Time to whine and snivel.

My boss had heart surgery in November of '06, and again in July of '07. As of tonight he is off to the Cleveland Clinic and is being prepared for heart surgery number 3. He is only 56 or so years old and was a marathon runner until last November so he is in really good shape, but something is wrong and the doc's here in Cincinnati have not been able to correct the problem. This is obviously a big deal for him and his family, but it causes a few problems for me as well. You see, the shop I work in is small, 7 employees, plus one part time engineer, me and the owner. The only two people with keys or the ability to open and close are me and the owner. This causes some difficulty when one of us is not available. I felt bad when we went to China a few years back because he was alone for 3-1/2 weeks while I was gone. Since this started, I have been alone for months at a time. I expect to be doing both of our jobs again for the rest of the year or so. This gets a bit tiresome after a while. I dont mind the added responsibility, but the added pressure and lack of time off wears one down over time. We were supposed to go to Mexico in July, that trip was cancelled and rescheduled for October. It is now cancelled indefinitely. I dont mind being rescheduled but I need a break from the real world for a while. I need to "recharge" as Pastor Mark calls it. If I cant get out of town for a little while I would settle for an hour or two of fantasy induced adrenaline here and there, but thats not easily accomplished either at the moment.
I need a reality break.
I need a vacation from responsibility
I need a spell check button and I need it now.

Long Weekend

I dont have anything earthshatering to talk about today, just want to close off the week.
Mom is at Mason Christian Village for rehab. She will be in for about a week and then home. Gracie and I are going to visit her tomorrow.
The annual Reading/Deer Park game was this Friday. Our whole group of friends was supposed to meet at "The Chicken" (a local establishment) for dinner and then off to the game. This gathering also was taking place on my birthday so I was looking forward to hanging out with my friends for a bit before the game. Angie and I dont like going to the game for many different reasons, not the least of which is we are around 40 and dont have kids in the program so there is not much interest there. Our friends kids are in the band, or cheerleaders and such, so that part is kinda cool but we choose not to do it for the first time this year. I was a little disappointed with dinner because only one of our friends showed up and she didnt even eat because of being late and in a hurry to get her girls to their respective places. No fault of her own I should point out. Others ended up having to work, go to class, deal with their own children etc. etc. Everyone had some reason, perfectly legit no question. All of this rambling is only to make one point. My pastor pointed out that he believed there was some pruning going on at our church a few weeks ago. Events like this and the undescribed events at church this weekend lead me to question if my family is not being pruned away from this church and in part, this group as well. Nobody ever seems to have time for anything anymore. I have to wonder if they just dont have time for things that might involve us. I guess we shall just have to wait and see what God has in store for the future.
As for good news and less whining, I do have a development to address. We have gotten on a list to adopt another child. This list is what is known as "disrupted adoptions" It seems that sometimes people who adopt internationally come home and for one reason or another find themselves unable to parent the child they have brought home. I dont know exactly how this works, or exactly how this happens, but if we can fill the role of providing a home for one of these children then we should. God has a habit of putting things in our paths, we will have to wait and see if God just expanded our family. It would be awesome for Grace to have a sister, but I will not get my hopes up because this is God's will in God's time. If it is to be it shall be.
I have looked high and low and still cant find a spell check button

MOM is fine

Today I actually have blog worthy material. Yesterday I drove to Cleveland for my moms surgery. Thats 229 miles each way. Mom is doing great and dad is recovering nicely from the whole thing, so here is the story of my day.

