I scanned the Saturday pictures of our Chuck E Cheese excursion today. I’m going to put them on Facebook as soon as I finish this blog. They came out pretty good. My eldest daughter wouldn’t take a picture with us, so they are only of me, my granddaughter, and my youngest daughter. And yes, these are the first pictures of my new haircut. Or, should I say my lack of hair-cut. For any of you that don’t know. My wife was giving me a haircut when she said whoops, I can fix that. The solution was to give me a buzz cut. But, it kind of grew on me so I got another. I had one when I was a little kid, way back when in the dinosaur days. But, it’s not too bad. In fact, it might even be in style now. I’ve seen a bunch of people with buzz cuts.
Can you believe Carlos Gonzalez? We were in a one to nothing game with the Giants yesterday. Both pitchers were very good. We were in the ninth inning and it didn’t look like we were going to score. We’ve had about four or five games where we didn’t get a run. They’re the worst. But, at the top of the ninth, their pitcher walks Dexter Fowler the first batter. He’s fast, and I had high hopes he could steal a base and then if we got a base hit, he could score. But, even better, Carlos Gonzalez gets up to the plate and he destroys his bat. It shatters into a gazillion pieces and he still hits it over the center fielder’s head. Dex scores and Carlos rounds second heading for third. They try to throw him out. The ball skips into the stands and Carlos gets to trot casually into home. It was great. We won two to one.
I was supposed to go visit my mom today. But, when I woke up to take my wife to work this morning, I just fell back to sleep. I didn’t think I stayed up that late last night, but I think it all caught up to me. She took the car and I didn’t wake up again until noon. Then, when I tried to call my mom and tell her that I wasn’t going to make it, her number went right to voice mail. She was changing carriers or something like that. She gave me a new number to use for 48 hours and then her old number would work again. I called both numbers and only got the voice mail on her old one. So, she’s going to think that I stood her up until I can get a hold of her. And, I can’t do that until she calls with the correct number or I go over there and surprise her. I better take her out to eat or something or she’s going to think I’m a bad son.
I was working on chapter 28 yesterday, but I just couldn’t get into it. I tried working on the Great Detective, but it was the same thing. I ended up listening to the fourth Harry Potter book and playing spider solitaire. I don’t know what was wrong, but I’m raring to go today. I’m working a twelve hour shift today, so I should be able to get it done. If not, I’ll get the meat of it finished. I have ELO, Queen, and Chicago on the playlist and as soon as I get my Facebook pictures loaded I’ll get started.
-Thom
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Aug 29
I had a fun weekend. On Saturday, I took the family out to the movies. We saw the Expendables. It was action packed and there were a bunch of stars in it. The story wasn’t too bad. Jet Li had a bunch of good lines. Then, we walked the mall. (That was the only bad part of the day. There were a million shoe and clothing stores. My wife and the girls hit every one.) We were just getting to the second floor when my son dropped off the baby. We decided to go to Chuck E Cheese. It’s a birthday party place for little kids. They have games and pizza and stuff. My Granddaughter loves it, but is still afraid of Chuck E Cheese. He’s a giant mouse that sings and stuff on a stage while the birthday parties are going on. The pizza wasn’t very good, but we managed to spend a lot on the games. My wife goes crazy for one of the games where you roll the little balls up a ramp to get them inside holes marked with points. She’s pretty good at it and always seems to get the most reward tickets. When she’s playing, she’s in a zone. So, the rest of us take turns taking the baby to play the other games. I got her to take some pictures. I was going to scan them and upload them to one of my websites, but I didn’t get the chance to get to the computer today. One of the nephews came over and the kids were downloading songs all day. Hopefully, I’ll get them scanned sometime this week. I know I’m say things like that, but I’m really going to make an attempt to get it done.
It was also a great weekend for sports. The Rockies took two of the three from the dodgers. I was getting kind of worried when they dropped the first game. It was with our ace pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. We were doing ok until the eighth inning. We were keeping it at 1-0 our favor. Then, they got a run and into a little trouble with base runners. They changed the pitcher and he walked the bases loaded. Of course, they had to hit a grand slam. We were toast after that. But, they made up for it on the next two games. Yesterday’s was kind of close, but today’s game was a runaway. We beat them 10-5. Carlos Gonzalez hit two home runs by himself and even the pitcher got two hits, one to score a run. Then, the Bronco game came on. We were playing the Steelers. We had lost the first two preseason games. But, during those two our first string players didn’t look too bad. Today, they played the whole half and they did great. I think we’re going to have a really good season this year.
I’m going to work on chapter 27 today. I should finish it. If I do, I’ll finish up chapter 18 of the Great Detective. We’ll see. I’m putting on some Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, and Fleetwood Mac in the playlist in the background so I guess it’s time to go.
-Thom
It was also a great weekend for sports. The Rockies took two of the three from the dodgers. I was getting kind of worried when they dropped the first game. It was with our ace pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. We were doing ok until the eighth inning. We were keeping it at 1-0 our favor. Then, they got a run and into a little trouble with base runners. They changed the pitcher and he walked the bases loaded. Of course, they had to hit a grand slam. We were toast after that. But, they made up for it on the next two games. Yesterday’s was kind of close, but today’s game was a runaway. We beat them 10-5. Carlos Gonzalez hit two home runs by himself and even the pitcher got two hits, one to score a run. Then, the Bronco game came on. We were playing the Steelers. We had lost the first two preseason games. But, during those two our first string players didn’t look too bad. Today, they played the whole half and they did great. I think we’re going to have a really good season this year.
I’m going to work on chapter 27 today. I should finish it. If I do, I’ll finish up chapter 18 of the Great Detective. We’ll see. I’m putting on some Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, and Fleetwood Mac in the playlist in the background so I guess it’s time to go.
-Thom
Friday, August 27, 2010
Aug 27
The game is about to begin. I’m at work, but I’m going to watch it on the computer. And, speaking of computers, one of the companies in the building I work at is upgrading their computers. Yep, I was in the right place at the right time. The computers are a little old, but they are still working. I scooped up quite a few of them plus some printers, external drives, monitors, a few laptops and docking stations, and even a plotter. I’ll keep most of the stuff, and then sell the rest to the computer shop down the street. Now I just have to get it all home. My wife won’t be happy. We don’t really have room to set up all of that stuff.
I didn’t work too much on chapter 18 yesterday of the Great Detective. I worked on chapter 27 of Kidnapped instead. I did get a page or two done on 18 and I was thinking about finishing it today, but I’m going to keep track of the game. Speaking of it, there are two outs in the top of the first.
My wife made spaghetti and I’m anxious to get home. As soon as I heard, I got really hungry. I don’t know what I’m going to do until I’m off. My stomach has been growling like a grizzly bear. The girls went to school in their ROTC uniforms today. I need to put a picture of them in uniform on my website. Maybe I’ll add some pictures on my Facebook page.
Well, the Rockies are up. I better close this for today and I’ll post a longer one on Sunday.
-Thom
I didn’t work too much on chapter 18 yesterday of the Great Detective. I worked on chapter 27 of Kidnapped instead. I did get a page or two done on 18 and I was thinking about finishing it today, but I’m going to keep track of the game. Speaking of it, there are two outs in the top of the first.
My wife made spaghetti and I’m anxious to get home. As soon as I heard, I got really hungry. I don’t know what I’m going to do until I’m off. My stomach has been growling like a grizzly bear. The girls went to school in their ROTC uniforms today. I need to put a picture of them in uniform on my website. Maybe I’ll add some pictures on my Facebook page.
Well, the Rockies are up. I better close this for today and I’ll post a longer one on Sunday.
-Thom
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Aug 26
We’re all holding our breath. Yesterday, the Rockies made a spectacular comeback from 10-1 at the bottom of the third inning to a 10-12 win over the Braves. Not only did we sweep Atlanta, but that increased our winning streak to 4. Yeah, yeah, I know that doesn’t sound like a lot to some of you out there, but it’s a notable improvement from nearly a month of win one lose one games. But, the absolute best part of the game wasn’t the score or the comeback. It was the fact that I spent the day with my granddaughter. She is two and a half and she knows all of the regular players on the team. When we were watching, she was sitting on my lap and helping me call strikes against the other team. When our team was up, we played a game where we would rock from side to side singing the player’s name and whether they got a single, double, triple, or a home run. Then, when she least expected it, I would change the words to say “Grandpa gets to tickle Tecia.” Then, I would tickle her and we would start over until someone else got a hit. We also ate chocolate covered raisins and drank orange Gatorade when we were supposed to make sandwiches. (Nobody knows about that yet) Now, we’re holding our breath, because whenever we have a day off, like today, the team has been forgetting how to pitch and bat and we end up losing. So, if we’re going to have a shot at the wild card, or dare I saw take the National League West, we need to come back and really trounce the Dodgers. Then, we play the giants right after that. We’re only five games down from them. If we take all three, we’re going to be in spitting distance. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but it’s a little too late for that.
