Just a silly little TR - Run Away!!

[shan23877]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

That's being a good dad!

Sorry about the man card though. Did they hurt you when they confiscated it?

 

[Thumper_Man]

Elle and one of her best friends on the team hooked up and wanted to see a movie. So the Mom and I let the girls pick.


I just saw Katy Perry in 3D...

Look at the bright side, they could've picked Magic Mike.

No more man card for me. Some guys driving Harley's grabbed me as I came out of the theatre and took it away.

Tell you how to get it back. Take all us GUYS to a football game in freezing weather, buy us beer and hot dogs for the whole game, then take us to the strip joint after and I'll help you petition the man's club to get it back. Let me go ask Lady H first if it's ok that I go.

 

[laura74]

I'll see if my husband has an extra man card he can lend you.

 

[pkondz]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

That's being a good dad!

Sorry about the man card though. Did they hurt you when they confiscated it?

They bent my pride.

Look at the bright side, they could've picked Magic Mike.

Oddly enough, the mom I went with mentioned it.


Tell you how to get it back. Take all us GUYS to a football game in freezing weather, buy us beer and hot dogs for the whole game, then take us to the strip joint after and I'll help you petition the man's club to get it back. Let me go ask Lady H first if it's ok that I go.

I've never been to an NFL game. So I'm there. I could probably drive out to a Vikings or Bears home game.

I'll see if my husband has an extra man card he can lend you.

Thanks Laura... but you only get one when you check in. An mine's GONE!

Oh, crap. Now there's crying. I'm never getting it back, am I?

 

[buzz1121]

Medal awards are done, and... oh gawd, I don't know if I should post this...

Elle and one of her best friends on the team hooked up and wanted to see a movie. So the Mom and I let the girls pick.



I just saw Katy Perry in 3D...



No more man card for me. Some guys driving Harley's grabbed me as I came out of the theatre and took it away.

Aww Pkondz, you lost your man card but look what you gained.....you are now a FIREWORK!!!

That is awesome news about Elle's dance competition wins!! Congratulations Elle!

The summer schedule is kicking my behind!

I'll be back in a bit, the kids just got home from swimming lessons and they are about to stage a mutiny for food.

 

[buzz1121]

If you like seafood, then be sure to go to Mr Fish on Kings' Highway. It's a little place, but SO good, and not as expensive as many of the other seafood places. I always prefer to go to the beach in the MB State Park, or down past Murrells Inlet at Huntington Beach. In Market Commons is a restaurant called Nacho Hippo. There's always a wait, but I love their food. I'm homesick for SC now

Beka, we did go to Mr. Fish in your honor! It was awesome! Mr. Fish has been on my "to do" list for a few years, but this year I knew we needed to go. I was so stuffed that I didn't have any room to try the interesting sounding "strawberry grit pie". Have you tried it?

DH and I may go back to MB in September for a weekend without the kids, maybe around the Greek Festival at the Orthodox church. Is there something I could pick up and mail to you that would make you a little less homesick? I would be happy to act as "mail courier"!

 

[nebo]

Look at the bright side, they could've picked Magic Mike.

Now that's funny.


Tell you how to get it back. Take all us GUYS to a football game in freezing weather, buy us beer and hot dogs for the whole game, then take us to the strip joint after and I'll help you petition the man's club to get it back. Let me go ask Lady H first if it's ok that I go.

Yeah Dude, awesome, let's do it! Just us guys, hangin' doin' guy things.
T Man,, after you ask Lady H if it's allright,, would you mind asking Diane for me?

 

[Sandy Mouse]

I was reading the last 2 pages on the commuter van on the way home yesterday, laughing really hard, silently, but trying not to make any strange noises!
First, Congratulations, Elle! That is quite an accomplishment!
Next, the man card incident. I am so sorry that you were attacked and stripped of your card, Ponzi, but yes, you definitely are a firework. I'm afraid you cannot reclaim your card by going to a Vikings game. You must go all the way to Chicago or perhaps Green Bay, and then the Committee will take it under advisement.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

I just have to say what a wonderful dad you are, Ponz, to sacrifice your man card for your daughter. Some day she will appreciate it!

