Hail to the Chief Part II

I am fairly certain that

O Captain, my Captain,

told us that the specific words were...

"Hail to the Chief cause he's the chief and he needs hailing..."

and so, to this day, those are the lyrics

I sing when I hear the tune.

Dads are never wrong,

right?

FTD captured the event pretty perfectly,

and the only real thing to add

is my adoration and admiration of

His Honor.

dear ole dad.

sweet little p thinks pretty highly of his Granddad too,

and insisted he be held while the new Judge

was taking his oath.

pretty sure Granddad didn't mind

(translation, loved every second of it, could hardly contain his joy).

p almost stole the show with his antics up front

which consisted of -

running away from his parents (a favorite new activity),

twirling his sweater over his head,

and throwing raisins all over the floor.

all of this was invisible to most of the crowd,

except the judicial bench.

awesome.

they really didn't seem to mind.

p got plenty of compliments,

but the real accolades were saved for RBD Jr.

much deserved, after a long wait.

i've said it before, but it deserves saying again,

we're proud of you dad,

we love you.

congratulations on your new title -

but to us, you'll always be:

dad

mr. skipper

granddad

pop pop

pops

mentor

friend

hero.

i'll leave the rest of you with some quotes that describe

the event, the family, etc.

from UF

"in all kinds of weather we all stick together"

and Psalm 16

 “Lord, you have assigned me my portion
and my cup. You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen
for me in pleasant places.”

we are blessed indeed.

we missed you RBD III.

stay safe.

Hail to the Chief

Did you know that "Hail to the Chief" actually has lyrics? Two versions are on wikipedia (and therefore, must be truth). The words written by Sir Walter Scott go like this: 

Hail to the chief, who in triumph advances,

Honour'd and blest be the evergreen pine!

Long may the tree in his banner that glances,

Flourish the shelter and grace of our line.

Heaven send it happy dew,

Earth lend it sap anew,

Gaily to bourgeon and broadly to grow;

While every highland glen,

Sends our shout back agen,

"Roderigh Vich Alpine Dhu, ho! i-e-roe!"

No wonder the words are never sung. So, we didn't elect a new President, but we did participate in a formal ceremony which bestows RBD Jr., the captain of our ship, as "His Honor". To be honest, I wasn't giving the investiture as much respect as it deserved (outside of the total thrill and excitement of RBD Jr. and the family) until I discovered how many people took time to come down to the courthouse and participate. We had district judges, magistrate judges, a judge from Louisiana. There were former law partners of RBD Jr, lawyers from the bar association, practically every person in the neighborhood and half the population of his hometown. It was such an honor to see the love and respect the community has for what he has achieved and their desire to participate in our celebration. 

It's kind of fun to participate in all the pomp and circumstance once in a while. There were moments of sobriety, as we acknowledged the absence of RBD III. Moments of adoration, as speakers praised the intelligence, commitment, and passion of the new judge. Moments of hilarity in old stories and really old pictures. Most of all it was pure celebration of a difficult and long journey.

The Oath

It is not often children get to see the dreams of a parent come true and the magnitude of the day was not lost on us. We're so proud of him. And I'll tell you what, the judge can write a good speech. Any one who needs to bestow kind words upon their family in public should hire him as a speech writer. I think we all held back a few tears. Either that or focused on hilarious little p, who entertained us as always.

Proud of Dad and Pop Pop



Missing RBD III



My initial reaction to the whole thing is pretty much summed up in the following email:
1. I would like to say that I called Dad taking the oath with p on his hip in advance of it actually happening. 

2. I was surprised that p didn't give Judge B a "high-five", though I suspect he would have had he met big P before.

3. LDL, you looked really good in that shirt.

4. RBD Jr, you looked just as good in the judge's robe as you did in the bath robe. 

5. RBD III, we really missed you!!

Hopefully the rest of the blogging posse will share their stories too. It was a great day for family, friends, and parties.

Free Falling

I am traveling today. I love seeing different countries, counties, cities, and communities. I love the discovery of new things to do, places to eat, and occasionally I like meeting new people. To say that I like to travel, however, is a lie. I do not travel well. Sometimes, like when I sit at a gate, stop paying attention, and fail to board even though they announce my name and therefore miss my flight, it is my own fault. Other times, like, every other time, it is the complete ineptitude of mass transit, airlines, airports, power-tripped TSA agents, and the more than occasional idiot people also traveling that day that causes my travel woes. Today was no different. Except it was.

