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Thursday, May 15

I've posted the 8th installment of my road-trip extravaganza here. I didn't intend to wait so long between sections, but life got in the way and I got lazy and then there was the alien invasion, and, well, there ya go.

Wednesday, May 14

Just a quick update....

Yesterday I joined a handful of moms to chaperone Owen's class to the Harvard Museum of Natural History. I brought Amelia along in her umbrella stroller, which I had to lug up and down three flights of stairs. The museum has an elevator, but it's not centrally located, so I found it easier to just tote the stroller, with Amelia in it. Owen and his classmates had a good time, although their interest in the displays was minimal. They had fun just running around, pushing buttons on exhibits when possible and watching video displays. Amelia was a trouper, as usual, and was exhausted after two hours at the museum, and fell asleep on the way home in the car.

We had a busy weekend. Owen had tae kwon do, as usual, on Saturday, and then a classmate's birthday party in the afternoon. I took him to the party, and enjoyed watching him and his friends splash around in the pool at Newton's Boston Sports Club. Owen's birthday party is this Sunday, so he'll get to hang around with his school buddies once more.

Saturday night we went to a cookout that our neighbors put together as a "last supper" of sorts for our next-door neighbors, who are moving at the end of this month. We had a lot of fun, catching up with neighbors, eating and drinking, sitting around the fire pit, watching the kids play (and then pretending to do so once they went inside to play). Amelia and Beth went back home a little after 9:00; Owen and I stuck it out until 10:00. In between those two times, there was a bit of an animal ruckus in the backyard next to the party. A few of the guys and I checked it out but didn't see what was making all the noise.

The next day, however, Beth, Owen and I figured out who the offending animal was. We spied an adult fox and a baby at the edge of our backyard, right near a small patch of woods. I'd seen the adult around the 'hood, as had a few other people. But nobody had seen the pup. Well, that was just the beginning of our "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" experience. That night, after Owen went to bed, Beth and I watched in amazement as two adults and at least four pups roamed around our shed, the woods and the backyard. The pups were rolling around and playing with each other, chasing one another around the shed. Beth did some research online and realized that foxes like to dig under things to make a den. I then figured out that the holes I'd covered up near the shed earlier in the day had been made by the foxes, not a raccoon or opossum, as I'd figured. Being the politically correct animal lovers that we are, we decided I should remove the cinder block and bricks from the holes I'd covered, in case the foxes were now inside. So I ventured out in my shoes and pajamas and removed the impediments. Just as I moved the cinder block, a dog in the yard behind ours started barking, which startled me. I danced quickly back up to the deck and inside.

I saw one pup the next night, but haven't seen them since. It's possible that my presence in the yard Sunday night, and my scent near their den, scared them away. If they return, my options include soaking rags in ammonium chloride and sticking them under the shed, spreading moth balls under there, or urinating near the den to mark it as belonging to me. I hope I don't have to choose any of those options, but if I did, I'd go with marking my territory first. That'll make me feel very manly.

Too bad we didn't have a fox gallery in our backyard instead.

Thursday, May 8

I'm not exactly sure why it's been 9 days since my last entry. Amelia's napping schedule is unpredictable and she rarely sleeps for more than 40 minutes at a time, so that's part of the reason. Been busy with errands during the day, and playing outside with the kids after Owen gets out of school, so that's another element. Anyway, here's what's been going on.

Owen is a full-fledged two-wheel bike rider. Go here to see a picture of him in action (along with a new pic of Amelia). Amazingly, he's gone from figuring it out over this past weekend, to purposely riding into objects (curbs, mostly) and doing tricks like riding with his feet off the pedals, and trying to go really fast. We're very proud of him. He had one wipe-out this week when he fell off and banged his face on the pavement. Luckily he just got a slight bloody nose and a bit of a scare. After a few minutes of tears and clean-up, he was right back on.

Beth took Owen to the Big Apple Circus last Saturday, along with his friend Oliver and his mom. They had a great time; Owen liked the guys who jumped on see-saws up onto each other's shoulders, with one guy holding a chair on top for the final jumper. Beth was impressed with many of the acts, too, such as the woman who simultaneously rotated as many as 50 hula hoops. We took Owen two years ago and had bad seats, and didn't end up staying for the whole show.

I'm actually bummed I missed out this year. But Amelia took a 2 1/2 hour nap, enabling me to watch "Gone Baby Gone," which Beth said she had no interest in watching with me, because it deals with a child who's been abducted.

As with other movies filmed in, and involving tales of people from Boston, such as "The Departed," I got distracted by the scenery and accents in "Gone Baby Gone." It wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be, but it was just a'ight for me, as Randy Jackson says.

Beth and I have been watching a lot of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" on DVD when we're not watching the Sox, "American Idol," "Lost" or the Thursday night NBC comedies. "It's Always Sunny" is very funny and very un-PC.

Not too much else going on. My baseball game got postponed last Sunday, and we couldn't get a quorum for practice this Sunday, so it's gonna be a few weeks before I get on the diamond again.

Tuesday, April 29

Owen had a really good April vacation last week. Beth had Monday off, and took Friday so we all got to enjoy some extra time together. The weather was fantastic the whole week, and we spent a lot of time outside, hanging out with neighbors, going to playgrounds and helping Owen ride his bike without training wheels (see picture here). We went to the marathon last Monday, which was fun. Owen got to see his friend Tamer, who lives around the corner from where we were watching.

On Tuesday and Thursday, Owen did a three-hour camp at Kids U, where he does tae kwon do, and where he will have his birthday party next month. On Wednesday he had a play date with his friend Oliver, and on Friday he got together with his friend Max.

My sister and parents came up for the day on Saturday for a belated celebration of both my birthday and my sister's. We went to Not Your Average Joe's in Watertown for lunch, had dinner here followed by decadent chocolate cake and a gift exchange. My sister gave me a soups and stews cookbook, as well as "Diary of a Red Sox Season" by Sox lifer Johnny Pesky. I also got a Borders gift card from my parents, which I used yesterday to buy Owen a new "Magic Treehouse" book, and myself the new, self-titled Flight of the Conchords CD, as well as Cake's 2001 album, Comfort Eagle (check out this video for "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" from the album).

On Sunday, my team opened the 2008 season with a resounding 11-2 victory over the team that won it all last year. We hit well, fielded pretty well (except for my two errors -- aauugghh!!) and looked like contenders for this year's crown. I had a good day at the bat: a single, a double, a walk, a stolen base and three runs batted in. I'm excited as always for a summer of baseball.

Tuesday, April 22

I've been trying to post this entry for three or four days, but because the weekend was so warm, we were all outside much of the time. I'll update again in the next day or two, but here's what I was working on late last week....

More than two months after I started writing my road-trip memoir, I can't believe how involved the project has gotten. Initially, I intended to update it much more quickly, in shorter bursts, matching entries with specific dates from the trip. But I've ended up doing more with it than I thought I would, adding links to lots of people and places, referencing my journal and cassette tape as well as my dusty memory, and reliving a lot of the adventure as I go. Sometimes I feel like I'm living simultaneously in three planes: the present, the past and the future, where I go back to see many of the places I've been before but forgotten about. I realize how little I really experienced in any of the places we visited; I really want to go back to Athens, Memphis, New Orleans, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and will, some day, with my family in tow (willingly, I hope).

Part VII, covering Oklahoma, Texas and our arrival in New Mexico, is now available for your reading pleasure (if you're wavering, there's a nice music video waiting for you at the end as an enticement). I plan to write two or three more parts, discussing our time in Albuquerque and our drive back to the East Coast.

What else is going on? I'm excited for the warm weather this past week! Amelia and I have gone on some nice walks and runs, and we've spent a lot of time outside in the afternoons with Owen and his neighborhood friends. The weather even stayed nice for my scrimmage game Sunday, after the initial cloudy, cool forecast turned out wrong.

In a confusing harbinger of the warm weather, two Saturdays ago we had a turkey visit our backyard for a few minutes. I've posted a somewhat blurry shot on the picture page. There have also been several fox sightings in our neighborhood; the wilds are closing in!

The biggest news of late is that Owen lost his first tooth. It had been loose for about a month, and I could tell last Tuesday that it was about to come out. Sure enough, after we ate dinner that evening, Beth looked at Owen and said, "Your tooth came out!" He was excited, until we realized that he'd swallowed it with his food. He was very concerned, but Beth reassured him that swallowing it wouldn't hurt him, and that the tooth fairy would still reward him. He promptly called both sets of grandparents, and then walked down the street to tell his friend Emma his big news. Now he's got a second loose one. I've posted a picture here of his gap-toothed smile, along with a new shot of Amelia.

Monday, April 14

I've updated my travelogue with new information about our time in Memphis gleaned from a conversation with my buddy Pete. The Toastmen traveled to his house this past Saturday for a full-on jam, and I told Pete I was writing the road-trip memoir, and had just covered Memphis. Things were a little more interesting than I, in my drunken state, fully realized.

The jam session went well, as we covered one new tune and made good progress fine-tuning a few others, as well as making a gawd-awful racket on a couple more. It's always good to see those guys and bash so hard that my fingers bleed onto my strings (here's a pic from the Toastmen's glory days).

We had a pretty quiet day yesterday. I stayed up 'til 10:30 or so watching and listening to the Sox, but started falling asleep. I was glad to read this morning that they hung on against the Yankees. Speaking of baseball, my team has a scrimmage scheduled next Sunday, and then the Sunday after that the season begins. I've only been to one practice (I skipped yesterday's since I was gone most of the day Saturday), but I'll be ready to go once the ump calls "Play ball!" OK, the umps don't really do that, but I'll be ready anyway.

Tuesday, April 8

I've posted the sixth part of my long-and-winding road memoir. Today's installment covers our adventures in Memphis. I hope you read and enjoy.

We all had busy weekends. As usual, we all went to Owen's tae kwon do class on Saturday morning. Afterwards, we went to Bertucci's for lunch. When we got home Beth, Owen and Amelia gave me my presents, and then Beth then took Owen shopping for a few birthday presents for her father and a friend of Owen's.

On Sunday I had my first practice, which went well despite the cold, drizzly, windy conditions. I felt pretty good at the bat and in the field. I took a grounder off the side of my head, and am dealing with a bruised big toe, but otherwise I can't complain, especially since I didn't hit or throw a ball all winter.

While I was at practice, Beth took Owen and Amelia to a birthday party for Owen's school friend, Duncan. Owen had a good time at the Robin Hood-themed party, and Amelia hung out with another baby, which she enjoyed.

At 4:00 we met Beth's family at Not Your Average Joe's in Watertown to celebrate two birthdays: mine and my father-in-law's. We went back to our house for cake, presents and booze -- cognac for the men, Disaronno for the ladies.

Today I'm looking forward to watching the Sox' home opener, and hoping for better things than I witnessed in Toronto.

Saturday, April 5

Happy birthday to me. Today I'm 43. Tomorrow I go to my first baseball practice of the year, and by the end of the day I'll feel more like 63.

I haven't updated in a while, in part because we didn't have Internet, cable or phone access for two days this week. Turns out the coaxial cable had been disconnected from the side of our house. The technicians weren't sure what happened. I'm guessing either juvenile delinquents or El Chupacabra.

Last weekend we saw our friends Jeff and Laura, and their twins, Caitlyn and Andra, for the first time in, well, too long. It was really great to see them, and Owen had fun playing with the girls, who are 8 going on 9. We have a loose agreement to visit them in NH some time before the next lunar landing. I met Jeff in college, and Laura not long after Jeff graduated in 1985. Beth and I used to see them all the time when they lived in Medford and we lived in Brighton, and then Somerville. So many people to keep in touch with, unfortunately sometimes too much time passes in between visits.

