Stormy Wednesday

It's a rainy, stormy day here today with thunderstorms and even some hale. This is a little unusual for this time of year but not totally unheard of. A few years back we even had some tornadoes right around Christmas. For some reason, it does seem to make the day go slow. Seems like I've been here for a week.

Things are settling back down after the holidays. The decorations are coming down and on my way to work and home I don't see nearly as many lights on as last week. I suppose we'll take ours down and store them this weekend. Not one of favorite things to do. That's one of the things about Christmas that I have a problems with. There's such a big build up and then in a day it's over with and gone for another year. Very depressing.

So, anyway, nothing much is going on at the moment. A lot of people here are off work, both at my workplace and the area in general, so things are kinda slow. They'll pick back up next week when the schools return and everyone heads back to work. So, I'm off to explore other ways to waste the rest of this day. Only a couple of hours to go so I should be able to kill them in some kind of creative way.

After Christmas

Back at work after four days off. They flew by, which I knew they would. Funny how time at work goes by at about half the rate time at home does.

Christmas went OK. Friday night we ate dinner with my sister-in-law. No special occasion, just company. Saturday night was back at the sister-in-law's for Christmas dinner. We have to split Christmas up because her parents are divorced. So, it's normally Christmas Eve with the Dad and Christmas with the Mom. This held true for this year. Christmas day her Dad and others came to our house for lunch. We only did sandwiches as no one really wanted another big meal. Everything went well.

We did go back to the sister-in-law's house Christmas night but that ended up being a not so pleasant mistake. First, I think her kids were just tired and irritable. Their Dad was definitely irritable. Also, they were trying to get everything ready to leave the next morning for Tampa to visit his relatives so they were busy. I ended up sitting most of the night by myself watching some kid's DVD on television.

Anyway, Christmas is over for another year. I have feelings at both ends of the spectrum about it. One part of me is glad it's finally over things will get back to normal. The other part of me is sad that it's over and things will get back to normal.

One thing that won't be normal again is that my sister-in-law and her husband are planning on moving to Orlando. This will mean big changes for everyone. They've been here quite a while and everyone sees everyone else all the time. This won't be the case after the summer. How it affects Christmas remains to be seen.

Christmas Light Trip

We went to see some Christmas lights last night with my sister-in-law and her two kids. The lights were great and everyone had a good time. It would have been much better if the sister-in-law would at least try to control her kids. The first little incident was when she stopped to get a camera at a CVS. She took the little girl with her but left the younger boy. For 10 - 15 minutes the kid did nothing but cry and scream and I do mean scream. My wife tried to calm him and the friend that came with my sister-in-law tried to get him calmed down, but to no avail. We were all so happy when the mother returned and he shut up.

Incident number two. We ate at Outback, which from my point of view isn't a kid type restaurant, and hte little boy sat next to me. He was constantly standing up in his seat with his little camera aimed at at the people behind us. She would make him stop only to have him do it again. This is not to mention his constand laying in the seat with his feet on me, pushing or sitting so close to me that I had no room. Once he got behind me and was pushing from the back. Then there was the daughter. My wife got A1 for her steak. The little girl decided it stunk so she wanted to exchange places with someone. So, everyone shifted so she wasn't next to the A1. Next, she wanted the cheese off everyone's salad. I don't particularly like cheese so I gave her mine. I sat and picked all the cheese off the salad only to have her spit and sputter that it tasted bad although it had absolutely nothing on it.

We finally left the restaurant and went to see the lights. On the way the little boy fell asleep. Not a good sign. When we get to the lights, for some reason I couldn't understand, they insisted on waking him up. Another stopping the car, ten minutes of crying and screaming.

After that both the kids calmed down. Once we actually began going through the lights they became captivated by that and it was OK. We do this again and again. Every time we go out with her sister her kids act this way. She sits and watches and rarely says a word. Again I told my wife this was my last time of doing anything with her sister and her kids. But, it's all just blowing air. I'll find myself back for more of the same again. I just can't figure out why.

Cold and Windy

It's a cold, windy day here. It's overcast with a tiny chance of a flake or two of snow before the day's end. It normally snows here maybe once a winter and then only a couple of inches which is usually melted and gone by the end of the next day.

I went for my yearly physical this morning and nothing was terribly amiss. I have to go back in a couple of weeks to get the results from some blood work. They have to send the samples off to the lab somewhere or another. I don't look for there to be any problems though.

The biggest problem is that I need to get off my duff and get back to exercising the way I was doing a couple of years ago. I worked out, either with weights or on a ski machine, six days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes. The only thing I can figure is that I got burned out and gradually have gotten to the point that I may work out once or twice a week. I kept finding reasons not to exercise. It didn't even have to be a good reason, just a reason. Now, I tell myself all the time I need to get back to it but I procrastinate. It's tomorrow, next week, or after the holidays. Any excuse to sit there and do nothing. Anyway, I really do need to get myself motivated and get back to working out. I felt so much better when I did.

Bah! Humbug!

I haven't posted anything for several days as I'm getting more and more frustrated with this Christmas stuff. I have had some difficulty in getting into it anyway as I won't have but the least amount of time off to even celebrate Christmas and in the last week or so it has gotten doubly difficult as my wife is determined it's going to be the way she wants it come hell or high water. She has even gone to the point of moving little decorations I have laid around the house to a point she wants them. The house is decorated as she wants it, we are spending the little bit of time off we have with her relatives (two out of four days), and now I learn yesterday that we are having Christmas dinner at our house even though I had specificially said I did not want to do that because of two things. And, rather than a traditional meal, her and Mom decided we'd just eat sandwiches so no one would have to bother with a real meal.

