I got the text early this afternoon that the power had been restored at work. I had anticipated that it would be back on and that I would be back at work tonight. But that didn’t stop us from taking advantage of the fact that I was home last night.
Sam had some clothes that she wanted to take up to the resale place today. We decided to make an outing of it. I loaded up the bins of clothes in the car, packed the stroller and drove up to the shop. A few miles away is the Saginaw Children’s Zoo, which the kids LOVE, so we had a great morning family outing there.
Ella could not wait to get into the zoo!
I’m not sure why, but the animals were extra active today. The penguins were waddling and swimming, the otter was really putting on a swimming show, the wolves were active, and the monkey’s were monkeying around.
The only problem with visiting the zoo on a weekday is that the same person runs the train and the carousel. So the train rolled in and the engineer told Ella that she needed to go run the carousel, but the train would run again in 30 minutes. Ella took this fairly well and she played in the sand and made a new friend.
Side note: I’ve said it before, but it is worth repeating. The world would be such a better place if we used kids as an example. Ella and another girl named Faith became instant friends at the playground. “I’m Ella!” “I’m Faith” and then they walked hand in hand for a while. Skin color, religion, gender, and political position didn’t matter at all. “Let’s be friends!” We adults could learn something from them!
We eventually made it back to the train and we got to ride it twice before going home. The girls (Mom and Ella) sat together and the boys (Dad and Andrew) sat together.
As you can see, she was just a tad excited.
Before we left, we stopped at the gift shop and got a new book to read at bedtime. It was SO nice to have that extra family time!
Tonight I am supposed to be at work. Instead, I am at home writing from the comfort of my bed. Sam is asleep next to me, well, sort of. Andrew is actually in between us because he woke up crying a bit ago. Ella is asleep in her room and I am listening to the sounds of their sound machine.
Sam worked last night and her mom came over this morning and took the kids to her house for a bit so that we could sleep. I woke up and went to pick them up around 1 and let Sam sleep a bit longer.
When I got home it was about 2 and I helped Sam with a few things before trying to lay back down to nap before work. I think I slept in short naps. At one point, I even dreamt.
Sam came in and woke me about 4:15 saying she was going to pick up pizza. When she left, I looked at my phone and saw a text thread from my boss. I guess the sleep lab had no power last night and was without power again tonight, so they had to cancel patients and call us off.
I could focus on the negative about losing hours and money on my paycheck, but instead, I will focus on the fact that I got extra family time – a rare thing with our schedules. It was so nice to all be together.
We all ate pizza together. We had conversations together. We played outside and worked outside together. It really was nice. Sam gave Andrew his bath, and I gave Ella hers. The kids didn’t really get good naps today, so we had early bedtimes.
Sam put Andrew to sleep first. While she did that, Ella grabbed books off the shelf and I sat on the couch with her and read them with her. We then went and brushed our teeth together and got ready for bed. After prayers were said, she snuggled with her Nana blanket and was soon off to sleep.
Because I did some yard work, I hopped in the shower before bed. As I was drying off, I heard Andrew crying, so I knew he’d be in our bed. I also knew just how tired Sam was and knew she’d be asleep pretty quick.
So here I am. A simple blog about some simple things often taken for granted: Bath time, book time, family time and more. It is my hope that one day I can get off the midnight roller coaster and have a job that allows for more of this. I miss it so much.
When I get excellent service, it is important to make sure I acknowledge it. That is exactly what I am doing in this blog today. I need to tip my hat to the folks at Asurion.
If you read my blog from yesterday, you are aware that I had an issue with my phone. I dropped it and damaged it and eventually remembered that I had insurance on it. So last night, I filed a claim and ordered a replacement. The process was fairly easy and done all online.
All I had to do was enter my phone number and it told me what my deductible was. Once I paid it online, they said that they would ship out my replacement phone with instructions. They said to expect it in 24-48 hours. That was more than acceptable, especially since I filed the claim late last night.
