A history of hockey

We took Callum to his first hockey game on Saturday night--Winslow was playing Presque Isle (wayyyyyyyyy up in the county) for the Eastern Maine Class B title. They lost, 3-2. but it was a great game, and Callum had mixed emotions about it. FIrst of all, for the first 20 minutes he thought it was football, but then he realized the differences. He actually likes hockey, as we have been watching all the Olympic games. Being UNH alumni, Amanda and I, of course, absolutely LOVE hockey....and absolutely nothing beats LIVE hockey. It is a really neat, completely messy sport...and what I love is how every goal looks like it was a complete accident. But I love the aggressive nature of it, and I love how everyone always seems to play with lots of heart (it is hard to play WITHOUT a lot of passion....you kind of stand out like a sore thumb).

He really got a kick out of the Zamboni. Also, he loved the pep band. And he loved the cheering and clapping. He did a lot of that.
Watching intently, waiting for a cool "check" to come our way by the boards....
I, myself, have never played organized hockey, but, interestingly enough, I have four distinct memories of hockey impacting my life in very significant ways.

The first would be when my mom and dad signed me up for ice skating lessons at ASIAF rink at Brockton high school. I remember thinking I was so cool because I got a neat white "CCM" helmet, and I used to use it to dress up and play "Ghostbusters." That was the most fun I would ever had with that helmet. My first ice skating lesson was a beautiful teachable moment in failure for me. I sucked. My dad just reminded me of this this morning, actually. I remember stepping out onto the ice and then immediately falling. Hard. Then, I got up, and tried again. I fell. I dont think I ever made it out to the group "starting" the lesson. Thus, they began without me, and I think I went home, only to play more ghostbusters, and not revisit ice skates until years later, when I skated on Surry Pond in back of my cousin Brian's house in Plymouth. My first lesson in failure. Very important.

My second memory would have to be street hockey. I grew up playing street hockey with my buddies--Johnny, Jay, Mike Gryniuk, Mike Good, Torey, etc. We'd either play in the cul-de-sac known as "Pulsini's Circle" over by Jay's (if it was an away game), or over at the cul-de-sac at the end of Hilltop Drive in "Rolling Pine Estates" over by Johnny Crockett's house. Those were home games. My dad and stepfather used to talk about growing up playing stickball all day. Well, someday, I think I'll tell Callum about all the street hockey I played. The thing that was funny about street hockey is all my buddies had the expensive "Roller Blades".....the real ones. And my career started (by my own choice, I might add) with a pair of roller skates I picked up at Building 19 (like a Mardens...for all you Maine folks). I freakin LOVED those roller skates! Johnny C and I used to go tearing it up at Highland Heights on Fridays with our skates. Boy oh boy did I get ripped on for wearing those darn skates. I eventually got "fauxler blades" (I just came up with that...pretty good, huh?) because the real "Lightning"ones were too expensive. But it didnt matter because I sucked just as bad on those. This was my first lesson at not giving in to peer pressure! haha

I mentioned the UNH games earlier, and that was my third experience. Not much to add about that, except that some of my fondest memories of college revolve around UNH hockey games....or "get-togethers" AFTER UNH hockey games. So much fun. So much spirit. One of the long standing traditions of UNH was that after UNH scored their first goal, a disciplinary disbanded fraternity (Zeta Xi) used to throw a WHOLE 30+ pound Monkfish onto the ice. Then, the zamboni driver would pick up the fish, hold it up in victory to the crowd, we'd all cheer, and THEN the PA announcer would read the disclaimer about throwing things onto the ice. Every game started with the lights off in the Whittemore Center, and then the Wildcats skating out to the beginning of the Dave Matthews Band song "Two Step." It is a song that always reminds me of my hockey days.

