Happy 53rd, Madgedonna!

Today is Madonna's 53rd birthday. There's something surreal about saying that. It doesn't seem possible that she should be nearly mid-way through her fifties. Alas, she has been entertaining (and periodically aggravating) me for 26 years now so I guess it is possible.

I'm fond of saying that my Madonna fandom has worked its way into my DNA. No matter what she does, I will always be a fan until the day I shuffle off this mortal coil. I also don't have anything particularly profound to say about Madonna this morning as my blog is littered with many many posts about her, her music and her career in general. Everyone, it seems, knows what Madonna should do next and in the age of the internet, that kind of armchair analysis has finally been given a voice.

I honestly don't want to think about the person I would be today without the effect that following her career and being a fan has had on me. I still shock people a little bit when they find out I am such a die hard Madonna fan. It honestly doesn't fit in well with my Midwestern sensibility. But then what Madonna has done with herself definitely involved, if not breaking, at least re-inventing the Midwestern sensibility mold. I may not always love what she's doing, but I will always be a fan and I'll always feel like the 14 year old giddily holding the True Blue album in my hand at Sernett's department store every time she has a new release.

Happy Birthday Madgedonna. May you always create the kind of pop music that I can feel in my bones.

For a more inspired post than this - go here. Fans, you will eat this up with a spoon.

Dad + daughter v.9.0

It's been a bit of a bittersweet day around here today. Today marked the 9th anniversary of the day that my one and only child made her long-delayed entrance into the world. In sadder news, today was also the day that our cat Mia lost her fight with what I fully believe to be vaccine-induced sarcoma. She was a tough old bird and Heidi has done a wonderful and loving tribute to her here. I encourage you to read it. Keep the Kleenex handy.

I am sad about the loss of Mia - you don't have a pet for 14 years and not react to it in some way. But today is also about Anna. I've done birthday posts for her in the past and I didn't want to let this year go by without celebrating the amazing kid she is. I got looking through pictures on the hard drive and was surprised by how many photos of the two of us there actually are. I always half-kid that I feel like an absent father because I work so much and such weird hours. When I was getting ready to go to Kansas City in October, I asked Anna if she would miss me and she kind of tsk'd me and said "Dad, I'm USED to you being gone." I try not to take it personally. Judging from the sheer number of pictures of just the two of us, being an absent father is the LAST thing I need to be worrying about.

Here are 14 of my favorite photos of Anna and me. Roughly in chronological order. I'll keep the commentary to a minimum and let the photos speak for themselves.


The very first photo taken of the two of us, 11/15/2001.

I had important e-mail to read. She's a little bit pumpkin-y so I bet this is the first week.

About 11 months old, we were headed to the park.

Summer of 2003 - I can tell because that's when I grew facial hair. The book is Halley Came To Jackson.

Halloween 2006.

Summer/Fall 2006

Christmas 2006, I'm pretty sure.

Pride 2007

Pride 2008

Winter 2008, my best guess.

Mesa Verde National Park, 2009.

Center Grove Orchard, 2009

Daddy-Daughter Dance, May 2010.

I want to end this with one of my favorite photos of Anna and me. Taken at the Pacific Ocean in June of 2009, I love her outstretched arms and what is almost assuredly a pensive look on my face even though you can't see it.


I love you kid. I hope your birthday was happy and I can't believe you're half grown up.

Smokey Row write-in

I spent a large chunk of today in Oskaloosa, IA. It was the site of the NaNoWriMo write-in that the Central Iowa Authors (CIA) was putting on today. It was kind of nice to get out of town for a bit and then there was the added bonus for Anna that she got to go see her grandma who took her to Jumpin' Jim's Jungle in Ottumwa for a pre-birthday celebration.

But Heidi and I spent all our time today at Smokey Row. Smokey Row is an Iowa based coffee shop that started out in Pleasantville, IA in 1998. Since then, it's opened three more locations, the most recent being in Des Moines. It is one of the more frequent locations for CIA write-ins during NaNo. It's also one of our favorite spots in all of Des Moines. What Smokey Row does right (in addition to coffee and food) is atmosphere. Everything feels so retro, right down to the metal signs advertising products like Hires Root Beer, Folger's Coffee (celebrating 100 years, 1850-1950) and Pepsi-Cola. It has high ceilings, wooden floors and copious amounts of seating. The Oskaloosa Smokey Row even has a stage for live entertainment. All in all, you really can't beat it as far as central Iowa coffee locations go.

