Shoveling Warriors

As much as I love the snow, I have to admit that all that shoveling is quite the workout. It is good to keep in mind, however, that being active is a good thing, especially as I get older. It's also worthy to note that I am greatly aided by the contributions of the kids, mostly N, but sometimes A. On really snowy days I am amazed that at one time I did this all by myself.

As most of you may know by now, our area got slammed with a couple of big storms, and while I'm happy that we finally got some snow, the fickle weather can make it a chore to clear. This is especially true when the snow turns to freezing rain or rain and then cools down again. This is exactly what happened recently, and it makes it so the white stuff weighs a ton. Plus, since we had a freeze thaw pattern earlier, there is a crust of snow underneath the softer stuff that in certain places needed to be cleared. As you can guess, we had our work cut out for us. The main reason for this is because we have to be able to cart wood in a wheelbarrow to the house. If the under-layer is frozen solid, no problem, though it's slippery. If it's softer and crunchy, however, it needs to be cleared. It took us a while to get it done, and required the use of a metal shovel to break it up and move it, and the big chunks of ice keep falling off the shovel, making me say the F-word constantly (such a bad influence on my kids), but we managed to get it done. Thanks to the kids for their help.

I'm not sure how much more snow we're going to get, but I think that most of the below zero days might be behind us. Then again, when you live in New England, you just never know what Mother Nature is going to throw at you, so it's best to just expect the unexpected, or better yet, have none.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Tianyu M. Fang for the pic.

Strangle That Cat

I love our cats but every now and then they do something that really infuriates me. The funny thing is they know they did something wrong because the minute I walk into the room they run for dear life. They'd better. This past Valentine's day we left flowers out for mom but couldn't be there when she saw them because we had to head out for school. I left the vase of flowers on the dining table but one of them broke in half. I put it into it's own little vase and left it for A at her seat. As we were in the mudroom getting ready to leave, I heard a thump and knew something was wrong, so I went back inside and sure enough one of the cats had knocked over the small vase, spilling water all over the table. And as per protocol, the minute she heard me come in she ran for the hills and was out of sight.

We were a little late but I had to clean up the mess. Our dining table is very busy and there are books, magazines, papers, and numerous laptop computers on it. I scrambled to move things out of harm's way and sop up the water. Mom got up and came down and took over, and it wasn't quite the harmonious V-day morning I was hoping she'd have, but what are you going to do?

Just another day in in the life, as the saying goes. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to the Rose of Lady Oscar for the pic.

Killer Thai Food

One last V-day note, we went to dinner that night in the big city and decided on Thai food. Living up here in the wilds of New England, it's not hard to imagine that good Thai food is not always that easy to find. However, there are a couple of places that do a good job, and one of our favorites is Kata. The location is not the best because it's downstairs, which is fine by me but makes it hard if you don't know about it. The less than optimal location must make the rent cheaper so they can pass the savings on to the customers. I see a similar thing with Boloco, my other favorite place to eat in the big city.

The food at Kata is excellent, and the prices are reasonable. The decor is no nonsense and the service is minimal, but when it comes to ethnic food, sometimes the more the place is a dive, the better (within reason). Also, I am a fan of bussing my own dishes, I don't need 4 star service. If anything it embarrasses me. The food at Kata is excellent and you get nice portions and plenty of steamed rice. Our favorite is the mango curry. We had a couple of appetizers, three curries (red curry, as well), and killer steamed veggies, which come with real veggies and not just carrots and bok choy. I was stuffed and we still had a lot of food to take home.

All in all a killer meal on V-day, followed by a little Bogart and Berman at the Hop. What more can you ask for?

-->

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Midvill for the pic.

Good, then Bad, and then Good Again

The weather has been a little bit crazy lately, albeit in a good way. I.e., the net result is that we're happy with the way things have gone, but it's been challenging along the way. We've had some killer snowfall in the past couple of weeks, but it didn't start out this way. Last week it snowed a bit and then transitioned into freezing rain, which meant icy and dangerous conditions. What's a bummer is that we drove to the rink in the snow and it changed to freezing rain while were on the ice. This meant we came out to slippery conditions all the way home. It also meant that shoveling was going to be tough because the snow is like a sponge and when it gets wet it's a bear to move.

What's crazy, however, is what happened next. We were supposed to ski over at the Skiway the next day, and I figured the conditions would be terrible with all the ice. However, the weather warmed up to 45 degrees the next day, and by the time we hit the slopes, the snow was perfect. In fact, it was the best day of skiing we'd had, and we made the most of it. It just goes to show you, you just never know how things are going to turn out.

