Wednesday, February 16 2022

Dear Journal,

Good morning, everyone. Happy Wednesday. If you're reading this, I want you to immediately call the police - the fashion police! Tell them Miles got a new hat.

What kind of hat is he sporting this week? Marissa and Rodney found a Blue's Clues baseball hat in the toddler section of Target. Finally he has something in his wardrobe that says "I'm a real BLUE fan."

Even for being just shy of two years old, Miles is completely aware of his new identity. While Marissa and I were eating breakfast at the table, he made excited laps around the play room. He stopped at the baby gate, pointing to his hat making his own trademark barking noises. If you haven't heard those yet, they sound like muffled coughs - the laziest kind of bark noise possible.

In this picture, he's sporting the sideways hat style (what a throwback to the nineties). I don't think he's committed to a hat style yet - he's still trying different configurations throughout the day.

I wish him the best of luck with his new fashion identity. Have you ever launched a personal campaign to change something about the way you look? I too tried to get excited about a new hat. I know that it was a little under two years ago that I tried to incorporate a casual Bears hat into my outfits because I debuted it the same week Miles was born. Marissa loves to poke fun at me when we look through Miles' first pictures.

"It's a good thing you wore a big black hat in all of these," she teases.

No matter how hard I tried to make it work, the hat didn't last. The hat is gone, and all we have left are the pictures from that summer I tried to be hat guy.

Sip. Happy Wednesday. It's good to be here today. At the mere halfway point of an action-packed week, I look forward to the glimmer of hope later this afternoon when my name will mercifully fall off the on-call schedule. How to celebrate? Should I go for a walk, eat a snack in front of the TV, or just stare at the wall in silence for a few minutes?

I had something in mind. Glassy, the curly hair tarantula, is next up for an enclosure upgrade, and as it happens everything is arriving in the mail today. Maybe I'll take an afternoon break to assemble his new little tropical paradise. For his new house, I went with a classic hallowed out coconut hide. Glassy strikes me as a beach bum - maybe due to his long shaggy hair or his love of fresh water. He's also the first of our spiders that will get his own clean-up crew of springtails.

In other animal news, we discovered that Minnie has finally gone into heat. Physically, emotionally, and socially, it's a tough week for her. She's had a few uncharacteristic outbursts, mostly snarling at her sister Ziggy. On top of everything, she has to wear uncomfortable velcro diapers. Last night while we were all huddled around the couch, she got up on her own and trotted upstairs to take a nap, and that's the first time I remember her ever wanting to be alone. The stress must have finally got to her. Just look at the angry cocktail of emotions hiding behind her doughy eyes.

After a busy day of work, we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at the brass ring. We waltzed into the empty dining room like we owned the place. Rodney knows the menu so well, he orders his own food. "I'll have a cheeseburger with JUST MEAT, fries, ketchup, and a lemonade," he announced to the waitress moments after we sat down in a booth.

We stared at him expectantly. It only took him a few seconds to get the hint.

"Please," he finally added.

Rodney happily colored his kids menu and snacked on his fries. Miles filled the empty dining room with shrieks. In between sips of cold beer, Marissa goaded Miles to eat ripped up pieces of chicken.

That's what I got today. Marissa was nice enough to bring me a toasted everything bagel while I was writing. I think I'm going to use these last few minutes before work to enjoy it. Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great Wednesday, everybody.