2008 Summed Up In A Couple Of Paragraphs

I’ve decided this year needs it’s own wrap up. We’ve gone through a lot of changes in 2008 and I wanted to get them down for later review.

The year started off with Lisa in Zanesville and me in Virginia. Lisa did make it to Stafford for New Years but as I recall it wasn’t that great. We went to an Italian restaurant called Amici’s I think. The food was okay and the guy playing the piano was loud.

Lisa made it out to Virginia on several more occasions. We did the trips to D.C. and Gettysburg and that kind of stuff. Basically your typical fun-filled Brian and Lisa activities. During the year we pursued our favorite pastime and went to a movie just about every week this past summer. We saw Ironman, Baby Momma, and The Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace, Rock'n'Rolla, Marley & Me and more than I can remember. All the time I had been applying for a new job. I enjoyed the job at Quantico and felt like I was just starting to get the hang of being a site manger and there I was looking for a career change. And as some of you know I got the new job.

So in June Lisa, Moon and I moved to St Charles, Missouri. We've really liked it here but it never felt like home. We were renting because I wasn't sure if I would like the new job or not. It was a nice house but not ours. We had a whole parade of visitors to St Charles. My niece Ashley, Lisa's sister, her brother and mother, her niece and nephew and my Mom and Dad all came out on different occasions. The normal site to take our visiting tourists was the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial (ie the Arch). One of our favorite pastimes was barbecuing in the back yard and beer on the front porch, watching traffic go by and gas prices go up and down. Sometime in October I applied for a transfer to Colorado Springs. I was passed over at first. The guy Colorado Springs hired turned them down and I got a second chance. It was a no brainer to accept but it was still a tough thing to do. Lisa started preparing for the move.

Finally the week of Christmas we moved our household goods to Littleton and Colorado Springs. I've returned to St Louis to work until January 16th. I'm staying at Intown Suites which is a pretty anticlimactic way to depart from a good home although Lisa came in for the New Year and we're staying at a nice Marriott in Creve Coeur. Like I mentioned, we've loved it here in St Charles, it was really our first home together as a family and we'll miss it I'm sure. The 29th of December was an especially rough day. Lisa and I went to the house one last time to drop off keys and we got pretty sad saying good bye to the neighborhood. And then we went to see the worst movie ever and that didn't help.

Last Entry For 2008

As the year draws to a close, I just wanted to say bye. I hope everybody had a decent year even though it's been a little rougher then usual. I usually don't use the term blessed but I really have been. With a great family and friends. I hope 2008 was a good year for you and 2009 is better for us all.

New Years Weekend (Counting Down)

Lisa and I have been staying at a Marriott in Creve Couer, Missouri for the the last two days. It's been pretty fun. We went to see Marley & Me yesterday. We also went to the Borders book store right next to the hotel. I got Born Standing Up by Steve Martin and replaced Solomon Kane that a friend from work kept (bastard!). I'm flying through Steve Martin's book. Like most things from Steve it's awsome. We had dinner last night at Macaroni Grill which sucked. They "misplaced" our ticket and the food took about an hour to getto us. Rob, our waiter, brought Lisa her wine in a juice type tumbler.

Today we went to downtown St Charles for some last time shopping on Main Street. We've never really had the luxury of spending money while we've been here so it's been fun and we probably over did it a little more than we should. There is a purse store on Main Street and Lisa had her eye on a few bags, so she finally got them. We got some interesting spices and hot sauce for a gourmet shop too.

We ate at Allin's Diner for breakfast this morning. It a great diner that was right around the block from our house on Houston Street. It's always busy and looked really cute. It was great food, and we both agreed that we should have tried it sooner. Best of all it's smoke free which is rare around here.

We went to the Galleria Mall off of I-17o and Brentwood Ave and walked around a little. It's a nice place but just another mall. Right now Lisa is swimming in the pool at the hotel. I've never met anyone who loved to swim as much as that girl. She's been in the pool at least three times since we checked in.

