Last Day

Last day of the year. I suppose I'd better post something. It would help if I could reach the keyboard over the huge gut that I've developed from eating, sleeping, sitting around, eating some more, etc etc.

Last night I got together with my friends John, Rob and Bob at Molly Bloom's. Its an annual tradition. I only go in there once a year, and every year the owner, Jackie, remembers John and me. We must have made quite an impression at one time, I guess!

Some of my wife's friends threw a surprise birthday party for her. (she turned 40 earlier in December, but you didn't hear that from me) It was a good time, saw old friends I hadn't seen in years. I dressed up for the party too, as you can see in the picture below of me and some old friends. (well, they ARE old, same as me)



And as the last picture of the year.... here is my youngest son and his cousin, attempting to look cool.... (my son is the blond...ain't he pretty??)



So I won't post again until next year.

more browsing...

And who might this be???

browsing

Browsing through some old pictures at Mom and Dad's house. Guess who these cute kids are?????



And who would these fine looking folks be???

turkey day

Most people buy a turkey for Christmas dinner. Not us. We hit one on highway 402 this afternoon. Made a god-awful dent in the fender. Busted the mirror off. Turkey shit all over the side of the truck, smells like a poultry farm.

Not sure just how to put this to the insurance agent.... I can hear him now...."You hit a turkey on CHRISTMAS DAY???" Oh really....

At least it didn't come through the windshield. That'd have messed up my hair.

here

Well we're here. In Canada that is. For all the hype about traffic, there wasn't much. Made it in 10.5 hours, door to door. Drove right up to a border guard, no line up at all on the Canadian side. Guess nobody wanted to go to Canada last night. Gee I wonder why?????

But at least there is Tim Horton's coffee here. There's always an upside!!!

Its shameful that Mom and Dad have more technology than we do. They have High Speed Internet. Its too fast. I can't drink my coffee properly. Normally I take several sips while I wait for pages to load - here I can't even begin to reach for my coffee and the page is loaded already!! It'll never do. Mrs. Grumpy is used to cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, vacuuming, making dinner, etc, etc, all while pages are loading on the internet. If we had highspeed, nothing would get done!!!

So I raise my coffee cup in a toast to dial up internet!!!

change

Change is good. I am going with a new hairstyle. I think I am going to enjoy it - very easy to care for, and I think it looks very handsome.





Off to Canadaland tomorrow. Who knows where I'll be able to access the internet. I may have to spend several evenings without a computer glued to my lap. Oh the suffering. Oh the sacrifice.

Thankfully, January is only about a week away.

Club Med

Since we must travel over the Christmas holidays, the dogs get a vacation too. They are going to the local Club Med for dogs... indoor dog runs, deluxe cages, three meals served each day, all the water you can drink, and lots of good looking she-dogs around. I better not forget to pack their shades, so they can look cool hanging around the pool. I can just picture the trouble the two of them will get into together.

I doubt they'll ever want to come home again. Garage living just won't cut it after Club Med.

We might have to bribe them with some beef tenderloin, or a big soup bone. Dogs fall for that every time.

No additions to iTunes today, although I came close to adding Jamie Foxx's tune 'Heaven'. Might add it yet, haven't decided. Mrs. Grumpy saw him on the Today show, and rather fancied this song Heaven, so it must be good.

I reckon I'll go to bed - gotta get rested up for holidays. One more day of relative quiet at work, then a week of non-stop action, travelling here there and everywhere...loading and unloading the truck, going from house to house, eating and more eating, etc, etc, etc....

nostalgia

Found this album on the iTunes music store. Boy does it bring back memories. I remember christmas mornings back when I was a teenager, I had to have this album playing. I have it somewhere on a cassette I think, but I don't know where, and besides, I don't think I have a cassette player anywhere!!! So I put on my patient hat, and ordered the album. It took 2 hours and 7 minutes to download, but it was worth it. I love this era of the Imperials, with Russ Taff.

Made me think of the 3 vinyl albums (yes, vinyl...remember them?) that I have in the basement from the Imperials. 'Course I don't have a turntable on which to play them....might have to do some more downloading.....

guarding

Up at Rand Park in Keokuk, IA, this guy is standing guard over the Mississippi. Not much of a guard, we walked right up to him and he didn't do anything - just stood there and looked severe. Didn't scare me.

But apparently, this is the guy the town of Keokuk is named after. So of course one must have a statue somewhere. Makes for good camera fodder, at any rate.

