Significant Cooling

That is what I just heard on the radio this morning for the forecast starting tomorrow when Dad arrives.  Great.  We have had temperatures up to 90 degrees, Dad comes tomorrow, and it will only be 70.  Coincidence?  At least they are predicting it to get back up to 80 by the weekend and there is no rain in the forecast for the races.

I filled up on gas early yesterday (Monday) morning and Jet did the same on Sunday so we are set with gas … for now.  When I drove home yesterday from Jacksonville, I passed about 15 gas stations and only 2 had any gas left … and those stations looked like parking lots with all of the cars lined up to get some.  Driving to work this morning, I did not notice any that were open.  And now I am reading that it could be another two weeks before any relief … geeze.  Hopefully we will have enough gas to pick Dad up from Atlanta tomorrow.

We will be leaving pretty early tomorrow morning to get Dad and while we are there in Atlanta, we will do some grocery shopping at one of the International grocery stores and grab some lunch around there.  We should be back in time to catch the Brewers (2:00pm start?).  We asked Dad if he was interested in staying a little longer in Alabama (longer than only 1 week) but he said that he had a busy schedule ahead of him (e.g., roof on the house, scouts, etc.) so it was not possible.  We have a busy week planned as the races and Oxfordfest are this weekend.  Dan (our Wisconsin neighbor) was able to get Dad and I tickets to Friday and Saturday races again this year, but nothing for the big Sunday race.  With so much happening before Sunday, I am thinking of just throwing a big party to watch the race at home or in front of Donald and Linda’s big-screen TV.  We’ll just have to wait and see how this all turns out.

Brewers Are In!

Oh happy day!  What a thrill.  Of course, how much can I partake in the festivities 800 miles away?  I tried looking at the local news stations for video clips … nothing.  I have only been able to catch the highlights from the game, some champagne spraying (Dan, our Wisconsin neighbor, suggested that they celebrate with the “Champagne of Beers” – brilliant), some news stories, but that’s it.  With Dad coming into town, I just hope that he doesn’t rag on them to damper the mood.  But who else better to share the joys of the playoffs than with the greatest fair-weather fan, right?  Especially after all of those years of him cheering on the Cubs in my face.  The playoffs, the playoffs.  Who cares about the Pack right now?  Can you believe it?

Broken Spirit

What an awful evening yesterday (Saturday).  First the Brewers got off to a terrible start (the first game I think that I could see them on TV this year, hooray!) only to come back, bring my spirits up, then blow it end the end.  Then the Badgers got off to a great start only to blow it, finally come back and bring my spirits up, then blow it in the end.  And to have both teams lose at around the exact same time … I just didn’t know what to do with myself so I just ate an entire bag of Combos in about a minute to relieve some of the tension.  Wanting to get away from it all, I took Ben with me over to Donald and Linda’s to watch the big Alabama-Georgia game, but first, wanted to turn our sprinkler system on.  I turned the water shut-off valve for our sprinkler system on and then “spoosh”! … water began to shoot up and pour out from one of the gaskets.  Oh no!  This is the third time in about a year (the second time happened when we were in Thailand and Donald had to fix it on his own) that our gasket busted and we don’t use our sprinkler system all that often.  Oh man.  My spirit was now officially broken.  To fix this, we (I am sure Donald will be willing to help) will have to dig up the gasket and replace it.  Donald suspects that it could be a water pressure issue.  Whatever it is, I hope that it doesn’t happen again.

