We are the mundane
Spent much of the day digging out from the storm here. We got 20″, NYC got a record 27″. No pix, I was too busy, but Smashmouth kicked butt. Although I must confess, for this kind of big, kinda fluffy snow, a snowblower probably works better. Still better than shoveling.
See y’all friday.
Shannon’s 21st birthday. Gary and I flew in and teamed up with Ron and Steve to surprise her. We just walked into the bar where she was celebrating the birthday with her girlfriends. When she saw us, she did this double take that was almost as amazing as the look we got from Kenny when we surprised him for his birthday (or the look I got from Marilyn, Mary, and Mary Ann the time I surprised them at a Chippendales show). She then let out a scream and ran over to hug us. I’m sure her girlfriends didn’t have a clue what was going on.
Got this at a flea-market years ago. Just had my 2nd toaster-oven break in less than a year so I dug it out of storage. I knew it worked, and y’know what? It makes toast better and faster than any toaster-oven I’ve ever had.
I finished this year’s Xmas card last night and I decided to put these up here for nostalgia and posterity.
I never much appreciated the cards I got each year with friend’s kids pictured. As a rule they were either crappy snapshots or cheesey Sears photos. (Ken, your pix were always the exception to the rule.)
Once I had children I recognized the motivation to send pictures of one’s kids was awfully powerful, but I wanted to do it a bit differently. I started in 2001, when Lex was barely 8 mos old.
2001
The actual motivation behind this picture was the fact that our house was so incredibly messy, every shot we had of the kids had a background of clutter and crap. So I made a “virtual room” for them. Nothing in the shot is real, except for the kids (and the scans of photos, tho the frames are digital…. note the World Trade Towers).
Mommy would have been proud of the shine on those floors, huh?
2002
This was done by Lis on her first and only foray into the world of digital imagery. One long night on the computer, a crash course using a program called Painter, and she produced this masterpiece. A Winter Wonderland hand-drawn on a computer.
2003
A friend took this shot on a visit to Central Park just after Thanksgiving that year.
It was just too fun (and easy) to pass up.
2004
I was at a loss what to do last year and started searching the Web for a graphic to inspire me. Found an illustration of a Christmas Elf (not a fairy, mind you… an elf). I really enjoyed doing this one and it’s gotten lots of compliments, so I just had to come up with something for this year.
2005
I kinda like what I ended up with this year. Still have mixed feelings about it, tho. It’s not what I originally envisioned, but hey…. that’s the way it goes. Hopefully I got it done in time to get printed and mailed to y’all by Christmas, but if you can’t wait and want to know what it looks like CLICK HERE. If not, we hope to get it to you by Christmas (true, it does look doubtful, but you’ll get it eventually).
Happy Holidays!!
Gary & Lis
I know some of you have seen this picture before, but I wanted to get it on here for posterity. We had our first substantial snowstorm overnight, and Smashmouth and I were out at 6am clearing the driveway and sidewalks.
Speaking of posterity, I’m archiving the blog on a regular basis and will occasionally distribute CDs to family members. So, if you want some mundane event or milestone or whatever recorded, put it up here. Our great-grandkids will be able to check it out someday.
Remember, “We are the mundane!”
Santa always finishes the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!
After the parade we left the building we were in (Ed Sullivan Theatre, aka Letterman Show) to head to our cars. We had a group photo taken by a passerby. Wanted a second but couldn’t get the kids’ attention as they were fascinated by the street-sweepers.
We were accompanied by an old friend and co-worker of Lis’, Doug Reuter, his wife, Susan and 2 kids. His first was born 3 mos before Charlotte. His 2nd the same day as Lex. We’ve known Doug for more than 20 yrs.
We went to the Upper West Side and Nancy’s apartment (Nana to the kids.) A little play in the local park playground and dinner.
All in all a fine day.
At the beginning of the month Ronnie made a comment on his birthday posting that he couldn’t remember the year of everyone’s birth. I think that’s a great challenge to post on our blog (we need to start getting some family history here). I’ll give it a shot (correct me if I’m wrong). I then challenge everyone to post their immediate family’s birth dates. Here goes:
Dad (Edwin) – 01/01/21, deceased 01/24/86
Mom (Eileen) – 12/16/24, deceased 12/09/84
Larry – 03/02/45
Marilyn – 02/23/49
Steve – 05/16/51
Kenny – 07/17/54
Gary – 10/04/57
Ronnie – 10/28/58
For history, we should add Susan: 12/24/45 (deceased shortly after birth). Am I correct? OK, let’s get our families on here! Then we can start going backwards and getting other relatives!
