For The Record...

"Go on and write me up for 125 Post my face Wanted dead or alive Take my license and all that jive I can't drive 55!" Sammy Hagar from 'I Can't Drive 55'

Yeah, I saw your head bobbin', mouthin' the words with an angry Red Rocker look on your face, maybe even pumpin' your hand in the air at the make believe judge. Don't deny it. It's one of those tunes that just gets into your head and won't let go. Sammy at his best!

You've probably guessed it, but I can't drive 55. It was more like 70. Or so the local police tell me...

I was running late Monday morning, thinking about the various things I needed to get done that day, kinda in my own world. The road from my house into work starts off with a 5 mile stretch of country road - your standard Illinois rock-chip and oil variety. The rest is about 11-12 miles of nicely paved road. There are very few dips, twists, turns and trees as well. It's pretty straight and flat - another central Illinois fixture. So it's extremely easy to get ramped up for the ride into work - especially if you have a lead foot like mine. It also means there are not many places a police car can hide. Quite a combination. Almost makes you feel untouchable. Almost.

About 1 minute into my drive (which means about 1 mile from my house - how stupid am I?) I notice a pickup that I normally encounter headed the other way flashing his lights. This should have tipped me off right away that a smokey lay in wait up ahead. But I was so deep into my own head that it took a moment to "get" his signal. By then it was too late. The cop was sitting in the only green spot along the road. And he had me dead to rights. His lights went on and I pulled over. He asked if I knew how fast I was going. I knew I was going 70 (I glanced at speedometer right when I saw him - but until then, I had no idea), but felt I should give him a range - just in case his gun was running slow. So I told him 65-70. "Yeah, you were doing 70", he said. So if I don't learn anything else from this experience, I know that my speedometer is accurate. I was as polite as I could be, and he was friendly and nice in return. If it wasn't that I was $75 lighter, I'd say it was a pleasant transaction. For some strange reason, that wasn't enough. I had to share the story with the boys at work. During the rest of the day Rudiger, Ed and Pik made sure the wound wouldn't heal. Can't say I blame them. I'd have done the same.

After 7 tickets in 27 years, I think I've finally learned my lesson. But just in case, check back in 6 months and see what my top speed for the day was...

I Can't Drive 55 - Sammy Hagar

I think my favorite thing about this video is the dialog between Sammy and Claudio.

Sammy: "Ooowww! This thing is running great! Its running great. Runnin' smooth into the the curves! What did you do, Claudio?" Claudio (in his best Italian Kermit the Frog voice): " I just adjusted the cassidy cavern and the tire pressure."

No idea if he actually said "cassidy cavern", but it works for me.

Now to end this on a musical note (sorry, the bad pun came out before I could stop it). Which do you prefer?

• Sammy Hagar as a solo act
• Sammy with Van Halen
• Diamond Dave with Van Halen
• None of the above

I Though It Was Conditioner!

Everyone showers in the shower in the master bathroom.  Prudence, Panda, and me in the mornings.  The Boy and Em of an evening.  It cuts down on the number of baths we need to keep clean...and I'm too cheap to have a plumber come take a look at what makes the main bath shower leak to the basement when we use it.  I'll eventually need to take care of #2, but until then, we shower in our shower.

Other than bar soap, we keep all bath products the ledge above the glass door to the shower.  That is, until The Boy and Em were able to take showers by themselves (one of those magical milestones that parents long to see reached - much like walking, potty training, reading, etc.).  Now we keep smaller bottles of shampoo and conditioner on the "seat" built into the shower just for them.  When they were smaller (just a few months ago), the bottles would run out and they would come out of the shower - soppin' wet to the bone - into the hallway and yell "I'm out of shampoo!!!".  We would come running, yelling at them to either call from the shower or dry off and then call for us, refill their containers from the containers on the ledge, and finish their shower.  But they observed what we did and began plotting ways to help themselves.  Mind you, they would need to stand on the built in seat and lean across the shower, lean on the glass door while they reached to the ledge above - while wet.  All very safe ***insert eyeroll here***.  So for the past few months, they've (scratch that - he's) been refilling the containers when they've run out.  At least that's my interpretation, since I haven't been called to refill a container for a while.  Until last Thursday, my/our ignorance has been bliss.

