Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Picture Of The Day 01/27/10
Traffic from the grocery store to my street half a mile up the road. It's never backed up like this but the snow and cold temperatures made the streets very icy today.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Picture Of The Day 01/09/10
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday - A Most Excellent Day!
Today was an excellent day! After sleeping in until 9 AM I arose, puttered on the computer a bit and then shoveled snow. This was the third day in a row I decided to forgo use of the snow blower and just shovel for the extra exercise. There were several inches this morning and the snow was a bit heavier than the past two mornings so it took me about an hour.
After cooling down I got Scott up and he, myself and Danielle headed out to lunch and then hit Meijer to get the ingredients for hot wings.
My son Chris and his friend Mike came over around 3 PM, and Danielle and I played Left for Dead 2 with them for almost 2 hours with me taking a break around 4 PM to get the wings prepped and in the oven.
Chris, Mike, and I then alternated playing Earth Defense Force 2017 until the wings were ready. I made 108 wings in three varieties; hot and spicy, Italian garlic, and and new variety from the Chef Chris kitchens; Spicy Asian peanut.
Scott arrived home from the mall and the five of us tucked into wings while watching the latest Family Guy Star Wars spoof Something, Something, Something Dark Side which turned out to be hilarious!
After Family Guy we watched some video off the PC including the Terry Tate Office Linebacker series, Raging Rudolf, and finishing up with an episode of Man Verses Food. Chris and Mike departed around 9 PM. Danielle and I watched A Garfield Christmas, then the three of us Watched an older episode of How I Met Your Mother. Danielle and I then played some Left 4 Dead.
All in all it was a very enjoyable day, and I was quite pleased that Chris and Mike could join us.
After cooling down I got Scott up and he, myself and Danielle headed out to lunch and then hit Meijer to get the ingredients for hot wings.
My son Chris and his friend Mike came over around 3 PM, and Danielle and I played Left for Dead 2 with them for almost 2 hours with me taking a break around 4 PM to get the wings prepped and in the oven.
Chris, Mike, and I then alternated playing Earth Defense Force 2017 until the wings were ready. I made 108 wings in three varieties; hot and spicy, Italian garlic, and and new variety from the Chef Chris kitchens; Spicy Asian peanut.
Scott arrived home from the mall and the five of us tucked into wings while watching the latest Family Guy Star Wars spoof Something, Something, Something Dark Side which turned out to be hilarious!
After Family Guy we watched some video off the PC including the Terry Tate Office Linebacker series, Raging Rudolf, and finishing up with an episode of Man Verses Food. Chris and Mike departed around 9 PM. Danielle and I watched A Garfield Christmas, then the three of us Watched an older episode of How I Met Your Mother. Danielle and I then played some Left 4 Dead.
All in all it was a very enjoyable day, and I was quite pleased that Chris and Mike could join us.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Appearances Can Be Deceiving!
Ghost of Snowy Days past - Our House back in NJ back in February 2000I am CHILLED! I just came in from shoveling snow. It was near 40 yesterday and rained all day and overnight when the temp dropped into the 20's. I looked out at what appeared to be about an inch of fluffy white snow. Not wanting to drive over it since I had to take my daughter somewhere at noon, which is before Scott has to go out, I figured it would be a cakewalk to clear the snow. I also decided, since Scott would be heading out a little later to remove the snow from his car since he does not garage his car as I do the Mustang.
SO, I went out and much to my dismay discovered a very icy snowy bottom layer under the fluffy portion. It took me twice as long as the half hour I had envisioned when heading out because I had to scrape the whole driveway to remove that bottom layer icy layer. In addition I chiseled the ice off of Scott's car.
I came in, and got under a nice blanket on the couch t warm up a bit. I wish I had the makings for some good hot chocolate! I will remedy that when I drop off my daughter and pick up the ingredients for that most wonderful beverage at the store. I will keep it sane though and get 2% milk and light whipped cream instead of half and half and regular whipped cream as I have used in previous winters! I will go for the Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate powder however, I mean you can only do so much.
Previous years when making Hot Chocolate I would also get a bar of imported Belgian chocolate and melt that into the mix! I think the lower calorie version will still be quite delicious!
Picture Of The Day 12/26/09
Below is a panoramic shot I stitched together depicting the general state of bedlam in my living room due to the frenzied unwrapping of presents yesterday! Note there are more Christmas and other photos over on my Facebook page so feel free to pop over and check them out. Not a Facebook member? Well, you can easily join on my Facebook page.
Click the picture for a larger version in a new window!I hope all of you and your families had as Merry a Christmas as I did!
It's snowing here this morning in West Michigan - Once he awakens it is time to acquaint my son Scot, who recently turned 18, with my "Whoever has to go out of the house using their car first has to clear the driveway" rule. Unless it is not possible to clean the snow, I like to do this before driving over it other wise you get ice when the snow was driven on. Since you get get stretches of several weeks or longer going by with the temps below freezing, it's best to clear the driveway before driving on it.
I know he has plans with his friends later, right now I have no pressing need to go out first though at some point I do need to hit the store for some groceries.
I know he has plans with his friends later, right now I have no pressing need to go out first though at some point I do need to hit the store for some groceries.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Picture Of The Day Christmas 2009
Virtually deserted roads greeted the Mustang and I this morning on our last minute Christmas mission! 12/26/09 Update - This was to get $20 for each of my kids Christmas cards as I know they hate empty cards. The heart-felt message I wrote each one of them in the cards should have been enough but.....
The ground was so icy, I just let the Mustang idle in reverse out of the driveway without stepping on the gas but we still slid all the way into the street! The main roads were better but the bank parking lot was very slick. At least I made it in and out with no issues. I headed home, exercised, got cleaned up and awaited the arrival of the X and the kids.
The ground was so icy, I just let the Mustang idle in reverse out of the driveway without stepping on the gas but we still slid all the way into the street! The main roads were better but the bank parking lot was very slick. At least I made it in and out with no issues. I headed home, exercised, got cleaned up and awaited the arrival of the X and the kids.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Pictures Of The Day 12/13/09
For those of you unaware Tuesday through Friday we had quite a lot of snow and for three days we were under blizzard warnings with winds up to 40 miles per hour. When I was putting the shovel away yesterday I looked out the window of the garage's back door and noticed a ton of ice and snow overhanging the roof on the back of the house.
Here's some higher resolution pictures of the ice and snow overhang on my garage I took with my 12 Megapixel camera this morning. Though they are scaled down somewhat they are much better and larger than the ones I posted on Facebook earlier today. Note clicking on any of them will open a much larger picture in a new browser window.
Panoramic shot stitched from two pictures
Closer shot of the overhang by the garage door
Shot looking under the overhang from the garage doorSaturday, December 12, 2009
Picture Of The Day 12/12/09
The view out my garage's back door; an immense overhang of frozen snow and ice almost reaching the ground!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Picture Of The Day 12/10/09
Note these bushes by my front door are completely under the overhang of the roof so this is all wind blown snow. Usually they don't get anything on them when it snows.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Picture Of The Day 12/5/09
The view looking out the back door of mygarage after the first snowfall of the season.
Click picture for a larger version in a new window
Monday, February 23, 2009
YAW! (Yet Another Weekend)
Saturday I woke up, expecting snow. The forecast had been screaming for days that Saturday would be this snow and wind filled extreme weather event. At 8AM when I awoke, there was nothing.
I got up, and started the Operating System load on the new HT PC. At 8:30 that was going well, and the snow had started. By 9:30 when I was ready to ride the exercise bike the ground was covered and the wind was blowing. A check of the Weather Channel showed the storm had merely been delayed a few hours. I rode the exercise bike and Danielle got up.
She was a bit distressed because she had wanted me to drive her over to a friends house, pick up the friend, come back here so we could play Left for Dead, and then take the friend home afterward. I told her I was just not going to take the Mustang out onto slippery roads. The visible snowfall was somewhat misleading as this snow was some of the finest flakes I had ever seen, almost powder-like in consistency. So while often looking out the window it appeared it was hardly snowing, the snow accumulated on the ground.
See below for a recap on Saturday's Storm, particularly on road conditions. I feel justified in not venturing out.
The majority of the day passed quite nicely, I did some additional work on the new PC, plus played Left 4 Dead with Danielle and watched TV with and without the kids depending on what they were doing.
