12161231 - New Year on the Way!

12161231 - Up D had weightlifting, he got home and cleaned up.  We all piled into the car and headed up to the Farm.  We got our stuff unpacked, settled in a bit and then we all went out to Oak Park Tavern for a very nice dinner.  Home and watched the Buckeyes take a beating like I have never seen...  We stayed up, flipping through various channels until the ball dropped.  We had noise makers, and sparkling grape juice to ring in the new year.  All off to bed.

20161230 - Dog Boy

20161230 - Up in the am, quit refreshed today, and in to the office.  A quiet morning as there are a lot of people out of office today.  Finished up my day and headed home.  Straight to the McClain's with LD&J for pizza and hanging out and just relaxing.  Always a good time.

20161229 - LEGO Lover

20161229 - Up slowly and in to the office. Had the morning meeting with Justin and then headed in to my conference room. No one seemed particularly interested in seeing the solution I worked on all last night... Made it through a discouraging day... Home and D, DGF7, one of D's friends and one of DGF7's friends went out on a double date. LJG&I went out for dinner, the boys a bit out of control. home and we all watched a movie. D and his gang home earlier than we expected, they played board games. After the movie I collapsed and dead asleep.

20161228 + Up too Late

20161228 + Up in the am and in to work.  Sat with Justin and trying to learn the daily reporting he does.  Had a very busy day gathering more actions.  Headed out and met D at Tuffy.  We reviewed what they did to his car, had him pay for some of the repair.  D headed to DGF7's and then to a friend's to spend the night.  I headed home and ate with L, J&G watching TV.  L&I then headed out to the movie store to get some movies, she didn't like my previous selections.  Home and we all headed down to watch a movie.  I stayed up VERY late building a tool to help at work.

20161227 - Builders

20161227 - Up in the am and in to work, nice and slow morning getting caught up. Headed home at noon and had lunch with LJ&G, D @ DGF7's. D&I ran and dropped his car off to get an oil change and find out what the sound on the front of his car it. Hung out with the fam, G&I built some LEGO stuff and then I watched him play some of his game on the Xbox, then watched J while plowing through an SOW. G went to his buddy Brady's for the night. J&I ran D to his weight lifting and then to the video store to return a movie and get some more. Home and LJ&I had some leftovers. Ran and got D, then we settled in to the basement to watch the movie we got, they were all pretty bad...

20161226 + Install and Building

20161226 + Up and the boys downstairs playing their new games on the Xbox. D ran and got us some lunch L cleaning and cleaning, D&I cleaned out some ebay inventory, J had a buddy over and G went to a friends. I got some things done at the desk. D home with DGF7 and we put his new speakers in his car. J his friend and I went to pick up G, drop off some movies and some clowns at some friends :-) We dropped J's buddy off and then swung by the house to tack out the trash and go out to eat at Moe's. Home and D & DGF7 showed up. We headed to the basement to watch Ninja Turtles, build some LEGO and write thank you notes.

20171225 - Christmas Day

20171225 - G up at 4:30 then 5:30 then 6:20 and everyone else got up... We gathered around the the tree and opened our gifts. It always goes too quickly.



We all got cleaned up and soon Gma&paW and the Cole's showed up. L had cooked some turkey and fixin's, and everyone else brought things to make a huge meal. After we ate we headed to the basement to open more presents. All presents open and folks headed out. We played some cards with GmaW and then chilled out the rest of the evening. Up late and finished watching the 'Survivor' series I was watching.

20161224 + Christmas Eve

20161224 + L woke me up early and we started the day.  I got a bit of work done, read an MSA while the boys played on the Xbox.  We all got ready and then headed to the Cole's for Christmas Eve dinner, we were late.  We ate and then Santa showed up to give the kids some gifts and then the adults had a gift exchange.  We all then got ready and headed to the Cole's church in New Albany where we attended a service that had a nice kids program, by my LAST LOUD Rock'n Roll church service.  Home and we watched Dory before the boys headed off to bed and L&I got things arranged for Santa to arrive.


20161223 - Candy Canes

20161223 - Up in the am and dressed in my traditional holiday garb. I stopped at Kroger on the way to work and bought about 200 candy canes and headed in to the office. We had our morning meeting and call where I was formally introduced to the customer and starting to take on way too much.

