Weekend and Weekbeginning

Gotta keep those 'writing juices' flowing, so I gotta keep blogging. For some more quality, thought-out reading, we've always got well cooked contect over at spunkybean, but if you like randomness and A.D.D., this is your place.

ADMIRING: My friends and their work. I have two friends who keep blogs devoted to their hobby of photography. The first, Darrin Wassom, who's taken nearly 4 decades to turn his unique observations on the world into art, quickly turned his hobby into a small business. Make sure you click around his site and through to his blog, and then to his flickr account. I enjoy Darrin's photography for the same reason I enjoy Darrin's friendship - he will say or observe the thing you least expect. I wish I would have noted where I got this reference, but I think of Darrin as one of my toy-ship friends. A toy-ship person is a person who could sit and watch toy ships float on a pond or in a fountain for hours and enjoy every minute. He'd enjoy the randomness of their movements, the pride of the ship owners, the interactions between the children, their parents, and everyone sailing these ships. While you would see only ships floating on a pond, Darrin sees ships on the sea battling currents and waves, he's sees a son and his father forging bonds that will last lifetimes, and he sees perfection in Chaos Theory and Archetypal Patterns. Now he owns a camera and he can share what he sees with the rest of us.

The second is a business colleague and friend who simply added photography to his already lengthy list of amazing hobbies. He carves and builds woodwind instruments, he practices Transcendental Meditation, he built an amazing home in concert with a spectacular natural setting, he writes poetry (I'm pretty sure he does), and most recently he began capturing the world he lives in and the world he sees by way of his Nikon camera. I get many emails to my inbox advising me of the latest business trends, the best ways to build wealth, or a task I need to complete immediately, but none are more welcomed than Michael's weekly collection of photos that put it all in perspective. The world is beautiful - enjoy it. Take a moment and click around Ananda Soup ...at the very least I'll bet the images here are better than most of the views outside our office windows.

BRAGGING: My daughter is fast! Period. My wife spent Sunday monitoring a women's 10K and then told me to bring the family out to Kensington Parks for a Kids Fun Run. I've always thought my li'l 4-year-old was fast, but this was beyond my expectations. The other 5, 7, and even 9-year-olds had their work cut out for them to keep up with my recently-turned-5-year-old. Better yet ...she loves running and is proud of herself and how fast she is. My 3-year-old son impressed me by running the entire mile without stopping and also doing the pushups, the boxing, and punch-cards. Isn't there some race across the desert of Saudi Arabia? I'm entering my daughter in that.

Ya know, I like to be 'funny' (I try, at least), but sometimes I'm just not in the mood. Don't worry. Check back tomorrow. I'm sure I'll have something crass or slightly clever to share. For now, just remember ...the world is beautiful.

Fore!

It was a busy weekend with too much to tell. That is, if I was the type of guy to write in complete sentences and full thoughts. But ...what if I just bullet-pionted the highlights? Let's try it.

PARKING: I mentioned Friday that I was parking cars on my lawn for the PGA Championship. I did. I made some phat cash. However, the neighborhood turned into a battle zone where price cutting, customer stealing, and neighbors were pitted against neighbors to attract parkers. I, living a few blocks into the neighborhood and unlikely to get any drive-by parking, advertised by email and then also held a sign down on the corner of my street. Some sort of Neighborhood Parking Union was formed and I suddenly found myself labeled a 'scab' in this parking marketplace. I parked people for cheaper and with better quality - wouldn't block them in, provided free coffee ...and dental. Someone called someone a "wench" and worse right in front of my 5-year-old, and cops threatened to barricade both entrances and shut down the entire neighborhood if we all couldn't get along. My neighbor and I were so angered by the neighbors who were close to the entrances that we were fully prepared to offer parking for "free" just to screw everyone. It was horrible ...but fun ...and in the end, we made enough money to pay for a babysitter, a movie, popcorn, and pop. We also have a little left over to get some stumps ground. I know. I'm boasting about my extravagant purchases, but so be it.

WATCHING: Golf. When I wasn't locked in battle with neighbors over $5 parking spots, I was watching stuff. Notably ...golf. Friday and Sunday. Friday I took my 4 and 5 yr old, and Sunday I took just my 5 yr old. Two of the pro's gave her a ball, and one guy (Tom Lehman) had his caddy track my daughter down and give her a golf towel.