It had been about 3 months since I had connected my phone to a computer to back up all my photos and documents, so I figured 1 to 2 days would give me a chance to do just that. I packed my external drive in my work bag when I got home yesterday morning so that I could do the back up while I was at work.
When I woke up this afternoon I was surprised to see that the new phone had already arrived. I was impressed.
I had yet to back up everything on the old phone, so when I got up I started to do that. I wanted to be sure that once I fired up the new phone, I was going to be able to use it. The back up wasn’t quite done when I left, so I finished it once I connected to the work Wi-Fi. Once that was done, I fired up the laptop, downloaded all the photos and documents to it and then transferred those to the hard drive.
Once the patients were in bed, I pulled the SIM card from one phone, put the new one in the new phone and began the process of getting it up and running. I was surprised that once I turned it on, it began to install everything from the back up. It took some time, but that was ok.
When everything was reinstalled, I called the phone to make sure it was working. Ta da! It rang. I asked my co-worker to text me to make sure that was working and she sent me a funny text with profanity in it. I’d expect nothing less from her.
On my lunch break, I began opening apps and logging back in to them. I was surprised that I remembered most of the passwords and only needed to reset a few. There are a few things on this phone that are a bit different than my old one, even though they are basically the same. It will take some getting used to.
I already have it in the Otterbox and when my screen protectors arrive today from Amazon, I will put one right on. Hopefully I will get a year or two out of this phone!
My thanks to the folks at Asurion! I am impressed with just how fast and easy it was to get it back up and running.
Five stars customer product rating review flat icon for apps and websites
It is time for another installment of my Friday Photo Flashback. I had originally planned to post a photo of my parents at my aunt’s wedding. When I saw the date, however, I knew I had to go back and grab one from another wedding – theirs.
53 years ago this week, my parents were married. The above picture is one of many from their wedding photo album. There are other photos of the two of them together, but this one is my favorite. As I looked through their album, I saw a few people I didn’t recognize. This is where I wish my mom were still alive so I could ask who they were. I doubt that my dad knows them.
I love how they are off center in the picture to allow for the train of mom’s dress to be included in it. She is absolutely beautiful. I love that my dad is wearing a white coat with his tux. I always thought that looked sharp, and he looks dapper here. I am a bit surprised that he is not wearing spats. He did wear them to my first wedding.
I want to say that this photo was in a frame that sat in my grandparent’s front room for the entire time that they lived in their house. It may have made the move to their condo, but I don’t recall it being out on display.
9 months later, the lives of these two young lovebirds would change forever. I arrived in May of 1970 bringing them much joy and happiness.
I watched it fall like it was in slow motion. My phone slid off the counter and as it fell I could hear myself yelling in slow motion, “Nooooooo!” I could feel myself reaching out, hoping to get my hands on it before it hit the floor, but I never had the chance. It came down and the upper left corner of the phone slammed into the floor.
It seemed to bounce before it fell facedown on the floor. My heart sank, knowing that despite the protection of a screen protector and an Otterbox, the screen had shattered.
I reached down, picked it up and slowly turned the front to face me. Sure enough, the upper corner of my phone was covered in cracks and shards of glass. One crack went from the upper left corner all the way down to the lower right corner. It was not pretty.
This isn’t the first time it has dropped on the ground. Perhaps this time it was just high enough to do damage. The Otterbox and screen protector have done their jobs! It took a few drops before the screen protector cracked and was replaced. The last one held up for well over a year. This drop, however, was a bit different and when I heard it hit the ground, I knew it was going to be bad.
The last few phones I have had were Motorola phones. I have had very good luck with them. For a while there it seemed like I was only getting a year or less out of a phone before I had to send them back to the factory or call about issues. When I switched to Moto phones, those issues stopped. I always got 2-3 years out of them with little or no issues.
Three years ago, when it was time for Sam and I to upgrade, she tried to get me to switch to an iPhone, and despite some very good arguments, I stayed with my Android phone. It continues to work well, and if it wasn’t terribly damaged, I’m sure I wouldn’t even be thinking about an upgrade yet. After the incident today, I opened up my Verizon App and began to explore the option to upgrade.
