Judy

As I begin to write this, I’m at work. I just got off the phone with Sarah. Judy Lefaive died. She was the mother of one of Sarah and my oldest friends. One of the solitary friends we still have who could truly and unequivocally be described as ours. I met Sarah on Pearl Harbor Day in 1996. I met Scott about a week later. Sarah knew him already, but my relationship with him and my relationship with Sarah began almost simultaneously. We graduated from high school together. We went to college together. For a brief period we all lived together. Scott could have been the Best Man at our wedding. He could have been the Maid of Honor. We’ve seen each other infrequently over the years since Sarah and I moved to New York in 2002. But we are still friends. Absence aside, we’re still dear friends, I think.

Scott’s mom was a lovely person, who clearly loved her husband and her two children undyingly. And they all loved her. I won’t go into the specifics of her illness or her passing. And while I was fortunate enough to be her presence last week, as I try to absorb this expected news, I will prefer to think of the next to last time I saw her. It was December 2006. Sarah and I had been in Greensboro to spend Christmas with her family and to show our infant son off to anyone we could. Even though Scott was in Charlotte, Sarah insisted that we bring Nate to meet his parents, so we drove to their house, and we had a nice visit with the two of them. It was brief. But today, it feels somehow important that we were there.

In the end, you never know how people feel about you. I can be bristly. In the early days of my friendship with Scott, I could be exceedingly so, at times. I don’t know how Judy felt about me. I think she liked me. I know she liked Sarah. For us, she and Mike, and Niki, and Scott were like family to Sarah and me. They’ve gone through a long and difficult period to get to today, the start of another long and difficult period. My thoughts are with them. And with Judy.

Magnolia Jane

So it's been a long time since I last posted here. A lot of that has to do with the job I started the day after the election. A lot of the blame lies on the shoulder of the little lady pictured above. She was born the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday), and has taken quite a bit of my time. She's also responsible for my much earlier curfew. (It's almost ten. I really should be in bed.) She's only about 12 hours old in the picture. She was eight weeks old on this past Friday.

I'm going to try to post more frequently. In addition to the baby, a lot has been happening. Sarah and I have put in an offer on a house, which is a weird experience, and one that I will no doubt feel the need to speak about in some fashion as the days and weeks go by.

That's all I really wanted to say for the time being. Over and out.

Where has the day gone?

In September, there was no gas in Atlanta. If a station had gas, or was rumored to be getting gas, people would line up in their cars for hours. Sarah and I went out one night and sat for a few minutes in a line of cars at a nearby QT station. Luckily, we had a line of sight to the pumps, and I noticed that nobody was pumping. When Sarah got out to ask the people what was up, she was told by a guy that the station had run out of gas at six in the morning, that stations are not supposed to be out for more than 12 hours, so he had shown up at three that afternoon for a spot. It was after nine, and there was no sign of a gas truck.

When the pipelines started pumping to the southeast again, we were paying between $4-$4.25 for a gallon of regular.

I just filled up at the local Kroger for $1.68.

$3.19? Where's the day gone?

The job

So I'm in the last phase of my head cold. It's the longest phase, when you feel basically fine but a little stuffy, and go to bed every night thinking that it's bound to be cleared up by tomorrow only to wake up with a fullness in the back of your throat.

Anyway, I'm not at a hundred percent yet, but I'm in the low 90s. I've started a new job. It's at an engineering and construction company. I'm still not entirely sure what that means. Basically, the company receives all sorts of government contracts, works with all sorts of government agencies and helps them build and repair infrastructure here and abroad. My job, so far, is to print out a bunch of stuff and put it in three-ring binders.

I wonder what it's like to have a job that you don't feel any 15 year old could do.

Today was my third day. A guy who wasn't at work on my first day and came in around midday yesterday, was fired today. I never met him. Don't know his name. I think he would have been somebody to funnel work my way. I never shook his hand or introduced myself, but he sat about ten feet from me. I figured we'd meet at some point. Guess not.

Underestimating Hussein

This is from about a year ago.

As I write this, it's a little more than 48 hours after Pennsylvania was called for Obama, and he was almost certain to win the election. And he did. It's sort of amazing. Barack Hussein Obama? Did you know that was his middle name?

I remember a few years ago when I saw it printed, and I had--I'm sure--the same reaction just about everybody had: Shit, I guess that guy's not going to be the first black president, afterall. I mean, I like the way he talks and all, but there are simply some things Americans don't do, and I think voting for a guy named Barack Hussein Obama is somewhere near the top of that list.

I mean, the guy's first name rhymes with Iraq; his middle name is the same as the dude we deposed and essentially assassinated; and his last name not only rhymes with Osama, it's almost spelled Osama. And now, the guy is the president-elect of the United States of America.

I'm going to need a little more time to think about all of this. I will return to all the happenings of the week sometime in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I need to get ready to get ready for bed. I leave for work at 6 am.

President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama

No words. They should have sent a poet. They should have sent a poet.

Please. Please. Please. Please. Please.

Um...I'm not going to be doing any real time blogging of this. Just want to say that I have a head cold, and it's not helping my vibe. I'm going to need them to call Virginia for Obama. Indiana would be nice too. I'm not greedy. I'll let McCain keep Georgia. I just need some red toss-ups called for Obama. And I need them soon.

I know that all the figures are still saying big night for Obama, but I'm beginning to feel the finality of the vote set in, and I need some good news to push me in the direction of this being a good night.

Also: Apparently my uncle Jim (my father's brother) is running for mayor of tiny Gordonsville, TN. I think there are five or six people in the race.

Anyway, the next thing I post here will come only after the results are clear.