We were all supposed to go to dinner with Chris that evening but his friends hijacked him and fed him earlier. The X asked if we wanted to go out anyway and while I would not venture out in the Mustang the X's vehicle is much more bad weather worthy...though I myself would still not have gone out.
I went outside and shoveled out a space large enough for her by the front door so the kids and I would not have snow in our shoes. While there was about 5 inches of snow, it was HEAVY! It was so very fine and thus very dense.
The X picked us up and we went to Ming 10 around 5:30. Surprisingly, with the storm raging outside, the place was very crowded. We had quite a view of the weather outside form our table. Two of the walls forming the Corner of Ming 10 are glass, so you get a real view outside, and it is a raised view as it is on the second floor. As we ate and darkness fell, the storm increased in it's ferocity, and the snow fell more heavily and the wind was blowing faster. I love watching nature like this and I was constantly looking out the window.
Scott was disappointed because they were not making lo mein this evening, they had run out and only had already made vegetable lomein. He still manged to eat a good amount of food, even going after some the vegetable lo mein.
The X outlined some upcoming business travel, which is good for me since it means some extra time with the kids which is always a good thing, I just wonder how they feel about it. I of course agreed to the extra time in support of the X's business pursuits.
We finished dinner and departed, I was chilled just on the very short walk back to the X's car, which was already covered in snow as it if had been sitting there for hours. The ride back home was a little bit slower than the ride out.
She dropped us off at my house around 8 PM and we spent the rest of the evening, together, in pairs, or alone, playing Left 4 Dead, F.E.A.R. 2, talking on the phone, and watching TV. It was still snowing when I went to bed around 11:30.
***
Sunday - I awoke to a very bright room and subsequent examination showed bright sun and blue skies interspersed with fluffy white clouds. There was also quite a lot of snow that had to be removed!
After riding the exercise bike, Danielle and I had fun trying to print out the driving directions to her friend's house. Google Maps was misbehaving. At first I thought it was because I was using the beta of Windows 7, so, I rebooted back into XP and the same thing happened, though Danielle and I got a laugh as when XP loaded a coupon I had queued to print several days ago printed.
Finally after expending almost half an hour I just did a screen grab of the Google page with the directions and the map zoomed on the destination.
I went out and cleared the snow. As Scott's car was there I had to adjust my snow removal strategy as his car was in the way.
Once the snow was clear I stepped into the front hall, switched coats, and Danielle and I, carrying all the empty boxes from the HT PC build slated for the garage. departed.
The roads were well cleared and except for the side roads by her friend's house we had no trouble. The local roads were badly cleared but at least the ground was level so other than slow going we made it OK.
I dropped them off at the mall and headed home, driving through McDonald's around 1:30 to get Scott some lunch, and me a snack, to hold us until what I perceived to be a later dinner. I had given Danielle $20 to spend at the mall, after teasing her about asking for money after I recently bought her the Netbook, so I knew she would at least snack while out.
Scott and I ate and watched a couple of episodes of the Simpsons off DVD before his disappearing downstairs to await the arrival of his friends who showed up and remained as Scott got into his Left for Dead costume. They have been dressing as the four main characters of Left for dead and then delight in freaking people out as they act like the characters in public places. Now note these firends of his are all male, and one of the characters is a female....I refused to look at the friend playing the girl......you would just not understadn why without a picture......
Once again I reminded Scott of my "Have fun but the Police better not call me to come get you!" rule, and his friends headed out. I worked on importing my FireFox, IE, and Roboform data into the new System, copying items from the old system to removable storage, and watching some TV until 4 PM rolled around and it was time to pickup the kids at the mall.
The trip went uneventfully and soon Danielle and I were back home as I raced to get the chicken stock for soup heated so I could add the spices, onions, olive oil, and carrots to the pot tand get it simmering.
I removed the old HT PC from the entertainment system and installed the new one it's place. The old one, for now, resides on the dining room table, connected via WiFi. This is in case I missed some data needed on the new PC. Tails of course jumped into the shelf as I was putting the new (Heavy!) unit into place, and I had to hold it with one arm as I shooed her out of the opening.
Scott arrived home early and we passed the time in the usual manner. After a couple of hours had passed I added the chicken to the soup pot, and after 45 minutes put the soup pasta on to cook in another pot. I drained that, added it to the soup pot and let it sit another 15 minutes. We ate around 7 PM. On Sunday's we eat not later than 5, I was glad I got us a snack earlier.
The soup was delicious and we watched a couple more Simpsons. Danielle and I started watching City of Ember, which turned out to be a really good movie. Bill Murry played the mayor of the forgotten underground city which made it even more enjoyable.
All in all, it was a very good weekend. My only complaint would be that it was too short! There is a half a pot of soup leftover in the fridge which will make a most enjoyable dinner Tuesday night!
I got up, and started the Operating System load on the new HT PC. At 8:30 that was going well, and the snow had started. By 9:30 when I was ready to ride the exercise bike the ground was covered and the wind was blowing. A check of the Weather Channel showed the storm had merely been delayed a few hours. I rode the exercise bike and Danielle got up.
She was a bit distressed because she had wanted me to drive her over to a friends house, pick up the friend, come back here so we could play Left for Dead, and then take the friend home afterward. I told her I was just not going to take the Mustang out onto slippery roads. The visible snowfall was somewhat misleading as this snow was some of the finest flakes I had ever seen, almost powder-like in consistency. So while often looking out the window it appeared it was hardly snowing, the snow accumulated on the ground.
See below for a recap on Saturday's Storm, particularly on road conditions. I feel justified in not venturing out.
The majority of the day passed quite nicely, I did some additional work on the new PC, plus played Left 4 Dead with Danielle and watched TV with and without the kids depending on what they were doing.
We were all supposed to go to dinner with Chris that evening but his friends hijacked him and fed him earlier. The X asked if we wanted to go out anyway and while I would not venture out in the Mustang the X's vehicle is much more bad weather worthy...though I myself would still not have gone out.
I went outside and shoveled out a space large enough for her by the front door so the kids and I would not have snow in our shoes. While there was about 5 inches of snow, it was HEAVY! It was so very fine and thus very dense.
The X picked us up and we went to Ming 10 around 5:30. Surprisingly, with the storm raging outside, the place was very crowded. We had quite a view of the weather outside form our table. Two of the walls forming the Corner of Ming 10 are glass, so you get a real view outside, and it is a raised view as it is on the second floor. As we ate and darkness fell, the storm increased in it's ferocity, and the snow fell more heavily and the wind was blowing faster. I love watching nature like this and I was constantly looking out the window.
Scott was disappointed because they were not making lo mein this evening, they had run out and only had already made vegetable lomein. He still manged to eat a good amount of food, even going after some the vegetable lo mein.
The X outlined some upcoming business travel, which is good for me since it means some extra time with the kids which is always a good thing, I just wonder how they feel about it. I of course agreed to the extra time in support of the X's business pursuits.
We finished dinner and departed, I was chilled just on the very short walk back to the X's car, which was already covered in snow as it if had been sitting there for hours. The ride back home was a little bit slower than the ride out.
She dropped us off at my house around 8 PM and we spent the rest of the evening, together, in pairs, or alone, playing Left 4 Dead, F.E.A.R. 2, talking on the phone, and watching TV. It was still snowing when I went to bed around 11:30.
***
Sunday - I awoke to a very bright room and subsequent examination showed bright sun and blue skies interspersed with fluffy white clouds. There was also quite a lot of snow that had to be removed!
After riding the exercise bike, Danielle and I had fun trying to print out the driving directions to her friend's house. Google Maps was misbehaving. At first I thought it was because I was using the beta of Windows 7, so, I rebooted back into XP and the same thing happened, though Danielle and I got a laugh as when XP loaded a coupon I had queued to print several days ago printed.
Finally after expending almost half an hour I just did a screen grab of the Google page with the directions and the map zoomed on the destination.
I went out and cleared the snow. As Scott's car was there I had to adjust my snow removal strategy as his car was in the way.
Once the snow was clear I stepped into the front hall, switched coats, and Danielle and I, carrying all the empty boxes from the HT PC build slated for the garage. departed.
