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Done � On Several Levels
2009-02-02, 7:40 p.m.

Day 1625

So what is done? Bunch of things. Superbowl XLIII for one. Very entertaining game. There were several plays that could be considered �game breakers� � the long interception return just before the half (by a defensive lineman of all people!), the safety Arizona scored, Fitzgerald�s long TD reception, Holmes toe tapping catch at the end � lots of fun things to watch.

The commercials? Eh. Some were downright annoying. That one about knowing when to leave your job? The constant repetition, that guy in the swimsuit � just ugh! Glad I only saw it once. The Pepsi commercials were pretty terrible too, but their competitor, Coke did a nice job. The forest denizens hi-jacking that bottle of Coke? Me likey.

Enough Superbowl krapp. Now that football is done, we can watch more hockey. Hockey & bowling. Oh!! One last Suerbowl/football thing. There was a penalty called for a late hit on Big Ben (I call him that because I AM NOT going to try and spell his last name). 15 yards, automatic first down, yada, yada, yada. In hockey, also a contact sport, you are allowed to �check� (collide with at a high speed) an opposing player IF HE HAS THE PUCK. Soooooo many times a player will pass or shoot the puck just before getting creamed by an opposing goon. Technically? A late hit. For the most part, hockey players are allowed at least one full stride to pull up on a hit. That call on Dockett (Dockery?)? Bang-bang play. Way less than one step from Ben releasing the ball to him getting hit. I know the NFL is trying to protect the quarterbacks � they quite vulnerable during/after throwing the ball, but geeze � that was a weak call. Dockett didn�t even hit him hard or in the head even. That was one time they should have just let it go.

Ok. �Nuff football krapp � for real. So what else is done? Finally? Switch/outlet cover plates in the kitchen. Had 3 that needed a little extra tile work done. Filled in the partial tiles a while ago, finally got them grouted and put the covers on. Looks much nicer.

Bob�s latest move is done. Got him all hauled out of CMSS and turned over the key. Kinda sad leaving there, even after only 6 months or so. Very nice staff, but Bob�s needs just don�t match their service level. Now, pretty much everything Bob has left in this world is either hanging in our garage, packed in a suitcase or occupying floor space up in the spare bedroom.

Went to visit him yesterday. He looked more alert than he has in a long time, but we were there at noon � what seems to be a good time of day for him. Very important communication from the social worker and nurses up on the floor early in the weekend � don�t go nuts trying to get in to visit every day. There�s no need. Bob�s basic needs are being met by the staff. There is nothing for us to do and there is no need to feel any guilt about not being there every day. Here�s where being clinically detached helps too. The nurses comment � �He won�t know the difference anyway.� Every time we visit it�s like we�re returning after a very brief absence or like we haven�t been there in ages. The cold harsh reality of it is that Bob has no clue when we were there last.

This one�s just for Q, cuz she likes to find all the Freudian slips in my typing. I wonder about that girl sometimes . . .

Anyhow, the other evening, well night really, I was surfing the channel guide, looking for something entertaining to watch. On a Saturday night at midnight. I really should know better. About all that�s on is reruns on my favorite channels, reruns on channels I never watch anyhow, movies that no one would dare rent on DVD so they�re aired on HBO, the limp softcore crap on one of the other movie channels, re-runs of Sports Center, or if I really wanted, I could supposedly get real porn on a pay per view basis ($10 a whack � pun included for free.)

But then, on one of the reality/DIY/home improvement channels I found it � what looked to be free porn, right on my TV! Check out the listing high lighted in yellow:

This was no doubt home video of teenagers having their first experiences with �ladies of the evening� right? Wrong. It wasn�t even home video of people properly christening each and every room in their homes! It was just documentary style footage of young couples going through their first house buying experience. I�m sure there was plenty of screwing going on, but it was the banks & realtors getting the better end of this deal. It�s such a buyers market these days, I�m sure the seller felt they were getting screwed pretty good too. After that disappointment, all I could really do was got to bed. I was done for the night.

The last thing that got done over the weekend was my chances of riding in the Tour de Cure this year. Early on I saw indications that the ride was going to be on June 14. I was really liking that. Unfortunately, this weekend I learned for sure that it�s being held June 7, same start location, same start time as years past. This really sucks. That morning, June 7, 2009, I plan to be sleeping in, nursing a wee bit of a hangover about 100 miles west of the starting point. The reason for the hangover? Zach & Jill�s wedding June 6. No way in hell I am going to get to the start line in ANY kind of shape to be doing a 10 mile bike ride, much less a full 100 miler.

So no Tour de Cure this year. Instead, I may try talking Cindy into letting me do the Philadelphia based Armstrong Challenge. It�s a fund raiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Philly isn�t all that far away, Cindy has relatives in the area that I/we could hit up for lodging, the date is conveniently located in the doldrums of our calendar (late August) and it leaves plenty of time to get in some long distance training rides with out impacting other project schedules. I gotta think on it. Push comes to shove maybe we get a room at a local B&B and make a weekend out of it. Maybe.

I could also do another local ride, Missing Children, the MS150 maybe, or just join the Rochester Bicycling Club and get in all the riding I can stand. But I�d still like to do a 100 mile fundraiser ride and figure out some way to have Cindy feel like she�s a part of it. She�d never ride 10 miles let alone 100 and she thinks I�m nuts for trying (There is no try, only do or do not!) (so doing it I guess, eh?) and might even be a tad resentful of the time that must be invested to pull off such a trip. (Forget the all day requirement for the ride itself � there�s 3 months of base building that includes a lot of 4, 5 & 6 hour rides). I�ll get something figured out.

Here�s a little tidbit I heard on the radio yesterday. Locally, it has snowed a measureable (over 0.1 inch) amount 57 of the last 63 days. I am also certain that the last time I saw grass in our neighborhood was just before Christmas. That was, uuhhhh (getting out my fingers . . .) . . . over 40 days ago! If it snowed Sunday, it had to be in the wee hours. Daylight hours Sunday the temps were up near 40. That�s practically tropical by our recent standards.

The thaw yesterday also allowed the pond to unfreeze a bit. We were actually treated to the sight of running, bubbling water. There was even about 3 square feet of ice free surface! Didn�t see any fishicles, but most of what is frozen over is also buried under a foot or more of snow. There�s just this one little patch of open water. It�s over freezing again today so maybe a little more surface will free up. Last time we saw any fish was pretty near the lat time we saw any grass.

Maria busted me on that picture of the deer wading through the snow. Turns out it�s origins are in Quebec Canada, NOT western NY, and possibly not even this winter. I bounced it off Zach this weekend and he tells me his friend said he �got it from his uncle�, NOT his �uncle took the picture�. Man, that�s not even a subtle difference. I will have to chalk that up to poor interpretation on my part. Kudo�s to Maria for sniffing out a bit of a hoax. Still � it�s a pretty neat picture and if you�ve seen my back yard lately � isn�t all that far fetched.

Lunch is over - time to work. Catch up & post later. Promise.


edited to add - I have a month left on my current subscription here. Thinking about migrating. 3G of storage for free vs. what, 5M here for $30? I could do video!


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