Even though the torch of bathing has been passed, hair styling is still left up to me.  Yes, the man with no hairdo (should that be a hairdon't) does the hair of the little ones.  Don't worry, it's primarily a part and either combed back (The Boy) or brushed straight (Em).  When they're old enough to do their own, I'll step out and let them work on a something that helps define themselves, other than mohawks, blue/orange hair, etc!  But I digress...

So last Thursday, Em comes out of the shower and I start brushing her hair.  Its a gnarly mess!  I ask her if she used conditioner.  She tells me that The Boy told her they were out and that he found something else that would work.  I asked her to show me and she said it was the pink vitamin E stuff.  Huh?  Never seen that in our shower before, so we went back in.  There, sitting on the seat was Prudence and Panda's Skintastic Shaving Cream!  Prudence ushers her back into the shower with explicit instructions about what NOT to use on her hair.  After setting her straight and refilling their bottle with more conditioner from the cabinet, Prudence comes back to me and says, "I'm sooooo glad we don't use Nair!"

Six Weird Things

Yeah, I know this is an old meme (and I've already things documented a number of weird rules here), but I told the some people I would do it, and I try to be a man of my word.  Plus it saves you from hearing about a boring weekend - cleaning out my computer workshop (7 computer carcasses, 3 14" monitors, and 3 printers went to an electronic recycling center), 3 sick family members (Em - for almost a week - Panda and Prudence since Saturday), a busy day at church (running the computer for worship and leading my adult bible fellowship class), and 2 great football games (don't know who to root for now - I just want a good game!).  Well, I guess it didn't save you from it after all.  Some man of his word, huh?  Let's just forget that happenend move on to the meme:

1. When I get napkins from a dispenser for myself, I always get 3.  One at a time.  And I count them in my head. "One, two, three".
    
2. Complete silence scares me.  I can't sit in a room or ride in a car without turning on a radio or TV.  Maybe I'm scared to be alone with my own thoughts...
    
3. I struggle to download only a song or 2 from an album.  I always feel as tho I'll be missing something.  Sure, there's always at least one cut that absolutely sucks (except for Sgt Peppers, Abbey Road, and Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs), but if I don't have the whole album, I don't have the whole album!
    
4. I watch "League of Their Own" every time it's on.  I own copies on VHS and DVD and can watch it any time I want.  But if I see that its on at 11pm before I shut off the TV before I go to bed, I tell myself "I'll just watch until the 'no crying in baseball' part."  Next thing I know, Madonna's singing "This used to be my playground"...
    
5. I love to eat salt and butter on Zesty Saltine crackers.  To save time (because the way I eat, I don't have much of it) and dirtying a knife, I dip the cracker in "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter", then spread the butter over the cracker with my tongue.  Then I salt the cracker with a salt shaker.  Did I mention these were SALTine crackers?  I like salt.
    
6. I can't stand to pay for stuff I can usually get free or relatively cheap.  Like bottled water, for instance.  Pop, coffee, and other drinks take work to make.  Water is already here, and water fountains abound!  I'm probably just bitter that I didn't think of it first.  Tacos also come to mind.  It takes about $.25 worth of materials for a taco, and you get charged almost a $1 for one.  This one probably boils down to the fact that it takes 5+ tacos to fill me up, which adds up to too many pesos for that meal!  I feel like I'm getting swindled or something...

There you have it.  More than you probably wanted to know.  Just tell me when you want me to stop.

Musical Confessions

Today is my 1st blogiversary.  I actually owned a blog before January 18th, 2006, but did nothing with it until that date.  I spent months reading other blogs while trying to figure out what I wanted it to be.  I'm not sure it ever became what was stated here,  but I never expected to be where I am now - with a whole host of people I've never met that I consider great friends.  And for that I'm most thankful!  So I dedicate today's blog to you - my blog buddies - who made this last year sooooo much fun!

