An Amazingly Hectic Day!!!

It has been one hectic day! A normal day is hectic enough with ever changing deadlines and new projects, but today really has taken the cake.

I left out this morning with the anticipation of only needing to deal with work and to go visit Walter in the hospital following his surgery. Well...that didn't last long. A quick phone call from Walter threw the afternoon into turmoil. They could schedule closing today! Of course, the sooner the better the only trouble was it was scheduled during his surgery.

So here I sit at the realtor's office awaiting our closing. Walter will only be here in spirit as he is currently in the OR (they took him into surgery at 3:05 p.m.). The title company representative isn't here yet! The pokey person. Punctuality would be great.

Well, I finally got into signing papers around 4:20 p.m. It took about 35 minutes to sign the quarter inch stack of papers in what seemed like triplicate. Sign for Walter, sign for myself, initial for Walter, inital for myself. Ahhhh.... No wonder people don't like to go through this mess too often. Well it was all worth it. Walter bought his first home while he was in surgery.

I made a run by the new house to pick up the key, have one made for Walter and dashed to the hospital. The doctor came in around 6 to let us know how he had done. Everything seemed to have gone fine. They got him in his room around 8:15 p.m.

Mom & I waited until after Walter got in his room before we left. He was in good spirits in general. He was very pleased about his purchase and was definitely ticked about having his own key. The only complaint that he had was lack of morphine. He's on a pump, but it doesn't work the way that the one that he had in Tennessee. We left him as he was finally settling in to sleep.

I drove Mom back home and finally got home myself after 10:15 p.m. It has been a long day and Walter wants me to come by on my way out to work in the morning, so I foresee another long one. Plus I've now got boxes out the ears in the dining room. It will make us look like alcoholics when we move, but they are good moving boxes.

Time to hit the hay. More updates tomorrow.

Closing Day????

Walt was up early this morning and out of the house with me. He went in with me to help finish up the computer from yesterday's virus episode. He took care of everything and was finished up just in time for us to head out to the attorney's office.

We were preparing for the house closing by getting together a few of those necessary legal documents that you need in life. What started out as two documents swelled to seven quickly, at least the services were reasonably priced. We went for two 'freebies' and were up-sold the others. I'm not gripping, they were needed.

We were suppose to close on the house late this afternoon, but things have gotten pushed back to either early tomorrow or Friday morning. The hang up was suppose to be the lack of the water being turned on in the house, but I had that rectified and the inspector was able to verify that was on. The absolute biggest hang up has been the seller's agent. They just don't seem to want to cooperate - not answering emails, phone calls, or even knowing what's going on half the time. It will all be worth it when we finally sit down and sign papers. I know Walter will be thrilled to finally have that part over. Then comes the next leg of the race to our move in date.

Viruses and Rogues

It has been a day full of viruses and rogue computer programs. The morning started off innocently enough, we had the normal beginning of the year 'Annual Planning' meeting. Then the other shoe dropped. The same computer that I dealt with all afternoon yesterday began exhibiting new virus symptoms. Several virus scans later and a phone call to Dell confirmed that the computer would have to be completely be erased and reinstalled. Many hours later we were down to one program remaining to install (the disk wasn't in the box - it must be hiding somewhere).

Back in the groove

Here it is a new year at the office and time to get back into the groove of things. There's video to edit, new magazine's to produce and a whole lot more.

On the whole the day started out fairly well, until the virus crisis struck in the back office. I had to mess around for about four hours getting four trojan virus' and a rogue program off of it. It wasn't just being there working it through it took several trips to research what I was dealing with along with a call to Dell tech support for a clue on what else to do. I was sure glad to see the virus scan come back without any infections.

After work Walt & I ran out to Lowes to pick up out carpet and vinyl for the house. It turned out to be pretty quick. Neutrals colors all around. We even think we found a remant for the utility room that is perfect. Let's just hope that it is still there when the builder goes out to pick it up.

