Taking the day off today at the request of my boss.

Well, she didn’t actually request it. No. What really happened is that our president sent out a memo a couple of weeks ago telling us that we had to use all of our vacation before the end of the year. No carry-over to 2007.

At the time, I had about 10 days left. Therefore, I’m pretty much working short weeks for the rest of the year, plus taking off a week and a half around Christmas to see how cold it can get in Vermont. So I’ve got today off. And next Friday. And next Monday. And last Friday. And that week around Christmas. And I think some other time that I’m forgetting.

This does not mean that I can just RELAX: work gave me a Blackberry a couple of weeks ago, and it never stops going off. I was up at around 6:30 this morning talking to a guy at work because someone else had paged me about a server problem.

Gotta love technology.

After fixing the server, I spent some quality time taking about about 4 billion bags of trash, which were generated last Wednesday, Thursday (Thanksgiving) and Friday. Those were the days during which my roomate and I hosted her son, daugther, boyfriend, brother, friend and friend’s son at the house for two-and-a-half days of non-stop eating. We had turkey, ham, squash, apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, beer, wine, rum, cranberry sauce, broccoli, asparagus, salsa, chips, cheese, pickled okra, coke, and pizza. And seconds.

And that was just Thursday.

Friday, I took off to spend some long-overdue time in the woods where I hurt myself (more on that shortly), while the others – except for the son – prepared to make tamales; but they ended up making menudo (some sort of weird Mexican chitlins concoction that I have yet to try). The refrigerator is currently completely full, there are still about 4 bottles of wine and a case of beer on the deck; and, as I said, I got rid of LOTS of trash this morning.

I also said that I took off on Friday to go camping. Hooked up with a couple of friends of mine who work at the CDC (always a good thing to bring with you when you camp, right?) and we headed up to the Sylco wilderness area in the mountains of Tennessee.

More specifically, we hooked up when we all got there. I got there first and managed to set up my 800,000 square-foot tent by myself (always wondered if I could do that) before either of them showed up. Okay….in reality, the tent is just over 200 square feet. Since it was supposed to drop down into the 30s each night, the plan was to put a heater in the tent; and, since three or four guys would be sleeping in it, it would stay warm. Bad plan, as it turned out. One guy slept in his truck and I never did get the heater set up. But hey…MY sleeping bag was nice and toasty. I can’t help it if the other two guys don’t understand cold-weather camping and spent the whole weekend crying about how cold it was.

At any rate, after everyone had arrived Friday evening, we set about collecting firewood. While breaking a decent-sized stick in half by jumping on it, I managed to really screw up my left knee, which I believe houses a chronic bowling injury (no joke), so I spent the rest of the night supervising the other two guys and drinking bourbon.

Saturday, while limping around, I managed to fall over and wrench my right elbow and left wrist. So I spent most of the day drinking bourbon and supervising.

Oh – and occassionally playing with my chainsaw (maybe I should have used that instead of my knee on Friday night….).

The three of us ate pretty well, although an early attempt at chili never did pan out, in spite of our best efforts to “rescue” it over the course of the weekend by pouring more and more stuff into it, heating it, tasting it, and saying, “Nope. Still sucks.”

Yesterday morning, we packed up the cars, made sure the campsite was in better shape than when we’d found it, and made the two-hour trip back to Atlanta.

Back at my house, my roommate had scoured my kitchen floor, cleaned stuff that I didn’t realize could be cleaned, and successfully kept my cats alive; so I thanked her by taking a bunch of leftovers from my camping trip and from thanksgiving and making two FANTASTIC Shepherd’s Pies (made with ground beef and venison sausage if you’re interested – and what a great combination for a Shepherd’s Pie).

We demolished one of the two last night, and I fully intend to take care of at least half of the other one today. Also need to do some laundry. But it’s only noon. I don’t want to strain myself.

All in all, the Thanksgiving weekend was a real treat and I hope everyone reading this had as nice a time as I did.

You’ll be hard-pressed to top it at Christmas, Cy; but I’m sure you will somehow. 🙂

TWD

My my my.