First, her sister and her husband (and their two out of control kids) always show up late. Then her kids ransack our house while their parents sit there and talk never saying a word to their little darlings. They bang on my wife's expensive Yamaha piano and play on her expensive organ. They bang toys on our nice wood and glass coffee and end tables. All this while their parents sit on their rumps and watch. Then, if we say anything to their darlings they get pissed. They run up and down the stairs and then to add insult to injury, end up not wanting to eat anything we have as they don't like it. The second reason is that the last time we did something like this it was a Thanksgiving. Everyone piled in our house made a big mess and left as soon as they could leaving us with the mess. This is with the exception of the brother-in-law and sister-in-law who hung around to make even more and bigger messes every time we cleaned up the kitchen and dining room. I swore then we would never do this at our house again.

The bottom line is I'm ready for Christmas to be over. I have had trouble getting into the Christmas spirit because of the domination of my wife and it's still two weeks before the fact. I can only imagine how it's going to be for the remainder of the season.

Today's Rambling

We, at work, have our annual Christmas/Holiday lunch. It's a nice gesture by the people in charge but these gestures are getting to be less and less. At one time we had the lunch, got a gift certificate for a local grocery store, and a special tree ornament. The lunch went from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM and they had buses to pick everyone in the outlying parts and take them to the dinner and return them to their work place. All that has gone by the wayside with only the lunch remaining and even then they have cut the hours back by an hour. It ends at 1:00 PM now. They claim the budget can't withstand the other stuff even though you can find a hundred ways they waste a lot more money than it would take to do the gift certificiate and ornament.

Still, I suppose we shouldn't complain. We could get nothing. Still, it's just another example of how that every time the budget either has to be cut, lowered, or adjusted, it is done on the backs of the employees. Our insurance rates are raised and coverage lowered, our holiday lunches or spring cookouts are tightened or done away with completely, our raises are lower, if we get one at all. It's politics. The concern is with getting and staying elected. If the employees have to suffer and tighten their belts in order for them to not do the right thing then so be it. If we don't like it we can go elsewhere as there is always someone to take our place. They are so caring. I have visions of someone named Scrooge about this time.

Anyway, that's the way it is and there's nothing anyone can do. It's just life and the way things are and most likely, have always been and will always be. Fair? I don't care to hear this crap about life not being fair. I just think life should be enjoyed. It's difficult to do that when you are constantly having to deal with getting the shaft every time you turn around.

Weekend Recap

To recap the weekend, Friday night we went out to eat dinner with my Father-in-law, Sister-in-law, and her two kids. After dinner we drove to a local park to view their lights. It cost $10.00 to get in and the entire trip around the loop took maybe ten minutes if I'm generous about it. It definitely was not worth the money. After that we went back to the Sister-in-law's house for about 30 minutes and then to the grocery store and then home.

Saturday we went to Commerce to the outlet malls there to do a little Christmas shopping. It was cold, overcast, and occasionally raining. We did a good bit of walking which I am happy about as I feel like I'm burning those calories when I walk. For lunch we went to a Dennys as my wife had never eaten at one. It was an experience as the people in the next booth or table had a whole flock of kids and not only were the kids loud, but the parents were louder. It made for a rather unpleasant lunch. I know the whole place was happy when they left. I know I was.

After this, the weekend really just coasted by. The rest of Saturday and Sunday was routine. We have our holiday lunch for work this week, which is really pretty decent. It's a catered affair and the food's really quite good. Othen than that and me getting my hair cut this week, there's not much between now and Christmas. Christmas isn't going to be much of an affair as most of it's spent with my in-laws and with us not taking any time off to amount to anything, it really just doesn't seem to be something to get excited about.

That was the weekend. Except for the Christmas lights and shopping it was pretty much like my every weekend. Not that I feel life is boring or anything, but it is.

Thermostat Woes

There is a rather large, overweight woman who works in the same part of the building I do. This woman has some sort of problem in that she stays hot all the time. It can be 20 degrees outside and she complains because the heat's on. She will, whenever she choses, flip the thermostat from heat to cool and doesn't even have the intelligence to move the thermostat off the 68 degree setting for the heat. In a while it's like a refrigerator in this office. I have spoken with her on more than one occasion but her attitude is that she has the right to be comfortable and be damned if everyone else is frozen. We are without boss now and the last one was too much of a wimp to say anything to her. I don't know where she gets off thinking she's the lord of the heating and air conditioning in this office, but it is very, very annoying. Of course, she is a very annoying person anyway. I could deal with it if we could reach some sort of compromise but that word ain't in her dictionary. Another little thing that happens is that she will leave (I leave before she does) and leave the air conditioner on so that the next morning the heat hasn't been on at all and it is freezing in here. We play this thermostat game all the time, summer and winter. It is my sincere hope that when they do hire a new boss he can help sort out a workable solution. In the meantime, it's either sit and try to endure it or play up and down with the thermostat all day.

Christmas Past

Not too much of anything going on at the moment. The daily grind is about it. It's difficult to believe that another year is almost gone. Last year we went to Gatlinburg, TN to see the lights and Christmas parade. Doesn't seem like it's been a year. The lights and parade were great but it was so cold. The days weren't too bad but once the sun went down it was frigid. I felt sorry for a lot of the majorettes in the bands as they only had on a wind suit type outfit and I know they had to be freezing as I had on the full compliment of winter gear and I was freezing. The ones I felt really sorry for was this one band from Gainesville, GA. Their majorettes had on their normal one piece, sleeveless bathing suit type costumes. There is no doubt in my mind that by the time they got to the end of the parade they had to be frozen solid. I would have liked to have went back this year but the wife didn't want to so we are just staying at home. The word I got was "maybe next year".