Monthly Archives: November 2004

Nov 30

A Little Caffeinated

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Mood: Tired, but a little caffeinated

Listening to: the sound of others typing on their PCs, the HVAC system

Reading: Jobfiler.com – How-To’s

Eating: I had some raisin bran, toast, cranapple juice, and milk for breakfast

Watching: Nothing

I spent all night going through papers, trying to find pay stubs and other important documents. I then realized that I’d misplaced the vital paperwork I needed to complete.

Greetings from the Job Center. I had a follow-up appointment with a career counselor about getting some more training. Apparently there is some more paperwork I have to complete. I’m going to do a little bit of research here and head home via the library.

Nov 30

Signing Santa is Coming to Town

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Mood: Tired
Listening to: a Super Mega Chillout Mix of music
Reading: finished Skipping Christmas, almost done with The Rest of the Story
Eating: potato chip crumbs
Watching: Bedroom TV has ABC News on

Do you remember that scene in Miracle on 34th Street in which Kris Kringle spoke to a child in Dutch?

[Doris is trying to convince [her daughter] Susan there is no Santa Claus]
Susan Walker: But he spoke Dutch to that girl.
Doris Walker: Susan, I speak French, but that doesn’t make me Joan of Arc.

Something similar is about to happen in the Miami Valley:

On Sunday, December 12, 2004 from 3-8 PM, at the Deaf Association of Dayton on Valley Street, there will be a Signing Santa Christmas Party.

Deaf and hard of hearing kids will be able to tell Santa Claus what they want for Christmas using sign language.

Jennie, Keisha, and I have gone to two of these. The first year we got on the local news. Well, Jennie and Keisha did; Jennie was interviewed, and Keisha was just being cute.

The event is being sponsored by Fox 45 and ABC 22, who will be providing gifts.

Update: While we were at the party, Keisha got a chance to talk with the big guy.

Nov 29

Need some Java to Jive (aka what’s up here)

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Mood: Sleepy

Listening to: Prairie Home Comedy

Reading: Skipping Christmas and Paul Harvey’s More of the Rest of the Story

Eating: Leftover sweet potato pie, a turkey sandwich on wheat, and some potato chips

Watching: Local news and “Another World”?

I need to get some coffee going. I’m also working on the packet of information I got from the WIA people at the Dayton Job Center. My follow-up appointment with them is tomorrow at 11 AM.

I just finished watching the movie Life as a House, starring Kevin Kline. I love all the movies he’s been in, and this one is no exception.

Last night I was browsing the website for Jim McCutcheon, aka the Guitarman. Keisha’s music teacher recommended talking to him because she’s interested in learning the banjo. Jim has authored some great articles for parents and music educators.

In addition, I need to get some information out about the Father’s Club at Keisha’s school. We had initially planned an activity for December, but that’s not going to happen. We also had planned a working meeting to set this activity up. I have to get the notice out that we’re not having an activity and get ideas for the upcoming meeting.

Busy day, huh?

Nov 27

Federal Computing Week Online

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FCW – Your Government IT Resource:

FCW.com is the essential online resource for government IT executives and delivers more breaking news and in-depth content than any other online information source in the government IT market.

I was searching for an updated link for FirstGov for Workers (found it), and I saw a link to an article from these guys. Ah, the wonderful world wide web.

crossposted to Get That Job!

Nov 27

Some Holiday Lip

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On the Friday after Thanksgiving the city of Dayton has a big festival to light up the Christmas tree at Courthouse Square.

Carnival rides, music, food, and a Holiday (Scavenger) Hunt around the businesses of downtown for the kids.

Keisha and I arrived downtown at 5 PM. After parking behind the public library, I put 1-hour’s worth of fare in the parking meter – since the meter maids stop enforcing at 6 PM. We stopped inside the library for a bathroom break, and headed toward the festivities at Main and Third.

Upon arriving, we walked to the tent the Junior League had set up. They gave us a bag and a map so that we could go on the Holiday Hunt around downtown. Keisha and I strolled from business to business downtown, and at each stop, someone stamped our map and gave Keisha a goodie for her bag.

One of the places is the Dayton Church Supply store, which, ironically, is sandwiched between two adult bookstores. Keisha saw a mannequin “dressed up” for the holidays in one their store windows and said, “I want to get an outfit like THAT one!”

“Oh, no, you don’t!” I said, as we continued walking.

We turned around to get our last two stamps. Then, all of a sudden, Keisha tripped and fell face forward on the concrete. She hit her forehead and lips. As I helped her up, I saw that she was bleeding.

In between wails, I heard her say, “I need to go to a doctor!”

“Let me see it,” I said, wiping off a little of the blood. I made the sensitive decision to skip these places so that we could find a restroom where I could help her get cleaned up.

Special thanks to the folks at Skolganik’s, for letting us use their restroom to help Keisha get cleaned up. I put some cold water on a paper towel and wiped Keisha’s mouth. After awhile, Keisha had calmed down and felt much better.

So much better that she was up for a ride on the ferris wheel. The family in line behind us, it turns out, has a 15-year old who is hard of hearing as well. Talking with the mom and the teen about sign language and other deaf/hard of hearing stuff helped the time in the line pass by quickly.

Finally, it was Keisha’s turn. It was a great ride. The lights were lit. A chill descended on the air. We were hungry and needed to pee. So we went home.

Nov 26

Smells Like Dog Poop

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Yesterday we spent Thanksgiving with some friends from church who live in Springfield, Ohio. I’d taken Jake our dog outside before we left so that he could relieve himself, but he didn’t poop.

I knew that we would be gone a long time, and I didn’t want Jake to have an accident in our apartment, so I put him in his cage (what we call his ‘bed’).

Fast forward seven hours… we return and find that he had gotten out of his bed. Did I fasten the door securely? I guess not. I inspected our apartment. Fortunately, Jake hadn’t left us any “presents”.

I took him outside for a walk, and he pooped, to my relief. I brought him back inside, and we got ready for bed. Since one of the local radio stations has changed their format to all Christmas music for the season, Keisha kept her hearing aids on so that she could listen to it while she fell asleep.

About an hour later, I got up to take Keisha’s hearing aids out so that her ears could get some rest. I thought she’d taken them out and put them on the floor, and I bent down to pick it up.

It wasn’t a hearing aid. As I walked down the hall to the main bathroom, I realized

that I had a piece of dog poop in my hand! I flushed it down the toilet and washed my hands really well with antibacterial soap. Then I returned to Keisha’s room, this time turning her light on. I saw that there were other pieces on the floor. I was so upset.

I took Keisha’s hearing aids out and placed them on the window sill next to her bed. Then I went to our bedroom, where Jake was laying in his cage. I grabbed him by his collar and drug him to Keisha’s room, showing him that he’d been a bad dog.

I then grabbed a wad of toilet paper from the bathroom to pick up the rest of the poop. I flushed it down the toilet and got some carpet cleaner for the floor. After all of this, I returned to our bedroom, and I made certain to lock Jake in his cage for the night.

The next morning, as I let him out of his cage, I told him I wanted him to be a good dog. And I let him outside to go poop. Which he did.