Blog

Here are the most recent blog entries. Click the link to the right to go to Wordpress.com for the older ones.

weekend update

Wow. What a busy weekend. We had an extended family crabfeast here on Saturday. Then we had our local fire department's carnival to go to that evening. We went to the Orioles game on Sunday in Baltimore and that was a pretty good time. The birds didn't win (lost 15-7 to the Rangers), but there was a lot of offense. The pitchers got hit around pretty badly. The coolest thing was when my son and his friend moved down to lower seats near the end of the game. Our original seats were pretty good (about 12 rows from the field) but the two kids went all the way down to the Rangers' dugout. After the game, Michael Young (the Rangers' All-Star shortstop) gave the boys his batting gloves! Talk about two excited kids! He actually gave the gloves to my son's friend Jack, who then gave JP one of the gloves. Great kid. And thanks, Michael Young for making those kids the happiest kids leaving the ballpark that day. 

Today, it's back to the grind with cheerleading and football practice.

Music: I'm not a huge country music fan, but I have been listening to Lady Antebellum lately. Enjoying it a lot.

Oh, one more thing about the baseball game. There is a group of people who are, apparently, big fans of Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora. They call themselves Melvin's Amigos. That a nice name, but I was hoping to see a group calling themselves Melvin's Morans, which I think would be really funny. It reminds me of this, which may be the greatest picture ever taken.

:0)


Hey, look what I found!

Those of you who know me already are aware that my favorite way to procrastinate from writing is to browse through websites devoted to writing, publishing and editing. I call it, "research", but we all know what it really is. I hope we can all just keep it our little secret. Anyway, one site on which I've been spending a lot of my research time is Diary of a Mad Editor  which is full of honest, brash, opinionated and sometimes Not Safe For Work thoughts from the mind of John C. Erianne, the brains (and everything else) behind Asterius Press. John has been involved in the writing/editing/publishing industry for his entire adult life and is not afraid to share his experience and opinions with YOU. Check it out. Some of it will teach you, some of it will make you laugh, some of it will make you angry. What more could you ask?

blogging the day away

All right, don't get too excited, but this is my second blog entry in 5 or 6 days. Unreal, right? Man, I feel like all I've been doing with my life is writing blogs! Two in one week? It's definitely time for a vacation or something.

Could this be the Soul's year?

What a game it was! What a finish! The Philadelphia Soul are hosting the division championship game for the first time ever. It should be quite the scene at the Center on Saturday. Whaddya mean you've never heard of the AFL? It's football in the spring and summer. What more could you ask?

The Tipping Point

Now, you people know by now how late I am to so many different things. Could be cultural, could be historical, political, whatever. Could also be literary. I'm finally reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Mr. Gladwell already blew my mind when I read Blink, which was a great book, and he has done it again with The Tipping Point. It's all about how little things can make a major difference and how things like ideas and behaviors can spread just like a virus would. Like an epidemic. And why.

Other current events

... but only the ones that center on ME. 

I am preparing for another round of submissions for Lilly Dances, my sort-of-picture-book-but-not-quite project. It's more of a very short book with pictures. Actually, it has no pictures right now (I'm no artist), but it would be way better with pictures. Like a picture book would. Like a really long picture book.

but not quite.

The kids are doing fine on their summer break from school. I'm doing fine also, but I CAN tell you how many weeks until the school buses start rolling again.

seven.


wake up

Wake up, John. It's July.

What? July already? Can't be. I'm going back to sleep.

It's July, John. You need to get up and write a blog.

Well, I'm looking at the calendar right now and it says, "July 1", so that means I have 30 OTHER days to write blogs and it doesn't have to be done right now. Thank you, by the way, for waking me up so early in July. You know I hibernate in the summer. Now, leave me alone.

Now, what kind of guilt-inducing blog conscience would I be if I just left you alone to procrasticate? You have to write. People want to know what you've been doing.

No they don't.

They do. WRITE.

Fine.


Hey everybody! How y'all are? Things here are actually going pretty well, considering the kids don't have any school or sports keeping them busy right now. This is our down time. July. July goes fast only in retrospect. When you're in the middle of it, July seems like a month with 74 days. 


You should go ahead and read Suite Scarlett, 'k?


