Dec 29

It finally snowed!!!!! This was a very weird year. It usually always snows before Halloween. But, this year, we got nothing until today. I’m blaming it on my brother. He moved to Denver earlier this year and he really likes the snow. If you ask him, he’ll tell you the same thing. Now, we just have to get the people of Denver to remember how to drive in the snow. There were so many accidents today that the news just threw out a number instead of outlining some of the worst ones. It’s supposed to continue into tomorrow, so it’s going to be a frosty New Year’s Eve. They shoot fireworks off of the top of the building across the street from where I work at midnight. Usually a ton of people show up. I wonder how many hard core partiers are going to be there tomorrow night. Yesterday, the news was saying we were going to get a foot downtown, but it wasn’t that bad. I did have to drive to work the whole way in second gear, but most of the roads were being plowed. The worst part is the side roads.
I swore off beans a long time ago, I’m sure you can guess the reason. Well, I had a microwavable dinner that was supposed to be barbeque beef brisket. The cover looked really good. I didn’t look at the whole picture, because more than half of it was beans. I can already feel it building. I feel sorry for the guy that has to work with me tonight. No matter what state you are in, if you hear a loud explosion, don’t think it is New Years coming early. It will just be me.
I made some good headway last night. I finished chapter 22 and 23. I’m going to start 24 today. And, last night, I couldn’t get the next three chapters out of my head. I don’t think I can finish three in one day, but I need to get them down before I lose them. I’m putting in Quiet Riot, Ratt, White Lion and Great White into the playlist for background music. That should keep the juices flowing.
-Thom

Dec 29

All right, this is the last time I’m going to mention Subway breakfast sandwiches, unless I go again and get another incredible one. This time, I went and got a flatbread foot long and I put onions and southwest sauce on it. Yes, it was mouthwatering. I even dreamed about it after I ate it. So, I’m going to have to not go there again for a while so that I don’t wear it out.
My imaginary person I created to cheat at Farmville on Facebook friended my youngest daughter just to see if she would accept a friend from a stranger. Can you believe it, she accepted. Now, I’m going to have to send her weird messages from him. No, just kidding. I wouldn’t do that. But, when I confronted her about it, she said that she has all of her friend messages redirected to her phone and she just automatically accepted him without looking. A likely story, but she probably did. So, I told her to make sure she checks from now on. Maybe I’ll make up another one to see if she’ll do it again.
Today was a lazy day for me. I think the only meaningful thing I did was go get my granddaughter. I didn’t even drop her off. But, it wasn’t my fault. My wife and her parents and the kids and a bunch of cousins were over making something that I can barely say much less spell, so I’m not going to even try to guess. What they are, are deep fried homemade tortillas coated with a light sprinkle of sugar. They are very good and very crumbly and I usually get them all over the place when I eat them. Since they were all doing that, and I can barely find my way from the stove to the refrigerator in the kitchen, I went into the living room upstairs and watched TV. I must have seen every episode of Two and a half men while they were all slaving away downstairs cooking. I actually thought about going down and lending some moral support, or even watching the baby. But, as the next episode came on, I rolled over to the other cheek and decided against it. Yeah, I’m a bad dad, husband, and grandpa.
I’m getting a little upset about one of my nephews. His name is Josh. If anyone is reading this you can tell him that I’m upset. I still have a set of my books to give him as a Christmas present. I called him on Christmas. I was going to bring them down or he could come spend Christmas dinner with us and pick them up. He doesn’t have a car as far as I know, and my son was going to pick him up. But, he spent the holiday with his new girlfriend and her family. Later, I asked everyone where he lives, because he moved and I don’t know where it is. But, no one can tell me. I might have to break down and call him again. But, that would be too easy. I think it will be more challenging if I continue to ask strangers on the street like I have been doing.
I cranked out a short chapter yesterday and a regular one, so I’m on chapter 22 today. I’m putting the radio on in the background because I told you earlier that I’m being lazy today and I don’t want to go through the song list to guess on what I want to listen to today.
-Thom

Dec 28

This isn’t the way I usually start this, but everyone has to go to Subway to get a breakfast sandwich. Either I’m tired of McDonalds or Burger king or whatever, but when I dropped off my wife at work today, we stopped off at a new Subway that opened up near her building. I didn’t even know they had breakfast sandwiches or were open that early. But, we went in and I was looking over their breakfast menu. There wasn’t a lot of stuff, so I ordered one with turkey, ham, and bacon on wheat. My wife got the same thing but on flatbread. I assumed flatbread was going to be a tortilla. It wasn’t. It was more like a Panini. Well, they put them in the same bag and when we split them up so that she could go to work and I could go home, we mixed them up. I have to tell you, that flat bread sandwich was the best breakfast sandwich I have ever eaten. It’s ten thirty at night right now, and I’m still thinking about it. I might have to take my wife to work tomorrow instead of going to sleep just so that I can get another one. This time, I’ll get one with onions and southwest sauce on it. My wife had tomatoes and jalapenos. (Even when you scrape them off, you can still taste them. Still, the sandwich was incredible)
This is how I should have started the blog. My daughter signed the papers today to go into the Army. She officially belongs to the government now. If you’re familiar with Denver, you’ll appreciate this, if not, you can just skip ahead. We live within the city limits of Denver. But, we used to live up north in Thornton. And, I used to pass a recruiting station every day when going back and forth to work. So, I was very familiar with where it was. So, when my daughter told me she wanted to go into the military, we went there instead of trying to find somewhere closer. So, to get to her physical, she went up there. They then bussed her down south into the tech center which is about an hour away by car. She spent the night there in a motel where they gathered everyone from around the state that was enlisting. Then, in the morning, they bussed everyone into downtown Denver to take their physical, sign their papers, and swear them in. The MEPS center is less than five minutes from our house. She could have just walked there and saved everyone the trouble.
My eldest daughter is very excited about going in and I’m very very proud of her. She’s going to start as an E3 because of her JROTC experience. She’s going to Ft. Jackson North Carolina for boot camp and then Ft. Jackson Georgia for her MOS training. She also has her reserve duty station here in Denver after that. While she’s finishing high school, she can report to her duty station and work there whenever she wants and get paid for it. She’s already got enough credits to graduate, but she wants to finish out the school year so she can attend her prom and military ball.
I found out that the new company that I work for might not be living up to all of their promises. There have been many things so far, but the most important is vacations. They sent us a handbook out and said that instead of giving vacations, they were only going to give a $200 anniversary bonus. That really sucks. I’m going to need a vacation to go see my daughter’s boot camp graduation and to take my wife on out 20th year anniversary. The boss is looking into it for us. It had better be good news.
Well, I better get started at work. Until tomorrow
-Thom

Dec 27

Christmas went great. There were a bunch of little problems leading up to it, but when the day arrived everything went very smoothly. Both of the girls received laptops. My youngest managed to download a virus on the first day. (We’re so proud.) It was a system tool virus. In fact, it was a system tool 2011 virus. Whoever made it upgraded it. It was a nasty one to begin with, and it still is. I pulled it off, and warned her how to avoid it in the future. My son received a charcoal grill. He likes cooking outside. It has a main grill and a little sidecar grill. We placed it under the stairwell at his apartment about two weeks ago, because it was too big and we didn’t have any place to hide or store it. His apartments require all of the grills and bikes to be housed under the stairs. We locked it up and were planning on putting a big bow on it. I was going to wrap up the key to the padlock inside a huge box. But, none of that happened. I put the padlock keys in my jacket pocket and then tossed my jacket into the backseat. Yep, they slipped out and I lost them. My eldest daughter found them and put them somewhere, but couldn’t remember if it was in her pocket or inside the car somewhere. We searched and searched but couldn’t find them again. On Christmas Eve, we brought one of my granddaughter’s presents down to their apartment, but remembered that we forgot the bow after we got there. Luckily on Christmas morning, the kids came down to our house to unwrap presents. While they were loading the baby’s gifts into their car, my daughter in-law found the keys lying in the alley. So, we didn’t have to cut the chain off. My daughter in-law received a new phone. But, we let her have it before Christmas. (She needed it) So, we wrapped the empty box and she had to pretend it was in there. My wife received a Kendle. She also received a bunch of romance books, so she hasn’t used it yet. She wants to get the book books out of the way first. What is really going on is she shares her books with one of the ladies at her job. So, if she starts using the Kendle, she won’t be able to share with her anymore. So, I’m going to be on her friend’s hit list when she finally runs out of books. All in all, everything worked out really well.
Christmas dinner was enormous. We had Turkey, Ham, and Roast Beef plus all of the trimmings. I ate waaaaaaay too much. But, I still managed to cram a slice of pumpkin pie in there somewhere. I’m not really a drinker anymore. In my earlier days, I was probably an alcoholic. I used to drink like a fish. But, I don’t really have much anymore. I remember one of the lieutenants in my company in the Marines tell me that if he drank a six pack a year, he was over indulging. I didn’t believe it was possible for someone to only drink a six pack a year. But, I’m pretty much there now. (It’s weird what age will do to you) But, anyway, my brother in-law brought over a bottle of rum. (He actually brought over several bottles) My wife broke out the cards and we started playing poker. Since it was a special occasion, I had a drink while we were playing. It wasn’t strong and I nursed it for quite a while. But, by the end of the night I had three or four. My wife had about ten. It seemed like we were drinking and playing all night, but when we finally got up so that people could start leaving it was only seven thirty. (Did I mention I was getting old?)
My books were a big hit. I handed out a copy of each of them to all of the families. Between my family and my wife’s family, it was eighteen sets of eleven. (Yes, them puppies were heavy) There is only one set left that goes to one of my cousins. He was spending Christmas with his girlfriend and her kids and her parents. I’ll get them to him as soon as I can. But, I had to work on Sunday so I didn’t get a chance yet. One of my wife’s sister’s boyfriends turned out to be a poetry writer. He turned out to be an ok guy. He asked about how to self publish so I hooked him up with Createspace and Smashwords. He recited one of his poems and it was pretty good. I hope he does well. I’ll put a link on my website to where you can preview his book when he gets it ready.
Woo Hoo, the Broncos won another game. Tim Tebow the rookie quarterback did much better this week than last week. For the first part of the game, they were still making him throw only short passes to the sidelines and little screens. Needless to say we went down by more than two touchdowns before the half. The coach must have gotten a hint by the way that the crowd was booing him that everyone wanted Tebow to open up. It was the second to the last game of the season and they might as well let him show everyone what he could do. The second half was much better. We ended up winning 23 to 24. At least the coach didn’t have him run so much. Last week he ran the ball about ten or fifteen times. If they kept that up, he would have gotten hurt and then where would we be. (He did run in the final touchdown, but he did try to pass before he ran it) The only bad thing that came out of the win yesterday was the fact that we lost the first draft pick. If we lose next week, we might get the second pick. But, I’m going to that game and I don’t want to see them lose. (When is baseball going to start?)
I had to work on Sunday, so since I wasn’t able to watch the game, I was able to get a little farther than I expected on Cutie Pie, Baby Pie. I’m on chapter 20 now. I should be able to get that knocked out today depending on what’s happening. I’ll start it in about four hours. Until then, I better save some stuff for tomorrow’s post. See ya then.
-Thom