Added the album 'Another Journal Entry' by BarlowGirl to iTunes. I had to buy the CD because I had never heard of the group until Nicole mentioned them, then I was walking through Walmart the other day, and there they were, right on the top shelf in my line of sight. (well, not the BarlowGirls themselves, but a CD with a picture of them on the front) So I bought it. Not bad - certainly upbeat. My favorite tune at this time is 'No One Like You' - very catchy tune.

Ralphy

Had another good annual laugh tonight, at Ralphy's expense. Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra, fa-ra-ra-ra. The dinner in the chinese restaurant takes the cake for one of the funniest movie scenes ever, in my mind.

For those who haven't seen it, the movie 'A Christmas Story' is a must-see. Classic. Very humorous, but somehow also very touching. Something for everyone. We can all relate to Ralph's struggles leading up to Christmas Day.

Thankfully, I don't need a Red Ryder BB gun, so I shouldn't be disappointed this year.

travel

Because of crisis earlier in the year at the plant I work at, lots of people couldn't take vacation when they wanted to. So now, everyone wants to get those last vacation days in, because 1. if you don't take them you lose them, and 2. there's some kind of holiday coming up.

So all the folks that work for me are slowly dropping off for the rest of the year on vacation. So this means I can't take vacation. By next Friday I think there will be two of us left at work. Holy cow will we be busy.

And this means that our family will be travelling on Christmas Eve, which is a holiday here in God's Country. I don't think we've had to do that since we left Canada. We'll be arriving late in the day on Christmas Eve. I don't want to drive on Christmas Eve. As a matter of fact, I don't want to drive at all.

But nobody forced me to move away, I guess, so I should shut up.

fly

I love the song 'Fly' by Sara Groves. She's singing to her husband. And I love the quotation Sara puts at the end of her bio....

"You can do no great things, just small things with great love." – Mother Theresa

Here's the lyrics to 'Fly'

Speak in a summer tone
Pause in the after glow
Tenderly whisper my name
Tell me once again why I am your bride
So I can fly
So I can fly

Pause in your busy day
Look extra long my way
Wink at me across the room
Kiss me longer
Touch my arm when I am by your side
So I can fly
So I can fly

Oh how the little things
Strengthen my tiny wings
Help me to take on the world
When you love me there's nothing I wouldn't try
I might even fly
I might even fly
I might even fly

I think I'll go give my wife a hug and tell her I love her.

Family

Its that time of year. Time for the annual family picture. Of course we can't be bothered going to a studio - I just prop the ole digicam up on a tripod, set the self-timer and dash into the pic. I think this year's pic captures the essence of the season don't you?? Grinning kids, and miserable parents?? :-)

And today was Mrs. Grumpy's birthday. I woke up this morning feeling extremely benevolent, and as it was my wife's birthday, I thought I'd treat her, and so I turned the heat up in the house from 61F to 62F. She was thrilled.

No additions to iTunes today... :-(

tradition

Warmed up here today - got up to 35F, almost had to break out shorts and a tee. Balmy day. Lately, its been so cold, even the dogs swallow their pride and sleep together, like a couple of queers. (note the high quality photograph above)

Tonight was the night we had to gather 'round the ole television and watch Christmas Vacation. Chevy Chase cracks me up every year, even though I can pretty much recite the entire movie script. Poor guy just can't get it together.

But I did get an idea for an addition to iTunes. Added 'Hey Santa Clause' by the Moonglows.

It's a Miracle

It's approaching the Christmas Season. Its a time for miracles. One happened here today. It was amazing, almost breathtaking in its simplicity. God is surely at work in Iowa.

The propane truck arrived.

Propane Woes....

We moved here to Iowa when?? Quite a while ago. There's this big powder blue tank in the back yard, ostensibly to hold propane, but also quite decorative. But I digress.

The propane in the tank is used by several key appliances in our home, not the least of which is the DADGUM FURNACE, which lord knows we need at the moment, since even ice cubes are knocking at our door to come in from the cold outside.

So anyway, several weeks ago, I called the company who owns the tank, and who makes a living filling them with propane.... to whit - they SELL propane to CUSTOMERS, who PAY money.

Do you think I can get these folks off their collective asses and out to the house with propane?? No. I have cash - I will pay them for the entire 400 gallons, but OH NO, they can't seem to find the propane truck or something. Promised to deliver on or before December 8th. Oh wait, today is the 8th.... checking propane...brb.....NOPE - still going empty at an alarming rate.

So I figure by the end of the weekend, the furnace should burn up the last of our propane, and we'll all hold hands together as we freeze to death. (we'll have coffee and sandwiches prepared ahead of time of course, so we don't die hungry...)

