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Jeni is out of town tonight on bitness, so Catherine and I had a date at Chik Fil-A. Her choice. We had dessert at Dairy Queen. My choice. The way to my child’s heart is paved with graham crackers, ice cream and chocolate milk. Tonight we read “Go Dog Go” after not having read it for about a year, which is an eternity in 3-year-old metrics. It went over very well.

Jeni and I saw Waitress last night, and we were in complete agreement that the film was a dog (no pun intended).  Notwithstanding my surety of my opinion, I am forced to conclude that the critics who have praised this film (and there are a bunch) are doing so out of pity since the writer/director was tragically murdered before the film’s release. Tragic yes, but it still did not make the movie watchable. Some movies are brilliantly absurd so that you suspend your disbelief and enjoy them while others are so lazily absurd that your disbelief is heightened to the point where you lose interest. This one was definitely the latter. And are we supposed to feel sympathy for a bunch of adulterers? And where were they walking to at the end? Don’t you think that if Matlock left you hundreds of thousands of dollars you might get a car, especially since your abusive husband might come around and you need to get away? This was easily the worst film I have seen all year.

By the way, the best film I have seen this year is The Lives of Others.

Our book club was supposed to take a month off after finishing The Double, but we changed our collective mind and moved directly to Notes From the Underground. This book is very difficult to read, at least for me. How will I be able to read The Brothers Karamazov if I cannot conquer this book? Ugh.

Tonight, Jeni asked Catherine to name the members of our immediate family (for those who do not keep up with Team Pruitt, the answer is Mommy, Daddy and Catherine). Her answer was “Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Uncle Josh.” I cannot decide which is more interesting: the inclusion of the other two or the exclusion of herself.

Watched Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee last night. For all of the hype that HBO gave this film, it really let me down. Aidan Quinn was gold (as if there were any doubts), but the rest fell flat. I was somewhat familiar with the story so I thought watching the film would make me feel guilty or outraged, but not really. Most of the characters were not very compelling, and Eastman’s flashbacks to the train ride seemed forced. I will have to add the book to my non-book club reading list, as it is no doubt better.

Today is the running of the Coca Cola 600 at the speedway in Concord. This event brings sooooo many people to this area, and they come from all over to watch the left turns. A quick perusal of license plates today as I took our Interstate exit revealed visitors from Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Ontario and Rhode Island … and those were just the ones I saw with the window flags. Apparently, # 8 is popular. I hope he gets a nice share of the flag/bumper sticker revenues.

Whenever Team Pruitt travels and we meet people, folks always ask us if we love NASCAR since we live in Charlotte.  They are always surprised when we do not. If sports talk continues after that and we say that we have season tickets to the Panthers, we sometimes get blank stares. Unfortunate.

In kid news, score one for Daddy as he can get Catherine to take a nap when Mommy cannot. Take that, Mommy! Speaking of “Take That,” did you know they got back together last year and sold a million copies of their latest album? I had no idea.

 The Tar Heels won the ACC Championship today by beating Wake Forest 3-2 in Jacksonville.  The best thing about watching college baseball on TV is that the breaks in between innings are not too long and filled with commercials for soda pop and pickup trucks. They are so brief; it really keeps the game moving.

Let us examine Cat’s recent quotes regarding her preference between Mommy and Daddy:

1) The scene: Jeni is going to be away for dinner,  so I ask Catherine how she would like to handle this.

• ME: “Catherine, do you want Daddy to bring home pizza or do you want to go out to dinner with Daddy?”
• HER: ” I want to go out to dinner … with Mommy.”

2) The Scene: Team Pruitt is leaving Cat’s school today, and we have two cars.

• ME: “Catherine, do you want to ride in Mommy’s car or DADDY’s car?
• HER: “I want to ride in DADDY’s car … with Mommy.” F.

 I just finished reading The Double last night, which is the current selection of my two-person book club, of which I am vice-chairman. It tells the story of a mid-level office clerk whose good-standing and high character are jeopardized by the appearance of his doppelganger. The joke is on “our hero,” as it is all in his head. Nice.

Previously we read The Gambler. 2007 is the year of the Russians in our club. We are taking a break for the summer, but are intent on working our way to Anna Kerenina. I need some light summer reading, other than Harry Potter, which I probably will read. Ideas are appreciated.

So, Jeni and Catherine listen to the “Wicked” soundtrack a lot when they drive around. This past weekend they were driving around when Catherine pulled out the Atlas from the seat pocket, opened it and said “Mommy, I want to go to the Egg Roll City.” Gold.

I, of course, have been listening to “Snakes and Arrows” on a continuous loop for the past two weeks. Alex, you have outdone yourself this time.  This album is best listened to all the way through. So far, “Far Cry,” “Bravest Face” and “We Hold On” are tops, but that usually changes over time.

Team Pruitt went to Raleigh this weekend for John P.’s wedding to Laura. I need to come up with a nickname for her now as I don’t think Mrs. John P. is catchy enough. The wedding was a blast, as it was good to catch up with those I had not seen in a while … most notably the Rhino, Classy CB (whose wife Karen is fantastic), Warren and Judy, Momma John P. and Accountant Jr. There were others too, but I had seen them fairly recently, so I will not mention them here. They know who they are.

Once again, the Rhino cut loose to Jack-O, and the folks in attendance who knew him only as “that fellow from Minnesota” were both impressed and concerned. Top notch performance. Debra loved House of Pain.

 My Best Man speech was clever; I am proud of myself. A touch of sass and a touch of class wins every time. Catherine was the Flower Girl. While she was not perfect, she definitely was cute. Also, I got lots of compliments that she looks like me. Nice. Wedding photos are available here.

 Mom took my tuxedo back for me. Nice. I left the cuff links and tuxedo shirt pins in the hotel room on Sunday and was worried that I would be charged for not returning them, but Mom said the guy at After Hours told her it was all good. Kudos, After Hours.

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