I've finished reading Suite Scarlett, finally - I know, and I'd say it was pretty good. Maureen was definitely on her game when she wrote this one, and it's cool to see so much of her own personality in her writing. Really enjoyable read. I don't know what I'm going to read next, but it will probably be yet another book about marketing, advertising and copywriting, which is a potential new career path for me. More on that if it actually develops.


Check out Lewis Taylor, too.


I don't know why I'm so late to the party, since Lewis Taylor has already quit the music business, but I recently heard a live version of his song, "Stoned Pt. 1" and it's so good. Wow. I could only find the studio version on YouTube, so I've stuck that in here. The live version I heard is on Volume 22 of the Live From the World Cafe series and it is better than the studio version, if you ask me - or even if you don't.




Out and about


Daughter 2 and I spent some time at Canal Day in Chesapeake City last weekend and had a really good time. The crowds were not as bad as they have been in the past and there were lots of things to see and do. We had a great little father/daughter time. I like when I can have some one on one time with the kids individually. I think that's important, but it can be hard to accomplish.


Could this be their year?


Our own Philadelphia Soul have finished the season with the best record in the league (13-3) and are all ready for the playoffs, which for them begin this Saturday. I took Daughter 1 and Son 1 up to the team headquarters this past Sunday for a little meet and greet with the players and coaches and a tour of the facility. It was great of the Soul to arrange that for some of their season ticket holders. The catered dinner was pretty good too. 


Well, I guess that's all for now. I still have to go back and edit this to work properly on all of my various blogging outlets. 

What?

Ahhh. Summer. Goes by so fast. What month is it now, July? June? June, you say? Wow. Seems like just yesterday it was April. Or November. Or something.

So, what's been up? Well, we are now 3 weeks into our CSA membership at Colchester Farm. So far we've had lots and lots of different kinds of lettuce, radishes, spinach, broccoli, garlic, herbs and flowers and have even gotten our hands on some nice, organic bread. The kids are even getting into choosing their own vegetables and having a great time with it.

Baseball season is over for our boys, but both did really well and had a lot of fun. The younger one will probably move up to Coach Pitch next year, as he can already hit pretty well without the tee. I have two more Tball stories to write and I really should get that done because before you know it, football/cheerleading season will be upon us and I'll be all occupied with that.

You know how I am.

We finally ditched the old cartridge-type pool filter that has been the bane of my existence for 10 years and now have a sand/micromedia filter. Holy wow, that thing is great! Our pool is clean and clear and all the maintenance the filter requires is a periodic turn of a switch. Heaven.

I recently tried some chocolate covered coffee beans for the first time and they were not too bad. Of course, it goes against everything I've ever known about coffee and whether or not you should eat the beans (hint: not). I wouldn't even think about eating coffee grounds and that's basically what the bean becomes after you've ground it up with your teeth, right? Why not just cover other disgusting things with chocolate? Chocolate covered eggshells. Chocolate covered hair.

Then again, what do I know?

Here is a picture I found somewhere along my internet travels, which clearly demonstrates the importance of making sure your audience has all the relative information.

brownridgewl9



Crazy

Well this week has been a bit crazy, but we got through it. My wife had to go out of town for a few days and with five kids all involved in different activities (except the girls, they've been staying together for now) that meant a fair amount of running around for me. I had to get help from a few friends here and there and that definitely made things easier. So, thanks, Friends!

The boys' baseball teams are doing well and the younger one's Tball team has already inspired one essay to completion and I have another one started. Now, I'm no Rick Reilly (to me, the best sports essayist there is) but it is nice to be inspired, regardless. I don't know if I'll be able to write about my older son's baseball team, because some of those kids get MAD.

madkid

Ok, THAT kid will make the team in a few years.

I finally finished reading "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" by E.B. Sledge, which is about as funny as it sounds, but I found it really interesting anyway. That book is being used as part of the basis for the HBO miniseries The Pacific, a companion piece to Band of Brothers.

So now we're getting ready for another hectic week with more baseball, lacrosse and gymnastics AND I need another book. Maybe I should just get back to writing one.


of course I'm still blogging!

I really do need to get back to blogging, don't I? It's been almost a MONTH since I told you about the Greenpeace activists' little stunt! So, what's been up?

