16-0
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Wanted: Good Mojo
Hi all, or both of you..whatever
Late Monday our friend and coworker Thom suffered a heart-attack. He was tired and achey at work but stayed on through the day.We received news on Tuesday morning and this morning he underwent open-heart surgery. He had a triple by-pass people. Meaning he had his chest cracked wide open, the big artery pulled from his leg, etc. etc. I won't go into the gorey details but Mag went through it and it was not a day at the beach.
This event weighed heavy on us as Thom is truly one of the good guys.
Good news was received this afternoon about 3 that everything went smoothly and Thom was resting comfortably. Good vitals and all. He is, hopefully, riding the Happy Train engineered by Captain Morhpine.
So please, say a prayer for Thom or send him some good vibes or Juju or whatever you've got that you think will help him.
Peace out.
Late Monday our friend and coworker Thom suffered a heart-attack. He was tired and achey at work but stayed on through the day.We received news on Tuesday morning and this morning he underwent open-heart surgery. He had a triple by-pass people. Meaning he had his chest cracked wide open, the big artery pulled from his leg, etc. etc. I won't go into the gorey details but Mag went through it and it was not a day at the beach.
This event weighed heavy on us as Thom is truly one of the good guys.
Good news was received this afternoon about 3 that everything went smoothly and Thom was resting comfortably. Good vitals and all. He is, hopefully, riding the Happy Train engineered by Captain Morhpine.
So please, say a prayer for Thom or send him some good vibes or Juju or whatever you've got that you think will help him.
Peace out.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
It's About Time
Yes, the Tree is finally up. We have been slacking lately. My poor wife is getting home very late from work at night and by the time she gets here, she wants two things. Sleep and sleep. Although her new job is stressful, she's doing pretty well. She is in customer service and let me tell you...I would be very, very bad at that job. I'm a sociable kinda guy, I can get along with just about anyone but she takes alot of verbal abuse from the customers and she should be commended for not telling them to feck off. But I digress.
Usually our tree is up by the first weekend in December. Last night about 9 we decided the Tree should go up. The setting up and decorating is the easy/slash fun part. The killer is getting all the stuff down from our attic. See, we have no 'pull-down' stairs to our attic. What I need to do is get my trusty 16' aluminum ladder from the garage and maneuver it throught the house, up the stairs, and into our bedroom closet. Sounds like a good time right? Wrong. Once that part is done, I must hand everything down to Maggie and from there we carry everything down to the livign room. Then the fun begins. We put a little Tony Bennett Christams music on and had a little holiday drink while we decorated. The tree came out nice and we only put like have the stuff we have on it.
We enjoyed being in our warm, little home while a Nor' easter howled outside. The nastiness continued today and in between rain squalls I ran outside to hang a garland around our door and some lights over the bay window.
I am almost done shopping for Mags. I have two more little things to get and one gift I ordered is out of stock! Grrrrr! (to quote Cassie)Hopefully it comes in before the big day.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Travelin' North pt1
On this past Thursday evening, Maggie and I were discussing the possibilities of Meself traveling north to RI to see my friends and family. She would be unable to go because of work commitments. I shrugged and said "I 'spose". Don't mistake this response for a lack of interest in seeing my family. The lack of uummpph in my reply is a direct link to my feelings on driving for four plus hours. It is an easy enough ride. The NJ Turnpike to 95 north to exit 10 in RI and from there Mims house is just about 20 minutes towards the shore.
I got on the NJTP about 1030 and found the roads were dry and relatively traffic-free. Now the problem with this drive is New York City, which I pass through. Actually it's the 'George'. The George Washington Bridge. The bridge is an impressive span of concrete and steel and I feel it is very safe, as it was built by mostly Irish. The problem is that about 346 lanes of traffic from throughout New Jersey and New York merge into about eight, and then down to four lanes to cross the bridge. If you do not get there at precisely the correct time, you. are. fucked. We sat for an hour once coming back from RI at the exit to the bridge. It took us an hour to get to the freakin bridge! Last time we came up same thing. So I'm always wary. This day however, I was lucky to catch one of the large flashing highway traffic advisory signs. The sign read as follows. 'MASSIVE GRIDLOCK. NYC.USE MASS TRANSIT DUMMIES. Okay, the word dummies wasn't there but whoa be thee who did not heed that sign. I was, lucky enough, approaching exit 10. I jumped of the NJTP and got onto rte 287. Route 287 is about 45 minutes longer but it is pleasing visually and traffically (I just made that word up. feel free to use it). I cruised along at about 80 the whole way to RI and given that I added about 56 miles to my trip, I still arrived in an impressive 4 hours and 20 minutes. ZoomZooom.Zoom.
I make my ritual pitstop at the large service area at about exit 15 or so. Its got a McDonalds and a few other things. I make the bladder gladder and grab a wormburger from the Golden Arches and hit the road.