Heidi wrote pretty much all day. She's writing not one but TWO 50,000+ word novels for NaNo this month. The woman is amazingly prolific. You can follow her progress on the official NaNo project here (the 3rd book in the Special Delivery series for those that love those characters) and the second one here. Me, I was mostly along for the ride. And the coffee.

You might think that I had a bit of a boring day at Smokey Row, surrounded by writers and me with nothing to write. I thought about blogging, but the wireless was so inconsistent and crappy that I quickly gave up on that idea. I suppose I could have used my phone, but the mere thought of typing a whole blog post on my phone sends me into apoplexy. Clearly, that wasn't going to happen.

I did get a lot of reading done. With a bit of discipline and stamina, I'll be able to get to 25 books by the end of the year without too much difficulty. There was also a nap involved. I put my iPod on and since Heidi was sitting on the floor with the laptop, I snuggled right up against her and fell into what I would consider a rather deep sleep for a public place. I told Heidi to jab me in the kidney if I snored. I must not have or else she had her headphones on and didn't hear me. I think that was probably my favorite part of the whole day, truth be told.

After the write-in, we met my mother-in-law and her husband who had brought Anna back up for a small birthday party, complete with a horsehead cake. Heidi's brother Hans and his wife Alicia were also there, as was our doctor friend from our Washington days, Lynette. It was good conversation and nice to see everyone again.

We probably spent a little too much money but you have to live. The folks in CIA are some of the nicest people I know and it's always fun to get together with them. Not many of them live in Ames so it's always a treat to see them.

We have a birthday party to attend to tomorrow with eight 3rd graders in attendance. The birthday girl doesn't officially turn 9 until Monday, but the weekend has been the chance to get the celebrating done. I still can hardly believe she's nine, but time continues to march on.

An aside: I'm extremely proud of the fact that we are on day 13 of NaBloPoMo and I haven't missed a day. Last year, I missed a couple days but they were offset by the fact that on two days, I posted twice. It's harder to blog every day than you might think! The last few days I have been getting the posts in just under the wire, reminding me of my graduate school days when the lab reports were due at midnight on Friday night each week. So far, I'm happy with the quality of the posts and while some are definitely more throwaway than others, it's been a fun exercise in daily writing. I could not do this every month, but it's a fun experiment to try.

37 years young

My most favorite Virgo in the entire world is turning 37 today.

In the immortal words of Violet Newstead, "we're gonna need a special locker for the hat."

There's not much more to say that I haven't already said in these pages, but what the hell, I'll just say it again. 15 years ago, this woman very unexpectedly entered my life after what I refer to as "the summer of my discontent" and when my life was rather rudderless and I knew I was barking up the wrong tree professionally but lacked the courage to make any changes. I was smitten from the start and she pretty much immediately became the anchor and rock that she is to this day. We fit together like a hand in a glove, but have somehow managed not to lose our own identities over the years as well.

We've seen a lot over the years - both good and bad - and have weathered the changes that time inevitably brings to anyone, but the thing that remains constant is my love and devotion to her.

So happy birthday to Heidi. Here's to many more years and many more books of man-on-man action that are also very sweet - just like her.

Go harass her on Twitter - she loves it.

Eight

My daughter turned eight today. I have told the story of her birth more times than I care to think about, perhaps best told in this very space 3 years ago on her fifth birthday. Her entrance into the world was not without the requisite drama but eventually she made it and, dang it all, she's still here eight years later. This is still my favorite picture of a minutes-old Anna, one that she will come to despise but is iconic in the my eyes.

It's hard to believe that she was ever that little, even though she was still "tall" for her age, even at birth. It's also hard to believe that her head ever gained a normal shape.

Every year she sheds some more "kid-ness" and grows up just a bit more. More and more frequently, I get a glimpse of the teenager she is bound to become. And as a result of being not only the only child, but the only grandchild with nary a cousin around to play with or compete with, I sometimes feel like her childhood has been a bit co-opted. But it is what it is, and I really wouldn't have her any other way.

We had a birthday party yesterday at Cardinal Gymnastics Academy here in Ames and then today, the grandparents came to visit and brought presents galore. One of the things that Heidi's mom brought was an old desk that Heidi used when she was a young girl, and now it sits in Anna's room. I took this picture of her working at it and I thought of my young self, sitting at my little desk doing math problems and science workbooks when the rest of the kids were probably out playing kickball.

Talk about being able to glimpse the teenager they will become.