It's a business trip to Pasadena that pulls me into the airport this time. Although I am fully aware of my tendency to not prepare, I went to bed last night unpacked, with no plans for getting Pax to my friend SAB's house, and little idea of how I was going to get to the airport. I also failed to print proper documents that needed my review prior to this meeting. Thankfully, I had a very productive morning and accomplished all of that in record time. To reward myself for miraculously accomplishing in a few short hours what would normally take me a day, I took myself home early and headed for a relaxing (and needed) manicure and pedicure. Not. At. All. Relaxing. 

Toward the end of the session at Rendezvous Nails, nails in the dryer, and payment made, a young man randomly stopped at the window and made a bizarre salute. I happened to have been staring out the window at the time and caught his eye. Quickly I realized that this man was missing more than a few marbles and immediately became fascinated with the scar on my right foot. Bad idea. Seemingly frustrated at my lack of interest, the man began waving his arms frantically and making loud, primal sounds. Then, frustration grew to anger and he raised both fists and banged them against the window with enough force to shake the building (doesn't bode well for the structure during an earthquake). While the window continued to vibrate, women in the salon asked if I knew the man. When I responded quickly in the negative, the technicians began speaking very, very, very quickly in a language I could not determine. 

The owner of the place left her customer and ran outside as soon as she saw a police car cruising the street. The slow pace of the first car made the following three look like a Nascar qualifier. Then came the fire trucks and an ambulance. I exited the salon after being assured by the owner that she had seen the man tackled and handcuffed. Standing in front of the public library was a gaggle of housewives and construction workers, watching the mayhem. A few people just wanted to get back inside their houses, but were being blocked by officers. Rumor had it that the culprit had been brought to the ground with a huge gun. LDL reminds me that a taser looks a bit like a gun. But my travel day continues and I cannot wait to hear the reason for the chase. 

You would think that my travel day would be cake compared to the heart racing event that had just taken place. Please, this is my life we're talking about. 

I arrive at SFO after a rough half hour in traffic but have experately packed my bag and printed my boarding pass. As I enter the security line, a TSA agent grasps my elbow and asks if I am alone. Yes, sir. I am traveling by myself. He points to the tiny shoulder purse I am carrying and tells me that I must put it in my computer bag as it adds to my total count. A small roller bag, compact computer bag, and a tiny purse are not allowed if you travel alone. TSA tells me that he will let me pass if I put my purse inside my suitcase prior to arriving to the ID check. Yes, sir. I'll be happy to do that as soon as the line stops moving. Before I have a chance to do so (my ID is in the purse, so it needed to stay out until I arrived at the ID check), the same agent motions to me, moves the line rope and ushers me out, yelling about my "3" bags the whole way. Before I leave the line completely, I shove my tiny purse in the pocket of my suitcase, show my ID to the other TSA agent, correctly say my last name and walk calmly to have my bags inspected. 

Come Fly the Friendly Skies. 

My flight is now delayed an hour. Super Shuttle will have stopped running by the time I land. At least I have the entertainment of a young mother flirting with a random young man sitting across from me. I've never been so thankful for ESPN3.com and it's available replay of the greatest comeback I have ever seen. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out. Seriously. www.espn.com; www.fifa.com; www.espn.com/espnw. Watch it and watch USWNT again on Wednesday. 

hooray for the 4th of july -

it's hard to know where to begin.

as usual, there really is never a moment

of peace,

among the brothers & sisters.

i blogged about our heavy hearts last time,

so i'll work on keeping it light.

before we said "see you later RBDIII"

some of us celebrated the 4th the way you should,

at a Washington Nationals baseball game.

we met up to say hello to an old friend,

switched our allegiances dating back to a 1991

opening day game at Camden Yards

to the Nats.

we enjoyed the ball game, beer, hot dogs,

and ice cream.  we all know from this post

that p loves ice cream.

as in, i never get to eat any.

and p and uncle RBDIII got some good quality time.

p started out really enjoying his

shoulder ride -

and ended up acting more like a sack of potatoes.

it was fun.  a good 4th of July,

my favorite holiday, except for the whole deployment thing,

that sucks (totally an appropriate word for the occasion).

some other photos from the holiday weekend...

i've also been busy with some projects,

which i will post about that since this one is getting

a little long.

besides, maybe it will give some other contributers

time to contribute.

things i am excited about?

july 15; winnie-the-pooh in theaters.

a beach trip, o-town family celebration,

a little "sprinkle" for sprout # 2 (who has been named!!  initials MLL),

and then waiting...to be a family of four.









five

yesterday, july 4th,

RBDIII left the country again.

this makes five deployments in war time.

how many do you think is

enough?

