Matt & Sarah Walker

Sarah set up a great father’s day. She figured out what both Henry and I would love, and it is a train ride. She found out where they have classic steam train rides and bought us tickets. We knew Henry would love it because he’s discovered ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ and it’s his new obsession. He already has a pretty sweet train set. I have to admit, I enjoy playing with and expanding his Thomas train set as much as he.

Sarah, Henry and I took a road trip down to Palestine, TX (about 2 hrs). Henry responded as soon as we got to the station and he could see some trains.

We got our boarding passes and checked out the gift shop.

Henry and I were both drooling because it was a vast collection of Thomas stuff. Then we had our included-with-the-package barbeque lunch outside and listened to a guy with a guitar sing. Henry liked to listen and clapped after each song. Sarah took him up to give him a tip.

Then it was time to board.

Henry was so excited, I could literally tell he was tensing up with excitement. He gave the conductor our tickets. We took our seats. The conductor, who was all ‘gussied up old-school’ even came round to punch our tickets. Henry was slipping into his ’serious business’ mode. He did that before when Rhonda took him to see the fire station. Oh and he did that when he took a ride on the tractor at the goat farm as well. He purses his lips and gets all rigid and focussed.

Soon we were chugging down the backwoods of Palestine. The train rolled through the woods and some cow pastures and a couple swamp bogs. We were allowed to move up a few cars to the concession stand where I scored some ice cream. The people were all nice. Lots of well-behaved kids.

We got to the end and watched the engine detach, loop around, re-attach at the opposite end, and blow some steam.

The train made a mysterious stop on the way back. We found out a lady dropped her camera going out. They were apparently kind enough to briefly stop the whole show so she could get out and grab the camera where she dropped it. I thought that was pretty awesome. Henry made many fans. A lot of folks loved the way he made ‘woo woo’ train noises almost the entire time.

We got back to the station and scored a couple ‘Thomas’ toys for Henry at the gift shop. By the time we got back in the car, it was 4 minutes before Henry was crapped out. Sarah timed it. We got home and played with his new toys for awhile before his bedtime. It was a great father’s day. Thanks, Sarah!

I didn’t even get the chance to recover from the culture shock of experiencing Cleveland again when Texas welcomed me back in a very Texas way.

To celebrate Hanky’s birthday, Sarah arranged for us to take him to a real working farm. Our friend Amanda’s parents work a goat farm (with a bunch of other animals too) in rural Sunset, TX.
So on the same day I woke up in Cleveland, flew home, met up with them, drove to the country, picked up a bunch of goats and neutered them… all before lunch.
That’s right. Amanda’s step dad asked for me and Josh’s assistance in hooking up the livestock trailer, picking up some newly-purchased goats, taking them back to the ranch, separating them, and elastic-banding their nuts. Just another day in the life of Matt Walker.
We had a great time. Walking the field with Hanky, showing him the animals, checking out the livestock graveyard, etc. He loved the critters. And there was a little mud, so luckily we had some newly-purchased fireman galoshes for Hanks.
We then had some giant burgers and cake and presents for Henry. It was a pretty long and exhausting day for me. But what 2 year old could ask for a better birthday? Come to think of it, what exhausted dad could ask for a better Sunday?

I went to Cleveland for a couple days for the honor and privilege of attending Dick and Sandi’s wedding. That was one of those wedding announcements that floored everybody who opened it. They have been together for 32 years. Making me 4 years of age when they first hooked up. And they basically said they weren’t going to marry whenever we asked like 12 years ago.

I flew in on Friday afternoon and went to Dinner with Ian, Trish, Nate, and Phoebe. I was surprised to realize how much I see relation now between Phoebe and Henry. They start getting big enough to have more noticably individual qualities, and they’re definately related. It was weird driving around in Cleveland again. it had been so long. I still very much dig that town. I enjoyed some crazy times in my early 20’s and single days. I wanted to go back for ages. But now for the first time I realized that if I did go back it would be for entirely different reasons, but still good ones. Anyway, Nate and I were going to see Dick and Sandi that night to catch up. It was a bit awkward because Ian wanted to see me too. They hadn’t been speaking for quite some time. I forget why. He finally decided to come along and say hi. So he did, and all was well. We took a tour of the sweet new pad they bought and stayed up late catching up. It was good to see they buried the hatchet. Their new house is amazing. Right on lake Superior, and you could play a baseball game in the living room.

