Went to the Monet in Normandy Exhibit this morning. Really nice travelling collection. Per the suggestion of GH and AH, got the audio tour which really helped bring the exhibition to life. Paintings were arrayed chronologically which helped explain his different periods and progression over time from realistic to impressionist to early abstract.
Great Show.
Speaking of Pretty Pictures
Grey Goose Vodka bottles have a very pretty image on a frosted bottle. Part of the image is on the outside with the background image on the inside. Yeah, that's a big honking bottle of Vodka. I'll need to go to Sam's Club to get Orange Juice in bulk size.
I love watching college football. It's my second favorite time of the year. The best is the NCAA Basketball Championship.
Bowl games can be a blast such as South Carolina 44 Houston 36 last night in a wild offensive game. There were over 600 total yards of offence. In the first Half!
Just finished watching Boston College win over Navy on a field goal with 3 seconds left by a walk on who never played football in his life until he tried out for the BC team.
Former BC coach Tom O'Brien is now NC State's coach. Navy coach Paul Johnson was also in serious consideration. The offer could have gone to either one.
Congratulations SC, BC and Navy and Houston for getting bowl invites this year.
Roomie (JTN) is spending the Holidays with his folks in SouthPort. His dad gave him a haircut, which was mentioned in email traffic. WN writes a pretty good blog - dry wit which often makes me laugh out loud.
First, you have to know that JTN keeps a really short haircut to begin with and complains if it gets over half an inch long. When WN mentioned that the haircut he gave JTN was possibly a bit too short - well, I wondered what that meant.
Today I caught up on reading WN's blog - with photos.
ROFL
I'll bet it kinda reminds JTN of the 14 years he spent in the Army.
PS
In the photos, looks like "Bill" might be trying to use the same type of camera that I bought this month - Casio S600.
At least he sure looks as confused as I get when trying to figure out how to work mine.
BTW - the Casio is also a camcorder. I've generated many minutes of thrilling movies, mostly of my feet with Oscar worthy dialogue such as "Is this thing recording"?
I generally avoid politics in my Blog. Political postings in general tend to be rather superficial and are already covered ad nauseam in the blogsphere and AM talk radio
I am against Capital Punishment. It is not a deterrent and is arbitrarily meted out. It simply isn’t needed to protect society. I am more concerned with my own safety than revenge or retribution. Placing murderers in prison for life is perfectly fine with me as it keeps me safe from them. Plus, the very idea of possibly executing someone wrongly convicted is simply awful
Having said that, I am going to place this entry out there simply as a statement of my feelings on Saddam Hussein. I can offer no rational reason or argument for the fact that while I am against Capital Punishment, I completely support his execution. This guy is evil incarnate. I hate to admit it, but I will be glad to see him hanged.
There are other despots out there that surely deserve to be tried, convicted and executed. But Saddam Hussein is the current grand prize winner in the evil category.
Photos of everybody except MIH. The photos with her in them all turned out blurry.
The owner came over to speak with us for a few moments and we talked about the original art on the walls. Some of the paintings are pretty humorous.
Food was great.
I got an outdoor fireplace from my niece for Christmas. I've been thinking about getting one and *poof* - one shows up. The same niece who just had her first child 2 days before Christmas.
Thanks CM.
Hmmmmm - I just thought of something. CLA got married to CM. If CLA keeps all her names instead of traditionally dropping her middle name - she'd be CLAM.
LOL
What else?
Later I'm picking up Erika to baby sit while her parents go to the Hocky Game. They have tickets at center ice.
JTN is spending the holidays with his parents in South Port.
The rest of the week will be typical - I'll be at work. Everybody else in my Section wanted off so I have to man the office this week. Should be pretty quite and I hope to get a lot of work done.
I'm doing laundry and house cleaning today and that's about it for now.
Got the shopping done and card and package sending completed over the last 2 weekends. So, all I have to do now is sit back and enjoy the weekend.
Roomie JTN (aka JFC) is at his folk's for Christmas weekend so I've got the house all to myself.
Sister (GAH) and brother-in-law (CAH) are driving down from NoVa tomorrow and staying in Cary with ADH, MIH and EIH. We'll get together at various points Saturday, Sunday and of course, Monday. We have reservations at Irregardless Cafe for Christmas dinner. The NoVa H's will leave for home right after Christmas dinner. Their daughter and son-in-law and 2 grandsons will be returning from San Diego early Tuesday morning and they have to pick then up at BWI airport.
Hmmmm . . . Maybe I'll fix a lite dinner Christmas Eve and invite them all out. I could go to the Farmer's Market tomorrow and get a pork shoulder to make some Eastern NC Bar-B-Que in the smoker / cooker. My version of a Christmas Ham. Depends on how I feel.
As it is, I've got a quiet house this weekend all to myself and I think I'll catch up on some long put off chores.
