New Years Prep

I picked up champagne to drink with my wife at midnight to ring in the new year.

Actually all I will be doing is taking a small sip and pouring out the rest. I don't like the taste of wine or champagne.

The important part to me is that my wife and I speak to each other. For me it's the end result that is important.

Last work day of the year

We had a short day at the office because of the New Year coming upon us. I'm not sure when the office closed down but I took off at 2:30 p.m. because I have had enough for the day.

I spend much of the time pushing as much paper as I can but it's never enough.

Agony

Last night my wife called me before bedtime. Her mother was giving her a hard time and my wife had enough. Since I'm planning to visit them out in Utah in late January I told her when I get there we will pick up boxes and send all our belongings back home and all three of us will go back home, end of problems. She was okay with that.

Of course we have a conversation today that totally contradicts the events of yesterday. It seems her mother had a monment of lucidity and told my wife that she's aware of her behavior and wants us to stay and help her.

I can't begrudge my wife her feelings because it's her mother after all and I can understand her inherent desire to take care of her mother even though every other week her mother is making her miserable.

Right now it can go either way. who knows. Hopefully we can get to some kind of solution at some point. I'm just hoping we can reach a peaceful point before they're at each other's throats.

A belated Christmas

My wife received her package today. She was actually happy to get it. I thought she would be a little bummed because I got her a fleece jacked and flannel pj's as well as a charm bracelet.

She was very fond of them all. I was somewhat surprised. I was looking for an old school charm bracelet but all I could find was a spring loaded one with little charms that interlock within the bracelet.

Let me tell you it was a bitch to get the "Best Mom" charms onto the damn thing.

I also included in the box the cards we have received and the latest edition of Parents Magazine we've received. That with the card I signed to her brought tears to her eyes.

That alone made it worth it.

Price of gas

Queens Boulevard
Rego Park, Queens, NY

It looks like the pricing has raised by about ten to twelve cents since I last filled up.

Pics

My wife e-mailed me pictures of our son playing with the fire engine rider I sent him for Christmas. It's a Disney licensed toy, that said it came with a fire engine hat with Mickey Mouse Ears.

She sent me a picture of him putting on the hat.

I wish I was there with them.

Back to the grindstone...er...ok maybe not

It's a slow day today. Not much going on. I sent a package to my wife with her Christmas presents on Saturday but I don't expect her to get it until tomorrow or Thursday.

I've been spending alot of time telling her that it's nothing special so she doesn't get disappointed when she opens them and sees a sweater and a charm bracelet.

Christmas Observed

No work today and I am tickled pink. Of course I have to work at home. I have to move all the boxes I packed and stored in the bedroom.

Being the genius I am I stacked them all in front of the radiator and for the last two weeks we've had some very cold weather. With the radiator blocked the bedroom has been freezing.

Christmas in England?

The view outside is limited, there is a fog out there that makes it look like a scene from The Exorcist.

Good thought

At least I got Scrooge from Netflix. It's not shown anywhere else on television, broadcase, cable or satellite but at least I can see it one more time.

Christmas morning

Here I am. Alone.

Christmas historically has been cruel and kind to us at both times. This year we're apart, but we will eventually have a new place to live in. Once we sell this one and find another, and there is still the co-op on Roosevelt Island we filed for.

Last Christmas was great because I was our son's first Christmas, but I had the flu and I was sick as a dog and feeling festive much, but our son's presence made it different.

The year before last my wife was in a hospital room having had surgery to remove cancerous tissue. That was the cruel. The kind is my wife recovered and she was diagnosed as cancer free and will be with us for many more years.

I can't remember what happened the year before that. My memories are shot.

WARNING!!

Do not, I repeat. Do not by any circumstance rent, buy, or even entertain the thought of seeing the movie "The Crucifier" directed by Bill Zebub (I know, the name was a give-away but I did it anyway).

It is possibly the worst film made by heavy metal wanna-be avant garde film majors.

This is coming from someone that has absolutely zero expectations from a movie. Hell, I give every piece of crap a chance but this one had a crap story.

My guess is it was made so the director and his drinking buddies could get a bunch of girls to get semi-naked for them and to give the director's Rammstein-like heavy metal band some exposure by using their music as the soundtrack.

I tried for a bit but I had to give it up. IT WAS TERRIBLE!! And that's the kind words I have for it.

X-mas Eve

This year we're not together, my wife was hoping I would surprise her out in Utah today. Unfortunately I had to disappoint her.

I stopped by my friends place, they just had a baby the other day. 6 lbs. 12 oz., 18 inches long. She's a beautiful little girl. I'm still amazed our little one looked like that at some point.

Christmas

The staff on our floor organized a little party to celebrate the holidays. It started at 11:00 and it still was going on when I left at 2:30.

