I hope everyone has things for which they are thankful.
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Christmas, Halloween and Independence Day have become so commercial in the U.S. Memorial Day and Labor Day are more about long weekends than honoring anyone. My favorites are Thanksgiving and New Years Day.
If
you own a turkey farm or grow yams, it's a big commercial holiday. But if
you don't, it's not very commercial at all. Granted it starts the
Christmas shopping season, but by tomorrow every store in the nation will be
decorated with Christmas trees and sleigh bells. There won't be any
turkeys or pilgrims anywhere.
Another reason I love Thanksgiving... Kristie.
When we were kids our families got together every year at Thanksgiving, no exceptions. Her grandfather had a fruit farm with acres of apples, peaches and cherries. He raised hogs and sold tractors to pay the winter bills. Every year our families, 60-70 strong, would have dinner together at one long table that stretched the length of a huge back porch. The porch was enclosed and heated, and when you filled it with wall to wall people it was very warm even in November.
Every year Kristie and I would play games. She was younger, but loved to play Yahtze and Monopoly. Most of the boys were out playing in the pig barn. I'd end up inside watching the women cook or clean up or watching the men sleep through football games. (I'm not saying it wasn't stereotypical, just true.)
By the time I was 17 and in college, she was in Junior High. She and I always had fun together and at the end of the day we'd exchange addresses and promise to write. Sometimes she'd send one letter and sometimes I would, but usually not both and never more than one.
This happened every year until she was in college. Her freshman year she gave me her new address in St. Davids PA, about 45 minutes from where I was living. I said I probably wouldn't write, but give me your phone number and I'll call. I had a consulting client in King of Prussia PA, about ten minutes away. The next weekend I was working there and actually called. We had dinner, and made another date and the rest is history. That was 10 Thanksgivings ago.
The farm has been sold, her grandfather has died, the boys and girls are all grown up and have their own families. None of us have had more than a dozen at Thanksgiving dinner since. A family tradition for more than three decades and we all assumed it would continue forever.
Now Kristie and I have our memories and one photograph on our kitchen wall. That photograph is of the six oldest children piled on my great-grandmother's lap. I was the oldest at about four and Kristie was the youngest, nine months old. It was our first of 29 Thanksgivings together... our first date.
Thanksgiving #30 is at my mom's house. A large crowd of 11 including us and the Twins. The only livestock to enjoy will be my sister's dog and the only apples will be sliced into pie, but it should be fun.
I hope everyone had a bountiful harvest. Give thanks.
Blessed,
Okay, no one rescued me. Actually, it wasn't bad. We had fun and the babies had fun.
The highlight of the weekend was watching the babies climb stairs. My in-laws have six steps between sections of their '70s split-level. We decided to let the babies experiment on stairs. We figured that all six were carpeted, and the floor at the bottom has nice plush carpet. Furthermore, at 30 inches tall and 20 pounds, neither of them had far to fall or much inertia. Anyhow, babies bounce.
They looked at us as they stood on step #1 with a "am I gonna get in trouble" look. After they realized we weren't going to yell, they climbed up and down like pros. Forty-eight hours, two babies, six steps and not a single bloody nose!
I always hated those parents who doted on their children because they climbed stairs or said a word that doesn't sound like anything I would call a word. They are annoying, and I've become one of them.
That reminds me. Jason Andrew said "football" yesterday. Granted it sounded a lot like "ooobaa" but the ESPN highlights were on TV, so it must have been "football". Absolutely.
Proud Papa,
We are taking the kids to visit Kristie's parents today. We won't be back until tomorrow night. We get to see Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Lori, Uncle Jonathan, Aunt Priscilla, three great-grandmothers, one great-grandfather, about nine great aunts and eight great uncles. And a whole shiit load of cousins. It's a good thing there isn't a holiday or birthday, or we'd have to invite her WHOLE Family. Now that would be a lot of people.
We are leaving in 12 minutes... please help! Call my house and make up some emergency!
Overwhelmed,
Last night I was working late on my website; not SunFyre, my real website. If you work in the home health care business, you've probably already seen our site. If not, you probably won't care.
Anyhow, at 1 a.m. I went to bed. At 5 a.m. my little boy decided it was time to get up. He laid between Kristie and me, kicking my ribs all morning. Now, he's taking a nap, and I need one!
What's
new... well Michael Jackson playing grab-ass with little kids (allegedly) isn't
new, but him in handcuffs this time is new. I've heard Michael is having
financial troubles, but I'm guessing he has enough cash left for a good lawyer
or six.
Does Johnny Cochran defend guys who used to be black, but aren't anymore? If Michael is simply misunderstood, I hope the truth is revealed. If he's a pedophile, I hope he goes to prison, and a tough one. Is Alcatraz still accepting applications? My only hope is that M.J. doesn't pull an O.J.