What else? We watched four episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" this week while our cable was out. We'd caught just a few minutes of one of last season's episodes on FX last fall, and laughed a lot, so I figured we might as well rent the first two season and laugh some more. And we did.

It's great to have the Sox back. They didn't look so great last night, except for J.D. Drew's home run, but I really missed watching them over the winter. Like everybody, I have high hopes for Jacoby Ellsbury. He's got such great potential. I hope he doesn't end up like Rocco Baldelli from the Devil Rays, who has had physical ailments over the last two seasons, and now has some condition that makes him tire easily. He might not play again. I hope he does.

As I mentioned at the top, tomorrow is my first practice of the season. I'm looking forward to that, even though I'm out of shape and haven't thrown a ball or swung a bat since our last game in September.

And as I also mentioned, today is my birthday. Beth, Owen and Amelia gave me some running gear (I'm trying to get back into it), a pair of shorts and the new R.E.M. disc, which I've read good things about. I haven't paid attention to Michael Stipe & Co. lately but they deserve a chance to redeem themselves after some boring music over the last several years.

That's all, folks.

Friday, March 28

Just a quick update. The Sons and Daughters show on Monday night was fun. Their set was only about an hour long, but they ripped through a good mix of songs from the new album, This Gift, as well as stuff I knew from Love the Cup and The Repulsion Box. Opening band Frightened Rabbit was really good, and the reason that my buddy OJ was there (read his review here). I'll have to look into more of their stuff. The middle band, Bodies of Water, made me angry. I ranked them as the second worst band I've ever seen, behind the gleefully dissonant and purposefully annoying U.S. Maple. Bodies of Water didn't belong on the club's stage, or really, even a middle-school talent show stage. You be the judge.

On a more positive note, I've posted the fifth installment of my road memoir.

AND ONE MORE THING...I published this stuff and then decided my faithful readers would be upset if I didn't pass along one more bit of entertainment news. I dragged Amelia with me yesterday to L.L. Bean in Burlington to return some slippers and exchange a fleece vest. After doing so, we went to the Burlington Mall, the latest destination in my quest to buy slippers that a) aren't ugly and b) fit me. I struck out at Eddie Bauer and Sears and gave up the hunt, perhaps until next autumn. But I digress.

While at the mall I realized that something was afoot. Young men with headset microphones were stopping people from shopping, telling them there was a movie being shot and that the delay would be short. I took it all in: the yellow caution tape blocking off an area in front of a florist shop; the sign telling mall patrons to use another set of bathrooms; more people with headset mics stopping people about 30 feet away from where I stood. After only a minute or so, the production peons told people the shoot was over for the moment, and we could proceed. I noticed a sign for Columbia Pictures, so today I turned to my good friend the Internet to try and figure out what movie was on location at the mall.

It didn't take long. Thanks to a story in the Boston Herald and a blurb on some blog called The Frosting, I learned that the exciting piece of cinematic excellence being dedicated to film is the Adam Sandler-produced movie formerly known as "Mall Cop," starring Kevin James of "King of Queens" fame (someone else made a movie called "Mall Cop" a few years ago, so who knows what this one will be called). So if any of you venture out to see this masterpiece, look for me and Amelia hanging in the corner of a shot, standing next to the mall directory.

Monday, March 24

I've taken down the video file I posted last week. Evidently I was the only one who could view it. I converted it to a different file type, but now it's too large. Additionally, I received an email from my hosting company saying that I've nearly exceeded my file transfer capacity for the month, so I may have to wait until April 1st to post the McNuggets Rap video.

We had a nice weekend, starting off with our usual trek to Owen's tae kwon do class. We enjoy going because Amelia has a great time hanging out or going on the swing, and we chat with the parents of one of Owen's class buddies. In the afternoon, we headed down to CT to see my parents and celebrate my dad's birthday and Easter. I've posted a few pictures from our trip here, in addition to a few others of Owen and Amelia at home.

Owen had fun at my parents' house, going on a few Easter egg hunts, decorating eggs and eating cake and ice cream not once but twice. For my dad's birthday, Owen and Amelia gave him a double picture frame with new pics of the two of them inside. My cousins Amy and Lynne joined us for Easter dinner, which was nice. We hit traffic on the way home, which delayed us by 30 minutes. We didn't get home until 7:00, but the kids were OK upon arrival.

I'm going out tonight to see one of my current favorite bands, Sons and Daughters. I'll post a review of some sort later on this week. I'll also post the next installment of the road-trip memoir, with any luck.

Thursday, March 20

Spring has sprung, and it's time for a little DaveBrigham.com ("Where Dave Brigham Meets Dot Com") house cleaning. I've eliminated the "Links" page, folding that info into the "Old Blog" page. In place of the links, I've added a Video page, where I soon hope to post the first clip. I posted a clip last week, but evidently nobody could actually watch it. I will work on fixing that.

Speaking of video, I've decided to return the camcorder I bought two weeks ago, because it isn't compatible with the movie editing software on my laptop. I'm not sure what I'll buy instead, as I've done some research and now I'm more confused than ever. Nevertheless, I downloaded the few clips from the camera and hope to post a few more things soon either here or on YouTube.

Not much else to report. Last night my TV turned into a wayback machine, as I enjoyed bits and pieces of both the Burt Reynolds-Loni Anderson NASCAR romp "Stroker Ace" and a CMT documentary on Southern rock, featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels and the Allman Brothers, among others. Here's a YouTube clip showcasing Daniels' theme song for "Stroker Ace" (which sounds a LOT like his "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"). Others featured in the movie include Ned Beatty, Jim Nabors, Bubba Smith, John Byner, Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira), and a host of NASCAR drivers from the early '80s. Enjoy....

We'll be in CT for the Easter weekend. I hope to post the next part of my road trip memoir some time next week.

Friday, March 14

Owen was the Person of the Week in his class this week, and he really enjoyed all that honor entailed (each kid gets a turn during the course of the year). Last Sunday he and Beth made a collage of family photos and captions that came out really great. Owen was really into the project and wrote all the captions, and talked about it with his class on Monday.

On Thursday his classmates interviewed Owen about his favorite food (meatballs -- a surprise to me), favorite TV show ("SpongeBob" -- no surprise there), color (blue, black, brown and something else) and other stuff. Also yesterday he brought in a 2008 calendar my sister makes each year with pictures of the extended Brigham family and answered questions about that from his classmates.

Today Beth went in and read a book ("Dr. DeSoto") to the class. Owen's teacher was nice enough to send along pictures from the reading.

Tomorrow is the latest birthday party for one of Owen's classmates. It's at the YMCA in Brighton and is supposed to feature gymnastics, a Moon Bounce and pizza and ice cream. Should be fun. After that, we're going to my in-laws' for a boiled dinner in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Not sure whether there will be any green beer available.

On Sunday, Beth is going to a baby shower for her cousin, in Maine. I've scored a play date for Owen, which will be good for him, Amelia and me. By the way, earlier this week Owen discovered his first loose tooth. He's very excited.

And last but certainly not least, I've posted Part 4 of my never-ending remembrance of the road trip I took 20 years ago.

Thursday, March 13

Last Saturday we watched Owen complete his "test" at tae kwon do in order to receive his yellow shirt, signifying his advance to the next level. I've posted a few pictures here, along with one new shot of Amelia. Owen did a great job, as you'll see once I figure out how to either post the video I shot at this site, or slap it on YouTube. Beth and I are very proud of him, and very happy that he likes martial arts. This Saturday marks the first class of his second session.

As I mentioned, I shot video of Owen's demonstration, using our new digital camcorder. The camera is easy to use, for both video and still shots, but syncing it up with our iBook is proving a little more difficult. I love Macs, always have, because of their ease of use and because I like sticking it to Microsoft. But sometimes it doesn't pay to own one. In order to simply view the video I shot on my laptop, I had to download one free software app, and pay for another one ($20). And having done that, I can't get the video to work in the iMovie application that came with my computer. I might need to update iMovie; not sure. And to put the 6-minute clip on this site, I have to figure out either how to shrink the file size, or edit it down. One way or the other, I'll get some of that video online for people to watch.

Not much else going on. Progress on part 4 of my road trip memoir has slowed, but I will get it online soon.

Thursday, March 6

UPDATE, FRIDAY, MARCH 7: WHILE WORKING ON THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF MY ROAD PIECE, I RECALLED THAT I HAVE AN AUDIO TAPE FROM THE TRIP. THIS IS EITHER GONNA ADD FASCINATING NEW DETAILS, OR BORING DRIVEL. EITHER WAY, I'LL BE WRITING PLENTY MORE

I've posted the third part of my possibly never-ending 20-year retrospective of a trip I took across the country with three friends. Today I dwell on Athens, and all the alcohol to be had there.

Not much else new 'round these parts.

Sunday, March 2

Ah, with the arrival of March, we're one step closer to spring. I haven't been outside today, but the bright blue skies make me feel good, even though it's only about 42 degrees and windy. Soon enough, I'll be playing baseball, grilling on the deck, hanging out with neighbors, and trying to convince Owen to take the training wheels off his bike.

Due to the overwhelming clamor from bored people the world over, I've posted the second installment of my road trip review on the Blah Blah Blah page. You can just toss out that cup of coffee you're drinking; the stories there will wake you up and keep you up!

Thursday, February 28

Hard as it is to believe, Amelia will be eight months old tomorrow. She's doing very well, babbling like crazy, trying to get her hands on anything in reach, laughing a big belly laugh when Owen does his "sports jumping" for her. She still doesn't have any teeth, and isn't showing signs of crawling, but that's normal.

Before I move on, I just want to point you again to the first installment of my 20-year look-back to the road trip I took with three friends in 1988. Combining journal entries, information from two articles I wrote for a weekly paper, and two decades of hindsight, the piece illustrates the highs and lows of aimless wandering. Look for the second installment in the next few days.

Now for some music stuff. Two weeks after the fact, but not too late, I'm posting a link to Love Will Reign Supreme, a free Valentine's Day covers EP issued by one-time Bay State / current NYC-based electro-rockers Mobius Band. I have to say, these are some of my favorite tunes the band has done. Here's the track listing:

"Razor Love" -- Neil Young

"Digital Love" -- Daft Punk

And finally, while researching Philadelphia earlier this week for my road trip piece, I happened across this fine video of a guy in a wheelchair serenading women outside a restaurant. He's got a great voice, an artificial leg (which he takes off) and just wants some lovin' from a "nice girl" or two or three or more. Is that so wrong?

Tuesday, February 26

As promised (threatened?), I've posted the first piece on the Blah Blah Blah page looking back 20 years to February 26, 1988, the day I left on a road trip that took me and three friends from Connecticut, all the way down the Eastern Seaboard, across into New Orleans, up to Memphis, across Arkansas and Texas and into New Mexico, where we settled for a few months. The piece includes stuff from a journal I kept along the way, as well as info and quotes from two articles I wrote for the weekly newspaper at which I'd worked until just before the trip.

I'll post more stuff there over the next few weeks, covering the trip and our arrival in the Land of Enchantment.

Back in the Now Times...

Owen had fun during vacation camp at Kids U, where he does tae kwon do. He went for three hours each day, and did gymnastics, arts and crafts, cooking and general mayhem. He also had a few play dates, including one with his friend Oliver from school at a great sledding hill. He wrapped up his vacation in style, as we all met his school buddy Duncan and his family at Watch City Brewery in Waltham, where on Sundays they break out train sets, blocks and crayons for kids to use (along with a free kids' buffet) while the parents eat, drink and get merry.