Speaking of sports, my wife got me tickets to the Broncos game against San Diego for my birthday. I know what you’re thinking. It’s not my birthday yet. But, her job was selling tickets buy one get one free. So, she got me a set and said to not expect anything on my birthday. She tried to get the game against the Colts. It’s a sooner game. But, the people in her office made a mistake. They deducted the price out of her check and gave the tickets to someone else. To make it up, they gave her the ones against the Chargers. They asked if she wanted them to hold them for her or mail them out with her check stub. Of course she took them now. If not, they would have probably sold them to someone else and charge my wife again. You know how the people in the office are. But, I got them in the mail today. (Yes, I open her mail) and I have them in my greedy little hands.
The girls are doing well in school. My oldest is having trouble with her Spanish class and my youngest is having trouble with her calculus class. Since I can’t do either, I can’t mess them up even further by trying to help. But, my wife can read/write/speak Spanish and my oldest is a math whiz. So, everyone is being helped. They brought home a plaque with their ROTC medals and a picture of them from camp on them. They looked really sharp. I asked my oldest if she is still planning on going into the Air Force. She’s still considering it, but she might be wavering. She still has the whole year to figure out what she wants, so I’m not pushing even though she could get her whole college paid for. (Keeping my fingers crossed) My son, daughter-in-law, and my granddaughter are still planning on moving out and getting their own place in October. It will be really good for them. She’s working at a Subway now and he’s still looking for a job. I heard that average people are out of work for seven months before finding a new job. It’s been longer than that for him, but I’ve been seeing a lot more ‘Now Hiring’ signs. I’m sure it will work out.
I finished chapter 26 yesterday and started chapter 27. But, my mind wasn’t into it. I think I’m going to have to review what I wrote and change it up a little. I was thinking about some other stuff and just couldn’t focus. I’ll definitely go back and check to see if I didn’t mess anything up tonight. But, I think I’m going to work on chapter 18 of the Great Detective today. It popped into my head this morning and I want to get it down. I have the radio on in the background so I better get started.
-Thom
Speaking of sports, my wife got me tickets to the Broncos game against San Diego for my birthday. I know what you’re thinking. It’s not my birthday yet. But, her job was selling tickets buy one get one free. So, she got me a set and said to not expect anything on my birthday. She tried to get the game against the Colts. It’s a sooner game. But, the people in her office made a mistake. They deducted the price out of her check and gave the tickets to someone else. To make it up, they gave her the ones against the Chargers. They asked if she wanted them to hold them for her or mail them out with her check stub. Of course she took them now. If not, they would have probably sold them to someone else and charge my wife again. You know how the people in the office are. But, I got them in the mail today. (Yes, I open her mail) and I have them in my greedy little hands.
The girls are doing well in school. My oldest is having trouble with her Spanish class and my youngest is having trouble with her calculus class. Since I can’t do either, I can’t mess them up even further by trying to help. But, my wife can read/write/speak Spanish and my oldest is a math whiz. So, everyone is being helped. They brought home a plaque with their ROTC medals and a picture of them from camp on them. They looked really sharp. I asked my oldest if she is still planning on going into the Air Force. She’s still considering it, but she might be wavering. She still has the whole year to figure out what she wants, so I’m not pushing even though she could get her whole college paid for. (Keeping my fingers crossed) My son, daughter-in-law, and my granddaughter are still planning on moving out and getting their own place in October. It will be really good for them. She’s working at a Subway now and he’s still looking for a job. I heard that average people are out of work for seven months before finding a new job. It’s been longer than that for him, but I’ve been seeing a lot more ‘Now Hiring’ signs. I’m sure it will work out.
I finished chapter 26 yesterday and started chapter 27. But, my mind wasn’t into it. I think I’m going to have to review what I wrote and change it up a little. I was thinking about some other stuff and just couldn’t focus. I’ll definitely go back and check to see if I didn’t mess anything up tonight. But, I think I’m going to work on chapter 18 of the Great Detective today. It popped into my head this morning and I want to get it down. I have the radio on in the background so I better get started.
-Thom
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Aug 24
Dare we get our hopes up? The Rockies have won three in a row. If we win tomorrow, we sweep the Braves. But, then we have a day off. That has been our bane all season. We’ll get a good run going and then forget everything after a day of rest. All right, I’m hooked. We might be ten or eleven games out of first place, but I’m still holding out for them to at least get a wild card. They played really well today, and it was nice to be able to sit back and watch a whole game.
I almost didn’t get to watch it. I took my youngest to the DMV today to get her permit. She only missed 4 questions and we were the last ones in the line before they shut the doors. But, on the way home, I missed the turn and we got stuck in rush hour traffic. Yes, we were out there for quite a while. Needless to say tempers were flaring. My wife said something to me and I snapped back. So, she punished me by not speaking to me for the rest of the day. (Shucks, I had to watch the game in peace) Oh well, I learned my lesson. With all of the traffic, we just arrived in time to see the first pitch.
I was off most of the day today, and I had planned on getting some work done on chapter 26. But, my granddaughter wanted to play. So, I spent the day with her. It was much better than what I had planned. We played dolls and for some reason, one of her babies had to go pee about a hundred times. So, I changed a hundred doll diapers. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. We also went to the store and bought chocolate and orange drink when we were supposed to make sandwiches for lunch. Then, we rounded out the day by coloring puppies and smiley faces.
The girls had their first day of school today. My oldest is a senior and my youngest is a sophomore. So, when I asked them how their day went, I got the standard answer. “It was fine.” At least they fit me in between texting. Still, they looked good in their uniforms and even though they had to wake up early again, they looked like they had fun. I’m sure it was good to hook up with all of the friends they didn’t get a chance to see over the summer.
A while ago, I had my daughter set up a twitter, facebook, and myspace account for me. One of the guys from my online fantasy writers group said that I had to set them up and use them to network and drive people to my webpage or I’d never sell any of my books. So, I did. And, the only thing I’ve really kept up with was this blog. But, I attached it to those other sites. The other day, one of my friends on Facebook sent me a list of people from Wickenburg where I grew up and went to school. I was amazed how many people there were out there that I knew. I clicked on them all and it was like going to a class reunion. I should have really looked at that site more closely. It was fun going through their pictures and seeing what they’ve done and what they look like now. Some of the places some of them have gone were amazing. I really need to get out more. It’s going to be fun to see if any of them remember me.
Since I didn’t get any work done on chapter 26 today, I’m going to get it done tonight. I don’t think I’ll have a chance to begin 27, but we’ll see. I also didn't get a chance to update the website. I'll do that on Thursday. I would do it tomorrow, but I have to work overtime again. I put some Ratt, Scorpions, and some Dokken in the playlist. So, it’s time to get going.
-Thom
I almost didn’t get to watch it. I took my youngest to the DMV today to get her permit. She only missed 4 questions and we were the last ones in the line before they shut the doors. But, on the way home, I missed the turn and we got stuck in rush hour traffic. Yes, we were out there for quite a while. Needless to say tempers were flaring. My wife said something to me and I snapped back. So, she punished me by not speaking to me for the rest of the day. (Shucks, I had to watch the game in peace) Oh well, I learned my lesson. With all of the traffic, we just arrived in time to see the first pitch.
I was off most of the day today, and I had planned on getting some work done on chapter 26. But, my granddaughter wanted to play. So, I spent the day with her. It was much better than what I had planned. We played dolls and for some reason, one of her babies had to go pee about a hundred times. So, I changed a hundred doll diapers. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. We also went to the store and bought chocolate and orange drink when we were supposed to make sandwiches for lunch. Then, we rounded out the day by coloring puppies and smiley faces.
The girls had their first day of school today. My oldest is a senior and my youngest is a sophomore. So, when I asked them how their day went, I got the standard answer. “It was fine.” At least they fit me in between texting. Still, they looked good in their uniforms and even though they had to wake up early again, they looked like they had fun. I’m sure it was good to hook up with all of the friends they didn’t get a chance to see over the summer.
A while ago, I had my daughter set up a twitter, facebook, and myspace account for me. One of the guys from my online fantasy writers group said that I had to set them up and use them to network and drive people to my webpage or I’d never sell any of my books. So, I did. And, the only thing I’ve really kept up with was this blog. But, I attached it to those other sites. The other day, one of my friends on Facebook sent me a list of people from Wickenburg where I grew up and went to school. I was amazed how many people there were out there that I knew. I clicked on them all and it was like going to a class reunion. I should have really looked at that site more closely. It was fun going through their pictures and seeing what they’ve done and what they look like now. Some of the places some of them have gone were amazing. I really need to get out more. It’s going to be fun to see if any of them remember me.
