yummy Codeine) and 2 popsicles.

This year, I was puzzling over the word 'Easter' itself. Doesn't seem to have any religious connection, does it? All the Latin-derived languages borrow from "Pesach," the Hebrew word for passover. Surprise, Easter is named for an Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring . Traditionally the goddess Eoastre saved a frozen bird by turning it into a bunny. A bunny who could lay eggs, like a bird. BANG--"Easter Bunny" For me, this Easter has been a real bust. Really, the whole Lenten season, too. Usually, I get into everything from Ash Wednesday through Pentecost--purification, focus on religious life, prayer. This year, it's been a succession of issues: Pregnancy, Mom's cancer returning, ongoing illness in my wife & kids, work, a car accident, dealing with insurance company. This weekend's been the exclamation point on that--missed our Good Friday chorale because of shuttling J, then missed Easter because J's got stomach flu. Three round...

Since March 22nd, my family's been tooling around in a Nissan Cube . Let's be honest: We hate it. We miss our Honda Odyssey and look forward to its return. Heck, this thing makes me yearn for the consistent handling, quiet competence of my 10 year old Toyota Camry. Yep. This brick is Hello Kitty with wheels, and yikes has it overstayed its welcome. For those who don't know, a Nissan Cube is a Nissan Versa with a different body. A Nissan Versa is the smallest Nissan automobile sold in America, featuring a coarse 122 hp 1.8L engine and a Continuously Variable Transmission. Pic of the versa: Beauty is subjective, but I'd say ugly is obvious. How these TWO rolling monstrosities made it past clay models is beyond me. Anywho... So, what you have with the Cube is a box-it-came-in car, with amazing interior space. Let me describe what it's like to drive this car: Imagine driving your patio deck around with an underpowered engine and Satan's own transmissio...

Chat convo with my wife: Bella: I'm gonna need that $ back. Harvid: Sure, right after I put that deposit down on that motorcycle Bella: Oh, so you're leaving me then? Harvid: Oh, didn't the guy show up with the papers? ;)

Finished reading this book Saturday night It was an interesting tale of an entitled, White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) whose life completely unravelled in his late 50's. This true story follows Michael Gates Gill, son of Brendan Gill of The New Yorker magazine fame, graduate of Yale, member of Skull & Bones. Gill's never worked a real job in his life--he moved from Yale to a prestigious Madison Avenue ad agency, living a jet-set life and leaving his kids behind. As he entered his 50's, he got downsized and went home (for the first time, really) to a wife he didn't know and children who grew up without him. He descended further, carrying-on an affair with a younger woman and fathering a child at 60 years old. Then his wife left him. Then his ad clients stopped calling him back. Then he had a young African American woman ask him at Starbucks: "Do you want a job today?" Yes. Yes, he did, and so begins our story. The book is a very quick read, wi...