Category: Uncategorized

Call it what you want…Just not…

Hump Day.

Well, some people (mostly my mom) calls days like today Hump Day because it is Wednesday and the week is theoretically downhill from the time you clock on Wednesday until you clock out on Friday. I think I’ll call it something random. Like…

This week has posed its’ interesting-ful-ness-alun-a-potomus. Again, my super (SuperGB) has been away for the week attending a work-related thing. SGB’s schedule is more gruelling than mine. Of course, I get to deal with the people while he isn’t here.

Besides all that negativity, I have had a fairly productive week. Prepping all the forms for the end of the semester, answering questions by transferring a caller to a completely random extension, unintentionally making people mad that sign for a loan that don’t realize that they aren’t signed up for enough hours to actually receive the loan. You know…everyday stuffis.

Tonight I am hoping to finally sit down with the ole guitar and work up a tune or two. I am wanting to start playing out again. I am a good bit away. I know that I’ll need somewhere around 40 tunes or so to last a 3 hour set. I am trying to steer away from the James Taylor, Paul Simon, and other softer music. I want to incorporate more “lively” music that is slightly reworked for coffee house tunage. (I am taking song suggestions, by the way.)

I’ll post my gigs on all the normal places…Facebook, MySpace, and right here!!!

Weekendings Oct 12-14

This weekend was quite awesome. There was much fun and excitement that was had.

Lovely and Little Bear shared a birthday on Friday the 12th. Little Bear, One year old, Lovely, several years passed the quarter-century mark.

Friday night was a date night for Lovely and I. We went to a wing place and dived into some wings and other fried things. Once our sodium levels and blood pressure was higher than normal, we decided to watch a movie. Elizabeth: The Golden Age. GREAT MOVIE!!! I didn’t think I’d like it, but it was quite good. We finally zipped back across the metro area back to the house. It was a great time where we just talked and spent time dreaming and loving each other. It was almost as beautiful as Lovely…almost.

Saturday was a whole different treat. The Catoe three went out to get the stuff for Little Bear’s Dedication & One Year Cookie party at church. Cookies galore and juice. Then back to the hacienda so I could get a chapter or two of the GRE studying under my belt.

Sunday was fun-filled and crazy. Pastor Rodney handled Little Bear’s dedication and did a fantastic job. After the service we all got together and munched on cookies and other sugar-laden favorites and sipped some punch. We watched Little Bear as she tore into her cake. She loved it!!! Everyone cheered her on as she dove face first into the icing and cake. Then after a family photo the majority went to the Garden of Olives to have a lunch gathering. Little Bear opened her color party book, Bentley chewed on a lemon, Nana and Gruff handled the breadsticks, Glammie and Munk glowed at their first grandchild, Kris and LBC held down one end of the table and Lovely and I held down the other.

Once home, there was gratuitous nappage and following that was a viewing of the nearly 4 hour Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Great weekend, I must say. No fajitas burned me. No yelling from my boss at the restaurant. No threatening of taking away my tips. No yellow shirt and black apron.

WOO HOO!!!

Oh, just in case, I’ll get my photos up on Flickr as soon as I can.

Rocks hurt my teeth!!!

I love being married to my Lovely. Today she is officially $29.99 plus tax…so happy Day to you.

She has brought joy and laughter to my heart and soul. Why? How? You ask?

Well, she can make up a jingle for a product in three tenths of a second. She has some of the funniest looks that she gives me. And she comes up with the hilarious ideas for marketable designs or random t-shirt ideas.

Here are a few:

I water my ladder with cactus water.

Rocks hurt my teeth.

Monkeys are only children needing Nair.

…AHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Lovely for making life so fun and full of giggles.

Oh, by the way, Little Bear is also having a birthday today. She is now One year old. I love you, precious. You are more beautiful is day. Popi is proud of you and longs to see you grow up to know and love the God of Harold, Ronald, and Michael.

Storytellin’ on “Race Weekend”

So this passed Friday night was the Storytellers up at the GVC in Gadsden. It was fantastic. Not a huge crowd, but very attentive. There were three singer/songwriters that were there to perform on Friday…Laura (my sis-in-law), Cherie (pronounced Shuh-rEE), and myself. We all played our tunes one at a time. They told me that I would start off since I was seasoned at public performance. Of course, I haven’t really played like this in a couple of years.