I guess that's enough for now.

Thursday, February 21

Unbeknownst to me, my photo page has been fixed. I emailed Network Solutions about my problem last week, and didn't hear back from them. Now it's working. Not sure what the issue was. Anyway, there are three new pictures of Amelia there.

Be forewarned that beginning next week I'll be posting on the Blah Blah Blah page some reminiscences of the road trip I took 20 years ago.

Sunday, February 17

Upon awaking yesterday morning (too early, of course) I was feeling pretty good and planned to extol the healing powers of ribs. Specifically, Texas beef ribs. More specifically, Texas beef ribs paired with Fuller's Old Man Winter Ale served by my favorite BBQ joint, Redbones. I had a bit of a headache and my body was sore for some reason (read: I'm old), but my chest congestion seemed to have disappeared. I wasn't coughing. I was pretty happy. Then, I got out of bed and before too long I was coughing and spitting gunk into the sink and, well, things hadn't really changed at all.

But at least Beth and I had fun at Redbones Friday night with the Webnoize crew and most of their spouses. It's always great to hang out with OJ, Jay, Ric and Lee (for some odd reason, he doesn't have a blog; but this guy's got the same name and he's Scottish, which is cool). And it was doubly nice to have the ladies along to strap on their (smaller) feedbags and get their drink on. Too bad Jay's wife, Deb, couldn't make it.

Last night's agenda was much mellower. Once the kids were in bed, Beth and I watched "Little Children." We both read the book, which is by local guy Tom Perrotta, who also wrote "Election." I was a little disappointed in the movie. The voice-over narration was weird, and since it's by the guy who does "Frontline," it's doubly weird. I thought Kate Winslet was excellent as always. She was so good that it took me about a third of the way through the movie to remember that she's British. Patrick Wilson was pretty good, too. But I thought Jennifer Connelly wasn't all that great, and the movie didn't get into the depravity of Winslet's character's husband enough, but I realize you can only do some much with a movie. Jackie Earle Haley was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He was good, but I'm not sure he was that good.

I plan to add Perrotta's latest novel, "The Abstinence Teacher," to my Amazon wish list, even though I read magazines much more than books these days. That said, I bought John Sedgwick's "In My Blood" yesterday. Sedgwick, another Boston-area writer, is related to Edie Sedgwick, the one-time Warhol muse who died of a drug overdose in 1971. The Sedgwicks are a blue-blood family whose ancestors include well-known politicians and generals, as well as plenty of folks with mental illnesses. Sedgwick's book deals with his own depression, and his effort to trace such issues in his family tree. How could I resist a book dealing with genealogy and a tragic Brahmin clan?

Tuesday, February 12

I had posted three new pictures of Amelia, but once again, some new feature offered by my hosting company has all of a sudden turned my photo page into an abyss. I'll try to fix it.

Anyway, I wanna give a shout-out to Jim Terry, who answered the street light question Owen, Beth and I have been pondering for a while now. Terry runs yet another web site devoted to street lights, and he answered my email question, informing us that the numbers, as Beth had speculated, indicate wattage. For instance, a street light with a "5" on it has a 50-watt bulb (you multiply by 10). He also said that the color of the sticker on the street light indicates the type of bulb -- sodium, metal halide or mercury. Now you all know more about street lights than you ever thought you would. You're welcome.

Health update: still fighting the bronchitis, or whatever it is. Not happy.

Something that does make me happy is the latest album from Scottish quartet Sons and Daughters. Called This Gift, the album is influenced less by country and folk as their previous two albums, and doesn't rely as much on the boy-girl duets as those fine efforts. At times I hear echoes of the '60s in the album, while other moments make me think of the '80s. Can't quite put my finger on why, but I like the album. Here's the video for "Gilt Complex" off This Gift; here's the one for "Darling."

I took the opportunity last week to watch "Hard Core Logo," a mockumentary about a Canadian punk rock band that reunites and goes through the muck and the mire and personal strife while doing so. It's got its humorous moments, but is much more serious than its obvious influence, "This Is Spinal Tap." I thought it was going to be funny, because I mistakenly believed that the director was one of the guys from "Kids In the Hall." Turns out that Bruce McDonald is not one of those wacky Canadians -- I was mashing up Bruce McCulloch and Kevin McDonald. Anyway, the movie is pretty good; I thought Hugh Dillon did a great job as lead singer/tragic figure Joe Dick. Turns out Dillon is in a band called The Headstones, which isn't very good. He's also acted in plenty of other movies and TV shows. For those interested in the "Reader's Digest" version of the film, check out this fan's video.

That's it for now. Beth and I are excited to go out this Friday night with the Webnoize boys and their better halves. We're going to Redbones in the Paris of the East, Somerville.

Thursday, February 7

It's been a while since I've blogged; let's see what's been going on.

We're still in our battle to get everybody in the house healthy. I've been hacking for a few weeks. I finally went to the doctor on Tuesday and he said I have bronchitis. I've now got a handful of drugs to take to help clear things up. Beth has another cold/sore throat/potential swollen gland thing going on, made worse by a stiff neck. She also went to the doctor on Tuesday, but he said he thinks she's just got stress built up in her shoulders. She told him she was having some difficulty swallowing, but he didn't seem overly concerned. She came home early from work yesterday and went in late today, but seems to be feeling better. Owen and Amelia are fine, knock on wood.

My parents were in town Monday through Wednesday. My dad was doing his usual Unitarian-Universalist committee work in Boston, while my mom enjoyed hanging out with the grandkids. My mom made a really great book for Owen. She wrote a story about Owen and some snowmen, and left blank pages for him to make maps, one of his favorite activities. The book is really cool, and a great idea.

In addition to his ongoing love of roads, highways and maps, Owen has a relatively newfound fascination with street lights. He loves to spot the differences between them, and has discovered that most have a number on them, directly next to the bulb. The numbers -- 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 25 -- tend to be the same on each street, but vary widely between streets. We have no idea what they mean. I did a Google search yesterday to try and figure it out. I didn't, but I came across Street-Light Nuts, a site dedicated in part to "all of you who thought you were the only ones who ever thought of such things." I haven't heard back from the guy, and probably won't, since he hasn't updated his site in a few years it seems.

The Super Bowl was a colossal letdown, that's for sure. I'm not a live-and-die by the Patriots guy, the way I am with the Red Sox, but I was pretty shocked by how the game ended up. Well, not really, because the Giants outplayed the Pats the whole time, especially on defense. On the plus side, my sister-in-law Megan and her husband Todd put on their usual great party, complete with Southwestern-themed food. The Mexican lasagna was fantastic.

I'm pretty excited that "Lost" has returned. Last week's episode was great, and I eagerly await tonight's. I hope that the writer's strike is resolved soon, as has been rumored, so that the show won't have to end after just 8 episodes. I look forward to the return of my other favorite shows once the strike is over: "Heroes," "30 Rock," "The Office," "Scrubs" and whatever else it is I watch.

Wednesday, January 30

The Spice Girls are, um, "playing" in Boston tonight. As much as they were media icons for a short time back whenever the heck that was, I never really paid them much mind. The Brits have a tendency to blow unworthy acts up into the Greatest Thing Evah, only to discard them when they get old and boring. OK, to be fair, we do the same thing in the good ole US of A. But because the UK is a much smaller market, entertainers' trajectories tend to rise and fall much more quickly. Anyway, the Globe ran a picture of the Girls in its Sidekick section today, and I was struck by how awful, awful, awful Posh Spice looks, despite (or because of) her surgical enhancements and Barbie doll outfit. So much has been made of Posh, aka Victoria Beckham, because she's married to world-famous footie player David Beckham, has her own line of clothing and had some foolish reality show when she and "Becks" landed on our shores (can you tell I read People and Entertainment Weekly?).

As this picture, which is quite similar to the one from today's Sidekick, illustrates, all the Girls except Posh look like, well, normal women. Beckham looks like a cross between Mike Score from A Flock of Seagulls and, I don't know, a Terminator. I think Melanie Brown should trade her "Scary Spice" moniker with Posh. Mrs. Beckham just looks so unhappy compared to the rest of them. Maybe she should rename herself "Pouty Spice." Of course, none of the Girls are using their former "spice" names any more. Too bad.

One last note on a topic that I never thought I'd cover: I like Ginger Spice much better as an Earth mama than in her former incarnation. Guess I'm getting old.

Anyway, all is well in our household. Owen, Beth and I are still trying to get rid of our coughs, but Amelia seems back to normal, which is great.

Monday, January 28

A healthier week has dawned on our household. Last week's vomitus has been replaced by hacking coughs. We actually got out of the house without fear of infecting the general population with plague-like germs. Of course, nobody's particularly happy about coughing all the time, and swallowing post-nasal drippings (lovely images, yes?), but it's progress. I've had a cold/sinus congestion/cough/pleurisy/consumption for about 3 1/2 weeks now and I'm aching for better health.

As I mentioned, we got out of the house this weekend free from the fear of contagion. We did our usual family outing to Owen's tae kwon do class Saturday morning. In the late afternoon we went to the 2nd birthday party for the grandson of a family friend. Yesterday we were pretty mellow, with Owen leading Beth and me through some school activities ("Now it's time for morning meeting; then we'll do writing workshop."). It was very cute. Around 3 o'clock we decamped to my in-laws' for an early dinner. Owen teamed up with Beth for a tae kwon do "play," in which he led her through a bunch of stretches and moves he's learned over the past 5 or 6 weeks. Again, very cute.

While our general health has improved, Amelia has actually spit up (quite a bit each time) at least once each of the past 8 days. I think her system is simply getting used to eating a full complement of cereal, peas and formula, after we more or less had to starve her for several days because she barfed everything that we put into her.

Enough graphic health talk. Beth and I finally watched most of a movie last night, the first time since before Amelia was born. We have maybe 20 minutes left of "The Queen." We almost made it, but Amelia woke up a little before 10 last night, and she needed to eat. I have mixed feelings about the movie. It's well done and an interesting story, but I couldn't get past thinking, "Oh, there's James Cromwell; he's Prince Philip. There's a guy who I'm supposed to believe is Tony Blair." I wasn't saying that about Helen Mirren, who is great as usual. I look forward to watching the end tonight and then shipping it back to Netflix, along with "Jumanji" and "American Hardcore," which we never watched. We need some new movie blood in the house.

A tip of my new scally cap to my pal OJ for letting me know that Gang of Four bass player Dave Allen blogs here. He writes about music, posts free and legal downloads (including Gang of Four works-in-progress) and posts news and photos from the studio as the band works on its latest album. I haven't dug too deeply into it yet, but I will.

Brigham out.

Thursday, January 24

Well, it's been a long and unhealthy week in the Brigahan household. Owen got the stomach bug early Tuesday morning. Amelia was still throwing up yesterday; today she's better. I'm being cautious with her, though, because on Wednesday I gave her some formula and it backfired on me, literally. She's ravenous today, but I'm feeding her in small doses. In addition to the kids, Beth was home yesterday feeling sick. She's got wicked sinus congestion and ended up barfing, too. As for me, I've still got remnants of my cold/sinus infection, so I'm coughing a lot. But I haven't gotten the plague that has affected the rest of the household. Fingers crossed....

We've done loads of soiled laundry this week. We unfortunately had to tell our cleaners to stay away yesterday, so the house is just filled with germs. I'll be glad when this all passes. Our sickness has also resulted in my sister changing her plans. She was supposed to stay with us this weekend while attending classes in Boston on how to become a yoga instructor. Now, she will be staying at a hotel.