Tomorrow we'll take it easy, see another movie (probably Seven Pounds) and then have New Years eve dinner at PF Changs by the Chesterfield Mall.

Worst Movie Ever!!!

Lisa and I just watched Marley & Me and about ten minutes from the end I decided I hated this movie. It's the biggest tear jerker I've ever seen. Lisa never cries at movies, I cried watching Schindler's List (don't know if it's sociably acceptable to admit that as a man) and that's pretty much it. Up to now anyway. I was still crying when I left the theater. I got back to the hotel, started thinking about our dog, Moon and started crying again. I will never see this movie again. I would recommend that you never see this movie.

Waiting For Lisa

After a whole three days of rest Lisa is driving to St Louis to spend New Years Eve with me. I have to work New Years Day so she'll probably not hang around although I hope stays. I imagine our night will be a case of me going to bed at 9:30 and Lisa getting mad at me because she wants to enjoy life, where as I don't.

It's 7:30, I'm watching King of the Hill, and waiting for Lisa to call so we can meet at Panera's (known as St Louis Bread Company here) for dinner. This kind of reminds me of my first post all those years ago.

A Long Week (Almost As Long As This Post)

The timeline of our move goes like this:

Sunday, December 21st - I left work at 3:30 and we picked the U-Haul 24 ft truck up at around 4:30. Once we got back home we spent a couple hours loading to get a little head start. And the temperature was 6 degrees.

Monday, December 22nd - We got up at six and started loading by 7:00, it was 4 degrees when we started and got up to a sunny 16. We loaded the truck until around 1:30 p.m. 0r 2:00 at which time we switched to cleaning and errands mode. After running to the cable place to drop off the modem and trying to track down the recycling center for our last load of cans and bottles (which we never got rid of), we ran home and scrubbed and scrubbed. We got to bed at around 9:30 exhausted.

Tuesday, December 23rd - We got up at 3:00 a.m. and did some last minute packing and were on the road by 5:00. We stopped for one last fountain drink refill ($.89) at the QT and departed 239 Houston Street for the last time (almost). Forecasts across Missouri and Kansas were calling for temperatures around freezing with rain. Not the best news. By the time we got to Kansas City (the one in Missouri) it started raining and it was freezing on the windsheild. The road didn't look that bad but a Jeep Cherokee started doing a 360º spin on the opposite side of I-70 and got clipped by a semi. It was white knuckles for awhile. It eventually dried out on the western side of Kansas City (the one in Kansas).

We stopped for gas and Taco Bell in Lawrence, Kansas. Gas and Taco Bell being somewhat redundant. By 4:30 Mountain time the radios were calling for 1 to 3 inches of snow through eastern Colorado. Since it was getting dark and the trailer's taillights were out we decided to stop for the night. We picked a Holiday Inn Express in Goodland, Kansas to spend the night. We're both "push on" kind of people, especially when we're that close to our goal. I don't know why but we had a fit of good sense that paid off. By the time we got Moon unloaded and were ready to go to dinner there was a blizzard outside. At the recommendation of the hotel clerk, we went to a place called Crazy R's. It was a great smokey dive and there were several local families there having dinner and playing pool. I had a great KC Strip and Bud Select. Unfortunately, as you might guess, they didn't have much vegetarian fare and the cigarette smoke was closing Lisa's throat so it was less fun for her. She got Subway afterwards and got to swim in the pool so she was happy.

Wednesday, December 24th - We hit the road at 7:00 for the remainder of the trip to Littleton (where Lisa's Mom lives). We rolled in around 12:00 and had lunch from Noodles Inc. and unpacked the stuff Lisa would need while staying in Littleton. Than we left for Colorado Springs with Lisa's sister Jennifer who graciously volunteered to help us unload.

When it was all said and done we had the truck unloaded and we were back in Littleton ready for bed by 8:30.

Thursday, December 25th - Christmas we went to Idaho Springs for dinner at Chris's house and then Lisa dropped me off at the airport for the flight back to St Louis. Which is where I'll stay until January 16th at which time I'll be heading for Colorado Springs.

