avablog

After hearing Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” on the very short drive to drop off Ava at school this morning, I was totally incensed and all fired up to write a blog post about how, back in my day, songs weren’t such steaming pieces of shit. And if you haven’t heard Katy Perry’s “Last Friday […]

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Sometime today, Ava has a recital with her music teacher at school. The kids can choose to do pretty much anything they want, it sounds like, so long as it involves music. Ava, bless her sweet little heart, has decided to do an interpretive dance to Missing Persons’ “Walking In L.A.” Really. And judging by […]

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Enough of this hand wringing over the dispensation of one’s filthy lucre. On to more important, relevant matters….

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I always knew there was something about that Fallon kid that I liked. I’m happy that I can now put my finger on it. If you need a reference for these lyrics/backstory, google “general larry platt.”

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Ava went downtown with her Gramary over the weekend to partake of the festivities surrounding a sand castle building competition. One such festivity was a free concert, and, well, you just know Ava’s gotta move. Photo by Gramary:

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This is not a political blog. I’m not talking about that most fragile of all kinds of hope, the kind that you put in a man to end the appalling policies of his predecessor on unlawful detention and torture. I’m talking about that larger hope, that hope that the next generation — and all generations […]

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The trick is, you can’t really jump the shark if you were never The Fonz in the first place. I trust at least one of my readers will know what the hell I’m talking about. Fortunately, you don’t really have to know to enjoy this:

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If you hated the Dallas thing I put up recently, don’t bother viewing this; you won’t get it.

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That’s how long it takes us to get from our driveway to Ava’s school in the morning; we get exactly one time through Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” which is Ava’s new favorite song (I don’t miss “Hungry Like the Wolf”). After I’ve backed out of the garage, I start the song, and Ava sings along as we […]

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I love getting a random, hearty chuckles from the Internet. My recent favorite comes — as they often do — from an Amazon review. This time it’s of Danzig’s self-titled debut release, “Danzig:” Reallly You need a reveiw?, January 31, 2009 By Dean Buy this album. I just wanted to give it another 5 stars! […]

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Back in high school, my chums and I spent a fair amount of time listening to music favored by the skater set (we had a 16′ wide half pipe in our back yard — 8′ transitions — that drew all sorts of skaters and bikers from all over the place; the neighbors were thrilled). Broadly […]

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I was originally thinking that there would be maybe two readers here who would have any interest in reading about the trials and tribulations of my home theater/Apple TV setup, but then — as I thought more — I figured, what could it hurt? Don’t click through unless you know what a TOSlink cable is. […]

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And by that, I mean I hate people like my friend Ben, who sneakily slide their gorgeous iPhones out of their pockets when I’m not looking. Then, before I know it, I’m staring at this gleaming piece of hardware laid out on some bar table somewhere, and my technolust washes over me like a sepsis-induced […]

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Last night I heard the first cicada of the season. July 5, 2008, Iowa City, IA. As I type this, more are buzzing away over the lilting notes of Jazz guitar coming from downtown. None of which we’d hear with the A/C on….

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Who doesn’t have a minute for Cameo? The little dancer is just a bonus.

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No apologies to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

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We scrambled to get out the door this morning, and in the rush, I left my iPod behind. Not good. And I’d just added about 75 new tunes last night that I was looking forward to hearing. I’ll have to remember to grab it when I’m home at noon today.

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One of the items on Ava’s Christmas list from the very beginning was a guitar. As usual, Santa delivered. I love how her tousled hair completes the rocker chic look, especially in her fancy Christmas garb. She even has the facial expression down!

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