Spending Time With Suzie

I sure do a lot of that, you know? I spend time with her at work, at my house, at her house, and out in the rest of the world as well. I really enjoy all those times.

We had a very enjoyable evening on Friday. Doing ordinary stuff like watching a movie, eating slightly above-average sandwiches on asiago cheese bread, and drinking average beer and ale... All in the shadow of a comfy fire in the woodstove. Ordinary folks having above-ordinary times while doing ordinary things.

After going out for breakfast at the Muckleshoot Casino here in Auburn, we spent all day yesterday out shopping, and we hereby declare yesterday to be "Footwear Day." I bought some very ordinary-looking Dockers shoes that I've been meaning to buy. I had determined that I had no shoes to wear to any nice occasion, and I fear that a funeral is close at hand for Melinda's mom, Gloria. Also, I've had these nice-looking slacks (sorta) that I've had and have never worn them--Partly because I haven't had shoes to wear with them. Okay, I admit--I never even got around to washing them after I bought em either.
Have you ever went on an investigative shopping excursion for a certain type of item and then, many stores later, end up buying at the first store you went into? That's what we did yesterday as well when we bought Suzie some new Harley boots. I don't know how many stores we went into, but it's safe to say it was a few. Pretty cool looking boots! Now we need to keep going because there are still chaps and a jacket to buy yet.

We also made a stop at R & R American Cycle here in town. I was finally ready to buy tires for the Harley and still didn't buy. There was a good reason though, and this is one occasion where my nature of procrastination paid off. April is tire sale month, and all tires you buy through them are 15% off. Nice! I'll go back in later this week and buy because I want to talk with one of the other guys there about tire compounds, and he won't be back to work until Wednesday. I'm glad I waited, but I'll be even more glad when I finally get new tires on my bike. Traction is pretty important on a two-wheeler you know!

After our return, we did what old people do: We took a nap. Gotta recharge you know! When we got up from that we spent a couple hours scanning slides. Sue scammed a bunch of antique slides from her parents while she was there visiting, promising to scan them and get them back to them as soon as possible. We made a pretty good team while we were doing that. My scanner will scan 3 slides at a time, so I was doing the placement and changing of the slides, and she was running the software aspect of it--The execution of the scanning processes, and naming & saving of the scans as we went. We did about 3 boxes in a fairly short period of time.

Today she's planning on taking some "semi-pro" pictures of her son and his wife out in her backyard. I'll be her lackey I guess, volunteering tips (whether she likes it or not) and helping with setup and stuff. I suppose it will be "weather permitting" as we have been having some weird stuff around here lately. Snow, hail, rain, sun--It's been quite the winter-to-spring transition.

You know what Sue did for me this week? She made me the most awesome bag for my camera tripod! I had this idea for a bag a while back. She came over one day when I was on the living room floor with an old pair of jeans all cut up, wondering if there was enough material in them to make a bag for my tripod. I wanted a bag with some character and a little ruggedness, and I thought that it might be cool if I could figure out how to make one out of used denim. Well, she offered to work on it for me and I gave her the material and tripod last weekend. Friday she came over with the finished product and it more than exceeded my wishes. Besides being fast, she did an awesome job. What do you think? Thanks Suzie!

Well, I think I'll start my day with a trip to Winco. I still haven't done my food shopping yet and I'm getting pretty needy at this point.

Love, Death, and Tennis

I was walking across the shop yesterday right before quitting time when a coworker motioned me over.
"I know it's none of my business" he said, "...That lady up front... She your girlfriend?"
"Yes she is." I stated, still moving.
I wanted to get more info out of him as to how he figured that out but his timing was a little off and it was almost quitting time. I'm sure I'll hear more about it. As a matter of fact, now that he knows it will probably be a domino effect. Elaine said he already mentioned it to her. I wonder if it was the kisses we exchanged out in plain view (although we didn't see anybody) yesterday? Hmm... Could be.

Actually, I'm surprised it's lasted this long. It's been 3 months and nobody has "figured it out" yet.

I got an email from Melinda that greeted be this morning. As soon as I saw the subject "News about Gloria from Melinda & Danny" I knew what would greet me when I opened it. She died yesterday at 84 years old. I would say I'm sad, but in all honesty I'm relieved. She was the most tenacious person I've ever known when it comes to clinging to life. She suffered a massive stroke a number of years ago and since has been operating on only one half of her body, and in recent years has been plagued with one thing after another. The recent few months have been the hardest though, as it always seems to be when someone frail is near the end of their life. Melinda has probably put more miles under her with visiting and care giving over the years than many people put forth driving to and from their jobs. One couldn't ask for a more giving daughter. Rest in peace, Gloria... You've had a good life.

Sarah lost her tennis match yesterday amid tears of frustration. It was virtually a repeat of the previous school's match. The first set was zero on their side and the second one was neck and neck. It was very exciting and there was some good tennis played, but at the end it was lost. Too many little mistakes can add up. While both girls are very good, they don't seem to be a good match-up. Oh well, that's sports right?

Ah good... It's Friday!

Snow!?

It was certainly an unusual sight to see last night--Snow falling heavily for several hours with a backdrop of newly-blossoming trees! Sue and I were amazed by the fact that it was even snowing at all to begin with, but the longer it snowed the heavier it came down. It was a fair assessment that it was the heaviest snow we had experienced all winter.

Wait a minute... It's spring!

We had finished a great meal of corned beef (courtesy of my crock pot) and were both sitting in the living room with that glazed-over, satiated look on our faces that comes from eating too much when snow started mixing in with the rain. By the time Suzie left at about 9:30, it was solid snow and it was heavy. I would say it was a good thing it didn't stick, but judging by what I see out there this morning, it might have been easier to drive in if it had. It looks like it's going to be a frozen mess out there today. I'd better leave a little earlier than usual.

We did go out in it for a little bit last night, but it wasn't doing much at that time. I drove us to the library to drop off some books and pick up a movie they had on hold for me. We browsed for a few minutes, I ended up with a digital photography book published by National Geographic. Who would know pictures better than they, right? We also got Sue fixed up with a replacement library card while we were there.

It wasn't a great day for tennis for Sarah. They played Enumclaw last night and Sarah and her partner lost their match. The first set was lost easily, but the second was different. It was even all the way up to a tie-breaker they had to play, but they lost it at that point, giving Enumclaw the 2-out-of3 win. The second set was very good.

Although they have a match slated for this afternoon as well, I hope it doesn't happen because I'd like to do some shopping on the way home. I guess I'll know later.

