“Give Er’ The Old Vice”

Is there ever a time when Brett Favre is miked up that is not just drop-dead hilarious?  What a game that was last night.  It seemed like the Packers gave the Broncos every opportunity to win the game in the fourth quarter, but what can you say about the OT?  Cool.

We spent part of the day in Atlanta on Saturday, first with my Aussie Rules game, then grocery shopping, and ending it off with some lunch.  As it turned out, I pulled a muscle (at least that is what I think it was) at the base of my right calf to start the Aussie Rules game, so I was hobbling around in pain for nearly the entirety of the match.  We lost big, but I just did not want to give up in front of Jet and the family.  I just feel bad that that was their first time seeing me play.  The pain still exists today and I have a noticeable limp, but it is not as bad as it was when it first happened.  Looking back, I still think I made the right decision to play Aussie Rules instead of the 5K at JSU as I would have felt a lot worse trying to finish that run with the same pain going up and down several large hills.

We started out having breakfast on Sunday at the Cracker Barrel because Jet’s sister wanted to have an “Alabama” breakfast.  She got it.  Grits, biscuits, sawmill gravy … she enjoyed every bit of it.  In the afternoon on Sunday we went to the fall festival held at a church nearby our house, which actually was a pretty good time for us.  There was face painting for Ben, lots of games for the kids, free hot dogs, popcorn, soda, and other snacks, and even a hay ride to top things off.  They were also giving out lots of pumpkins, so we took back home a few to top off our decor around the yard.

Jet took the whole gang to Birmingham for shopping yesterday and brought back quite a few items that they got great deals on which had all the ladies excited.  Jet’s Mom made beef satay with her homemade peanut sauce for dinner that we snacked on and had a lot left over to bring over to Dan and his family to watch the Packer game.  Linda stopped by during dinner with a pecan and pumpkin pie that she made for Jet’s sister and Mom which was very nice.  I sure am getting my fill of pumpkin pie as Jet bought one for me in Atlanta on Saturday that I had just finished eating … and now a second pie?  Yum, yum, yum.  Just got Janette’s invitation in the mail yesterday … how creative that was to open … we are getting excited!  I will start the official countdown when we take a look at our schedules and figure out when we will actually travel – likely in the coming days.  We’ll keep ya’ posted.

Today Jet will be going to a Halloween party that her friends will be throwing this morning.  Jet spent a bit of time last night making a cake to bring to the event which is pretty neat as it is Halloween themed.  Tonight is the Halloween party for my department, so it will be a long day for me here in Jacksonville.  Turns out that for trick-or-treating tomorrow, we may just stay in our neighborhood going door-to-door, which I am sure will be a lot of fun.

Superben

There have been a few new things I have noticed about Ben in the past week, which might be normal, but seem amazing to me.  Taking an evening walk with Jet’s Mom last week while it was getting dark, about a 100 yards away a woman was walking a dog.  We could barely see them, but Ben picked them up right away and was very excited.  Now that Ben has the ability to walk anywhere he pleases, he can find the smallest item on the ground, anything from a crumb to a piece of hair, and he tries to pick them up and put them in his mouth.  We really have to try and keep the house clean now.  He also has pretty good night vision – at least much better than me.  I have taken the 2:00am – 7:00am shift with Ben, that is, when he wakes up during that time, I try to put him back to sleep – mostly just putting his pacifier back into his mouth.  I always have a tough time finding his mouth in the dark and end up jabbing the pacifier all over Ben’s face, which gets him frustrated.  We really need to train him to get the pacifier on his own at night.  He can’t do much worse than me.

As I already mentioned, Ben is a pretty good walker now.  He can now walk as long as he wants to as he can slow down and catch his balance to prevent him from falling down.  What’s funny is that he almost seems too confident walking in that if you get his attention and he starts walking towards you, once he does reach you, he will keep going walking by you a few steps to find something else to hold on to, almost to prove that he can do it on his own and doesn’t need any help.  What a show-off.  He is also getting much better at playing with his toys.  There are a few toys that he has that have only a few buttons in small places that you have to push to get the toy to make sounds or do something.  He seems to have mastered them pretty well because when he finds those toys, he goes right for those buttons to get them going.  Something else that has made me happy in the past week is how he is playing with the toys he has.  As you might imagine, Ben has somehow stockpiled a treasure load of toys.  Some have come as gifts, some Jet has picked up along the way, but now he has enough toys to fill a room.  Jet read somewhere that he should not have too many toys as they might distract his attention, so she has hid over half of them.  Among the toys left over, there is a baby doll that Jet picked up at the dollar store (Linda mentioned that he should have one).  In addition, there are two dump trucks, one large enough to carry the baby doll.  Anytime Ben sees the baby doll in his way or if it is on top of the one dump truck, he picks it up and gets it out of his way.  On the other hand, he loves playing with his dump trucks.  He picks them up, gets them to make noises (honks horn, etc.), and rolls them around on the ground.  Well, maybe he isn’t Superman, but he sure seems to be Super to me!

