Inventory and Ramblings

Well the big day came and is over. I just got home after completing another annual physical inventory of our parts department. I was slightly apprehensive but then I usually am, however everything came out okay and we can start the New Year and make some changes to try and turn the department around an gain some market share. At this point I am tired (exhausted) but satisfied.

The Apple Cup was last night between the Washington Huskies and the Washington State Cougars and my Huskies pull out another win. Off to a bowl as soon as someone figures out where we will play.

Have a great week

Giving Thanks

I have to give thanks for a whole bunch of stuff however the weather isn't going to be one of them. I guess I should give thanks to the weather because I did get up this morning, but why does it have to be so gray and stormy on such a wonderful day.

Okay....I am thankful that I got up this morning. I am thankful for God. I am thankful for my parents who lived their whole lives in this wonderful country and managed to raise two fine upstanding children.

I am very thankful for my lovely wife of over 40 years who has put up with all kinds of agony and defeat over the years but still manages to stand by my side. I am thankful for my wonderful kids, who, despite their fathers early attempts to ruin them, actually turned out to be two excellent friends, spouses, and parents who are compassionate, considerate and involved individuals.

I am thankful for three wonderful grandchildren. My grandson who is very articulate, compassionate, considerate and caring even though he would say he is a redneck. My granddaughter who shares many of the attributes of my daughter. And my new 8 month old grandson who has a wonderful personality that just beams with joy.

I am thankful that I have a job. As much work as it is the alternative is not a good thing.

I am thankful that I live in a country that allows freedom of expression. A country that allows individuals to explore inside the borders without reprisal. I am thankful for the freedoms we enjoy. I thank all of those individuals and families who have given so much over the years to ensure we continue to enjoy freedom.

I will spend the afternoon with my family. The only thing that would make it a little better would be the weather that

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appear to be enjoying.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Sunday Rants

As promised I did very little yesterday. I did get up and install a weatherstrip around the outside of the garage door in the mid morning. There was nothing much to do so I went out into the thirty degree weather to install this stripping. Probably should have waited for warmer weather but it is installed and the draft seems to have disappeared.

Watched the Oregon Beavers defeat my Huskies yesterday. However, there was a major meltdown in college football yesterday and the BCS is going to be in shambles as several ranked teams got upset yesterday including Oregon, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Clemson and Florida State. The Ducks like to make fun of the Huskies and a lot of what they say is true. They compare their "elite" Ducks to our "middle of the pack" Huskies. I don't see Oregon on the list of National Championship Teams. While we are mentioned once, we do share the title with Miami. The Ducks have gotten close. Now they know what it is like to be a sports fan in Seattle. We always seem to get close and then drop the ball....

Had a great time with my grandson and his friend at the hockey game last night. It was the first time we had gone in some time. Seattle out played Portland and won the game 6 - 3. There were several Portland fans (player girlfriends) in our section. Zach was wild and crazy as he normally is at these events. His friend held out until the third period. She seemed a little embarrassed at the beginning but he managed to get her up clapping and screaming during the late moments of the game. As we left the stadium the Portland bus was waiting outside, warming up (it was around 29 degrees) for their overnight trip to TriCities. I think they just wanted to get the heck out of town.

Today will be another lite day. I found our granddaughter spent the night last night so we will need to take her home and do our weekly shopping later this afternoon. After that, NOTHING but R&R......note the word NOTHING...of course the wife isn't up yet, so things may change.

I have been watching my Sunday morning shows and I don't think I am going to have much trouble wrapping my head around the idea I wrote about in my post yesterday. On CBS Sunday Morning there is a piece about people who are effected by the economy. Yesterdays givers are todays users of the food banks. I want to be okay when I retire. I want my wife to not have issues to worry about. So my head will soon be straight and I'll move on to the next level.

Have a great Sunday, I just looked outside and it is white....no snow yet. It is 26 degrees and frosty.