Thoughts of Money

I have those thoughts like everyone does, but sometimes they just rush at me. All the things I'd like to be able to drop some money on. Sometimes I spend so much time analyzing that it overwhelms me.

I think about all the things I own that need to be upgraded or replaced. I'm not talking about the "keep up with the Joneses" thing that so many people do. It's more about things in my life that I don't trust to continue working correctly--Things that I fear may give out when I need them most.

My truck doesn't work at all, and my car is beat. It needs new struts so bad it's almost painful with I hit bumps, and it actually has a cassette player in it. My Harley needs tires, and I'm unhappy with the shocks on it. In my garage sits a dying air compressor. In my closets hang dozens of shirts that are either stained, don't fit, or worn out. Shoes that are worn out or just butt ugly also grace my closet. If I had to dress up for something unexpectedly I'd be screwed... My computer needs a new power supply and monitor (at least). I have no music system in my living room to speak of. I don't like my dining room table. My closets and storage areas are full of things I don't like and need to get rid of.

I think about paying child support--How amazing it would be if I suddenly had that extra $233 every two weeks back in my pocket. I wonder if Sarah will actually go to college. I wouldn't put it past Teresa to urge her to do so just so she can continue to receive my child support...

I think about what a lousy investor I am. I have IRA's and stocks all over the place, and only a handful of them seem to be doing okay. I'm too spread out and I don't know how to fix it.

I finished my taxes last night which prompted some of these thoughts. I had to pay a lot of money last year because of my own blunder. Fortunately that didn't happen this year, but I was peeved when my return instantly went from getting a measly $67 back to me owing $188 just because I entered my interest income. It's like Uncle Sam slaps me across the face for saving money in my bank.

The majority of these thoughts are with me all the time. The frustration comes and goes. The wish to chuck it all and start over and go on a major spending spree.

Sigh.

I'm Still Not Awake Yet...

...But I figured I'd see what my fingers type for me anyway. I don't feel much like writing today--Much like yesterday--But I'll go ahead regardless.

The Easter event went well over at my parents' house. Everybody seemed to have a good time and Sue got a taste of name confusion (much like I did the first time or two I met her family). My dad didn't have a meltdown or anything, and that's always good. I'm sure everyone liked Suzie (what's not to like?) except my dad. He doesn't like anybody. As a matter of fact, sometimes he's a good barometer of things if you know how to read him. If he doesn't like something or someone, they're probably everyone else's favorite. Sarah showed up just before time to eat like she seems to usually do, so I'm glad she's able to drive herself around now. It was funny--When we got there Emma was sitting out in the little parking lot next to their house in her car. She said she wasn't going to be the first one to go in there...

When Suz and I went back to my house, we both took a nap for a couple hours like old people always do. Kind of a battery recharge if you will. After all, the evening was still ahead of us. We raced up to her house where we spent the rest of the evening.

Yesterday at work was kinda weird because I ended up running a press. I don't usually do that sort of thing, and I can do without it really. I like the variety, but I just don't do well with doing something thousands of times over like we do with so many of our production parts. It can really raise hell with muscles, joints, and state-of-mind. Fortunately, it wasn't such a bad one this time like some things they've had me working in the past. I wish work would speed back up in my own area of expertise. I prefer to be swamped with work.

I got kind of perturbed last night while I was in the garage puttering with my new Harley windshield. I knowingly bought the "wrong" one on Ebay and was studying my possibilities. The reason I say it's the wrong one is that it's for a Harley with passing lights. Those are the little spotlight-looking things that are on either side of the headlight on so many Harleys. Mine has those lights, but I removed them quite a while back. I figured I'd be best to have the windshield that will work with them as it's "primary fit" and adapt it to fit without them. After playing with it for a while, I thought maybe I should have taken the easy way out and bought the right one instead. I went inside and posted an ad on Craigslist, offering to trade straight-across for someone in the same situation, only the the other way around. After spending some time formulating my ad and posting it, it wasn't up more than a half hour before some asshole flagged it and it was deleted. Why? More than likely because it wasn't "for sale". They have a special section for "wanted" items but I don't like to use it. Deep breaths...

Sarah has a tennis match today, and fortunately it's up at her school. Sue may stop by on her way home and see me if I'm there. I may ride the Harley up there, but it will be iffy weather probably. It's kinda funny--Playing tennis and riding the Harley are on the same weather schedules: Sprinkles okay, but no rain.

I just bought myself a new phone from Virgin Mobile. My old phone is "okay" but it's very limited in talking quality. I have to say though--It's practically indestructible. I don't know how many times it's hit concrete when it fell out of my pocket. I hope the new one is as good along those lines.

Happy Easter!

Easter in my family is not a religious event really. While some family members do regularly attend church, our family Easter event is but a gathering to eat, drink, and yak.

Every year it's hosted by my mother at their house. While we did have it at my house a few years back when I was still married, it's never happened anywhere else before or since. Why? My dad. Everyone totally loved having it at our house that year because there was a lot more room, things to do (ping pong, etc) and there was no smoking. See, back then my dad was a smoker and their house always reeked of smoke, and after leaving their house so did we. We stopped having it after that because my dad was totally miserable. He couldn't sit in his easy chair, watch his channels, smoke in the house, and worst of all, he didn't get any leftovers. He is so selfish with their feast food that he flat gets mad if mom sends any food home with anyone.

It will be different this year. I don't remember when we last had something new to infuse into our family gab fest, but we do this year: Ricky's girlfriend Suzie. She hasn't met any of them and none of them have met her yet. Sarah will end up driving over on her own this year, which is another first.

When Sue was over Friday night we kept meaning to see if we could get some pictures of the full moon. I had a schedule I had obtained from the web, and when I looked out the window for the moon it was never in view. Almost an hour after the appointed time I happened to look out and what do I see? A perfect yellow-orange moon, coming up over the hill with wispy clouds and everything. Apparently I failed to take into consideration the fact that Auburn is in a valley. While the timetable may have been accurate based on the latitude and longitude, it still has to account for geography. Anyway, while we did scramble up the hill with our cameras, we missed it. Oh well, it was a learning experience.

I got off to a slow start yesterday morning, but I spent the afternoon and evening up at Sue's house. Get this: I washed my car! Can you imagine? Actually, I washed both hers and mine, and believe me they were both badly in need. I had to change the water between vehicles it was so bad. While I was washing my car I tried to think of the last time I had washed it, and I really couldn't remember. I know I haven't washed it in the last year... I finally decided that I didn't think I had. How pathetic...

