Five More Days!

Just five more days until Jet and Ben return from their trip.  The last few times I spoke to Jet she expressed to me how apparent that her time in Thailand is almost at an end as she spoke of feeling sad for having only “x” number of days left.  I am glad that she and Ben have been having a good time there, but it really is time for them to come home!  Jet mentioned that Ben is now over 16 pounds, about 3 pounds more than his weight before he left.  I got her last DVD that Jet mailed out on Tuesday accompanied by a few photographs, which was nice to see and watch.

Jet has asked me to look into a few daycare centers so that she can get back to work not long after her return back home.  She thought it would be a good idea to have Ben in a daycare a few days out of the week before she went back to work so that both Ben and she could get used to the experience before doing it full-time.  I scheduled Ben’s four month check-up on May 11th, about a week after they return so that Ben could have time to adjust back to Alabama time before his next visit to the doctor … even though he will be five months old at the time.  I saw our neighbor (Lori) walking with her newborn son (Dax) yesterday evening and he is up to 7 pounds, which is just amazing to see because that was the size Ben was when he was born.  Lori’s original due date for Dax was around this time, but was born about two and a half months early.  It was amazing how small Dax was when he first came home, which was just before Jet and Ben left for Thailand.

I did forget to mention how the St. Phillip Neri mass and brunch went on Sunday.  The church was nearly full for the service, which was a very nice contrast to the week before.  The Bishop’s homily was a bit long-winded, coupled with the number of people at the service, the mass lasted an additional 15 minutes.  There was noone there from any year nearby my graduating class (1991), but Kristin recognized someone there who was in her class (that she skillfully avoided), and Maggie hada couple of friends there from her class.  Of the other guests, Father Tom Venne was there (which I did not have the time to say hello to) as well as my former principal, Miss Zinda, Kristin’s former principal, and my sixth grade teacher, Miss Pullis.  That’s right Janette, Miss Pullis, who sat nearly directly across from us, recognized us, and was very friendly.  Kristin’s remark was spot-on that Father Tom Venne, Miss Zinda, and Miss Pullis looked exactly the same and had not changed at all.  As for the brunch itself, eggs, ham, and sausage were served with donuts … the highlight being the peanut pershing donuts!  Kristin and I LOVE peanut pershing donuts and together swiped almost all of them, five in total.  I wish I could get them down here in Alabama, but I suppose that is a good thing as would be tougher to keep my weight under control.

This Saturday I have a game in Atlanta against Baton Rouge which should be a lot of fun.  On Sunday, I was planning on traveling with Donald and Linda to visit some of Donald’s relatives near Birmingham and visit his parent’s cemetary with them.  I have been working hard with Donald since I have returned from Milwaukee and he feels that I am ready to be given the Entered Apprentice examination on Monday night.  If I pass, I will be voted on that night to beallowed to receive the second degree, Fellowcraft, which Donald told me should be an easier lesson to learn that the first degree.  Tuesday, of course, I will be back in Atlanta to pick-up Jet and Ben while Wednesday we will be off to Birmingham so that Jet can be fingerprinted.  A busy few days ahead for sure!

Back To Work

I arrived back home in Alabama safely on Sunday night shortly after 11:00pm, which put my drive back home (830+ miles) at around eleven and a half hours.  Although I did run into traffic in downtown Chicago (as always) which slowed me down about 20-30 minutes, I only had to make two brief stops for gas along the way (in West Lafayette, In and Nashville, TN), so I am not sure if I could have made the trip in any shorter time.  Back into 90 degree temperatures and no rain in sight, I washed my car off of all of the bugs that took the trip to and from Milwaukee with me.  Also interesting stepping outside was the haze and smell of smoke in the air, which I was told was from the fires all the way from Florida and Georgia.  Donald even mentioned that only a few days ago the smoke was very heavy up here.  Amazing.

Besides the cool temperatures, accents, clouds, and rain (we are now about 17-18″ below average … only 1/4 inch of rain since early March) one of the starkest differences I noticed was how mean-spirited people up-north seemed to be compared to those in the south.  Something that I had gotten used to and had taken for granted down here was the simple action of waving hello to anyone and everyone passing by.  While spending time, either running around neighborhoods with Sandy or walking with Kristin and the kids, the reaction by my former fellow Milwaukeeans to my unprompted greetings was akin to me having just flipped them off.  If they did not ignore my “hello’s” completely, they seemed to either respond in a state of shock or with a look of disgust.  It was at the point mid-week that I always turned away when I passed someone so that I could avoid any eye contact altogether.  Was this how I lived for 29 years?

