Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Easy To Slip

It's so easy to slip
It's so easy to fall
And let your memory drift
And do nothin' at all
All the love that you missed
All the people that you can't recall
Do they really exist at all

- Lowell George


It's early on Boxing Day...trying to sort out everything that has been going on during the past week. As I mentioned yesterday, my mom fell at work last week and fractured her left wrist and right arm. She's in a rehab facility that just opened up....told it's beautiful, but there's only five patients in there so far. She's facing six weeks of physical rehab, then will probably miss more time on disability. Spoke to her very briefly yesterday - my brother had her cellphone as she can't hold anything, and started crying while we talked. Broke my heart - it's difficult to be hospitalized during the holidays. We'll be down over the weekend to visit her.

The family is scrambling to make sure my dad is taken care of - at this stage of his Alzheimer's, he can't be left alone. So my sisters, brother, nieces and nephews take turns staying with him. I took him back home last Saturday after visiting my mom and stayed with him for awhile. It was getting late in the day, and he usually gets more disoriented in the late afternoon/early evening (believe this phenomenon is called "sundowning")...he started asking me where I lived and where I was born. I didn't know how I'd react when he didn't recognize/remember me, but I knew the day would come, so I just reminded him I was his son. He's coping so far, but I know he misses my mom terribly.

Christmas was pretty low-key. We had dinner Monday night and exchanged gifts afterwards. G. got Guitar Hero 3 and was rocking that Monday night and yesterday. We hit 7:30 Mass yesterday and went to Sake on Rte. 1 for a traditional Japanese dinner. :-)

Also got called at 10:30pm Christmas Eve on a mail relay server that was non-responsive. I wound up driving up to the datacenter and getting it back online - it's OT and makes up for the time I missed for the half-day I took on Christmas Eve.

Need to finish up some shopping and get ready for the trip to see my family this weekend...then things will settle down.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope Santa brought you everything on your list.

Please take a second to keep my parents in your prayers/positive thoughts/good mojo. My mom fell at work last Tuesday and fractured her left wrist and right elbow. She's in a rehabilitation facility and can't use her arms due to swelling and soft casts being on them. My dad is trying to deal with the fact that she'll be away for six weeks while she heals up.

Thanks and God's blessings on us all.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

A quiet but productive weekend

Get most of my daughter's Christmas shopping done? Check.

Install some needed weatherstripping on the drafty backdoor to the house? Check.

Cook a very tasty red beans and rice dinner for the family today? Check.

Get sufficient rest to get over this cold I've had for a week? Check.

Find time to hit the holiday wine tasting at Ourglass with L, and have some Layer Cake Shiraz last night? Check.


It's all good. :-)

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Running Hot And Cold

Another week, another cold. Don't know if I just ran myself down, or caught something on the flight back, but it's here and I feel tired and congested. Been taking Zicam this go-round - seems to be working OK.

My Jacksonville trip was a blast. Went down last Friday morning with 2 of the guys I tailgate with. We stayed just outside of the airport - headed into downtown JAX in the late afternoon and hit a reception for the BC booster club. I met a lot of other friends there and caught up with a bunch of people. We headed over to The Landing a few hours later - it's an outdoor tourist trap on the St. John's River, lots of bars and restaurants. Had an overpriced steak for dinner and hung out in the courtyard with the other fans, listening to cover bands and knocking back some adult beverages. By the time we left, there were probably a couple thousand people there having fun.

Saturday morning we did the one-stop shopping deal at the local mall...hit the Walmart/Always supermarket for provisions, and the guys went to the liquor store next door for some Jim Beam. Got down to the stadium lot around 10:30 and settled in with a couple dozen BC fans to tailgate. One friend's brother (who is now a local) gave directions to a coworker to get him to our lot, then figured out they knew one another from schooldays.

The game was a grinder...left too many points on the field in the first half and got shut down in the second. The funny part was my friend getting put on national TV after the deciding INT return...his cellphone started ringing off the hook with calls and text messages that he was a celebrity. I told him he was now the poster boy for BC fan depression.

Did some more tailgating after the game, then it was back to the hotel, where we finished up in the lounge. Flew back Sunday. It was a great time.