As always, visit me at http://www.thomnichols.com/
Oops, it looks like I totally forgot to update my blog last Monday. I guess that means that we’ll have a nice long one today. Let’s start with something that happened last week. I found out that I am not a very nice person. It happened at work. As an overnight security guard, we’re supposed to kick people off the property who are sleeping. The idea is to keep the transients away and make the buildings look more professional. On this particular night, one of the other guards called over the radio that he was kicking two teenagers off the property. I swung the camera around and watched him point out a place for them to go. They left and that should have been the end of it. The other guy did what I would have done and what he was supposed to do. He didn’t say anything about it later on and I pretty much forgot about the incident. When we were relieved at the end of our shift, instead of going downstairs to leave, he started walking across the plaza. I asked him where he was going and he said that he was going to go buy those kids breakfast. Then, it dawned on me that they were just kids and they were homeless. But, I know that I wouldn’t have even thought of helping them if I was the one that was kicking them off of the property. I would have just kicked them off and not thought about them. The rest of the week, I noticed a lot of little things that other people were doing for other people. In each case, I wouldn’t have thought of helping. I really need to reevaluate the way I live. I never considered myself a bad person, but I’m defiantly not a good person either.
Speaking of not being a good person, I’m not even a good dad or grandpa. It came to my attention over the weekend that next Sunday is Easter. Usually, I am on top of holidays especially Christmas and Easter. But, this year it just snuck up on me. I haven’t saved any money or bought any little toys or candy for Easter baskets. I don’t know what I’m going to do. The kids are a little big for baskets, but I would like to get them a present or something. I usually spoil my granddaughter. We were walking around in the store yesterday and she was showing me all of the stuff she wants the Easter Bunny to bring her. We found chocolate rabbits with big ears and a bunch of other candy. I think I’m going to have to float a bill until next payday so I can at least get her something. With the older kids, I’ll probably take them out to eat as a family. We haven’t had one of those in a while. I’m sure I’ll get them something small, but it will be small.
On the family home front, it looks like the kids have to wait for a whole month before they start working on the new baby. My daughter in-law had the birth control removed and they doctor told them to abstain from “practicing” for a whole month. They’ve both given up drinking and the occasional cigarettes so that there won’t be anything in their systems to cause any troubles and they’ve started taking vitamins and stuff the doctor recommended. So, it looks like it might be a late February or early March baby. Since Leap Year was this year, a Leap Year baby is off the table. That would have been kind of cool, a birthday every four years.
Spring break is finally over. My youngest had a hard time getting up for school today. In her defense, she worked until midnight the night before. I went to pick her up at about fifteen or twenty after so she didn’t get a chance to get a really good sleep. It took me about ten times to wake her up this morning.
My eldest daughter is still struggling with finding a job. She went to apply for a police academy program today. I didn’t get to see her to find out how it went, but I’m sure she did well.
Today was my Goddaughter’s son’s first birthday. I didn’t get to go to it because I was upstairs sleeping. But, my wife said that it went ok. She and her mom did all of the cooking. I would have liked to go, but Mondays are not a good day for me. I have to sleep in the afternoon so that I can be awake all night. Still, the party went off nicely. There were a lot of people and my wife made pot roast. She snuck me up a plate before the party and it was really good.
We went to my brother’s house this weekend. He had a new game called Werewolves. It was pretty fun. It takes a lot of people to play and it is different than most games. Everyone is selects a random card and it tells them if they are a villager or a werewolf. There are other characters but that would take too long to explain. Anyway, after everyone knows who they are, everyone has to close their eyes and pretend that they are asleep. The game mediator asks a bunch of questions. The main one is who the werewolves are and who they want to kill. When the mediator finds out everything, he pronounces it daytime and everyone wakes up. Whoever the werewolves choose to kill is dead and the villagers have to guess who the werewolves are. They villagers hang who they think it is and then go back to sleep. The game continues until the werewolves kill all the villagers of the villagers kill all the werewolves. There is more to it than that, but I’m not selling the game and don’t get a commission so that’s all I’m telling you about it. All you really need to know is it was pretty fun. It did get us together as a family even though my other brother didn’t show. We had cookies and fruit and hotdogs. It was nice.
My son sent a lot of shoes and clothing for us to give to my brother that didn’t show up. They’re hand-me-downs, but my son usually only buys nice clothes and designer shoes. He also takes care of his stuff, so they’re in really good shape. But, my brother’s kids missed out. I’ll probably drive them around in the back of my car for a month or so before I break down and go to his house and give them to him.
I received the corrections for the River of Magic today. There were a lot, but most of them were just quick fixes. I tend to forget some of the small words when I’m typing so I have to insert a lot of “in, to, of, the…” But there were some sentence structures and continuity discrepancies. I would have brought them in today to fix, but I have such a headache that I don’t think I’m going to do anything except this blog. I have been working on Gremlin Planet. I’m seven chapters in and it is coming along nicely. But, I have Sliders running around my head. So, I might throw down a few chapters of that when Gremlin Planet isn’t looking.
Well, it’s getting kind of late and I haven’t even mentioned baseball yet. So, here goes. Opening day is only days away, Woo Hoo!!!!!! In case you’re wondering, yes, I can’t wait. We did have an incident over the weekend. Our old ace pitcher Ubaldo was throwing to one of our star players Tulo when he hit him in the elbow with the ball. Both benches cleared as the teams started fighting. It was a mess. Ubaldo has always been a little wild, but he fires it off at 100+ miles an hour. Everyone was worried that Tulo wouldn’t be able to start on opening day. But, at the game today, one of the announcers said that he would. So, I only have to drudge through the rest of this week for the first game. I think we’ll have a really good year. Of what I saw today, we didn’t have a good game. But, it’s still spring training. One of the announcers asked our coach Tracy if he thought that spring training was going by too quickly. He said it was, but I think it’s dragging. It’s probably because they don’t televise enough of the games.
Ok, I’ve rambled on enough. I’ll try not to forget next week’s blog.
-Thom
Monday, April 2, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Mar 20
Like always, visit my website at: http://www.thomnichols.com/
Let’s start off with the best new. Yes, you guessed it. Payton Manning is officially a Bronco. That means that we have already won the division and made the playoffs this coming up season. We still have to find out what Tebow’s fate is. Personally, I would like to see him stay with the team. He’s only in his third season and he isn’t making that much money NFLwise that is. He could learn to be a much better quarterback under Payton and then when Manning retires, he could step right in. I know he probably doesn’t want to sit on a bench and be a backup quarterback for that long, but he took us to the playoffs and we need a strong second stringer just in case.
I’m listening to the Rockies right now. We were spanking the Padres until the fifth inning. They made five runs and now in the sixth we’re losing by two, 8-6. But, there is still plenty of baseball left to play tonight. I still haven’t been able to see an entire game this preseason. But, now that they are closing in on the end of the month, they’ll televise more and more of them. We got tickets for the April 14th game from my nephew’s school. We’re taking everyone that wanted to go from both sides of the family. But, right after we paid for the tickets, one of my buddies called saying that he had a chance of getting four first level tickets for that same game. If they weren’t family, I would have ditched everyone for the good tickets, but we had to invite family. Oh well, it will be a good game. The boys are playing the Diamondbacks. I have been trying to keep up with the new guys. A lot of them look really good. I can’t wait until opening day.
