Today was my big neighborhood event, a cleanup of the streets around Cherrywood Park. It has been bugging me for years that leaves and dirt and everything else just piles up on the street, decomposes, congeals, and grows. I was originally going to go out with a bucket and a spade and spend 30 minutes every Saturday for the next 2 years until it was done, but then I went to a neighborhood Garden Club meeting.

I mentioned to the association leader that I had this idea for a project and he was like, great, can you organize it all? Yeah … I can. So I set out figuring out what to do. First I contacted the city, and that turned into a ton of conference calls. Just to pick up dirt. But I got our congressperson involved with his office, Code Compliance, and Parks and Rec. They have a tool borrowing program, so I got 5 shovels, 5 rakes, 5 brooms, 5 trash pickers, 100 bags, 15 gloves, and a leaf blower delivered to my house on Friday.

We advertised it through the neighborhood association and garden club and about 30 people showed up this morning from 9-11. I thought it would take us much longer, but people really worked hard and scraped up every bit of dirt on the street. They even met with the homeowner whose house we were essentially cleaning and got permissions to trim her shrubs back so you could actually walk on the sidewalk. Am I really the head of the Dallas Walkability Council now?!

It was a lot to put together, but honestly, it wasn’t that bad. Daniel asked me last night as we were going to bed if I was nervous, and I laughed and said YES. Why do I keep doing these kinds of things? Why do I put myself in these situations? And he said, “Because you couldn’t keep your fucking mouth shut at your fucking garden club meeting.” And you just have to admit, he’s totally right. So we’ll see what I end up planning next! Stay tuned!

On Wednesday, September 23, 2026, Daniel’s father, Paul passed away. He had been sick and was in hospice care, but all the same it was unexpected. Paul had moved up to Bellingham to live with his wife, both for better climate and for a little assistance.

Daniel planned a trip to go see him and spend some quality time. They had made reservations at different fancy restaurants for every night of the week. But when he got there, he quickly realized that probably wasn’t happening. The situation was rapidly declining, so he extended his trip and I bought a plane ticket to join him Friday after work so I could help out. Unfortunately, he succumbed to his illness sooner than expected. I changed my ticket to the earliest flight the next day and headed up.

Any way you slice it, it’s about a full day to get up to Seattle and then up to Bellingham. When I landed, I checked the big board for my gate information for my connecting flight only to see the word, “CANCELED.” Not delayed. Just canceled. I was really trying not to be a burden but I was like wtf do I do. His mom will typically not fly between cities, but take a bus charter instead. I got the details for the bus, bought a ticket immediately even if it wasn’t going to work, and then set out trying to figure out where to go. You would think the website would have some instructions, but no. I called the number and this nice man stayed on the line as he walked me through where to go. The bus was waiting and I got on board and not 15 minutes later, we were set out for our 2 hour drive up to Bellingham.

I got there by like 8pm. Daniel met me at the Sheraton 4-Points hotel. We said hi to his mom standing in the rain and then went to our fancy hotel. Everything in Bellingham pretty much shuts down at 9pm, so we had to rush to the restaurant next door, and apologize to the wait staff because we were the last ones there past closing, but they were very nice about it. My goal was to just be a fly on the wall, provide emotional support, and help out in any way I could while the family sorted out the most immediate concerns.

Really, I thought we could have short stints of a nice little weekend, and we did. Bellingham is a cute town, although way far left of my comfort zone – and that’s saying a lot! Our hotel was really nice, overlooking the water, far from the train tracks, and quiet. One morning, we ran into Lucien Laviscount, who played Alfie in Emily in Paris, that godawful TV show. I didn’t recognize him immediately, just said good morning as we passed on the elevator, but then I paused thinking, do I know him? I turned to Daniel and his jaw was on the ground. Rumor is that Tyler Perry was in town filming a movie with John Cena and Michael Buble. We even saw a helicopter over the water performing what looked to be repeated fake rescue operations surrounded by boats potentially housing cameras? When the next Tyler Perry movie comes out we’re going to go see it and if it doesn’t have Lucien in a water rescue scene we’re gonna feel like idiots.

We had some good meals, a few cries, and provided some useful help to his mother. Daniel is the first from our generation to lose a parent, and it was a reminder that we are entering that chapter of our lives. Paul will be deeply missed but always remembered.

