Greetings from the Sunshine State … written in the Bay State

A few rambling thoughts from my time in Central Florida:

• The Magic Kingdom is not so magical for a constipated 5-year old.
• I love my wife's cynicism; it's actually rather endearing and edgy. But it is much easier to suspend my sense of irony and disillusionment at a theme park when she's not there.
• Between the hours of 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday, the day of our return trip home, Jacob used the term "not fair" — or something similar regarding the relative fairness of whatever activity (major or minor) I was prohibiting — 17 times.
• Did you know that "It's a Small World" was originally commissioned for the 1964 World's Fair in New York? Evidently, the world was too small then to include Jews or to delve into anything deeper than ethnic stereotypes (Hawaiians surf! Australian aborigines use boomerangs!). That said, it is a retro-quirky ride — as is the Carousel of Progress, which we unfortunately missed, and the boys really liked it. And the song has been stuck in my head for 4 days.
• According to the Frommer's guide I was reading, WDW's "Tomorrowland" went from futuristic to retro-futuristic in around 1994 or so. I'm a big fan of "the future that never was."
• Evidently WDW has a exclusive deal with Coca Cola. I'm a bigger fan of the Pepsi family of products, and figured once I hit the Hess that was outside the boundaries of the Magic Kingdom on the parkway out to the Interstate, I'd be OK. No such luck.
• If you're in a car with 3 adults, a 5-year old and a toddler, and if the car is a traditional 5-passenger car, and if the drive is > 1 hour, volunteer to drive. You won't have to entertain the kids if you're sitting in back, and you won't have to help the person sitting in back if you're sitting in the passenger seat. No charge for that tip.
• Leading up to the trip, my greatest anxiety was the air travel with two kids (one squirmy one on my lap). The trip down was fine; Jacob watched TV (God bless JetBlue) and Colin slept and mostly looked at his brother looking at TV. Going home was more difficult–beginning with Colin's bloody nose at the airport, which happened when he fell off the ledge he was standing on when he was watching planes from the window at our gate (Honestly, I thought he had better balance). Then he basically squirmed and cried the bulk of our 3 hour trip home. Luckily, any into or out of Orlando will feature at least 50 percent families with children. I feel for any business travelers heading in or out of MCO. But I survived (Go! Walk out the door!), hey hey, I survived.
• Other than pre-1994 (when the Starbucks chain expanded into Washington, D.C.) and perhaps the last year I went to Lake Oquaga without my espresso maker, this trip may have been my longest stint sans espresso-based drinks in 15 years (I did sneak off to a Starbucks on Thursday as I was making my trip to CVS for anti-constipation supplies for the boy).
• I really enjoyed the ribs at Sonny's.

I will write more full-length posts. Tomorrow.

Wow, major case of writer's block coupled with "who really gives a crap about my take on [fill in aborted post topic]." I've started like 6 or 7 posts and they're all in the drafts folder. Time to clear things out … so here's a bulleted list of random ideas, sort of like those "clearing out the desk drawer of my mind" pieces that columnists do when they forget they had an impending deadline and have to slap something together.

Consider this the blog-entry equivalent of a colonic cleansing for the brain (although hopefully more pleasant for those who have to see the results of it):

• Another Pink Panther movie with Steve Martin? Really?
• I was talking with a friend the other day and we determined that while Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo isn't a bad sequel, the whole franchise really lost its way by Herbie Goes Bananas.
• I've started and abandoned blog entries about 1) issues I have with youth sports; 2) my excessive love of social networking; 3) how awesome our President is; 4) how impatient I am that our new President hasn't fixed everything after 9 whole days in office; 5) how much I hate winter; 6) DuraFlame logs; 7) digital pens; 8) online consumer services; 9) how unethical it would be to post shills about clients or prospects, no matter how vague the references were;
• Saturday Night Live has been getting some hip musical guests (Fleet Foxes!). Not that I watch any more. Actually, does anyone watch any more or do people just catch clips on the Hulu? Actually, in checking out the Hulu, I'd say Letterman wins the hip musical guest prize, with Vampire Weekend, Okkervil River and Ben Kweller.
• Another music clip — Feist on Conan doing "1,2,3,4" (which is a great song) backed by Grizzly Bear. Pretty cool. Is she Canadian? Man, I love Canada's indie rock scene.
• Finally took Colin for his lead test today. The snow day was good for something and now our pediatrician won't be angry or figure out I'm lying when I say, "We totally took him, the lab must have lost the results" and I won't have to blame Juliet for not taking him.
• Jacob watched his third full-length movie tonight, Cars. It's funny that he has around $9,000 in Lightning McQueen-related merchandise but has just seen the film tonight. It's also interesting that Disney is still pimping the hell out of merchandise related to a three-year old film. Then again, they do sell tons of Snow White stuff, don't they? I'm amazed they still don't productize some of their live-action films from the 1960s and 1970s like The Apple Dumpling Gang action figure or California Atoms jerseys from the eponymous film about the football-kicking mule, Gus (starring Ed Asner and potentially Don Knotts, I need to look it up).
• Speaking of Ed Asner, are there any other television characters that made the spinoff transition from a sitcom to a drama, as did his Lou Grant (from The Mary Tyler Moore Show to his character's eponymous drama (ding ding ding, my goal of two "eponymouses" has been reached without having to resort to a reference to the 1988 R.E.M. greatest hits package) where he played the same character, just that he moved from Minneapolis to LA and went from broadcast media producer to newspaper editor)? Maybe Trapper John M.D. (from M*A*S*H, as played by Wayne Rogers, to … wait for it … the eponymous program, where he was played by Pernell Roberts?
• Lou Grant was recently referenced in a piece in the Columbia Journalism Review, which made me want to search out an episode or two. Not enough to actually do it, but to think about doing it. I think my grandmother used to watch it although I may be confusing that with Quincy.
• I still can't believe today was a snow day.
• Spring is going to eventually arrive, yes?

