Tag: mom

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.

Hurricanes, Annapolis, car trouble, thai food

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Roughly in that order.

We were up around 8:30 AM. I didn’t sleep too well, I think because we were just sleeping on the floor. But I survived. Mom was already up and everyone else was up shortly after us. Kelly’s parents were going to stay until Monday, but decided to leave first thing this morning. They had driven up from south-western Florida and with the tropical storm headed their way, they wanted to get back in time to avoid the rain and get their house battened down. They were on the road by 9:30 AM.

Mom, Jen and Jason headed out for coffee and bagels while Kelly and I got ready. When they got back, we all piled into the car and drove out to Annapolis. Everyone got to see the Inn where we are having the wedding. We walked through the Naval Academy campus and found a shady spot to sit for a while. We headed to Buddy’s for lunch. By the time lunch was over, it was time to head home. On the way, we dropped Jen and Jason off at Union Station so that they could catch their train home.

Back at the house, we debated taking a nap, but Kelly decided that she needed to go to Whole Foods first, so off she went. Mom and I sat around talked. A short while later, Kelly called. Her car was “broken”. I headed out to meet her. The exhaust had rusted through at the base and fallen off on one end. We called AAA and the tow truck was there in 10 minutes. Since the exhaust had rusted through, we had the car towed to nearby Honda deliver and used the after hours service drop to drop off the keys. Meanwhile, Mom fed our hungry cats.

We were back home by 6 PM. We sat around talking and chatting for a while, and then headed over to Pentagon Row for some Thai food. It was Mom’s first time having Thai food. It was my first time having duck, which I really liked. We hung out for a while longer and then we all decided to call it an early night. Kelly and I headed off to bed around 10 PM.

Friday evening arrivals

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Headed home from work at 4 PM. Kelly had her first flex-day today and so she was home. Around 6:30 or so, her parents arrived. We had moved Kelly’s car onto the street so that they could park in our driveway. Shortly thereafter, I heard from he11o_sunshine: their train was delayed a few hours and they were going to try and get on another train. They called back later; they managed to get on the 8 PM regional train and would be in D.C. around 11:30 PM. Kelly and I and her parents walked over to Shirlington for dinner at Capital City Brewery. We walked home through a light rain afterward. Sat around talking, watched some Olympics, and finally shortly after 11 PM, Kelly and I headed out to Union Station to pick up Mom, Jen, and Jason.

We timed it perfectly. They were just getting off the train and we didn’t have to wait for them at all. We headed back to the house, introduced people all around. Kelly’s parents headed up to bed. The rest of us sat around chatting for a while, and finally, around 1:30 AM, headed off to bed. I’d been wired so around 1 AM, I took 2 Tylenol PMs to help ensure that I would sleep. Kelly and I slept on an inflatable mattress in the family room. Apparently, around 3:30 AM or so, the mattress had collapsed in around us. I was dead to the world and didn’t notice, but Kelly, who found it uncomfortable to sleep in a collapsed mattress, had moved to the couch.

Dinner with Mom and Dad

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We met Kelly’s friend in the morning for brunch and shopping. Mostly shopping. It was nice though. The weather was warm and we wandered about the Third Street Promenade. Kelly decided that she needed a skirt because she hadn’t really packed for warm weather. She ended up getting a poofy white skirt and a nice dark blue tank top at the last store we visited, which was Banana Republic, of course. We had brunch at California Pizza Kitchen and then Kelly and I walked back to the hotel.

We napped for a while and then got ready for Mom and Dad’s visit. They arrived shortly after 2 PM, and met us at the hotel room. It was the first time Kelly met them, although she’d spoken to Dad briefly on the phone a while back. I think it went well. After sitting around chatting for a while, we walked over to the Santa Monica pier, walked it’s length, talked browsed, took pictures, and got a little too much sun. I was very thirsty and suggested we head back to the hotel, which has a lounge and bar. Wouldn’t you know it–the bar was closed and wasn’t scheduled to open until 5:30! I ran over to the local AM/PM to get sodas for everyone–and managed to get the wrong one for Mom. But we sat around some more, chatting, and then finally headed over to Ocean Avenue Seafood for dinner.