On Wednesday, Jet and her Mom took Ben to Jet’s weekly support group and found out that Ben now weighs 20 pounds, 7 ounces!  Ben must really like all of the Thai food that Jet’s Mom is cooking and feeding him.  After that, they all had lunch with me at JSU, which really made my day, and showed Ben off to all of the ladies in my department.  They all loved him and his sunglasses that Jet’s Mom just bought for him, even though we have not had any sun since Monday.  Everyone went out of their way to comment how ”cute” and “adorable” he is, one even saying that if she had a spoon that she would “eat him up”!?!  While Jet was at JSU, she had scheduled an interview with someone from the school of continuing education about teaching a Thai cooking class.  Jet toured the facilities they had at JSU, agreed on some logistics (how long of a class, how many students, how much pay, etc.), and by the time she left, she is now going to be teaching Thai cooking in Alabama, likely starting in February for two nights. 

The weekend has come again and there are a few things on tap.  Tonight I will be picking Jet’s sister up from the airport in Atlanta for her visit here.  Tomorrow morning we will be back to Atlanta to play Aussie Rules and then take them all shopping.  On Sunday, there is a “fall festival” being held at the Baptist church that we might attend.  It seems like a lot of churches hold fall festivals down here, Jet mentioning that they are things for kids to have fun at.  On Monday, the Packers are playing … nothing more needs to be said.  On Tuesday, Jet has a Halloween party with her support group in the morning and a Halloween party for my department in the evening.  Jet gave me an idea for a costume this year that I think will be a real winner.  Any guesses?  On Wednesday, it is Halloween itself – although we still haven’t figured out (at least that I am aware of) where we will be having trick-or-treating.  Busy again indeed.

Rain!

We finally have rain!  It rained a good portion of yesterday, giving us about an inch and a half of rain; I’m not sure if we have had an inch and a half of rain – total – since March.  I have seen in the local newspaper that meteorologists say that we need nearly a month of days like yesterday to make up the nearly 30-inch rain deficit that we have.  With the rain has come a blast of cold weather as the temperatures are expected to only get to 70 degrees for a high.  I am very happy that we are finally getting some rain, but the rain and clouds make for a dreary day.  Oh well.  With the cooler temperatures, we have been keeping the windows open more at night.  Yesterday morning at 2:30am we were awoken by the severe weather sirens … for them to warn us that we were under a “Severe Thunderstorm Warning” for the next 20 minutes … which turned out to be about 5 minutes of hard rain.  At 2:30 in the morning!  I guess it’s good to get severe weather information out there, but to sound the sirens for 5 minutes of hard rain?  Maybe it was just a bit of excitement to let the city of Oxford know that we were about to get some real rain.

With less than a month to go until Thanksgiving, I do have turkey on the brain.  A few weeks back we were pondering whether we should fly or drive back to Milwaukee for the holiday.  Since we were told that there would be a lot of Black Friday shopping and would have too much stuff to bring back on a flight, we decided that driving would be best.  Turns out now that most of our shopping partners might not be available for Black Friday shopping (you know who you are)!  What gives?  It should be an interesting drive with Ben, nonetheless, after having driving halfway to Milwaukee by myself just this past weekend.  For the past few weeks I have seen more and more Christmas merchandise going up at Wal-Mart, but this past Saturday night, I took Jet’s Mom there for shopping only to see dozens of lighted trees and full displays up … nearly two weeks BEFORE Halloween.  What gives?  Thanks for the update about Thanksgiving dinner and for volunteering to host, Janette.  And don’t worry too much about the cranberries … I always carry a spare can with me now just in case.

The Forgotten?

Well, I have been posting a bit more regular on here, I have thought that I have had interesting things to say, but no comments … what gives?  I can understand if Aunt Sue is out of town (who knew she was a closet gambler with all of the side bets she’s got going on), but what about everyone else?  Surely we are not forgotten?

