Laura and Betsy, I hope things get better. Laura, I hope the kid who threatened the other kid got a stiffer suspension.

Owen, Happy Birthday!

I'm having a day off because I work Saturday. So much to do...like taxes...

Of course if my wife has it the way she wants, he will be home schooled until college.

I did home school him for a while and it was pretty easy since he does get stuff so quickly. The main reason he is in the public school system now is their gifted program. The gifted teachers are wonderful. Also, he does love his sports and could end up with a scholarship in basketball like his dad, which would rock. We were debating letting him go to this huge HS in Fort Lauderdale because they always go to state and the coach is a friend of DH. Now he has me concerned that he is too deficient in street smarts to go to that rough a school. The schools in Lauderdale really rougher than Palm Beach.

I may have him go here his first year and if he does well in sports and doesn't do stupid shit let him transfer to a bigger program later. He doesn't understand that he is not going to start on the High School team as a freshman. His dad and I know better. He'd be lucky to warm the bench as a freshman.

This whole child raising thing is tough. (thank you for letting me blab since I can't focus on work)

Aimee, I think you need to find reasons why each and every piece of paper on your desk needs to go through the VPs. "It's such-and-such project, you asked to be kept informed of this! It requires your signature for approval! You need to cut a check! It's your time to die!" Etcetera. Then, all the paper will be on their desks and you may mock to your heart's desire.

I'm sorry if I sounded like a foul-mouthed jerk yesterday , Gud. I just hate to think of you feeling so picked-on and everything...makes me get mad *for* you, even though I know most people don't really appreciate that. But I hate to see good dads feel bad about themselves. Cause I didn't get one...not really, so I want to treat the ones I know like...condors or something. But nobody asks the condors, either, do they?

May every shirt they put on have stain right on the left boob, and the more they try to get it out, the darker and bigger it gets.

Better make sure it's a stain of a vile color or if they try to get it out enough they'll just end up dyeing the shirt.

Laura, I hope the kid who threatened the other kid got a stiffer suspension.

Oh yeah. Other kid is always in trouble. Brendon has never even had detention in middle school. We were 6 weeks away from getting through it with no trouble. Except for his actual school work and that's a whole other major issue. He just doesn't do stuff. His progress reports are all 100's and 0's and you know how that averages out. If he chooses to do the work he does a great job. Or he doesn't bother at all. See me hitting my head against desk again. Sob.

Who else needs smiting?

Oh Laura. And Betsy. This is when you just want to open the top of their heads and spoon in the common sense. I don't know why the manufacturers didn't install that option.

Gud, you've gotten some excellent advice. I realize we get only half the story, but it does seem as though all the positive things you do and the efforts you're making don't get recognized. I hope things get clearer, for both of you.

Taxes. I'm oh so tempted to do a Joan Baez and deduct those portions of my taxes that support public schools which are teaching ID and bible history, and abstinence-only sex "ed", or that fund the war effort, or that contribute to tax cuts for polluting corporations who out-source jobs to other countries for miniscule wages, and that support "faith-based" outreach to indigent poor or low- or no-income women seeking contraceptive help. Gee, that would leave me paying $1.74 in taxes, approximately, wouldn't it? All that money not going to the government could go to private campaigns to get actual education, sex-ed and contraception, food and shelter, and maybe actual cost-of-living paying jobs, to the people that taxes are supposed to support. What a concept.

R and I call each other about once a day, just to check in, unless we are radically busy. On workdays, we have lunch together, so we don't usually talk on the phone, unless something crucial comes up...like if R gets a new idea for a game that he needs to bounce off me, or if I get an email that says "Athen's embassy" and I have to bitch about it.

Aimee - my DH could use one. Pretty please.