Entry 676: Back To School

Nice night here in DC -- maybe a little on the hot side, but when you sit out with a fan on, it's quite nice. Getting our decked screened-in was such a good move. It was pricey, but worth it, because it means we can actually enjoy sitting outside now without having to slather ourselves in bug spray. We sit out there all the time now. I'd be out there right now, but the neighborhoods are over using our trampoline, and I don't feel much like socializing at the moment. So, I'll just hide away in the basement, instead, blogging and tending to my sore head.

My head is sore because I got stung by an insect today while running -- at least that's what I think happened. All I know is I suddenly felt a sharp pain on the back of my head just to the side of my left ear, like somebody had jabbed a needle into me. I reflexively grabbed up there and threw whatever was on me off of me, but the only thing I felt (or saw) leave my head was my headband. Then that spot hurt, like really hurt. And it still hurts now. It's not particularly swollen -- it's barely noticeable, just a little red dot -- and I'm not having any sort of allergic reaction to it, so I'm not super worried about it, but it certainly smarts. It's so weird. I've been stung by a bee before, and it never hurt this bad for this long. So, it makes me think it was something else, but what? A spider? A tree snake? A blow dart? I dunno, but I guess this is what I get for going with the headband instead of the hat, my usual running headwear.

In other news, 'tis the season of birthdays for the G & G boys. All three of us have them within 15 days of one another at the end of August. Mine is last, which usually means I get short-shrift, which is fine by me. Last year my birthday cake was left-over ice cream cake from Lil' S1's birthday. We just put a candle on it, turned it around so that the half-eaten part wasn't obvious in photographs, and called it good. I mean, I love ice cream cake, and we had a significant portion of one in our freezer that was going to get all gummy and gross if we didn't eat it, so it would've been silly to get a whole other dessert.

I'm not even sure what I'll do on my birthday this year. It's on a weekday, and I don't want to take any more vacation, so I'll work from home for part of it, and then... I don't know. I might actually go shopping, which would be a strange birthday activity, given that I hate shopping, but I need jeans, and if I have to shop for jeans, I like for S to come with me, and my birthday might be one of those rare moments, when we have a few hours to do something without kids around. So, I might just have to go practical. That's the way to go, anyway. When you're a kid, socks is the epitome of a lame gift, but now if somebody bought me some nice socks that actually fit, I'd love it.

Originally, I wanted S to buy me some jeans online, so I wouldn't have to go anywhere. I gave her my size, and she went to the sites of the brands she likes, but she said there are too many different options, and I will need to try them on. She's right -- last time I bought jeans I tried on one pair and then bought another pair with the same waist and length without trying it on, but they were a different cut, so now I have a pair of quasi-skinny jeans that I don't really like. When your legs are as buff as mine, anything with a taper to it looks weird.

In other other news, school starts on Monday. We're about to hit a milestone: our first child's first day of middle school. We'll see how it goes. He has to take the bus -- like, the city bus; DCPS doesn't have school buses -- to get there, but so do a bunch of other kids in our neighborhood, including a few of his friends, so I think he'll be fine. He's kinda fearless in that way, which is a great trait to have. (Conversely, he will veto the movie choice of his brother -- his three-year younger brother -- because it's too scary.) The hardest part will probably be getting him up in the morning. He has to leave about an hour earlier than he did last year, and he is not always super easy to wake up in the morning. He's like his old man in that regard. He always wants to stay up late to read and sleep in a bit. So, he'll have learn, like I did, to adapt. (At least until college when he can schedule only afternoon classes and sleep until noon.) The world just isn't cut out for us night owls.

 Until next time...

Entry 675: The Good Part Of The Trip

Last post I wrote about being on Maui during the worst of the Lahaina fires. It was a weird experience that gets weirder and sadder with each passing day, as the extent of the disaster is uncovered. Latest reports: over 100 people confirmed dead, nearly 1,000 still unaccounted for. Mind-boggingly tragic numbers, given that last week Tuesday, when we touched down, we thought a temporary power outage was the only "hardship" anybody would be facing.

But time rolls on...

