Tag: nephew

RPM Challenge Day 4/28

Nothing.

I had a really bad day and went to bed early, thinking I would get a good night’s sleep, but then I woke up super early and spoiled the whole plan. Shit.

I did get to wish my step son a Happy Birthday. I think I wished my nephew a Happy Birthday too. I sent him a text, discovered he has a new phone number, got his new phone number, sent another text, he didn’t respond. We called my sister’s phone to wish him a happy but he wasn’t home so we called his phone because my sister said his voicemail was setup but his voicemail wasn’t set up. I speak now directly to my nephew… I really hope you got that text. If not, Happy Birthday!!

That’s my whole day in a nutshell. Birthdays, back pain, stomach pain, first day back to work. Yippee. Today is an in the office day so it’s going to suck on so many levels.

Happy Merry and shit, everyone! WOOHOO!

No Word Yet

No word from the guitar shop today. The guitar looked finished in the pics he put on the bookfayce yesterday but I couldn’t really tell. There was likely some finishing work that needed to happen (file down, polish, adjust the new frets maybe?) that I don’t know anything about. Hopefully I will hear something tomorrow. I can’t pick it up on Wednesday as I’ll be in the office. I don’t even know if he opens his doors on any other days. His website books appointments on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Let’s see what happens, okay?

Two things that I need to do today. One, call a plumber to look at a leak in the old bathroom. Two, I have a doctors appointment after work. I also have 3.5 hours left in my work day. I am just wrapping up lunch now.

Harry is coming home this weekend. How awesome is that? Looking forward to having him around. Also really looking forward to Thanksgiving. The actual holiday we will travel to my sisters’. The following Saturday we will have Thanksgiving Part II (electric turkey boogaloo) with the kids and Jen’s folks. I am really excited about both. Not that I can eat like I used to, but I’ll still love every minute of both days.

When are we going to go Christmas tree shopping? We usually try to do that while the kids are home for Thanksgiving, but I don’t know how the schedules will work out this year. We’ll have to figure that out too.

Have I mentioned that I am absolutely freezing today? Stupid cold. Stupid winter (even though we’re still over a month away from the first day of winter, it’s basically winter already).

Okay. Lunch break is over. Get back to work, Robert. You have some custom code to deliver. Get to it.

How Are We Doing?

Hey folks. How is it going? Are we all doing all right tonight? It’s Friday the 13th, has the universe thrown you any curve balls?

Today has gone okay for me. I found out my nephew has Covid. Sigh in frustration. I hope he’s okay, and I hope he kicks it way faster than I did. I don’t want him to be sick for three weeks the way I was. I have a whole new perspective on this particular plague and somehow it makes everything worse.

I had another one of those empty stomach things that I wrote about last night. Usually it hits about three hours after eating. Today it hit two hours after I finished lunch. I had a snack and thought I would be okay until dinner, but an hour later it came back. Weird. That’s the first time this issue was not predictable. I didn’t eat dinner until 7:00, which was about an hour after the stomach ache came back. We’re going to have to keep an eye on this tonight. I don’t want any weirdness. Unpredictable weirdness is not as fun as you’d think.

Jen and I just watched this week’s episode of Loki. Season two episode two. At lunch today I was poking around news.google.com and I was almost spoiled about seven times. I am going to have to be more careful on Fridays for the next four weeks.

I just checked the weather for the weekend. It is going to be clear at sunrise tomorrow and clear just after sunrise on Sunday. There must be photos this weekend. It’s a necessity. I have a lot of stuff on my agenda and I’m booked pretty solid. Still, from a mental health standpoint a photowalk somewhere must happen. The mornings are getting cold and there are only so many more opportunities left before the winter ruins everything. I have to take advantage of this. Ocean sunrise and maybe some Merrimack River stuff tomorrow and then either around town on Sunday or maybe finally spend an hour or two walking around the city? Boston at sunrise on a Sunday should be easy to social distance, shouldn’t it?

Like I said, there is a lot on my plate this weekend. I need to make time for some creative stuff. I’m still feeling a little shell shocked from the covid journey so my brain needs to stretch its figurative legs a little.

Here’s hoping we can make something happen this weekend. Assuming Friday the 13th lets us through the day, right?