The roads were well cleared and except for the side roads by her friend's house we had no trouble. The local roads were badly cleared but at least the ground was level so other than slow going we made it OK.
I dropped them off at the mall and headed home, driving through McDonald's around 1:30 to get Scott some lunch, and me a snack, to hold us until what I perceived to be a later dinner. I had given Danielle $20 to spend at the mall, after teasing her about asking for money after I recently bought her the Netbook, so I knew she would at least snack while out.
Scott and I ate and watched a couple of episodes of the Simpsons off DVD before his disappearing downstairs to await the arrival of his friends who showed up and remained as Scott got into his Left for Dead costume. They have been dressing as the four main characters of Left for dead and then delight in freaking people out as they act like the characters in public places. Now note these firends of his are all male, and one of the characters is a female....I refused to look at the friend playing the girl......you would just not understadn why without a picture......
Once again I reminded Scott of my "Have fun but the Police better not call me to come get you!" rule, and his friends headed out. I worked on importing my FireFox, IE, and Roboform data into the new System, copying items from the old system to removable storage, and watching some TV until 4 PM rolled around and it was time to pickup the kids at the mall.
The trip went uneventfully and soon Danielle and I were back home as I raced to get the chicken stock for soup heated so I could add the spices, onions, olive oil, and carrots to the pot tand get it simmering.
I removed the old HT PC from the entertainment system and installed the new one it's place. The old one, for now, resides on the dining room table, connected via WiFi. This is in case I missed some data needed on the new PC. Tails of course jumped into the shelf as I was putting the new (Heavy!) unit into place, and I had to hold it with one arm as I shooed her out of the opening.
Scott arrived home early and we passed the time in the usual manner. After a couple of hours had passed I added the chicken to the soup pot, and after 45 minutes put the soup pasta on to cook in another pot. I drained that, added it to the soup pot and let it sit another 15 minutes. We ate around 7 PM. On Sunday's we eat not later than 5, I was glad I got us a snack earlier.
The soup was delicious and we watched a couple more Simpsons. Danielle and I started watching City of Ember, which turned out to be a really good movie. Bill Murry played the mayor of the forgotten underground city which made it even more enjoyable.
All in all, it was a very good weekend. My only complaint would be that it was too short! There is a half a pot of soup leftover in the fridge which will make a most enjoyable dinner Tuesday night!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
What a Whirlwind of a Week
What a week! We went from tons of snow and ice on the ground, to a day close to 70, and last night it snowed and there is a couple of inches on the ground again today!
I do not post too much about work, but I received my annual performance review this week and was stunned by getting a rating of "Development Needed". I worked very hard all year, and am formulating a politically correct reply to add as part of the formal review, which includes a statement along the lines of "If I had development needs, why were they not mentioned as impacting my performance and endangering my rating in any of my weekly meetings?" Anyway, the bottom line is I know I worked hard and accomplished a lot this past year! Perhaps this also explains why they are moving me into a new role instead of another managers slot that opened up in my old group after mine was eliminated.
I've also been spending the past few months, on and off, deciding what to do about my Home Theater PC (HTPC). While it is certainly powerful enough for most gaming and playing back of DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray discs, I have been wanting a better video card. Originally I planned to just replace the case, power supply, and video card as the current case and power supply are non-standard and is only 250 watts, which anyone who knows about computers understands there is not a lot of wiggle room for expansion.
So, a many month, on and off, journey began as I researched the best way to do this. The cost of a good case, power supply, and video card I wanted was close to $600 and change. I decided that at this point in time I did not want to spend the money. Then, I sold my previous HTPC, my Onkyo Receiver, and some speakers to a friend. That brought some extra dollars in along with the fact I am getting a good tax refund, my son is going to pay me almost half the car payment money he has owed me for several years, and it turns out I am going to get a small inheritance from my Dad's estate now that all the bills are paid.
So, I spent the last two weeks feverishly researching in my free time and yesterday finally placed the order for all the parts for a brand new HTPC. For double the price of the parts upgrade I can get a whole new very powerful system that has room to grow going forward, which the current system does not, and would not if I kept the same motherboard.
Last night I went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday with the X, So, and Danielle, we had a nice dinner, though it took them three times to bring me some fries that were fresh. When I go out I will not eat fries unless they are hot and crisp! I rarely get fries, and when I do this is the condition they must be in! So, when mine arrived and had obviously been sitting under the warming lamp, I asked for fresh ones. A new order was brought out that was even worse! A quick word to the manager soon had a large order of hot, crispy fries, and everyone else, particularly the X, was willing to save me some carbs by eating a lot of the fries.
Afterwards arriving home, Tails and I watched TV, and I played some Left 4 Dead on expert settings which is always a hoot! I retired around 1 AM looking forward to the weekend and no having to get up early for work.
I do not post too much about work, but I received my annual performance review this week and was stunned by getting a rating of "Development Needed". I worked very hard all year, and am formulating a politically correct reply to add as part of the formal review, which includes a statement along the lines of "If I had development needs, why were they not mentioned as impacting my performance and endangering my rating in any of my weekly meetings?" Anyway, the bottom line is I know I worked hard and accomplished a lot this past year! Perhaps this also explains why they are moving me into a new role instead of another managers slot that opened up in my old group after mine was eliminated.
I've also been spending the past few months, on and off, deciding what to do about my Home Theater PC (HTPC). While it is certainly powerful enough for most gaming and playing back of DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray discs, I have been wanting a better video card. Originally I planned to just replace the case, power supply, and video card as the current case and power supply are non-standard and is only 250 watts, which anyone who knows about computers understands there is not a lot of wiggle room for expansion.
So, a many month, on and off, journey began as I researched the best way to do this. The cost of a good case, power supply, and video card I wanted was close to $600 and change. I decided that at this point in time I did not want to spend the money. Then, I sold my previous HTPC, my Onkyo Receiver, and some speakers to a friend. That brought some extra dollars in along with the fact I am getting a good tax refund, my son is going to pay me almost half the car payment money he has owed me for several years, and it turns out I am going to get a small inheritance from my Dad's estate now that all the bills are paid.
So, I spent the last two weeks feverishly researching in my free time and yesterday finally placed the order for all the parts for a brand new HTPC. For double the price of the parts upgrade I can get a whole new very powerful system that has room to grow going forward, which the current system does not, and would not if I kept the same motherboard.
Last night I went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday with the X, So, and Danielle, we had a nice dinner, though it took them three times to bring me some fries that were fresh. When I go out I will not eat fries unless they are hot and crisp! I rarely get fries, and when I do this is the condition they must be in! So, when mine arrived and had obviously been sitting under the warming lamp, I asked for fresh ones. A new order was brought out that was even worse! A quick word to the manager soon had a large order of hot, crispy fries, and everyone else, particularly the X, was willing to save me some carbs by eating a lot of the fries.
Afterwards arriving home, Tails and I watched TV, and I played some Left 4 Dead on expert settings which is always a hoot! I retired around 1 AM looking forward to the weekend and no having to get up early for work.
Friday, January 30, 2009
More Daze
Here's a recap of the week thus far.....
Monday:
Well, after about 9 days of NO snow, we had a couple of inches overnight. Not enough to really fire up the mega snow blower, but enough where I will need to go out and shovel it before the kids get home from school.
It is actually 30 degrees here, the warmest it has been in weeks where temps have ranged from 5 below zero, to single digits, not going above 20 degrees. So, this is like a heat wave, and the sun is shining as well.
Some additional sporadic snow is expected over the next few days, we shall see what the weather brings.
Tuesday:
It was the X's night to take the kids for dinner. She arrived early so we could go over their edline reports because both Scott's and Danielle's grades have been slipping. Each have promised improvement this quarter, which will be good. Do well and get rewarded! Do poorly and expect loss of privileges!
The X asked if I wanted to accompany them to dinner, and I did, with us ending up at Red Robin. There was no parking in our usual area and I was blamed as I had said "There will be no parking in our usual area" as it was dinner time. We cruised nearby areas and found a place that though a bit further away as the crow flies was actually closer because we could walk places cars could not drive.
It was a bit windy and bitterly cold, the X was really missing the balmy weather in Las Vegas. She remarked that will it was cool for Vegas at around 60 degrees, people out there were bundling up in heavy coats like we were wearing in the 12 degree cold!
