Gettin Old

I realized, finally, that I am getting old.  No, it wasn't the fact that I have thinning hair (thanks for pointing that out at Easter dinner Mom), or that I have trouble walking up and down stairs, or even that I have a child about to graduate from college.  No, what finally provided the proof was something as simple as an office chair.

I was at work late last week, and was working at a bench that is just a tad higher than a desk.  We have some stools that are okay to sit in, but I was longing for a chair that had arms, and that I could lean my old, weary body back into.  I grabbed an extra chair from the conference room and sat down.  It was set too high to give me the level of comfort I so desperately longed for, so I used the release on the side to lower it.

Now comes the old part.  The feeling I got in the pit of my stomach, was like when I was a kid, and my Dad drove us to my Aunt and Uncles house.  We drove on County Line Road, because they were building C-470 across a new suburb named Highlands Ranch.  I know, another indicator of being old.  Who else remembers watching the C-470 highway being built?

Anyway, my Dad would drive just fast enough, that when we would crest the many steep hills that used to be County Line Road (they flattened out all the good ones), I would "lose my stomach".  Not sure if you know the feeling I am talking about, but it was awesome when I was a kid.  I experienced it on that drive, and riding the Twister at Elitches, or the Cyclone at Lakeside.  So hopefully you get it now.

Yea,  I felt that LOWERING AN OFFICE CHAIR!!!!!

I am old.

Peace,
Woody

Sleep and Dreams

Okay, here's the deal, I have recurring dreams from time to time, and I have been having this one lately:

I am either back in high school, or back in college, both of which I finished, so I don't know why I am "back".  Anywho, I am faced with the fact that I know I haven't been keeping up with my homework, and actually I don't even know what or where my classes are.  I can't determine the level of knowledge I am trying to gain because it seems like they are college classes, but I am headed to the administration office of my high school.  Where it used to be, the office next to the auditorium, on the Newark Street side, those of you from ACHS back in the day will understand.

So off to the admin office I go, when I somehow wander down the hall, which if I remember correctly has a ramp down, passes by the counselors office, the nurses office, and ends up near the band and choir rooms.  Yes I know where the band room was, I was not only the captain of the football team, but also lettered in band!

Anyway, I just wander around the school until I eventually wake up.  Some night I hope I sleep long enough to make it to a class to see if I actually BS my way through not being prepared for class.

Not sure what this dream means, but I have had it a few times......

Peace,
Woody

Back Again

Not really our boxes..

Hello everyone, I am back yet again from another blogging hiatus.  Since last we spoke, Kim and I closed on our first owned home together, and moved all of the stuff from our apartment to the house.  What a long couple of weeks it was.  In between work, Joeys baseball, and all the other parts of life, we managed to get almost everything moved by ourselves. 

Joey Pitching

The only things we needed help with were 2 dressers, a couch, a loveseat, and an old 65 inch rear projection TV that weighs more than the earth itself.  I think we actually slowed the rotation of the earth as Mike drove his truck with the TV in the bed.

Now comes the fun parts, unpacking everything, and cleaning the apartment to get our deposit back.  Now I am sure some of you may have stories of trying to get your deposit back, the stories that include me go like this:  "This _____ is _____  therefore we are deducting $___.__ from your deposit."  Repeat until there is no deposit left.  This time needs to be different, and Kim is ready for a fight.

I will let you know how it goes.

The other thing that will I am sure be fodder for this blog, is that Corey is moving in with us.  We are very excited to have him there, I really miss having him around, but he has been used to living by himself for a while, and 12 year old, only-child, Keara is about to share a Jack-and-Jill bathroom with Corey.  This along with the fact that they share a similar level of stubborn-ism should make for some amusing anecdotes.

Well, I will try to post more often when thing slow down, I know how the 3 followers I have wait with baited breath for my next post.  Until then........

Peace,
Woody

I'm Still Here!

Ready for Cave Tubing in Belize!

Hello loyal readers, it is I, back again, after quite a bit of time off.  Lets see, what have I been up to?  Well, my lovely wife Kimberly and I bought a house, no big deal, just you know, a HOUSE!