Dec 24

Merry Christmas everybody!!!!!
I’m working an evening shift today instead of a graveyard, so I get off at ten, only four more hours. Then I get to be Santa and start assembling stuff. I can’t wait until Christmas morning. This is the first time I’m going to be completely off the entire day in about five years. It’s going to be great.
My last package arrived at the house while I was at work. I was tracking it over the internet. But, I don’t know if anyone was there to receive it. A lot of the time, they will just leave it on the porch. I’m hoping that is what happened. Or, maybe someone was there when it arrived, brought it inside, and then left. I’ve been texting my youngest daughter all afternoon to go and check for me, but she’s out getting the last of her Christmas shopping done with her mom and sister. I was trying to be sneaky by texting her. But, she was in the car a little while ago and called. Unbeknownst to me she had the phone on speaker. I told her to get the box when she got home, take it upstairs, wrap it, and slap a “To Mom from Santa” tag on it. That was when I heard my wife laughing and knew it was on speaker. (I am the worst person in the world when it comes to being sneaky.)
It is so slow at work today that it is a wonder that we have to be here. But, I want that paycheck, so I better stick it out. There are only three hours and forty five minutes left before I’m off now. I think I can tough it out.
Well, I better get going.
Merry Christmas to everyone again!!!!!
-Thom

Dec 23

This is my 100th posting, so ENJOY.
Most of the books are delivered. My wife is going to deliver the last few tomorrow for me and then all of my Christmas shopping will be done. This is the first year ever that my shopping has been done before Christmas Eve. We decided to have my son’s family come over to us instead of us going over there. There is just no way that we would be able to fit all of the presents and all the kids in the car to get them down there. It isn’t because there are hundreds of presents, but there are several really large ones. (One of them just holds a small key to a lock, but I put it in a box that would hold a dresser.)
Not much happened today. It was laundry day. (Yuck) But, we did go out and eat afterwards. We went to a place called Santiago’s. It’s a really good and really small Mexican food place. The last time we went there, we all ordered medium as far as the chili they used to smother their burritos. I don’t know what they mean by medium, but what we got just about set fire to my hair. I can just imagine what hot would have tasted like. So, I ordered mild today. I told him that I wanted it so mild it came out of their oven cold. To me, it was just perfect. To my wife and kids, it was too mild. So, next time, they’re going to get theirs half mild and half medium. (They might have called me a little girl for liking the mild, but I won’t be the one shooting flames out of my you-know-what tonight.)
I created a pretend person on Facebook and I just made him one of my friends. I don’t particularly like playing the games on Facebook, but I’ve been participating on the Farmville one because everyone keeps sending me gifts. So, I thought that I would use my fake friend to send me some stuff to finish my barn. I need some nails or something. So, yes, I’m going to cheat at a game I don’t even really want to play.
I’m taking another day off today. I got into my audio book last night and I need to finish it today. So, until next time, I’m going to get to it.
-Thom

Dec 22

The Christmas cookie decoration was a huge success. Today was the day we invited all of the nieces and nephews from my wife’s side of the family over to frost and decorate Christmas cookies. It was a lot of fun. I had to work during the day until six. When I got home, the little kids had finished their decorating. The older kids were just starting. I managed to snag five cookies before they were all done. Of course mine were the best, but some of the kids might grow up to be artists. They were really good. Some of the others were just a mishmash of frostings mixed together with a ton of sprinkles topping them off. I feel sorry for the person that has to eat them. (It might be me. But, I’ll suffer through it. I never turn down a cookie if I can help it.) After the cookies were done, we broke out a couple of bags of pretzels and dipped them. We used Vanilla for the pretzels because we used chocolate for the clusters. Yep, all kids are going to have to go to the dentist after visiting my house.
After cleaning up, I grabbed a quick dinner and then had to get ready to come back to work. It is surprising how quickly time flies by when you are doing something fun. I’m sure it will drag tonight. But, at midnight, it is payday and I can finally order my last present. I’m going to have to pay through the nose to get it here by Christmas, but it will be worth it. I won’t tell you what it is in case the someone I’m getting it for reads this.
With the lack of sleep, I’m going to take the day off. So, I won’t be starting chapter 18 tonight, unless a bout of unsleepyness attacks me. Otherwise, I’m going to listen to an audio book to pass the time. If I concentrate on it and play a lot of spider solitaire I should be able to stay awake the whole night. Chapter 17 is finished, but I still didn’t get chapter 2 of My Private Dance jotted down. I got caught up in the other one and just couldn’t put it down. Since I’m not going to do anything tonight, I’ll try to get it done on Friday. If not, it’ll be Monday.
-Thom

Dec 21

We made cookies and peanut clusters today. I bought a bag of cookie mix at SAMS the other day. It said that it was going to make 21 dozen cookies. Well, they didn’t take into account the size of my cookies. We didn’t end up with half that many. I think the bag of mix was expecting us to make quarter sized cookies. I had to go to work before the rest of the cookies were finished, but we might be making more tomorrow if there isn’t enough. Then, all of the kids on my wife’s side of the family are coming over to decorate them. We bought a lot of frosting and my mom gave us a bunch of sprinkles. We do it every year and its pretty fun. The kids make a mess and some of the cookies turn out really good. We have some artists in there. We used to do it for all of the kids on my side of the family too, but for some reason it was phased out. I’m not sure even when we stopped. I made the peanut clusters all by myself. It was too crowded to do both at the same time, so I went upstairs to make them. I brought up a folding table, covered it with wax paper, and filled it up with the little delicious chocolate treats. We thought about doing them tomorrow, but if we have to make extra cookies we won’t have the space downstairs. Besides, they need to cool so the chocolate solidifies. If we did it tomorrow, the kids wouldn’t be able to take them home with them. I wouldn’t be too upset about that, it would just mean more for me.
My eldest daughter’s Army physical was rescheduled to Monday. She was supposed to have it tomorrow. But, because of Christmas, the Army is cutting their working hours this week. She’s still excited. She’s going to spend two months in South Carolina and then four months in Georgia. It’ll be the first time she’s been away from home for a significant amount of time, but I think I’m more worried than she is.
My granddaughter came over today, but I didn’t really get a chance to see her. She was downstairs with the cookie brigade and I was upstairs. I usually take her home when I go to work. But, today she didn’t want to go. Usually we can convince her. But, today she made a stand. Of course my wife didn’t put up with fits when our kids were little and she didn’t give in for the granddaughter. Although, she was really tired from spending the afternoon in the hot kitchen making cookies. Still the baby fought us as we got her shoes and jacket on. When we put her in the car, she turned away from me and wouldn’t even look at me the whole trip. (Or, at least the whole trip she was awake for. She fell asleep within a minute of me driving away from the house.) Usually, we talk the whole way to her house.
The lunar eclipse last night was very interesting. From where I was, it didn’t look like a total eclipse. I could still see a little silver on the top. But, I might not have seen the whole thing. I was at work and had to do some work stuff. For some reason they didn’t want me to take three hours out of my schedule so I could gaze up at the moon. Still, it was really nice. The moon looked very far away.
I finished chapter 16 yesterday and I’m starting chapter 17 today. I didn’t get a chance to work on My Private Dance, so I might get that done today. Yesterday there were just too many things going on. So, I’m putting some Ratt, Scorpions, and Aerosmith in the playlist tonight for background music.
-Thom

Dec 20

Great news, my eldest daughter was just accepted into the Army. She took the test for job placement today and scored 47. She is going into communications. She has the physical on Wednesday and she’ll go to boot camp in June two weeks after she gets out of school. She is pretty excited. After two months of boot camp, she’ll go to her MOS training which is four months long. That’ll put her back home around Christmas time next year. She’s going into the reserves so right after that she’ll start college in mid January of 2012.
I brought her down to the recruiter today so that she could take the test. I was excited for her, but they wouldn’t let me stay. It was a three hour test and it wasn’t held at the recruiter’s office. It was held downtown. I’m sure they just didn’t want a bunch of parents hanging around. But, I wished I could have been there even if it was just for moral support. We arrived a little before 8 in the morning only to discover the time had changed to 1pm. That wasn’t fun. It was like icing the kicker in football. (When the kicker is about to kick a field goal and the opposing team calls time out.) She spent the whole week exercising and watching what she ate so that she could lose the six pounds she needed to be in compliance. Even though her mom told me to promise I would make her eat something before we went, I didn’t. She wasn’t going to and I didn’t want to make her feel self conscious, especially if she didn’t make the weight. But, then we get there and have to turn around and wait some more. (She’ll have to get used to that in the Army. Hurry up and wait is one of the military’s slogans.) But, everything turned out and she’s ready to go.
I received the shipment of my latest two books. So, I spent the time while my baby was taking the test building 18 collections of all eleven of my books to give out as presents. I really didn’t think they were going to get here on time, but they were on the door step this morning. I was so happy. Now, all I have to do is deliver them. I was going to wrap them all up in wrapping paper, but I only tied them up in ribbons instead. It still took me a couple hours. It turns out that not only do I suck at wrapping, I can’t tie ribbon either.
I only have one more present to get, and I am going to have to do it on Thursday the 23rd. (Payday) I had arranged for my sister to use her employee discount to get me something for my wife. But, when I sent her the money, it took nearly a week to arrive and somehow I put her maiden name instead of her married name down on the bank draft. Can you believe how stupid I am? Well, no one would cash it, so she had to send it back to me. Hopefully I’ll get it in a day or two and use it to go online and get it myself. There isn’t time for me to send it out to her and her discount wasn’t that much anyway. I don’t think it will come in by Christmas, but that’s what I get for being stupid. If I have to wait until the 23rd, I can go get it at Target. I saw it there for the same price as online, but it’s the next version up which is fifty dollars more. We’ll see how it goes.
I finished chapter 15 on Friday and I’m starting chapter 16 today. I think I’m going to do a little on My Private Dance later on. I didn’t mean to, but I was thinking about it before I took a nap today and it’s going to bug me until I get it written down. So, I better get going if I’m going to get both done. I’m putting on some April Wine, Cinderella, and Cat Stephens tonight for background music.
-Thom