My daughter got us tickets to the movies over the weekend. It’s nice to have someone working at a theater. We saw Safe House with Denzel Washington. It was action packed and pretty good, but the ending was very predictable. Watching the previews, I found that there are quite a few good movies coming up. One in particular was worth mentioning. It was the fourth installment of the Bourne Identity. I love those movies and I’ve wanted to read the books for some time, but I just haven’t been able to squeeze them in on my reading list yet. But, the thing worth mentioning in this movie was the fact that Jason Bourne, the character the movies are named after, isn’t even in the movie. I’m sure he was in the books, but they had some other guy who was supposed to have gone through the same program Bourne went through as the main character. I don’t think it’s going to be as good as the first three, but we’ll see. It still looked good.
The kids all went to the Children’s Museum today only to discover that it was closed. So, they went to Chuck E. Cheese instead. The wife and I weren’t invited, so we didn’t go. Now, the girls are going to the movies tonight and even though I’m at work and couldn’t go, they didn’t invite my wife. I think something must be going on. They’re fazing us out or something.
It looks like the boss is looking to fire someone. He’s been grumpy and abrasive to everyone over the last few days. That’s a sure sign that he’s looking to make a change. I haven’t been on the receiving end of the abuse, but the graveyard shift has been mentioned a few times. There are a couple of the guys that have taken the brunt of it and if I were them, I would keep my head down. I don’t think the boss really cares who he’s going to get rid of as long as he gets to fire someone. That means that there is going to be more overtime coming up.
I’m taking the day off today. I just don’t feel like doing anything today. Maybe I’ll put together an online puzzle or something. But, tomorrow, it will be back to work. I’m re-reading Nymph Planet because I lost my list of important stuff for that book. I remember cutting that book down to try getting it under 100,000 words. But, now that I’m rereading it, I really don’t like it. I might go back through it and put it back to the way it is supposed to be. But, I’ll do that after Gremlin Planet. So, I’ll see you again next week. I’m not putting anything into the playlist tonight or at least right now, because the game is still on. So, until next week,
-Thom
Let’s start off with the best new. Yes, you guessed it. Payton Manning is officially a Bronco. That means that we have already won the division and made the playoffs this coming up season. We still have to find out what Tebow’s fate is. Personally, I would like to see him stay with the team. He’s only in his third season and he isn’t making that much money NFLwise that is. He could learn to be a much better quarterback under Payton and then when Manning retires, he could step right in. I know he probably doesn’t want to sit on a bench and be a backup quarterback for that long, but he took us to the playoffs and we need a strong second stringer just in case.
I’m listening to the Rockies right now. We were spanking the Padres until the fifth inning. They made five runs and now in the sixth we’re losing by two, 8-6. But, there is still plenty of baseball left to play tonight. I still haven’t been able to see an entire game this preseason. But, now that they are closing in on the end of the month, they’ll televise more and more of them. We got tickets for the April 14th game from my nephew’s school. We’re taking everyone that wanted to go from both sides of the family. But, right after we paid for the tickets, one of my buddies called saying that he had a chance of getting four first level tickets for that same game. If they weren’t family, I would have ditched everyone for the good tickets, but we had to invite family. Oh well, it will be a good game. The boys are playing the Diamondbacks. I have been trying to keep up with the new guys. A lot of them look really good. I can’t wait until opening day.
My daughter got us tickets to the movies over the weekend. It’s nice to have someone working at a theater. We saw Safe House with Denzel Washington. It was action packed and pretty good, but the ending was very predictable. Watching the previews, I found that there are quite a few good movies coming up. One in particular was worth mentioning. It was the fourth installment of the Bourne Identity. I love those movies and I’ve wanted to read the books for some time, but I just haven’t been able to squeeze them in on my reading list yet. But, the thing worth mentioning in this movie was the fact that Jason Bourne, the character the movies are named after, isn’t even in the movie. I’m sure he was in the books, but they had some other guy who was supposed to have gone through the same program Bourne went through as the main character. I don’t think it’s going to be as good as the first three, but we’ll see. It still looked good.
The kids all went to the Children’s Museum today only to discover that it was closed. So, they went to Chuck E. Cheese instead. The wife and I weren’t invited, so we didn’t go. Now, the girls are going to the movies tonight and even though I’m at work and couldn’t go, they didn’t invite my wife. I think something must be going on. They’re fazing us out or something.
It looks like the boss is looking to fire someone. He’s been grumpy and abrasive to everyone over the last few days. That’s a sure sign that he’s looking to make a change. I haven’t been on the receiving end of the abuse, but the graveyard shift has been mentioned a few times. There are a couple of the guys that have taken the brunt of it and if I were them, I would keep my head down. I don’t think the boss really cares who he’s going to get rid of as long as he gets to fire someone. That means that there is going to be more overtime coming up.
I’m taking the day off today. I just don’t feel like doing anything today. Maybe I’ll put together an online puzzle or something. But, tomorrow, it will be back to work. I’m re-reading Nymph Planet because I lost my list of important stuff for that book. I remember cutting that book down to try getting it under 100,000 words. But, now that I’m rereading it, I really don’t like it. I might go back through it and put it back to the way it is supposed to be. But, I’ll do that after Gremlin Planet. So, I’ll see you again next week. I’m not putting anything into the playlist tonight or at least right now, because the game is still on. So, until next week,
-Thom
Monday, March 12, 2012
March 12
As always, visit my website at: http://www.thomnichols.com/
It was a long week. We had one person quit and another get fired, so I had to work all weekend. But, I can use the overtime so I’m not complaining too much.
There was some good news today. My nephew came home from school with a flier for $2.00 tickets for a Rockies game on Sat the 14th of April. His school always has them available at the beginning of the season and I have a lot of nieces and nephews that go to that school. So, we usually take advantage of it and get as many tickets as we can. The seats are up in the nosebleed section, but they’re not that bad.
Speaking of the Rockies, they’re going to start televising the games starting on this Saturday. So, they better get some people in to fill the open shifts for the guys that aren’t here anymore. I’ve been waiting for months for baseball to start and I want to see them in action. We played San Diego today and spanked them 11-2. We have a bunch of new players and I can’t wait to see what they can do. It’s going to be a good year.
Not a whole lot happened this week. My eldest daughter is still looking for a job. She’s seriously considering going active duty. I would prefer her to stay a reservist and go to school, but she can always go to college while she is in or later. I just don’t want her to lose the opportunity. But, she is getting pictures and messages from her friends that are active and they are in Hawaii and Germany and places like that. Having her see the world would be just as good as going to school.
My youngest daughter flubbed up her work schedule over the weekend. She thought she was supposed to go in at 6, but was supposed to be there at 11. She didn’t tell me if she got in trouble or not. So, if she did, it couldn’t have been too bad. She still loves her job and even got some of her friends hired. Now, she likes it even better. And, best of all, she might be able to get me one of those Avenger’s posters when the movie comes out. That will be cool.
