Andy Smallman

This is one of my favorite pictures ever. It’s from a few years back and it was taken using the PhotoBooth feature on our home computer back then, a Mac. There are many things I like about it, from the loving affection being shown in me planting a smooch on Melinda’s cheek, to Melinda’s smile, to the prominent place of her wedding ring, to Ella’s presence, and her somewhat silly face. The only thing this photo is missing is Chloe.

I went looking for it earlier as I wanted to use it to illustrate a short bio page I’ve created of me to go along with a kindness activity I’m in the process of creating. Something called the Compassion Games is starting in Seattle on Friday and I’ve been asked to get involved with a kindness-related activity. I thought it might be fun to have a series of kindness missions, one each week for the month-long duration of the games. Phrasing a kindness action as a mission gives it a game-like feel, right?

Shhh, you can get a sneak peek at that bio page here.

My brother Steve and his wife , Deb, just left our house, having come for a fairly spontaneous dinner tonight. They live in Nevada so we don’t get to see them much. Steve is in town on business and Deb came along for the trip, hoping to stop in and catch up with family & friends. I’m kicking myself because I didn’t get a picture of them tonight for my blog post, despite thinking of it several times while they were here.

Instead, I went into my photo archive to find one of Steve and Deb, and located this one from the late 1980’s. Yup, that’s Steve and Deb with their kids, Jessica and Nick. You may recall that Jessica got married the first weekend in August. At her wedding she looked older than in this photo. Nick, too, has aged quite a bit from when this shot was taken. And Steve’s hair is gray now, so you might say he’s gotten older, too.

Only Deb looks the same, I guess. 🙂

I, um, took this photo just outside of Whole Foods early this evening, but it might be better said that the photo took me. I was in the midst of a text exchange with Ella and had come outside of the store because I wasn’t getting decent coverage inside. In between text messages, while waiting for her responses, I started messing with the camera settings on my cell phone, and then, bing, bang, boom, I took this picture.

Or, like I said, it took me.

You can tell from my expression that I’m trying to figure out something, right? I mean, I look pretty serious so I must be thinking hard (something like, “I wonder why I can’t get this camera to work.”) And as my family members have told me, shooting from below chin level up at a face leads to an unflattering double chin.

So just why am I posting something like this? It gave me a good excuse to call an entry “Accidents Will Happen,” a classic Elvis Costello song.

Yup, that’s Bob squeezing Melinda and me together in today’s photo. But you’d think I might show the back of Bob’s head, not his face, considering this post is called “Bob’s Back.”

I’ve always thought that joke was kinda funny but it never gets the laugh I think it should. Like the time the students all stared at me like I was crazy when, upon a staff member’s return to school after being gone for a couple of days, I said, “Edd’s back! And, look, there’s his front, too!”

No laugh.

Same deal with Bob tonight. I told him about my idea for a band name. It would be for a group of people who, like most of us, are all obsessed with things being a certain way. You know, a little obsessive compulsive? The band would be the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Committee. For short, they’d be OCDC. Say it out loud. It’s funny, right?

Bob just said it was clever. Not funny.

I thought about calling this post “bad timing” but then I remembered a fable once told to me about a man who was driving, probably over the speed limit, to the airport to catch a plane. On his way, he got a flat tire. He got out to fix it, angry and frustrated, cursing the tire and his misfortune. He missed his plane.

Continuing on with his day, he heard on the news that a plane crashed and everyone on board died. Turns out it was the plane he was supposed to be on. He returned to the flat tire and kissed it, feeling blessed by his fortune.

Good timing, bad timing. Maybe it’s all a matter of perspective.

So, yeah, on a handful of occasions lately I’ve been stopped for the raising of the Montlake Bridge, a drawbridge not far from our house. The most recent time, as evidenced in this picture, I was first in line, meaning I was “that close” to crossing the bridge before being stopped.

I’ve decided there is a lesson in this. Slow down. Relax. Enjoy the bonus time I’m getting in the car. In this recent one, the first in line time, I was with Melinda. What could be better than that, unplanned minutes for Melinda and me to enjoy each others’ company?

Timing!

I’ve long had this funny way of considering my clothes. To understand this, you have to know that I’ve grown up as a sports fan. I understand the concept of “first string,” “second string,” “third string,” etc down, and have for a long time. If you don’t know, “first string” is the top, the best, and one moves on down the “strings” from best to, um, least best.

