Rested!

Well after a relaxing weekend it is back to work. Jennifer's graduation was great. Something about a woman in uniform ... we wish her the best as she goes to School of Infantry at Camp Geiger NC. We left Hilton Head and managed to leisurely travel up to Myrtle Beach where we spent the night in a Hotel next to the ocean in Downtown Myrtle Beach. We ate at a great restaurant, "Sea Captains House" and the seafood was great. Saturday Morning we headed north along the coast and it took all day to get to Norfolk Va. We managed to get home about 9:30 Saturday Night. Sunday was the usual. Breakfast with Lynne and Carl at Yorkshire, Church and then Bowling. The Youth team did well and the Adult team at night did great going 7-0 and keeping us solidly in 4Th place. Lady and I were pretty much tied after two games but ... you use your imagination.

Plans:

• Albuquerque NM is being planning and booked this week. Looks like March 18-25 for the tournament and train ride.
• Cruise planned for early January 2009. Looks like Southern Caribbean is the main focus.
• I wonder how many votes I could get for Disney World in Orlando in the Summer?
  

With all the changes, the house is very quiet. Now we get to start the repair process (painting, fixing, new furniture, and cleaning). Any volunteers?

Wild Mom is still on the road and our short visit in Hilton head was nice.

#1 is enjoying the snow and more is on the way.

#2 enjoys the new job but he is ready for a day off. It seems full time does get you tired. Amazing what an extra 20 hours a week does.

No updates from Lew or Lil Princess as we were gone this weekend on the mini-vacation.

The Age of LAB Starts

Snow - Snow - Snow ... then it was cold. we are relaxing and enjoying the warmth of staying inside while it freezes outside. We managed to get to El Agave on Saturday for the first time in weeks. Of course there was a group of us ... 13 total. We tried a new restaurant Friday Night and it was good. So I guess now we have another place to choose from on Friday's.

Lew and Lil Princess kept us entertained and very active while they stayed with us. Now I know why God made us to have children while we were young ... I am too old to be that active.

Wild Mom is getting ready to head for Hilton Head SC and then too Nashville. We are planning to meet her there if all goes well and see Jennifer graduate from Marine Boot Camp. Not sure about the Nashville part though. I need to make a trip down to Belvoir to get some car registrations squared away and get my new base passes.

#2 has a new job making more money and getting more hours. That will be a nice change. I was amused at his comment "It only took 6 days to get this job!" Hmmm, amazing what happens when you actively look for a job.

I am starting to plan the Great Train excursion to Albuquerque NM in March. Actually the train ride isn't that expensive ($317 round trip). We are also starting to look at the Exotic Southern Caribbean as our next cruise destination this year.

Bowling was OK. The Youth League team went 4-0 and the night league was 4-3.

Many changes to our life as Princess has gone off to be the Queen of her own Realm and Starr gets her own Galaxy to revolve around her. The quiet around the house will take some getting use too. Lady is already writing done the honey-do's. Lil Bit is already losing weight as his normal source of extra treats has left. No rest for the weary.

Changes - Changes - Changes

Back to work ... Hi Ho. Bowling this week was fun. I finally snapped out of my slump and rolled like I felt I could and should roll. I averaged 217 for a 652 series. The team won 5-2 and continued our slow move to the top. The Youth league started and we managed to split (2-2) our games. This season will be interesting since the young lady I have been coaching has decided to take this season off.

Lew and Lil Princess were over for the weekend and though it was tiring it was a lot of fun. Lil Princess is slowly showing us her personality and reacting to us. Even managed to get her to buzz her lips some.

Saturday was a quiet night as we ordered pizza and just sat at home watching movies. #2 and Star were there also.

Friday night was quiet too as we had dinner with #2. We haven't done that in a long time and it was nice. #2 finally got Gamestop to admit they were letting him go (just Christmas help). So he is now looking again and I think this time he will do a lot better in his search.

Any volunteers to do my taxes ... I broke down and started that process.

Hoorah

Well, another weekend is here. I just want to rest some. Whatever happened to those lazy times where you just vegetated and life left you alone? It started nice last night with dinner, then coffee and cookies at our good friends house. Sunday will prove hectic though as the Youth Bowling restarts and that window of opportunity for catnaps closes.

Wild Mom is anxiously awaiting her trip to South Carolina for my niece's graduation from Marine Corp boot camp. She did succeed though her judgement of being there is in question. We wish her all the luck as she starts her career.

Gee, someone is 26. I did manage to get #1 an application for AARP. It took some doing but he is now OLD. He should have the cookie care package by now. I like how Lady sent soft cookies for him to gum on.

Still working but they don't give many hours. A $17 paycheck for two weeks doesn't cut much mustard. Perhaps a change in work location is needed.