My son and daughter in-law bought some new furniture. They picked out a nice dresser for their room and a small dresser and mirror for the baby’s room. I think they used their income tax return, but I’m not sure. I would use mine for something, but I’m not getting anything. We’re planning on playing around with it, maybe trying married and filing separately or something like that. But, I don’t have any high hopes. We only owe 24 dollars, so I should be glad it’s not more and just pay it. Maybe this weekend, we’ll see.
My granddaughter went to the zoo over the weekend. She went with one of her friends and the little girl’s father. My wife was all weepy dropping her off. The father isn’t a stranger, we’ve seen him before and we might have talked to him. But, it’s still a little disconcerting dropping her off with someone that isn’t family. But, she ran to her little friend and they went inside holding hands and playing. So, she had fun.
My wife and the girls went to see that Navy Seals movie. They said it was good. I hope so, because I’m going to drag her back to see it, because I want to see it. That is, as long as I get a day off fairly soon. There are a bunch of movies I want to go see. I might have to talk my wife into sneaking into another one after we see the Navy Seals one. I used to be able to talk her into it when the kids were younger. She always got nervous, but do you know how expensive it is to take a family of five (Sometimes plus one) to the movies. If the entrance doesn’t break you, the concessions will.
My brother took me to his used book store today. It wasn’t too bad. He has a credit there of nearly two hundred dollars. He can use it against half of the purchase and since the books are only three or four dollars, I got four books and it only cost me eight bucks. Not too shabby. They were in really good condition too. I found a new series by a favorite author that I didn’t even know about and the first in a series of three where the third one isn’t even written yet. I go through about a book a week, so I might have to give that book store another look pretty soon.
River of Magic is finally printed and turned in to my editor. Hopefully there won’t be too many corrections and I’ll be able to get it out to agents next week. I’m going to make a much greater effort this time. Hopefully it will work out. Until then, I’ve started on Gremlin Planet and that one is turning out to be pretty fun. I’ll work a little bit on it tonight. But, it’s Monday and Mondays aren’t very good days for doing anything. We’ll see how it goes. I’m putting Aerosmith, Cinderella, and Slaughter in the playlist for background music and I better get started. See you next week.
-Thom
It was a long week. We had one person quit and another get fired, so I had to work all weekend. But, I can use the overtime so I’m not complaining too much.
There was some good news today. My nephew came home from school with a flier for $2.00 tickets for a Rockies game on Sat the 14th of April. His school always has them available at the beginning of the season and I have a lot of nieces and nephews that go to that school. So, we usually take advantage of it and get as many tickets as we can. The seats are up in the nosebleed section, but they’re not that bad.
Speaking of the Rockies, they’re going to start televising the games starting on this Saturday. So, they better get some people in to fill the open shifts for the guys that aren’t here anymore. I’ve been waiting for months for baseball to start and I want to see them in action. We played San Diego today and spanked them 11-2. We have a bunch of new players and I can’t wait to see what they can do. It’s going to be a good year.
Not a whole lot happened this week. My eldest daughter is still looking for a job. She’s seriously considering going active duty. I would prefer her to stay a reservist and go to school, but she can always go to college while she is in or later. I just don’t want her to lose the opportunity. But, she is getting pictures and messages from her friends that are active and they are in Hawaii and Germany and places like that. Having her see the world would be just as good as going to school.
My youngest daughter flubbed up her work schedule over the weekend. She thought she was supposed to go in at 6, but was supposed to be there at 11. She didn’t tell me if she got in trouble or not. So, if she did, it couldn’t have been too bad. She still loves her job and even got some of her friends hired. Now, she likes it even better. And, best of all, she might be able to get me one of those Avenger’s posters when the movie comes out. That will be cool.
My son and daughter in-law bought some new furniture. They picked out a nice dresser for their room and a small dresser and mirror for the baby’s room. I think they used their income tax return, but I’m not sure. I would use mine for something, but I’m not getting anything. We’re planning on playing around with it, maybe trying married and filing separately or something like that. But, I don’t have any high hopes. We only owe 24 dollars, so I should be glad it’s not more and just pay it. Maybe this weekend, we’ll see.
My granddaughter went to the zoo over the weekend. She went with one of her friends and the little girl’s father. My wife was all weepy dropping her off. The father isn’t a stranger, we’ve seen him before and we might have talked to him. But, it’s still a little disconcerting dropping her off with someone that isn’t family. But, she ran to her little friend and they went inside holding hands and playing. So, she had fun.
My wife and the girls went to see that Navy Seals movie. They said it was good. I hope so, because I’m going to drag her back to see it, because I want to see it. That is, as long as I get a day off fairly soon. There are a bunch of movies I want to go see. I might have to talk my wife into sneaking into another one after we see the Navy Seals one. I used to be able to talk her into it when the kids were younger. She always got nervous, but do you know how expensive it is to take a family of five (Sometimes plus one) to the movies. If the entrance doesn’t break you, the concessions will.
My brother took me to his used book store today. It wasn’t too bad. He has a credit there of nearly two hundred dollars. He can use it against half of the purchase and since the books are only three or four dollars, I got four books and it only cost me eight bucks. Not too shabby. They were in really good condition too. I found a new series by a favorite author that I didn’t even know about and the first in a series of three where the third one isn’t even written yet. I go through about a book a week, so I might have to give that book store another look pretty soon.
River of Magic is finally printed and turned in to my editor. Hopefully there won’t be too many corrections and I’ll be able to get it out to agents next week. I’m going to make a much greater effort this time. Hopefully it will work out. Until then, I’ve started on Gremlin Planet and that one is turning out to be pretty fun. I’ll work a little bit on it tonight. But, it’s Monday and Mondays aren’t very good days for doing anything. We’ll see how it goes. I’m putting Aerosmith, Cinderella, and Slaughter in the playlist for background music and I better get started. See you next week.
-Thom
Monday, March 5, 2012
Mar 05
Like always, visit my site at: http://www.thomnichols.com/
Good news and bad news. The good news is that I completely finished the River of Magic last week. (That was why there wasn’t a blog entry last week. I wanted to get it finished and didn’t do anything else.) The bad news is that I couldn’t get it printed. We got a new printer and it’s really nice. It’s an HP Officejet 4500 G510g-m. The old printer was a dog. It would have taken me all day to print it, so when I started I was glad we had the new one. I printed the first page, a cover page, to test it and watched to make sure everything was going correctly. So, I stared at it and stared at it, but nothing came out. I checked everything. It was connected correctly, and since it is a work printer and I’ve seen things printed from it before, I began to grow concerned. I tried printing a test page from a different document and my first page printed out. Wearily, I tried to print another page. It worked and it came out a little faster. So, concerned about getting it all printed because this one looked like a dog too, I started pumping out the pages. I didn’t them one at a time because I was printing on both sides. I managed to get 18 pages printed before I ran out of ink. I put in a new cartridge and it actually picked up speed. I printed all the way to page 104 before I ran out of ink again. Putting in another cartridge, I began to grow concerned again. This was the last cartridge and I still had 150+ pages to go. I knew that there wasn’t going to be enough ink. So, I printed out up to page 168 before I stopped. I couldn’t run work out of ink or someone might start wondering what I was doing. So, now I’m stuck. I don’t have anywhere to print out the rest of the pages. I tried logging into the maintenance computer downstairs. I set it up and put a slow, but sturdy printer on it. When I got down there, I tried my old password, but someone had changed it. I found the new one written down, but I must have typed it in wrong because I ended up locking up the sign on. So, I decided to wait until after the weekend and try again today. Either they changed it from what they have written down, or I’m just an idiot because I locked it up again. My brother offered to print it for me, and I might have to use him as a last resort. But, I’m going to try a few more things here before then.