WATCHING 2: Batman. Wow. I'm not the first to describe it that way, nor will I be the last. But I'll bet I'm the first to describe it this way ...magnirifficly deliciousome! The Dark Knight is the best super hero movie I've ever seen. Not suitable for anyone under 13 years old, I think, but if you are "of age" ...you'll love it. This Joker was like Hannibal Lector in that he made you hate him. Made you sad that any writer or director could write such a character into existence, and then equally horrified that an actor (Heath Ledger) could make him believable - even though he's fictional to begin with. But you get my point. I was fully prepared to roll my eyes at times, fully prepared to say, "those geeks who saw this are total tools ...that sucked." Ya know how it goes ...someone says, "it was the funniest, best, and scariest movie of all time" and you see said movie and (a) you don't laugh and (b) you never, ever would consider seeing it again. Well ...me? I can't wait for my son to turn 21 and I can safely take him to see Dark Knight and sleep comfortably at night knowing it won't be my fault when he ends up a serial killer. Yes. That's how I'll define success when my children grow up ...by the fact they aren't serial killers, I'll feel like I did a great job.

BRAINSTORMING: A funny character on a sitcom would be a no-good son who's a serial killer and won't move out of his parent's house. Or, maybe put him in a movie.

Father: Geez, Billy. You can't do this to your mother and I. We've told you, if you are going to continue to keep body parts in the freezer, we're going to have to ask you to find your own place. A 24-year-old shouldn't be living at home. You need to get out and meet people ...and not kill them. When does it end? 8 victims? 11? You can't do this your whole life. You just can't.

Billy: Awwwwww, Dad. Leave me alone. I have an interview this Thursday. I'll find something soon.

REGRETTING: Writing that. It's not funny. Hence ...I don't currently have a writing gig for a sitcom or for a late-night talker. I suspect my wife will ask me to take that down. Look for an edit later.

APPLAUDING: My wife. I know ...too shmaltzy and smoochy for you all, but she was named "Athlete of the Month" and I think that's pretty dang cool.

BOASTING, BRAGGING, AND REDIRECTING: This last point is multi-faceted. First, I'm going to tell you again how awesome my friend Darrin is and his budding photography career is. Darrin Wassom is awesome and he's a talented photographer who sat on his talents for nearly 40 years. Lucky for him, its only 40 years, and if he lives another 40 years, imagine all the amazing things he'll do and capture in pictures. Second, I'm going to tell you I think my children are beautiful and cute, but not nearly as beautiful as the kids Darrin shot. Believe it or not, the lighting in my house does not show my kids in sepia tone or black & white - it takes a man with talent and a keen eye for defining a moment to do that. So, finally ...I'm going to ask you to look at my gorgeous kids. And to hire Darrin.

Tune in tomorrow for less shmaltz and more humor ...if "humor" can be defined as something found on this blog.

I'm Not Really into spunkybean ...Just Don.

Trust me ...I understand. I like me and things about 'me' way better than other people and what they have to say. So, I apologize to avid DonniEgo readers who've been left empty with lack of updates.

CHANGING: Hair stylists. This decision doesn't come easy, but I can no longer drive halfway across the city to stick with my hair stylist who changed salons. So, I called her old salon, Beauty in Birmingham, MI, and they set me up with a dude named Scott who, I have to admit, knocked it outta the park. That was Tuesday and I'm happy to report my hair is kickin'.

ANTICIPATING: A final, huge snow storm. The Metro Detroit area might get 8, 12 or 53 inches of snow sometime tomorrow. 'Developing storm' map here. I predict its going to pass south of me. But, I'd really like to use my snow blower another time, and my kids love the snow, so I'm hoping it hits Detroit and hits us hard.

REDIRECTING: You. To spunkybean. You don't think I'd let an entire blog entry pass without mentioning the site. My American Idol recaps are there ...hilarious and insightful as ever.

EMBEDDING: A cool YouTube video Darrin Wassom sent me about a program called Phun. It claims this software is a free download, and I aim to see if that's true. My kids, I think, would dig this.



Coming soon ...more guard talk, Survivor thoughts, and more.

Skipping and Skipping

SKIPPING: The FedEx man brought my Blackberry 8830. A grown man shouldn't skip ...but I was. So much happiness in the world, today.

AND, SKIPPING: Not only is tonight the American Idol premiere, but upon my visit home at lunchtime I found roma tomatoes, cilantro, and peppers sitting on the counter along with two avocado. My wife stopped at the market, folks, and we're having a little Idol Viewing Party ...woo hoo! Salsa and guacamole will be prepared and will be consumed. Oh, yes ...Don also has a "Never Perfect Guacamole Recipe." Ask me about it.

PROMOTING: My good friend's photography business. I've linked his blog at the right for quite a while, now. I hope you're not going to tell me you didn't ever look at it ...if I have it linked here, it ain't for me. It's for you!!! I just want to make your lives better. Below is an example. He's based in Grand Rapids so check him out. Let him take pictures of you or something.

Darrin Wassom Photography