New Year Meme

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Raced in a single. Its been something I've wanted to try for a while and finally worked up enough nerve to try it. It was actually fun even if my finish time sucked badly.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?



Actually I don't make new year's resolutions so none to keep or fail to keep. I doubt I'll make any this year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?



My nephew's wife Erin gave birth too a baby boy - Cameron.

4. Did anyone close to you die?



No,thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?



None.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?



Ideally, I would love to retire in 2010, but we'll have to see on that one. I'm eligible, but it's whether I can afford to.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?



Daughter#1's wedding in May.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?



Wow, nothing really stands out even after reviewing my archives for the year. I guess I could say completing another year of rowing even while in my late 50s, including competing a 5,000 meter race in a single.

9. What was your biggest failure?



The inability to reduce my credit card debt. I haven't gotten in any deeper, but I haven't gotten any better either.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?



Nothing serious unless you consider the recurring skin infections and my screwed up eyelashes that keeping scratching my corneas.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Daughter#1's wedding. It was a great wedding/party, but man was it expensive.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?



Nobody in particular comes to mind.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?



The right's continuing attacks on the President. Not born in the US! The birthers need a new life. He's a Muslim! Oh please. It seems the right will say anything to keep the masses in an uproar.

14. Where did most of your money go?



The mortgage, credit cards and other various loans.

15. What did you get really excited about?



My new bike that I got last Christmas. I couldn't wait to try it out. I had some great rides over the spring and summer.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

The Beach Boys 

"God Only Knows" It was the father/daughter dance at Daughter#1's wedding.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:


– happier or sadder? Happier, I think.
– thinner or fatter? About the same.


– richer or poorer? Financially maybe a tad richer, but not by anything substantial.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?



More day or overnight trips. There is so much to do in this area that I don't take enough advantage of.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?



Wasting time and being so disorganized.

20. How did you spend Christmas?



At home with Ann and The Son. The girls and their husbands joined us the day after.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

Not with anyone new. I'm still in love with my wife of 33 years.

22. What was your favorite TV program?



Probably Fringe.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?



No.

24. What was the best book you read?



I usually read several books while at the beach. This year we didn't make it to the beach and therefore I can hardly recall reading any books at all. I did finish one while on travel in December - "Scarpetta" by Patricia Cornwell. Entertaining enough.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?


Can't think of a single one.

26. What did you want and get?



A year of being with my family, no serious illnesses, of seeing all the kids employed after all had lost their jobs at some point during the year. Walking Daughter#1 down the isle.

27. What did you want and not get?



I didn't get to retire.

8. What was your favorite film of this year?



Star Trek. Great movie for both Trekkees and the general public.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?



My birthday was on a Friday so I was at home and I'm sure i went for a row, but nothing extravagant for my birthday. I turned 58.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

More work at home days.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?



Business casual for work days. Jeans and t shirts or sweatshirts depending on the temperature.

32. What kept you sane?



Getting out on the water or biking on the W&OD Trail. Working at home.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I think I’ll go with Amy Adams (she's just so cute) and Anna Torv (Fringe).

34. What political issue stirred you the most?



The bailouts. Necessary I know. It's scary how close the country came to going under.

35. Who did you miss?



My kids, my Dad and at the 25th anniversary of her death, my Mom.

36. Who was the best new person you met?



Hmmmm...I'm drawing a complete blank here which speaks volumes on how much I stay in my own comfort box and really don't meet many new people. Maybe Daughter#1 can help me out with this one.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.



My entire family was together for the first time in many years. We are scattered to the four winds and it's hard for all of us to get together any more. We did that this year celebrating my Dad's 80th birthday. It made me appreciate the family that I do have. It also makes me realize what I miss by not having them close by. It's said you can pick your friends, but not your family, which is true. I got lucky and have a great family. Even better, Daughters#1 and 2 have married guys with great families of their own. Its been wonderful adding their families to our own.

Slow Down Day

So today was a day to relax and knock back. To recover from the whirlwind pace Daughter#1 has been setting all week. I slept until 830, which these days is almost unheard of for me. It felt good believe me. By the time I rolled out of bed, showered and got ready, it was almost lunch time. Daughter#1 and her husband, M#1, were headed to Virginia Beach to hang out with some of her husband's friends. We decided to go out for lunch and picked a spot that would allow them to quickly jump onto I-95 and head south. That spot was a bbq place. As I just had some pulled pork with The Son right before Christmas, I decided to go with ribs this time. I do love bbq in whatever shape it comes in whether it be pork, ribs, brisket or chicken. After devouring lunch we bade the kids a safe trip we returned home after a short stop at Target for a few items for The Son's place. While Ann was smart and took a nap, I decided to get on my work laptop and see if my travel voucher for my December trip to LA had gone through. I found out it had been returned now a second time. Frustrating. I then proceeded to waste about 2 hours trying to correct it before deciding it was a lost cause. I'll just have to call the Help Desk on Monday when I go back to work. Bah. The evening was spent watching The Son's alma mater, Radford, play George Mason in Men's basketball. It was played down in Radford so I couldn't go to the game, but it was nice being able to see them on TV. Radford won easily, which was a bit of a surprise. The Son and I are hoping they will repeat as Big South Champions and get to be part of the craziness that is March Madness.