Oh and we went on a once in a lifetime Caribbean vacation with her family, THAT was fun, the only thing missing was my sons.

I started a new job, doing the same thing, just at a different yet-to-be-assigned desk.

So that is what I have been up to, more on the house at a later time, we don't own it yet, so I don't want to jinx anything, so let me tell you a story about my trip.

Who would have thought the most nerve-racking part of the entire trip would be one of the most memorable.  We planned a couple excursions on the cruise we took, one of which was a pleasant relaxing day in Roatan, Honduras at an amazing beach.  The description of which was that we would be bussed over to a beach, have our own designated lounge chairs, have shopping and snorkel equipment available, and then, when we were ready to return to the ship, there would be shuttles running every 30 minutes.  Sounds good right, nice and relaxing.....

Some of the fish we swam with

So it started as advertised, we took a nice bus ride over to an amazing beach.  Rented some gear, hit the water, and had the most amazing snorkeling I have ever experienced.  We saw thousands of fish as we swam along a barrier reef.  I was in awe of the beauty of the world beneath the water, it was breathtaking.

We returned to the beach, and I found my lounge chair in the shade, and got my relax on.  We had our own security guy, watching all our stuff, and making sure that the vendors left us alone if we didn't want to buy their wares.  One "vendor" was offering a boat trip for the group to go snorkel with dolphins, he even guaranteed that we would see dolphins, or we didn't have to pay him.  He said the trip would last about an hour, we had close to 2, so 6 people from our group headed out.

I made sure my lounge chair wasn't moving anywhere, there was a live band playing cover tunes in the distance, the women all went to visit the shops, and I drifted off to sleep, it was great.....

Huge Starfish, looks like Patrick!

Suddenly I woke to an announcement over the PA system saying "Attention, the final shuttle will be leaving in 15 minutes".  I decided it was a good time to pick up, joint the group, and head back to the ship.  One problem, the 6 people that left were nowhere to be found.

Panic immediately set in, and made itself as comfortable as I was in my chair.  The girls were there, and we stood wondering where the adventurers were.  Meanwhile, they were calling for the final passengers.  We were screwed in my opinion.  They held the shuttles as long as they could, but the time came that they had to let them go.  Still no sign of the group, and I was freaking out.  We had let the ones with all their stuff go back to the ship on the last shuttle.  We figured if we needed to get a cab it might be cheaper.

Just when I was about to hyperventilate, my wife told me that there was one more shuttle that was used to get the employees back to town, and that they would hold that one for us.  I was able to breathe a little as we waited, and waited, and waited.  Then the man who seemed to be in charge said "I'm sorry, but we have to leave in 10 minutes", queue my troubled breathing...

Somehow, the dolphin boat made it back, our group was literally running back, we piled on the employee bus and were on our way.

Now I am not saying we were breaking the law speed wise on our way back, because I never saw a speed limit sign, but the guy was driving the bus like he stole it.  We "slowed down" 3 or 4 times to let employees off so they could get home or to their other jobs, and I mean slowed down, not stopped.

Just when I was feeling better about our chances, we completely stopped.  There was an accident, and the barely 2 lane road was jammed, horns honking, people standing around.  No one outside our bus knew the urgency of the situation, and I couldn't breathe again.  Just then a guy jumped off our bus, ran up to the police car that just showed up, yelled at him, and made him get out of OUR way, he then stopped traffic and got our bus around the mess, and my breathing back on track, a little.

So we finally made it to the port, and we all flew off the bus and started hustling to the ship.  Now I am relaxing a little, but that would be short lived.  We had to walk through the Duty-Free shops to get to the ship, and wouldn't you know it, Kim and Keara decided that it was a great time to stop and shop!  My Brother-in-law and Niece decided they needed ice cream, and I decided that they were all NUTS!

I stood there for a second, and told my lovely wife Kim, that I would meet them in the room.  Yes I left my family there so I could board the ship!  I was hoping that my great display of urgency would wear off on others and they would follow suit, but they just let me go, they had things to shop for, ice cream to eat.  I just went back to my room, curled up shaking in the fetal position, and cried like a baby, it's what I do!