It has been quite a while since I decided to put anything in this spot, and I sincerely apologize to those of you who throng eagerly to your computers each day in order to drink at the fountain of wisdom that is this blog.

I must particularly apologize to those of you who were waiting for the second installment of the great American novel. Maybe later.

I’m technically in training this week, but needed to actually get some work done today, so I cut class and stayed home. Makes a lot of sense, huh? Actually, it does. I can get more work done from home than I can at the office.

Not that I’ve actually DONE that today. I’ve spent most of the day watching election analysis, reading newspapers online, and doing laundry….although I did check my email.

In order to tick my mother off, I must now reveal that I didn’t vote yesterday. This does not mean that I don’t get to whine about politicians. To the contrary, it means that I take my politics seriously enough to realize that I’m so independent that I border on being an anarchist. I didn’t care who won yesterday. Seriously. I fully expect the outgoing bunch of incompetent crooks to be replaced with a new bunch of incompetent crooks who color their states with a different color.

I could, of course, have voted Libertarian; but I’ve been told by Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, my mom, etc., that a vote for a Libertarian is a wasted vote. Since I don’t like to be wasteful…

Anyway, what’s seriously going to change? Well, Rumsfeld finally got the boot. It took W getting kicked in the gut to figure it out, but it’s a start. I have a military friend who is currently quietly celebrating.

Bill Clinton probably had the best line yesterday. “Republicans will have you believe that Democrats will tax you into the poor house and that you’ll meet a terrorist around every corner and trip over an illegal immigrant on the way there.”

That’s not too far off base. How long will it be before someone says, “Man, the Democrats have only been in power for a week and they’ve already gotten us stuck in an unwinable war?”

Changing subjects abruptly, it’s a beautiful day in Duluth right now. The sun is out, there’s a great breeze blowing, temperature is hovering right around 60. If there was a football game going on in my back yard, I’d be in heaven. As it is, there’s a bunch of leaves that need to be raked in my back yard and the football game isn’t until Saturday. In Greenville. Fortunately, it’s the last one (of the regular season), and I won’t be obligated to go to any more after it.

I still MIGHT. I just won’t be obligated.

Last week was the fourth time this season that I had to leave very early and got home very late because of games. I’ve had to drive to Chapel Hill, NC (U. of North Carolina), Boone, NC (Appalachian State U.), Myrtle Beach, SC (Coast Carolina U.) and Elon, NC (Elon College). Elon was the easiest – I got home at around midnight. App State was around 2 am. UNC and CCU were both close to 6 am – and I had to play at church on the Sundays after each of those games. Color me sick of football season.

Today I discovered a plethora of little tiny ants trooping around on my kitchen counters. I have no idea where they came from or what they’re after, but I cleaned the living crap out of the counters and they’re still not gone. Anybody got any advice on that one? I put out a couple of ant traps, but they seem to have done nothing.

Last night, I made Banana bread. I’m told it was good – I haven’t actually had any yet. I’m assuming that it and the ants are not related.

A couple of months ago, I got a new self-cleaning litterbox for my cats. It works wonderfully. Problem is that they’re both scared of it. Boo (the female) will use it if I pick her up and put her in it. Bo (the male – and the one more likely to use anything that has litter in it) will have nothing to do with it. Sigh.

And that’s all for now. Hope everybody likes the new look of the blog.

TWD

“It was a dark and stormy night,” he penned, knowing that it was a monstrous cliché and a guaranteed way to stop any potential readers from continuing; but he had to start somewhere, and the night before had indeed been stormy – and dark, for that matter. His two cats, Bo and Boo (named more for alliterative purposes than anything else) had been restless all of the previous day. When the storm actually hit, threatening to down trees and tear off shingles, they’d gone berzerk, tearing around the house like banshees of old and creating for him a sort of moving obstacle course when the power invariably failed and he was forced to navigate his way to bed by the glow off the screen of his PDA. Ever-prepared (he’d been a Boy Scout, after all), he’d spent nearly $200 on groceries and supplies earlier in the week, but had neglected to pick up a couple of flashlight batteries.

