Panic State

Walking Back from the Job Site Together Last Night

I am enjoying having the California contingent in the house so much that I don’t know how I’m going to deal with their departure. I could refuse to drive them to the airport on Saturday but my daughter is inventive enough to overcome that obstacle. I’m guessing that it might skew future relationships as well. I’ve got entirely too used to having my granddaughter sit down to read the morning paper with me and then greet me when I get home from work. There has to be some sort of chemical released in your body when a baby smiles at you, I know I’m addicted.

My Breakfast Companion This Morning

I helped out across the street with the deck yesterday after returning from work. I dug a small trench for the base of the staircase which was finished yesterday. My wife brought our granddaughter over to watch part of the process and that was all the motivation I needed. The contractor is putting the final touches on today and maybe into tomorrow but it should be done when we make the big move over the upcoming week. We’ll have to start looking into scheduling a party to celebrate, but first the move.

Deck Progress

Finishing up Stairs on Left

My daughter and Wingman got me a brand new blu ray player for Father’s Day since they were offended by the ancient relic I currently use (which they also got for me in the not too distant past). My daughter took some initiative last night after the First Blog Reader retired for the night to set it up for me while I was at the movies. We returned to find her extremely frustrated because everything worked fine (I can tell the difference in quality) except there was no sound. While my daughter is my “go to” techie in most cases, even she was stumped and the sun source of this type knowledge, Wingman, was performing on a stage in Cincinnati.

Wingman in Cincy Last Night

I had to quell the panic about to set in when we hooked up the old player and the sound didn’t work for that either, rendering me movie-less until we can get it fixed. Anybody who reads this blog regularly will understand the need for panic on my part. When the Geek Squad initially set this up at the current house they must have used some arcane method because we were stumped and extremely frustrated after working together on it for a while.  Looks like I’ll have to move up the scheduling on their return to the new house.  

Gramma Time

I needed to get my wife out of the house last night because I could tell the cumulative effect of her grandmothering over the past few weeks had reached a culmination point and she needed a night out of the house. Child rearing is best left to the young with their semi-boundless energy. Grandparents are more ideally suited for brief surges of effort. She thoroughly enjoyed getting out last night and laughed almost continually through the movie.

Central Intelligence is a passable buddy comedy with Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart performing in the central roles. Johnson has always struck me as a better actor than he gets credit for but once you look past the biceps he’s capable of nuance. He plays a high school nerd bullied in high school who returns twenty years later as, well, the Rock. Hart tones down his comedy chops to meld nicely with him and a totally haphazard plot that produces just the right amount of laughs you’d expect from a summer sojourn in the theater. It’s not rocket science but it works and there’s enough fun to lift the spirits of an overworked grandma, which is what was called for last night.