Pat's Journal

The two shall be as one

Hasn't been much slack time at work lately, therefore no blogging has been happening. I had planned on taking this entire week off on vacation, but because of the workload I'm only taking today off, and working the rest of the week.

Today Sharon had a minor outpatient medical procedure, which I accompanied her to. All went well and we were home by 1 PM. While she rested, I had time to read and answer work E-mails on my day off. Sharon will have to take it easy for the next week. Since she works at a school, we scheduled the procedure today so that she only misses two days of work. She already had Thursday and Friday off because of the annual Minnesota teachers' convention.

In other news, tomorrow is our wedding anniversary, and it's a big one. We've been married 20 years! Can you believe that? I'm amazed that it's been that long, and that she still puts up with me. It must be true, since our son S is 17 and will graduate this coming June. Time flies. Because of Sharon's recovery, we won't be going out to celebrate for another week or two. But there will be flowers and cake tomorrow for sure. We will do something that Sharon's wanted to do very soon - attend the "Little House On The Prairie" musical that's currently playing locally.

We had snow early Saturday morning and again on Monday. Most of the leaves on the trees in our yard haven't even changed color yet! The leaves are late in changing but the snow is far too early. The snow was good for one reason - it forced me to do some much-needed yard maintenance this past weekend.

We've also spent a lot of time watching sports lately. The recent Vikings-Packers game was pretty exciting. As a Milwaukee native, for many years I have had conflicting loyalties to the Packers and Vikings. Things got even more confusing when Brett Favre joined the Vikings this year. However, the Vikings seem to be the team most likely going to the Super Bowl this year, so I'm backing them. If my dad, a lifelong Packers fan, was still around, he would have been so upset with the results of the latest Vikings-Packers matchup, and it would have been funny to listen to him fume. The Twins provided some additional excitement as well, until they met the Yankees in the ALDS. The Yankees are the best team money can buy, and they know it. The end result was inevitable.

I'm also doing more home improvement work in the basement. Last year we finished one half of the basement and installed a large-screen TV. Now I'm adding the surround-sound system. I purchased a set of five Klipsch speakers and mounted them on the walls. They look great but there is nothing to power them yet. Next month I'll be purchasing a receiver to connect them to, followed by a subwoofer the following month. Purchasing them this way makes the cost a little less painful. Of course Sharon would prefer I also complete other basement finishing tasks, like building a cabinet around the sump pump piping, but installing A/V equipment is much more fun.

K has adjusted well to middle school this fall and is getting excellent grades. S's courseload hasn't been too rigorous, and he's doing well in his most difficult subject, English. S has also applied to two universities so far, and will apply to two or three more soon. Most applications need to be completed and sent by December 1st.

Time to hit the sack as I have to return to work in the morning. Good night.

posted by pat @ 10:04 PM