Dec 16

Kind of a mixed day today. I went to turn in my uniforms to my old company so I could get my last check. I was stressing it, because I think there were some from way back that I never turned in and don’t have any more. I couldn’t turn them in until after 1 pm, so when I got off work at 6 am I took the wife out to breakfast and then got to sleep by about 8. Since I was worried about getting my last check, I woke up about 12. When I arrived, they started giving me a hard time, but I just told them I turned them in way back when and they took my word for it. Their paperwork wasn’t really that detailed. The check wasn’t very much, but it was better than nothing. This change over screwed me out of a bunch of money. I was working 7 days with many 12 hour days due to the shortage of people. On the week of the change over, I worked over 60 hours, but none of it was overtime. Three and a half days went to the old company, two days went to the new company and the rest went to the new company on a different pay period. But, we won’t get into that again. I went down to deposit my check and got a little bit more Christmas shopping in. I only have two more gifts to buy. I was searching for the store, but I couldn’t find it. I just looked it up on the internet and I’ll hit it up this weekend. I spent the rest of the day wrapping presents and not sleeping. Needless to say I’m a little tired now. The worst thing is that I have to work the afternoon shift tomorrow so I won’t get to make up the sleep. I can already see a cranky day coming up tomorrow. But, then there is always the weekend.
The baby came over today. I hadn’t seen her in two days. When she arrived, she was a little standoffish. I think she was mad at me for not picking her up yesterday. But, as soon as we started playing, she melted and we had a lot of fun. We were playing a game where she would hide under a blanket so I couldn’t find her. Then, I would ask the room very loudly if she was in the closet or in a drawer and things like that. She would answer that she wasn’t in them. After a few guesses, I would sneakily take hold of the blanket and ask if she was under the blanket and I would pull it off. She would scream and I would tickle her and then we would do it again. Very fun.
The girls and my wife spent most of the evening making burritos to sell at school for the JROTC drive. They are selling them to make money for the military dance. (Too bad they can’t sell them to make money for their dresses)
I didn’t get a response from the support team at Createspace and my books are still in a ‘Queued for printing’ status. It looks like they aren’t going to be ready for Christmas. I’ll just have to give them out as after Christmas presents. I finished chapter 14 yesterday and I’m starting 15 today. I put the radio on a 70’s and 80’s channel for background music. But, if I keep yawning, I might take tonight off. I don’t want to mess anything up.
-Thom

Dec 15

My granddaughter sat in Santa’s lap and took a picture!!!! She will be three on Jan 1st, and so far, she has been terrified of Santa. It’s a long story, but ever since she found out that Santa can be a real live person, she has been afraid of him. In fact, whenever anything goes wrong or something happens, she always says that Santa Claus did it. We’ve been telling her that Santa isn’t a bad guy for a while now. And, now she knows that he brings her gifts and likes to eat cookies. So, after several tries, she finally let us get her close to a Santa at a school carnival. She saw all of her cousins sitting on his lap and taking pictures. With a little coaxing, she said she would do it if my eldest daughter went with her. In the picture, she is looking at the camera, but her body is twisted halfway around so that she could hold on to my daughter’s hand. She looked a little concerned, but since nothing happened and she got a piece of candy for doing it, she decided she could do it without my daughter as long as her cousins went with her. That picture was pretty good. She looked more comfortable. Now all we have to do is get her one by herself with Santa.
I finished chapter 14 yesterday. I’m going to work on Chapter 15 today. Even with all that time I took off, the pieces are still falling into place. I’m not going to estimate a completion date, but I like the way this one is shaping up. I checked on my order for my latest two books and they are still in the queued for printing phase. It takes about a week to mail them here, so it’s getting really close to being too late for me to get them out as presents for Christmas. If they print and are shipped tomorrow on Thursday, I probably won’t get them until next Thursday which is the 23rd. I’ll be a wrapping fool trying to get them ready and then a driving maniac trying to get them to everyone’s house. Because, I work the day shift on Friday so I won’t be able to do anything that day. Then, Christmas is on Saturday. I sent a concerned note to the support staff at Createspace asking if anything was wrong. Usually, they print within a day or so. But, it’s been over a week since I placed the order. If they’re just busy, maybe they’ll move me up in the queue after reading my concerned note.
We finished our Christmas shopping for everyone today. Now, I can sneak out and finish my secret Christmas shopping. I have to work a little overtime tomorrow morning, so if I wake up in time, I’ll get it done tomorrow. I’ll use the old excuse of having to go to my old company to pick up my last check, which I really have to do.
I’m putting some Blondie, Duran Duran, Led Zeppelin, and Rush into the playlist for background music while I get going today.
-Thom

Dec 14

It’s been a few very busy days since I posted, so this might be a long one. Let’s start with the Broncos. It was another embarrassing loss. It was a game of turnovers. Unfortunately, it was us turning the ball over. There are only three games left and there doesn’t look like we can do anything except prepare for next year. I still have tickets to the last game of the season against the Chargers. So, even though it doesn’t look like they’re showing up, I hope the Broncos pull themselves together and take a stand on these last three games. We can’t end our season with only three wins. On the bright side, Baseball season is just around the corner. I was looking up the schedule for spring training. The Rockies play down in Scottsdale Arizona. I’m going to try to make it out there for the week of the 6th through the 12th. It looks like there are more home games that week with a couple of away games in the middle. The wife and I are pretty big Rockies fans, so we were thinking about making it an early 20th anniversary. The kids are old enough to take care of themselves and even go to school without us hounding them. It would be nice to have a whole week to ourselves. But, then we were thinking about driving down to Tucson or Yuma and jumping across the border so we can buy the girls Prom and military ball dresses. They’re much cheaper down there, and we could make a day of it. But, if we were going to do that, we would have to take the girls with us. If we did that, it wouldn’t be much of an anniversary. But, we would still be able to go to the spring training games. I guess we’ll see when the time comes.
This was my first whole weekend off in a month and a half, and I spent way too much money on Christmas presents. I always go a little overboard, but it is fun so I don’t plan on stopping. We should have planned it a little better. We bought the baby a bunch of stuff, but we had to take back three of the gifts because the kids already got her the same things. We had even wrapped one of them before we realized we duplicated it. I worked a day shift on Monday so that I would have the whole day off today to sneak out while the kids were at school and Maria was at work. But, we still have a few gifts to get everyone and I know I would have made some more duplicates. So, I held off and will arrange another sneaking out later.
I’m still waiting on Createspace to ship my latest two books. If I want to get them out to everyone before Christmas, they better hurry. I put the order in early last week and they still haven’t shipped it. I’m getting a little worried. It usually takes about a week after they ship it and with the holidays, they’re cutting it very close.
My eldest daughter found out she could graduate early. So, she was thinking about joining the Army and being out of boot camp by the time high school ends. But, that would mean that she would miss her prom and the military ball. So, she’s going to stick it out. On the 20th, she gets to take her placement test to see what types of jobs she is qualified for. All of the teachers at her school are helping her study for the ASVAB. Her only problem is that she has to lose 6 pounds before that Monday or they’ll have to reschedule it. She has to be fewer than 122 for her height. Everyone is trying to help. There isn’t any visible candy or cookies anywhere and everyone is giving her advice on what to eat and how to exercise. We even went to a barbeque on Saturday where there was chocolate cake. It looked like she wanted some, but she didn’t even try to sneak a taste. We’re trying to keep her from burning herself out, but she’s exercising like crazy. We bought her a scale and she lost two pounds over the weekend. I’m sure she’ll make the weight by Monday.
My niece had a birthday on Friday. I had to work all day, so I wasn’t able to go. The wife and the kids were going to go, but I’m not sure if they did or not. There was a little confusion about whether she was going to have a little party or not. The kids said that her boyfriend sent a text saying it was on, but my wife received one from her saying that it was canceled. Either way, no one knew where it was. She moved in with her boyfriend recently and no one knows where he lives. Either way, Jen, if you read this, Happy Belated Birthday. Speaking of parties, we’re going to have a Christmas party with the family on this Saturday, the 18th at my brother’s house. I don’t think that there would be any way to get us all together on Christmas. So, it works out better. We’re going to try something different this year instead of a Secret Santa. My brother called it a White Elephant. He explained it to me, but I’m going to have to give you the details on Monday because both of us came away with different ideas of what it was. I think my brother is just trying to confuse us.
I had a miserable day at work on Monday, so I didn’t do anything then or over the weekend. But, I finished chapter 13 on whatever day I worked on it. I’m going to work on 14 today, to get my mind back on track. I need to stop slacking off. It isn’t going to be a long book. But, I haven’t been putting my all into it. I’m blaming Christmas as a distraction.
Well, I told you it was going to be a long one. I better get to work, so until tomorrow…
-Thom