Weekend Off, Rants, Catching Up

For the past couple of weeks I have worked really long hours with only one day, Sunday, off each week. Add to that the change from daylight savings time and I was leaving and getting back home in the dark. A quick bite to eat and off to bed for another day starting six hours later. I decided to take this weekend off as I am staring at working non stop Monday through December 2nd. It is inventory time of the year and we will be taking our annual physical inventory the Sunday after Thanksgiving. And yes, I will, likely spend some time in the store on Thanksgiving day.

So my big plans for the day are basically nothing. I don't plan to get to exited to do anything. I plan to lay back and enjoy the day. The Huskies have taken their act to Beaverton to play the Oregon Beavers so I will likely watch the game on my television. It starts at 12:30pm Pacific Time.

This evening I am to attend a Seattle Thunderbirds Hockey game in Kent, Washington with my grandson, Zach, some of his friends and my daughters friends father. I am looking forward to the game. It is with archival Portland and it will be my first game this year. I think I have told you that my boss owns a minority portion of the team and attends most weekend at home games. Zach really gets into the game and has won a ride on the Zamboni and I suspect he will be wild and crazy again tonight as he has already said he wants to win the ride.

My lovely wife will be taking our granddaughter to see Happy Feet Two. I am sure they will have a great time.

Now the rant. I think I might understand some of what the folks from Occupy Everything are trying to accomplish or point out but I have to remark on their process. How the heck do the expect to win backers and sympathy for the movement by blocking traffic during rush hour? Who thought it would be a good idea to block an intersection in a neighborhood that already difficult to get around.

And the mayor of Seattle apologizes for the use of pepper spray in a much publicized attempt to clear the group out of a two month encampment. Why? Everyone was warned nationwide that the establishment was going to move on the encampments. The afternoon it happened, several radio stations warned their audiences to stay clear of the area. Since when does the fact you at 84 years old give you the right to break the law? Review the use of pepper spray, as well as police tactics, maybe. What are we going to leave the officers sworn to protect us to use against unruly crowds? The amount of whining and hand wringing after a police incident is getting ridiculous. Police officers are human. They make mistakes. But don't take away their chance to protect us and themselves.

And finally, after a review of everything and all of the possible scenarios I have been left with a bitter fact. No retirement or trip until I reach 68. It will be three years from February of next year. I got to get my head wrapped around this one. It could be very depressing.

Home, Safe and Sound

What a day. I woke up at 3am this morning and looked out to see the wind blowing leaves around as the rains came down in buckets. I stayed up and made coffee and read the morning paper online prior to watching Meet The Press. I ended up drinking two small pots of coffee before the wife got up around 8am. I made oatmeal with nuts, brown sugar and butter, finished my coffee and went upstairs to get ready for the day.

By 9am we were loaded up and heading up to Gold Bar to check out the trailer. We arrived at the lot and found the trailer and the lot covered with leaves and needles. It appears that most of our neighbors have packed up, covered up and left for the season. We got out and examined the trailer and the water stand pipe to ensure that our neighbors had properly closed everything so the stand pipe doesn't freeze over the winter. Looking at the windows from the outside we had some concerns about condensation as we entered the trailer. While the dehumidifier was not running it was obvious that it had been and things appeared to be dry. We checked the inside of each window and found the condensation was actually on the outside of the windows. The insides are perfectly dry as the rest of the unit. We emptied a minor amount of water for two weeks. I was genuinely surprised and happy to find it in really excellent condition.

We left Gold Bar and drove to Mt Vernon to visit my step-mom. We arrived around noon and stayed until after 3pm. We had not been up to see her for some time and we had a lot to catch up on. I am happy to see that someone else has entered her life and her friends continue to support her as she moves forward. She is doing very well and Mia and I are very happy for her.