Not much is planned to start this week … perhaps Jet and her Mom will carve our two pumpkins today.  Jet’s first three days at work appear to be a success as she has pulled through with her head held high and a couple new friends; that hasn’t stopped us from searching and applying for other jobs.  Jet goes back to work on Thursday-Saturday and it appears that this will be her regular schedule for the coming weeks.  Jet’s sister has just arrived in New York yesterday for some training for her work and will fly down to visit all of us on Friday for a few days – just long enough to celebrate Halloween.  Do you really “celebrate” Halloween, or do you more “enjoy” it?  On the evening of October 30th, we plan to visit the house of one of my colleagues for a party … I’m not sure if I will wear a costume or not.  As for Halloween night, we still haven’t figured out where to take Ben for trick-or-treating because we really don’t know where a good, safe, high-traffic (lots of candy) area is yet.  We have a bit of candy ready for trick-or-treaters that visit us, but if we are all planning on walking with Ben, who will be around to hand out the candy?  Last year there was only one child that visited our neighborhood.  Although our subdivision has grown in the past year, I don’t anticipate much greater numbers this year.  Jet has already gone to the photo studio last week and had pictures taken of Ben in his Halloween costume, so I guess this costume will be the one he will be wearing this year.  I actually liked the little bear costume best, but I’m sure no matter what Ben is dressed in would have turned out to be pretty good.  So who out there will be able to guess what Ben will be for Halloween this year?

Welcome Weekend

The weekend has arrived and we have a few things planned.  Today (Saturday) I will be leaving for Atlanta for a local Aussie Rules game, but will leave Jet, her Mom, and Ben off in Douglasville (about 1/2 before arriving in Atlanta) to go shopping at the Arbor Place Mall.  After that, we will return back home with (hopefully) enough time to spare so that Jet can visit the Sweet Repeats consignment sale today (50% off … last day) before everything is gone.  Jet also has to work again tonight (third night in a row), so she will have a busy day from sunrise to sunset.  Jet seems to be enjoying work right now, if only to be active and have something to keep her occupied, so I will be sure to keep things updated about that as they come.

Next weekend is the 5K run for JSU, the Gamecock Gallop, and I am still undecided whether I will attend or go to Atlanta to play Aussie Rules Football.  I was leaning towards doing the 5K because that would give me some incentive to pick up my running again, but I had a look at the running route, and it goes over some huge hills, so I am having some second thoughts.  The best way for me to describe one of the hills on that route would be to compare it to the first Blarney Run that Sandy, Lou, and I did together (in fact, that might have very well been my first 5K ever) that went down the hill at North Avenue at around 74th street and turned around at the bottom (60th street) to head back up the hill.  That was the last year they used that route.  The run in Jacksonville has you going up the hill to start the race … I think it is going to be tough to get me excited about this run.

On Thursday I traveled to a high school in Gadsden (45 minute drive from JSU) to talk about how great it is to be a Computer Science and/or Math student at JSU.  Visiting area high schools is something that our department started in the spring semester earlier in the year as a way to help recruit new students to combat that decline of computer science and math students – a trend that has been happening since 2001.  There were about 50 senior students that we spoke to that appeared to be interested in what we said, but there was one student that tried to do his best to disrupt our presentation.  I could tell immediately that he was going to be a problem … over 6 feet tall, an athlete, and mischief in his eyes.  When all of the students first came into the room (a room adjoining the cafeteria), this student shouted out “I hope these people are from Gadsden State College”, which is a community college in the Gadsden area.  Later during our presentation, a small group of kids (looked like first grade students) opened the door to have lunch in the room we were giving our presentation in.  Only the first two students came through the door because they were a bit surprised to see all of us in the room where they were supposed to be having lunch in, but this student stood up and shouted to all of the little kids, “Come on in … It’s alright … Come on in”.  Finally, at the end of our presentation, we invited all of the students to come visit JSU this weekend and attend the Homecoming festivities happening, so this particular student kept prodding me to give him a ride back to JSU with us.  Well, I did figure that he was going to be a problem … likely because that student was me back in high school, so I could relate to him.  That type of behavior is weeded out by the time those students reach me in college.  I don’t envy the challenge that Lou has ahead of her teaching students of that age.

9 Months

Ben turned 9 months old yesterday and had his 9-month visit to the doctor scheduled.  Ben is now 20 pounds, 1 ounce and is at the 50th percentile in just about everything (height, weight, etc.).  The exciting development this week is Ben being able to walk.  For the past two weeks, Ben has been able to take a few steps here and there … on Monday he was able to walk from one end of the room to the other and can take 20-30 steps without the aide of something or falling down.  Jet’s Mom really did come at the right time.