I leave the house at 4:45AM. That might sound early but its only 15 minutes earlier than a normal work day. Its also 45 minutes later that I was supposed to leave. So I toss my Mountain Dews in the cooler and off I go. I'm late and getting later, but hey its early enough in the day I might be able to make up some time on the road. Speed limit is 65 most of the time, if I go 80 or so I can knock off some of the lateness. This works best when you are awake while driving, I off course am not, thus the MD. Remove Skoal, open MD, drink, drink, drink. Okay, maybe I shouldnt have bought the big bottles, but I wanted the caffeine. So, 64 or so ounces later I am driving 80MPH or so with my legs crossed but now I am awake. I decide to go back to the Skoal for a bit. Hmm, the car doesnt seem to want to drive straight at 80 without my hands on the wheel, I could use my knees, but with my legs crossed thats not gonna work either. Now I have a dilemma, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, my chin, I can lay my chin on the wheel and open and insert the Skoal, this will free up both hands and allow my to keep my legs crossed at the same time, pure genius. Okay, lets think this through, were does one insert Skoal exactly. Just a pinch between you cheek and gums, right, well ,,,,, remember that old song about you hip bone is attached to your thigh bone, your thigh bones attached to your............... Your singing it now I can tell. So lets sing together shall we. Your cheek is attached to your face, your face is attached to your chin your chin is attached to a Chrysler Pacifica going 80MPH. Not the best way to change lanes but,,,,,,,,,,mission accomplished.

I still need to pee.

I am now 2 miles from the last rest stop before Clevelend. Its about 7:20AM and I am 60 Miles from Cleveland with a half can of Skoal, 1/4 tank of gas, in aint dark no more and I cant find my sunglasses. (for any bluesbrothers fans say "HIT IT") I gotta urinate like a communist equestrian. (thats piss like a racehorse to most of ya) My skin is begiinning to jondas from the urine build up and I aint gonna make Cleveland in the next 10 minutes. So, I call dad and see if maybe the docs are running behind. He informs me that they decided to do dialysis before surgery so she wouldnt be having surgery until around lunch time or so. My next memory is of myself standing in front of the urinal at those oh so clean roadside rest areas trying to unzip my fly. I believe I let go a small whimper once I could finally release the muscle tension at the very end of my, uh, unit, that was still holding back the impending blast. I am sure that I let go a long sigh as every muscle in my body now relaxed as a stood carefully in front of the urinal. Done pee-in, time for a snack. Lets see, payday, twix and a twizzler, that should do it.
Note to self, long car rides and massive Mountian Dew intake are not an acceptable mix.
I'm on the road again.
I have not yet annoyed anyone on the road and I have made it 228.98 miles on a 229 mile trip. Times up. I overshoot the parking garage driveway by a few feet and stop to think about how I might correct this error. The "gentleman" behind me felt it his duty to inform me that stopping without warning in the middle of the road and signalling no intentions whatsoever, is not the best idea I had today. I thank him for his kindness and his patients as I park on the median to survey my situation.
I have now parked and found a nice man who knows where I need to go, and is willing to tell me where to go. I follow the instructions of this wise sage to find my way to meet dad.
Cleveland Clinic is bigger than the town I grew up in. It doesnt have wings and floors like most hospitals, it has zip codes. I found my way to M81 to find dad sitting there like he was waiting on the judge to pass verdict. We sat, we chatted, time passed, slowly, oh so slowly.
Mom gets out of dialysis and heads off to surgery. We get to visit a while first and we pray together. (yes I said we prayed together, I know, I know, besides a few awkward prayers before meals this is a first) Dad and I find our way to the waiting area and register. We plop down and begin a very long 2-1/2 wait. Dad is struggling to keep together at this point, his glasses were not dirty but they needed cleaned about every 2 minutes. His eyes looked like two piss holes in the snow. His hands were shaking. Me, I just had that helpless feeling of not being able to do anything, all I could do was sit there and talk with him as needed. At one point he reached into his little folder he carries and pulled out an envelope and said he forgot to give it to mom, she wanted it in surgery with her. I said, dont worry about it, they probably wouldnt allow it anyway. He told me it was a prayer cloth. He then put it in his shirt pocket and closed up the folder and kept putting his hand on his chest for the next 2 hours. My dad was praying, all by himself. I may not put much stock in things like prayer cloths, but if he wants to grab hold of something material while speaking with God then he can go right ahead. It cant be much different than me laying on the alter at my church. I go do this upon occasion when I am really troubled about something.