20161222 - Wing King

20161222 - UP in the am and in to work. Got there early and had to use the other entrance again. Got another handful of trash on the way in. In and set up, washed a sink full of glasses. Had a call in thee am and then met with my new boss to discuss yesterday and what I am feeling. he was very receptive and feels the same way I do about a lot of the things I have witnessed... Dug in and got things done the rest of the day. Home to an empty house, L&G to a basketball game of one of L's friend's daughter, D at DGF7, J at a buddies. I shipped an ebay item for D, and did some stuff on the PC. J got home and him and I had a hot wing dinner while we watched a couple movies waiting for everyone else to get home. All home now and settled in for a bit to share our day before all heading to bed. Another pretty sleepless night for me, too many solutions running through my head...

20161221 - Swing and a MIss

20161221 - Up in the am and in to work. It was another day of drinking through a fire hose... Went to a couple of locations where we had some offsite inventory and lost my mind... Back to the office to come up with an action plan of how to get the excess inventory under control. Home and still rattled, picked up G and took him to batting practice. He didn't do very good again... G&I stopped at Steak'n Shake on the way home for a snack and then headed home. Home and exhausted from the day. Straight to bed.

20161220 + Cans

20161220 + Up in am and in to work. Was with a customer all day. It went well. Home and had dinner with the fam. We then headed down to the basement to watch Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, it was a good movie. J had to stay up late and get an assignment done.



20161219 - First Day

20161219 - Up in the am and in to my first day of work.  Gulping through a fire hose most of the day with a break when Gary, the acting GM, took me to Giant Eagle for lunch.  The day was fast and furious and ended with a 5pm call.  Home and ate with the fam.  Ran to an extra long Athletic Boosters meeting.  Home and hung out the rest of the night, up late.

20161218 - What's Cookin'

20161218 - Up late, no church, L not feeling well. D doing homework and G&I delivered J to his bday party at a go-kart place. We then headed to the Goodwill, Home Depot, Family Video and Kroger to get our ingredients for dinner. We picked up a couple sandwich at Wendy's and headed home with enough time for me to drop off G and the food, except mine, and get back on the road to pick up J. J&I headed home and stoppe at the post office to drop off some packages. Home and D still doing homework... J&G then got all dressed up and headed to the church's youth group dinner. G&I then started cooking. On tonight's menu, bacon wrapped chicken with potato u gratin stacks. It was super yummy and not too messy. After dinner G&I headed to the basement where he played the Xbox for a bit. D&J home, D listing things on ebay. All boys to bed, L watching the Sound of Music and I submitted the paperwork to trade in the 2014 VW Passat. Off to bed wrapping things up for my first day at the new job tomorrow. 

20161217 + Snowballs, Ferraris & Games

20161217 + Up in the am and getting some things done. The boys headed outside to take advantage of the first real snow. They had a huge snowball fight and slipping and sliding all over. I headed out to play some football with them for a bit. All back in and I took J to his soccer game. We were late because the VP was in town for John Glenn's funeral. It was J's last game and they lost, but he likes it. While we were out J&I went to a car dealership to learn more about the VW trade-in. There were some pretty exotic cars at this place and J set off the alarm on a Ferrari :-o Even after J's theft attempt they let us test drive a car. On to the Scout store to pick up some awards. Home and had dinner and watched the new Tarzan. After the movie we all played games until bedtime.

20161216 - Empty Desk

20161216 - Up late today, my first day of being unemployed. A friend sent me a pic of my empty office. I got cleaned up, had a couple cups of coffee, cleaned up the office a bit, did some things on the PC. Had more paperwork to fill out online for the new job: took a couple hours I didn't plan on losing today... Gma&paB finished their duties as the Claus' and headed home. I headed out to take my drug test. Home, D going to movie with his girlfriend and her family. L not feeling well. I took G&J to see the new Star Wars Rouge One. Home and watched the original Star Wars that started where Rouge One left off. D home all the bed.