Continuing in the spirit of self-deprecating humor from my picture post ("If you can't laugh at yourself, you can't laugh at anyone else"), I'm gonna come clean on a number of items that I consider embarrassing concerning my musical tastes.  If you look at my Zen, you'll see about 12GB of solid music that appeals to most people my age.  I've got your standards (Beatles, Dylan, Springsteen, U2, Police, Motown and Top 40 hits from the 1960-1990) as well as some not-so-standards, but great none the less (The La's, Aztec Camera, Let's Active, Color Me Gone, The Specials).  But if you look hard, you'll find some "huh?", "you gotta be kidding me!" or "you pansy!" stuff.  Other things haven't made it to my Zen - either because they're locked into vinyl or too stupid for me to buy.  Without further ado, step into your priest's confessional (if you're Catholic) or try to talk me off the ledge, and let's get into the list:

• I love Hollywood showtunes and musicals!  The soundtrack to "The Music Man" may be in my top 5 favorite albums of all time.  As a kid, I used to line up chairs in our dining room like a train, play the opening song ("The Traveling Salesman") and try to sing all the parts.  I always wanted to be one of the Buffalo Bills ("Lida Rose, I'm home again Rose without a sweetheart to my name...").  Then there's "Oklahoma!"  Gordon McRae voice while singing "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "People Will Say We're In Love" is something I still try to emulate today...without much success.
• I can often be heard singing along to the following songs:
  • "My Eyes Adore You" by Frankie Valli
  • "Bad Blood" & "Laughter in the Rain" by Neil Sedaka
  • "Afternoon Delight" by The Starland Vocal Band
  • "Copacabana" by Barry Manilow (but don't call me a Fanilow!)
  • "Muskrat Love" & "Love Will Keep Us Together" by The Captain and Tennille
  • "Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin (or Carole King)
• My favorite artist to sing along to is James Taylor.  My voice range matches his better than anyone else.  Now if I just SOUNDED like him.
• In addition, I love to sing in falsetto.  The Bee Gees are best for that.
• In grade school, shortly after I received my first tape recorder, I started making my own drumming tracks.  I would bring my record player into the kitchen, grab 2 tall drink stirring sticks that looked like drum sticks, grab a container of tubbed margarine, cue the music, and begin my jam sessions.  Unfortunately it was to songs like "The Night Chicago Died".  If you've ever seen the Gilligan's Island episode where the Mosquitoes come to the island, I resembled and sounded like Gilligan as the drummer.
• Speaking of "The Night Chicago Died", I think I owned 4 copies of that song - courtesy of K-Tel.
• Just a couple of weeks ago I downloaded Bread's "Anthology".  I'm currently listening to it a lot.  "Diary" may be one of the saddest love songs I've ever heard.
• I hate it when people get the lyrics wrong, but I've been wrong many times.  Here are a few:
  • Its "Love Train" (Spinners), not "Love Tree"
  • Its "Sweet Hitchhiker" (CCR), not "Swing into Hyper"
  • Its "Big Ol Jet Airliner" (Steve Miller Band), not "Big Ol Jet with the Light Off"
  • and its "Love is like Oxygen" (Sweet), not "Love is like Boxed chicken" (although I could make an case for that)
• For about a 1 year in college, I was into reggae big time.  I spent a majority of my free time at Record Swap, a local used record store, talking to guys like Ronnie Reggae (scrawny white guy who looked like Dick Cavet) and Rasta James (who looked just like his name - always on roller skates with a boombox on his shoulder) and searching the bins for Peter Tosh, Gregory Issacs, Steel Pulse, and of course Bob Marley.  I used terms like "I & I", "eyre'", "jah", and "spliff" like I grew up with them.  And I referred to the Rastafarians as "my people".  If I could, I would have looked like this:
   
• I'm currently searching for a good Partridge Family compilation, as well as one for the Jackson 5 and Neil Diamond.
• I enjoy listening to disco music.  The "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack rules!
• "I'm Not in Love" by 10cc scares me to death.  "Be quiet, big boys don't cry" still haunts me today.
• Along with 45s of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Island Girl", I had copies of "The Streak", "Paper Roses", and "You Light Up My Life".
• I owned a copy of Peaches & Herb's hit album "2 Hot!".

While not embarrassing, I need to get a few other things off my chest while still on the ledge:

• I hate Bob Seger!  Ever since he and Tom Cruise teamed up in "Risky Business".
• Even though I claim that The Beatles are my favorite group of all time, I listen to way more Steely Dan.
• More on The Beatles front:
  • I think John Lennon is overrated as a solo artist.  From his greatest hits compilation, I can listen to maybe 5 of the tracks and enjoy them.  I blame much of this on Yoko (as do most other people on the planet).
  • "Hey Jude" is my least favorite song of theirs.  And it may be on my top 20 overrated songs.
  • I have never listened to the entire "Yellow Submarine" soundtrack.
  • I have never seen "Help!"

