Monday Musings - January 13, 2014

1. I'm still having some issues remembering that it is 2014. I guess I'm in denial that 2013 ended so abruptly.

2. Birthday celebrations, football celebrations--it was a weekend full of celebrations!  Celebrations are a lot better than the alternative!

Luke, Ethan, and Jax on Dad

3. What is cooler than seeing three of his great-grandsons on my Dad's knee? Now if I only could get them to sit still long enough for a picture.

4. People quibble about the strangest things. If they only could step away and look at the big picture.

5. One of the great things about wine is that there is at least one for everyone's unique tastes.

6. I listened to A-Rod's defense and was amazed. It sounded the same as a child's defense when accused of eating cookies from the cookie jar. You didn't catch me in the act, therefore I didn't do it. I'm glad that in the end, he will be nothing more than a sad footnote in baseball history.

7. On the baseball theme, if A-Rod only got effectively a one year suspension for doing something that definitely affected the outcome of baseball games, why is Pete Rose still suspended for life?

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

I Thought Saturday was supposed to be a day off?

My work week, which is at least a classic work week, is a Monday to Friday affair. I use my weekends for relaxing and getting a few small projects done around the house, maybe attending a sporting event or a concert, and going to bed late and getting up later. The operative concept is- that weekends are for relaxing.

That, friends, is only a concept that does not often apply to real life. 

Take yesterday as an example.

The planned day:

9:00 AM - Basketball game - Jax
12:00 Noon - Basketball game - Ethan
4:00 PM - Birthday Party - Lucas
6:30 PM - Annual Wine Club Dinner - Friends

An aggressive schedule for a Saturday.

Wine Club Dinner Table

Now lets look at the actual day:

8:30 AM - Depart for Basketball game
9:00 AM - Basketball Game - Jax
10:30 AM - Unscheduled brake job on Son's vehicle
11:30 AM - Mount and install a large television on the wall in my bedroom
12:00 Noon- Oops, missed the second basketball game and seeing grandson score - Ethan
2:30 PM - Emergency trip to the store for cilantro, chips, pick up medications, and fill the truck up with gas
4:00 PM - Lucas Turns 4 Birthday party!  Yay. Great food and fun. Caught a few minutes of the Seahawks-Saints playoff game.
5:45 PM - Race home, change clothes and head out the door. 
6:30 PM - Wine Club Dinner -- which was awesome!!
10:30 PM - Return home, catch a few minutes of the Patriots-Colts game
11:30 PM - Fall into bed asleep before head hits pillow

I can't wait for Monday so I can go back to work. Lol.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Dad's Birthday--A Celebration

Birthday Cheesecake

Celebrating 86 years, last evening Mom, Chris and I went out for a celebration dinner of Dad's life and health. 

Although it was raining and chilly, it did not dampen the spirit of the celebration as we visited a local eatery and engaged in cell phone free conversation and memory making for over two hours. 

It was interesting to see the restaurant fill up with other diners and then begin to empty as we had chosen the busiest dining hours to enjoy our meal.

Dad Enjoying his Cheesecake

It was a nice, relaxed paced evening for the four of us to enjoy along with more food than we could eat. 

The conversation ambled through many topics of the day, but mostly it was aimed at deepening the ties that bind families together as we appreciate each other's points of view on the topics of the day--carefully avoiding the taboo topics of politics and religion.

The cheesecake, as it turned out, was the hit of the meal! Even Chris got into the spirit of the evening by helping the birthday boy finish his man-sized portion.

Dad and Chris Sharing Birthday Cheesecake

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Ceilings

Sistine Chapel

Have you looked up lately?

I did, yesterday, while sitting in a leadership class. I looked at the ceiling of the classroom and wondered how it could be so abused.

Then I looked at the ceiling in my office when I got back to work.

Yecch!

My Ceiling--A Good One

Dirty and well loved.

I have some ceilings at home that I'm trying to fix--I found out that I am not good at mudding ceilings. It looks pretty bad. Well loved.

I checked out some store ceilings. They sometimes don't even exist. No ceiling at all just the roof overhead with a lot of mechanical "stuff" in between.

Good ceilings should not be noticed. When ceilings become a topic of conversation they are either in poor repair or are something akin to the Sistine Chapel.

Take some time and look up. Then, wonder why?

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

The Cat's in the Cupboard--Too much help

Riordin in the Cupboard

With the impending end of the Christmas Season, we decided to retire out Christmas dished for another year the other day. Little did we know that our faithful Riordin, the cat that came back, would immediately discover a different use for the transitional space. 

Seems that as soon as we removed the Christmas plates he decided to check out the vacant space as new hiding/play area. He seemed quite excited about the prospect of having a secret place off the floor and away from the dog's traffic pattern.

