Tag: dad

Dad’s 100th birthday

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Today is my Dad’s 100th birthday.

Well, not really, but that’s what I call it. You see, growing up, whenever I’d ask my old man how old he was, he’s answer, “One hundred years old.” As a kid, it never occurred to me to question anything my parents told me. As a kid, I also didn’t get sarcasm. (I was a gullible kid, I’m afraid. On one occasion, my mom told me that she couldn’t cut my hair because she needed a special license to do so, which of course, I believed without question. On another occasion, when I asked my mom how she knew all the answers to the game show questions, she told me she’d taken a special course in college on game show questions. I’m ashamed to admit that I believed that one for many years more than I should have. But I digress.)

In my mind, my Dad celebrates his 100th birthday each year, in the same way that Jack Benny celebrated his 39th birthday forever.

It is my hope that on this hundredth birthday, this blog post and the subsequent reposting to various social media sites will cause much confusion and that many people will spent today questioning me or Dad about being 100 years old.

And wishing him a Happy Birthday, too, of course.

Happy 100th birthday, Dad!

Happy Birthday, bigblu4!

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A very big HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to bigblu4 , who is spending his big day on the East Coast this year.  Looks like he even got a present from the weather.  While it’s overcast and a little rainy, it’s nearly 60 degrees in NYC at the moment.  In fact, the weather is eerily like the weather in Southern California.

Hope you have a great birthday!

Under pressure

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Boy, we had planned everything out so well for the wedding that I was certain that these last few days would be calm and relaxed; they are anything but.  Lots of last minute errands, lots of people in town, running around.  I can barely catch my breath.  Not in a bad way–it’s just busy.

Despite having 7 people stay at the house last night and most of the day today, we still managed to get a lot done.  Kelly and I were up early and took care of a few errands and chores.  Later in the morning, Doug, Rachel, me and the kids went over to one of the playgrounds here and let them play for a while.  I called the restaurant for the rehearsal and confirmed everything with them, so we are all set for tomorrow.

Kelly’s parents went to run some errands of their own and we headed over to Clarendon for lunch.  Chili!  Yum!  We took Kelly’s laptop to the Apple Store to have it looked at for a fan problem.  They couldn’t fix it under Apple Care because of some physical damage to the machine, and it’s not worth paying what they were asking for to fix it.  Oh well.  After that, we ran errands.  We picked up our tuxedoes and made sure they all fit.  (There was a minor issue with my jacket, but it was resolved quickly.)  We ran to Target to get an idea of price and availability of Rock Band.  (We didn’t buy anything.)  We went to Shoppers to get some beer.

By then, Mom and Dad had arrived into town so we headed home.  Doug and I headed up to Pentagon City to pick them up.  We got them back to the house and at that point, we really had a full house.  9 guests!

stubiebrother , Doug and I headed up to Lucky Strike for two hours of bowling and drinking.  It was a lot of fun.  I did good the first two games, two 114s.  Three strikes in one game.  But I tanked after that.  Jason ended up with the highest score of the night, breaking 170 (I think he finished with a 174).  We finished around 9 PM and headed back home to play Rock Band, which we borrowed from a friend for the evening.  (Thank you, Kevin!)  I played until about midnight, when I needed to call it quits.  Busy day tomorrow and I was tired.

Doug and Jason continued to play into the night.  I have no idea when they finally gave up.

Yankees/Orioles game

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We were up around 8 AM and actually got to laze around for a while this morning. We watched most of Charles Osgood’s Sunday morning show on CBS, which is one Sunday morning program that I enjoy. Around 10:45, Dad and I hopped in the car and headed up to Camden Yards for the Yankees/Orioles game. We got there at about 11:40 and we soon at our seats.

The game was fun, if not a little boring at times. I think it set the record as the longest 9-inning game that I have been to at Camden Yards, the full 9 innings lasting 4:01. Nevertheless, there were exciting moments, an enthusiastic crowd, and the Yanks won in the end, 8-7, so what more could you ask for.

Kelly spent the day shopping and doing errands. She got me some new shorts and gym clothes while she was out.

Because the game went on so long, we didn’t get back home until about 7 PM, and that led to a late dinner at the Olive Garden. Kelly and I were supposed to finish up thank you notes, and I was supposed to do some writing, but by the time we got back from the Olive Garden, I was exhausted. We both headed off to bed. We read for a little while, but I was soon fast asleep.

Incidentally, while I am reading (and enjoying, Old Man’s War, Kelly started reading The Door Into Summer by Robert Heinlein. Until this book, the only s.f. she’s read is some Orson Scott Card, and of course, my stories. I’m eager to find out what she thinks of Heinlein, mid-1950s.

Road trip to Williamsburg

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We took Dad to happy hour last night after work, but overall, it was an early night for us. We were up around 7 AM this morning and were on the road just after 8 AM. It took us about 2-1/2 hours to drive the 149 miles or so to Williamsburg, Virginia. Kelly and I had gone early last fall, but Dad had never been and we thought it would be a fun day-trip.

We wandered around the grounds for 5 hours or so, eating lunch, looking at the historic buildings, etc. I think this time, the most interesting thing I saw was the printer and the printing press. I missed it last time I was here. It was fascinating to listen to how it was all done.

Dad wanted to see William and Mary and we walked over there later in the afternoon so he could see the Christopher Wren building and some of the older parts of the campus.

Sometime around 4 PM, we headed home. We hit a bit more traffic on the way home, so the drive took us a little longer. We decided to go straight to Pentagon Row and had dinner at Lebanese Taverna.

The weather cooperated with us all day long. It was a good (long) day.

