Vegans, Vegetarians, whatever

I just read a few different blog entries on different sites about this subject, and I'm probably going to get a few people offended by this post , but whatever, here goes.

I fully respect a person's choice, or religious beliefs for being vegan, or vegetarian, in fact I recently defended a colleague of mine's beliefs in his struggle to maintain his beliefs.
If a person makes that choice then so be it, I am never going to make that choice ( Leave my bacon alone!), but i fully respect a person's right to make that choice for themselves.

That being said, Leave Me Alone. I don't care to hear your preachy, self-righteous, patronizing and narrow-minded views on the subject. You are no better than me just because you are vegan.
You are not special because of this, nor are you unique either. You made a choice, so did I.
If I want to eat a burger, steak, or a chicken, than I will, and no amount of comments about factory farming, cruelty or suffering is going to sway me.

No comments on the state of my food either. I once worked with someone who commented on my breakfast, as Pig strips and embryos. Whatever, it is Bacon and eggs, and they are not embryos, as they were never fertilized, bite me, oh that's right you won't I'm meat. I don't comment on the fact that your food, is what my food eats.

They would have a better chance if they stopped with the whole meat is murder thing, getting preachy with me only makes me more resolved to stay the same.

I'm done now, and I'm thinking about having a burger.

Boys will be.....?

Boy2 is growing up too quickly.. He is 13 and I am sure I didn't know as much about "things" at 13 that he does.( or I just knew better than to discuss it around my dad)

A few cases to illustrate my point

Point #1 earlier this past summer, he decided to tell me how Harry Potter is dirty, when I asked him how, it all centered on the character of Oliver Wood (see where this one is going yet?)
and how when professor McGonagall asks if she can "borrow Wood for a minute", and the use of the phrase "morning Wood" Cue the ensuing 13 year old boy laughter.

Point #2 Near the end of the summer , we were out at a discount store with my Mom, and he came up to Mom and I with a box of condoms, in an attempt to freak his Grandmother out. Not. gonna. happen. Mom was a nurse for 42 years. not even blinking, mom said" at least you are using protection". this ended with a stunned look on boy2's face. Love the kid's sense of humor.

Point #3 The other night we were watching Private Practice and the storyline was about a young man with a Viagra problem. Boy2 thought the idea of a never ending erection was cool, until Grandma and I explained about how they fixed the problem. With needles, and deflation.
Cue look of pain and disgust.

More than that, though is the fact that he is way more aware of the whole sexual nature of people than I know I was at his age, he regularly accuses me of downloading and watching Porn, and makes comments of this nature to me. plus his favorite line from the 70's Show is"if God had wanted 2 virgins to lose it together, he wouldn't have given us middle aged Hookers." Go Figure.

What can you do with a kid like this?

Laugh a lot, and love him even more.

You're .........Pitiful?

As I was lounging around last night, flipping through channels in an attempt not to go crazy in the silence. my phone rang. At the other end was Boy2, he was excited, has he had got a new bed and was just beginning to put it together. He had complete faith in the fact that he would be able to do this and he was just calling to tell me that he had got the bed. after a brief conversation about nothing, we said goodbye. I thought nothing more of this, as he is generally capable of doing things like this.

Jump forward 3 hours, and he is on the phone again, the tears and frustration were clearly evident in his voice, there were no written instructions only pictures, and he could not get the bed together right, his knuckles were cut up, and he was ready to chuck the whole thing out. Once he was calmed down, I convinced him that he had 2 good options, forget about it for the night, sleep in his old bed and try again in the morning, or wait until I was there this weekend and we would build it together.

Surprisingly, he chose neither. the phone rang again about an hour later, and he told me it was together, and that he had gotten his Mom to help him. Also, it appears that he had missed a small warning about not tightening it all up till all the bolts were in place.

For a change, i resisted telling him that he needs to check for those things before he starts to build these things.

