ahhhhhhh, the sound of relief

For those of you who don't already know, SS has moved out. His decision entirely. He will be 18 in 3 weeks and we are more relieved that you would believe possible.

The last months have been one charlie foxtrot after another. The situation got so intolerable that his father sat him down Sunday morning and told him that "minimum expectations are not negotiable."

To make a long story short... the kid went into a rage, packed up and left. He will not be coming back, regardless.

We did what we could. No guilt here, folks.

Just relief.

This just cracks me up

From a blog I read regularly, One Good Thing:

Christopher: Daddy?

Steve: Hm?

Christopher: At school, some people call me C-C-C-C-C-Chris, and I don't like that.

Steve: Some people call me the Space Cowboy.

Christopher: Cowboy?

Steve: Space Cowboy.

Christopher: They do?

Steve: Some call me the Gangster of Love.

Christopher: What?

Steve: Some people call me Maurice.

Christopher: Why do they do that?

Steve: Because I speak of the pompitous of love.

Christopher: ...

Christopher: Well...You should stop doing that.*

* For all you folks who spent the early 80s under a rock or on the moon, that's from the Steve Miller Band, 1983, Steve Miller Band Live!, Gangster of Love.

Another YJCMTSU

from the Tuesday 10-14-2008 Des Moines Register:

Even in the most crime-plagued cities in America, you don't see crimes like the one that occurred in northern Iowa on Sunday.

Dominic Andrew Bjerke, 21, of LeRoy, Minn., is accused of stealing a combine and taking it on a joy ride across three properties near McIntire about 2:30 a.m.

The combine caused damage to numerous vehicles and a couple of garages, according to the Mitchell County Sheriff's Office.

Robert Starry estimates the combine missed his house by inches. "There are still tracks in the yard," he said Monday.

Several street signs and a bridge also were damaged during Bjerke's early-morning excursion.

Starry said he was more fortunate than some of his neighbors. However, the combine still removed a 30-foot fence and hit his garage.

Starry said he saw Bjerke before he was taken into custody. "He couldn't talk; like he was a zombie or something," Starry said.

The combine was reported stolen from Ernest Schofield, who lives near McIntire. He declined to comment on the incident.

The combine is considered a total loss.

Bjerke was being held in the Mitchell County jail on $26,000 bond. He was charged with drunken driving, theft, burglary and criminal mischief.

It's funny. As long as you were nowhere in the vicinity of the incident.