I know we needed the rain, but I am glad it finally ended! The horse farm is not a good place to go after three days of rain, actually one day makes quite a mess!

With the clearer weather, we managed to meet up with some of my daughter's friends at Hershey Park on Saturday. It was fun, got to ride some of the roller coasters.. but I did not get a chance to ride my favorite one - The Great Bear. We rode the Comet, my daughter's first roller coaster (front seat with her mom when she was 5.. she was just tall enough). We rode it three times that first day, just the once this time. The Wild Mouse and the Wildcat also. On our way out, my daughter caught sight of the S'Mores stand... good eyes! We both enjoyed that treat on the way to the car.

Last week's weather was also a problem for other reasons... on the minor side, my commute was horrible, on the major side, Denise, the woman who cleans my house was in a car accident... some cuts, minor back injury, and a broken hand... I am told she is OK, but out of action for a while. So today I cleaned the house... it's been a while since I have done many of these tasks, but I managed to get to about 70% of what would have normally been done. I have a renewed appreciation of what Denise does for me. Get well soon!

On to the start of another week... hope everyone has a good one!

Had a wonderful weekend with trips to a friend's wedding on Friday evening at the Antrim Manor in Taneytown, and to "Symphony with a Twist" on Saturday night at the Meyerhoff in Baltimore. The "Twist" series always has an unusual aspect to the performances... in this case, the first piece "Frankenstein" had the orchestra supplementing their usual instruments with toy instruments, plastic tubes, and a percussionist blowing up and popping paper bags (and throwing them towards the conductor afterwards). It was definitely not your expected orchestra performance, probably a part of why we enjoyed it. The blue martini's before hand may have helped? ;-)


Also of note, the day arrived last Thursday that our family no longer has a car older than my daughter. I had taken ownership of a 1990 Toyota pickup and used it for the past year or so for mulch runs, dump runs, etc. But with it needing a new exhaust system to pass emissions, 5th gear not quite reliable and a lot of rust underneath.. I decided it was time to give it to charity and free up the space in the driveway. One American Red Cross web form later and I had a call that someone would be by soon to pick up the pickup. So sometime Thursday, while I was out at lunch, the truck vanished from my driveway, on to wherever those things go.

How long is soon? I have many references, but they are all so vague. "See you soon"... could be a few hours to a few weeks or more. The popular e-mail ending.. "talk to you soon" seems fairly short, since the easier "ttyl" ("talk to you later") would be used for a longer time span. My daughter's response when I ask her to do something.. "I will soon" can be anywhere from minutes to the end of time. Then there is "ASAP" or "As soon as possible"... a popular acronym, which should have some sense of urgency, but seems to mean "when I can get around to it".

The reason I need to know... a light appeared on my dashboard for the first time in my car's 8 year lifespan. "Service Engine Soon" in brilliant yellow. It's not flashing, the car is running fine as best I can tell (and it is in no way related to the amount of fuel I have left in the car). So I am planning to get it checked out in the next day or so. Should I be concerned? Maybe it should have said "Service Engine ASAP".

It's been an interesting few days... my big work event went well last Friday. We have received praise from our Institute Director on down and it looks to become an annual event! Oh joy another 12 hour workday! ;-) I took on the D.C. beltway on a Friday evening to catch up with AM and enjoy her fun event. Many stories have been written of the D.C. beltway, but they are only true when there is an accident, which is almost daily... I was lucky that night, no accidents and it was a relatively painless drive. John the Trucker would appreciate that I did not try to cut anyone off, just patiently plodded along and listened to some soothing music. :-)

Saturday had me on a quest to find the title for my old pickup so I could donate it to charity. That had the added task of sorting and filing about a years worth of documents that had piled up. It was something that needed to be done, but it is mindless work. I found the title in the very last pile of papers I sorted.. how does that happen all the time! The bonus side was finding some savings bonds that had been stashed away for many years, maybe I will spend them on something extravagant? (Or save them for many more years?)

Sunday was a day for everyone to catch up on sleep, watch some TV, order some wedding presents, and for me to format the huge amounts of text from Friday to be ready for this week. Another mindless (OK, semi-mindless) task that would have probably driven me crazy had I not had the appropriate beverage and TV diversions.

Today started off with the right plans, but after a phone call from school and a daughter who did not feel well, turned into a work at home day, doctor's appt, etc. As AM mentioned about being off balance, these are the days I feel off balance. I know what I should be doing, but need to adapt to the situation quickly. She has had to adapt for a long time... I cannot complain about one day!

So my tasks remain, to properly "jellify" a PB&J sandwich for my daughter's lunch tomorrow (her term, not mine), take out the recycling, walk the dog and get ready for another day. Will see how things work out tomorrow. :-)

Updates: My dad is doing well... he is getting chemo and radiation therapies over the last few weeks, and while it has been tiring for him, he is getting through it.

AM has a nice new blue cast, being decorated now by her friends and family. She is getting around better with less pain as the days go by. Getting out of the house from time to time for short trips and lacrosse games.

As for me.. I have been helping out where I can. Managing to keep all my web site projects up to date. Trying to get ready for a big work event next Friday. But today I got out to play some golf. It was a long day in the heat (5.5 hours to play 18 holes), but I managed a couple of pars and a birdie, even though I had a few meltdown holes (an 8 on a par 3.. ugh). Then off to meet up with some friends for some 8-ball. I had some good shots there too. Tomorrow is a work holiday, so not feeling too guilty about indulging myself. (OK, those who know me might wonder about that). Tomorrow, I will have to do a lot of good things for others to make up for this! ;-)

I was blessed with a lot of laughter over the last few days... a mom's text messaging attempts...friendly teasing about new tattoos (not mine)... creative use of trees in golf shots (mine)... my friend's pool banter (My good friend Chad used to keep me in stitches when we were shooting pool, looking forward to celebrating at his wedding in two weeks!).

What are some of the things that have made you laugh recently?

Ran to the liquor store tonight to pick up a few items. While waiting for my turn to check out I noticed the patron ahead of me having a conversation with the cashier. A few seconds went by and as I got closer, I noticed that the fellow checking out was talking on his bluetooth headset and the cashier had a phone under her ear and was having a completely different conversation. He finished his transaction and continued his conversation as he walked out the door. The cashier continued hers and went all the way to handing me back my credit card before a muffled "Thank you".

I have a bluetooth headset, but it's a strange sensation having conversations on it... it feels like I am just talking into space.. or most of the time to my windshield. Maybe if I hold my hand to the side of my head and pretend to have a phone it would seem more normal? I feel like I am being rude if I am talking on it when the drive-through speaker asks for my order, and that is not even a real person (OK, I guess there is one somewhere). Do other people feel this way? Or do I need to adapt to the new age of communications everywhere, all the time... I don't think I have that much to talk about! :-)