4 Degrees of Separation

Every day I become a little bit more like my dad. I've accepted this as unavoidable for a long time, and I'm ok with it. Everyone has those moments where they step back and realize they sound/think just like their mom/dad. Long ago, these moments stopped being the exception for me.

There are upsides and downsides to this. The upside is that he's a great guy, a great father. The downside is that he lacks common sense sometimes. For example, one year when we turned the time back, he unplugged his digital clock for an hour (at like 2:30) to let the time catch up to the clock. You can only imagine his consternation when he plugged it back in and it flashed 12:00, 12:00, 12:00. The kicker is that he did it again the very next year.

And yesterday I had one of those moments. DW informed me that I had turned the thermometer down four degrees, from 78 to 74. Now, apparently this is a pretty big deal. It would have been easier on me if I had been able to recall when & why I did it.

She was asking me all kinds of logical questions like "Do you know how much it is gonna cost?" "Why was 78 ok one day, then too hot the next?" I had no answers. All I could come up with was a vague recollection of a cromagnon-ish thought "too hot inside, make cooler." This was probably followed by another thought: "I'll turn it back up later."

This is completely in line with my Dad's way of thinking, or rather, not thinking it through. Overall, if I end up a lot like my Dad, it's a lot more good than bad. That's for sure.

Quick cute story of the day to bore 1/3 of my readership: Little Brother still has a fascination with the dog water bowl. Of course he gets faster every day, so he has much more success at spilling it these days. Even better, big brother is starting to get annoyed that little brother gets away with this. DW's "you are old enough to know better" is small consolation to a 2.5 year old.

So yesterday, big brother started to go for the water bowl himself. This is something he had no interest in until he saw his little brother getting in trouble for it. DW did her best to keep him away. However, she was ultimately unsuccesfull.

After turning her back to the kitchen for a few minutes she heard an odd noise. "splat, drip, swoosh. splat, drip, swoosh.' When she investigated, she found big brother with a dish cloth trying in vain to mop up all the water he spilled. He said "I'll mop this up later."

Vaca Plea: Work and commute and other things have put me in a stressed kind of mood. Luckily today, we are going to the race track for beer, cigars and gambling, followed by a nice dinner out to celebrate a co-worker's last weeks as a bachelor. I don't think that's gonna cut it.

So the other day, I say "I need a vacation." She's all over it. "Sure, we can do that." But then the question came. "With or without kids." As much as I need blank time or vegas tiem or beach time...I don't know that I want to do it without kids. And if they come, it's not really gonna be relaxing at all. Yeah, I know, worse things have happened to people.