Sunday

It's been a pretty uneventful day. Walt & Patrick came back in from their camping trip to Lynchburg during New Year's weekend. They both seemed to have had a good time and neither was frozen or worse off from the trip.

We made an excursion out this evening to the new house to check on a couple of things. It also gave me a chance to start playing with the furniture layout. Time to break out the graph paper and get things lined up. It will make it so much easier on moving day.

Masquerade Party

The party at Roz's house was as ambitious as ever. The party went quite well. There were loads of people from work, her volleyball team, and family too. I snapped a few photos. These are just a few.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2009 everyone. I've been having a blast chatting with a lot of old friends on Facebook. So glad to have signed up for that darn thing.

Since I was packing anyway, I've been going through all the old photos and scanning in a few.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

THE COUNTRY OF TEXAS
Please note that Texas is the only state with a legal right to secede from the Union . (Reference the Texas-American Annexation Treaty of 1848.) We Texans love y'all, but we'll probably have to take action since B. Hussein Obama won the election. We'll miss you too.

Here is what can happen:

#1: Barack Hussein Obama becomes President of the United States, Texas immediately secedes from the Union.
#2: George W. Bush will become the President of the Republic of Texas . So what does Texas have to do to survive as a Republic?

1. NASA is just south of Houston , Texas . We will control the space industry.
2. We refine over 85% of the gasoline in the United States.
3. Defense Industry--we have over 65% of it. The term "Don't mess with Texas ," will take on a whole new meaning.
4. Oil - we can supply all the oil that the Republic of Texas will need for the next 300 years. Yankee states? Sorry about that.
5. Natural Gas - again we have all we need and it's too bad about those Northern States. John Kerry will have to figure out a way to keep them warm....
6. Computer Industry - we currently lead the nation in producing computer chips and communications--small companies like Texas Instruments, Dell Computer, EDS, Raytheon, National Semiconductor, Motorola, Intel, AMD, Atmel, Applied Materials, Ball Miconductor, Dallas Semiconductor, Delphi, Nortel, Alcatel, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.
7. Medical Care - We have the largest research centers for cancer research, the best burn centers and the top trauma units in the world, as well as other large health centers. Dallas has some of the best hospitals in the United States
8. We have enough colleges to keep us going: University of Texas , Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Rice, SMU, University of Houston , Baylor, UNT ( University of North Texas ), Texas Women's University, etc. Ivy grows better in the South anyway.
9. We have a ready supply of workers. We could just open the border when we need some more.
10. We have essential control of the paper industry, plastics, insurance, etc.
11. In case of a foreign invasion, we have the Texas National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. We don't have an Army, but since everybody down here has at least six rifles and a pile of ammo, we can raise an Army in 24 hours if we need one. If the situation really gets bad, we can always call the Department of Public Safety and ask them to send over Chuck Norris and a couple of Texas Rangers.
12. We are totally self-sufficient in beef, poultry, hogs, and several types of grain, fruit and vegetables, and let's not forget seafood from the Gulf. Also, everybody down here knows how to cook them so that they taste good. Don't need any food.

This just names a few of the items that will keep the Republic of Texas in good shape. There isn't a thing out there that we need and don't have.

Now to the rest of the United States under President Obama:

Since you won't have the refineries to get gas for your cars, only President Obama will be able to drive around in his big 9 mpg SUV. The rest of the United States will have to walk or ride bikes.

You won't have any TV as the Space Center in Houston will cut off satellite communications.

You won't have any natural gas to heat your homes, but since Mr. Obama has predicted global warming, you will not need the gas as long as you survive the 2000 years it will take to get enough heat from Global Warming.

Signed, The People of Texas

P.S. This is not a threatening letter - just a note to give you something to think about!

SLEEP WELL TONIGHT THE EYES OF TEXAS ARE UPON YOU!!

New Year's Eve

We'll we are closing in on 2009 a little less than 3 hours to go. May everyone have a healthy, happy & prosperous New Year.

