Do I expect too much?

The CFO’s brother and his fiance flew in for a weekend visit, arriving late Thursday evening.  I went to the gym and work as usual on Friday while the CFO entertained them.  The CFO was also in charge of meeting the installer for our much anticipated living room and kitchen window treatments at 3:00pm on Friday.  It took over 2 years of off and on shopping to find a material that the CFO liked and then another 6 weeks to have the shades made.  At around 3:30pm, I received a text message from her saying “they look awful.”  “Oh great,” I thought.   We just spent a chunk of money on these roman shades and she doesn’t like how the material looks.  I hoped that she was just over reacting a little, so I didn't dwell on it..

When I arrived home after work, I immediately saw why she didn’t like them.  It wasn’t the color/pattern of the material or how they were put together, it was the fact that sunlight blasts right through the back liner and the material, totally whiting it out, except for a 1.5” band around the edge where the material was doubled over for a hem.  She was right, they looked like crap.  I immediately got on the phone with our representative at Lowes and, of course, since it was after 5pm on the east coast, she would have to wait until Monday for a resolution.  As the weekend went on, our unhappiness with the shades got worse.  At 6:30 am in the morning, when the sun is on the OTHER side of the house (these windows face west), they are still washed out by the indirect sunlight.  The only time you can see the true look of the fabric is when it is pitch black outside.

 

I took this photo in the early morning, when the sun was rising on the OTHER side of the house.

 

This one should give you an idea of how dark the fabric actually is, look at the valance at the top or the side where it is folded over.

 

It will be interesting to see how this works out, since these were custom ordered.  However, we were never told that the material would wash out in sunlight, even with a liner behind it.  Why would they even sell a fabric for shades that can’t block sunlight?   Hell, if this was the look that we were after, we could have spent $10/each for some cheap roller shades that would give us the same look.  Some of you are probably laughing because this kind of crap always seems to happen to me…  It made me start to wonder, do I expect too much?

On Saturday night we all went to see Darius Rucker perform outside at the Corn Crib, our minor, minor, minor league baseball stadium.  Just like last year's show at this venue, it rained all day, stopping just in time for the show.  Considering the fact that it rained all day, we really lucked out and had a nice cool and dry evening to watch the show, it was almost perfect.  Our seats were one row back from the baseball dugout and the front of the stage was sitting behind second base.  A group of 6 women and 2 men in their 40’s-late 50’s came and sat in front of us.  As my luck would have it, the two women in front of us were chatty Cathy’s and they talked all through the two opening acts.  I bit my tongue through those two acts and the CFO, seeing my frustration, kept giving me the “just ignore them” look.

I don't know why I keep posting blurry, Iphone photos of concerts, but here is another...

 

After they talked through the first two Darius songs, I had finally had it.  When I say “talked,” I should really say “shouted” because that is what they were doing.   When the music got louder, they just talked louder.  It is entirely possible that they didn’t realize how loud they were being, but I could hear every word that they were saying and it was driving me nuts.  Having observed the fact that the two guys in their group were both bigger than I am (wearing wranglers and boots, of course…), coupled with the fact that they were knocking back miller lites one after the other, I knew that I had to be somewhat tactful with my approach.

Halfway through the third song, I finally couldn’t take it any more so I leaned forward towards the two ladies and said, “I don’t know if you came here to have a conversation or to listen to a concert, but I came here for the concert, not to hear the two of you talk.”  I wasn’t sure how my comment would be received, so I just sat back in my seat and refocused my attention towards the stage.

One of the ladies looked shocked and pissed, like I had just kicked a 50 yard field goal with her toy poodle… How dare I say such a thing to her?  The other seemed somewhat more understanding and looked back and offered a half-hearted “Sorry.”  The good news is that they were much quieter through the rest of the concert and they didn’t mention it to the rest of their group.

I know the CFO wasn’t happy that I spoke up, but talking during a concert is like talking at the movie theater… you just shouldn’t do it.  We have had talkers around us at the last couple shows that we have gone to, I don’t know if is a function of me buying cheap seat tickets or if people in general are just getting more rude and inconsiderate.  I have a feeling that it is the latter, which is really sad.  What is this world coming to?  When you go to a concert (or a movie, show, etc.),  I don’t care if you sing along or occasionally comment on “how hot the performer is,” but otherwise, please shut the @#$% up and enjoy the show.  You can talk about it after it is over.  Yet again I ask: do I expect too much?