Next day Nate and I decided to go pick up our tuxes…at the costume shop. We went to the wedding, and I got to see alot of old familiar faces from what seems like a lifetime ago. I also noted that I wasn’t the only one who sort of burned out on competitive bagpiping and was in a state of pseudo-retirement at a young age. As Dan “Rub-a-Cabbage” said, “There seems to be a lot of that going around.” And met alot of cool new faces. I didn’t know Dick was actually related to anybody. Some might think he just landed here on planet earth. It was funny to talk to other guys who looked entirely different, but had the exact same unmistakable deep gravely voice. I would have mistaken them for Dick himself if I didn’t see them.

We ate and drank and had a great time at the wedding, then went back to Ians and caught up with Ian and Trish a bit. He showed us around his sweet new house. A bit of a fixer-upper but still roomy and classic; about 100 years old.

Unfortunately, it was a whirlwind tour. I blinked, and it was time to fly back to the big D. But it was good. If my cash flow didn’t blow so bad, we’d probably make a habit of visiting there a little more often.

Being officially old now, I discover new musical talent through kid shows. Henry’s favorite is Yo Gabba Gabba. I’ve seen each episode about a thousand times. But it’s by far the coolest kid show out there. Even I kind of dig it, even after seeing the same episodes over and over. After seeing the Aquabats, Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo, Tony Hawk, Elija Wood, and Jack Black make guest appearances on the show, I knew it had to be a pretty ultra cool team behind an ultra cool show. One wacky person who appeared several times is the rotund, gold-jumpsuited Leslie. I didn’t know who she was and had to look her up. But I was already convinced she would surprise me with some coolness. She did that and more. After watching her Zombie-Killer and tribute to the old movie ‘Willow’ on YouTube, I was a fan. Her music isn’t necessarily hard-edged in any way, but she definately has a true punk rock spirit. Her singing is mediocre. Her moves are downright sad. And sex appeal is definately nowhere to be found. And she knows it, and wears all that like a crown of glory. She’s a little tongue-in-cheek. Maybe not as outright cosmic as Frank Zappa, but she lives somewhere in that vein. Anyway, I was delighted to hear she was putting on a show at the Granada. Fortunately, I was able to duck out of work in time to go see it with Sarah. She scored free tickets for hanging Granada flyers at her salon.

The show was delightfully fun. Being old and all, as I mentioned before, I was a little nervous about a loud concert in the middle of the week, so I brought ear plugs. Luckily it wasn’t that loud, so there was no need to use them. It’s hard to put to words what the show was like. It was like a comical, cosmic, mind-melting celebration of 80’s midwest diva tackiness. The Dairy Queen-working, never-been-kissed virgin from nowhere, Iowa gone SUPERSTAR! She rolled video on the big screens the whole time. Videos featured everything from poorly green-screened people dressed as goblins dancing in the forest, to 80’s home-shopping and excercise footage. Her sidekicks were a hoot too. The show began with them in white-tiger leotard jumpsuits. Okay, that might be kinda slick, kinda sexy. But they caped it off with giant stuffed-animal tiger head-hats.

Later, Leslie did a big reveal, pulling away a curtain to show them suspended in air, hanging from suspention lines. One might expect dazzling acrobatics or sexy moves. But being about 5 feet off the floor and too close to each other, they just kind of flailed. But the crowd roared and cheered anyway.

In terms of punk rock spirit, at least on the inside, I would equate this show to the Misfits, different as it may have looked and sounded. Leslie Hall’s show is a giant middle finger to the music industry machine, controlled by execs, dominated by beautiful people (and occasionally some talent.) And I think it’s great that she has built a following without having been signed by any label. She and her two sidekicks still travel in a zanily-decorated van.

Sarah and I had the fortune to meet her out back where she was signing some autographs and taking some pictures. Sarah was tickled that they sold toddler tees, and bough one for Hanky. She was genuinely nice and conversational. She signed Hank’s tee and took a picture with us.

