Move over economic crisis...we have a brand new, more exciting headline to cover, it's called the Swine Flu! It's taken American (and the world) by storm! I've heard/read more about Swine Flu in the past week than I've heard about the regular (Human flu) in my entire life. Typically, every year, your local news channel will have a story about Flu season and the actions you can take to minimize your chances of getting it -- drink plenty of water, eat your veggies, get adequate sleep, etc. But with this Swine Flu, I'm supposed to all of this PLUS I have all these other restrictions -- don't shake hands with anyone (not very American, is it? You can tell a lot about a person by their handshake, now how am I supposed to know if I will be able to be friends with them?), use hand sanitizer, wash your hands 8 kajillion times a day, stay out of confined places, stay home (in extreme cases). So, what is a fella to do? Worry? nah, I figure I have just as good of a chance, if not better, at getting the human virus as the pig version. I probably won't change my eating habits. And personally, I'd rather hear news about the tanking economy than some swine!
I think my favorite story out of this whole fiasco is the headline out of Israel. They had a very conservative religious leader making a speech about the whole ordeal. Since even saying the word "swine" is unkosher, the Jewish nation has renamed it -- Mexican Flu. I guess the Jewish community isn't too worried about being politically correct. To say the least, I laughed for a couple of minutes after I heard that.
As of last week, I did not have swine flu. I went to the doc for a routine checkup and she gave me a clean bill of health.
Andrea and I are headed to Pennsylvania for the weekend. A weekend with the Skyrm's!! We'll be going with here dad, mom, and sister to Grove City. We're leaving about 7AM...and yes the coffee timer is set! I love that thing! One of her cousins goes to college there (same place her brother Jamie went) and they are having their annual talent show weekend. Supposedly it's huge and if you don't get there early, you don't get a seat. I have very high expectations for it! I must say that this isn't the ONLY reason we're going. I keep hearing that they have THE BEST outlet mall there, and I believe most of our day on Saturday (and money) will be spent there. As I'm writing this, I got to thinking...think of all those door handles, clothes, money, that people touch. That's just asking me to get the swine flu! ...and then, what about the place where the talent show is taking place? Won't that be considered a "confined space"? maybe we should reconsider...
Just think...if the swine flu gets too much more attention, April may become world Swine Flu Awareness month. ...Doug, there's an idea for the calendar you make every year for mom and dad.
One more note, this past weekend we were at Andrea's grandparent's house, and Andrea put their dog outside on a leash, well, the dog (Winnie) started digging to China so she got in trouble and Andrea went out to cover up the hole. In the process she found a couple of worms she wanted to keep to go fishing with. That's fine and well, but Andrea doesn't have a fishing pole (yet). So, she put them in a plastic bowl with dirt and a lid. We loosened the lid so the worms could breathe. Well, tonite I came home and was looking for something on the floor, and what do I see? next to the base of the black chair, there is a worm, shriveled up and rock hard. Then when Andrea gets home there is another one underneath her shoe. I haven't checked the dirt for worms, but isn't it ironic that there were only 2 worms??? I guess it's good that it rained all day so we can go out and find more.
Until next time, be good and stay away from the swine that have the flu!
4.19.2009
Sunday Sunday
It's been a rainy, cool, spring day. Not like the last two days which have been absolutely beautiful. It was just a tease because I just heard a while ago that on Tuesday, there is a chance for some snowflakes....welcome to my life in Indiana! There is one sure sign that warm weather has arrived in Indiana...you must again start swerving to miss all of the horse poop on the roads. I thought about writing to my congressman asking him to propose a fine for those that don't pick up after their modes of transportation. After all, we do expect people to pick up after their dogs/cats, and all gas stations have a sign posted that "you are responsible for spills", so doesn't it make sense that the Amish should take some ownership in keeping our planet clean and get the dung off the road? I'm not asking too much, right?
Yesterday was a gorgeous day. I spent my day sweeping out my car, which hadn't been done for probably 2 years, and then went golfing in the afternoon. For supper I grilled a couple T-bone steaks and roasted some asparagus in the oven -- scrumdiddlyumptious! Andrea made a lemon cake from scratch -- also just wonderful! I had suggested making a cake from a box, and she told me that she would rather make them from scratch, and like many of you reading this, no objection to that!
If you haven't noticed, I've added the major league baseball standings to my blog. After a couple of comments (OK, mainly just one - from my "MIL") I felt it necessary to keep track of things and come back to it occasionally. You must remember...anything that you comment on is here forever and you can't take it back. :)
We went up to our landlords' tonight to visit and see their new baby. They had another boy (#3), Jacob Henry. Andrea had been what I call stalking them for the past couple of weeks because she wanted to know if the baby had been born, and then wanted to see it. We had used their recipe for making pretzels, so we used that as our excuse to go upstairs and see the baby. We are going to make them supper and spend the evening with them in a couple of weeks. For one dish, we planned to make green bean casserole, but come to find out one of their boys, gagged/yakked on the stuff at Thanksgiving dinner last year, and we don't really want that to happen again!
Work continues to go well. We're entering our busy season and we've seen a slight increase in orders, so I guess our distributors are still expecting to travel. Even if people don't travel as far, as long as they stay at a hotel...that helps us! Andrea is finally done Tax Season!! YEAH! She had April 16th off (that's a company holiday) and then she took a vacation day on Friday, so she's hoping tomorrow she can find enough to do to keep her busy!
Hope everyone continues to be well! Talk to you in the next post!
Yesterday was a gorgeous day. I spent my day sweeping out my car, which hadn't been done for probably 2 years, and then went golfing in the afternoon. For supper I grilled a couple T-bone steaks and roasted some asparagus in the oven -- scrumdiddlyumptious! Andrea made a lemon cake from scratch -- also just wonderful! I had suggested making a cake from a box, and she told me that she would rather make them from scratch, and like many of you reading this, no objection to that!
If you haven't noticed, I've added the major league baseball standings to my blog. After a couple of comments (OK, mainly just one - from my "MIL") I felt it necessary to keep track of things and come back to it occasionally. You must remember...anything that you comment on is here forever and you can't take it back. :)
We went up to our landlords' tonight to visit and see their new baby. They had another boy (#3), Jacob Henry. Andrea had been what I call stalking them for the past couple of weeks because she wanted to know if the baby had been born, and then wanted to see it. We had used their recipe for making pretzels, so we used that as our excuse to go upstairs and see the baby. We are going to make them supper and spend the evening with them in a couple of weeks. For one dish, we planned to make green bean casserole, but come to find out one of their boys, gagged/yakked on the stuff at Thanksgiving dinner last year, and we don't really want that to happen again!
Work continues to go well. We're entering our busy season and we've seen a slight increase in orders, so I guess our distributors are still expecting to travel. Even if people don't travel as far, as long as they stay at a hotel...that helps us! Andrea is finally done Tax Season!! YEAH! She had April 16th off (that's a company holiday) and then she took a vacation day on Friday, so she's hoping tomorrow she can find enough to do to keep her busy!
Hope everyone continues to be well! Talk to you in the next post!
4.11.2009
Woe Is Me
At the beginning of the Spring season, I decided to get a membership at the local golf course. So, for the past three weeks I've tried to find some warm, calm days to go. These have been very hard to come by, but there have been a few. While I would much rather play by myself, or at least with someone I know, it's not always possible and I've had to play with several strangers. I do get to meet some new people, but 100% (so far) of them have been much better than me. It's very humbling. I'm not good by any means, but usually when I repeat something several times I eventually get better. Practice makes perfect, right? Nope. OK, so practice makes better. Not even close! No, practice hasn't helped me one bit yet. I must say that I still have fun. I get frustrated a lot, but as long as I can slam my golf club on the ground once or twice, I'm good to go. I'll be watching The Master's this weekend, so maybe I can pick up a few pointers.
We got our tax refunds last week. That's always a good feeling to get some $$ from the gov't. Although I felt they could have added about $100,000 to it so I could help stimulate their economy. But they didn't so I guess they'll have to wait for me to buy a new car, new house, new TV, and a new RV.
I did however buy a GPS system. I don't have it yet, I bought it early last week and with the holiday on Friday I have to wait until next week to get it. We thought it would be a good purchase since we have a several places we are going this summer. Plus, it will be helpful even around here when we go to South Bend. I don't know the area very well and Andera's sense of direction isn't exactly what you would call "good" so I think we'll get our money's worth. Andrea's work has mid-season and after tax season parties and they're always somewhere we've never been -- and we've had very bad luck with Mapquest. It can get us close, but not to the exact location -- and that's a problem, especially when there's free food!
Is anyone else excited that baseball season started??? I am! My prediction...Tigers sweep the Indians all season long! Anyone agree? :) Oh, and as for my Indiana readers: White Sox & Cubs might as well stay at spring training.
Enjoy the weekend!
Happy Easter!
We got our tax refunds last week. That's always a good feeling to get some $$ from the gov't. Although I felt they could have added about $100,000 to it so I could help stimulate their economy. But they didn't so I guess they'll have to wait for me to buy a new car, new house, new TV, and a new RV.
I did however buy a GPS system. I don't have it yet, I bought it early last week and with the holiday on Friday I have to wait until next week to get it. We thought it would be a good purchase since we have a several places we are going this summer. Plus, it will be helpful even around here when we go to South Bend. I don't know the area very well and Andera's sense of direction isn't exactly what you would call "good" so I think we'll get our money's worth. Andrea's work has mid-season and after tax season parties and they're always somewhere we've never been -- and we've had very bad luck with Mapquest. It can get us close, but not to the exact location -- and that's a problem, especially when there's free food!
