Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's Forty
Happy birthday to me!
I’ve been comically melodramatic about turning 40 for about six months now. In reality, it’s just a day like any other; I turned thirty with little incident and fanfare. I “stress” about it at work and at home, but I realize that it is just a milestone, nothing more.
From a physical standpoint, I see some of the decay. I am a bit heavier than I ought to be, and I finally had to be treated for my sleep apnea in 2008. I feel like a new man because I can get a good night’s sleep now, and that has made a huge difference in my energy and disposition. My beard has more and more grey now, so
that snowball has started its inevitable roll downhill. My head is still almost exclusively black, so I’m holding on for deal life up there . . . uh, desite the slight thinning in the back.
Ultimately, if I could lose that pesky extra weight, I would be handling turning forty with flying colors and reckless abandon.
So, what are we doing to celebrate my birthday tomorrow? Heather sent me some balloons at work, and my co-workers really had a badly-needed chuckle. My General Manager came out and congratulated me for the milestone. I asked him if “I could sit at the big kids table now”, but he said no, I’m still too young. Man, there is
no justice anywhere I go.
One of my co-workers took the photo at the top of this entry with his camera phone, and shared it with all of my co-workers. Someone in Jackson, Tennessee, then hijacked that picture and gave me the benefit of being 27, 150 pounds, and from Hawaii.
buck on 01.09.09 @ 10:33 PM EST [link] [No Comments]
Lordy, Lordy, Look Who's Forty
Happy birthday to me!
I’ve been comically melodramatic about turning 40 for about six months now. In reality, it’s just a day like any other; I turned thirty with little incident and fanfare. I “stress” about it at work and at home, but I realize that it is just a milestone, nothing more.
From a physical standpoint, I see some of the decay. I am a bit heavier than I ought to be, and I finally had to be treated for my sleep apnea in 2008. I feel like a new man because I can get a good night’s sleep now, and that has made a huge difference in my energy and disposition. My beard has more and more grey now, so
that snowball has started its inevitable roll downhill. My head is still almost exclusively black, so I’m holding on for deal life up there . . . uh, desite the slight thinning in the back.
Ultimately, if I could lose that pesky extra weight, I would be handling turning forty with flying colors and reckless abandon.
So, what are we doing to celebrate my birthday tomorrow? Heather sent me some balloons at work, and my co-workers really had a badly-needed chuckle. My General Manager came out and congratulated me for the milestone. I asked him if “I could sit at the big kids table now”, but he said no, I’m still too young. Man, there is
no justice anywhere I go.
One of my co-workers took the photo at the top of this entry with his camera phone, and shared it with all of my co-workers. Someone in Jackson, Tennessee, then hijacked that picture and gave me the benefit of being 27, 150 pounds, and from Hawaii.
buck on 01.09.09 @ 10:32 PM EST [link] [No Comments]
Wednesday, January 7th
Christmas 2008
I told everyone it was the longest week and a half of my life, but I meant that in a good way!
On Christmas Eve we took off for Ohio to visit Heather’s mom and step dad, her older sister and husband, and her younger sister and husband and nephew. The seven-hour trip there was easy: we listened to the radio, I read for a while, and Katelyn played her Leapster. Although it rained the entire way there, we were safe and we moved quickly.
We spent a lot of good time with the family. We played, we cooked, we talked, we discussed family history, and we even spent a couple of hours looking at old family pictures that needed organizing. You really cannot beat professionally taken black and white vintage photos.
My mother-in-law was kind enough to make me a Purdue University quilt, even though she is an Ohio State fan. See the picture to the left, and see my happy face? In all honesty, she made it for both Heather and me, but I just claim the quilt for my own. In fact, Dylan has used it more than any of us have!
Christmas Day itself was quiet and peaceful outside. I spent some time outside in the woods just looking around and enjoying the chilly but windless and sunny day.
We did not have a lot of time back in Michigan before we had to go get our friend Becky at Chicago’s Midway Airport. She and her son Isaiah were visiting from Kansas City. Monday was pretty quiet once we got back home, but we went to Kalamazoo on Tuesday to visit Bounceland and Chuck E. Cheese. Bounceland is an inside facility full of giant inflatables. Katelyn and Isaiah seemed to like the Sponge Bob inflatable the best. They took turns boxing the barriers inside. We three parents just sat back and watched the kids be creative and have fun.
We adults came to the conclusion that the pizza at Chuck E. Cheese is not that great. Now, I rarely step away from pizza, and I certainly did not step away from this meal. However, the food is secondary to the fun the kids have there.
On Thursday, we went to see The Tale of Desperaux, and then went bowling! I actually broke above the 100-pin mark in the second game. This was the first time in years I had done so, so I really relished that accomplishment. For the most part, I walk away with a 75 and blistered fingers.
We took Becky and Isaiah back on Friday, but not before we stopped at Quaker Steak and Lube
Portage, Indiana. We were hoping to find a McDonald’s so the kids could burn off some energy at the playland, but none were to be found! Since we had stopped at the one in Youngstown, Ohio, back last summer, we knew the food would be good, and the atmosphere would be fun. Check out the concentration on Katelyn's face as she tries to master the motorcycle game. She was a good girl during lunch, so we rewarded her with a chance to show her stuff. She was disappointed that there were no wooden cutouts you can stick your heads through for photographs. Well, maybe they just have them outside during the summer.
After dropping off Becky, we went to Heather’s dad’s and stepmom’s place in Indiana for the weekend to celebrate Christmas with them. We had a lot more genealogy talks, and even visited some cemeteries in the Warsaw area.
buck on 01.07.09 @ 08:26 PM EST [link] [No Comments]
