All Conked Up

I took today off work to spend with my family, because I didn't take any time off during the summer to do so. We spent a few fun hours at the Brookfield Zoo, and Melanie is now off meeting a friend for dinner.

I was helping Aidan get his pajamas on, and when he pulled his little jeans off, I saw that his legs are completely covered in little boy bruises. "Oh my goodness," said.

"What?" he asked.

I pointed at his legs.

"Oh," he said, "they're all conked up!"

Take me out to the ballgame...

Sunday evening, Aidan and I took in a baseball game, just father and son. I had been looking forward to it, thinking about what a special thing it is to bond with my son. I worried for a while that day, because a few hours before the game a storm rolled through Auorora. The rain lasted only minutes, however, and did not prevent the game from being played.

We went to see the Kane County Cougars, the single-A team of the Oakland A's. Their stadium is about 15 minutes from our house, which is benefit number 1 compared to taking him to a Cubs game. Anyone with small children knows that sometimes the trip somewhere can waste precious "good behavior" time. Benefit #2 is the price of a ticket. I bought the best seats in the house, for $12 a piece. First base line, a little past first toward right field, 5 rows up. Benefit #3 is free parking. Benefit #4 is all of the activities they have for kids. Benefit #5 is having no one yelling "Soriano, you suck &*%$!!" I heard no foul language at the Cougars game, compared to the constant onslaught at Wrigley Field.

As we approached the stadium, we were handed a free sample of a Dunkin Donuts iced caramel latte. Aidan loves Dunkin Donuts, a love passed down from his Grandma, and he loves iced lattes, a love handed down from his mommy. Good start as far as he was concerned. We went to will call, picked up our tickets, and entered the stadium.

He actually exclaimed "Wow!" upon seeing the field, and immediately wanted to find our seats. I wanted to walk around with him a little, because we got there about an hour and a half before the game was to start. But we found our seats, watched a little batting practice, then went for a walk. We made note of all the concessions available, saw a little kids area with a giant slide and obstacle courses, and then sought out the souvenir shop. It had heated up quite a bit since the storm, and I felt my head burning already. So a got a Cougars hat, which was only $9.00!

Before the game, the crowd was invited down for autographs and photos with the players. I took a photo of Aidan with my phone, but being somewhat slow, I cannot figure out how to get the photos off of it to post here. After the photo, he turned to the Cougars dugout and said he wanted to go in there. I told him he couldn't, so he kicked dirt into it! Thankfully it was very chaotic, and I don't think anyone saw it. I guess it was his Piniella move.

By the time the game started, the sun was beating down on us from over the other side of the stadium. I now know that evening games should be watched from the third base line, because for a few innings I had to squint to see the field. Aidan had been acting tired, and for the first couple innings, he laid down on my lap. I thought this was the end for him. But as the sun went down and it got cooler, and as he made friends with Nick, the 4-year-old sitting behind us, he started getting re-energized. It was cool to see him interact with Nick; I told Nick's dad that they were peas in a pod.

The "skits" between innings featuring a bird called Birdzerk were probably Aidan's favorite part of the game. Birdzerk taunted the opposing players, he danced, he drove around the field. Aidan laughed and laughed, and when the game resumed he always asked, "Where did Birdzerk go?"

In the fifth inning Aidan told me he had to throw up; I thought maybe the heat, his Sierra Mist and the corndog were conspiring against his stomach. But when we got to the bathroom, he said, "I was just kidding, I don't have to throw up." Thanks.

In the seventh inning, while he was enjoying a raspberry slushie-type thing, he suddenly looked up and said, "Uh-oh, POOP!" We raced to the bathroom again, and this time it was not a joke. While using the facilities, he kept asking if Nick was going to use the bathroom after him. I was proud of the little guy for letting me know!

After the game, we were treated to a pretty cool fireworks display. Aidan kept saying, "I want a bigger and bigger and bigger one" while putting his arms wide in the air. And then after the fireworks, we were able to go onto the field to run the bases. He was so cute as he raced around the bases. I got a really cute photo of him between second and third, and another good one of him stepping on home plate. Again, the photos reside only on my phone.

Walking back to the car, he said goodnight to everyone we passed, even the police officer directing traffic. He said he couldn't wait to come to another ballgame, even wishing we could go immediately, right now, to another game. But he'd like it if Catie and Mommy could come to.

A Prayer from My Son

At the dinner table last night, Aidan asked, "Daddy, is your finger ok that you drilled the way other day?"

