DadJack.com Blog

Although I’m bummed about my Mom, I’m going to try and enjoy this long weekend.  4th of July is my favorite holiday… BBQ, fireworks, warm weather, it’s just the perfect holiday (although it might be a tad better if it required costumes!)

Before I forget, today was a good Groupon… Especially if you are in the Palmdale, Torrance or Murrieta areas!

Stench has been a man of mystery the last few days, secret deals, unknown sex injuries… hopefully he’ll clear some of that stuff up next week.

I was at the CRN yesterday… Always fun, they’re good people!

The Insana Quotient has been going great… We are launching on KGIL here in L.A. August 1st from 4-6a… So if you’re up early give us a listen.

Ever try to do something nice and get treated like you did something wrong?  Yesterday I went to take the trash out and as I was walking back from the trash cans I noticed a card on the ground, it was someones ATM card.  I’m new to the building and have only met a few of the other tenants (There’s only 6 units) and to be totally honest don’t remember any of their names.  So I figure I’ll knock on my neighbors door and ask if they know who the card belongs too.  I ring the bell, a woman answers who I have not met before, I introduce myself as her upstairs neighbor and ask if she knows who the person named on the card is… ends up it was her husband.  She then proceeds to quiz me on who I am and where I got the card, like I stole it… If I had somehow taken her husbands card why would I then return it?!?!

I bought the kids the “popper” sampler pack at the market yesterday… It’s the closest thing to fireworks you can get in L.A.

Tater Tots are deadly… especially if you’re stuck in a hole in the wall?  Don’t let the bed bugs bite.  I have an idea, put some clothes on that kid!  I’m sure they’re iStunned.   There is something Fishy about this whole thing!  Are you really a “math genius” if you turn down that much money?  I know what I’m getting Stench for Christmas!!!

Have a safe and relatively sane 4th of July Weekend!

Rock On, Jack

My Mom was laid off yesterday… She has a great attitude and has some opportunities, but it still sucks.  There is no such thing as job security anymore… Or any kind of confidence that when you lose your job you’ll be able to find another one.   At some point things have to turn around… Right?

Hung out with the kids yesterday which is always fun.  They’ll be back this weekend for the holiday, so I’m looking forward to spending some more time with them very soon!  I took Lucy to buy some books yesterday while we were out… She finished the ones I had previously purchased her and that was our deal… Her reading skills are advancing pretty quickly and I don’t want the summer break to slow her progress.  Bing also thinks he can read… But he more or less gives you his interpretation of the illustrations, which are usually pretty close to the real text.

I need to get on Wipeout… I might not win, but I will surely look like a dork!

I’ve been really enjoying the podcast lately… 3 years, 0ver 800 shows deep and we’re still going, who would have thought it would have lasted this long?

Daryl Hannah hates your nanny!  Not as surprised as we were!  I missed another chase... and I drive right through where this one started every morning at 1:30a.  Speaking of lay offs.   Drunks now have to blow. kids love beer.  Quit killing this!  Off to the dead letter office.   Gross!

Rock On, Jack

I saw it this morning!  I have two favorite times of the year for news, July and December.  Today I saw the “what fireworks do to a mannequins hand story” and come December I will enjoy “Here’s what your Christmas tree looks like in flames” story… Hey, it’s the simple things.

I’m picking up the kids to go hang this morning… This not being able to have them come over midweek thing kind of sucks, so I try and make up for it with a midweek adventure of some sort.

I went and purchased replacement betta fish number two… This time Lucy’s died, so we’ll have to see if the new one fools her!?!?  The color is almost perfect, but it’s a little smaller than “Shark Heart 1″ was. This time I went to a different pet shop… my logic is that I had been buying the fish at a local, small pet shop (Peggy Wood’s in Burbank) and they most likely don’t sell may betta’s, so their fish sit around in the tupperware for longer, this time I went to Pet Smart (or PetCo, Petville, PetMart… I can never remember the name of that place) where they sell more fish and should by my estimation have “fresher” fish… We’ll see.

I realized the other day that I now have health insurance… which means I can try out for Wipe Out!  I need to see if there are auditions anytime soon, Lucy would be so excited to see me fall and make an ass out of myself on there!

