An Exciting Week

This week was marked by a not one, not two, but three long-awaited events.

First of all, our new back deck was finished. This project took a long time. If you need a deck in Dover, by the way, we recommend Decks By Design. It was basically one guy, Trent, who really did amazing work. However, since he was only one guy, he took a long time. He took four weeks to do ours, but we were very happy with the results. It's made of that Trex stuff (no fear of splinters) and it's more than twice the size of our old one.If you're interested in seeing the deck in various stages of construction, click here.

mp3: "The Year Before the Year 2000" by Les Savy Fav

In other events, the new Les Savy Fav is out!

The new Les Savy Fav is out!

The new Les Savy Fav is out!

Can you tell I'm excited? This is the proper album follow-up to my favorite release of 2004. The new one's called Let's Stay Friends. Although, it doesn't quite have the manic energy of their previous work, they still stay true to form. What I love about them is how they perfectly combine tuneful pop and arty punk. I haven't fully digested this album yet. I do know that when I listen to it, I'm as excited as this little girl.

So yeah, this week was very exciting because of these two...

wait...

Did I say three things happened this week?




hmm... what else...





I dunno...




...something about the Wangsters.

Derek's Birthday Party

It was actually just a coincidence that he was at our house on the anniversary of his birth (Sept 9th.) He was passing through Dover, having attended a wedding in Eastern Shore Maryland the day before. We were a welcome way point on the back to Atlantic City.

He arrived during the middle of an Eagles game, so Megan, Paige and I were across the street enjoying meatballs, beer and boneless chicken wings. Well, Paige didn't have beer. So the spread provided by our neighbors Dan and Amy, became hors d'oeuvres. We later went over to our house to enjoy some Wii Tennis (party games), and then barbecued some beer can chicken (main course.) Following that, Megan surprised Derek with an ice cream cake. We didn't have any candles but Derek didn't mind. Unfortunately, Derek couldn't bring the leftover cake home for fear of it melting (just when I finished one ice cream cake, I'm saddled with another. Anyone wanna help me finish it?) Derek did get to take home a gift: one of our old computers with Windows XP installed on it, so he could finally use an iPod.

My favorite moment was Paige repeatedly wishing Derek a happy birthday, which we noticed he found charming. She said "Happy Birthday" like 33 times, which coincidentally was how old he turned yesterday. So, I hope Derek had a nice impromptu party. We certainly did.

mp3: "Frontwards" (Pavement cover) by Los Campesinos!

The Beginning of a Busy Labor Day Weekend

This had started out as a pretty atypical weekend for us. Recently, Megan started working per diem and for the last two to three weeks she had been working an extra day shift on Friday. To help out, my father started Paige-sitting Friday days. Recently, our cousin Dorothy moved from Georgia to nearby Pennsylvania and she was visiting my father this weekend. To kill two birds with one stone, my father took Paige to his house so the two of them could meet and spend time with Dorothy, her husband and two kids.

Apologies to my readers for being so verbose, but the above was a long way for me to explain how Megan and I found ourselves free of child care duties on Friday night. We took the opportunity to a have date night, going out to dinner. Coincidentally, at the same restaurant, we ran into one of my coworkers on her own child-free date night with her husband. Dover's a small town.

Since my dad had Paige overnight, the next day we were able to attend Pam's summer party. Well, actually it was another nurse's (Drake's) party but he was using Pam's house. Anyway, the bash was a blast. Pam had a pool making her her home a natural choice for a outdoor barbecue extravaganza. For the grilling, steaming, smoking etc... of all the food, I believe they had four propane tanks going. They served crabs, clams, corn, burgers, chicken... the list went on. Personally, I enjoyed the Beck's beer on tap and later the Jello shots (provided annually by Dawn, the E.R. unit clerk.)

However, there was much more socializing to do, so we left that afternoon to go to my parents house in Newark, DE to pick up Paige. Dorothy and her family were still there, so we sat with them watching Paige play with Dorothy's two daughters. Dorothy's move, mandated by her husband's military career, was quite a blessing. For her it was the first time in a long time that she lived near any relatives, and for my family it was nice to have her near for get-togethers and holidays.

After that stop, Megan, Paige and I piled into the car for a trip to Megan's parents in Nazareth, PA, where we're resting for the night. Tomorrow, Paige will get a visit with Megan's Mom-Mom. Later she'll have some Daddy time while Megan and her mother watch Carrie Underwood (American Idol and country music star) in concert.

So this weekend's busy; a good busy that was and promises to be a lot of fun.

mp3: "No P*%$y Blues" by Grinderman

The posting of this song has absolutely no relationship to anything I've written above. It's just a track I've been listening to a lot, and I think it rocks... I mean RAWKS!!!

Paige's Godfather Visited

Carl and Tony came through town three nights ago. They were actually on their way to Rehoboth Beach. Since we were located 35 minutes before their destination, they wanted to spend one night with us. It was a last minute trip for them. Luckily, I found someone to work my shift that night (Thank you, Dr. Zamara.)

It was a short, valuable visit. We mostly chit-chatted, played with Paige in the backyard, and had dinner. Unfortunately, Megan and I were having our deck rebuilt, so we had to grill on the driveway. Our patio set was in the garage, so we sat there with the garage doors up for an al fresco feel.

They brought gifts. I got (or actually borrowed) a book from Carl in response to a previous blog entry. Paige got a cute fly-girl outfit, another great outfit in a series of great ones from Tony and Carl. Megan told them they shouldn't have, but Tony reassured us they relished the opportunity to spoil a little girl.

The evening ended in a failed attempt to watch two movies. We finished the first one: the water cooler short film that Carl wrote years ago. It had been in post-production, waiting for music, for many years. I loved it. The other was John Carpenter's classic Halloween which we were too sleepy to finish. Maybe it was all that eating we did, including finishing the ice cream cheesecake from my birthday.

After bagels and bacon the next morning, the couple left for the beach. We hope they love Rehoboth. It would suit us fine if they made regular trips there, stopping by our place every time.