That was about it. There were some misadventures last night after I got back to St Louis involving my search for food and the tricky entrance to the Best Western but other than that the trip kind of wore down. I had to go to work this morning and I'm still tired so I've got to end this thing quick. Night.

Last Post?

Don't worry, I was just doing the old marketing trick, I would never deprive you of my wonderful misives and keen insight. This is merely the last post for a few days. The computer goes into the box today and the internet will be turned off shortly. I'll miss you while I'm away. Think of me often.

Facebook?

My friend Dan is on Facebook, as are all my friends it seems. Everyone is on Facebook now and I still don't know what it is. Facebook apparently had a big controversial make over a few months back and to be honest, I didn't even notice. The thing is so full of weird gee gaws that seem to be designed for nothing, except to spread Facebook like a virus. I used to get friend suggestions for the kids my nieces go to school with because I'm friends with my nieces and I used to go to the same high school all their friends go to. I don't want friends and I sure as hell don't want to be friends with people who write things I can't understand like IMAO or LOL. Well except for you, Ashley, I feel it's my Unclely duty so I'll tolerate it from you. I'm actually trying to keep my list of contacts to as few people as possible, I would like to be the guy with the fewest friends. And after what I've written on some peoples' "Superwall" I'm a little surprised I have as many friends as I do.

I guess you can share photos and that could be why I'm not that impressed. I've been using Flickr for my photo sharing for years so I don't need another site for that. Maybe the key lies in the fact that I'm anti-social and it's a social networking site.

The only thing I really enjoy is the "What are you doing box?" I also like it for the Sumatran Rat Monkeys. Those are good too.

Dick Cheney, The CEO Of Blackwater & Me

I was all excited about the news that Obama may not legally be eligible to be president, then the Iraqi shoe throwing hub bub broke. I'll save the Obama thing for later (we have at least 4 years to get back to it). While I don't think W has been the greatest president we've had, at least he's no Richard Nixon. The reason this episode bothers me is a matter of personal perspective I guess. He wasn't throwing his shoes at W, he was throwing them at the United States of America, me and you. If you're to believe most news outlets there's only a few of us that think the war in Iraq wasn't that bad an idea. I for one like the idea of being proactive and killing terrorists before they kill us. I know, I'm a hawk. I joined the Air Force and went into EOD in the 80's because of the Achille Lauro and TWA flight 847 and a whole list of Wikipedia entries of terrorism. I remember how angry and helpless I felt when Leon Kinghoffer's body was dumped overboard. I still see Robert Stedham's body hit the tarmac with that flat ugly thud. I used to think that the t-shirts they sold in Soldier of Fortune magazine were funny. The one that said "Hey I think I stepped in some Shiite" was particularly funny, especially after the Beirut bombing. I guess it's a softening that comes with old age but I don't subscribe to Guns and Ammo anymore. I find myself being more tolerant and politically correct than I used to be and I don't get a kick out of the new Paladin Press t-shirts. But even with all of that, as nice as I seem now there's still a part of me that holds to the "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" school of thought. Really the only reason I hope we get done in Iraq is so we can send more troops into Afghanistan. I remember Mike Farrell (BJ Honeycutt himself) proclaiming Afghanistan was the next Vietnam. Richard Gere suggested we not invade the country after 9/11 (and got booed off stage in New York City). Now everyone likes it for the go to war spot. Even Obama wants to go there, or I should say send our troops there.

I heard this afternoon on Paul Harvey that the "martyr" that threw the shoes is asking for a pardon. Pussy.

The Countdown Continues

It's less then a week now before we pack up and head west. As usual (like the last time we moved) Lisa has everything organized and most of the work done. She never did find work here in Missouri and I marvel at all the poor bastards that didn't get to utilize her energy and organization. She makes me feel lazy by comparison, which I am of course but she makes me see just how lazy.

We have most of the stuff down stairs and in boxes ready to go. The plan is to get a U haul Sunday night, wake early Monday morning and have everything loaded, hopefully before dark that night. Tuesday we haul ass to Colorado Springs and Wednesday we down load it all into a storage unit, whew! I am so looking forward to this!