As I have said before, being a parent has taught me the true meaning of the word sacrifice, both in terms of what you do for you kids and what you would do for your kids. I don't feel like being a parent is my entire life's work - if I had thought that, there would have been 3 or 4 more after her. But I do feel its my job to be there for her, not necessarily to shield her from life's injustices, but to provide that soft place to land when they become too much. Additionally, it's my job to help motivate her and realize her potential, knowing that the actual realization of that potential is entirely in her hands.

I love you kiddo, more than you know.

(And as always, happy birthday to Confessions on a Dance Floor - another thing that changed my life, although on a much smaller scale!)

Chocolate cake for breakfast

Heidi's birthday was a couple days ago and in celebration, Anna and I made her a cake. We were going to buy one from the Hy-Vee bakery, but they are never very good and really, box cakes are impossible to screw up. The added benefit of having cake around is that the following house rule goes into effect:

If there's cake in the house, it's okay to eat it for breakfast.

Really, it's not just okay, it's kind of the law. If you think about it, there's not that big of a jump from eating a donut to eating birthday cake, so I don't see what the big deal is. My biggest trouble with eating chocolate cake for breakfast is that I always think of that scene in The Outsiders when Two-Bit is having chocolate cake and beer for breakfast. Yeah, don't think I could do that.

Bill Cosby has a classic routine about how he, after being awoken by his wife and told to go downstairs and cook breakfast for the children, ends up feeding his kids chocolate cake for breakfast. His rationale is that there are eggs, milk and wheat in chocolate cake. That's nutrition! He also serves it up with grapefruit juice which I think is only slightly better than eating cake with beer.

Bill Cosby Chocolate cake
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(I love the sound of him cutting the cake - it's as if the cake is being cut by a guillotine!)

The "chocolate cake for breakfast" routine is found on Bill Cosby, Himself which we watched a zillion times on HBO when we were growing up. It's funny how Bill Cosby can be so funny without resorting to being dirty or vulgar. The hard part about watching it now is that there are so many jokes about his wife and daughters wanting to kill his son. What played as good-natured humor regarding gender roles and growing up is not as funny since Cosby's son was murdered in 1997.

Anyway, the birthday cake in our house is almost gone, so it won't be long before we're back to eating regular breakfast food. But for now, we'll enjoy it, kind of like Anna enjoyed licking the mixer bowl.

Birthday girl

9 days after Madonna turned 50, Heidi is turning 35 today. Let the party commence!

First of all, let's have this:

I'm not sure how old she is, but dig that softer side of Sears photo set-up that anyone who had the pleasure of growing up in the 70s got to experience.

And then, what the hell, let's do this one:

This is Heidi showing off the mid 90's fashion of large eyeglass frames. Additionally, this is me showing off my vanity and refusing to wear glasses when really, by then, I should have been wearing them all the time. Pretty sure this was just before we were married because shortly after our wedding, I had no choice but to start wearing glasses 24/7.

All kidding aside, happy birthday honey! Without getting too sappy and sentimental (but at, the same time, to get sappy and sentimental), I am so glad that you choose to celebrate your birthdays with me. You are my best friend and the one that is constantly on me to improve myself and to believe in myself during those times when I have lost the ability to do that for myself. You are my Amazonian, my biggest defender and I will boil up the rice in the satellite dish any day that you ask me. You were just what I needed all along. (Good old Kirsty, you can always count on that song for us.)

It's been a heck of a year, you know? Some great, some good, some bad and little bit that was terrible. But here's to at least 70 more birthdays. And I'll be there right next to you. There's nowhere else I'd rather be.

And just for fun (remember this one?):

Happy birthday sweetie. I love you tons!

Parties and ladders

Today has been a bit of a lazy day. I have spent a ton of time sitting on the front porch with the laptop reading TKT's novel (about half way through now) while listening to Joni Mitchell (a blog post all on its own.) This was kind of needed as we had folks over last night as kind of the last hurrah for my birthday this year. One thing I really wanted this year was to have some people over just for fun and drinks and whatever might happen. It was a fun night with some of the people closest to me and those that are not quite as close but are well on their way. My mom took a lot of pictures but I don't think I'll post them as I don't think it's fair to post pictures of people on the internet without their permission (except for Heidi and Anna, naturally.) So that having been said, here's a picture that was taken of Heidi and me last night.

And here's one of Anna with the ever popular mini-Coke bottles. She was so sad that there were none left over last night we went out to the store and bought another six-pack today.

We drank a lot of booze. As Heidi said, we could have done with twice the booze and half the pop, but it's all good. We took all the bottles back today, got gas for the car and cat food for the felines. All riveting stuff, let me tell you. But the highlight of the day was the changing of the burnt out floodlights on the garage.