Since I didn’t get any work done on chapter 26 today, I’m going to get it done tonight. I don’t think I’ll have a chance to begin 27, but we’ll see. I also didn't get a chance to update the website. I'll do that on Thursday. I would do it tomorrow, but I have to work overtime again. I put some Ratt, Scorpions, and some Dokken in the playlist. So, it’s time to get going.
-Thom
Monday, August 23, 2010
Aug 23
The new chapter 24 is almost finished. It looks like I’m going to finish it up today and I might even work on chapter 26. That’ll put me back on schedule. I have most of the day off tomorrow. It’s the first day of school for the girls so I might just have the house all to myself. If that happens, I’ll try to finish chapter 26 and I might even work a little on the Great Detective. But, with everyone out, you never know. I might just grab a book and enjoy the peace and quiet or go out and do something. There are just too many possibilities.
The Rockies are playing Atlanta today. I’m going to try watching it on the computer today while I’m supposed to be working. Let’s all hope they can get that desperately needed winning streak going. I managed to get tickets to the Dodgers game on Saturday. After they spanked us two out of the three games, I’m looking for some payback. The next day, Sunday, there’s going to be some trouble. The Rockies and the Broncos both start at 6. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I might have to bring out one of the other TVs and watch them at the same time. (My wife will love that)
My youngest is going to the DMV tomorrow. She’s going for her permit. That’ll be all of the kids driving. It looks like I’m not going to see my car for the next few years. Everyone else is doing well. We’re trying to organize an end of summer barbeque for the family. Our last get together with my side of the family was a few months ago. Like any family, it was interesting. Let’s hope this one will be better. That is, as long as everyone shows up. Since school is back in, it will be challenging, but we’ll do it on a Saturday so it should work out.
Time to get back to work- Thom
The Rockies are playing Atlanta today. I’m going to try watching it on the computer today while I’m supposed to be working. Let’s all hope they can get that desperately needed winning streak going. I managed to get tickets to the Dodgers game on Saturday. After they spanked us two out of the three games, I’m looking for some payback. The next day, Sunday, there’s going to be some trouble. The Rockies and the Broncos both start at 6. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I might have to bring out one of the other TVs and watch them at the same time. (My wife will love that)
My youngest is going to the DMV tomorrow. She’s going for her permit. That’ll be all of the kids driving. It looks like I’m not going to see my car for the next few years. Everyone else is doing well. We’re trying to organize an end of summer barbeque for the family. Our last get together with my side of the family was a few months ago. Like any family, it was interesting. Let’s hope this one will be better. That is, as long as everyone shows up. Since school is back in, it will be challenging, but we’ll do it on a Saturday so it should work out.
Time to get back to work- Thom
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Aug 22
All right, it’s just about time to give up our chances even for the wild card. We dropped two out of three to Arizona. I was hoping that a sweep of the Diamondbacks would launch us into a winning streak, but we didn’t play very well. Even today on our win, we only scored one run. Yes, the pitchers for both teams were outstanding. But, Arizona is at the bottom of the league. If we can’t beat them, we don’t have much of a chance against everyone else. I’m still going to support them throughout the rest of the season, and I hope we get some good wins. But, I don’t think we’re going to make it to the Series. The Broncos also dropped their second preseason game. Kyle Orton did really well again. And, I know you can’t judge the team by the preseason. The coaches are looking for the last few players to fill their rosters, so they have to play the second and third stringers. So, I’m not too disappointed with the outcomes. My wife got me tickets to the Broncos Colts game for my birthday. That’s going to be a great one. I like the Colts and Peyton Manning. I hope they do well this year too, just not against the Broncos. I’ve been watching some of the other games. Some of them look pretty good. This is going to be an interesting season.
I’ve had to insert another chapter into Kidnapped. So, I’m going to work on that tonight. I finished the cover for it today also. I’ll put it up on the website Tuesday. www.thomnichols.com in case anyone wants to check it out. If nothing else, it will get rid of that coming soon picture.
It’s Sunday tonight and I usually don’t work Sundays, but I changed shifts with one of the other guys. The only problem is that I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep this weekend. Since I work nights, I have to change my schedule around on the weekends so that I can spend some time with the family. I do that by getting off on Friday morning at 0600. Then, I drop the wife off at work. I usually get home by 0730. If I eat something, I get to sleep by about 0900, if not, 0800. Then, I get up at 1230 to be back at work by 1400. Then, I get off at 2200. I’m usually tired so I can sleep at night and be awake on the weekend to spend some time with the family. So, Saturday I got up at 0500 and went to visit my mom. She’s trying to move and needed some help with finding an apartment. We found her one, and were going to my brother’s house to see how he was doing. When we got there, he wasn’t there. He was at his new apartment and wanted me to stay so that I could help him move. I had all of the kids, so I took them back to my mom’s house to get our stuff. My wife had to go drop off the baby and then come back to get me after I helped move. By the time we got back to my brother’s house, they had just finished loading up the trucks and left. (Shucks, I missed loading) So, we packed up his kids and drove them to the new place. We arrived just in time to help unload the last few boxes. So, we started heading back to my other brother’s house to get the next load. Well, we were following them and they went one way and we went the other. Their way was quicker and we arrived just in time to watch them load the last few things into the trucks. (Bummer, I missed loading again) So, in other words, I was utterly useless with the helping. Still, I didn’t get to sleep until about 2100. Then, I woke back up at 0700. Since I usually don’t work on Sundays, I hung out with the family like usual. I watched the games and didn’t get a chance to take a nap. So, I plan on being a tired puppy when I get off at 0600, and I still have to take my wife to work. So, I’ll be up for twenty four hours. It’s ok. I brought some cookies to keep me company tonight.
-Thom
I’ve had to insert another chapter into Kidnapped. So, I’m going to work on that tonight. I finished the cover for it today also. I’ll put it up on the website Tuesday. www.thomnichols.com in case anyone wants to check it out. If nothing else, it will get rid of that coming soon picture.
It’s Sunday tonight and I usually don’t work Sundays, but I changed shifts with one of the other guys. The only problem is that I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep this weekend. Since I work nights, I have to change my schedule around on the weekends so that I can spend some time with the family. I do that by getting off on Friday morning at 0600. Then, I drop the wife off at work. I usually get home by 0730. If I eat something, I get to sleep by about 0900, if not, 0800. Then, I get up at 1230 to be back at work by 1400. Then, I get off at 2200. I’m usually tired so I can sleep at night and be awake on the weekend to spend some time with the family. So, Saturday I got up at 0500 and went to visit my mom. She’s trying to move and needed some help with finding an apartment. We found her one, and were going to my brother’s house to see how he was doing. When we got there, he wasn’t there. He was at his new apartment and wanted me to stay so that I could help him move. I had all of the kids, so I took them back to my mom’s house to get our stuff. My wife had to go drop off the baby and then come back to get me after I helped move. By the time we got back to my brother’s house, they had just finished loading up the trucks and left. (Shucks, I missed loading) So, we packed up his kids and drove them to the new place. We arrived just in time to help unload the last few boxes. So, we started heading back to my other brother’s house to get the next load. Well, we were following them and they went one way and we went the other. Their way was quicker and we arrived just in time to watch them load the last few things into the trucks. (Bummer, I missed loading again) So, in other words, I was utterly useless with the helping. Still, I didn’t get to sleep until about 2100. Then, I woke back up at 0700. Since I usually don’t work on Sundays, I hung out with the family like usual. I watched the games and didn’t get a chance to take a nap. So, I plan on being a tired puppy when I get off at 0600, and I still have to take my wife to work. So, I’ll be up for twenty four hours. It’s ok. I brought some cookies to keep me company tonight.
-Thom
Friday, August 20, 2010
Aug 20
Ok, it was another loss for the Rockies last night. It’s not looking good for us making the playoffs. We really need that killer winning streak. What we really need is for our hitting and pitching to begin clicking together. We have Arizona tonight at seven forty. I’m from Arizona, so I like the Diamondbacks. But, they’re not the best team this year. If we can start our streak with them, the momentum could carry us forward into a shot at the wild card. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
I finished on chapter 17 of the Great Detective yesterday. It was a nice break, but I also put in a little work on the new chapter 23. It looks like I’m going to either make 23 a long chapter or insert a new chapter 24. I’m going to start with it today and see where it takes me. If it becomes too long, I’m just going to split it up and make it two shorter chapters.
I only got three hours sleep this morning before I had to go back to work. I was tired, I really was, but I started thinking about chapter 23 and my mind just wouldn’t shut off. I was going over some of the other chapters and the ending and how it leads into the final book of the trilogy. It is looking pretty good. The whole series has twelve books to it, and I can hardly wait to begin the second set of three and I haven’t even finished the second book yet. It’s going to be a very fun next couple of years.
