Seeing Weekend Light at the End of a Work Tunnel (and other proverbial musings) …

I think this guy was trying to do a shoddy rendition of the NBA’s “There Can Only Be One” campaign where they merged two NBA players’ faces onto one screen. Safe to say, this guy probably isn’t entering a film contest any time soon … still, it’s worth a chuckle.

Interesting take on the movie WALL-E … basically it contends that the Pixar film too simply associates the earth’s ecological decline with the obesity of humanity. My theory is that Andrew Stanton wanted to use his interpretation of the future as a caricature of what can happen if we become inconsolable over-consumers. Basically, he was aggrandizing that point by creating a dismal canvas of the earth and an amplified view of the human state. Actually, the previous observations are just the smaller narratives underneath the meta-narrative of how we all need relationships to truly feel alive.

My little guy* is traveling to St. Louis with his aunt and not coming back until Monday night. Am I going to miss him? Absolutely. Am I going to catch up on some sleep, sneak away on some matinees with wifey and eat deplorable food? Most definitely.

My little guy with a big smile …

I know eating at trendy restaurants is so … not trendy, but I bit the bullet and had a nice lunch with HK at Elmo’s this week. The Elmo burger and fries are okay, but HK’s cobb salad was envied. It was a good meal, but nothing to write home about, thus I’m just writing about it on a blog.

Last night I stuffed a Choco Pie into my bag to surprise myself with a snack today. I left the bag at home and all I can think about is that poor Choco Pie, melting in my bag in all of its crème-filled chocolate goodness.

Mm, choco goodness.

What would you rate as the most disturbing thing that occurs in an office atmosphere (from the following)?

- Clipping nails
- Constant gabbing by somebody on a personal call
- Getting invited to be a LinkedIn or Facebook friend by a colleague you don’t know
- Awkward elevator banter

Be thankful this guy isn’t your cubicle-mate.

Channeling Chuck Norris to Stop a Fight (among other things) …

Because my buddy at OneYearinNewYorkCity summarized his weekend, I guess I should quickly do so as well.

- Saw fireworks and lots of it on the 4^th of July. Hung out with Melvin and the family, and thanks to them, found an awesome vantage point in Brooklyn Heights. Although it started drizzling some and my shoulders ached under the weight of my man-child of a son, Jaden, it was a good night. During the day we had a picnic at Central Park, and earlier in the day saw the film, WALL-E. Great stuff.

- Following day the weather was a bit uncooperative for any plans outdoors, so I took man-child to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. It was a great bonding time between father and son. Afterwards, the Kim family ate a good meal and headed off to Long Island City for some rooftop wiffleball, indoor appetizers and Catchphrase with some good pals.

- Sunday was hopping over to some good churchin’ and then lunch with the Philips … which quickly grew to a lunch with 10 other people. I was especially thankful to spend some time with my pals, Ho-Dog and KW. Then not wanting to see my weekend end, I took Jaden to the playground with his “uncle” Tony, where the man-child ran amok while Tony and I shot some hoops.

- Some really interesting stuff:

o Apparently, I missed one of the greatest Wimbledon matches ever. At least I saw Papelbon give up a game-winning hit to unknown rookie, Brett Gardner. Ironic that he was first drafted by the Red Sox in 2005.

o On Sunday, while I was at the playground with man-child and “uncle” Tony, I ended up stopping a fight between two teenagers. I didn’t notice the fight until I heard a few kids yelling in the direction of the fight. Not sure if it was my newfound daddy powers or my disdain for seeing teenagers pummel each other’s face, but I ran over to the skirmish and yelled at them to stop. They both stopped for like five seconds and gave me a look that said, “Get lost you old fart.” Then they began swinging their fists in each other’s direction. I quickly grabbed the backpack that one of the kids was still wearing, and then pulled/pushed them apart. Not knowing how to stop a fight without sounding like an old principal, I went all Chuck Norris on them. This is what came out of my mouth: “I have a little son playing over there, so you can’t fight here. This is a public center. If you continue to fight, I swear, I’m going to take both of you out.” Then they both walked away in opposite directions. Somewhere Norris just took a break from making one of his ubiquitous commercials and gave me a fist pump.