Dec 09

The new company that bought the contract at work isn’t instilling much confidence. Their pay period didn’t line up with our old company, so today was our first payday and it only covered two days. Well, they managed to mess that up. Most people didn’t get their correct pay rates and several others didn’t get a check. I didn’t get a check stub so I don’t know for sure if I got paid correctly or not. The money seemed pretty low, but they might have taken out the first installation of insurance. So, I’m going to have to wait until tomorrow when the stub comes in the mail to find out what’s going on with me. Of course with everything that was going on, my boss felt it necessary to wake me up again in the middle of the day. That’s two days in a row. I’m never going to get a full day’s sleep.
I brought my eldest down to the army recruiter. Everything went really well except for her weight to height ratio. She’s only 4’9” so she is really close to the cutoff and she needs to lose 6 pounds before the 20th when she goes in to take the job placement test. On the other hand, she took the pretest just to see where she’s standing and she received a 42. The recruiter said that the average score is 31. So, she should be qualified for the jobs she’s looking for. (Psychology and engineering) My wife went with us and she had a good time. The recruiter showed her a table of army stuff and told her to take what she wanted. Well, she came away from there with a huge bag of stuff. I wasn’t paying too much attention when we got home, but there were at least eight or ten shirts and some ball caps and knickknacks.
I didn’t get anything done on chapter 13 yesterday, so I’m definitely going to get it done today. And, speaking of which, I better get going.
-Thom

Dec 08

Kidnapped and the Great Detective are finally live. I approved the proofs today and they are up for sale, just in time for Christmas. I haven’t updated my website yet. I was just starting when two of my nephews came over to use the computer to do their homework. So, I’ll do that tomorrow.
I finished chapter 12 yesterday, and I was going to start 13, but for some reason it was hard to stay awake. I didn’t want to mess anything up, so I stopped there. I’ll get to chapter 13 today depending on how much stuff I have to do.
Tomorrow is the big day for my eldest daughter. We’re signing her up for the army. She has been back and forth on whether she should join first and then go to college or to go to college and then join. Finally, she decided on joining the reserves so that she can get boot camp out of the way and then go to college. They’ll sign her up as an officer and pay for most of it and then she will go in as an officer. The only drawback is that she is required to sign up for six years. But, since it is what she wants to do, it isn’t really a drawback. I’ll let everyone know how it goes tomorrow.
The JROTC bake sale went well. The girls made enough money to hold their JROTC military dance. Now, I just have to come up with the money to buy their dresses. My eldest was asking about her prom dress today and after I agreed to buy it for her, she told me it would be about five hundred dollars. (Yep, my mouth fell open right then too) I think we might have to shop around on the dresses, especially since they both have two events, the prom and the military dance where they both need two dresses that they are only going to wear once. But, I’ll worry about that after Christmas.
Well, I have some actual work to do before I can get going so I better get to it. I’m putting some Boston, Chicago, and Heart in the playlist for background music tonight.
-Thom

Dec 07

Well, not much happened today. I had to stay over at work for an extra four hours. There was a big inspection and my boss wanted to have extra people just in case. So, I stayed. The thing was that he wanted me to be available and not do any of the regular work. Since nothing happened, it was a pretty long and boring four hours. But, they’re paying me for it so I can’t complain.
There was something good that came out of it. Since I didn’t get to sleep until after eleven, I slept until nearly seven. During that time, my wife and girls went to do laundry. So, I skated out of that for another week.
With the long day, I finished chapter 10 and 11 last night. So, I’m going to work on chapter 12 today. But, I did a dumb thing. I brought the last Harry Potter audio book to work. I keep telling myself that I’m just going to listen to it for maybe an hour a night at the end of the day. That way, I can work on what I’m supposed to be doing. But, that didn’t work the last few times. I ended up putting everything on hold and listening to the whole thing. And, since I went to see the latest Potter movie, I kind of have it in my head. The movie was pretty good. It hit on most of the major points of the book, but I wished it would have only been one movie instead of two. I hate it when they do that. But, if they didn’t, they would have cut it to shreds like they did with most of the others.
Well, time to get to work. I’m putting in some Night Ranger, Queen, and Eagles into the playlist for background music. It should be a good night.
-Thom

Dec 06

Well, they finally did it. The Broncos fired Coach Josh McDaniels. We lost by four points on Sunday against the Chiefs. I didn’t get to see the game, but I heard it was back and forth. The score was ten to six so at least it wasn’t a blowout. We’re officially 3 and 9, it’s the worst season we’ve had in I can’t remember how long. We have no chance to get into the post season, so we only have a month of football left. I don’t know who they are going to get yet, but we need to start working on next season right now. That’s pretty sad when you are looking forward to next season when it is barely December. But, what else is there to do. I still have tickets to the last game of the season against San Diego. It won’t mean anything, but I’ll be out there rooting them on.
Instead of watching the football game on Sunday, I was out Christmas shopping. It was my first day off in a month and a half, so I was anxious. Unfortunately, I was a little too anxious. I spent so much money it isn’t even funny. And, I didn’t really get all that much stuff. We did get two of the big presents out of the way. We usually get one big present for the kids and then a few little ones. I’m in charge of the stockings, so I got them out of the way with first. But, even when you are putting in the little dollar candies and two or three dollar trinkets, when there are seven stockings you have to fill, those things add up. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But, I nearly blew my budget in one day. I’m going to have to be much more careful during the rest of the month.
I didn’t work on chapter 10 on Saturday. I had to do some things at work and I had to proof read my boss’s homework. But, I was also really tired. Switching from graveyard to days is difficult. And, sometimes it’s hard to sleep at night. Friday night was one of those nights. Then, I was called in early so I didn’t get any sleep until Saturday night. But, when I crashed, I crashed. The baby stayed over and I tried to stay up until she went to sleep, but couldn’t do it. She was lying between me and my wife watching cartoons on On-Demand. I tried putting her to sleep, but she really wanted to watch Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse. I could feel myself dozing and she did her best to keep me up. But I didn’t make it. When the show ended, she woke up my wife who was finally able to put her to sleep. But, I was already gone.
So, I’m starting chapter 10 today. I’m just going to put the radio on in the background, because I don’t want to go through the playlist and choose things. I could just save old playlists, but I never know what I want to listen to until I start. See you next time.
-Thom

Dec 2

I can’t believe my old company. They’ve only been my old company for one day and already they’re giving me grief. After the big switchover, I knew they were going to hold our last check until we turned in our uniforms. But, today was a regular payday and our last payday is on the 16th, for only three and a half days. Of course, I get a call from another former employee in my same boat and she says that the deposits didn’t go in. I check the bank and the direct deposit didn’t go through on mine either. Very upset, I call down there and they say that it was a banking error and all of the direct deposits didn’t go in for the whole company. They are supposed to be in tomorrow. Well, that doesn’t do it for people like me with internet banking. Normally, I have bills going out as soon as the payroll goes in. Luckily it’s nearly Christmas. I got ahead of my bills this month expecting this check to be my Christmas gift check. I could have been over-drafted and then the bank would charge me a fee and I would already be behind without buying anything. Well, all I have to say is it had better be in there tomorrow.
I finished chapter 8 yesterday and I’m going to work on chapter 9 today. I probably shouldn’t have wasted so much time listening to the audio books, but it was nice to have a little break. I have submitted both Kidnapped and the Great Detective for proofs. They should be here in a few days and if they’re ok, they should be up for sale sometime in the beginning of next week.
My youngest daughter is heading up the Toys for Tots charity drive at her school. They have collected a bunch of toys and are looking at the Children’s hospital to donate them. She was on the phone with them all late afternoon trying to schedule a pick up or a delivery. My eldest daughter on the other hand got a ticket in the mail for failure to stop at an intersection while turning right on a red. The pictures they sent us showed a car coming. I know she’s a careful driver, but she’s going to have to be much more careful than that. I had a few good words with her and so did my wife. At least she didn’t get in an accident. My son made it to court earlier in the week. He has his license suspended and if he is caught driving one more time they are going to lock him up for a mandatory 30 days. My granddaughter came over today and yesterday. She’s very smart, and we had a major discussion on Christmas cookies on the way to her house as I was dropping her off. She is still confused a little bit about how Santa lives at the North Pole and is also inside the malls, but she is all set on the cookies. All we have to do now is go out and buy the stuff to make and frost them. We’re probably going to do that over at my son’s house. It will be their first Christmas on their own. We’re going to get a video camera, but we’ll have plenty of stills too.
Well, I better get to work. I’m putting Duran Duran, Rush, Cars, and Men at Work into the playlist for background music.
-Thom

Dec 1

Today was the first day of the new company that took over. There was a representative from our old company and a few from the new one. The big boss came down and a member from the management office. They brought doughnuts and coffee. It was a very well planned conversion. The only problem that came up was kind of a funny one. The new company took over at 0600. (That’s six in the morning for all of you non-military types) In order to convert, two of us had to get off work and two people had to start work. Everyone showed up on time. So, as we were leaving I looked at all of the head honchos. They were all standing around looking like they were lost. There wasn’t anything for them to do, so they just stared at each other. I’m sure it was great moral support seeing them come down and supervise the change over, but all that happened was two guys came to work and two guys left. I don’t know what happened to the doughnuts, because I didn’t get any. But, I’m sure after half an hour or so of standing around looking at each other, someone said “Well, that’s about it, see you later.”
I was really looking forward to having Saturday the 4th off. It would have been my first day off in about a month and a half. But no, I have to work that day. My first day off is going to be Sunday the 5th. Well, at least it probably means that there is still going to be overtime available with this new company. But, the world better look out. I’m going to have a paycheck in my hand and I’m planning on doing some serious Christmas shopping.
I put both the Great Detective and Kidnapped into the self publishing app at Createspace. I’ve ordered the proof for the Great Detective, but as soon as I did, I found a mistake. I was so angry. Now, I had to resubmit it with the correction and wait until it is approved before I can order a new proof. Oh well, at least I saw the mistake. (It was pretty obvious)
I’m going to start working again on Cutie Pie, Baby Pie. With all of the training and the audio book I was listening to, I didn’t get a chance until today. But I’ve been putting a lot of good thinking into it and I should be rocking and rolling on it. I’m going to put in some Christmas music for background music tonight. So, I better get going.
-Thom