Today has been fantastic. I've been able to catch up with a number of people from high school on Facebook today and have been having a blast! 2009 is going to be a great year. I'm already looking forward to a road trip in the Spring.

Busy Start to the Week

I hit the office running this morning. Seven pages of to-do's before next Monday. Yikes. The owner decided that we all need to 'clean house' while he was out of town on vacation. Nothing like sorting and shuffling bunches of files, CDs, DVDs, and assorted miscellaneous stuff. Finding a home for some of this is going to be nothing short of miraculous.

We received good news at the end of business today. Walt & I were able to get out of our apartment lease without any difficulty. They aren't even going to have us pay any penalty for leaving early, which is particularly good news.

After work, we ran out to Home Depot and purchased appliances. Now that was a real experience. Buying seven appliances all at once. Thank goodness they are delivering.

The house closes on the 7th, and there is so much to get done, our list is several legal pad pages long. Even with that much of a list, I do feel as if I'm leaving a lot of items off.

Sunday

Off we went this evening with Mom & Dad to Texas de Brazil, this was their first trip there. Walter as always was quite impressed with the service and food.

Otherwise the day was basically spent packing. I do detest packing, although it is a necessary evil. Only 10 days to closing and 26 days to moving day.

After Christmas Festivities

Yesterday, Walter & I got up very early...he was dying to get to Wally World to buy a computer game (Spore) that his younger brother told him about on Christmas day. It was a true male mission - he was in full hunting mode until he had it in his hand. After than, whatever, he had achieved his goal for the day. We poked around in the Christmas clearance for decorations for the new house for next year, but really didn't find much. The prices were the same as before Christmas. We tried Home Depot in search of a couple of deer for the yard, but they too were out of them.

Walt dropped me off at Mom's and she and I set out for a shopping adventure. We began at the mall, not really shopping for much in particular. I found a diffuser for the flash on my camera, it will make a great deal of difference in the close up shots.

The time we had out was fantastic. We haven't had much time to have a 'girls' day out in ages. Even though we both didn't buy very much, we did have fun. I found the deer for the yard that I was looking for at Target. Poor Mom, she took everythign that I did buy back home with her to store until after the move. At least I won't need to pack what is at her house.

This evening Walt's taking Mom & I downtown to photograph the lights. I just hope that the rain holds off until we get back.

No rain this evening, just nice weather to be out and about.

Here are some of the photos from tonight.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!

We had a pretty sedate day. Sean wasn't up too early, but was pleased with his 'party pack' of Family Guy DVDs. We all ended up watching the silly things for a good portion of the morning.

Dean came by to pick up Sean and brought along Buddy. It took him a little while to calm down, but he was fairly well behave on the whole. We all met up for lunch at the Mongolian Grill, one of the few places open today. Lunch was surpisingly civil, plenty of pleasant conversation.

Walter is all fired up this evening about a new computer game that Sean & Dean were telling him about. Poor thing was disappointed that Wally World wasn't opened this afternoon so he could buy his very own copy. So in lieu of getting is today, we're off for an early morning shopping adventure in the morning.

Christmas Thoughts

I use to love Christmas. I couldn't wait till the day after Thanksgiving to put up the tree and outdoor decorations. Last year I duly put up the tree, but with Walter's accident and not seeing the other kids, it was almost a moot point. This year it seems, that Scrooge has come been lingering around the apartment. I'm still holding out that it will improve, at least next year will "hopefully" be more settled.

Just heard from the youngest, he's not coming over until tomorrow. Too much to do. Oh, well.

Walter & I headed out for the evening with a stop by Roz's house to deliver the much asked for "peanut butter candy". Courtney was pleased that we brought it by. I doubt that it lasts very long. Glad to have someone enjoy it that much.