So there it is, much more dramatic than I can express in words, probably not as dramatic as I made it out to be, and very memorable.  Overall, much better than getting robbed in Jamaica!

Well, I better go pack, got a house to move into!  Woo-Hoo!

Peace,

Woody

Happy Valentines Day

Okay, here's the deal.  I am not going to pretend that there isn't a part of me that thinks, like many others, that Valentines Day was "invented" by the candy and greeting card companies.  It has always wreeked of this, and I am not saying that my views have completely changed.  What I am saying is that I look at what the day stands for and am glad that I have the partner I do.

I love my wife more than I ever thought possible, and if she truly understood how much that was, her head might explode.

And since I love Kim so much, I wish I could stand on the top of a mountain and yell to everyone at the top of my lungs, but then I realized no one would hear me.  But, if I blog about it, I can actually reach every continent when I say "I LOVE YOU KIM!!!"

You just experienced the first ever virtual mountain top yelling EVER!  Aren't you glad?

So why do I love Kim so much?  If I had to sum it up, it's because of not only that she loves me back, but the way that she loves me.  Every day she makes me feel special, like I am the only one, and she truly means it.  I know this because when I look in the mirror, I see a completely different person than she does.  Kim sees me from the inside first, and the rest is just icing.  I know this because I love Kim from the inside out too.  She makes it a LOT easier, because her outside is much more beautiful than mine.

Happy Valentines Day Kim,,,  I LOVE YOU

Peace,
Woody

February is a Good Month

Hey there guys and gals, It's me again, dropping some words of knowledge and such from the depths of my ever churning brain.

February is a month that I will always hold as special, it is the birth month for both my sons.  Corey turned 20, and  Joey is celebrated his 22nd birthday.  Wow, I am old.  Corey's birthday was Super Bowl Sunday, and they couldn't even sing the National Anthem right for him, what a bummer.

My wife is very cool, while we were sitting around Sunday, she paused the TV, (I know, why did she have the remote, right?), and said, "Tell me about the day Corey was born."  Se she wants to know as much as she can about the boys, because she knows how much I love them.  I guess it is a way of finding out more about what I may have been like half a life ago, and at the same time her attempt to get to know the boys better.

So I told her what I could remember from 20 years ago, the few details my cobweb of a mind could recall.  Like the fact that as they were giving my ex-wife an epidural, I watched until I saw brown fluid come out of her spine, and the nurse had to sit me down before I fell and crushed someone. (Always have to make it about me I guess), or how they had to put Corey in an oxygen tent thing.  He was so peaceful and quiet, what a great kid he was, and still is today.

Then she reminded me that since Corey was now 20, I have no teenagers, vis a vis I am old.  I am sure glad she had the remote, and asked me to reflect.  I have 2 amazing sons that make me proud every day.  I love you guys more than you can understand.

Peace,
Woody

I Have Been Neglecting My Blog.....

Sorry folks, hopefully my lack of writing hasn't slowed your lives to a crawl as you sit patiently by your computer screens looking for my next post.

Why Won't Woody Write Witty Words?

I would love to say that I haven't had time to write because I have been so busy at the gym, or that I developed a new Sys Admin tool that fixes computers all by itself so I don't have to, or that I was off exploring the far reaches of the planet on vacation (soon enough, going on a sure-to-be-pleasure-filled cruise in just a matter of weeks!!), but alas, none of that has kept me from blogging.

Life sometimes gets in the way of other things.  It is tax time, the truck broke down again, looking at making some changes for the better, you know life.

So while life gets in the way of my blog, think about the song I wrote and sang to my lovely wife last night while we watched American Idol, which I would win if there wasn't that darn age requirement keeping me from doing so.

Ahem, AHEM  <---- me clearing my throat.

Got an itchy nose, and I want to scratch it!
Got an itchy nose, and I need to scratch it!
Got an itchy nose, and I have to scratch it!
Hope I don't touch a booger while I'm there!

(I borrowed the tune and styling from the song "Kitty" by The Presidents of The United States of America)

I know, amazing, I should probably copyright these lyrics soon before they show up in a Lady GaGa song.

Peace,
Woody