Ups and Downs of the week.

 Formula One is back – Opening race from Melbourne, Australia. This season brings so many changes to the cars that the whole field may be shuffled. We’ll know after the race on Sunday who the front runners this year will be. UPDATE: Great race. Kudos to Brawn GP.

  Winter is back – We’re forecast to get 2-4 inches of snow Saturday night. Ugh. UPDATE: We only saw flurries. Sometimes it’s good when the weather seers are wrong. 🙂

  Spring Break – Nice having everyone gone for a week.

  1st Level Tech Support – How can you explain a DNS problem to a support tech who doesn’t know what DNS is? Only GoDaddy does it right.

 Dad – Still making impressive progress. He’s in a  nursing facility now, but it’s much more comfortable than the rehab hospital and they’re being more aggressive with his rehab, which is also good.

  Prehistoric Road Maintenance II – Didn’t take long for a rock to find my fender.

Ups and Downs of the week.

   Sarah’s New Book – This represents over a year of hard work. Between this new volume and her original book, the vast majority of historical novels are now indexed, classified, and described. I know I’m bragging, but she deserves it.

  Prehistoric Road Maintenance - This week it seemed every road I drove on had holes and cracks patched with oil and loose pea stone gravel. I really need to get some pictures of the idiotic way the state of Illinois patches roads. They spray a little bit of thick oil on the crack or hole and then blow in 1/4″ pea stone. They always use way too much pea stone and the first time someone runs over it, it gets scattered everywhere. Then it gets tossed in the air to chip paint and crack windshields. The really stupid part is that it doesn’t last a week. The crews are back at it on the same roads week after week. If I knew whose idea it was to do it this way, I’d sit outside his/her house with a bushelful of these stones and a slingshot and plink away at whatever car they drive. I just hope we’re not throwing away our stimulus money on this nonsense.

  My 2006 Z4 3.0si – This car is a beast. It’s fast and corners like it’s glued to the road. I’ve been having a blast in it for a week now. Best of all, it gets great gas mileage on top of being fun to drive.

This has been a very sad week with little upside. There have been shooting rampages in Alabama and Germany, and a pastor shot and killed in Illinois. And while all those incidents are horrifying, they don’t strike home as deeply as the loss of a loved one.

Sarah’s Grandma, Sylvia Orman, died Wednesday at the age of 96. Sylvia was one of those special people you meet in life who seem to lack even a trace of malice towards anyone. She was amazingly active and sharp of mind right up until the last few days of her life. My parents thought the world of her and looked forward to seeing her whenever they visited Sarah’s parents in Connecticut. Christmas and barbecues in CT won’t be the same without her. I’ll miss her.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Springtime is here – Into the 70s today. Loved every minute of it. I left work early just to get out and enjoy it.

  “Unofficial” St. Patrick’s Day – Annual excuse for student drunkenness and stupidity. Thank the greedy bar owners who started and continue to promote this nonsense.

 Team Brawn? – Looks like former Team Honda will be back in Formula One this year, albeit with Mercedes engines. Not sure what the team will be called yet, but former Ferrari guru Ross Brawn bought the team outright. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button will return as the team’s drivers.

 Dad – Walking several laps of the hallways now and climbing stairs. Still looking good for him to be going home soon.

  Boston Bruins – 3-5-2 in their last 10 including three consecutive losses. They’re still in first place in the Eastern Conference, barely.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Baseball is back – Ok, just spring training games, but the pennant race will soon be underway.

  Google’s Latitude – Sign up to have Google track your every move? Um, no thanks.

 USF1 – The U.S. will finally have a Formula One team again. It won’t hit the track until 2010, but at least we’ll be back in the game.

  Mileage tax – Yet another idiotic idea. If folks who drive more already pay more in gas taxes, why start a new, expensive system that will also be prone to abuse and misuse? The stupidity of some of our elected officials cannot be overstated.

 Dad – He’s on solid food now and has no feeding tube or IV stint. He’s walking more and spending most of his day out of bed. I’m thinking he’ll be home by the end of March. It’s been a long, long road.

  Patriots – They traded Mike Vrabel today. Probably *the* clutch situation player on the Pats and now he’s gone. Someone please explain.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Clarksville, TN – Nice place. I’m visiting my nephew who is stationed at Ft. Campbell. I was stationed there 30 years ago and today I stood in the same office where I worked back then. My nephew is the First Sergeant of the unit occupying those same buildings.

  Ice storm – The ice storm that hit southern Illinois and Kentucky last month wreaked havoc on the trees here. Check out the damage just along I-24. (Excuse the somewhat poor shots. I shot these while driving without really aiming.)

