Go Washington Redskins!!

I woke up this morning to news that the Redskins had beaten their arch rival Dallas Cowboys 28-18. Music to my ears since I have been a Redskins fan since 1966, my first year at Roanoke College in Salem,Virginia. We have had some glory years in the 80's and early 90's; but, have had a dry spell for a long time. Well this time two rookies dragged the Redskins over the finish line to the conference championship for the first time since 1999. RGIII and Alfred Morris did it and there are a lot of happy Redskins fans out there now.

A lot of guys at my former job were rabid Giant's fans, they're disappointed I'm sure, but I hope they're happy for me :-)

Hopefully, they will beat the Seattle Sea Hawks next week and move on to the next round. The 'Skins record 10-6 is a lot better than I personally expected. At the start of the season, I was hoping for at least 8-8. Barring injuries we may make a good showing in the playoffs. It makes me wish I had our TV hooked up again. But we have gone for so many years without it that I'm not going to start now.

You know aside from the close knit crew, we had, one other thing I miss is the company issued Blackberry. It was a lot easier to keep track of Redskin scores when I had that. I now have a plain Jane phone that aside from making calls, takes photos and that is about it. I go nuts on Sundays trying to keep track of the scores.

Post Script:

Well we lost to the Seahawks 24-14, third time in the playoffs. Started off promising scored two touchdowns, but RGIII did not look sharp. Kind of reminded me of a hobbled Sonny Jurgenson, Injured again in the 4th quarter and Cousins took over. I am disappointed on the one hand, but we did a lot better for the season than I expected. Division chanps at least. I just hope that the off season will allow RGIII's knee to heal. Otherwise he will have a short career.

Congratulations to the Redskins on a great turnaround season, now we need to just get better, need an improved secondary and definitely smarter use of a rookie quarterback. At this rate the franchise player will break down quickly. 

Snow is Coming???

Today it is in the forecast for 4 inches of snow. Regina will be making my favorite meat sauce, so soon the smell will permeate the house. Whiling away the time, I've created an Excel spread sheet to chronicle our house hold expenses, food, prescriptions, car payment, mortgage, etc. to track them better given our  limited income since the layoff.

The snow is supposed to start around 9:30am and go through midnight. We have salt for the driveway and money to pay the enterprising young adults that roam the neighborhood in search of their future college fund (or so I would like to think)! One of the best things now is that I don't have to worry about weather conditions affecting work or freeze ups or anything like that for the building, just as it relates to the home!

Just came back from running errands. Its 12:15 and just a few flurries so far. Hope this is another case of the weather forecaster getting it wrong again. End result, about 3 inches, nothing to worry about.

WINTER BLAH'S

Haven't quite figured out what to do with myself yet. I was laid off in mid November (reduction in force, it was called) and thought I would have a lot of things to do. First couple of weeks was really hectic arranging for new medical coverage and going through the typical bureaucratic BS to get myself put on unemployment.

I've been scanning the help wanted ads daily and  put in several applications a week for jobs that I would fit into quickly. Right now I'm still looking for a 9 to 5 job related to purchasing since that was a big part of my previous life as a building manager. No more property management for me. Those long commutes and 24 by 7 on duty standbys are a bit too much at my age. If I get a job, I want to leave it behind me on the desk each night.

I just finished another burst of activity talking to my accountant and financial advisors. It gave me more angst than anything else. Everyone has a different opinion on what I should do with my IRA's, CD's, Annuities, etc.

Initially, I thought I'd spend a lot of time on the internet. But that hasn't been the case. I check the weather, news and email now. I might do a quick lurk on a couple of old message boards I used to frequent but don't have the urge to be as verbose as I once was. I guess, by the same token, if I keep up this blog and people want to see what's going on, they can always tune in here.

Today, I'm going to the butcher and pick up a meat order and we are finishing up season 3 of NCIS. I like that show. I think Mark Harmon is a much better actor now that he's a bit older. I'm still trying to think of something creative to keep my mind working. One idea is to write down my experiences as an Operating Engineer in a Manhattan high rise. 

I kept logs for that time in my life and some of the things that happened were funny, scary and interesting at least to me. I will put a manuscript together to see if it develops into anything worth while. I know other Operating Engineers at least will get a kick out of it. The idea all started when as a Chief Engineer, my daughter came to work on the first "Take your Daughter to Work Day" and witnessed what I did for the day. The next day, she told her class that her daddy did nothing but push red and black buttons all day. Nothing like a kid to sumarize a hard day at work!! :-)

I still miss the action to a certain degree, every once in a while, my cell rings and I start to answer "Corporate Real Estate, may I help you" then come to senses before a syllable or two escape my mouth. I hope everything is running smooth at the old job, they are good folks that are in the trenches.