Well, both boys have started baseball practice, both younger girls are still doing the cheerleading/gymnastics thing and the oldest girl is playing high school Lacrosse. That keeps our afternoons and evenings pretty well booked, that's for sure.

We've joined some friends of ours to participate in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life this year, so the fundraising efforts have begun and will continue for the next two months or so. There's a link to my Relay page around here somewhere ... hold on ... oh, HERE it is. 

My local supermarket has had my current favorite coffee on sale for a few weeks, so I've been stocking up. We have about 18 bags now (I say "about" even though I know the exact number) and I'll continue to stock up for as long as it's on sale. Keep 'em comin', Acme!

My blog friend Stephanie says that blogs are more fun and easier to read if they contain pictures. Hmmm ... all right then.


pyzamdressedup


Rats! See, even my pictures have words. I'll have to work on that.

One more thing: The new Jack Johnson record is so good! I wasn't sure what to expect when I read reviews that he had "gone electric", but let me tell you, Sleep Through the Static is on heavy rotation in my car and on my computer and on my iPod and anywhere else I listen to music. Great stuff.


sleep through

Activists on a plane


activists on a plane

Here's the link, in case you think I'm making all this up.

Apparently, four activists associated with Greenpeace have climbed onto the top of a Boeing 777 at London's Heathrow airport to protest the planned construction of a third runway. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Greenpeace? Isn't that the well-known environmental group famous for promoting logical, responsible and calm discussion about environmental issues by pulling stunts like piloting their ship, named the Rainbow Warrior, dangerously close to huge Japanese whaling vessels?" Yes. That's them. France bombed and sunk the original Rainbow Warrior just to keep Greenpeace from driving their ship around the ocean like a drunken grandma on I95, which they have continued to do in the New Rainbow Warrior. Oh, and let's not forget that Greenpeace also spent a lot of time and money to officially name one humpback whale "Mister Splashy Pants". Yes, I expect you'll be needing a link for that one too. Here it is.

So it only makes sense that four people from Greenpeace would climb up to the top of a 777 to criticize the British air travel industry.  Let's quote now from CNN.com, "We may have exposed a hole in security at Heathrow, but it's not as big as the hole in (Prime Minister) Gordon Brown's climate change policy," said Sarah Shoraka, 30, another of the protesters, who questioned why flights between Manchester and London are necessary when the train is a viable alternative. She went on to say, "The push for a third runway is being fueled by totally unnecessary flights like this one."

OK, so where do we start? Climbing on top of an airplane? A BIG one? No. Protesting a THIRD runway at one of the busiest airports in the world, which you would think should already have about 63 runways so airplanes didn't have to circle around endlessly waiting to land? No, too easy. Hmmm ... I've got it.

Aren't airplanes kind of like public transportation? I mean, the activists want everyone to ride the train instead of flying, but what about the other alternative? That 777 probably holds 300 to 400 passengers, depending on how the interior is configured. What if all of those people decided that, instead of flying from London to Manchester, they would all drive their own cars? How would the M1 (the main road north from London) look with an extra three or four hundred cars for every cancelled flight? There are multiple flights from LHR to MAN daily. That's a lot of congestion and a lot of vehicle exhaust pollution. In fact, I think it would make more sense for Greenpeace activists to take their protest to the highways and try to convince people to fly INSTEAD of drive. Their signs should say something like, "Why are you driving when there is a perfectly good airplane waiting for you at Heathrow?" and "Boeing 777, great public transportation!" 

But I guess it's not about making sense now, is it Mister Splashy Pants?


All right! Here's the deal.

I guess some explanation is in order. I've started using a thing called, "Utterz" to do some of my blogging/status updating. Utterz is a way for people to record voice messages, text messages, video and pictures and send them out to their various pages. I can create these messages sitting right here at my computer (where I am now) OR I can do it via cell phone. That's the cool part, I think. Wherever I am, I can create a blog entry with sound, video, pictures, whatever and send it to Utterz, which will put it all together and distribute it to my webpages and blogs. Cool, right? I see it as sort of a mini podcast, which I've wanted to do for a while but never have.