That was the first time we had a large party like that, usually this time of year we go out to lunch and just have a few drinks afterwards. It was a pleasant thing.

More trouble

My wife called me today in tears, her mom is having a downward swing and she's being verbally abusive to my wife. I have to bring them back here because it's not working out over there.

Her mom told my wife that my wife isn't helping her at all. While we know that it's her illness that's causeing her to behave in this manner it doesn't make it any easier to tolerate.

Maybe she needs someone who's not emotially attached to take care of her.

Strike no more

The TWU has agreed to end the strike and return to work in the interest of good will. My guess is they agreed to come back if they can minimize the penalties they will be forced to pay.

Easy ride

Traffic was not as bad today, it appears many people have chosen to stay home. I can't blame them since travelling without the benefits of the subway or a bus can be a struggle.

Finishing up

I left early today and good thing too, the packages I was expecting came today and I would have missed them if I was in the office and I would have to wait another day.

Now I can send them off to my wife. I didn't get her anything fancy but things I think she'll need.

I completed the cards as well so that was needed.

Driving to work sucks

Today was the absolutly worst. Traffic was a horror show. It took me 25 minutes to get 3 blocks, usually a 45 second trip. I could feel the vein in my forehead throb.

It took me an hour and a half to get to work.

Baby arrival

My friend had a healthy baby girl. The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck so a C-section was required. He's been up since last night and he's exhausted but he's holding up pretty well.

Strike, this time they mean it

The strike is officially on and people are pissed. The union is looking for 8% increases, a lower rate of personal investment in their pensions and retirement at 55.

To me those ore the perks of 30 years ago, no one gets those kind of benefits anymore, except for maybe cops and firemen.

Personally for myself except for one short stint as a doorman I never had a job with those kind of benefits. Up until recently I would have to consider myself lucky to get a 5% pay raise. And let's not even discuss how old I'll be when I can retire and heck...what's a pension? Best thing I got is a 401k.

Holiday prep

Today I actually sat down and started writing Christmas cards, I printed out a couple of pictures of our son to add to the cards since I haven't written out cards for the last couple of years.

Since our marriage and the birth of our son things have been really crazy and hectic. Now that I'm trying to get this apartment ready for sale it's even crazier. I've not spoken to friends much recently.

I called one of my buddies to see if he's a dad yet, his wife is due any day now and since she's two weeks late their doctor decided it's time to induce. Tomorrow is his day.

Speedy surfing again

After the cable operators I've been talking to kept telling me that a 10 mb bandwidth is their standard, the technician replaces my modem and what do you know....a 100 mb connection.

Finally I have a decent connection, it's always been slow but when it replaced dial-up and DSL it was faster and I didn't mind but as the years pass and the demands for speed were greater it was more noticable.

I'm also surprised that they came on a Sunday morning. I was told the technician would be here between 8:00 am and 12:00 pm. She arrived at 9:00.

I'm glas something worked out for a change.

Scramble

I have been picking up everything around the house today because the cable technician coming over. I was losing my connection repeatedly.

What a mess!

Strike

The tranit unions staged a mini-strike, only the buses in Queens and Brooklyn are out on strike. It didn't hurt me none.

I ordered some things for my wife for Christmas, I was going to have them sent to her directly but it was from multiple vendors and it wasn't practical. I'm having them delivered to our home and I'll ship it to her.

Strike?

There's talk of a strike by the transit unions here in the city. I don't think it will affect me much since I drive in the opposite direction and don't use the subways or buses, unless I go to the doctor.

We shall see.

Observation

Has anyone else noticed that the broadcast or cable networks no longer show the 1970's era Scrooge with Albert Finney?

Of course you get 50 showings of the 1930's A Christmas Carol as well as numerous showings of The Santa Clause.

What's the world coming to?

Price of gas

I had to fill up this morning and although I didn't have a chance to snap a picture I did keep in mind the pricing so here it is:


Today Previous
Regular: $2.47 $2.49
Premium: $2.57 $2.63
Super: $2.67 $2.73

Now the creep upwards should start again since it's cold as hell out.

Still sick

I'm still feeling sick but I'll have to go into the office today since I have long ago exceeded by allotted sick days. I don't think I'll be paid for the two days I have already missed.

Sick day 2

I'm still not feeling well enough yet. I woke up drenched in sweat. This is how I feel whwn I have the beginnings of the flu. I decided to stay home one more day and see how I feel tomorrow.

Sick day

I am sick and I don't want to expose myself at work because folks have been getting sick left and right there.

I decided to stay home.

Time to go out

I didn't feel too good today but I needed to get out of the house, it was hot in there.

It's 28 degrees outside and I have the windows open for cross ventilation and it's still hot in here.

I fell asleep at my friends huose and didn't get home until just now. I have to go to bed.

Lazy Saturday

I didn't have much going on today. I just did a little grocery shopping and did more packing. Hopefully It won't be much longer.

