Winter Blahs are in Full Swing

I haven't paid attention to blog in quite awhile. There have been health issues which made me want to do nothing but laze around while I'm home. By the same token, it has been very busy here at work. So my time on the internet has suffered, I've hardly visited my favorite sites and haven't bothered with Facebook too much either.

One thing I've wanted to do, but I really dread is cleaning up the two front rooms on the second floor. We have grandiose schemes to turn them into a sewing room for Reg and a office for me. I dread it because we never agree on anything. I want to junk stuff she has stored for 20 years and she wants to junk half my stuff. So. I know that if we ever get this project off the ground, there will be rumblings from both sides, sigh!

Football Winding Down

Well...........my primary reason for paying attention to football is gone for the year. My Washington Redskins have flopped again. 4 and 12, good grief what a lousy record. Jim Zorn is fired (not regrettable) Joe Bugel is retired (Regrettable). The team is in shambles. I'm not that confident with Jason Campbell. He has shown flashes of brilliance and his numbers seem to have improved; but I would not call him a franchise quarterback by any means......yet! Of course the fact that he had a lousy offensive line didn't help any. He got sacked a lot this year.

Thank God, I am not a crazed fan like I once was. I'd purchase the Washington Post on Monday's to read all I could about the team's win or loss from the previous Sunday. I had a subscription to a fan newsletter. If they lost on a Monday night game, I would toss and turn all night. Then one day, really after Joe Gibbs retired (first time), I said to myself that it wasn't worth it and pulled back.

I still root for them because they are the last connection I have with my beloved Commonwealth of Virginia; where I became a diehard Redskins fan. We'll see what Mike Shanahan can do with them. I'd love to see a return of the "Hogs" that terrific offensive line that Joe Bugel was the architect of back in the 80's. That was really great football.

My secondary reason for paying attenttion to football will most likely end tomorrow afternoon. The New York Jets will play San Diego for the AFC Championship. I'd love to see them win, but I doubt it. Years ago, I had Jets season tickets and took the kids to the games. They seemed to enjoy it until the December games :-) They manage to find ways to lose every year. Superbowl, 1969 was their last championship.

It's a cliche I know, but there's always next year.

Christmas.........

We had a great Christmas with the family together except Angela was not able to make it. Liam has grown quite a bit and we saw our first granddaughter Piper for the first time. She is a very placid child. Liam proceeded to play train wreck with a set of Brio Trains we have passed down to him from our kids. We gave our customary annual wood stove donation to an Indian reservation out west and I received a nice Pilot 823 Fountain Pen from Regina.







Above is a family shot of the clan during Christmas and below is a shot of some Christmas decorations. The stars were made by my 2nd Cousin Renata Clausenitzer. Thle last shot is of me and my granddaughter Piper. Its the first time we saw her in person.

HELLO WORLD!!

As you can see by the date, its been a long time since I have posted. Aside from being very busy, I haven't felt all that well. Had a bad Gout attack followed by a hospital stay followed by yet another Gout attack. Needless to say I haven't been in the greatest frame of mind recently. However, I have been to see a Rheumatology specialist and if he is right. my troubles may be subsiding ( pun intended for you fellow gout sufferers) a bit down the road.One thing that has bouyed my spirits recently (though dimmed my wife's) is the latest cap I received in the mail. She hates my cap collection but take a gander at this baby:

It is the cap of the USS NEW YORK, recently commissioned right here in NYC. She was docked on the west side up a couple of slips from the Intrepid. Since I was one of those deemed essential I had to stay throughout the week after the attack and do whatever was necessary to keep my building up and running. The USS NEW YORK has about 7.5 tons of steel in her from the Trade Center so every time I wear the hat it is a tribute to the victims, first responders, Navy and my fellow building managers, engineers and service employees who stayed behind to do what must be done.

This old Coastie now has three Navy caps. One from the USS LOUISIANA my oldest son's boat, USS EARLE my Dad's ship and now USS NEW YORK.

It's been a rough couple of weeks, I can't wait to get back to work and get the year overwith to start the new one off on a different foot :-).

The law of Averages is..............

catching up with me.

I am a fountain pen freak and for years I have been one of the lucky ones. I never spilt any ink nor did I get any on my clothes. I seemed to be able to do everything perfect relative to filling up fountain pens. All I got was the occasional ink stain on my hands or fingers. THEN it happened. Within the last week, I have managed to ruin two T shirts, two dress shirts and a bed spread as well as get some ink one a wooden floor. I'm sure my poor wife is ready to kill me. I can't understand it. Although I suspect I'm just not as careful as I usually am. Its been an exhausting couple of weeks span, between long hours at work and doing not for profit stuff on the weekends 4 hour RT commutes, I can hardly see straight. Plus I've been hit with gout and arthritis attacks of late so my concentration is a little off. In fact, I have one of those Fisher Mars Space Pens. I've started using it for the last couple of days to stay away from Fountain pens. Tomorrow I have to take the car to the shop, after that the rest of the weekend I will relax and nap and start getting some semblance of normalcy back to my life.......I hope! :-)

No longer ink free, I am...........

Four Legs Good Tag Sale

A Not For profit started by my sister and daughter, Four Legs Good, is having a tag sale today at Immaculate Conception Church on South Main Street in Stony Point, NY. The NFP's purpose is to do a TNR program (Trap, Neuter, Release) to help control the population of Feral cats in Rockland County in a humane way. So if you want to help, stop by from 10AM to 3 PM today and help contribute. Their website is listed under my favorites.

Thanks,

PS We did really well. We took in over 1,000.00 which means we can TNR 22 cats. :-)

Everything's Happening at once!!!!!

A lot of things are happening all at once. We’re very busy on the job getting ready for an ISO audit, I resigned my position as newsletter editor for the NFP I’m on because I do not have the time to do it justice, though I intend to stay peripherally involved. Its my grandson Liam’s 2 year old birthday tomorrow and I started donating to my sister’s and daughters NFP called four Legs Good in which they raise money to trap, neuter and return feral cats to the wild.

Also we’re taking my sister out on the 22nd for her birthday, let’s see what else is going on? I signed over my Mom’s old Toyota to Daniel. Now he’s paying the insurance, yippee……….

I am already looking forward to next years vacation in Maryland; Judi and Janet will be coming down with us. We have a two bedroom suite this time in the same place; Herrington Harbour Inn.

No wonder I’m exhausted on the weekends, in between all this other stuff I work 55 hours a week and commute 4 hours a day. Such is life!!!!