We had a barbecue at her son Denny's house up the street, and afterwards watched "I am Legend". It was a pretty good day.

Delivery Day

Yesterday was one of those days where goodies showed up. I had only been to work for about 45 minutes when one of the owners came out and gave me a little puffy envelope that had showed up in the mail the previous afternoon. That was a new polarizer filter for my camera. About an hour later he comes walking out and sets a big box down next to me. My new printer had just shown up! I like those kind of days. It's sort of like birthday presents or something. I almost always have anything I order sent to work simply because I don't want any UPS or FedEx person leaving something right in plain view on my doorstep.

Sue came over the night before last for dinner as I mentioned we were going to do in my blog post that morning. I must have gotten pretty lucky weather-wise, because it was only a few minutes after I took the steak off the grill that the sky opened up and it rained. Dinner was perfect by-the-way.

She had been working on her letter to her church elders for several days--Formulating, editing, adjusting, tweaking--And had finally finished that and made it available for my perusal. I thought she did an excellent job on it. As I have mentioned before, it basically told her church elders that she was deviating from their "acceptable practices" for the foreseeable future. It's a necessary thing to take place when entering a relationship with someone other than her husband--Even though they were divorced over 10 years ago. The bottom line: When they say "til death do us part" they mean it. Anything other than that has a certain process that must be followed, and that process involves her being disfellowshipped. It's very complicated. When said relationship either peters out or results in a union, then she can "go before the board" and ask to be reinstated. So the letter writing is behind her. It was a very hard thing for her to do for many reasons, and because of all that she had ridden quite an emotional roller coaster the last few days. She seemed to be much better yesterday.

Sarah had another tennis match out of town, and sure enough, I got a text from Teresa asking me if I was going. Knowing that she just wanted a ride, I texted her back and said yes, I was indeed going, but would be going directly to my girlfriends house from there. Okay... I lied. I took the chickenshit way out instead of telling her I don't want to give her a ride. She texted back with a simple OK. Just as I also thought, she didn't go to the match. Too bad for her, because it was a good match. The rain clouds skirted the whole area pretty much and rained all around us, but never rained on us. Lucky!

I was very surprised when I got home when I came upstairs to check my email after coming home and found a funny card that Suzie had left me on my keyboard. I loved that!

After I got something to eat I set up my new printer. It's a pretty nice printer for $36 bucks! They have sure come a long way. With any inkjet printer you have to do a print head alignment as one of the regular setup processes. This one did the whole thing automatically! It was weird to see it print out the usual colored barcode-looking patterns, but I was pretty surprised to see it suck the paper back in back and forth as it "read" it and made necessary adjustments.

Hey look... It's FRIDAY!

Just Stuff...

Today's post is filled with little things--Mostly nothings to dominate, with a smattering of somethings throughout.

Sarah and her partner won their doubles match in tennis yesterday in two sets. I hate it when they have to do best 2 out of 3 when the match is close. That adds another half hour at least, and by the time the end of the second set rolls around I'm always ready to get outta there as it is.

For some reason I haven't had the desire to ride the Harley lately. I can't really explain it, but it's happened before. I guess what it boils down to is that it's always there in my garage and therefore not "special" and screaming to be ridden. People that don't own one can't quite get a grasp on that. I just keep hearing, "How come you didn't ride your bike to work today?"

I think I'll probably start riding it to Sarah's "away" tennis matches. That way I don't have to make excuses about why I don't want to car pool with Teresa so she can save gas. Let her spend money on gas. I think I'm paying her enough for her to be able to do that.

Sarah's mom's birthday is in two days (Friday) and I will bet money that she hasn't bought her anything, or even thought about it in the least. I just sent her an email challenging her to get off her ass, and told her that I will not be able to take her shopping this year, and that she better get out there and do something for her mom for a change. She deserves better than she gets from her only daughter. You know what occurred to me though? That song by Harry Chapin, The Cat's in the Cradle. (You can click HERE if you want to read the lyrics. You'll be subjected to some crappy MIDI music while you're there but you can turn it down.) Basically, it's a classic case of "what ye shall sow, so shall ye reap". Teresa doesn't forget birthdays, but she makes it plain that she'd rather not buy anyone anything. She has a million excuses, and the most popular one is, "They didn't even acknowledge your birthday last year did they?" It all boils down to the same thing. Not buying presents is her M.O. and Sarah is going to follow her exactly, like it or not. This year I will not be taking part in her birthday so it's all up to Sarah, Wade (her brother) and her dad (who is in Arizona). Wade will only come down if it's totally convenient for Wade. By convenient I mean he will come down if he's on his way to a Sonics game in Seattle, or wants her to babysit his dog. He only shops online so he don't have to be inconvenienced. They're quite a pair they are...

I hope the weather holds out long enough to fire up the grill tonight. Suzie and I are having a little nicely charred red meat for dinner!

Suzie's Back!

I wasn't at work more than 45 minutes yesterday when my phone rang that she had just touched down. From our place of employment in Kent, SeaTac airport is very close by, so I ended up jetting out at 6:55 to get her and was back by 7:25. It was great to see her again! She was so glad that I had taken some breakfast for her along with me when I went to pick her up. She was starved. I ended up staying at work until 3:00 to make up for the half hour I used when I went to pick her up, and she ended up staying the whole day with me. Of course, it's not like she had much of a choice beings that I was her transportation, but she could have taken my car and left if she wanted to--I could have ridden home with someone I'm sure. At any rate, because she was unable to sleep and had been up since she got up the previous morning, she was draggin' ass by the end of the day. I remember when I came home from Maui a couple years ago I did the same thing. I think we have both vowed that we would never do that again, but I wouldn't be surprised if history didn't repeat itself some day in the future. She stayed at my house just long enough to have a beer and show me a couple special pictures of surfers that she had taken (which were totally killer) and then I sent her home to get some sleep.

Sarah had a tennis match at her school last night, but my schedule was kinda screwed up so I didn't try to make it up there. I figured by the time I did make it she'd have probably finished playing by then anyway.

My new detachable (read that "quick-disconnect") windshield showed up at work yesterday, and I'm very happy with it. It looks like brand new, and I got a great deal on it. Now I'm shopping for the hardware to mount it on the bike with. I've already got it in my sights on Ebay and I'm monitoring it carefully so it doesn't slip through my fingers.