Since I don't have much else to write about, or the desire to make anything up, I'm taking the easy way out. Here are the first 10 songs that come up on iTunes while I'm sitting here.

1. "Shading a Dream" -- Rambling Shadows. I've written a bit about this band, which rose from the long-ago burnt-out Crippled Pilgrims. Lots of nice guitar work in this song, but it feels a bit like an extended jam. Still, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

2. "The checks gotta get cashed" -- Chevy Heston. The late, great psychedelic Boston band with a dirty mind. I was never into them while they were around here, but I've purchased most of their stuff. They wrote short, funny, sexy (sometimes perverted) songs in a stream-of-consciousness style, or maybe cut-and-paste, all about trips to the dentist and demented school teachers. Some of the guys went on to NYC-based Kate Diamond (WARNING: THERE ARE SWEAR WORDS IN THESE SONGS), who haven't logged into their MySpace page in nearly two years, so I guess they've broken up, too.

3. "I'm Leaving Chicago" -- Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson. Your standard-issue blues jam about traveling a long distance for a woman. I have to be in the right mood to listen to the blues, but I do like a lot of it.

4. "Brick is Red" -- Pixies. Short, sweet, distorted, and with those great Black Francis/Kim Deal harmonies. Beth is such a huge Pixies fan that I've soured a bit on them because for a long time iTunes was jammed to the rafters with their music. But since we've added a lot more songs to our celestial jukebox, I'm willing to listen to them at least once in a while.

5. Earthquake Weather -- Beck. Another spacy, groovy fever-dream from my favorite Scientologist.

6. "Kim & Cookie (Interlude)" -- Outkast. Spoken-word thingie from a band that I wanted to like when Beth bought Stankonia, but it didn't turn out that way. This should be removed from iTunes.

7. "Eye of the Volcano" -- Stereolab. Spacy goodness with a disco flavor from this veteran UK-France combo. I was really into this band a few years ago, and now that Beth has downloaded their latest, I feel the need to rediscover them.

8. "Angelene" -- PJ Harvey. A mellow one from Is This Desire?. Haunting and beautiful, like much of Harvey's stuff. I like her rockin' songs better, but there's power in her vocals and the melancholy mood.

9. "Georgia On My Mind" -- Ray Charles. I think Ray Charles is great, but I don't listen to him a lot. A little old school for me.

10. "Red River Rock" -- Johnny & the Hurricanes. Taken off Classic Instrumentals, an album that I believe came off the Webnoize pile. Again, this isn't the kind of thing I thrive on -- instrumentals from the '50s -- but it's got a surf-y charm to it.

Well, I'm not that impressed with this list. But at least it's honest.

Monday, January 21

Today's a mellow day. Amelia's got the stomach bug, and so, when she's not napping or yakking, she's content to hang out on the couch next to me in a sluggy mood (Actually, as I was writing the next sentence, she fell asleep.). Beth took the day off because, since Owen doesn't have school today, she knew I would need help with the kids. I'm very grateful, especially since Owen had a play date this morning that stretched into lunch time.

We had a busy weekend. We all went to Owen's tae kwon do class Saturday morning, as Amelia likes watching the kids at Kids U run around. She also enjoys the swing. Late in the afternoon we went to our friends Robin and Bill's house in Concord. Owen played with their sons, Ryan and Ben, and Beth and I had a good time catching up with our friends and eating Indian food.

On Sunday we went to our friends Linda and Dave's for a baby-naming ceremony for their daughter, Maya, who was born about a month before Amelia. Their house was packed with friends and family; the ceremony was very nice and there was plenty of food. Owen also got his first exposure to "High School Musical," as did I. The movie was on the TV in the basement playroom. I was surprised that the girls in the playroom, who aged from 3 to 7, give or take a few months, seemed to know all the songs and the parts of the movie. I thought "High School Musical" was for teens, or at least 'tweens. Owen watches "SpongeBob SquarePants," which is ideally suited for 7 or 8 year olds, but I watch with him and there's nothing inappropriate. Not that "High School Musical" seemed inappropriate, but it certainly is a little advanced for the under-10 set.

On Sunday afternoon Beth took Owen to a birthday party for his friend Anicca while I watched the Patriots beat the Chargers. Amelia slept during most of the game, for which I thanked her.

Now, for a random link. I haven't done my favorite kind of search in a while, where I type the first word that pops into my head along with "conspiracy" into Google. Today's word was "fork." Here's what came up. This guy needs to take a chill pill.

Well, I just stepped away for a few minutes to read that cabbie's blog, and, well, I'm hooked.

Thursday, January 17

I've posted five new pictures of Amelia and Owen here.

Now, for some random thoughts....

...I love Debi Mazar. I'm not physically attracted to her; I just love the characters she plays on TV ("Entourage") and in movies ("Good Fellas"). In her younger days, she was often the street-smart best friend or sassy girlfriend. Now in her early 40s, on HBO's "Entourage" she's the foul-mouthed PR flack for Vinnie Chase. And it's her sailor-speak that really seals the deal for me; she's in my top-three Curse Word Idols, alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Danny Aiello. Anyway, about a month ago I discovered the cooking blog she and her husband operate. Called Under the Tuscan Gun, the site offers video clips of Mazar and her Italian husband cooking; recipes; and your basic bloggy information. I plan to try some of the recipes one of these days. If that doesn't float your boat, then maybe this bit of trash-talkin' from some movie called "Inside Monkey Zetterland"(!) is your bag.

...On Sunday we hosted a bunch of my family for brunch before heading to Northeastern University to watch my cousin John's daughter, Sam, play basketball. She's a sophomore for Hofstra University. Last year her team had a great season, but this year has been a struggle, after the team lost several key players to graduation. Still, they played a great game in beating Northeastern, which made the Brigham cheering section very happy. It was good to see my sister and various cousins (and my cousin Amy's fiance, Mick).

...Finally, a few words about my obsession with the Privileged Class. Ever since researching the Brigham side of my family, and realizing that my first ancestor arrived stateside in 1635 in Cambridge, Mass., I've become even more obsessed than I had been previously with the fading WASP culture -- its private schools (Miss Porter's, Groton), country clubs, vacation hot spots (Camden, Maine; Nantucket), old-money estates, eccentric fashions (Nantucket Reds; Espadrilles; pants with lobsters on them) and oddball names (Slim Hawks, CZ Guest, Smoki Bacon). Whenever I see an obituary article in the Globe that looks like it is about some well-to-to man or woman who grew up in Greenwich or Brookline, whose father was a doctor or lawyer or college president and who summered in Europe with his or her governess, I'm drawn in. I have put some books by Louis Auchincloss on my wish list at Amazon. I read Vanity Fair and marvel at the tales of extravagance , tragedy and frivolity of the royals of Europe. What can I say, I've got class envy.

But not really. I have no desire to move among these people (well, not for more than a long weekend anyway). They're like UFO's, snake handlers and Masons to me -- I'm fascinated because their cultures are so foreign to me. Just like Evangelical Christians or Hell's Angels.

Anyway, the closest I'll get to the WASP educational experience is sending Owen to summer camp at Newton's Fessenden School, whose notable alums include Howard Hughes, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and Gen. George Patton. Maybe I'll have Owen steal one of those fancy blazers with the school crest on it.

Saturday, January 12

It's less than three months until my 43rd birthday, but I feel like I'm turning into a moony-eyed college girl. And a British one, at that.

In my last posting, I extolled the virtues of Bat for Lashes, a young British singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist of Pakistani descent whose official bio references her use of "ballet-school piano," and lists Joan of Arc as one of her inspirations. She's got similarities to Bjork, who I like some of the time, and Kate Bush, who I don't care for, and is hardly the type of music I usually listen to. But I plan to listen to more tracks than the one I highlighted below, "What's a Girl to Do."

Today, I am laying flowers at the feet of another U.K. songbird, Kate Nash. What is it about Nash that I like? Well, the British accent gets me right away. And she's cheeky -- "Watching me like you watched no one / Don't tell me that you didn't try and check out my bum / 'Cause I know that you did / 'Cause your friend told me that you liked it" -- from "Merry Happy". Also, she lists "Elliott from that film E.T. - drum skills" as one of her band members. And her influences include the Buzzcocks, Gang of Four, Johnny Cash, "The Young Ones," Lady Sov and "Jabberwocky," (not sure if she means the Lewis Carroll poem or the Terry Gilliam-directed movie based on the poem) among many, many other things, according to her MySpace flat. Musically upbeat, Nash fuses hip hop beats, R&B, diva dance music, and piano-led pop music. I hate to sound like a broken record, but this isn't the type of stuff I usually listen to (although I guess increasingly, it is). And if someone without the right mix of humor, talent and vibrancy did something similar, it might not work for me.

Nash is another in a growing line of female British artists I dig, alongside PJ Harvey, Lady Sovereign, Bat for Lashes, Bjork (yes, she's Icelandic, but she's lived in the UK so she's almost British) and Amy Winehouse (a little). I think if I gave Lily Allen a try I'd like her, too.

OK, that's enough for now. I've been trying to get this stuff posted for the past two days. Now I have to watch the Patriots.

Sunday, January 6

I've been living in a sick house. Beth left work early on Thursday feeling a bit nauseous. Long story short: she had a stomach bug that kept her laid out through most of Saturday. Amelia's got a cold with a nasty cough. She's doing OK, but it's been messing up her sleep the last few nights. And her sleep at night isn't great to begin with. Owen and I are fighting off cold symptoms. So far, nobody else has contracted the stomach bug. Fingers crossed....

As I mentioned last week, I went to my friend Ray's annual Holiday Jam on December 29. Ray's not just a good musician, he's also a producer. So he recorded all the stuff folks played over the course of six hours or so. Go here to check out the whole sordid mess, complete with studio chatter, like some blues album from the '50s. The songs on which I played on "Disc 1" start at "19th Nervous Breakdown" and go through to the end. On "Good Lovin'" (song #13) I just played some ratchety percussion thingie, which you can't hear. On the other songs, you won't hear my guitar very well either. I was mixed in with two or three other guitars; mine is the one with distortion that's low in the mix. On "Disc 2," I'm only on "Sympathy for the Devil." It may take a while for some of these songs to load. It may or may not be worth your time.

Here are some more music-related words. I recently went through SPIN's list of Top 40 albums of 2007 and checked some stuff out on the Series of Tubes. There are a few albums we already own, and some others I'll probably add to my collection (I've been really lame in buying new stuff lately). The song that most caught my ear is Bat for Lashes' "What's a Girl to Do." I'm not sure I'll love it as much without this video. I didn't dig any of the other tunes at Bat for Lashes' web site, and I don't have any clue as to what in blue blazes the band name means.

One more thing and then I'm going to bed because I haven't slept enough the last, oh, six months or so since Amelia was born, but especially poorly the last few nights. Did that sentence even make sense? Anyway, I wanted to mention a funny gift I got from my sister-in-law, Megan, for Christmas. It's a "Stepped Vinyl Record Bowl" from Eco-Artware. Made from old-fashioned rekkid albums, the bowls are perfect (or so I hope to find out soon) for chips. You can't choose what album you get; I got Bob Seger's The Distance. Reminds me of when I won a potluck LP calling into a radio station when I was around 12 years old and ended up getting Rod Stewart's Blondes Have More Fun. Anyway, Eco-Artware also sells record label coasters and vinyl record clocks, among other recycled doo-dads.

Tuesday, January 1

Happy New Year!