The BIG News
New neice with her Grandmother
I've acquired another great-niece. CM was born at 1307 today - 8 pounds 2 ounces, 19.5 inches and is all healthy and happy. Brother and sister-in-law are with their daughter CAM and son-in-law CM just outside Chicago for the birth and Christmas.
No Christmas travelling for me, no Christmas Dinner cooking (eating out) and a new great-niece.
Not really blog-worthy, every office has a Christmas Party. Plus, the photos are a bit blurry. I had to use one of the office cameras which is a piece of "poo". Light weight, poorly made, very poor optics and switching. Basically, it's almost a 'toy' camera that should be included with the purchase of a Happy Meal at McDonald's. Kodak EasyShare C300.
We had our lunch Monday. We broke with tradition. Instead of the usual catering by Parker's Bar-B-Que, we went for salad, veggie trays, lite sandwiches, etc.
I guess it really is a younger generation taking over. I'll have to slow cook a pork shoulder sometime in January and have a few folks over.
Tomorrow night NC State plays Alabama. 'Bama is ranked number 10 in both the coaches and sportswriters polls. It will be interesting to just how well our young, no depth team plays against them. Usually I don't go to weekday basketball games. It's quite a drive out to where I live and I get to the office early. So weekday games are tough for me to attend. But, the Alabama game tip off is early at 6:30, so I'll be there.
Appalachian State University won the NCAA Division 1-AA Championship vs UMass last night. I had forgotten it was on – I would have watched it. This is the second year in a row that ASU has won the Division 2 Championship. They are the powerhouse of Division 2.
ASU’s only loss this year was to NCSU in the opening game of the season.
Congratulations Mountaineers!!!
Sunday Afternoon Addendum
As expected, State won the basketball game yesterday. Very sparsely attended. We have a young team with little or no depth. Coach Sidney Lowe is getting everything and then some from his young players. Our only senior is sidelined by an injury. One of our starters was a walk on practice squad player last year! It's gonna be a tough season for the WolfPack. A winning season would be quite an achievement. The recruits that have committed to NCSU and Coach L's doing so much with so little makes me hope that big things are in the future for NC State Basketball.
I love college football and basketball. I spend way too much money on season tickets and donations. But I get so much enjoyment out of the games.
NC State fans are passionate. We probably place too much emphasis on sports. But it's just so much fun!
Starting with the RBC Center which opened in 2000, we've spent about three hundred million to build first class facilities.
We play basketball in the aforementioned RBC Center - a state of the art arena that we share with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Carter-Finley Stadium may not be the biggest in capacity but we match up against any stadium in terms of how nice it is.
We're also taking care of the none revenue sports. We have a new Tennis Complex, Baseball Stadium (really nice - you should catch a game there - tickets are only $3) and are currently building new Track and Field facilities.
Unfortunately, even though we've had great recruiting classes in both football and basketball, our teams have been average at best.
We're in a time of transition here at NC State.
First basketball season and first college head coaching job for alumnus Sidney Lowe. I have high hopes for Coach Lowe. He loves the game and he loves NC State.
We also have a new football coach - Tom O'Brien. TOB came here from Boston College. Ironically, BC was 1 of the only 3 wins in football we had this year.
I really hated to see Coach Chuck Amato go. He had passion, loved the game and NC State. He was a former player in the '60's. He recruited well but just couldn't get it done on the field. I really wanted Coach Amato to succeed, but I have to admit that my good friend JCK was right - Amato's early success was due to Phillip Rivers. After Rivers, it became painfully evident that Amato just wasn't going to be able to get the job done.
Boston College and Florida State are the 2 ranked, Bowl bound teams we upset this year. As previously noted our 3rd win was over Division I-AA Champion Appalachian State.
For good times sake, here are recaps of the FSU and BC games:
I’ve been real busy at work and tired when I get home, plus, nothing’s really gone on so here’s an obligatory entry about nothing for the week.
Friday night and listening to RadioParadise. Waiting for LOTR The Return of the King to come on TV. I never caught the last installment at the theater.
Let’s see . . . .
Wednesday evening my sister, nephew, niece-in-law, and great niece came over for dinner - spaghetti with tomato sauce and Italian sausage. It was pretty good. And easy to fix.
It was a simple quickie dinner as DH was worn out from work. MIH and GH were tired from moving rooms and painting at DH and MIH's house. E was the only one ready to go. You can see it in the photo.
Roommate cleaned up the house including getting E’s little chair off the deck and washing it. They brought Cinderella on DVD. That’s a long movie. I’d never seen it.
All day at work Thursday I was humming the Bippity Boo song!
Thursday evening my laptop decided to lock up on me. All I was doing was reading email. Then – the blankety blank thing froze up and wouldn’t reboot! Where’s the Fairy Godbroad when you need her?
Nuke tried to fix it but we couldn’t get past the boot volume unmountable message. He had to search around the house to find the original operating software discs and reload.
Thanks JN (aka JFC) for fixing the pc.
Got the car’s oil changed and tires rotated on the way home from work Tuesday. I really like my Focus. It’s a blast to drive.
