A 95% Kind of Day

Kind of a wimpy title but it's the best I can come up with to describe my late morning run. The weather was a 95% perfect. It was the wind that knocked it down 5%. Temperature 38 degrees, crystal clear blue skies and dry roads. I ran around the neighborhood; down Banklick to Maher accross Independence Rd. and back to Banklick into Battleridge and home. 67 minutes in all. I was properly dressed and very comfortable the whole time. Fortunately I was able to run in a direction and route that minimized the effect of the wind.

This afternoon we have our family Christmas party at my brother Mark's house in Crescent Springs. We'll have a house full of kids and 4 generations present with Aiden being the youngest and my dad being the oldest, 80 years between them.

I like this picture of Aiden; a candid shot that brings out the more pensive side of his personality.

Late Afternoon; the Day after Christmas

How about this weather! Wednesday was cold and rainy all day; heavy rain at times, just a lousy day for Christmas Eve. Christmas Day was spectacularly beautiful with the sun shining but cold. Today it's again rainy but now very warm with temps in the 50s as I write. It is expected to get as high as 68 tomorrow. It's not unusual to have a warm spot in December but it is certainly unexpected.

Linda and I did a little shopping this morning in downtown Cincinnati. I was surprised that there were so few shoppers but I did notice that things picked up around lunch time. Brooks Brothers was busy. There long checkout lines and folks were buying not returning. They have a great after Christmas sale. I bought 3 new shirts and saved about $90. With my new job I'm wearing dress clothes for the first time in 15 years and needed to buy some things.

As I was leaving BB I happened to run into my friend John Meehan and his wife Jenna. I haven't seen him in a few years so it was a nice catch-up. Linda and I usually see John's sister JoAnn and her husband Ed over the holidays but not this year.

Matt, Ciara and Aiden visited Matt's mom and dad and grandmother in Indiana this afternoon. Aiden came home with another car full of gifts and the living room floor is covered with hot wheels cars, monster trucks, books and toy airplanes. As I write he's occupying himself with the electric train which seems to be his favorite toy. Now there's something squeeking and I can't find what it is, oh, it's something in one of his new books and it's finally stopped.

I made some potato soup for supper then managed to get outside for a short run between rain showers. 39 minutes of time well spent.

Morning after Christmas

Aiden awoke at 02:00 but didn't wake his Papaw. The first time since Tuesday! We think he might be "sleep walking." He didn't get up again until after 7 so I actually managed to get some quality and sustained sleep last night. I kind of missed it.

Now he's playing with the train, his battery powered cars, his wind up jet airplane and his light-up ducks. All at the same time! But the train is still his favorite.

He's now dressed and ready to go see Matt's parents in Indiana. Before going though he has to watch "Monsters." Hopefully we'll get a chance to upload some pictures later.

Christmas Eve 2008 at 10553

Aiden enjoying his train before dinner tonight.

Matt, Ciara, Aiden (Buzzy), Colin, Charie, Aubrey and Aaron joined us for dinner tonight. We enjoyed an 8 rib Prime Rib with carrots, risotto and salad. After dinner Ian and Rieko joined us on Skype.

While Aiden was getting his bath we heard a clatter on the roof and a jovial man in a red suit stopped in with lots of loot. Aiden had so many gifts he got tired of opening them; he wanted to play instead! Oh the joys of being the only grandchild and nephew!

A Slow Weekend

Spent a lot of time shopping the past 3 days. I guess that's what you do at this time of year. We ended up going to dinner at Abuelo's in the Crestview Town Center on Saturday evening after going to Mass at St. Louis downtown. Linda bought a Santa Claus figure that is long and tall at TJ Maxx. He looks like a wizard!

We went to the Krogers in Walton on Sunday afternoon for some pretty good deals. It was very warm and windy especially for this time of year. I think temps topped out in the high 50s.

This morning it was 55 at 07:00. Now, as I write this at 16:00 it's 29, windy, overcast and spitting rain. We did a little more shopping this morning taking advantage of some deals for ourselves. Now we're just vegetating with nothing exciting left to do. I'm looking forward to getting some reading done.

Ian and Rieko are home from their cruise. They had a good time. We haven't heard anything from Colin but I guess he's concerned about being layed-off, again. We're hoping that no news is good news.

It's Cold out There!

19 degrees.

A bit brisk this morning but it felt great. Clear skies, very light breeze and blinding sunlight. No one around. I elected to just run through the neighborhood and that was a nice change of pace.

I got up a little after 06:00 and it was still dark out. The full moon was hanging at about 10 o'clock on the Northwestern horizon and there was a light dusting of snow reflecting the light. It was beautiful. I'm glad I got to see it.

