The damage to our car from running up on that curb has been repaired. The bill? $4,008.53. Xy’s response: Time to get a new car. My response: At least we met our deductible. On a related note, the future of Saturn appears uncertain at this point, so I’m rather discouraged about ever gett...

I commented a year ago (to the very day!) that some sidewalks around our home were impassable, some friends recommended a stroller upgrade. They didn’t understand that our stroller wasn’t the problem. The major obstacle just around the corner was Gwen’s FEMA trailer, as pictured he...

Parties are strange affairs. People gathering together for no other purpose than to celebrate life and enjoy each other’s company. What an ephemeral proposition! And also how wonderful. It’s almost enough to make one suspect that gross material possessions are not the most important thin...

Woke up to the sound of screaming. Actually I was already half-awake — I slept sitting up last night cradling the girl to help with her congestion. But the screaming got my attention. Xy had just gone out the door to catch her car pool ride to work. That wasn’t her voice I was hearing &#...

Herb and Jenny are spending the night, along with their kids Marlon and Leroy, as they pass through New Orleans. We walked up to Venezia for dinner, then over a block to Bracato’s for desert. Leroy fell asleep and had to be carried. As always, I had to get some scadalina at Bracato’s. It...

There’s nothing I want to do on New Year’s Eve except run around the Christmas-tree bonfire on Orleans Avenue. New Year’s Eve is usually a big let-down, but the bonfire is fantastic. I would probably just stay home otherwise. According to some accounts, this is a tradition thatR...

My sleep is interrupted by the peal of a semiautomatic weapon being discharged. Three spurts. Close by. I’m too groggy to check the time but it feels like midnight or two in the morning. Did someone just arrange another funeral? Did someone’s son (or daughter) meet their untimely end? Bu...

One of the most frequent questions I field as a new dad are various inquiries into my sleep patterns. People seem mystified or nonplussed when I assert that I have never slept better in my life. It’s not a joke, though. Xy feeds the girl at night and usually sleeps in her room as a matter of c...

Sometimes it’s worth it. All the trouble, the endless meetings, the grant proposals, the paperwork, navigating bureaucracies, building consensus, wrangling volunteers, the phone calls, the e-mails, did I mention the meetings? I started the Mid-City sign project last year, when I was serving as...

Well, we did it. For a while I didn’t think we would be able to pull it off. First there was my sprained ankle. Then Xy came down with a cold. Then I came down with some kinda low-grade sore-throat thing. I was very close to canceling. But in the end it all came together. We had a big old part...