Finally, there is the one and only Bruins game I ever went to. And the reason I got to go is because my all time favorite Bruin GAVE me tickets to go see him. Cam Neely. Cam Neely's parents were both treated for cancer at New England Medical Center, and Cam felt a very deep connection to NEMC. He gave a lot of his time (and money) to the hospital, starting "the Neely House," which is a hospice sort of place for families from far away. He used to walk the halls of "7West" (the kid's cancer ward) visiting patients young and old. Including me. He and his brother had season tickets to the Boston Bruins. His brother lived in Canada, and he could never go (on account of the small detail that he had to play). So, instead, he used to give them to kids. I got to go after a particularly bad day of treatment, and it was so awesome to be at my first Bruin's game. I went with Bob, and I remember it specifically because we both felt like death warmed over that night. He had just had his knee replaced, and was cringing in agony at the small amount of leg room we got in our seats. I, on the other hand, was trying hard all night not to throw up. Ultimately, we both succeeded in making it through the game, and we had a great time. It was a very memorable night for me, and I'll forever be a Cam Neely fan.

If you made it through this entire post, then thanks for reading. I know I can get a little wordy. It is just that I like to reminisce sometimes....(well, all the time!)

I am awesome

I am so awesome. I emanate awesomeness, even. I fulfill bets to my boys by coming through wearing a Lil Wayne shirt for school today. Awesomeness is so what I am. Awesome even. Here is awesome me and Callum's babysitter Sara. We are awesome. Peace.

Today was the annual winter carnival assembly at Winslow High School. I had actually resigned my post as awesome student senate advisor, but Rick (the new head) asked me to MC the big school wide assembly anyway. I led it and I did awesome, because I am awesome. The assembly was awesome and fun. I like they. I wore my Lil Wayne shirt for my awesome day at school, but wore my other awesome Winslow shirt for the assembly. I will post some pictures later, because Michelle is going to send me some awesome emails because I am awesome. Here is me with my class today.....
There were kids absent today because it was an awesome Friday. I am so awesome and gangster. It is where I live.

I've gotta be better about this blog. Sorry.

I am awesome.

What's up with the weather?

Our really pretty (but totally slumping this year) meteorologist Kelly Lebreque.....

Callum loves Sonya Lee....
Oliver Ames High School class of 1996 alum Josh Nichols....a meteorologist working for NBC in New York. I wonder if he sucks too....

I hate to be so cliche with the title, but seriously: What is going on with the weather in Maine?? Statistically, this has been the warmest February on record, and the Portland Jetport is only reporting .06 inch of precipitation for the month of February (that is Portland...an hour north, in Fairfield, we have had NO precipitation).

Weather always seems to be the "go-to" conversation starter for people, and it seems as if everyone always has something to say about it. Lately, the weather has become the third largest religion in the United States (after Christian and Islam). "The Church of Al Gore of Global Warming Day Saints" is now the third largest religion....even beating out Judaism. Personally, I don't believe in global warming at all, and think that all these morons should be charged with crimes against humanity for the way they use scare tactics to petrify the American public, and thus make more money for themselves. The whole thing is a hoax. But I digress....

Being a meteorologist in Maine has to no doubt be a tough gig--you've got all kinds of weather patterns, and serve a state affected by "lake effect" snow, arctic fronts, and funky stuff going on with the Bay of Fundy, the Gulf of Maine, and other weird tidal things. Still, this year, the Maine meteorologists resemble, to me, the New England Patriots of the early 1990s....they cannot get ONE THING right. I know people always come down on the weatherman, but this is ridiculous! It is to the point now where I dont even watch (nor listen to) the weather. Without even thinking about it or doing research, I can think of THREE storms on which they totally "screwed the pooch." And then, sometimes, when snow isnt even a CONSIDERATION, we get snow (in fact, our greatest snow event of the year wasnt even forecast...it happened the week after that infamous "New Years Storm" that everyone got so worried about for nothing). Just last week, in fact, we were supposed to get 4-8 inches (actually, Fairfield was right on the 4-8 and the 8-10 line). We. Got. Absolutely .Nothing. Not even a flake.

And what do the weatheridiots do? They blame it on the "computer models" "Well, the computer models were all mashed on this one, so we couldnt really tell...." Well get a new computer! Here we are in 2010. I dont profess to know a lot about science....but it seems to me that there should no longer be any excuse for not being able to tell the weather. Heck...if you can"control it" you might as well be able to "predict it." Weathermen suck this year. As I've said before: The only job in the world where you can suck and be wrong ALL THE TIME and ALWAYS be justified to blame it on something else.