Ben and I got to Donald and Linda’s at kickoff of the Alabama-Georgia game and what a game it was.  As much hooting and hollering as Donald and I (mostly me) were doing at the great start to the game for Alabama, Linda surprisingly had the sharper, more critical spirit.  After Alabama drove down impressively in 11 plays and scored a touchdown on their opening drive, Linda complained that Alabama took too long and was wasting time that Alabama could use to run up the score.  Alabama’s next drive was equally impressive, but was stopped inside the 10 yard line and had to settle for a field goal after two failed runs up the middle to get a first down.  Linda was upset because she knew Alabama would have gotten a touchdown if they had run to the outside instead of up the middle.  Alabama’s next drive was another great one, and this time, they did run to the outside and got the touchdown, to which Linda said, “you see, mama’s always right” (or something similar) which just made me lose it.  Just as we were about to leave so that I could put Ben down to bed, Alabama had just gone up 31-0 and got an interception to seal the end of the first half.  The TV cameras panned to the crowd of Georgia fans that were just beside themselves, some of the gals appearing to be crying, Linda just let out a loud laugh at them.  I told her how cruel that was of her to do, but we all just got a big smile out of that.  That kind of passion reminded me of Aunt Sue and the Packers.  Oh wait, now I am about to bring up something else that will break my spirit (the Pack losing to the Cowboys on Sunday night … at least Jeremy should be happy).  At least Alabama did hold off a Georgia comeback to win 41-30.  Hopefully that will be the thing to turn my fortunes around.

(Still) Got Gas?

In one week Dad will be here and all of the excitement that comes with it (e.g., race weekend, Wisconsin food, Dad’s antics, etc.).  I am trying to keep my head afloat, but that has been hard to do with all of the additional committees and responsibilities I have been given here at JSU since coming back from Thailand.  I guess that just comes from raising my hand one too many times or simply not saying “no” often enough.  We are still out of gas at many stations around the area.  In fact, they had reports from Anniston, Oxford, and Jacksonville on CNN showing stations that were out of gas.  The lovely thing about all of this is that nobody seems to know why we are out of gas, but that we are, and the gas that we can get, is at nearly $4 a gallon.  Hopefully this all clears by next week as we will have a lot of extra travelers (and demand for gas) in the area for the races.

We did meet up with our friends in north Atlanta for lunch on Saturday, which was nice.  We had Korean food and it was delicious.  From there, we rushed to the south side of Atlanta (by the airport) for my Aussie Rules game.  Unfortunately, the women’s team only traveled down from Milwaukee, so it was largely a pick-up game that ensued amongst the Atlanta players.  There is no big trip planned for this weekend since we will be going to Atlanta to pick up Dad on Wednesday, so we will likely get a bit of work done around the house instead.  Jet picked out a bunch of new flowers with Linda to be planted in our front flower bed.  We have several bushes that have just grown too big for our yard, so we are debating what to do with them.  They are expensive (likely over $50 each) and many (about 8 of them), so we would like to replant them somewhere else, but where?  This will likely be a pretty big project for us.

Jet has still had no luck in finding a job and even tracking down an interview.  She has been rejected outright from every job that she has applied for, some of them have been for doing work similar to what she had done in her previous jobs.  Jet has been persistant in calling some of those places that she applied to in the hopes of finding out why she was rejected, but more importantly, simply to talk to someone and make her case.  This has resulted in nothing as the people that she has spoken to simply said that hiring is done by someone else.  We can only assume that she has been rejected because she was over-qualified, but we just can’t know for sure.  Needless to say, this has given Jet (and me) a bit of extra stress to deal with.  Jet told me last night of an idea of her and Ben moving back to Milwaukee just so she can get her old job back at JPMorgan Chase … well, that and to be around all of you guys in Milwaukee.  That is obviously a “worst-case” scenario for me as I had just gone 4 months under a similar arrangement in Thailand – something that was pretty tough on me.  Let’s just hope something turns out – and soon.

Got Gas?

Just another week gone by too fast to stop and realize everything that it was. One thing that I am glad about is that I filled up on gas before the week began. Prices shot from $3.44 to $4.29 per gallon of gas overnight at several locations. Incidentally, that 84 cent hike is just barely under a 25% increase. 25% is the maximum that can be raised without coming under the “price gauging” law in Alabama. We also heard on the radio that we should get our gas early in the week because there might not be any by the end of the week. Some laughed it off but most gas stations that I passed this morning have bags over their pumps and have taken the prices down for their gas. Glad I still got a full tank. I hope this doesn’t last too much longer.

