I take back my bad-mouthing of Wonkette. Pretty funny post today.

The night before last was a great sleeping night. Not too hot or too cool. Enhancing the soothing night's sleep, we hear, around 1:30, the gentle patter of rain outside our door. Over time it felt increasingly humid too; not entirely unpleasant but very humid. We continued sleeping.

Suddenly, the smoke detector sounded an intermittent alarm, the humidity increased and the worst part . . . it was not raining outside.

Our new zillion dollar antique, Victorian-style shower thingy had a supply line come loose and start spraying gallons of warm, soothing water all over the floor and into the kitchen below. My worst fear, personal tragedy notwithstanding, is our gargantuan cast-iron bath tub drops through the floor, through the kitchen and onto the basement is suddenly becoming more realistic by the water-spraying minute. While I paced in a chaotic state, Trish simply turned off the water, removed the battery from the smoke detector (total coincidence it went off now, I guess that's the good part of the story) and quieted Frankie. Things settled down, Suzi crawled back into bed with ears down indicating she just went somewhere in the house and took a whiz and I sopped up the mess. Only took about 45 minutes.

The next day, we got things back in order and made plans for kitchen ceiling repairs. Someday, I will rent again and be free from the torment of the American dream that is home ownership.

Frankie, Trish and I saw the Wendy's Intl Grandview Cycling Classic today. Frankie clapped as the cyclists flew by. We then had a killer bbq at Amy and Mario's with a bunch of Frankie's friends in attendance. Thanks Amy & Mario!!

Yesterday we hit Comfest where we checked out many cool vendors - including a cool sampling of items from Ferret Press - and lots of good food. Then, Frankie got to see her first parade. It was a bit loud but fun. She actually slept through half of it.

On our nightly walk to get Frankie a shake, we saw the Pants on Fire trailer hauling north on High Street. It's making it's way through the country and has finally hit our battleground state. Wish I had my camera.

. . . Chicago, Lake Michigan, May 2004

These silly web logs, no matter how useless, just won't seem to go away. An interesting article in Time Magazine entitled "Meet Joe Blog" was recently published. Here's an excerpt:

Not that long ago, blogs were one of those annoying buzz words that you could safely get away with ignoring. The word blog - it works as both noun and verb - is short for Web log. It was coined in 1997 to describe a website where you could post daily scribblings, journal-style, about whatever you like - mostly critiquing and linking to other articles online that may have sparked your thinking. Unlike a big media outlet, bloggers focus their efforts on narrow topics, often rising to become de facto watchdogs and self-proclaimed experts. Blogs can be about anything: politics, sex, baseball, haiku, car repair. There are blogs about blogs.

Also, yesterday there was a piece on Talk of the Nation (real audio stream) discussing blogs with the author of the Time magazine piece and the annoying author of the annoying, over-publicized, Drudge-wannabe site Wonkette. Nonetheless, it was an informative show.

And finally, our local paper the Columbus Dispatch even interviewed the staff here at DavesBeer.com about blogging and the local scene. We enjoyed providing our perspective on the new media form. I'll keep you posted when the story runs.

Raising a kid comes with a bit of sacrifice. No regrets mind you but missing a shower because of being tired or because the kid is rocketing around dangerous places and needs complete surveilance is not uncommon. And messes? Too common. This is why my car has become an important escape for me. It's quiet, it's clean, everything in my car is in its place. Well, almost. Entropy increases, even in my car. Lately there's been an accumulating pile of half-eaten crackers, toys, blankets, more toys, etc.

Saturday morning, Trish absconded with my car and the kid and told me only to meet her at North Market at 11:00 am. NO QUESTIONS were allowed. I did as I was told. We had a blast with friends hanging around the market and going to Gooddale Park. Around 2, I took the kid and hung out at Buttles/High where I found Frankie is thrilled to sit and watch people. Trish took off again and showed up with my Mazda Pr5 shining and looking like the day we picked it up 3 years ago.

I'd live a happy life with a dirty car, but, you should see this ride! What a treat. My escape, my lair, has been restored. I'm a lucky Dad today.

It's been 4 weeks since our house was struck by lightning. As of today, we have a washing machine installed and an oven! The phone still doesn't quite work as well as it used to. Need to rewire the house jacks. But, at least we won't have to visit the laundromat again. To celebrate, we're having turkey tacos. The same meal we had when we got struck. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed.