Thursday evening

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Dad got into town around 4 PM and got to Pentagon City about an hour and a half later, about the same time I picked Kelly up from work. We all sat around for a while, and then headed back to Pentagon Row for dinner at Sine (where I had a blackened tuna wrap and ignored the fries on my plate). For some reason, in the midst of August, Sine decided to shift from Sam’s Summer Ale to Oktoberfest. I could see that in September, but August?

Back home and Kelly headed off for the gym while I started in on Clarke and Pohl’s The Last Theorem before bed. Once again had some trouble falling asleep and went downstairs for a little while. Came back up at 11 PM and fell asleep sometime shortly thereafter.

Better night’s sleep

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Last night was better. We were in bed around 9:30 PM, I think, and I fell asleep pretty quickly. I was awakened at exactly midnight by the alarm clock. We put a clock on my side last night so I could actually see what time it was when I woke up. Turns out, the alarm somehow got set. I got it shut off and then 9 minutes later, it went off again, and it required Kelly’s assistance to get it shut off that time.

Up around 6:15, showered, and headed into work shortly thereafter. Dad arrives in town late this afternoon. It’s his last Orioles game of the season (against the Yankees). We’re planning on taking him down to Williamsburg on Saturday. Weather looks like it’s going to be perfect.

While eating breakfast this morning, I spent the time looking at kruppenheimer‘s hilarious pictures on Facebook.

No significant meetings today (for a change!) but I’ve got some data migration scripting to work on…

TGI trans fats?

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I’m about a day behind on things here because of my lack of Internet at home. Only a few more days of this to go. Things should be back to normal on Monday or Tuesday so bear with me.

Busy day at work yesterday.

On the moving front, I did a few more change of addresses, and some more packing last night. In particular, I got the telescope boxed up and the back room closet all packed up. Tonight is going to be a big night. Another bulk trash night, to say nothing of a whole bunch of stuff getting done around the house in preparation for the move on Saturday.

On the wedding front, called our travel agent today and paid the balance of our honeymoon trip. I owe Mom a list of people for the rehearsal dinner, and I owe he11o_sunshine information for the “info sheet” that is going into the invitations. There simply hasn’t been enough time in the day, but I’ll do my best to get it taken care of today.

Received the September issue of ASIMOV’S in the mail today. Kelly got the checks we ordered in her mail. vickyandnorm would like them: they are Disney checks.

Dad and I went for a walk around Greenbelt lake after work, and then after that, we headed over to TGI Friday’s for dinner. We had a nice dinner, and when it came time to order dessert, I glanced through the menu and immediately decided on their Oreo Chocolate Cake, which I’ve had before, and which I find delicious.

“I’ll have the Oreo Chocolate Cake,” I said to our waiter.

“We don’t serve that any more,” she said.

I was devastated. “Why not?”

“Because of trans-fats.” She didn’t really seem to grasp what this meant.

“Maybe you guys should remove it from the menu.”

“Yeah,” she said.

Dad ordered a Brownie Obsession. When our waiter returned with it, I asked her if I could speak to the manager. I told her it wasn’t about her, I was just fascinated by this trans-fats thing.

The manager came by a few minutes later, and as he described it, “This is a silly corporate thing. They are trying to make us [TGI Fridays] perceived to be health conscious, so we are removing all trans-fat products from our menus. Personally, I love the Oreo Chocolate Cake and think this whole thing is silly.”

“Why don’t they just have a section for low fat desserts and section for regular desserts?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

Later he came back and placed an amusing sticker over the Oreo Chocolate Cake on the menu: “Forced into early retirement”.

Nevertheless, the fact that a restaurant is making this kind of decision on my behalf bothers me. It bothers me for the same reason that soda machines being removed from schools bothers me. It presumes an unalterable lack of self-control on the general public. And it takes the decision out of the hands of a person that has self-control. What right does a restaurant have to determine what I can and can’t eat? What right do they have to determine what is and is not healthy for me? This seems to be a determination for me and my doctor; the restaurant should stay out of the equation.

Restaurants will always have limited menus, and therefore, narrow down our options for us. That’s understandable. But this is the first time I’ve heard of a narrowing down of options because of perception. While I understand that there are health concerns with some of these foods, but like anything, they should be treated with moderation, not banned. I think we have to question this, else what are we to expect next? People abuse alcohol in the same way they abuse food. Alcohol has been shown to have health risks when abused. Should restaurants start banning that too?

Sunday

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We were up sometime around 8 AM yesterday. Kelly finished up some laundry and then at 9 AM, Kelly, Dad and I headed up to IHOP for breakfast. Kelly was going to a play this afternoon and at about 11 AM she headed off. Dad and I left for Baltimore a short time later. We were up at Camden Yards just before noon.

The Orioles have had a terrible Sunday losing streak going. Today, the team was offering two free tickets to each fan who held a ticket, if the Orioles won today. They didn’t win. It was a fun game, however, and a quicker game than some I’ve been to, lasting about 2:30.

After the game, Dad and I headed out to Annapolis to have dinner at Rockfish, the restaurant at which we will be holding our rehearsal dinner for the wedding. It’s a very nice restaurant, within walking distance (~1.5 miles) from the inn. We had excellent service and the food was very good, too (I tried their signature seafood dish, the Rockfish, and it was pretty good. I am not a huge fan of that particular type of fish meat, but the sauce that was in certainly added to it, and I’m sure that for anyone who enjoys rockfish, they’d enjoy this fish. The chocolate mousse they had for dessert was to die for! While there, I signed the contract for the rehearsal dinner and put down the deposit.

We were back home around 7 PM and after some cleaning up, I was ready to relax for a while. I watched a few episodes of M*A*S*H before going to sleep some time before 10 PM.

I’m just about 500 pages through The Count of Monte Cristo and that means less than 1,000 pages to go.