We had dinner out at Mom & Dad's with the family. Alice baked a Yule Log cake. It was beautiful. The lasagna was delicious and the company was great. The kids all did great for such an exciting time of year. I've posted a bunch of photos in my Facebook album. The best photo by far was of Terry. He opened up his gift and was tickled to so much with the tags! If only we all could be so excited about something so simple.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought For the Day: "Mankind will never see an end of trouble until... lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power... become lovers of wisdom." - Plato, The Republic

I BELIEVE IN SANTA CLAUS
I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her. On the way, my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted .... "Ridiculous! Don't believe it! That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun.

"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping.

For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class.

Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat.

I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open.

Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share, HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that care...

And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!

Christmas Break

Dr. Martin brought in a copy of the new practice magazine, Smiles of Richmond, that we put together. I was so delighted to see all the hardwork had finally come together into a great final product.

Ah...a brief vacation from the normal routine of life. We only worked until 12:30 today, then had a delightful luncheon at Maggiano's at Short Pump Towne Center.

Hmmm...Another Fast Paced & Full Week

It has been one heck of a week. It all began last Friday...Walter had put in an offer to buy a house and was waiting to hear if the offer was accepted, but there had been no reply by end of business. So we wen through the whole, oh well, I guess we'll just stay where we are deal. He even went so far as to start cleaning closets and organizing to stay put.

I put in a long Monday with our out of town copyrighter at the office and even did some video shooting. By the time I got home Monday night, Walt was telling me that the sellers had accepted his offer, even though he had heard nothing. Well, turns out he was absolutely right.

The realtor called him first thing Tuesday with the good news. Well, I got the news early on Tuesday and am going in with him to make the purchase. The house is a great investment and once it is all said and done he'll be ahead when we close. I spoke to the mortage broker and did all the preliminaries for the mortage over the phone, everything went through without issue.

The house will require a little bit of work before we move in, but it is a real DEAL! As you can see it does need a new roof, but that isn't a biggie. Funny it's almost the same color of the house that we lived in on Leiden when Walt was little.

Here's the House - Fordham Road
I put in another long night - till almost 10 p.m. Doing several video shoots after hours for the consulting company. When I got home Walt had lots to tell me and we ended up going over details until nearly 1 a.m.

Now that we have started down the road to closing which is going at such a rapid pace I can hardly believe it. Walt has been taking care of all the details, he even brought papers by the office for me to sign on Wednesday. It was the fastest signing I've ever done. When I got to the end I noticed that the closing date had been changed to DECEMBER 30TH! Two weeks! from offer to close. My head is still spinning. We're meeting on Monday to sign papers with the mortage broker.

APARTMENT UPDATE
I'll be so grateful to be out of this stinking apartment. The ceiling still has a gaping hole in it and there is still water puddled in the carpet in front of the door.

Walt was here on Wednesday when they came and replaced the padding under the carpet, which was removed last weekend becaused it was soaked. They did the replacement and then....a contractor climbed up on the roof and hosed down the roof. Which caused the ceiling to leak and water to soak the newly laid carpet padding. They never did come to clean up their mess.

Then Thursday rolled around and it rained. Hmmm...guess what happened, again! More leaking and more soaked carpeting. I made the call first thing Friday morning to maintenance and left a message, "Good morning, it has rained and now for the 6th time, the ceiling is leaking and the carpet is soaked. Please send someone out to get the water up."

Walt informed me this evening that they did come out, but maintenance isn't allowed to drive on the grass any longer, so they can't bring the carpet machine over to extract the water from the padding. The comedy never ends.

Rainy Disaster

Here is it pouring down rain and the ceiling and front door at the apartment are leaking. So far the water has expanded about 40-inches into the apartment. This is really no way to live.

I've contacted maintenance and they tell me that they can't do anything to fix the problem, the "best" that they could do today was to come in and cut the huge hole in the ceiling, exposing the upstairs neighbor's floor (also you can see there isn't any insulation between the floors).