Today it is back to school at JSU as I have a few things on my plate to take care of.  It is now only one week until I pick-up Jet and Ben from the airport.  After sifting through all of the mail that Donald and Linda collected for us while we were away, I came across another reason for Jet not to delay her return home.  They are to return on June 5th … on June 6th Jet has an appointment scheduled in Birmingham to be fingerprinted and have an FBI background check completed as the next part of the citizenship process.  It just seems interesting to compare all of the hoops that we had to jump through and money we had to spend taking the legal route with the talk over the last few weeks in Congress of coming up with a path for those here illegally.  The whole process has just been a real headache for us.

On The Road Again

Well, one week has passed to quickly, only to show that time flies when you are having fun.  There is so much that I have accomplished during this past week, starting from the conference in Illinois, to meeting with my adviser and other colleagues, to continuing research as well as starting up new topics, it has been very productive.  And the fact that I have been able to spend time with all of the family up here and even catch-up with some old friends has only made the trip that more sweeter.  Although I wasn’t able to link up with (Capt’n) Ron this time, I was able to meet up with Jason Wallner (roommate for many years), and the Milwaukee Bombers (Aussie Rules Football team) this week.  Someone from the family cooked for me every of the week, from Dad’s ribs to Sandy’s pork roast, to Kristin’s homemade pizza, I did not go hungry.  Then, of course, was the May birthday celebrations yesterday with tons of food to go around and a chance to relax and enjoy my last full day up here.  With any birthday celebration there is cake.  I actually had cake almost every day in Milwaukee and I fear I have gained about ten pounds because of it.  At least I had gone running with Sandy several times during the week, including from UWM to the lakefront on Friday, which is the old route we did every week when she was finishing high school and just about to join the fire academy.  What a week indeed.

Today I will be attending mass with Kristin, Maggie, and Dad followed by a “brunch” where alumni of St. Phillip Neri possibly will attend.  I am actually very curious whether any of my old classmates from first through eighth grade (only about 25) will be there.  If not, that will still be fine because it will afford me the chance to enjoy the last few hours in Milwaukee with family.  I plan on leaving for Alabama right after the brunch, so that should put me back home (hopefully) before midnight tonight.

Back In The Saddle Again

Well, I am back in Milwaukee and things are going well.  The conference in Springfield, Illinois went well and I had the chance to meet a few very nice faculty members in the Midwest region.  The highlight of the conference, however, was the social event at the Abraham Lincoln Museum.  I was amazed at how much there was to see and it was actually pretty cool.  On Sunday morning I went to church with my Dad, actually one of the last services to be held at the church that I grew up with, St. Phillip Neri.  I don’t think that it was a good omen that the priest overslept and showed up ten minutes late to start the 9:00am service.  Not sure that I had ever seen that before.  I had planned on returning back to Alabama early Sunday morning, but there will be a big event for former alumni of the grade school after the service next week, so I will stay for that and likely leave right afterwards.  I will be going to UWM tomorrow to meet with my adviser as well as other colleagues to continue working on research and catch-up with friends.

Jet has moved her return flight to June 5th now, which was a bit difficult for me to hear, but I am glad that they are still having a good time.  They are in Bangkok now at a very nice hotel relaxing and doing a lot of shopping.  Jet said that Ben has gotten a lot of attention from strangers walking around town and worries that when he gets back to the US if he will continue to expect that.  Tomorrow they will head to Pattaya, a popular beach a few hours from Bangkok, and they will stay there and relax for a few more days.

I’m Going Home

It has finally arrived.  Early tomorrow (Friday) morning I will leave for Springfield, Illinois for a conference.  The conference wraps up on Saturday evening, but I was planning on leaving after lunch, which would put my arrival time in Milwaukee at around 5:00pm Saturday.  I plan on staying until after the “May Birthday” party the following Saturday, likely early Sunday (May 27) morning.  I am really looking forward to seeing everyone back home again.

It rained yesterday for a good 15 minutes, the first bit of rain that we had here since Dad, Kristin, and the kids were here in early April.  Unfortunately the forecast is 80’s with no chance of rain for the next week here, so I will have to ask Donald to keep an eye on the garden and keep it watered while I am away.  Speaking of Donald, I have spent a great deal of time with him this week since I was initiated into Freemasonry on Monday night.  He has been teaching me the lessons of the first degree, entered apprentice, which is all taught from mouth to ear.