I should explain that a few days ago I was installing new cabinet locks on every cabinet in the house so that Catie does not accidentally ingest cleaners), and as I was drilling into a cabinet door, the screw slipped and I drilled my finger. Nothing bled, it just hurt.

I told him that it felt much better. He said he wanted to pray for me.

He bowed his head, closed his eyes, folded his hands and said, "Dear Jesus, thank you that my Daddy's finger feels better. Amen."

I have never been part of a better prayer.

Downtown Shout Down

I made a compilation for an ex-co-worker recently. We decided to exchange comps of songs that reference cities. His featured songs that all referenced Chicago, which I had considered doing but realized I didn't have enough songs about Chicago, or any city for that matter, to make a decent comp. So mine is all over the map, and, in fact, the globe.

I then created a playlist on my last.fm account, and discovered I could insert it into my blog!

So give it a listen, let me know what you think (unfortunately, when you press play, it automatically shuffles, and I did create it to be played in the order that the tracks appear), and see if you can figure out which cities are referenced in each (some, like An Open Letter to NYC, better be pretty easy to determine).

Hopefully I will get a chance to switch the playlist up now and then.

Friday iTunes Random Ten (while at work)

Man or Astroman | Test Driver | Not even a song, more like a speaker test for A/V equipment
Billy Childish and Holly Go-Lightly | Let Me Know You | Great garage tune from Headcoats/Headcoatees genuises
Teengenerate | Mess Me Up | Awesome Japanese band singing in unintelligible English
Today Is the Day | Timeless | Another non-song. It's too bad this track popped up instead of an actual song, because I have been obsessed with this album lately
Mudhoney | Real Low Vibe | The title describes the way the song sounds pretty well
Gorilla Biscuits | Big Mouth | I didn't start listening to the Gorilla Biscuits until about 2 years ago, but these would have been great anthems for my high school years
Pixies | Gouge Away | Another album I discovered too late in life
The Infections | C'mon | X-Rip Offs on Rip Off Records
Offspring | Beheaded | This coincidentally played yesterday on my iPod also
Gaunt | Don't Tell | I really need to get more Gaunt stuff. I'm trying to sell my LPs, and replace them with CDs, like I Can See Your Mom From Here, Kryptonite, Whitey the Man, etc

Drop your pants here

Why do dry cleaners always think this is funny to put on their signs?

It's a Girl!

Melanie had her 20 week ultrasound on Tuesday, and the doctor informed us that she has a baby girl growing inside her. The baby looked great, and we got to see her profile pretty well, and we got a good picture of the bottoms of her feet!

Now our family can all go crazy buying girl stuff, although they may want to wait until she's born. You know, just in case.

More of my single dimension

I recently gave a listen to "Remember Right Now" by Spitalfield. It is pretty emo, almost too emo. And it makes me think of Fall Out Boy, whom I hate. But I don't hate this like I hate Fall Out Boy, so I'll give it another chance later.

On the flip side of the coin, I didn't hate "Irresistible Bliss" by Soul Coughing as much as I thought I would. I remember the song "Super Bon Bon" from many years ago, and that song used to annoy me. The album as a whole isn't too bad, although it won't be in my top 50 or even 100 bands any time soon.

I never got to see The Smoking Popes live their first time around, and have yet to see them after their reunion, so "At the Metro" was nice to hear. A collection of songs taken from their original reunion show at the Metro for some festival that I cannot recall. Something about flowers. Forgive me for not looking it up. This is a solid collection of Popes tunes, and they sound terrific.

To round out the S's, Shellac's "1,000 Hurts" isn't nearly as captivating as "At Action Park." I still haven't heard "Terraform," so I can't say that nothing Shellac has put out has come close to their first 3 singles and first album, but this one certainly doesn't.

The Mekons are freaking amazing, at least from what I have heard recently. The "Teeth-Kill" double 7", "Work All Week" 7" and "The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strnen" LP are all awesome. The problem becomes the sheer quantity of material this band has put out.

I found a fun little album by Harry and the Potters called "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock." All songs are about the Harry Potter books. The band is interesting, in that their website promotes certain books each month and they go on library tours. It's actually not bad indie rock.

And finally, I sold my Tortoise records years ago, but just got a few recently. "Millions Now Living May Never Die" is quintessential Tortoise. If you like post-rock stuff, you have to seek this out. Of course, if you like post-rock, you probably already have everything they've ever put out. The album makes me recall seeing Tortoise with UI and Labradford.