Dice and No Dice

I wanted to post this picture of the translucent dice our friends gave us for Christmas. Actually it is a second set of dice they gave us - the first set was so tiny they got lost in the wrinkles of my palm... Anyway, these are really cool looking. And they will be joining us on our cruise.

Speaking of, we had a cruise planning party last night at a friend's house. All 33 of us there. We ate a lot and talked a lot and had a couple of computers going researching places to go on our excursions. The general consensus, after consulting Google Earth, books, online reviews, and personal experiences, is to hire our own island transportation to go places we want to see/do instead of using the Royal Caribbean sponsored excursions. All that planning and activity almost distracted me from watching the Patriots win again. Almost...

I got up this morning and did my usual stumble into the computer room only to be greeted by a high pitched whining noise and the computer and monitor powered off. That is one way to jump start your morning. Without caffeine. Turned out my battery backup system malfunctioned. It had saved my skin many, many times after power bumps and outages. Years ago I lost a hard drive during a bad storm when the power kept coming back, going out, coming back, etc. in rapid succession. With the UPS battery backup, the batteries kick in and keeps the power supply 'smooth.' If the power goes out completely, the batteries will keep my computer on for about a half hour, then software will shut down the computer before the batteries die. So I had to go out and buy a new battery backup today. Got that installed and all is good.

Thunder Dog

This morning there was some thunder rumbling around at 4:30. And how do I know this? Because it was right about then that the 80 lb. golden retriever piled into our bed all shaky and afraid. The beagle typically sleeps on the bed with us at night. But this morning, the golden displaced her and took her rightful spot all snuggled up to me for protection. For some reason, the thunder doesn't bother the beagle.

Yesterday, Lucie and I broke in her new GPS (Magellan Maestro 4000 - bought on super sale at Circuit City with gift card and friend's employee discount) by taking a trip to the Target store in Dover. She had never been down there so we headed out. She loved it. But nothing we do is not without some story. We got back to the car and realized she had been double charged for something. So back in she goes. Got that straightened out so we then headed out to grab some lunch at the drive through. Pulled into the KFC for lunch, and instead of giving Lucie the two wings meal she ordered, she got a leg and a wing. And my Mt. Dew wasn't a Mt. Dew - it was a Pepsi. Oy. However, we did notice that they are putting the final touches on a Sonic down there so that will be good.

We got back to town and picked up Ashleigh and a friend from school. The friend said she lived "just around the corner." Well, that friend must have previously lived on the Ponderosa because "just around the corner" was about three miles away from the direction I wanted to go.

And where did I want to go? Why to Lowe's of course to get a replacement piece for the toilet that I had snapped off that morning. I was walking by the downstairs bathroom before we left and I heard the toilet trickling water. So I lifted off the tank cover and bent the floating ball adjusting arm. And snapped it right off. When we got to Lowe's, I ran into the plumbing department with my gift card in hand, and go to get the replacement part. Turns out, there are 8.5 inch and 12 inch toilet tanks. I don't know what I have! So I asked the Lowe's guys which is more common? No clue. I then start looking around at the toilets at Lowe's and still can't figure it out. The piece was inside and it was hard to tell. Elliott was home by now so I called him and got him to shove a yard stick into the tank and tell me how high the broken piece was. Turns out it was 12 inches for those of you taking notes. So we headed home and I slapped in the new piece. Today I sent a thank-you email to the person who gave me the gift card. I told her I would think of her every time I flushed the toilet...

I should end on that funny note but I will end today with a request for prayer for an upcoming decision. More on that later.

E News Daily

Elliott had his first basketball scrimmage and practice last night since the holidays. He had a New Year's resolution to step up his defensive activity after watching the video I shot of his last game. Well, he lived up to the resolution. He got into the game and smothered his opponent. Knocked the ball out, tied it up for a jump ball, moved his feet, ran back on fast breaks to break up the play, etc. I had told him he doesn't ever want to come home from a game or practice not tired. So he gave it his all and was worn out. That was a good night.

Earlier in the day, he had another Math League competition. His school still holds the top three rankings and he is #14 out of 59 individuals. Pretty good.

Bumper Bucks

I got an estimate today to have my car fixed - $1,333.00 not including a 3-day car rental. Mostly bumper replacement and some exhaust work. But they cannot get to it until the 21st. The car rental place wanted to set me up with a small car but I said I am getting an SUV fixed, so the insurance company should rent me an SUV. They will work on that...

Meanwhile, the temperature today is in the low 60º's. Going to be even warmer tomorrow.