We headed up to Chicago late Sunday morning and went to Gino’s East, a Chicago style pizza place.  This was our second attempt at Chicago Style pizza, having not really enjoyed the first place that we tried.  The waitress took our order and informed us that it took about an hour to make the deep dish Chicago style… I thought to myself, “if it takes that long, it better be good.”  When the pizza arrived, the waitress explained that Chicago style means the sauce is on top… yes, the layers are the deep dish crust, then the cheese, the toppings and then the sauce.  You pretty much have to eat it with a knife and fork.  Gino’s tasted much better than the last one we tried, but I still wasn’t wowed by it.  I prefer a more doughy crust and this crust was more crumbly.  Perhaps I really do expect too much.

 

We then walked to Navy pier to go on an architectural river boat cruise.  Finally, something that met my expectations!  The guide was enthusiastic, very knowledgeable about architectural terminology and the history of the local buildings.  We saw some great views of the buildings, some of which you just don’t get walking on the crowded downtown sidewalks.  After doing this tour, I would definitely like to go back and take a more detailed walking tour of some of the buildings with the architectural society, the town is full of interesting architectural history.  And then, 45 minutes into our 1 hour tour, it happened.  Our inexpensive, small digital camera (I didn’t take the SLR because I was worried that it might rain) flashed “battery low” and promptly shut off. Seriously?!  The batteries can't make it through one hour of snapping photos?  

Yes, it is official, I do expect too much.

 

 

Movie weekend

I got a good laugh at work today while listening to the radio at work (I pretty much listen to the radio all day, unless I am listening to a podcast on my phone).  The University of Illinois, which is an hour southeast of us, was advertising season tickets for this coming football season.  The first laugh came because they have to advertise that tickets are on sale.  That would never happen back home at UGA, except maybe if the team had a long run of bad seasons.  The bigger laugh (yes, I actually laughed out loud) came when the ad announced that you can get a set of tickets for all 7 home games for $99.  I about fell out of my chair…  $99 season tickets that don’t require a “donation” to the GA Fund is what every Bulldog fan dreams of!    Hell, I’ve paid almost that much for ONE ticket to a single UGA game.  I’m definitely not living in football country anymore!

The CFO and I went out with two other couples for dinner and a movie on Friday night.  At dinner, we told the story of getting pulled over to our friend who got a ticket a few months ago (in a Prius, no less!).  She started laughing when we told her that we got pulled over (she really enjoyed the fact that we got stopped), so I sped the story up and said, “but he let us go with a warning.”  You should have seen her face immediately switch from a happy “ha, ha, I’m not the only one to get a ticket around here” to a stern “what the hell do you mean you didn’t get a ticket?” look.  It was priceless; I wish we had it on video.

After dinner, we went and saw “The Internship” with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.  I wasn’t sure how good it would be, but I actually laughed a lot during it.  After seeing all the images of the google facility during the movie, it was a little depressing to go back to my homely office on Monday morning.  I can’t imagine working in a place with slides, sand volley ball courts, napping pods and free food.  That would be pretty cool.

The rest of the weekend was laid back, with exception to an especially brisk Saturday morning.  we made a run to the farmers market, the grocery store and the gym and were home by 10:30am.  Serious efficiency was displayed. 

The remainder of the day was spent watching a movie, working in the yard, going out for pizza and watching another movie.  Some how, we’ve fallen behind on movies and we ended up making a serious push to catch up over the weekend.   Some of them were a little chick-flicky, but they all had their merits.  We watched:  Silver Linings Playbook (a little dark/twisted, but interesting), Guilt Trip (occasionally funny, but a little predictable), and Safe Haven (the chickiest of the 3).  There are still a few out there that we want to watch, but with company coming the next two weekends, I don't know when that will happen.  Evidently June/July is the busy time for our Bed-n-Breakfast, I just don't understand why people don't want to come visit in the winter time.

Weight watch update:  We hadn’t been to the other gym location in a while, so it has been a couple months since I was last on a scale.  We finally went to that location on Saturday and I can report that I have made more progress, dropping 3 pounds since the end of April.  I’m happy to say that I’m still eating potato chips, candy and cookies, so to still see progress is nice.  It just goes to show that if you burn enough calories, you can almost eat what ever you want.  Personally, I would hate to have to go on a serious diet, especially since leafy greens and my stomach don’t get along.  I also just renewed our gym membership for another 6 months; nothing motivates me more than knowing that I have pre-payed for 6 months of dues!   I’ve paid for it, so I better use it.