Nov 28

Well, another weekend in the books. I had a very full one. We did my side of the family’s Thanksgiving on Saturday. So, I had to go to sleep after work and then wake up to drive across town to my brother’s house and then get all the way back so I could spend another twelve hours at work. It was pretty fun though. All of my nephews and nieces were there with their families along with all my brothers and their families. The only one that wasn’t there was my sister. But, she lives out of state, so she gets a pass. One of my nieces brought along her new boyfriend. He looked familiar, but I don’t think I knew him. The only thing that I didn’t like was whatever I ate that upset my stomach. I’m not sure what it was, but everything I ate, was good. Still, I was in the bathroom half the night with that dreaded affliction ‘diarrhea’. But, I survived and today is a new day.
The Broncos didn’t fare very well again today. They had a bit of bad press over the week. Their coach McDaniels was fined for receiving video about one of the other teams. So, he got a fine. If the Broncos would have won today, we might have overlooked the video. But, no, we lost again 33 to 36. It was close, but we really need a win.
I received The Great Detective back yesterday from the editor and I have started the ball rolling to self publish. Of course, I had to resubmit it again today. I misspelled one of the names in the dedication. That would have gone over really good. I dedicate it to someone and then not getting their name correct. So, I spent the first part of the day correcting it. Also, Kidnapped will be back tomorrow from the editor. So, I’ll get that one started then also. So, barring any unforeseen difficulties, I should have both of them ready after the first week of December.
Well, I also only have six chapters left in the audio book left. So, my lazy days are over and I’ll get back to work on Cutie Pie, Baby Pie on Monday. Until then, I better get to listening.
-Thom

Nov 26

Happy day after Thanksgiving. It was a long night last night. I couldn’t get to sleep this morning, the baby spent the night. I thought I moved around a lot, but she tried her best to kick me off the bed while she slept. Then, the moment she woke up, she wanted to watch Mickey Mouse. Luckily, my youngest daughter scooped her up and took her into the other room. But, three o’clock came very early after that.
Then, before work, the baby got her fingers stuck underneath the bathroom door. She liked to do that at our old place. Whenever someone was in the bathroom, she would slide her fingers under the door and yell for whoever was in there to touch them. Well, I guess this door is closer to the floor than the other one. She slid them in and then started screaming when she couldn’t get them out again. Since the door opens outward, I couldn’t open the door to help her. Luckily, my wife was close at hand. She got her out and I could hear her crying and saying that grandpa hurt my fingers. I tried to tell her that it wasn’t me, it was the door, but I don’t think she understood.
My wife and the girls are going to the movies while I’m here at work slaving away. But, it’s been a long time since we’ve gone to the movies. It looks like I’m going to finally get a day off on Saturday the 4th, so I’m hoping to do something fun. Maybe I’ll take them all out to the movies.
I’m still listening to an audio book today, so still no work on chapter 7. Maybe, if I’m not so lazy later on, I’ll get some work done.
-Thom

Nov 25

Happy Turkey day everybody.
I had a really good Thanksgiving. We had all of the usual dinner selections. Of course I ate a little too much. And, I even snuck a few pieces of pumpkin pie for tomorrow. It did go quickly.
It looks like I’m going to take another few days off. I brought the next Harry Potter audio book in and I’m already listening to it. So, that means that I’ll have to start chapter 7 when I get done with it. I will force myself to not bring in the last book.
So, that means that this is going to be a short posting. Until tomorrow when there should be more news, Happy Thanksgiving again.
-Thom

Nov 23

I got an email from my sister. She works for Amazon.com so she’s working a lot of overtime like I am. Thanksgiving and Christmas are her super busy times. If she ever gets a day off, she’s going to buy a house. She fell into some money and even though she lives in Nevada, she didn’t win it at Vegas. She got it a few months ago. If it were me, I would have already spent it. But, she’s been able to hang on to it. I think she’s going to get it sometime after the first of the year. Hopefully, she’ll have it when she comes out to Denver for her daughter’s college graduation. But, that’ll mean that I’ll have to pack up the wife and kids and take a trip out to visit. I’m not sure how long she’s been in Nevada, at least ten years and I still haven’t gone out there. (Bad brother)
My granddaughter woke me up today. She likes doing that. Whenever she comes over, waking me up is the first thing she wants to do. So, we played with her dolls for a little while my wife took my youngest to the doctor. She’s been having some very severe headaches. They must have given her something good, because when they got back, she was looking much better. Then, we all went to the store. We were supposed to be shopping for groceries, but I was really scoping out the Christmas stuff. It looks like I have only another week and a half of ‘seven days a week’, and I’ll be able to do some real sneaking around for gifts then.
The baby wanted to be babied, and I was the right person for the job. But, she gets heavy after a while. So, I talked her into walking by showing her all of the toys she might get for Christmas. Since she wanted everything, I’m hoping I didn’t create a monster. There might be one or two of those presents under the tree, but Santa can’t afford all of them. She was particularly interested in a rocking horse that made horsie noises. That one might be in her future.
Like always, I was being very careful at the store. But, if they didn’t want me to spill my ice tea, they shouldn’t sell them inside the store. I made it all the way up to the register before I spilled it. Fortunately, it didn’t get all over me, but unfortunately, it did get all over the shoes of the person behind me. (When that lady woke up this morning, she should have realized that I was going to get to the register before her and I was going to be juggling all of the stuff we bought and the granddaughter. She should have stayed in bed)
I finished chapter 5 yesterday and I’m starting chapter 6 today. I’m putting in some Styx, ELO, and Chicago in the playlist for background music today and it’s time to get going.
-Thom

Nov 22

Well, the Broncos winning streak only lasted one game. We lost today 35 to 14. When they came out, on our first drive, we took it down the field easily and scored. After that, I thought that it was going to be a good game. But, no, after that, it was all San Diego. The only good thing that happened during the game was when my granddaughter came over so we could play. I didn’t get to see her this weekend and she was in one of her mischievous moods. I don’t think she was trying to get in trouble, I think she was just seeing how far she could push us. And, as it turned out, she could push me very far. I always let her get away with everything. I’m just that kind of softy.
I’m still working all kinds of overtime, so I haven’t had a chance to go see my mom for a long time. But today, I had to go out to that area to get my new uniforms for the new company. She wasn’t expecting to see me and it was a nice surprise. I spent a few hours out there and then went to my new company when they opened. It took a while because they couldn’t find my stuff. They had a minor accident and all of the uniforms fell from the racks. Yep, it was a mess in there. But, everything worked out. Of course, I couldn’t fall asleep after I got home. I’m used to sleeping at about seven or eight and then waking up when the wife gets off of work and the kids get out of school at three or three thirty. Then, we have the rest of the afternoon/evening to do whatever. Since I couldn’t sleep, I stayed in bed until almost six. But, there might have been ulterior motives. My wife was doing laundry and laundry is pretty much the worst chore in the world. I would even rather wash dishes than do laundry. So, I accidentally slept through it, shucks.
Speaking of lazy, I didn’t do anything on Cutie Pie, Baby Pie over the weekend. I had planned on getting a bunch done, but I started listening to that Harry Potter audio book and it’s over twenty five hours long. So, it took all weekend and I didn’t do anything. I’m going to start chapter 4 today. And, since I didn’t bring book six in, like I was planning on doing, I should get some solid work in.
I did manage to get the first little bit of my Christmas shopping done. It was only a few stocking stuffers, but it was still Christmas shopping. I can’t wait until the weekend of the 4th. That should be my first day off in over a month and I’ll be able to get a lot done. My editor still hasn’t sent back anything from either Kidnapped or the Great Detective, so it’s going to be close getting them self published and wrapped up with the others to give out as presents. But, if I can get them back by this weekend, I should be able to squeeze them in. And, after speaking with her, it looks like they should be ready by then.
Time to put on some music in the playlist and get going. I think I’m going to put in a bunch of Pink Floyd and have a Floyd night.
-Thom

Nov 18

Well, I was lazy yesterday and it looks like I’m going to be lazy today. When I started writing chapter 4, I wrote a page and then deleted it, started over, wrote the page again and deleted it. Giving up for the day, I spent the time listening to the 5th Harry Potter audio book. Since I didn’t even get half way through, I think I’m going to finish it today. That’ll give me a chance to go over the chapter in my head so that I can get it right.
My wife paid the bond to get my son out of the clink. As long as he shows up to his court date, he should be ok. As it turned out, he was going to a job interview when he was stopped. Let’s hope they give him a second chance after missing it. My eldest daughter told me today that she doesn’t want to go right away into college. She wants to go into the army first. She had already wanted to go into the army it was just a matter of when. So, we’ll go talk to a recruiter one of these days when I don’t have to work so much overtime.
It was payday today, and I planned on going to the store to get a jumpstart on some Christmas shopping, but it looked like my cold came back. I thought that I had gotten rid of most of it when I first started working all of this overtime. For the last week, I only had a stuffy nose. But, now it’s back. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could just take a handful of cold medicine and sleep it off. But, I haven’t had a day off since mid October. It doesn’t feel as bad as last time, so maybe it won’t stick. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. And I’ll take something in the morning before I go to sleep.
Since I’m not working, I better put the audio book in so that I can listen to it. I know myself. If I don’t finish it today, I will probably be tempted to finish it tomorrow and then I wouldn’t get anything done tomorrow either.
-Thom