The worse part of this trip is the trip through Connecticut. It's pretty enough but it is a loooong ride and there is always construction going on somewhere. Giving headaches to motorists year-round. I notice soon enough the flashing highway sign warning of construction and a slow down between exits 21 and 18. im guessing that this is about a nine mile stretch of road. Sure enough the right lane is closed and we all crawl along. I see no sign of contruction vehicles for miles. I curse and curse and curse some more. Finally after 7 miles I spot the signs of construction. A backhoe in the road ahead. Many anger is amplified when I pass the "construction site". A backhoe, sitting idling. Three guys drinknig coffee staring at a hole in the fucking road. Honest. Me and the 80 year old woman in the Caddy next to me are shaking our heads. We exchange a look that says 'Come on, you and me, we'll fix that shit in ten minutes.' She nods understanding and creeps ahead.
Another bad thing about Connecticut is the lack of radio stations. I did get lucky and find a college radio station ( I love college radio btw) and they were playing, apporpriately enough, some good blues. Blues make you feel good. Like your shit you got goin' on aint so bad. Plus yo baby still at home wif your dog. anyways.
I cruise along in the rain, listening to Howlin' Wolf and Amos Milburn, who's just beggin' whiskey to let him go home.
The miles click by and soon I spot the sign that welcomes travelers to Rhode Island, and as I do, the rain changes to snow and a feeling of familiarity comes over me.
I got on the NJTP about 1030 and found the roads were dry and relatively traffic-free. Now the problem with this drive is New York City, which I pass through. Actually it's the 'George'. The George Washington Bridge. The bridge is an impressive span of concrete and steel and I feel it is very safe, as it was built by mostly Irish. The problem is that about 346 lanes of traffic from throughout New Jersey and New York merge into about eight, and then down to four lanes to cross the bridge. If you do not get there at precisely the correct time, you. are. fucked. We sat for an hour once coming back from RI at the exit to the bridge. It took us an hour to get to the freakin bridge! Last time we came up same thing. So I'm always wary. This day however, I was lucky to catch one of the large flashing highway traffic advisory signs. The sign read as follows. 'MASSIVE GRIDLOCK. NYC.USE MASS TRANSIT DUMMIES. Okay, the word dummies wasn't there but whoa be thee who did not heed that sign. I was, lucky enough, approaching exit 10. I jumped of the NJTP and got onto rte 287. Route 287 is about 45 minutes longer but it is pleasing visually and traffically (I just made that word up. feel free to use it). I cruised along at about 80 the whole way to RI and given that I added about 56 miles to my trip, I still arrived in an impressive 4 hours and 20 minutes. ZoomZooom.Zoom.
I make my ritual pitstop at the large service area at about exit 15 or so. Its got a McDonalds and a few other things. I make the bladder gladder and grab a wormburger from the Golden Arches and hit the road.
The worse part of this trip is the trip through Connecticut. It's pretty enough but it is a loooong ride and there is always construction going on somewhere. Giving headaches to motorists year-round. I notice soon enough the flashing highway sign warning of construction and a slow down between exits 21 and 18. im guessing that this is about a nine mile stretch of road. Sure enough the right lane is closed and we all crawl along. I see no sign of contruction vehicles for miles. I curse and curse and curse some more. Finally after 7 miles I spot the signs of construction. A backhoe in the road ahead. Many anger is amplified when I pass the "construction site". A backhoe, sitting idling. Three guys drinknig coffee staring at a hole in the fucking road. Honest. Me and the 80 year old woman in the Caddy next to me are shaking our heads. We exchange a look that says 'Come on, you and me, we'll fix that shit in ten minutes.' She nods understanding and creeps ahead.
Another bad thing about Connecticut is the lack of radio stations. I did get lucky and find a college radio station ( I love college radio btw) and they were playing, apporpriately enough, some good blues. Blues make you feel good. Like your shit you got goin' on aint so bad. Plus yo baby still at home wif your dog. anyways.
I cruise along in the rain, listening to Howlin' Wolf and Amos Milburn, who's just beggin' whiskey to let him go home.
The miles click by and soon I spot the sign that welcomes travelers to Rhode Island, and as I do, the rain changes to snow and a feeling of familiarity comes over me.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Two Posts in One Day?? You Crazy Little Bastard!
I just enjoyed a nice dinner and watching the Devils game and now I'm sitting down listening to some music so I thought another post was in order.
So it snowed last night. The evil from the sky. I awoke to a light coating on the cars and lawn. Luckily I did 85% of the leaf-raking yesterday. We both slept in and by 'sleeping in' I mean we were not up at 6 freakin' a.m. I got up at about 645 and fed the animals. I then shut them out of the room and slept until about 945. Mag was up at about 8 or so I'm guessing.