We gladly arrived, it was god to be out of the cold, and we were quickly seated. I limited the fries I ate, had water with dinner, and did not request a side of mayo as I usually do (for the burger and fries). So, while this was really out of bounds for the diet, I had behaved during the day and did not go crazy at dinner.
It was even colder on the way back to the car and it was snowing lightly. We topped at "Play and Trade" so Scot could get a job application, and then headed over to Hobby Lobby as Danielle needed some school supplies. There is no such thing as a quick trip to that store with the kids, so I looked around as they were looking for items.
Danielle ended up just getting a book for drawing in as their prices for school type supplies are too high. The X suggested Staples and Danielle and I started walking that way, only to discover it was closed. We drove a mile or so up the road stopping at a Staples where I was able to procure the supplies Danielle needed, along with a journal for her.
Back to the X's house we went as Scott needed my old camera which was there, and the X wanted me to look at her furnace to see where the filter goes. They had changed it since I lived there, replacing the old slot with an extra wide one that takes $$$ filters. I told the X if she ordered the filter we could figure out how replace it, as you have to setup the filter inside this suitcase-size container.
The kids and I headed back to my house and enjoyed some TV, including new episodes of our favorite comedy show Scrubs, before retiring.
Wednesday
Scott, who had been feeling fine in the morning came home from school looking like one of the Zombies in Left 4 Dead. He had a terrible sore throat to the point where he said during the day he felt like it was closing and he could not breath, I told him next time something like happens to have the school call us instead of trying to stick the day out.
Danielle was at her friends house, so around 5:15 PM I headed out, armed with the Family Video Game and DVD returns Scott was supposed to take back. It was, of course, snowing and the roads were slippery. I picked up Danielle and when we were almost back in my neighborhood I called First Wok and ordered Chinese food for dinner which we picked up after dropping off the rentals.
We watched TV and had an enjoyable dinner, though Scott was still feeling bad. Whatever he had was most infectious and virulent; right after dinner my throat started hurting which was accompanied by a pounding headache. By bedtime I was all congested and feeling terrible.
It was hard sleeping and it seemed minutes after I feel asleep it was time to get up as Danielle was knocking on my door. She had a bad sore throat and a bad headache!
So, the three of us stayed home. The kids went back to bed and I got up to login to the work network and begin my work day.
Around 11 Danielle got up and I took a lunch break at noon making some doctored Ramon soup. Discarding most of the packaged seasoning (while is LOADED with sodium) I added chicken, no sodium chicken broth powder, and other spices and soon had a steaming pot of soup. Scott got up, and we all had a nice bowl of soup. At 1 PM I resumed work.
By the afternoon we were all feeling somewhat better. I went out around 5 PM because snowing or now, sick or not, I had to drive into the office to perform some tasks in support of our Long Island facility and the kids would be going back to the X for her week with them.
I made some packaged Velveeta and Shell dinner (using the 2% reduced fat version) and around 7:30 the kids and I headed out.
The 3.5 ride into work was nightmarish, but I made it OK, and headed home which took about 4 times as long as the drive usually takes.
I had a snack, and went to bed. Of course it was still snowing..........
Monday:
Well, after about 9 days of NO snow, we had a couple of inches overnight. Not enough to really fire up the mega snow blower, but enough where I will need to go out and shovel it before the kids get home from school.
It is actually 30 degrees here, the warmest it has been in weeks where temps have ranged from 5 below zero, to single digits, not going above 20 degrees. So, this is like a heat wave, and the sun is shining as well.
Some additional sporadic snow is expected over the next few days, we shall see what the weather brings.
Tuesday:
It was the X's night to take the kids for dinner. She arrived early so we could go over their edline reports because both Scott's and Danielle's grades have been slipping. Each have promised improvement this quarter, which will be good. Do well and get rewarded! Do poorly and expect loss of privileges!
The X asked if I wanted to accompany them to dinner, and I did, with us ending up at Red Robin. There was no parking in our usual area and I was blamed as I had said "There will be no parking in our usual area" as it was dinner time. We cruised nearby areas and found a place that though a bit further away as the crow flies was actually closer because we could walk places cars could not drive.
It was a bit windy and bitterly cold, the X was really missing the balmy weather in Las Vegas. She remarked that will it was cool for Vegas at around 60 degrees, people out there were bundling up in heavy coats like we were wearing in the 12 degree cold!
We gladly arrived, it was god to be out of the cold, and we were quickly seated. I limited the fries I ate, had water with dinner, and did not request a side of mayo as I usually do (for the burger and fries). So, while this was really out of bounds for the diet, I had behaved during the day and did not go crazy at dinner.
It was even colder on the way back to the car and it was snowing lightly. We topped at "Play and Trade" so Scot could get a job application, and then headed over to Hobby Lobby as Danielle needed some school supplies. There is no such thing as a quick trip to that store with the kids, so I looked around as they were looking for items.
Danielle ended up just getting a book for drawing in as their prices for school type supplies are too high. The X suggested Staples and Danielle and I started walking that way, only to discover it was closed. We drove a mile or so up the road stopping at a Staples where I was able to procure the supplies Danielle needed, along with a journal for her.
Back to the X's house we went as Scott needed my old camera which was there, and the X wanted me to look at her furnace to see where the filter goes. They had changed it since I lived there, replacing the old slot with an extra wide one that takes $$$ filters. I told the X if she ordered the filter we could figure out how replace it, as you have to setup the filter inside this suitcase-size container.
The kids and I headed back to my house and enjoyed some TV, including new episodes of our favorite comedy show Scrubs, before retiring.
Wednesday
Scott, who had been feeling fine in the morning came home from school looking like one of the Zombies in Left 4 Dead. He had a terrible sore throat to the point where he said during the day he felt like it was closing and he could not breath, I told him next time something like happens to have the school call us instead of trying to stick the day out.
Danielle was at her friends house, so around 5:15 PM I headed out, armed with the Family Video Game and DVD returns Scott was supposed to take back. It was, of course, snowing and the roads were slippery. I picked up Danielle and when we were almost back in my neighborhood I called First Wok and ordered Chinese food for dinner which we picked up after dropping off the rentals.
We watched TV and had an enjoyable dinner, though Scott was still feeling bad. Whatever he had was most infectious and virulent; right after dinner my throat started hurting which was accompanied by a pounding headache. By bedtime I was all congested and feeling terrible.
It was hard sleeping and it seemed minutes after I feel asleep it was time to get up as Danielle was knocking on my door. She had a bad sore throat and a bad headache!
So, the three of us stayed home. The kids went back to bed and I got up to login to the work network and begin my work day.
Around 11 Danielle got up and I took a lunch break at noon making some doctored Ramon soup. Discarding most of the packaged seasoning (while is LOADED with sodium) I added chicken, no sodium chicken broth powder, and other spices and soon had a steaming pot of soup. Scott got up, and we all had a nice bowl of soup. At 1 PM I resumed work.
By the afternoon we were all feeling somewhat better. I went out around 5 PM because snowing or now, sick or not, I had to drive into the office to perform some tasks in support of our Long Island facility and the kids would be going back to the X for her week with them.
I made some packaged Velveeta and Shell dinner (using the 2% reduced fat version) and around 7:30 the kids and I headed out.
The 3.5 ride into work was nightmarish, but I made it OK, and headed home which took about 4 times as long as the drive usually takes.
I had a snack, and went to bed. Of course it was still snowing..........
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
January 19th - Stupid Monday!
Or
Stupid Times Two!t
Note - I just realized I never published this post from LAST Monday. maybe I should call this Stupid Times Three!
I had the day off because of Martin Luther King day. I had asked the kids to be quiet when they got up, and they were not, in fact they were noisier than most mornings, so loud so I heard them outside in the driveway when they left.
Tails must have heard me get up to use the bathroom when the kids woke me and soon she was scratching at my bedroom door. I let her in, she promptly crawled under the covers and curled up next to me, and we a 30 minute nap or so.
I realized this morning that perhaps I have been playing too much Left 4 Dead (or maybe not enough?) because for the first time since playing this game heavily since last year I dreamed I was in a zombie infested neighborhood, running around with an assault shotgun shooting zombies with other survivors!
