Hello-

I'm just wondering how long I will want to keep posting with text now that movies are possible and relatively easy.......
I'm grateful to be home on a Saturday. Last weekend, we went down to Madison and met Theresa and Robin at Theresa's office and then went downtown to the square right across the street from the Capital. We travelled in Theresa's new baby-mobile a brand new Toyota RAV4. There was plenty of room for a baby seat or a grandfather in the back seat.
We ate at an Irish pub which I don't recall the name of. It started with B and wasn't pronounced like it was spelled.
We all had Shepherd's pie. It came in a bowl. It was a delicious blend of ground meat and vegetables topped with mashed potatoes. I ate the whole thing and felt like I had ingested a bowling ball.
Then I went to the Quality Inn, nearly next door to where Theresa works, and attended WICYPAA, the Wisconsin International Conference of Young People In Alcoholics Anonymous. The Friday night speaker was very good. He was a black man from Omaho, Nebraska but he grew up in New York City.
I attended WICYPAA on Saturday afternoon, ate at the banquet there and listened to the Saturday night speaker as well. The food, some kind of pasta with cheese in it, had me up in the middle of the night with very uncomfortable cramps.
Sunday, I drove in to attend the Area 75 Agenda Planning meeting. Freezing rain was falling as I left Theresa's house and I had to flood my windshield often with washer just to be able to see at all. Once the car warmed up, it was a little easier. I made it to Madison but entered the city from a direction with which I am unfamiliar. I missed a turn and ended up lost for about 30 minutes. It was snowing pretty hard and I ran out of washer fluid. I finally asked some joggers for directions and after they contradicted each other a half dozen times or so, they finally got me directions that worked. The meeting was long and I didn't get back to Robin and Theresa's until about 5 p.m. I think we arrived back at home sometime after 9 p.m.
This past week at work has been very hectic. It was the first week of the semester and everybody wanted stuff done right away. I am so glad the week is over.
Maybe it's just the stress of the first week of the semester but I've been thinking a lot about not working anymore. I got a response to my email to the Dept. of Employee Trust funds (The Wisconsin Retirement System) this past week and they are hoping to expedite my request for a retirement quote which I can then file to start my pension. Maybe the thought of having my pension coming in is also affecting my thoughts of retirement from SNC. It just seemed like work was not fun and the drive to and from work seemed especially long. Eventually when that first pension check comes, things might look a whole lot different. We'll just have to see.
Today, I made a trip to Daane Ace Hardware in Oostburg to buy some anchors for the curtain hardware in our bedroom. The plastic anchors that Geoff had used to mount them originally were not holding and one side was threatening to fall on my head. I got the metal kind of anchor that collapses outward as you tighten the screw. I discovered that cordless drills are useless to a guy like me who only uses them once every few months. The batteries are never charged and they take too long to charge when I really want to use a drill. Lucky that Bill DeKeyser left a functioning corded drill here. I've used it several times after cursing at the cordless one I have and at the corded one I received as a gift once that does not work.
My calendar is starting to fill up and the next few months will be filled with much traveling. Befiefly, Liz and I are flying out the Cleveland, Ohio in two weeks to attend the Conference of Delegates past and present in the East Central Region of AA. It will give me a chance to learn about the upcoming General Service Conference coming up in April.
In March, Liz and I are planning on flying out the Orange County, California to visit Jim and Kathy DeKeyser. It's been several years now since my first flight ever when we visited them the first time.
Then there's the biggie where Liz and I will be flying to New York City where I will spend a whole week attending the 57th Annual General Service Conference of AA as Area 75 delegate. I'm looking forward to it but fearing it as well. Perhaps more fear than anything right now.
Next weekend, we will be traveling once again down to Robin and Theresa's house. Super Bowl Sunday is Theresa's 30th birthday and we will probably stay to watch the game too.
Well, that's a pretty good dose of "keeping you up to date".

Caio, babies!!

Saturday with the Alpine Hat

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What you see is what you get.  The Alpine hat is a little small.  Or is my head just too big?