I think that (in Boston anyway) that is why they have so many hot weather-girls; they are harder to be mad at. All we have is Kevin Mannix.....

Because of our lack of a winter, I am definitely not looking forward to spring. I always looked forward to spring because, as New Englander (and especially as a Maine transplant), I always felt as if I had "earned" spring. It was something like a reward for, as Claudius says in Act 1 of HAMLET, "persevering in obstinate condolement." This year, I didnt earn anything. I hardly had to shovel, I didnt have to go out in blizzards to get more wood, I had no ice dams to break up on my roof, I only fell and hurt my butt once, and my hands are barely cracked from sub-zero temps. I even shaved my beard off a month ago! This spring, I'm afraid I'll feel just like all the other freeloaders....we didnt do anything to deserve spring

But snow is in the forecast for this week......

Train Show '10

Callum, Daddy, and Ba-Ba check out a neat mountain layout......

Check out my new hat!!!
Callum loves to Skype with Nannie! He hopes to Skype with Auntie, Unka, and Papa soon too


Each year, the Lion's Club of Whitefield puts on a train show at the Augusta armory--this was the weekend for it, and we took Callum to see the great layouts, rolling stock, and other train "stuff." He hasn't been feeling very well over the past few days, and in fact he has had a fever that has finally subsided. He hasnt been eating much, he sleeps a lot during the day, and he even refused to nap in his crib yesterday (favoring, instead, to sleep on my chest as I lay down on our bed....it was great because he never wants to do that with me...just mumma).

Today he slept most of the morning, finally waking up at about 1:30. We met Ba-Ba in Augusta, and shortly thereafter 'ampy showed up too. Callum was impressed by all the layouts the local clubs had, and he never got tired of pointing at each and every thing they had there, declaring "hoo-hoo!!!" The thing he seemed to like the best involved an old couple's layout which was "set" around a logging yard. A train would roll up to this mechanism that loaded logs into the freight cars. The couple were letting little kids press the red button that made these logs dump into the freight cars. Callum never seemed to tire of laughing at this!

We didnt buy anything (except for Callum's little train engineer hat....which he loves!) but we did continue our conversation about investing in a Lionel train set maybe next Christmas (these sets can cost like 600 bucks!) so that Callum can keep it, use it, take care of it, and maybe one day pass it down to his kids. They are more than just toys, obviously; they are collector's items. SO we'll see....

After the show, Ensign invited us over to have meatball sandwiches. So we made our way over to Readfield, played around Ba-Ba's a bit, and enjoyed a nice early supper. Right now, Callum is crying in his crib because he doesnt want to be alone, and Amanda is getting ready to bake chocolate chip cookies. Call it a tie.

Also, this winter sucks. It is like the worst winter in my memory. It was like 50 today. It sucks. Pray for snow.....

Back to my roots....

I know it has been a while since my last post....but I'm on vacation!

Last Saturday I made a pilgrimage down to the sacred land of Massachusetts in order to visit the fraternal order of Ponticelliopolous. Basically, I went to stay with my buddy Jay, and we had several outings....not the least of which was a trip over to Brockton to hang out with Timmy "Blanche" The Greek. The weekend consisted essentially of eating. Nonstop. This was first evidenced by Jay and I's trip to "Imperial Garden," the epitome of all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurants. Jay and I are still in awe of the magnitude of this place. Here's a sampling: All the usual Chinese foods, fresh shrimp down at least a dozen different ways, Rock crab, Snow Crab legs, whole crayfish, and raw oysters, "shucked" fresh by our lovely little reticent Chinese friend who, for some reason, refused to talk to Jay while he cut the mollusks. After the restaurant, Jay and I retired back to his Blackstone estate, only pausing long enough to change into our costumes for "chatroulette.com" session. More to come on that later. Maybe. Finally, to top off our Saturday night wifeless and kidless adventures, two 31 year old men sat together in Jay's hot tub. Yup. We are still as cool as ever.....

On Sunday, while we waited for Timmy to finish his "errands," Jay and I drove around and took a tour of my old stomping ground: the town of Easton.

