Walter A. Brosco, esq.

Today is my last day at work this week and I couldn't be more excited about that.

Today is also the anniversary of the day that Seaves and I first met. I sent her flowers at work.

This past weekend was pretty great. On Saturday we went to Dusty's for a beer tasting event. I thought that we were going for the grill demonstration and beer tasting, but it turns out we were just going for the beer tasting. Which turned out just fine. There were 7 beers on tap that we got to sample and then 8 or 9 bottled beers from a craft brewer. I keep forgetting the list of beer at home so I can't provide any more details than that. I fail at beer-reviewing. Beer drinking I do alright. The beer tasting was good and fun, but it wasn't very much beer, and we were hungry. So the six of us went next door to the Tap Room and ate dinner out on the patio. Our waitress, Viiu (Vee-You), was new to the job so the service was...questionable. But everybody got food and beer, and then more beer (except Will, he was drinking wine...oh and I had something called an Angel's Kiss which was pretty close to an Ecstasy Martini) and then we got to the point in the evening when someone had to make the decision about whether we should all go home or drink more or go somewhere else. Right before that happened, someone in our group decided that shots would be a good way to help make that decision.

The ladies got tequila and the men got Irish car bombs. I splashed beer on my shirt and shorts dropping the thing into the thing. I am bad at doing shots. Especially complicated "do this then this" kind of shots. Finally it was decided that we would all go hang out at Julie&Will's house, but not before another round of shots. Dusty's is like the Gateway to Debauchery.

We swung by the house, picked up some wine and some port, snuggle Drew for a few minutes--who really couldn't be bothered because he was having such a nice time with his Grandma--and we were over for more frivolity. The ladies and children hung out inside, and the men and the bugspray hung out in the backyard. J&W have two kids, and D&J have one...Drew was the only one who didn't make it out...he has a relatively early bedtime of 7:45, so we either could have gone for just a few minutes, brought him and kept him up past his bedtime, or left him at home with Grandma.

We stayed out late and on the way home we hit Insomnia Cookies for fresh deliciousness of brownies and cookies. Oh man that place is SO GOOD. When we got home Seaves hung with her Mom for a bit and I played StarCraft. I'm seriously addicted to that game again. Anyone for some Battle.Net? Im in ur base killin ur d00dz. OMGZERGRUSH!!

Tomorrow we're going up to Traverse City and hanging out with Julie and Will even more (they're going to be so sick of us) for some wine tasting and a little vacation. Drew will be chillaxin' with Grandma again. We'll be back on the 4th.

Young Sycamore

I must tell you
this young tree
whose round and firm trunk
between the wet

pavement and the gutter
(where water
is trickling) rises
bodily

into the air with
one undulant
thrust half its height-
and then

dividing and waning
sending out
young branches on
all sides-

hung with cocoons
it thins
till nothing is left of it
but two

eccentric knotted
twigs
bending forward
hornlike at the top

~William Carlos Williams

Someone stole our bug zapper from our backyard last night.

If there was one thing about our backyard that I loved more than anything, it was the sound of mosquitos being consumed in an electric grid after being drawn to the low, purple light of loveliness.

I'm pretty pissed off that someone stole it. Right before we got in the car this morning, Seaves said, "Where's the bug zapper?" I called the cops when I got to work but they want me to be at the house in order to file a report. So I'll take care of that at lunchtime. Wow am I fired up. I can't remember being this angry about something in a long time. Petty theft hasn't been a problem in the neighborhood to this point. I mean, just the other night we left the garage door open all night on accident. No more. And the students who live around us are going to bear the brunt of it. Because my suspicion is that this is a prank or something from some of the renters that surround our backyard. And even if it isn't, I'm still calling the cops on them for the smallest little bullshit from now on. Noise after 10pm? You're getting a noise complaint. Garbage in your yard at 10:00am following a Saturday party? You're getting a nuisance complaint.

And the worst part is that now I have to buy another bug zapper at $48 per, plus a chain or cable lock to attach it to the post from which it hangs. I'll also be laminating a card that I attach to the chain that simply reads, "FUCK YOU."

Mileage: 2.17

I ran in my orthotics for the first time with my new shoes, with mixed results. I know that they say that I'll need to break them in slowly (both the shoes and the orthotics), and there were times during the brief run that my feet felt both very good and very bad. But I didn't wake up crippled this morning, as they said I might the first time couple of times I ran in them. So that's a plus. I'm still not sure if I should just slowly increase the mileage with the orthotics or if I should alternate between running with them in and not running with them.