Meanwhile, we finished the second half of the Christmas card operation. Sixty freaking cards! I don't even know that many people.

And as I like to do from time to time to put my life into the perspective of the bigger picture I would like to point out some things that happened today. Apparently they figured out who killed Adam Walsh, although it seems like they kind of sorta knew for awhile now. It seems odd, in a way it's like the Lindberg baby case. It's a part of history. I'm glad it's giving his family peace.

Gas started out at $1.57 at the QT, we got ours at Sam's Club for $1.47 and by the time we got home it dropped to $1.54 at the QT. It bottomed out a few weeks ago at $1.37 and it's been up and down since.

Also, Obama may not be a legal citizen!!! This is big people!!! And he may have a twin!!! Check here daily.

The Start Of The Christmas Season

Lisa and I spent the afternoon filling out Christmas cards and prepping them for mailing. Lisa is very good about sending out cards every year and for some reason I can't help but imagine that is the case in most marriages. The wife is the responsible, sociable one. I don't think I sent more than three Christmas cards my entire life before I got married. Of course Lisa pointed out that with the exception of my family I really only have three friends to begin with. Most of the cards were for her friends.

We spent the day taking Moon to the vet, running to Goodwill to get rid of stuff we don't want to move, Walmart for packing supplies and Office Max to get our Christmas letter printed up. After doing chores in 11 degree weather it was nice to sit down and write out cards to friends and family I don't think about enough. This year we'll be moving during Christmas week and I'll actually be flying from Colorado to St Louis on the 25th so it really won't feel much like the holidays. Today is probably as close as I'll get to being in the spirit until next year. That's okay though since I don't like Christmas all that much anyway.

Giving Up

I made it to day 11 and I've decided that this is a bad idea. I think 365 entries would be too much. I'm already out of ideas and I don't feel like perusing Yahoo News to come up with stuff to write snarky commentaries on. So it is in the spirit of the season that I promise to write only when something interesting happens or until I at least have something to write about.

Gee, I Missed The Call On This One

The day in history -

Day to 'call in gay' finds few willing to strike

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 29 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – A daylong work stoppage during which employees were encouraged to "call in gay" to express support for same-sex marriage drew spotty participation nationwide Wednesday, with some gay rights activists praising the concept but questioning its effect.
In San Francisco's gay Castro district, residents and merchants said they endorsed the message behind "Day Without a Gay" but didn't think a work stoppage was practical given the poor economy and the strike's organization.
"If we are going to make a huge impact and not be laughed at, then we have to take the time and make the time to communicate with all the parties. We could have shut down a lot of the hotels," said David Lang, a San Francisco gymnastics coach. "In theory it's a great idea, but it's being done wrong and now that it's been done wrong, I don't think it will be done again."
The protest, which a gay couple from West Hollywood organized through the Internet, was designed to demonstrate the economic clout of same-sex marriage supporters following the passage of voter-approved gay marriage bans in California, Arizona and Florida last month.
Participants were asked to refrain from spending money or at least to patronize gay-friendly businesses for the day.
Paul Ellis, 51, a manager at Cliff's Variety hardware store, said he didn't want his employer to bear the burden of his support.
"My employers have always been there in every possible way. I didn't feel comfortable discomfiting them when they have gone out of their way to be there for me," he said.
Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit group that promotes equality for gay and lesbian employees, suggested that gay marriage supporters could send an effective message beyond Wednesday by openly discussing the issue at their workplaces.
"When people go into the voting booth and vote against (gay) rights, they often have no idea they are voting against the person sitting next to them in the next cubicle or office," said Selisse Berry, Out and Equal's executive director.
Berry noted that only 20 states have laws to protect workers from being fired for being homosexual, making lesbians and gays reluctant to reveal themselves to co-workers in most jurisdictions.
"Constantly lying about our weekends at the water cooler or changing pronouns, that takes up so much energy that we could be putting into our jobs," she said.
Participants who opted to take the day off from their jobs were encouraged to perform community service, and charitable organizations across the country said volunteers showed up.
"Visibility is really important for the gay community, so after a lot of thought I decided I would come out and be visible with my colleagues at work and use the time working for the community," said Carrie Lewis, 36, a University of California health researcher who spent the day working at the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center.
Backers of "Day Without a Gay" organized evening rallies in San Francisco, Austin, Texas, Logan, Utah, and other cities so supporters could gather to discuss the next steps. Rallies also were held earlier Wednesday in Chicago and on several college campuses in California.
"The movement that fought for equality and succeeded in electing Obama president is really looking to make progressive gains now," said Mark Airgood, who used a personal day to take off from his job as a middle school teacher in Berkeley. "I think we really can, and I think this is an important day for that."