I’ve been slacking on my summer movie releases, I still haven’t seen Shrek or Toy Story 3… I think the next thing we will see for sure is Despicable Me, both the kids and I want to see that one. (Opens July 9th)

No resolution on Stench’s pod blind item?  And he’s not talking, he hasn’t even told me off the air (Because he knows I would talk about it here).

Thanks for all the great 4th of july suggestions on Facebook…  We will most likely stick to the valley, maybe watch the city of Burbank set the hillside on fire with their annual display (It happens every year, the display from The Starlight Bowl starts small spot fires… I have an idea Burbank, don’t have your cities display in the hills, there are flat, less flammable parts of the city!?!?)

Finally, a job I’m qualified to do!!!  Birdsssss!  What, the Skort didn’t make the list?  R.I.P. Paul Johnson.   I want to take the kids to see this.  Quick someone get a swoffin.   Holy pipe.   Ouch!

Rock On, Jack

We had another death in the family… This time Lucy’s betta, “Shark Heart” died.  I found him lying lifeless at the bottom of his bowl yesterday.  You would think I would be pretty anti-betta after the two recent deaths, but I actually like them… So far they have had the respect to not die while the kids are over!  This one might be a little harder to pull off, but I’m going to go today and try and find a look alike.  I may have to bite the bullet and get a really aquarium if these things keep croaking.

I haven’t done much exciting this week, yesterday it was laundry… No in-unit washer-dryer like at the old place, but we have pay machines in the building.  Got a stash of quarters and went wild.  Oh ya, and I got a walk in, cruised magnolia listening to my ipod… it was very nice.

Bing is such a funny little guy… this weekend he woke up first, I heard him get up.  So he walks into my room and looks at me, then walks out.  I figure he’s going to go get babies (yes, we have multiple Babies now… Not only “regular baby” and “new Baby”, but “stuffed animal baby” and “diamond baby“.)  When he didn’t come back I went to look for him… He was lying on the floor of his room holding babies.  I asked him what he was doing and he said I was sleeping and he didn’t want to wake me… So he now knows he can wake me whenever he wants!

Stench dropped a “pod blind item” on us yesterday and I’m still trying to figure out who he was referencing!?!?  He said someone in pod world had to go to the doctor to have an injury treated that was recieved during “funky” sex!?!?

If I figure it out I’ll let you know.

Rock On, Jack

2010!  It’s just days from July, we’ve already used up half of this year!  Time flies when 10% of the U.S. is unemployed, over 17% is under employed, oil is spilling into the ocean, Gary Coleman is being pushed down a flight of stairs and Lost comes to an end.  For me personally this year has been alright, but I know so many people still out of work or recently laid-off…  Kind of sucks!

The kids and I had a fun weekend… As you saw in the photos from the previous post, we went to the Malibu segment of Hands Across The Sand with Angela Channel…. Lucy was really into it, she’s into anything ocean related, Bing just wanted to play in the sand.  After we attended Line 6’s Summer Picnic ( The company my sister works for)… Which is always fun.  As I’ve mentioned before, I think it’s so cool that they put in the effort (and expense) to show their employees that they appreciate them, that’s rare now-a-days.

I’m excited for the three day weekend… Although, it makes things a little harder at work, everyone is already out of town so it’s hard to find guests to book!   We have a couple parties to go to, but no solid plans on the actual 4th yet… We’ll most likely stay close to home, getting anywhere near the beach this weekend is a nightmare.

I have found another reason “awesometown” is less than awesome… They screw you on fix it tickets.  When I received a ticket for burnt out brake lights in North Hollywood it cost about $50 for inspection and processing fees… Santa Clarita charges $160.00 – Not awesome, in fact it just seems like you’re trying to screw people out of their money!

Speaking of tickets, this is sad, that’s three this month!  Now I know I’m old… This doesn’t sound fun. Who doesn’t disagree with that stupid statement!!! Really?  This is the part of this whole scandal your upset about?  Especially if you’re Stench!  This is crazy!

Rock On, Jack

We joined Angela channel at today’s offshore drilling protest, Hands Across The Sand.  We were by the pier in Malibu.

The Surfrider tent, they organized the Malibu group

Wendy, Bing, Grandma, Angela and Lucy in the line

Hands Across The Sand - Malibu 6/26/2010

Angela Channel even had her protest shirt on!

The surfers came out of the water to join in

I competed in an ice cream eating contest… I did not win!

All this Farrell’s talk… Well today is finally the day.  Stench and I will be there tonight recording the podcast live and eating ice cream… What more could you ask for?  Alina is a confirmed guest tonight… She’s driving with Stench, so I know she’ll be there.

One betta down… I walked into the kids room yesterday and Bing’s betta was sleeping on the bottom of it’s tank.  I tried to wake him, but he was sleeping so soundly, so I shook his bowl a little harder!  I realized something was wrong, so I started CPR and hooked to wires to a 9 volt battery to act as a defibrillator… But I couldn’t bring him back, after 3 hours of trying to bring him back I called the time of death and made the very difficult flush.  Knowing the sensitive nature of this event, I did what any responsible adult would do… returned to the pet shop and purchased a look-a-like betta.  As of this morning, betta 2.0 seems to be doing fine.

Speaking of passing, I was arranging the disposal of the “Busty Old Car” yesterday… Why is it that everything revolving cars is a pain in the ass (even driving them most of the time in this town)?  It looks like the ‘93 Altima will meet it’s final resting place later today.  R.I.P. Busty Old Car.

Stench and I had technical difficulties on yesterday’s pod…  Sorry, considering we’ve recorded over 800 1-hour episodes it’s bound to happen every once in a while.

I had to go to the Do It Center yesterday to get some keys made… There’s something about a hardware store that makes you want to build and/or remodel stuff!  Luckily, I realize I have no construction skills (Other than carrying bags of rock… That’s what I did when I worked with the construction company.  I did get to drive a truck, the kids thought that was cool) and only purchased my keys and not the skill saw that looked so cool.

I really feel like Ron’s Show (The show I produce) is gaining momentum.  Ron is such a great guy, I really want this show to blow up (I mean that in a good way… I guess blow up could mean go away too!).

It looks like they may have worked on each other!  Way to go Jimmy!  AZ might be anti-immigrant, but their nun’s are pro-choice.  I know people are mean… But don’t kill puppies!!!!  It’s a tough job.  You have to be quite when having sex with a homeless woman!

Rock On, Jack

Yesterday was the longest day of the year and summer has officially started… The only bummer of my new apartment is no swimming pool.  The kids swimming was getting very strong with all the pool time we got last summer.  My favorite part of this season are the warm nights… there’s nothing like sitting out on a patio on a warm summer night (Unless you live somewhere with a lot of bugs… then you need that bug zapping light thing!)

The new car is amazing… But I have to re-train myself, I keep rolling down the window and opening the door from the outside (That’s how you had to get out of the “Busty Old Car”)  Speaking of the B.O.C., I found a way to hopefully subside some of Lucy’s sadness over getting rid of it… I pried off the emblems and printed out some photos of us with the car and made a shadowbox with them (I’ll have to take a pic and post it, it turned out pretty good) and hung it in the kids room….  Kind of like a shrine to that beat up piece of metal.

I haven’t had a chance to watch much of the summer programming yet… I’ve caught the show with Jillian from Biggest Loser (Didn’t like it) and Last Comic Standing (Like it), but that’s about it so far.  Has anyone seen the new Betty White sit-com?  Any good?

Right now kids shirts are on sale at Threadless … $9 bucks, got Lucy a shark shirt and Bing a cat shirt (They didn’t have any featuring bowling balls or golf balls).  While I’m plugging sites, Gilt has some cool kids stuff on sale too… They always have cool kids stuff, the adult stuff can be kind of pricey, and Groupon is perfect for Non-Diet Stench today with a great BBQ deal.

Farrell’s tomorrow!  Can’t wait to have a sundae… You cannot go to Farrell’s and not have a sundae!!!

I know he’s my kid, so I am a little biased… But I keep rewatching the Bing golfing video, no matter what that kid does he makes me laugh.  When I was a Michael’s getting my shadowbox I picked up some art supplies for Lucy, she is a very talented artist and is now into sketching … If she ever becomes a famous artist I will have the complete early years archive, I have hundreds of drawing and painting shoved everywhere.

I’ve always been super paranoid of this!  I can’t believe I missed this.  Beware of what you say to Rolling Stone… It may get you a quick trip to the President’s office.  What? L.A. didn’t make the list?  Has anyone seen this clown?   A 75M fixer upper.  Yeah, so? At least he’s clean.

Rock On, Jack

Bing shows off his golfing skills!

Rock on, Jack