It seemed, therefore, pre-ordained that he’d trip over one of the animals (it turned out to be Boo) while making his ascent to the second-floor bedroom. The last thing he remembered before waking up at the base of the stairs the next morning was the eerie arch of light that his PDA made as it flew over the bannister and crashed on the hall floor, some eight feet below.

When he regained consciousness, however, he felt better than he had in months. He was ready to do something with his life. Something that would make him famous and rich, but something that (at least he believed this at the time) would require very little effort on his part.

He was going to write the next great novel.

Well, I haven’t even looked in here for 6 weeks or more. Seems I’m not alone! I spent June in a whirlwind. Our MMI organization put on a 3-day Worship Conference in Nashville. Kind of last minute for a $100k budget…but, we pulled it off and didn’t lose our shirt financially. After that week, I had to go to Redding, CA for another week (for another Worship Conference – I should be an expert on the subject). It was quite HOT out there. Came back to Nashville and have had a few quick little trips but, nothing major.

We had a good 4th of July hanging out at a “block party” on our cul-de-sac. I was able to watch middle class rednecks drink beer and set off fireworks (no one was injured). There were so many fireworks going off around our house we didn’t feel the need to go see the big fancy ones in town. I more felt the need to stay home and protect the property from incoming mortar rounds. Boys had a great time…lying on their backs with about 10 other kids…with their heads on the curb…legs in the road…watching the fireworks fly. Hotdogs, potato salad, hamburgers, coleslaw, and every other bad-for-you American dish was present.

Adam wanted to turn 11 on July 12th but, we felt like holding him back a year. He insisted so, our 11 year old sixth Grader (who is 5’3″) is officially not 10 any more. Adam took a “summer camp” day class for a week. It was at the Viking Culinary Institute. He paid for half of it by mowing three lawns – which I have mentioned in previous posts. He had a great time! Theoretically, he will be cooking those 5 meals for us soon.

Following close behind him, Samuel turns 8 tomorrow…he’s 4’3″ (we measured last night). When I told him straight faced that we weren’t going to let him turn 8 until next year…he started to cry. So, much for dead-pan humor. (I have a way with children). He’ll probably need counseling for that one.

Our church continues to grow. After 16 months of Sunday morning meetings we have about 275 regular attendees and growing steadily. Yesterday I cut a check as a deposit on a potential land aquisition for the church -$535k for 10 acres which is a steal around these parts – but a darn lot of money nonetheless. We have 120 days of due diligence ahead of us to figure out if we really want that spot of land or not.

Marilyn is spending time gearing up for the upcoming Home School year. She’s reading all manner of curriculum, been to curriculum fairs, buying stuff off of Ebay, and in general cramming all manner of info together to make some purchasing decisions for school. We’ll be working on a “self-teaching” approach which focuses in on teaching the boys how to teach themselves…or at least to begin to foster and encourage that mindset. Of course, we will have all manner of Internet, CDROM, Book, Parental, and Fieldtrip teaching to do it….but, there will be an underlying push to get them to teach themselves. Should be interesting. Note: These are some really sharp boys! Marilyn has done a great job.

That’s all I have time for right now. We have NOT been able to get a vacation in and it’s too darn hot anyways…so, we’re hoping maybe this fall.

Larry

Cy….you’re sweating in that photo. I thought women only glistened. Great to hear that you’re really really really good at this tennis stuff, though, because I plan to bring my racket (that’s racquet for the Nova Scotia people) and attempt to thrash you before I have a stroke and fall down.

Anyway, I’ve finally pretty much finalized my vacation plans for the summer, so I’ll put them here. If I disappear during the first week of July, please call the RCMP.

I’ll be leaving Duluth sometime on Friday the 30th and taking the short route to Canada (up 75, crossing at Detroit). Will probably stop somewhere around Toledo on Friday night and either camp or hit a hotel. On Saturday, I’ll continue northeast and hope to his Oshawa, Ontario, sometime Saturday afternoon, where I’m hoping to grab lunch or dinner with Bill Doten, with whom I’ve been exchanging emails for the last several months. I haven’t seen Bill probably since we were both about 10, so it should be fun – with any luck, we can start a grass fire with smoke bombs (not that we EVER did that in North Reading, mind you).