While I’m waiting on getting River of Magic printed, I’m going to start working on Gremlin Planet again. A new book has been rattling around in my head. It’s going to be called Sliders. But, I’m not really ready for it yet. But, from what I’ve been thinking, it sounds pretty good.
More good news, it is baseball season finally. So far, I haven’t been able to see any games. If they’ve televised any, I’ve missed them. But, I did have to work some overtime this weekend, so I have an excuse. I tried pulling up a spring training schedule for the Rockies tonight just to see what they’ve been doing and catch up on their news. But, I had a lot of trouble finding it. The only thing so far that I was able to get score wise was their win today. I know they tied their first spring training game, but I couldn’t find it written down anywhere. When I’m done with this blog, I think I’ll continue looking. That way I can find any games that are going to be televised before I go crazy.
My brothers and I went down to my mom’s house today. It was the first time we’ve all been together in a long while. We were supposed to have a get together on Super Bowl Sunday, but my youngest brother couldn’t make it. So, we spent all morning talking. Like all families, they had their ups and downs. But, overall, I think everyone is ok. Then, I took my mom out for lunch to this new for me little Mexican fast food restaurant. My mom had been there before and it was pretty good. I might have to go back. I would put the name in here, but I don’t remember what it was. It was something like Fresh Something or Something Fresh. Like all restaurants, however, the pictures they put up on their menu board was much better than the actual meal. But, it was good.
Last week my son and daughter in-law bought their first car. It was a 2007. Everyone kept asking what kind and stuff like that. All I know was that it was red and it looked nice. The best part of the car buying experience was that they provided complementary cookies, granola bars, popcorn, and water. My granddaughter and I went out of there with stuffed pockets. (Oh wait, that might have just been me) But, they also had a really nice massage chair. We played around in that for quite a while. We probably would still be there but some other people came in that were buying a car and wanted to use it. So, we spilled popcorn all over the place and went out to eat our cookies. The kids did pick a really nice car though. It was big and roomy, but small enough to hopefully get good gas mileage. They said that it had some get-up-and-go and my wife said that she could do the tune ups because she found the spark plugs easily. I was lost on the technical side of the conversation, but I did notice that I could easily fit someone in the trunk. It was huge.
My eldest daughter had a good interview with a little Italian restaurant downtown here at the 16th street mall. She’s going for a delivery person. (They make a butt-load of money in tips because they deliver to all the huge office buildings downtown) But, they might find a place for her in a different capacity. She went over the interview with us and it sounded like she did really well. She’ll know by Wednesday. I hope she gets it, and not just because of their spaghetti. (Which was wonderful)
I fulfilled my main goal last Monday. I’ve been trying to convince myself to get more exercise. So, I made a resolution to bring the glider upstairs and actually use it for something besides a coat rack. My goal was to have it upstairs by the weekend, but I didn’t actually get it upstairs until Monday. But, I did take it for a spin. I planned on using it for an hour every day as soon as I wake up. That has always been the best time for me to exercise. I missed Tuesday and Wednesday, but I did get a good half hour in on Thursday. I’m not sure what happened on Friday. But, this week, starting on Tuesday, I’m going to use it religiously. If I can continue with it for a month, I’ll be alright. I just can’t let myself talk myself out of doing it. (That’s the hard part)
Well, I guess I better get going and do some work. I’m putting Guns and Roses, Rush, and Tesla in the playlist tonight for background music. I should add the Scorpions in there as well. The Scorps and Tesla is coming to Red Rocks soon. I heard it on the radio. That would be a good concert.
Well, until next Monday night, See ya.
-Thom
Good news and bad news. The good news is that I completely finished the River of Magic last week. (That was why there wasn’t a blog entry last week. I wanted to get it finished and didn’t do anything else.) The bad news is that I couldn’t get it printed. We got a new printer and it’s really nice. It’s an HP Officejet 4500 G510g-m. The old printer was a dog. It would have taken me all day to print it, so when I started I was glad we had the new one. I printed the first page, a cover page, to test it and watched to make sure everything was going correctly. So, I stared at it and stared at it, but nothing came out. I checked everything. It was connected correctly, and since it is a work printer and I’ve seen things printed from it before, I began to grow concerned. I tried printing a test page from a different document and my first page printed out. Wearily, I tried to print another page. It worked and it came out a little faster. So, concerned about getting it all printed because this one looked like a dog too, I started pumping out the pages. I didn’t them one at a time because I was printing on both sides. I managed to get 18 pages printed before I ran out of ink. I put in a new cartridge and it actually picked up speed. I printed all the way to page 104 before I ran out of ink again. Putting in another cartridge, I began to grow concerned again. This was the last cartridge and I still had 150+ pages to go. I knew that there wasn’t going to be enough ink. So, I printed out up to page 168 before I stopped. I couldn’t run work out of ink or someone might start wondering what I was doing. So, now I’m stuck. I don’t have anywhere to print out the rest of the pages. I tried logging into the maintenance computer downstairs. I set it up and put a slow, but sturdy printer on it. When I got down there, I tried my old password, but someone had changed it. I found the new one written down, but I must have typed it in wrong because I ended up locking up the sign on. So, I decided to wait until after the weekend and try again today. Either they changed it from what they have written down, or I’m just an idiot because I locked it up again. My brother offered to print it for me, and I might have to use him as a last resort. But, I’m going to try a few more things here before then.
While I’m waiting on getting River of Magic printed, I’m going to start working on Gremlin Planet again. A new book has been rattling around in my head. It’s going to be called Sliders. But, I’m not really ready for it yet. But, from what I’ve been thinking, it sounds pretty good.
More good news, it is baseball season finally. So far, I haven’t been able to see any games. If they’ve televised any, I’ve missed them. But, I did have to work some overtime this weekend, so I have an excuse. I tried pulling up a spring training schedule for the Rockies tonight just to see what they’ve been doing and catch up on their news. But, I had a lot of trouble finding it. The only thing so far that I was able to get score wise was their win today. I know they tied their first spring training game, but I couldn’t find it written down anywhere. When I’m done with this blog, I think I’ll continue looking. That way I can find any games that are going to be televised before I go crazy.