I ended up getting killer headache last night. I didn't do anything at all to cause it either. I had just finished eating some dinner and wham! It was bad enough that I ended up going to bed at 8:30. Like most headaches, they are much better when you're horizontal. This one was located right behind my right eye and it was maddening. There is no rhyme or reason as to when I get a headache or where in my head that it shows up. Sometimes I wonder if it has anything to do with anything else I do or eat, but I doubt it. Maybe it would help if I did the "aspirin a day" thing. Supposedly, aspirin's blood-thinning properties help people out a lot in that regard, and it's recommended for lots of folks as they age anyway for prevention of strokes and the like. Although I haven't had a complete physical in ages, I do have to go in once a year for a prescription renewal, and my blood pressure is always fine. I dunno. I know I feel fine this morning and that's what counts right now.

Another tennis match tonight, and this one is close by--Right over near me at Auburn High School. I hope the weather holds out because rescheduling of these things screws me up.

Although it was St. Patrick's Day yesterday, I didn't remember it and therefore didn't wear any green. Fortunately (or UN?) nobody pinched me. I did, however, hit Safeway later on and scored a nice flat of corned beef to cook up in the crock pot later this week.

Well, back to work!

Sunday Morning Wheelin' & Dealin'

I just made another of those sweet deals online. You know, the kind of shopping deal where you can save an additional amount of cash by being instantly approved for a credit card? These are the kind of deals that not everyone is comfortable making, but I don't have a problem with them. The key is to make double-damn sure you read every little thing on every screen you click through. You never know when one click will send you hurtling down the e-commerce road to despair and heartache.

I just went to Buy.com and bought a new Canon Pixma ip4500 printer. After one-time "new card" savings of $50 (nothing to sneeze at!) and no tax or shipping, it ended up costing me $36. How can you lose? I've cursed my current printer for ages, and even though I've still got a couple of color cartridges (it uses 3 individual color cartridges) still new in the wrappers, my black one just ran out. They want a whopping $25 for a new black one. Screw that. I curse Epson printers for their persnickety problematic performance and HP printers for their overpriced replacement ink cartridges. I've had very good luck with Canon though. The old one at Teresa and Sarah's house is still performing well after many years, and with the separate black and color ink cartridges it uses are only about 13 bucks each.

In other money news, I sold a sander on Craigslist yesterday for a whole $15 bucks. Hey, it's something I know I would never use again. I've decided that I will throw the proceeds for whatever I sell on Craigslist (unless it's some big-ticket item I need to money for) into my safe. It's always nice to be able to have some cash lying around for those after hours emergencies, right?

I did a couple other mundane things around the house yesterday too, like a load of laundry. I also finally replaced the burnt out light bulb above my bathroom sink that's been out for almost a year (woo, that was tough!). There is a row of 6 of those small, candelabra-base bulbs that make up the lighting above the sink. Because they're all clear instead of white I took them all out and cleaned them with glass cleaner. What a difference! I also adjusted the chain in my toilet flusher so it won't keep hanging up every now and then. One day I came home from work and it was still running...

Let's see what else...

I updated my movies listing on my website. That was pretty tedious because it took awhile, but it was still very easy because I have special movie software that automatically downloads all the movie data and generates the html files. All you need to do it input the title. I'm sure I entered well over 50 of them. It's been quite a while since I updated it last.

I spent a little time learning more about my new camera too. The guy I bought it from couldn't find the manual for it when I bought it, and although you can download it from Canon in PDF format (which I did right off the bat), it's not the same as having it in print. Sometimes I'd rather just lie down on the couch and read about it you know? Even though with a PDF file you can set how big the print is and skip around quickly and use the search function, I find that reading a manual on the computer is tedious. I did learn some stuff though, so that's good.

Yeah, it was a fairly crappy day yesterday so it was good to stay in, and I still managed to get a lot of stuff done.

At Least it's Friday

Sometimes I want to be such a selfish bastard. Like now for instance. I want to say to Sue, "Screw your vacation, you get back here right NOW!"

Yeah right.

It's truly a case of jealousy and longing both rolled into one. I am so jealous of where she's at and what she's experiencing. I'm jealous of the weather, jealous of the lonely clothing-optional beaches, jealous of the smells, the sounds, the sights. Hawaii is truly an experience of the senses, and she's reveling in it. Sure, I could have probably gone along too, but this was Suzie's trip. It was her vacation. The first time I think, ever, that she was able to go solo on a vacation that she so richly deserves. For someone that's a devoted mother and head-of-household, to be able to do this is truly a sign of success. She has done a fantastic job of raising a family from what I've seen. She has earned the right to spend some time doing what she wants to do--To eat what she wants, go where she wants, or even just lie on the beach for hours without hearing someone grumble about being hungry or bored or any of a multitude of things a mother is used to hearing.

The longing? She's been on my mind all week long. I want so badly to see her, talk to her, hold her, love her. I guess I should thank my lucky stars that we live in this day and age, because even though we're so far apart there are still cell phones, emails, and pictures that can be transmitted instantly anywhere in the world. A good example could be when she called me while sitting on a beach the other day and held her phone out from her, allowing me to hear the surf pounding the beach. It was so weird--To be sitting here under the gray, rainy Washington skies while listening to the warm tropical waves of Kauai in real-time. Thank you technology, but sometimes you don't make things easier to take mentally! I guess I'm lucky because at least I get to see her before anyone else does when she arrives Monday morning. Whoops, I guess that was another selfish moment...

I finished off my work week today by paying a visit to my little Korean barber lady for a haircut after work. After I got back here and had a beer and checked my email, I phoned in an order for a Papa Murphy's Cowboy pizza. Yes, it's kind of a little way of signaling the end of my work week--Much like when I buy a special beer on some Fridays (but not this time).

You know, I'd really like to have Suzie here to share it with...

Another Day, Another Tennis Match

Yesterday was Sarah's first tennis match of the season. It should have been the day before, but it was postponed due to rain. As usual, she did very well, but unfortunately she was paired with a pretty lousy player. It seemed like every time Sarah returned and excellent shot, her teammate blew it for them. They ended up losing badly. Their school won at least.

Sarah was so mad about the match that she actually called me after she got home and yakked good-naturedly about it. That's kind of rare for her to do that. Maybe it should happen more often? She never calls me unless she needs something.

I ended up playing the nice guy and taking Teresa with me. As I mentioned previously, the match was out in Bonney Lake and she always likes to car pool when she can. Sue doesn't like it when I do that, and frankly, it's grating on me too. I noticed yesterday that I changed the instant she got in the car. It's like my defenses went up. I try to just be nice and have conversation but found myself becoming easily annoyed. I would turn the music on and she would start talking. I would turn the music down and she would stop talking. I did it again and she did it again. Finally I left the radio off.