The reason I find this and the Mexican immigrant boycott of a few years ago so stupid is the idea behind it. That idea is, if you were to remove these large groups of people all of a sudden the rest of us couldn't function without them. Isn't that pretty much true of any fucking group of people? It bothers me for the same reason those stickers you see on the back of semi tractor trailers bother me. You know the ones I'm talking about? Something about how we would all be shit out of luck if it weren't for truck drivers. I think we'd find someone or something to replace you (how hard could it be to replace uneducated lard ass amphetamine freaks?). It's the idea that the country's parts are more than it's sum, or more specifically some parts are more important than others.

The 9th, One Of My Days Off

Today nothing much happened. We rented Wall*E which I hadn't seen yet. I thought it was a very clever little movie. It was rainy all day yesterday and down in the mid-thirties. It was a good day to do nothing although we like to do errands in the crappy weather. Before we went to Blockbuster we went to the local grocery store Dierbergs for bread, Liquid Plumber (which was $.30 cheaper than Drano) and Milk. We also picked up our favorite local treat Gooey Butter Cake. It was apparently invented in St Louis.

Going To My Happy Place

Today we took a trip to the Anheuser-Busch brewery for the Budweiser tour. I was ecstatic. I'm not sure why. I like Bud but I'm not one of those guys that decorates everything with a Bud motif. Bud is one of those American icons though. Bud beers account for 50% of the US beer market annually (a factoid we learned on the tour). That's a lot of beer. A few years ago I took a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery. I thought that was a better tour for the most part, the guide was some salty good old boy that looked like he had been making and drinking whiskey for decades. Our guides today didn't look like they were old enough to drink yet. Everything was kept at a distance on the Bud tour too. In Lynchburg you got to walk up and take a whiff right out of the fermenting tank. It was neat to see thousands of bottles zooming down a belt full of beer but it was a long way off.

The highlight of the tour was probably the stables and the Clydesdales. We drove to St Louis last week to take the tour and cancelled it for this week when we got to the brewery and the stables were closed that day. That's how much we wanted to see the stables. We still didn't get to see much of the horses. The campus is gorgeous, historical and well maintained. There are a few National Historic Sites on the property. And as usual the history of the company had a lot of interesting facts, the company saved itself during prohibition by making trucks and malt syrup among other things.

All in all it was a very good tour. The one thing it had over Jack Daniels was at the end of the tour there was two free samples. I had the freshest Budweiser from tap you can possibly get. It was good too. The place was like Disney World, Mecca, outer space and a little chunk of Heaven on Earth. And unfortunately the 10:00 o'clock evening news is saying that In Bev is laying off employees to "streamline" costs. A friend of mine also said the brewery in Virginia will be shutting down as well. I can't believe that a company that does 50% of the beer business in the US needs cost cutting. I would think, in a recession beer would be one of those few things that the demand actually increases. I hope they don't stop the tours to cut costs as well.

December 7th

Today marks two milestones. Personally speaking it's my brother Bryce's birthday. Have a happy one soldierant.

In the broader historical scope it's the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I consider World War II one of those things in life that shouldn't be forgotten and should be drilled into every school kid's head. I found these photos* on the web today and think they are pretty interesting:



Give a look and remember not only the sacrifice of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines but the civilians that gave up the luxuries and then the necessities of life to help defeat a bunch of assholes. Follow the link and it has a little info on where these rare photos were found.