The picture above is of Maplewood Restaurant. Well, actually, now it is called the "Plant Depot" or something like that. But, to us, it will ALWAYS be Maplewood restaurant. I really do need to take a whole blog's worth of time to honor the great eatery....but suffice to say right now that both Jay and I's lives were molded by our experience working at Maplewood. THE....and I mean THEEEEEE best job I have ever had.

I almost forget to mention that right before this, Jay took me for a romantic Valentine's day brunch at "The Chateau," which was known to us for years as "Anne's Place," a delightful restaurant nestled right on a lake. The fact that is was Valentine's day and we were alone together on a brunch date without our wives didnt bother us at all.........

And here's one of the most famous signs in Easton:

Muscato stadium is the home of the Oliver Ames Tigers. I still have a lot of "Tiger Pride," even though, by contract (and heart) I am now mostly "Black Raider" through and through. But I can recall several, wonderful, exciting Friday night football games underneath these lights....those were my glory days....I was the best sideline stander in OA history! No....I did start varsity football (I was their center), but was later "replaced" because my strength and quickness had "faded" as Coach Chapman said. Two months later was when I was diagnosed with cancer. Go figure. I can still remember Cindy Handscome (MY cheerleader) as she performed her Friday night ritual: Jared is the boy I want you to know/His name, his game, and his ability/he wears 58 on his shirt/better watch out or you're gonna get hurt! Did YOU have a cheerleader?????? Huh??????

As Timmy remarked, today's Oliver Ames High School looks like a space ship landed on the OLD Oliver Ames; we barely recognized it. In fact, the main entrance NOW is where all the band geeks, Zoofs, and Panaches used to park, smoke their Marlboros, and then run into the school....

Hey, who's that?? It is Batman!
And here's a picture that will come back to haunt me (or one of us) at some point in our sophomoric lives. Jay and I found a sale at "the dirt mall" known as Westgate Mall, and we donned some more of our "costume" gear for chatroulette. Disclaimer: Goldsmith5 is not responsible for the content of anything Greek people wear on his blog.

We won the trophy for being the awesomest everything of all time!

Meanderings 58

sooooooooo happy.......my old roommate JR's grandparents.....
I'm sure my mom used to have me wear stuff like this.....


Just a few thoughts this evening. Also, "58" was my football jersey number in high school. I was hydration coordinator.

1. The English language is really funny, because different words have totally taken on different connotations (cultural meanings). George Carlin often points out (or pointed out) these funny things, such as "give my best to Scott" and the differences between "soon" and "a little while" when talking about time: Both mean relatively the same thing....yet "soon" has so much more of an ominous feeling than "a little while." If I were being executed, I would rather be shot "in a little while" than "soon."

But I got to thinking of how this works in my teaching career--particularly in the way I talk to groups of people. Consider the words "folks" and "people." Both, essentially, refer to humans en masse, yet they both have a certain "feel" to each one. When I say "okay FOLKS, let's listen up" my tone is automatically (it seems) laid back, lighthearted, and full of levity. But when FOLKS become PEOPLE, all hell seems to break loose, and suddenly the people who were folks are suddenly people...and people is a much more serious thing to be: "Listen PEOPLE, you need to pay attention to chapter 43 of Monte Cristo, because there will be a test." I guess you need to really hear it spoken, but do you know what I mean? PEOPLE is just so much more serious sounding...and so much more impersonal.

Finally, if I need to address, let's say, two human bodies in my class at one time, my tone can also be full of what my communication professors used to call "metamessages." The phrases in question involve "you two" and "you guys." If I were standing with my buddy and a teacher said "I need to see you guys after class," I DEFINITELY wouldnt be nearly as worried as if that same teacher said "I need to see YOU TWO." For some reason "YOU TWO" connotes that somebody is in trouble. Maybe I'm just crazy....I dont know....maybe I need to just shut up and go watch Glee...

2. Drug stores are funny in the way they shamelessly contradict themselves by selling the absolute most unhealthy and processed food known to man (j'ever notice nothing there is fresh?) and in the next aisle sell overpriced "gimmick" kits and pills to make you lose all the weight you gained by eating all the Nutter Butters they sell? And they simultaneously sell cigarettes AND nicorette?? I have written about drug stores before, I know. I hate drugstores. They are everything that is wrong with America.