With my new schedule, it looks like I’m going to be able to take my youngest to the DMV to get her driver’s permit on Tuesday. She’s been wanting to go since her birthday, but I’ve just been too busy with all the overtime. I can’t believe that all my kids are just about grown up. Well, time to get to work. I have the radio on in the background so I guess it’s time to go.
-Thom
I finished on chapter 17 of the Great Detective yesterday. It was a nice break, but I also put in a little work on the new chapter 23. It looks like I’m going to either make 23 a long chapter or insert a new chapter 24. I’m going to start with it today and see where it takes me. If it becomes too long, I’m just going to split it up and make it two shorter chapters.
I only got three hours sleep this morning before I had to go back to work. I was tired, I really was, but I started thinking about chapter 23 and my mind just wouldn’t shut off. I was going over some of the other chapters and the ending and how it leads into the final book of the trilogy. It is looking pretty good. The whole series has twelve books to it, and I can hardly wait to begin the second set of three and I haven’t even finished the second book yet. It’s going to be a very fun next couple of years.
With my new schedule, it looks like I’m going to be able to take my youngest to the DMV to get her driver’s permit on Tuesday. She’s been wanting to go since her birthday, but I’ve just been too busy with all the overtime. I can’t believe that all my kids are just about grown up. Well, time to get to work. I have the radio on in the background so I guess it’s time to go.
-Thom
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Aug 19
It was a much better day today at work. I’m still working some overtime, so it was a long one. But, long is better than terrible. I did finish the new chapter 22 and I began the new chapter 23. I should be able to get pretty far into 23 today. I’ve got a playlist ready to go with a bunch of White Lion, Aerosmith, and Tesla. So, as soon as I finish this blog, I’ll be ready to go.
The Rockies pulled out a win last night. It was a low scoring game, kind of like tonights. That continues their flip flopping between wins and losses. Unfortunately, tonight seems to be adding to that annoying streak. It’s the bottom of the seventh and the Dodgers are winning 2-0. I have confidence in my club that we’ll pull out a ninth inning save, but the stats are against it.
My son, my nephew, and my niece were able to help move my brother. (They got the big stuff) For some reason, nothing was ready when they got there, even though my brother said that he was going to have it ready. So, they weren’t able to make as many trips as they thought.
My wife and the girls planned on going to the movies today. Instead, they went to buy clothes. She said that she got some good stuff. (The only good thing about working so much overtime is that I have an excuse not to go shopping.)
It’s nice that the girls are both in high school. They start on Tuesday and they had to get all of their stuff ready. It took only one trip to the store for school supplies. When they were smaller, we had to go to about ten different stores because their school lists were so long and invariably, one thing on the list would be sold out wherever we went. I remember one year, our first year in New Jersey, it was book covers. At the time, I didn’t even know what a book cover was. We went everywhere and we weren’t the only ones looking. I don’t know where we found them, but that next summer when they were in great supply, we stocked up. After moving back to Denver, I found a bunch of spares in one of the boxes. It turns out that the kids here don’t use them. It must be a Jersey thing.
Speaking of New Jersey, they have convenience stores out there called Wawas. They are like 7-11s out here. Anyway, the best thing about Jersey is the Wawa ice tea. When I was there, it was .99 cents and I would get one just about every day. I can’t remember if it was a one or two liter container, but I would bring one to work and it would last all day. Then, I would get one on the way home and it would last all night. Needless to say I miss them, but I found a really good substitute. The Burger Kings out here have switched to Gold Peak ice tea. And, their black tea is at least as good as a Wawa ice tea. I’m going to have to make many more trips to Burger King from now on.
-Thom
The Rockies pulled out a win last night. It was a low scoring game, kind of like tonights. That continues their flip flopping between wins and losses. Unfortunately, tonight seems to be adding to that annoying streak. It’s the bottom of the seventh and the Dodgers are winning 2-0. I have confidence in my club that we’ll pull out a ninth inning save, but the stats are against it.
My son, my nephew, and my niece were able to help move my brother. (They got the big stuff) For some reason, nothing was ready when they got there, even though my brother said that he was going to have it ready. So, they weren’t able to make as many trips as they thought.
My wife and the girls planned on going to the movies today. Instead, they went to buy clothes. She said that she got some good stuff. (The only good thing about working so much overtime is that I have an excuse not to go shopping.)
It’s nice that the girls are both in high school. They start on Tuesday and they had to get all of their stuff ready. It took only one trip to the store for school supplies. When they were smaller, we had to go to about ten different stores because their school lists were so long and invariably, one thing on the list would be sold out wherever we went. I remember one year, our first year in New Jersey, it was book covers. At the time, I didn’t even know what a book cover was. We went everywhere and we weren’t the only ones looking. I don’t know where we found them, but that next summer when they were in great supply, we stocked up. After moving back to Denver, I found a bunch of spares in one of the boxes. It turns out that the kids here don’t use them. It must be a Jersey thing.
Speaking of New Jersey, they have convenience stores out there called Wawas. They are like 7-11s out here. Anyway, the best thing about Jersey is the Wawa ice tea. When I was there, it was .99 cents and I would get one just about every day. I can’t remember if it was a one or two liter container, but I would bring one to work and it would last all day. Then, I would get one on the way home and it would last all night. Needless to say I miss them, but I found a really good substitute. The Burger Kings out here have switched to Gold Peak ice tea. And, their black tea is at least as good as a Wawa ice tea. I’m going to have to make many more trips to Burger King from now on.
-Thom
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Aug 18
Today was a baaaaaaad day at work. It seems like I can’t do anything right. Well, tomorrow is a new day and today is in the past. So, let’s forget about that and move on to other stuff. The Rockies are tied today. It’s the bottom of the 6th. They aren’t winning yet, but at least it isn’t another blowout like yesterday. We lost 6-0. That was a bad one. My brother had to rub it in that his Padres are nearly ten games over us at the moment. I need the Rockies to get going on that winning streak we’ve all been waiting for or I’ll be hearing about the Padres for the rest of the year. At the moment, we are still in third place in our division, but there is that big gap between third and first.
I’m nearly finished with the new chapter 22 and it looks like I’m going to have to add a new chapter 23. I should finish 22 today and get a good jump on 23. Then, we’ll be back on track.
My other brother forgot to pay his rent this month and he is being evicted. (He’s been going through a very rough time for the last couple of years. He moved down to Denver and it took him a little while to get a job. Then, he moved into his own place too quickly. Now, it’s all catching up to him again.) My son and our nephew are going to help him move out before they throw his stuff outside. He’s going to move into my brother’s basement for a week or so. He said that he has an apartment lined up for Friday, but if he didn’t pay his rent, I’m not sure where the money is coming from.
School starts in less than a week. That’s going to be nice. My girls are both doing JROTC again and my youngest is helping manage the soccer team. It’s the last year of high school for my eldest. They are both excited and ready to get back into it. The biggest problem is going to be the same one we face every year. They’ve been staying up too late and then sleeping in. This is the week we need to break them of it. It looks like it is going to be a loooooong week
-Thom
I’m nearly finished with the new chapter 22 and it looks like I’m going to have to add a new chapter 23. I should finish 22 today and get a good jump on 23. Then, we’ll be back on track.
My other brother forgot to pay his rent this month and he is being evicted. (He’s been going through a very rough time for the last couple of years. He moved down to Denver and it took him a little while to get a job. Then, he moved into his own place too quickly. Now, it’s all catching up to him again.) My son and our nephew are going to help him move out before they throw his stuff outside. He’s going to move into my brother’s basement for a week or so. He said that he has an apartment lined up for Friday, but if he didn’t pay his rent, I’m not sure where the money is coming from.
School starts in less than a week. That’s going to be nice. My girls are both doing JROTC again and my youngest is helping manage the soccer team. It’s the last year of high school for my eldest. They are both excited and ready to get back into it. The biggest problem is going to be the same one we face every year. They’ve been staying up too late and then sleeping in. This is the week we need to break them of it. It looks like it is going to be a loooooong week
-Thom
Monday, August 16, 2010
Aug 16
That was a long weekend. To start it off, I took my latest book down to the Tattered Cover book store. If you don’t know, it’s a Colorado chain bookstore. As per their website, I put Grandpa’s Faerie on the local author’s shelf. If they approve it, they’ll sell it in their stores. It met all of their requirements, so we’ll see how it goes. They said that it could take up to two weeks. I’ll keep everyone informed. I was working on chapter 23 of Kidnapped on Friday when I realized that I was missing a chapter. I’m going to have to get that one done and put it in before I continue on 23. So, I’ll do that tonight.