I got up, did some computing, and rode the exercise bike while watching a Dinner: Impossible where Chef Robert had to make 7000 items overnight. I did some laundry and some cleaning up, and around 2 PM I decided to head out to the store to get items for dinner for the next few evenings.
The snow plow had left a pile of debris at the bottom of my driveway (here's where the stupid part comes on) and looking at it I figured it was small enough to back out over and I would worry about cleaning it up later.
Needless to say I had seriously miscalculated the amount of ice and snow thus managing to mire the Mustang helplessly in this mess, unable to move forward or backwards. Cursing my own stupidity I went and got the snow blower.
Luckily I had enough on each side of the car to attack the snow with the snow blower. I also did behind it as close as I could get to the car.
THEN came the fun part, getting the small portable shovel and digging out behind the back wheels, as they were already over the slight downward slope into the street. When you have a bad back and a short shovel this can be quite fun! I also realized I had taken this out of the garage and it should be in my trunk.
About 20 minutes later I was able to back into the street and pull back into the driveway. I went to start up the snow blower and it would not start! (Here's where the times two factor appears) I pulled the cord until I was blue in the face! I wheeled the snow blower back to the garage and connected the AC power cord to it and pressed the electric start button/ While it turned over readily it would not start.
THEN I remembered the Run switch had not been turned back on!!! So, again cursing my stupidity I got it running and cleared the driveway.
Able to do my shopping, I did so and returned home. After getting cleaned up I put away the groceries. Scott went straight from school to work so Danielle and I played Left 4 Dead until 6 PM when I stopped and made us grilled ham and cheese sandwiches on whole grain high fiber bread with 2% and healthy choice ham. I also supplemented mine with a cup of Southwest Vegetable soup as I had Given Danielle twice the meat on her sandwiches. It was a cheap yet delicious meal.
Scott returned home from work around 8:30 and I made him some Kraft Shells with Cheese and the three of us watched How I Met Your Mother and Worst Week before retiring.
I had the day off because of Martin Luther King day. I had asked the kids to be quiet when they got up, and they were not, in fact they were noisier than most mornings, so loud so I heard them outside in the driveway when they left.
Tails must have heard me get up to use the bathroom when the kids woke me and soon she was scratching at my bedroom door. I let her in, she promptly crawled under the covers and curled up next to me, and we a 30 minute nap or so.
I realized this morning that perhaps I have been playing too much Left 4 Dead (or maybe not enough?) because for the first time since playing this game heavily since last year I dreamed I was in a zombie infested neighborhood, running around with an assault shotgun shooting zombies with other survivors!
I got up, did some computing, and rode the exercise bike while watching a Dinner: Impossible where Chef Robert had to make 7000 items overnight. I did some laundry and some cleaning up, and around 2 PM I decided to head out to the store to get items for dinner for the next few evenings.
The snow plow had left a pile of debris at the bottom of my driveway (here's where the stupid part comes on) and looking at it I figured it was small enough to back out over and I would worry about cleaning it up later.
Needless to say I had seriously miscalculated the amount of ice and snow thus managing to mire the Mustang helplessly in this mess, unable to move forward or backwards. Cursing my own stupidity I went and got the snow blower.
Luckily I had enough on each side of the car to attack the snow with the snow blower. I also did behind it as close as I could get to the car.
THEN came the fun part, getting the small portable shovel and digging out behind the back wheels, as they were already over the slight downward slope into the street. When you have a bad back and a short shovel this can be quite fun! I also realized I had taken this out of the garage and it should be in my trunk.
About 20 minutes later I was able to back into the street and pull back into the driveway. I went to start up the snow blower and it would not start! (Here's where the times two factor appears) I pulled the cord until I was blue in the face! I wheeled the snow blower back to the garage and connected the AC power cord to it and pressed the electric start button/ While it turned over readily it would not start.
THEN I remembered the Run switch had not been turned back on!!! So, again cursing my stupidity I got it running and cleared the driveway.
Able to do my shopping, I did so and returned home. After getting cleaned up I put away the groceries. Scott went straight from school to work so Danielle and I played Left 4 Dead until 6 PM when I stopped and made us grilled ham and cheese sandwiches on whole grain high fiber bread with 2% and healthy choice ham. I also supplemented mine with a cup of Southwest Vegetable soup as I had Given Danielle twice the meat on her sandwiches. It was a cheap yet delicious meal.
Scott returned home from work around 8:30 and I made him some Kraft Shells with Cheese and the three of us watched How I Met Your Mother and Worst Week before retiring.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday
Sunday started the same way as many mornings, got up, released and fed Tails kitty, puttered on the computer (e-mail and more Windows testing) and rode the exercise bike.
It was barely snowing and we even had some patches of sun, and since I found out that the X was leaving a day early for her business trip, I knew I would need to snow blow before the kids arrived sometime after 5 PM. I'll have the kids the whole week while the X is away, which is great for me since she had to travel on her week with them.
Around 4 PM I took a break from my computer activities and began cleaning the house which I had not done after the kids departure Friday. I took all the trash, a surprising amount, out with me when I went to snow blow.
There was easily 6" of snow to remove and I was pleased to see my next door neighbor had done my sidewalk up to my driveway yesterday. The snow blower made fast work of the driveway and I went inside to await the arrival of the kids. Scott had asked if Alex could come over and the three of them showed up shortly after 5.
Scott wanted to go out to dinner but I was comfortable and had no such plans in mind but I did offer to order Vitale's pizza which everyone agreed to.
Scott and Alex were playing Left 4 Dead in the family game while I continued watching the two part season finale of Sanctuary. The Pizza arrived shortly after 6 and then we played some Left 4 Dead using both XBOX systems as Scott's friend Greg had left his game disk here last Sunday. As Scott had misplaced one of my controllers Danielle and I alternated the controller up here in the living room taking turns playing.
Speaking of Greg he arrived and we switched from cooperative play to verse mode where you take turns playing the survivors and the attaching boss type zombies.
I was humbled as I got my zombie tail beaten soundly to the laughter from the kids below; I rock as a survivor, as a zombie I am sub par. After almost an hour of this humiliation I opted to go back and finish watching Sanctuary. I will have to work on honing my zombie skills at a later date!
Scott's friends left while I was watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which I never got to see as the kids did not have an interest. I wish they would have watched with me, it had comedy, action, drama, and adventure. I really enjoyed it and I think they would have too.
After the movie, it was off to bed around 11:30 PM. I asked the kids to be quiet in the morning when they get up for school but as I may post later that was a wasted conversation!
It was barely snowing and we even had some patches of sun, and since I found out that the X was leaving a day early for her business trip, I knew I would need to snow blow before the kids arrived sometime after 5 PM. I'll have the kids the whole week while the X is away, which is great for me since she had to travel on her week with them.
Around 4 PM I took a break from my computer activities and began cleaning the house which I had not done after the kids departure Friday. I took all the trash, a surprising amount, out with me when I went to snow blow.
There was easily 6" of snow to remove and I was pleased to see my next door neighbor had done my sidewalk up to my driveway yesterday. The snow blower made fast work of the driveway and I went inside to await the arrival of the kids. Scott had asked if Alex could come over and the three of them showed up shortly after 5.
Scott wanted to go out to dinner but I was comfortable and had no such plans in mind but I did offer to order Vitale's pizza which everyone agreed to.
Scott and Alex were playing Left 4 Dead in the family game while I continued watching the two part season finale of Sanctuary. The Pizza arrived shortly after 6 and then we played some Left 4 Dead using both XBOX systems as Scott's friend Greg had left his game disk here last Sunday. As Scott had misplaced one of my controllers Danielle and I alternated the controller up here in the living room taking turns playing.
Speaking of Greg he arrived and we switched from cooperative play to verse mode where you take turns playing the survivors and the attaching boss type zombies.
I was humbled as I got my zombie tail beaten soundly to the laughter from the kids below; I rock as a survivor, as a zombie I am sub par. After almost an hour of this humiliation I opted to go back and finish watching Sanctuary. I will have to work on honing my zombie skills at a later date!
Scott's friends left while I was watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which I never got to see as the kids did not have an interest. I wish they would have watched with me, it had comedy, action, drama, and adventure. I really enjoyed it and I think they would have too.