3. On drugstores still: I love how they (once again) shamelessly and unabashedly sell all kinds of unhealthy, immoral, disgusting junk....set out in plain view for everyone to see. YET, at the same time, they have to use doublespeak to sound all dignified and to guide customers where they can find items for "personal" problems "too inappropriate" to mention by their real names. Do any of you actually know what "incontinence" means, for example? Why can't they just say "bedwetting crap and Depends?" Since when is Rite Aid this "moral bastion" to protect us from the way things really are? I also love "family planning." This is a good one. I think "Sex crap" would be fine....what's the big deal? And since when does KY motion lotion stuff have anything to do with "planning" a family anyway? "Jeez....if I dont put this warming liquid on you, and then massage it into your lower back, we might not have a little Johnny!!!" Come on....get real....

4. Not only are Arabic terrorists cowardly-monkey-bar-training-videotaping-morons....but did you also ever notice they always wear lame, oversized, 1980's style eyeglasses? Seriously. All the jihad idiots who have poor vision must look for the biggest, ugliest aluminum frames available. You'd think with all that jihad money they have given to them by the Saudi's that they'd at least go for some Geoffery Beane or Polo or something stylish. Maybe that is why they hate us: Maybe all they can get in those caves are the eyeglasses people donate at the grocery store and put in those "Lion's Club" box thingys...

5. After careful consideration, I have come to the finite conclusion that you can sing the line "ALL OVER THE WORLD!!!" and it would adequately fit as the final line in ANY musical EVER written. Period. It doesnt matter what the storyline happens to be...."ALL OVER THE WORLD" fits the ending of whatever particular song absolutely perfect. (You really need to hear me sing this to fully get the effect of what I am saying...but trust me)

My generation rules because.....

We had awesome music. No. Wait. Some of it was awesome. But, I guess what I really mean is that my generation saw such a dramatic shift in the cross "generation" (is that a word?? It is now!) of music in such a short time. My parents grew up with the Beatles, Elvis, and Chubby Checker. And they were all great. But they were all the same type of "style." My generation kicks butt because, in SUCH a short span, we saw SO many different styles emerge....and simultaneously fade out...only to then become popular again. Here's what I mean:

7th grade: Still riding the wake of NKOTB, Perfect Gentlemen, and other wussy boy bands...

8th grade: The emergence of "boy-rappers" like Vanilla Ice, Snow, Color Me Badd, and more. Lots of rich white kids in overalls and triple fat goose jackets. Kind of funny

9th grade: The origins of Grunge Rock emerge, suddenly creating a rift between the spoiled rich kids who think they are rappers, and the spoiled rich kids who think they are oppressed and poor. Lots of costume changes. Lots of hair growing. Bands like Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam, Temple of the Dog, and Soundgarden emerge. And that piece of crap known as Nirvana gets popular

10th grade: Grunge is all the hype...where did the crooners from "After 7" or "Jodeci" go? Oh. I know. They are all out at thrift stores looking for flannel shirts. More "grunge" gets popular. Alice in Chains manifests themselves as a powerful rock and roll force...unknowingly making the transition from grunge back to hard rock.....

11th grade: Bands like "Rage Against the Machine," Limp Bizkit, ICP, etc emerge....all of the sudden we have hardcore rap with a hard rock metalish edge...look at all the different music going on here! This is awesome!!

12th grade: Now, EVERYTHING is "alternative." Alternative is everywhere, and bands from Smashing Pumpkins to Belly to L7 to Screaming Trees to Spacehog and everything in between are all classified as a nice, neat, freaky genre....stations like 95.5 WBRU thrive, as they cater to this "Alternative" scene. All the people who were originally the "grunge" people now get mad because even WHITER and RICHER kids are cramping their style. So they transition to bands that would later be called emo....