My brothers and I went down to my mom’s house today. It was the first time we’ve all been together in a long while. We were supposed to have a get together on Super Bowl Sunday, but my youngest brother couldn’t make it. So, we spent all morning talking. Like all families, they had their ups and downs. But, overall, I think everyone is ok. Then, I took my mom out for lunch to this new for me little Mexican fast food restaurant. My mom had been there before and it was pretty good. I might have to go back. I would put the name in here, but I don’t remember what it was. It was something like Fresh Something or Something Fresh. Like all restaurants, however, the pictures they put up on their menu board was much better than the actual meal. But, it was good.
Last week my son and daughter in-law bought their first car. It was a 2007. Everyone kept asking what kind and stuff like that. All I know was that it was red and it looked nice. The best part of the car buying experience was that they provided complementary cookies, granola bars, popcorn, and water. My granddaughter and I went out of there with stuffed pockets. (Oh wait, that might have just been me) But, they also had a really nice massage chair. We played around in that for quite a while. We probably would still be there but some other people came in that were buying a car and wanted to use it. So, we spilled popcorn all over the place and went out to eat our cookies. The kids did pick a really nice car though. It was big and roomy, but small enough to hopefully get good gas mileage. They said that it had some get-up-and-go and my wife said that she could do the tune ups because she found the spark plugs easily. I was lost on the technical side of the conversation, but I did notice that I could easily fit someone in the trunk. It was huge.
My eldest daughter had a good interview with a little Italian restaurant downtown here at the 16th street mall. She’s going for a delivery person. (They make a butt-load of money in tips because they deliver to all the huge office buildings downtown) But, they might find a place for her in a different capacity. She went over the interview with us and it sounded like she did really well. She’ll know by Wednesday. I hope she gets it, and not just because of their spaghetti. (Which was wonderful)
I fulfilled my main goal last Monday. I’ve been trying to convince myself to get more exercise. So, I made a resolution to bring the glider upstairs and actually use it for something besides a coat rack. My goal was to have it upstairs by the weekend, but I didn’t actually get it upstairs until Monday. But, I did take it for a spin. I planned on using it for an hour every day as soon as I wake up. That has always been the best time for me to exercise. I missed Tuesday and Wednesday, but I did get a good half hour in on Thursday. I’m not sure what happened on Friday. But, this week, starting on Tuesday, I’m going to use it religiously. If I can continue with it for a month, I’ll be alright. I just can’t let myself talk myself out of doing it. (That’s the hard part)
Well, I guess I better get going and do some work. I’m putting Guns and Roses, Rush, and Tesla in the playlist tonight for background music. I should add the Scorpions in there as well. The Scorps and Tesla is coming to Red Rocks soon. I heard it on the radio. That would be a good concert.
Well, until next Monday night, See ya.
-Thom
Monday, February 20, 2012
Feb 20
As always, check out my website at: http://www.thomnichols.com/
Wow, I’m not sure what I ate today, but you can all be glad that you’re not here with me tonight. (I said that holding my nose) It’s Monday night again and time for my blog entry. Not a whole lot has happened this week. This is always a desperate time of the year, football is over and baseball hasn’t started yet. But, we’re muddling through.
My wife is back to a normal schedule this week. And that means that since my daughter doesn’t work tonight, she got off at six, I get to use my car. Woo hoo!!! Speaking of cars, it looks like my son is going to buy his first car tomorrow. The kids went down to the dealership today to see what they could get. I’m not going to tell you the make or model, because that kind of stuff doesn’t stick with me. They could have stenciled it into my forehead and I still wouldn’t know ten minutes after we left. But, it’s a $13,000 car and their payments will only be about $230 a month. They think they can swing that along with all of their other bills, so we’re going to go down and co-sign for them tomorrow.
I managed to finagle the taxes we owe down from $600 to $24. I’m happy about that. But, we’re going to have to do something for next year. I’m sure my youngest daughter is going to work all year, so she’ll do her own taxes and we won’t get anything from her. We’re still thinking about getting a house. Hopefully that will give us a nice credit and we’ll adjust our W4 forms pretty soon. We keep saying we need to do that, but neither of us have spoken to our HR people yet. I’m blaming mine on me working nights and sleeping during the days. Even though I haven’t called yet, I’m going to go with them being closed every day after I wake up.
It snowed again. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to have to shovel.
My youngest daughter took us all out to the movies yesterday. They all went to see the Vow. It’s a girl movie that I was really looking forward to missing. So, while they went to it, I went to see Chronicle. It was pretty good. My movie got out before theirs and I had to wait for over a half hour for them to come out. But, it was ok. All of the movie employees gave me quite a few dirty looks as I stood there next to the counter. No one came to try kicking me out or anything, but they kept a good eye on me.
My wife rented some DVDs from the Red Box today. When she brought them home, she popped them into the Wii only to find out that the Wii won’t play them. We had given our DVD player to my eldest daughter about a month ago, so now it looks like she’s going to have to play her movies on her computer. She doesn’t like that.
I’m still in the re-read portion of the River of Magic. I doubt if I’ll get it finished this week, because I’m a slow reader. But, it should be ready next week. I’ll keep you posted. For now, I better get to it. I’m putting in Zeppelin, Floyd, and the Eagles in the playlist tonight for background music. Talk to you next week.
-Thom
Wow, I’m not sure what I ate today, but you can all be glad that you’re not here with me tonight. (I said that holding my nose) It’s Monday night again and time for my blog entry. Not a whole lot has happened this week. This is always a desperate time of the year, football is over and baseball hasn’t started yet. But, we’re muddling through.
My wife is back to a normal schedule this week. And that means that since my daughter doesn’t work tonight, she got off at six, I get to use my car. Woo hoo!!! Speaking of cars, it looks like my son is going to buy his first car tomorrow. The kids went down to the dealership today to see what they could get. I’m not going to tell you the make or model, because that kind of stuff doesn’t stick with me. They could have stenciled it into my forehead and I still wouldn’t know ten minutes after we left. But, it’s a $13,000 car and their payments will only be about $230 a month. They think they can swing that along with all of their other bills, so we’re going to go down and co-sign for them tomorrow.
I managed to finagle the taxes we owe down from $600 to $24. I’m happy about that. But, we’re going to have to do something for next year. I’m sure my youngest daughter is going to work all year, so she’ll do her own taxes and we won’t get anything from her. We’re still thinking about getting a house. Hopefully that will give us a nice credit and we’ll adjust our W4 forms pretty soon. We keep saying we need to do that, but neither of us have spoken to our HR people yet. I’m blaming mine on me working nights and sleeping during the days. Even though I haven’t called yet, I’m going to go with them being closed every day after I wake up.
It snowed again. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to have to shovel.
My youngest daughter took us all out to the movies yesterday. They all went to see the Vow. It’s a girl movie that I was really looking forward to missing. So, while they went to it, I went to see Chronicle. It was pretty good. My movie got out before theirs and I had to wait for over a half hour for them to come out. But, it was ok. All of the movie employees gave me quite a few dirty looks as I stood there next to the counter. No one came to try kicking me out or anything, but they kept a good eye on me.
My wife rented some DVDs from the Red Box today. When she brought them home, she popped them into the Wii only to find out that the Wii won’t play them. We had given our DVD player to my eldest daughter about a month ago, so now it looks like she’s going to have to play her movies on her computer. She doesn’t like that.
