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Back from Fnordida
J:
We're back (just got back tonight, actually), and ready for another
busy week. Tomorrow Gina will take Booda to the surgeon to get an
enormous tonsil taken out, while I try to finish (after I begin) a
report at work that's due before the end of the year.
For xmash
I got a funny book, a computer tablet, some socks, and whiskey. Thanks,
folks! I'm going to find a way to use them all at once.
I
spent most of my xmash vacation working on crossword puzzles. Gina and
I helped Lori unpack stuff she had moved to a new apartment. I also
fixed a shelf at the 'rents place and helped break their garage door.
G:
It
was a nice apartment! I had fun putting up her tree and decorating,
including wrapping blinking lights around a huge, wood, painted
Egyptian sarcophagus. We went out and ate at Sweet Tomatoes, which is a
nice buffet chain that we'd eaten at in California last year.
My brother Grant was stuck in Kentucky because of the snow storms and
it delayed him from arriving at the 'rents until dinner time on Xmash
eve. So we opened presents after dinner that night. Grant got the
fedora he asked for from me, and gave us a drawing and photo enhancing
tool for the computer, plus an Asian vegetarian cookbook, some socks he
bought that were too short for him, and a dvd he burned of Beatles
stuff. Mom loved the Egyptian themed tote bag I got her, and gave me a
belly dancing kit that included a dvd, cd of music, book, finger
cymbals, and belly button decoration. Plus we went online and ordered
some cds to get sent here for me and John. Dad gave the usual (and
welcome) check. I got him several books.
I can't think of what other little details of the week to share with
you, there wasn't much excitement, but in general I read (Nickeled and
Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich), watched a lot of Comedy Central and old
movies (and CNN coverage of the horrible tsunami disaster), took
Chrissy (Mom and Dad's old poodle) outside to go potty a lot, did
chores around the house, and ate good food. We had Chestnuts and Rice
again, and nut loaf, and a couple dinners out. Grant made a great
chickpea stew last night.
We also visited the local nuclear power plant, which was a bit
disappointing because they did not have the kind of cooling towers one
thinks of for a nuclear power plant, but much shorter, perfectly
cylindrical ones. We went to their visitor center and looked at
displays for a short while before they closed. We tried to go see
manatees but none were around where they are SUPPOSED to be. But we saw
some kite surfers and watched them for a while.
I also looked at printouts my dad made of houses for sale. The folks
are planning on taking advantage of the skyrocketing real estate values
to make a nice nest egg and move further into the boondocks to a house
of comparable size for a lot less money. Next year I'll be visiting
them somewhere new in Florida (or going down sometime before them to
help them move). On the way to the airport I saw, for the first time, a
live armadillo in the wild. Right after exclaiming my sighting, I saw
something else that I can't be sure of, but I could have sworn was a
mostly decomposed black bear carcass. A few minutes later Grant spied
and pointed out 3 wild turkeys. That was cool. We are always seeing all
sorts of interesting birds in Florida, but these three sightings were
unusual.
Stacy and Chris picked us up at the airport, and we finally got to try
out The Great Sage, a fancy-ish vegetarian restaurant in Clarksville. I
called Gary Kaplan and he met us there. We treated Stacy for her
birthday. The food was expensive, and good, but not great.
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THE HEAP
where we wade the web
i can't stand christmas
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