Anyway, I think it's cool so I put Utterz players here at JPChambers.com, on my MySpace and at WordPress. Now, with WordPress, the Utterz entries are just listed as a regular blog entry, so they are integrated. With the other sites, there is a separate Utterz player that is just sitting there all the time. Also, you -- yes YOU -- can get involved by recording or typing responses to my Utterz if you care to. 

Thanks to the funniest man in the universe, Jake Johannsen, for turning me on to Utterz in the first place. 

Oh, hey, Scrivener has definitely lived up to my expectations. I don't remember if I told you that yet or not. It really came in handy for the work I just finished for a large financial institution. There were lots of separate little sections to write, with two or three paragraphs each and there was a bunch of information that had to be included. Scrivener's split-screen research feature was perfect for it.

later.

Voice of God

So I was actually out in public the other day and I heard a father yelling at his daughter. This guy was completely flying off the handle. Yelling. Screaming. Bellowing. Right near the end of his tirade he bellowed, “I AM YOUR FATHER!” and with that, half of the people in the store looked up, since he could have been talking to any one of us. It actually sounded like the voice of God. Well, God or Darth Vader, I thought. Both of them are big on the “I am your father” thing. Frankly, either way – God or Darth Vader – it’s not great news for the kid. Both of them can and will kill you. Darth Vader can do it with a thought and he doesn’t even have to be really angry. 

Now, I know a little bit about God. I read a book once. Really, just about everything I know about God came from that book, but anyway, He can and will kill you too, He just has to be more angry than Lord Vader. Remember, God is the guy who sent fire from the heavens down on Sodom and He is also the guy who flooded the whole world. Except for one guy! And he didn’t even take that one guy up to heaven while the flooding was going on. He put that guy on a boat with his wife and a bunch of pets. So I’m thinking that God wasn’t really feeling all that great about Noah, either. 

What I don’t get about the flood is that Noah knew the flood was coming and all he did was build one boat. And his plan worked! But Noah wasn’t the only guy in the whole world who had a boat, was he? There had to have been other boats, right? I imagine some guy on his boat, it rains for 40 days and suddenly the land is gone and the guy thinks, “Well, what the hell, where’s the land?” Then, of course, the guy’s wife starts in on him with, “Well, you wouldn’t ask for directions, would you? Now look. NO LAND! Nice work, Mr. Navigator!” And then the guy would say, “One, I’m not lost, the land is just gone. And Two, I wasn’t getting out of the boat because IT WAS RAINING!” 

Lucky for that guy and all the other guys with boats, besides Noah. God took pity on them. And drowned them. 

Now, Noah, on the other hand, was set up relatively well. His wife knew what was going on, so she didn’t bug him much. Also, he had plenty of food. I don’t know how many animals Noah had left on the boat when the flood was over, but I’ll bet you it was a lot less than he began with.

OK. I really don’t know where this story was going, but now you know what happens in my brain when I’m out somewhere. Somehow it goes from some guy yelling at his kid to me wondering which animals Noah cooked. 


sports, music and books

Hey everyone.

Is it already January 10? Man, the year is just FLYING by.  So do I have anything to say? Of course I do.  Just a few months ago, we had no kids taking gymnastics classes and now we have three kids taking gymnastics classes. How about that? I thought we were done with gymnastics after Son #1 stopped doing it. Now Son #2 and Daughters #2 and 3 are taking classes, although the girls' class is mostly to help them become better cheerleaders, not gymnasts. Oh, and baseball season is just around the corner. You'd think all of this activity involving the kids would be a goldmine of funny stories for me to write for you guys, and it should be. Stay tuned.

Two friends of mine have released their new cds in the past few weeks. The new record by Ike is called Where to Begin and it is really good. It's a little harder than anything John and his various band incarnations have done in the past. It surprised me, as I've been hearing most of these songs over the past year and I wasn't expecting the cd to sound the way it does. Great work, guys. Andrea Glass has released Stood Under Stars and, again, wow! Andrea is a really good acoustic/country/Americana artist I met a few years ago when she was making recordings in her kitchen. Now she's teamed up with some really outstanding musicians, travelled to Nashville to record and is currently in the middle of her UK tour. She's accomplished a lot in such a short time and the music is fantastic. Give it a listen.