Starting weight (Nov 2012):  178 lbs.

Dec 30, 2012:  176.6 lbs.

Jan 19, 2013: 176.6 lbs.

Feb 9, 2013:  173.4 lbs.

Feb 23, 2013 172.4 lbs.

April 13, 2013 170.0 lbs.

April 26, 2013 169.4 lbs.

June 22, 2013 166.4 lbs.

150's here I come!

Tennessee trip

Unfortunately, my “lucky day” experiment of buying a lottery ticket on the day that I just received a warning after being pulled over for speeding didn’t work out.  My plan to join the much hated “1%” via the Powerball game was a bust; I didn’t even have one matching number.  Oh well, it was worth a try.  Myth Busted.

The CFO and I spent the week working during the day and hanging out with my mother in the evenings.  It was really nice to have mom around for the week and I think she enjoyed the downtime that she had while we were at work each day.  There are no grand kids to chase around at our house!  Since mom knows her way around a sewing machine, I requested that she bring hers on the trip so she could help us with a little project: 

The outdoor chairs that I rescued from a neighbor’s trash pile last year were attacked by squirrels over the winter and the back supports got a little chewed up.  We picked out some outdoor fabric and mom sewed them into covers for the backs of the chairs.  They turned out well, although the fabric seems more appropriate for a view of the ocean and not corn stalks swaying in the wind.

On Friday evening after work, the three of us got into the car and we headed south to Tennessee.  It took a little longer than expected, but after almost 9 hours on the road, we finally arrived at our destination at around 1 am in the morning.  The following day, we went to a wedding celebration for one of my cousins who got married while she was volunteering overseas.  It was a great opportunity to catch up with aunts, uncles and cousins that we hadn’t seen in years, some since our wedding 6.5 years ago.

The CFO and I made the return trip home on Sunday, making a 10 mile detour off the interstate so that we could to eat lunch at Zaxby’s, a restaurant chain that originated in my home town of Athens, GA.  I haven't had any Zaxby’s chicken since we moved almost 3 years ago, so it was nice to enjoy some chicken strips and their delicious dipping sauce.  I don’t know why I am so sentimental about so many food joints, but I am.  I briefly thought, "maybe I should open a Zaxby's in Bloomington."  A quick trip to their website leads me to believe that I won't qualify...  They require a minimum $400k  in liquid assets and $700k net worth.  How much is a 1995 miata worth?!

There was a lot of construction along our driving route and, on the ride home, I was totally frustrated with people’s inability to merge when a lane was closed for construction.  We didn’t have this problem on the way out, but evidently all the idiots were out driving on Sunday, causing a total cluster at each construction zone.  Merging is a simple concept; it sure isn’t rocket science, people!  What infuriated me even more were the people who thought that they were so special that they could zoom past the line of people who already merged and then try to squeeze in right before the construction cones block the lane. 

As you might imagine, I went out of my way to make sure that they did not pull in in front of me.  When I see them coming in my mirror, I make sure that my front bumper is glued to the back bumper of the car in front of me in order to eliminate the possibility of them merging in front of me.  I enjoy the frustrated looks that I get from them when I don’t let them in, like I’m the a-hole or something… Sorry, but it isn’t my fault that you either (a) can’t read the big, freaking signs that warned of this merge 2-3 miles ago or (b) you think that you too good to merge in ½ mile ago like everyone else. Either way, you will not be allowed in front of me.  I enjoy watching how many vehicles behind me deny them entry into our lane and always feel a bit disappointed when someone finally lets them in.

We finally made it home at around 6pm, tired and wondering where the weekend went.   Note to self:  1100 miles round trip is a lot of driving to spend a single day at the destination.  We went to bed early on Sunday evening and that 4:40 am alarm came way too quickly Monday morning.  Despite being tired from the trip, we both still managed to roll out and head to the gym.  That’s dedication, or craziness, depending on who you ask.

She's back!