Several years ago (at least two winters ago, by Heidi's estimation) the floodlights on the garage burned out. Heidi went out and bought compact fluorescent replacements, but they have languished in the cupboard since their purchase. It has never been high on my priority list, even though I knew that it would be an easy job. Truth be told, I didn't want to get on the ladder.

But today I decided that I needed to say that I accomplished SOMETHING (especially after Heidi almost single handedly transformed our kitchen last week), so for reasons unexplained, I decided to tackle the floodlights. I went over to my neighbor's house and asked him if I could borrow his extension ladder. I brought it home and after a bit of trial and error, figured out how to extend it. I got it set up against the garage and then came the really hard part: climbing the ladder.

I am not particularly afraid of heights, but for some reason, being on a ladder scares the ever loving shit out of me. I must have fallen off of one in a previous lifetime because there is certainly no logical reason for it. The small step ladders you use in the house don't bother me much because you really don't get that high on those, but extension ladders and any ladder that you can use to get on a roof is just really too much for me. Add to this the fact that I had to not only carry the new light bulb with me while climbing, but then had to unscrew the old one and then change it out. The descent on the ladder, carrying the old bulb, about did these 36 year old nerves in. Even with Heidi down at the bottom steadying the ladder, all I could see were visions of my broken body on the cement below. I pretty much sweat bullets the entire time.

That's the thing about phobias though. They don't make sense. As Heidi pointed out to me, a fall of that ladder would probably just break my leg or arm or both. Inconvenient, yes, but hardly life threatening. Still, I did not enjoy my time on the ladder. I am glad those damn bulbs are changed though. One more goddamn monkey off my back.

Birthday recap

It's 12:33 AM and we're under yet ANOTHER severe thunderstorm watch. The street outside is a river (only a slight exaggeration) but the basement is dry (for the moment.) Iowa City, which was my home for the largest chunk of my life outside my hometown is threatened with record flooding thanks to all this excessive rain. I'm not going to bed until this passes. Good thing I don't work till 10 tomorrow.

Anyway, the birthday was good. Thanks to all those wishing me well as I embark on this portion of my 30s. I truly didn't know so many people gave a shit! My folks came over today and with them, they brought my present which was Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Wii. Really, it's all Matt's fault that I am even interested in Guitar Hero at all! Perhaps my biggest surprise was to find "Ruby" by the Kaiser Chiefs on there as a song you can "buy" with the money you make in career mode. I love that song, and I think I have Paul to thank for that one!

Anyway, here I am, rocking out.


We had a nice dinner and the weather, amazingly enough was fantastic. That was followed by the traditional singing and cake and what not, which was all good. Here's a couple shots from that - one of Heidi and me, and the other of Anna and me.


In addition to all this fun, I also helped fix a toilet! I learned so much that should I ever have to do that again (chances are high, there are two other toilets in the house), I could likely do it all by myself.

Anna was especially precious today because she bought me a second wheel for the Wii so that we can play Mario Kart in tandem. She even spent her very own money on it, made the card herself and also designed the wrapping paper. I think that Jeff would be proud of her!

So now, the storm has passed and I'm off to bed. Heidi bought me a new alarm clock which is on the bedside table next to me. It looks like a Dalek, I must say. It's one of those progressive alarm clocks that wakes you up either with light or sound or smell or some combination of the three. I am forever complaining that my alarm clock is the most annoying one on the planet, so hopefully this will remedy that situation. I hate that fucking old alarm clock.

Oh, and my monthly goal of meditating daily? Going well. I have missed only a couple days and I'm amazed at how much difference it makes for me.

3 to the 6 to the one step closer to 40

So today, I'm 36. For the last few weeks, I've been a bit leery of 36 because it officially puts me on the "closer to 40 than 30" track. But really, how ridiculous is it to worry? There is nothing bad about getting older. Truthfully, every year is better than the last. I don't know that I have made big changes in the last year in my life. It's always hard to tell because I live in my head and body every day so it's difficult to see things that change.

Mostly, I'm happy to be where I am, to have the fabulous people in my life that I do. And that includes everybody, people I see daily, people that are blog/net friends primarily, and those that are the odd amalgam of both. I am truly blessed to have such a big family of choice. It was apparent to me when I saw all the birthday wishes on my Facebook page. I totally was not expecting them!

And Heidi, of course, always manages to do some of the best birthday posts for me. And this year is no different.

I love you honey. Now let's get partying!

(Don't worry Matt, I'll make sure there's still some party left when we go out on Friday!)