His good humour restored, I said good night and hung up. About 20 minutes later he called back. this time to tell me that he had heard a song , and had thought of me. He was playing it for me over the phone. Weird Al's "you're pitiful".

I would never have had the nerve at 13 to do that to my Dad, I would have been petrified of his getting angry at me.

I wish I had Boy2's nerve,...............and his sense of humour.

Shopping fun!

Whoever thought that back to school shopping could ever be fun has never done this with boys, or at least with mine.

3 stubborn boys and a Dad in the stores shopping for clothes of any kind let alone for back to school = nightmars of the highest order.

Boy3(youngest 11 years old) not sure what he wants won't try things on sure it will "FIT" finally gets a decent fitting pair of jeans and a shirt that he deems cool enough, and yes, he tried them on, damn straight, i try thhings on, so i know they fit.

Boy2(middle 13 going on 20) trying to convince me that they jeans he needs only have to be 30 inch inseams, he is as tall as me and I know he needs them to be longer, but again he won't try them on, as the fitting rooms are too close to the women's clothes. finally, a different store same style jeans,(longer inseam) tried on fits, done..

Boy1(oldest 15, going on 40) tries on aprroxamately 2,000,000 hoodies, before finding the right one, but at least he tried them on right?.

and the school supplies, why do they put odd numbers of things on the lists, and why specific name brand items, a staples brand highlighter is just as good as a Sharpie brand one, and costs about 50% less. and why all the Kleenex for the lower grades, do we have to supply all the kids in a class with stuff? If some parents are to lazy/ cheap to do this , why should I pay to support their kid?? Boy3 is the only one with piles of stuff on his list like this, it's like they give you the list for the whole year. I don't think that it should all have to go with them on day one. Boy3 says that in the past, some of his teachers have put all the extra stuff in a cabinet, and passed it out to kids who needed it during the year, not really noticing whose it was originally. What? I paid for stuff for my kid, not someone else's, if they need something, let their parents buy it , not me. so, he will only be going on the first day with the basics, as he needs something else, he will get it sent with him, with His name on it.

I hate back to school shopping. Their has to be an easier way.

Dad

When ever I think about my dad, 2 dates always come to mind, July 5th, and August 28th.

July 5th is the date of his death, I can recall with absolute clarity where I was, what time it was, and how I felt at that moment. In the kitchen, 6:30 am, sadness, loss and a small sense of relief that Dad was no longer suffering, and that his long ordeal that really started in 1989 was finally over.
You see, Dad was a cancer survivor, in 1989, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer, had surgery to remove it, no recurrence, no chemo etc, and stayed that way until 2001, when it came back.

2001, surgery, chemo (painful chemo, new drugs, worse than the cancer, he said) months later, back in remission, doing better, travelling, and skiing again.

2006, March, dreaded phone call, middle of the night, in hospital, a decision was made by all of us for a DNR order. weeks later Dad home doing OK, not great, but OK.

May/June, see dad, not great, getting ready for us to move back closer to home in a few weeks say see you soon to Dad, he replies with a goodbye.

July 5th, 2006 Dad gone a long fight over, drive to work to arrange time off, Paul Brandt's "Home" comes on radio, lose my shit the reality sinks in.

August 28th is Dad's Birthday he would have been 78. I still miss you dad, and so do the boys, you loved them and it showed, they loved you too, and I hope you are still watching as they grow into 3 young men that you could be proud of.

1st

Hey anyone, I'm just starting this, so I have no idea what this will be about.

mostly me and my challange of being a divorced dad to 3 boys who live in a different city and the adventure(ha) of trying to stay involved with thier lives as we go on, apart.

Last weekend was the first weekend with them. At least my ex is sane, she was willing to meet me at my mom's which is part way between us so neither one of us has too far too drive.

The boys and I had a decent time, waterslidess, beaches, go karts, I hope they don't think every weekend is going to be like this, I'll be in debt even further.

More posts will be coming soon, and hopefully will be funnier.