Too bad for him! We had other plans for the space and his occupancy was soon terminated. 

He was no worse for the wear--but we know now that he is searching for a new hideout!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

How Cold Was it?

The thermometer at my house recorded 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit at 7:32 AM on 7 January 2014.

That is how cold it was.

Too cold.

The rain before the cold snap made most of the snow go away and so it is just too cold to think about anything other than how cold it is.

It is warmer this morning. It is 7 degrees. Still single digits.

I guess it is important to recognize how cold it is so that during the summer I can better enjoy the warmth. It is supposed to be 63 degrees here in Saturday. That is 61 degrees warmer than the coldest I recorded during this cold snap. It will feel like summer. It will feel awesome.

I may start up the convertible and take it for an afternoon jaunt, except that it is going to rain.

Weather is and there is little we can do except prepare for it.

I hope you are surviving the cold and for those of your with livestock and outdoor pets, I hope they survived. I talked to one guy yesterday and he said that all he really could do was to bring the animals into the barn where at least they were out do the wind. I guess sharing the kitchen with a goats or chickens or larger livestock is not an option.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

How Cold is it?

It was so cold, I think I saw a polar bear moving in down the street.

I noticed something, the more the news media and the weather professionals talked about the record setting cold, the colder I became. It was weird. I was getting cold just hearing people talk about the cold.

And it seemed colder outside, too.

I thought I could see my breath in the office. I even had to put my sports coat on because I started to get cold and it was still 40 something degrees outside. And then the temperature started to drop. By 9 PM last evening, it was 16 degrees and falling.

This morning at 4:48 the temperature reached a frigid 2.7 degrees and probably would continue to fall as dawn was still two hours away.

Just more excitement, compliment of Mother Nature.

So, I thought a couple of cold jokes would be nice:

Q: Why does it take longer to build a blonde snowman than a regular one? 
A: You have to hollow out the head. 

It was so cold that:

 -Some people walked around for days with spoons or forks stuck to their tongues! 

 -Hitchhikers were holding up pictures of thumbs! 

 -Roosters were rushing into Kentucky Fried Chicken and begging to use the pressure cooker! 

 -When I dialed 911, a recorded message said to phone back in the spring! 

 -The optician was giving away free ice scrapers with every new pair of eyeglasses! 

 -Kids were using a new excuse to stay up late: "But Mom, my pyjamas haven't thawed out yet!" 
-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - January 6, 2014

1. And it's off--2014 is one week old and already filled with storms and news.

2. The NFL needs to improve its product. Poor officiating and monopolistic marketing have led to a decline in the experience of the NFL. Frankly, it costs way too much to attend a game and the experience isn't all that good--especially with a minus 40 wind chill. 

3. Baseball season starts soon and then it will be Spring!

4. Fire in the fireplace, football on TV, is there a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon? Yup, on a warm beach somewhere!

5. Isn't it cool that the Russians and the Chinese had to ask the the US for help in Antarctica with the frozen in the ice ships? 

6. The cold weather is coming and I thought it was already here. 

7. Atheist churches? Seems that are having a problem deciding what they are going to be about. Read this story from CNN.

8. Bye-Bye Love Phil Everly of the Rock N Roll Everly Brothers died Friday at the age of 74.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Youth Basketball Opening Day

Brothers Together After the Games

Ethan On the Bench

I can tell that the Christmas season is ended because basketball season has begun. Yesterday was opening day for Ethan and Jackson.

Fortunately, both games were at the same time yesterday--which makes it a bit difficult to watch--especially when they are on the court at the same time as they were during the first half. At least the courts are next to each other.

Their teams have been practicing since early December.  Ethan participated in this league during the past few seasons, so we know the ropes.

This was Jackson's first foray into basketball. He has been playing soccer and most recently flag football--now for something different it is hoops!

Jax Taking it in

On an all too cold Saturday we entered out to enjoy sports in ins purest form, where winning isn't the only thing that matters, to abuse a quote from Vince Lombardi.

And, to document opening day, I made a video, too. The greatest moments of opening day.

Enjoy the games. I did.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Risking the Roads

What is wrong with this picture?

What a mess the roads were  as I ventured to work yesterday. Were they upstate NY messy? No. But, they were far more dangerous.

Why, you may ask?

The other drivers!

In my short commute to work I had to take decisive defensive action on two occasions to avoid fairly serious potential accidents. Drivers making sudden lane changes or merges seemingly unaware of the traffic around them.

And they were!

They had failed to clear their cars of the snow and were trying to get to their destination without being able to properly see those around them. In this case, that was me!

The roads were actually fine--wet or even dry. It was the other drivers who were causing the danger to travel. 

Beware and be careful. Clear windows and mirrors!

Look and listen!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD