TGIF - 11/28/08

I hope everyone had a great holiday yesterday - mine was filled with the three F's .... Family, football and food. Actually, FOOD should be in all caps because I believe there was enough to feed a small army by the time the 4 cooks in our kitchen were finished.

Before I go into all of that, I'd like to thank my "anonymous guest blogger" (AGB for those like me who have an affinity for acronyms) for stepping in last week - it's never a comfy thing to give someone full on access to anything that is yours, but AGB did me proud.

So, I spent the last week or so in sunny florida - unfortunately, it was not planned and was not for pleasure. My beloved grandaddy, John Fowler, passed away on Sunday after a long bout with a lung disease. He and I were very close so it has been a tough week for me. I don't say this for sympathy, I only say this because he was one of the most important people in my life so his passing has deeply affected me.

A silver lining this week is that my family took the opportunity to gather, reconnect and celebrate the one common link between us - my grandfather. I met cousins that I had never seen, finally got to know an Aunt that I only knew in name and had the chance to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with some of my favorite family members (oh, come on, everyone has 'favorites' when it comes to family ... its not just me !). We reminisced about funny memories like the time grandaddy put a horse in the back of his car (there was alcohol involved), and how he showed us the Chicken Dance during a party for my graduation (again, there was alcohol involved). His favorite drink was Tequila, so we had a shot in his honor and laughed at my Aunt flapping around like a bird because it burned on the way down. The weather was picture perfect and we even managed a spirited game of backyard football before we lost daylight. I'm sure my grandaddy was laughing at the spectacle we made.

I've had a lot of distraction this week with family coming and going and being in a different environment all week, but I'm home now and will have some time to reflect on everything that has transpired since I left on a last minute flight to Florida last Thursday.

Sorry for the somber post, but it would have been disingenuous for me to try to be witty and light. Enjoy the weekend and, wherever you are and whatever you're doing, take the time to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you - not just during the holidays, but every day. You never know when they'll be gone and you don't want to live with regrets for what you should've said.

Some sage advice from my grandaddy : you only get one go'round, so you might as well make it good.

Guest Blogger Gotz Nuthin'

Plain Jane was called out of town and bestowed upon me full access to her blog as a "guest blogger." Alas, nothing seems witty enough or even mildly entertaining to the usual TGIF. So, failing a blank page, I am filling this TGIF page (and my guest blog responsibilties) with a classic cartoon from Dilbert.
This cartoon should not reflect in any way on Wendy's feeling about work, her work responsiblities, or desire to cook smelly food (popcorn) in the office microwave. This cartoon may reflect guest bloggers' feelings about the above.

Time flies .... whether you're having fun or not !

Good lord - Thanksgiving is next week. I was on the phone with a client in the UK who mentioned "our" upcoming holiday and when I looked at the calendar I wondered where the time went ? As a side note, it was an epiphany when I realized (about the age of 12 or so) that other countries didn't celebrate Thanksgiving. Don't laugh, you know you had those kinds of realizations, too.

As to where the time went - its seems like just the other day we were contesting the sprint at Greenbelt and today I saw snowflakes in the air. Seriously, there were snowflakes falling in downtown Baltimore. My Sunday ride in Howard County was so windy and cold we shortened it to 45 miles instead of 55. Thank goodness I had company - if not for the 4 brave souls who showed up to ride, I might not have made it with just my ipod. Chicken has a couple fun photos from the ride - we're smiling but dont let that fool you.

Other random events: I was driving home on Friday night from work in the dark ... cruising down 895 around 7pm (yes, just leaving work on a friday at 7pm - and that's early compared to recent days!) ... and I realized - I have no headlights. Both lowbeam headlights didnt work. Thank goodness the highway was well-lit, but as I was switching from lowbeams to parking lights to highbeams etc - just trying to figure out if I had any lights - I'm sure the people around me thought I was either drunk or stupid. Either way, they did tend to stay away from me - maybe this is a good strategy ?

After a spin session at CycleLife on Saturday, I went in search of someone to replace the lights. I know what you're thinking ... PlainJane, you raced cars. You can fix a silly headlight. Yeah, I thought that too, but no, that wasn't going to happen. Have you ever tried to replace a headlight in a BMW ? Darn German engineering makes it downright impossible. Anyway, no repair shop in DC would have anything to do with it. So I drove home before dark and kind of appreciated the excuse to stay home.

no, this isn't actually my car. It's way too clean


To make a long story short, I finally wound up at the BMW dealer in Towson. They're great, I just wished I didnt need to go there for lightbulbs ! Turns out there was a recall on some small part on my car so I got to cruise around in a new 5-series X-drive for a day. Almost made me want to get a new car ... almost. Anyway, $120 later, I now have headlights.

Zim - was that blogworthy ?