Anyway, as you’ve probably guessed, that’s how I see my clothes. My favorites are the first string. Get it?

Well, in 2008, the summer we went to Montana and spent a week at a dude ranch, I bought an authentic cowboy shirt. In Montana, it was easily a first stringer. But back in Seattle, it ended up on the bench. In 2010, as we were packing for France, I didn’t even consider taking it. You could say it wasn’t going to make the road trip. It got relegated to the practice squad or the Arizona Instructional League, extended spring training, or something.

Then, at the last minute, a change came over me. The shirt got hot, as it were. It made the cut and traveled to France. In France, it continued on its torrid streak, moving on up the strings, leading me to draft (buy on eBay) others like it. Now I’ve got scouts out all over the country looking for others like it.

That’s it in today’s photo. I wore it to school today.

Clearly, first string.

Over the weekend I bought a pair of running shoes on eBay, the pair I plan to use when I run in the Seattle Marathon in November. The shoes arrived today (interestingly, they came from the nearby town of Mukilteo). For fun, I’m presenting a screen shot of them on eBay (click on the pic to enlarge it).

These are “Bare Access” barefoot shoes from Merrell, the style I’ve been wearing in all of my training runs. The pair I have been wearing has been getting quite the workout (including my first 3 hour run 9 days ago) and aren’t going to be suitable for the marathon. I was excited to find this pair for half the regular price, so I snatched them up.

Anyway, I’m following a training regimen outlined in this book, one that I hope results in me running the Seattle Marathon, complete with its hills and whatever weather is thrown at me in November, in 4 hours.

And I plan to do it wearing these orange shoes.

Late in the school day I took a group of 12 PSCS students to an indoor gym a block from the school that we use for physical fitness activities. As expected, they started up a game of Mushroom Ball.

Mushroom Ball? Never heard of that, you say?

Neither had I until I was introduced to it by a group of PSCS students a couple of years ago. Basically, it’s a non-stop version of dodgeball in which it’s “every person for him/herself.” If you get hit, you take a seat until the person who hit you gets hit, whereupon you are immediately back in play. Since it’s virtually impossible for one person to get everyone else out, the game typically goes on and on.

And the students love it.

Today’s photo is from just after the end of the game. Two of the kids are quite good at Mushroom Ball, so much so that they repeatedly got the other kids out. I asked if they’d be willing to just stand still and let the other kids pelt them with the balls (believe me, the balls are quite soft). You know, let them get out any remaining aggression or frustration.

With big smiles on their faces they both said yes. Then they stood there and got bombarded with balls, smiles intact.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, Melinda & I saw Ira Glass last night. Given he works in radio, rarely do people see him. Understanding this, he came on stage in the dark and proceeded to speak to the audience for several minutes without being seen. It was a fun start to the show, which, in many ways, was like an extended version of a “This American Life” episode.

He talked for about 2 hours before taking a few questions at the end. And during the last of the questions, my cell phone rang. Yes, that’s right, I left it on. So rarely do I get actual calls, I figured if anyone is going to be calling me on a Saturday night it’s likely to be serious. Call me rude.

Anyway, when I looked down and saw it was from my mom, who just happens to be vacationing in Alaska with my dad and both of whom have had health issues recently, my heart skipped a beat. I hustled out into the hall to take the call.

It turns out my parents had arrived in Seward, the little town in which I lived 30 years ago and where I worked as a deejay. She was excited because they found the building I had lived in. She was calling to get my current mailing address (she couldn’t remember it) because she wanted to send me a postcard from Seward and get a local postmark.

Some emergency.

Oh, today’s picture is one I took in Seward 30 years ago. I lived in the green building there, above the Liberty Theatre.

In a couple of hours, Melinda and I are going out to hear Ira Glass speak. Glass is a producer and the spirit behind the wonderful radio program “This American Life” aired on NPR. We both enjoy the show so when I heard Glass was going to be in town, I surprised Melinda with a couple of tickets.

News Flash – Melinda just came in from sunning herself & reading a book in our backyard. She asked me, “What are you wearing tonight? Are you going to get dressed up?” Man, I hadn’t even thought of that yet.

Today’s picture is another one from Tuesday night’s PSCS high school retreat. I showed up to deliver a talk of my own, as I’ve reported, and I was dressed as you see in the photo. Is that appropriate attire for Ira Glass? More importantly, is it appropriate for my night out with Melinda?