It's A Wonderful Life

Taken at midnight with everyone else asleep so kind of a strange picture. We've all got colds (not that we manage to stay up until midnight anyway), so not the greatest start to a new year. But I'm got Mari next to me, Tara curled up against my side, Mad with her head on my ankle and Mystic between by legs (that probably sounds terrible to most people but I love a good dog pile.) Got my folks up the hill, family in Atlanta and along the West coast.

Life's good.

Right Track

We only had a day to spend down in Atlanta, but we spent it well hanging out with Ashley, Payton, Mackenzie and Lonnie (though he had to work.) I highly approve of this Kenzie toy.

Assisted Opening

Things began to unwrap quickly. Well, some quicker than others. Payton had his new Switch out and was was playing it before Mackenzie got very far into her stuff.

Secondmas

A quick jaunt down to Atlanta to see the Atlanta Irelands and celebrate Christmas with them.

Advantageous Atmosphere

Taking advantage of a lazy and unseasonable warm post Christmas day to try this Macanudo - Cafe cigar.

Who's Counting?

Only.

Yippee-Ki-Yay Merry Filmas

Watching Die Hard (Yes, it IS a Christmas movie) to complete the list of movies that must be watched each year between the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas. This list is currently as follows in no particular order.

White Christmas
Miracle on 34th Street (can be in color, but must be the origonal)
It's A Wonderful Life
Elf
A Christmas Story
Scrooged
Christmas Vacation (National Lampoon's)
Die Hard

Your list may vary.

Mine is the correct one though.

Happy Little Christmas

There's nothing wrong with having a tree as a friend, and there's definitely nothing wrong with a wife who will put a little Bob Ross in your Christmas.

Worldly Eve

Christmas Eve dinner with Mari, Mom and Dad. Party crackers from England, blue champagne from Italy. Good food, good family, good times.

Before Yondu

Mari and I went to see Mary Poppins Returns today. Pretty good flick!

Message In A Mug

Someone at Kroger is trying to escape.

Contraband

I had my eye on a lava lamp, but I was nice and saved a coworker who drew this combo of cigars and booze, knowing it was something they didn't want but I wouldn't mind.

Road Work

We had our office party today, which included racing RC cars up and down the hall for prizes, then a game of Dirty Santa, and finally a potluck lunch.

4Lit

Thanks to Mari Ultra Sentinel Bititron now supports Christmas on all four ports.

Fugly

Mari and I stumbled across a line of ugly stuffed monsters called Fugglers at Barnes & Noble. Showing how compatible (and weird) we are, we had to have one. No name yet.

Moose Cup

Cousin Eddie makes an appearance at Pour Vous!

Tuscan Tipple

Memories in a bottle taste the best.

Fisticuffs

The Yakuza series is another one of those well known series I've never played because it was PlayStation only. They just released this one for PC so I grabbed it up to see what the fuss was about. Although the fighting bits got repetitive pretty quickly, the story was excellent and well worth playing through to see how it turned out.

On The Road Again

Signs that I agree with planning an emerald future.

Shuffle

Our first walk with the boot on, it works great on hard surfaces but ironically it makes walking on grass and such harder for her to get her bad leg under her. So we'll see.

Play That Anthem

An early peek at the future.

Moving DAy

260 down.

All Wrong

So in this latest jail update you can see they've started to build a structure on the right and have the materials to start another on the left. I had assumed this was going to be an open yard for perhaps inmate buses to use, or for rec time. Totally wrong. A person in the know I talk to recently said he thinks the right is going to be a mental health center and the left is where the Criminal Clerk Bond Office is moving into.

Getting The Boot

Getting old sucks. As Tara has aged her back left foot has started to drag a bit when she walks, and it's gotten to the point where she drags her knuckles bloody. So we bought her some boots and are going to experiment to see if she can function in them. The first test seemed to go ok. We'll see!

Pop In The Name Of Love

Oh yes, it's that time again. And it's super scrummy (shout out to the GBBO for that term.)

WOTM

My favorite month comes around again.

C@F&M

The best holiday combines with the best trip for the best memories.

Dismissed

I've said this before, but one of the best things about taking an online course from home is having my favorite study buddies around to "help."

Class

It's been a good class and I learned a lot about SCCM, I'm excited about the rollout in January.

Foregone Conclusion

Finished the sequel to Shadow of Mordor, Shadow of War. For some reason this one got old fast for me and I rushed through to get to the end. I guess one big problem is, since it takes place between the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings you know there's no real point. Nothing you do will change how those stories end, so it's trapped in it's own lore. They should take the Nemesis system and use on an original story so they can run with it.

Gone Platinum

I married the love of my life 20 years ago today. Our wedding song was Shania singing "Still the One", and it's more true than ever.

Looks like we made it
Look how far we've come my baby
We mighta took the long way
We knew we'd get there someday

 

They said "I bet they'll never make it"
But just look at us holding on
We're still together still going strong

 

You're still the one I run to
The on that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
(You're still the one)
You're still the one I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night

 

Ain't nothin' better
We beat the odds together
I'm glad we didn't listen
Look at what we would be missin'
They said "I bet they'll never make it"
But just look at us holdin' on
We're still together still goin' strong

 

You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
(You're still the one)
You're still the one I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night

 

You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
(You're still the one)
You're still the one I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night

 

I'm so glad we made it
Look how far we've come my baby

Learning To Manage The Manager

On my way to becoming an expert in SCCM.

Snow

White Christmas, split pea soup, peppermint ice cream. Mari, Mom, Dad. Fun.

Beholders

The artists admiring their work in its new home.

Barn Raising

I helped Dad hang this barn quilt on their lower patio today and it looks really good. In the center you can see the tree of life.

Many Boxes

It's they day after Thanksgiving and that means one thing! As guests head home Christmas is about to explode!

Thank Full

I always forget to take a before picture. Just too eager to get my turkey on I guess. Another tasty, fun, full Thanksgiving with family. Mari, Mom, Dad, Lonnie, Ashley, Payton, and Mackenzie. What more could you want?

Seuss Setting

Some light reading.

Floor Party

Brother, sister, sleeping dogs. Family.

Thanks For The Company B

Signs that Ashley and Mackenzie are visiting for the Thanksgiving week.

Thanks For The Company A

Signs that Payton is visiting for the Thanksgiving week.

Radiant Recovery

Mari mending.

Penitentiary Puzzle

The latest jail update has another mystery now, they've started building a strange maze of cement in the ground (seen by the left corner of the building.) Not sure what that is going to be, or how those walls will end up, but time will tell!

The Hardest Part

Parathyroid pull out.

Here There Be

I have demonstrated my love for the beauty found in space before and here's another example. This is nebula NGC 6188, but more poetically called the Dragons of Ara. Who said scientists aren't fun?

Dog Wisdom

True.

Over A Barrel

Ashley, Lonnie, Mackenzie, and Payton came up for a surprise weekend visit. We thought they were visiting us, but it turns out we were all visiting Cracker Barrel. Terrible service and problems in the kitchen combined to a two hour+ experience. We probably should have left, but oh well. Good company made it not seem that bad.

More Walls

More on the jail, just because I still like watching them build it. So the mystery that became a wall has now grown another wall down the middle, making my current guess this is going to be where they park the inmate transport buses. We shall see. Also, there was one gap left in the side of the building they were suing to load stuff in and out and they are finally filling that in as you can see on the right.

WOTM

We hope for election justice, we brace for more disappointment.

The Dangle

Mystic's favorite way to nap.