With both of our phones paid in full, our current bill has come down. I hated the thought of upgrading because that would mean an extra $20 or more on the bill each month. I called Verizon and discussed options on my way to work.
The rep who I spoke with shared some of the upgrade options with me. I had seen something on the app that said if you upgraded one phone, you could get another free. I thought this could be nice for both Sam and I, however, I was told in order to do that, you have to get an entirely new line and new number. We’ve both had our numbers for years, so that was not an option.
They had a deal on a new Samsung phone. The phone would cost $980, but they would give me $800 for my phone. I would only have to pay $180 for the phone over 36 months – $5 a month. This would be something I could work with. I didn’t want to do anything without first discussing with Sam, so I mentioned it to her and I decided that I would go ahead with the upgrade, despite it not being a Motorola phone.
I chatted with another representative when I called back. I told her exactly what I had discussed with the other rep. She proceeded to get things in order and before we finalized things, she told me my new monthly bill would be almost $50 more. I asked how that could be and she started to explain this that and the other. I reminded her that the other rep had given me a quote that was only $5 more a month. She said she was going to try something else.
When she returned to the line the price had come down, but only slightly. I told her that I had been with Verizon for over 20 years and I didn’t want to pay the higher price. She tweaked here and there and it never really came down much more. I reminded myself that the only reason I was gung ho about the new phone was that it was basically an even trade. It was only going to cost $5 a month, so why wouldn’t I take advantage of this?! I told the woman on the phone that I would need to discuss this with my wife before committing to the changes, knowing that I was not going to do it.
So now what? I opened up my app and started to really examine the bill. One of the things I had forgotten about was the fact that I have been paying for insurance on my phone since I got it! Insurance! It had been so long since I have had to file any kind of claim, I had completely forgotten about it.
In the past it seemed like I was forever using the Asurion insurance to replace broken phones, phones that wouldn’t keep a charge, and phone with other issues. I went to their website, typed in my number and filed a claim. I paid my deductible and my new phone (which is the same phone I have now) will arrive tomorrow. Done.
In the end, I saved us a boatload of money. I also will keep the phone I am comfortable with and won’t have to buy new accessories for it. To me, that’s a huge win.
The only thing I am freaked out about is making sure that everything is backed up so that when my phone arrives, everything will transfer to it. Of course, I will have to remember every last dang password for apps, but I suppose I should be back up and running at full power in a matter of days.
I have made it no secret that Math (Algebra in particular) is NOT my best subject. I did poorly in my high school algebra classes. Yes, I did pass the college Algebra classes I had to take, but it was harder than I could have imagined. It didn’t help that I hadn’t looked at an algebra problem in almost 30 years.
Luckily, my oldest son only needed my help a few times with his math stuff when he was in school. My middle son, on the other hand, brought home some really tough stuff from his summer school class last month. I really struggled to help him. I had my college books, my college notes, store bought aids, and even a friend who is good at math all at my disposal, but nothing really helped. He squeaked by … just barely.
I want to go on record stating that I never really had a problem with basic math. Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division and other basics like finding percentages, figuring out mileage, counting money and making change and balancing checkbooks were all things I did well with. Those basic things are still taught in school today, yet it doesn’t seem to be something people are retaining.
Case in Point:
Normally, before work I would make a pot of coffee and bring a cup with me in the car on my way in. Today, I forgot to make some, so I drove through the local Tim Horton’s to get one. Most of the time, I would just hand the person at the window my debit card and the transaction would be complete. Today that was not the case.
They are usually pretty quick at Timmy’s, but something seemed to be slowing the line today. There were two cars ahead of me. I saw them pass an iced coffee to the first car and they drove off. The car in front of me tendered their money and the wait began. Almost five minutes later, a hand reached out with their change and then passed out a small coffee cup.
I wondered if the customer was waiting because they had to brew a new pot of coffee. Or maybe they were changing cashiers and they were switching out the till. It just seemed weird that it took that long to get a cup of coffee (or tea or hot chocolate for that matter.) When I got the the window, things became clear.