California Love

LTD and I just got back from a great "Tour of California" stretching from San Francisco to San Diego with a stop in Los Angeles in between.

Our flight from MCO left just after 4:00 pm, the late departure time was because I had just finished up a wedding weekend for a good friend of mine. We chose to fly direct with Virgin Airlines, which, if I can afford it (big if) I will fly as often as possible. Great experience with them.

Arrival in SFO 7:30ish pm. FTD was gracious enough to pick us up (and let us stay with her, but who are we kidding she desperately wanted us to stay with her). We were pretty hungry, even though, technically we should have been asleep on east coast time. Nonsense. Food would need to be consumed. We went to a great place called Pizzeria Delfina, which was delicious. Big fan. Also, by this time I had decided SFO had a good vibe, and I was feelin it. On to FTD's spot, which I also liked, although the pull-out isn't crazy comfy, but what pull-out is?

The next day, FTD went off to work, and LTD and I hit the bricks(paved street) to catch the double-decker open air tourist bus. LTD loves this stuff, I'm generally medium on it. We hop on (its a hop on, hop off) and decide we'll just hop off wherever it suits us. We ride around Fisherman's Wharf, through the downtown/financial district, past the painted ladies, and up to the Golden Gate bridge. We decide to hop off and walk across. The tour bus narrator tells us it takes 1.5 - 2 hours to walk over and back. I scoff at this. It did end up taking us over an hour, even with slow walkers and crazy cyclists sharing the sidewalks. I saw some seals (I think) swimming around, so that was cool. There are also a lot of "Don't Jump" signs and call boxes. We hop back on and ride some more, until we hop off at the Buena Vista, where the first Irish Coffee in America was served. I of course had one. It was delicious. After that, we got some chocolate (LTD twisted my arm to get a brownie sunday) and walked around Fisherman's Wharf for a while, until we decided to walk over to FTDs work and wait till she was off so we could have a drink before dinner. She had a cocktail hour meet and greet thing, so LTD and I sat at the bar while she pretended to be interested. The three of us then went to meet an across-the-creek friend at the Slanted Door for some dinner. Oh. Back up. LTD and I left before FTD, and took her purse etc with us. I texted her like a normal person to let her know. LTD almost went into the double handed above the head wave to get her attention. Luckily, I was able to stop it in time. Dinner was great. I definitely ate some stuff I probably wouldn't normally, but I thoroughly enjoyed everything. It was a good day. Also, I managed to get a little sun-kissed, er, sun-punched in the face, whilst on our tour.

FTD took us to a great breakfast spot right near her place before taking us to the airport to pick-up our rental car. Brief, but great SFO trip. On to LA. Via the PCH.
LTD driving, me navigating (begrudgingly). Before too long, we decided to stop for lunch. (Breakfast was at like 9, and it was now 1-ish for those of you thinking, "boy, they sure do eat a lot") We stopped in Santa Cruz and stumbled upon a place called, simply, "Burgers." It was pretty awesome. I had never heard of it, and don't know if it's a Cali chain or anything. But, if you're ever in Santa Cruz, I recommend it. Onward. We/LTD decides to drive the 17-mile drive on the Monteray Peninsula, which actually ended up being pretty cool. We continue on down the PCH, but actually want to get over to the 101 so as to not get into LA super late. This is impossible. We had to continue seeing breathtaking views for hours being able to cut over. Sidenote, I have taken over driving duties. After a dinner of chicken fingers from Jack in the Box, we arrive at our hotel in LA. It is different. Nice, but different.

