Raindrops collect on a branch

Raindrops collect on a branch and fog lingers in the background as the warm weather brings a light rain today at the park quite odd for the last day of 2010. Today is not just NewYears eve but the eve of my brothers new life as a married man and tonight we will be at the ceremony. Congrats to Brian and Nancy on a new year and new life together.

It might be warm arround here:

It might be warm around here but I have been fighting off my own kind of cold all week.

I was hoping for more than one reason that this would have worked its way out by New Years eve. But tomorrow is new years eve, and its still lingering. The problem is I have been kind of holding it at bay but have not been getting rid of it.

Its kind of driving me nuts.

I better go, I am off to take some vitamins.

Tou bedroom kandough

Last night I met up with some friends in town for the holidays. L, who is Philly born but now lives in So-Cal, thinks it’s hilarious how we say things here… like when I was talking bout a property that happened to mention a “Two bedroom condo”. She giggles every time I say it because there is a little bit of the north in us…. So sometimes Condo comes out “Kan-dough”. It got me thinking… you never really realize you have an accent because you are from where you are, but there it was. I could even see it (or hear it ). So I decided to look and sure enough here is a list we, as Michiganders, say funny:

Click *here* or the link below:

http://www.michigannative.com/ma_pronunciations.shtml

Take some time when you are bored. Read the article. Laugh a Little.

Its funny because the further north you go the more Whiskaansony your accent can be don’t cha know. That is how I see it anyway.

From the list my favorite has to be:

"Wuds": Woods. Be careful in the wuds... it's deer season, an' ya got 30,000 unemployed auto workers, drunk off their ass, armed ta the teeth with high-powered weapons.

On a related note.... (no pun intended)

this just in on my brothers facebook page:

Yes your warrants are valid even on Christmas night.

I assume that works for new years eve as well.

Don't say I didn't warn you.!

This week I will full of holiday spirit...

This week I will full of holiday spirit...

then I read the news and quickly L O S T it again.

Sad really.

(for the record there are 5 links in this post)

Yesterday…

You would think that the day after Christmas would be a day for relaxing. Instead I had a to do list a mile long.

I cleaned the furnace and replace the filter. Broke down a bunch of boxes/ trash and took a trip to the dumpster. Went to the hardware store for some parts. Replaced the break light in the Girls car. Ran Tanner and more…all by 2:30 so we had time to get ready to go to the Jeff Dunham show last night at Joe Lewis Arena.

The show and dinner after was really funny and great. (thanks for the invite Ron) but I know something was amiss as half way through running tanner my throat starting getting scratchy.

I made it through dinner and was home lying in bed when I realized I was really impressed that I did all that and I still had time to catch something that is giving me an awful sore throat just in time for going back to work.

Lovely.

(PS- Apparently I also took the time to go back to the 1950's to have someone capture the moment in the painting of me. Man I was busy)

At the Jeff Dunham show

Merry Christmas Eve everyone.

Hoping everyone makes it home OK.
Even if it is only in spirit.

Sometimes I wonder how long it would take...

Sometimes I wonder how long it would take...
to miss the crazy if the phone ever stopped, ringing.

Why I love the Brits...

For those of you who cant see this try:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/21/bbc-comedians-ridicule-tech-naming-schemes-make-us-laugh-along/

and engadget

Overheard tonight on the couch:

The Girl: “Do you want to keep this monkey sticker?”

Me: “I don’t want you to throw it away, if that’s what you mean.”

The Girl: “Really? It’s a sticker.”

Me: “Are you kidding? A monkey sticker is worth like 10 others in sticker world”

The Girl: “Don’t make me hate you.”

Me: “What? Monkey stickers are cool.”

The Girl: “You’re a geek!”

Me: “Thanks.”

Is it a re-post if I am just useing the same photo?

Lets just call this a partial re-post ... a re-po maybe.

It just seemed like the day was always one step ahead of me.

I hate it when the day snowballs out of control.

Cool App: Xfinity TV

Holy crap Batman ...
is there anything that cant be done in an iPad app?

If you have Comcast and an iPad you might want to sit down right now.
Take a deep breath. OK now continue.

I heard about this app before, and I downloaded it but I really did get it to work right. So I left it alone.
A friend of mine was talking about it the other day and I noticed it was mentioned on Comcast itself so I upgraded the app and re-configured.

Holy Crap- Xfinity auto-magically transforms your iPad into a giant, graphic. sorting, previewing, recording, big bad beautiful remote.

It sends a signal, over the interweb to your freaking cable b0x(s) to change channels, record TV and more.

I cant stress enough how freaking cool this is.

This is something for a free app. So I suggest if you have Comcast, and and iPad go get it and enjoy. I am going to go play with it now.

Tonight A Waxing Moon...

Tonight A Waxing Moon...peaks out from behind the clouds like an ominous sign.

Somewhere in the cold and dark wood lined trails along the rivers edge an extra shiver ran up my spine and Tanner and I both suddenly stopped in our tracks.

I think it was the simultaneous realization that something was off. The crisp air burned in my nose as I slowed my breath for a listen and I watched her ears twitch with strain in concentration. We shared a moment listening to the frozen silence for some sign of what was amiss. I single twig snapped in the distance... then nothing.