All those years and I never knew that she had a volume knob...

Hump Day!

I don't normally call Wednesday Hump Day. I'm not usually a "day counter" like so many other people are that are anxious for the weekend to show up. In my case however, I am anxious. I want my woman back. Daily emails and the occasional text messages and phone calls are great, but sometimes things like that just make it harder (excuse the pun). The pace of things are work aren't making it any easier either--Things are very slow there.

I had another one of those strange things happen to me in the world of software yesterday. I must be getting older. I think I've already discussed this in the past--The irony of the fact that the only software purchase I've made in probably at least 15 years is the one that lets me pirate software via newsgroups. Well, there may soon be an addition to that lonely purchase. I've gotten to the point where I'm tired of not being able to stay with a particular antivirus package that works for me. I can get by with them for free for a while, but they always find out that certain serial numbers are bad and blacklist them. That means no more updates. What frustrates me the most about security software (that's what they're calling them all these days) is the fact that they have to always be running in the background. What that usually means is that they end up taking over your system instead of the hackers they're supposedly protecting you against. The only one I've ever used that doesn't slow your system to a crawl or seriously hamper boot or shutdown speeds is Trend Micro. Theirs used to be called PC-Cillin but now is called Trend Micro Internet Security. I had it on here (pirated of course) for about a week and loved it, but then it stopped updating (they always catch on eventually--Sometimes sooner than others). After browsing the web, I found that I can get that one at a good price, so I will eventually end up buying it (the crowd gasps in amazement) sometime soon. In the meantime I went to their site and downloaded and installed it. It's a full version that will work for one month, and by then I'll have my own.

It's yet another milestone in my life I guess. It's kind of like when a guy gets to an age when he suddenly decides he's finished working on his own car and starts paying to have it done instead. It kind of makes me picture a scene in a Star Wars movie when Alec Guinness says, "I sense a great disturbance in The Force."

Weirdness at Work

No, I'm not talking about the Bobsey Twins this time--This one is about me. Well, mostly.

I guess it's fair to say that things are very weird at work without Sue there. I can't really vouch for the feelings of people within the confines of the front office, but I'm sure it's weird there too. The main thing is how everyone has to answer the phone when it rings instead of pretending they don't hear it.

What's weird is the things I caught myself doing. She usually comes in at 8 o'clock and I caught myself glancing at my watch before 8 on more than one occasion, then telling myself, "You dumbass... She's asleep in paradise right now." I would walk into the office and find myself automatically glancing toward her desk, then immediately brought back to reality by the sight of her dark, cold computer monitor. Having lunch in my comfy folding chair upstairs, I caught myself listening for her footsteps. Thinking of the almost daily occurrence of her coming to share some hugs and kisses with me on the sly. Nope, no such thing yesterday. It's funny how one person missing can have a dramatic impact on daily thoughts and activities.

Bernie (the frugal money-man of the LaCroix brothers) came out yesterday with one of those green hanging file folders. I watched in amazement as he carefully and completely repaired it with packing tape instead of throwing it out because it was worn through. It's possible that he's still in shock over having to shell out the money for a new (okay, new to us) company van. I'll bet he hasn't slept recently because of that one. I suppose we'll end up moving the old van in and out of the shop every night for several years just like we did with previous vehicles they got rid of. They have a bad habit of trying to sell their old vehicles as such laughable prices that they never get any interest. By the time they finally do get rid of them, they are in such bad shape from neglect that they practically have to give them away...

In other news, I won bid on another windshield for my Harley on Ebay. As most everyone knows, I'm not a "windshield person." I prefer not having one on my bike so I can occasionally feel the mortal pain of a bug smacking me at 60mph. (No, not many people understand that.) Anyway, there are occasions when it would be nice to have a windshield.

I don't like my original windshield for a couple reasons: For one, it's not detachable. Almost all Harleys in recent years have detachable windshields. The actual shield itself is the same, but they have totally different hardware holding them on so you can remove or install them in seconds. Mine it a bolt-on, requiring washers and shimming and aligning and adjusting--It's a total pain. The second reason is that it's a full-height windshield. If I had good, erect posture it wouldn't matter so much, but I always found myself staring at the very top edge of the windshield. Contrary to popular belief, you are not supposed to look though a windshield on a bike, but over it. The windshield is there to provide air deflection. The one I just bought is a slightly shorter version so it will fall lower in my line of sight. Without a windshield, any passenger that rides behind me will also be subject to the same bugs and wind that I am, and I would rather they had some protection--Especially with the factory passenger seat because it sits taller than my seat does. Hopefully this windshield will fit all my criteria. Oh, it's also slightly tinted too, and I like that aspect of it beings I have a dark, ugly "stealth" bike.

Monday Morning

I hate changing clocks to and from daylight savings time. I like the effect, but hate actually doing it. It takes a while to get things back in order with my internal clock.

It's going to be weird without Suzie around this week. Nobody to trade knowing glances with, steal kisses and hugs with, trade love notes with, or any of the other little things that make the workday fun for us both. Ho hum... Just the usual grind. I guess I'll try to stay busy so I don't dwell on it too much.

Tennis season is upon us, and I get to spend time watching Sarah playing tennis after school on certain days again. She's a good player--One of the better ones. She will never be a fantastic player just because she is not one of those "extra mile" type of people, but she is definitely good. I like to watch her play. Tomorrow is their first game and it's up at Bonney Lake High School.

I went to the library yesterday to return a couple movies that I had copied, and had a notification to pick up another one that had come in. I stopped at Sarah's to see if she wanted to go with me, and while I was there picked up Teresa's Harley leathers for Suzie to try out. If they fit maybe we can do some wheelin' and dealin'.

I stopped by my folks' house on the way home from dropping Sarah off and had a pretty decent visit. Right after I pulled up Denis and his wife Kim pulled up as well. I ended up sitting there and yakking through 3 glasses of wine (that's probably what caused me to take a nap a little later). Nothing new as far as dad goes. The MRI thing is slated for tomorrow so I guess everyone will no more then. Nothing changed as far as his attitude goes. He's still hard to hold a conversation with as ever.

'Twas a fairly humdrum weekend really--Laundry, oil change, and other mundane stuff.

