Just got back from a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Too long of a drive for my tastes. Nice seeing the mountains and the local Arts and Crafts people. Some areas are stunningly beautiful:
Others are tacky. It was very challenging traveling with an active toddler. I will post more later, tired.
Well, have not been in much of a blogging mood lately. I use a computer all day at work, so about the last thing I want to do when I get home is spend even more time in front of the computer.
Glenn is doing ok, a little cold right now, but there is always something new with him. More words, more communication, louder crying.
Technology wise, I really like the netbook we got for our birthdays. The price can’t be beat and it can do 99.9% of any computer I have seen. I would not want to edit video or photos on there, but for everything else, it is just fine. It is going to be very handy on the trip, for entertainment and photo backups.
Work is ok, nothing too new. No more layoffs on the horizon, but there is some voluntary time off for some of the hourly workers. I have never seen the global economy slow down like this before. Is it the start of a new era, or just a really deep recession? Time will tell.
Ah, spring is in the air and I pulled the grill out of the garage. Nothing compares to grilled meat. I forgot how wonderful the sound of t-bone sizzling on the grill is. Even it is just a tease, better weather is around the corner.
We are going to have our combo birthday party tomorrow, since Tiff’s and my birthdays are just 5 days apart. I am sure it will be a fun time.
What year it has been. Glenn has grown so much, it is hard to believe he was just an 18 month old last Christmas. His walking is perfect now, he can jump and skip (his version of skipping, anyways) and his fine motor skills are impressive. He is still not a huge talker, but it getting better. He can count up to 10 on his own and knows the entire alphabet. Overall, a lot of development.
On Christmas eve we went out to my inlaw’s house. 2 helpful hints, never discuss where you would like to get buried at the Christmas dinner table and clothes are boring gifts. Boring as a child, boring as an adult. Unless you really need clothes, I think Christmas is a time for fun gifts, and, you know, things you actually asked for. Slacks are not fun.
Christmas day was good. The meal was very very good. The roast was excellent along with the cheese ball. The gifts were good as well, got what I wanted and are actually fun gifts. Glenn got a great haul, including a Big Wheel and a camera. I remember riding a big wheel when I was the little guy. It was a lot of fun, and Glenn already enjoys it. I am sure he will enjoy it more when he can reach the pedals better. By summer I am sure he will be hauling ass around the neighborhood. By the way, the latest Depeche Mode album is very good, back to more syth sound than some more recent albums.
The day after Christmas is our anniversary, in this case, our 6th. It went well, we went and visited some of our old haunts when we were dating, including Harlem Irving Plaza and Capt’n Nemo’s. It was worth the drive and crappy traffic. That night though, we got a big thunderstorm, so bad it scared Glenn. He slept in bed with us a while, which he has never done before. It was so sad,when I picked him up, he was so scared he was shaking. He calmed down with us and even gave mommy a little back massage.
So today we have just been getting stuff done around the house before it blows away. We had a brown out for about 2 hours today. It was about the longest power interruption I have seen here.
Tomorrow the tree comes down. It is pretty and all, but I would like a chunk of the room back.
Just wanted to acknowledge it has really been seven years since the destruction of the Twin Towers and the damage to the Pentagon (and the loss of the brave people in Pennsylvania). I am shocked how few flags are flying. How soon we forget. We still haven’t caught Osama Bin Laden, we are still in Afghanistan, still in Iraq (which has nothing to do with it), and still bowing to unconstitutional laws.
I just wish our government would stop hunting bogey men and trying to scare us and fix our schools and roads instead. It’ simple. Secure our borders properly, listen to people WHEN THEY CALL THE FBI TO TELL THEM THERE ARE TERRORISTS IN THEIR FLIGHT SCHOOLS and quit pissing off the rest of the world with stupid policies and illegal invasions. You really want to make life better, get off the fossil fuel teat and become a world leader, for once. Spending a trillion dollars to blow up people who did nothing to us half a world away does not make our lives better. I am sure that trillion could of been used to fix our ‘health’ care system.
Meanwhile, life still goes on. In the last 7 years, I have gotten married, had a child, changed jobs, bought a new car, etc. Personally I am pretty happy. I am happy, but I am worried about the future of our country and how quickly we forget the mistakes made.
Rough year so far
Haven’t been in much of a blogging mood. The company I work for laid off about 10 to 15% of its workforce Thursday, so that was not a happy day. I still am employed, but we lost one person from our department. It was across the board, salaried and hourly people. At least they offered a decent severance package, from what I heard. Still, sucks to be out of work in this economic climate. The sign of a good company is they cut costs before they start losing money, instead of after. We shall see what the year holds ahead.
In tech news, I have only been using Opera at home for my web browsing and e-mail. I really like the news feed reader as well. Been very stable under Linux. Windows, meh, but I blame the piss poor memory management of Windows for that one.
Glenn is doing OK. Learning a lot and being hyper at times, but very cute at other times. No more crib for him, he looks very cute in his real bed.
Still looking forward to vacation. At least at work I am not the only one still taking a vacation. My cube mate is going down to Florida next month for a week of golf and relaxation. Life goes on. I miss seeing mountains and trees not planted by man. I also love the arts and craft community as well, it is nice seeing locally made things.
Posted by admin on January 24, 2009 in Family, General Comments
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