Searching for a Positive

Daily writing prompt
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?

Just over a year ago my mother’s older sister, my Aunt Joan, passed away after a long battle with dementia. In February my mother passed away after a long battle with dementia. A few months later my mother’s older brother, my Uncle Jim, passed away after a long battle with kidney and heart problems. Suffice to say the last year has not exactly been teeming with positivity.

We also caught Covid-19 after successfully avoiding it for three years and it ruined a Florida vacation. The negatives just keep piling up, right? Fortunately, there was one particular event that was very positive. An event that for most of us is a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

My step daughter, Bellana, graduated from the University of Vermont with her Bachelors Degree. She will have other graduation ceremonies, assuming she stays on her current academic path, but there probably won’t be another Bachelors. I can’t put into words how proud I am. She’s amazing and everyone who meets her can see it. That kid is going places.

As positive events go, her graduation is the big one from the past year.

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I’m in This Video

My step son Harry and I are in this video clip. Look to the right of the goal. We are in the second row. I’m the guy who looks happy that Lowell scored… unlike everyone else in the stands.

Kids

I got to spend some time with my step son over the weekend when we went to a hockey game together. Today, my wife got to spend some time with my step daughter. It’s almost like we both got an early xmas present. I wish I could have seen my step daughter today, and I wish my wife could have come with me to see my step son this weekend, but when you add it all up we both got a nice bit of bonus kid time. I’m looking forward to the holiday break as both kids will be home for a little while at least. That makes me happy. I just thought I should let you all know.

What to Wear

What are your two favorite things to wear?

Daily writing prompt

Not a lot of substance with today’s question. It’s an easy answer but it won’t generate much discussion from me. I’ll see what I can do though.

They are asking for my top two, but to give a full response I need to up that to my top three. Jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers. That’s it. Weekend/telecommuting attire at it’s finest. As casual as casual gets without wearing shorts. That’s me, Mr Casual Man.

I don’t mind dressing fancier, I just don’t like doing the work. I’ll wear a suit when I have to, but ties are a pain in the ass and I hate them. Once they are on and tied I deal, but getting them on frustrates me and sort of ruins my mood. Having said that, I don’t mind tuxedos, but only because I generally look damn good in them. Well, I did look good in them. I haven’t worn one since the weight loss surgery so I cannot say for sure, but it used to be true that the tux look was a good look for me.

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My wife looked AMAZING.

UML at UVM

Tomorrow afternoon my step son and I are going to a hockey game. It’s my first hockey game in person since… 2016? 2018? I can’t remember. It’s my first NCAA hockey game since 2004.

I graduated from UMass Lowell. My step son currently attends the University of Vermont. Both teams are in the Hockey East conference and… well… both teams kinda suck. UVM is in 8th place (out of 11 teams) with a 3-3-1 record in conference and a 4-5-1 record overall. UML is in 10th place with a 2-6-1 record in conference and a 5-9-1 record overall.

I expect the game is going to be evenly-ish matched but also kinda crappy. I don’t care. I’m looking forward to spending an afternoon with Harry, probably trash talking each other into oblivion. I tried to get myself a UML hockey t-shirt to wear but I failed. Oh well. The Vermont fans in the building will know that they have a foreigner in their rink by me being obnoxious. I used to be a pretty obnoxious fan back in my minor league season ticket days.

It’s going to be fun.

Ancestry

My beloved bride, Jennifer, has been poking around on ancestry.com and she found something in my family tree that is freaking awesome.

If the information is accurate, she has a branch of my father’s family tree going back to the American Revolution in the 1770’s. One family was living in White Plains, New York and at some point their family home was used as a headquarters for none other than George “Father of Our Country” Washington.

Ho… ly… shit.

Yeah, that’s right. Me and President Washington are old family friends. No big deal, really.

My wife may also have tracked a branch of my family tree going all the way back to the 15th century. Again, no big deal*.


*That is sarcasm. It is totally a big deal. It is an epically big deal.

One Hour to Go

It’s 4:30. I have one hour left in the work day. It feels like an eternity.

This has been a long one. I am in the office today and I really wish I had been able to work from home. I really miss Jen today. I always miss Jen when I am not near her, but today has felt so much worse. I just want to go home and have dinner with her and relax a little. She has a computer hardware project she wants to do tonight. I can help out a little. It will be fun.

I am not sure what the problem was today. It has just felt like an endless grind of a day. That happens sometimes. It’s actually been quiet and calm, but it’s not at home and somehow that makes quiet and calm feel stressful. Weird, eh?

53 minutes until quittin’ time. I can make it. Who knows how long the commute will be. It’s pitch dark outside already (stupid non-daylight savings time). It’s 34 degrees out. It will probably be below freezing by the time I leave. I really don’t like this time of year. Blah.

Okay, let’s make that last hour of the work day productive. What do you say. Get some work done and then go home to where you belong.


ADDENDUM: Almost immediately after publishing this post we got pulled into an escalated issue for one of our biggest customers. So much for calm and quiet.

Morning Cats

Harry went back to Burlington yesterday afternoon. Bellana went back first thing this morning. She has a three hour commute to work today. I hate it when they leave. I miss them both. We’ll see Harry this coming weekend. Jen and I are taking him to a UVM vs UMass Lowell hockey game in Burlington. Bellana won’t be joining us as she’s going to a conference in Boston. We may not see her until Christmas. Blah. Boo.

Anyway, I took pictures of the cats this morning because I could. The cats eventually let both kids pick them up and hold them. Good for you, cats.

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They haven’t destroyed the xmas tree yet. So far so good

Xmas Lights

We went out for a drive tonight to see some xmas lights around town. Jen and I were telling Bellana about a pair of houses we saw a few years ago that actually had their light display stretch across the street. We couldn’t remember where it was though. It made us a little sad.

Jen was directing us around based off of a screen shot of a facebook post that had some addresses on it. She took us to Sampson Street and wouldn’t you know it, that was the place where the lights stretched across the street! It wasn’t two houses, it was practically the whole street, but the lights only crossed in one spot.

It was really cool.

It made me wonder… is this a case of multiple households collaborating, or is it one household who knocks on doors asking if they can decorate other people’s houses. I wonder.

Drives around town like this are attempts at jump starting xmas spirit for me. It generally doesn’t work. I still doubt that I will have anything resembling holiday spirit before the 21st or 22nd of December. That’s just how it goes for me. It would be fun if it weren’t true and I could get into it early, but nope.

I lost

At one point of Trivial Pursuit I had four pie pieces and Jen and Bellana both had two.

I lost. Jen won. Bellana had all six and I only had five.

I was hoping someone would suggest calling it a game at least half an hour before it ended. It was the most frustrating game of Trivial Pursuit ever played.

It was fun though.