Sure miss the wee ones. Perhaps Peanut should hurry and have her baby so we can have a bigger pool to chose from. Deal?

A Few Chuckles

Smile ... I friend sent me a fw chuckles ...

• Now that food has replaced sex in my life, I can't even get into my own pants.
• Marriage changes passion. Suddenly you're in bed with a relative.
• I saw a woman wearing a sweat shirt with 'Guess' on it. So I said 'Implants?' She hit me.
• How come we choose from just two people to run for President and over fifty for Miss America ?
• I signed up for an exercise class and was told to wear loose-fitting clothing. If I HAD any loose-fitting clothing, I wouldn't have signed up in the first place!
• When I was young we used to go 'skinny dipping,' now I just go 'chunky dunking.'
• Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.
• Wouldn't it be nice if whenever we messed up our life we could simply press 'Ctrl-Alt-Delete' and start all over?
• Why is it that our children can't read a Bible in school, but they can in prison?
• Wouldn't you know it ... Brain cells come and brain cells go, but FAT cells live forever.
• Why do I have to swear on the Bible in court when the Ten Commandments cannot be displayed outside?
• Bumper sticker of the year: "If you can read this, thank a teacher and, since it's in English, thank a soldier."
• And remember: life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

Moving On

It is amazing that the days in 2008 are flying along. I hadn't realized that my last post was a week ago. I must have been having fun for the time to fly so fast. Bowling the last two weeks has been fun. We went 5-2 against the first place team and 7-0 against the second place team. Personally, my scores have been closer to what I am capable of so maybe the slump is gone and I can get ready for nationals in March. Next week the Youth leagues start so I will get some extra practice besides the fun of watching and helping some kids.

Lady and I took Lew and Lil Princess to see the "Festival of Lights" before they closed for the year on Sunday. It is amazing how many oohs and ahhs can come out of such a small mouth. The display was nice, pricey, but to see the kids faces was worth it.

Looks like we will go to South Carolina so see my niece graduate from Marine Boot Camp on January 25. Should be a nice quiet drive down and back.

Looks like we will skip the June - August time frame for a cruise and plan for one around late December 2008 or early January 2009. The consensus has been we want to do a Southern Caribbean or Eastern Caribbean at the least. Seems the Rummies are over-ruling the Tequila-ites.

The choir director at our church announced he had taken another job elsewhere and this Sunday was his last day there. That will throw the choir in to a bit a confusion as we will have to wait for someone else to be hired. last time that took several months. They don't pay a lot and the work includes two different services on Sunday Morning. Oh Well.

When the Redskins won by 21 over Dallas, they called it "divine intervention" and a sign that the stars were behind the Redskins. Now that they lost by 21 to Seattle ... what do you call that? It seems they are silent now. Well, since they are silent ... I will answer ... LOSER.

Happy New Year - 2008

Happy New Years - 2008. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and had a safe celebration. It was quiet for me ... only Lady and I were at home. We celebrated and saw a great movie ... "Man in the Moon." It sure brought back some memories. The year 2008 should be a good one but, if it doesn't go so well, I still have some great friends and that will make it a great year.

Christmas was a great time with everyone getting most of what they wanted. If they didn't, then perhaps they didn't need it or beg enough for it. I even managed to have three of the kids at the Christmas Eve candlelight service ... that in itself was a great thing.

Wild Mom had a quiet celebration herself as she rests up for her January trip. But her eye is really on the March trip.

Lady is resting today knowing tomorrow she will have to deal with the end of the year stuff. "The Tax man calls." We went to Olive Garden on our anniversary (#32) and had a great dinner with our friends.

#1 enjoyed a snowy time. We are proud of him as he makes it on his own in Colorado. Maybe his Jaguars will survive the first round of the Playoffs but then again he could become a Bronco's fan.

#2 celebrated but returned home for a quiet night. His main New Year's resolution is to clean his room and keep it that way for a week.

Star partied in DC but work beckons her back tomorrow. She even managed to wear a dress ... perhaps the first surprise of the New Year.

Work has been quiet mainly because most people have been gone but I am afraid that all will change tomorrow when everyone returns. Maybe Santa brought most of them some "computer common sense." Not!

Candy Cane Delight

Ho, Ho, Ho. Christmas has come and gone. I hope every one had a great time and the season was one full of good memories. We had a great time. Christmas day was a house full of people. The only thing I could think of that would have been better is to do this every day of the year. The kids had no problem opening the gifts and seemed to really enjoy what they recieved. Of course, more would have been better but then again more would have been harder to handle. Naturally, the cameras were working overtime. Red spots anyone?

Now it is time to reflect back on the year 2007 and find a way to make 2008 better. So some of the next few posts will reflect and remember the great times. The yucky old New Year's Resolution are due very soon. It is a good thing we are not graded on our faithfulness in keeping the resolutions, I would have failed miserably.