After Oshawa, I’m heading north to Algonquin Provincial Park, which I believe is Canada’s largest national park. I have a campsite reserved at Pog Lake in the park from Sunday the 2nd until Saturday the 7th and I’m really looking forward to spending the week looking at moose, swimming, wearing lots of Deet, drinking Canadian beer, and taking my blood pressure every hour just so I can watch it decline.

I’m sure that doesn’t sound overly exciting to most of you, but I’m REALLY pumped about it. If all goes as well as I expect it to go, I may talk a friend of mine into trying out the park’s interior this winter – snowshoeing and all that good stuff. The two of us have been camping three times so far this year (last weekend we canoed down the Chatooga River – where Deliverance was filmed), and we have a great time being mountain men.

On the 7th, I’ll make the relatively short trip over to Magnetawan to join Cy, T, Karl & Dianne (Neuse) and I’m anticipating having yet another excellent week there….I *think* this is my 14th year there. Is that right, Cy? Cy and T have informed me that the perfect woman that they’d lined up for me will not be in attendance, but T has promised to be on the lookout for a suitable replacement.

Probably sometime on the 14th – possibly early on the 15th – I’ll head south via the eastern route through Kingston, crossing near Niagra Falls and heading back to Atlanta through Pittsburgh. Audrey will be moving to Philly next week, so she and I may try to hook up somewhere in PA (possibly Gettysburgh) before I make a mad dash for home, arriving sometime on Sunday the 16th.

By the time I get home, I *might* have a housemate – none of that’s really been finalized yet (as far as the dates go). Her name is Maria Garza, she’s a career Army major stationed at Fort MacPherson, and she promises me that she’s an excellent cook and I will be *expected* to partake in her Mexican dishes (she’s Mexican, if the name didn’t clue you in to that). In case any of you are wondering, Maria is in her mid-late 40’s, has two grown children and a boyfriend, and this cohabitation is strictly economically-driven. She’s getting a place to stay for cheaper than she could ever find with an apartment and I’m getting a pretty nice chunk of change every month. Her plan is to leave Atlanta in the next 6 months or so, at which point I’ll probably start looking for another tenant.

Work continues to be incredibly boring – most of my projects were cancelled when AT&T announced their intention to buy us – and I really don’t see how I’ll manage to stay with the company if the merger actually goes through. Yet another reason I’m thrilled to have that extra income for the time being. If any of you know of job openings in your area – not necessarily computer-related, but I’ll consider that if the money is right – please let me know.

Larry and Mar – Jenny and I are coming to Nashville on August 11th and 12th to see some sort of Egyptian (?) thing at a museum there. If you’re going to be around, we’d really like to do dinner on the night of the 11th – call it a birthday present. I’ll be in touch with you in early August to nail down the details.

And that’s pretty much all the news that’s fit to print on my life at this point. Hope everyone is well and happy.

I just wanted to see if Greg was wrong. Been trying to figure out how to do this stuff on my website anyway.

Yup. He was wrong. Greggy, you need to embed the video in an HTML object and point back to the source. Sort of like:

<OBJECT ID="MediaPlayer" WIDTH="192" HEIGHT="190" CLASSID="CLSID:22D6F312-B0F6-11D0-94AB-0080C74C7E95"

STANDBY="Loading Windows Media Player components…" TYPE="application/x-oleobject">

<PARAM NAME="FileName" VALUE="http://www.theuffp.com/superfirepittest.wmv">

<PARAM name="ShowControls" VALUE="true">

<PARAM name="KIOSKMODE" VALUE="true">

<param name="ShowStatusBar" value="false">

<PARAM name="ShowDisplay" VALUE="false">

<PARAM name="autostart" VALUE="false">

<EMBED TYPE="application/x-mplayer2" SRC="http://www.theuffp.com/superfirepittest.wmv"
NAME="MediaPlayer"

ShowControls="1" ShowStatusBar="0" ShowDisplay="0" KIOSKMODE=TRUE autostart="0">
</EMBED>

</OBJECT>

Well yes, it’s been awhile since I’ve bored you with my adventures, but that’s because once again, I had the incorrect password (NOT) and finally conceded to giving in and requesting a new one. It’s been forever I think since my last blog so I’ll give you the abridged version.