Back Home

It was a great weekend up in Louisville.  The weather was good.  Despite the temperatures in the upper 30’s in the morning, it was sunny and in the 70’s for each of our games.  Our first game on Saturday was against the North Carolina Tigers, and it was a nail-biter.  We were down nearly three goals (18 points) at halftime, but somehow pulled ahead in the waning moments of the game and held on to win 37-36.  Our second game on Saturday was against the Nashville Kangaroos.  Although we were only up by a goal (6 points) at halftime, we continued to dominate the game in the second half and ran away winners 39-9.  Our next match was Sunday morning against the Minnesota Freeze, the heavy favorites to win it all.  The winner of this match would go on to the “Grand Final” or championship match.  Early in the match it was easy to see why they were the favorites as Minnesota’s players were very disciplined and nearly all had a height advantage on us.  Although we played close at the start of the game, the last 10 minutes of the first half was our undoing as we surrendered three unanswered goals to put us in a hole.  In the second half we were able to match Minnesota’s intensity and post goals on the scoreboard, but Minnesota was always there with a response and we ended up losing 44-21.  That was not all bad news for me, as I was able to head back home after the morning game and was back in Oxford, Alabama before dark.  Checking the Web forums this morning, I did see that Minnesota did end up winning the championship.  Good for them.  There are a few players on their team that I knew quite well while playing with Milwaukee.  Speaking of Milwaukee, they did not have as good of a run as Atlanta.  Although they looked to be playing well (when I did have a chance to watch them play), they could not kick accurately as they had a hard time kicking goals (kicked between the middle points – worth 6 points) instead of behinds (kicked between the outer posts – worth 1 point).  They did win their first match against the Philadelphia Hawks, but they lost against the Seattle Grizzlies and were losing in a close match to the team from Calgary, Canada as I was heading back home.  I caught a lot of guff from EVERY player from Milwaukee on Friday evening, asking if I was going to suit up for them this weekend.  In retrospect, I am glad that I did play with Atlanta because I felt I had a bigger impact with them and it was pretty fun going into the tournament without a lot of expectations.  Atlanta has not fielded a good team at the national tournament in several years while the past 6 years Milwaukee has been a powerhouse there.

When I got home last evening (4:30pm), Jet was already at work (last night of training), so I raced to cut the grass since it had last been done about three weeks ago.  It’s not like we have been getting rain down here to help it grow, but there were places on the lawn that did need to be trimmed.  I then gave my car a quick wash to rid it of all of the bugs collected on it from the drive to and from Louisville as well as the clay dirt caked on it from visiting the Talladega short track last weekend with Dad.  After I was finished, I came inside to see Jet’s Mom playing with Ben and having a good time.  I don’t know if I have ever seen Ben laugh so much than when he plays with Jet’s Mom.  Ben can now walk for about 5 steps on his own and is falling down “hard” less and less.  Ben still has a large bruise on his forehead from when he fell and hit is head last week, but it is certainly not a bad as it looked before I left for the weekend.

Weekend Ahead

Just a quick update.  Dad returned back home on Wednesday and Jet’s Mom arrived an hour later.  It has cooled down here as temperatures are only in the 70’s for highs, but it is expected to be back in the 80’s by Sunday.  Jet’s Mom likes the weather because anytime I ask her if she is too cold when we are taking our walks, she says “no cold, no hot” indicating that she loves the weather we are having right now.  Jet started work at her new job (Olive Garden) the day her Mom arrived and will have to work every day since until Sunday to finish her training.  She seems to like the job as it is something to keep her busy, but worries quite a bit about Ben when she is not there to keep an eye on him.  I came home yesterday from work and Ben had a huge knot on his forehead.  Apparently Ben hit his head on the corner of something when he was walking with Jet and her Mom.  It looks real bad, though.

I will be leaving today for Louisville, Kentucky (6 hour drive, or halfway to Milwaukee) for the USFooty National championships. We will be playing North Carolina and Nashville tomorrow, Minnesota on Sunday morning.  If we win all our games, the championship will be on Sunday afternoon.  I plan on coming back home after our last game, so I could be back in Alabama late Sunday or late-late Sunday.  I will let you know how things go.

Tuesday Blues

Well, Dad’s visit is now almost over so it is good reason to feel gloomy, well, that and the rain we are getting right now in Jacksonville.  A cold front is moving through and Dad has been complaining of a headache, among other things.  It has been near or at 90 degrees for most of Dad’s stay, but he hasn’t enjoyed the weather because he said that it has been too humid for him.  From what we heard from others, however, it appeared that Milwaukee was having much worse humidity.  Well, Dad is going home tomorrow and the highs will only be in the 50’s there.

