May 30, 2005

Memorial Day weekend...hopefully all of you are having a fine one, and getting some relaxation in. We did, although it was a close thing...it wasn’t until Wednesday that Maria realized she would have today off. With short notice, but a lot of desire, we struggled to throw together a last-minute holiday weekend...and I think we succeeded pretty well.

We ended up heading to Helen, Georgia for the weekend. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a very, very, very, VERY small little town in Georgia, quite a nice distance away from everything else. (It took us about two and a half hours to get there once we left the interstate; of course, it turns out that the hotel gave bad directions, but even good ones took us about an hour and a half to get back to I-75 from Helen.) The town itself couldn’t be more than a mile in diameter, and it’s all done in a classic Germanic style--that is, it’s supposed to look like an old Alpine village. Maria puts it well: it’s like Gatlinburg, but without the massive influx of tourists. (For a better description than I can give, hit their website, at helenga.org.)

That’s not to say that there weren’t tourists, but more that it was never anywhere near as crowded as Gatlinburg. Between the long drive and the low profile, Helen seems to have kept itself relatively obscure--just enough to stay quiet, but not enough to keep themselves from succeeding.

Now, you might be thinking it still sounds a bit touristy...and, yeah, it was. But it was a nicely quiet kind of touristy...a lot of shops, and whatnot, but never too obnoxious. Definitely enough to keep us entertained for two days, although any more would have been a bit much. (We got into town late Friday night/early Saturday morning, and left this morning.)

What all did we do? Not much, and for that I’m thankful. We shopped, although we didn’t buy much; a couple of presents for relatives (and soon to be relatives, like our soon-due niece), a couple of bottles of wine, some cross-stitching stuff for Maria...nothing too fancy. Had some decent food (nothing spectacular, except for a damn tasty Philly steak sandwich), and...gosh, not much else!

Well, we did take a couple of inner tubes down the local river...far more exciting than it sounds, with all the rocks, minor rapids, and a lot of getting stuck. Not to mention my wife running screaming out of the water and leaving me barefoot (due to the dumping of my shoes and socks into the water) to drag the tubes out of the river. And why was she running? Because the tube guide convinced her that there was an evil river squirrel running around under the water.

Yes, a river squirrel.

Oh well.

It was a really good time--nothing spectacular, but extremely relaxing for all its nothingness. I also got to start reading an outstanding book called Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which is, for lack of a better analogy, much like a Harry Potter book filtered through the lens of the dry wit and social comedy of Jane Austen. That may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but it’s a truly great book, with a picture perfect depiction of 1800s England, a vivid creation of a world still inhabited by magic, a really hilarious sense of humor, and a good sense of the fantastic, the unsettling, the eerie, and the moving. It’s a great book, and even though I’m only about halfway through it (it’s about 800 pages), I can’t imagine not giving it a strong recommendation to just about anyone who reads this page. If you enjoy the Harry Potter books, you’ll like this a lot. Check it out.

Anything else going on? Hmm...oh, the Butch concert was Thursday night, and very, very good. I think I would have been able to enjoy it a bit more if I hadn’t been worried about my wife, who was not feeling well at all--perhaps the effect of a bad dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory (a dinner whose conversation earned us a great many dirty looks, and perhaps almost got us kicked out? Just because it kept turning to...well, my mom does read this page, people...). Still, it was a great concert; less chatty than usual for Butch, but extremely focused on the music.

Otherwise? One more day of work tomorrow without kids, and then the new term begins. I’m really gonna miss my departed kids, Eric and Emily most of all. Still, they have my e-mail address, and hopefully will stay in touch.

Oh well...have a good one, folks. And, hey, I just found out: 9 months until the return of The Sopranos!!!! KICK ASS!

Sigh. At least Six Feet Under starts next week to tide me over.

