IT'S A BOY!!!

And so it is for my older brother, Kreg, and his wife, Angela. They welcomed their son into the world yesterday at 7:01PM. How very exciting for them!! Kreg called me at work yesterday and said Angela was scheduled for delivery at 5 and then I was on pins and needles until I got word of the birth early in the evening from Kortney. Kreg called again around 9 and we had a nice little chat and I was so happy for him. There was exhaustion in his voice, but I could tell he was happy and grateful that the delivery went off without a hitch. There is no name yet; Kreg and Angela want to bond with their son a little first before giving him a name that will follow him forever. I'll be anxious to see what they come up with. If they used Kevan, Patrick, or Anthony anywhere, I wouldn't object. Course if they named him after my father or one of our grandfathers, then there would be no stopping Mom's tears and Kreg's name would forever be written in stone in my parent's wills. It's exciting to be an uncle again and I am anxious to see pictures of the baby and find time and the courage to fly up and visit the new family. I am truly happy for them and continue to pray fervently for their well being, health, and happiness.

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I'm a bachelor this week. Kort took to the road with Mom over the weekend to PA for a few days. This is the first time I've been alone with both dogs for an extended period of time. So far, it seems to be working out well. I'm nowhere near as exciting and lovey-dovey with Weezie as Kortney is, so she's being a little glum while Kort's away, but she and I have our own bond and so it's business as usual. Due to some accidents in the house yesterday, I had to crate Weezie during the day today, which I hated, but didn't see any other way around. Kortney assured me she would be fine, and I am certain she will be, but I absolutely hate penning dogs (or any animal for that matter) up for long periods during the day. That's the Saint Francis in me, I guess. Evelyn has her first visit with the vet on Friday morning. That ought to be an adventure and I hope Kort will be back in town by then to help me with that trip. Ev's scratching a lot and shedding tons of hair and i worry she may have a skin irritation, although I did find 2 fleas over the weekend so that could be part of the problem. In any case, she needs to be seen formally by Gordon and her annoying scratching addressed. Other than that, she's fitting in great. She responds much better to her name now, recognizes what she's supposed to do when she's outside (make and do a poo), and isn't whining near as much as she used to. She jumped up in the chair with me for a few minutes last night and that was a break-through on its own.

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This is a short work week for me. I'm taking Thursday off and with Good Friday, I have the makings of a nice, long weekend. My initial plan was to get a ton of sleep over the long weekend, but exactly how much will depend on when Kort gets back, the dogs' schedules, social activities over the next 72 hours, and how much energy I have. I feel like I owe myself a trip to the bookstore to load up on magazines and books, so that could very well be in the offing for Thursday morning as a present to myself. We shall see.

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Ever since I smoked my celebratory cigar last night in honor of Baby Boy Sherbine, my mouth tastes like tobacco. Is this what smokers' mouths feel like all the time??? I would die. I thought teeth brushing and Listerine would take care of it, but alas, no. Hopefully, a hefty Arby's lunch will do the trick. I don't remember the taste lingering around so long when I used to smoke up back in my college days with roommates, but maybe it's because I'm older now. I don't know. Still, I enjoy a good cigar - just not the lingering aftertaste. Yuk!

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Nothing else to write so I'll end here.