Jet had Dad running around doing errands around the house; changing light bulbs, trips to the Home Depot, hanging wire shelving in the garage, etc.  From what I have heard, it will be much more of the same today in store for Dad.  Dad mentioned that he wanted to make lasagna tonight for us, but Jet was afraid of inviting some the neighbors over because she wanted a lot left over to freeze and eat at a later time.  I can’t blame her.

Tomorrow morning we are tentatively planning to take Dad to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel with any of the neighbors that want to attend, then it will be off to the Atlanta airport to send him on his way home.  Dad’s flight leaves at 11:45am and Jet’s Mom’s flight arrives at 10:30am – so they will likely just miss each other.  Jet’s Mom will then be our guest here for about a month so we are really looking forward to that.  I think Jet’s Mom will really enjoy taking Ben out for his first Halloween trick-or-treating.  In fact, there is a chance that Jet’s sister Pookie might be able to spend a little time here visiting at the end of the month.  How exciting would that be?

Here are some of the pictures that I have been slow to get out.  Enjoy!

Sports Disasters

Pictures are now up!  So how was it yesterday?  We arrived at the track by 8:00am and were waiting for our police escort at the Harley facility about 3 miles from the track.  At 10:00am he arrived and told us to follow him close (Dan, his wife Julie, two kids, two Harley employees, Dad, and I were all crammed in Dan’s SUV).  What a ride that was.  The motorcycle cop had us zig-zagging through traffic with his lights on all the way through the parking lots, through the tunnel that goes underneath the track (very cool), and through the infield to the “Eagles Nest” located next to the motorcycle “bump” course right next to Turn 3 on the speedway.  The eagles nest, in fact, is simply a wood deck about 10 feet off the ground which gives you a pretty decent view of most of the track, though not the best view as we could only clearly see everything happening through turn 3 because we were not high enough in the air.  We were not complaining, though, having all you can eat food, drinks, and our own bathrooms.  To pass the time (race started a little after 1:00pm) I played catch with a football with the kids.  By the time the race started, it was getting pretty hot outside with the sun out – over 90 degrees.  For the first 20 laps we could not watch the race from the deck as we were told that the TV cameras did not allow it so we watched from the infield fence inside turn 3.  That was pretty cool in itself as every 30 seconds a huge train of cars would come roaring past shaking the ground, sending a breeze, and making us deaf.  When we did get up to the eagles nest, we realized what a boring race we had ahead of us – what a sports disaster!  Some great seats at a great event, and the event was boring!  Not much passing or action – even the drivers were complaining as we were listening to them on Dad’s radio scanner – so much so that both Dad and I caught a nap in the sun for a few minutes … and we were at the race!  What a disaster.  When Matt Kenseth was taken out of the race, that was when it appeared that Dad lost his interest as he did not want to listen to his race scanner anymore.  With about 20 laps to go, we packed up our things because we needed and wanted to be the first ones out.  We were supposed to go out the same way we came in (through the tunnel under the track), but we were told that an oversized vehicle got stuck in each of the tunnels and that it would be several hours until they got them out.  Yikes!  Thinking fast, with laps winding down, we looked for alternatives.  As it turned out, once the race ended, we were able to get an escort onto the racetrack … yes, onto Talladega superspeedway, to an exit near the top of turn 3.  That was the break we needed as we were able to zip right out of the speedway and head back home.  The race ended at about 4:55pm and at 5:25pm we were in our driveway at home.  Overall, a great experience, but we can’t have any control over the race, so why get down about that, right?

As for the other sports disaster, Jet cooked brats and Dad had his potato salad ready and we headed over to Dan’s house to eat and watch the Packer game.  Well, what a disaster that was.  I can’t remember the last time I watched a game where every single close call went against the Packers … every one!  What gives?!?  Fumbles that were very close, penalties called that were very questionable (holding calls, field goal called back … how many times have you ever heard that penalty called before – lining up over the center – really, now?), not to mention the challenge that was won, but somehow lost (and how close was that spot again?), not having “12 men” on the field (or 13 for that matter), the list goes on.  Sure, the Packers shot themselves in the foot with all of their turnovers (how can you win when lose the turnover battle by that much) and with their blown plays giving up touchdowns (after the “field goal” call and the “won-lost challenge” call), and the conservative offensive calling for the Packers in the second half (playing not to lose instead of playing to win), I should simply accept the loss.  But this leaves a bitter taste in the mouth and just makes me feel just plain angry.  What a disaster!