May 26, 2005

Brief service announcement: Did some major rearranging of the site this morning. Shouldn't be anything anyone browsing the site will notice (pretty much, it's behind the scenes stuff designed to make my life easier running this thing), but if anything has stopped working, or any pictures aren't displaying, please do me a favor and let me know ASAP. Thanks...

So I'm up about an hour early this morning (why, you ask? An excellent question, and one I have no immediate answer for, to be honest...just couldn't sleep), getting ready for the last day of the term. Mixed feelings, there...on the one hand, I'm glad to have this term over with--ready for a few days without kids, and a fresh start, with new material and classes. All of those are plusses, and I am very happy to have all of them.

On the other hand, this being the end of the term means that four of my students--Jariva, Ashley, Emily (who said something very, very nice about me on her web journal yesterday--it was very sweet, and meant a lot to me), and Eric--are all departing us today, headed back for regular school. And I hate that. Of all the kids who are at my school, these four are some of my favorites, with good senses of humor, mostly hard work, and generally just good attitudes. I'm gonna miss all four of them, and if they happen to come here (I've told them that I would give them the site the day they graduate), then good luck to all four of you: you're all very intelligent, and should do very well back in regular school. Best of luck, and stay in touch.

Moving on...yesterday was my first dentist appointment since high school. Not fun...but, at least they were very nice, and never lectured about the long time. Teeth look to be in pretty good shape, overall...gums need a little work, but nothing that can be healed up (with some NASTY prescription mouthwash...not horrible, till you get to the aftertaste...and unfortunately, no water/anything for a half hour afterward). Have the wisdom teeth extraction coming up in the near future though...

Of course, the biggest thing in the last few days was the Flogging Molly concert Tuesday night. If you're not familiar with Molly, they're hard to describe. Kind of a fusion of punk rock and Celtic Irish ballads...a unique sound, but a great one--hard rock backed up with fiddles, violins, accordions, and pennywhistles. Damn good stuff. And the show...I would say that it was one of the best two or three concerts I've ever been to. The forum (Cannery Ballroom) was hot and miserable, but for the hour and a half or so that Molly was on stage, I forgot all about it. They completely blew the roof off the place, rocking out for their entire time, with hilarious discussions between songs, bringing the fun of Irish drinking songs to a new level. It was a hell of a show, and let me just say that if they come around, and you miss them, you're hurting only yourself. An outstanding time, and I'll be there in a heartbeat the next time they come through. (If nothing else, where else can you hear a song dedicated to Oliver Cromwell [more accurately, Cromwell being told to fuck off], and see people moshing to a fiddle solo? Nowhere, that's where.)

Tonight: Butch Walker, who always puts on a great show (although, until now, he's had no competition for great shows--now he has to top the Molly...); looking forward to it, as well as hanging out with the Chattanooga contingent coming up. So, a fun week, musically speaking...oh yeah--plus, we're getting our Green Day tickets this week. So it's shaping up to be a good week, and a good summer...

May 22, 2005

Not too shabby of a weekend, on the whole. Nothing too exciting, but not a bad few days. The highlights:

• Friday, I got to go on goal trip with the kids to Laser Tag. (We normally try to use Laser Tag as a bribe for the last goal trip of the term.) It was a fun time, especially given that I did not plan on going in the least; in fact, I only found out that I was going about thirty seconds ahead of time. I didn't do too hot this time around--I came in 14th out of 15 the first game, but 6th out of 15 the second game. The second game, in fact, was a team game--a lot of fun, and we completely whipped the ass of the other team, mainly because they were unorganized, and our team grabbed the high ground and sniped for the most part. All in all, a fun way to spend a Friday, and the last goal trip with some of my kids...
  
  
• Friday evening, more fun, as we got to see my former co-worker James and his wife JoAnn for dinner. There's a lot of things I don't miss about New Horizons, but I think I'll always miss some of the people who worked there, and James was chief among them. A good guy, and a fun time out at a tasty restaurant (Rosepepper Cantina).
  