I’m still in the re-read portion of the River of Magic. I doubt if I’ll get it finished this week, because I’m a slow reader. But, it should be ready next week. I’ll keep you posted. For now, I better get to it. I’m putting in Zeppelin, Floyd, and the Eagles in the playlist tonight for background music. Talk to you next week.
-Thom
Monday, February 13, 2012
Feb 13
Like always, please visit my website: http://www.thomnichols.com/
Fantastic news everyone. Yes, you guessed it. The official Rockies schedule was posted. It actually might have been posted before now, but today was the first time I looked at it. It is February 13th today and the first game is March 3rd. So, that means that there are only 19 days left until Spring Training and baseball. Yoo Hoo!!!!!
Our first game is against the Arizona Diamondbacks and it should be a great one. I don’t know anything about it yet, because I haven’t looked. But, I’ll let everyone know next week after I start reading what’s going on this week. So, enough about that.
The other great news is that the River of Magic is finished. I typed up the last page on Saturday. So, today I’m starting the re-read to make sure there isn’t any continuity or storyline problems, not to mention spelling or grammatical problems. There are usually more spelling and grammatical problems than anything else. When I’m typing, I’m usually going pretty fast and that’s not good. Sometimes my fingers are behind what I’m telling them to do and something gets forgotten or misspelled or even left out. So, I have about a week or so of the re-read and then it goes to my Editor (my mom). She’ll find everything that I miss.
I’m going to put in a lot more effort this time into trying to get it published the right way instead of just going right to self publishing. It’s about time to stop messing around. So, even though it’s finished, it might not be available for several more months.
The not so fantastic news is that I turbo taxed my return this last week. We’ve always had so many kids living with us that we’ve never really had to worry about getting a refund. Well, nearly all of the kids are out of the house and working. When I threw the numbers into Turbo Tax, we ended up owing $600.00 to federal but getting back about $20.00 from the state. Not very good news. So, we’re going to take all of the stuff down to H&R Block just to see if they can do anything for us. I hope so. Next, we’re going to have to change out W2 withholdings. We also want to try to get a house. We were expecting to try for one next year after my youngest went off to school, but we need that deduction, so we’ll try for one this year. That means that I need to start throwing money into our credit cards and stuff. We talked to the VA last year and they said that we almost qualified. They just wanted us to bring down a couple of the cards. We probably could have done it, but we were planning a trip and some other things and as it turned out, we maxed out those cards they wanted us to bring down. We still have some things planned this year, but I’ll plan them better this time.
Speaking of income taxes, my oldest daughter and my daughter in-law are going to get really good returns. I’m so jealous. My youngest had just started working and didn’t make enough to file this year. She will next year and the little bit we got for her will be gone, so we’re really going to be in trouble next year if we don’t get the house.
My oldest had her Army Reserve training this week. She had more to do than last month and they’re still trying to send her to another school. Since all of the military have pulled out of Afghanistan, the government is cutting military spending, so there isn’t much money to go around. They’re even kicking people out that don’t pass their PT tests and don’t measure up to their standards. My daughter is ok, but she said that there were about eight people in her reserve unit that didn’t pass their PT. They retook it over the weekend and only two of them passed the second time. She still hasn’t found a regular job yet, but she’s trying. The hard part for her is transportation. She really needs a car.
My youngest daughter is still working at the movie theater. She likes it, or I should say she likes having her own money. She likes most of the work, but some of it is kind of boring. She doesn’t like being the person that stands at the door taking the tickets because she can’t move around.
My wife had to work at a different building all last week and this week, so she had to be at work an hour early every day. It screwed up our transportation system, but we’re coping pretty well. It’s only a few more days anyway. She’s kind of tired of it because she loses an hour of sleep every night and can’t make it up during the day. So, she’s exhausted.
I taught my granddaughter a new word today and got in trouble. We were in the car when my wife went up to my daughter’s apartment to see what was keeping her. I made the mistake of saying that she probably walked in on my daughter and her boyfriend doing something funky. Well, my granddaughter liked the word funky and liked it even more putting the word monkey after it. So, when my wife came back down with my daughter and her boyfriend, she asked them if they were doing the funky monkey upstairs. I don’t think my wife is going to let me hang around with my granddaughter anymore.
My God daughter’s daughter had a birthday party on Sunday. It was nice. She’s getting pretty big. I think I got in trouble. I disappeared upstairs and ended up watching some TV. When my wife came up, she wasn’t talking to me. I didn’t intend on watching TV, it was just on and I got carried away. But, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so I’ll make it up to her.
That’s about all for today. I’d better get started on my re-read. The sooner I get that done, the sooner I can start on the next one.
I woke up late today and it took me a while to realize that I was running late, so I’m putting in some loud music in the playlist to keep me going tonight. Dio, White Lion, Dokken, AC/DC, and Slaughter should do it.
-Thom
Fantastic news everyone. Yes, you guessed it. The official Rockies schedule was posted. It actually might have been posted before now, but today was the first time I looked at it. It is February 13th today and the first game is March 3rd. So, that means that there are only 19 days left until Spring Training and baseball. Yoo Hoo!!!!!
Our first game is against the Arizona Diamondbacks and it should be a great one. I don’t know anything about it yet, because I haven’t looked. But, I’ll let everyone know next week after I start reading what’s going on this week. So, enough about that.
The other great news is that the River of Magic is finished. I typed up the last page on Saturday. So, today I’m starting the re-read to make sure there isn’t any continuity or storyline problems, not to mention spelling or grammatical problems. There are usually more spelling and grammatical problems than anything else. When I’m typing, I’m usually going pretty fast and that’s not good. Sometimes my fingers are behind what I’m telling them to do and something gets forgotten or misspelled or even left out. So, I have about a week or so of the re-read and then it goes to my Editor (my mom). She’ll find everything that I miss.
I’m going to put in a lot more effort this time into trying to get it published the right way instead of just going right to self publishing. It’s about time to stop messing around. So, even though it’s finished, it might not be available for several more months.
The not so fantastic news is that I turbo taxed my return this last week. We’ve always had so many kids living with us that we’ve never really had to worry about getting a refund. Well, nearly all of the kids are out of the house and working. When I threw the numbers into Turbo Tax, we ended up owing $600.00 to federal but getting back about $20.00 from the state. Not very good news. So, we’re going to take all of the stuff down to H&R Block just to see if they can do anything for us. I hope so. Next, we’re going to have to change out W2 withholdings. We also want to try to get a house. We were expecting to try for one next year after my youngest went off to school, but we need that deduction, so we’ll try for one this year. That means that I need to start throwing money into our credit cards and stuff. We talked to the VA last year and they said that we almost qualified. They just wanted us to bring down a couple of the cards. We probably could have done it, but we were planning a trip and some other things and as it turned out, we maxed out those cards they wanted us to bring down. We still have some things planned this year, but I’ll plan them better this time.
Speaking of income taxes, my oldest daughter and my daughter in-law are going to get really good returns. I’m so jealous. My youngest had just started working and didn’t make enough to file this year. She will next year and the little bit we got for her will be gone, so we’re really going to be in trouble next year if we don’t get the house.