Whew!  I feel better already!  At least until that first comment comes in.  Or maybe no comments come in.  Gulp!  Do I hear crickets???

How's about you?  Do you have a musical confession you need to make?

The Side I Never Knew

Today would have been my mom's 84th birthday.  She was taken home to be with her Lord almost 3 years ago after a long battle with Alzheimer's.  She was a great lady - the best I ever knew.  (Sorry Prudence, but she'll always be first.  But you know that you are 1A!)  Dad has told me often since she's been gone that her time home with me was the best she ever knew.  Not because I was a special child, but because she was never able to enjoy being a mom to my 3 older siblings.

Mom married her high school sweetheart right after her graduation in 1941.  She had 3 kids before 1948, and during that time her husband had a tour of duty in Europe during WWII.  When he returned, he came back as an alcoholic.  After he'd get paid for delivering eggs, he'd be gone for days on drinking binges.  In the early 1950s, he died of a brain aneurismal.  Throughout this time, Mom had to rely on family (she had 9 brothers and sisters) and work to make ends meet.  She (and I) grew up in a small town where everyone knew your name.  The local banker took pity on her and lent her hundreds of dollars over the years - which she diligently paid back.  She worked part-time as a waitress in her sister's cafe', but she spent most of her time at working for another sister in her printing business.  I'm not sure how many years she worked there, but she became very proficient at setting and proofing type.  Reading sentences backwards with letters and characters in reverse as well blows my mind!  But she did all this at the expense of being home with her children.  Like I said, she had plenty of family in the area to help with the rearing.  Minus a couple of detours, everyone turned out alright.  But she didn't get to enjoy them.

Things changed for her in 1961 when she met my dad.  They hit it off almost immediately and were married in March of 1962.  I was born in 1964 and she was determined to make up for lost opportunities.  She never worked an outside job again.  She was home when I left for school in the morning and was there when I got home.  She helped me with my homework.  I can't count the number of class projects and crafts she helped me make. In three months of hard work and eye excercises, she "cured" me of my lazy eye.  I didn't need glasses until my freshman year of college.  Dad traveled about 2-3 nights of the week, so she and I were left to eat meals by ourselves.  She always made my favorite foods, even though she'd sometimes just have cereal or a salad.  And she aways had time for me.

So when I ran across this picture this weekend, I started thinking about the side of Mom I never knew, and how fortunate I was to be born when I was.  Thanks God.  Thanks Mom.  And Happy Birthday.

Now THIS is embarrassing!

Sue, I believe this is the kind of picture that your little sister was looking for.

I don't know much more about the picture than what you see here. It's an 8-10 year old boy with a big belt and very tight t-shirt sitting under his mom's beauty shop style hairdryer with a cap on his noggin to protect his 'do. I see nothing wrong with it...other than it's me! Don't know why I was there or why Dad was there with the camera. But I think the expression says it all.

How about some of the other items on the back porch? The yellow pencil sharpener that seemed to always be filled with filings. The BB/pellet gun for shooting cans (never know when a can is going to jump out at you!). The technicolored pants (bottom left in the stack of clothes) that made me look like Bobby Brady . Ohhh, the memories...

Can anyone top this? I'd love to see you try :)

"Lunch Buddies! That's what they'll call us!!!"

Shortly before Christmas, Prudence and I received a coupon for a free meal at our local Ned Kelly's Steakhouse.  Its a favorite place to eat, but because of the craziness of December, we weren't able to use it then.  It's set to expire tomorrow, so she and I have plans to use it during my lunchtime.  Not the most ideal use of this coupon (it's valued for a meal up to $15 - hard to do at lunch), but we/I would feel like I'm throwing away money if we/I don't use it.  Plus she and I can alway use a getaway meal just to ourselves!