Last night, a few people from the neighborhood came over to Donald and Linda’s for a prime-time viewing of the latest DVD mailed to me from Jet.  I will bring the DVD’s with me to Milwaukee so everyone there can share in the excitement in Thailand, but it was nice to see them, albeit on video.  Jet and Ben are planning on pushing back their return date from June 1 to June 3 so that it can match with the same date that her sister returns back home to Switzerland.  I just hope that they don’t push that date back any further!

Standing Outside The Fire

Back from Florida and what an experience that was.  We lost our match against the Florida Redbacks in a close contest but the story of the weekend was certainly the smoke from the wildfires.  Driving down through Florida after dark on Friday you really couldn’t get a sense of what was going on around you other than the smell of smoke.  On Saturday, however, there was so much smoke in the sky it was as if it were an overcast day.  There was a good breeze in the air which helped during the game but I came back with a sore throat and cough after taking in all of the smoke while running around during the weekend.  The most surreal event was the drive home, however.  There was little wind, so the smoke settled in like a thick fog – not unlike what you get on I-94 off Lake Michigan on some mornings in the spring.  Looking at all of the news coverage, the pictures are exactly as if you were there.  With all of the smoke, our route back home (I-75) was closed due to zero visibility and we had to take a long detour over to Tallahassee.  For the entire drive in Florida and the first 60 miles in Georgia the smoke was everywhere, the worst parts around the Florida-Georgia border where the smoke was very thick and had an eerie red haze to it.

Another interesting, though much less noteworthy, experience during the weekend was my first encounter with “Love Bugs“, which are really bizarre bugs that were usually in packs and splattered everywhere on the windshield of our car.  Every time we filled up with gas in Florida, every car stopped was full of the bugs and like us, trying to scrape the tar-like residue off.  Yuck.  Before we left for home on Sunday morning, I read my complimentary Tampa newspaper and came across a story that put a smile to my face.  It probably made the news up in Wisconsin, but to read it so unexpectedly in a Tampa newspaper yesterday morning certainly put me in a great mood for a long journey home.

Florida Bound

Florida bound, that is, unless all of the natural disasters get in the way.  What is up with that?  Fires in Florida closing down part of I-75 (road to get to Tampa and Sarasota) and a tropical storm on the way?  Well, it should be an interesting trip.  I am tentatively planning to leave Oxford tomorrow at 1:00pm to meet up with someone in Georgia.  From there, we will carpool down to Tampa.  By this time-line, I expect to arrive in Tampa by 10 – 11:00pm tomorrow night.  We plan on returning back home early on Sunday, so that may turn out being around 5:00pm or so.  Well, nothing to get you prepared for a long drive to Milwaukee like a long drive to Florida the week before.

Things still seem to be going well for Jet and Ben.  Jet has told me that Ben can now roll over all on his own and that he doesn’t have a “crabby” time any longer from 6:00pm – 8:00pm.  They will be leaving early tomorrow morning (their time, of course) for Bangkok to pick up her sister at the airport.  They should have a very good time.

So You Want Some Pictures …

Well, here they are!  I just took some screen shots of the DVD video that Jet mailed me.  They are not the best quality pictures, but hopefully they are as fun to see as they were to watch on video.  Jet and Ben have not been doing much over the past few days – just sitting around the house and eating.  It has been raining a lot there over the past few days and it is supposed to continue for many more.  With the weather they way it has been, and with Ben in tow, it has been hard for Jet to get out and explore.  Well, Jet said that she is have a very good and relaxing time … so that is great to hear.  Jet’s sister, Pookie, will be arriving in Thailand on Friday, so that will be a bit of extra fun for them for the rest of their stay.

My garden is growing very well now … almost too well.  I have peppers out now that are about the size of my fist and tons of tomatoes sprouting out all over the place.  I have placed several stakes around the tomato plants, but they are just growing too fast and too big for any stake to manage the direction of their growth.  Today I just tied up several of the larger branches and anchored them to the fence.  I hope that works.  Buddy 1 pulled a small prank on me today.  As I got up this morning and went out on my patio to relax and take in the fresh morning air, I noticed something red and large in the garden.  I thought there was no way one of my tomatoes had grown that fast and ripened without me noticing.  Upon closer inspection, Buddy 1 had just placed a full-ripe tomato in my garden to trick me.  All of the other neighbors seemed to get a good laugh out of it.  I actually did spot my first red tomatoe growing in my garden today, a small grape tomato.  It won’t be soon till my neighbors have a lot to eat – because I don’t like eating fresh tomatoes.