90 Days

That's how much time we have until our lease runs out at the end of June. It's been pretty much decided that we will not be renewing on Yates Avenue for another year. For what we are currently paying, we could get a larger place with more space somewhere else. And we desperately need more space, especially with two active, young dogs running around everywhere. We like the house we're in now, sure. But there's a lot of maintenance that we've done ourselves that we shouldn't have to do in a rental. The back yard is nearly entirely dirt and that makes for a real mess when it rains or the ground is in any way wet or damp. I love hardwood floors, but I would like the next place I live to have less hardwood and more linoleum or whatever that's easy to clean and maintain. I would also like my next abode to have a back porch of some kind for wet/dirty dogs to towel off or whatever before entering the house. If the high traffic entrance and laundry room could be located somewhere other than right off my den, that would be great, too. No firm decisions have been made for now. We aren't sure if we're taking our show on the road or if we'll split up. Kort is still holding out hope that she'll get a teaching position in PA for the fall. I'd like that for her, too, since I know she really has her heart set on moving North. We talked a little about me going with her and that may be a possibility, depending on how things turn out. Either way, we are in for a big housing change in the next 90 days. I hate moving. UGH!!!
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Weezie made a trip to the vet on yesterday. She started limping really bad at the beginning of the week and so we had the vet look at her. It appears to be something with the soft tissue and not bone related, so that's good. She's got meds that she'll take and if she doesn't improve, then we'll have her in for an x-ray in a month. Not sure what she did to hurt herself, although I wouldn't rule out Evelyn's involvement, if not as the root cause then definitely a contributing factor. My dog is sweet, but she likes to roughhouse with Weeze and sometimes their play can get intense. Kortney thinks the injury stems from an old bocce ball entanglement last fall and that could be it, too. Still, we don't like it when the dogs aren't well. I myself need to have Ev in to the vet soon for her skin irritation and a general looking over. She's shedding hair like no one's business and scratching/licking/gnawing more than I'm comfortable with. She is also slow to eat her food and that's worrying me a tad, although Kortney says she'll eat when she's hungry. But I'm a worrier, so that's that.
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Cooper River Bridge Run is on Saturday morning. So rest assured the Charleston Sherbines will try not to be out and about anywhere near downtown or Mount Pleasant that day. Preparations are already under way on Coleman Boulevard and will only intensify until late Friday. The first sign the race is getting near are the porta-potties set out en masse at different locations along Coleman. Guess everyone needs to drain their bladders before setting off on the bridge where there's nowhere to relieve yourself until you get to the other side. Well, you could hang your member over the side of the bridge but I think the public at large and law enforcement would have a problem with that. As for the ladies, sorry, your parts are sorta internal and make hanging it out a dilemma.
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I'm looking forward to the short work week next week. We have Good Friday off and I've taken Thursday off to enjoy a long weekend in celebration of me. Next Wednesday is a Weiner Wednesday at work so that's something to look forward to for me in terms of getting out of the office for a few hours for part of the day and not having to wear business casual attire (which I HATE, in case you didn't know). I tried to get the day off Wednesday, too, but ran into a little snafu with that. Which I'm still a little bitter about, but slowly getting over.
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So, there is something to be said for change. Anyone who knows me knows I deplore change of any kind and that I do not react well to it in the least. However, change can be good and well worth getting out of the rut you've found yourself in. I watched the movie "Wanted" over this past weekend with James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie. Turns out, I really liked it. The last scene is McAvoy's character looking dead in the camera and asking, "What the fuck have you done lately?" What have I done lately? Not a damn thing. Maybe I need a change, too.

Tan lines

It was a thoughtless remark and I don't care what kind of spin the White House Press Secretary puts on it, there was no excuse for the president to say what he did on national television. Screw the fact that he hastily called the President of the Special Olympics Tim Shriver to apologize. He knew he needed to do some damage control as soon as possible and what better way than to call the head of the organization whose members/participants he'd just insulted. As the brother of a younger sister who is profoundly mentally and physically disabled and who has participated in many years worth of Special Olympics events while she was in the public school system, I am deeply offended by his remark. It's Christianly to forgive and for the most part, people have and have moved on. But I won't forget this monumental slip of the tongue and will continue to wonder what sort of man he is if this is the kind of vitriol that comes from him during unscripted moments.





Yeah, someone dropped the ball on this AIG bonus thing. Blame the pretender Treasury Secretary, Chris Dodd, the White House, Democrats on the Hill, whoever. Someone should have lost their job over that and from the looks of it, Chris Dodd hasn't come out unscathed. It was fun to watch the other side of the aisle squirm in their seats while they tried to figure out who amongst themselves to blame. They knew they couldn't blame their favorite target, George W Bush, or Congressional Republicans when it was the Democrats who ram-rodded the AIG-affected legislation through and got it enacted into law. It will be interesting to see what knives go in whose back first and how often. For all their talk about change and blah blah blah, it sure continues to look like business as usual in the Democratic Party. I will say, though, that I agree with Obama when he says we may want to step back a little from the most recent bill passed by the House where they voted to tax the AIG bonuses at 90%. We cannot use the federal tax code to go after a certain sect of people, no matter what the circumstances and it's doubtful the legislation would withstand a court challenge, which is what Obama alluded to in an interview recently. So, I back him on that. But only that.




Office politics is the worst. I try to stay above the fray and keep my nose clean, but sometimes I find myself right in the middle without even knowing it. And because I have a way with the written worn and don't mind saying exactly what I'm thinking (not always my best virtue), I tend to get roped in when the mud-slinging starts. As if I don't already have enough on my plate already.