BUT WAIT....at the same time we had all this "Alternative" stuff going on, we had a "renaissance," if you will, of good old kick-ass American rock and roll. Bands like Metallica and Rush refuse to compromise and start making "alternative" stuff....and they produce amazing albums (Roll the Bones, the Black Album, etc). PLUS bands like Aerosmith thrive...mostly because they use Alicia Silverstone in their videos. And, finally, Guns and Roses are so successful that they can lucratively put out a double length CD in "Use your Illusion 1 and 2" and it sells through the roof.

Such an amazing 7 or 8 years in music history....

Who says my generation knows nothing about diversity or acceptance of others

My generation rules. Yeah.

CSA

Mom and I on a "photo booth" picture

We went out to Aubuchon Hardware this afternoon and bought Callum a sled (actually, he picked it out). Our next stop was the Quarry Road Trail system, for some hiking. As usual, we saw lots of dogs and skiiers. We even saw some snow falling from the sky--which is rare for Maine this winter....
Callum really really really loved the sled for about ten minutes. Then he wanted to just walk by himself....Sometimes he pulled Cookie Monster in the sled, and sometimes he pushed the sled as Amanda pulled.
He went down some serious hills with me....I hope he continues to love the sled...I could pull it behind me while I ski!

CSA (or "sizza" as I call it) stands for "Club House Affair." My mom LOVES having crap at the clubhouse at her condo complex down in Mass, and this past weekend was a "Tastefully Simple" party we attended. Tastefully Simple is like Pampered Chef, only more stupid. Just kidding. Whereas Pampered Chef sells cooking IMPLEMENTS (like pans, knives, etc) that break and have no quality whatsoever, Tastefully Simple sells dips, relishes, and other snacky stuff. Okay. That is all I am going to write about Tastefully Simple....because each time I write the words "Tastefully" and "Simple," I find myself losing more brain cells.

So we went down on Saturday morning....and we didnt even bring our camera. We decided to do mostly video recording during this session (that's what she said). Saturday was a great time....we had some delectable snacks, caught up with some family we NEVER get to see, and even got to meet Ms Ava Jayne Ponticelli--Jay's little girl who is 1.5 years old (we had not met her yet!). Callum really worked the floor, and made four dollars in cold hard cash, as he flaunted singles out of the pocket of his Osh Koshes and collected tips....

Cape Cod Cafe pizza (the "second" best pizza in Mass...after Town Spa) was the agenda for Saturday's dinner. I got Nannie set up on Skype (God help us all) since her new computer has a webcam (God help us all), and then I endured some chewing out by said Nannie because she was convinced that I deleted Bob's Facebook account. It was probably the most painfully amusing 12 minutes I have had in months. But everything is all better, right Nannie?

On Sunday we played some more, and Callum enjoyed some Thomas The Train shows on the 368 inch flat screen TV--he was absolutely mesmerized by this. Hilarious. Then we went to Papa and Grammy Goldsmith's house to visit, open Christmas presents (Callum had not seen his grandparents since Thanksgiving, so there was still some holiday business to be done), and play with Kody--Papa's 112 pound Mane Coon Cat. That afternoon, Papa fulfilled a lifelong dream by taking his firstborn grandson to Maui. Maui, for those who dont know, is a Chinese Restaurant on Rt 28 in Brockton. Probably the best around anywhere in Mass. There is a lot of Goldsmith history there (haha...kind of) as now FOUR generations of Goldsmith men have enjoyed dining at Maui--and all of us have enjoyed the same waitress: The legendary Koran. Best waitress anywhere in the world. Plus, Maui has a water fountain. I love non-sequitirs.....

Today I took a personal day (I get two and used the first one today) since we were originally planning on coming back today. But we came back last night, late, just so we could have the "whole" day today. We enjoyed (or I enjoyed) sleeping late, lying around, and "trying" to nap. We had a great afternoon though, as you can see from the pictures above.

COLTS (still) SUCK!

A "Digger" party....

Playing with the guys.....The little guy on the left in the red is only a month older than Callum....this really puts in perspective what a peanut Callum really is. Mr 13% himself!


Just aimlessly walking around, doing his thing......

Callum ad his good buddy Brody compare hard hats.......
I'M SAD............
Tony and I race to see whose little boy can finish their ice cream first. Not really. Tony is a jerk and I dont talk to him. Not really. By the way Tony: Blossom called....and Joey wants his "collarless" flannel shirt back.......