Birthdays

Today is Harry’s birthday. He’s 19. Happy birthday, Harry! We’re not going to see him until March. He’ll be coming home for spring break. Jen and I both took that whole week off. We won’t do anything amazing or anything, we’ll just be able to hang out with Harry. It’s going to be cool. I am really looking forward to it.

Happy birthday, Harry!

Today is also my nephew Brian’s birthday. I don’t know when we’re going to get to see him again. Covid, right? I am so sick of it, but at least I got to text with him a little today. He has a flip phone. I assume he’s home from school because of the weather but it was nice to hear from him.

Happy birthday, Brian!

We did a little pre-birthday birthday dinner for Harry before he left. Maybe we’ll do another one after he gets back because why not? It’s a birthday, right? Celebrate all you want!

Christmas Catch Up pt. 1

My sister in law and my niece just stopped over for a Covid-safe gift exchange. They dropped off two gifts for my step kids and picked up two gifts for my niece and one of my nephews. I was able to extend a hearty HoHoHo as they were driving away. It was all super festive, 2020’s style.

Now I have to figure out how to do the same for my sister’s kids. There are still two nephews worth of gifts that Santa Rob needs to deliver! I have a day off next week. I’m hoping I can sneak over there and drop them off. HoHoHo and all that fun stuff!

I hereby declare that Christmas 2021 does not end until January 2022! You heard it here first, from Santa Rob himself.

More Stuff

Not to be left out of the birthday fun, my nephew is 10 today. Double digits. He’s a mini-me. He’s lucky in two ways. If you’re going to have the misfortune of looking like me, it’s good that you didn’t lose your curly hair the way I did, and also it’s extra lucky that you’re skinny while I was already well on my way to being a fat ass by the time I was 10. He is keeping all the good stuff that I had when I was little. He’s also hysterically funny and he’s not afraid of his own shadow. Two things I didn’t have at 10. So basically, if you eliminate all the stuff that I was bad at when I was 10 you have my nephew. He’s awesome and I love him and I hate that I haven’t been able to visit in forever. I am so sick of the pandemic. It’s killing me.

My father showed some improvement on Tuesday. On Wednesday he seemed to take a bit of a step back but was still better than he had been. Today the word is he seems to have improved a little bit again. We have tentative plans for next steps starting next week. It’s all scary.

We should have the bedroom done tomorrow night… assuming we don’t come up with any new ideas. The mattress is going to be the killer. We have plans in place though. The kitchen stuff starts coming next week. Next weekend is going to be another crazy furniture assemble-fest.

I made a works in progress playlist for RPM. Still not 100% invested yet. Maybe if I can get some guitar parts down it will trigger me. Maybe.

https://hearthis.at/roberjames1971/set/rpm2021-works-in-progress/

I haven’t played with blog themes yet. I browsed a little before bed last night. We’ll have to book some time soon. I have so many reminders in my phone right now. I have to schedule everything with myself or I forget everything.

I’m tired and sad and I want everything to go back to normal and I want it now.

What an Interesting Day

Today, February 4th, is a very interesting day.  There are many important birthdays.

My step son turns 11 today.  He was four when he and his sister decided that I was good enough for their Mom.  I will forever be grateful to them for that kindness.  On the day I first met him, Jen warned me that he would be super shy and would probably hide from me.  I was ready for that.  Then when we all met up outside of the Chuck-E-Cheese’s in Framingham, he strode right up to me without any hesitation and asked me if I’d like to see something he did in school that day.  The little man liked me from the word go.  I have no clue how I got to be so lucky.  Seven years later and he still doesn’t mind me hanging around.

My nephew turns three today.  I recently got my hair cut.  The woman chopping my locks asked me if I had any kids, and if so did they get my red hair?  I told her that I was step father to the two best kids imaginable, but that I had not passed on my glorious red head.  I also told her that it was okay because my sister has the same hair and her son, who turns three today… just making sure you’re paying attention… was fortunate enough to get the same color.  The red hair has been passed on to the next generation!

Facebook turns 10 today.  Yup.  The last nail in myspace’s coffin… The Accidental Billionaire… Millions upon millions of pictures of people’s dinner (I am as guilty as the next nerd)… it all started 10 years go today.

See?  I told you February 4th was an interesting day.