Nov 17

Woo hoo, no snow today. It was a long day. My son forgot to go to appear at court and a warrant was issued against him. So naturally, yesterday while driving, he was stopped and taken into custody. So, my daughter in-law wanted to go see what she could do to get him out today, but she didn’t want to take the baby. So, my wife woke me up at noonish to take her down there and to watch my granddaughter. We found the place all right, and I knew that if I took the baby home I might fall asleep because she was dozing on the way back. So, we went to Target to look at the Christmas stuff. Inside the store, she was sitting in the buggy and leaned her little head over to rest it on my hand. She falls asleep, so I’m driving through the store one hand on the buggy and the other holding her head up. There were a lot of Christmas things I wanted to get, and it gave me the opportunity to do a little browsing for gifts I want to get everyone. I stayed in the store for about an hour and the baby didn’t wake up. So, I finally took her home. I managed to stay awake until my wife got off work and took over the babysitting duties. But, the rest of my day was messed up. I tried to stay awake, but I kept dozing off.
It looks like my son will have to spend a few days in jail and then pay a bond, but he should be ok after that as long as he shows up for whatever court they schedule. So, until he gets out, my daughter in-law will have to juggle dropping the baby off at our house and working until he gets out. My eldest daughter borrowed the car today and got into a little bit of trouble. She went over to a boyfriend’s house and was supposed to be back by 8:30. Instead, she left at 8:30. Of course, it was my fault because I was the one she asked. My youngest daughter came home and gave me a cinnamon roll, and somewhere between my napping, she fell asleep. So, she was asleep when I got up and left for work. I’m not sure what tuckered her out, but she was feeling a little sick the last few days. I think it just caught up to her. When she was awake, the baby learned a new song and wanted to sing it over and over and over. It was the one with the ten monkeys jumping on a bed. And, yes, she was so cute while singing it.
Chapter three was a little more involved than I thought and I didn’t finish it yesterday. I will finish it today and move on to chapter four. So, I putting on some Ozzy, Van Halen, and Dokken in the playlist for background music, and it’s time to get started.
-Thom

Nov 16

When I woke up this afternoon, it was snowing. Since I had to work a twelve hour day, I didn’t have a lot of time to get ready before I had to go to work, so I jumped into the shower. When I got out, my wife said that it was really coming down. I got dressed and turned on the TV to make sure everything was set up to record. An episode of Friends was on, so I watched it and then watched the next one right after it. But, since it was snowing I turned off the TV and decided to get going. It might have been a little early, but it was snowing and it was rush hour. I was sure that downtown was going to be crazy. When I opened the door, all of the snow had already melted. As it turned out, it started raining just after the snow and it washed everything away. Still, the sky looked like it was going to unload again, so I got going. Little did I know that the whole city decided to leave when it was snowing, so by the time I got downtown, rush hour wasn’t so bad. I got to work with about forty minutes to spare.
I finished chapter 1 and half of chapter 2 yesterday. I’m shooting for 3 and 4 today. We’ll see how it goes.
My granddaughter came over today. She wasn’t sick anymore and her froggy voice is gone. It was just too cute. I should have gotten a recording of her. (Yep, I’m a grandpa)
Not much else happened, because I was asleep most of the day. I did get on MSN and was looking at the news, and I couldn’t believe what I read. There was a big, ten page article about how much some guy spent on Star Wars stuff over twenty or twenty five years. I read through the whole thing and it was stupid. I thought he was going to have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on movie memorabilia, but in the twenty or twenty five years he only spent three thousand dollars. In all of the books, movies, and toys over the years, I’m sure I’ve spent more than that on Star Wars junk. That will teach me to waste my time reading MSN news.
Well, time to get to work. I’m putting Scorpions, Great White, White Lion, and Ratt in the playlist for background music.
-Thom

Nov 15

Man did I have a bad burrito for breakfast yesterday. I won’t give you the details, but I couldn’t sleep at all today. But, I feel much better now. I can always sleep tomorrow. So, did everyone catch the Bronco game? 49 to 29. We just needed that week off to get our heads together. Let’s hope that they can do that against the Chargers Monday night next week. It was definitely a fun week for Football. The Jets win in overtime with only 16 seconds left, the Eagles spanked the Redskins by more than thirty points. Even the Cowboys won.
I decided on a name for my Sci/Fi mystery. It’s called Cutie Pie, Baby Pie. I drafted out the paragraphs yesterday and I’m going to start writing today. It looks like it’s going to be a good one.
I emailed my sister yesterday. (I’m the worst person in the world for keeping in touch with people) I feel a little guilty about contacting her, because I asked her if I could use her employee discount to help me get a Christmas present for my wife. I’m hoping that she doesn’t feel that I only want to talk to her when I want something. I did have an ulterior motive. I don’t know her address, and I’m going to send her a present this year. I wanted to ask her on the sly so that she wouldn’t feel obligated to get me anything. So, I figured that if I asked her to use her employee discount, I would have to send her the check and I would need her address for that. (If I was a better brother, I would already know her address, but we won’t get into that.)
My granddaughter has a little bit of a cold and it has given her a froggy voice. It’s so cute, I almost want to leave the window or something open when she’s asleep to keep her sick. (Don’t worry, I would never do that.) Yes, it is still snowy here. It snowed again during the day, but it didn’t stay on the ground very long. At least it isn’t snowing at the moment. I really like the snow, but I don’t like driving in it. At least I missed driving in the first snow. That is the one where everyone totally forgets how to drive in it. After the first one, most people usually calm down and remember what they’re doing. There will always be that one guy that drives four miles an hour on the highway, and the guy swerving around him at ninety, but everyone else begins to pay more attention.
Well, it’s time to get busy. I’m putting Chicago, U2, and ELO in the playlist for some background music.
-Thom

Nov 13

Whenever I buy a lottery ticket, (twice a week) I hardly ever get a number. There have been times when I won three dollars, and once I think I won a seven dollar prize, but never any of the big ones. So, when I bought my regular tickets, I didn’t expect anything different. But, when the guy at 7-11 was printing up the tickets, one of them curled around the machine and disappeared. The guy started looking around. He opened the machine to see if it went inside, but he couldn’t find it. I went over to the magazine rack and moved it a little to look behind. I didn’t find my ticket, but I did find one from July. Excitement welled up inside me. I pocketed the one from July and the guy printed a new one for today’s drawing. When I got to work, I was sure that the one I found was going to be a winner. That was how things like that worked. It was someone else’s bad luck that they didn’t get the July one and it was my good luck that I found it. Jumping on the internet, I looked up the past winning numbers and at first glance, it looked like there was a jackpot winner for that ticket. Upon a closer look, it was the next weeks drawing that had the jackpot winner. So, I looked at the numbers and there was only one out of six matching numbers. So, it wasn’t a winner. But, now that I think of it, I know what’s going to happen. There is going to be a jackpot winner this week and it is going to be the ticket the 7-11 guy lost. It will be my bad luck and whoever found its good luck.
My granddaughter came over today. She’s spending the night so the kids can have a Saturday night to themselves. They were talking about making a little brother or sister for my granddaughter a few weeks ago, maybe something will happen tonight and I’ll have some good news coming up. My eldest daughter also went out on a date tonight. As I was talking to her, I just happened to ask what movie they were going to go see, and she said she didn’t know. It didn’t seem to matter to her. Now that I think about it, if there is good news, I hope it isn’t from her. I hope she has a good time, but not that good of a time.
My wife and her mom made homemade tamales today. They do it all from scratch and it was an all day thing. The girls were supposed to help, but they didn’t really do much. But, an auntie and an uncle came over and they broke out a case of beer so they didn’t mind the work as much. Luckily, I worked overtime all night, so I, like the girls, got out of it as I slept.
Well, The Great Detective is done and off to the editor. I’m starting the Sci/Fi mystery today. It sounds like it’s going to be good.
-Thom

Nov 11

Well, it snowed twice now, and it looks like it’s going to snow again. I’ve been a little lax over the last few days about updating my blog. I’ve been trying to finish the Great Detective re-read so that I can get it sent off to get it edited. I still haven’t heard back from Kidnapped. But that should be any day now. I still have one more day for the re-read and it will be finished today. I was thinking about taking a little break before starting the next one, but it looks like that isn’t going to happen. I’ve already have it whizzing around in my mind trying to get me to put it to paper. SO, I’ll start working on it Friday. I don’t have a title for it, but it is a Sci/fi police mystery. It sounds good in my head so I hope whoever reads it will like it.
Time to complain about my wife. (This is getting to be a habit) Well, she came home and I was trying to watch something, but she doesn’t like the show. So, she began telling me about her day. She had a long one. She had to work overtime today too. So, she talked and talked all the way until the commercial came on. Then, she took a break. It was ok. I was interested in her day, but I thought that was the end of it. As soon as the commercials finished, however, she started back in on a different part of her day. For some reason, she continued in that fashion until my show was over. It was a good thing that I recorded it, because I have no idea what happened.
With so much overtime going on, I really don’t know what’s going on with the family and I know that sounds bad. I didn’t even know they were going to be off of school today for Veteran’s Day until they told me yesterday. But, they took the baby to Chucky Cheese and said that they had a good time. The giant mouse still scares my granddaughter. But, one of these days, when she gets a little older and sees other kids excited about meeting costumed people, we’ll get pictures.
Since it’s been colder lately, we turned on one of the portable heaters. As it turns out, those things like to knock out the power. It’s going to be very interesting this winter, because the new apartment we live in above the in-laws place doesn’t have heat. It looks like we’re going to have to break out a loooooot of blankets.
-Thom

Nov 8

Big weekend. Let’s start with the Great Detective is finished. I am going to re-read it beginning today to check for errors and then send it off to the editor. If anyone is wondering how I finished it so fast, it was a real short funny book, and it was nearly done when I finished with Kidnapped.
It was my anniversary today, and my wife’s birthday on Friday. We had a nice dinner at Ruby Tuesday. All of the kids were there and I know we had just had a get together on my son’s birthday, but it was nice to get them all at the table at the same time.
On Sunday evening, we went to Walmart. Before I start, there was a car parked skewed, so I wasn’t exactly straight. But, I was inside the parking lines. We went inside and we had the baby with us, so you can imagine how hectic it was. Tecia brought two of her little toy babies with her because she couldn’t leave them in the car with the windows up. We spent about an hour in there, and after we had checked out, we noticed that there was only one doll. So, my daughter took the baby out to find her. My wife stopped at McDonalds to buy everyone drinks and I went out to load the car. Well, while I was putting everything in the back, a car pulls in beside me and takes a few minutes to arrange itself so that it is straight. When the people got out, the guy leaned over toward me and said that maybe I should learn how to park. Now, I might have put on a few pounds, but I’m still a big guy. He might not have seen me clearly because it was dark. But, he was a skinny guy and he looked real snotty. So, I stood up and glared at him and said that I had a better idea. I said. “How about I beat the crap out of you and leave you on the ground bleeding.” He turned ashen and jumped back. As he was scampering away rather quickly, I could hear him mumbling that he could beat me up if he wanted to. Feeling pretty good about myself, I finished with the groceries and went back inside Walmart to find everyone. I wanted to tell my wife about the little weasel. When I got inside, everyone was trying to calm down my granddaughter. They couldn’t find her baby and she was afraid that a bad man would get her. So, I couldn’t tell anyone what happened and we promised to get her another baby when we go to the next toy store. (Believe me, my wife will, even if it’s her last dollar.)
It looks like a few more people are not going to sign on with the new company, so there is even more overtime coming up. I don’t mind doing it. It will give me extra money at Christmas, but it is kind of getting ridiculous.
-Thom

