davidcedillo.com

me and dad at my grandfather's grave

my dad lives in el paso. he called this morning. anytime the phone rings on a sunday morning i know it’s probably him. dad told me that he had been reading my blog into the late hours of last night. some of it even made him laugh. in the 1970′s there was a TV commercial that stressed how important it was to reach out and touch someone. i’m glad that dad is still doing it.

the english language is a funny thing. there are words that were used decades or centuries ago that have vanished or mean something completely different now. no one says “beseech” or “prithee” unless he’s at a renaissance festival, and words like “nice” and “sick” mean just the opposite. TGIF doesn’t just stand for “thank God it’s friday” anymore either. the acronym that most people associate with weekend anticipation has more than one face:

Turfgrass Information File
The Global Institute of Finance and Banking
Transgenic and Gene-Targeting Institutional Facility
Tadpoles Grow Into Frogs

check this out for more TGIF’s. see you on monday.

wouldn’t it be cool if we (the universal “we”) sent and received postcards on a regular basis… ESPECIALLY if we sent them from our own home? you don’t have to be on vacation to see something you never noticed before, be reminded of someone, and write down the words, “wish you were here,” or “wish you were home so we could take pictures of each other next to an easter island head, then go swing on the monkey bars, then play atari and watch freaks and geeks.” yeah.

five years ago tim andersen introduced me to to a global scavenger hunt known as geocaching. he, michael sweeney, and i made numerous roadtrips for the next few years within a 200 mile radius of kansas city to find trinkets, historical markers, and take some awesome pics. i picked up the habit again last week. it’s gonna be a fun summer.

jenny & i have been working around a leaky kitchen sink for awhile, but today she threw down the gauntlet to see if i could fix it. i watched a couple of youtube tutorials, made 3 trips to westlake ace hardware and home depot. it’s still not finished, but i think the hardest part (removing the rusty strainer) is over.  i’m done for the night. it’s spaghetti time.

last week i heard that today is supposed to be the last day of human existence on planet earth. huh. i could make out a will or call old friends… but i think i’ll make some popcorn and watch scenes from night of the comet.

i rented mystery train 20 years ago because it looked weird, i checked it out from the library sunday ’cause i was in the mood for it again. tom waits is the night shift DJ i wish i could have been.

a few days ago i heard an NPR story about jonathan coulton. he’s a full time musician, not signed to a recording label, sells his songs online, and last year he grossed half a million dollars. i went to his blog and came to the conclusion that this guy is awesome. this is a song he wrote about tom cruise. his work is just the kind of motivation i need to crank out new material. thanks jonathan.

after many years of use, our couch had become übersoft. it was not comfortable. it was the first piece of furniture we had made payments on. i got the idea to buy a wood frame futon at temple slug because they’ve been in westport selling futons since 1970. they must be doing something right. it’s ironic, because the couch had originally replaced a steel frame futon when we first moved into our home. this time i figured a wooden frame would keep its comfort level longer than a steel frame, so we put our money where our backs and backsides are. josh frierdich helped me take the old couch to a thrift store, and load up the futon.

this is what happens when you borrow money from shady characters and don’t pay it back… ok that was just something to get your attention. i actually just jammed my toe in the kitchen a couple of days ago. the next day it looked like this. it looks worse than it feels. i have never seen a toe this purple before.