Costumes

I found a bunch of photos on a disc

615 Church Street

Her First Hockey Game

At home, she talks like she loves hockey but when it's on TV she loses interest quickly so we suspect that it's more that she wants to be the girl who likes hockey than she is the girl who likes hockey. The moment of truth came tonight when we were given a couple of free tickets to the Predators game. Um, that hockey talk? It seems that it might be the real deal.

Our first dad-daughter outing in a long time, she was positively giddy riding down the interstate in the back seat. I told her what I knew about the game. (Not much.) She asked me if I was sure I was going the right way because we were going to be late for the game if I wasn't.

Once there, we enjoyed a nice walk from the library parking garage to the Sommet Center. Walking among the many Predators jersey-outfitted fans, my girl remarked, "There sure are a lot of lucky people seeing hockey tonight." We entered the arena and it was like she had been there before. Instead of being a shy kid in a crowd in an unfamiliar place, she was focused and in charge. When I'd slow the pace to look around, she'd pull me forward. "It's already starting, dad."

Still, I wondered just how much of the game she'd enjoy. With it being a school night, we'd be exiting after the first period. Would she last even that long? We entered Section 306 for our seats but I decided to go out and around to the other entrance closer to our seats. Holding her up as I walked away, my back to the ice, my daughter kept her head directed to the action, hungry for any glimpse of the real thing. Finally in our seats, there was no question to her intention to take it all in.

She asked me that very basic question first: "When will they fight?" I quickly texted that to my wife, but was scolded by my little hockey fan. The crowd was clapping and I was not. She called me on it. We cheered together and we chanted "Let's go, Predators" along with the rest of the crowd. Imagine if we sat in Section 303. Some of those chants wouldn't play as well at school for her the next day.

We left at the end of the period and she was giddy the whole way home. I'm still not sure if she'll watch any games on TV, but I think it's my duty as her dad to secure tickets for some more Preds games for her. Thanks to my wife's friend who gave us the tickets tonight and thanks to our friend and blogger, Jane Q. Public, for giving her a really cool Predators t-shirt. We had a perfectly awesome time.

Devil in my Cube

"What's He Building In There?"

Jacksonville Zoo

Fernandina Beach 3

So Dreamy

Following Holley Maher on Twitter, I smiled to watch this video that she shared:

Fernandina Beach 2

Fernandina Beach

Sam

Cube Fun

My mom wrote recently that she thought of Star Wars stormtroopers when she saw the Nissan Cube. I hadn't thought of that until then, but I can totally see a couple of stormtroopers driving this around. Put some snow tires on it and they could race around the ice planet Hoth while dodging Wampas.

Regarding my earlier post about advertising on it, a friend offered up this:

Fun times. Thanks again to my mom for ensuring no more long walks to and from work for me. It's a joy to drive this car.

59-0

Just yesterday morning my wife and I were talking about the Titans. I made a point about their then 0-5 season. I stated that even though so many players and fans complain that the team doesn't get much media attention for wins and winning streaks, the nice thing about that is that they also don't get much of that attention when they lose. For example, more people were talking about the 1-4 Raiders than our winless professional football team.

Then yesterday's game happened.

Holy crap, what a beating that was. At least it was a family fun game in that when my kid asked me to play with him with his Star Wars men at some point during the third quarter, I was more than happy to oblige. At least the Rebels on the ice planet Hoth took down a few AT-AT Walkers in their struggle against the evil Empire. The Titans did absolutely nothing against "Darth Hoodie" and his snowtroopers. (Too much metaphor?)

So we're back to wondering what can be done to fix this team. Actually, I don't have to do the wondering. I've got work and family and those nice things to hold my attention. As for the fix, here's as good an idea as any: I Have a Serious Proposal for my Home Team.

Delivered Expressly by El Camino

Here's my new car, courtesy of my generous mom. If I was to advertise on the side of the Cube, what would be the perfect product? I keep thinking of a tiny milk truck when I see it.

Oldies Music and Vacation News

Julie London sings "Mad About The Boy" and I sit in my wife's favorite chair while she and the rest of the family sleep peacefully (I guess) in their beds. I'm on a Sinatra kick again and Pandora must know. After Julie London? "Come Fly With Me" by Frank, thank you. I picked up a live recording of a Sinatra concert from 1957 (I think) from the library today. There was so much delight in driving home tonight listening to him as I crossed the dam under a soft and cloudy sky. He might have been a bit drunk ("I'm up to here in Crown Royal.") as he seemed one sip past buzzed from time to time. I look forward to listening to the rest tomorrow.

Speaking of Sinatra and singers of his era, I recently rediscovered WAMB over at 99.3 on the radio dial. I used to listen to it on 1160 AM back in the early nineties when a friend turned me onto Tony Bennett. For the last couple of weeks, it's been WAMB that I've been enjoying the most on local radio. I just wish that they had a larger playlist of songs. It would be nice to not feel like I've heard absolutely everything from their library after such a short time of listening to the station.

Have you picked up a copy of Nashville Retrospect yet? It's the best new thing I've found. It's a monthly paper with news stories from Nashville's rich history. Pickup locations are here.

In family news, I'm hoping that things will work out for our upcoming vacation. I requested time off but was second on the request list to someone else. He generously agreed to postpone his vacation so that I could go, but there's still the matter of one day that no one can help me with. I'm on the schedule and if I can't get that day off, then one part of our vacation will be affected. Suffice to say, my wife may leave for a girls' weekend four hours south of us while I stay home for a few days with the kids. Then she'll drive back so that we can all drive approximately nine hours south to Florida for the family vacation. This seems like too many extra miles on the car, but now that I think about it maybe it's not. If we went to Florida first and then she drove north for some hours for her girls' weekend and then back to Florida afterward... Well, point made. This way, she'll be able to drive the new car down and back and then we can drive the van to Florida. In this scenario, I'll be watching the kids by myself. In the preferred scenario, I'll be watching them in Florida with in-laws around to help. No biggie either way. If it's here that I stay, I welcome any and all family and friends to come visit. Just don't be surprised if I go to take a nap when you arrive. After you watch my kids, you can whitewash my fence. There's nothing cooler. Tom Sawyer and I swear.

Thanks for reading this far. Enjoy this picture of some Skyline Chili. Yum!

Third From The Left

downtown

Can you believe this hair?