The new site design has received nothing but positive reviews so far. So if you have anything negative to say, get it in before I get too cocky! On the fun page, I've added a link to a nerd test. I tested sort of medium nerdy. Not as bad as I thought!

Finally, if you have heard me talk about Markus Zusak or read what I've written about his books, then you know how impressed I am with him and his work. The Book Thief may be one of the best books I've ever read. Here's a link to an interview he did about the book. 


What Christmas means to me

As I sit here on the evening of January the First, in the year of our Lord 2008, I am reflecting on the just passed holiday season and I think about what Christmas means to me. So here it is, in blog-entry form.

What Christmas means to me

but first, a disclaimer. I will not mention all of the various religious aspects of Christmas in this section because, if you believe in such things, you don't need me to tell you about it. If you don't, you also don't need me to tell you about it, because there are other, louder, more holy people around to do that. Also, those people usually are not distracted from being loud and holy by trying to make people laugh.

now let's get back to me.

Christmas means countless twist ties. They are hidden in every box and package. Every children's toy, by law, must be held securely to a cheap piece of cardboard by 27 titanium coated, NASA approved, industrial strength twist ties, minimum. Everyone knows the best way to deal with twist ties is to cut them. I know the best way to deal with twist ties is to cut them, but on Christmas morning I still think it's a pretty good idea to untwist them with my soon-to-be sore and throbbing fingers. I'm a pretty bright guy, as you know.

Christmas means malfunctioning outdoor holiday decorations. The beautiful, scenic light-up reindeer I bought and placed in my front yard falls over like it is drunk. Constantly. I got so tired of fighting with it that I finally attached a red light to its nose and hung it upside down from a tree with a sign that said, "Sorry, kids!"

Christmas means leftover eggnog. I love to buy eggnog near the holidays. I almost never drink any. I guess I'm just in love with the concept.

Christmas (or, more accurately, the day after Christmas) means further proof that I'm not the video game king that I used to be. When the kids get a new video game for Christmas I always think I'm going to kick their little butts playing it. Then, every single one of them beats me, including the 4 year old who then performs a seven minute long victory dance.

Christmas means the a new year is just around the corner. Now, a new year doesn't actually mean that much unless you still write checks for things. The changing year means you're going to mess up writing the date on at least a few of them.

Christmas means enjoying time with family and friends and being nice to people you normally wouldn't be nice to because it's usually hard to know who your Secret Santa is.

Christmas means lots of people complaining about the commercialization of Christmas, while shopping.

Christmas means at least one gift per year gets the "Uncle B" treatment, which is named after a family friend who is known to secretly disconnect the speaker mechanism in the most annoying new toy and then, when the affected child asks him why the new toy no longer works, plays dumb.

Christmas means that the kids get some time off from school. That's nice, except that Christmas vacation from school means they have lots of time on their hands to roam the house looking for victims. But it also means that just after New Year's Day, they have to go back to school and that really is the best thing for everyone involved.



Merry Christmas and happy holidays

Well that's an original blog title, isn't it? I hope everyone has a great holiday season. Things here at home are going well. The kids are all excited and full of energy, but that's both good and bad, as they think it's too cold to play outside. Of course, if it was 20 degrees colder and snowing, they'd be out there in an instant. For now, thought, they are content just bouncing off the walls inside. Their Christmas eve activities begin in a few hours with a trip to Grandma's for Christmas eve dinner, so it won't be long now. You'd think they would all be talking about Santa's imminent arrival, wouldn't you? Nope. They are talking about who gets to log into Webkinz world first on Christmas morning to see what virtual Santa left for their Webkinz pets! 

Well, I'm kinda curious about that, too.

Anyway, have a great holiday, everyone, and please be safe out there if you are traveling.


Oh, almost forgot. Some of you want some entertainment, right? Well, go to ClarkandMichael.com. I haven't watched all of them yet, but so far it looks pretty good. I'm a big Arrested Development fan, as you may already know, and this fits right in with that kind of show. 

had enough

If the light-up, decorative reindeer in my front yard falls down one more time, I'm going to leave it on the ground, surround it with empty beer cans and call him "White trash Rudolph" because I have HAD ENOUGH!

I finally got something done!