We were seated in the patio area and I think we had a very nice dinner. I had the salmon, and Kelly had the Mahi-mahi. For some reason, I couldn’t eat very much. I’m not sure why. But dinner was great, Mom and Dad were great, and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. They dropped us back off at the hotel sometime around 8 PM, and I think we were both pretty tired, although we did stay up long enough to watch a Harry Potter movie on network television.

Thanksgiving dinner

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We had a great Thanksgiving dinner last night. First, we had everyone over at Mom and Dad’s: me, he110_sunshine, stubiebrother, Doug, Rachel, Ruby and Carson. This year was a non-traditional year for dinner. We had excellent crab legs, delicious prime rib, rice, and broccoli. There was plenty of food and it was all delicious. Doug and Rachel made dessert. We sipped drinks after dinner, it was a lot of fun.

I was exhausted soon after dinner, but we stayed up so that Mom, Jen and Jason could watch Gray’s Anatomy. Jen, Jason and I slept on air mattresses down in the living room. Lights were out by 10:30 PM and I slept really well.

We were up at around 7:30 this morning. I was hungry as soon as I woke up. Mom made me chocolate chip pancakes. I ate 6 of them and they hit the spot. Doug, Jason and I head off to our Scuba lesson in about half an hour. Meanwhile, Jen and Rachel are going to their spa treatments soon. I think they are going shopping later. Today is black Friday. But if you ask me, you’ve got to be crazy to go shopping today.

To L.A.

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I was up at 3 AM because I couldn’t sleep. My alarm was set for 4 AM, but there I was, awake at 3 AM and so I watched and episode of The West Wing before heading into the shower.

The car was there at 4:30 AM to pick me up and we headed off for Dulles airport. The roads were empty and I was at the airport at 5:15 AM. The airport was empty as well. It took only 10 minutes to go from the curb to the gate, and for those of you who know Dulles, that includes the short ride in the mobile lounge to the C-gates.

Turns out the Red Carpet Club at Dulles doesn’t open until 6 AM, so I sat around until it opened and then spent about 25 minutes there. I had a light breakfast and then left to board the plane. I boarded at 6:30 and not 5 minutes later, we had to debark the plane because of an issue with the navigational equipment. We were told there would be a 40 minute delay, but 10 minutes later, we were boarded again, and this time, without incident. The flight left 10 minutes late, at 7:10 AM.

The flight itself wasn’t too bad. I upgraded to first class. I spent some time talking to the person sitting next to me (who was quite talkative). She was from Hawaii and she was returning home. I managed to get a little sleep, too, but not much. I also added about 800 words to Graveyard Shift, not as much as I had hope to get done on the plane, but better than nothing. My word count now stands at 18,155 words.

I arrived in L.A. at 9:50 AM. Doug and Rachel were waiting for me when I got there. I hopped in the minivan and we headed to Oxnard. It took us a little over an hour.

Since then, we’ve been sitting around, waiting for he11o_sunshine and stubiebrother to get here. Mom was here when we got here, and so was Ruby and Carson. Carson is so cute–he is to Doug what “Mini-me” is to Doctor Evil. Even their facial expressions are an identical match!

Mom and Dad have had a lot of work done on their house. It’s been painted, there’s new carpeting, and new base-boards. It looks great.

My text-messaging seems to be delayed. Kelly wasn’t getting my text messages and sometime around 1 PM, she called me. This is significant because up to this point, we’d never talked to each other on the phone. It became a kind of game between us–a streak if you will. And so when I saw her calling, my first words when I answered the phone were, “You broke the streak!”

Ever other year, we have a “non-traditional” Thanksgiving dining, and this is one of those years. We’re having crab legs and prime rib for dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Spider-man, Spider-man

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This was just too cool to pass up. Via SF Signal:

Here is a true story:

When I was a kid, maybe 5 or 6 years old, and living in Somerset, New Jersey, I loved Spider-man. I watched the cartoon but I also had these “45” records of Spider-man stories. Snippets of dialog from those records still rattle through the empty spaces in my brain from time to time:

SPIDER-MAN: “And the monk is sunk.”