But this brought up a discussion of my lunches.  Some of my favorite stories happen during the lunch hour.  I haven't had much of an opportunity to share them here - partly because they can be long and involved (you really need to know the personalities in order to see the humor in many of them) and partly because I don't think I "own" many of them, so I don't feel like it's my job to share them.  Not that I've been immune to being the butt of jokes - I'd say I'm probably 1 or 1a in that department - but they seem to belong to the group.  There have been instances where we've witnessed some strange people, some bizzare exchanges between customers and/or servers (at times its been one of us on the weird end), and have even witnessed people being fired ('member our flannel friend, Bill?  He ALWAYS got us the big pops!).  Maybe I'll share some of these in the future, but today I need to share some of the lunch personalities, rules and quirks so you'll feel part of our group.  Not that I would go and brag about that.  Most people want to have nothing to do with us.  Just think nerds in a fast-food rut that like to talk about bodily functions and all things potty and you pretty much have us pegged.  But just to be sure, let me tell you about a few:

• Chris
  • Likes lunches that are a good mix of volume and price.  Usually goes with value meals, unless the same volume/taste can be achieved by piece-mealing from the regular menu.
  • Always chooses the same thing on the menu.  And its usually the item that they're known for.  If its McDonalds, its a Big Mac.  If it's Wendy's, its the Single.  If its Arbys, its the roast beef.  You find something you like and you go with it.  Forever.
  • The Whopper has fallen from his best burger value in town to probably 3 or 4.  And BK's fries suck.
  • Speaking of fries, McD's are the best.  Very tasty and salty.  Plus McD's has salt that is like white gold.  Yeah, he knows its bad for him, but he's a salt-aholic.
  • It drives him nuts to see people arrive at the register of a McDonalds and STILL not know what they're getting.
  • Usually eats his entire lunch without taking a drink.  This is a bummer because he feels he's missing out on free refills.
  • KFC buffet, Buffalo Wild Wings on Wednesday ($.50 legs), and Ming's chinese are his favorites, but rarely eats there.  More on this later.
  • Earlier this year brought his lunch for about 4 months in a row.  Each day featured a ham sandwich, a bag of chips, a Ding Dong, and an apple or banana.  No deviation.  Unfortunately this led to a burn-out on ham.  And this was from a guy who once boasted he could eat ham every day.  Now he's struggling to come up with another sandwich substitute.
• Ed (also known as "El Cheapo")
  • Driven by cost.  It could be dog crap as long as it's priced right.  He is easily angered if he calulates that someone else's meal cost 3 cents less just because they went with a smaller drink that could have been refilled.  Feels cheated that he didn't figure out until the end of the summer that he could have piece-mealed his McD's value meal with a ginormous $.69 pop and saved $.80.
  • Because of cost, he has a short list of eating establishments.  If its not McDs, Taco Bell, Taco John's, or Sam's Club (1/5 of pizza and pop for $2.72), he's going to complain.
  • He feels guilty for eating the kids pizza meal at Schlotzkey's, even tho it is the same meal as the "adult" meal and is $2 cheaper.
  • He's a pickle only person on his burger.  He inspects each order for traces of other substances.  If there's a pinch of lettuce or a dice of onion, he's going to complain.  Not to the servers but to us.
  • An addendum to the "pickle only" order:  if the pickles are stacked, they need to be redistributed.  If they don't fit on the burger in one level, they come off the sandwich and are never eaten.  This bothers Chris to no end.
  • If a fry has a brown spot on it, he won't eat it.  This also bothers Chris.  But sometimes it benefits him because those will be deferred to him.
  • He has a gentle digestive track.  Almost all foods disrupt it.  And there is usually a rush to get back to the office facilities.
• Pik
  • His diet is much like Ed's.  Burger places dominate (and he's a "ketchup only" dude), but is more flexible.  Almost always suggests Longhorn Smokehouse, but is usually shot down.  Not that we don't like it, it's just fun to do.
  • His teeth are in perfect condition, because he rarely chews his food.  Much like a snake, he uses his esophagus to push the food to his stomach where his bodily juices take care of the rest.
  • Also an extremely fast eater.  He always orders last and finishes first.
  • Has been known to pull into the parking lots eating establishments only to turn around and go to a less popular place, much to the chagrin of Chris.
  • When he brings his lunch to work, he usually eats it at his desk before 10am.  But he usually has the will power to resist buying anything at lunch - something Chris doesn't do.
  • He's usually the bearer of a card or coupon that will save us some cash.  For an entire year we ate once a week at Wendy's for a $.40 savings per meal on a card he bought from some high schooler.  The next year Dave died and prices went up by $.40.  Go figure.
• Rudiger
  • Newest  member of the regular lunch group - primarily because his other lunch buddy moved to Texas.  We were the default choice.
  • Complains about Ed's choices in food.  No chinese, no good mexican, no gyros, no anything else.  I'd say they might come to blows in the future, but that would be too much work for Rudiger. 
  • He is Chris' biggest ally for different food choices, but they rarely have enough power to outvote Ed and Pik.
  • Money is no object when it comes to his choices.  Another conflict with Ed.
  • He can easily be talked into larger, more expensive meal deals by food service workers.  Apparently he's weak minded to their Jedi powers.
  • Typically doesn't "clean his plate".  Chris is baffled by this.
  • He will probably will tire of the group's food choices and stupid discussions and begin eating alone with his cat.