The CFO is back!  After being gone for 17 days, she finally returned on Saturday morning.  She was greeted at the airport by me and my parents, who had driven up the day before.  It was great to see my parents, we hadn’t seen them since Christmas.  We had a low key weekend spending time with them, during which we ate a lot of good food, played some of our favorite games (in which the guys dominated the gals!) and my dad and I went on a couple bicycle rides in the Illinois country side.  Dad headed home Sunday evening (determined to drive through the night, which he did) and mom is staying with us through the week.  I hope she doesn’t get too bored hanging out at the house while we go to work!  We did give her a sewing project to do, so that should keep her somewhat busy while we are gone.  I’ll post some pictures next week.   

After a week of physical therapy, my wrist is still bothering me; however, I can rotate it further than before. (Taking a weekend off from yard work probably helped it some too) Hopefully the progress will continue because I want to get back out on the golf course! 

I realized yesterday that I didn’t have much to write about this week and then something happened this morning (Wednesday) that changed that.  I was driving (the CFO was riding with me) to the gym at our usual 5am time and I was, admittedly, zipping along an empty roadway.  I was totally focused on the stupid high gas prices at the gas station on the left side of the road (over $4/gal) and missed something on the other side of the road.  I was about to comment on the gas prices when I caught a glimpse of a dark brown vehicle that was sitting off the road on a driveway that leads to a farm field.  The sun was just coming up, so he disappeared pretty well there.  Was that a cop?!?!?

He obviously didn’t miss me, as he whipped out onto the road as soon as we passed and started to follow us.  He didn’t turn on his blue lights, he just followed us up the road.  By the time that he caught up to us, I had already lifted off the gas and coasted down to within a few mph of the speed limit.  Since he didn't turn on the blue lights, I continued to drive and he followed us for about ½ mile up towards the next intersection.  I signaled and moved over to the left lane and he followed.  I signaled again and moved to the turn lane.  He followed.  Crap.

I turned left at the intersection and he continued to follow, this was not looking good.  Nothing is worse than those few moments when you know that they are going to pull you over, but they just follow you, teasing you, making you think that “maybe they won’t pull me over.”  The further you go, the more you your hopes increase that they might just let you go... But your gut still says that there is a 99.99999% chance that they are about to pull you over.  You keep one eye on your rear view mirror, just waiting for the light show.

He followed us through the turn at the intersection and then turned on his lights.   I quickly pulled over into a business parking lot, rolled down the window and turned off the car.  He walked up saying that he had clocked me at 59 in a 45 and he followed that statement with the typical, “Any reason why you are driving so fast?”  Of course I had no good reason why, other than the fact that I believe that the speed limit along that road is way lower than it should be and that the speed at which I was driving was entirely reasonable for the time and conditions... (for reference, the speed limit on other sections of this road is 55 and the roadway is no different here... so why the speed limit is lower in this section is a curiosity)

But, saying that would appear argumentative, give him the wrong impression and would probably start us off on the wrong foot, so I replied, “Nope, we are just heading to the gym.”  What else could I really say?  With that he collected my license and insurance card and went back to his car, leaving me to deal with the CFO.  Surprisingly, she didn’t have too much to say, other than the fact that this was going to cost us $$$.  He returned to our car pretty quickly and, to my surprise, he said that he was going to let me off with a warning and that I should slow it down. 

I was shocked; I have never been pulled over without receiving a yellow souvenir (citation slip) to remember the event by.  Perhaps today is my lucky day?  Just in case it is, I’m going to buy a powerball ticket for tonight’s drawing; I’d hate to miss out on my lucky day. 

The good news is that, even with the traffic stop, I was still able to make it to spin class just as class was starting... I walked into the spin room and was greeted by a friendly, “you’re late” from the instructor.

Still raining

Since the CFO has left town, all it has done is rain.  Seriously, it has rained EVERY day since she left.  Evidently I’m not the only one crying about the fact that she left town.  LOL.  Despite the sorrowful weather, I tried to push on and do some of the stuff on my list anyway.  I have been keeping an internet explorer window on the radar map so I could capitalize on any apparent breaks in the weather.   I caught one such break after work on Wednesday and was able to mow the lawn, even though it was wetter than I would like for cutting.  While mowing, the mower tried to commit suicide by ejecting the oil fill tube from the engine.  I was ¾ of the way through cutting the yard when I looked down at the mower deck and saw a puddle of oil growing around the engine.