*Please note as with all things on the Internet I did not verify the photos' authenticity. Hopefully these aren't photoshopped scenes from that horrid Michael Bay movie.

December 6th

Nothing happened today out of the ordinary.

5th Day, A Little Less Rockin'

This is turning in to a bit of a chore now. If I thought it was tough to be original before I'm really behind the eight ball now. I didn't have a lot of time to think at work yesterday so no topics came up. I got to see the Office and 30 Rock last night. I'm not sure about the Office right now. It was funny but it's been awhile since I laughed out loud at it. 30 Rock was a good one though. After being hit and miss at the end of last season it's starting to get good again.


The heat is not working again. It's 55 degrees in the house again. Thanks for sharing a few minutes of your precious time with me, sorry for wasting it.

The Fourth Rockin' Day Of December

Today was the first day back to work after my weekend. It was a little tough going back. I have the incredibly good luck to enjoy my wife's company so much I actually hate to go back to work. I know Lisa would like to have friends and a little more of a life but I'm happy with her and the dog. The following video illustrates my point.



Really, I don't think I need to explain why there's no reason for me to leave the house.

The Third Day Of December

Today we started to head out to the Budweiser brewery for the tour. When we got there the stables were closed for the filming of a commercial so we decided to try next week. We stopped my Soulard Farmer's Market on the way home. It was pretty quite, I guess most of the activity happens on the weekends. We stopped for lunch at a quaint little bar down the block from Soulard called Llwellyn's. I had, if not the best certainly the largest chicken wings I've ever ate. As if gorging myself on a pound of chicken wings wasn't enough, we walked to the QT for snacks when we got home.

We returned home and did a little more packing and took Moon around the neighborhood for her walk. I think we'll all miss the neighborhood, it's a great place to walk.

And tonight we watched Pushing Daisies, our favorite show. Of course it's soon to be cancelled and replaced with some reality show from Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher, or a reality show about the Homeland Security forces. TV sucks!

Well, on that sour note, I'm outta here.

December 2nd

Don't worry, I'll try to come up with more original titles as the month progresses.

So far today, Lisa and I have been carrying boxes up from the basement in preparation for the move. That was a back breaking but thankfully short undertaking. I got distracted briefly when I ran across some old magazines I've been keeping since 1993. I'm kind of a pack rat for magazines ever since I was little and would go through Dad's old National Geographics. The old automobile advertisements were fascinating to me.

We also got rid of the oil from an old lawn mower we threw out a few weeks ago. We just got back from the IGA down over the hill where we had to get yard waste tags. I know that won't mean anything to anyone but me.

We're getting ready to see Australia in a little while. At three hours we should get our moneys worth even if it isn't all that great.

And six hours later - We're back home. Australia was good if not a little intimidating to watch. Hugh Jackman's abs are a tough act to follow. Tonight was a bad misadventure in traffic also. We got caught on I-270 and thought we would be clever. We hopped off the highway and headed toward a Noodles and Company but got caught in aother traffic jam at an intersection with about six police cars in it. We just circled back around and headed home over Lindberg Ave and up to I-70.

December 1st

I wanted to start practicing for 2009. My goal will be to see if I can do one entry a day for a year. I haven't been able to do it for a week, let alone a month or year. It's an ambitious undertaking so we'll see how it goes. The reason I want to do it though is because we are basically starting a new life at the beginning of the new year. I feel like it's symbolic.

I like December, it's my birth month and before I got all cynical about Christmas, it was the month of my favorite holiday. It'll be a challenge to post an entry every day considering how busy we'll be moving but I'm still going to try. I don't consider it cheating if I write the post in word and post it a few days later.

Our heat went out last night and the repairman just now fixed it. The house got down to 55 degrees this morning and my fingers are numb so this will be the extent of this entry. Maybe later today I'll be able to post some pictures from Thanksgiving.