Dan (Wisconsin neighbor from Harley) will be coming to speak to my class this afternoon and will be sticking around afterwards to give a presentation to all of our students. What a great guy he is. I have asked Dad to get brats and sausage to bring down with him so that we can give Dan some. I am sure he will appreciate it.

Jet’s allergies have just been firing up all week long and has been giving her problems. We are not sure what has been giving her the most recent problems, but it has caused her to come out with several bumps on her arms and legs that look like mosquito bites. She didn’t know whether to go to the skin doctor or the allergy doctor today because the lotion that she has been using has stopped giving her much relief. I told her to go to the allergy doctor because it would be better to find the source of the problem than to treat the symptoms. Jet will still be working tonight and this weekend simply to keep her busy and her mind off of itching.

We will be going to Atlanta again this weekend to play Aussie Rules. This time my old team the Milwaukee Bombers will be in town to play. I have told my Atlanta team that I will play for them this time around (last year when Milwaukee visited I played with them), that is, unless they say it is fine for me to play with Milwaukee. The game should be a lot of fun. We will actually be getting to Atlanta a bit early to get some grocery shopping in, but also to meet up with friends that we first met at my conference in Richmond, Virginia back in the spring. They are great people and it should be fun catching up with everything that they have done over the summer.

Not much else to report. Dad will be here in less than two weeks so we are looking forward to that. The weather has been very cool here lately, barely reaching the 80’s. What a big change that has been after spending the past few months in the heat. It has actually been quite refreshing. We’ll just have to see how long that lasts, though.

Lazy Pictures

Of course I have not been lazy lately, but I have been a bit behind in posting pictures.  So for a good part of last night and this morning, I spent a little time to finally get caught up.  I hope you enjoy the pictures which go from the last few days we spent in Thailand (including pictures from the resort we spent one night at that Ben won for us) to the group birthday party celebration (3 kid’s birthday’s) held yesterday by some of Jet’s friends.

On Friday at about noon we went headed out to Nashville for some shopping and Aussie Rules.  We arrived a little after 3:00pm so we checked into our hotel, unpacked our stuff, then went out to the Opry Mills shopping mall.  For the first hour or so, Jet went off on her own while Ben (in a stroller) and I walked around and around, stopping by to see fish (at the Bass Pro Shop and the “Aquarium” restaurant) and all other things that caught Ben’s attention.  Just like our trip to Nashville last year, in fact, I think that was on the same weekend as last year, we stopped into the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner.  Ben had such a great time last year with all of the animated animals making noises and moving around last year that we thought he would enjoy it again this year.  Wrong!  This time around, he was terrified of all of the animals.  After the first big hoots, hollers, and grunts from the animals (every 15 minutes or so), Ben insisted on being held the entire time while we were there.  After dinner, we walked around the mall together for another hour or so until it was about time for Ben to sleep (about 8:00pm).

On Saturday morning, we ate the complementary breakfast at the hotel, which was not bad; Jimmy Dean egg-bacon-cheese biscuits, dry cereal, danish, granola bars, and juice.  After that, we walked over to the indoor pool so that Ben could play around and have a good time.  As lunch time approached, we checked out of the hotel and headed off to the playing grounds for my Aussie Rules game.  Just before we arrived at the field, we stopped to eat at a Thai restaurant that we ate at last year for lunch.  I was still full from the Jimmy Dean biscuits for breakfast, so Jet just shared her Lard Nar with Ben.  My game started at 2:00pm and it was in the low 90’s and sunny – awful conditions to be running around for two hours.  The game was close all game long with us barely in the lead for most of it, but in the last quarter, Nashville went out front.  With 3 minutes to go, we needed one more goal to take the lead, but Nashville ended up scoring the goal instead.  Our team was disappointed and so was I for the silly mistakes I made, but after not having played footy for nearly five months, I guess I should have expected a downgraded performance.  My conditioning was great, however, and I was still running strong at the end of the contest.  A silver lining on every cloud.  After the game, we drove back home, arriving back at our house at a little after 8:00pm.  Perfect for Ben to go to sleep for the night and us to take a break from a busy two days.