20151215 - Proper Send Off

20151215 - Up in the am, it is 7 degrees out :-o I got ready and dropped J off at the bus stop. On to work, about half way to work L texted me and told me I forgot my secret Santa gift: cashews... So I stopped at the gas station: small bags of cashews, Dollar General: small bags of cashews, Kroger: gottem. Only added 40 minutes to my morning... In for a couple of meetings and some folks stopped by my office to say goodbye. The team had arranged a luncheon for me where we all got to sit down at one last meal together. We spoke of some our favorite and craziest times together, a lot of fun. After lunch I headed out to the shop floor and said goodbye to every single person in the building. Many nice things were said to me, many special people, many hugs and many tears from them and I. Back into my office to do a final close down of things. Day over, Job done, Goodbye DecisionOne.

 
Headed out to my car and found that some of the staff were not so happy I was leaving and wanted to prolong it with some shrink wrap :-) I finally got in the car and headed to Massey's Pizza where we had a couple drinks, shared some more memories and said our final goodbyes.

Home and unloaded the car, helped D ship some things, D&I ran to pick up G from basketball practice, we were 10 min late, dropped G off at home with J&GpaB. D&I on to USPS and Dave's warehouse to get more stuff to sell. Then another failed attempt at Costco... Headed home, had a nice chat in the car with D while driving around about rules, and growing up and lessons learned... Home and chilled out until time for bed. A very long emotional and satisfying day for me.

20161214 - Smellin G

20161214 - Up in the am and in to work. Had morning staff meetings, a lot of good content. Making final calls and wrapping things up. Got a call from a neighbor that D was home for lunch with only his girlfriend today... Finished up the day and headed home. Had dinner with LJ&G. D finally home, talked to him about taking his girlfriend out of school (against the rules), bringing his girlfriend to our hose with no one here (against the rules) took his phone for a week... G&I out to return a movie and go to his batting practice in Reynoldsburg. He didn't do very good, trying to hard. In the car I got to talk to him about his stinking armpits and places where hair will start to grow; he wanted nothing to do with that conversation... So on the way home we stopped at Kroger and smelled all 483 different types of deodorant until he narrowed it down to 2, then he picked his favorite :-) Home and Gma&paB are here for a couple of nights to play Santa at L's school. D up doing homework, found out later that he was using Twitter to message with people so disabled that account :-s

20161213 ‡ Bad Christmas lights

20161213 ‡ Up in the am and in to work. Had a couple meetings, several people stopped in to say goodbye. Getting things done to head out. It haw been snowing all day and we got about 3 inches. Headed home and it was super slow long drive tonight, not the kind of lights I want to see at Christmas... Made it home and had dinner with the fam. D left to go to DGF7, J down to play the Xbox, G&I headed out to pick up a movie. We picked our movies and realized I didn't have my wallet :-o the lady at the store was able to just add it to my account so the trip wasn't a waste. Home and we headed down to the basement to watch Suicide Squad, it was a pretty good full on action move. All to bed in good time.

20161212 - Watermelon

20161212 - Up in the am and in to work. We had a Manager meeting where I let everyone know that I was leaving this Thursday... They were shocked. Dave sent out an email to all the employees here and several people sent nice emails and stopped by to wish me well. Headed out a bit early to pick up some auction items. Home and had dinner with the fam. LJG&I headed to J's Choir Concert and D headed to Scouts. J's concert was very nice and we sat by some old friends we haven't seen in a while. We stopped on the way home and got Blizzards from DQ. Home and got Doc and headed to a good night at Bible Bangers.

20161211 - Cheesesteak Ring

20161211 - Up in the am and LDJ&I headed to church, G is at his buddy Brady's, Bill has been sending us pics of the chaos :-) After church I headed to the grocery to get my ingredients and then home to make a Philly Cheesesteak ring for lunch with pumpkin salted caramel crescents, YUM!After lunch LDJ&I went to a neighbors for a Christmas open house to see all the improvements they have made, VERY NICE. Home and D&J headed out Christmas shopping. G home and he ran to Dave's warehouse with me to pick up more stuff. Home and got stuff relisted and then LJ&I took apart the extra bed in Jack's room and moved in the futon. We settled down for some dinner and then some friends came over to see the mid season finale of The Walking Dead.

20161210 - D1 Christmas Party

20161210 - Up late and the boys home from their Scout sleepover. L&I took J to his soccer game, it was the first time I had gone to his indoor league and it was pretty cool. J almost scored a couple of goals. Home with a couple stops to ship stuff on the way. Had some lunch and then headed out to get a hair cut and pick thins up from Dave's warehouse. Home and relisted things and getting ready for the work Christmas party. I ran and picked up J from his friend Conor's wehere they were making candy. home and got cleaned up and L&I headed to the DecisionOne Management Christmas Party. It was a fun time with a great group of people!