The first part of the trip, the part in the Aulani resort in Oahu, was quite lovely. It was my parents' 50th wedding anniversary, so the whole fam was there, 14 of us in total, and it was so nice to hang out with everybody. We spent a lot of time at the beach, more time poolside, and even more time walking back-and-forth between the resort and the Starbucks across the street.

That last part is a joke, but like all jokes there is an element of truth to it. The time difference in Hawaii is pretty extreme for us East Coasters (six hours), so we were waking up super early and flagging severely by mid-afternoon. Multiple caffeine injections were needed to keep things running. The resort actually had drip coffee as part of their drink deal (unlimited refills throughout your stay for $25), but I'm almost always willing to pay for iced coffee in the summer if it's nearby. I'm high-end that way. Plus, Lil' S2 loves the egg sandwich from Starbucks with the Impossible sausage patty, and it's probably healthier than pizza and nachos, so we don't mind going to Starbucks a bunch to get them for him.

We spent most our time at the resort (that's what resorts are for), but we did get out a bit too. I went to Pearl Harbor with my mom and dad, which was, well, I won't say fun -- that's probably not a very respectful way to put it -- so, how about worthwhile? It was worthwhile. I'm glad I went and had that experience with them. Then S and I took the kids, just the four of us, on a guided tour around the island. We went to the Waialua coffee estate and the Dole pineapple plantation, got lunch at some food trucks, and hiked up to (and swam in) a little waterfall. That I can say was fun.

The most memorable part, however, was probably a luau at the resort. The performances were excellent and the food was delicious.* The Aulani is owned by Disney, but it's not Disney! the way, say, Disney World is Disney! It just looks like any other beach resort, but then you will occasionally see, like, Chip and Dale posing for pictures by a palm tree. During the luau the performers invited up their "very special guests" Mickey and Minnie Mouse to sing with them, which was pretty hokey, but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the show. Plus, I think the kids like that sort of thing.

*Except for the prime rib, which was bland on the inside and a salt-bomb on the edges. I don't eat too much red meat, so I was extra disappoint that I made an exception for it.

Anyway... I'm going to do a photo dump and call it a post.

[Luau performers]

[Ocean views from the resort and a lagoon near the resort]

[The top rainbow didn't come out in the photo very well, but in-person this was very clearly a double rainbow: What does it mean?]

[View of the "lazy river" from our hotel room deck]

 

[Pearl Harbor: USS Arizona memorial (top) and the USS Missouri (bottom)]

 

[An old advertisement featuring Tommy Lasorda and Hideo Nomo that was randomly hanging at the Waialua coffee bar]

[I've talked about my love of fruit before, so I couldn't pass up a hollowed out pineapple filled with fruit from a food truck; honestly, I would've preferred to just eat the pineapple]

[The only pic in this post from Maui -- near the Iao Valley]

 

[Dole Pineapple Plantation]

Until next time...

Entry 674: Evacuating Maui

We're home in DC now, but we spent two days this week on one side of Maui while the other side burned. It was a surreal experience. Superficially, it was little more than an inconvenience for me and my family, but it was nerve-racking at the time, and my emotions have only intensified, now, after the fact, as I read about the extent of the death and destruction, much of which was unknown or still unfolding while we were there.

We either got incredibly unlucky or lucky, depending on your perspective. We arrived in Maui on Tuesday, and had we been scheduled to do so a day later, we would never have been allowed to enter the island in the first place, and we would have avoided the entire ordeal. But had we flown in a day earlier, we would have very likely been in the exact area the fires hit the hardest, at the exact time they hit the hardest. That's... a scary thought. So, I think the correct perspective is just to be happy to be home and safe. Others were not so lucky -- at least 80 people are confirmed dead, and hundreds of others lost their homes and businesses. They are still trying to evacuating people as I type this, but it's a slow-going process, as many roads are still shut down, and the ones that are open are clogged with cars. The airports can only handle so many flights a day. Many people don't have anywhere to go and are staying in pop-up shelters.

