My pithy response...

Honestly, man... your last post is too good to even allow me to poke jabs. You've got two great boys there, and you are doing a great job raising them by yourself. Those two are going to make you proud, and I am confident that they are damn proud of you, too.

You and the boys haven't had it easy, no question... but you never let the hard times get in the way of what was really important, no matter how hard the times got. These boys have seen the end of their parents marriage and all the confusion and tension that comes with that, a devastating hurricane, a move to a far distant land very different from what they knew and far away from family and friends... but they still know what is important: family. Their idea of a big night is "movie night" with Dad, or "game night" with Dad, or a trip to a book signing with Dad (that still makes me giggle).

For those that don't know, Ryan hates the casino business. As someone who was once responsible for assigning Ryan his place on the casino floor routinely, I can tell you that Ryan has a very narrow and specific "comfort zone" when it comes to working the casino schedule, and any deviation from that zone means Ryan is an unhappy camper. More importantly, though, I think Ryan has always resented how "trapped" one can feel in the business. Dealing in a casino is a career that requires skill, and that skill can foster and nurture a sense of personal pride that is very real and typically well deserved for really, really good dealers... but that pride can only give an intelligent person with a lot of imagination and vision so much satisfaction before the rigours of the "front line" customer-care duties begin to wear it down. Ryan's were worn to nearly nothing long ago, believe me.

Still, Ryan continues to work the floor. Not because he is a slave to the "almighty dollar"... which admittedly does flow with great volume and regularity in our business, especially in one of the premier jobs like Ryan has... but because it provides the boys with a lifestyle and a comfort-zone of their own that Ryan feels is at least adequate, while still providing him with enough "at home" time to appreciate his own hard-work and effort in watching his boys live their lives.

You can piss and moan all you want, my friend... but you're doing a good job raising those boys. I might pick on you for not posting (or for posting even...), but in the end if the reason you can't post is because you're wrapped up in those young men of yours, then I'll wait for your dribble to be posted when you have time.

That being said, I want to make sure Jambo isn't feeling left out here. He, too, is doing a damn fine job raising his kids, and I won't criticize him for posting infrequently either. At least, not seriously.

So, now that my maudlin moment is passed, I'm going to go back to ignoring the pleas and cries from my own children and wife while I surf the web for hours waiting for my unemployment check to arrive in the mail so I can spend it on smokes, beer and Doritos in preparation for another Netflix movie night all by myself.