Tomorrow I’ll address Christmas cards and take them and a package to the Post Office for mailing. Have to get that done before the Moncure Post Office closes at noon.
Nuke might do some volunteer work at the Carnivore Preservation Trust tomorrow. Or maybe not.
In any event, we have a basketball game at 3 PM. NCSU vs Mount St. Helens, er, Mary’s. Or some Saint who’s a Mountie or a Saint getting mounted. I’ll have to check the tickets.
The movie's started.
That's about it for a typical week.
Addendum Saturday Morning
I can’t believe I forgot.
Wednesday, after everybody left, I got in the hot tub around 2200 to watch the Geminides meteor shower. In the span of about 20 minutes I counted 12 meteors. The peak was predicted to be around 0100 but I just couldn’t stay up that late.
10 o'clock at night sitting in a 100 degree hot tub in 39 degree weather watching shooting stars.
Looks like Tom O’Brien from Boston College will be the new NC State football coach.
I wish Chuck Amato had been successful He was an alumnus and had tons of passion for the game and the school. He just couldn't get it done on the field. I had high hopes for him to take us to perennial national prominence – but it just didn’t happen.
BC is a school on par with Duke and Wake Forest. High academic standards. Difficult to recruit qualified players. Small alumni base. And yet, BC consistently fields good to great teams. 9 and 3 or 8 and 4 regular seasons are routine for TOB at BC.
This year TOB / BC is 9 and 3. Two losses were last second squeakers at NC State and Miami. BC should have won both of those games. If they had, BC would have been 11 – 1 going into the ACC Championship game. Which BC likely would have won. Then on to the BCS Orange Bowl and a top 10, possibly top 5, ranking. 2 plays in 2 games were all that stood in the way. Yet, BC is going to a lower bowl than Maryland and Georgia Tech due to the lack of fan interest and support at BC.
NC State is the archetypal working class Land Grant College. We place a lot of emphasis on sports and show it by pouring money into facilities and coaching staff. We have a vocal and loyal fan base which sells out Carter-Finley Stadium even with losing seasons. I think that might be what lured TOB from a successful program to a struggling program.
TOB should have no trouble matching his records at BC. With the larger recruiting pool and lots more fan support which reaches down to the high school recruiting level – TOB should be able to put us in a position to compete amongst the traditional national powers.
I’d like to see Amato return to FSU in a defensive capacity. Gain a little more experience, and possibly one day take over the head spot at FSU. I really like Chuck and want him to be successful.
Welcome TeeO'B to WolfPack Nation. Look for me waving hello - I’m in Section 210.
Sanford has one of the oldest Christmas Parades in North Carolina. Last night was the 57th with over 120 floats, bands, classic autos and attractions. The parade started at 7 PM and lasted over an hour. Pretty impressive for such a small town. Weather was perfect – clear and cold. Just right for Christmas.
Of course, being small town, a lot of the attractions were local businesses which advertised on the side of their trucks while towing a trailer which were decorated and carrying people. At one point after a particularly well decorated vehicle went by which was completely covered in small white lights I turned to JN and said “You realize, we just applauded a cement mixer”.
It really was kind of pretty.
Cruise
The last 2 days on vacation were a day at sea and the final stop in Nassau. I had forgotten that I had been there before. We went to a small private island and just hung out in the nice weather and swam some. DB went snorkeling with the stingrays.
The only thing I missed while on the ship was sports. Ships get satellite TV signals but the various cruise lines subscribe to different feeds. Usually you’ll get the major broadcast networks and ESPN. I’ve also watched TBS and similar channels on board. However, RCCL had the oddest TV offerings. Instead of broadcasts, they showed tape delay and reruns with the occasional live feed. ESPN was the Caribbean version – futbol instead of football. Championship Football Saturday we were in Nassau anyway but once back on board I did get to watch some of the Oklahoma – Nebraska game and the Florida – LSU game. Since these were the raw feeds there were no commercials and I got to watch what went on in the booth or field during the TV timeouts.
After getting off the ship, JN and I went to Las Olas Riverfront to kill a couple of hours before going to the airport. We went to an open air bar on the second floor and read the newspaper and people watched.
Cold and rainy when we got back to Raleigh. I was really tired and fell asleep right away on the sofa - probably around 8 PM.
In fact, last night I again fell asleep on the sofa as soon as I got back from the parade. I think JN is worn out from the vacation as well. He’s usually up late but has gone to bed early both Sunday night and last night.
The cruise vacation was great but I’m also happy to be back at work and getting back into the regular routines.
Updates and Photos
I’ll be adding photos and possibly more details to the blog entries I made while on board ship. If you’re interested, you might want to check them out from time to time over the next week.
Grey Goose Vodka bottles have a very pretty image on a frosted bottle. Part of the image is on the outside with the background image on the inside. Yeah, that's a big honking bottle of Vodka. I'll need to go to Sam's Club to get Orange Juice in bulk size.
