PoBPAH

Jill and I like to spar periodically as to who is more hip out of the two of us.  For fun, I claim to be hip, but know otherwise.  Left to my own devices, I would be wearing acid-washed jeans, listening to Cyndi Lauper and playing PacMan... but that's the subject of another blog post.  In any case, Jill seems to have her finger on the pulse of what is, at least in this dork's mind, cool... it is one of the reasons I really like her.

I can't recall now how Jill heard of the above cryptically named band, better known as The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, but I seem to be addicted to their first (self-titled) CD in a serious manner (and we no longer joke about addictions).  It is brilliant indie-pop (oxymoron?), that at times reminds me of old Jesus and Mary Chain, at other times The Vaselines or one of my favorite lesser-knowns, Fuzzy.  The lyrics are interesting, to say the least, ranging from songs referring to incest ("You're my sister... and this love is fucking right!") to losing one's virginity in the stacks of a library to a shared love of Jesus Christ and heroin.

I've been trying to get into the PoBPAH's 2nd and most recent CD, "Belong," but it seems to lack the same intensity of the 1st and it is just not happening.

Check them out... you can hear just about all of their stuff streaming on their website... enjoy!

http://www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com/

Back to the Basics

So... for those of you who do not know, I have a new position these days.  A life of academia and clinical medicine is at least temporarily behind me, and I have taken on the post of "domestic engineer", aka stay-at-home Dad, aka househusband.  It is a post that I have held since January and as Dickens once famously wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."  Cliche, but true.


When Jill stayed at home, I envied her position.  I think she thought I was crazy.  She referred to the job as "thankless" and noted that it does not command any respect.  Nonetheless, I thought that I would, at least for awhile, like to have a crack at it.  So here I am...

I love connecting with the kids on a day-to-day basis, and I know that the kids are well cared for (very much unlike some of our au pair experiences within the past several months... if nothing else, I don't threaten to call the police on the kids and generally know where my kids are at any point in time).  The kids crack me up, and I love the bond that we are creating.

Not to state that it is all bon-bons.

For example, today started with my urine-soaked boy asking for help, followed by a code brown from our youngest that clogged the toilet -- the toilet that has never before been clogged before -- and much whininess.

I do miss working and hope to return to the workforce soon -- likely in a non-clinical position, hopefully with an EMR company or perhaps as a medical writer.  I know when I return, I will miss days like these, as crazy as they seem as they are occurring.