Things escalated so quickly -- that was the problem. We flew from Oahu to Maui Tuesday afternoon amid very strong winds from hurricane Dora, and my first worry was our flight. S and the boys and I were traveling with my bother and his wife and their two kids and my mom and dad -- so ten of us total. My friends JY and CC* were already at their condo on Maui, and I was really looking forward to seeing them, so I was worried the winds were going to prevent us from flying there. That turned out to not be an issue (although the flight was super rocky), but then we got word the power went out at our Airbnb in Lahaina, so my worry shifted to us having to stay in a place without electricity. How will we charge our devices or do laundry?!

*We never saw them and only had limited communication, as they had no power and spotty cell service. They had to leave their place a bit north of Lahaina and stay with some friends in Paia before flying out. I got a text from them today saying they made it home safely, which was a big relief for me. 

Upon landing, S got word from the property manager -- who is an unsung hero in this whole ordeal -- that things were getting a little sketchy in Lahaina. A lot of the streets were blocked, there were downed power lines everywhere, brush fires, and there was still no electricity and limited cell service. It certainly didn't sound like a pleasant place to bring children, and she suggested we stay near the airport one night (on the other side of the island from Lahaina), and hopefully things would be sorted out by the morning.

At this point, a lot of travelers were realizing they were in a similar boat as us, so hotels were filling up fast. Thankfully, I have a wife who can work Travelocity faster than anybody I know. She's like those kids who can solve a Rubik's cube in under five seconds. She had three rooms for us booked in no time at the Maui Seaside, only a few miles from the airport. Everybody else went to check in, but I stayed back to wait for a rental car. It took forever (two hours! and we had a reservation!), but I waited anyway, because at that point I still thought there was a vacation to be had after things cleared up, and we would need a car.

And that's pretty much how we spent the evening, thinking there was still a vacation to be had after things cleared up. It wasn't until I went on Twitter, after S and the boys were in bed, that I realized things were much more dire. Usually going on Twitter because you can't sleep is a terrible idea; in this case, it probably saved us a lot of consternation. Social media can be hyperbolic, but even accounting for that, it was clear watching the videos of raging fires and reading people's horror stories, that we were not going to Lahaina anytime soon, and, in fact, we should probably leave the island ASAP.

So, I woke up S, and then I called my sister-in-law and my dad and told them we were going to move our flight up as much as possible. They agreed that that was the best idea. Then S and I, with the patience of Job, sat on the line while a very slow and confusing airline rep changed our tickets. We wanted Wednesday, but could only get Thursday, so that's what we took. When I went to the front desk of the hotel to ask about extending our stay one more night,* the phone was literally ringing every 20 seconds with people looking for rooms for the night. The receptionists told the callers they were full, but that Maui High School had opened their gym to shelter-seekers for the night. Shit had officially gotten real.

*Weirdly, the hotel computers wouldn't let the receptionist extend our stay, but they still had rooms available on Travelocity for the next night. I guess when people are concerned about shelter for a night, it doesn't occur to them to book something for tomorrow. So, we just booked new rooms at the same hotel. Whatever. It worked and they didn't make us check-out and check-in again.

Then we hung out in Maui for a day and went home. They put a ban on all incoming passenger flights, and put out an order for all tourists to book outgoing flights and leave as quickly as possible. The fires were now front-page news, and it felt really weird to be on the island. We did normal vacation-y things -- what else are we supposed to do? -- but it didn't feel completely right to me for obvious reasons.

We went to the airport super early on Thursday, and the security line was quite long, but it wasn't that different than any other busy day. Our flight was delayed, just a half-hour, but that was enough to cause us to miss our connection in San Francisco, so we stayed a night at a hotel adjacent to SFO, and flew back to DC the next afternoon. I didn't really mind. It was a nice hotel, and I wasn't looking forward to a red-eye, anyway. Mostly I was just happy to be on the mainland.

I watched John Wick on the flight because I was in the mood for the most mindless entertainment possible. It was a good choice.

Until next time...

 

Entry 673: Power Outage And More Hollywood Connections

Power went out here a few hours ago. We got hit by a ferocious thunderstorm. It didn’t last long, maybe 25 minutes, but it did some damage. It wiped out power in our neighborhood, and the estimated time of restorage is “pending assessment” according to the Pepco app. At least we just got our trees serviced – very little debris in our yard and on our neighbors’ roof.