Suddenly it hit me.

That was it!
All of my hair stood up on end as I realized...

The holidays are only a week away.

The horror.

Impromptu Auto repairs… and other reasons its better to be lucky than smart.

The Girls vehicle had an issue last night. The windshield wipers just stopped working. The thing about driving in the snow is that you have to have wipers as the constant spray of crap from the car in front of you means you need to clear you windshield often.

So…. Last night I went out in the cold/dark driveway to figure out if I could figure it out. Honestly I was hoping it was some kind of fuse, but I could hear the motor running and see that then were trying to move so no fuse.

I then took apart the stupid layers of plastic covering until I could get to the linkage underneath to see what the freaking problem was. All the while holding a flashlight with my teeth. (note to self , add a headlamp to the wish list) . I could not get it all the way off without some major dissection, but I did get it enough I could pry it back and expose the pieces I needed. Apparently they just snap together and for some reason they had came apart with the weight of the snow/ice. I was able to re-align the arms with the help of a magnet wand and snap them back together.

Done.

Wipers functional, the Girl can see and I am the hero. Not to mention it saved us a service call.

Honestly it was a lot of luck involved proving once again its better to be lucky than smart.

My. Feelings. Exactly.

I may not be able to justify everything I did this year... but my lawyer can.

PSA - Stop driving like a douche.

So its really f'n cold.

So its snowy and icy everywhere.

So you still have to get to work, we get it.

So your cranky due to all of the above.

THAT DOES NOT GIVE YOU AN EXCUSE TO DRIVE LIKE A DOUCHE.

That is all.

(Thanks to annarbor.com/AP for the photo)

Shhhhhhhh....

Be Quiet.... I am stalking.

Well we did get some snow.

Bringing traffic to a crawl and making getting anywhere a hassle. Tanner was unaffected with her four paw drive she was bounding through the woods like it was her job.

Come to think of it, that kind of is her job.

No doubt about it, Tanner is a winter dog.

Heavy wet snow

Heavy wet snow started to fall this morning making Tanners soccer ball
a snow magnet. It's supposed to fall most of the day. Later we will be
out with the truck drift busting.

Cool Movie: Inception

I don't get all gooshie over movies, not do I even make any kind of significant mention of them in the real world.

I do have to say that inception is one hell of a movie.

Todays project # 5 : re-wire the vacuum cleaner

The Girls mother has a particular attachment to an old vacuum cleaner. Nothing else will self propel as well, has the long cord and has the bags that she likes.

We even helped her pick out a new one last year, but to no avail. So when this one stopped propelling, and the cord was frayed beyond safe limits I has to take matters into my own hands. I purchased a new 40 foot cord from the local vacuum repair place, re-wired/replaced the switch (that was triggered by an over complicated physical mechanism that I just totally by passed) and cleaned out the propelling system. Voila!

Sure it took me a couple hours but still. Well worth it I suppose.

Angry Birds... revisited

This stupid game is so ridiculously addictive.
Digital crack.

Goodnight everyone.

Lights (not quite )out.

I just looked at the calendar...

I just looked at the calendar ...

and became seriously depressed.

I hardly seems possible that I am sick of something that has not even started yet.

Speaking of this weekend... time Flies

I honestly dont know were all the time goes.

Another weekend has come and gone and all the was left was the sound it left in my mind as the days went flying by.

Sometimes I feel like the time I am missing are the ticks between the second hand… moments to small to notice that sneak up in the end to be a lifetime.

Sunday... O Tannenbaum

Today, after another early morning, we went out for the Christmas tree.

There are no shortage of trees in Michigan, so today we went out and

She is a stout Douglass fir , and the best Part is everyone thinks its perfect... especially the Girl.

The unglamorous side of flying.

For every hour I spend flying, there seems to be an hour of ground work. Either preparing, checking weather, making sure everything is current/up to date. You know… the boring stuff. This is for me a lowly private pilot, those commercial fellas have it a lot worse than me.

A perfect example of this is the bi-annual flight review that had to be done and this week. It is a mix of practical flying time and ground work that has to be done with an instructor once every two years in order to enjoy the privilege that the pilots license extends.

Its always a little intimidating having someone critique your skills, but every time (this will be my 6^th maybe 7^th review?) I am reminded that really the instructor is there as an advisor and as such more or a data resource than a authority. Once I re-learn this lesson and I do this every time, the other lessons are a breeze to catch up on.

Speaking of drowning:

If you have been waiting for more posts...
I might have just been so busy drowning in crap that I have not had time to post.

Don't worry though, I feel some stupid rants coming on.

Stay tuned.

Ha Ha Ha...lol

Drowning can be funny.

Speaking of Weather and It could be worse:

December 1st is here and as if someone hit a switch, our first snow arrived with it.

I94 was shut down this morning due to the rouge snow shower creating icy conditions.

I am pretty sure is has nothing to do with people forgetting how to drive.

Dont forget to pay your auto premiums everyone, and slow down will ya?

Thanks to annarbor.com for the photo