Before I run down our New Year's Eve, I want to mention that I've posted a few new pictures here, which I forgot to mention in my last post. There are two from Christmas morning, and one each of Owen and Amelia doing other things.

Now, to our last day of 2007. We had a good day, and did some things we don't usually do, which is always good as far as I'm concerned. I took Owen and his neighborhood friend Emma sledding in the afternoon. They had a blast going down the hill, over the makeshift jump and falling off the sled at the bottom. It was Owen's first sledding session of the season, and he had a lot of fun. He was supposed to go today with another friend, but the rainy weather put the kibosh on that.

After Owen and I got home and warmed up, we all went to Waltham's Watch City Brewery to have dinner with Beth's sister, Megan, and her husband, Todd, and our nephew, Max. It was nice and quiet there, and the Father Time Winter Ale was mucho tasty. Owen had fun playing with the train set the brewery has on hand, as well as the video golf game in the back of the restaurant. As New Year's outings go, it wasn't much, but it was nice to get out, hang with good people and do something mellow.

Upon arriving home, we ran into our neighbor, Mark, who invited us to pop down to their house for a little New Year's cheer. And we're glad we didn't say "no." They had lasers, fireworks, a vodka luge and wild animals -- it was out of control.

Well, actually it was very quiet, but nice. Owen played with Mark and Amy's son Evan for a little while, and later Mark showed him how to fly his other son's new remote control helicopter around the inside of the house. Beth and I each had a beer, and enjoyed catching up with Mark and Amy, and meeting a few of their friends. We didn't stay long, but were glad to have received, and accepted, the invitation.

After we put Owen to bed we just watched TV. From 10:00 to 11:00 we laughed along with Kathy Griffin on a repeat of one of her stand-up performances. I know that I'm one of the few straight men out there who really enjoys Kathy Griffin, and I'm OK with that. She dishes on celebrities, passing along funny stories about who she bumps into backstage at awards shows and clubs and other places. She doesn't hold back on people either, which is what makes it so funny. She rips on any and all famous people.

Still, I eschewed the last 10 minutes or so of Griffin's show in order to watch a bit of "Beneath the Planet of the Apes." Wonderfully cheesy, with James Franciscus as the poor man's Charlton Heston. I actually caught the exact same part I'd caught last time it was on whatever random cable channel it was on. I've seen most, or perhaps all, of the movie before, but would have loved to watched more. But I was getting tired. I left it on long enough for Beth to inform me that she was totally into all things related to "Planet of the Apes" when she was a kid, including the Treehouse and the Village. For my part, I was content to play "Planet of the Apes" with my friends, which meant running around the woods with sticks and pretending to be either a human or a gorilla. That is, when we weren't busy playing "Dukes of Hazzard," "Mod Squad" or "Star Wars." Ah, the '70s....

Saturday, December 29

We had a really great Christmas, which started Saturday the 22nd at my parents' house and continued through last night at my in-laws' house with Beth's aunt, uncle, cousins and their spouses. Owen was the most excited he's ever been on Christmas Eve, ringing the reindeer bells that my sister gave him last Christmas, to make sure Santa's reindeer hear it and know where our house is. He couldn't get to sleep until about 10:00 that night, which was good, because that meant he slept until close to 8:00 on Christmas day. He was so happy to look down the stairs and see all the presents under the tree, and soon had all of his, and Amelia's, open.

He got a few pads of paper and numerous types of pens, crayons and markers, as he is very into drawing these days, especially maps of highways. He also received a few DVDs (SpongeBob, Shrek), a lot of books (Captain Underpants, The Boy Who Ate Books), some clothes (which he summarily tossed aside), some cars, a bridge-and-road building set, a kid-sized guitar and plenty of other swag. Amelia was happy watching Owen rip off wrapping paper on her first Christmas.

Beth and I kept it light in our exchange. We plan to buy a digital video camera, perhaps this weekend.

Owen's been a bit bored this week without school. He hasn't seen many of his friends, but yesterday he and I went to the Museum of Science with his friend Oliver and his father. We had a good time, checking out almost every display in the place and watching "Into the Unknown: Exploring the Deepest Mysteries of the Universe" in the planetarium. The show runs about 40 minutes, and covers the Big Bang, the expansion of the universe, black holes, the possibility of life on other planets or moons and is interesting for adults, but not the most scintillating thing for 5-year-olds. Still, Owen was patient and waited through the entire show before the four of us braved the crowds for lunch in the museum.

Today we took the kids to Woburn's Kids' Playground, which Owen loves. After we got back from that I went to my friend Ray's house for his annual Holiday Jam. I got there a few hours in, joined for about two hours and then hit the road. It was my first time at the jam, and I didn't know anybody else besides Ray, but I had a good time following along as the assembled guitarists, bassists, drummer, keyboard player and keytarist (!!) jammed on grooves like Tom Petty's "American Girl," the Stones' "Dead Flowers" and Guns and Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine." It's always fun to play music with people, especially people who know a lot of songs, know how to play them well, and have fun doing it.

Another music note: as regular readers know, Owen and I share an affection for Chin Up Chin Up. One of our favorite things to do after dinner is to crank up the band on the iPod and dance around the kitchen. We've even gotten Beth into the act. Here are a few of the band's videos:

Live video of "This Harness Can't Ride Anything," title cut of their latest album.

Official video for "We Should Have Never Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers," title cut of their previous album.

Thursday, December 20

When I started writing this yesterday, I was in a bit of a panic over Christmas shopping. I got some done yesterday and today, so I'm unpanicking now. Still, there is plenty to get done over the next few days -- shopping, wrapping, traveling to CT, getting the house ready for our Christmas Eve gathering with Beth's family and some family friends, figuring out what people will eat and drink that night, etc. Still, I'm excited as I usually am at this time of year. Today I put the finishing touches on my Christmas playlist for the iPod. I really enjoy both traditional (Julie Andrews' "O Come All Ye Faithful") and non-traditional (James Brown's "Go Power at Christmas Time") holiday music. Even shopping with Amelia has gone well. She entertains all the middle-aged women with her smiles and gurgling and is very patient while I shop.

Owen's pretty excited for Christmas, although he never did put together a list for Santa. We've bought him some cool stuff that I think he'll really like. And lots of cute stuff for Amelia.

Owen's also excited about all the snow we've been getting. I'm sure he'll want to get out after dinner tonight to play in the new powder we're getting as I write this. We'll end up with around 6 inches, I'd say, on top of the foot-and-a-half or so we got last week. At least today's stuff is light.

Leading up to vacation week, Owen's school has been hosting events whereby parents (and other family members) can check out what kids are up to. On Tuesday, I went in for "Gymnastics Peek Week," in which I got to observe his physical education class. I have to say I was impressed with Owen, his classmates and the teacher, Mr. Tynes. A former professional athlete (he didn't say what sport, but I believe it was boxing) and Marine, Mr. Tynes has a great attitude about teaching: don't make it competitive or punitive; encourage healthy bodies and minds; teach about healthy eating and positive attitude. Owen was very good on all the equipment: vault, even bars, uneven bars, rings, rope swing, and balance beam. His favorite was the pommel horse. He climbed up using a small ramp, so his stomach lay on top of the horse, then, holding on to the bars on either side, pitched himself forward and did a forward roll down a wedge-shaped mat. It wasn't pretty, but it was fun to watch.

Yesterday, Beth got to stick around for a short while to learn more about Owen's science projects, including a bulb of some sort (tulip, perhaps?). She had a good time doing that.

Finally, with James Brown on my mind, here's somebody's video tribute to Mr. Please Please Please, who died on Christmas day last year.

I probably won't have much time to update in the next few days, so Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus or, you know, just have a good time!

Sunday, December 16

Oh, my aching back! Six more days until winter officially begins and I've already had my fill of shoveling. I shoveled Thursday after we received about 8 inches of powdery stuff, and I took the second shift after Beth today to tackle the 8 inches or so of heavier stuff with freezing rain pelting down all around. Maybe I need somebody to give me the Dean Martin treatment.

We had a busy weekend around all the shoveling. I took Owen to his first martial arts class Saturday morning at Kids U in Needham. He had a really great time, which makes Beth and me happy, as we weren't sure he would like it. Afterwards he demonstrated some of his new moves for us. It was very cute and quite entertaining. Speaking of moves, Owen's really into dancing to music on our iPod, which is docked in our kitchen. His favorite, well, only, music to listen to is Chin Up Chin Up, a band I turned him onto back in March. He picks one of their songs and then he and I make up silly dances with names such as "Helicopter Monkey" or "Twirling Arms". It's pretty funny.

Saturday after lunch, Beth took Owen to a friend's house for a Christmas cookie-baking playdate. He had a lot of fun, and brought home some really tasty treats. That night Beth and I went to a dinner party hosted by one of her office bigwigs at his palatial manse in Dover. While we were stuffing our faces and marveling at our surroundings (a three-car garage with a two-car carriage house under construction), Owen was (barely) helping Beth's parents make a gingerbread house.

To top off the Weekend of Sweets, today we all piled into my in-laws' house, along with my sister-in-law and, later, her husband and our nephew, to make -- you guessed it! -- Christmas cookies. Well, I didn't help; I hung out with the kids and watched football. We brought home quite a few, so my sweet tooth will be happy.

We got home around 6:30 and I shoveled a little more, trying to clear the sidewalks and driveway as much as possible before it freezes. Loads of fun....

I'll wrap up my weekend by watching the series finale of "Extras," as I mentioned last week.

Tuesday, December 11

I've got a few odds and ends for you today....

Planning a winter vacation, perhaps to Florida? Consider visiting Gibsonton, one-time off-season home to circus freaks and carnies. Thanks to my friends at Weird US, who have a show on the History Channel, have published numerous books covering oddball features around the country, and who email me on a regular basis all sorts of strange stories, I have delved into Gibsonton (known amongst the side-show crowd as "Gibtown"). Here's a video primer from the Weird US guys. It's 10 minutes long, but it's worth watching (or skipping) to the end for the knife-throwing and sword-swallowing demonstration.

There's a documentary about Gibtown that came out in 1999, too. Here's a review.

Four-fifths of the Toastmen (minus our singer, Pete) jammed this past Saturday at Ken's house in Keene. It felt good, as it always does, to make a racket with those guys. We were a little sloppier than usual, but also way louder, it seemed. We still haven't got a clue as to when we'll actually play our big reunion show.

Last night I watched the season two finale of Ricky Gervais's fantastic "Extras" on HBO. For some reason, I didn't realize I'd missed the show when it aired earlier this year. "Are you 'avin' a laugh? Is he 'avin' a laugh?" Well, yes, I am. Especially after watching this clip from the show. This Sunday HBO will debut the 80-minute series finale for the show. Yes, I know, it's strange to have a series finale for a show that only had two seasons, and so far removed from the last episode that ran. But that's the way Gervais rolls, just like he did with "The Office."

Monday, December 3

Well, Owen's magical day finally arrived on Saturday -- the New England Auto Show! He and I joined his friend Walter and his dad, Ray, at the mammoth Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in South Boston (or the Seaport District, as the marketers prefer). Ray had snagged free tickets from his mechanic, which was nice, and we got a spot on the street, saving us the $20 parking lot fee. The show was everything Owen had imagined. He got to go into just about any car he wanted (the concept and future cars were off limits), check out the trunks, the sliding doors, the steering wheels, the glove compartments -- anything he wanted. It was really cool seeing how thrilled he and Walter were. Ray and I were interested in the Maseratis, Lamborghinis and other rich-guy cars, but Owen and Walter are more practical and wanted to check out the Mini Cooper Clubman, Nissan Quest, Jeep Wrangler and Aveo 5 (Owen's professed favorite, for some reason), among many, many others.