Yesterday (Sunday) our Wisconsin neighbors invited us over for lunch and to watch the Packer game with them (they have the DirectTV NFL Ticket again this year).  Brat boiled in beer and butter, then grilled, mmmm.  Delicious.  It was an interesting game for sure, but glad that the Pack won and the Bears and Vikings lost.  Right after the game, we headed out to Jet’s friend’s house for a multi-party birthday celebration.  There was a horse that Jet was eager to ride with Ben as soon as we arrived and then lots of water to play in and toys for Ben to play with, so it was a pretty fun time for us all.  And that is how our weekend ended.  Busy for sure, but certainly a good time.

Bored or Busy?

It seems that every time there is a delay in my posting on this blog it is either because there is not much happening around here or there is just too much going on.  In this case, it is the latter rather than the former.  Things have been so busy that I can now barely believe that it is Friday.  What happened to this whole week?  Well, let’s start from the top and see where we go with this recap.

The “Greystone Gathering” at our house on Saturday went well.  We had a fairly good sized turnout (about 20-30 people), but unfortunately, there was only 1 new couple that attended from the gathering that we held at around the same time last year.  This when we likely have at least 10+ families that we have yet to meet.  The weather for the event was OK, for the first hour it was very humid and foggy, then it rained for about 5 minutes and everyone crammed into our garage (where the gathering was held), then the sun came out and the temperature seemed to shoot to 90 degrees almost instantly.  Everyone that was there seemed to have a good time which was great because that is what these gatherings are all about.

This entire work-week I have been just consumed with work at JSU.  I am a member of the Faculty Senate at JSU (like the government at JSU – members are elected by their departments) and I missed the last meeting of the year back in May because I was in Thailand.  Unfortunately for me, during that meeting I was elected to the Executive Committee.  Yikes!  This means more meetings and more responsibilities throughout the year.  Just what I needed.  Take that with all of the other projects that I am working on and spare time just seems to disappear.  Oh yeah, I have three classes this semester to teach as well – 2 of which that are taught entirely online in which I have students that seem to expect that I answer the questions that I get e-mailed to me immediately at all times of the day, 7 days a week.  Never mind the fact that I usually do – I have been going to work at JSU by 4:00 every morning this week, not because I love going into work, but just so that I can keep my head above water.  One of the exciting projects that I have been working on over the past two weeks is securing a contract for Sup to teach at JSU for this coming spring semester.  Everything that I hear has been positive so far, so both Sup and I are optimistic about this happening.  I will let you know how this progresses.

Jet has had a rough time this week with her allergies and job rejection letters.  Her allergies have started to flare up pretty good these past few days, but it was only yesterday (Thursday) that she was finally able to get an appointment with the doctor and get an allergy shot.  Jet has also been applying for several jobs, some that she was sure that she would at least get an interview for, but so far has only experienced rejection.  She is obviously frustrated and gives her just cause to resent living here.  I try to keep her thinking positive, to not look at it as having been rejected for jobs for well over a year now but instead look at it as only the start of a two-week process (since the time we arrived back home).  I also tried summoning some inspirational wisdom from Randy Pausch telling Jet to be thankful for “brick walls” as they are only there to prove how badly you want something.  (By the way, the Randy Pausch “Last Lecture” is perhaps one of the best I have ever watched … take an hour and view it yourself… it will make your week!)  Unfortunately, those inspirational words just made Jet angry (something likely lost in translation) and was only like adding gasoline to the fire.  I just keep telling Jet to have patience and perseverance … advice I am living every day.