I'm waiting for the 'repairman'. Walter tells me that they told him that they had to contact a contractor to come out and fix the problem. Hmmm...they also said that he would most likely be installing a stoop over the front door. That sounds just like what I told them that needed to be done three rainy, leaky door days ago. Amazing! Call maintenance. They can't do anything and then they do exactly what you tell them needs to be done.

Even as I am sitting here, the puddle inside is growing with each passing hour. I expect that it will be another five or six inches larger in diameter before morning. You would have thought that maintenance could have brought up a shop vac to suck up some of the water. In fact, I asked them to do so this morning...LAME!

In the meanwhile, we've moved furniture out of the path of the puddle. Hopefully, I may have to put the end table up on top of something before I go to work in the morning. I don't want ruined furniture. It was also mentioned by someone I was talking with this evening that it was a wonderful electrocution hazard. I hadn't really thought about it but, in order to turn the lights on and off in the room we have to access the switch by the front door. It could be a shocking experience.

Sunday Search

Walter continued his search for a house this morning. I believe that he has found the "one" that he wants, it is just a matter of writing up the correct offer. Hopefully, he will have an answer by the first of next week.

A weekend in December

Mom & I went out to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens on Tuesday night to view their GardenFest light display.


See more photos
Today I went out with Walter, so that he could look at houses. He had a handful to look at today and has another handful for tomorrow. He may have found what he is looking for, but we'll see. It is as he said, "a diamond in the rough." It would be a great deal and give him loads for his money. It would just be a matter of the type of offer that the sellers will accept.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought For the Day: "Mankind will never see an end of trouble until... lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power... become lovers of wisdom." - Plato, The Republic

Bank Line
With only two tellers working at the bank, the line I was standing in was moving very slowly. As I waited, I began to fill in my withdrawal slip. Not sure of the date, I turned and asked the woman behind me.

It's the fifth," she replied.

A man from the back of the line advised, "Don't write it in yet!"

Consumerism in Christianity
A man was stranded on the proverbial deserted Pacific island for years.

Finally one day a boat comes sailing into view, and the man frantically waves and draws the skipper's attention. The boat comes near the island and the sailor gets out and greets the stranded man.

After a while the sailor asks, "What are those three huts you have here?"

"Well, that's my house there."

What's that next hut?" asks the sailor.

"I built that hut to be my church."

"What about the other hut?"

"Oh, that's where I used to go to church."

Monday This & That

It has been a busy day loads of video and audio files to mess around with.

This evening Alice and I attended the RAUG meeting at TecHead. We had a great time and picked up a bunch of new tips and tricks for Illustrator. I know that I came out with about five different things that I will use regularly.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

A few things from the email box. Just too funny!


The Centers for Disease Control

The Centers for Disease Control has issued a medical alert about a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically. This virus is called Weary Overload Recreational Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from your boss, any of your colleagues or anyone else via any means whatsoever - DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life completely. If you should come into contact with WORK you should immediately leave the premises.

Take two good friends to the nearest grocery store and purchase one or both of the antidotes - Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) and Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should immediately forward this medical alert to five friends. If you do not have five friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.

Black Friday

After being innundated with television commercials for the super early bird sales at Kohls and Old Navy, I decided to head out this morning, if I go up. (I didn't set an alarm) Well, six o'clock rolled around and off I went. Now I wasn't looking for anything particular, but I was disappointed it didn't appear that they had gone out of the way to get very much "special" into the stores. I went went the intent to find a sweater and possibly gifts for the boys. That didn't work out - I ended up coming home empty-handed. Even though I wanted to contribute to the economy.

On the way home I ran by the post office to drop off over 700 pieces of mail for work. I'm going to going back, only this time to our post office to pick up a package that came in for me on Wednesday. Which of course, couldn't be left in the ity bity mailboxes here at the apartment.

Afer the successful journey to the post office, I hopped on the Powhite Parkway and headed to the river. Sunrise photos over the James with the train tresel in the foreground. Today is just about the only day that I could get out on the bridge without being run over by the crush of normal traffic.

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