To top of these few days, Lady and I celebrated our 32nd anniversary. The dinner and wine tasted really good at The Olive Garden. Also having several of our closest friends dine with us made the night special. Thank You to those special friends.

The only thing left to make this season special is to CRUISE!

Baa Humbug II

I find it interesting that the top AP news Story was about Juicer Bonds. Dog-Lover Vick was second and Peeper Bellichick was 3rd. The top non-criminal story was about Florida's Two national Titles and all they could manage is a fourth spot. Isn't that sad that the best story we could muster was about illegal activities by some loser sports stars. I guess the moral is "if you want fame, do it the wrong way."

Well, the end of the week is upon us. Time to find some time to relax in between all the shopping and parties. I sure hope time can be found for some real Mexican food on Saturday afternoon.

Work was the same with new instances of the "Fix Stupid" complex shining brightly. I love how they argue with me like I don't have a clue about what I am talking about. I did manage to hit the jackpot when one office did some cleaning. I managed to get a full licensed version of MS Office 2003, ACT 2005, MS Office 2003 SBE and a 4-port CISCO USB Hub with print server still in the shrink wrap that it came to them in, probably about $750 in value. And they think I am the dumb one!

Looks like the Spears Family is desperate for attention so they allowed the 16 year old to get pregnant and now are bragging about it. What part of this whole affair is wrong or are we too far along in the degradation of our morals. Arrest the 19 year old for statutory rape and then get the parents for child endangerment ... their track record of child rearing is a bit messed up after seeing the lives of these two girls. Oh, that is right .. they are a product of their environment and therefore not responsible for their actions.

Want Hanna Montana tickets? Contact the DC Mayor ... if he hasn't already gave them all away to his family and political donors, he might give you one.

Don't bail out the credit companies for speculating and making bad loan choices ... help the people that were taken. The credit companies are whining that they are losing massive amounts of money because people can't pay. Well, excuse me ... but drop the interest rate from 30% back to 12% ... then they might survive and pay it back. If you really want to help ... drop the interest rate and increase the minimum amount to be paid each month. Give us an opportunity to pay it back. Maybe we need Federal Regulation of all consumer loans. Make the maximum interest rate 12% and the minimum due of 7.5% per month. Also make it so that anyone with a credit score <650 can not get any more credit card offers. It is funny when someone in credit counselling for bad credit gets a letter ... "Due to your outstanding credit, we can off you a new Platinum Card with a great low rate." BS!

Oh well, time to commute home and enjoy the ride as at least 12 "A" types cut me off.

Oh, Well ... Time will tell

The week is quickly slipping by as Christmas is just around the corner. Things are fairly quiet at work this week since a lot of people are gone. The weekend proves to be busy once again starting with a Holiday Party on Friday Night. I have been sitting around trying to figure out what gifts to give and who deserves one. Hmmm, I wonder what is on the Movies this weekend ... that will help me decide. TV will start getting bad as all the "Best of 2007" shows get started. I would even settle on playing a game on X-Box but it seems we have no games ... Hmmm.

11,000 Democratic earmarks ... no wonder the budget will never get balanced. It looks like they are just like the Republicans ... despite their claim to fix things if we voted them into office. Anyone feel a bit cheated? It seems a politician is the same regardless of their tie, lapel pin, or banner they stand under. I think it is time for a third party to emerge ... let the right person run and I would vote for them.

Steroids ... give the Players Association some time and they will sweep it under the carpet. To fix the problem means less money in the dues bucket. Start the Olympic type testing program ... then let Clemens and Bonds show us their innocence. A few examples would go along way to discouraging this culture of cheating is OK if you make enough money. Gee, we are harder on a cork batter than a drug addict. Hang the gambler but look away from the cheater looking for an edge.

Brrrr .... It is Hot!

Another weekend sneaks by and Christmas quickly approaches. I guess I need to start shopping, rather, I should start planning what day I will shop on. This weekend we had the awards day for the Youth league. At least we didn't finish in last though the bottom was closer than the top. In four weeks we will start a new season again and hopefully the outcome will be much better. I know I can't do any worse. Sunday was the Christmas program at our church. It was nice but a lot of work for so short a time. maybe we need to do an encore show? I would like to get on my soap box about family at this time of the year but I think it would fall largely on deaf ears. That is a shame since it is a time that is forever lost and the aches the lost causes won't show up until someone close is gone forever. Saturday Night was spent at Lady's Christmas Party put on by her employer. It was a lot of fun and the food was plentiful and good.

The supposed bad weather missed us by a country mile. It would be nice to have some snow to go with this blowing cold wind. The only other option is to cruise to the Caribean where it is 80+ but finding people to go is hard.

Work is work and resists change.