I'm glad I didn't have anything planned because I'm feeling kinda achy and my throat hurts. Maybe it's an after-affect from the allergy, not sure.

I'm allergic to everything.

I ate something that cause me to have a bad allergic reaction, it actually affected my breathing. The only things I ate up to that point was prepackaged trail mix and an Almond Joy bar. Considering I had an Almond Joy the day before without a problem, that tells me there was something in the trail mix that set me off.

My skin turned a deep shade of red, welts formed up, my eyes started to swell shut and the itching. God, the itching was all over.

I took allergy medicine and it started to clear up about 3 hours later. But by that time I had to leave the office because I could not concentrate and sit still because I was so uncomfortable.

It took a while but I made it home without looking like a radish.

Snow finally.

I woke up at 4:15 in the morning and there was not a single snow drop on the ground. I took a shower, got dressed and had breakfast. I took a guick look out the window and just an hour and a half later there was what looked like an inch of snow on the ground.

At that point I decided to take the subway and railroad. This is terrible for me because its a two hour trip as opposed to the 45 minute car ride I usually take.

More snow

Another snow storm is on the way. I'll see what it looks like in the morning before deciding on rail or road

Follow-up

My wife called our son's pediatrician just to be sure our son is ok.

His fall down the stairs was on a padded and carpeted staircase and floor so it could have been much worse.

No broken bones, no bruising and no bloodshot eyes. The biggest worry was a concussion and he didn't exhibit any signs of that. He's ok. We just have to get used to the idea that he's going to get himself into these scrapes from time to time.

We can't baby him but we do have to be watchful.

Temporary Scare

Today my wife called me at 8:00 a.m. in the morning, that's 6:00 her time and she doesn't normally call me at that time so I thought the worst.

Luckily she was just saying hello. I was freaked out at first. Today is not a good day for her because she needed to hear my voice early and she doesn't understand that I have a ton of work to do, but I still stop what I'm doing to speak to her because I don't want her to think i'm not being supportive. She has a lot to do over there and she's all alone so I want her to feel at ease as much as I can afford her to be.

Change of mind

I chose to take my car after all and it's a good thing too because all the snow that fell disappeared by 2:00 p.m. I would have felt silly taking the train home.

Snow storm?

Last night there work snow warnings televised every half hour or so to the point I expected to wake up this morning to alot of snow on the ground. Lo and behold it's just a sprinkling that fell. It melted as it hit the ground. Of course, it's expected to come down stronger as the day passes so I will just take the railroad into the office, which sucks because it's a 2 hour ride instead of the 1/2 hour drive.

I am not happy

Today was a lousy day. Throughout the day I kept getting interrupted from my work to finish up tasks that others let sit and linger to the point that they had to get done today at once.

That's the frustrating part. I get rerouted from what I'm doing for two months and now not only am I backlogged but now I can't even finish that.

It's at the point that I dread going into the office for fear I'll explode and say something that I can't fix.

With the boys

Today I'm heading to my friend's place for another game of Champions. Prior to last week I haven't played with these guys in over 2 years but nothing has changed much.

I missed the game sessions, they were my relief valve for sanity, however when you're married with a kid you have to refocus your priorities. But since I don't have my family here I have a little spare time.

I'm not going to play with them every week since the groups dynamic has changed as well, maybe one session a month.

At least it gives me an opportunity to socialize. I tend to be a hermit and stay at home. This gets me out the door.

Just my luck

I fell asleep late yesterday and didn't sleep much so I slept quite a bit today. I woke up and went to the supermarket for a few things. That of course was uneventful, but when I got home and checked my mailbox I found the replacement copy of The Hills Have Eyes.

It's a movie I've been wanting to see for some time and until just recently I didn't have the opportunity.

OK, so now I open up the envelope to play the move and when I take it out of the sleeve, wouldn't you know it, that copy was cracked as well.

I just reported the problem and noted they should send me the next one. I am just gonna have to get used to the idea that fate doesn't want me to see it.

Credit when credits due

Since I have been a member of Netflix I have had Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes on my list. For the most part it's been on a Short Wait status or when it was available is when I had other movies in my queue ahead of if.

That having been said I had a feeling of satisfaction when I finally got my copy yesterday.

I opened it to pop it in immediately and wouldn't you know my luck..it was cracked. Netflix has a pretty good system set up for reporting problems. I marked it as received damanged and I would like a replacement copy sent.

I was somewhat surprised when I received an e-mail from Netflix letting me know that my replacement copy was shipped, even though I just placed the damaged copy in the mail this morning.

That's pretty cool.

What now?

I walk into the office today with a laundry list of things that need to be done NOW!

It's hard to keep my cool when everyone thinks you have nothing that can't wait until their work gets completed.

Everyone's a boss.