I know, I know….
Yeah, yeah, yeah - I know I haven’t posted anything in four months. You see, I’m easily distracted. Not only by bright, shiny (and preferably expensive) things, but by the other social sites, which I’ve already talked about…Facebook and Twitter. I was reminded by big brother Mike last week that my site hasn’t been updated, and being a loyal brother, he still checks the site anyway. Thanks, Mike, it means alot that you do that.
So, in the last four months, I’ve been busy working, traveling and getting ready for our family Christmas. Let me recap the highlights: I had the pleasure of going to Detroit and Chicago for work. I traveled with my former manager to Detroit, and we were able to meet up with one of my favorite people that is now retired and joined us for dinner. We had a great time meeting him, and just traveling together.
I went to Chicago as part of our traveling Seminar and was blessed to have the support of my colleagues on the project and a very talented staff at the IBM Tech Center. The event was stressful - no bathrooms on day one, fire drill on day two along with other normal event related challenges. I haven’t been to Chicago in many years, and was lucky to get a room overlooking the lake at The Drake hotel. The hotel is still a grand old dame and so full of history. My dad’s aunt lived there when I was small, and I vaguely remember looking all that way down to the street. In reality, there aren’t that many floors but I was small then. Even so, it was cool to stay there.
I also had the opportunity to go home and visit Ma and Rebby in September. We had perfect weather. The beach was too cold to go to in a swimsuit, but great to be at nonetheless. I saw my cousin, Tori too, always a pleasure and fun. We all ate at the Ice House, went bowling and went to the Lobster Festival in Portsmouth. It’s always good to go home….
Then, Mr. Q and I spent a whole lot of time getting ready for a pile of people for Christmas. I think at the peak, we had eleven in the house, sleeping here and there and drinking more coffee in one day than he and I do in two weeks! We haven’t all been together for Christmas - ever - so it was quite an event. We had a fun Yankee Swap, so no pressure on gifts, and everyone pitched in on cleanup, prep cooking and especially eating.
We also had quite a surprise on Christmas Eve when we were Flamingoed!!! About 30 pink Flamingoes appeared on my front lawn. In the snow. They looked very, very cold. As quickly and quietly as they appeared, they disappeared in the night. It was a fun thing to do, and we were sure to get pictures of all of us with them.
The house now seems so quiet and well, dull now that everyone has left. We’ve taken down and stored away the Christmas decorations, and are slowly getting the laundry from the beds and baths done. The energy we had in the house when it was full was great, and miss it and all those that made Christmas the best yet. I hope we get a chance to do this again before long.
Those are the highlights. I’ll leave out the lowlights - there is a reason they are called lowlights. I hope you all have a successful, happy 2010, and look for more updates here than in 2009.
