Come home soon

So Ethan and his middle-school classmates are on a 3-day camping trip. Their teacher sent this photo to prove that they haven't been abducted by aliens.

My first thought was, "Whoa, how much fun is that?"

My second thought was, "Uh-oh. Where's Ethan? He's wandered off and no one noticed."

But no, he's there in the back row, looking bored and teenagerly. I miss his cynical little sneer. Come home soon, 14-year-old boy.

Dog haircut day

They won't sit still, and unlike a professional groomer I have no way to hold them down. So I have to chase them around the apartment with the electric razor like Edward Scissorhands and get a few snips in before they wriggle out of my grasp and run to another room.

We collected an entire trash bag of dog fur, and I was so proud of my grooming skills until I took them outside and saw them in the sunlight. Ethan said that Kahlua looked like she'd been mauled by a bear. I didn't do her back very evenly, so it had streaks and splotches.

The important thing is, it's done. For another three months or so.

Spring is finally here

I went to a movie Friday night with Jen. "Insurgent"? "Divergent"? It was a sci-fi thriller that seemed very much like the past three sci-fi thrillers I've seen, whose titles I'm now blanking.

Still trying to get used to the theater at Broadway & 84th Street with the reclining seats. I do like them, but you walk in and everyone has their shoes off, and blankets, and...I feel like I'm walking into someone's family room. Just weird.

Samuel and I stayed up until 3 AM on Friday night. Jen neglected to tell us that I had to take Samuel for an informational tour at NYU on Saturday morning. We both staggered through it. It was fun to see the dorm where I ate my meals. I hadn't been inside since 1984, when it looked like a regular dorm cafeteria. Now it looks like a gourmet market.

Today was the perfect day for running in the park--mid-60s and sunshine. The playground was full of kids. Runners and bikes everywhere.

I felt good. Not too fast. I'm going to ease my way into spring without pulling any muscles. Best running day of 2015 so far.

I celebrated by having a cheeseburger and milkshake from brgr for dinner.

Spring is finally here.

I thought nothing exciting happened this weekend

Then I remembered, oh, yeah, the karaoke club.

Friday night we were invited to celebrate an old friend's birthday at a karaoke club. It was on 35th Street, up a dingy flight of stairs that could just as easily have led to a massage parlor. As we trudged up the stairs the thought actually occurred to me, "Is 'karaoke club' a euphemism? Should we make a run for it?"

Inside were a series of private rooms, and inside each room was a group of people singing karaoke at the tops of their lungs.

Our room looked like the inside of a Winnebago.

A waitress brought us drinks, and we proceeded to thumb through a phonebook-sized catalog of karaoke songs, which then played on a large, electronic karaoke machine that looked like a prop from "Spinal Tap."

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it was very high-tech in 1991.

Was it fun?

Yeah, it was nice to be with old friends.

Samuel and Ethan were pleased that we allowed them to play a song by Cee Lo Green containing the F word. Jennifer was pleased that she got to sing a duet of "Barracuda."

And I don't think it's bragging to say that the highlight of the evening was my rendition of "Folsom Prison Blues," which broke the long monotony of Katy Perry and Pink songs.

Yeah, it was fun.

Would I do it again?

You know...probably not this year.