Finally they tell us to go to the little conference room and wait for the doctor to come speak with us. Dad sits on the couch facing the door and plops his stuff down next to him. I sit in the chair next to him. The doctor walks in and leaves the door open, (my powers of observation tell me this is good) Dad gets up and moves away from me and sits right next to the doctor. (okay doc, pay attention, if you left the door open 'cause it was good news fine, if you left it open to bring bad news and make a hasty exit dad just moved within swingin range and you aint gettin out quick enough)
The doctor then proceeds to tell us everything went better than could be expected, all of the negative things that could happen, didnt. There were no problems, and they dont expect any problems to develop. They put in 4 stints instead of the 1 they planned. They only did this because things were going so well. Both the 99% and the 80% blockages have been repaired. (Praise God here) He went thru some of the details of the procedure and talked about bringing her back in 5 months for a follow up and check on their work.
Okay, if you missed that part, she wasnt supposed to be alive that much longer, now they want to do a "check up" in 5 months.
The doctor now got up and slowly makes his exit, at which time I had planned to close the door behind him to let dad have a moment to finish the melt down that he was struggling with. However, dad reached out and slammed the door closed almost planting the knob in the doc's keester. He then stood up really really straight and made some kind of guttural noise, both hands flung up to his chest and his face went dead white. I was a bit concerned that he just had his own heart issue and I needed to get the doc back in here. But then he dove at me, (scaring me further) planted his face in my chest and wrapped his arms around my waist squeezing the Mountain Dew out of me. All the time crying like a baby. Now, let me clarify, if he want to cry, then by all means, cry away, its a good thing. (Jesus wept, amen) Trick here is, I have never seen my father cry, He is one of those people who dont show emotions, at all. I used to think he was Vulcan when I was growing up, other then the occasional show of anger, but even the Vulcan's did that. (if your not a star trek fan, skip previous sentence) He has, that I can remember, never really initiated the first move on a hug in my life either. I love him and dont begrudge him anything but you will have to excuse me if I was a bit startled by it. I dont think he noticed my surprise because I was so pleased with the acts that I know I reacted with love.

Now we go upstairs to her new room. The room that she will only occupy for 24 hours because now they are sending her home. (it takes longer to make chili in a crock pot) Home might be a re-hab unit for a week or two but she is being sent back to Cincy. Dad waits, not so patiently, for the nurses to get done and then he lays across her, sobs some more, and I heard him saying, I love you, and I heard him say, I forgot your cloth, but I prayed, and prayed and prayed.
I waited my turn. My first question was,"so how was your day?" Even the nurses did a spit take on that one.
At this point she is fine, planning on coming home so its time for me to exit stage left, stop being the strong one and get off by myself someplace. I make it back to the parking garage, after a brief stop at the bathroom, and the hot dog vendor, Can't leave Cleveland without a Polish boy with sauerkraut and onions. Now its my turn to de-stress a minute. I concluded this with a few Thank you Jesus's and Praise Gods.

Time to hit the road, (insert "on the road again"music here) Trying to get out of Cleveland before rush hour and not hit it in Columbus. The trip south was much less stressful than the road north. One reason for this is because I am not in a hurry, so speeding is more optional. A secondary reason for this is because I can make frequent stops to remove fluids and change Skoal loadings. No more changing lanes against my will so I can get a new dip in place. Much easier traveling.. While driving I need to make a few more phone calls. I called work and was told to go home and celebrate, or sleep, and take the next day off. I have a great boss. Due to the trauma on the way up I decide to eat instead of drink on the way south. Some more twizzlers and some Taco Bell should do the trick. Somethin' not quite right about having a Taco Bell in a gas station, but hey, it worked for me. I stopped at Burger King once I got back in my zip code and brought my supper home. I was home by a bit after 8 PM. Round trip to Cleveland, a bit under 15 hours including a surgery best described as one of Gods miracles.
Once home I called mom to let her know I was back and still breathing so she wouldn't worry about me, love the irony here, and let Gracie talk to Grandma and Grandpa. She asked why they needed here daddy and would they be home soon. Gotta love kids. After they chattered awhile I asked for the phone back and was told "no, I have one more thing to tell them,,,, I love youuuuuuuu"
Has anybody seen the spell check button????????

