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To Sid: I wish I’d known you better

Tonight I went to a bar. With my mom. Before you say “ew,” allow me to explain.

Back in the ancient days, when I was in high school, a kid named Sid Ronk became my friend through the drama department at W.E. Boswell high school. Sid was at the time a big guy who could act well. For my birthday, he gave me an atlas. I don’t fully understand why, but he did. I liked him as a friend, but afterwards, when I went off to college, I lost track of him.

It turns out he had a rough-and-tumble time of it after high school, but he did okay. He worked as a bartender and as security for a couple of Ft. Worth bars, lastly and most notably Billy Bob’s, where I went with my mom this evening.

It was for a memorial gathering for Sid. He passed away on the 15th. There are rumors about what caused his death, but I’ve got nothing to substantiate them. I don’t know why he died, but he did. I think it’s out of guilt that I went, because off and on he’d been on my mind as someone I should try to catch up with. However, I didn’t. I didn’t make that effort. I didn’t take the time. And now I can’t.

I heard stories from friends, co-workers, former girlfriends…. everyone extolled the virtues of Sid. Even Donnie Franks stopped by to pay some “yaknowhaImsayin” respects. Sid cared, and I missed that part of his life.

Why, oh why, does it take a death for us to remember to live?

Posted 22 February 2010 † lopey § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (1) °

Facebook, Bras, and “Awareness”

So, today on facebook.com, women were encouraged to post the color of their bras. This in and of itself wasn’t remarkable, but you could see the pattern. One woman would post a color. Inevitably, there’d be a comment stating “Huh?”. This would be followed by a rejoinder from the poster about how it was for “breast cancer awareness”. This would be followed by either, “oh.” or the other personal putting their color in the comment.

Sadly, I have not learned one new thing about breast cancer today. I have learned that my female friends who are on facebook have a wonderfully vibrant spectrum of undergarments. Yea, verily, it has been a rehash of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, except in text form. But, it still doesn’t address the core issue that Linus so wisely put to Charlie Brown: “What Have We Learned?”

Well, for one thing, internet memes will spread like crazy given the oddity of the request. For another, I still don’t know any more about breast cancer. It doesn’t just affect women, I know, but what is the likelihood one of my friends will catch it? Is it hereditary? Is there anyone describing the self-check steps for women? What can I, as a guy, do in this?

The Komen organizations of the world do a great job publishing and pushing their message about breast cancer, but I don’t know if they’d call this a success in terms of getting the message across.

The other thing that worries me is that this will inspire stupid analogous efforts. “Post the color of your feces to support prostate cancer awareness.” EWWWWW. “Post the color of your underwear to support jock itch awareness.” SQUICK. “Post the color of your kneepads to support awareness of ACL tears.” In all of these cases, has the post done ANYTHING except reveal a bit too much information?

Now that we’ve opened that door, who knows what’s next? It’s not your outfit nor your “equipment”. It’s what you know. And that’s what matters most of all.

Posted 07 January 2010 † lopey § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) °

Video

Thanks to the glories of youtube, video of the kids is now available.

Click here to go to my channel, where you can find videos I’ve pulled off of the camera.

Posted 18 December 2009 † lopey § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) °

New Pictures. Yay.

A thanksgiving gallery, mostly of Jessie.
Thanksgiving Pics

Posted 29 November 2009 † lopey § Family ‡ Comments (0) °

Stress Imitating Life

It’s been a significant time since I’ve posted much of anything. That’s mostly because we’ve been really busy trying to eliminate some stresses in our life. Sadly, the stresses aren’t gone, but at least we’re making progress:

1. The kids are great. Jacob’s loving kindergarten; Jessie’s a princess who prefers carbohydrates to actual dinner.

2. We just finished our 2008 taxes. Yes, it shouldn’t have taken this long, but at least we’re getting a refund.

3. We’re going to need that refund because we’re being sued. I won’t go into too many details, but my advice for anyone is unless you’re in a position to take a pound of flesh from someone, don’t co-sign for anything.

4. Work is. We’re entering a pretty stressful time, and the project just keeps going and going.

Posted 16 October 2009 † lopey § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) °

Working on the Weekend – Family Edition

This has already been a busy week around our house. A good friend came over today and helped fix/maintain/improve our sink. It’s amazing how much stuff is seemingly obvious to a man with a wrench, but oh so carefully and thoughtfully hidden to a man who isn’t looking. A small water leak caused a tremendous amount of corrosion around the bolts holding the sink in place. The danger would be if left unchecked, the entire faucet would fall over into the sink basins.