Because she wasn’t the main act, she only played about an hour. Again, being that we are officially old, Sarah and I were also glad that we were able to head home by 10 on a weeknight.

A couple weeks ago was the Irish festival. It’s still strange for me to go to these things and still not have to perform. There’s an upside and a downside I guess. Regardless, it’s always fantastic fun. Henry got to see some live hawks and owls. That’s where he first learned how to do the cutest owl noise ‘hoo hoo’. We got to hang out with Damon, Jenny, Travis, Lindy and the rest of the Seamus Stout bunch. Henry loved the clap-along songs during their show. Always a good time.

I’ve been busting my butt trying to make our place nice and sellable again. Moving loads of stuff to storage to make it look more open. Shuffling all our stuff through the rooms to get the floors fixed. Then again for new carpet. We ordered custom blinds and I put them up yesterday. I think it’s finally paying off! Floor feels sturdy. Carpet looks great. We got the entry way tiled yesterday too.. To match the earlier kitchen and bathroom tiling we did. New kitchen set.. All so we can sell it. I hope it at least works. But I guess if we’re stuck here it’s at least a thousand times nicer.

We finally had our floors fixed a few weeks ago. When our condo was still for sale, we began to notice some new potholes under the carpet. We got new tile put in the kitchen and bathroom by a contractor Sarah found. He noticed the cement subfloor was crumbling up. We have been trying to get some straight answers from the HOA and/or management company on this issue for like a year. According to the bylaws, they’re responsible for damage under the carpet. After months and months of not getting back to us and not answering our calls or emails, we finally made some progress. They said they would bring one of their contractors out to evaluate the situation. That was fruitful. He basically bounced up and down on the carpet and said, ‘yep. that could be water damage. Or it could be foundation. It could be a huge thing to fix. Or not. We’ll have to get back to you.’ Then we waited months and months. Once again, not getting any reply to phone messages or emails. We finally said ’screw it. We’ll pony up the cash ourselves and pay to get the ever-worsening holes in our floor fixed.’ It was not feeling like the wood under the cement was coming apart and giving with each step. I was waiting to literally fall through the floor onto our neighbors. Our downstairs neighbor is the HOA president. Maybe that would get the asshole’s attention. But, alas, our contractor finally showed up to fix it. We had the fun task of moving everything from the bedroom into the livingroom so they could fix the bedroom. Then the next morning, move everything in the livingroom (which is the whole house) into the bedroom, so they could fix the living room. Had to get up extra early to do all this, while juggling our hyper kid. All before going to work for a full day. Then finally, we had to move it all back where it was to begin with. And we ordered new carpet which will take a few weeks. So we’ll probably get to do it all over again when that comes in. Meanwhile, we had to get another storage facility because we’re trying to thin out our stuff as much as possible to make it presentable when we try to sell again. We’ve been taking more and more furniture and books, etc to storage. I’m excited for the new carpet. But still angry. I’m angry that we’ve been giving money to the HOA and the crappy deadbeat management company that they hired. I wouldn’t pay them another dime, except for the fact they could stop us from selling the place. I would hire a lawyer, but then we’ll just get raped by him instead. Gotta love the justice everywhere. Makes me want to go postal sometimes.

Sarah discovered a perfect little weekend thing for us to do. Northpark mall was having a big train show for the Christmas season and it was the last day. I’ve been to a few train shows but it has been a long time. I love them. And this was the coolest layout ever. Maybe not for realistic detail (About all scales were represented on the same layout), but it was so packed with busy tracks. There must have been hundreds of zipping trains. There must have been a serious control room somewhere nearby. Henry ate it up. We slowly walked the loop and took our time. He never lost interest. He was captivated. I caught some of his joy on my sweet new Kodak Zi6.

Northpark Train Show from Matt Walker on Vimeo.

Train Show

I splurged on a new iPod touch and I’m loving it. I’m writing this entry with it. I’m blown away with how much it does. I also got a kodak zi6 for Christmas which I love. It is an he camcorder that I can litterally fit in my pocket. It’s ultra simple.. Basically a box with a lens and a button. The video and still image quality is amaZing for how simple and cheap it is. I figure I’ll take a lot more footage of the kiddo because it’s so simple and portable. I’ll be posting some videos of hanky at the park shortly.