Thanksgiving wrapup
korosz and I went to my Grandma's place in Michigan for Thanksgiving this year. My entire family, minus three cousins, was also there for various parts of it. It was a very social weekend, and quite good over all. It was nice to see the relatives I hadn't seen in sixish or so years. Many of them are now married and actively engaged in sprogging. One cousin's wife looks extremely like Sharon/Boomer from BSG. Other cousins are variously engineers, nurses or in some way involved in the business of purveying God to people or still in school. It's quite interesting, really. It was sort of a culture shock to be one of three non-religious people and two liberals in the group. Not, mind you, that it's much different in Oklahoma. But it just feels different when you're related to all of them.
Other things of note: It was Grandma's 80th birthday, and the entire town showed up to the party, as Grandma has variously baby-sat, taught Sunday school, or is related to most of it. The more engineer-y cousin set (coincidentally, the ones I get on with the best) got socialed out early and retreated to some comfy chairs and had a nice chat. There was much cake eaten. There was also Wine tasting with my philmjmills, korosz and a couple of cousins, which was great fun. There was a spherical cat at one of the wineries that was quite amusing, and a non-irritating Rachel Ray-alike woman going nuts with the pours at one of the wineries. The 6-sample limit and $5 charge for the ice wine were complete disregarded. korosz and I helped a cousin-in-law shop for a hideous Christmas sweater.
In any case, it was a good weekend, though, in retrospect, I should have spent a little more and bought the more expensive, but better-timed, plane tickets. korosz, you are encouraged to whap me next time I am trying to cheap out like that.
On the home front, because of various scheduled meetings and the beginning of the holiday moratorium on fiddling with airport systems, I will be spending the balance of this work week driving around the state to collect some data for a project. That should be interesting. the Ducati had a VIN inspection and should have a title in my hand by this Thursday. The title for the Buell came in the mail on Monday. New plates are on the agenda for the weekend. Also, I found out at lunch today that the Cirque du Soleil show Saltimbanco is going to be in town starting tomorrow, and several of my coworkers are going. Due to Oklahoma's latent sexual repression and fear of all things French-Canadian, tickets were still available, so I'm going to see that tomorrow. Hooray! Also, just because you CAN ride your motorcycle to work in 35 degree weather (29 with the wind chill, <15 at speed), doesn't mean it's a pleasant experience, even with proper cold weather gear.
Other things of note: It was Grandma's 80th birthday, and the entire town showed up to the party, as Grandma has variously baby-sat, taught Sunday school, or is related to most of it. The more engineer-y cousin set (coincidentally, the ones I get on with the best) got socialed out early and retreated to some comfy chairs and had a nice chat. There was much cake eaten. There was also Wine tasting with my philmjmills, korosz and a couple of cousins, which was great fun. There was a spherical cat at one of the wineries that was quite amusing, and a non-irritating Rachel Ray-alike woman going nuts with the pours at one of the wineries. The 6-sample limit and $5 charge for the ice wine were complete disregarded. korosz and I helped a cousin-in-law shop for a hideous Christmas sweater.
In any case, it was a good weekend, though, in retrospect, I should have spent a little more and bought the more expensive, but better-timed, plane tickets. korosz, you are encouraged to whap me next time I am trying to cheap out like that.
On the home front, because of various scheduled meetings and the beginning of the holiday moratorium on fiddling with airport systems, I will be spending the balance of this work week driving around the state to collect some data for a project. That should be interesting. the Ducati had a VIN inspection and should have a title in my hand by this Thursday. The title for the Buell came in the mail on Monday. New plates are on the agenda for the weekend. Also, I found out at lunch today that the Cirque du Soleil show Saltimbanco is going to be in town starting tomorrow, and several of my coworkers are going. Due to Oklahoma's latent sexual repression and fear of all things French-Canadian, tickets were still available, so I'm going to see that tomorrow. Hooray! Also, just because you CAN ride your motorcycle to work in 35 degree weather (29 with the wind chill, <15 at speed), doesn't mean it's a pleasant experience, even with proper cold weather gear.