The Batlimore Ravens are enjoying their loss to Miami. I was told they were having a giant "L" tatooed into their forehead.

Getting back into the Habit.

Well, I survived the Monday after the vacation. It was tough but I managed not t get run over by "stupid." Nothing changed at the workplace but I guess I should have been realistic and not expected something like that. I still have my ear out for other opportunities to use my skills, but I am being selective and definitely pushing for better compensation for my time. No freebies anymore ... you want it ... you pay for it.

This grey and rainy weather is for the ducks and they have already headed south. Either get cold or warm up.

I am tired of hearing about Michael Vick ... please find something more news worthy. He is busted and has to pay the price, end of discussion.

Now starts the onslaught of Christmas Parties and other Activities. By the end of the month I will eagerly await a day off on the weekend. It could be January before I get back to El Agave for some good Mexican Food. Now that is a travesty.

The next planned road trip is March 2008 to Albuquerque NM. Then another cruise may follow in July 2008. That depends on where NCL travels too out of the Charleston SC Port. I wonder if Punk and Lil Princess want to go?

We Are Back!!

All is well for the Travellers. Everyone made it safe and sound and even managed to have a lot of fun. I think everyone wants to go again. I will try in the next couple of days give a better account of the week but right now I just wanted to let everyone know we are back and safe.

Bowling was not quite so fun today. The youth team finished in the middle of the pack. The Sunday Night team managed to participate.

As usual I had a lot of fun. Sometimes keeping track of 10 people got weary but we all managed to do what we wanted. Dressing up was fun as we all managed to don our finest threads and act civilly for an evening. The Chocolate madness was a smashing hit as our sugar level went through the ceiling.

Wild Mom lived up to her name. At one point I wondered if the Pina Colada supply would run out and she would then change to the dreaded "Long Island Ice Tea's". We enjoyed having her there and hope to do it again.

Lady looked great in the swimsuit competition. Yes, I am a bit biased but what the heck. Her highlight was the Butterfly Conservatory on Key West. Oh, the home-made Key Lime pie was a winner.

#2 managed not to get thrown off the ship. Not withstanding the weed offers and the $2 breast flashes in Cozumel. I think if he had more pesos he would have been tempted more. Cuban cigars are OK but not his cup of tea. He says "hot stone massages are better than sex," as if he knows! He was even successful in the Casino and managed to leave a winner.

Princess managed to break a minimum of hearts. I spent most nights guarding the door. The deck outside our room sounded like a Chicago back alley with the cats howling. Her highlight was her beach horse-back ride, first Marguerita, first hot stone massage (minus clothes). Cingular stock dived $10.00 a share from her non-use of the phone last week. However, today it jumped $15.00 a share in after-market trading.

Kritty managed to turn a few heads as several crew members hit upon her. We were really proud she fought the effort to marry one and return home to America. Ask her about the Ghosts!

Hit The mark?

Blinking Eyes

"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow; Don't walk behind me, I may not lead; Walk beside me, and just be my friend."

~Albert Camus

My Fortune Today

Today, your mouth might be moving but no one is listening. Hmmmm....

Any Doubt?

Your Power Bird is an Eagle

You are spiritual and able to soar to great heights. You are a true inspiration, and many people look to you for guidance. And you are quite demanding in relationships... but you're worth it. People know that you will become even greater than you imagine.

What's Your Power Bird?

The Rules for Being Human

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a fulltime informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error, experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works."
4. A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive there are lessons to be learned.
6. "There" is no better than "here." When your "there" has become a "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."
7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie inside you. The answer to life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10. This will often be forgotten, only to be remembered again.

Cherie Carter-Scott

Heart - Sore

Here that train is coming. My physical was a success, everyone is stuck with me for a long time ... sorry! I drove to work and can you believe ... Christmas music already. Did someone forget or skip Thanksgiving? I know I didn't sleep through it. Most cruise preparations are done and the final planning is taking shape. We heard from #1 and all is well in Colorado and he is gearing up for the holiday season at the store. Any bets how long his Christmas spirit lasts after the shoppers show up?

SOS (Same old Sugar) except a different piece of toast.

Mercy Me!

Well, it is hump day and the light at the end of the tunnel is shining. I know it is bad to wish time would fly faster especially since I am on the downhill slide of life. But, I do want it to happen. Today was physical exam day, so I was poked, prodded, stuck and squeezed. Plus I had a echo stress test and a heart CT scan. More to come on this subject later. Wild Mom is enjoying the quietness of her house now that all the company is gone. Now she will save up all them unspoken words and use them on the cruise in 16 days. Work is the same and now they are on a goals kick ... can't operate if there are no goals. I still say "do my job" is a pretty good one myself. Choir Practice is in full swing getting ready for Christmas now I just need to find the time to get there.

Later ...