Eltern Roadtrip Voicemails

My parents made a cross country trip in their Honda Element. They had a great time, I'm so impressed. Here's a few of the voice mails I received from my mom's perpetually off cellphone that has no voicemail...

Sunday, Nov. 22 at 12:06 p.m. We're at a rest stop in Breezewood, we're on our way. Sooooo, we're rollin'. Everything's cool, not too much traffic 'cept big trucks.

Friday, Nov. 27 at 1:27 p.m. We're just outside of Rock Springs, Wyoming. We're going to stay in, now I've forgotten, maybe Ogden is the name of the place, outside of Salt Lake City on the way up to Aunt Toni's in Idaho. So we're rolling along!

Tuesday, Dec. 1 at 5:43 p.m. We're in Brookings, we just came off the beach. You should've seen the dog running, whoa, it was really nice to watch. Everything's cool, the weather's absolutely perfect. Everyone keeps telling us it's a trick. Ha ha! We're looking at properties and having a good time. Poor Dad's still driving, ha ha!

Sunday, Dec. 6 at 1:57 p.m.We're 40 miles north of San Francisco on Highway 101, woo hoo!


Monday, Dec. 7 at 6:18 p.m. We're stuck in California. We're taking the southern route, we're on Route 10. We're not in the snow but we're in miserable rain, with floody waters. We're going to stay in Blithe, California. We were going to try to make it to Phoenix but poor Dad. We're okay, it's just treacherous driving. So we're headed to Blithe, here we go, get at yours!

Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 4:28 p.m. In case we're never heard from again, we just left Truth or Consequences, NM on the way to Albequerque on Route. 25. So we'll be at Aunt Diana's this evening.

April 29, 1982, I wrote this poem at 9-years-old and I'm proud of the surprisingly exquisite meter!



Please do not get mad that my writing is so bad,
because it's hard to write a poem on a giraffe.

We won it

Got off work at 7 am and thought I could squeek into the Models off Snyder to buy a quick pennant. The line to get in was out the door past the Chuck E. Cheese almost to the IHOP. That's kind of how things are in Philly today.

I can't explain the feeling but it's something close to pure elation. It's the pinnacle of sports moments for a lifer Phillies fan like me. Nothing better. It's a baseball town and I'm a baseball fan. It's pure and we're at the top. Years of pain and third place finishes and we never could have imagined such a finale.

2008 World Series Champions. I'm finally happy even if I chicken out on the crowds at the parade tomorrow...

Katze, Katze, Katze

-Once there were two
and one jumped the fence
one left behind, cried all the time
one small and new
like the one left behind
before she grew
who knew, guess who?
back over the fence into the yard
gone three weeks
now the house creaks (still leaks) and reaks
of three cats
three cats is awesome actually-

What kind of man am I?

That blonde architect looked me in the eyes on her scratchy couch, about a year ago, and told me I was a good man. No other person said it before nor since and it's the thing I most need to hear.

Last month

Lonely like a crack in the windshield
of a dirty van.
Lonely like a noodle
sticking to the pan.
Lonely like a newspaper
blowing in the breeze.
Lonely like that odd, stray heartbeat
signaling disease.

The Year in Review...2007

A year since my last post, is that right? Well, 2007 sucked pretty bad. So that's that. Time to start something new and land the plane.

What do you care if spring is in the air?

I've grown the most amazing radishes- sweet on the inside and a red candy coating that peels right off. Now they are dead and broccoli is next. Fields of radishes die every day and we eat more and noone cares. I never really liked them but I grew them, what am I gonna' do, throw them out?



I bought a house two months ago this Saturday. Not bad, not too bad. It looks so strange empty in these pics because it is now very full, not of love but of stuff, not of clutter but of function.