Busy...Busy...Busy...

I've been really really busy the past few days. The kids have all been home making for a full house what with the two daughters also bringing their spouses and Daughter#2 her dog Gracie. As I mentioned in my previous post, Daughter#1 has to fill the days and has she ever. Lets get a run down:

1. Day After Christmas and the two daughters arrive in the morning from out of town and The Son leaves his cave to join us for a day after Christmas breakfast prepared by yours truly.

2. Next up was opening presents. Here Daughter#1 does the honors while her husband looks on and takes her picture.

3. Then there was Christmas dinner to prepare. Here The Son works on his oyster dressing.

4. The next day (Sunday) we were down at The Son's place painting his living room and hallway of his condo. Here The Son paints around his balcony door.

Guests were not exempt. Here M#1 and Daughter#1 paint a portion of the hallway. Welcome to the family!

5. For Monday we were off to the Air and Space Museum Annex out by Dulles Airport. Here they have some of their larger aircraft/spacecraft that would never fit in the downtown museum. A look down just one third of the exhibit hall.

They have some really famous aircraft there. Like the Concorde. Oh if they could just make supersonic air travel economically feasible.

I think everyones favorite from our group was the SR-71 Blackbird. On its final flight from LA to Washington, the pilots made it in 1 hour 4 minutes. Average speed was over 2,000 mph. Amazing.

Probably the most famous bomber in the world. The Enola Gay. It had been in storage for decades before they finally had the space to display it. It wasn't as big a plane as I had envisioned from seeing pictures of B-29s.

My favorite fighter of all time. The plane that Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards made famous. The F-14 Tomcat. "Talk to me Goose".

All that walking around not to mention two big meals, left me wiped out. Hence no entry yesterday. Just too tired.

6. After sleeping 10 hours, we headed down to southern Maryland today to look at the Naval Air Station and the surrounding area. Daughter#1 and M#1 are considering relocating there. After touring the base, lunch was in order - crab cakes!

After a day of running around touring the base, Saint Mary's College, Solomon's Island, visiting a dear friend that lives down there and a last stop at Leonardtown and Breton Bay in the background, we headed home. Daughter#1 and M#1 pose for a final photo.

Its time for another long winter's nap.

Rembrant or Michelangelo?

Every since The Son bought a place of his own about two years ago, he has wanted to change the look of it by painting the place. The previous owner had had the place painted when he put it on the market. To make it more buyer friendly, he had painted it all white - everywhere. It's a two bedroom condo so its not all that big and it had the sterile rental property feel to it. Now The Son has wanted to paint it, but he hasn't been much on the action part of it. In particular he hem and hawed a lot about what color to paint what rooms. Enter in Daughter#1. Daughter#1 is like that old axiom about nature abhors a vacuum. To her every day has to be filled with some activity or another. A day laying around is a day wasted to her. So today we had nothing planned and there was a condo that needed painting - in her mind we had a match. In the weeks leading up to her visit many e-mails and phone calls ensued to nail down colors that would please not only The Son, but also the females in the family (Ann and the two daughters). A consensus was finally achieved and a game plan developed and the battle was on. After a breakfast of waffles (made from a dairy free and gluten free mix for our lactose intolerant guests), I took The Son and M#1 (Daughter#1's husband) and headed to his condo to begin taping while the Ann and Daughter#1 headed off to buy the paint and painting supplies. Daughter#2 and M#2 (Daughter#2's husband) also joined us. M#1 and 2 proceeded to remove all the outlet switch plates and register covers while I taped. M#2 joined in on the taping and ended up doing about twice as much as me. He is fast and I am slow. Once Ann and Daughter#1 arrived, the painting began. The plan was to do the living room area and the hallway. Most was a color called "Silver Setting" with an accent wall painted in "Bayside". They are Behr paints and you're welcome to go to their web site to look at the colors. I'll try to get pictures up shortly. It took us about four hours to get everything done including a break for some pizza. It turned out rather well and everyone seemed satisfied with the results. There is some debate on whether a second coat is required, but by the time we finished up it was starting to get dark and we thought it best to check back when the light would be better. Definitely a busy day, but with something concrete to show for our efforts.