I’m in the dog house at home. My wife took her sisters and parents out to see her brother on Saturday which meant that she wanted to do something on Sunday. Unfortunately for her, there was a Rockies game at one and the Broncos game at five. That meant that I was going to be in front of that TV for most of the day. She did manage to get me to move some mattresses for her parents in the morning. But, she taught me a lesson. She went into the bedroom, closed the door, and didn’t talk to me all day. Yep, that’ll teach me. Anyway, the Rockies took home the win. That’s one in a row for us. Lately we’ve been flip flopping with wins and losses. We’re never going to kick the Padres out of first like that. Clint Barmes had a really bad day. He struck out three times, he made the third out while the bases were loaded, and he dropped an infield pop fly that tied up the game. It was a rough one for him. Usually, he is one of the best 2nd basemen out there. But, everyone has an off day and he’ll bounce back. The Broncos on the other hand, didn’t do that well. All three of our quarterbacks played. Orton did really well. He did throw a couple that made me groan. Quinn didn’t do much at all. He had trouble driving down the field. Tebow ran in a touchdown, his first one in the NFL. The Bangles managed to drive down the field on us very easily. We missed quite a few tackles and overall it wasn’t the best performance. We’re going to chalk that one up to opening pre-season jitters and trounce the Lions next week. In our division, the Raiders beat up on the Cowboys in the fourth quarter. They have a pretty good running back and he might give us some trouble. The Chargers smashed Jay Cuttler and the Bears. Woo hoo. We always like it when Jay Cuttler falls down. And, Kansas City fell to the Falcons. But, the team to worry about is Washington. They trounced the Bills. Mike Shannahan is looking for some revenge for the Broncos giving him the boot. We don’t play them this year, but that will be one for a Monday night when it comes up.
I was almost late for work today. I was volunteered to move a refrigerator across town. It was big, heavy, and once we got it to where it was supposed to go, it wouldn’t fit in the doorway. We had to take the doors off slide it in, and then try to remember how to put it back together again. We had one casualty. A screw that should have gone in the bottom part of the door somewhere broke. We found a replacement. (Hope no one notices)
Well, time to get to work. I have ELO in the background and a huge ice tea to keep me company.
-Thom
I’m in the dog house at home. My wife took her sisters and parents out to see her brother on Saturday which meant that she wanted to do something on Sunday. Unfortunately for her, there was a Rockies game at one and the Broncos game at five. That meant that I was going to be in front of that TV for most of the day. She did manage to get me to move some mattresses for her parents in the morning. But, she taught me a lesson. She went into the bedroom, closed the door, and didn’t talk to me all day. Yep, that’ll teach me. Anyway, the Rockies took home the win. That’s one in a row for us. Lately we’ve been flip flopping with wins and losses. We’re never going to kick the Padres out of first like that. Clint Barmes had a really bad day. He struck out three times, he made the third out while the bases were loaded, and he dropped an infield pop fly that tied up the game. It was a rough one for him. Usually, he is one of the best 2nd basemen out there. But, everyone has an off day and he’ll bounce back. The Broncos on the other hand, didn’t do that well. All three of our quarterbacks played. Orton did really well. He did throw a couple that made me groan. Quinn didn’t do much at all. He had trouble driving down the field. Tebow ran in a touchdown, his first one in the NFL. The Bangles managed to drive down the field on us very easily. We missed quite a few tackles and overall it wasn’t the best performance. We’re going to chalk that one up to opening pre-season jitters and trounce the Lions next week. In our division, the Raiders beat up on the Cowboys in the fourth quarter. They have a pretty good running back and he might give us some trouble. The Chargers smashed Jay Cuttler and the Bears. Woo hoo. We always like it when Jay Cuttler falls down. And, Kansas City fell to the Falcons. But, the team to worry about is Washington. They trounced the Bills. Mike Shannahan is looking for some revenge for the Broncos giving him the boot. We don’t play them this year, but that will be one for a Monday night when it comes up.
I was almost late for work today. I was volunteered to move a refrigerator across town. It was big, heavy, and once we got it to where it was supposed to go, it wouldn’t fit in the doorway. We had to take the doors off slide it in, and then try to remember how to put it back together again. We had one casualty. A screw that should have gone in the bottom part of the door somewhere broke. We found a replacement. (Hope no one notices)
Well, time to get to work. I have ELO in the background and a huge ice tea to keep me company.
-Thom
Friday, August 13, 2010
Aug 13
It’s almost eight thirty and the Rockies are leading at the top of the fourth inning. Let’s hope it stays that way. (Winning I mean, they can make a bunch more runs.) De La Rosa is on the mound. I’m at work and watching the play by play on ESPN’s gamecast. It’s not like being there or watching it on TV, but it’s better than nothing. And, guess what? Football’s getting closer and closer by the minute.
My daughters brought me a Subway sandwich for lunch tonight. They even brought me some cookies to go with it. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. My wife had to work overtime today at her job and the girls came downtown so that they could go out to eat when she gets off. I hope they remember that they have the car and I don’t. My wife is going to take her parents out to visit her brother tomorrow and she’s going to take the car with her. She is supposed to drop off their truck so that I can get home. We’ll see.
I didn’t work at all last night. I intended to finish chapter 22, but nope. I had to go and put on that Harry Potter audio book. I ended up wasting the whole night. Well, tonight I’m going to finish it. Even though Harry is calling me to finish, I’m going to hold out until the last hour of work. Then, I’ll listen again. That worked out really well the other day. Now, all I have to do is make it through the baseball game and I’ll be ready to begin. Or, maybe I can listen to Harry Potter while I’m watching the game on the computer. Yeah, that’ll work.
-Thom
My daughters brought me a Subway sandwich for lunch tonight. They even brought me some cookies to go with it. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. My wife had to work overtime today at her job and the girls came downtown so that they could go out to eat when she gets off. I hope they remember that they have the car and I don’t. My wife is going to take her parents out to visit her brother tomorrow and she’s going to take the car with her. She is supposed to drop off their truck so that I can get home. We’ll see.
I didn’t work at all last night. I intended to finish chapter 22, but nope. I had to go and put on that Harry Potter audio book. I ended up wasting the whole night. Well, tonight I’m going to finish it. Even though Harry is calling me to finish, I’m going to hold out until the last hour of work. Then, I’ll listen again. That worked out really well the other day. Now, all I have to do is make it through the baseball game and I’ll be ready to begin. Or, maybe I can listen to Harry Potter while I’m watching the game on the computer. Yeah, that’ll work.
-Thom
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Aug 12
I took the family out to see a movie today. They didn’t want to see anything good. They picked a girl movie called Charlie St. Cloud. They said it was pretty good, but I was wanting some action. So, I watched Salt. It was action packed and the story was pretty good. It was kind of obvious who the bad guy was going to be, but I’m going to put in on my wall of good movies. Of course since I went into one theater and everyone else went into the other, they had control of the popcorn. A movie, even an action movie, isn’t as good unless you have popcorn to go with it. That’s ok, I’m going to take them out to another one on Sunday. This time, I’m going to take control of the popcorn.
The Rockies dropped another one to the Mets. It wasn’t a televised game. (Which, is why we were able to go out and see a movie during the week) That dropped us back down into fourth place. We’re way out of first and second, so we really need to get on the ball if we’re going to overtake them or get into the wild card.
I worked mostly on chapter 16 of the Great Detective yesterday. I finished it and then worked a little on chapter 22. I didn’t get very far, but I put down a few pages. I’ll finish 22 today and think about chapter 17 for tomorrow.
That’s about it for today except my boss hit me up with some more overtime. It’s not as much so I’m not complaining. At least I’m getting some good paychecks. It was payday today and it didn’t all go to bills. Woo hoo.
-Thom
The Rockies dropped another one to the Mets. It wasn’t a televised game. (Which, is why we were able to go out and see a movie during the week) That dropped us back down into fourth place. We’re way out of first and second, so we really need to get on the ball if we’re going to overtake them or get into the wild card.
I worked mostly on chapter 16 of the Great Detective yesterday. I finished it and then worked a little on chapter 22. I didn’t get very far, but I put down a few pages. I’ll finish 22 today and think about chapter 17 for tomorrow.
That’s about it for today except my boss hit me up with some more overtime. It’s not as much so I’m not complaining. At least I’m getting some good paychecks. It was payday today and it didn’t all go to bills. Woo hoo.
-Thom
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Aug 11
I only got a few pages into chapter 22 yesterday. I was helping a buddy with a C++ program and it got the better of me. I finished most of it, but in doing I didn’t get a lot of work done on my books. So, I’m going to try to get chapter 22 done today or maybe work a little on chapter 16 of the Great Detective. It depends on which one I’m feeling when I start. My biggest distraction will be Harry Potter. While working on the C++, I stuck in the third Harry Potter audio book so that I would have something to listen to while working. I can’t listen to audio books while writing because I’d focus too much on what I was listening to and forget what I was trying to put down on paper. Unfortunately, the Harry Potter books take quite a few hours to listen to the whole story. I only heard the first few hours and even though I have read the books and listened to the audio, I still want to finish listening to the one I started last night. I mean, they hadn’t even gotten to Hogwarts yet. So, I think I’m going to put it out of my mind for the first part of the night and then, in my last hour, I’ll put it in as a “Good Job” pat on the back for getting some solid work in.