Elliott has basketball practice and a scrimmage tonight - his first since the holidays. I expect him to start feeling the effects of a lot of Christmas candy...

Our pre-cruise party has been re-scheduled to this weekend. But it is during the Patriots play-off game. Fortunately, the party host has a wide-screen, HD TV so I am thinking we might be able to sneak off and watch the game.

I did some more networking this morning for a job. Got an interesting potential prospect I will look at. Very early but encouraging.

Rear Ended

Today I was driving to get a haircut and was stopped at a traffic light (for the locals, it was over by BJs on Route 72). There were about 15 cars ahead of me and I was just sitting there waiting for the light to change. Suddenly I hear the screeching of brakes and look back to see a guy plow into the back of me. WHAM It pushed me forward a bit and you can see the damage it did to his car (1997 Geo Prizm). His airbags deployed and he had a bloody lip. He left about 20 feet of skid marks so he was moving along. There were two lanes of traffic each way with a middle turning lane. I was in the left center lane. I called 911 and then the other driver and I managed to get off the road and into a parking area. No one else in either car. I felt kind of bad for the guy as he was from Africa and went to an AG church. We talked for a while and noted how it could have been much worse, it could be raining or something, etc. He wound up getting a citation. My cell phone lens had condensation in it so I couldn’t take good pictures. Lucie was just a couple of miles away so she came over and took some pictures. I will go Monday and get an estimate. A new bumper for sure. My arm that was on the wheel is a bit sore and my neck did whip back but so far I am OK.

UnChristmas

Today is the day we start to unChristmas the house - take all the stuff down and pack it away for another 48 weeks or so. If I could figure out a reasonable way to save the tree in its current configuration, I would. Just bag it and stash it till next year. It has been very cold lately but today it should be warmer so I can get the outside lights down today and tomorrow - while Lucie undoes the 17 strings of lights she affixed to the tree this year. We should see a dramatic decrease in our electric bill.

Ever since Christmas day, my cable modem has been dropping off line periodically. Makes me so mad. No rhyme or reason. Just drops. I have to unplug the power for a minute, then plug it back in. Then I am good for a couple of days. My signals all look good. I called the cable company and they are coming out tomorrow. Of course they can only come when I am at Elliott's practice. I like to be here to learn what they do and keep them in line. They always want to come in and mess with my setup. Last time though, they found the last tech that came out to the outside box cut my cable and split it to the neighbor. My tech was pretty mad. He re-wired it and I was good for months. This is a new cable modem too. And Verizon is around installing FIOS so maybe that is the issue.

Had a fair night at hoops. I have been icing my knees all week and went back to my old sneakers. My knees feel pretty good today but it didn't help my game. I see it now takes at least 40 seconds for the play I have in my head to make it's way to my feet. Then they start to move but by then the opportunity is gone. The 'abort mission' signal is another 40 seconds behind that but by then it is too late...

We were going to go to a final cruise planning party this weekend but the host had to cancel as the husband is going to be out of town. But it seems all of us (33!) are all ready to go. Now it is just the waiting part...

I see the late night talk show hosts have been keeping tabs on me: Letterman and Conan have both grown beards. Shawn-wannabe's...

...Know When to Walk Away...

A&E and I had to stop by BJs the other day to pick up some stuff. We grilled out on New Years Eve and needed some meat. Ashleigh stayed in the car while Elliott and I went in. After a few minutes, Ashleigh called me and said that a car came and parked next to ours. A couple of kids got out and opened their door into the side of mine. Then they and their mother walked away and knocked my outside mirror forward. She gave me a description of the family so I sought them out. And found them. I went up to the woman and told her that her kids had opened their door into my car. Without even asking "what car?" or anything, she immediately starts yelling that they did not and she told them to be careful and on and on. A real scene. She then wanted to go out and look. I told her I was not going back out AND that her kids knocked my mirror the wrong way. She again said they did not. I told her my daughter saw it happen and had called me from the car. She said she saw Ashleigh and wanted to go out and look at the cars. At that point, nothing would be gained so I told her to be careful next time. And then I walked off and went about my business. But what a mess. So defensive yet guilty. She never asked me who I was or what I was driving. I told Elliott the point of me confronting her was to instill some sort of accountability for her actions. But when it was apparent nothing was to be gained, and there was no damage to fix or recover, it was time to bail. She was something else.

New Years was pretty quiet. We watched the ball drop and Dick Clark struggle through another count down. Time to pass the torch, buddy.

Elliott got together with a bunch of church friends and went bowling. The scoring is mostly electronic now. He did pretty good.