One thing I have decided to definitely start on is to clear out the accumulation of debris in the two  front upstairs rooms. I will keep the shredder busy as hell. I need a project to keep me occupied, that's for sure.

The one major thing that I thought would keep me occupied has fallen through. The restoration project for the Coast Guard Cutter Tamaroa is no more. We simply could not raise the funds to restore her and provide the public with the education we were hoping to. As of this moment, the "Damn Tam" as we fondly called her is probably going to be scrapped, though her present owner has it in mind to sink her as an artificial reef off New Jersey. The Coast Guard has to approve that. I hope the latter is her fate. At least she would be in one piece and available for divers to explore.

Finally , a post and unemployment!!!!

It's been a long time since I posted anything. Since the summer things have gotten a little out of control. I wound up in the hospital after vacation to have my gall bladder removed then was readmitted due to complications.

After that things got very busy at work due to a couple of reorgs. Little did I know that the reorg would include  me. I was laid off on November 15th after almost 31 years on the job. Initially, I was stunned and somewhat depressed. Then after a few days realized that 35 years of 4:30AM wake ups and 4 hour round trip commutes had taken its toll.

I'm looking for another job, but it won't be in the City.I'm sending out resumes weekly. So far no bites. At least for the moment, I'm getting unemployment checks. It almost hurt to write that sentence. In my entire life of 40 years in the work force I had never been unemployed. 30 years with one company alone. Last February they gave me a 30 year watch, a Tag Heuer. Nine months later, plans changed and I'm out the door. I'm disappointed, certainly, but hold no ill will against the company. We parted on good terms as they were very good to me over the years.

I do miss the staff, though, we had a real good crew in the building, it ran like a well oiled machine. I'm trying to get into some kind of routine to make myself useful. Right now, I'm pretty much vegging out and watching videos along with a few errands now and then. It feels odd to be able to get stuff done during the weekday. I'm going to try to get into a much better defined routine by new years. I think the biggest challenge is going to be living on a much reduced budget. I think I'm going to get a hair cut today :-) .....and will probably post on this blog more frequently, if I have anything interesting to say.

Adirondack Vacation

Just returned from a week in the Adirondacks around a place called Blue Mountain Lake. The scenery was gorgeous  the food was delicious; but oh brother, the nearest grocery store was 30 miles away and while the place was a haven for boaters and white-water rafters, there wasn't much in the way of antique shopping. a lot of gift shops, yes! but no real antique places.Everything was so far apart, we used up way too much gas. Better planning next time. Plus I couldn't eat. Several abdominal pains accompanied me all week. Turned out I had to have my gall bladder removed after we got back.

Didn't even take the obligatory 200-300 photos, I usually take while I'm on an interesting vacation! Doubt if we'll be heading up there again.

"My God, there's more of us!!"

my sister exclaimed when I forwarded to her an email from a third cousin we had never heard of. It has been a very eventful week. For years we have been trying to figure out our family tree only to get almost nowhere. Out of the blue, I get an email from distant cousin Irene. It immediately started a flurry of emails back and forth between Irene, my sister and me. Irene has done a phenominal job. My great grandmother's maiden name was Kiley. Irene is descended from my great grandmother's mother's sister.....What a mouthful.

Our exhanges have been cordial and helpful. She sent us 14 pages of our lineage. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of things in writing, but we do have a lot of family lore handed down orally. Some of it a bit off color. :-) Wonder what Cousin Irene will think of us when we tell her some of the stories?? We hope to meet up in the spring after the snows recede from upstate New York.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks was in the spelling of our last name. Fore some unknown reason, my Grandfather changed the spelling of his last name, which is what completely threw me off when I tried researching anyone prior to his generation. I'll be busy again on the weekends updating my tree on Ancestry.com for sure.

Black Friday

Avoided it like the plague. Just did two things, one successful, one not. I went to the local Big and Tall shop and bought two polo shirts for the price of one. No crowds, must not be too many fat people in Rockland. Tried to find a copy of Deathly Hallows 2 for Regina. Now They're all sold out. Will go to my favorite standby in times like these and order it from Amazon. I have become an internet shopping junkie in order to avoid the crowds

Must admit though that things were made a bit easier because I finally gave in and applied for and received a handicapped tag for my car. I have resisted it for years, hobbling around on a cane sometimes hiking what seemed like miles to get to a store. Now its a short hobble and a quick trip. Just need to remember to keep removing then putting the permit back from my mirror. Having severe bouts of gouty arthritis has lessened my willingness and ability to go out and about. This makes it so much more easier.

Shopping used to kind of fun for Christmas. Now its practically suicidal. Don't need it, don't want it. Just pick it up at the door when it arrives in the mail.