LTD and I decide to eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant mainly because we don't know of any place else to eat. It is oh-my-gosh good. And equally expensive. LTD then leaves me to attend to business, and goes to get a facial. I reach out to all my contacts to try and set up lunches/meetings etc, which didn't go exactly as planned, but was still good. One guy who I had a lunch scheduled cancelled, and a producer I had worked with couldn't meet in person, but she and I talked on the phone. We chatted and I asked questions, which she said would probably be answered better by her casting director friend, so she gave me her info. The CD and I then exchanged emails for a while, and eventually she said she would pass on my headshot/resume to her commercial agent friend and try and set up a meeting for when I actually moved there, so that was a success. We then spent the rest of the day half sight-seeing half looking for places to live. For dinner, we finished off the day with some California Pizza Kitchen. When in Rome, right? Oh, those things are everywhere? Dang. Day two was really more of the same, as I was calling/emailing friends of friends, trying to get a network started before I moved, so that would already be taken care of when I got there. All of that went swimmingly. I separated from LTD for dinner as I met a fraternity brother from the college days. That was good although it turned into drinks as well, and I got back much later than LTD would've liked. Whoops. Admittedly, not a good move. We decided to finish off our LA stop with more of the delicious breakfast they served in the lobby. Back in the car.

The drive from LA to San Diego was considerably shortly than our first leg, but was littered with calls/texts from our tenant at 101 about the washer situation, which I won't get into here because it's a post in its own right. Wooo-saahh. Deep breaths. Oh, I was furious. Focus. We got into SD and checked into the hotel before meeting up with RBDIII for dinner and a baseball game. We ate at a great mexican place right by PETCO park, which was delicious. The baseball game was great fun, even though the Padres crushed the Braves. I am a Braves fan, RBDIII is a Pads fan. The next morning we dropped RBDIII off at work and had breakfast on Coronado, which was great. Then we just walked/drove around for a couple hours looking at all the different houses. Whose idea do you think that was? After picking RBDIII back up, we went back to the hotel to hang out for a minute before headed to grab an In-and-Out burger, which of course was tasty. Then we went to Balboa Park and walked around for a while. You know who else was at Balboa Park? Every wedding party in SD. No joke, they were everywhere. We bough some tickets to Shakespear's "Much Ado About Nothing" which was being performed in the outdoor theater that night. Had dinner back at the hotel, which was okay, then headed back to Balboa Park. The play was really good. We had front row seats, and it was just a delightful experience. Part of the play was literally at our feet. Like, we had to move them. We all thought we recognized different people in the play, and we did. Their TV credits all read like an encyclopedia of show's we've all seen. Pretty cool. RBDIII took us to a church he goes to, followed by fish tacos (again, delicious) at a local spot the patronize from time to time. Off to another baseball game (the Braves won the night before, so this was the rubber match). The Pads won, and a pitcher who I said was un-hittable(becuase he had been) got rocked. So, I wasn't thrilled, but it was still fun. For dinner we went to a place called Blue Fish Market (I think I got that right), and the line was forever long. It was worth it. All of our food was great. Save for the idiot people who can't follow instructions, it was a lovely experience.

The next morning, I took RBDIII to work, showered up and headed to the hotel to nap before LTD and I headed home. This time on Southwest. Not as awesome at Virgin. And we got home at 1 am. But, what a great trip. It was so fun getting to hang with 2 of the 3 other coastal BS's (sorry LDL!) I am looking forward to moving out there to continue my pursuit as an actor(dont tell LTD I'm looking forward to it). Anyway, I think that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed my trip as much as I did.

sweet baby p...

my precious p is growing into

a little boy.

and i think i am at that stage in pregnancy where i

am beginning to mourn baby p.

i LOVE toddler p, 

walking, talking, laughing, cuddling,

tantruming.  :)

this really is such a fun stage,

a challenging one, but fun.

soon though, my little guy won't be the baby of the house.

how are we going to handle that?

its definitely not a "how can i love another child"

feeling.

much more of a my little baby boy,

will soon be off to college.

but at the moment?

he is refusing his nap again,

which i am fairly certain college boys would

NEVER do.

so at least i have that.

these were the days...

on a totally unrelated subject:

my current project is to use everything in my fridge

before i go to the grocery store again.

so tonight?

making homemade pizza dough

and topping it with blue cheese, lettuce, grape tomatoes.

grilled.  hope its delicious!

plus we'll have grilled zucchini boats with our extra

squash, more tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese.

and tomorrow?

the grocery store.