The Rockies won their game against the Mets today. Yesterday was so rough. We didn’t even get one run. Today, it looked like it was going to be a repeat. We gave them two runs in the first inning and we went a solid six innings without a sniff. Then, we got one in the seventh and five more in the eighth. We took the game at 6-2. And, with the Dodgers losing, that put us back into third place. We play the Mets again tomorrow to see who gets the series. We are, at the moment five games behind the Giants and six behind the Padres. The Padres look like they’re going to win their came against Pittsburg. It’s the top of the seventh and the game is 7-4. So, they’ll go up to seven games up on us. But, the Giants are tied in the bottom of the eighth. If they lose, we’ll stay at six games under them. On the Bronco frontier, it looks like a bunch of our players are getting hurt in training camp. It hasn’t even been the first pre-season game. That doesn’t look good. But, there are only two more days until they play. It’s at 5:30 Denver time, so if my boss calls to ask me to come to work, I’m not even answering the phone.
The kids are doing well. My son was talking to me today about apartments. It looks like he is serious about moving out. It will be weird not having my granddaughter running around, but it will be good for them. I remember my first apartment. It was a disaster. I hope they have better luck. They are starting to buy stuff for the place. They started with the essentials. They already have one TV, but they got two more, one for their bedroom and one for the baby’s bedroom. I think I may have gone in a different direction, but it’s their first place. School for the girls starts in a few weeks. They’re excited. We don’t live that close to their school, so there are a lot of friends they don’t get to hang around with as much as they would like. Now that my daughter’s birthday party is over with, my wife gets to stress about school supplies and uniforms and shoes. (She’s not happy unless she’s stressing over something.) My granddaughter is only two and a half and yesterday, she sang the whole ABC song to me without missing any letters. I guess she has been doing it for a while, but it was the first time I heard her go through the whole thing. She also has Twinkle Twinkle and Where is Thumbkin down. I was pretty impressed. She still has trouble with Ring around the Roses, but she’ll get it.
-Thom
The Rockies won their game against the Mets today. Yesterday was so rough. We didn’t even get one run. Today, it looked like it was going to be a repeat. We gave them two runs in the first inning and we went a solid six innings without a sniff. Then, we got one in the seventh and five more in the eighth. We took the game at 6-2. And, with the Dodgers losing, that put us back into third place. We play the Mets again tomorrow to see who gets the series. We are, at the moment five games behind the Giants and six behind the Padres. The Padres look like they’re going to win their came against Pittsburg. It’s the top of the seventh and the game is 7-4. So, they’ll go up to seven games up on us. But, the Giants are tied in the bottom of the eighth. If they lose, we’ll stay at six games under them. On the Bronco frontier, it looks like a bunch of our players are getting hurt in training camp. It hasn’t even been the first pre-season game. That doesn’t look good. But, there are only two more days until they play. It’s at 5:30 Denver time, so if my boss calls to ask me to come to work, I’m not even answering the phone.
The kids are doing well. My son was talking to me today about apartments. It looks like he is serious about moving out. It will be weird not having my granddaughter running around, but it will be good for them. I remember my first apartment. It was a disaster. I hope they have better luck. They are starting to buy stuff for the place. They started with the essentials. They already have one TV, but they got two more, one for their bedroom and one for the baby’s bedroom. I think I may have gone in a different direction, but it’s their first place. School for the girls starts in a few weeks. They’re excited. We don’t live that close to their school, so there are a lot of friends they don’t get to hang around with as much as they would like. Now that my daughter’s birthday party is over with, my wife gets to stress about school supplies and uniforms and shoes. (She’s not happy unless she’s stressing over something.) My granddaughter is only two and a half and yesterday, she sang the whole ABC song to me without missing any letters. I guess she has been doing it for a while, but it was the first time I heard her go through the whole thing. She also has Twinkle Twinkle and Where is Thumbkin down. I was pretty impressed. She still has trouble with Ring around the Roses, but she’ll get it.
-Thom
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Aug 10th
Well, that did it. The Rockies lost one to nothing and it dropped us down into fourth place in our division. I was expecting a win today because it was our ace on the mound. If or should I say when he wins his next game, he will have broken the club record for the most wins in a season. He is tied with the record right now. Well, what can I saw? We only lost by one and there is always tomorrow.
I’m helping a guy at work again today with his C++ programming class. He needs to write a program that reads in a letter and then counts all of the letters individually, giving a total for each in both upper and lowercase. Then, gives the percentage of each letter’s usage and prints it out into a file. And, everything has to be done in functions instead of in the main. I started it yesterday for him and I only had an hour. I typed it upstairs and I think I was trying to do too much, because when I got downstairs to compile it, it was a mess. Today, I’m just going to go through and make sure each function works and then throw them together. It shouldn’t be too hard. I just need to take thins slowly and go for simple instead of elaborate.
I finished Chapter 21 yesterday and I’m starting chapter 22 today. I’ll work on it upstairs and then on my buddy’s program downstairs. That way I’ll have time for each. I think I’m going to finish chapter 15 in the Great Detective also. I didn’t have a way to end it the other day and it came to me last night. I would have done it last night, but I was screaming on chapter 21.
Nothing really significant happened at home today. It’s my last day of overtime and I didn’t really get to see anyone. I tried to go to sleep when I got home, but couldn’t for a few hours. Then, when I woke up I had to go back to work. Tomorrow will be different. I’ll have time to spend with the family. It’ll be nice.
-Thom
I’m helping a guy at work again today with his C++ programming class. He needs to write a program that reads in a letter and then counts all of the letters individually, giving a total for each in both upper and lowercase. Then, gives the percentage of each letter’s usage and prints it out into a file. And, everything has to be done in functions instead of in the main. I started it yesterday for him and I only had an hour. I typed it upstairs and I think I was trying to do too much, because when I got downstairs to compile it, it was a mess. Today, I’m just going to go through and make sure each function works and then throw them together. It shouldn’t be too hard. I just need to take thins slowly and go for simple instead of elaborate.
I finished Chapter 21 yesterday and I’m starting chapter 22 today. I’ll work on it upstairs and then on my buddy’s program downstairs. That way I’ll have time for each. I think I’m going to finish chapter 15 in the Great Detective also. I didn’t have a way to end it the other day and it came to me last night. I would have done it last night, but I was screaming on chapter 21.
Nothing really significant happened at home today. It’s my last day of overtime and I didn’t really get to see anyone. I tried to go to sleep when I got home, but couldn’t for a few hours. Then, when I woke up I had to go back to work. Tomorrow will be different. I’ll have time to spend with the family. It’ll be nice.
-Thom
Monday, August 9, 2010
Aug 9th
It looks like the wave of overtime is almost over. Tomorrow is my last day until some of the new people quits. The boss hired a bunch of people and threw them into the shifts everyone quit from and I have a normal looking schedule. That was much quicker than I anticipated. That’s all right though it’s time for a weekend off. I finished chapter 20 yesterday and even started chapter 21. I might get a little of the Great Detective today. We’ll see.
There isn’t a Rockies game today, so the only update on that front is that we’re sitting at 58 – 53. That puts us six games out of first and five out of second. We’re only half a game over the Dodgers, so we need to slap down some wins here pretty quickly.
Well, now I’m going to be freaked out all day long. I was sitting here at the community desk typing away when a large bug just ran across my leg. It was about half an inch long and it was black with big long feelers. I jumped up and swiped it off of my leg, but I didn’t see where it landed. I’m not squeamish about bugs or anything, but it could be anywhere. I’ve already brushed myself off twice now, and it feels like I need to go take another shower. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could find the bug and squish it.
All right, still thinking about the bug. Nothing really happened at home. I wasn’t able to take my daughter to the DMV today, but I’ll make it up to her sometime this week since there isn’t any more overtime. Ok, now the fan fell from the counter. I couldn’t have been the bug. I’m sure it just vibrated off, but I had to look. I didn’t find anything, not even any little bug footprints. I think I’m going to have to move things around to see if I can find it. So, that’ll be all for today.
-Thom
There isn’t a Rockies game today, so the only update on that front is that we’re sitting at 58 – 53. That puts us six games out of first and five out of second. We’re only half a game over the Dodgers, so we need to slap down some wins here pretty quickly.
Well, now I’m going to be freaked out all day long. I was sitting here at the community desk typing away when a large bug just ran across my leg. It was about half an inch long and it was black with big long feelers. I jumped up and swiped it off of my leg, but I didn’t see where it landed. I’m not squeamish about bugs or anything, but it could be anywhere. I’ve already brushed myself off twice now, and it feels like I need to go take another shower. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could find the bug and squish it.