Nov 5

Happy Birthday to my wife. She is ? years old. (Like I would really tell everyone) She spent her day today working and doing laundry. Yep, I’m a bad husband. I didn’t take her out or anything. But, I have a good reason. I was going to take her out on Thursday, but she went out with friends. I have to work twelve hours today, so we couldn’t celebrate today. I scheduled with everyone to take her out on Saturday, but her mom decided that she is going to make her a birthday dinner. So, I’m bumped to Sunday. So, as it turned out I’m being a good husband by not doing anything for my wife on her birthday. Yeah, I bet that is the only time that I could get away with a sentence like that.
The girls are helping my wife wash clothes today at the laundry mat. Usually, that means that my wife washes and the girls call, text, and play on their phones. But, I gave them a good scowling and a lecture about helping. So, hopefully, they should be helping her. They both were very quick to volunteer to take me to work today so that they could get out of the laundry mat. I hope that’s not a bad sign.
I’m starting chapter 37 today. So far, everything is going according to my final schedule. So, I guess this is going to be a short blog today while I get busy.
-Thom

Nov 4

I went down to the new company to fill out the new hire paperwork and take the drug test. There were about fifty pages worth of stuff that I had to fill out, and on half of them, they wanted my phone number. Well, I never call myself so I don’t know what it is. What I should have done was call my wife and ask her, but I thought it would be better if I put her number down. That way, if they want to get a hold of me to ask me questions that I don’t know (Like what is my pant or shirt size) she can tell them. Then it was time for the drug test. Since I worked overnight, a few hours before I got off, I started holding it. There were two hours after I got off before their office opened, so everything should have been ok. The worst thing that can happen in a drug test is to go there and not have to pee. So, along the way I began drinking a huge 32oz glass of ice tea. By the time they opened, I was hoping that I could do the drug test first because I could have filled up two or three of those little cups. But, the drug test person wasn’t there yet. So, I started signing papers. Finally, when the drug testing lady came in, she handed me a little thin tube a little larger than a lipstick tube. Positive that I could fill up about twenty of them, I asked where the bathroom was. She told me that it wasn’t that kind of test. All I had to do was put it in my mouth and hold it there for fifteen minutes. Of course she had to watch, so I couldn’t run off to the bathroom until after it was finished. By then I was about to explode. They really should have warned us about that. I bet a bunch of people filled up on liquids before they went in there.
My Granddaughter came over today and she was mad at me. We were all lying on the bed having a little family meeting when she started kicking everyone. I caught her little feet and held her legs so that she couldn’t kick and it was like the end of the world. She wouldn’t even look at me until I send my daughters out to get McDonalds. Yep, I’m a bad grandpa. I bribe my granddaughter.
My eldest daughter is spending the night out at a friend’s house tonight. Yes, I know it’s a school night. She’s eighteen and we’ve been letting her go out a little more lately. So far, she hasn’t taken advantage of it. And, she’s responsible. But, we’re going to be getting a new car this month. If she wants to be able to drive it and use it to go out, she’s going to have to continue to be responsible at least until she’s out of school.
I started chapter 35 yesterday. I’m giving myself to the end of next week to have the Great Detective finished. I should be hearing from the editor on Kidnapped by then too. So, very soon, I’ll have all eleven of them finished and up for sale. Well, if I’m going to meet my deadline, I better get started.
-Thom

Nov 3

I made almost the biggest mistake in my life today. I let my wife have control of the remote. It was agony. Every time someone said something, no matter what it was or how insignificant, my wife would turn the volume all the way down so that there could be a discussion on whatever it was. It didn’t matter what was on or if the killer was about to be revealed, she would turn it down. Then, it would take her forever to turn it back up. Someone would say something like ‘Move your feet’. The sound would go off. My wife would say something about it, trying to prompt a discussion. No one would say anything or everyone would just nod or something. She would look around to make sure no one had anything else to say. She would sit there and think about it for a while and then she would readjust the volume. The only thing that could have been worse would have been if it was on a Sunday and I was trying to watch a game. I think I’m going to have to hide the remote on Saturday night just to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again.
The baby didn’t come over today. It was the first full day since the kids moved out that I didn’t get to see her. But, I’ll pick her up tomorrow and then drop her off before I go to work. My daughters had their big JROTC inspection today. They were just five points from getting the gold star for their honors platoon. With the gold star, it would have been honors platoon with distinction. That would have been nice. My eldest won’t get another chance at it, but my youngest will next year.
I have to go down to the new company office tomorrow. They are hiring those of us that want to stay here. We have to sign the paperwork and take a drug test. Since I’m working seven day work weeks, I can’t do it on my day off. So, I’m going to get off tomorrow at six, take my wife to work at seven and then get to the new office at eight, when they open. It’ll be the morning rush hour, but it’s better than waking up early to get down there before they close.
I finished chapter 30 yesterday and I’m starting chapter 31 today. I think I’m going to do like I did the other day and put the whole music library into the playlist and set it to shuffle. It’s much easier that picking a few songs here and there.
-Thom

Nov 1

I slept most of the day today. To say I was tired was an understatement. Sunday was our ‘you have to be out’ by date. On Saturday, I thought that we were done. There was just a little left in the master bedroom, a few things in the kitchen and the bathroom. I figured one load when I woke up and it would take us about an hour at the most. I’ve been working seven day weeks since that last guy quit, so I’ve been getting off at 6 in the morning, taking the kids to school and the wife to work, and getting to sleep anywhere between 8 and 9. Then, I would wake up at 2 or 3. Well, on Sunday when I got off, the kids tried to move something large at 10. It crashed and I woke up. I couldn’t let them move it by themselves, so I started loading the stuff they had packed and that large towel cabinet. Somehow, it never seemed to end. I had planned on waking up a few times during the day so that I could check out the Broncos game. (I’ll get to that in a minute) But, since so much stuff magically appeared, not only didn’t I get to watch any of it, I wasn’t able to go back to sleep.
At 2, we went out to Ruby Tuesday for a Happy 21st Birthday dinner for my son. The TV in the restaurant was strategically located so that I could almost see the ending of the game if I leaned way back and squinted. But, my granddaughter wanted me to hold her and baby her by feeding her. Ok, so I’m a softy. The dinner was really good. I thought it was going to turn out to be more than it was, because of the prices in the menu. But, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. It seems like we went out to Applebees the other day with less people and even thought the prices were a little lower in the menu, we spent more. But, everything worked out.
I planned to take a quick nap during the afternoon game, but my wife had other plans for me. Yep, we had to arrange everything at the new place. (Which, has nineteen steps instead of only fifteen like the old place) It’s still not done. I wanted to take the baby out trick or treating, since it was Halloween and I wanted to take a nap. Neither one happened. We only brought up a tenth of our stuff. We put everything else in storage, but I was still putting stuff up and rearranging things the rest of the night. The only good thing was that I was able to put the Game 4 of the World Series on. I managed to see a little bit of it. Then, it was back to work and getting off at 6 again. Needless to say, I slept until someone woke me up at about 3:30. If my wife wouldn’t have come home, I would probably still be asleep.
Do I have to say anything about the Broncos game? We were playing a 1-6 team. Last week was one of the worst blowouts in football history. We should have come back this week and decimated the 49ers. I didn’t get to see the game, but it sounds like we’ve given up. Now, we’re 2-6. We have a week off next week. I hope that they get their act together and come back like they should be playing. I did hear that out new coach, Mc Daniels might be out of a job if he doesn’t turn the team around. For his sake and for the fan’s sake, I hope he does.
Since I was so tired last night, I didn’t work on the Great Detective. I’m going to get started right now to try and make up a little. I just had a really good idea in the elevator on the way up here. So, I’m just putting on the radio today so that I don’t have to fool with the playlist and choose songs. That’s always one of the hardest parts of the day. There are too many good songs out there. Maybe I’ll put the entire folder in the list and put the player on shuffle. Then, it can pick.
-Thom

Oct 30

Wow, does Comcast suck or what. We had a biiiiig problem with the install during the week and we had to set up another install today because the first guy only did half the job and didn’t hook up the cable to the TVs at all, he just left the wire hanging there loose. As you already know, I’m in the process of moving and working a bunch of overtime. (7 days a week until they hire a new guy) So we had the kids go let the second cable guy in. All he had to do was put cable in two rooms. I’m sure he has done it a hundred times. But for some reason, he was as incompetent as the first guy. I was just finishing bringing a load over when one of my kids came out and said that the guy was only going to set up one room. When I confronted the guy, he looked me square in the eye and said that his work order was only for one install and not two. Of course I called him on it and told him that he was lying. I made him put in the other box. I know it’s not the kids fault, but they have to be a little more assertive or they’re going to get taken advantage of. My wife called last time when the install was screwed up. But, I’m going to put in a complaint into their company office. I used to like Comcast, now I can’t wait to get rid of it.
Most of the move is finished. There are only a few things from the bedroom and the bathroom left to do tomorrow. It’s going to be a very busy day. First of all, we have to finish the move. Then, it’s my son’s twenty first birthday. So, we’re going to take him out for a birthday dinner or lunch depending on what time we finish the move. It’s Sunday, so we have to squeeze a little time in for the football game. Then, it’s Halloween, so we’re going to take the baby out trick or treating. Then, it’s back to work for me. Sometime next week I’ll relax.
I’m starting chapter 25 today. I thought that it would be a problem stopping to finish Kidnapped, but I picked it up right where I left off and it’s trucking along. I have some Guns n Roses, Metallica, Wasp, and Dio on the playlist tonight, so I guess it’s time to get going.
-Thom