I'm starting to think about birthday plans. There's a decent chance I'll be alone on my special day, so that'll suck, but it can't be helped. Even so, I'll try and do something special for myself on my day. Maybe hit the bookstore and blow a big wad of cash on magazines and books. Possibly hit Best Buy for some DVDs, too. That would be delicious! And to eat - either a greasy, heart-stopping Pepperoni Lover's Pizza from Pizza Hut or a big slab of red meat I can cook inside. I'm getting hungry already!! Good thing it's almost time for lunch. Today, I'm thinking...........

Title this

Been a while since I blogged last. I start one and then get sidetracked and when I find time to finish or continue, the news is old or more stuff has happened so I just delete it and say I'll write later. I'm a procrastintor that way.
White House Council on Women and Girls. Really?!? I'm floored. What on God's green earth is this council going to do other than create more paper and hold purely-for-show meetings with prominent women's groups around the country? If I was a woman, I'd be appalled. Just as I would have been back in the 70s when the Equal Rights Amendment was codified into law. As if there needed to be a formal amendment to the US Constitution stating that a woman is equal to a man. Women should have been aghast to learn that apparently they weren't before the ERA was put on the books. Doesn't the preamble to the Constitution say that all men are created equal? And when it says 'men,' it means mankind and not the male of the species - for anyone who might try to pull a fast one. This newly established council is a waste of time and anyone on the floor with Obama that day should have been ashamed and embarrassed that their tax dollars were now going to fund this ridiculous brain child of Michelle Obama. What about the WH Council on Men and Boys? When will it be established and announced? Of all the things that should command the president's attention these days, let's put more important stuff on his calendar and dispense with the ones that may not bear any fruit at all.
No meat on Fridays of Lent, my friends. I'm just saying. It's important to remember and follow these things. I'm not a perfect Catholic by any stretch of the imagination. I am confident that some of the things I do, say, and think the Catholic Church would not approve of, but I'm imperfect and so long as I realize that and at least try to be better, then it's not all for naught. One of the few times in my life I have been really frustrated at my mother was last February in Myrtle Beach. It was a Friday of Lent and she and I and my older brother were dining at the Bonefish Grill after she and I walked the 5K earlier that evening. As I was pondering the menu and lamenting my limitiations due to not being able to eat meat that day, she asked in a sort of huffy manner why it mattered. I curtly explained to her that it DID matter because it was important for me to follow the church's observations of the Lenten season. I'm not a theologian like my friend is, so I couldn't get in depth with my mother about specifics, but it irked me that in that moment she didn't seem to respect my faith enough to see that it was important to me to abstain from meat on that particular occasion. As it turns out, the grilled salmon in butter sauce I ended up having was simply OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!! And no, this isn't about my mother. It's about observing the Lenten practices of the Catholic faith. It's 7 Fridays out of 52; surely we can go without meat for 7 days out of the entire year. Jesus Christ hung on a cross for us. Going without meat on these days of Lent is the least we can do for Him. So let's do it.
Evelyn is starting to show some signs of settling into her new home. We've had her a month now and she's calmed down a good bit. Kortney took over some of her training and that seems to have helped some with the anxiety and restlessness. She whines a lot less now, which is good. Although last night she was in rare form like I've not seen since we brought her home. Maybe it was because it was raining and she couldn't be outside as much as she'd like. She pissed on the floor in the desk room again so I'm going to have to get some pee pads and stuff to spray around the house to discourage her from making on the floor. She's also turning out to be a very active sleeper. We may need to renegotiate our sleeping arrangement before too long. I'm thinking to buy another bed for her and put it on the floor right by mine and hope she sleeps there. How much you wanna bet I will have bought a second bed for nothing. LOL
Good times. As my sister would say. Well, that's about it for now. I will try to remember to blog again sooner. Thank you, Kortney, for putting up with my crap and all my oddities. I love you.
PS: I survived my bout of pink eye. Still on the steriods and antibiotics, but I'll live.