  
• The first highlight of Saturday: Maria wakes me up and asks if I want to go to the farmer's market for produce shopping.
  
  "Mmm...not really...," I sleepily mumble.
  
  "We can go to Parco for lunch," she offers.
  
  Seconds later I am up.
  
  If you've never had the joy of eating at Parco Cafe in the Nashville Farmer's Market, you are missing one of the great pleasures in life. It's a very small little lunch counter, and all they pretty much make is sandwiches and desserts. However, did I mention that the two of them (they're a married Korean couple) go home about twice a year to train at the Cordon Bleu pastry schools? That their desserts are works of art, ranging from chocolate ganaches to truffle chocolate cheesecakes, from strawberry banana crepes to homemade tiramasu? In fact, everything is homemade, and everything is phenomenal. Let me put it this way: I don't get anything on my sandwiches--that is, I am a meat and cheese only person. However, at Parco, I get it all, because everything is so fantastic. (This weekend, they were even empty enough that I could get their incredibly divine fried pecorino romano cheese sandwich. A slice of heaven.) So, seriously. If you live around here, and haven't hit Parco, get out there.
  
  
• The second joy of Saturday: got to see Episode III. The short version of it is: I liked it. I liked it quite a bit. The long version...well, it's up here. And it's a lot longer than that.
  
  
• What else? My lovely wife bought me the new Chuck Pahlaniuk book, which I'm eagerly devouring right now, as well as buying me Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I've been waiting to read for a long while...I have my Flogging Molly tickets ordered for the show Tuesday night...the season finale of Deadwood is tonight...
  
  Really, not a bad weekend at all.

May 19, 2005

Just kind of a mini-update for you all. (Yes, I've gotten into just updating on the weekends, but it doesn't mean that I forget about all of you during the week, babies.)

Not a bad week, but it has been a busy one, to put it mildly. After already having one graduation this week, yesterday was Natalie and Ashleigh's (Maria's sisters). It was a long, extremely noisy affair, but they did graduate (Natalie with highest honors, Ashleigh with whatever the second-highest category is called) from McGavock high school. So, I'm very proud of both my sisters-in-law...they should have a fun time picking up the Belmont tradition in the fall.

Speaking of Belmont, Maria has pretty much decided to do classes starting in the fall, I believe--however, I reserve the right to be wrong on this score, as this has been under pretty constant debate around the Mauthe household for a while. So check back later.

The family situation with Elena and Tamara...ugh. Not pretty. The latest update is that Elena was arrested for shoplifting; Wilkie and Donna (her parents, my uncle and aunt) let her sit in jail overight before offering to pay her bail if she agreed to go see a counselor/therapist. She did, and they are in the process of looking. As for Tamara, the grief and anguish of her sister abandoning her (in her eyes) has basically led to an incredible surge of anger; to help cope, the family has had her committed for psychiatric observation through the weekend.

Again, ugh. Please keep them in thoughts/prayers/whatever for me.

Incidentally, been an okay week at school. Last week before finals, so it's been busy. Eric's birthday was yesterday, and I got him a present I think he enjoyed greatly. Mind you, this is the kid who put a baby in my microwave today...

...okay, to be fair, it was a plastic baby. (For some reason, I have a filing cabinet drawer full of plastic babies. I don't really know why either--I inherited the room, remember.) But, still, when you open your microwave, that's not really what you expect to see. (He, thankfully, didn't turn it on. That would have been pretty disgusting.)

Anyways, an okay week--tomorrow is goal trip with the kids (laser tag again, so hopefully I can go), and this weekend looks to be full of nothing but relaxation (and coming up with finals). Maybe I'll get to see Episode III if all goes well...I'm pretty pumped for it, despite myself...I'm such a geek. If nothing else, it will help ease my irritation that there are no scheduled dates for the Schrader version of the Exorcist prequel even scheduled for the entire Southeast...