The loop I ran was pretty good, and I thought it was shorter than it turned out to be according to Gmap Pedometer. So that's a good sign. And it'll be pretty easy to add small increments to the route without too much. I basically just ran out and then around the neighborhood and back. I could extend it by a street here or there to add a quarter mile or even another full mile. So it'll be a good route for short run days.

Please please please please please let Phish get back together and tour.

Trey mentions it.

Billboard.com talks about an upcoming album.




As he saw his life run away from him
thousands ran along
chanting words from a song!

BIG RED! AND THE MUSIC MACHINE

01. Reincarnation Song by Toad the Wet Sprocket
02. Leyendecker by Battles
03. Hail Hail by Pearl Jam
04. Put It Down by Mike Doughty
05. Books Written for Girls by Camera Obscura
06. Suits are Picking Up the Bill by The Squirrel Nut Zippers
07. You Are a Runner and I am My Father’s Son by Wolf Parade
08. This is a fire door never leave open by The Weakerthans
09. Fake Empire by The National
10. Sur le Fil by Yann Tiersen
11. Finest Worksong by R.E.M.
12. Common People by William Shatner (featuring Joe Jackson) ((Pulp cover))
13. All I Need by Radiohead
14. Catapult by Counting Crows
15. Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch
16. Charlie My Boy by Jimmy Dorsey and the Dorseyland Jazz Band
17. Back and Forth by The Dismemberment Plan
18. So Come Back, I Am Waiting by Okkervil River



I thought about putting this up on Muxtape, but they only allow 12 songs and I couldn't decide which 12 to keep. So it isn't there. This mix sounds best when played at ridiculously high volume.

Remember everyone: guns don't kill people. Bullets, loaded into guns, held by people as part of "a well regulated militia," kill people.

Guns! Guns! Everyone run out and fellate a handgun today! The Supreme Court of the United States of America says it's o.k.!

Every state should require all 16-year-olds to take driver's ed and upon successful completion of that course, the student will receive a drivers license and a handgun. Those students should be required to carry that weapon with them at all times until they die. AT ALL TIMES. Even at school, and even when sleeping. And especially on airplanes.

An unarmed citizenry is a complacent citizenry. And a complacent citizenry is exactly what the terrorists want. If every person in America doesn't own a gun within the next 3 months, the terrorists have already won.












/Remember that time when I was like, "maybe I'll try to be more thoughtful with my political blogging..."? No? Neither do I.

Mileage: 3.3275 (according to Gmap Pedometer).

It was a simple out and back route from the house to Lake Lansing Road. On the way back I was struggling a little bit and running toward me on the same sidewalk was a cute little coed. I tried not to look too much like I was dying as we got closer to each other. And then we got really close and realized that it was one of our babysitter, Brooke. She just graduated from MSU and worked in the Infant Room when Drew was there. She looked like she enjoying her run a lot more than I was enjoying mine. Ugh.

Senator Dodd is pissed.

I need some fun today. Since it's quote day, leave me your favorite quote...or even better, let's do song lyrics.

Song lyrics it is. Click the little "reply" button down there and type in your favorite lyrics to your favorite song.

Here, I'll start:

"How I don't know what I should do
with my hands when I talk to you
How you don't know where you should look
so you look at my hands."
The Weakerthans - Pamphleteer

Seaves told her Mom these two stories and her Mom said we should be writing these down so we don't forget, which is a pretty good point. So here they are, so we don't forget:

Cute Story #1:
For the last little while Drew has been pointing out "ouchies." He's fascinated with his little scratches and bruises. And we always ask to see them and then we kiss them and ask him if they're all better and he says, "Yes!" So Sunday Drew saw Seaves' foot, which had a big scratch on it. Drew practically screamed, "Mommie! Ouchie!!!" and Seaves said, "Yes, Mommie has an ouchie." And then Drew knelt down and kissed her foot. It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen. And then he gave her a tackle hug on the leg and ran off. It was totally adorable. And of course we just stood there all choked up at how sweet it was that we couldn't even say anything.