Those who can't, shouldn't

The ability to teach, I think, it innate. You either have it or you don't. Sure, anyone can teach anyone to do anything, but the ability to stand in a classroom day in and day out and give our students the knowledge they need for the next grade up or to enter into the real world is a gift. Fortunately, that gift runs in the Sherbine blood and it runs strong. Both of my parents are world-class educators, as many people will attest to. My older brother taught briefly after graduate school and my youngest sister is a teacher at an excellent elementary school over in West Ashley. She works hard and has earned every bit of respect and admiration her colleagues and students have for her. Recently, she took on a student teacher from the same C of C program she came up through several years ago. What looked to be a promising collusion almost immediately turned to disaster when the grad student quickly demonstrated her inability to grasp any concept related to classroom teaching and more than once showed difficulty mastering basic spelling and grammar. What's tragic is that even though Kortney has bent over backwards to help this woman, the student teacher's ineptitude has become insurmountable and she has begun to realize it. And in realizing this sad truth, she has begun to lash out and blame her inability to succeed on her mentor teacher. This acting out has taken the form of posting crude references about Kortney on the boyfriend's blog and hoping that the world wide web hadn't made its way to Yates Avenue yet. When a dog is backed into a corner and knows it has nowhere to go, it tries everything it can think of to stay in the game. Unfortunately for this young woman, teaching does not seem to be her calling and she should be grateful that Kortney has the insight and professionalism to handle the situation the way she did. Teaching isn't for everyone and that's the hard truth sometimes. Maybe this woman would be better suited hosting tables at the Olive Garden or something.
I caved in and let Evelyn sleep with me last night. She's a whiner and it grates on my last nerve sometimes, especially when I've had a long day and just want some peace and quiet. I don't know what happened the first several months of her life to make her that way, but whoever neglected her in that way really screwed me. So, to keep her quiet and so I could get some rest and hopefully stave off more whining in the future, I let her up with me on the bed when I went to sleep. She took several minutes to get herself situated before finally laying motionless and drifting off. And then she stayed still and quiet this morning during the alarm and the subsequent snooze periods afterwards, only getting down when it was time to go outside. Last night was a success so we'll see how it works out going forward. Ideally, she could have the run of the house after Kortney went to bed so I could work on the computer at my desk in peace, but I'm constantly worried about her wetting the floor and making noise while Kort's trying to sleep. Baby steps, Kevan. We'll get there.
Nothing else new going on. Work is blah, but that's to be expected. I try to keep my nose clear of the office politics, but sometimes I find myself right in the middle of the mix without even knowing it. Fortunately, I have enough self-restraint to most of the time nod my head and put on a fake smile. But if people knew what was running through my mind most of the time...
Tomorrow is my grandmother's 89th birthday. This would be my mom's mom, the feisty little woman who walked herself two busy Folly Beach streets to the beach over Christmas without any of us knowing about it. Yikes. Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA!!! :)

Welcome to the family!

I am not a fan of the words retard and retarded. Not in the least. It could be that I have a heightened sensitivity to the word because I have a sister who is mentally and physically disabled, but I cringe every time someone uses these words in any way, shape, or form, especially in reference to a person or something someone has done. And I think people have gotten so used to using it and hearing it that no one really thinks about how insensitive it really is. I just don't like it.

The puppy is finally here. Evelyn Frances Julienne Sherbine joined our family on Saturday, February 14th in all her glory and loudness, bringing the David Sherbine Family dog count to 4 (Kris has Roxy, Kreg has Hannah, Kortney has Weezie, and now me with Evelyn - all females, I just realized). She is a beagle mix (mostly beagle, though) about 7-8 months old. She is slightly older than I initially wanted, but the advantage to her being older is that she is already nearly fully housebroken and a seasoned crate dweller. This eliminates me having to start housebreaking from scratch and the sleepless nights taking her out every couple of hours. Even though we've had a couple accidents inside already, that is to be expected and I scold appropriately. It's going to take her and I a little while to form our bond, but we're getting there. She happily greeted me at the door yesterday when I got in from work and that was a relief; she is really taking to her new home. We still have a ways to go with breaking some habits and getting fully acclimated to a routine, but I am confident that in a few months it will be smooth sailing. Weezie has accepted her new cousin and the two of them get along famously. They roughhouse around and Weezie growls when she wants to be left alone. The first time Evy gets a serious nip or deep growl from Weeze, she'll learn her lesson and know when to back off. I think Weeze enjoys the playmate, though, and hope we can get to the point where we can leave the two of them free in the house together while we're at work. But not now - there'd be nothing left but four walls and a roof if we left them alone right now. LOL Seriously.