OR, if I don't get propane tomorrow, I could call a another company. Not as romantic as all perishing together in the cold, but probably a better option in the long run.

PS - note to self..... call the insurance company tomorrow and make sure they cover water damage from frozen pipes......

procreation

Look what got created in our house. No these are not mice. Them are gerbils. And this is the second load in as many months. A couple of them in the pic are kids from the first load, almost all growed up already.

They have a double decker cage, built by yours truly, and it is most fun to watch these critters in it. They are constantly busy. They recycle cardboard for us. The move their nest all the time. Sometimes DadGerbil watches the kids so MomGerbil can clean house. Sometimes MomGerbil moves all the kids upstairs, cleans up downstairs, then brings the kidlets back down. Fascinating to watch how they all interact. A lot like us, only smaller, and with no beer.

Anyway it got me thinking how the desire to procreate is the second most powerful drive in nature, second only to the desire to adjust things. :-)

Additions to iTunes today.....

Bad Day by Daniel Powter
Jingle Bells by Diana Krall
Skin by Rascal Flatts
Honky Tonk Badonkadonk by Trace Adkins
Nobody Ever Died of a Broken Heart by Cowboy Crush

Artwork Fun

I spent much time this weekend, updating album artwork in iTunes. Any idea how long it takes to find and add artwork to over 300 albums? A LONG TIME. Most of the artwork I found courtesy of Amazon.com, some I had to use Google Images, and others I had to resort to scanning the actual CD jackets.

Anyway, when I plugged the iPod in to update it with the artwork, I discovered it deletes and then replaces all the songs that had artwork added. So it had to delete and replace over 3600 songs, which takes, you guessed it, a long time. About 1.2 hours at USB2.0 transfer speeds.

And now my 30Gb iPod has only 3.31Gb of free space left!! Yikes!! But it has 5,475 songs, presented by 944 different artists, packaged in 531 different albums!! Kewl. If turned on and left playing, it would play for 15 days, 3 hours, 11 minutes, and 16 seconds before running out of tunes!

OK, well, what else is there to do on such a cold day?

PSP Magic

Bored last night, decided to play with my PSP. (playstation portable for you non-geeks) PSP's have 802.11 wireless built in, and are 'sposed to be able to connect to any open wireless network. My challenge was that I have a wireless network, but my internet connection is dialup and is shared using MS Internet Sharing on my desktop puter, rather than being shared by my wireless router, which is the normal method.

However, by manually setting the PSP to the following....

IP 192.168.0.10
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Default Router 192.168.0.1
Primary DNS 192.168.0.1

I was able to connect!! So my PSP wirelessly download the latest software update from Sony, and after installation I now have a full functioned web-browser.

So I can now play PSP games, and pause every so often to check email or browse the internet, should I wish to do so. Not sure why this is useful, but you gotta admit its cool.

Next I need to follow some instructions I found to have my desktop serve up iTunes to my PSP. Even more cool.....if it works. Then I think I need the Sony PSP Media Manager.

And one of these.

Winter

Oooooh I don't like winter. 4 years in North Carolina has spoiled me. I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland. Had to drive in snow. Saw a big old smashup on the lightly travelled southeastern Iowa freeway. Discovered my truck does have anti-lock brakes, and that they work. Remembered suddenly why I paid that extra cash for 4-wheel drive. And have already worn my winter coat more than I did during the 4 years I lived in NC. And I am going to have to find a snow scraper - haven't needed one in years. Its so cold that when I go outside, I realize that even us men have nipples.

The kids, on the other hand, think this is better than an automatic garage door opener. They've been outside for hours, at temperatures well below the post office.

So, I've decided that I shall enjoy winter vicariously through my children. They can go outside and have fun on my behalf, whilst I sit inside and sip hot coffee.

And I am now going to listen to Kenny Chesney's new tune 'Who You'd Be Today'

Sunny days seem to hurt the most
Wear the pain like a heavy coat
I feel you everywhere I go
See your smile, I see your face
I hear you laughing in the rain
Still can't believe your gone

It ain't fair you died to young
Like a story that had just begun
But death tore the pages all away
God knows how I miss you
All the hell that I've been through
Just knowing, no one could take your place
Sometimes I wonder, who you'd be today

Would you see the world
Would you chase your dreams
Settle down with a family
I wonder what would you name your babies
Someday's the sky's so blue
I feel like I can talk to you
And I know it might sound crazy

Today
Today

Sunny days seem to hurt the most
I wear the pain like a heavy coat
The only thing that gives me hope
Is I know, I'll see you again someday

Someday, someday

:-(