I've worked the past 3 days so I'm glad to have the day off. I know next week is going to be a busy one. It's the same every year. Everyone gets revved up for the holidays then they arrive and are over and everyone goes on about the mundane events of living. I hope it will be different every year but it doesn't seem to change. This year might even be a little bit worse than previous years given all the problems with the economy.

We'll make the best of it.

Buzzy's learning to brush his teeth! It's about time. In the past he absolutely refused to even let you try. Now if Ciara can just convince him to use the potty!

Spring morning in late Fall

Goetta for breakfast. A good start to the day even if it's loaded with fat; it just tastes too good.

It's 48 degrees. Two days ago it was 18 at this time. Now that's the upside. The downside is we're supposed to get rain, lots of rain, later today. Then I think its going to get cold again. Oh well, I've got a run planned and I've just got to get myself pushed out the door....More when I get back!

To the right is my latest pic of Buzzy. He looks pretty proud of his Christmas tree. It's perfect for him. Linda says he looks so old! I don't know about that but he's definitely not a baby anymore.

I had a great run this morning. It was overcast and very windy. In fact running into the wind was worse than running up hill if you can imagine that. I've been home for a couple of hours now and it's started to rain. A steady downpour so I'm glad I got out the door. My sore throat and earache have pretty much disappeared. I'm just waiting for Linda to get home then I've got to run over to work for a couple of hours.

Matt just texted (sp) me. He's just gotten word from the Commonwealth that his adoption of Aiden has gone through. Now they just have to wait for a court date to finalize everything. It would be nice if that could happen before the end of the year but I'm not going to hold my breath. What a Christmas present that would be.

Ian and Rieko are on a cruise. I think they get back at the end of the week.

What a lousy afternoon for Colin to be working outside. I hope he's got rain gear.

Evaluation Monday

Well I couldn't think of anything else to call it. I started a cold morning by downloading the necessary software to be able to access my desktop at work. Then I had to write my 90 day self-evaluation and e-mail it to my boss. Needless to say it was NOT an entertaining morning. I had high hopes to do something, anything fun in the afternoon but ended up spending the entire day at the house reading and doing small projects. I'm still contending with a sore throat and now I have a cold sore. Go figure.

Linda got home relatively early. We had a quick dinner of filet mignon (from Krogers discount bin), brocolli and buttered rotini. Afterwards we went to the store.

An exciting day!

2,333,000 Minutes...5 years

"The greatest day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. The gift of life is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you get to determine the quality of it. Live the next five years on purpose. Now is the time. Imagine the possibilities. Go places, have adventures, make a real difference, do what you love. Follow your dreams, they know the way."

"Where will you be five years from today?"

That's the question the book asked me when I saw it at Starbucks this morning. Of course I bought it how could I refuse? It called out to my base romantic nature. But it makes you think, I mean really think, doesn't it? It's something I should at the very least toy with.

Our Christmas shopping is just about finished. Of course Buzzy's going to make out like a bandit. He's the only grandchild, nephew so he's going to be blessed with excess as a result. Hopefully it will tone down in the future but what's wrong with it now. He doesn't understand it at this point and then, you must ask, what's the point to begin with? Well I guess it just makes us (Linda and I) happy.

It's been really cold the past couple of days. Today was probably the coldest day of this late fall season. I don't think it got above freezing and we had a light dusting of snow overnight which didn't help matters. The skies were crystal blue all day so there was nothing to hold the sun's heat in. We ate lunch at Panera and ran into Molly and her mom. It was nice to see both of them.

Came home, watched a movie, roasted a chicken, drank some wine, ate the chicken with cauliflower, drank a little espresso and vegetated. It was a great day.

I came down with a sore throat and faint earache last evening which has persisted throughout the day and continues now. Curiously and fortunately it's only present on the left side. I just try to ignore it.

Ian and Rieko are on a cruise. I hope they're having fun.

It reminds me of Summer

Today was cold, windy and overcast. I spent the morning reading, washing bed linens and cleaning. Linda worked this morning. We ate lunch and then did a little more Christmas shopping. I think we have most of it finished and paid for but there are still a few things left to get done.

The picture on the left was taken of Buzzy in the early summer before his mommy's wedding when he still had all of his hair. I thought it was a fitting picture for a dreary winter day.

I tried to get some pictures of the Christmas tree but so far they just don't look right. I think it's going to take a little more practice to get it just so.

I made a pot of chicken/turkey soup that turned out great. We had it for lunch and we're going to finish it up for supper with a hard crusty bread and left-over penne chicken and cheese. Of course we're enjoying a bottle of red wine at the same time.

First of December

Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired...You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going."
- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian

It was cold, snow mixed with rain and very windy this morning. I drove out to EI and ran for 2 hours. The trails were wet, muddy and slippery. Quiet. Lot's of deer. The best thing of course was I had the trails to my self. There wasn't another soul there. A great run.