Last night we attended a charity gala. I wouldn’t say we’re exactly gallerinas, but this one was pretty fun. We got some “free” tickets because my dad had made a donation in honor of his late brother, so there was some obligation to go. Plus this is one of the charities I’ve worked with in my side gig and I know the founder well, so … we put on suit jackets despite the 100+ temperatures and set out for a warehouse venue near the Galleria.

What was funny is that it was on some random street we’ve never heard of or seen, and yet just the night before we were like 3 doors down. We went and saw a traveling exhibit of the Trump Epstein Files Reading Room. They printed out all 3 million pages of redacted released files, and put them into volumes on rows and rows of book cases. We promptly started pulling books out and leafing through them looking for a previously unnoticed gold nugget. Some dude came up and said, “I don’t think you’re actually supposed to touch the books.” Which then made us paranoid so we stopped. But it was called “reading room” so I don’t get what the hell else you were supposed to do there. It ended up taking like 10 minutes to get thru and then we went to dinner.

Anyway, the gala was fun. It was very inspiring to be in a room full of people who care about other people when that seems to be in low supply these days. Some of the residents of the homeless shelter program even took the mic and spoke about their experiences, which was moving. I got a little emotional when one by one they said how terrible things had gotten that they googled for help and found this organization #1 in the list, because I’m the one that got that all set up and working. So that was cool to remember that things you’ve done previously can continue to have a ripple effect.

Great meal, good conversations, made a little donation in excess of what we do monthly (and doubled it using my employer), so all in all I’d say it was a wonderful evening.

Last week the Snoring Center called me and asked me if I would come into the office for an interview. They didn’t really have a chance to explain before I blurted out, “I’ll do it!” So the next day I showed up ready to espouse the virtues of sleep medicine to whatever news agency found the story worthy. Turns out its some show that might air on MSNBC and is hosted by Hugh Downs! How fun. I still need to email the guy to find out when/if it will air and he also said he would send me a DVD. So cool. I probably look/sound like a douche, but at least I sound like a total douche … ON TV!

In other news, I bought a new pair of everyday jeans. If you don’t know this about me, I wear the same pair of jeans every day of my life. They’re not so much a garment as they are my purse. And I can’t be transferring everything I carry around on a daily basis every day just because I’m switching pants. I’m really keen on Levis since they’re more solid colored, and less faded/shredded than more fashionable, more expensive, and less durable brands. But I will tell you this. Levis last for exactly 365 wears. It’s happened twice in a row now that my every day jeans wear out almost exactly one year from the day I bought them. This newest pair I don’t actually have yet because they’re being tailored at the moment. I’ve never had a pair of jeans tailored before so I’m really hopeful that they’ll be my best pair yet. Here’s to ’09!

I also bought myself a motorcycle jacket. It’s black and mesh and armored all over. It felt kind of weird at first but now I really like it. It will save me from breaking elbows and shoulders, but more importantly from requiring skin grafts should I need to go into a controlled slide to avoid an accident. I can’t wait to try it out.

I also bought myself a new cell phone. I was on a random spending spree this week. I had a little extra money in the ol’ bank account and despite a matching amount of extra debt in the ol’ credit account, I considered it a bonus to be spent frivolously. But it was all stuff that I needed. My phone was like 4 years old and it was time for me to join the millenium. So I got a Shadow slider phone that runs Windows mobile. It’s so cool. I am so far behind on technology so I’m not even going to brag about features it has that you had years ago, but trust me, it’s cool.

So pretty good week for me. Hope you sluts had a good one. Catch you on the flip side.

Why haven’t I ever discussed this here? I try to tell everyone I know about it but have never used my most public of forums to espouse its virtues. I am talking about my ING Direct account. It’s the best decision I ever made.

I could give you all of the technicalities of it, but instead I’ll just link to it here. If you were thinking that you should be saving money — any money at all — this is the way to do it. You link it directly to your checking account and then set up automatic payments on the day you get paid. It’s the concept of “pay yourself first.” You can start out putting in 1 fucking dollar a month and then when you realize you can put more, bump it up to 5. Think about how much you waste on fast food and booze and CDs and gas only because it’s sitting in your account. If you pay yourself first, you don’t have that problem. And if you accidentally save too much, you can always transfer it back into your checking temporarily to float you to the next paycheck. I don’t like to toot my own horn, but I have literally hundreds of dollars stashed away for a rainy day.