After the Telling of Stories gig, Lovely, Little Bear, and I grabbed a bite with my parents, Glammie and Munk. We just sat for a while, just talkin’ and catching up a little. It was great!!! Usually when we get together with my parents it is over food and we pretty much talk a few minutes before we eat and (with the baby here now) fairly soon after we eat, we leave. Not a lot of depth. But this weekend was different. They talked about their loft in Attalla, AL, and how things were going with that. We talked about how Little Bear is growing so fast and other things that are going on with us. We just had a great time reconnecting. Well, after we decided to hit the road, Lovely and I just decided to see if we could afford to stay in town for the weekend since my dad was preaching at GVC on Sunday. We went to one place….$159.00. “Hmm…not too bad. Oh, wait! That’s per night?!!! Crap, no!” Another place…$189.00 per night. A Super 8 motel with no continental breakfast, no pool or Jacuzzi, or anything…and crappy parking. $159.00 per night!?!?!? I finally broke down and asked why everything was so expensive from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. “Talladega weekend, dude! Didn’t you know that?” So I called my brother to see if he knew a place to stay that wouldn’t be outrageous. His response? Dude, just come hang at our place. We got couches. We have a packNplay for the little’en. Just come on.

So around 11:30 p.m. we pull up in front of their hacienda. Unloaded and all, we chat for a minute or two and then off to beddy-bye-land…until 5:30 a.m. Little Bear was on her weekday schedule.

So we, Lovely, Little Bear, and I just chatted downstairs as not to wake our gracious hosts from their slumber. Good news…they have a six-month old, so they were up about an hour later. We ate some hella-good food and got ready for the day.

We didn’t have a plan for the day, but my Pop said he was going to be working on the Attalla building. So we zipped out to the Wally World to pick up a few things for Little Bear (diapers and such) and went over to see the new-old place. Its gonna be a sweet place. Later that night, Kris and LBC zip out to a get together and we offer to watch little BAC. Free babysitters? Word! Munk and Gammie brought flesh of pigs for us to dine on. A good time was had watching the little’ens.

Sunday a.m. Little Bear is up at the BUTT_CRACK at about 5:30 (when I normally wake up for work). She was having nothing doin’ of going back to bed. So…we’re up. After I get a little of the groggy off, I zip out to get biscuits for the house since they’ve so gracious as to let us heat up their couches for a couple of nights. I take little Bear with me as a Popi/Daughter trip. We get back and are headed up the front steps. I stumbled up the stairs and fell…with little Bear in my arms. Luckily, my elbow caught most of the fall. Little Bear just barely bumped her noggin. Not a scratch or bruising or lump. I felt horrible. I medicated by eating.

Church on Sunday was quite awesome. I forget how much I like the GVC. It is less polished that the DTC. It seems to make it a little more intimate and accepting…I guess. Anyway. Bruce lead the worship with some stellar 1990s Vineyard tunes that made my heart just melt, and my dad, Munk, spoke on Sunday morning. He spoke on freedom from the bondage of Satan. This was something that I didn’t really agree with theologically, but he brought a passion that I haven’t seen him have in a while and I praised God for that.

Afterwards, we grabbed a bite with my parents and just talked about life. It was good. We laughed a lot and watched little Bear be as cute as she is. There didn’t really seem to be any distractions like there usually are…it was great.

All in all it was a great weekend. I’d do it all over again…just not on race weekend.

Very Quick, Very Short Story

I was thinking about this today. It just came to me in a couple of pictures as I was looking at my computer screen…Enjoy.

I met this Holstein cow the other day. She was quite nice. Somehow we got on the subject of “Cold hands, warm heart.” Then she asked if I needed some milk for my StarBuck’s coffee that I was holding. I said…

“No, thanks. I’m lactose intolerant.”
(This Very Quick, Very Short Story brought to you by: StarBuck’s Coffee, the Association Holstein Cows of America, and by the letters M, O, and the number Zero.)

A. H. C. A.
We make your world…Creamier!

Thoughts of the day…

Today. Hmm… Let’s see.

This is some of whats been cruizin’ through the bald noggin’ today…

What is giblet gravy made with the lungs, hearts, and other “innards” of the bird being baked.

How long is it before I will enter into grad school?

How hard is the GRE REALLY going to be?

Is four months enough time to get all my ducks in a row?

Man, I love playing my guitar. (Thanks Uncle B.) I wish I was playing and writing right now.

Storytellers is on Friday night. This Friday night. OH CRAP!!! I still don’t have much music. I hope they will still ask me back.