His mug shot looks more like a publicity photo. Nice lipstick.
At
the other end of the country, John Allen Muhammad will have to wait through
the weekend to see if his sniper shootings around suburban Washington D.C.
gets him a proverbial noose. I'm predicting he will get life in
prison. The jury is still deliberating, and unsure whether they can
come to a verdict. The way Virginia law reads, if the jury can't
decide, the default sentence is life. The jury must come to unanimous
decision for the death penalty.
There was talk about shipping him off to stand trial in Alabama first, because Alabama is more likely to return a death penalty. If he'd only shot 1 or 2 in Virginia, maybe, but 11 shot means some district attorney runs for governor after the conviction.
Generally I'm against the death penalty. I'm not against killing off the most violent members of society; I'm not against eye-for-an-eye revenge. But, the death penalty isn't effective at all. None of the arguments for the death penalty work. Here's all the common reasons proponents of the death penalty come up with, and my take on why they are completely bogus.
Furthermore, as new technology becomes available, it's frightening to see the numbers of crimes overturned. Generally I think our system is good, fair and just. However, imperfect. Until it's perfect, we need to eliminate the death penalty.
Disagree?? Good, let's hear from you. Just don't email me and tell me I'm an idiot. Prove I'm an idiot beyond a reasonable doubt! Tell me why I'm wrong about one of the five points above, or offer a sixth point, but support it.
Wrongly convicted,
Congratulations
to Barry Bonds on winning his sixth MVP title. Obviously he'll likely go
down as one of the greatest of all time. I was a fan of his father,
Bobby. I grew up a couple hours from Pittsburgh cheering for Bobby, Willie
Stargell and Dave Parker in the '70s. I just hope Barry isn't mixed up in
this steroid scandal plaguing sports. I'd hate for Barry to go the way of
Pete Rose, my favorite childhood player and I now can't stand him.
On
to football, the Cowboys lost this weekend. The defense held strong, but
they never got the O going. I'm still simply amazed they are 7-3.
Unfortunately, save the tie-breaker, they are tied with Philadelphia.
Philadelphia looked ugly early, and some of their wins were ugly, but they are
wins. Philadelphia will only get stronger as their many injuries slowly
heal.
Hockey
season is here, and I haven't watched a single game. I enjoy hockey, but
only if I'm really focused on it. It used to be easy because the Flyers
and Penguins both had frequent television deals. I never watched much
until I moved east, so I'm more of a Flyers fan than Pittsburgh.
Unfortunately, now it's extremely difficult to catch hockey in
Philadelphia. Ratings have dropped so much that with the exception of a
rare game on ESPN, you can't get many games. Maybe someone can tell me if
Pittsburgh and other cities are having the same problem.
Now for my insightful opinions on the NBA... who cares!
Okay,
okay, one brief comment. This new kid Lebron James is pretty
impressive. Not many sports will take a high school kid and go straight to
the pros. If he never shot a basketball in the NBA he'd make a mint on
shoe endorsements. The fact he's making an impact is impressive.
That wasn't the comment... here it is... get ready. If an 18 year old kid from Maryland can come into the NBA and become an All-Star caliber player it doesn't say much for the depth of the sport. It also doesn't say much for the team aspect. The NBA has it wrong when it thinks it's all about the highlight reel. No one ever says after a 110-109 game "wow, that defense sucked!" They say "amazing game".
I
encourage every NBA Coach and player to watch Temple University play
basketball. They win consistently with marginal talent by controlling the
tempo and maintaining great defense. When they get up against a shooting
team, they often completely break their rhythm and end up beating a more
athletically talented team. If Coach Chaney ever got one or two top tier
talents, he'd clinch a title.
Well, that's my blips on the sports world for tonight. I realize I didn't cover auto racing, women's gymnastics, World Cup soccer, golf, horse jumping, full-contact chess, nude karate, co-ed wrestling, or even cock fighting. Perhaps another night.
The biggest sports fan on four wheels,
So yesterday Kristie made "SunFyre's World Famous Meatballs". She used a new recipe, by accident.
Here's the original recipe for all those who are wondering. The measurements are precise so follow the instructions!
Take
a big pile of beef, preferably ground.Okay, now you have the original recipe. Kristie invented a new one.
She reached into the cupboard yesterday morning and grabbed the chili powder, or so she thought. Maybe she thought C-I-N-N-A-M-O-N spelled chili powder.
She realized it immediately after she did it, but only was able to remove a little. She thought maybe I wouldn't notice. I did, first bite.
