Maggie in 'Merica

This IS the absolute first picture of Maggie Malady on American soil on the world wide web. I win!!! (prize to be determined)

Idiot!!!

Banana Pancakes

So the yard is done, the office is cleaned up, 4 loads of laundry are done, the end result of 11 days of consecutive shifts. I sometimes have no clue how my mom does this more often than not. I am so tired and worn out. I have so many things to catch up in life, family, friends. I sometimes take my days off for granted until of course, they are poof! Gone. Amanda and I have decided that the rest of the day is dedicated to rest, nothing more than shopping and moping around. I need to pick up shop supplies from the Celtic Trader, a TV from Re's, and both are cars need baths in the worst way. It will all wait. More important fish to fry. Maggie comes home in about 30 hours and it could not be too soon. I wish they were here now.

I have Grey's Anatomy Season 2 on DVD, I need to catch up before it starts next week!

I also have Grey's Anatomy soundtrack vol. 2, the new BNL album, Barenaked Ladies Are Me, and I got Jack Johnson's latest effort In Between Dreams. All are good, especially JJ. Last week I bought Keane's Under the Iron Sea for Amanda, I like it, I will let you know when she actually listens to it.

Gonna work backwards here, no, this is not Pulp Fiction,

Yesterday I got to have drinks with Emily, okay multiple drinks over a 4 hour span with a jewel in my life. We caught up on life, love, and other various grown up things. I cannot believe she and I have been friends for a decade now, such a long time. I am so blessed to have such a strong group of friends who will always be there for me. Before that, I went to Amanda's school (that she will be leaving next week) picnic at Park Road Park. We had some Penn Station subs and she was the only person who made a home made dish. We had a good time chatting with her fellow teachers, can't wait to meet the NEW group.

Thursday, sucked (softball canceled, I know you care B.)

Wednesday, sucked w/ rain

Tuesday, I don't remember...

A little toooooo ironic, and yeah I really do think....

its like rain on your wedding day.....

Enough Alanis, anyway. I intentionally omitted a post on 9/11 so that I spend one day free of Bush-bashing and just focus on loving my country!!! A country I will mention is run by a monkey in a neck tie, but it is no longer 9/11, so FU W.

Wow, that paragraph did not match the title or lead in, so allow me to segway into the truly ironic...

I have been trying to move from Charlotte for three years now, just some kind of relocation with work and I am out. No dice. Amanda had finally gotten settled into her school, classroom, and kids... poof, she has been DIS (fucking) PLACED. For those who do not know, that means that class sizes in her school are too small (because small=good for students, god forbid) and that Smithfield must drop 4 teachers. Well, last hired, first fired. She will be moving schools next week, she will know where she is going by the end of this week. She has handled the news very well, better than most in fact, but it sucks. She is not allowed to tell the kids until her class room as been divided up and their parents have been notified. Poor Amanda has little to no control over where she goes. I think only 5 schools have available positions open. On the bright side, there are two good schools on that list that are closer to our house than Smithfield. One is McKee road right off of Providence and Ballantyne Commons Parkway and the other is about a mile down Providence Road from there at Providence Springs. I hope she gets one of those schools so she will be closer to me, home, and the kitties. I will keep you updated on news as I am informed.

Life isn't fair, but you never know, this could work out wonderfully! (not sunshine attitude, you might want to document that, it will be worth something someday!)

Bored Kind Of Life

Sometimes I think my life is rather bland and dull. Here are some headlines.

Amanda has been house sitting for the Cribbs, I am patheticly lonely.

I am going to Greenville SC to work at their store while they have Buyer's Day Out

Grandma Grace's bofriend of 40+ (or more) years, Ted Kalman, died of cancer, he was as much a part of our family as anyone!

Maggie is in our grasps, we just have to get her all legal and stuff and she can come home to her forever family.

My new Car & Driver arrived today, it is my most favorite part of the month (that is pathetic)

Church softball is starting up, you will see updates as to my progress during the course of the season.

Amanda and I MIGHT do weight watchers... I know I am skinny but you know, it is just moral support for Amanda.... damn lexdysia.



When you treat your life like a newspaper, maybe you find yourself a little more interesting and a little less dull.

Sister Hazel Show

So, the show was fantastic, made even better by the lack of an admission price. Really though, it was smart of them because they still got my $20, I spent it on a shirt instead of on admission. Where I really saved the dough was not buying any alcohol, I negated that by going to wal-mart after the show and buying some crap I really didn't need. Needless to say, I spent the same ammount of money tonight as I was supposed to, I just got to reallocate funds around.

Sister Hazel rocked out, Matt and his wife-to-be came out to keep me from being the lone loser guy singing every word to every song and going home to blog about it and hang out with his cats. Oh crap, that happened except for the alone during the show part. I ran into an old high school friend, Brad Broders. He looked happy and healthy. I got his number, in my heart of hearts, I don't think I will call him. I am too afraid that there will be this awkward realization that we have nothing in common anymore, and what fun is that? The cool part is that I might call him just to spite myself. He is currently living in Dilworth and reporting the new for News 14 Carolina. He is a natural in front of the camera, he was so psyched about covering the hurricane/ tropical storm.

For you music fans that read this blog, Sister Hazel has a new album coming out on October 10th, from the stuff they played at the show, it will be a little more upbeat than their last album "lift." It sounded like old skool stuff off of "fortress." More pressing excitement is over the Barenaked Ladies new album coming out this Tuesday, September 12th.

Can you believe it has been five years since the Terrorist Attacks, America is the only country since then to successfully launch terrorist attacks. Yeah us! Please vote for someone in the next election who believes in rebuilding Iraq and the region but also believes in not invading sovereign nations during a time of peace. Thanks!

Thats about it, as you can tell I am very lonely because Amanda is house sitting for the Cribbs so I am all alone. Feel free to call me. I work the rest of this week including a Sunday stint in Greenville South Carolina. Have a good rest of the week. Don't forget my "myspace" link as well as the Adoption page for Lil Maggie, she's coming home from China on the 17th. Love you David, Allison, and Maggie!!!!

Charlotte + Free + Fun

Yeah, I know that combo doesn't happen very often in this town, but there is a cool event coming up for free. One of my favorite bands, Siste Hazel, will be playing the Carolina Panthers Kickoff Party uptown on the block between 2nd&3rd and Graham&Mint. The party starts at 5pm, I work to 6, so I will be there in time for SH to take the stage at 7:30pm. Join me if you wish!!!

New Way to Jon-Track

I have created a profile on Myspace, primarily for the purpose of catching up with long lost friends, feel free to check it out though!!!

www.myspace.com/chimsquare

I will continue to make this my primary blog!!!

Families Grow

And mine is growing in a way we have never seen before. My cousins David and Allison are going to be parents at 3:30 this morning, they are in China, in route to meet Maggie. Track their progress at www.missmaggieinchina.blogspot.com. Oh we could not be more excitied.

Football Friday Night

In general, I do not care too much about High School Football, I usually make fun of anyone who wears their high school ring after they start their freshman year of college. But Independece, my school, is on a 94 game winning streak, longest in the country. That said, tonight was a big night because it pitted Amanda's Olympic Tojans against my Independece Patriots.

Independence - 55
Olympic - 14

Oh yeah, make that 95 games in a row!