I just drove past Roswell returning home from dropping my son off at school and it seemed a little weird for a bunch of folks to be outside on a smoke break.

Watch out, Roswell peeps -- contradictions are everywhere

My master plan for getting some extra cash is having a bit of a down side. For the uninitiated, I usher at the Bills games down by some of the players suites where things are fairly tame.

The colder weather has its downsides when you have to stand around for six hours in it. I'll post some pics at some point. On one hand, it's kind of cool to place yourself iin something bigger. On the other hand, I'm looking at the security guys with a little suspicion after some drunken fucksticks allegedly beat up some New England fan at the last game. Most of the guys are pretty good and on the ball inside the stadium, but the forces aren't very numerous outside the stadium where the needs are just as great.

I'm not suppose to get security, just checking tickets and giving directions, but I had to break up a couple of knuckleheads yesterday. I got it done, but took a stumble into a railing so I've got a nice thigh bruise courtesy a couple of losers. The signed Bills helmet did little to make it hurt less.

The drive home was the cherry on the cake for me. I thought I was smart (smrt!) by scooting down milestrip rd and going to route 5 and basicially getting to our turf via the skyway. Now, everybody is fucking doing it. So, no matter how fast the Bills finish embarassing themselves, it's a hour wait till all the thruway guys get their entrance. Nothing like being a little stiff from standing, bruised from whathave ya and tired to really hate the fact that your great little car is a standard. That was pain. By the time I got home, I was walking like I was in an old western and not in a good way.

Nothing a hot shower and 3 pints of Guinness couldn't assist with.

I took the kids to "Flushed Away" on Saturday night as a precursor and it was so worth it. Lots of unabashed silly. Just the tonic. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, me or the kids. It was a reward for number one son. He had another Tae Kwon Do Tourney and medalled in forms. I got to help him get over his fear of sparing before he can make the next great leap.

On other fronts, Bill Maher on his last show proposed banning campaign commericals and I sort of think he has a point. Nothing has been gained from the tremendous waste of money in this area. Nobody has said anything of substance in their ads other than their approving of their messages. Nothing has been learned. No candidate be it democrat or republican has come out and said why we should select them. Reynolds and Davis are so busy taking shots at one another, there really isn't anyway to know what they stand for. The same holds true for most of the races out there.

Sad, really. That said, vote, peeps, vote

Jack Davis is so crazy and he'll never accomplish anything if he happens to win. Tom Reynolds is an immoral pig who has incredible clout. You know there is much to worry about when both national parties are pouring money into this area. Given the choices, I'm glad I don't live in the district. Speaking of congresspeoples, anybody seen Louise Slaughter (our rep) recently?

I bet John Kerry reads his scripts a little more thoroughly next time he works without a prompter.

Jeannine Pirro is running for Attorney General and is picking a fight with Alan Hevesi, who she isn't running against. I'm not sure I get that one fully. Other than a loose allusion to Andrew Cuomo who hasn't said much of anything about Hevesi, the ad doesn't make a lot of sense to this seasoned political watcher.

Alan Hevesi is getting crucified for not initially paying expenses for a state funded driver for a sick relative. He didn't pay initially, but has since made full restitution for all the expenses. It is wrong, and I feel bad that I don't feel worse. Given all the crappy things that need fixing in NY state, can we just move on already?

At the rate Keith Olbermann is calling out the President, I'm pretty sure he's getting audited for the during of the GOP being in power. He gave an interesting comment on his show last night. I'm not sure I agree with it entirely, but I do admire his actually having a spine and speaking up, instead of ranting a la The Jerkass Factor on Fox.

Not sure who pointed it out, but I concur with how the storm helped all of the politicians in the area deflect from their foibles. The only thing more vexing is how many of them tried to take credit for getting the throughway tolls down. All those cretins have been in office for some time and all could have gotten it done a lot sooner, but none would have if Carl Paladino hadn't taken the heat with his lawsuit.

The Buffalo Teachers Federation is upset with the Buffalo News. I just think it's a crappy paper, but they believe they are getting a raw deal. It's been documented that the district (distressingly cash poor) could save a crapload of money by consolidating the health care coverage. All their Napoleonic leader, Phil Rumore, can do is whine about negotiations logistics and how that needs to be talked about. Instead of sitting down and talking about it, he carps to any tv camera he can find. I'd be a lot more sympathetic if this guy who insists that he's for the children would quite whing and get his butt to the negotiating table and save the district some money, so my kids can have a music teacher intead of him getting another useless sound bite.

James Carville just sent me a junk email -- the subject line was "Desperate"

Vote, peeps, it's a cruel world out there

Hope ya'all enjoyed Halloween

I just returned from a Halloween gathering that may have been a little beyond me. It was centered in and around my age bracket but I had a hard time finding a niche. The ex was there and that was good. We were both fried because daughter the younger took off for trick or treating in North Buffalo sans permission. And one of the partygoers called the ex to say they were starting without her. So, I had a hard time relaxing. I was tempted to slap the nostrils clean off my child because she nearly left her brother high and dry on his own. He's only 8 so it's a little early for that.

I think if it wasn't halloween, my darling daughter would have been stuffed into my car before it was dark out. She's grounded through the weekend, but we didn't deny candy. Whole thing left me a little tense throughout the whole party. It was a room full of "Acquaintances" which I guess is good, but it was one of those if I wasn't here, it wouldn't have mattered kind of things. On the upside, an escape was an easy fix. There are some circles you travelin and there are some you visit. This was definitely a visit. Gets easier with practice I guess.

