Well, it is Hollow and it Makes me Sleepy…

I thought I had the material for the perfect October Halloweeny post, but I didn’t make it that far.

This is my favorite and oldest t-shirt.

I believe I have had it since junior high, have worn to the Magic Kingdom on every Disney World trip, and subsequently been asked by at least one cast member every time, “Where did you get that? Tell me we have it here!”

You could say I’m a fan of Washington Irving’s tale.

Jeff's Books to Open Your Mind: We Are In a Book

I have talked about Children’s books that serve as great introductions to ignoring the fourth wall before.

However, this Mo Willems entry leaves Grover and company leaning on that wall in an uninteresting fashion while it comes barreling in and smashes through the fourth wall at Mach Seven before slapping the reader in the face.

Parenting Defined

In the back of a church that had no crying room, the zone defense a bunch of us Dads were employing to corral our children completely collapsed. We switched back to man to man coverage, and I had an epiphany while following my daughter, who had just learned to walk.

She toddled aimlessly along, drunken baboon like, appearing for all the world that she was about to pitch onto her face at any moment. For a large majority of the time, she managed to right herself at the last minute and charge ahead.

I walked cautiously behind her trying to maintain the proper balance between:

A) Being far enough back that I wouldn’t interfere with her progress and learning.

And

B) Being close enough that I could catch her if she fell.

As I tried to locate the impossible perfect point between the two I realized,
“I’m going to experience this sensation about her for the rest of my life.”

Public Written Apology to Norm Breyfogle

Although I was originally a Marvel collector, it wasn’t long before I added Batman titles to my pull list.


This is because of one fundamental truth of comic books:

There is no better comic than a good Batman story.

Denver 2012: Days at a Distance

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July 18th-31st 2012

I got picked up at the airport in the middle of the night (Thanx, mom!) and staggered out into near triple digit heat and humidity that would have slain those two women from the Garden of the Gods where they stood. The house was far worse. After spending half of a brutal July with no air conditioning on at all, the atmosphere inside was nearly solid. What little time there was for sleep before work the next day was fitful, nearly lung collapsing, and quite painful…

As I fell completely out of bed trying to find a comfortable position.

Live Blogging From Walt Disney World! 2013 Edition

Day One: 
Disney World Arrival

This place is so amazingly awesome and so amazingly cool, and is truly the most wonderful place on Earth...

Denver 2012: Day 15

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July 17th 2012

The final day of the longest continuous vacation I had taken in my adult life began with a cryptic message taped to our bedroom door. It probably would have been much less cryptic if I had been working harder on remembering Spanish. I got the general gist of it, but had to wait for Rosa for confirmation. There was much pathetic snuggling for most of the morning, alternating with my wife and daughter, until the volume of what was left to do forced us to awaken.

Jeff's Tattoo Rules: #6-#10

Click here for Rules#1-#5

Returning to the topics of pain, and learning from my errors:

I thought it would be “cute” to wait a week after the tiger until Thanksgiving for the big reveal and show everyone at once.  I kept my shirt sleeves rolled down whenever people were around. (This, in all honestly should have tipped off anyone who knows me that something was going on.)

I made the mistake of plopping down next to my Mother during a Duke Basketball game the night the secret art was applied. Sitting in this location is a mistake in general, remembering that she carries those “tough old broad from the Bronx” genes.  However, for me, it was excruciating.

Denver 2012: Day 14

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July 16th 2012

The plan was to get up early and leave quickly, take the shorter drive to the northern end of the Garden of the Gods Park and enjoy a full day of hiking and sightseeing there. As we left the house at 10:10 AM we vowed to, once and for all, stop making plans that depended on the phrase “get up early and leave quickly.”