Hey.

Long time, eh? I'm just relaxing a bit tonight. Listening to some music, answering some messages and, oh yeah, writing a blog post for the first time in weeks. I've spent the past few days finishing up a complete redesign of my website, which has had the same look for almost 3 years. I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I'm happy with the software I finally chose to build it with. That was a big decision for me. I was using Frontpage on my windows pc, but I wanted something different to use on my Mac. Finally found it and got the project off the ground. My blog is now integrated into my site, but I still will probably post at Wordpress also, to reach a different audience. I'm just happy that I've finally been able to complete my move to a Mac workflow and eliminate my need for a windows pc. Good thing, too, as my pc is about 9 years old and takes a LONG time to do anything.

Sometime before the end of the year, I will post my thoughts on all (or most) of the books I've read this year. I read more than I thought. The list has 20+ books on it. Not bad, right? That's about 2 per month. It will take me a while to write that up.

We are just about ready for the holidays here in the Chambers household. It's funny. Every year we have at least one gift that we are really excited to give to someone. This year is no different. That's the coolest thing, for me. I took my two youngest girls to a Christmas shop that is just down the road from us, but we've never been to before. They have unusual hours. It turns out that the "shop" is located in a huge barn next to an old farmhouse built in 1647. The property is just gorgeous. The shop is great. They must have a million little things in there. Mostly Christmas related, but lots of other stuff as well. Upstairs I found a big crate sitting on the floor. It was filled with old albums. 33s, 45s and 78s. Yes, 78s. I picked up a 78 rpm copy of the Davis Sisters "I forgot more than you'll ever know". Released in 1953. The disc is thick and heavy and I think it's pretty darn cool. Anyway, that's the kind of thing you can find in that Christmas shop. I'll be going back.

Decisions

Just when I've convinced myself that no publisher or agent will be interested in a collection of personal essays and memoirs from some unknown writer, and I decide to break up the collection and try to sell it in other ways, I just can't let go. I've been considering writing for Associated Content and also looking into paid blogging. I know you're thinking that I don't even update my own blog often enough as it is, but being paid and under some deadline might be just the kick I need. The problem I have? Rights. I just don't want to give up any rights to my work to a non-traditional publisher. I just don't feel like I can trust them. I really love most of the stuff I've put up on my website and, although I realize much of it would need to be edited and rewritten to be truly publishable, I'm willing to do that. I'd just hate for those essays to be in the hands of some internet content producer and unavailable to use in my book. It may be time to take a fresh look at them all, including many I haven't released yet, bundle them all up and ship them off to the real world. Nothing to lose, right? I just want it to be right. I want to make the best decision. 

And I want to sign on with someone who will publish Young Adult Novel also.

See, there's just no satisfying me, is there?

AND, happy Thanksgiving.

AND, I ordered Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle from Amazon because I couldn't find it elsewhere and I also needed a few more dollars on my order to qualify for free shipping. What did I order initially? Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas in SURROUND SOUND! Whoo, Baby, I can't wait for that package to arrive.

Take a breath

We're back from vacation, where I blatantly broke the cardinal rule for writers, which is, "take a notebook everywhere you go." I had some ideas that I thought were funny, but can't remember them now. I guess I'll just wing it.

I worked up a good bit of anger and resentment just before we left for Disney when I found out that my short story, Sharpest Knife in the Block did not win the contest I had entered it in. I thought it was a lock! Of course, that's how I feel about everything I produce. Maybe I'll let you people read and critique it. It's different than anything I've released to the public so far. A departure, if you will. Experimental. I had fun writing it during the Beach Torture Event, so it lives close to my heart. Also, that might explain why it has a little bit of a bitter edge to it.

There was a recall on Aqua Dots while we were gone. That makes me feel really good, as we gave out Aqua Dots as birthday gifts to a couple of kids recently. "Happy birthday, little girl! Here is a package of poison dots for you to play with." They are only bad for you if you eat them, which isn't really the main purpose of the Aqua Dots in the first place. I guess the people who developed these things have never been around little kids, because I've seen kids for whom putting non-edible things in their mouths was a complete obsession. If they don't want kids to put toys in their mouths, then all toys should be made of Brussels sprouts and vitamins.