May 15, 2005

Well, it’s official: my wife is now a college graduate. Yesterday morning, Maria graduated with her Bachelor of Arts from the school of religion at Belmont University, graduating Magna Cum Laude. I could not be more proud of her, and if you talk to her, some congratulations would almost certainly be in order.

A bunch of the family came up for the weekend—both sets of my parents, and Adam, along with all of Maria’s family, of course. The ceremony itself was a little long, but not awful (it probably didn’t hurt that I brought a book with me to read (The Lovely Bones), which helped pass a good deal of the time as name after name was read). Afterwards, we had a nice cookout here at the house, with all the family in attendance. Steaks, burgers, chicken, fries, and Maria’s homemade chocolate cheesecake...mmm, good stuff...

Anyways, it was nice to have something like that to unwind with, after a stressful week at work. The kids have been acting up a bit more than usual, and despite my best efforts at cracking harder and harder down, I had arguments/fights break out in my classroom almost every day this week. Not a lot of fun, and I have to say that the resulting conversations with my boss certainly did not help very much...needless to say, I do not feel as though my work life has been going as well as I would have liked. The upside is that there are only two weeks left in the term, and the last one is a shorter than usual one...

And let’s not forget about the joys of Friday morning. My morning commute from Nashville to Clarksville necessitates that I leave my house every morning at 6:30, and my bad sleeping habits have left me unable to get as much rest as I probably need to be getting. The end result: I have been sleepy as anything heading into work. Well, this came to a head Friday morning; two blocks from work, my sleepiness distracted me enough that I slipped, hit the wrong pedal, and bumped the car in front of me at about 5-7 miles an hour. That car, in turn, bumped into the one in front of it.

Not quite how I wanted my Friday to go. And, of course, of the two drivers, the seemingly nicer one (by which I mean “the one who didn’t get out and curse me out up one side and down the other”) who talked to me for a while is now the one claiming that the accident (which caused almost no damage to either my car or his, and only scuffed up the bumper of the front car) has injured him. Dammit, dammit, dammit...what’s worse, until recently, I had been the proud owner of a flawless driving record; in the last six months, I’ve had two tickets and an accident. Not speaking wonders for my insurance, much less my peace of mind.

So life has been a bit frustrating recently. Hopefully this week will calm down a bit, and if nothing else, we’ve had the joy of Maria’s graduation to bring things up a bit. So, we’ll see...

P.S.: almost forgot. There is a bit of a family crisis going on, with regard to my Uncle Wilkie's oldest daughter, Elena. Elena is 19 years old, and about two weeks away from graduating high school. Tuesday, she chose not to come home from work; she's run away. The family does know that she's okay, and that she is at least somewhere safe; however, Elena has also declared her hatred for her family, and desire never to see them again. I don't want to get into too any specifics here, but there are good possibilities for both some psychological problems, and possibly more. Bascially, I'm just asking that, if you believe in these kind of things, send along your prayers or karma or good thoughts or whatever to whoever you like. My family would appreciate this situation to heal itself out as soon as possible. Thanks.

May 8, 2005

How come no one else told me my years have been wrong all year so far? Sheesh, people...at least Kyle came through for me...it took everyone five months to realize that? I mean, come on...

Anyways, first things first: last week, I mentioned about Jim and Lee running the Country Music (half) Marathon, and I estimated their times. Wrongly, I might add. As per Jim, here are their correct times:

Lee: 2:16:24
Jim: 2:40:24

So that little piece of business has been corrected. Sorry about that, Jim/Lee...

Okay, on to a report of the week...

• First off, the biggest news of the week: my lovely wife Maria got accepted into Belmont's graduate school! Very cool news indeed. She had been slightly worried, after not doing as well on the GMAT as she had hoped to, but I told her that someone as talented and smart as her (not that I'm biased in any way) would have no problems getting in...and it looks like I was right! Still up in the air is exactly when she plans on starting her classes...she, of course, has the option on starting immediately in the summer, but the idea of a summer full of classes, with no time off, seems to be a bit much for her. On the other hand, she is required, with Belmont's Master of Accountancy program, to take an international course, and this summer's offering is in Ireland, which is oh so up her alley...
  