Is this what its like when you play on the road all the time and writing music for the next CD project?

If I ever started playing out like that I think I would want to stay unsigned. Or if Dave Barnes made a label, I would sign with him…if I was good enough.

Man, this paperwork is driving me batty. it just doesn’t stop. It keeps piling up and piling up and BLOGGING ISN’T MAKING IT GO AWAY.

Think of a happy place…a happy place…a happy place…

A home? A place of our own? Transportation that is dependable that isn’t astronomical in gas consumption. Financial peace. Free summers. Friday night football games and Saturday competitions.

Little Bear and Lovely’s birthdays. Hmmm. What about that?

Flowers? Mani/Pedi? Not just a meal together. Over the birthdays and holidays and all of the last 18 years or so has made eating so commonplace that it isn’t a celebratory thing anymore.

Hmmmm….Thoughts of today.

There’s more. Lots more, but only a few more minutes before I go home to Lovely and Little Bear.

Those are happy thoughts.

Yep. Happy thoughts.

UnSupervised Fun

It isn’t what it sounds like. The “fun” is muy sarcastic.

So here is the scoop. My super is OOT (out of town) for a conference. (By the way, SuperGB reads the Miguel El Toro Chronicles, so this should be awesome.)

Here is how it all starts today…or at least how I remember it…

I get to work late due to a baby explosion. Yup, Little Bear was all loaded up in the carseat (oh, I use the work “loaded” with the most intent) and I was loading up all the stuff for the day for Lovely and Little Bear to have a fun day. I glance away and all is well. I look back as a stinch hits my nose…WHAAAAAAAAAAT THAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!?!?!?!! Yep. It was everywhere. Carseat? Soiled. Baby? Soiled. Miguel el Toro’s work clothes? Soiled.

So we rinse off the rugrat. I change clothes. Change out the carseat. Load back up in the truck and zip off to work.

Now, I knew that SuperGB was going to be gone. No sooner than I get to my desk does the drama begin.

People need to sign their loans.
People are graduating in 8 days and haven’t been through the repayment info.
I still have a MASSIVE REPORT to do for the people graduating in about 2.5 months.
Loan checks for consolidations are piled up on my desk so high I can’t see past my fan.
I have people left and right asking me about stuff.
People bringing mail to me that obviously goes to some other part of the campus all together.
People needing to consolidate.
People calling while I’m helping other people that don’t know what they are doing.

Needless to say, so far it is a heinous day and it is just now 1:10 p.m. Much like SuperGB says, “If only I had 25 hours in the day I would be breaking even.”

So. No lunch break today. Probably no lunch break this week. I have too much to do. I’ll have too many people to deal with between now and Friday. This is not to mention the Restaurant job.

ugh!

By the way, life is not horrible. I had a great weekend with Lovely and Little Bear. Lovely was fantastic and beautiful as usual. Little Bear was a clingy baby all weekend…she just wanted her PopPop. We three just hung out and spent time chillin’. I wish everyday was like this passed weekend. =)

Forget work. I must blog.

Disclaimer-This blog will have cuss words. I tried to utilize different symbols and numbers to help it not be so blasting. If cussing offends, tune it at some other post.

Yesterday was horrible.

I woke up to the painful grumbling of my gut.

All day on Tuesday I sneezed. My stomach muscles were already sore. I had done some crunches and leg movements on Saturday to begin flattening my ghastly gut. Maybe it was a combo of all of it. Needless to say, I felt like what was in my gut…$h1t.

I was achy and congested and gut-crampy and just plain miserable. I tried to get up and help Lovely with a thing or two, but that didn’t last long. I mean, I couldn’t really lift much of anything ’cause I might crap myself. I couldn’t clean anything ’cause I was already congested enough and was gagging on my post-nasal drippage. My head was throbbing as well so, again, no lifting or cleaning.

Finally I gave up. I laid my sickly body down on the couch and covered myself up with pillows up to my head. I only rested my eyes because the TV was so d@mn loud, but the TV had to be turned up because the freakin’ AC unit is in the hall and when it cuts on “you can’t hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant.” (Thank you Uncle Lewis.)

Anyway. Today isn’t really much better. I mean, I’m not blowing holes in my pants or fallin’ down or horkin’, but I still feel like $h1t. And not just $h1t but warm $h1t with a migraine.

Well, hopefully, next time I’ll be more chipper. Maybe I can get the videos to embed. D@mn youtube. They were freakin’ hilarious, too.