The end of November is quickly approaching, with a birthday party to throw, friends visiting, Thanksgiving to enjoy, etc. Should be a busy few weeks coming up. Haven't I been saying that since July? 

I'm committed to really decorating the house for Christmas. I'm only telling you that because that will make it harder for me to back out.

And now my sentences are getting shorter. That's a sign that I have a bunch of things on my mind besides blogging, so I must stop for now.

one more thing: Brandi Carlile is so good.

----------------

Day late

Man, it's so easy to continue not writing when you get into the habit of not writing. All of our fall sports stuff is over now and things are getting back to normal. Vacation is coming, but this one should be fun. Then Thanksgiving. Then Christmas. OK, I know I'm skipping a few weeks here and there, but it goes so fast. That's one of the reasons that I begin to celebrate Christmas (my favorite time of year) on November 1. I don't wait until the day after Thanksgiving like most people. To me, Thanksgiving is a holiday which falls during the 2 month Christmas season. The old Christmas song cds are ready to go. See? It's not even Halloween yet and I'm looking right past it. Halloween is just a speed bump in the fast lane to Christmas.

So now that I've proclaimed the next two holidays to be completely irrelevant, what else should I write?

Well, The Book Thief is pretty good so far. I haven't been able to just sit and read it uninterrupted, so I'm only about 1/3 through. A few pages here, a few more there. It definitely has a different style and feel to it. Overall I'm impressed with Markus Zusak, I have to say.

----------------

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, I blog. 

Tonight, I enjoy the rain, and the cool weather and the quiet of a house full of sleeping children.

Maybe I'll read some more of The Book Thief.

Maybe I won't.

Teaser payoff

Wow. Where to begin? Let me go read the teaser. I'll be back.

Ok. I'm back. First up, extracurricular activities. We have one high schooler playing field hockey, one younger boy playing football and one younger girl cheerleading. That means we have a practice or game every day after school and on Saturday also. Sorry to say that the high school field hockey games get the short shrift due to timing of it all. So being busy every evening and during the weekends results in the days being full of running errands. Also, the youngest boy is doing gymnastics once a week. Almost forgot about that! I'm not complaining. It's really a lot of fun, just hectic.

Next. Why does September feel like July? It's because of the sun. It's giving us way too much heat and I don't like it. The weather man on the news calls the sunshine we experience "abundant". I would call it "incessant". Interesting how one little word change can alter the whole meaning of a sentence. All right, so I can just pretty much write off September as just another month of summer. Fine. What about October? It's October right now and we're anticipating temps in the mid 80's this week. WHY? It's highly irritating to get a sunburn while watching a football game. The universe is weird lately.

Here's what I've been reading: Devilish by Maureen Johnson. Pretty good. So far, MJ's books have been fairly consistent. I'm about halfway through Cecil Castellucci's Queen of Cool and, well, I'm not really digging it very much. I can't relate to any of the characters. Why, you say, would I expect to relate to any of the characters in a book written for teenage females? Well, I respond, there are teenage males in that book and I have been one of those before. Still can't relate to, or even like, the characters. That is NOT a comment about Cecil's writing ability, 'cause I like her. I'm just not digging this particular book. Next up for me is The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Marcus, you may remember, wrote The Messenger, which is my favorite read of the year so far.

Someday I may tell you how the whole "John is a sports announcer" thing happened, but for now just know that it's a lot of fun. Our teams play their home games at the high school field and they have an announcer to introduce the teams and say the results of each play and who was involved in it and the scores and all that stuff. I was asked initially to just announce the games for my son's team (the youngest team) but midway through my first game, the league officials asked me to take over and work all of the games (there are three different levels, so three games) and I accepted the invitation. It's been great. The crew I work with is really good and getting better, as am I. After last week's games, the league told me that the job is mine for as long as I want it. If only it involved some sort of monetary exchange, which it doesn't. I do get free food, however, so someone must have tipped them off to my weakness.

Well, this post has gone on long enough and I am kind of busy today (did I mention that?) so I'll save the "love of Cracker Barrel restaurants" story for another time.

P.S. David Sedaris was in Wilmington, DE last night and I had to miss it! I told you the universe was messed up.

John Chambers 2011