  So there is some debate right now as to what exactly to do. The two big options are A) take only the international course, and take other classes in the fall, or B) take no classes at all until the fall. I'll, of course, keep you updated on what she decides to do...but if you think about it, drop her a congratulations...and don't forget, she graduates from Belmont with her Bachelor's on Saturday! WHOO HOO!
  
  
• In general, it's been a week for final things. Monday night was Maria's last official concert with Belmont (for those of you not in the know, Maria is first chair flute with their orchestra). Of course, there is always the chance that she will keep playing through grad school, but since most of her classes will be at night, and that is when the orchestra rehearses, this could be challenging, so we're not sure right this moment...
  
  Another big final event: Thursday night was Natalie's (Maria's sister) final show choir performance (singing, dancing, Broadway-kind of thing). Natalie graduates from high school next Wednesday, so this was their big farewell. The show was really good, and everyone there had a lot of talent. It would just have been nice if the guy in charge had learned how to trim some running time, or at least learned that not every single person in the show needs a solo. The show started at 7:00; when we left at 10:40, it was still going on (I believe it actually ended around 11). I'm all for showcasing talent, but, man...especially with my early wake-up time...
  
  
• Fun week from a social point of view, too. Wednesday night, as Maria sat in her final Harry Potter class, my friend Carpenter came over--a fun time, and we watched the enjoyable Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. A good evening.
  
  This weekend was better, tho. Friday BH came up (he's going to be up a lot this month) so that he, Maria, some friends, and I could all go to check out the Garbage concert at the Ryman. After a typically great dinner at Demos' (mmmm...), we made our way over to the Ryman in time to catch the opening band, the Dead 60s, who were surprisingly good. They didn't play for long (only about half an hour), but they were very enjoyable, with an interesting sound...kind of the Clash meets Meddle-era Pink Floyd. Good stuff, if a bit loud for some of our weaker-eared companions (Maria looked so pitiful that the usher brought her earplugs).
  
  Then Garbage took the stage, accompanied by the haunting sounds of Johnny Cash's rendition of Hurt (BEST. COVER SONG. EVER.), and proceeded to rock my ass off for the next couple of hours. They played a great range of stuff, eschewing their mellow creepy numbers for an all out rock fest, and it was quite good. A nice stage show, with good use of monitors and lighting, and the sight of a band who really seems to enjoy what they're doing. The show was great, with a couple of truly memorable highlights:
  
  1. Shirley Manson, the lead singer, getting her leg grabbed by an obsessive female fan; this must happen a lot, since she dealt with it nicely in stride (she screamed "FUCK OFF!" while kicking her leg and never missing a beat in the song); what's more, she asked the security to not make the girl leave. Very cool of her, I thought...
  
  2. Getting to hear the very Scottish, very rock-oriented Manson and her band decide that they wanted to play a country song, since they were in Nashville; their choice was "I Fall to Pieces", by Patsy Cline, and it was quite entertaining...
  
  So a fun night. Of course, as we walked out of the building, I did happen to notice that someone else was in attendance, someone who I hadn't seen in several years, and who I wasn't sure was back in Nashville, someone I wasn't all that keen on seeing again...so I grabbed Adam (he was the only one she would have recognized), and we picked up our pace extremely quickly, leaving the girls to ask, "Hey, where you two going?"
  
  We were not spotted, I believe. Fine by me.
  
  

Anyways, that may be about it. Not a bad week. I wish my mood had been better for it...it was not a good week for Josh's happiness level. I was very moody, very withdrawn all week...it was bad enough that my kids noticed, and I'm pretty sure my boss is not too happy with my performance this week. When I got up on Friday, my good mood seemed to have returned...hopefully it stays that way, if I'm lucky. Otherwise, it's back to the prescription drawing board...