The parents are doing Weight Watchers since early January and they BOTH LOOK GREAT!!! I was really impressed when I saw them on Friday at how good they looked. They are being really committed and serious about the program and the results are showing. My father had to notch out a new hole on his belt because of the weight he's losing. I was thinking he could just get a new belt rather than trying to poke a hole in leather with a kitchen knife, but I kept my mouth shut. It's funny to listen to him spout out how many points each food is and calculate what he can have at every sitting to leave himself points at the end of the day or watch him figure out what he can eat between dinner and bed to use his points for the day. Apparently, it's better to use all your points for the day rather than have any left over. Kortney has also gotten on the WW train, although she is going rogue and using materials the folks gave her to avoid having to pay for the expensive weekly cost. I'm glad she's doing it if she's content to follow the dietary guidelines, truly watch what she eats, and does the accompanying exercise regimen. From what I've seen so far, she is doing just that. The downside for me is that I'm trying to put weight on and I feel guilty sometimes eating my normal stuff while she's rationing out her portions and eating healthier, but Mom told me over the weekend that I need to not feel guilty and continue to eat what I eat to get to my desired weight. She was not happy that I had to keep hiking my jeans up every five minutes at home. So, I'm going to continue on my journey to put about 5-10 more pounds ON while my parents and sister continue on their journey to take pounds OFF. It's a win-win for everyone. :)

With being at home over a long weekend and then being occupied with new dog since getting back to Charleston on Monday, I've not kept a close track of the happenings in DC, but I understand the stimulus package has been signed into law. Tragically, of course. Nothing like ram-rodding a billion-dollar boondoggle through congress and hoisting it onto the American public right out of the gate, but I wouldn't expect anything less from San Fran Nan and her cohorts in the Democratic leadership. I truly hope this package helps, but from what I'm seeing and reading (OMB and CBO numbers), it doesn't look like we'll see any real stimulus in the national economy until the latter part of 2010 and then 2011. I thought we needed fiscal help right now. Isn't that why Obama and the Democrats pushed so hard to get this bill through and passed? I guess not since the bill was ready for Obama's signature before he took a 3-day weekend in Chicago, leaving the signing until Tuesday. And why sign the damned thing in Denver of all places?? Isn't that what the White House is for? Whatever. I'm just saying we the taxpayers just took on a HUGE financial burden that may or not produce any real results any time soon. This on top of all the bailouts we've already doled out and whatever the administration gives away between now and 2013. Keep your fingers crossed.

I really am working. It's just slow today so there's not much to do. I already helped Karen out with her admin duties and have cleared the little bit of paperwork I had on my own desk. I could start working on the EIT minutes from the meeting this morning since I am the secretary for the team, but I need supplemental info from two other people before I can start my own draft. See, this is why MPW needs OTO (Optional Time Off, aka, Time Off Without Pay). I would volunteer to go home right now and see my little dog and get some much needed sleep. But no, even though MPW is cutting spending everywhere it possibly can, they can't fathom letting employees volunteer to take time off without getting paid for it. I think it's something management should at least discuss and I may suggest it to the GM. The worst thing he can do is say no and I'm used to that around here, so what's the harm?

Until next time, my friends. Puppy pictures to be posted on FB soon. I promise.

Inaugural

We'll try this blog out and see how it rolls. The one thing about MySpace is that it had a built-in blog function. But, no sense in judging a book by its cover too soon. Patience, Kevan.

I should be headed to bed. I'm beat and it's been a long day. Made even longer by the fact that we were short-staffed at work and I didn't take a lunch hour. Thankfully, it wasn't too busy so I didn't feel like I was going to pull my hair out at the end of the day. Still, I wasted no time in getting out at 5. I'm not one to stick around.

We had dinner at our favorite Chinese place this evening. It's always very good and filling and we are never disappointed. We didn't get our usual table tonight, but that was of little consequence. I probably ate too much and I'm craving water like mad right now, but I know if I drink something at this time of night, I'll have to answer the call of nature in the middle of the night and ruin my peaceful slumber. So I'll think of other things than of how thirsty I am at the moment. In any case, dinner was great. The chicken wings are to die for!

No politics in this, my inaugural blog. Rest assured, though, that I am carefully watching and reading everything coming out of DC of late. I'm not saying much, but that always misleads people. They think me stupid and idiotic, but what they don't know is that my brain is absorbing and I'm doing my own critical thinking before opening up and laying it out as only I can.

Well, I guess that will do it for tonight. Time to fall into bed and get some much needed beauty sleep before another rough day. Lock-out day. UGH!

Until next time, my friends...