Now, I do care about my friends making responsible fiscal decisions. And that is honestly the catalyst for this post. But the other thing I care about … is you getting free money! That’s right. When you sign up and confirm your checking account, you get 25 bucks. For nothing. If all you wanted to do was sign up, wait until your 25 bucks was available for withdrawal, withdraw it and run, you could. You don’t need to have extra money laying around to start saving. You get 25 bucks and then add to it when you can. Aaaand if you DO have savings, it makes sense to transfer it to ING because you get a 3.4 annual percent yield (WAY WAY higher than any bank). And that’s just the current rate, it’s gone up like 5 times since I signed up and trends indicate it will only keep on rising. I’m earning about 10 bucks a month in interest right now. Not a lot, but way more than a bank, and that shit adds up. Awesome.

I also get 10 bucks for referring you. I tell you that only so you’ll understand better my motivating the masses, but believe me when I say that I don’t need 10 bucks that bad. But in order for me to get my 10 and you to get your 25, I have to refer you through the website. So if you think this might be something you’d be interested in, send me an email at SideshoViD@sideshovid.com or leave me a comment with your first and last name (if I don’t know them for sure) and your email address and I will have ING send you all the information you need to get started.

That’s the end of my PSA. I do hope some of you take advantage of this great opportunity.

I felt bad that yesterday’s picture had the top of my head cut off, so I went ahead and took another one tonight. Whadya think? I just have one think to say about my new look: WINK!

I really just wanted desperately to make that joke. I didn’t exactly plan anything else out. Today Trey came and got his pool table. It was surprisingly easy for him and his rednek friends to pick it up and put it in a trailer and haul it away. That should be my last trip to Plano for a while.

Mr. K■■■■■■ insisted that tonight I was going to join him at The Dugout to watch some silly baseball game and then he had the nerve to stand me up. No phone call. No answer. No reply to IMs. This is after he has the nerve to forbid me from seeing his apartment and then asserting that he will be coming over often to use my washing machine. I don’t think so. To sum it all up, that guy has a lot of nerve. Which is why he still hasn’t earned himself a first name.

I can’t wait until I have a weekend free from plans that I’ve made months in advance. Soon enough, friends. Soon enough. And then I’ll have you all over. No pictures yet because no progress was made on cleaning. Laaaaaaaaaaaate.

Guess who’s back. Back again. Sidesho’s back. Tell a friend. Yes, my friends, I am back in the pink today. Finally. Damn those 24 hour hangovers. Although, I have to admit a rather embarassing fact. This story is graphic, and not intended for my younger viewers. So I woke up at like noon yesterday and decided while I was feeling pretty good to get a little bit of lunch in my stomach and then go back to bed. And I made Hamburger Helper the night before, but I had failed to refrigerate the shit overnight. But I didn’t think it would be a problem … but now I think that was a really bad idea. Cause I laid in bed all day feeling like I needed to throw up, but didn’t think that would be a good idea since all the alcohol was already out of my system, and I’d just forced myself to eat a big lunch and it would be a waste if i threw it up. So FINALLY around 6pm, I decided to just throw up, so that I would at least not feel queasy anymore. So I did it, and then cleaned my mouth, and stood up … and INSTANTLY started feeling better. After that, I felt just fine. So now I’m equating the length and severity of my sickness, not to the alcohol, but to the rotten Hamburger Helper. So the moral of this story is … refrigerate your leftovers, and if you happen to forget … just don’t eat the shit. A friendly PSA from yours truly.

Today I am going to go eat lunch around 2:00-2:30ish, because I have this thing to go to at 3. My symphony class professor is the conductor of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra. And since we have to write a paper over two live performances this semester, I figured this would be as good an opportunity as any other. And he’s hosting a talk today at 3 to talk to people about what we’re going to hear at the concert tomorrow, i.e. everything I need for my paper. I’ll still go to the concert, and not just because I paid $30 for tickets so I wouldn’t have to go alone. Keith is going to go with me. But also because I genuinely enjoy music and I’m open to listening to music that I normally wouldn’t listen to. So hopefully this will be an enriching experience. Plus I can describe music now using obnoxious music terms like basso continuo, and ritonello. Its fun to be pretentious. Then I think I might go to the mall and do some window shopping and say hi to my friend Stev-o who’s gonna be working there today. We’ll see. It depends on how long this symphony talk lasts, and how tired I feel after leaving the house. Since I haven’t done that in a while. Alrighty then, I’ll talk you kids later. Have a good one.