I've posted five pictures from the show on the photo page.

Owen hasn't stopped talking about the auto show. He says he wants to go to another one. I told him he'll have to wait until next year, and he says that's OK.

My favorite vehicles were the ones you couldn't go into: the concept vehicles. I liked the Jeep Trailhawk, which was pretty plush and futuristic indeed. I especially dug the Ford Airstream, which looks like this inside. Made me think of the custom vans I was totally into when I was 12 or 13 years old. And being at the auto show reminded me of going to the Hartford Civic Center with my dad in the late '70s for a car show. I don't recall what my favorite cars were, but I remember that Red Sox third baseman Butch Hobson was there signing autographs. But I was more interested in Schaefer Beer spokesmodel Marci Hopkins. I've searched the Web and the only reference to Ms. Hopkins comes from InThe80s.com, which writes of the commercial in which she was featured:

Circa early 80s. Two single guys are at what appears to be some type of social gathering at a bar. A third guy introduces the single guys to this beautiful woman: "This is Marci. Marci Hopkins." The camera pans to this beautiful woman who gives the single guys a sexy, shy look. She wears a shoulder-length hair perm (typical 80s hairdo). The jingle: "A - ha, sittin' pretty...all together in Schaefer City."

Anyway, moving on.

National Novel Writing Month ended at 11:59 p.m. last Friday. I finished with 26,527 words, barely half the 50,000 that the contest demanded of people. Still, although I petered out in the last week of the month, I'm happy with what I accomplished. I'm going to return to the (C)rock Stories, but will get back to the novel at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Uh, that's it for now.

Tuesday, November 27

I've written only about 3,000 words in the past week, which puts me far, far behind the pace for 50,000, which, as I've stated, I never figured I'd meet anyway. My goal is 30K by the end of the day Friday. Then I may switch back to the (C)rock Stories and get them into shape before getting back into the novel.

In other news...we had a nice Thanksgiving in Connecticut with my family. Owen got to hang out with his cousin Grace, and everybody got some quality time with Amelia. On Friday night we went to Hartford's Festival of Lights in Goodwin Park, which impressed Owen. My sister said there were 1 million lights; it was pretty cool.

My sister is going to visit us this Friday and Saturday, which will be nice. We're taking Owen to the New England Auto Show in Boston on Saturday. We'll be joined by Owen's friend Walter and his dad, Ray. Owen has been looking forward to this for months. He can't wait to get inside all those cars! He asked me yesterday, "Dad, can you wait until the car show?"

Walter's dad, Ray, plays in a few bands around Boston. I missed a chance to see one of them, Powderhouse, last Friday at Bill's Bar. Here's the band's MySpace page. Ray also operates FOC Records out of his house. The label's MySpace shack features tunes by Ray's other bands, The New Thirty and The Returnables, as well as other acts such as M.O.D.E.

Tuesday, November 20

Novel update:

Nearly 19,400 words, which in itself is pretty great, but in terms of the National Novel Writing Month framework, I'm about 13K short. The contest is two-thirds over, which means in order to stay on pace for 50,000 words by the end of the month, today I'd need roughly 33,400 words. I expect by the end of today I'll have close to 21,000. Oh well, I'm excited by the story as it's unfolding, taking me in directions I didn't expect. I won't tell you too much about it, but let's say for the second draft I'm gonna need to brush up on investment banking, going underground and living without money or ID, archeology, anthropology and the secret government installments of New Mexico. Oh yeah, and ham radio.

Meanwhile, in the real world, I've posted some new pix here.

We'll be in CT for Thanksgiving, visiting with my parents, sister, brother, sister-in-law and niece, and perhaps some cousins and various and sundry friends. I hope to crank out a few thousand words while I'm down there.

Friday, November 16

Just a few quick things....

I'm slowly making progress on the novel-in-a-month. Yesterday was the halfway point, which means in order to fulfill the obligation I would have needed 25,000 words. I have roughly 16,200. Oh well. I'm having fun and feel good about what I've written and where I'm going with it.

I'm going out tonight with a few of my Webnoize buddies to celebrate the 6th anniversary of Black Friday, the day we all got laid off and the company for all intents and purposes ceased to exist, although I continued to work for another two weeks in hopes of things turning around. We're meeting at the Miracle of Science in Cambridge, like we always do for these commemorations. Should be fun.

Lastly, here's a really well-done video of a day in the life of an at-home dad. I can identify with every aspect of what this guy says and does (except running the vacuum).

Saturday, November 10

I'm making progress on the novel, even though I'm approximately three days behind the pace. In order to hit 50,000 words in 30 days, by the end of the day today you'd need to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 16,700 words. I've got 10,015 and hope to crank out more before midnight. Doesn't really matter -- the point is that in two weeks I've brainstormed an idea for a novel, sketched out some notes and borrowed some ideas from stories that haven't gone anywhere, and begun writing it. By the end of this month, I'll likely have at least 30,000 words, which will probably make it the longest thing I've ever written. And then I just have to maintain the commitment to finishing it. I've had some late nights in the past 10 days, working on the novel, and they've begun to catch up to me, but it's worth it because I'm feeling good writing the novel. I've tried other novels before and stopped at various points, mainly because I hadn't thought it out beforehand. So this time is different, and, I hope, will be more fruitful.

Elsewhere in my life, we had a nice family playdate with our friends Jim and Nikki and their daughter, Sophia, who turned 3 a few weeks ago. We hadn't seen them in a while, so it was nice to catch up.

As for Part Two of my punk rock reminiscence, it's on hold. Of course, nobody has mentioned anything about it, so I guess nobody's holding their breath waiting to read the second and final chapter. I'm waiting for a clammer.

Plug time: My friend Ric has been working like a dog writing and recording two batches of songs he plans to sell on the InterWeb in the near future. Check out his MySpace page and listen to the four songs ranging from "indie" to "melodramatic popular song" to "psychedelic," according to his profile. Anyway, the stuff is really good.

Thursday, November 8

Just stopping by for a few music notes (when I really should be working on my novel).

"There's a new star in Heaven." That's how the official web site for Hank Thompson announced the news that "The King of Western Swing" passed away on Tuesday at age 82. I discovered Thompson in college while shopping at a thrift store in Keene for a Halloween costume, which turned out to be a "Monty Python" woman. I bought a purse made of "undetermined fibers" and a cheap dress, which I accessorized with a wig. But that's not important (at least not right now). I found an LP by Hank Thompson, a guy I'd never heard of, that immediately struck my fancy. Perhaps my ironic fancy, as at that time I was pretending that I was too cool to like old-timey country music. But I couldn't resist an album with song titles like, "Six Pack to Go," "Drunkard's Blues" and five or six other drinking songs. I believe I bought the album while with fellow Toastman Jim Corrigan. He had purchased a bottle of gin for that night's festivities, but dropped the bag in the thrift store, making the place smell, well, like a gin mill. Set the right mood for buying the Thompson album, which I liked from the first time the needle hit the rekkid.

I cherished that album, but it disappeared while I was living with my friends Joe, Pete and Foose. Not sure if one of them heisted it, or if someone at one of our parties did, but it disappeared, along with my Blotto t-shirt. Water under the bridge....

Many years later, and many years ago, I bought the CD for Thompson's At the Golden Nugget, recorded in 1961 in Vegas. How could I resist Hank in his Nudie suit with his fists full of coins? It's a really cool album, with some great Texas swing, some weepy ballads and "Six Pack to Go" to wrap up the set, which was recorded while the roulette wheels were spinning in the background. On my one trip to Vegas last year, I went to the Golden Nugget, just to soak up Hank's atmosphere.

Anyway, I'm gonna buy his Drinkin' Songs CD, and perhaps a t-shirt, from his web site. For a few quick samples of the songs on that album, check here.

At the same time I was discovering Thompson, I was also totally into Black Flag. So when I read in SPIN this month that The Dirty Projectors had issued a cover of the seminal L.A. punk band's well-regarded Rise Above I had to check it out. I've listened to a few tracks at TDP's MySpace page and gotten a few chuckles. But I won't be buying the album. They've turned barn-burning rages against authority into alt-country/indie pap (I respect the effort, but it's not really my style of music). Listen to "Rise Above" and "No More" there, then get a feel for the original "Rise Above" on YouTube. I couldn't find a full-length clip of "No More," but trust me, it's a bit more energetic, shall we say.

Finally, thanks again to SPIN magazine, I learned that one-time Ass Ponys frontman Chuck Cleaver has a new act called Wussy. Despite the protestations of my wife, who thinks the Ass Ponys stink (stank, stunk), they've become one of my favorite bands over the past five or six years. They do nuthin'-fancy rock and country-flavored rock (mmm...countryish), and songs about UFO's, weird things your grandmother keeps in her house and other funny stuff. Cleaver's got a voice that takes some getting used to, but I really like what he does, and how he does it. That said, I haven't made up my mind on Wussy yet.

Here's the song "Airborne" from their debut album, Funeral Dress. I feel like I should support Cleaver and his bandmates simply because I have an existing love for his talents, and he could use my money. Their new album, Left for Dead has gotten good reviews in SPIN and Rolling Stone, among others. I'm gonna visit their MySpace page a few more times before making my purchasing decisions.

Saturday, November 3

Although I wrote here five days ago, I feel as though it's been two weeks. I've been spending most of my free time the last three days working on my novel for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) contest. Still, I'm behind the pace I should be at: roughly 2,100 words, when, in order to complete 50,000 by midnight November 30, I should have 4,800 by the end of today. But that's unlikely, as Beth and I are going out tonight. Owen's school PTO is hosting a dinner party and we're going. We're really looking forward to it.

I've posted some pictures here from Halloween. Owen was a Power Ranger; Amelia was a bunny. We hosted a small party as we have the past four years. Owen had a blast trick-or-treating with his friend Anicca and some kids from the 'hood.

Finally, the random thought and link for the day. Reebok has been running a commercial since the Sox won the World Series, promoting Boston as "the greatest sports city in the nation," and featuring Donnie Wahlberg, Mayor Menino, pictures of lots of local sports icons, including Bobby Orr. After seeing the ad a few times, Beth broke into, "The greatest hockey player in the world / baaaah none" (sung with a thick Boston accent)." We laughed, and then I called up Mente's "Bobby Orr" on iTunes. For those who don't know it, and I'm sure that's just about everybody, here it is for your listening pleasure.

Monday, October 29

The Sox have done it again! World Series champs for the second time in four years -- impressive! The playoffs and Series were nowhere near as exciting as they were in 2004, but I always enjoy watching the home team win games. Pedroia, Ellsbury, Lester, Papelbon -- what a great batch of young players. Lowell was fantastic; hard to believe there's talk the Sox might not sign him for next year and beyond. I could go on with all sorts of Sox talk, but I won't.

I'm looking forward to getting to bed at a decent time tonight, and for the next 11 months or so.

Meanwhile, Part I of my "Punk Rock Reminiscence" is up at the "Blah Blah Blah" section. WARNING: THE ESSAY CONTAINS FOUL LANGUAGE, DISPARAGES AMERICAN ICONS AND FEATURES LINKS TO MUSIC AND VIDEOS THAT AREN'T EVERYBODY'S CUP O' TEA. SERIOUSLY, IF YOU'RE EASILY SHOCKED BY CUSSING, BLASPHEMY AND ANARCHY, DON'T READ THIS. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

Part II of the essay should be up later this week. Then I'll be over my head in the National Novel Writing Month contest.