Chris, a law student at the OSU Moritz School of Law, posted a few links to Columbus-based blogs at his Law Dork site. Seems the law school, at least, has quite a healthy community of bloggers. Maybe there's quite a few more around Columbus? I started collecting links on the bottom of the page.

The only time I get extremely negative feedback on this site is when I open my under-informed mouth and talk politics. But, this post from The Hegemo, gives a description of Kerry's visit to Columbus yesterday. I guess Ohio is a pretty important state this coming November.

And, for all of you about to say disparaging things about me opening my mouth on political matters, I'm holding my hands over my ears and going anie anie anie anie anie anie etc., while you speak. So there.

There is an entire industry dedicated to slugging your tyke with you everywhere. They make car seats, slings, carriers, back-packs, wagons, harnesses, more slings, etc. In the bicycle category there are two schools: the tow-along carriage and the seat attached to the frame. We opted for the latter. This past weekend, our clever friends at the local bike shop fixed us up the limo of child seats. If Frankie can tolerate wearing her helmet, we're off for a ride.

Blogger demographics. Older and with more cash than I assumed.

Technorati.com is a site that shows, among other things, how often a particular web address (blog, link, etc.) has been linked by others, providing some indication of its popularity. There's a nifty sub-category on it called Book Talk. This is a list of books ranked by popularity. Pretty high in the list is Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. It's a fun book about mistakes people like me make ALL THE TIME. I thought it'd be a good read. Its It's an aid I desperately need.

The reviews of books from Technorati are done by people who aren't professional and usually have absolutely nothing to gain from their review. They're just providing free opinions. So it's not the authoritative NYTimes book review. Who cares. Everyone gushes over this book. But one of the best reviews I found was by Josh Abraham at Yankee Pot Roast. The piece is absolutely hilarious. It will brighten your rainy Friday.

I've finally caught up to this article I've been trying to read for a while: The Mass Amateurisation of (Nearly) Everything by Tom Coates. It's a great discussion on weblogs, their accessibility and what they can do. Where else can I hear the opinion of someone's mom from Liguria explaining why pesto made with a mortar and pestle is better than that made with a food processor? It's a unique community of expressive and creative people that make up the blogworld. The only problem? It's dominated by an age group ranging from high school to early 30s. This is unfortunate, since we all know the true wisdom in life is achieved much later. That wisdom should be shared.

Hmmmmm . . . Father's Day . . . scotch, a few hour block to brew, Corsendonk Brown Ale, ... Hey? This thing on?

Advice to anyone whose home is hit by lightning: find every electronic device that doesn't work and throw it away. Attempts to fix anything will only result in additional loss of time and energy. Our washer cost $650 new; four years later it will cost $698 to have it fixed! And, the SBC folks told me to unplug the phone and plug it back in. It actually worked. This generous piece of advice only cost $71.

The washer repair guy comes today, maybe . . . hopefully. After one visit, one diagnosis, one purchased part, great labor fees, a no-show visit and a second attempt at fixing the problem, we may, after losing only 8 hours of work, be able to wash clothes tonight. If he fails, we've placed a sniper in the turret of the house. Keep your fingers crossed.

. . . and, my new food read Meathenge, interesting variety.

We don't exactly get to see movies as they're released. In fact it's been months since the Wiseman suggested I watch American Splendor. After the big zoo outing today, Frankie was bushed. When she crashed, we got to see the movie. It's the kind of movie I think I'd like to see more than once. I'm not exactly sure why this recommendation was directed at a professional malcontent like myself, but I'll have to think about it. Thanks for the tip Rich.

... and what would you do with a ton of cash? - Check out Coveted Books.

Results of round 4 in the 77th annual spelling bee. Talk about pressure, those kids must be squirming. Round 5 6 is in progress and broadcast on ESPN!

Kerry's running mate?

I don't know if Dave's going to read this, but I figure I'll post it till he does.

Lightning aftershocks, day eleven. Well, the computer works, an army of appliance technicians (at least two) descended upon the homestead and none of the appliances are working. No oven, no washer and the dryer squeals like a pig. The laundromat is not a lot of fun either. Miraculously, the phone company decided to turn our phone on and charge us $71 and tell us absolutely nothing about why or how they did it. It's the phone company and they can do anything they want.

The weekend in Chicago and walking around parks in Columbus was fun though. Frankie loves to go to the local playground and play on the swing set.