2/26/07

Dear Blog,

The weekend passed by relatively uneventfully. I drove down to the beach Saturday afternoon, and saw the folks, Kait, & Duncan. Martha, George, & their dog Mollie came up for dinner on Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday evening also gave me two other marquee events - the Maryland/UNC game, and then the Oscars. The Terps game was terrific - more on that tomorrow. The Oscars were the same as always - more than a little drawn out, plenty of glitz and glam, and a lot of fun to see the winners. I only saw two of the films nominated for Best Picture, and while I prefered Little Miss Sunshine to The Departed, I was not dissapointed to see the latter take home the statue.

After the game and dinner, Kait and I drove George back to his house in Clemsford - Martha stayed down at the Cape - and then went home ourselves. It was good to see the family again, and I'm glad Kait is back from Maryland - it got kind of lonely here by myself.

Anyway, sports blog tomorrow...gotta get that Terps recap down - and the other ACC action as well. Hell, I might even be in good enough of a mood to look at some of the other conferences - but don't count on it.

TTFN

2/22/07

Dear Blog,

Well, we've reached Thursday. The family is coming up today from Maryland, and they might be dropping Kait off on the way. I enjoyed being on my own for a while, but it does get lonely. I'll be glad to see them, whether it is later on this evening or not until Saturday.

I was hoping that the Terps would be on up here tonight, but they weren't. It's probably a good thing, though -I would have had a hard time pulling myself away from that game to get to work, I know it.

I downloaded Half-Life 2, Episode 1 a couple days ago. I have to say I'm kind of dissapointed so far - It's mostly just jumping puzzles and shooting zombies in the dark. And I do mean in the dark - this game is darker than Doom 3. I hope it gets better soon, and that subsequent episodes rely less on the darkness factor. These games are a lot more fun when you can see, IMO. Wehn I get done Episode 1, my next step will be to download the original game, which I have never played.

Well, I wish I had something really exciting to report, but I don't. With the exception of Kait not being here, the week is plodding along just like any other. It seemed to warm up a couple of days ago - it was almost 50 degrees. But it cooled down again today and tonight, and it is supposed to be really cold this weekend. But we're coming up on the end of February - the most miserable month of the year - so things should start to get nice soon. Well, eventually. Spring comes a little late up here, as I learned last year. Oh well.

Sports blog tomorrow. I'll have lots to say about last night's ACC action, as well as tonight's big game between Duke and Clemson, and a preview of what is to come this weekend. Till then...

2/19/07

Dear Blog,

This weekend went by relatively uneventfully for me. I dropped Kait off at the airport on Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday passed virtually without incident. In fact, the most exciting thing for me to report is that I had brunch with my cousins Mark and Kerry, as well as Kerry's boyfriend.

I got home and passed out on the couch, although at four I was awake enough to turn on the Maryland game. I actually fell asleep at the very start of the game, but I could still hear the television, with the result being that I dreamt I was AT the game (although, that I could hear the play-by-play announcer while the game was going on never struck me as odd). Anyway, I woke up a few minutes into it, and was able to watch it, as well as the Capitals game which was on NBC as the NHL's two top young players - Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby - faced off. So, for an afternoon, it was almost like I was at home.

Anyway, this evening I watched a couple of movies about race in the South in the 50s and 60s - In the Heat of the Night, starring Sidney Portier, and Mississippi Burning, starring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe. Those movies can be more than a little upsetting - the key is remembering that the DPs have since been soundly defeated, and that what once was is no longer.

Well, anyway, happy Presidents' Day. Go get yourselves some new furniture or whatever. I'll be in the sports blog tomorrow, probably talking about the Maryland game some more.

2/15/07

Dear Blog,

Well, the Great Blizzard of '07 was more of an inconvenience than anything else. Although if it's like were to have hit Maryland it would have caused a great deal more consternation than it did up here. I had to get up early yesterday (which for me is quarter of one - and yes, that is early) to move my car over to the parking garage down the street. Kait managed to get the day off of school, but neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail will stop UPS. It was a light load last night, as some of the Vermont trucks were unable to make their way down to the hub, but we'll be paying for that tonight with a peak-like shift.

Other than the snow, there hasn't been too much going on up here for me to report on. Tomorrow Kait is heading down to Maryland for almost a week, then she and the folks & Duncan will be coming up around the Thursday after that. This'll put me on my own for a while, which will make cooking a bit easier, I suppose.

I finally got my health insurance paperwork last weekend. I've filled out the required forms and soon (hopefully) I'll have my card and I'll be able to do a few things I've been putting off; namely, I want to see an optometrist about getting a contact lens perscription, I need to make a routine exam appointment with a dentist, and I want to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist to see if I have, as I suspect, ADD, and if so, what I can do about it.

It continues to be very cold, and it was extremely windy today. We're in the dreary days of February now, but I noticed that the sunset is now on the proper side of 5:00, and pitchers and catchers have reported to Spring training. Spring is now closer to us than the beginning of winter is, and I'll be glad to get there.

Tomorrow, I'll be on the sports blog. Till then...

2/12/07

Dear blog,

The weekend came and went, with no adventures too far outside the norm. The folks and Duncan came up to the Cape for the weekend; actually, they came up on Wednesday, but I didn't see them until Saturday. They left for Maryland sometime this morning.

My sister and I left for the Cape on Saturday morning, before I had the opportunity to go to bed, so when I got there, I immediately slept until about 4:00. That night I learned that, while I was sleeping that morning, Barack Obama made his announcement that he was running for the White House (more on that in my political blog post from yesterday).

Sunday morning we had brunch at this posh hotel that we sometimes go to with our aunts and uncles. This time it was only my parents, myself, and Uncle George and Aunt Martha. Sunday aternoon passed with a minimum of excitement, and then we were treated to a beautiful sunset over the frozen lake. We had duck and rice for dinner, and we left for Lowell at about 7:30.

Tonight I have to go to work 15 minutes early. We're expecting a big night, because today all of the Vermont Teddy Bears that are set to arrive on Valentine's Day are leaving the factory. And, as the hub that services all of New England, every single one of those bears goes through us. I already sorted one truckful on Friday - on Monday, we'll be having lots more.

Well, that's all I got today. Tomorrow I'll post in the sports blog. Expect something about the Terps' big win over Duke (woohoo!).

2/8/07

Dear blog,

This past weekend I had the opportunity to get back down to Pasadena to spend Super Bowl weekend with my friends from there. On Saturday night, Dave, Corey, and Corey's girlfriend Mollie came to my parents' house and we played cards. On Sunday I went to Josh Roussey's Super Bowl Party and got to see that whole gang, including Tristan. I had a great time, and hopefully I'll be able to get back down there soon enough.

This week has been relatively uneventful thusfar. It's been right back to the grindstone at work. They have been moving me around a lot this week - from Sort 2 (my aisle) to other sort aisles and to a couple different unload aisles, as well. Yesterday night started with me in unload 2, which sucked, but after break I was back on the sort aisle and the rest of the night went by pretty quickly.

After work, Andy and I stuck around to try out some trick basketball shots we had been working on (there is a hoop inside the Hub). Andy was the star of that portion, hitting one we had been trying to get for forever and making up another one and hitting it on the spot. Then we were joined by John, who is our supervisor, and Bradley, who doesn't work on our aisle but we know him because he is always hanging around late after the shift. We played a couple games of HORSE, both of which I managed to win.

The folks arrived at the Cape tonight, supposedly, although I haven't yet had the opportunity to talk to them. I'll give them a call tomorow when I wake up, if I remember to. And I'll certainly see them this weekend. Well, that's all for now.