25 Years and Counting
2006-08-15, 9:49 a.m.

Day 723 25 Years and Counting

Today, at around 5:15pm, Cindy & I will have been married precisely 25 years. Today, at around 5:15pm, I expect we will be lounging on the patio, surrounded by our kids & parents, sipping iced teas, just relaxing and enjoying the moment. Given our schedules, what with the kids working and preparing for their fall semesters, Cindy gearing the school up for another year (don�t ever believe the principal runs a school - the secretary is the one that keeps the gears greased and pushes things along) and me with work projects coming due, it�s amazing that everybody has this afternoon & evening free. We�ll be taking advantage of it as a family since our family has been the greatest thing to come out of our marriage.

In typical guy fashion, I successfully power shopped my way to what I believe is a most excellent anniversary gift. After investigating things on line, getting an idea of quality, price and how the two are related, I stopped by a local jeweler known for their excellent quality and reasonable prices. Helped they were all of 2 miles from where I work. Sat down with a very helpful sales person, gawked at several selections, checked inventory, got all wishy-washy, looked at a few more options, then narrowed the field down to a pair of selections.

One had slightly larger stones, princess cut, but the color and clarity grades were a little lower than I wanted. Two of the stones on that one were noticeably yellow to me, but I look at images with a very discriminating eye all day long (thanks to my job actually) and probably pick up little details like that. Looking at the stones from the side, one could also pick out a tiny inclusion on the larger central stone.

Second choice had slightly smaller, round cut stones. Much better color and clarity grades. No inclusions that I could see with the naked eye. Also, to me, the round cut seems to refract light better (more sparkly) Price difference between the two was negligible, so it came down to larger stones vs. better stones. In the end, I chose the slightly smaller, higher quality stones.

Silly me had it wrapped, so when I got home I couldn�t show the kids. They were interested (especially Zach & Jill who are in the market for diamonds!!) Seems someone else got a whiff of what was up and did a crude, rudimentary search, looking for a box that was about a foot long by 4 to 6 inches square. Think Zach was responsible for the misinformation � including telling her the last place he saw it was my gym bag. He knew darn well I hid it elsewhere, he was just sending her on a wild goose chase.

Worked too, because it led to a whole discussion about just what was causing the particular scent emanating from my gym bag. Turns out is was a combo of some two day old workout clothes that got left in a side pocket, along with that mornings sweat soaked gear and the Z1pl0c bag I use to store my loufa. Apparently not a good combination. Cindy threatened to spray my bag with Febreeze!! Can you imaging a guy walking into a locker room with a gym bag that smelled fresh like a summer meadow? The ridicule would never cease.

Seems there�s some bathroom work going on at the school building where Cindy works, so there will be no running water, therefore no working toilets in the entire building today. Her boss told her to take the whole day off, but with school opening in 3 weeks, she�s got a load of work to accomplish. So she made a deal with her boss � she�d work until she had to pee, then take the remainder of the day off. That meant only one thing to me � I needed a better hiding spot for my present. She�d have too much free time to go nosing around. So this morning � back into the slightly better smelling gym bag her gift went. From there, it got locked in the glove box of my van, where it is sitting even now.

I�m taking a half day today, with two main objectives. First and easiest, get Bob & I to our appointment with the investment banker at 3pm. Second, I need to get an anniversary card, a bigger box, (maybe a foot long by 4 to 6 inches square), packing peanuts, wrapping paper and tape. Sucky part is I had the box & peanuts at work yesterday but tossed them. Ought to be able to scare up something, but still, the time, the time . . .

This evening should be fun. I know I�ll get pictures, hopefully something that can be cropped for posting on fl1ckr. Oh yeah � turns out the proper ring size? 4.5 We�ll be headed in tonight or tomorrow to get it re-sized. Then, if Cindy would rather have the slightly larger, slightly lower quality princess cut stones, we can make the swap. But I�m thinking she�ll be pleased with what she has. She just doesn�t know it yet. Only part that�s a real surprise, well, besides the fact that I actually DID it at all? She might be expecting the kids birth stones to be flanking a central diamond. I ended up not doing that and going for the 3 diamonds. I don�t think that was a wrong choice and it leaves options open for the future.

Then I get to subtly lobby for my present. I would really like a Brunswick Scorchin� Inferno Bowling ball (600 grit reactive resin exterior, one of the hardest hooking balls Brunswick makes) and a new pair of Dexter bowling shoes, size 10.5 E. Got 3 weeks before bowling starts to get �er drilled up and throw a few games, see how well it reacts. I�m looking to just shred the pins this year, maybe get the average up over 210. Hey � a guy can dream, can�t he?

Updated stats:

Weight start: 206.5 on 1/1/06 (265.0 on 1/15/05)
Current weight: 185.5 on 8/14/06 (made up for the bad weekend, but still behind)
Next weigh in: 8/14/06

New target � 8/22/06 to be at 180 (right)

The Keep on Truckin goal: (idea stolen shamelessly from Marn�s Big Adventure)
Miles at speed 8/15/06: 655.71
Miles with cool down: 720.99
Target for 2006: 1000 miles
Plus 60+ miles biking so far.

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