Congrats to Elle and the team!

 

[pkondz]

Aww Pkondz, you lost your man card but look what you gained.....you are now a FIREWORK!!!

All right! I'm a firework!

Wait... that's not going to help me, is it.

That is awesome news about Elle's dance competition wins!! Congratulations Elle!

The summer schedule is kicking my behind!

Tell me about it! I'm behind in my TR and four... yes FOUR others!

I'll be back in a bit, the kids just got home from swimming lessons and they are about to stage a mutiny for food.

Find out which one is first mate, quick!

Yeah Dude, awesome, let's do it! Just us guys, hangin' doin' guy things.
T Man,, after you ask Lady H if it's allright,, would you mind asking Diane for me?

Pick a date, let me know.

I was reading the last 2 pages on the commuter van on the way home yesterday, laughing really hard, silently, but trying not to make any strange noises!

Yeah, these people are funny. I'm just funny looking.

First, Congratulations, Elle! That is quite an accomplishment!
Next, the man card incident. I am so sorry that you were attacked and stripped of your card, Ponzi, but yes, you definitely are a firework. I'm afraid you cannot reclaim your card by going to a Vikings game. You must go all the way to Chicago or perhaps Green Bay, and then the Committee will take it under advisement.

Check. Vikings no. Bears yes. Packers maybe.

I just have to say what a wonderful dad you are, Ponz, to sacrifice your man card for your daughter. Some day she will appreciate it!

Congrats to Elle and the team!

Gee maybe if I stop beating them on a regular basis, I might even win Dad of the year!

Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes and congrats to Elle. She hasn't been on while we were away, but I've kept her up to date.

 

[nebo]

Gee maybe if I stop beating them on a regular basis, I might even win Dad of the year!

Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes and congrats to Elle. She hasn't been on while we were away, but I've kept her up to date.

That's so cool about the dance competition and Elle doing so well. Must be really cool to be good at something when you are young,,, and NOT be embarrassed about being good at it:
A typical Thanksgiving/multiple birthdays celebration at the young Nebo's household

"Oh Stevie, why don't you go strap on your accordian and play a couple of songs for Uncle George and Aunt Lil?"
"Hey mom, how about I get some of those magazines I found in Dad's dresser drawer and we pass them around for everybody to look at? "

By the way, isn't Kay checking the report now and then just to at least make sure you aren't "dissing" her?

 

[buzz1121]

Yay! I survived the attempted mutiny by quickly throwing together ham and cheese sandwiches. Seriously, I can not fill the kids up after their swim lessons. They are literally pint sized garbage disposals!

Is it bad to say that I'm looking forward to the regular routine that school brings?

 

[pkondz]

One more real life update then we'll move on.

First, I'm going to apologize. TRs are supposed to be fun.

This isn't going to be fun.

As a matter of fact, feel free to skip this whole part if you'd rather keep it light.

If you do decide to read on, don't say you weren't warned.

I promise though, once I get this out of my system, it's back to Hawaii.



So unfortunately our Montreal Dance excursion didn't end too well.

Two things marred the trip. I'll start with the second thing first.

A cab from the hotel to the airport is $40 a limo is $92. I thought it would be nice to have a limo take us back to the airport. Sort of put a nice ending on the trip, you know? I asked another dancer's mom if she'd be interested in splitting a limo and she liked the idea and said, "Sure."

I decided that it would be even nicer if it was a stretch limo. The price was $143 but I thought, "What the heck, let's splurge and go in style." I called the limo company and arranged to have a car pick us up the next day at noon.

The next morning, Elle and I were down in the lobby waiting for the other two to join us when I saw another mom and daughter from the same dance school. I asked if she was going to the airport and she said yes. I asked if she wanted to go by limo (it seats 8) which split 3 ways would be cheaper than a cab ($31). She was really happy about it.