20161209 + TV Watching Eater

20161209 + Up in the am and took an early morning work call from the home office. In to work for a busy day. More loose ends closed off and got a call from the owner at the end of the day asking me not to be present at the company Christmas party next Friday :-( nothing else to say... Home and shipped some stuff with D and then D&J headed out to a Scout overnight thing. LG&I headed out for dinner and were disappointment by the new much smaller menu at Max & Erma's. Still it was a good meal L didn't have to cook. G&I dropped L off at Meijer and got a movie and checked out the Goodwill store for some bargains. We picked up L and then headed home to watch the new X-men movie we picked out.

20161208 + First Snow

20161208 + Up in the am and J trying school today. In to the office and getting more things knocked out. Got a ton done today. home and stopped at Taco Bell to pick up dinner. We all ate quick and then L too G to his basketball practice, J went to the xbox and D, DGF7 & I headed out to get D's Christmas shopping done. It snowed tonight. We went a couple places, they are a funny couple, I shut DGF7's finger in the car door :-o but other than that it was a successful trip. Home and D wrapped his presents, I shipped ebay stuff and then headed to bed.

20161207 - Easton Lights

20161207 - Up in the am and ready for work. Jack home sick again... In to work for a couple of meetings to start the day. I got a lot done and headed to Easton where I met the guys from the new company at McCormick and Schmick's for a really nice dinner and conversation. Nice to get to know the guys a little bit. Home and L working in my office, D posting things and little boys in bed. Did a couple things but full and tired so hit the hay early.

20161206 - Dropping Things

20161206 - Up in the am and L staying home with J to take him back to the Dr. We can't get his fever to break... In to work and had some good meetings in the morning. Finished the day tying things up. Headed home, stopped at Dave's warehouse to pick stuff for D to sell. Home and ate, LJ&G hanging out, D at DGF7's. J&I headed out and stopped at a little local place to get some gifts and then on to Meijer for J's Christmas shopping. We were there a long time, but it was fun and good for him to get out of the house. Home and I wrapped some things. D home and we relisted some of the things I picked up from Dave's. To bed in good time.

20161205 - Shopping Cart Fun

20161205 - Up in the am and J still has a fever so no school again... In to work. pretty stressful day. Let Dave know I was resigning :-( he was happy for me. Finished the day working on a monster spreadsheet. Home and had dinner with LJ&G, D at baseball conditioning. D home, ate and got cleaned up and headed to Scouts. My boss called me back and I let him know about the resignation... G&I stopped by Scouts to pick up advancements and try to sell some baseball discount cards. We then went out to get his Christmas shopping done. We had a lot of fun looking at stuff and G used the cart as a scooter :-) Home and we wrapped his gifts. D home and we shipped a bunch of stuff. Got Doc and headed to Bible Bangers.

20161204 - Omelette Chef

20161204 - Up in the am and LD&G to church. J&I hung back at the house as he is still not 100% He made omelettes for him and I. Then we hung out and watched alien documentaries until everyone else got home. D cooked us lunch and then we all split up to get things done. L&D headed out to get a model for his WWII class, J did some reading, G played and I got some things done at the desk. D built his model, shipped some things and then took G outside to play some football, J to the basement for xbox. D headed over to DGF7 and J&I ran to Wendy's to get dinner. LGJ&I played some rummy with Christmas shows on and Penn stopped over to get his PC and give an update on his daughter and her surgery, all good. Chris over and we headed to the basement to watch The Walking Dead. D joined us late.

20161203 - Rocking Back

20161203 - Up late and in the office trying to figure out what to do about everything... Getting things organized and finally out, dropped G off at a buddy's house and he was attacked by dogs as soon as he walked in the door. I headed to the post office to drop off some packages. Talked to the headhunter and my lawyer friend. Stopped at McD's to get some food. Sat in a parking lot and talked to another buddy about the car deal. On to Dave's warehouse to eat, replenish D's stock and discuss the car and work. Good talk. Had all my own answers, just helps to double check. Home and hung out with the fam, played rummy and watched some football while I looked for stuff online for D to sell.