Spiderman 3

The big excitement of the day for me was going to the first showing of Spiderman 3 at the mall here in Oxford.  Too bad for me that I didn’t like the movie that much.  Too much was put into one movie and too many things were conveniently linked together or forgotten.  Oh well, back to work I guess.

I got the DVD’s of Jet’s first days in Thailand on Thursday and I have already watched them three times each.  Both Jet and Ben seem to be having such a good time.  Watching the DVD’s was the first time that I saw Ben laughing (when Jet’s Mom played with him), the first time that I saw Ben eating something other than milk (Jet’s Mom fed him Thai bananna’s), and the first time that I saw a baby coated with that much baby powder (to help keep Ben cool).  It was just fun to watch over and over – almost as good as being there.  Well, not really.

Not much planned for this weekend except to continue working and getting ready for the conference in two weeks.  Next weekend I will be going to Florida to play Aussie Rules.  The following weekend, after the conference that is, I will be in Milwaukee for a week.  Four more weeks till Jet and Ben get back.  Yikes!

Any End In Sight?

Things have been ho-hum here for the past few days.  The weather is second-to-none, upper 80’s and lots of sunshine.  There is a chance for rain (which we really need) over the next few days, but the forecast is still 80’s for the next 7 days.  Donald and I went fishing again yesterday morning, this time at 6:00am to mix things up instead of 9:00am, but still the same result.  We can see large fish swimming around, but they ignore everything we throw at them.  We have given up on this lake and are now talking about going to Pell City (half-hour drive) or other places next time.  Last night I took Donald and Linda out to eat at Applebee’s, which was the first time they had ever eaten there.  Donald had the steak and shrimp, which he enjoyed, Linda had the chicken alfredo, and I ordered the “cowboy” burger.  It was just my way of saying thanks for letting me hang out with them so much over the past week and a half and letting me join them for dinner every night.  I think next week I will take them to the Olive Garden.

Things went well for me at the masonic lodge on Monday night, where I got the chance to meet all of the members that attended (about 20).  I also had a brief interview with the three members that were assigned to a committee to investigate me as I am in the petitoning process.  They all seemed like very nice guys.  The next step of the process will be an election next Monday and if all goes well, I will be given the go-ahead to continue.  If that occurs, Donald will teach me lessons that are taught from mouth-to-ear, and when ready (perhaps as early as the following Monday), I will have the opportunity to be initiated.  I am pretty excited by it all, mostly because there has not been much to be excited about since Jet and Ben have left.

Speaking of Jet and Ben, things have been going well for them over in Thailand.  They have not done much traveling or sightseeing since it has been so hot there, but Jet told me that they go out to eat a few times each day, so much so that her Mom has complained because she has started to gain weight since Jet has arrived.  They have gone to a few of the public dance aerobic sessions that hundreds of people attend which are held in town every evening and has been a lot of fun for them.  They will bring Ben along and leave him in the car seat watching them work out.  Jet said that he doesn’t cry or fuss, but just watches them and smiles.  In fact, lots of people come up to Ben to see him and he just smiles and talks to every one of them, which they just eat up.  The big problem is with his long hair, he is always confused as being a girl!  I suspect this is because most Thai baby boys have their head shaved clean when they are born.  Recently Jet’s Mom has applied hair gel to Ben and spiked his hair to reduce some of the confusion.  I hope it works.  Jet also said that almost every day they get massages or go to the spa for hours at a time to relax and get pampered.  I really do hope that she is having a good time.  Jet told me that Ben is able to hold his head up very good right now, can roll over, and does not like to sit … he always needs to stand!  I feel that I have missed so much, but Jet has been taking video of things happening over there and will be mailing those DVD’s over to me once they are finished recording.  Jet said that Ben weighs over 14 pounds now … about half a pound more than before he left, which is good that he is still gaining weight.  They are still giving Ben the Thai medicine, which he doesn’t like and it is not easy to give as the American medicine.  It tastes bitter and is very watery, so it is easy for Ben to spit it back up.  Jet has told me that he no longer has a runny nose, so that has been a bit comforting for me to hear.