Meet Me in St Louis

Well not me, really, but The Son is gone on a three week business trip to western Illinois to help support a new Human Resource software release. He'll fly in and out of St Louis. Our weekend was mostly spent getting him ready for his trip. Its not exactly a Failure to Launch situation although at times it feels like it. Friday and Saturday were spent making sure his work shirts made it in and out of the cleaners and the rest of his laundry was done and folded so he had plenty of clean underwear for his trip. Ann even packs his suitcase for him. That is a little babying there, I believe. I did finally convinced Ann that he could afford having his shirts professionally done and she didn't have to iron them herself. I felt justified in making that argument because, heaven forbid, if I suggested that she iron my shirts, I would have been instantly transformed into a mass of goo from the laser eyes that would have shot from her eyes. Its what I refer to as "the look". Every married man knows "the look" and also understands what thin ice he's standing on when its directed his way. Its best to lay low and cut your loses especially since in all likelihood you've been cut off for a day..or a week..depending on the transgression real or perceived.

After making sure he was set to go, he did take us out to a late lunch on Saturday. By late I mean 4:00. He informed us at Noon that he needed to just make one short raid in his World of Warcraft game and that he'd be ready to go by 1:30. HA! Liar! Like anyone could pull off a raid in WoW in an hour or so. I settled in to watch the Nationals beat the Mets figuring it would be 2:30 before we left. Gross underestimate on my part. After several trips down to his dungeon...oppps..I mean bedroom, we were finally able to shake him from his shaman or tree elf or whatever character he transforms himself into and off we went. By the time we were all seated at the restaurant , we were all starved not having much of anything to eat all day. Of course we all over ordered and overate with plenty of leftover for the small furry children at home. It always amuses me to discover that The Son is somewhat of a minor celebrity amongst the 20 somethings of his age. Everywhere we go we seem to run into someone who knows him and his old car. This time it was our waitress. His old car that he had during high school and college was a 93 Honda Prelude (known far and wide as the 'Lude) that he had installed a body kit from Australia, of all places. That was my first and last dealings ever with US Customs at Dulles Airport. I felt all important and everything. My new Import business. Actually when the people at United Airlines cargo forklifted it out to the dock, we literally had to unpack it to get the various pieces to fit in our minivan. Anyway, apparently the now one of a type car cruising Woodbridge got him noticed. My first encounter with this phenomenon, was at the local Honda dealership. We had the Lude in for something or other and I drove The Son over to pick it up. The teenage girl working the cashier desk all but drooled over the receipt asking him about himself and the car. Of course he was totally oblivious to it all. I chalk it up to his being a teenager at the time but jeez, she was dying to give him her phone number.

After our late lunch/early dinner including a few Redhooks. All I wanted to do was crash. So I walked the furry kids and went to bed. By 8:30. I really am getting old.

Sunday we set out for Dulles to drop him off for his flight. We were worried that his flight might be delayed given the nor'easter that was upon us, but he got off with only a minor delay. We stopped off on the way home to grab some groceries and then watched The Island. Definitely not Ann's cup of tea, but after the first 30 minutes or so, it was really entertaining. Scarlett Johansson was stunning.

Daughter#1 Update. Her boyfriend had to work on Saturday so her day was spent working on a project for her UMASS course. She keeps asking for us to mail her softball glove since the bf plays on several different teams and we keep forgetting to do it. I guess its a case if you cant beat them join them. Although truth be told, she did play slow pitch softball growing up and also watched me attempt to play and drink beer between innings. I had to, it was a league rule or something.

Rowing Update. I set a new personal record for meters rowed in 30 minutes. I bested my old record bu 60 meters so I was very pleased by that. Still hoping to get off the erg and out on the water one of these days.