Oh this is from Monday when Amanda brought the Subaru into the shop to have some exhaust work done.....Callum is really up on current events, and he loves National Geographic....

Last Sunday Callum went to his first "kids" birthday party--the fourth birthday of our friend Griffin. It seems like just yesterday we went to the hospital because Griff was born, and now he is four. Crazy. The theme was a John Deer party--like I mentioned in an earlier post. I realize I havent really posted many pictures of Callum lately....so I thought I would do mostly pictures of the little guy so people would be happy.

It is COLD up here in Maine lately. Even cold for MAINE! We just seem to be going through so much firewood....it is hard to keep up, as we use the stove to (try) to heat the entire house. I guess it would work better if I got up at 3 to stoke it again. But I dont. I value the two hours of sleep I get per night.

We're planning to head down to Mass this weekend for a "Tastefully Simple" party Nannie is hosting. But mostly we just want Callum to see his family (and we want to see our family too!) Now they are talking about snow. We NEED snow (well, actually, south of us is supposed to get it) but we dont need our trip to be ruined!

Let's see...what else......um....Amanda made a killer homemade tomato sauce tonight. It was awesome. And I got some great video today of Callum sitting in the dining room chair playing with the iPod touch--he was playing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" game....and he knew exactly what he was doing. He scares me sometimes. I dont even know how to play it.

How come, J.D.?

Okay, so maybe he wont go down in history as being the "nicest" and most "socially appropriate" individual in pop culture, but the passing of author J.D. Salinger is an occasion that merits stopping--even briefly--to honor what this man did for literature, youth rebellion, and solidarity (so maybe I care....but remember, please, that I am a geeky English teacher). J.D. Salinger lived a tragic, yet respectable life--he completely closed himself off from society, the media, and pop culture....yet his motives were perfectly respectable and warranted. He had the "guts" to choose not to deal with the dishonesty, corruption, and "dog and pony show" that life--or a life of fame--often becomes. And for that, I think he is pretty cool. (plus, he lived on a farm, and I like milk).

Salinger wrote probably the perfect book; THE CATCHER IN THE RYE is the book that kids who hate reading love to read. And for good reason. Hovering at number 4 in the "top 5 books of Jared's all time" list, "Catcher" is a true masterpiece, and if you havent read it you should. The tragedy of "Catcher," in fact, isnt the tragic life of Holden Caulfield, but rather the fact that kids (including me) finished it--DEVOURED it, in fact--only becoming too excited to read other stuff Salinger had written. And there was nothing. Well, there was "something." But it was really nothing. FRANNY AND ZOOEY and NINE STORIES were strange, random, and disappointing. Its like when I fell in love with "Stone Temple Pilot's" song "Plush" back in the mid 90s....Plush was a KILLER awesome song. And then, upon listening to the rest of the album, I realized NOTHING on there a) sounded like Plush and b) sounded like anything I even remotely wanted to listen to. Yeah. Like that.

Why is THE CATCHER IN THE RYE so awesome? There are many reasons. Its like asking why Aristotle is so awesome; the "stuff" in his "Rhetoric and Poetics" is so elementary...so common sense...that we take it for granted.....NOW. But what Salinger did with Holden Caulfield was create the original "brat;" Salinger paved the way for other whiney, entitled, spoiled, pain-in-the-ass-rich kids to come to the forefront and exploit how difficult their lives are. Basically, thanks to Salinger, we have shows like "The O.C.," "The Hills," "Beverly Hills 90210," and just about every other "youth-in-revolt" kind of package out there. Holden Caulfield was the original emo, and he was the original Abercrombie. He made it possible for bands like "My Chemical Romance" to exist. He was the man. A tragic and very very sad man.

When I teach high school English year after year (and I know I'm still somewhat of a rookie) I see Holden after Holden after Holden, all putting on the act....all walking the walk....all pretending they dont care about anything or anybody in any type of authority. But now I am smart enough to know that they do care. Just like Holden. After reading this post, you should do two things: You should go read the book. Then, you should know this: Kids are actually really great people, things arent as bad as you see on the news, and not all hope is lost.......