Our house is an okay place to be when the power goes down. We never actually have anything ready that should be ready – I grabbed our camping lanterns, whose sole purpose is to be used during a power outage (it’s not like we ever actually go camping), and the batteries were dead because I haven’t charged them in literal years – but the kids have these lights you can wear on your head (I have no idea under what circumstances they got them), and like most modern families, we have a zillion devices with lights on them, and we have a few battery-powered device chargers. But still, being that you don’t know how long the outage will go, you don’t want to do things that will needlessly use energy. I mostly put my phone away. I’m fine draining my laptop battery, because blogging is pretty much the only thing I use it for, anyway.

Another good thing is that our basement never gets hot, so even when it’s nearing triple digits, like it is today, we have a place to go. We could all sleep downstairs and be fine. It’s actually crazy how cold our basement is even in the absolute scalding-est dog days of summer. S usually works down there, and she will be bundled up on like a 95-degree day. Sometimes she will even run a little space heater. This annoys me immensely. I hate inefficiency, and running a space heater to heat your house when the sun is blazing outside, seems like the epitome of inefficiency. But usually I bite my tongue, because, y’know, pick your battles and that. Actually, I just thought of something: There’s a little window in there, and I wonder if she opened it if it would let in enough hot air to make it more comfortable. Have to give that a whirl next time.

Oh, hey, power just came back on – nice. The only downside is that I had another 1,000 words on power outages prepared, so I’ll have to switch gears.

Let’s do some Hollywood connections – actors I see on something that I recognize from something else but don’t immediately know what it is. Like when you’re watching a show and a woman comes on-screen and you think I know that chick, and then it eats away at you* until you figure out who it is. Whenever that happens to me, I specifically don’t look them up on my phone. I hold out until it comes to me naturally. It’s agonizing, but the a-ha moment is so worth it.

*Or it doesn’t. Some people like S are completely immune to this type of mental torment. She just doesn’t care if she doesn’t remember. I’m actually bothered by how little she’s bothered.

7. Brandon Potter: Family Camp, The Inside Man

We watched the first part of a really bad movie called Family Camp some months ago. It's from some Christian comedy troupe, so nobody you've actually heard of is in it (not even Kirk Cameron), but one of the actors is also in the campy security training videos we watch at work called The Inside Man.

6. Jeremy Shamos: Better Call Saul, Succession

I think he is in the first season of Better Call Saul, he was a public official embezzling money or something like that, and then he comes back in a later season. In Succession, he's in the family that owns the big liberal media company that the Roys want to purchase.

5. Harriet Walter: Succession, Ted Lasso

Speaking of Succession... I was not the only person to make this connection.   

4. Janina Gavankar: The League, Never Have I Ever

This is one of my finest pulls ever. On Never Have I Ever, the main character, Devi, becomes obsessed with the Princeton admissions officer, and I knew I knew her from somewhere. Then, like a dream, it came to me. She's Shiva of "The Shiva" from The League. If you don't remember The League, it is a very juvenile, pretty funny show about fantasy football. It ran about 15 years ago, and I don't think it would survive today. One of the jokes on the show is that their trophy is named after a nerdy girl from high school Shivakamini Somakandarkram. One of the guys in the league lost his virginity to her, and they all razz him for it. But... are you ready for a twist? Adult Shiva makes an appearance on the show, and... she's now smokin' hot! Can you believe that?

 

3. Benny Safdie: Licorice Pizza, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

I think this guy is actually pretty famous, and maybe doesn't belong on a list like this, but it took me almost all of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret to place him.

2. Boyd Holbrook: Vengeance, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

After seeing Indiana Jones, I was telling my friend I recognized the evil spy from something, and he kept replying that it was Narcos, despite the fact that I assured him I'd never seen even a single episode of Narcos before. On the drive home, I remembered it was from that interesting, but not really that good B.J. Novak movie.

