From the Finals Stage to Dead Last

The Individual Poetry Slam is happening in Charlotte this week. Results are posted here. Click on the results link for the scores and updates. A lot of familiar names in the mix. Local poet Will Evans is in the top ten and Vernell Bristow is in the middle of the pack.

Looking at tonight, bout number twelve is where I'd reserve my seat. There are going to be some fierce battles for spots on the finals stage. Nothing is decided until it's over!

Had a bit of a health issue the past couple of weeks. Went to the doctor Wednesday and he tends to think it's a condition called BPPV. I've been lightheaded especially when going into and out of bed. Sudden head movements cause the room to spin. Bed spins while sober can be a bit terrifying, you think the bed is going to flip over on you. I'm feeling better, not because I've started the exercises, yet, but getting an extra firm pillow really helped. I shift a lot when I sleep and there were no bouts of dizziness last night. Felt more secure getting out of bed this morning too.

Dusting of snow on the ground today. Not sure what the weekend weather will be but it has to be easier than the nearly four feet that fell on my friends in Western New York. Even in Scotland, where nine inches fell in Glasgow, I worry that my Father-in-Law may have to eat his sled dogs.

Which will be remembered for a very long time

McGonagall's "Tay Bridge Disaster" gets the ultimate reading.



This is the shit.

Look Through Any Window

That's the view from my desk at work when I look to the right. Been busy getting settled into the new space. All is well so far.

Thinking about this, which happened in this city six years ago.

And any history of this day has to include another event. All I'll say about it is simply, shine on.

Ernie, Those Sheep are Tap Dancing

Finally got up the nerve to take my son out to see a movie. The Wexner Center is having it's annual kids weekend and this afternoon they showed Sesame Street Sings!

It has Sesame Street, the muppets, music, I can tolerate those things and he likes them. Let's see what happens if we take the act out of the living room. Plus, it only cost two bucks a piece so if the mission had to be aborted we would not be out much coin.

Speaking of coin, Laurie Berkner is coming to The Palace in February, $33 bucks to sit in the balcony. For those prices she's not building a wall on stage. Sorry, not buying into that!

Got our tickets and gave his to him. Told him to give the ticket to the taker. She tore it up and I told him to take it back. He looked so cute holding the ticket, I teared up a bit.

Found a row toward the back and I let him choose a seat. He picked the aisle.

We only waited a short time before the film started. He amazed me. Not sure how much he paid attention because he was pretty quiet and not singing along. I have to say he was very well behaved. After about an hour he got a bit fidgety, but that was because it was running too long. If he did not like what he was seeing he would have got up and walked around. But he stayed in his seat for 82 minutes.



Tried to get him to eat some celebratory Dark Chocolate Jeni's Ice Cream by calling it pudding, but he was not having any of it.

As I was driving there I realized I forgot my bag with his diapers in it. So I obsessed about that a bit. Luckily there was no poop until he went upstairs when we got home. Not in the toilet though.

A New Thing

Took some video with the new toy. Takes a decent enough picture. Captured the kid doing something brand new today.



They've been trying to get him to jump in the pool for a long time. Today he finally did it!

Back it up. I'll Take it!

Got everything packed for the move to the new offices. Tune in on Monday to find out if everything got there in one piece and is hooked up properly. I've spent the last day and a half working a group project at the Fine Arts Library. Pulled a few hundred books off the shelves and the physical activity wreaked havoc on my legs, but mostly my right ankle. It was on fire today!

Never been in that part of the building before so the moving shelving on the second floor was pretty cool to play with the first couple of times I had to go up there. That's where the over sized art books are kept. It was also a kick seeing a few books I've processed over the past four years. My scrawl behind the title page is quite recognizable.

I hit a wall a bit early today and left earlier than I wanted, but I was overwhelmed - and it a bit of pain.

Did head out to the OSU Forestry Department's annual Christmas tree sale and picked up a Scotch Pine. It's lovely, but a bit wonky on the bottom. A lot smaller than last year's, which took up a third of the living room. I recommend this place, the prices are fair, the trees are farmed from Ohio and the service is great. They're located on Fyffe Road due west of the Schottenstein Center.

The other new addition is an iPod Touch. To synch it up we had to upgrade our operating system to Snow Leopard, which took some time but seems to be well worth the twenty nine bucks. As I type this I'm backing up to the external hard drive with Time Machine. Seems to be quiet and seamless.

One of the main reasons we got the iPod is to download some apps for autistics. When we borrowed an iPod a few months back my son seemed to be very interested in touching the screen and playing with it. I've found some free apps for some basic things he may try to communicate to us, we'll see how this works out. There is some more expensive software available, but I'm not willing to jump into that yet.

Been quite the whirlwind this week. More over the weekend, but not as intense. My son's been feeling better. Off the bus earlier he seemed more his old self than he's been in a few weeks. Swimming should be fun for him in the morning.

Month Number Twelve

So long November with your anniversaries of death, poor overall health, odd weather patterns and high stress levels.

Kate Bush, at twenty one, sitting in a high back papasan chair, oozes more goodness than today's edited on crack video nymphets.

December is magic.