Oct 29

I usually work for night shifts and one day shift every week. I like that schedule, because it gives me two and a half days off. While on my day shift, I have the chance to interact with a lot of people. During that time, I talk to everyone. I’m not talking long conversations, but shot ‘how’s it going’ ones. There are a few people that I talk to regularly and some where the conversation extends on to the five minute mark. It was one of the medium conversationalists that stopped to talk to me. She set her bag down and I asked her about her weekend like I usually do, because my day shift is on a Friday. As she’s fixing whatever she was fixing in her purse, she tells me what she’s going to be doing and then she asks about my weekend. I told a little fib. My son moved out two weekends ago, but I told her that he moved out last weekend and this weekend it was my turn to move. I don’t think I can ever remember anyone stopping dead in their tracks before until then. She looked up at me and said. “Your son… Are you married?” I didn’t know it was a secret. I don’t wear a ring, but that it because my finger became bigger as I became older. Before I took it off, I had worn it somewhere between ten and fifteen years. My nineteen year anniversary is in a few days, by the way. When I did take it off, (Which took a lot of effort) it left a groove in my finger that didn’t go away for like six months. Anyway, I told her that I was and as she turned and stomped away, she said. “I can’t believe that I’ve been wasting all of this time.” She continued to mumble as she walked out the door, but I couldn’t hear the rest of it. I had no idea that she was flirting with me. So, if anyone ever wants to flirt with me in the future, you are defiantly going to have to hit me over the head with a brick, because I won’t catch on.
No baseball today, and the only thing that’s been happening at home is the move. But that’s not too exciting. There’s not too much you can say about putting things into a box and taping it up.
The Great Detective is a compilation of short stories all revolving around the Great Detective. Each chapter is a complete adventure. I was able to complete a whole chapter yesterday and my mind has been swimming around the next two. Since I’m working a shift and a half today, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I’m going to be able to finish both of those two chapters today. I’m putting on some Abba, Crystal Gayle, and Linda Ronstadt. I know, they’re all girls, I’ll throw in a few other girl one hit wonders. But, it’s time to get going.
-Thom

Oct 28

I am soooooo tired. From the moment I got up, I’ve been loading the truck and unloading it at the storage place. I thought that we had a minimal amount of furniture. We gave a bunch of it to my son when he moved out. But, it still took me all day to move it all to storage. We seemed to have more bookcases and computer desks than anything else. At least most of it is done. We have some furniture we’re moving into our new place, but it is only temporary so we’re not putting everything in there. (Besides, it is up stairs, and not just up stairs, it is UP STAIRS.) We probably have about two or three truck loads to bring up there, and yes I’m going to be the one hauling everything up all of those stairs. But, I get kind of a break tomorrow. The boss called me in to work some overtime, so I won’t have time to do anything tomorrow. So, it’s Saturday or bust. At least the kids came over and helped today. They did a great job cleaning up and even helping me load a little.
I started The Great Detective yesterday. It’s a fun little book that shouldn’t take too long to write. I’m already a third of the way through it. I sent Kidnapped off to the editor, so I won’t hear anything about it until next week or maybe even the week after. Its part two of a series, so the chances of getting it published are very slim. I’ll still send it out to a couple of places, but it should go straight to self publishing right away.
The Giants clobbered the Rangers again today. Game two is in the books. I didn’t get to see the whole thing, but I did get to see the seventh inning where they made seven runs. It was great, 9-0. The pitching was the key to the game, only it wasn’t the Giant’s pitching. In the Seventh, I think they went through four pitchers and one of them walked the bases loaded and then walked a run in. I’ve only been able to see a Ranger’s game while they were playing against the Yankees. I thought that they would have put up a better showing. We’ll see when they talk the game to Texas. Maybe they’ll rally and make a series out of it.
Well, it’s time to get going. I’m putting in some Scorpions, Pink Floyd, Motley Crue, and Twisted Sister into the playlist for background music.
-Thom

Oct 27

Well, we bought new beds yesterday and we picked them up today. We should have paid the total yesterday. We didn’t because we didn’t bring the truck. Originally, we were just pricing them. But, when we found the bargain we scooped them up. We put down half the money and told them that we would come pick them up this afternoon. Apparently, that was supposed to hold the beds for us. When we got there, they sold the box springs out from under us. They said that they thought that they had more in their inventory, but they were getting more in on Friday. Since we really didn’t need them today, we still have our old ones until Sunday it wasn’t that big of a deal. Unfortunately fate had a different plan. We must have been too understanding or something, because when we got to the new place, we were disappointed again because the cable that was set up that afternoon was all messed up. We have a lot of TV’s We are renting the apartment over my in-laws house and since we are putting cable in, we figured we would string it through their house as well so as not to have two cable bills. Actually, they had Direct TV. They canceled it and Direct TV is charging them to turn in the equipment. Can you believe that, they can’t just drop it off, they send you specific boxes and you have to pay to ship it back. And they say that they have the best customer care, yeah right. But, Comcast is giving them a run for their money. Our kids were there to tell the installer where to put the boxes and everything. We were scheduled to have six. The kids are eighteen and twenty one. They’re not idiots and they know what was supposed to happen. They’ve been there during an install before. The guy that came said that he wasn’t here to install anything. There wouldn’t have been any other reason for him to be there, so he said that he would take care of it. He didn’t have six boxes to put in, so he only installed four and the internet. When the kids called my wife, she called and set up another installation for the other two. When we got there after picking up most of the beds, we found that he just set up the boxes and left them there. He didn’t connect them to the TVs or put the connections where we told the kids to have him set them up. So, we had to call back. This time, we weren’t so understanding. They put my wife on hold for nearly twenty minutes and finally told her that they would have someone call her back so that they could take her complaint. So far, they haven’t called back. I feel very sorry for the person that does call back. I know my wife and she is going to unload on him. So, I spent an hour re-wiring everything. Luckily I’m a computer guy and I have experience running wires.
We took the baby with us most of the day as we were getting things done. She is getting cuter and cuter by the day. We were talking about what we were going to pick up to eat. We’ve been eating out a lot lately because most everything is packed. Usually it is hamburgers, but when I suggested it today, she said that she didn’t want hamburgers because she had them lasterday. I know it’s not hilarious, but it was kind of funny. We ended up getting Popeye’s chicken. It was pretty good. When we got home, my son and I moved the washer and dryer to his new place. It is getting emptier and emptier. We were going to move a bunch of stuff into storage today, but game one of the World Series is also on today. I didn’t get to see the ending, but the Giants were spanking Texas eleven to four. I’m pretty sure that they are going to win. My granddaughter wanted to watch it with us, we were packing and watching at the same time, but since Giambi and the Rockies weren’t playing she didn’t want to see it. Every time a game comes on, she asks if Giambi is going to play. He’s her favorite player. She knows all of the players on the Rockies team, but she’ll stop everything to see Giambi hit. Hopefully he will be back next year and they have a better season.
I’ve sent Kidnapped off to the editor, so it’s time to start the Great Detective. I think I’m going to go over what I have first before I start a new chapter. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything with it and I don’t want to lose or forget anything. I put in some Eagles, ELO, and Queen in the playlist so it’s time to get started.
-Thom

Oct 26

When my wife is at her mom’s house and she says that it’s time to go, the last thing that you want to do is get up. If you do, then you have to find an excuse on why you got up. The easiest one is to excuse yourself so that you can go use the restroom. Or, you can move over next to one of the kids that are always running around so that you can play with them and have something to do. The reasoning behind this is that when my wife says that it is time to go, even if we’re in a hurry, it means that there is still at least another hour or two before she is actually ready to go. I’ve made the mistake of waiting in the car when my wife has said that I just have to drop off something and I’ll be right back. Yep, the last time that she said that, as soon as she went inside I went to a movie. It was a boring movie, so I snuck into another theater and watched another movie. By the time I got back, she still wasn’t ready to leave. We were at her mom’s house today. We were in a hurry. We were just dropping something off and picking up one of the kids. We went inside and they started talking and talking and talking. They’re not speaking English, so I have no idea what they are talking about. But, when my daughter saw that they were sitting at the kitchen table going at it, she went into one of the bedrooms and took a nap. When I say nap, I really mean she got her entire night’s sleep. I have no doubt that we would still be there if I hadn’t physically pick her up and throw her over my shoulder and drag her out to the car. That was when she picked up her cell phone and called her mom so that they could talk the entire way home.
We went and bought beds today. We went and checked the stores on Furniture Row. They had some moderately good deals until we asked if the mattresses were included. The name of the store had the word bed in the title. The only thing they sold there were beds and bedroom accessories. How can a bed store sell beds when mattresses aren’t included? I asked how much the mattresses were and they said that they didn’t sell mattresses. They only sold the frames. Needless to say, we didn’t buy any. We went to a place where everything was included. In fact, we bought three beds for the price of one out on Furniture Row.
The Girls are off for the next three days. Back when I was in school I remember having a spring break, but now they have a fall break as well. I thought that having the next three days off was kind of convenient. We’re moving and have to be out by the end of the month. We’re mostly moved out and there is only the bare minimum back at the old place. Having them around during the day would make cleaning and moving the last of the stuff very easy. As soon as we mentioned it to the kids, they suddenly had plans for the whole five day weekend. But, little do they know that I’m the boss. I’m going to make sure that they put in some elbow grease. After all, they helped mess the place up they should have to help clean it up. I know that they are reading this right now and laughing hysterically, but we’ll see what happens before Monday November first.
I’m finished with the re-reading stage. I’m printing Kidnapped out today and sending it off to the editors tomorrow. We should have results back in about a week or so. I didn’t find any real mistakes. I did fix a continuity error, but it is looking good. It should be on the shelves by the middle of November. I’m putting the radio on in the background because I just can’t decide on what I want to listen to tonight.
-Thom