All right, still thinking about the bug. Nothing really happened at home. I wasn’t able to take my daughter to the DMV today, but I’ll make it up to her sometime this week since there isn’t any more overtime. Ok, now the fan fell from the counter. I couldn’t have been the bug. I’m sure it just vibrated off, but I had to look. I didn’t find anything, not even any little bug footprints. I think I’m going to have to move things around to see if I can find it. So, that’ll be all for today.
-Thom
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Aug 8th
A lot has happened since my last blog. I finally got a day off and it just happened to coincide with my daughter’s sweet sixteen birthday party. Which was nice, I would have been in deep you-know-what if it wouldn’t have. The party was a big success. It’s been so long since we’ve had a really good escape like that, I think everyone was really ready for it. Of course there was way too much food, so that means leftovers for the next week or so for everyone. We did have a few snafus. It started out at 98 degrees in the shade. But, it was so shady that it started to rain. We had prepared for that eventuality. We bought several collapsible canopies or tents. I’m not sure what they were called. They were ten by ten so the tables fit nicely under them. We begged borrowed or stole enough tables and chairs to fill my brother and sister-in-law’s back yard. (We didn’t really steal any, but that might have been cheaper) When the rain came, it wasn’t a disaster until it started angling in sideways. So, we had to move everyone inside where it got really hot. Just as we finished bringing in all the chairs and wiping them down, the rain stopped. It was too hot to stay inside, so we dragged them all back outside. We had one of those big bouncing things for the kids. I’m not sure what that is called either. But, it looked like a castle and it was filled with air so that they can climb in and jump around. It was a big hit and kept the little ones occupied. One of my daughter’s uncles hired a DJ for the party as his present to her, so we set him up in the garage. With the door open, there was plenty of room for dancing. I led it off with my daughter, but no one really got out on the floor until we started serving the booze. We held it back until after everyone arrived and all of the cake and regular party stuff was over. I was the designated driver, so I didn’t partake, but it got much more interesting after everyone started drinking. We only had one accident with one uncle that either danced too much or drank too much. Either way, he landed on the floor with a twisted ankle. I did have a neighbor that wandered over talk to me for about twenty minutes. It took him that long to realize that I didn’t speak Spanish and had no idea what he was saying. The party didn’t break up until well after three in the morning, but I had to leave just before one. My wife was getting just a little too happy. Then, today, we had to wake up early – 11:30 to go back and help clean up. That was much more work than setting it up.
Great news: Football season is officially underway. The Hall of Fame game was today. The Cowboys spanked the Bangles 16-7. The first Bronco game is on Sunday the 15th against the Bangles. I mistakenly thought that their first game was today, and I was telling everyone. But, when I went to look for it so that I could schedule everything else I had to do around it, I couldn’t find it. I had to look it up again before I figured out what had happened. I have two daughters. One’s birthday is on the 4th which we celebrated yesterday on Saturday and the other’s is on the 14th. They’re different months, but somehow I saw the 15th on the schedule and decided that it was the day after the birthday party (Which wasn’t even on her birthday so I don’t know why I was thinking it in the first place) So, we have to wait another whole week before we get some Bronco football action. On the other hand, the Rockies beat the Pirates today, 8-4. Our starting pitching has been having some issues of late and we brought up Esmil Rogers from triple-A to start. He did a really good job and got the win. So, we split the four game series with the Pirates. We have the Mets on Tuesday. Ubaldo will be on the mound, so we should have a really good game.
Grandpa’s Faerie is now available in book form. It was available only in Kindle for last week. But, I approved the proof on Saturday morning and it is now out on Amazon. Or, you can pick it up from my website. www.thomnichols.com I finished chapter 19 on Friday and have a good start into chapter 20. I’m hoping to finish it tonight. I worked a little bit on the Great Detective and I put down a few pages to the one that came to me in the car the other day. I really don’t want to start it yet. I want to get these others finished first, but I just had to get some of it down. I’ll try to stay away from it, but sometimes when a story comes to me like that it pushes the other stuff out of my mind and wants me to work just on it. Ok, I put in some Pink Floyd and Zeppelin on the play list and I’m ready to get going.
-Thom
Great news: Football season is officially underway. The Hall of Fame game was today. The Cowboys spanked the Bangles 16-7. The first Bronco game is on Sunday the 15th against the Bangles. I mistakenly thought that their first game was today, and I was telling everyone. But, when I went to look for it so that I could schedule everything else I had to do around it, I couldn’t find it. I had to look it up again before I figured out what had happened. I have two daughters. One’s birthday is on the 4th which we celebrated yesterday on Saturday and the other’s is on the 14th. They’re different months, but somehow I saw the 15th on the schedule and decided that it was the day after the birthday party (Which wasn’t even on her birthday so I don’t know why I was thinking it in the first place) So, we have to wait another whole week before we get some Bronco football action. On the other hand, the Rockies beat the Pirates today, 8-4. Our starting pitching has been having some issues of late and we brought up Esmil Rogers from triple-A to start. He did a really good job and got the win. So, we split the four game series with the Pirates. We have the Mets on Tuesday. Ubaldo will be on the mound, so we should have a really good game.
Grandpa’s Faerie is now available in book form. It was available only in Kindle for last week. But, I approved the proof on Saturday morning and it is now out on Amazon. Or, you can pick it up from my website. www.thomnichols.com I finished chapter 19 on Friday and have a good start into chapter 20. I’m hoping to finish it tonight. I worked a little bit on the Great Detective and I put down a few pages to the one that came to me in the car the other day. I really don’t want to start it yet. I want to get these others finished first, but I just had to get some of it down. I’ll try to stay away from it, but sometimes when a story comes to me like that it pushes the other stuff out of my mind and wants me to work just on it. Ok, I put in some Pink Floyd and Zeppelin on the play list and I’m ready to get going.
-Thom
Friday, August 6, 2010
Aug 5th
It looks like this is going to be a short one. I had to go to a CPR class today. Of course it had to be on my own time. But, at least I got paid for going. It was a four hour class and the instructor kept trying to get us to want to extend it out to five hours. We, the students in the class, wanted to see if we could decrease it to only three hours. I had gone through it before, but I guess my CPR license expired after two years. So, to work it around my work and overtime schedule, I ended up getting off work. Sleeping for three hours, getting up and going to the class, going home to sleep for another three hours and then get back up to go to work. Yep, that was fun. Tomorrow is a twelve hour day, but I have Saturday off. It’s my one day off this month. And, it’s my daughter’s sweet sixteen birthday party. So, at least I get to enjoy my day off.
At some point today, the Rockies lost to the Pirates. I didn’t get to see it of course. It puts us tied with the Giants for third and fourth place in our division. We need to get on the ball and start cranking out some victories. The Padres have a seven game lead while they sit in first place. We have plenty of time to overtake them. But, we have got to crank out some wins.
I finished another chapter in the Great Detective today. And I finished chapter 18 of Kidnapped yesterday. For some reason, I’ve been on a roll. I have some Bad Company and Skynyrd in the playlist. It’s time to get going again.
-Thom
At some point today, the Rockies lost to the Pirates. I didn’t get to see it of course. It puts us tied with the Giants for third and fourth place in our division. We need to get on the ball and start cranking out some victories. The Padres have a seven game lead while they sit in first place. We have plenty of time to overtake them. But, we have got to crank out some wins.
I finished another chapter in the Great Detective today. And I finished chapter 18 of Kidnapped yesterday. For some reason, I’ve been on a roll. I have some Bad Company and Skynyrd in the playlist. It’s time to get going again.
-Thom
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Aug 4th
It’s Aug 4th today. That’s my daughter’s birthday. She’s 16 and the first thing she wants to do is go get her driver’s permit. I’ll take her as soon as I stop working all of this overtime. We’re going to celebrate her birthday on Saturday. We have a huge party planned. I’m sure it’ll go good, but we had just a little family get together today. We had cake and sang happy birthday. It was nice. I got her a glass doll inside a wire carriage made up in the same colors as her sweet sixteen dress. Of course it was supposed to be ready last Saturday and it wasn’t ready until today. I would have given the guy that sold it to us a piece of my mind, but my wife was the one that kept going down there to pick it up. I’m so lazy. But, if it wasn’t going to be ready today, I would have gone down there and demanded my money back.