After the movie, it was off to bed around 11:30 PM. I asked the kids to be quiet in the morning when they get up for school but as I may post later that was a wasted conversation!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Saturday and More Snow
I slept in, not getting up until about 8 AM. The sky was gray and the forecast....can you guess? SNOW!
The outside temperature was 1 degree above zero, so much for last nights weather report saying we would not go below 6 degrees, it must have slipped below zero overnight.
I released Tails from her room, took my medicines, and worked on installing the XBOX 360 transceiver unit on my HTPC. This handy device allows you to use wireless XBOX 360 controllers (and other accessories) on the PC, and some games just need that capability.
That done I settled in checking that the new black wireless controller I bought (which is to be dedicated solely to use on the PC) was working.
I caught up on the past week of blog posts and I'm going to test Left 4 Dead on the PC since I picked that version up on sale over the holidays. This was because the PC version of any good game is infinitely more extensible by the user community which creates new maps and levels far more often (and for free) verses downloadable additional content for the XBOX 360 via XBOX Live.
Following that I plan on a yummy yogurt shake and a ride on the exercise bike. As it is now snowing heavily and I have supplies enough for the day, I have NO plans of journeying outside, though in the past 2 hours it has warmed up to 4 degrees!
I ended up testing the XBOX wireless controller on the PC by playing a campaign of Left 4 Dead. It works great it is so cool being able to use the wireless controllers from the XBOX on the HTPC! Now it's time for the shake and then the ride on the exercise bike....it Tails will get off my chest that is.........
The outside temperature was 1 degree above zero, so much for last nights weather report saying we would not go below 6 degrees, it must have slipped below zero overnight.
I released Tails from her room, took my medicines, and worked on installing the XBOX 360 transceiver unit on my HTPC. This handy device allows you to use wireless XBOX 360 controllers (and other accessories) on the PC, and some games just need that capability.
That done I settled in checking that the new black wireless controller I bought (which is to be dedicated solely to use on the PC) was working.
I caught up on the past week of blog posts and I'm going to test Left 4 Dead on the PC since I picked that version up on sale over the holidays. This was because the PC version of any good game is infinitely more extensible by the user community which creates new maps and levels far more often (and for free) verses downloadable additional content for the XBOX 360 via XBOX Live.
Following that I plan on a yummy yogurt shake and a ride on the exercise bike. As it is now snowing heavily and I have supplies enough for the day, I have NO plans of journeying outside, though in the past 2 hours it has warmed up to 4 degrees!
I ended up testing the XBOX wireless controller on the PC by playing a campaign of Left 4 Dead. It works great it is so cool being able to use the wireless controllers from the XBOX on the HTPC! Now it's time for the shake and then the ride on the exercise bike....it Tails will get off my chest that is.........
With it still snowing and nowhere to go I installed a beta version of Windows 7 on my PC and spent the day testing. While not allowed to go into specifics all I can say it is is FANTASTIC! Microsoft has a real winner here! Everyone should plan on buying this for their PCs!!
I spent a good portion of the remainder of the day and evening beta testing Windows 7, playing Left 4 Dead, and watching a little TV.
It was still snowing when I went to bed around 1 AM.
The Week in Review
It's been a hectic week. I had been creating posts daily and saving them for when I had time, but between sick kids, work, snow, more snow, I never had a chance to post it, so here is the past week in review.
Sunday 1/11/2009
Sunday..........Saturday night Scott had asked if he could have friends over to play Left 4 Dead. I arose early enough to clean the kitchen, living room, dining room, ride the exercise bike, and get cleaned up. Two of Scott's friends arrived around 12:30 PM bringing with them an additional copy of Left 4 Dead which was used in the XBOX 360 in the family room.
Scott, Danielle, and I stayed up in the living room using the XBOX there while his two friends played in the family room downstairs giving us our own four player game. For the next five and a half hours severe insanity resulted as we played on the Expert setting trying to finish the No Mercy campaign. Scott wanted an award that you got for completing any campaign on the Expert setting which is next to impossible as we found out. From time to time I handed my controller to Danielle and let her play a bit since she enjoys the game too. Scott was constantly yelling commands down to his friends and they were yelling other things back. It was most amusing and fun to be a part of their game.
Around 2:30 we took a pizza break as I had ordered cheese pizza, bread sticks, and antipasto from Vitale's. After chowing down the gaming continued amidst much yelling, screaming, and amplified sound thanks to the surround system in the living room.
Scott and one of his friends got the award while the other and myself died moments before the rescue, thus robbing us of the achievement!
A bit after 6 PM the friends departed and we settled in to enjoy the rest of the evening, enjoying some left over chicken soup which I had made Saturday night.
Of course it started snowing again and around 8 PM I get a call from the X who has been sick for several days now. My older son Christopher was supposed to be heading back to college and his car would not start, so, she wanted to know if I could follow the tow truck down to the car repair place since AAA towing has a policy stating they can't just drop a car there without the owner being there to insure it is safely locked if the business is closed.
The roads were in bad shape but we made the trip to and from there with no incidents and I returned home to relax for the rest of the evening.
Monday 1/12/2009
Danielle was so dizzy and had such a bad headache she stayed home from school. Scott had a major sore throat, headache and was all congested so he stayed home as well. I wonder if he caught the bug his Mom had Saturday night when he went to her house to try jump-starting Christopher's car.
Since both kids were home and feeling so bad I opted to work from home so I could take care of them when they got up. I took a lunch break and rode the exercise bike around 11:30 AM and afterward as both kids were up I made them some quick pancakes for lunch before returning to work.
After work hours were over I snow blowed the driveway and headed off to Forest Hills Foods for some provisioning, and no sooner after arriving home and getting out of my wet clothes the phone rang, the X wanting to know if I could take Christopher to pickup his car, which I did, after suiting back up for the cold. Timing is everything!
Arriving back home I watched some TV with Scott and Danielle, and then made Kraft Velveeta Shells and Cheese for dinner which they really love. Everyone was in bed at 10:30 PM, and looking outside my window before I retired I saw the snow was once again falling down.......
Tuesday 1/13/2009
It never ceases to amaze me the way they decide if the schools should be closed. Close to half a foot of snow fell last night and it was still falling when I got up. School was not canceled and there was not even a two hour delay! There have been other mornings where the roads were not half this bad and school has been delayed! Making sure Danielle and Scott were up and able to go to school I headed out, clearing off Scott's car and a path to it before departing.
Enjoying a haphazard ride to work because the roads were terrible, I managed to arrive In one piece and began preparing for my first meeting of the day. My phone rings and it is Danielle informing me Scott's car won't turn over! Timing is everything!!
I headed out onto roads that were already worse in condition then my trip into work. I got home and picked up the kids, heading slowly and carefully to their school. I did not just want to jump start Scott and send him on his way because i was 99% sure he needs a new battery and I did not want him to be stranded at school later.
The traffic was terrible and there was a huge line of cars waiting to turn left on a hill at one point. Of course the Mustang does not like hills in the snow....but we managed to get up it, and I dropped the kids off at school about 10 minutes past the start of their first class.
I headed home figuring I could join the meeting I was already late for from my house. This would get me into the call and webex a good 20 minutes sooner than if I went all the way back to work. I was that thrilled on the prospect of that since the roads were really bad now and it was still snowing.
At one point while not driving too fast and while being careful, coming out of a turn I slid into the oncoming traffic on one of the larger roads. The Powers That Be were in my camp as I missed colliding with anything and was able to come out of the slide and quickly get back on the right side of the road, though I was quite shaken!
I joined my meeting about 15 minutes late, and during a break in meetings at 11 AM I went out, chiseled open the ice and snow encrusted hood of Scott's 98 Plymouth Breeze, and managed to get the charger on it. THUNK! said the meter of the charger as it pinged on the 12 AMP draw mark of the meter!
During my lunch break at noon I rode the exercise bike and then called Costco to see if they have a battery for Scott's car; they do, so we will be heading over there around 3:30 PM.
I went out and snow blowed around 3 PM, and I also started Scott's car and ran it long enough to heat it up and melt the ice on the windows and wind shield. After Scott and Danielle got in from school we headed out. The sun was shining (quite the contrast to the stormy start of the day) and the temperature was barely 20 degrees.
When I called Costco I neglected to ask the $20 question, "Do you install car batteries", the answer to this was "No". Scott's car has a very weird battery mount and you actually need to take off the front tire on the drivers side of the car to replace the battery. Due to the cold weather and lack of heated garage I chose to opt out on doing this myself.