1. Ebon Moss-Bachrach: Girls, The Bear

We started watching The Bear recently, and it took me a while to place the actor who plays the hyper-testosterone-y "cousin" on it, because his character on Girls was so different -- the pretentious, loathsome artiste. That's the sign of a good actor. As a bonus, I immediately pegged Sugar's husband as the guy from the Progressive commercials, apparently his name is Chris Witaske.

Alright, that's all for today. Until next time...    

Entry 672: Social Scenes

Really been doing a lot of social activities the past few weeks. I mean, not a lot a lot, but a lot for a dad with two still relatively young children. I went to a party at a friend's house last Friday. It was his birthday, but the invitation didn't say it was his birthday. He said it was a Bastille Day celebration, but I came to find that that was just kinda cover to throw himself a birthday party. It was pretty fun -- low-key. He's gay so there were a lot of other gay guys there, and it was nice to hang out with people who aren't super kid focused. There were a few other parents there, of course, but kids! wasn't the main topic of every conversation in the room, like it is at most events I attend these days.

My friend is my age, give or take a few years, but there was a younger cohort who showed up there for Stop 1 of the night. They left before me, and told me they were going to go out to the clubs, and it reminded me of my days cavorting about in the DC gayborhoods. That's not a joke. I had a group of gay guys I used to hang out with somewhat frequently, and no matter where the night began, if we hung out late enough, we ended up at a sweaty, crowded, loud gay club. My joke was always to pronounce upon entrance, "Where all the women at?" It made me laugh, anyway.

Actually, I found that gay bars were not a terrible place for a straight man to meet a straight woman. There were generally a few het chicks around, and I immediately had something in common with them to talk about. Sometimes I'd get denied, because they were at a gay bar to specifically not be hit on, but other times they'd at least hear me out, which is all you can ask for. I mean, I wouldn't say I had resounding success meeting women in gay bars, but I didn't get totally shut out either. But I'm sure the whole scene now is totally different, anyway. It doesn't seem all that long ago in my mind, but were talking legit 15-20 years ago. It's like somebody when I first turned 21 in the mid-90s talking about the scene in 1979. Uh, yeah, cool story, old man... You know, a lot of people bag on Smashmouth, but they did get one thing right: The years start coming and they don't stop coming.

Anyway, I also had a much more standard, kid-centric social event last week. We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I thought it was great -- just a fun, exciting action film. I heard it's not doing very good in the theaters, which is... I dunno... bad, I guess? Movies in general aren't having a great summer, and I don't know what to think about it. On the one hand, I love seeing movies in the theater and don't like how so much is moving to streaming now; on the other hand, I typically hate the type of movies that are in theaters. It feels like it's 90% superhero movies, and I just don't want to watch another superhero movie.* (I didn't really want to watch one in the first place.) But if the movies I don't like do poorly, does that mean there will be more of the movies I do like, or does that mean the entire industry will just collapse? Probably the latter. And there might not be any movies anymore, anyway, if this writers/actors strike doesn't get resolved soon.

*I know, I know, Indiana Jones is like first cousins with a superhero movie, but it's still different -- or maybe it's not, and it's just the exception.     

Alright, running out of time, gotta finish this post lightning-round style.

• I went to "dad's drinks" on Thursday at a dad-friend's house. One of the dads is moving away (the host, actually), and another one is getting divorced, so it wasn't exactly the makings of a joyous occasion, but there was a lot of bourbon flowing, so people still seemed to be having a good time.
• I just stick with beer. I can't hang with the hard liquor. I can barely hang with the beer anymore, truthfully. I always bring two beers and two waters -- that's my won't-have-a-headache-the-next-day limit.
• Although, I did go up to three beers last night for a dinner party we had at our house. It was a special occasion, I actually planned something. The ratio of "events we've had at our house planned by S" and "events we've had at our house planned by me" use to be 20-to-1, and now it's more like 15-to-1. 

Until next time...

Entry 671: On The Deliciousness Of Fruit

I've been eating a ton of fruit lately. One thing I love about visiting S's parents is that her mom always puts out some sort of fruit to nosh on throughout the day. This trip it was often cherries, which hit the spot, as I love a good cherry, but rarely eat one. They weren't Rainier cherries, which are my favorite, but we were just about at the furthest point in the contiguous states from Mt. Rainier, so that's understandable. I also ate some mango, which was delicious.