The Dark Knight and his Toddler Sidekick

Enjoy this video of Jacob showing off our Batman-themed pumpkin, and Colin adding his own unique color commentary.

“You know, I noticed something … there are a lot of pumpkins here.”

The title to this entry? Stated by Jacob, 4 1/2, after around 2 hours at the Keene, N.H. Pumpkin Festival. He definitely has his old man's keen observational skills. Some observations:

Man, that was a lot of pumpkins. But it was more than 7,000 short of the event's world record, which led us to believe that the poor economy has people eating pumpkins, burning them for fuel or using them for shelter rather than decorating them and trekking to Keene, N.H.

Probably no need to get there at 11:15 a.m. if your goal, with two kids in tow, is to make it to the fireworks at 8:30 p.m. (We didn't make it.) Also, don't book a room 45 minutes away if it takes you 45 minutes further away from home the next morning. That said, the weather was amazing today and we took secondary roads for the trek home, which was really nice. And we got 30.3 MPG. Take that, Big Oil!

We convinced a guy who was carving one of the signature huge pumpkins to make his into the iconic "Man on the Mountain" N.H. state logo. I thought it was cool although a lot of people couldn't tell what it was.

Keene's Turn It Up! record store is very cool. Picked up Lucinda Williams' newest album, even though I don't really buy CDs any more. I enjoyed the browsing process so much that it was worth the $3 or so surcharge over what iTunes would have cost. I miss record stores. *Sigh*.

The Colonial Theatre in Keene was showing free cartoons all day. Jacob freaked out and wouldn't go in with me but I got to see around 45 seconds of my third-favorite cartoon of all time, the wacky, surreal Duck Amuck. "This is a closeup?!?!"

I suck at seed spitting.

I posted photos to Facebook and to Flickr. Can't decide if I should just standardize on Facebook (which allows me to share with people both on and off of Facebook).

Explaining baseball’s “gentlemen’s agreement” to a 4-year old

From a discussion I had on Saturday with Jacob at the "Baseball as America" exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science:

Me: See that uniform? That belonged to Jackie Robinson. He was a very important man, the first man with brown skin to play baseball. Before that, only people who were white like us could play baseball. Now, people with skin of all different colors play baseball.

Jacob: … (not sure if it's sinking in, or if he's even listening, so I try to further my point)

Me: People weren't very nice to him when he started playing. But he was very brave and played his hardest, and then other people with brown skin could play baseball.

Jacob: And then, after that, everyone in the world's skin was white!

Me: Right. (Pause) Wait, no! No, not at all. That's not true.

Jacob: Yes it is. It is true!

Me: Jacob, you know everyone's skin isn't white. What about your (African-American) friend James? What color is his skin?

Jacob: Well, the inside of his hands are white.

Me: Hey, let's go see the San Diego Chicken costume.

Something’s Happening, And You Don’t Know What It Is …

My boys 07-26-08
Originally uploaded by eharrison3

Just wanted to post this photo and talk a bit about something less cute and less pressing: my LPs.

So, I got a new turntable this week. Sean had gotten me one when I turned 30, but it doesn’t seem to work since our last move; so I picked up a new, retro-looking Crosley Traveler one that also allows me to hook it up to the laptop and create MP3s. I probably have around 300 LPs; when my parents moved, I got a bunch more from my Dad, including a whole box of old 78s (the old turntable wouldn’t play them).

While I haven’t tried making MP3s yet, I did play a number of cool albums, including many of the 78s that I believe to be my grandfather’s. The sound on the turntable isn’t great (if you are my age, think of those portable turntables they’d use in second grade when showing a filmstrip … I am easily 130 years old) … but the sound is familiar, a little scratchy, warmer than CDs. And I love the smell of albums inside their jackets — it’s a very familiar, very calming smell for me. 