We went down to Sears where they do install the battery and after selecting the sensibly priced battery with the 3 year warranty we headed off to dinner. Since there were people in front of us and it was going to take at least 90 minutes for his car to be done, we had dinner at Red Robin and then did some shopping at the mall. We got Scott's car and he headed back to my house while Danielle and I stopped at Steak and Shake to get the X some dinner since she was still sick. We dropped that at her house and were back home by 7, We then watches Run, Fat Boy, Run which was most enjoyable. It's a story of Boy meets girl, gets her pregnant, abandons her at the alter, and five years later tries to get her back. This was followed by two new episodes of Scrubs.
Wednesday 1/14/2009
The overnight temperature according to the weather report was -4 in my area. A couple of inches of snow fell, as it is so powdery and fluffy because of the cold I left it where it is figuring the wind may take care of most of it!
In retrospect I hear in Minnesota the temperature in some spots hit -44, so, while my weather may feel cold to me and alarm my friend David on the West Coast, I can put the cold here in greater perspective, but, really one must wonder what kind of person lives in an area that gets that cold!?? I'm having enough trouble with the few degrees below zero and single digit temperatures.
After work the kids and I played some Left 4 Dead, while Scott and Danielle finished up after Danielle and I had played I made a quick pot of pre-packaged Ramon soup for us, omitting some of the supplied (high! Repeat HIGH! in sodium) spice packets with my own salt free mixture. I also added about a pound of frozen boneless skinless check breast meat.
We enjoyed that, and a bit later we watched the new Futurama episode Bender's Game which was excellent. Lord of the Rings fans will not want to miss the parody of that epic saga that is done by the Futurama characters!
Scott and I played a little more Left for Dead after the movie while Danielle talked on the phone, and then we all retired.
Thursday 1/15/2009
A Balmy -1 degree temperature overnight, it was warming nicely and was about 4 degrees when I left the house.
After work Scott came home and wanted to watch an episode of The Simpsons before he went to work which we did. I also loaned him my heavy ski gloves since it was only 5 degrees out and his job has him outside a fair portion of his 4 hour shift. He departed for work and Danielle and I played a campaign of Left 4 Dead before heading over to Meijer to pick up some supplies. Forest Hills Food does not have the fat free powdered Cheddar cheese we like to use on popcorn or the dry cat food and treats that Tails likes. Danielle also wanted a CD by The Fray for the song she and her friend were going to sing in the talent show, but they did not have it.
We stopped at Wendy's for dinner and then headed home. Scott got home around 8:30 with an order of lo mein for himself and the three of us watched Worst Week which is an excellent comedy series. I ordered the CD Danielle had wanted off of Amazon and then Scott I played a campaign of Left 4 Dead after which we all retired.
Friday 1/16/2009
Danielle was knocking on my bathroom door early this AM as I was getting ready for work, evidently she needed some 'supplies' from her Mom's house since she ran out at mine. As the local store was still closed we had no choice.
Because of the -2 temperature and the ice crystals in the air a rare treat for the eyes awaited us; all light sources were reflecting straight up! It was most spectacular and I sight I've only seen once or twice before!
I waited in the car while Danielle went into her Mom's house and then we headed back to my place where I finished getting dressed (imagine my state of undress in this cold weather if you will because we had to rush to get back home in time for her to ride to school with her brother!) and I headed off to work.
The weather says a warming trend is upon us. It will not drop below zero this night but stay nice and toasty at 6 above, with temps in the teens tomorrow, and 30 by Sunday! Break out the Sandals and shorts my friends!
After work, I went home and relaxed a bit, watching some TV and puttering about on the computer. Danielle had gone to a friends right after school and would be dropped off at her Moms since it is the start of the X's week.
Scott arrived home around 5:15 PM upset because he did not get a document signed for work at school. Periodically he has to have the school certify that he is attending school regularly. He can be dismissed if he does not have it done. Of course, he could have easily done this...but you know how teenagers are. I am thinking if he explains he simply forgot they will give him a chance Monday at worst case not let him work this weekend.
Scot and I watched an episode of The Simpsons and I made sliders (mini cheeseburgers) for my dinner using lean ground beef and 2% cheddar cheese slices. They were very good.
The X called at 6:30 because I had told her Danielle was getting dropped off around dinner time (so I thought Danielle had said). I had also told Danielle to tell her Mom where she was going and details since she would be in her Mom's custody that evening.
Well, 7:30 PM and Danielle was not answering her cell (it was obviously off since it was going straight to voice mail) and we could no find the current school directory at either house (evidenced at my residence by drawers hastily dumped on the floor to reveal contents, etc.) and we did not have a home phone number for her friend in this age of cell phones.
I was able to find a Google maps printout from the first time I took Danielle to her friends house (I stand by my philosophy of not throwing things out! It's not laziness! It's forward planning!) and giving the address to the X she was able to gt a hold of Danielle by looking up the phone number based on the address.
Danielle's phone was low on battery so she had turned it off in direct violation of the "You've got a cell phone whose primary purpose is for communicating with Mom and Dad!" accord of 2008. The X and I were steamed and I suggested we remove text messaging from Danielle's phone since that's all she does with every free moment, even walking down the snow packed street one day in front of my house!
Suggested removing I say because the phone is on the X's service. It it was my service texting would be gone already.
Anyway, Danielle located, I tried to settle down for the remainder of the evening enjoying some TV and time on the computer, which I re-partitioned in preparation for installation of Windows 7.
Bed was not until 1 AM as I decided around midnight to pickup the mess my earlier search had done, and do a sink load of dirty dishes since the kids were gone and it would not fill up again with just myself at home.
Sunday 1/11/2009
Sunday..........Saturday night Scott had asked if he could have friends over to play Left 4 Dead. I arose early enough to clean the kitchen, living room, dining room, ride the exercise bike, and get cleaned up. Two of Scott's friends arrived around 12:30 PM bringing with them an additional copy of Left 4 Dead which was used in the XBOX 360 in the family room.
Scott, Danielle, and I stayed up in the living room using the XBOX there while his two friends played in the family room downstairs giving us our own four player game. For the next five and a half hours severe insanity resulted as we played on the Expert setting trying to finish the No Mercy campaign. Scott wanted an award that you got for completing any campaign on the Expert setting which is next to impossible as we found out. From time to time I handed my controller to Danielle and let her play a bit since she enjoys the game too. Scott was constantly yelling commands down to his friends and they were yelling other things back. It was most amusing and fun to be a part of their game.
Around 2:30 we took a pizza break as I had ordered cheese pizza, bread sticks, and antipasto from Vitale's. After chowing down the gaming continued amidst much yelling, screaming, and amplified sound thanks to the surround system in the living room.
Scott and one of his friends got the award while the other and myself died moments before the rescue, thus robbing us of the achievement!
A bit after 6 PM the friends departed and we settled in to enjoy the rest of the evening, enjoying some left over chicken soup which I had made Saturday night.
Of course it started snowing again and around 8 PM I get a call from the X who has been sick for several days now. My older son Christopher was supposed to be heading back to college and his car would not start, so, she wanted to know if I could follow the tow truck down to the car repair place since AAA towing has a policy stating they can't just drop a car there without the owner being there to insure it is safely locked if the business is closed.
The roads were in bad shape but we made the trip to and from there with no incidents and I returned home to relax for the rest of the evening.
Monday 1/12/2009
Danielle was so dizzy and had such a bad headache she stayed home from school. Scott had a major sore throat, headache and was all congested so he stayed home as well. I wonder if he caught the bug his Mom had Saturday night when he went to her house to try jump-starting Christopher's car.
Since both kids were home and feeling so bad I opted to work from home so I could take care of them when they got up. I took a lunch break and rode the exercise bike around 11:30 AM and afterward as both kids were up I made them some quick pancakes for lunch before returning to work.
After work hours were over I snow blowed the driveway and headed off to Forest Hills Foods for some provisioning, and no sooner after arriving home and getting out of my wet clothes the phone rang, the X wanting to know if I could take Christopher to pickup his car, which I did, after suiting back up for the cold. Timing is everything!