At 11:55 I go outside to see if the car is waiting. It should be, right? Nope. No car. I wait a few more minutes and start getting nervous. I call the limo company and they tell me they'll find out where the driver is and call me back.

By now the other mom is getting nervous (she was on an earlier flight and should've already left). I tell her to take a cab and apologize profusely.

I felt like a total... rear end.

12:05 the limo company calls me back and tells me that the driver is stuck somewhere and the car won't be coming. Or any car.

To say I was a little annoyed is an understatement. When you have to be somewhere, don't you leave early just in case you get stuck in traffic or something?

Not impressed.



But that pales in comparison to the other thing that happened.


When the awards ceremonies were over, we left the theater and headed out to take the subway back to the hotel. On the ride out, Elle opens her boxes with her medals and sees that instead of having 2 gold and 1 silver medal, she has 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze.

Needless to say, she was very upset. We have a wall in the basement where Elle displays all her medals and certificates she's earned in dance.

I could see how upset she was, so we turned around and took another subway and returned to the theater.

Two years ago, we attended the same organizations' competition in Vancouver. There they ran out of medals. I was worried that they wouldn't have a gold medal for Elle. Several of her friends didn't get medals.

Here we go again.

There was a gala that was going to be performed that night and the doors to the auditorium were closed with ushers keeping people out.

I looked around to see if any of the organizers were around and saw someone come out from the auditorium. I noticed that they were rehearsing for the gala. Obviously the right people would be backstage.

I marched to the doors and opened one. An usher grabbed my hand and asked, "Can I help you, sir?"

I already told you that "sir" is never a good thing. This time though, I was p*ssed and didn't care. I shook off the usher, told him, "Don't worry about it" and told Elle to follow me. Another usher rushed over and tried to intercept us, calling out, "Sir! Sir! Can I help you? Sir! Sir!"

I ignored him and marched backstage. The director (if that's what you call the lady that runs the competition, I'll call her Barbie) was there and I calmly, politely told her that we had received a bronze medal instead of a gold, and could we exchange it please.

She asked someone where the medals were and the guy she asked said that they had run out before the end of the awards ceremony. Barbie turns to me and says they don't have any.

Me:"Why did you run out?"

Barbie:"Because we have to order them two months in advance and we don't know how many we'll give out."

Me:"You don't know how many you'll need? It's simple math. Take the maximum number of kids that could win and order that many." I also thought that you'd have to add at least 10% in case of ties, but I didn't want her brain to explode.

Barbie:"We don't know how many there'll be, people are still qualifying in May."

Now I'm thinking that maybe you shouldn't run a competition until you have all your numbers, but...

Me:"You ran out 2 years ago in Vancouver and now you ran out here, too?"

Barbie:"We didn't give out medals in Vancouver."

Me, incredulous:"You're telling me that you didn't give out medals in Vancouver? And run out?"

Barbie looks uncertain then: "What do you want me to do about it? These medals are expensive they're $10 each. I can give you two silver for the bronze."

Me, even more incredulous:"We don't want two silvers, we want a gold."

Barbie:"Well the bronze almost looks like a gold, isn't that good enough?"

Me:"No, she earned a gold and she wants a gold."

Then Barbie marched out the exact same argument that she used 2 years ago.

Barbie:"The medal isn't important. It's the pride of doing a good performance. In 15 years the medals won't matter. But the pride of doing a good performance is what matters."

I could see that this wasn't going to go anywhere so we left. Hopefully Elle's teacher can get her her gold medal.

So was I wrong? I think the woman was way off base. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[pkondz]

That's so cool about the dance competition and Elle doing so well. Must be really cool to be good at something when you are young,,, and NOT be embarrassed about being good at it:
A typical Thanksgiving/multiple birthdays celebration at the young Nebo's household

"Oh Stevie, why don't you go strap on your accordian and play a couple of songs for Uncle George and Aunt Lil?"
"Hey mom, how about I get some of those magazines I found in Dad's dresser drawer and we pass them around for everybody to look at? "

Accordion and 'art' magazines. Sounds like a... um... er... interesting celebration.