For your reference, the lawn mower that I us is an old lawn mower from the 1980’s that originally belonged to the CFO’s dad. He was going to discard it after the self-propelled part of the mower stopped working, so I took it off his hands because I wanted a bagging mower and didn’t need it to be self propelled.  After getting the mower home, I promptly removed all the broken self-propelled guts, which made it a usable un-propelled rear bagging mower.  That was 6 years ago and the mower has been running pretty well ever since, albeit a little loud because the muffler is rusted through and sears doesn’t offer replacement parts for it any more.  Sorry neighbors.

I admit that have been eyeing the shiny new mowers at stores... (I would really like a new mower with the mulching feature) So, when I saw that puddle of oil, a little devil appeared on my left shoulder and said, "I wonder how long it will run without oil in it?”  Yes, the little devil on my left shoulder saw a perfect opportunity to run a scientific experiment that would result in me “having” to buy a new mower.

As I continued to mow and watch the puddle grow, I heard a whispering from my other shoulder, “You better stop the mower right now... the CFO will certainly accuse you of sabotage if the mower breaks while she is out of town and you have to buy a new one unsupervised.”  I mowed another strip before deciding to stop the mower and investigated the issue.  It turns out that the screw that holds the oil fill tube in place had worked its way loose.  I tightened it, but it wouldn't tighten down all the way, the hole was stripped.  I didn't have a screw that would fit, so I rolled the dice and tightened it as much as I could and hoped for the best.  Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you want to look at it), it held long enough for me to finish the yard.  The old mower lives to mow another day. 

The following day, I ran to Lowe's while on my lunch break to get a larger screw to fix the mower and decided to take a stroll through the garden section while I was there.  No trip to Lowe's is complete without a visit to the garden section, even if it is raining!  I was greeted there by a sign that read, “All trees 75% off.”  Lowe's, you have my attention.  I was in the CFO’s vehicle, which wouldn’t accommodate trees very well, so I decided to return in my car after work.  I ended up picking up two dogwoods and a small willow oak, all for 21 bucks.  Bargain.

 The Honda Accord makes a great tree hauler

 

The trees sitting in the garage waiting for a break in the weather, not bad for the price.

On Friday, I broke down and went to the doctor because of some pain in my right wrist when ever I try to rotate my hand.  He poked, prodded, and squeezed, but couldn’t identify anything… which is pretty much what I was expecting.  He sent me downstairs for xrays, in case I was suffering from a hairline fracture. Those xrays came back clear, so he is assuming that I strained/pulled/tore a ligament and it needs some therapy and time to heal.  If that doesn't help, we might have to do a more expensive scan and/or surgery.  My unprofessional opinion is that it isn't that bad, since it hasn’t slowed me down much.  Unfortunately, I can’t swing a golf club right now and while doing other tasks (like spinning a wrench or applying shaving cream to my face), I twist my hand without thinking and the pain goes shooting through my arm.  Good times.

It rained off and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but I was still able to manage to get outside to plant those new trees and do some weed eating.  Some friends pulled up in the driveway after I had finished weed eating and they invited me to join them for dinner... They did, however, require that "I clean up first."  How rude.  On Sunday, I finally got the deck pressure washed and ready for staining/sealing, however I finished the process in the rain. (the recently recurring theme) 

Due to the rain keeping me inside, I was able to catch up on some movies that the CFO wasn't interested in seeing (that typically means action packed/gory/sci-fi):

1.      Django Unchained – A Quentin Tarantino movie, so you know it is going to probably be a little gory for people like the CFO or my mom.  It had a lot of famous faces in it including Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leo Dicaprio and Samuel L. Jackson.  I thought that they all did really well in it but Samuel L. Jackson stole the show, I thought he was hilarious in the film.  I really enjoyed this one and kind of want to see it again because I’m sure there were some subtle things in it that I missed the first time around.

2.      Jack Reacher – A Tom Cruise action-ish movie about an ex-military homicide investigator.  Some of the acting wasn’t all that great, but I still enjoyed the movie.

3.       Kill the Softly – A Brad Pitt movie… a little dark, sort of twisted and kind of slow.  Save your $1.20 at redbox and rent something else.
 