After a long drive home, shopping at Walmart, we ate pizza. I could have done without the overhead Christmas music at Walmart (I think it is just a little early). Oh well, they must celebrate Christmas in Arkansas a little earlier. I remember a different time and while children anticipated Christmas, we didn't make it visible until the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Have a great week

Mac, Gold Bar, Mt Vernon

So I finally figured out what I used as a password for my Qwest gateway and was able to get the Mac to attach itself to the internet. I have to say that there are some very big differences between the Mac laptop and the HP laptop. There is definitely going to be a learning curve for this old guy, but I suspect I will get the hang of it. I need to get me a copy of Windows Office for Mac. My son tells me it is something I will be happy that I have. Except for the keyboard I can't find anything wrong with this new machine. The keyboard is a little weird with no ten key and it seems to be smaller. What is really neat? I can sit in the dark with the fireplace the only light in the room and because the keyboard is back lit, I can see what I am doing in the dark. This might be a first!

Next thing I need to learn is how to save pictures from the internet so I can load them here. Copy and paste doesn't work the same.

Tomorrow we leave early for a long road trip. It is my only day off so we plan to go to Gold Bar and check the trailer, removing water from our bucket. Then off to Mt Vernon to visit my step mom whom we have not seen for some time.

I am hoping my lovely wife will share the majority of the driving duties tomorrow.

Hope everyone is well and happy and enjoying the warmth if you are down south. Up here...cold, dreary, rainy, and possibly snow...Wow, already a weird year.

Mac Pro Laptop, Driving and ??

So we decided to get a new laptop from Apple. We have been considering it for sometime and our new 15" Mac Pro showed up today. Unfortunately I am still typing my blog on our PC from HP because for the live of me, I cannot remember the password to the ACTIONTEC system that I installed. Looks like I'll have to go digging to find it.

As I went forth this morning it was later than normal. I usually get up very early and take off for work before there is traffic. Today I waited and went by to pickup my new glasses. I left Federal Way for the 26 mile drive to work around 8:17am. As I drove over the highways and byways between here and work I was really surprised at how many folks stuck in traffic were busy texting or calling someone. I will admit to some distraction. I was listening to Radio Classics on Satellite radio. Think it was Philip Marlowe. Anyway it took over an hour to get to work. I don't see how people do this everyday.

Rest in Peace Joe Frazier.

Jealous???? Hell Yes

I see all the posts from those of you who are in the southern half of our great country enjoying sun and moderate warmth while we have cold, rainy, windy, dark and dismal days. I am so jealous and ready to hit the road that it is unreal. Unfortunately some of the places I want to visit will have to wait until summer but Arizona, Utah, New Mexico sound pretty nice to this Seattle dwelling individual.

Have a safe Tuesday

Updates and Ramblings

So, I haven't posted anything recently, primarily due to work, work, work. I just finished a long six day work week with most days exceeding 11 hours. Makes an old guy tired. So, I am kind of taking the day off and relaxing around the condo.

I came home after a long day yesterday and decided to watch the Huskies last game at Husky Stadium before the big remodel. It had to be the Oregon Ducks and of course, we had to hand them the game. Had we not turned the ball over three times the outcome may have been very different. They might have actually had to play to win. As it was, we gave them three easy scores and that took care of any chance for us to upset them and give the stadium a more positive send off.

I actually thought about going up to the trailer and trying to install the cover today. When I got up after turning my clock back an hour, I found 25 degree weather and a lot of white frosty covered stuff outside. The sun came out and it has been dry all day and likely would have been the perfect day to go up and get that little project done, but I just didn't have it in me to drive all the way up there. We are going to visit my step mom out of town next Sunday and we will drive by the trailer and make sure the bucket isn't overflowing.

I was saddened to hear that Andy Rooney had passed away. He complained about everything and everyone but he never made any excuses for it and he was fun to listen to and often gave you something to think about.

Our friend Cynthia came home from the hospital on Saturday and she seems to be doing much better. Still weak but she is well on the road to recovery.

We didn't win the lotto, so I still have to go to work tomorrow. Mia was really disappointed as she had spent all the winnings.

Nothing much else to reports.