EVIL-GUY: “Cosmo–destroy.”

ROBOT [monotone]: “Destroy. Destroy”

I remember that one of the villains was Rasputin the Monk. I remember another scene that took place in a sewer. The point it, I loved it.

So much so that I told one of the neighborhood kids that my name was Peter Parker. Being of sound mind and reasonable intelligence, that rotten kid didn’t believe me. This next part I remember very clearly. I was in the backyard of my house and my Mom was standing just inside the sliding glass door. I went over to her and told her that if the neighborhood kid asked what my name was, to tell him it was Peter Parker. Sure enough, the neighborhood kid asked my name and my Mom said, “Peter Parker!”

Yes, that’s right ladies and gentleman, the superhero, role-model Spider-man, loved and worshiped by all, induced me not only to lie to some poor neighborhood kid, but also to get my Mom to lie to him as well.

And they call these superhero’s role models!

A renewal of vows

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Posted at about 5:30 PM local time, on July 9

Mom and Dad had their vow-renewal ceremony this afternoon before dinner. We all got dressed up and then met outside the chapel at 5:30 PM. Jen and Jason had just finished up their couple’s massage and they had to rush to get dressed, but they were up to the chapel on time, and in fact, we were able to start a few minutes early.

The ceremony was brief, but private, with the ship’s captain presiding over it. I video-recorded the whole thing on my camera and the entire ceremony lasted 3-1/2 minutes but it was really very nice. After, we went back to my parents suite to have some champagne.

Snails and Frogs and Creme Brule, Oh My!

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Posted at about 9:27 PM local time

When we last saw our Fearless Hero, he was about to kill a few hours after making his last post and before going to dinner. And so he did. I grabbed my book, ordered up an Ultimate Mai-Tai from one of the bars, and then headed out onto Deck 7, starboard side. It was quiet and warm outside and I quickly found a comfortably cushioned seat on which to relax. Drinking my Mai-tai, I tried to read my book, but the view of the islands in the harbor and the light blue water was pretty distracting, to say nothing of the approaching planes (of which I took several pictures). Eventually, I dozed off out there and by the time I woke up, it was nearly dinner time.

Read all about it

An evening in Venice

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View from my hotel room
Originally uploaded by jamietr.

9:18 PM local time.

We did some roaming around Venice this evening. I met Mom and Dad at 5:30 and we headed out into the streets of Venice. It’s really so cool. I’ve never been in a city quite like this. Lots of people everywhere and a labyrinth of wide and narrow passageways. I had this image in my mind of running through the city on a night when the entire city was deserted.

And speaking of images, I have posted a set of pictures from Munich and Venice for those interested in checking them out. (The pictures are on my Flickr account, so feel free to post comments to the pics.)

I was eager to see Piazza San Marcos since vickyandnorm had built it up so much in my mind. I was not disappointed. It was exactly as they described it, full of people and pigeons and music from the sidewalk cafes. I wanted to go up in the Campanile, which is the tall tower in the piazza which gives a birds-eye view of the city, but I decided to wait until tomorrow to do that. Instead, we wandered about the maze of canals and passageways, taking photos, window-shopping (Mom, anyway), and delighted in the fact that I was in a city as old and famous as Venice. (Shakespeare wrote about Venice; he never wrote about New York*.)

After wandering around the city for a while, we came back to the hotel and then decided to go find a place to have dinner. We wandered a short distance from the hotel and finally settled on a quiet, canal-side restaurant called Restaurante da Raffaele. We sat outside and had a great meal. Spaghetti and meat sauce, bread sticks, and an Italian beer called Sans Souci. I had ice cream for dessert and I managed to clean my plates.

We came back to the hotel and I was pretty wiped out at this point. I came up to the room, posted pictures and now, I’m about to read myself to sleep. I’m beat and I need a good night’s sleep so that I can be ready for a full day tomorrow. We board the cruise ship at 1 PM-ish but the ship stays docked in Venice for 24 hours after that so we still have time to explore the city. And he11o_sunshine and jkashlock arrive tomorrow as well.

* Steve Martin might say Shakespeare wrote about Los Angeles, but I’m not sure I believe it.