I almost forgot a funny story from Friday:  When I returned to the office after my lunch time Lowe’s run, there were two police cars parked up the road with their lights on.  A riding lawn mower was parked on the street in front of the police cars.  Interesting.  I went into the office and continued to watch the action through the window to see what was going on.  I figured out that the guy leaning against the police car was in hand cuffs and the officers had their clip boards out and were giving the lawn mower a thorough inspection.  Interesting... what is going on here?

There is a trailer park that backs up to the "small business park" that our office is in and several of the residents often drive their riding lawn mowers to the nearby store and McDonald's.  As I continued to watch, the cops talked with him some more and then put him in the back of one of the squad cars which then drove off.  Hmm… I wonder what they are going to do with the lawn mower?

My question was answered a few minutes later when a flatbed wrecker pulled up to the scene and backed up to the lawn mower.  I started laughing because it looked like they were going to impound the mower.  Within minutes, the mower was loaded up on the flatbed and away it went.  I found the whole thing entertaining, I only wish that I knew the whole story.  Existing warrant for arrest?  DUI?  It probably would have made for a good episode of COPS... It isn't every day you see a lawn mower get impounded.

A wash out weekend

Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend, a holiday that the CFO and I typically seem to spend apart due to my lack of vacation time.  Ten days of vacation time just isn’t enough.  As usual, she spent the holiday relaxing sea side in North Carolina while I held down the fort at home.  I didn’t have a “honey do” list from her, but I did have a list of things that I wanted to accomplish over the long weekend.  Unfortunately, mother nature had other plans.

Before I tackled my list, Saturday morning started with me helping a friend move her stuff from her apartment to the garage of her new house.  Her lease is up at the end of the month, but their house won’t be ready for another month, so everything is being piled up in the garage of the new house until they can move in.  Please note that this is a task that the CFO volunteered me for before she left town, I’m sure she was disappointed that she didn’t get to help.  We were pretty much done with the move by lunch time, which is when it started to rain.  And rain. And then it rain some more.  My plans to pressure wash and stain the deck were washed out by the weather. 

The rain let up for an hour or so before sundown on Saturday, so I took advantage of the opportunity by grabbing my shovel and planting 6 shrubs that we had picked up at Lowe's earlier in the week (on clearance, of course!).  At least I was able to get that done, check one thing off my list.  I woke up Sunday morning to more showers outside... So the rain gave me an excuse to watch some good racing on TV… The F1 race in Monaco, the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600.  I didn’t watch every minute of the races, but I caught a majority of each of them.

My weekend view above, hers below...

 

The rain continued into Monday, but I was able to watch the radar map and plan to take advantage of small breaks in the showers.  I tried to wash my car during the first break in the morning, and succeeded, even though the final rinse on the car was done by the rain.  Yes, I finished washing the car while wearing a rain coat.  (If our neighbors hadn’t figured it out before this, I’m sure they think I’m crazy).  I then pulled the car into the garage for a much needed detailing.  I checked the weather map just before lunch and saw we would have a 2 hour break in the rain from 1-3, so I ate and prepped my road bike for the first ride of the season.  It is kind of sad that it was my first ride of the season at the end of May, but I’ve been spending ever nice day working in the yard.

The good news is all the spin classes made me feel much stronger on the bike, the bad is that I was a little wobbly for the first couple miles.  You can get away with a lot of extra movement on a stationary bike, not so when you are on the real deal.  I road north about 9 miles and then circled back towards home for a total of 18 miles.  On the way home I noticed two riders about ½ mile ahead of me on a few rolling hills.  Still feeling pretty good and knowing that I was on my way home, I decided that I was going to catch and pass them.  Surprisingly, I reeled them in pretty easily, only to see that it was a husband and wife on hybrid bikes cruising along looking at the clouds.  It wasn’t the tough “chase” that I was hoping for.

Thanks to my weather map analyzing skills, I beat the rain home by about 20 minutes.  Maybe I should become a weather man?  I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the Accord.  I used a clay bar on the whole car (it somehow magically pulls a lot of “contaminates” out of the paint and makes it feel super smooth) and then put on a coat of paint sealant and a coat of spray wax.  The car looks really nice now, so nice that and I don’t want to drive it.  Luckily, with the CFO out of town, so I can drive her car and let mine stay clean for a couple days.