I never have posted a picture of my mannequin before but it occurred to me yesterday to do so. Her official name is Moana (yes, I know how I spelled it). Pretty hot, don't you think? Her look changes from time to time. As always, you can click for a bigger picture.


She's wearing a t-shirt that Steve bought me back in Louisville (duh) a couple years ago when he was there on vacation. He got it on the clearance rack and it's no wonder. What you're seeing here is the back of the shirt, which I think is one of the coolest designs I've seen on a t-shirt in a long time. Nice colors and layout. What's on the front of the shirt is nothing but a HUGE orange and white Harley logo. I mean HUGE. It's totally ugly. When Moana saw that she said, "Hey, I ain't wearin' that shit!" I talked her into putting it on backwards instead.

It works on her...

Workplace Fashion Faux Pas

We've all heard the stories. A big party hosted by the boss... You want to make a good impression and want everything to be perfect. When you and your lovely wife arrive and are greeted at the door by the boss's wife you discover that she and your wife are wearing the exact same dress. Gasp! This is the epitome of a social embarrassment to many women. Men aren't quite as bothered by such things.

Okay, usually.

This week a similar situation happened at work. Here's how I recollect it.

First of all, the hourly folks that work there all show up at 6am. The people that work in the office, however, show up at all kinds of different times. Some are salaried and some are hourly, but their schedules are pretty flexible. Anyway, Scott wandered in as one of the first office employees to arrive. He's a great guy and is always upbeat, and as he took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack behind me he said good morning to me in his usual chipper way. I didn't think much past that at that particular moment.

A little while later, Tenney (I'm not sure if that's short for Tennyson or what) shows up and goes by me into the office.

(Hey, wait a minute... Isn't that the same shirt Scott was wearing?)

It's pretty common for someone to wear "almost" the same shirt, but I was thinking more than "almost" at this particular time. Now I was intrigued. I got up and went into the office and took another look, memorizing his shirt, then I went back out into my area and sat down. Scott was out in another area of the shop and soon wandered by on his way back into the office. It was a dead match. I could hardly contain myself.

"Nobody told me there was a particular uniform we had to wear today," I said, stopping him on the way in.
"Huh?" he said with a puzzled look.
"Are you and Tenney pretty close? Apparently you collaborated on what to wear today... You'd better go have a look," I warned.

He gave me a "don't tell me" look and went into the office. While he was gone a few other folks came and went by my area and of course I had to fan the flames:
"Have you seen Scott and Tenney this morning? You haven't? Go take a look."

After a little while it had spread like wildfire and everyone was joking about it. I have to admit they took it pretty well. I don't think it mattered a whole lot to Tenney, but Scott (and many others) probably didn't really care to be associated with Tenney too much (he doesn't seem to really do anything), let alone having it look like they were twin sons of different mothers (Scott is on the left):


I'm not sure which is more embarrassing really, to find out that

• someone else is wearing your exact shirt
• someone you don't really care for has the same taste in clothes
• you both shopped for them at WalMart.

Judges?

Friday Evening... Alone

It's been a while since I spent a Friday evening alone. Over a period of time Friday has evolved into mine and Suzie's favorite night--A night we could look forward to all week long to spend with each other. So why alone tonight? I put her on a plane to Hawaii a couple of hours ago. She'll be back a week from Monday.

Her parents live on Kauai, and this is a trip she looks forward to so much all year long. If I remember correctly, this is the first time that she has went all by herself--Usually she has one or more of her kids along with her. Given the choice, she would have loved to have taken me along with her this time. We are both very, very avid sun lovers. She has been tanning several times a week this month to help her minimize any effects that the transition from rusty to sunny might tend to cause when she ends up spending all that time in the sun that her body isn't used to.

We spent an enjoyable evening together last night. I made us some 'tater skins complete with cheese, bacon, and sour cream. They came out very well for my first try! I supplemented that with barbecue pork sandwiches on oven toasted rolls. It was pretty good. She came back in the wee hours this morning right before I left for work so that she could hitch a ride with me. Instead of her usual 8-4:30 schedule, she worked 6-2:30 like I did today so I could take her directly to the airport after work. I suppose our arrival together this morning raised a bit of an eyebrow to the uninformed. Ditto when we both left together.

You know what was cool? A while back--A couple weeks ago or so--I ordered us each a little electronic remote for our Canon cameras. It was an Ebay purchase, and they came from Hong Kong. Other than a genuine Canon remote (which was way overpriced for something with only two functions) the only ones that are really available are from Hong Kong. After doing a little digging, I decided that they looked like nice little units and ordered us each one. I wanted to give it to her as a little surprise gift. A few days ago we were talking and she expressed a desire to buy one (of some kind) before her trip to Hawaii. I reluctantly divulged the fact that I had ordered us each one. Guess when they showed up? Today! It was great timing. I tested it out a while ago and it works beautifully. I've very happy with the purchase. I got both of them for $12 shipped, and they even each came with two extra batteries. How can you beat that? I know she's going to enjoy using it on her trip. She is taking her tripod along to use with her camera, so I know it will come in handy on some beautiful slow-exposure timer shots.

I'm going to miss her this week but I'm pretty sure we'll be able to converse via Gmail chat and emails.

Her trip is kind of multipurpose. Besides the obvious sun, water, beaches, weather, and vacation aspect of it, she of course is also going for picture-taking. Mainly though, she has the desire to spend some serious time with her parents. I'm not real savvy about everything that happens in the Witness religion, but apparently protocol dictates that when they date someone that's not a member they have to become what they call "dis-fellowshipped." Apparently, it's a given for it to happen unless you only date and marry within the church. Suzie has admitted that when you couple the religious aspects within her faith along with her age as a single mom, there just aren't any good men "on the inside" and necessitates someone to reach a little more outwardly for a life mate. Her parents are elders within the church over in that area and she wants quality time to spend with them before explaining what's going on in her life to them (in a letter) after her vacation is over. It's not that she's afraid to tell them while she's there, it's just that she's positive that it will create a cloud over her visit and she doesn't want that. She's torn about the whole thing though. Sad that it will limit her contact with congregation members, but excited about the prospect of us spending more time together and sharing experiences. I'm sure she'll correct any of it that I got wrong, but I' think it's close.

It's a very complicated life people lead sometimes. I can't understand religious things very well, but I do understand people's desire for spirituality and their need justify their existence and give their lives extra meaning. I wonder why it skipped me? I have no such feelings that I know of. I can coexist with it just fine (after all, it's all around us), but never feel the slightest need for it myself.

At any rate, I sure hope Suz is having a great flight. I wish I could have went along too!