So there it is in a nutshell - my lunch buddies.  Now that you have a feel for the group, look for a future installment of "Tales from the Lunch Line".  But for tomorrow, I'll enjoy a normal lunch with my beautiful wife.  It'll be a nice change of pace :)

Where do I begin?

Man, this blank Windows Live Writer document looks blank! What do I fill it up with? Jean was right on the money when she suggested that I was using a picture of the kids as a "return strategy". Yes, I meant the well wishes and all - and I hope you all had a great holiday season! - but I couldn't really type more than a title and caption. The white space scared me. It felt like my first entry. Might have even been worse - people might be reading it this time! So just leaving the post with a picture of the nice smiling kids (a moment which took nearly an hour to "capture"!) seemed like the easiest thing to do.

But where do you begin after a 3 month absence? It's not like I don't have stories to tell. I ALWAYS have stories to tell. But which ones are "blog-worthy"? Which ones are of general interest? Which ones can I tell succinctly (couldn't do it before - don't know why I think it could happen now)? We'll, here's my attempt to tell the highlights from the last quarter of 2006:

• The Cardinals are World Series Champions! No, I didn't believe in my team. I thought they were lucky to win their division. And they were. I thought they'd get by the Padres, just because the only division weaker than the NL Central was the NL West. And they did. But I was sure they'd lose to the Mets - even without Pedro. But they gutted it out - something they hadn't done consistantly since 2005. Yadier Molina hit the homer that quieted the crowd and Adam Wainwright made the Card killer Carlos Beltran look like a high schooler with hi s nasty12-6 curve ball. Its a game that will go down as one of the greats in Cardinal postseason history. But I thought that was it. There wouldn't be enough gas in the tank to take on the Tigers - especially after they man-handled the A's in 4. One sportswriter even said that the Tigers would win the Series in 3 games. And I believed him. But the Cards didn't. Jim Edmonds started giving out a game ball with each win in the post season. That single act brought the team together in a way no one could predict. That, and the fact that the Tigers' pitchers couldn't field their way out of a paper bag didn't hurt. Yeah, there are a lot of excuses for why the more powerful teams didn't win. But I'm tired of making excuses for why the Cardinals won. This team won 105 and 100 games the previous 2 seasons. They were a good team that finally pulled it together when it counted! And "we are the champions, my friend! And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end!"
• CPAP spells good sleep One of these days I'll chronicle the whole sleep apnea ordeal. But suffice it to say that it's bad when I'm falling asleep during World Series games in which my team is playing - and winning! Come the end of October, I was nearly worthless after 8pm. It wasn't uncommon for me to come close to dosing off at my desk and behind the wheel driving home. Mornings felt like I had just gone 15 rounds with Muhammed Ali. And I wasn't a pleasant guy to be around. On October 23rd I visited with the pulmonary doctor who could refer me to a sleep clinic. Because I have an awesome wife who is always thinking ahead, I already had an appointment scheduled November 1st for a sleep study. The first half of the night they monitored my sleep. During the second half I slept hooked up to a CPAP machine. I didn't notice the dramatic change that Prudence did during her test, so I thought there might be something else wrong. Boy, was I surprised to hear from them 2 business days later with a prescription for a machine! November 7th was my first full night on it. I didn't see a change until about 2 weeks later when I noticed that I wasn't tempted to pull a Costanza and take a nap under my desk. After a month I felt like my old self - for better or worse. Sure, its weird getting hooked up like I'm diving off the Great Barrier Reef and its as unromantic as it gets with both of us looking like intensive care patients. But we have our lives back, and that counts for a lot!