Then, when we got back on Monday, I got a call from our neighborhood, whom we've still never met, thanking us for taking prompt action concerning our tree whose branches fell on their house. He told me they have a farm in Virginia (which explains why their place often looks deserted), and then he left a massive paper bag of white peaches on our doorstep. It must have had 25 peaches in it. I ate at least five of them myself (S and the kids did eat any -- fruit Philistines!), and S made two jars of peach jam, and then we gave the rest to our other neighbors because they were going to rot if we didn't do something with them.

It was really nice, not just because our neighbors were thankful, but because the peaches were so good. They were at that perfect point of ripeness -- firm but yielding -- and full of juice. We also happened to have a bunch of watermelon around (Lil' S2 randomly said he wanted some, so S bought one), so I was going back and forth between peach and watermelon, and I had a thought: I think fruit is my favorite food group. It's delicious, convenient, and it's versatility is unmatched. You can eat it as a meal (fruit and coffee -- excellent quick breakfast), as a snack, and as a quasi-dessert. I mean, it's not as good a dessert as a real dessert, but as an I-really-need-to-eat-better-but-want-something-sweet dessert substitute it's damn good. And even if you're having real dessert, often you can just toss the fruit on top, and it makes it even better. In fact, adding fruit to just about anything makes it better. I like those little oranges in my green salad; I like cranberry sauce on my turkey sandwich; I like apples in my chicken salad; I like peaches in my salsa; I like strawberries on my cheesecake; I like raisins in my bagels; I like blueberries on my oatmeal; I like fruit flavor in seltzer; I even like chunks of dried fruit in chocolate. Fruit just makes it all better -- and it's healthy!

Well, maybe it's healthy. There's some debate about that. I heard a doctor who studies nutrition on a podcast once -- actually it was that buff, Larry-David-looking guy you used to see on internet ads all the time (apparently his name is Jeffry Life) -- and he said fruit was too high in sugar, and he didn't recommend eating more than half a banana worth per day. But he's just one opinion, and when it comes to food, no matter what somebody says, you can find somebody else who says the opposite. Nutrition is an area where it's just about impossible for the layperson to know who to listen to.

Part of this, surely, is that there's a lot of money to be made by convincing people you know something nobody else knows. But also it's just the fact that people are different and have different objectives and priorities, so what is healthy for one person might not be healthy for another. I mean, just start by asking -- what does it mean to be healthy? Ten different people will give you ten different answers. Is eating fruit good for you? If you're an endurance athlete who needs maximal fuel efficiency, probably not; if you have a huge sweet tooth and fruit satisfies your urges to eat a trayful of brownies, then yeah.

Then there are other aspects of eating, not strictly related to your physical health, that matter to your overall life health. There is more of a focus on mental health now than every before, and the constant pressure to "eat right" might be deleterious to one's psychological well-being. Also, some people have ethical qualms with certain diets. Then there's the social aspect of food, which I think is sometimes understated. Somebody told me just the other day that they didn't like hanging out with some friends of theirs because all they want to do is eat at restaurants, and this person doesn't like eating restaurant food. I've said many times before that the main reason S's mom likes me is because I eat her food -- it's a joke, but, like all jokes, there's some truth to it. If it wasn't for her cooking, we really wouldn't have much of a relationship -- or at least it would've taken us much longer to establish one. So, it's not just as simple as "this is bad for you" and "this is good for you."

Everybody has to have their own eating heuristic. For me, I try to go by how I'm going to feel a few hours in the future. That seems to serve me well. If I eat a moderate amount, mostly protein and vegetables (with some fruit, of course), then I feel good, and I conclude that that's healthy. If I eat a bunch of junk food, then I feel like shit, and I conclude that that's unhealthy. Sometimes I do the unhealthy thing, anyway; sometimes it's just because I'm human and humans are weak; but sometimes it's a rational (if not totally conscious) calculation. Being unhealthy in this moment is better for me in someway than being healthy. As Thomas Sowell once said, and which I often repeat, "There are no solutions; there are only trade-offs." Or, if you prefer Dan Savage, he frequently says, "Everything in moderation, including moderation." Both those quotes come to mind.