Ben has been a wild one the past week, but has really been a joy to be around.  Donald and Linda (“paw paw” and “mee maw”) seem to keep buying new toys for Ben and he just loves them and the toys for it.  Ben loves running around, playing with toys, tossing the toys around, rolling around in the grass (some times with “paw paw” too!), and testing his limits (like going into “mee maw’s” flower bed when he knows that he shouldn’t).  Probably the best line I have heard since we have been back was Linda lamenting, “It’s funny how you don’t have to teach him how to be a boy.”  How true.  Oh, how so true.  But we are very thankful that Ben has been feeling great and has been eating great.  I love it when Ben gets the chance to play with our neighbor’s Chris and Lorie son Dax (who is two months younger than Ben) because it seems that is the one time I see Ben calm down – at least compared to Dax.  But both those boys have such a good time playing together.  Chris and Lorie brought out a “Power Wheels” VW Beetle that Ben could not get enough of.  Anytime Ben was in the car, he had his foot fully down on the “gas” and never took it off.  Jet is trying to talk us into getting a “Power Wheels” vehicle for Ben to have for himself.  Even though EVERY kid in Alabama seems to have one, I think Ben has plenty of toys to keep him busy as it is.  Besides, what kind of precedence would this set?  Getting Ben every toy imaginable.

So finally, a chance to look ahead.  Today we will be leaving for Nashville (3 hour drive) after lunch.  I have an Aussie Rules game against the Nashville Kangaroos (playing with the Atlanta Kookaburras) tomorrow at 2:00pm.  I talked Jet into coming along with Ben so that I wouldn’t be alone.  I don’t know if we will get much sightseeing in, well, at least as much as we did for our last trip to Nashville, but we surely will get plenty of shopping in.  Our hotel (again) is right next to the Grand Ole Opry and the Opry Mills shopping mall.  Hopefully this will be a lot of fun.  Also looking ahead, in just three weeks Dad will be here.  I don’t know if he has contacted anyone about being dropped off and/or picked up from the airport, but we will need some help there.  Dad has said that he will make a stop at Usinger’s and Karl’s Country Market before his flight, so we are very excited about this.  Dad’s annual trip to Alabama takes place once again during Oxfordfest and again this year, I will be helping out at the lodge selling whole Boston Butt slow-cooked BBQ.  This year I will buy a lot of extra BBQ so that Dad can bring a few ziploc bags full back to Milwaukee for you all to have.  If the BBQ is anything like it was last year, I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed!

Finally, Happy Birthday Kristin!  Good luck (Sandy too) with the firefighter challenge this weekend!

Hurricane Shelter

With the passing of Gustav over the past few days, the only impact it had on us was bringing us a few clouds with a nice breeze … needless to say, the very outer bands of the storm was the only thing to reach us.  Many of the churches around us have set-up evacuee shelters and there are signs posted on the freeway and elsewhere around town directing the affected to these shelters.  It does appear that it will be a busy hurricane season with the different storms on the move.

Right on schedule, Ben’s fever left after around two and a half days.  The challenge we face now is getting Ben on a routine schedule again.  Jet is trying to bring him to one nap a day, but that has been very tough and now it seems that we get lucky when he takes any sleep at all.  We try putting Ben in his crib to sleep, but after a few minutes of crying, Jet has broken down and tried getting him to sleep with her in our bed.  Ben’s cries are just a bit much for her.  Another thing that is new is that Ben is getting a bit “needy” and “clingy”, always wanting to be around Jet.  In fact, Ben will throw a fit if I try to take him away from her.  That might just be a phase that he is working through.

Jet went off to the YMCA today for the first time since being back and it appears that Ben did well with the babysitter at the Y since I didn’t hear any bad reports from Jet.  Jet will be starting back at work at the Olive Garden on Saturday and Sunday this week.  I think that she should wait a little longer before starting back, but you know Jet.  Once she sets her mind on something, it is hard to turn her away.  Working is something that she enjoys too, so I can understand her wanting to be back busy doing that.  Jet is still applying for other, better jobs, though, so wish her luck with that.