Will this be the one?

So, I've made several attempts at blogging before, but nothing has "clicked" for me quite yet, though I am happy with what I've started on my Google Pages for Haiku. I may transition that over to here since this is clearly the place for it.

Father's Day is drawing to a close. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that Father's Day does not mean a "day off" for dear old dad. Nope, I was up by 8:00 preparing waffles, a regular Sunday breakfast for the regular Sunday chef. Hardly had I poured the first batter on the griddle when the phone rings and K is calling for a ride home from his overnight stay at a friend's house. Why so early? Who knows. With K back home, we all sit down to breakfast.

Next up, I turned on CBS Sunday Morning, another regular. Of course, during the summer, many of the segments are "classic" rather than new. Today, though, there is a good triple bit about contemporary dads in U.S., Italy and Japan. I hit record on the Tivo and went upstairs to check on K, who was already booting up the computer to play Half-Life 2: Episode 1. I switched on the Spanish channel to watch the start of the World Cup game between Japan and Croatia. I didn't get to watch it all, but heard it ended in a draw.

10:00 and I'm heading outside to tackle the lawn. Four hours later I finally find my way back in. In the time outside, I lost $10 to K when he decided he wanted to make some money. I gave him most of the backyard to mow after I finished mowing and hedge trimming the front. When the lawn was done, I thought I'd finally unpack the pressure washer I bought at the end of last summer. After setting it up, it took a bit to get the engine to kick in, but when it did I started spraying the deck and the siding to see how well it worked. Naturally, the noise brought K back outside (he went in as soon as his money was made) and he was trying to wrangle more money from me. I told him no, but we did move the pressure washer to the other side of the deck, only to have it refuse to turn on! Jeez! Are they usually this fragile and finicky? I'll troubleshoot more another day.

Coming in at 2:00, I showered and had a late lunch of Thai curry then relaxed a little. At 2:50 I convinced K to walk down to the Father's Day Block Party. It was a scorcher outside. Too bad for the block party. I think they were actually the victims of the weather being too nice. Not much was happening, so K and I made a quick round trip through the block, then headed to the video store (nothing new to rent), grabbed frozen drinks at Cumby's and headed back home.

4:00 - 5:30 I finally got a little "me" time, fighting with my computer to play Half-Life 2: Episode 1 on my own. I'm convinced my memory is bad as I get nothing but freezes/crashes whenever I try to play a "Source" engine game. Bummer. Another item for the summer shopping list.

5:30 - 7:00 Grill time! I fired up the grill and cooked a London broil we had in marinade for about an hour. While the grill was heating I also decided to pull out the ladder and clean the drain gutters on the low side of the house. Foul-smelling muck! Thankfully, dinner turned out good.

7:00 - 9:00 Flipping channels I found Blade on SpikeTV. I had never seen the first movie, so it seemed like a good waste of time. K and I watched it while playing a cheap game I bought yesterday called Hack Attack. Essentially, it is a little like an advanced form of Tic-Tac-Toe. I won the first couple of rounds pretty quickly, then the movie distracted me and K was mopping up. When the movie ended he was off to bed, which is where I'm heading soon.

Tomorrow is K's last day at elementary school--awards ceremony and a half day. Then on Wednesday I'm off to Japan. How the time does fly.