 Bugout Gear – Nice equipment. I bought a black backpack today that can be expanded for a weeks’ worth of clothes and all my electronics or collapsed for just carrying overnight stuff. Very versatile stuff.

  Stomach woes – Still suffering from frequent sour stomach. Blech.

 Dad – Walking a bit. Now he just needs to be able to stand up by himself and he can come home.

Ups and Downs of the week.

   Good news/Bad news – The good news is, Chris Bangle is leaving BMW. Bangle is the designer responsible for the worst change in design direction (IMHO) ever made by a car company. The 5, 6, & 7 series BMWs all went from sleek, unique, instantly recognizable thoroughbreds to overweight, plain-Jane, run-of-the-mill tubs. The bad news (well, maybe) is that his protégé, Adrian van Hooydonk is taking over. Let’s hope he doesn’t follow in Bangle’s footsteps and that his designs look better than his haircut.

  Stimulus package – I guess you can’t make everyone happy, but this plan seems to have settled on making everyone unhappy. I hope they know what they’re doing.

  Warmer weather – Finally. The snow will be gone after this weekend and next week’s forecasts are predicting (dare I say it?) near 60 degree temps.

  Economy – The bads news continues to pour in.

  Dad continues to improve. – He took a few steps this week and is eating more kinds of food. His voice is much stronger now, too.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Blago is gone!! – About time! On his way out the door he couldn’t help but make more of a fool of himself. Listen to him whining to the legislature.

  Business a usual in D.C. – These idiots just don’t get it!!!! Enough with the idiotic pork-barrel stuff. The stimulus package is so full of bullshit, it’s drawing flies. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) cannot possibly stimulate the economy. Support for STD treatment cannot either. Both these could be considered worthy causes in a time of prosperity, but now is not that time. Obama already trimmed out the ludicrous mall resodding project and the equally inane contraceptive funding, but there is still way too much pork and not enough direct action. We need money to support infrastructure projects which will put people to work. If a proposal will not add a substantial number of jobs, it should be scrapped. Congress is whining about Wall Street not listening to the people when they’re just as deaf. STOP THE PORK!!!! (Clear enough?)

  Celtics – Back to their winning ways.

  Winter – 9″ of snow this week. I’m so in need of a warm day or two. Now that I have a ragtop waiting for me, the winter days are dragging by endlessly.

  Dad continues to improve. – Today they had him standing up straight (with a little help) and next week he’ll start learning to walk again using parallel bars. The docs are amazed at his progress, but we’re not. He’s a determined man. Always has been.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 New Toy – 2006 BMW Z4. Quick pic here. More to follow.

  Blago – He continues to thumb his nose at the very people who elected him. He’s a sociopath who refuses to acknowledge he did anything wrong and his obstinate refusal to step down is going to run this state into bankruptcy. He’s nothing but a curse and a burden on this state now.

  President Obama – I like what I see so far, but the really tough decisions are still ahead.

  Dad is doing better – Sitting up straight for longer periods. Standing (but not walking yet) on his own. Starting to eat just a little. And best of all, his attitude is great and he’s getting a little stronger every day.

Ups and Downs of the week.

   Getting sick over the holidays – I spent Christmas Day and the next day in the cardiac unit at UCONN medical center. We were visiting Sarah’s parents for the holidays and I had been feeling quite ill for a few days. On Christmas Day it was bad enough for me to have Sarah’s father take me to the ER. They thought my symptoms could be indicative of a heart problem, so they insisted I stay overnight and they ran a bunch of tests. Turns out it isn’t my heart, but the problem is still not completely gone. I’ll follow up with my regular doctor later this week.  

  Great doctors – While I wasn’t happy about spending two days in the hospital, I was very glad to have the great docs at UCONN medical center working on me. They were very attentive and left no stone unturned in making sure I was not going to suffer a heart attack. Glad to know my heart is in such good shape. They could have given me a quick once-over and told me to take an antacid and sent me home, but they were very concerned and it showed. Much thanks to the doctors, nurses, and technicians at UCONN who gave up their Christmas to help folks like me.

  Thanks also to Sarah’s parents, who were understanding and supportive throughout the ordeal. The fact that I dampened their Christmas doesn’t faze them in the least. They’re good people. No surprise considering how special their daughter is.

  New England Patriots – Ok, so they’re out of the playoffs. They still played way above everyone’s expectations and only because of the division they’re in are they not playing into the post-season with an 11-5 record. Major kudos to Matt Cassel. He deserves a big, fat paycheck and a starting job next year.