Sunday, October 28

Well, what can I say about the Sox? Things are going amazingly well. They'll win their second World Series in four years -- it's just a question of whether it happens tonight or tomorrow. It's exciting, although not quite as phenomenal as 2004. Still, I am too quick to get mad at the Sox, even with all the great stuff they've been doing in all facets of their game. When the score got to 6-5 last night, I said, "Well, I guess this is gonna be the game they lose. That's OK; they'll definitely still win it. I want them to clinch at home anyway." Some loyalty, eh? I just get so caught up.

Owen's at a Halloween party right now with some friends from school. He's a Power Ranger this year; pictures will surely follow here in the coming days. We're hosting a party Halloween night, as we have the past few years. Should be fun. Yesterday was my nephew Max's 1st birthday party, at which people were encouraged to wear costumes. I dressed as Thurston Howell III but I'm not sure if I'll do that again for our party.

I may not be posting here that much in November, as I've decided to take part in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it's known. My friend Jay clued me in to this contest, in which people are encouraged to force themselves to just write -- details, logic and quality be damned. Of course, if a good book comes out of the process, that's nice too. The contest (which isn't really a contest) runs November 1-30 and requires you to write at least 50,000 words to say you officially finished. Obviously there is the opportunity for people to just plug in stuff they've already written, but no self-respecting writer would feel good about that. I've got a story outlined in my head and have been trying to flesh out some characters before Nov. 1.

I have a long history of starting novels and never completing them, so I have my doubts going in about whether I'll be able to finish. But maybe a short but well-defined parameter is what I need. Wish me luck.

Wednesday, October 24

I've gotten a little more sleep the last two nights, since the Sox won the ALCS. But tonight my late nights start all over again, with the World Series. I was impressed with the way the Sox just took control of the situation with the Indians, pitching and hitting well and taking advantage of mistakes and errors by their opponents. I'm excited for tonight's opener. I'm confident the Sox will prevail in the Series; I hope they do it in 6 or 7 games, so they can celebrate at Fenway.

My race on Sunday went well. I ran with my buddy Dave, and we stayed together the entire 3 miles. There were Irish step dancers outside Paddy's Pub before the race, and at various points along the route, which was cool. We didn't stick around for the post-race festivities, opting instead to go with our families to the Village Cafe, a favorite of Beth's and mine. Then all of us went to a Newton pseudo-farmstand to buy pumpkins.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more after tonight's game, or perhaps tomorrow's.

Oh yeah, something to link to. How about this Eels video?

Friday, October 19

Josh Beckett was great last night; Pedroia, Youkilis, Ortiz and Ramirez were pretty good; the rest of the team didn't do much. But it all worked out. There will be more baseball in Boston. The series hasn't turned out the way I thought it would earlier this week, when I predicted that Wakefield would win and Beckett would lose. I think Schilling will beat Carmona tomorrow night and then on Sunday it's Dice-K -- anything could happen. He'll be on a short leash, that's for sure.

Not much else going on. I'm running a 3-mile race on Sunday, which I'm looking forward to. The weather's supposed to be OK tomorrow, so we'll probably go pumpkin-hunting.

On Wednesday night I was up with Amelia for close to an hour and a half, from roughly 3:50 to 5:20. I wasn't happy about it, but figured I'd bring her downstairs and check my email and such while she worked on falling back asleep. I actually had fun cruising through friends' blogs and MySpace pages and other sites. Below are links to some of the videos I found during my cyber-travels.

Regular readers of DaveBrigham.com ("Where Dave Brigham Meets Dot Com") know I'm a big fan of HBO's "Flight of the Conchords." I hadn't seen this clip before, though.

Back in the early- to mid-'80s I dug USA Network's "New Wave Theatre," hosted by Peter Ivers, who was evidently murdered in 1983, a killing that has never been solved. I never liked Ivers. He tried to hard to be weird, deep and confrontational (I watched a Fear video recently in which Ivers asks lead singer Lee Ving, "Is Fear a rich man's pleasure?", to which Ving answered, "Ask me something I can answer."). Anyway, I saw lots of cool performances on that show back in the day. The one I'm currently fascinated by is the song "Janitor" by Suburban Lawns. I bought that band's debut album a few years after it came out, probably because I'd heard of them via New Wave Theatre. It's weird, although it does feature "Flying Saucer Safari," the only song I ever created an alternate arrangement for. I like the lyrics -- it is about UFO's, after all -- but didn't like the music. So I came up with my usual basic chord progression and still pull that out once in a while to amuse myself. Anyway, here's the band doing "Janitor" (is it just me, or does the singer, Su Tissue, sound like she's saying "genitals" instead of "janitor"?).

And, finally, the Circle Jerks and Debbie (or Deborah, these days, I guess) Gibson. Again, thanks to a link off the New Wave Theatre page, I found a video of a live gig the Jerks did at CBGB's in the mid-'90s in which La Gibson sings backing vocals on the band's cover of the Soft Boys' "I Wanna Destroy You." Apparently, Gibson was dating the producer of the Jerks' album on which that song appeared, and did some vocals for the disc. She was sporting enough to show up onstage with them in this MTV News piece.

More on the Circle Jerks, Fear and other punk bands from the '80s is coming soon in the "Blah Blah Blah" section.

Tuesday, October 16

I swear, I mean to write stuff here more frequently than once a week, but then...I don't. Anyway, here are a few quick hits:

Red Sox: I'm trying hard to feel good about them after the last two games. I think Wakefield's gonna have his good stuff tonight and the bats are gonna wake up against Byrd. I have a feeling Sabathia's gonna do much better Thursday night in his home park than he did at Fenway last week. I think it's gonna come down to Game 7, with Dice-K against Westbrook, and I haven't formulated a thought about that game yet.

Sunday's Road Race: We had a great time on Sunday at the Horace Mann Road Race. Owen ran his first race ever, a .3 mile dash. He isn't fast, but he finished strong. It was cool watching him and his friends run, with official numbers and all.

I ran the 5K and managed not to hurt myself, while finishing in just under 28 minutes. Not a great pace, but I haven't been running as much lately as I'd hoped. Today, though, I did a good 3-miler while pushing Amelia in her stroller. That was a nice workout. I'm slated to race again this Sunday in the Paddy's Road Race / Shillelagh Shuffle.

The school event was fun: Owen got to hang out with his school friends and we got to socialize with his friends' parents. And the weather was beautiful. You'll find pictures of Owen running, and him with a few of his friends, here.

Harvest Fair: We took Owen and Amelia to Newton's Harvest Fair on Saturday. Owen had a great time on the rides -- mini-rollercoaster, bouncy house, train ride, various car rides. There was no "harvest" element involved, but that's OK. We'll get our pumpkins and gourds this weekend somewhere. Maybe Honey-Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, MA.

Tuesday, October 9

Another week has gone by sans blogging. There hasn't been much to write about. The Sox had an awesome series against the Angels, and I got to watch just about the entire 27 innings. I went out last Friday with some of the guys on my baseball team for a "breakup dinner" and to watch the Sox win and the Yankees lose. I'm glad the Bronx Bombers lost again last night, and are out of the playoffs. I take pleasure in their pain -- schadenfreude as the Germans call it. The Sox will no doubt have a hard time with the Indians, but can certainly beat them. I look forward to that series, which starts Friday.

My first full week home with both kids went amazingly well. Owen started his longer days and handled them very well. Amelia sleeps more when it's just the two of us, which is good. Beth is back into the groove at work, but of course misses being with Amelia.

That's all for now. I'm working on an essay for the "Blah Blah Blah" page that I hope to post later this week. In the meantime, that page is inactive.

And now for some video: the Flaming Lips' "Turn It On," which is a great song. Is that Bananarama dancing around?

Tuesday, October 2

Day three of my second hitch as a full-time dad has begun, and things have gone smoothly so far. Amelia is fairly easy to be with; she loves her bottles and actually naps a little more than she did when Beth was on maternity leave. Yesterday was Owen's first day at his after-school program, Kid Connections. I had to pick him up at school at 12:30, and drive him to a different school for the program, and then pick him up at 2:30, which is a drag. But it still makes my life easier, not having to come up with stuff for him to do all afternoon, while simultaneously taking care of Amelia. Today Owen has a short day, but then tomorrow he goes to Kid Connections, and Thursday and Friday are his long days at kindergarten, until 3:00.

Yesterday I went on my first jog with Amelia in the stroller. She did fine; I got more of a workout than I was expecting. Over the last few weeks I've gone running a few times, between 3 and 3 1/2 miles each time. Yesterday I only went about 2 miles, as I tired quickly pushing a roughly 12-pound baby and stroller that weighs, I don't know, maybe 15-20 pounds. A good workout, definitely what I need.

On Saturday, my family celebrated my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It was a nice party, with 40-45 people, including many of my cousins, my mom's brother, some friends my dad has known since high school and college, and some friends from their old neighborhood in Weatogue. My sister did most of the planning, securing a caterer and a cake maker, and working with my parents on a party plan. She did a great job, and gave a nice toast. My brother was the master of ceremonies, and did a great job, also offering a wonderful toast. I presented a summary of my parents' courtship, engagement and wedding, drawing on transcripts from a biography project my family did several years ago. I also gave a toast, but felt that I rambled a bit. Others in the room offered heartfelt tributes to my parents, as well. Overall, a really great family occasion celebrating a remarkable milestone.

I'm getting hyped up for the playoffs. I feel pretty good about the Sox heading into the Angels series. I'll have plenty to write about that as the week goes on.

Finally, dog rentals. Yes, I've been joking about this for years. "Need a buddy at the beach, but all your friends prefer to stay inside with their Wii systems? Rent a golden retriever?" "Have a desperate need to scoop some poop? A Rottweiler will more than serve your needs!" I should have realized that someone would actually have put my hypothetical business plan into action. FlexPetz debuted recently and, honestly, I gotta say that I don't like the idea. Doesn't seem fair to the dogs -- the potential for abuse seems high. Dogs like to have owners, not lessors.

Tuesday, September 25

Three more days until Beth returns to work, and I become a full-time Mr. Mom again. I haven't been thinking about it too much, other than trying to figure out how to get Amelia to nap more during the day. Starting next Monday, Owen will be spending more time at school, which will make my days easier, that's for sure.

I took Owen to his friend Walter's 5th birthday party on Sunday. Owen had a great time, and I talked a bit with Walter's dad, Ray, who's the only other stay-at-home dad I know. He and I have a vague pact to get together on occasion while Walter and Owen are at school. Ray's also got a daughter, who's 1, so I figured it would be good for us to hang out while our girls do whatever it is they're gonna do. I've joined AtHomeDad.org and hope to recruit one or two other dads.

Now, for something completely different:

On Sunday I was reading The Boston Globe movie section, and began a feature about Michael Douglas. I stopped when I read the description of his new movie, "King of California". Here's how the movie's web site describes it: "Abandoned by her mother, [Evan Rachel Wood] dropped out of school and has been supporting herself at McDonald's while her father Charlie (Michael Douglas) resides in a mental institution. When Charlie is released and sent back to their home, Miranda (Wood) finds the relatively peaceful existence she's built for herself completely disrupted. Charlie has become obsessed with the notion that the long-lost treasure of Spanish explorer Father Juan Florismarte Garces is buried somewhere near their suburban California housing unit. Armed with a metal detector and a stack of treasure-hunting books, Charlie soon finds reason to believe that the gold resides underneath the local Costco...." When I read that information in the Globe article, I laughed. And set out on a hunt of my own -- for a 20-year-old cassette tape.