So, I’m thankful for the help with that. It’s much, much cheaper to have a friend who knows what they’re doing than to hire a professional. Unless, of course, your friend actually doesn’t know what they’re doing. I lucked out.

Where I didn’t luck out was staying away from the office this weekend. We have an intermediate deadline coming up on the 9th, and because of that, I was in yesterday and today, trying to make things just so for our customer. Meanwhile, Laureen and the kids went to Oklahoma to visit my grandmother and her husband. The kids had a great time; they went to feed ducks, played on playgrounds (including some on which I’d played on in my youth, and got to visit some Clydesdale horses. Jacob looked up at one of them, saw it’s size and exclaimed, “that’s one big eating machine!”

Onward and upward we go.

Posted 06 September 2009 † lopey § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) °

On the Controversy of Obama Addressing Schoolchildren

First off, I primarily want to respect other people’s opinions while giving them the chance to respect mine. That may be impossible, but at least I can try. If you’ve been in a cave the past week or so, there’s a large amount of controversy across the state about President Obama addressing the schoolchildren of America on September 8. Parents have been in arms over the speech, mostly due to one of two things: (1) they don’t agree with Obama as a person or as a politician, or (2) they don’t know what he’ll say to kids.

People disagree with each other all the time. Unfortunately, the state of political discourse in this country, spurred on by talk radio and news programs, has allowed the most vitriolic of opinions to get equal time. There are people who believe Obama is a socialist who wants the government to run everything. There are people who believe Obama is also the chosen savior of the United States. I personally voted for him, but I don’t hold any illusions about Obama’s stance on things. His stance on FISA which gave large telecommunications companies immunity for illegally wiretapping U.S. citizens (something done post 9/11) makes him willing to compromise politically. His willingness to give money to large corporations in the form of TARP monies while allowing executives to reap large rewards irks me. About the only change for people that has been seen at our end is a small reduction in the tax rate (at least the one I pay) and the CARS program, which is now no longer in service. So my personal opinion on Obama is mixed, but he shares culpability in leading the country with the Senate and House, and right now, there’s a huge fight with tons of misinformation about health care going on.

But the hue and cry about not wanting your children to see the President address the nation just confuses me. Where else are kids supposed to learn about basic civics and government if not from the highest elected official in the land? Let’s face it: Presidents have done this before without having people getting concerned about the content of his speech. Ronald Reagan did it. George H. W. Bush did it. And I don’t think anyone protested back then. Admittedly, we didn’t have the same technological infrastructure as we do now, but still, Presidents have spoken to kids before without any permanent brainwashing.

Now, the government has altered the supporting materials to remove letter writing to the President, and they’ve also agreed to make the text of his speech available on Sept. 7. Thus, people who want to know ahead of time now have that ability. That roadblock is no more. This still won’t deter some people from objecting, but that’s more personal than anything else.

At some point, parents have to allow their children the freedom to make decisions about elected officials unless they want their kids to remain ignorant of the reasons why they pay taxes, or why we go to war,  or why there are laws in the first place. And kids won’t be able to make that if they’re prevented from having that interaction. And that’s what saddens me most–that kids will be stuck learning how to take a test instead of getting a chance to apply some higher-level critical thinking skills about what the President has to say.

Posted 04 September 2009 † lopey § Education § Free Floating Hostility ‡ Comments (0) °

In Memoriam: Chris Haycocks

Chris Haycocks, my uncle, passed away today at 7:30 a.m. He was an interesting man who loved his family, rugby, and mining. He taught mining science for the longest time at Virginia Tech  and also lived in Africa for a stretch. While he could be acerbic in his wit, he was still a good man who raised three sons to be outstanding people. Ultimately, a man can’t ask for more from this life than to be remembered, and as such, I remember my uncle Chris.

Posted 29 August 2009 † lopey § Family ‡ Comments (1) °

First Day Of School Pic Gallery

Jacob’s first day of school, plus Jessie with the iPhone pics.

Posted 26 August 2009 † lopey § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) °

So, How Was That First Day, Son?

There are some times when you’re reminded that you’re dealing with a single-track boy. Trying to get him to answer questions about his day is like pulling teeth in terms of frustration. I’m certain that he will only become less communicative as a teenager. Here’s our dinner conversation:

“So how was school, Jacob?”

“Good.”

“What did you do?”

“I played. Had lunch. Had snack.”

“Did you meet any new friends?”

“Yes.”

“What were their names?”

“I’m trying to eat right now, Daddy.”

“Was Mrs. Fuller a good teacher?”

“Yes.”

Apparently, there is now a separate compartment into which all school memories will be dropped, and only Jacob holds  the key.

Posted 25 August 2009 † lopey § Uncategorized ‡ Comments (0) °