Just Another day

Today is Sunday,
We went to a different church today. My wife, (blink blink), Angie, loved the praise part of worship today. The church is contemporary,evangelical in its style and that is something outside the norm of what we are used to. The pastor of this church was playing guitar and singing along with the band. He has that big booming Bruce Springsteen kinda voice, only with a bit more gravel added. We went to this church because its the preschool that my daughter is attending and Angie is working at right now. The pastor asked the preschool employees (who all attend different churches) to attend for a blessing service. I thought it was pretty cool, Angie was a little embarrassed by having to go up front but she liked it anyway, but, then we have Gracie. Gracie didnt dig the idea AT ALL. She had a total screaming Hunan Hissy Fit 'cause momma went up front. When the staff laid hands on the teachers, Gracie's head spun in a circle. I had to pick her up and exit the building ASAP. As I was doing so, she informed me that she didnt want me and I shouldnt touch her. Having a child screaming, "dont touch me" as you exit a church is not the most warming experience you can have on a Sunday morning. Particularly in a new place where you know absolutely nobody. People kinda look at you and with that questioning look of, "is that yours or should I shoot you now"?
After church, lunch, and the cross town trip to clean the office I had to fix a flat tire and hang a ceiling fan. I didnt bother to turn off the power at the breaker because I could turn it off at the switch. Everything was good, I assembled the fan, hung the lug that the fan hangs from, Gracie was helping me by handing me the screws. She then thought it would be a good idea to help by flicking the switch back on, and of course she didnt inform me of this. The breaker is now off, as are all the lights on that side of the house. No lights are needed however as I am able to light up the room all by myself.
Gracie has a cold, the first of the school season. You know this is going to happen, but the fact that school doesnt start until monday is a bit disturbing.
I still havent found the damn spell check button.

First ever Blog

So today it begins, I have become a blogger. Yippee.
I only have 2 friends who might read this, I am married to one of them so at this moment I have t ask myself what exactly is the point. Well maybe my other friend (White chocolate goddess of sex) might read my blog so I guess its worth the effort. If by some chance your reading this and your not my wife or P-Diddy the goddess of sex, then let me make a quick disclaimer before you get the wrong idea about me. P-Diddy is a good friend of the family, from church, and a very sweet and respectable young lady who I admire and look upto. The groupies my wife refered to in the picture are two Chinese women who were at Tienamen square and had never seen a fat bald round eyed man in their lives so it would be cool to get their picture with him. They were both really sweet and pretty young ladies to it was cool for me to get a picture with them as well.

So far this is easier than I though, I just ramble about nothing in particular and fill up the space with realitively meaningless words. Peace of cake. Hay, I just noticed that I dont have a spell check button, I must have a spell check button. Where did it go, it must be here someplace.

So, working on the assumption that someday somebody besides my wife and P-Diddy might read this, who the heck am I.

No body special, but something tells me that I need to specify my lack of specialness. (still looking for spell check button) My life right now is an ongoing stess festival.
I have 2 houses, only need one.
My mother is in Cleveland Clinic, we dont live anywhere near Cleveland
My dad is struggling with above as well as struggling to find God, or at least re-locate his long displaced faith in God.
My daughter is going through that spell of testing limits and other associated growing pains of a 4 year old. Intensified by the issues of her adoption. She understands she is special and different, she just doesnt always understand the hows and whys, she doesnt always like being different. Hmmm, something tells me future years are going to bring more stress from this source.

I also am finding time to blog because I am a computer widow. My wife has a job as a forum moderator, she also has Facebook, Myspace, and a blogspot. Maybe she will stumble across this and decide to spend some time away from the facebook pirate game, nah, doubt it.

My daughter is from the Hunan Province of China. She is the most beautiful creature in the world. She also has a stunning temper and attitude, but hey ,she's 4. On my pictures I have a pic of Gracie as well as her partner in crime from Hunan.

Preschool starts Monday. Momma is going to go to school and be an aide as well. This is a good thing.

You know, for as lame as my daily life is, I sure can ramble a lot in a blog.

Oh, I must not forget my very special dog. Bo is a little white fuzzy bichon with food issues. He ate a crayon the other day. How do I know this you might ask. Well, it was time to cut the grass and before one cuts the grass one must scoop the poop. I found Bo log, normal size, normal shape, oddly colored little sparklies in it. Green crayola. Later in the week we found pink. Crayola is a wonder product.

Still searching for the spell check button.