By the way, bums, it's MOTHER'S DAY--call your moms! I have, and I have two (three, if you count Maria's). So to all my mom's...thanks so much for putting up with me all these years, and for everything you've done for me...it's because of all of you that I am who I am today. (Hopefully that doesn't depress you too much.) I love you all lots, and can't say how much I appreciate you. Thanks for everything you do...and to my two moms, I'll see you this weekend at Maria's grad.

Talk to you peeps later...

May 1, 2005

Another month has come and gone, and it went out with a very enjoyable weekend. But first, a brief greeting to my one new reader: my student Eric (previously mentioned on this site in this memorable thoughts entry), who spent some time on Thursday night searching around to find this site, and came up with a pretty clever way to find it, I have to say. No, the site won't change much (honestly, I'm not sure if he plans on even continuing to read it, or was just proud to have found it), but thought I would say hi to him. Also, a note of thanks, as he has refused to tell any students the site address, thus helping me maintain my privacy for now. Much appreciation.

Anyways, that being said, it's been a good week overall. Friday was a little scary at first for us, as I thought one of my students was going to be released from the school by court order; however, one of our case managers went to bat for him and got him back in. A big relief, for me, as I like the kid, and don't think he's bad enough to merit release. Unlike ERIC (not true, but if he's reading, I should get to harass him).

The weekend itself has been a lot of fun. Adam came up to encourage Jim and Lee (a friend of Jim and Adam's) in their running of the Country Music Half Marathon (I, too, am baffled by their decision to do this thing, but whatever floats their boats). Everyone came up on Friday, and we had a nice evening around the house, with my wife working to provide an excellent meal of pasta for the marathon boys (apparently, pasta is the required meal the night before a marathon, for carb intake). Very good stuff, especially when followed by the cookies and ice cream...not that my wife spoils me, of course...

Saturday was an early morning as the boys went off to run the marathon (they left around 5:30 or so) and we went to encourage them (we slept in till around 8). Both of them did well; Lee finished in around 2:15, and Jim around 2:55 or so (if my times are off, please correct me). All in all, marathon watching is not really the most enjoyable pastime, but it was good to see them both meet their goals, even if it was disturbing to realize that marathon running occasionally can rub your chest raw until your nipples bleed profusely (all over Jim's shirt). I'm just saying that any sport that makes your chest bleed...well, seems like God's way of telling you that this may not be a sport for you, you know?

After the marathon, we retreated to the house, regrouped and caught some breakfast (the Pancake Pantry, natch), wandered over to the new used CD/Book/DVD store on 8th Avenue (Mega Used Books and DVDs), which we were pleasantly surprised by. Selection was pretty good for having just started, and the prices were very nice. I ended up picking up a couple of books (The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Siebold) for about 7 bucks. Good deal for me!

Following that, everyone save BH and I went home and took naps; he and I went out to see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I was overall pretty happy with. Gotta say that I missed a few things from the book, and I missed seeing Ford in all his cool glory, but a lot of the little touches and the overall sense of humor really made it an enjoyable movie for me. Loved the opening credits, and Marvin could not have been more perfect. Good time at the movies.

After a good dinner at Mafioza's (only ruined by their lack of cannoli filling, but they were nice enough to make up for it with free desserts--thanks!), we all collected at the house for a night of beverage consumption and poker playing around the house (well, except for Maria, of course). A good time, with yours truly doing far better than a beginner should have been able to...the fact that I may have been the most sober one probably didn't hurt anything...

And now? A Sunday afternoon, with everyone gone (the boys headed home, and Maria's at orchestra rehearsal); got Gabby in my lap asleep, and tonight: The Simpsons, Deadwood, the new season of Family Guy (WHOO HOO!)...looks like the month is off to the right start.