By the way, isn't Kay checking the report now and then just to at least make sure you aren't "dissing" her?

So far she hasn't shown any interest in checking it out. And I'm not gonna push it. She marches to the beat of a diferent drummer. And I'm okay with that.

Yay! I survived the attempted mutiny by quickly throwing together ham and cheese sandwiches. Seriously, I can not fill the kids up after their swim lessons. They are literally pint sized garbage disposals!

Is it bad to say that I'm looking forward to the regular routine that school brings?

Too bad Captain Bligh didn't have any ham & cheese sammies around.

 

[smidgy]

It did go well! Jazz was the biggest category with more teams in it than the other categories.

They placed first.


Do you think I might be a proud papa?

hurray!!!!!!


and, just my opinion. but you were NOT wrong!!! it DOES make a difference. and doing better thanothers in a competition IS important! getting better grades IS important. this mushy, feel good garbage is jsut a lie to our kids. eventually they will be competing for jobs, positions in companies, etc.

I like the way it's put in The Incredibles.... "they keep inventing new ways to celebrate mediocrity" and mom"everyones special" dash""which is another way of saying NO one is".

 

[smidgy]

when the boys were in middle school, I was pretty involved.. on the school improvement team, the curriculum design team, etc.

one teacher didn't want try-outs for the basketball team or for cheerleading. he thought whoever wanted to participate should be able to.

some kids excel in sports,and should be honored for that. we try to give kids numerous ways to excel. some excel in grades (honors clubs, etc.) some in music (jazz band, madrigals, etc.)

now, there alraeady was intramurals, for everyone. but sorry, some kids just aren't good enough to make the team.. and some aren't smart enough for the honor's club. and some science projects win a blue ribbon, and some get red or yellow.

and kid's should get what they worked for, remember that episode of Everybody Loves raymond, where they didn't keep score in the baseball game?

 

[mmeb144]

Pkondz, you did the right thing. I also hope the teacher can help Elle out once you get back. Arrrrgh, this is making me all piratey thinking about it.

 

[bankr63]

Look at the bright side, they could've picked Magic Mike.


Tell you how to get it back. Take all us GUYS to a football game in freezing weather, buy us beer and hot dogs for the whole game, then take us to the strip joint after and I'll help you petition the man's club to get it back. Let me go ask Lady H first if it's ok that I go.

The only way we might get the ladies to let us go to the peelers is if we send them all out to see Magic Mike. Now I bet that's one they want to see in 3D!

Personally I think we should bring them all up here to Canada for a good ol' CFL playoff game. In the snow.

ANd pkondz, you were in Montreal. They weren't driving Harleys. They were driving 'Arley Davi'son's. Maybe it was Mom Boucher himself lifting your card?

I'll put in a good word for you at the man club meeting. Gate crashing the gala to stare down Barbie was a good start to redemption.

And last, but certainly not least, congratulations to Elle on the fanstasic results. You are solid gold now to a lot of your dad's "imaginary friends".

 

[Sandy Mouse]

Gate crashing the gala to stare down Barbie was a good start to redemption.

And last, but certainly not least, congratulations to Elle on the fanstasic results. You are solid gold now to a lot of your dad's "imaginary friends".

 

[Thumper_Man]

Yeah Dude, awesome, let's do it! Just us guys, hangin' doin' guy things.
T Man,, after you ask Lady H if it's allright,, would you mind asking Diane for me?

Lady H said I could go, IF I can find the time off and money to go. She reminded me after DL next month, we're going to Orlando for 2 weeks in December. Not to mention I'm going hunting for a week at the beginning of November. The money part is throwing a wrench into this proposed activity. I won't be able to do it this year, but we should seriously plan for next year.