The Rockies had a two game series with the Giants yesterday and today. We had a bad outing yesterday. We lost 10 to nothing. Our veteran pitcher has been in a huge slump and hasn’t lasted more than three innings in a long while. He gave up four or five runs in the first inning. I was so upset, I don’t even remember how many it was. Anyway, even after they took him out, we didn’t make any of the runs back. It was pretty bad. But, on the plus side, we spanked them today. The final score was 6 to 1. Our ace pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez was on the hill and he is now 17 and 2 which beats the team record. Carlos Gonzales also hit two homeruns in the game and Tulo also got one right on the back of Gonzales’s. It was a much better game. We have the Pirates again in Pittsburg tomorrow. We definitely need to give them some payback. Then, the countdown is on. Football is back on Sunday. That’s only 4 days away. We are playing the Bengals at 5:00 Denver time. It’s an away game so no chance of going. My wife was trying to get me and my brothers tickets to the first home preseason game against Detroit Lions. But, we waited too long and missed out. That’s ok. I would rather go see a regular season game.
I started chapter 18 yesterday. I’m hoping to get pretty far into it tonight. I’m putting Boston, Chicago, and REO Speed wagon in the playlist to play in the background, and I’m set to go.
-Thom
The Rockies had a two game series with the Giants yesterday and today. We had a bad outing yesterday. We lost 10 to nothing. Our veteran pitcher has been in a huge slump and hasn’t lasted more than three innings in a long while. He gave up four or five runs in the first inning. I was so upset, I don’t even remember how many it was. Anyway, even after they took him out, we didn’t make any of the runs back. It was pretty bad. But, on the plus side, we spanked them today. The final score was 6 to 1. Our ace pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez was on the hill and he is now 17 and 2 which beats the team record. Carlos Gonzales also hit two homeruns in the game and Tulo also got one right on the back of Gonzales’s. It was a much better game. We have the Pirates again in Pittsburg tomorrow. We definitely need to give them some payback. Then, the countdown is on. Football is back on Sunday. That’s only 4 days away. We are playing the Bengals at 5:00 Denver time. It’s an away game so no chance of going. My wife was trying to get me and my brothers tickets to the first home preseason game against Detroit Lions. But, we waited too long and missed out. That’s ok. I would rather go see a regular season game.
I started chapter 18 yesterday. I’m hoping to get pretty far into it tonight. I’m putting Boston, Chicago, and REO Speed wagon in the playlist to play in the background, and I’m set to go.
-Thom
Monday, August 2, 2010
Aug 2
It has been raining and raining today. It was one of those days where you want to spend the whole day in bed and just watch movies. So, that’s almost what I did. I couldn’t stay in bed, so I went out into the living room and watched some movies. They were pretty good. I watched Splice. It was about a couple of scientists that were splicing together genes from different animals to create vaccines. They made a different species of life and then from that they added human genes into the mix. It grew into a baby, so the girl scientist wanted to keep it and raise it as her own. The guy scientist didn’t want to keep it and tried to kill it. Of course the girl won. Then, as the critter grew, the guy wanted to keep it and the girl wanted to get rid of it. She was a little bit crazy anyway. But, it was a good monster and a pretty good movie. I also watched Cop Out with Bruce Willis. It was really funny. Bruce Willis’s character needed to raise money to pay for his daughter’s wedding, so he was going to sell a baseball card. Things get out of control and the card gets stolen by the bad guys he’s chasing. The other guy, Tracy Morgan, his partner made the movie. He was hilarious. Anyway, what I should have done was go to the store with my wife. For some reason she was mad at me for staying home and doing nothing. Oops. I’ll make it up tomorrow… oh wait, I have to go in early tomorrow. I’ll have to make it up to her on Wednesday.
I finished chapter 16 yesterday and I’m starting chapter 17 today. But, first I’m going to jot down a few notes. I was driving home from work yesterday listening to the radio and I got an idea for a new book. It wouldn’t let me sleep because I was thinking about it. I know if I don’t write some of it down, It’ll either drive me crazy or I’ll forget about it. In my head, it doesn’t sound half bad so I don’t want to forget about it. But, if it doesn’t let me get any sleep, I’ll be cranky all the time and no one will want me to go to the store or anywhere else with them and I’ll die a lonely old decrepit man living I a wheel barrel under the bridge somewhere.
There was no Rockies news today because they didn’t play. But, we left on a high note when we swept the Cubs. So, we just need to pick up where we left off and dish out a little punishment to San Francisco. They and the dreaded Padres are both six games over us as we moved up into third place over the Dodgers. We have the Pirates after that and we need to give them a good butt kicking too. I still can’t believe that they beat us two out of three games.
Till tomorrow
-Thom
I finished chapter 16 yesterday and I’m starting chapter 17 today. But, first I’m going to jot down a few notes. I was driving home from work yesterday listening to the radio and I got an idea for a new book. It wouldn’t let me sleep because I was thinking about it. I know if I don’t write some of it down, It’ll either drive me crazy or I’ll forget about it. In my head, it doesn’t sound half bad so I don’t want to forget about it. But, if it doesn’t let me get any sleep, I’ll be cranky all the time and no one will want me to go to the store or anywhere else with them and I’ll die a lonely old decrepit man living I a wheel barrel under the bridge somewhere.
There was no Rockies news today because they didn’t play. But, we left on a high note when we swept the Cubs. So, we just need to pick up where we left off and dish out a little punishment to San Francisco. They and the dreaded Padres are both six games over us as we moved up into third place over the Dodgers. We have the Pirates after that and we need to give them a good butt kicking too. I still can’t believe that they beat us two out of three games.
Till tomorrow
-Thom
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Aug 1
O’Yeah!!!!! It looks like our losing streak is gone and the Rockies are back with gusto. We are now four games into a winning streak and the middle two were something to watch. Our first game against Cubs was a whopper. We made 12 runs in the 8th inning alone. We ended up winning 17 to 2. We set all kinds of club records and even an MLB record. Then, the next day, we were up for most of the game. The Cubs hit a three run knock to tie us. It was getting tense, but in the bottom of the ninth, Carlos Gonzales came up to the plate. On an 0 0 pitch, he knocked the cover off. It went into the second level to win the game. But, not only that, the home run completed the cycle. He had already hit a single, a double, and a triple earlier on in the game. It’s too bad they’re off on Monday. It’s only one day, but I’m already Jonesing for another game. Speaking of games, however, FOOTBALL is starting in just a week. I’m going to be in sports heaven. (Too bad my wife will probably divorce me for the season)
I managed to squeeze in a little time for the family today. All that overtime is wearing a little. But, what can I do, I have to take it while it’s available. We didn’t do anything but go to the grocery store and then out to eat. It was fun. We were talking about everything and laughing. Pretty soon, they’re all going to be gone. I’m going to miss them. (They’re not dying or anything, they’re just growing up) My son was talking to me about moving out. He’ll be 21 in October and his girlfriend and my granddaughter are at the moment living with us. They were going through school and getting their lives situated before getting a place of their own. But, it looks like that day is now just around the corner. My eldest daughter will also be leaving at the end of the school year. She’s going into the Air Force. That just leaves me, my wife and my youngest. Then, a year later we might be kid free. I don’t know what I’ll do then.
I got the proof for Grandpa’s Faerie. Of course I misspelled a word on the back cover and omitted several words. That’ll teach me to re type it with these big ham hands of mine. I should have cut and pasted. But, noooo. I had to type it. Oh well, I fixed everything and sent off for another proof. It will be available as soon as I approve the new proof. I’m currently working on chapter 13 of the Great Detective and chapter 16 on Kidnapped. It’ll be a while for either of them to be ready, but I’m shooting for them to be ready and available by Christmas. I’m going to work on Kidnapped today. I’m feeling a little nostalgic today, so I put in a bunch of 70’s (Sorry, no disco) and 80’s music on the playlist for background and I’m ready to go.
-Thom
I managed to squeeze in a little time for the family today. All that overtime is wearing a little. But, what can I do, I have to take it while it’s available. We didn’t do anything but go to the grocery store and then out to eat. It was fun. We were talking about everything and laughing. Pretty soon, they’re all going to be gone. I’m going to miss them. (They’re not dying or anything, they’re just growing up) My son was talking to me about moving out. He’ll be 21 in October and his girlfriend and my granddaughter are at the moment living with us. They were going through school and getting their lives situated before getting a place of their own. But, it looks like that day is now just around the corner. My eldest daughter will also be leaving at the end of the school year. She’s going into the Air Force. That just leaves me, my wife and my youngest. Then, a year later we might be kid free. I don’t know what I’ll do then.
I got the proof for Grandpa’s Faerie. Of course I misspelled a word on the back cover and omitted several words. That’ll teach me to re type it with these big ham hands of mine. I should have cut and pasted. But, noooo. I had to type it. Oh well, I fixed everything and sent off for another proof. It will be available as soon as I approve the new proof. I’m currently working on chapter 13 of the Great Detective and chapter 16 on Kidnapped. It’ll be a while for either of them to be ready, but I’m shooting for them to be ready and available by Christmas. I’m going to work on Kidnapped today. I’m feeling a little nostalgic today, so I put in a bunch of 70’s (Sorry, no disco) and 80’s music on the playlist for background and I’m ready to go.
-Thom
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