At first I thought she'd added Brown Sugar. She was raised Pennsylvania Dutch, and they throw sugar into everything! If White Sugar sounds disgusting, use Brown!
She confessed and told me I didn't have to eat another bite. Actually, it wasn't bad. I'm not sure it will rival my world famous meatballs, but it isn't bad.
Master chef,
It's
late. Wind is whipping. Around 11 a.m. I was sitting at my desk when
something blew past my window, something red and large. I looked out to
see my wife's jogging stroller (which costs $180 when you have Twins) laying
upside down in the lawn. Sure, a breeze will get it rolling if she forgets
to lock the brakes. With the brakes locked, it will tip over in a
gust. It might flip off the porch into the bushes in a heavy wind.
It's a gale outside! The Tri-wheeled stroller blew across the porch and
jumped a row of bushes lengthwise, and flashed past my office window which
requires a step ladder for cleaning. It landed upside-down in the
yard. That was over 12 hours ago, and it's still blowing just as hard.
It's late. Wind is whipping. Can't sleep.
So, where the hell have I been?
In one of my entries, quite a while ago I mentioned that this weblog was my in-between time. When things are going particularly good, I'm busy. When they are particularly bad, I'm also busy. When it's a happy medium I'm inspired to write, and have time. That hasn't been the case lately.
Things haven't been so good. Looking back over the past couple weeks, they haven't been extremely bad. I'm feeling guilty about complaining, but little things piled up. It pulled me down and I got pretty depressed.
I hate getting depressed. It's depressing. I know that sounds stupid, but here it's true. I'm a smart guy, very smart. I know that there are active steps I can take to prevent the chemical reactions in my brain that cause depression. I need to focus, get healthy, get active, act positive and exercise my brain. These things combat malaise. But, they didn't work. I wasn't sleeping. I didn't feel well. Work was stressful and my productivity was suffering. The people around me, my two assistants, are both facing individual challenges. And my son began feeding off my depression. He had three days of being very upset.
I felt this downward spiral.
Then I turned it around. I took off half a day on Tuesday and played with Little Jason most of it. That helped both of us.
Tuesday and Wednesday night I played EverQuest with a friend. I'd been playing on and off for a couple weeks. It's my escape after the kids go to bed. But this week was special. I accomplished 3 significant events in-game. If you don't play EverQuest, I give you permission to skip to the next paragraph (like you haven't already.) I hit 46, and now can visit the Planes. I got my key to Old Seb. And today I finished the Temperance quest. I'm starting to play with the big kids.
I made a couple good sales this week, and earned my commission for November and December. That helped, but money will be tight through spring. I avoided my bookkeeping this week. Avoidance often increases depression, but I'm not stupid. Red numbers also increase depression. I'll look at the books closer next week (maybe.)
Then, yesterday afternoon, I called Kristie for something. It was about 2:00 p.m. and she wasn't in her office. I hate leaving a message about something stupid. It's usually something like "Honey, could you pick up some sour cream, we are out. I think I finished off the mustard too." I didn't want to leave that message, especially considering she probably wouldn't get it before she came home. It would sound even more stupid in the morning. So I changed the message on the fly. "Honey, it's around two o'clock, and I miss you. If you get this message, why don't you blow off the rest of the day, come home early and we can make love all afternoon." Yeah, that sounded better. It felt good too.
She got home around 5:30 as usual. She had a bag with sour cream, mustard and about 12 other items I didn't know we were missing. Now I was really glad I hadn't left my original message. She had all her shiit together.
We had an early dinner. Normally I watch the kids while she cleans up, then we give baths or read books or just play together. After that I usually write or play EverQuest while she puts them to bed. Then she reads or we watch TV.
Last night I played EverQuest. She came in and said "The babies are down. I'm taping the West Wing. (Which usually means she is going to bed early.) Could you wrap up your game in a few minutes?"
"Sure," I said, "but I'm not sleepy yet."
As she walked out of the room she said simply, "I got your message."
I'm not going to kiss and tell. Or lick, squeeze, slide, press or bite and tell either. But, I feel better today. I won't say that sex cures all, but it certainly helps the symptoms.
It was great because she was right there, in the moment. Sometimes we go weeks without making love. Then we go through the motions because it's been a while, but it isn't great. Afterwards I feel worse because we tried too hard or not hard enough.
Last night was great. It just felt natural. We just enjoyed each other, and both gave and received. And we collapsed afterward and I slept great for the first time in over three weeks.
Tomorrow I'm going to focus on work. Try to salvage a bad week there. If that goes well, I think I'm over the hump, and should be writing more frequently. If it doesn't go well tomorrow, I'm definitely going to need more sex. (I hope Kristie is reading this.)
Windswept,
Go to October 2003 Archive
SunFyre