Arriving back home I watched some TV with Scott and Danielle, and then made Kraft Velveeta Shells and Cheese for dinner which they really love. Everyone was in bed at 10:30 PM, and looking outside my window before I retired I saw the snow was once again falling down.......
Tuesday 1/13/2009
It never ceases to amaze me the way they decide if the schools should be closed. Close to half a foot of snow fell last night and it was still falling when I got up. School was not canceled and there was not even a two hour delay! There have been other mornings where the roads were not half this bad and school has been delayed! Making sure Danielle and Scott were up and able to go to school I headed out, clearing off Scott's car and a path to it before departing.
Enjoying a haphazard ride to work because the roads were terrible, I managed to arrive In one piece and began preparing for my first meeting of the day. My phone rings and it is Danielle informing me Scott's car won't turn over! Timing is everything!!
I headed out onto roads that were already worse in condition then my trip into work. I got home and picked up the kids, heading slowly and carefully to their school. I did not just want to jump start Scott and send him on his way because i was 99% sure he needs a new battery and I did not want him to be stranded at school later.
The traffic was terrible and there was a huge line of cars waiting to turn left on a hill at one point. Of course the Mustang does not like hills in the snow....but we managed to get up it, and I dropped the kids off at school about 10 minutes past the start of their first class.
I headed home figuring I could join the meeting I was already late for from my house. This would get me into the call and webex a good 20 minutes sooner than if I went all the way back to work. I was that thrilled on the prospect of that since the roads were really bad now and it was still snowing.
At one point while not driving too fast and while being careful, coming out of a turn I slid into the oncoming traffic on one of the larger roads. The Powers That Be were in my camp as I missed colliding with anything and was able to come out of the slide and quickly get back on the right side of the road, though I was quite shaken!
I joined my meeting about 15 minutes late, and during a break in meetings at 11 AM I went out, chiseled open the ice and snow encrusted hood of Scott's 98 Plymouth Breeze, and managed to get the charger on it. THUNK! said the meter of the charger as it pinged on the 12 AMP draw mark of the meter!
During my lunch break at noon I rode the exercise bike and then called Costco to see if they have a battery for Scott's car; they do, so we will be heading over there around 3:30 PM.
I went out and snow blowed around 3 PM, and I also started Scott's car and ran it long enough to heat it up and melt the ice on the windows and wind shield. After Scott and Danielle got in from school we headed out. The sun was shining (quite the contrast to the stormy start of the day) and the temperature was barely 20 degrees.
When I called Costco I neglected to ask the $20 question, "Do you install car batteries", the answer to this was "No". Scott's car has a very weird battery mount and you actually need to take off the front tire on the drivers side of the car to replace the battery. Due to the cold weather and lack of heated garage I chose to opt out on doing this myself.
We went down to Sears where they do install the battery and after selecting the sensibly priced battery with the 3 year warranty we headed off to dinner. Since there were people in front of us and it was going to take at least 90 minutes for his car to be done, we had dinner at Red Robin and then did some shopping at the mall. We got Scott's car and he headed back to my house while Danielle and I stopped at Steak and Shake to get the X some dinner since she was still sick. We dropped that at her house and were back home by 7, We then watches Run, Fat Boy, Run which was most enjoyable. It's a story of Boy meets girl, gets her pregnant, abandons her at the alter, and five years later tries to get her back. This was followed by two new episodes of Scrubs.
Wednesday 1/14/2009
The overnight temperature according to the weather report was -4 in my area. A couple of inches of snow fell, as it is so powdery and fluffy because of the cold I left it where it is figuring the wind may take care of most of it!
In retrospect I hear in Minnesota the temperature in some spots hit -44, so, while my weather may feel cold to me and alarm my friend David on the West Coast, I can put the cold here in greater perspective, but, really one must wonder what kind of person lives in an area that gets that cold!?? I'm having enough trouble with the few degrees below zero and single digit temperatures.
After work the kids and I played some Left 4 Dead, while Scott and Danielle finished up after Danielle and I had played I made a quick pot of pre-packaged Ramon soup for us, omitting some of the supplied (high! Repeat HIGH! in sodium) spice packets with my own salt free mixture. I also added about a pound of frozen boneless skinless check breast meat.
We enjoyed that, and a bit later we watched the new Futurama episode Bender's Game which was excellent. Lord of the Rings fans will not want to miss the parody of that epic saga that is done by the Futurama characters!
Scott and I played a little more Left for Dead after the movie while Danielle talked on the phone, and then we all retired.
Thursday 1/15/2009
A Balmy -1 degree temperature overnight, it was warming nicely and was about 4 degrees when I left the house.
After work Scott came home and wanted to watch an episode of The Simpsons before he went to work which we did. I also loaned him my heavy ski gloves since it was only 5 degrees out and his job has him outside a fair portion of his 4 hour shift. He departed for work and Danielle and I played a campaign of Left 4 Dead before heading over to Meijer to pick up some supplies. Forest Hills Food does not have the fat free powdered Cheddar cheese we like to use on popcorn or the dry cat food and treats that Tails likes. Danielle also wanted a CD by The Fray for the song she and her friend were going to sing in the talent show, but they did not have it.
We stopped at Wendy's for dinner and then headed home. Scott got home around 8:30 with an order of lo mein for himself and the three of us watched Worst Week which is an excellent comedy series. I ordered the CD Danielle had wanted off of Amazon and then Scott I played a campaign of Left 4 Dead after which we all retired.
Friday 1/16/2009
Danielle was knocking on my bathroom door early this AM as I was getting ready for work, evidently she needed some 'supplies' from her Mom's house since she ran out at mine. As the local store was still closed we had no choice.
Because of the -2 temperature and the ice crystals in the air a rare treat for the eyes awaited us; all light sources were reflecting straight up! It was most spectacular and I sight I've only seen once or twice before!
I waited in the car while Danielle went into her Mom's house and then we headed back to my place where I finished getting dressed (imagine my state of undress in this cold weather if you will because we had to rush to get back home in time for her to ride to school with her brother!) and I headed off to work.
The weather says a warming trend is upon us. It will not drop below zero this night but stay nice and toasty at 6 above, with temps in the teens tomorrow, and 30 by Sunday! Break out the Sandals and shorts my friends!
After work, I went home and relaxed a bit, watching some TV and puttering about on the computer. Danielle had gone to a friends right after school and would be dropped off at her Moms since it is the start of the X's week.
Scott arrived home around 5:15 PM upset because he did not get a document signed for work at school. Periodically he has to have the school certify that he is attending school regularly. He can be dismissed if he does not have it done. Of course, he could have easily done this...but you know how teenagers are. I am thinking if he explains he simply forgot they will give him a chance Monday at worst case not let him work this weekend.
Scot and I watched an episode of The Simpsons and I made sliders (mini cheeseburgers) for my dinner using lean ground beef and 2% cheddar cheese slices. They were very good.
The X called at 6:30 because I had told her Danielle was getting dropped off around dinner time (so I thought Danielle had said). I had also told Danielle to tell her Mom where she was going and details since she would be in her Mom's custody that evening.
Well, 7:30 PM and Danielle was not answering her cell (it was obviously off since it was going straight to voice mail) and we could no find the current school directory at either house (evidenced at my residence by drawers hastily dumped on the floor to reveal contents, etc.) and we did not have a home phone number for her friend in this age of cell phones.
I was able to find a Google maps printout from the first time I took Danielle to her friends house (I stand by my philosophy of not throwing things out! It's not laziness! It's forward planning!) and giving the address to the X she was able to gt a hold of Danielle by looking up the phone number based on the address.
Danielle's phone was low on battery so she had turned it off in direct violation of the "You've got a cell phone whose primary purpose is for communicating with Mom and Dad!" accord of 2008. The X and I were steamed and I suggested we remove text messaging from Danielle's phone since that's all she does with every free moment, even walking down the snow packed street one day in front of my house!
Suggested removing I say because the phone is on the X's service. It it was my service texting would be gone already.
Anyway, Danielle located, I tried to settle down for the remainder of the evening enjoying some TV and time on the computer, which I re-partitioned in preparation for installation of Windows 7.
Bed was not until 1 AM as I decided around midnight to pickup the mess my earlier search had done, and do a sink load of dirty dishes since the kids were gone and it would not fill up again with just myself at home.
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