Our anniversary is always on a hot and muggy day, and in the evenings people like to blow stuff up, often up in the air. It’s Independence Day but for us it’s also the day we got married, and I like to think we just keep getting better at it.
Love you, sweetheart.
Will gets his high school diploma tomorrow!
Bankrate posted a month-by-month, what-to-do financial aid timeline for high school seniors. We’re mostly on time, it seems, so that’s good. Will’s been accepted in one of the main schools he’s chosen; the others have later deadlines so we’ll see.
And now that it’s 2008 (and a belated Happy New Year to you, interwebs), we need to get cracking on the FAFSA.
We were married July 4, 1999, in her parents’ back yard, and then went to Decatur for fireworks in a rented double-decker bus. It was hot and muggy and the best party I’ve ever been to in my life.
Happy Anniversary, sweetheart, and thank you for everything.
The AARP Magazine has posted 50 Things You Need to Know by 50
I’ve got some time before I need to know this, but it’s never too soon to start studying for the exam.
In the post Long-term backup at [dive into mark], Mark asks, “How do you back up 100 GB of data per year for 50 years? Or even 10 years?” The comments provide a valuable snapshot of much current thinking about how and where to save data for the long term. If that data is prized famliy pictures and video, as well as important documents in digital form, this is a concern worth spending time to think about.
Will’s going to the state wrestling tournament tomorrow, Thursday. I have the day off to cheer til I’m hoarse. Ellen flies to Jacksonville til Saturday afternoon. We hope the new windows will be finished. Shelley has posted a new fledgling. Ellen and I are prepping for Paris. Stefan’s kids have been sick, but they’re okay. The legislature is still in session.
Hope you’re having a good time these days.
Just a moment to wish all a Happy New Year for 2007. Many changes and new things are coming for me and my family, and I wish us and you the strength and wisdom to meet what comes with equanimity and even joy. Embrace it when you can, tolerate it when you need to, endure it when you must. Look out for each other, look out for grace when it finds you.
E and I just returned from some final shopping errands, including a case of wine for us and whoever is around to help with it over the next month or two. The image I put up with this post – those snowflakes grabbed from the screensaver – is a nod to the season; it’s actually sunny and in the mid-50s here, very pleasant.
We’re off in about an hour to usher with Ellen’s folks at the Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker at the Fox Theatre, and then an evening of gift wrapping and other preparation for Christmas.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Plenty of company; Janine and Bryan and Alysse and Sean, and Wilma and Ed, and Debbie, and Pete and Nana, and the four of us, all for the birthdays of Jack and Nana and me. Good food, lots of stories and presents and Ellen made tiramisu. It was really good.
Had a car wreck today with Jack in the car – as far as we know now, nothing worse than a bump on my head from one of those hand-holds on the interior of the car right above the door – mild concussion, a gash with 8 staples in it, a little stiffness, and burn on the back of my hand from the airbag (who knew they could burn you?). Jack’s just a little bruised. The car is totalled; the other car crossed the median from the northbound side of Peachtree Industrial and T-boned our Civic. Fortunately most of the impact seems to have been on the left front wheel, and less on the driver’s side door with me right on the other side of it. Don’t know much about the other folks; apparently they went to another hospital.
Poor Ellen heard it happen over the phone; she was in Dallas TX and due to return midday, and was talking to Jack when the other car came our way. She heard him say “Oh s—-”, heard the impact, Jack saying to me “Oh my god, Tim” a couple of times, and me disoriented and moaning. Then the connection broke. I saw the car just before it hit, and the next thing I knew was realizing the airbags had opened and that the red stuff on them was blood from my head.
We got out of the car – I couldn’t open my door, and remember realizing I had to get out on Jack’s side, but I don’t remember doing it. A guy who saw the wreck helped me out on the passenger side, Jack tells me. Jack also immediately called 911, and I suppose some other folks did too, as police and EMTs were there within minutes. I had time to call Ellen back and let her know we were both okay, but it was quite traumatic for her, not knowing for those minutes what had happened to us.
May you never have an ambulance ride to a hospital while strapped to a backboard. It wasn’t awful, though; I just wish the necessity of it on no one. The EMTs, Ashley and Portia, were very good, though they cut our clothes off – we were in just our boxers for a while (mothers everywhere, know that we had clean underwear on). Jack seemed fine, but I’m guessing they did it to him because they thought he was a hottie. (Joke.) A few hours in the emergency room – we got into exam rooms immediately – then waits for for X-rays and a CAT scan for me and then the staples in the gash on my head.
All told I got home about 6 hours after the wreck, had something to eat, and slept the rest of the afternoon away. Now I’m ignoring work email.
I’ve posted pictures. We had our camera in the car, and while the EMTs were strapping me to the backboard just in case, I had Jack take some shots. He was great – calm throughout. I hope the other folks are okay. Altogether more than enough excitement for the month.
Update: Apparently, comments are broken. Working to fix this. Thanks to all who wrote to say so.
Jack walked across the stage today and got his diploma. All congratulations to him! We had a huge lunch celebration at Maggiano’s; he moves back in with us next week.
Via the catch-all site PopUrls.com, I found How To Backup Your Mac Intelligently. It calls for a Ubuntu server for backups; we’ve got enough old computers to do this; if we don’t a used unit from somewhere ought to be cheap enough. Will’s Win98 machine (he likes 98 despite the problems it causes and the warnings he’s heard) would do nicely….
Many things happened; much food was eaten; many many photos were taken. Best experience: mule ride down the canyon on a snowy morning. Apparently it’s tough to get a spot, but as it was February, we signed up on Sunday and rode on Monday. Unforgettable.
There’s a large fillet of wild-caught salmon smoking on the grill, a very light snow is falling (nothing will stick, but in Atlanta, that’s cool), we’re drinking good red wine, a Gershwin special is on the radio, and we’re going to watch Almodovar’s Talk to Her. I feel rich.
So I changed the photos – the top is Jekyll Island, Georgia, about two and a half years ago, and the little pic is some flowers in a planter at Seaside, Florida. Thinking about warm weather!
...with crab cakes! Ellen and I had the house, and New Year’s Eve, to ourselves last night. We had homemade crab cakes, asparagus, salad, and peach sorbet, with a nice 2003 merlot. We welcomed the new year listening to H. Johnson’s Jazz Classics on our public radio station. His show has been on for more than 20 years, and it’s one of the many things that make Atlanta a great place to live. First song of the new year: Ray Charles’ America the Beautiful. Nice.
We had a nice Christmas and first day of Hanukah. We all exchanged gifts, but less expensive than in past years, and made a collective donation to Habitat for Humanity’s Katrina-specific recovery efforts. We also ate almost all of two six-pound legs of lamb, a good bit of red wine, assorted delicious fresh vegetables (in the middle of winter – modern life is better than we realize, most of the time), and several cookies and some spectacularly stinky Shropshire blue cheese. We – or some some of us, at various times – played games with the infant and the five-year old and the college students and high schoolers and grandparents and a little solitaire on a laptop, ate cookies and watched some TV and read some books, and talked and told stories, and ate more cookies. A great family holiday.
[Update: I changed the graphic at the top from New York’s skyline at dusk as seen from the Empire State Building last December to my brother making gravy Christmas day for the roasted lamb. Thanks, Michael.]
Turkey, dressing, gravy (mmmm, gravy…), pie… we feasted. I hope you did too, if you’re in America and were well fed if you’re not. We missed those not with us today, and thought of them, and celebrated those who were with us.
I have to think about this for my own mom.