She isn’t happy with my plan because that means her car has to sit outside.  Although we have a 3 car garage, we are now storing a 1971 Karmana Ghia that belongs to the husband of the friend whose stuff I helped to move on Saturday, we will have it for about a month until their house is ready.  That means that after the Ghia and the miata there is only one available space in the garage, so the clean Accord has claimed that spot over the newer CRV.  If I’m feeling real nice, I will be detailing her car next weekend and then my car will be relegated to the dirty outdoors.  Which leads into why I don’t enjoy detailing the outside of cars:  you spend hours painstakingly cleaning it, only to have it rain the next day or, worst yet, a flock of birds fly over and poo all over it, and then all your hard work is gone.  

It looks like I need a lift in the garage so I can store more cars!

 

With that, the long holiday weekend was over and it was time for me to go back to work… while the CFO continues to sit on a deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean… 

The Graduates

We had a good weekend, which started off with a trip to Krispy Kreme for breakfast on Saturday.  Totally unhealthy, but so tasty.  Nothing beats seeing them roll off the machine fresh–n–hot.  They are pretty good the day after too, as long as you warm them in the microwave… yes, we bought a dozen. 

After getting our donut fix, we hit 3 local nurseries in order to use "free plant" coupons that we received in the mail.  We made small purchases at each location and were able to get freebie plants at each one.  As usual, the CFO fell in love with a hydrangea, so we have added another one to our growing collection.  I am sure that, if she had it her way, the garden would be full of tulips and hydrangeas and probably nothing else.  While we were out, we also picked up a new vacuum, not an exciting way to spend money, but necessary none the less.  After having been plant shopping, all I could think about was how many plants I could have bought with that vacuum money!

On Sunday morning, we rolled out of bed and went to church.  I had a serious “What the Hell” moment (not a good thing to have at church?) when I was reading through the bulletin while we were waiting for the service to start.  This was the Sunday when we celebrate graduates and, on the back of the bulletin,  there was a list of several high school and college graduates, along with a few sentences about their accomplishments and future plans.  Below that, at the bottom of the page, was another heading “Other Graduations.”  Under that was a listing that I couldn't believe... I read it a second time, just to make sure I had read it correctly and then pointed it out to the CFO.  Seriously?  What the @#$%&?!  

I should have taken a copy of the bulletin home, but I didn't.  Fortunately, the church posts it on the website, so I was able to get my hands on it for you all.  Take a look at this and see what got me fired up:

                                           

(In case you can't read it is says:  _________, child of ___________ graduated from Prekindergarten-will attend LeRoy Elementary School.")

That's right, little Jimmy managed to persevere through that incredibly tough  Pre-K program and he is moving on to Kindergarten.  Thank goodness!  I know that we were all really worried that he might not be able to make it through that program... 

SERIOUSLY?!  WHAT THE @#$%&!  Is this really the direction in which this country is headed?  First of all, there shouldn’t be any graduations until you complete high school.  I do not understand why, over the past few years, people have begun celebrating getting out of each grade or moving from elementary to middle or middle to high school.  It doesn’t make any sense to me. 

Secondly, (and more importantly!) I can’t believe that the parents had the audacity to even submit this “achievement” to the church to go into the bulletin.  Do they really think we care?  I wish I knew who the parents were so I could smack some sense into them.  (Part of me hopes that they saw me point it out to the CFO and saw my "what the..." comment about it)  

I would really, really like to ask our minister about it, but know that I can’t.  I can imagine his eyes rolled when the secretary showed it to him after it was submitted... but he probably didn’t want to rock the boat so he allowed it to go into the bulletin.

This goes right along with my beef with one of Target’s current TV ads, which publicizes the fact that they contribute money to education systems.  The ad states that “every child DESERVES to go to college.”  Um, excuse me, but the word deserves is a little strong.  I know that I didn’t feel like I was entitled to go to college, I knew that I would have to work hard to make the grades needed to qualify to go to college.   I also knew that my parents were expecting me to do well enough in school so that I would be able to go to college, but it was on me to make it happen.  I, however, did not deserve to go to college, I EARNED the right to go to college.

To teach today’s kids anything less is setting them up for a rude awakening later on in life.  Not everything is handed to you on a silver platter.  It’s like kids playing in sports where they don’t keep score so there aren’t winners and losers.  Or, when every kid gets a trophy or award, just for participating.  I’m sorry but in everyday life, there are winners and losers and you don't get a participation award at the end of the work day. That will never change, so we might as well get them used to that fact. 

Of course, I don’t have kids, so what do I know?