My oldest had her Army Reserve training this week. She had more to do than last month and they’re still trying to send her to another school. Since all of the military have pulled out of Afghanistan, the government is cutting military spending, so there isn’t much money to go around. They’re even kicking people out that don’t pass their PT tests and don’t measure up to their standards. My daughter is ok, but she said that there were about eight people in her reserve unit that didn’t pass their PT. They retook it over the weekend and only two of them passed the second time. She still hasn’t found a regular job yet, but she’s trying. The hard part for her is transportation. She really needs a car.
My youngest daughter is still working at the movie theater. She likes it, or I should say she likes having her own money. She likes most of the work, but some of it is kind of boring. She doesn’t like being the person that stands at the door taking the tickets because she can’t move around.
My wife had to work at a different building all last week and this week, so she had to be at work an hour early every day. It screwed up our transportation system, but we’re coping pretty well. It’s only a few more days anyway. She’s kind of tired of it because she loses an hour of sleep every night and can’t make it up during the day. So, she’s exhausted.
I taught my granddaughter a new word today and got in trouble. We were in the car when my wife went up to my daughter’s apartment to see what was keeping her. I made the mistake of saying that she probably walked in on my daughter and her boyfriend doing something funky. Well, my granddaughter liked the word funky and liked it even more putting the word monkey after it. So, when my wife came back down with my daughter and her boyfriend, she asked them if they were doing the funky monkey upstairs. I don’t think my wife is going to let me hang around with my granddaughter anymore.
My God daughter’s daughter had a birthday party on Sunday. It was nice. She’s getting pretty big. I think I got in trouble. I disappeared upstairs and ended up watching some TV. When my wife came up, she wasn’t talking to me. I didn’t intend on watching TV, it was just on and I got carried away. But, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so I’ll make it up to her.
That’s about all for today. I’d better get started on my re-read. The sooner I get that done, the sooner I can start on the next one.
I woke up late today and it took me a while to realize that I was running late, so I’m putting in some loud music in the playlist to keep me going tonight. Dio, White Lion, Dokken, AC/DC, and Slaughter should do it.
-Thom
Monday, February 6, 2012
Feb 06
As always, don't forget to check out my website. http://www.thomnichols.com/
Happy Monday everyone. I know that I didn’t post a blog last week, but I have a very good excuse. I was very sick. That’s the second cold I’ve gotten this winter. Usually if I get sick it’s only once, but I guess it was just my turn. This one was really bad. I thought I had it licked over the weekend. I stayed in bed all day Sunday and Monday. I took all kinds of day and night time cold stuff. But, Monday night and Tuesday it came back with a vengeance. The worst thing was that it got into my eye. All last week it looked like I was walking around with a black eye. I thought about telling everyone that my wife beat me up, but she didn’t like that idea. It’s much better now. It’s still red and it looks kind of droopy and it leaks like a faucet, but it doesn’t hurt or anything. All of the swelling is going down too. I think there was a sty in it or something. Maybe a spider bit me while I was in a drug induced stupor. Whatever it is, I can’t wait until it goes away. On Tuesday or Wednesday, I got off work and mixed up some Theraflu. I thought it wasn’t working because I expected it to knock me out. Trying to sleep, I ended up watching TV and tossing and turning. I know it was after ten when I finally fell asleep, but when I woke up, my cold was gone. That Theraflu worked like a charm. I took some more the next day, but I don’t think I needed to. I felt great. So, if I can just get my eye to work I’ll be at one hundred percent. I need to stop wiping it with my fingers. But, it’s hard to remember to grab a napkin all the time. My wife put some drops in there yesterday, and made me start carrying a napkin around. I’ve been pretty good at it today, but it is so much easier to just wipe it with the back of my hand.
It snowed big time over this last week. (Two days straight without a break) I had a great time getting off work and then spending the next hour and a half shoveling the sidewalks at the house. The first day, the roads were miserable. Thank goodness for four wheel drive. My wife got stuck in front of the house when she was trying to drop my daughter off at work. The ice and snow was sooooo bad, she couldn’t get any traction and slammed into the curb. (Better than slamming into a car or person) She had my daughter borrow a snow shovel from the corner store because neither of them wanted to go back to the house to get ours. They dug themselves out and by then the main roads were plowed.
The way we work out our car situation, because we only have one at the moment, is my wife takes it to work at seven. I get off at six, so I wait over at her building until she gets there. I take it home. My daughter takes it to work and parks in my wife’s garage. My wife takes it home at three. I take it to work when I go in at ten and park in my garage. Then, when my daughter gets off at about midnight, she comes and gets it from me. Then, we start the cycle all over again. But, since it was snowing like a monster out there, I didn’t want my daughter to drive home in the middle of the night with icy roads. So, I brought a blanket and pillow to work with me and made her sleep in the car until I got off at six. She said it wasn’t too bad, but very cold. (Before I get a bunch of nasty emails, it is an enclosed underground garage and I had a camera on her the whole time.)
We went over to my brother’s house for the Super Bowl yesterday. I’m not a fan of either team, but I just assumed that the Patriots would blow away the Giants. (That’s why I don’t gamble) The Giants ended up winning. It was a fun evening. While we watched football, the girls and the kids were playing some dance game in the other room. And, I have to tell you, that dance game was one of the better inventions of the year. It kept the wife busy and she didn’t complain about having to watch the game once. Someone should have thought about that years ago. We had finger foods and tacos. My mom brought some bacon wrapped chicken which was a big success. There was a whole platter of them and they didn’t make it until everyone got their plates ready. I know I nibbled on quite a few of them. The game pool was of course rigged. I don’t know how he did it, but my brother’s son won the first two rounds and nearly took home the big score at the end. My wife won the third round, so that means we stopped off at McDonalds on the way home. I wanted to get an ice cream, but somehow I missed out and only got an ice tea. My niece took home the big prize and my nephew didn’t even get a shout out for being close. (He wasn’t a happy camper) My other brother and his kids didn’t make it. Someone said something about him taking his wife’s birth mother to the airport. It’s too bad he didn’t show up, I had some money to give to him. Now, I’ll have to find some time to get to his house. He lives up north and I don’t get out that way very often. Actually, I don’t get anywhere very often. That’s the problem with graveyard shifts. When I wake up, the wife and kids are getting off of school and work, so I want to spend some time with them before I go to work. But, since I’m just waking up, we don’t go anywhere, or they went somewhere before they came home to wake me up.
While I was sick this last week, I had a little trouble walking and fell down the stairs at my house. There are nineteen of those bad boys and they are rickety and dangerous. But, that’s not the bad part. The bad part came as I was falling. Since I was on my way to work at the time, I was carrying the stuff I usually bring to work. One of those things is a book. The one I was reading at the time belonged to my brother. It was number three in a series and he graciously let me borrow it. So, when I was at his house on Sunday, I made sure to borrow a new book before I told him what happened to the old one. As I was falling, everything in my hands flew up into the air. Somehow, when it landed, it lost most of its back cover. I would have taped it back on or something, but I couldn’t even find the ripped part.