20161202 + Movie night

20161202 + Up and in to work.  Jack home from school sick.  Locked in the office all day working on the monster spreadsheet that hurt our heads.  Home for dinner and D had DGF7 over, we all watched a couple movies in the basement.

20161201 - Has a Virus = DUH

20161201 - Up in the am and in to work. J home from school sick. L took him to the Dr, he has a virus... D at baseball conditioning. L took G to his 1st basketball practice, very excited about it. I hung out with J and made a run to the pharmacy to get his prescription. All home and hung out.

20161130 - Blah

20161130 - UP and in to work. J home from school sick. Long day at work, building a spreadsheet. Home, D at baseball conditioning, G had stomach ache so no baseball for him tonight. Hung out at home getting things done.

20161129 - Drilling for ?

20161129 - Up in the am and J not feeling well so he stayed home today. Bill passed me on the way to work blowing his horn trying to wake me up. In to work and knocking things out in the am. GpaW had a well drilled at the Farmhouse today, no oil :-( I stayed late at work and knocked out my final class to renew my PMP Certification. Home and hung out with the sick boy and the fam.

20161128 - D the Scrivener

20161128 - Up in the am and got to see J at the bus stop on the way in to work. Got to work, had my morning meeting and lining things up to get done for the week.  Seemed like a very long cold day spent in my office.  I did get out and toured the floor to check on everyone's holiday.  Then spent a lot of the afternoon trying to get a class done.   Home and J&I not feeling 100%  We had dinner and then D&I headed to Scouts where he worked on the December newsletter and I sold some baseball discount cards.  Home, hung out with  LJ&G for a bit and shipped things for D.  D home, I got Doc and headed to a good session of Bible Bangers.

20161127 - Lights Up & Bday

20161127 - Up in the am and got some things done at the desk.  L out shopping, DJ&I + DGF7 got the lights hung on the outside of the house, not as frigid as years past.  Soon the noise was back home, I mean G... And today is GmaW's bday.  L had baked her some cupcakes.  We sang Happy Bday and had a short party as Gma&paW wanted to get back on the road and I am sure to some peace and quiet.  Night fell and I checked out our work, looks pretty good.


20161126 - GO BUCKS!!!

20161126 - Up in the am and getting a ton of things done at the desk.  Got cleaned up quick, grabbed Doc and then LDJ&I + DGF7 & Doc headed to the Pettit's for our annual OSU Michigan football game.  The Buckeyes offense played HORRIBLE, but our defense kept us in the game and by some stroke of luck adn several heart attacks later the Buckeyes WON!!!  Amazing stressful game.  J had bailed out at halftime to go to his soccer game and then rod his bike to a friends.  D&DGF7 headed out on their own and L&I stopped by Dave's warehouse to pick up things for D to list.  We then swung by and got J and his friend on our way to teh McClain's where we checked out their new TV, had some pizza and watched some more football.  Home and J and his buddy up late on the xbox.

20161125 + Black Friday

20161125 + UP in the am and L&I headed out for our Black Friday shopping spree.  We hit all of the usual places and got a ton of stuff for the boys.  We had a nice lunch and L feel asleep in one of the stores....  We got back to the Farm ahead of Gma&paW and the boys and got things loaded up and ready to roll.  G decided he would stay a couple extra days with Gma&paW.  LDJ&I headed home and the traffic was pretty good.  We swung through Wendy's on the way home, got home and ate and then watched the new 'Mechanic' movie.  All exhausted and to bed in good time.

20161124 - Thanksgiving @ the Farm

20161124 - UP in the am and DJG&I got dressed warm and orange and headed out with the hunters: Roger, Johnny, John 3, Sierra, John C, Greg, Christopher, We walked the usual route and D got a bird, J&G hit the brush with sticks and found bones, I got a bird and we all learned we are pretty horrible shots... Back to the farm house and I cleaned my bird and D helped Christopher clean his first bird. 




Up to the house to get cleaned up and then down to the Farmhouse where the Family gathered around the large tables for grace, fellowship and stories like we have for generations. It was a great meal and put most of us to sleep. 



We then mustered up the energy to head up to the Falls for a brisk hike.


Back to the Farmhouse where the ladies worked on a craft and the boys headed out for some more shooting. 


After everyone left we got cleaned up quickly and headed up to Gma&paW's to hang out and watch a movie. Very thankful to have such a big family.