We've had a couple of big storms since then, so skiing conditions have amazing. Throw in a snow day at school and life is good.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to EP Scott for the pic.

-->

Reflections on Valentine's Day

Several days after the fact, I hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. Even though I'm a bit cynical about commercial holidays that they've created to put pressure on us to buy things and conform our lives a certain way, we celebrate V-Day and get out and do things as a family. It also happens to be our anniversary, so we can't ignore it, nor do we want to. We always have fun and usually do things together as a family.

This year it kind of crept up on us because life has been crazy with the weather, hockey for the kids and myself, and skiing. I've also been working more than I thought I would, so we're moving in many different directions on any given day. I think the fact that A is in school makes our lives a little busier, as well. Either way, we weren't sure what our plans were until a day or two before, but we decided that we'd have a celebratory dinner and then go see a movie. They just happened to be playing Casablanca at the college, and the kids agreed to sit through it with us. I sort felt bad because it's a slow movie, even by my old standards, and I was not impressed when I saw it way back when, but it is a classic, so I thought I'd give it another try.

N had hockey practice, as well, which we decided to forgo since it would complicate matters and I'm no longer enamored with his hockey program for reasons I'll explain at a later date. Mom and A also take an exercise class, which they wanted to attend. We were also toying with skiing, which we passed on because it was just too much stuff. So, after bringing A home from school, we chilled out for a bit and then headed out to the big city for dinner. We had killer Thai food at Kata, a new place downstairs where Bagel Basement used to be. I love that place, they have killer curry and the prices are very reasonable. It's no nonsense in terms of service and decor, but the food is awesome.

After supper we went to the theater and watched the movie, and I have to say that I enjoyed it more the second time around. I was "not young" when I saw it the first time, but maybe even the last few years have mellowed me out enough to appreciate it. Sure, it's sappy and campy and all that good stuff, but I liked it. The kids didn't complain one bit, though I'm guessing they won't be lining up to watch it again any time soon. The audience definitely leaned more toward the AARP spectrum, sort of like everything in this town.

All in all we had a nice Valentine's Day. We managed to surprise mom with flowers in the morning, and we ended it with a nice supper and movie. Best of all, we got to all hang out together. How can you beat that?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Vanessa Pike-Russell for the pic.

-->

Miffed At Irving

I am a little miffed at Irving because of a recent interaction I had with them. We need to have our boiler cleaned, but there's also a problem with the heat. When I called them I indicated as much and figured if they were coming out to look at it, they might as well clean it. When the guy arrived he said he wasn't prepared to clean it but was just there on a service call. I was bummed because this meant I had make another service call to have it cleaned. I called Irving to complain and the story they gave me was that the person on the phone mistakenly indicated on the service order that I just needed service, even though I clearly said I wanted it cleaned. How do you argue your way out of this?

I told them how I felt and that it was kind of a screw-up on their part, but that's probably as far as I'll get with this. I had to make another appointment, which means another trip for the tech at $100/hour. Ouch!

Oh well, what are you going to do? If I could clean the thing myself I'd do it, but I don't think I'm man enough to go there. We can't all be the Amazing PR Man, can we?

-->

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Kennuth for the pic.

Bartender Dad

It's been a busy few weeks at the Inn, though I think things will slow to a trickle in the coming months because people just don't seem to get married in the winter. Whatever be the case, I worked several nights, some consecutively, and was even tossed into the mix of bartending. I was a bar-back for a couple of nights, and I've been told that it's often the first step toward becoming a bartender. I'm not sure if my goal is to be a bartender, but why not learn something new and acquire a new skill? I rather enjoy the high energy of doing banquets because it's fast and furious, making the night go more quickly. The bartenders tend to have more fun and don't have to run around as much, and they generate a majority of the cash tips, which for the record are distributed evenly amongst the crew.

I wasn't even aware that I was doing to be a bar-back, they just told me as I walked in the door. My job was basically to answer to the bartenders, which meant replenishing stocks of booze and glassware. It definitely gives you a bird's eye view of how much people drink. Afterward the manager asked me if I was interested in learning bartending. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure. I don't really think of the catering work as a career path, and as I mentioned, I like the energy of serving meals as well as the crew. Then again, just because I learn how to poor drinks doesn't mean that it's going to be all that I do. We have several trained bartenders who do a fine job, but I guess I could always be a backup or assist.

Always good to learn a new trick, right? We'll see where this one goes.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to jan peter for the pic.

-->