Aren't there kids who know that if the light is off, the house is off limits. Educate your young, people!

Sigh, I think I hear a Guinness calling.

Just dropped the kids off after a full weekend and thankfully uneventful. I missed the party at Timika's but it was worth it, hearing number one son sing "Kill the Wabbit" after a night of Looney Tunes. The Golden Collection is worth the money.

The Ex's uncle got remarried yesterday and it did feel both weird and a bit of a relief to be the uninvited. I popped in at my in-laws to grab my kids for dinner tonight and it did feel a little bit of a polite interloper to sort of sneak in, scoop my guys up and head out again.

Took them out to my folks who hadn't seem them in a month and spoiled them (and me) appropriately. We hung out, ate a big pile of pasta for dinner and gave Fantasia the Mystery Science Theater treatment, a good time fo sho.

Twas a hoot to watch the hockey game and have number one son hanging out last night. A "guys night" in.

See, I'm not be antisocial, just semi responsible.

I'm sort of looking forward to the work week I get to go in at 8 like in days of yore for the first part of this week. May have to partake of some El Canelo. If you've never been, they are over on Dingens and do lunch right. It usually is insanely quick, portioned right, and really good. I haven't been able to swing in it recent months and for the longest time it was a regular feature of my cable routine.

But three well prepared chicken tacos and a coke can repair the damages of even the toughest mondays.

Got the first Coco Moco of the season this afternoon. Nothing like a Mocha hug from the inside.

Hope everybody survived the halloween revelry intact.

Be well

There was a meeting today were people got to toss out ideas about how we are doing with the outtages and what not. I suggest to the boss that he might want to be on camera more since it would give more gravitas to the cable company caring as much as the electric guys who despite being out of town managed to get on tv instead of to a phone.

A few minutes later, his boss comes in and tells him to get in front of the camera more and away from the phone.

I smirked all the way back to my desk.

Sounds like a bad South Park joke except it's true. One of the metro woodchippers had been in front of my place most of the afternoon, just the thing to mess with traffic flow on Delaware. It sounds like somebody left a blowdryer on all afternoon. Drivers can't help but stop to look.

Called in sick to finish shaking off the weekend bug and the other effects of the weekend. Got caught up with my all too dormant DVR and enjoyed "Studio 60" over breakfast. I got myself into a quandry with my child's doctors office. They wouldn't schedule an appointment with number one son for a checkup because insurance hasn't paid them back for when the girls went in early October. The explanation was that I had other insurance.

Well, no, who has surplus insurance??

I called the blue cross rep and who was alarmingly helpful. I wasn't used to that. I had a rant all set to go and had to postpone it as he found that the billing office chuckleheads committed a typo in filing the girls billing and transposes a few digits in my account, to the tune of over $300.00. He is processing their payment as we speak. I just got off the phone with the Billing Department chief having effectively, yet succinicting voicing my displeasure are being such a long term customer getting their files handed in such a slipshod way.

Take your victories where you can folks.

On a totally unrelated topic, I got a tchotckey from a tv network at home today. You get those periodically from the cable networks for running their commercials in your system. Most of the time, it's useless stuff like "Dead Like Me" Bobbleheads or "Six Feet Under" caskets filled with gummy worms, but today I received a "rollaway laptop pack" from NBC. It looked like a fancy backpack to me, but it came complete with instructions on how to "pack up my portable pc for those times on the go." Mac-hating bastards.

Nice bookbag tho.

Random thought from Saturday: whilst cleaning up puke and baking I thought some kick ass muffins, couldn't there have been a single woman between 30-50 who knew I was capable of such things and be impressed.

oh yeah, Today's home sick feature was Be Cool, nowhere near as good as Walk the Line, but Andre 3000 made the movie for me. I think I'll rejoin the working world tomorrow.

Time to venture out to Spot for Tea

Only thing worse than being sick is being sick alone. It was a tough weekend. Took the kids out on friday night only to have my son complain about his stomach hurting.

Sure enough he erupted saturday morning from both ends. I'm trying to make breakfast for the girls, clean him up and my landlord wants to stop to chat, mostly to nag me about getting cable back on. Assmunch!

The girls are sitting on the floor of my kitchen when the younger tells me "I don't want to be here." Just what you want to hear. I walked into my bedroom were number 1 son was sleeping and just sobbed. It was one of those weird sensations of the harder you try, the more you kept slipping back. They walked the two blocks back to the ex's house and young son slept it off. The ex came to get him later that day so I got a fun Saturday night at the village laundramat on Elmwood.

I got up early and had to work the Bills game/debacle. That was hard enough. I drove to Wegmans and got a few necessities and after stopping to check on number one son, I got a call from number 1 daughter's friend that she was now sick. I went and retrieved her and finally stumbled in my own door about 9, roughly 13 hours after I left.

Whenever the kids get sick, I've always gotten this weird sensation that goes away after we get them squared away. This one didn't so, without getting graphic, it got me during the overnight hours. So, I've been doing the little old man covered up in a blanket today. Proof God has a sense of humor, I got my cable back so I was able to fall asleep in front of "Walk the Line." Nice film, what I saw.

Hope everybody is well.

Baseball season is finally over. I'm sure the World Series will be good, but I'll take a pass. The most remarkable thing I've seen lately was the catch made by the Mets' left fielder. Young Mr. Chavez flew to steal a home run away last night. And somehow he came down and managed to get the ball back in for a double play. It was amazing, even if you don't like baseball.