Is anyone else excited that baseball season started??? I am! My prediction...Tigers sweep the Indians all season long! Anyone agree? :) Oh, and as for my Indiana readers: White Sox & Cubs might as well stay at spring training.
Enjoy the weekend!
Happy Easter!
4.01.2009
April Fools
Life has been pretty (un)eventful since I left you the last time. On Saturday I went to a Men's breakfast at our church, River Oaks Community. It started at 7:00AM...who the heck starts something on Saturday morning at 7 o'clock?? During the week I'm not even out of bed at 7. It's one of those things that I wanted to do and on the way there all I can think about is being in bed, sleeping -- like normal people on Saturday. But when I got there, they justified having it so early with the food. Homemade biscuits, grilled sausage patties, real scrambled eggs, fruit and the usual breakfast beverages. We had a speaker and he was a pilot. He asked if there were any other pilots in the audience...reluctantly I stuck my hand up. I say reluctantly because I haven't flown for about 3 years, so I was hoping that he wouldn't ask me any questions b/c I feel like I'm a bit rusty. Thankfully, no questions!
Later that day, I went to the Rec Center to work off my breakfast. I should have let it settle a little more because I could feel the food "slooshing" (got that word from my mother) around in my stomach...not the feeling you want when you're doing situps. Needless to say, my workout wasn't very intense.
On my way home I stopped at the library to get a book. I found the book I wanted, but ended up looking around for about 20 minutes. When i get to the checkout counter, the lady said "oh, you've been flagged in our system" My first thought was....Great! I have another late fee (thanks to Andrea). But to my surprise no, they tried to send me something in the mail and it was returned. They still had my address from the first place I lived in Goshen. They asked for something with my current address on it. I pulled out my driver's license and they look at their big map and proceed to tell me that I'm no longer in the township that the Goshen public library services. Apparently since I have a Goshen address and live in Jefferson Township I have to use the Middlebury Library as my home library, makes a lot of sense huh?. Here's the real kicker...once I have my library card (from Middlebury), I can still check out books in Goshen.
So I proceed to hop in my car and drive to Middlebury to get a card. I walked in and signed up and the lady said "Your card will be mailed to you in about a week" A week??? How does it take so long to make me a card? After the initial shock of a week, I said OK and walked away. But then I stopped and though, I came here to get a book, surely since they have my info, they can let me get my book. So, I go back to the desk and ask if I can still check out a book, and the librarian shook her head and gave me a look: half "No, I'm sorry" the other half "are you stupid??" I guess I didn't think it was such a dumb question...boy was I wrong -- just so everyone knows...there are dumb questions.
I currently have no library card, no book...and just as I was leaving the Goshen library she said "oh sir, one more thing...the computer also shows that you have some library fees" I owe $3.70....thanks Andrea!
Until next time
Later that day, I went to the Rec Center to work off my breakfast. I should have let it settle a little more because I could feel the food "slooshing" (got that word from my mother) around in my stomach...not the feeling you want when you're doing situps. Needless to say, my workout wasn't very intense.
On my way home I stopped at the library to get a book. I found the book I wanted, but ended up looking around for about 20 minutes. When i get to the checkout counter, the lady said "oh, you've been flagged in our system" My first thought was....Great! I have another late fee (thanks to Andrea). But to my surprise no, they tried to send me something in the mail and it was returned. They still had my address from the first place I lived in Goshen. They asked for something with my current address on it. I pulled out my driver's license and they look at their big map and proceed to tell me that I'm no longer in the township that the Goshen public library services. Apparently since I have a Goshen address and live in Jefferson Township I have to use the Middlebury Library as my home library, makes a lot of sense huh?. Here's the real kicker...once I have my library card (from Middlebury), I can still check out books in Goshen.
So I proceed to hop in my car and drive to Middlebury to get a card. I walked in and signed up and the lady said "Your card will be mailed to you in about a week" A week??? How does it take so long to make me a card? After the initial shock of a week, I said OK and walked away. But then I stopped and though, I came here to get a book, surely since they have my info, they can let me get my book. So, I go back to the desk and ask if I can still check out a book, and the librarian shook her head and gave me a look: half "No, I'm sorry" the other half "are you stupid??" I guess I didn't think it was such a dumb question...boy was I wrong -- just so everyone knows...there are dumb questions.
I currently have no library card, no book...and just as I was leaving the Goshen library she said "oh sir, one more thing...the computer also shows that you have some library fees" I owe $3.70....thanks Andrea!
Until next time
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