Until next time...

Entry 670: Independence Day 2023

It was a busy week of doing nothing for me. We went to visit S's parents in Florida, and I spent a decent amount of our time there waiting for a Dell repairman to fix my work computer. I've been with my company for almost 12 years, and during that time, prior to two weeks ago, I've had a computer break on me maybe once, and then within the last fortnight, it happened twice. The first time, the hard drive just up and died, so I had to get an entirely new computer, and then on Monday, not even a week after I had set up everything with all the software I needed (a process which takes several days), I closed my computer and heard a weird popping sound and opened it up to see this.

I called our IT guy, and he arranged with Dell to come out and replace the screen, which they did, but it was a day after originally scheduled, and they didn't tell us anything about a delay, so I waited for them all day Wednesday and half the day Thursday. Not only that, but my in-laws live in a gated neighborhood, and I'm not authorized to admit people, so I had to enlist my father-in-law to wait around with me, in case there was an issue with the technician getting in. Neither of us had a whole lot to do, anyway -- and a technician did eventually come and replace the screen -- so it wasn't too bad, but still, waiting around for service is one of the most annoying aspects of modern life.

It was otherwise a good trip -- way too hot, though. My in-laws have a really nice screened lanai, and I like sitting out there in the morning, having a coffee and doing my daily puzzles (crossword, Wordle, Spelling Bee, and Anigrams), but it was unbearably hot even at 8 am. We basically only did indoor activities and went to the pool. We went bowling on the 4th, which was quite fun, and then S took the kids to the new Spider-Man movie one of the days I was waiting for the technician. We thought about trying to find some sort of local fireworks show, but ultimately decided against it, because Lil' S2 was waking up early and wearing himself out at the pool and running out of steam by 7:30 pm. He is not fun when he's tired. The smallest thing will set him off, and he gets teary-eyed, and his voice goes up several octaves, and he starts shouting about how his bad behavior is actually everybody else's fault: Well, you guys raised me this way, so I guess you're bad parents! It's kinda funny at first, but it goes on too long and gets really annoying and a little bit sad. It's like a Judd Apatow movie. (Zing!) 

In general, the 4th isn't really a great kids holiday -- at least not the fireworks part of it. The big shows start too late and are often a huge hassle with young 'uns. The little shows people do in their neighborhoods are often illegal and/or dangerous. I mean, we used to do it up on the 4th with a bunch of fireworks, but the world was a different -- less flammable place -- place back then. Given the seemingly daily stream of news reports about wildfires menacing large swaths of the continent, maybe we can all just chill on the amateur fireworks shows.

We got back in to DC Saturday afternoon, and then had a big slumber party for one of Lil' S1's friends that night. His dad is in the military and the family is moving to Belgium in a few weeks. We knew that it was slightly crazy timing -- a slumber party on a day we all woke up at 5 am to catch a flight -- but it was the only date that even kinda worked for everybody. It wasn't as bad as I was anticipating. Yeah, I probably would have rather just relaxed the entire night in peace and quiet, but the day you return from a trip is often a wasted day, anyway, so this way it's like we killed two birds with one stone. Plus, they were pretty tame and well-behaved, all things considered. I went to sleep around midnight and still heard a little murmuring in the basement, but it was just that: a little murmuring. And I was so tired, I crashed out very quickly, which is great, as I often can't sleep unless things are "settled," and sixth-grade slumber parties are not known for being settled.

But it's Lil' S1 and his friends, and they are not super rowdy. It's a bunch of kids who are into video games and fantasy and such. I heard that the kid who stayed up the latest was just playing a game called Geometry Dash by himself. (To my chagrin, I came to learn that there is no actual geometry involved in the game.) And, at one point, I heard Lil' S1 doing a check to make sure everybody had their "emotional support stuffed animals" before they went to sleep. So, you might have to worry about them rotting their brains with screens and junk food, but probably not destroying the house. That's what Lil' S2 and his friends are for.

Until next time...