Late Christmas

So today we finally got to celebrate Christmas as the kids filed in one by one. Daughter#2 and her husband were the first to arrive around 10:30 this morning followed by The Son and finally Daughter#1 and her husband who had been on the road since about 530 this morning. We knew everyone would be hungry after driving, I made a vegetarian friendly egg casserole so Daughter32 could have something to eat to. I made it with some fake sausage and no-dairy shredded cheese. Everyone liked it so it wasn't a big deal making it vegetarian friendly. After our brunch of sorts, we retired to the living room to exchanges gifts. We a one gift at a time type family when it comes to opening gifts. It takes longer, but its fun seeing who got what from whom. Socks were the most abundant gifts as everyone got some. Some of the highlights: Daughter#1 got a rain jacket. The son got a winter coat. Ann got some cookware, Daughter#2 got a blender, her husband got a lot of drum equipment, Daughter#1's husband got a tour book and a gift card, and i got some home made charcoal made by Daughter#2's husband and a picture of myself rowing during the head of the Occoquan. By the time we were down, the living room was a mess and everyone seemed pretty happy.

After the gift exchanged, I headed into our family room to watch Ohio take on Marshall in the Little Cesar Bowl. Ohio got blown out early, but made a nice comeback before finally losing 21-17. The rest of the day it was all about the big Christmas meal. I was put to work peeling 5lbs of potatoes and then carving the turkey. The Son made oyster dressing again and the mashed potatoes while Ann did the remained. We got another Tofurkey for daughter#2, which she prepared. It was a glorious a feast as we had on Thanksgiving. We manage to save room for desert of which there was a selection of three different pies - Apple, Pumpkin and Pecan. There was also Vanilla Ice cream and some non-dairy Vanilla Ice Cream. After that we all just crashed in the family room. We watch "Angels and Demons" and then most of us headed to bed. At least those that didn't have Holidailies post to deliver. That was our special day. I hope you had one as memorable.

Waiting for Christmas

My Christmas Day was like your Christmas Eve. Presents still sit under the tree waiting to be opened. We are awaiting the arrival of Daughters#1 and #2 and their husbands before we celebrate the Day. Both couples were with their respective In Law families for the day. Each couple will be driving home to visit tomorrow morning. Tomorrow then will be our Christmas day. A day for spending time with family and enjoying each others company. A time to share our gifts with each other.

So how did we spend our day? Mostly getting ready for tomorrow. We attended Mass. We baked two pies - a pumpkin and an apple. We also watched a movie or two (Miracle on 34th Street) plus two Lifetime movies that we sort of got sucked into while wait for the pies to cook. The Son did drop by. I suggested opening one gift each, but that was shot down by him and Ann so we will wait until tomorrow. We enjoyed a spiral cut glazed ham for our Christmas meal. Something we haven't had in quite some time. With some pecan pie for desert, it worked out quite well. Our dog Rosie helping out with the pie making:

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and I know I'm looking forward to ours.

Christmas Eve in Virginia

I'm going to keep it short and sweet tonight. I still have presents to wrap, Christmas carols to listen to and Christmas movies to watch. There is snow on the ground and we will have our first white Christmas in many many years. I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and I'll leave you with a few Christmas quotes - the ones I used for the past last two years and which I love.

"Perhaps Christmas doesn't come from a store. Perhaps Christmas means a little bit more." - How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Suess. '

From "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. The meaning of Christmas as told by Scrooge's nephew Fred:

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,' returned the nephew. 'Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'

And from Dr Suess and the Whos, the lyric from the song "Welcome, Christmas" from the TV version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas":

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Come this way!

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas,
Christmas Day.

Welcome, Welcome
Fah who rah-moose
Welcome, Welcome
Dah who dah-moose
Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp

Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome Christmas
Bring your cheer
Fah who for-aze!
Dah who dor-aze!
Welcome all Who's
Far and near

Welcome Christmas, fah who rah-moose
Welcome Christmas, dah who dah-moose
Christmas day will always be
Just so long as we have we

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome Christmas
Bring your light

Welcome Christmas
Fah who rah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
Dah who dah-moose!
Welcome Christmas
While we stand
Heart to heart
And hand in hand

Fah who for-aze
Dah who dor-aze
Welcome welcome
Christmas
Christmas
Day

So to one and all a Very Merry Christmas and God Bless Us every one.