I am in a slight funk. Christmas is coming up and I don't really care for the holidays. Honestly. Too much stress. I don't need stress. Stress can cause cancer and since I'm already predisposed to cancer I don't need any fucking help into an early grave, thank you very much.
I had a pretty full day today. We drove to our local Petsmart to have CrazyDog's nails trimmed. He is such a wild man in the parking lot. Cars scare the poop out of him (today it was literal) and I have to often pick him up and carry him into the store. He's little but at times it's like wrestling an alligator. We got into the grooming area and I'm giving the young lady behind the counter my info and I notice poop on the floor. I tell the young kid that the dog that was just in left him an early present and I told him his behaviour must've been kinda bad this year. He goes into the back to get towels and I notice more poop. I look down and CrazyDog is 'carpet-bombing' our local Petsmart. I want to scold him but he has never done this. Really. He's very good about doing his thing out of doors. I tell him in a soft voice that crapping on the tile floor is bad. I then rub him behind his ears because I know he feels the same way about coming here as I do about going to the dentist. After we're done we go out and make a donation to the local SPCA and head up Route 9 in the still falling snow. We hit the back and then come home for a sandwich. Afterwards we get back into the car and we take a drive to see Maggie's place of employment. The place is huge. Apparently the head honcho spend a truck load of money on the building, then he gutted it and spent even more on custom furnishings and making the entire building fire-proof.
Our trip took us thru a very exclusive town. I mean it is awesome. The homes are in the million dollar and up range. Mostly horse farms. Very pretty homes. We then hit a local artists studio where they do all kinds of glass-art work. Very talented folks here at Folio Art Glass.
I'm not one for shopping but there is some really neat stuff in here. Plus they have a super-nice little doggie.
Once home we both settled in and watched some Law and Order and ten minutes into the show, we both fell asleep. We snoozed for a bit and the Maggie made a killer turkey breast dinner with corn and stuffing.
Tonight will be a quiet evening at home. We'll watch Cold Case and then probably hit the sack.
Tomorrow the work week starts all over again. Man how the weekends fly by.
So it snowed last night. The evil from the sky. I awoke to a light coating on the cars and lawn. Luckily I did 85% of the leaf-raking yesterday. We both slept in and by 'sleeping in' I mean we were not up at 6 freakin' a.m. I got up at about 645 and fed the animals. I then shut them out of the room and slept until about 945. Mag was up at about 8 or so I'm guessing.
I am in a slight funk. Christmas is coming up and I don't really care for the holidays. Honestly. Too much stress. I don't need stress. Stress can cause cancer and since I'm already predisposed to cancer I don't need any fucking help into an early grave, thank you very much.
I had a pretty full day today. We drove to our local Petsmart to have CrazyDog's nails trimmed. He is such a wild man in the parking lot. Cars scare the poop out of him (today it was literal) and I have to often pick him up and carry him into the store. He's little but at times it's like wrestling an alligator. We got into the grooming area and I'm giving the young lady behind the counter my info and I notice poop on the floor. I tell the young kid that the dog that was just in left him an early present and I told him his behaviour must've been kinda bad this year. He goes into the back to get towels and I notice more poop. I look down and CrazyDog is 'carpet-bombing' our local Petsmart. I want to scold him but he has never done this. Really. He's very good about doing his thing out of doors. I tell him in a soft voice that crapping on the tile floor is bad. I then rub him behind his ears because I know he feels the same way about coming here as I do about going to the dentist. After we're done we go out and make a donation to the local SPCA and head up Route 9 in the still falling snow. We hit the back and then come home for a sandwich. Afterwards we get back into the car and we take a drive to see Maggie's place of employment. The place is huge. Apparently the head honcho spend a truck load of money on the building, then he gutted it and spent even more on custom furnishings and making the entire building fire-proof.
Our trip took us thru a very exclusive town. I mean it is awesome. The homes are in the million dollar and up range. Mostly horse farms. Very pretty homes. We then hit a local artists studio where they do all kinds of glass-art work. Very talented folks here at Folio Art Glass.
I'm not one for shopping but there is some really neat stuff in here. Plus they have a super-nice little doggie.
Once home we both settled in and watched some Law and Order and ten minutes into the show, we both fell asleep. We snoozed for a bit and the Maggie made a killer turkey breast dinner with corn and stuffing.
Tonight will be a quiet evening at home. We'll watch Cold Case and then probably hit the sack.
Tomorrow the work week starts all over again. Man how the weekends fly by.
Who Thinks of This Stuff?
Many times a day I think of my sister Jen who passed away in June. I was walking through our lunch room and these things were hanging in the vending machine. For a minute I was back in time, sitting at the kitchem table in my parent's house with Jen, watching her douse her chips in ketchup. I knew I had to try them. I have to say, they were pretty nasty. But Jen would have loved them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