It was obvious that the gal at the window was a new employee and in training. She was having a discussion with the manager before she even opened the window. Directly to her right was my coffee. It was ready to be handed to me as soon as the money changed hands. I was paying cash, so it shouldn’t be too difficult, right?? Wrong.
When she finally opened the window, she told me that I owed $2.85. I order the same thing every time, so I had $3.00 ready and handed it to her. She typed into the register what I handed her and she placed the three $1 bills in the tray with the others and stopped. She stood staring at the till.
My change was 15 cents. For some reason this seemed to stump that gal at the window. She looked at the till, then at her manager. The window was open, so I could hear their conversation. The manager said, “He gave you three dollars. You owe him 15 cents.” She stood there looking stumped. The manager pointed to each one of the compartments at the bottom of the drawer saying, “There you have 25, 10, 5 and 1.”
Is real money such a new thing to this gal? Has she never seen a dime before? The whole thing was like something out of the Twilight Zone! The manager literally told her “give him a dime and a nickel.” She could have given me a dime and five pennies, two nickels and five pennies, three nickels, or 15 pennies – I didn’t even care if I got my change! Honestly, I would have drove off without the change if they had handed me the coffee!
Finally, this gal delicately grabbed a dime and a nickel and handed it to me with my receipt. She told me to have a good day and stared at me. She obviously wondered why I hadn’t left yet. Her manager said, “I’m sure he would like the coffee he just ordered.” I’m not sure how much longer she stared at me, but eventually, the manager grabbed my coffee and handed it to her and she finally passed it out the window to me.
As I drove off, I looked at the 4 cars that were behind me wondering how much longer each of them would have to wait. I also wondered what kind of grades this 30 something year old gal got in high school math class ….
Tuesday is “weigh in” day for me. I sort of have a ritual when it comes to weighing in.
As soon as I get up, I use the restroom. I take off my watch, take off my shirt, and weigh in in nothing but my boxers. My apologies for the detail, however, I feel that this gives me an accurate weight every time.
Today, I can do all my stuff through the Weight Watchers App. Back in the day, however, I used to go to a Weight Watchers site. There would be a meeting usually, but you always weighed in beforehand. I learned quickly that you are lightest in the morning. I always went to the earliest meeting I could get.
I also had a “weigh in” outfit. Yes, I wore it for every weigh in – until it didn’t fit anymore. To me, if I wore the same thing to the meeting and weighed in about the same time every week, the results would be more accurately measurable.
After staying the same last week, this week the scale showed I had lost 3 pounds. In 12 weeks, I am down 33 pounds! Actually I’m down about 33 1/3 (hence the silly record player picture above), but I was never keen on counting “half pounds” or fractions of a pound. At any rate, it truly is a great feeling!
Sam said that she can tell I have lost some weight. I can never really tell by looking at myself. However, last week when I went to the funeral home to pay my respects to my Godmother, I was able to fit into a pair of dress pants and a dress shirt that were both very tight 6-12 months ago! This is progress!!
Sam is also losing weight, too and looks amazing. We were both saying that we’re probably going to have to go buy some new clothes soon – and we are totally ok with that!
Things will get more difficult once winter arrives. I love my walks around the neighborhood with the kids, and that gives me 30 minutes of activity. I’m sure I am not going to take the kids out in the snow to walk. I will continue to take advantage of the weather and figure out how to get that activity when I am closed up indoors. I’m hoping to hit the 40 pound mark before then.
I posted this on Facebook the other day, but I wanted to post it here, too. I post it here because it is a memory that I do not want to forget. It is one of those moments that a father will treasure forever.
Ella has been watching Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. She loves Princess Tiana. When Tiana and the prince kiss and change from frogs to humans once again, there is quite the celebration. In true Disney fashion, there is a big musical number at the end and they all start dancing.