Cute Story #2:
Drew has been really into the Dr. Seuss book, "Green Eggs and Ham" for a while now, and will request it simply by saying, "Ham! Ham! HAM!" at increasing volume until you say, "You want to read 'Green Eggs and Ham'?" To which he will reply, "YES!". Anyway, we say, "Hi, Sam!" after the first "I am Sam." A couple of pages later during the "I do not like them Sam-I-Am! I do not like green eggs and ham!" there's an illustration of the unnamed resistor shaking his fist. Here it is! . So anyway, we both shake our fist when we read that part.

This weekend Drew was not in an eating mood. We tried lots of different things all following this series of exchanges, "Do you want _____?" "No...Yes!" "O.K. Here's some _____." "No!" Rinse, repeat. So I was finally chasing him around with a spoonful of oatmeal and he was sitting on the landing. I asked him if he wanted some oatmeal. He said, "No!" So I asked him if he wanted oatmeal here or there? And he shook his fist like that dude in Green Eggs and Ham while saying, "No!" He picked up on the allusion! Just like that! No other hints from me or anything! I was impressed.

This entire evening was awesome. I don't know why, but Drew was in such an amazing mood the entire night. He was great when we picked him up, great when we got him home, great during dinner, great when we got him ready for bed, great singing his prayers. Just great.

We made homemade pizza for dinner and as it was waiting Drew starting asking for it (before it was ready). So he and I did a funny walk around the dining room chanting "Piz-zah! Piz-zah! Piz-zah!" and stomping our feet and clapping our hands. He loved it. Even after dinner was served he was stomping around the dining room clapping and hollering for pizza. Awesome.

After we got him to bed both Seaves and I worked out. I went for a run for the first time in a looooong time (see previous video post about it) and Seaves rocked the elliptical. And just now we did P.M. Yoga. It was nice. Now I am stinky and ready for a shower and bed.

What a great night!

EDIT: Turns out the mileage was only about 3.6 instead of 4. It felt like 4, though.

Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, MotherFucker, and Tits


My favorite bit from George Carlin was from an HBO special a while ago about shell shock. And how those two words effectively communicated to others all of the crazy bullshit that a combat veteran might be dealing with and how succinct of a diagnosis it is. But also how "shell shock" isn't used to describe the flashbacks, etc. that someone experiences, instead the term is now "post-traumatic stress disorder." Two words "shell shock" to four words. Shell shock. You can almost see things exploding around you as you say it. Shell Shock. It's vivid. Shell Shock. It's visceral. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. How clinical. How stand-offish. How detached.

Carlin's point, and he made it as he did all other points--witheringly--is that the combat veterans from Vietnam on might be getting the psychological attention that they need if we still called it "Shell Shock." And it was never more important to remember that than in the current situation with the Iraq war and the suicide rate among veterans climbing to incredible heights.

The world will miss George Carlin's social commentary.



( Google, motherfucker! Do you speak it?!? (I found the bit in its entirety...) )

Today started early, and with crying, which is usually a bad sign for the day to come. But I dropped off some milk and Moo Baa La La La and then went back to bed, and somebody at least stopped crying until around 6:15, whether he slept again or not is of no consequence to me.

We went to the zoo this morning, which was awesome again. The Potter Park Zoo is a gem. The animals were crazy today and doing all of their animal stuff, and all told we only spent $17.50 which includes parking, entrance to the zoo, a wagon rental (our wagon doesn't fit in the trunk or on our bikes), feeding the goats, and a diet Pepsi. Then we came home, had a nap, ate some lunch and then played.

We went to the grocery store and then Drew and I headed down to the Jazz Fest to give Seaves a little break. A shower to wash off the bug spray and sunscreen, and then a normal bedtime routing for Mr. Man, then Seaves and I drank a bottle of pink champagne, ate king crab legs, and shared some great conversation. Delicious.

Currently, I'm drinking a 10-year tawny port and eating brownie mix and loving my life. As Ingrid would say, "Hell fuckin' yeah."

This is just to demonstrate how chaotic and great it was with all the kids there...try to count the number of conversations going on at one time in the background. Awesome.



And here's Whiff making Drew laugh like a madman:



More with Whiff and Drew:

We're back from the beach. We went to Topsail, NC on Saturday to be with my family. It was a long trip out and a long trip back but the travel was totally worth it. All 6 grandkids were together and everybody except my younger sister who is stuck in Korea was there. Whiff came down and won the Super Nanny of the Year award for hanging out with all the kids for as much as he did.

Pictures, some videos, and some stories will be posted soon.