Father's Day

Here's a quick tribute to my dad for Father's Day. Dig his "I'm a bad-A" stance as he welcomes us back to the 1970s. Suddenly I hear Barry Gibb singing.This one is of my parents before they were married welcoming us to the early 1960s. I do believe my mom made those matching shirts. Everything about this photo kills me -- the posing, the leaning, the lip-biting, the cat-eye glasses. It's fantastic.
Thanks for raising us right, y'all. And for letting someone take pictures of you.

It's Not That I Didn't Want Feedback

It's just that I couldn't figure out why I couldn't show the comments option. But I got it now. I've caught up. Whew! Now you can tell me what you think of my ramblings and rantings. Ready, go.

Call Me Irresponsible

So, I've been listening to Michael Buble sing "Call Me Irresponsible" since yesterday. It's a funny story, really. After much deliberation, I decided to back out of the bike tour for several reasons:

1. At two weeks before my departure, I still had no definite end date, which meant I couldn't plan any August visits before I leave for two years.
2. At two weeks before my departure, I didn't know what tours I'd be doing.
3. At two weeks before my departure, I had nothing in writing from the bike tour company about what to bring, how to pack, or any employee paperwork.
4. I still did not know exactly what I was going to be paid.
5. I called the bike tour man almost every week since he hired me (April 25), and his answer to the above quandaries was always, "Call me next week, and I'll have that information for you, okay?"
6. The bike tour man never returned my phone calls, responded to my emails, or had any information for me when I did get him on the phone.
7. If he couldn't communicate with me, I wondered how often I'd find myself stranded with people's children without a campsite reservation. My confidence level was quite low.
8. I know I'm not a criminal, but he didn't do a background check on me. That means he didn't do one on whoever my partner would be, and he was going to send us out together with people's children.

It was a difficult decision to come to because I felt I had made a commitment (and had bought two plane tickets), but it seemed I was the only one of the two of us who was committed. I also wanted to do the tours because they sounded awfully fun, but I'd rather not miss my family when they visit in August, not to mention #1-8 above.

Anyway, I called him yesterday to tell him it just wasn't going to work for me. I did not lay out the above reasons in our one-minute phone call, but he did manage to tell me I'm irresponsible. Yes, HE called ME that. Amazing.

So, feel free to sing along with me at any time. I'll be here all summer, folks.