Ella comes up to me and says, “You wanna dance with me, Daddy?!” No answer was necessary as I took her in my arms and did just that! The music that was playing was a jazzy Dixieland number, but that didn’t matter at all. I stood on my knees and held her and we danced. I hugged her, danced, twirled her around, and wiped away tears as she hugged me.
As we danced, I fished my phone out of my pocket to catch this …
I didn’t think I snapped this picture, but I did get it. I didn’t realize until after I went back to look at my phone. Originally, I thought I only caught one picture, this one:
I love them both! The first one I was probably fumbling around with the camera. The second one, I held the phone in my other hand and caught her swaying with me. THIS in itself was a wonderful moment!
As the music ended, I wiped tears away. She said, “Are you sad, Daddy?” I told her she made my heart very happy and they were happy tears. She looked at me and shook her head and said, “No. Daddy, you look sad.”
I only hope she knows just how happy she made me…. THAT is why I had to make sure this made it into a blog. Because, as I said on Facebook, just when I thought I have felt it all….she warms my heart in a way I have never experienced before!
Through tears, I promised her that I would dance with her whenever she wanted to.
Ella, my sweet baby girl, you are so special to me. Thank you for making our dance such a special one. I can’t wait to share more with you.
Sometimes, you have to MAKE time. That is what I did the last time my boss asked for all of our “time off requests.” I chose one day a month and took it off to be sure that my wife and I get some “us” time. Last Friday, was the first of those days.
By the end of Wednesday night, I was ready to have that day off! Wednesday was a real mess. Everybody had really difficult patients. It was like someone deliberately put all of them on the same night to create the “Perfect Crapstorm!” I could hear Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock’s fantastic line, “What is your contingency plan for a crapstorm of this magnitude?” running through my head all night.
Thursday, I came home and was able to get some sleep. I was up at my normal time, and about to get ready for work when I received a text message that there were patients who cancelled and it was my turn to stay home. I cannot even begin to tell you how overjoyed I was to have a bonus night off!
I told my wife that after dinner, we were going to get ice cream! It certainly was not on my diet, but all that mattered was that I was going to have the night with the family. We all packed into the car and went to a local ice cream place about 8 miles from us. I tried to get a family picture while we were there, but neither of the kids knew we were taking the picture …
It was a perfect night. It wasn’t too hot, but there was plenty of sunshine. One of the best moments of the evening was watching Ella willingly share her ice cream with Andrew. It was so sweet to watch.
Then came Friday. Knowing that we were planning on having dinner out somewhere, Sam and I began to discuss where to go to eat. Why is trying to decide where to eat such a chore for couples? It’s crazy. Sam said she’d be happy going to Applebee’s, which I really didn’t want to do. So we looked at the internet and our “lists.” We have a list of places that we would love to try and a list of places that we like. We decided to stay close to home and go to one of our favorite Mexican places.
Prior to us dating, we used to go to this place with one of our teachers. The food is excellent. Once we began dating, we’d go there often. Now, there is one close to our house and we eat there frequently. We dropped the kids off at Sam’s sister’s house and we went to the restaurant that was close to the college.
They brought us their homemade chips and salsa, which is something I should have avoided because of how many points the chips are on Weight Watchers, but I didn’t. Instead, I made the healthy choice of avoiding the chimichangas I usually order, and opted for the chicken fajita, which is basically all free. I ate loads of veggies and chicken. I avoided the tortilla shells and the sour cream. It was delicious.
I also did something I hadn’t done in some time – I had a beer. I made sure to get a light beer and I counted the points for it. While I enjoyed it, I realized that I really have not missed it. There was a time where I was drinking beer almost every night. It was emotionally driven and brought on by stress. Today, I don’t feel the need to drink at all. I’m happy with my coffee or water.
After dinner, Sam and I drove to Target and walked through the store. We were looking for a couple things, but mostly just browsing. We got a few ideas for the kids for Christmas and enjoyed just walking – with no real hurry to get stuff done. It was wonderful.
The time together was much needed. It was a perfect evening. Driving home to get the kids, we talked, held hands and just enjoyed “us.” I am already looking forward to next month’s date day!!