My granddaughter discovered knock-knock jokes. She’s only four, and she doesn’t quite get the idea of a joke. For some reason, the end of the joke always ends with poo poo or something like that. But, she’s so cute when she says them that I still laugh. She was very disappointed that one of my brothers didn’t make it to the game on Sunday because my brother has a daughter that is just a year or so older than my granddaughter. For the last two weeks, she’s been asking about her and verifying that she would be at the party. It was like her only reason for going. Then, they didn’t show up. There were still other kids to play with, but she always seems to fixate on my brother’s youngest.
My wife is working the six to two shift for the next couple of weeks. It’s throwing our schedule off, but it gets her away from her boss which is nice.
None of the kids are doing anything interesting, or I’ve been too sick to notice. I should probably ask them.
The River of Magic should be done this week or next week. I thought it was going to be finished by the end of last week, but I added a bit that I wasn’t planning on putting in it. I think it’s better for it though. We’ll see what everyone else thinks. So, on that note, I better get busy and finish it up. I’m putting Pink Floyd, Night Ranger, and the Steve Miller Band in the playlist tonight for background music.
-Thom
Happy Monday everyone. I know that I didn’t post a blog last week, but I have a very good excuse. I was very sick. That’s the second cold I’ve gotten this winter. Usually if I get sick it’s only once, but I guess it was just my turn. This one was really bad. I thought I had it licked over the weekend. I stayed in bed all day Sunday and Monday. I took all kinds of day and night time cold stuff. But, Monday night and Tuesday it came back with a vengeance. The worst thing was that it got into my eye. All last week it looked like I was walking around with a black eye. I thought about telling everyone that my wife beat me up, but she didn’t like that idea. It’s much better now. It’s still red and it looks kind of droopy and it leaks like a faucet, but it doesn’t hurt or anything. All of the swelling is going down too. I think there was a sty in it or something. Maybe a spider bit me while I was in a drug induced stupor. Whatever it is, I can’t wait until it goes away. On Tuesday or Wednesday, I got off work and mixed up some Theraflu. I thought it wasn’t working because I expected it to knock me out. Trying to sleep, I ended up watching TV and tossing and turning. I know it was after ten when I finally fell asleep, but when I woke up, my cold was gone. That Theraflu worked like a charm. I took some more the next day, but I don’t think I needed to. I felt great. So, if I can just get my eye to work I’ll be at one hundred percent. I need to stop wiping it with my fingers. But, it’s hard to remember to grab a napkin all the time. My wife put some drops in there yesterday, and made me start carrying a napkin around. I’ve been pretty good at it today, but it is so much easier to just wipe it with the back of my hand.
It snowed big time over this last week. (Two days straight without a break) I had a great time getting off work and then spending the next hour and a half shoveling the sidewalks at the house. The first day, the roads were miserable. Thank goodness for four wheel drive. My wife got stuck in front of the house when she was trying to drop my daughter off at work. The ice and snow was sooooo bad, she couldn’t get any traction and slammed into the curb. (Better than slamming into a car or person) She had my daughter borrow a snow shovel from the corner store because neither of them wanted to go back to the house to get ours. They dug themselves out and by then the main roads were plowed.
The way we work out our car situation, because we only have one at the moment, is my wife takes it to work at seven. I get off at six, so I wait over at her building until she gets there. I take it home. My daughter takes it to work and parks in my wife’s garage. My wife takes it home at three. I take it to work when I go in at ten and park in my garage. Then, when my daughter gets off at about midnight, she comes and gets it from me. Then, we start the cycle all over again. But, since it was snowing like a monster out there, I didn’t want my daughter to drive home in the middle of the night with icy roads. So, I brought a blanket and pillow to work with me and made her sleep in the car until I got off at six. She said it wasn’t too bad, but very cold. (Before I get a bunch of nasty emails, it is an enclosed underground garage and I had a camera on her the whole time.)
We went over to my brother’s house for the Super Bowl yesterday. I’m not a fan of either team, but I just assumed that the Patriots would blow away the Giants. (That’s why I don’t gamble) The Giants ended up winning. It was a fun evening. While we watched football, the girls and the kids were playing some dance game in the other room. And, I have to tell you, that dance game was one of the better inventions of the year. It kept the wife busy and she didn’t complain about having to watch the game once. Someone should have thought about that years ago. We had finger foods and tacos. My mom brought some bacon wrapped chicken which was a big success. There was a whole platter of them and they didn’t make it until everyone got their plates ready. I know I nibbled on quite a few of them. The game pool was of course rigged. I don’t know how he did it, but my brother’s son won the first two rounds and nearly took home the big score at the end. My wife won the third round, so that means we stopped off at McDonalds on the way home. I wanted to get an ice cream, but somehow I missed out and only got an ice tea. My niece took home the big prize and my nephew didn’t even get a shout out for being close. (He wasn’t a happy camper) My other brother and his kids didn’t make it. Someone said something about him taking his wife’s birth mother to the airport. It’s too bad he didn’t show up, I had some money to give to him. Now, I’ll have to find some time to get to his house. He lives up north and I don’t get out that way very often. Actually, I don’t get anywhere very often. That’s the problem with graveyard shifts. When I wake up, the wife and kids are getting off of school and work, so I want to spend some time with them before I go to work. But, since I’m just waking up, we don’t go anywhere, or they went somewhere before they came home to wake me up.
While I was sick this last week, I had a little trouble walking and fell down the stairs at my house. There are nineteen of those bad boys and they are rickety and dangerous. But, that’s not the bad part. The bad part came as I was falling. Since I was on my way to work at the time, I was carrying the stuff I usually bring to work. One of those things is a book. The one I was reading at the time belonged to my brother. It was number three in a series and he graciously let me borrow it. So, when I was at his house on Sunday, I made sure to borrow a new book before I told him what happened to the old one. As I was falling, everything in my hands flew up into the air. Somehow, when it landed, it lost most of its back cover. I would have taped it back on or something, but I couldn’t even find the ripped part.
My granddaughter discovered knock-knock jokes. She’s only four, and she doesn’t quite get the idea of a joke. For some reason, the end of the joke always ends with poo poo or something like that. But, she’s so cute when she says them that I still laugh. She was very disappointed that one of my brothers didn’t make it to the game on Sunday because my brother has a daughter that is just a year or so older than my granddaughter. For the last two weeks, she’s been asking about her and verifying that she would be at the party. It was like her only reason for going. Then, they didn’t show up. There were still other kids to play with, but she always seems to fixate on my brother’s youngest.
My wife is working the six to two shift for the next couple of weeks. It’s throwing our schedule off, but it gets her away from her boss which is nice.
None of the kids are doing anything interesting, or I’ve been too sick to notice. I should probably ask them.
The River of Magic should be done this week or next week. I thought it was going to be finished by the end of last week, but I added a bit that I wasn’t planning on putting in it. I think it’s better for it though. We’ll see what everyone else thinks. So, on that note, I better get busy and finish it up. I’m putting Pink Floyd, Night Ranger, and the Steve Miller Band in the playlist tonight for background music.
-Thom
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