• It was such a good Friday... The Friday after Halloween started off to be a great day. Work in the morning was really productive. At lunch, we saw the van for a local radio station parked at Krispy Kreme giving away free gas cards (worth $10-$200 in gas - you wouldn't know how much until you filled up and checked the balance) and 2 liter bottles of cola. We were the last ones to get cards. Mine was worth $20 and almost filled up my car. After work I stopped by Walmart to check out the prices on leftover Halloween outfits and supplies. Picked up $100 worth of stuff for $30 - including something I hope to use in a post soon! My SIL and her family was going to visit for the weekend and bring pizza from our favorite Chicago pizza place (a mom & pop place called Dominic's). So life was good. That was until about 10 miles from home. Prudence called and said Lance had an accident in the house. We were out of carpet cleaner, so I needed to stop by the grocery store before coming home. When I walked in, the smell hit me immediately - and I was on the opposite end of the house from the mess. Walking into The Boy's room, I found a crap that could have easily been a 3-D map of the Phillipines! Pooh everywhere! An hour later I was finally eating pizza, although it seemed to have a "wang" to it. I'm sure it was just me...or should I say Lance.
• Pork Loin for Thanksgiving Anyone? Thanksgiving had a completely different feel this year. My sister who normally hosts a gathering for my side of the family couldn't get her kids together on a date, so we meet and eat. On Thanksgiving day we were to travel to Prudence's sister's house in Lombard. But at 8am we received a call from her stating that her 5 year old daughter was still sick with the flu from earlier in the week. We had just finished a 2 week pukefest in our house and were still feelin' a little puny. Had it been an adult, we might have been able to avoid contact, but with our little ones playing with her, we figured the odds were stacked against us. Didn't need to do that again, so we stayed home. But SIL was providing the meat - we were just bringing a side dish and dessert. What were we going to do about food? Fortunately we had a pork loin in the fridge ready for the weekend, so we had that on the grill. Delicious! The weather was also spectacular for late November (in the 60s!), so I put up Christmas lights on our roof without a coat. A rare treat - especially when the next weekend brought a big ice and snow storm. Late in the afternoon we went to see "Flushed Away" and filled up on the butteriest popcorn you'll ever find. Black Friday brought another challenge. Prudence and I usually hit the stores starting at 4am with the kids home with a college age kid staying with the kids all day while we finish about 90% of our Christmas and birthday shopping and also take in a movie. The girl couldn't make it this year, so the plan was to leave the kids with SIL in Lombard and pick them up on Saturday. Now with a sick cousin, we had a quandry: could Panda take care of the house and get along with little bro and sis for the morning? She felt as if she could, but we had to get buy-in from the rest of the troops. So Thursday night after the movie we had a family pow-wow about Friday morning. Everyone seemed agreeable to the terms, so beginning 8am on Friday, we started calling about every hour or so to check on things. We arrived home at 12:30 with pizza. Everyone did a great job, so I think we have a new babysitter for Black Friday and potentially other date nights!
• Finally, a snow storm to talk about! December 1st brought a big snow storm to Illinois. The big stuff didn't start until the early morning hours. 40 miles east of us, it was all rain. 20 miles away had mostly ice followed by 4" of snow. Power was out to a number of communities. Hundreds of power lines and poles were down. Trees were down all over the place, including at my buddy Bill's house. We had some ice and a little more snow (6"-8") and fortunately never lost power. It was enough for my work to close its doors. So we watched it come down all morning, ate lunch, then went out as a family to clear drives and sidewalks. The kids and Prudence tried to make a snowman, but could only make a snow pyramid. At about 6pm we called it quits and came in to warm up. We were tired, but it was a good kind of tired.

Christmas and New Years were fairly uneventful. 100+ Christmas cards were mailed (thank goodness for address databases and mailing labels!), many presents were wrapped and exchanged, plenty of Lego Star Wars and ATV Offroad Fury 2 on the Playstation 2 was played, and we watched the ball drop in Times Square from the comfort of our living room.

That about brings you up to speed on the 3 Hour Tour household. As you can see, I got over my fear of the white space:) Hopefully you can use this post as a sleep aid - its much cheaper than a CPAP machine! And if I learned anything from writing this post, it has taught me is to never be this tardy again! 3 months is too long. More to come soon. Very soon!