It is time for another installment of my Friday Photo Flashback. This week – a picture I didn’t even know I had.
It certainly is not a great picture of me, but it does bring back memories. The background seems dark and things behind us are hard to make out, but the people in it stir up good memories.
From left to right front row: me, Karen, and Joe. Back row: Margaret and Steve
The photo was taken at my high school graduation party. I only know this because of the clothes we are wearing (thanks to other photos from the party). It is a snapshot of an ending and new beginning for us – the end of school and the start of “real life.”
1988. The people in the photo were my best friends. Jeff would also be included in that group, and there is another photo of all of us together somewhere. The only thing that would make this a perfect snapshot of my life at that time would be Jeff in it.
I spent so much time with all of these people in high school. We always seemed to be together. it wasn’t always all of us, but you could almost be that I’d be with at least one of them!
Steve and I were practically inseparable. We spent hours in the car driving and listening to tapes I had made to “cruise” with. I’ve always said we were like Jackie Gleason and Art Carney – Ralph and Norton. I think we drove each other nuts at times, but we truly were great friends … And still are. The day was bittersweet for us because I believe the day after this photo was taken, Steve left for basic training.
Joe and I hung out almost as much, but he was always the better student and actually did his homework. A lot of the time he’d be doing that so it was just Steve and I out causing trouble. There were many times, however, that we’d all hope in the car and drive around wasting gas. I think of the three of us as the Three Amigos, or maybe the Three Stooges is more accurate. We all played cards (Pinochle) together for hours on end. Now we try to find time between our work schedules to schedule a golf outing together…
Margaret and I were as close as Steve and me. I love that she has her arm around me in this picture. We never dated – even though our folks wanted us to – but it was almost like we did. We loved each other, but never in a romantic kind of way We went to movies, dances, and dinner together and our friendship continues to this day. She is Aunt Margaret to my kids and they love her just as much as I do.
Margaret and I used to talk for hours on the phone when were in school. We still do. Both of us have long drives to work and we often chat while driving. We still vent, laugh and cry with each other. Ours truly is an amazing friendship.
Karen and I had probably just started dating when this picture was taken. She was the same age as my brother and a Freshman when I was a Senior. For some reason, she stood next to me in parade formation in marching band. It was weird because I played trumpet and she was a flute player. Not sure why we were next to each other, but it led to our relationship.
I always tried to make her laugh when we were in marching band. I usually did. As prom approached, I kind of jokingly asked if she’d want to go. She surprised me and said yes. I remember Joe and I got a limo and I think we both had top hats. I think both Karen and Joe’s date wore blue dresses. All my prom pictures are gone now, so it is hard to remember. I do have vivid memories of that night, but that is really all.
We dated for about 5 years total with a short break in there somewhere. Karen was my first love. She wasn’t my first girlfriend, but my first serious one. We had a lot of wonderful memories. She’s married now and a wonderful mother. She works hard in the medical field and I still hear from her sisters and also am friends with some of her family on Facebook. I recently DJ’d her sister’s wedding and saw her briefly. I was glad to get to say hello.
I have some wonderful memories of that graduation party. My dad gathered up members of the wedding band he had played with and they all set up and played music at the party. My Uncle Tom played drums on some songs and did some singing of old blues tunes. My cousins also joined in and played drums and guitar. It was so cool. Steve, Joe, Jeff and I all got up and sang Weird Al’s parody of La Bamba (Lasagna) like a bunch of fools.
Of course, I think of the many folks who were there, who are no longer here. My mom, my grandparents, my great grandma, my great Aunt, Steve’s dad, Joe’s mom, and so many others. Thankfully they live on in photos and memories.
It seems to me as I look at this picture that we are posing for someone else’s photo. I wonder who might have been taking it. I would certainly love to see that one. Maybe I’m wrong, though. We all don’t seem to be looking the same way. Perhaps this is just an excellent candid picture. It’s a nice candid picture where I still have hair, big glasses, and am surrounded by some of the best people I’ve ever or will ever know.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 