Thomas went to a friend’s house a few weeks ago, (no he was not allowed to, but that doesn’t stop Thomas) Left friend’s house to walk home, met some stranger, smoked two joints, drank a forty ounce beer and passed out under a street sign. He was discovered the next morning by the friend who was walking to school. The friend took Thomas to his own home, put clean clothes on him and dragged him to school. Friend was thanked, Thomas was grounded. Again. Two days ago, the same friend was not in school with problems of his own. Seems his 18 year old brother Overdosed on Oxycontin (Thomas’ former drug of choice) and died. In front of his younger brother. Thomas and some buddies went to console the firend (not with permission from us, but at least he called and told us he was going over) and SEEMED distraught about it. MAYBE he will learn that drugs are not the way to have a good time. He also had surgery during spring break to remove a VERY large chunk of bone that was growing in his right shoulder. He looks human again not alien, the bone was sent for a biopsy and all is well.

Zack just finished his sophomore year. He was among the honorees at the year’s awards banquet with the highest average in Biology of over 100 students in the five biology classes. His average for the year……100!!!! He’s beooming proficient in my five speed Saturn and is planning to get his license prior to July 8th when I’ll be picking him up for the remainder of the summer. Last night I collected him from Camden for a VERY long weekend visit. (He will go back on June 11th) Among the fun activities planned are the celebration of his 16th birthday on Monday.

Prior to the birthday (but just as much celebration) will be our last load to the house in Easley. Tomorrow we will actually have our beds there, and will sleep in comfort in our new home henceforth and forevermore or until Thomas graduates and we get a condo on the beach. (Which may be LATER than hecnceforth and forevermore)

Bill’s working hard except for when Zack or Thomas is helping in which case he just drives the boys from stop to stop and buys lunch and writes them a check. I have noone to help me at work, but that’s fine cause on my salary, I can’t afford to pay the boys.

So that’s it. Some ups, some downs, more downs, and an up once in awhile. Everyone is still alive amazingly, so thank God for that! Hugs to all!!!!

Adam’s Mowing Service. It seemed like a good idea. Educational, money making – and the opportunity to learn about work. That was all good theory. The reality is his mowing service is gonna kill me. Adam is 10. He wanted to make some money. (For a 5 day class at the Viking Culinary Institute – I have no idea where that came from, but that’s the goal). So, he hustled up three lawn clients. So, I decided since he took initiative, and was brave enough to sell himself that I would help make it happen.

Yesterday morning…three lawns had to be mowed. I had to take the seats out of the mini-van (they’re heavy!) Pack up the lawn mower, gas, weed wacker, leaf blower and head out to his “landscaping customers”. I was tired before we started. My job was supposed to be quality control. But, since the weed wacker is a little big for him…I weed wacked…and since the leaf blower is kinda heavy…helped with that too. And then, I ended up picking up trash out of people’s yards and working like a slave. Adam made $25. I got some exercise and blew my Saturday morning. But, the joy of seeing a young entreprenuer in the making was….priceless. I hope it rains next Saturday.

I am trying to post video. That is because my life is slow right now.

But the green water in the pool is now clear and blue.

The grass is cut

the garden is growing, and we enjoyed our own brocolli yesterday (I don’t know if the kids will use the word enjoy…)

So I will now try to post video. We will see..

………………… (a few moments later)…………………………………….

It appears that I cannot post video, so you will not be able to watch Riley smack the ball and race, untouched, around the field for her first ever home run.

Actually, if I could post the video, you would still not see that, because all I got was her fouling it off. That was good against this very fast pitcher, however. And she eventually walked. Sort of like a home run.

Maybe I will draw a picture, and scan it in.

Oops, the pool water is turning green again. Gotta go