My first thought while hunting for the cassette was, "The guy who wrote the screenplay for 'King of California' must have run into the same drunken nutjob that I did 20 years ago in Sanford, Maine, at the Dairy Queen." Let me explain.

In May 1987, during Senior Week, I trekked to Jim Corrigan's family's summer cabin in North Berwick, Maine, along with several friends from Keene State, a few of whom, like me, were about to graduate. I carried a tape recorder and filled both sides of a cassette with rants, raves, snippets of acoustic guitar jams and drunken revelry. But the best stuff on that tape came from a conversation my friends Pete, Ken and I had at the aforementioned Dairy Queen with a self-described "sick man."

Here's the relevant section:

Drunk Guy: How can I drink?

DG: Yeah.

The conversation goes on a bit more. He offers to get some gold for us, "to make it worth your while." He says he bought gold at Shaw's. Eventually, Pete and I started to head back to the car, where Ken was waiting. The dude followed us, rambling about stuff, and tried to get in the car, but one of us shut the door on him while Ken excoriated us for talking to the lunatic. Anyway, maybe the screenwriter, although he grew up in San Francisco, according to his bio, maybe he made a trip to Sanford, Maine way back when and got a story and after all these years he turned it into a movie. Or maybe there really is gold buried under grocery stories and megamarts across this great land of ours. Who am I to say there isn't?

Thursday, September 20

Today's a beautiful day, made more so by the fact that I don't have to watch the Red Sox lose again tonight. I'm in agony over the state of their play lately. Nobody is hitting, the bullpen is terrible and Terry Francona's making some dubious decisions about who pitches and for how long. But I'm not gonna dwell on that here.

Last night Owen's school PTO hosted a BBQ for all the families. Owen had fun running around (and barely eating) and Beth and I met some of his friends' parents. Everything went very well, everyone was very nice and it was a perfect night, weather-wise. Beth's dad looked after Amelia so we could let Owen have a fun time that was all about him and his new school.

Not too much else going on. I'm trying to get back into running, as I've been feeling especially flabby lately. I ran about 3.5 miles on Tuesday, and plan to go out again tomorrow morning while Beth takes Amelia to visit her co-workers. Beth's parents bought us a jogging stroller, which I plan to use as much as possible with the baby. As an incentive, I've signed up for a 3-mile road race in Newton October 21. I think Owen's school hosts a short race October 14th, as well, which I'll probably take on.

Big event of the upcoming weekend: another birthday party for Owen, at Kids U in Needham.

Finally, Beth goes back to work next Friday, the 28th. She planned on returning October 1, but her secretary told her that if she goes back in September, she gets credit for 2 1/2 vacation days earned that month. So that means eight more days until I'm on my own with Amelia and Owen (after he gets out of school). Let's hope it doesn't get to this point.

Tuesday, September 18

Once again, there is angst in Red Sox Nation. The Yankees took two out of three over the weekend, including a horrific 8-7 victory that featured a six-run comeback inning for the Bronx Bombers. The Sox lost to Toronto last night, while the Yanks were winning, so the lead is 3 1/2 games with 11 to go (not including the game that's being played as I write this). Can't the Sox ever make it easy on their fans? Sure, last year was easy -- because the Sox were out of the hunt early and there was nothing to worry about. And yes, their historic playoff run against the Yankees in 2004 wiped away decades of angst. But can't they just win the division without fear in the Nation of a collapse? Can't the Yankees be kept out of the playoffs once in a while? Is that too much to ask for?

Friday, September 14

My baseball season is over, and I feel fine. We lost, 5-2, last night in the rubber game of our first-round playoff series. Our offense was dead and our defense was weak at the wrong times. I had a single and walked twice, which I felt good about after going 0-2 in the first game, but I didn't feel so great stranded at third in the last inning after landing there with no outs. We lost the first game 3-0 and won the second game, 6-0. I missed the second game because I took Beth out to dinner for her 40th birthday. That was our first time out without kids since Amelia was born. We went to a great Italian restaurant, Fiorella's, and ate until we were ready to burst.

Our team will try to get together for a "breakup dinner" some time in the next few weeks. As I did last year, I'm pledging to get myself into better shape this fall and winter so I'm ready for next season. And because I'm sick of being a flabby blob. Of course, I never followed through on my promise last season.

Speaking of Beth's birthday, we're going out Sunday night to celebrate the big day with her family, wrapping up what's shaping up to be a busy end to the weekend. Our neighborhood block party runs that day from 1-5. This will be the third one held in the four years we've lived here. Lots of food, plenty of kids running around and an opportunity to catch up with neighbors who we don't see much -- a good time. I'll take Owen for the first hour or so, before escorting him to a birthday party for a friend at Waltham's Backyard Adventures from 2:30-4:30. And of course after dinner on Sunday we'll probably come back home for cake and presents. And then watch the Sox-Yankees. Then conk out.

In other news, Owen had a playdate on Wednesday with his friends Max and Duncan from kindergarten. He had a lot of fun, which is good, because Max lives right around the corner and it would be great if they could get together regularly. Owen loves kindergarten, and Beth and I love that his schedule includes art, gym and music classes, as well as time in the school's library.

Amelia continues to eat and grow and get cuter every day. She still struggles against sleep during the day and evening hours, but is doing very well at night. She's much more alert and happy to hang out, entertaining us with coos and smiles. Beth goes back to work October 1. I plan to form a small at-home dads group in the coming weeks, to keep both Amelia and me busy.

The fall TV season is upon us, and I'm really looking forward to "Heroes", which debuts September 24. I need to watch last season's last two episodes before then. I plan on cutting back on my prime-time viewing this year, to spend more time wrapping up the (C)rock book. I'm cutting "24" and "Prison Break" out of my life, which I should have done last year. Big sacrifice, I know, but I gotta do something.

Finally, I've been reading Thomas H. O'Connor's "The Boston Irish: A Political History" for the past week. I cracked it last Friday during my six hours of jury duty. I was dismissed, along with the rest of the cheering masses, but not until we'd all been there from 8 a.m. to almost 2:30 p.m. O'Connor does a great job presenting the history of the Irish in Boston, the bitter hatred that the Yankee Protestants held for the Celtic newcomers, and the mindset of the immigrants that led to their political rise in the Athens of America. I've expanded my knowledge about my Yankee forebears and their horrendous prejudices against the Irish, and found new respect for the immigrant experience. I've long wondered why the "Boston Irish" are the way they are, in terms of their resolve in the face of overwhelming odds, their fidelity to family and neighborhood and their fatalistic sense of humor. I've learned a lot about all of that in O'Connor's book. And I'm not even done yet.

I'll blog again after the Sox-Yankees series this weekend.

Thursday, September 6

We took Owen to the DeCordova Museum in leafy Lincoln today. The draw was the Trainscape: Installation Art for Model Railroads exhibit. Owen loves trains; he watched "The Polar Express" at least 10 times over the past two weeks. Yes, it's a Christmas movie. No, he didn't care. He has a big set of trains and tracks in the attic, and spends a fair amount of time playing with them. He's visited the Edaville Railroad to ride on Thomas the Tank Engine. He marveled at the model railroad display at the Marshfield Fair last summer. He had a pretty good time at the National Heritage Museum in luxe Lexington last year when they presented the National Model Railroad Association's annual display (which hits the museum Dec. 15 this year). Of course, the NHM is run by the Masons, so it's conceivable that Owen participated unwittingly in an initiation rite for Future Leaders of the Free World and that he'll get caught up in a nefarious and nebulous web of intrigue and international money-changing. But hey, somebody's gotta do it. Plus, my grandfather was a Mason, so it can't be all bad, right?

Anyway, what I'm saying is Owen loves trains.

But a museum in liberals-and-horses country that features contemporary art isn't the ideal spot to take a kid who likes trains. At least not a five year old who wants to see toy trains running past depots, quaint little houses and old-timey, picture-perfect storefronts, churches and Victorian amusement parks. Sure, the DeCordova exhibit features "miniature worlds traversed and connected by a fully operational O-scale model railroad," according to the museum's web site. But the 14 artists who created works for the trainscape have taken on "history, poetry, philosophy, geography, abstraction, figuration, scale, architecture, and humor." Sandor Bodo's piece, for instance, "deals with the nature of spiritual enlightenment, expressed symbolically," according to the web site, while Ellen Wetmore and Jeff "Jeffu" Warmouth's "Land O' Lactation" "proceeds directly from the biological experience of new motherhood, and presents a world held hostage by the primal needs of infants."

I see.

We had fun doing other stuff in the museum and outside in the sculpture park, thank goodness. I think we'll have a better time on Saturday at the annual Porsche Fest at the Museum of Transportation in bourgeois Brookline.

Wednesday, September 5

Toot toot....hear my horn.

Last night I had my best game since, well, ever. I was 3 for 4, stole a base, scored a run and made several nice plays in the field, if I may say so. But hey, don't take my arrogant word for it, check out what my coach had to say.

More importantly, we won, 9-2. I'll miss tomorrow night's game, which is against the same team. If we win, I believe we lock up 4th place, and home-field advantage in the playoffs, which begin Sunday. If we lose, I'm not sure what happens, because the team we're playing is in 5th place, but has played two fewer games than us, and won't be making them up before Sunday as far as I know.

On the domestic front, we had our fridge delivered yesterday, and it doesn't fit. So we need to cut out a wall (really just a plywood wall that serves no purpose other than covering up the side of the fridge), squeeze the fridge in, and then have our handyman come in and install a thinner sheet of plywood. Beth was really bummed, because she measured, measured and measured again and was certain the fridge would fit. But our house is old, and the walls around the space must not be perfectly straight. Oh well....

Now for your moment of zen. Today I was driving home from the mall and, as I often do on that trip, passed a house in Newton that looks out of place. It's what I would call a Spanish-style stucco, similar to this. I always refer to it as "a little bit of New Mexico in Newton." And today while driving by, before I knew it, the Partridge Family's "Point Me in the Direction of Albuquerque" popped into my head. As long-time DaveBrigham.com ("Where Dave Brigham Meets Dot Com") readers are aware, I lived in Albuquerque for a few months back in 1988. As some may also know, my friend John made me a tape before my trip across the country, and included the aforementioned Partridge Family song. Prescient, eh?

Here's a video some guy made for the song. I crack up when the chorus kicks in, and random photos of people pointing at stuff appear. And I love that Calvin & Hobbes make a cameo. Until we meet again....

Sunday, September 2

I hope that last night's brilliant pitching performance by rookie Clay Buchholz energizes the Red Sox for the homestretch. Sure, he pitched against a mediocre team, but every guy who stepped up to the plate is a professional, and not one managed a hit. Not bad for a guy's second major-league start. More importantly, the Sox banged out 14 hits and scored 10 runs. They played great defense, too. With all the injuries, and the Yankees still looming in the rear-view mirror, this might be the kick in the pants the team needs. Here's hoping....

As for my team, we lost a tough game last Wednesday against the second-place team (we're in 4th). As usual, Angel pitched well (5 hits, 10 strikeouts), but our 6 errors did us in. Well, that and the fact that we only had 5 hits. Still, we were encouraged by our effort. If we can win our last two games and hold 4th place, we stand a good shot of getting through at least the first round of the playoffs. Each of the seven teams makes it to the postseason, with the first-place team getting a first-round bye, I believe. I'll play in this Tuesday's game, but will take Thursday's game off because Beth and I will be doing something for our 10th anniversary. We probably won't go anywhere, but we'll do something a little special. Playoffs are slated to begin September 9.

Not much else going on. We're laying pretty low for Labor Day weekend. Owen starts kindergarten this Friday, so we'll spend some time this week buying him