Some of the songs Jacob and I have enjoyed include:

• Vanilla Fudge’s cover of “Ticket to Ride” (from Dad’s collection, many of which became mine after my parents’ recent move);
• Al Jolson (!) doing “Mammy” — I determined it’s not horribly un-PC to listen to Mr. Jolson because, on record, you can’t see that he’s in blackface;
• an old 78 kid’s storybook/record featuring Gene Kelly (basically the sequence from Anchors Aweigh in which he dances with Jerry the mouse);
• Bob Dylan and the Band playing “Ballad of a Thin Man” from Before the Flood; my goodness, that’s an excellent cover of that song. I’m glad I never picked up that album on CD because it’s been a treat to re-discover it. 
• Tomorrow, I’m going to suggest a few of the Xavier Cugat 78s and maybe Kenny Rogers’ first greatest hits collection (mostly to hear “Just Dropped In”). And maybe all of Stevie Wonder’s Original Musiquarium.

 

They didn’t keep score, but I still think Jacob’s team won

Jacob’s Last Soccer Game 06-2008
Originally uploaded by eharrison3

Check out the agility and grace here — unfortunately, he’s not playing goal and probably about to touch the ball with his hands. When will futbol-supporters learn that hands should be an important element of every sport, at least those played and beloved by Americans?

But hey, soccer is the “Sport of the Future” (slogan in public domain, originally (c) 1974 NASL) and we’re trying to help the boy assimilate into suburban life. Next up? Although lacrosse is tempting, I don’t think they offer it for 4-year olds, so probably more soccer in the fall, as well as a fall T-ball league.

Click on the photo to see others I’ve posted from that game. I didn’t take these pictures — they actually came out way too good to be shot by me. One of the other parents did and kindly sent them along.

Carnival of Sorts

Big day at the Newton 4th of July Carnival. Juliet, Jacob and I were walking (Colin was in the stroller, and thus, riding) through the relatively sad-appearing collection of rides and hoping we could get off relatively unscathed — maybe a ride on the little cars or the like. Then we walked past the trailer hosting one of those squirtgun-target-races games, where the prize is … Goddammit, Spiderman. Jacob’s been on a huge Spiderman kick lately. Here’s my internal and external dialogue, as I recall it some 24 hours later.

“Maybe if I distract him … hey, look, Jacob, there’s a dog over there. No luck, he saw the Spiderman. OK, how much is this going to cost me? $3 per gun? OK, we’ll get two, one for me and Jacob and one for Juliet. Jacob, I realize this goes against everything we’ve said re: guns being bad and trying to avoid the Hollywood marketing machine and its merchandising tentacles. [Did I tentacles? I always confuse that and testicles (verbally, not written, or not actually in real life, either).] Can’t win if you don’t play. There’s only 4 of us going, we have a good shot.”

“OK, we’re off. The kid running the game is jabbering on but being very nonspecific as to prizes, qualifications to win certain prizes, and the like. He hears us talking about Spiderman and hey, if he was a decent human being he’d tell us that it would take either beating a field of 12 or 3 wins vs. a field of 4 to win, right? So we’re going and ohmyGodohmyGodohmyGod Jacob, we won! Jacob, Daddy has never won anything in his life! [Well, his Little League team won a championship in 1980, and Daddy contributed with a bases-clearing triple ... and his corporate basketball team would have won a championship if Daddy had boxed out those two deceptively-springy Asian players. Can't believe I allowed that putback at the buzzer.] This is great!”

“Sir, we will take that Spiderman!”

“What do you mean we’d have to win two more times? We don’t want the teddy bear. Dear God. How much is this going to cost me … right now … he wants Spiderman … no Jacob, we’ll figure it out. You know, Jacob, life is filled with disappointments but they are incredible builders of character. FDR had polio, yet he was President! Really … this is pretty small … “

At this point, a woman, whose name I never learned, appeared as my deus ex machina. She had played in a bigger field and won some sort of huge dragon thing that her two-year old daughter found frightening. Amazingly, the dragon could be exchanged for a Spiderman … and her daughter wanted … the pink teddy bear.

Exchanges were made, and before I was able to profess my undying love for her … she was gone.

But we did get the Spiderman. And Jacob carried it with him all day today. And for at least another 24 hours, I was his hero. Not his superhero, though.

Reppin’ Davis Sq.

Reppin' Davis Sq.
Originally uploaded by eharrison3

A cute shot of Mr. Colin from our little Memorial Day get-together yesterday. It is just like the BBQs from the old days, except less passing out, fewer kegs and more sippy cups. About the same amount of crying though. Click on the picture to see more.

Final score, nil-nil in a n(a)il-biter

Soccer First Game – 7
Originally uploaded by eharrison3

Now we are officially a suburban cliche, as Jacob had his first soccer game on Saturday. Click on the links to see more photos of the Lions first game in the Seattle-esque 44 degree drizzle.