About 10 days ago, in my “Ken – remember this?” post, I said:
Just like this year, PSU was hot in the middle of the football national championship picture
Gary came back with:
BTW, Is PSU really “hot in the middle of the football national championship picture “?
And I responded:
Most definitely we are. We are fifth in the BCS. That means we need three teams in front of us to lose to get into the BCS championship game.The four teams ahead of us and their remaining games are:
Miami: @Wake Forest (4-6), Geo Tech (6-2), Virginia (5-3), then Fla State (7-2) in the conference championship game – none of those games are easy and it will be tough for them to win all four games (Fla St has already beaten them once).
Alabama: LSU (7-1), @Auburn (7-2), and a conference championship game against either Georgia (7-1) or Florida (7-2). Alabama’s offense is atrocious – they haven’t scored a TD in 13 quarters and it would be a big surprise for them to record three wins against the teams they have yet to play.
Texas: Kansas (5-4), @Tex A&M (5-4), and a conference championship game against Colorado (7-2). Anytime you have to defeat three teams with winning records there is a decent chance you could lose. The favorite has a history of losing the conference championship in the B12 so it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see the Longhorns go down.
USC: @California (6-3), Fresno State (7-1), and UCLA (8-1). While Southern Cal looks to be the strongest contender for the national championship they do have challenges ahead of them. None of those teams are pushovers and UCLA would just love to knock their cross town rivals out of the BCS picture.
Penn State on the other hand has two weeks to get ready for their sole remaining game with Michigan State (5-4). MSU is in their usual late season collapse having lost 4 of their last 5 games. We should be able to handle them easily and just sit back and watch the others fall by the wayside.
The good news is that only three of the four teams in front of us need to lose. There is a very good chance that could happen.
Here’s an update of what has happened since:
Just as I suggested, we were able to beat Michigan State and capture the B10 title and secure a berth in a BCS Bowl. Which bowl is still up in the air.
Last week, Alabama lost to LSU in overtime and dropped out of the national championship picture.
Yesterday, Miami lost to Georgia Tech and their national championship hopes have been dashed.
So two of the three things that needed to happen have. We just need one more and we almost got that late last night (people were glued to TV’s in the bars here in State College last night as the USC/Fresno State game didn’t end until 2:15AM).
Southern Cal staged a furious comeback and managed to overcome Fresno State 50-42 in a game that saw them trailing 42-41 in the fourth quarter (Fresno State had also led at halftime 21-13). USC looks beatable and they have crosstown rivals UCLA in two weeks.
Texas was off this week but they have always dangerous Texas A&M and their famed 12th man next week, then a conference championship matchup with Colorado in two weeks.
That means there are three chances for an upset to happen – I’d say odds are about 50-50 that one of the upsets will occur – and Penn State can claim a spot in the national championship game in the Rose Bowl (there is also an outside chance that LSU could sneak by us with a win in their conference championship game).
Realistically, there are now only five schools with a shot at the title. USC and Texas still have their destiny in their own hands. Win out and they are in. Penn State’s season is over and we sit just on the outside waiting for one of the two to fail. LSU not only needs one of the top two to falter but they also need to win out and start getting some love from the BCS computers. Virginia Tech remains a very big long shot to somehow sneak into the game – they probably need both teams on the top to lose and have LSU also lose while they win out and meet Penn State for the title.
So that’s a long winded way of saying “Yes, Gary we very much are in the middle of the national championship picture.
I woke up this morning after one of my typical nights of dreaming. The “star” of this dream was Gary. He had just gotten a review at work and wasn’t too happy about it. So he came to the family for advice. We were living in Chalfont. Mommy, Kenny and Ronnie were in the dream. Mommy and I intervened…kind of like attending a “parent-teacher” conference with Gary’s boss. Kenny & Ronnie were “background” constants; Kenny complaining that he was having similar problems at work and Ronnie just standing there laughing (we were all current age except Ronnie who was a teenager)!
Weird. Do any of you dream? Steve says he doesn’t, or at least never remembers them. I dream nightly. Maybe it’s just a female thing??????
Decided it was time this handsome devil joined the rest of the family.