The Garage Door Saga

By now everyone knows what Sarah did to her garage door. While this sort of thing happens all across the U.S. I'm sure, it's not all that common any more I'm sure. Why? Mostly because hardly anyone seems to even have a garage any more. There are so many apartment dwellers that it's made having garage parking almost nonexistent--Especially to a 17-year old.

But now her garage isn't a garage any more--It's a carport.

For those readers that may have not gotten the emailed pictures, here's one of them that will give you a good idea (click for larger):


Sarah has been stretching herself a bit thin lately. Teresa said she's got practically a failing grade in math this week, and up until now it's been her best subject. It's not easy math she's into--She's in the realm of pre-calculus and still it's been a good subject for her. This time it's a matter of not understanding the newest offerings that they're studying is the story I got. Because it's always been her best subject, she is understandably frustrated. Now, take that frustration and throw a little tennis into the mix. Tennis tryouts were last week and although she was somewhat sick during them, she did make the varsity team. Now it's time for the nightly practices. Some evenings she stays after practice is over and has more one-on-one coaching as well. That's a pretty good workload to maintain. Now add to that the fact that someone saw her boyfriend driving her car in the parking lot. Sarah swears she didn't know he was going to do that. She asked him to go to her car and get something from it, and when she found out what he did (and was caught by someone else) she was pretty upset. That was the night before the garage door.

Now it's yesterday morning and she and Teresa are running all around the house trying to find her keys, making her almost late for school and frustrated as well. (If you could see their house you'd know why they always lose them.) Apparently, Teresa opened the center garage door where she keeps her car instead of the door that Sarah's car actually uses. It's a pretty common thing. Well, Sarah gets in her car, and because her mind wasn't on the task at hand, just saw that the garage was lit by daylight and assumed it was her door like it usually is. She then put it in reverse and backed up.

I guess she went running and crying into the house. Teresa said she was lying on the floor crying and saying, "I just can't do anything right!" I have no idea what transpired between her and Teresa or how much hollering went on, but Teresa went out and pulled her car back forward. That was not the best course of action. I'm sure half of the damage to her car came from that. From what I could see, the car had door damage right up to the rear window. Most of it is scrapes that didn't quite go through the paint, but there is paint missing in a spot or two. There is also a small hole in the giant plastic "tail light looking thing" that spans the whole rear of the trunk, as well as her radio antenna was broken off cleanly.

I dreaded the worst when Teresa sent me a text yesterday morning and gave me the gist of what happened. When I got home and had a beer, curiosity got the better of me and I grabbed my camera and went over. I must say, I was amused. I would have rather had a picture of the car actually protruding from the door, but apparently I was the only one that even thought about taking any pictures. After I shot the few pics that I emailed out, I went home and grabbed my cordless drill with a socket in it and came back. Taking the door panels off was a quick job, taking only about 5 or 10 minutes. I just finished when Teresa called and I gave her the updates.

They don't have much of value in that garage. The only thing I would worry about would be the 10-foot fiberglass ladder (pretty expensive) that stands in there, and maybe Sarah's bicycle (that I doubt has even been used in the last 5 years). Given that, I doubt the door will be replaced any time soon. Here's a shot of the far left garage stall. It's the one that I used to park in when I lived there. See what it's become? (again, click for larger)


The bad part is that there isn't a single bit of anything that's worth spit in that whole pile. As a matter-of-fact, I doubt if she even knows what is even in the pile. Notice the green tarp in front of where Teresa parks her car? More junk. In this picture you can see that junk has infiltrated Sarah's parking area as well:


I called last night and talked to Sarah for a few minutes. I wasn't mad at her or anything--I just wanted to see how she was doing. The conversation started out like this:
"You had a pretty bad day today didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"How are you doing now?"
"Okay. I won one of my tennis matches at least."
And so it went. After we talked tennis for a while I went back to the car. She didn't even know that she had torn off her radio antenna until I told her that she wouldn't have any radio any more. I also told her that maybe she could cut some kind of a deal with her uncle Denis and he could buff out some of those scrapes on it. The rest of the conversation was spent with me telling her how important looking is when you're backing up. How it could have easily been a person walking, someone's car--Anything could have been back there. The point was that she didn't look first.

Sometimes life's lessons can be a little harsh. This time she was lucky.

A Glimpse of Bright...

...From behind the clouds of gloom that is. I'm feeling a little better today. Actually, I was feeling a little better last night. I had a fair amount of hustle/bustle that kept me busy up until bedtime and I ended up chatting online with Suzie for a while before bed. I suppose that also helped.

I'll cover a few more things from yesterday.

I had a good day at work, all things considered. I was busy for the first half of the day building a "charging station" for them to put all their cordless drill chargers on. Basically it was just a board with all of them permanently mounted and wired in. That led to me rewiring an overhead light and wall socket to give them all a way to work together without extension cords snaking around.

On the way home I stopped at a little optical shop and picked up Sarah's new glasses. She has been complaining a lot lately about eye strain from reading. Her eyes are becoming slow to focus back at infinity when she has been reading or doing a lot of close-up work. From what Teresa said, she was pretty anxious to get em. From there I proceeded to Winco and did some grocery shopping.

Speaking of that, there is a whole pile of yummy-looking pork top sirloin waiting in the wings. Winco had giant packs on sale for dirt cheap. The one I selected was one of the smallest ones I could find and it was a full 4 pounds. No bones or fat makes that a whole lot of meat for 5 bucks. I spent some time last night and placed all the pieces lovingly into the crock pot with seasonings in between all the layers. That's one thing good about a crock pot nowadays--You can fill the whole thing up and have it ready to go and waiting in the fridge, then all you have to do is drop it into electric half of the appliance and go on about your day. That also gives it more time to steep in the seasonings I guess. In the old days those crocks were all one piece. Some things in the past are better left there...

Teresa came over after I got home and I changed the oil in her car for her. She didn't pretend to want to do it this time. I told her there was no way she was ever going to be able to do it herself so there isn't much reason to try and she agreed. At one point my neighbor, Chris and his daughter Kailey came by and I made a lighthearted comment like, "I'm not even married to her any more and I'm changing her oil." She countered with, "Well, I've got the surly teenage daughter at my house to deal with." Chris laughed and said he thought I had the better deal. I think I agree.

While she was here I asked her about her Harley jacket and if she would consider selling it. She said sure, and added that she probably would never wear the chaps either so I might as well try those too. One of these days I'll get them from her and have them over here for Suzie to try out. I don't really remember the quality of the chaps, but the jacket is real nice. I hope at least one of them fits her. Although Teresa won't let them go for dirt cheap, it will still be nice to be able to try them on so close to home. It's like really local Craigslist shopping when you think about it.

I'm feeling the urge to go out and take some pictures. My photo blog is getting off to a slow start being only a "Picture of the Week" type of thing. Maybe I should just put them on any time I feel like it and just call them the "Featured Photo" or something.

Well, I hope I have a good day today. I'm expectantly watching the mail at work for a couple of camera remotes I ordered for me and Suz. I would really like her to be able to take hers with her on her trip to Hawaii. Even though they're coming from Hong Kong, there should have been plenty of time for them to show up. We'll see...

Sorry, No Good Thoughts Today...

Why can't I have a trustworthy daughter like they do on TV? I know it's a teenager thing to push the limits of authority, but I guess I just find it hard to believe the shit that kids do. No wait... Let me think back... Never mind... I remember.

Teresa called me a bit ago (I am starting to seriously dread phone calls from her). Her best friend Noelle was up at the tennis courts after school to pick up her son and saw Sarah's (former?) boyfriend driving her car. Okay, maybe he was driving it from one parking lot to the next, I don't know. What am I supposed to think? If he drives it from lot to lot, he damn sure has driven it other times and places. She will never admit such a thing though. I can say with total confidence that if she wrecks her car she will not be getting another one from me, and most likely from her mom either. That is assuming that it's just her. If someone else is involved with driving it, it won't be my insurance that will suffer, it will be hers and her mom's. She needs to understand that, but I doubt she ever will.

To add to that, Teresa said that Sarah's new camera that we bought her for her birthday has spent the majority of it's life in the hands of her (former?) boyfriend. As a matter of fact, it's at his house now and probably has been the whole time since she got it.

I have a hard time with this crap. It would be totally different if I lived there, but obviously I don't. I can talk to Sarah til I'm blue in the face and it seems to just go in one ear and out the other. In the meantime I've got to keep listening to phone calls from Teresa telling me all this. To add to that, I can't totally trust everything Teresa says either. She is notorious for embellishing things. I don't know who to believe and what I should do about it.

While I'm ranting and complaining, it hasn't been all that great of a week for me in other areas either.

I've had a headache pretty much constantly for over two days now. It's not bad, but neither does it ever go completely away. Other people I have talked to at work seem to have similar headaches. Perhaps it's a mutation of a flu bug or something.

My mom called last night and told me that my dad does indeed have cancer in one of his lungs. They are going to be getting two MRI's this week to see if it has spread to anywhere else in his body, which I understand is pretty common for lung cancer to do. The weird thing is that my dad having cancer doesn't really bother me. It's not that I have no feelings toward him, but to be honest, I really am indifferent. We never have really gotten along. I know it sounds terrible for me to say that but it's true. What does bother me about it is the ripple effect that it could cause. My mom losing her husband means a whole lot more to me than me losing my dad. Just based on that fact alone, I hope everything comes out all right.

I get into these moods and it snowballs.

I think about how my internet stops and starts whenever it wants to. I call tech support and it works fine. Sometimes it doesn't. I think about how Craigslist won't let me post linked pictures like they used to. Now I have to be happy with their stupid little bitty pictures or nothing. If I try to use pictures that are bigger and actually exist somewhere else or the posts won't show up.

Now I'm thinking about Suzie going to Hawaii on Friday. It will be lonely all next week without her. Can you tell I love her very much? Jeez. I know we'll be able to communicate while she's there, but it's not the same. She hasn't even left yet and I miss her already.

And this dull throbbing in my head isn't helping any either.

The Weekend is Behind Us

Suzie and I spent the whole of Friday evening here relaxing and having fun, feeling good that the work week was behind us. Pizza and jammies equals a good casual Friday evening. Oh, and beer too... Gotta have that.

Saturday sent us out shopping. We each took our cameras with us--Hoping for a good spot to stop and wander around for some picture taking. We decided to head toward Lakewood in Tacoma to start with because I wanted to see what they had at Eagle Leather that Suz would look good in. She bought a little wrap thing that goes around a ponytail to keep it in check called a "hair glove" but that's all we bought. They have a serious problem with too much salesperson pestering there. We got asked if they "could help us" what seems like countless times. They have a big store with lots of good stuff in it, but I didn't really feel all that keen on buying there. Maybe another time.

While we were leaving Eagle Leather Suzie's phone rang. It was the folks at the Tacoma Mall JC Penney calling to tell her that her new glasses were in. Yippie! It was good timing because we were only about 3 exits away at the time, and also because Suz was getting anxious to have them. After all, her Hawaii trip is next weekend and she wanted them before that.

On the way back we detoured by Steve's house to see how he was doing and to introduce Sue to Steve and Maria. We had a good visit. Poor Steve, his knee had way more stitches--No wait--Staples in it than I would have thought. I guess I really didn't expect to see a big incision almost a foot long right across his knee. In retrospect, there wasn't any other way it could have been... A knee replacement is serious business. Overall it didn't look too bad though. Not much swelling so that was good.

On the way home from Steve's we went up on the hill above Auburn to Mountain View Cemetery to take some pictures. For some reason, gravestones make pretty good subjects in certain lighting. We each took a bunch of shots and had a pretty good time. After a quick stop at my house to check out the pictures we took and have a beer or two, we continued Northward to Southcenter Mall. We wanted to check out a couple of camera stores to see what they had for filters. Both of the stores we stopped at were overpriced so we didn't buy.

This morning I spent some time on the Blogger.com. Not working on this blog, but rather making a new blog! I decided that I would start a blog just for the pictures I take, intending to post a "Picture of the Week" every week (duh). If I find that I have tons of pictures to chose from I can increase it if I want. The beauty is that Blogger lists the posts along the side so it will be easy to browse through all the Pictures of the Week at any time. Like all pictures in Blogger, you can click them to see them full size if you want. I called it Rix Pix and the link is over there on the right --->.

I spent the afternoon cleaning my garage and putting stuff away out there. I also cut up some firewood that I had brought home several weeks ago but never got around to cutting it. The day was nice enough that I set a few things up in the driveway so that I could take pictures for Craigslist. There is no substitute for natural light when it comes to picture clarity. Now I guess I need to get busy with the ads and get em posted.

Teresa was going to come by this weekend some time and have me help her change her oil but that never materialized. I noticed today that mine is due as well. Figures.