Tag: Vacation

  • ODDS and ENDS: Vacation, Euro Final, and The End of the World

    (And I knew there was no turning back…)

    I had been out of town for the past week and a half. You could call it a vacation, in the sense that I left the place where I lived and went someplace new. I was Texas, but it was a new town in Texas that I had never been to before. It was Sanger, TX which is small town country Texas. It had been over twenty years since I had been in a region of Texas that was so far removed from everything else in the world. Though that far out in the country is not a place I would like to live (I am a City kid, after all) having grown up in Texas, there is something comforting and reassuring about being in that world of Texas. Not that I even spent a huge amount of time in the country, but if you dive an hour in any direction from the DFW area, you hit flat land, dusty winds, and a feeling that the world goes on forever. I enjoyed my time in Sanger. Yes it was small, but it was small town friendly, and a good place to have a wedding. (I was there for a wedding, if I didn’t say that yet.) It was also fun to show my daughter, who is a real City Kid, what the country is really like.

    And as I was in Texas for a wedding, I wasn’t able to finish my Euro Cup observations. Well, though I was rooting for England, I never really thought they were going to win. Spain just looked dominating, and they seemed destined to win it all. Now, I will say that England put up a hell of a fight (at least that’s what the highlights I saw showed) and it was entertaining, but England will always be the bridesmaid of international football. England had better players, but Spain was the better team. I have a very odd feeling that this was Harry Kane’s last international tournament. With Southgate resigning, which was expected win or lose, I don’t see Kane wanting to stick around. Not that Harry wouldn’t make the squad, but something strikes me that Kane is ready to pass the torch, so to speak. Botton line, I thought the Euro Cup 2024 was exciting and fun and well worth paying the cable fees so I could watch all the matches.

    I don’t like being this guy, but lately, it does feel like the world is coming to an end. Hopefully, it will pass after November, 5th.

  • Island in the Sun

    I should be back tomorrow… In the meantime…

  • ODDS and ENDS: It’s Summer, Career Day, and Old Ladies

    (Remain in the light, please.)

    We are running the air conditioner in the apartment now, which means it’s officially Summer for us. Sure it would be nice to jump into a pool, do some grilling, and drink a beer and watch the Cubs play. I took my shorts out of storage, and also took my ghost white legs out as well. Looking forward to awkward farmer-esk tan lines, and getting a sunburn on the top if my head. It’s not all bad. Summer does mean travel, and fun, and camp, and mini golf, and disc golf, and road trips, and seeing family and friends. I am not a fan of the heat, but I am looking froward to this Summer

    It’s Career Day at my kids school, which means that the students can come to class dressed up as their future careers. My daughter decided that her future career will be as an artist. I asked, what does an artist wear? Her answer; Whatever I want.

    They’re destroying New York City. Yes, little old ladies. They have no respect for anyone, are rude, obnoxious, and give their opinions when no one is asking for it. They’ll hit you with their canes and granny carts, and dare you to do something. But we all know that no one will do anything to a little old lady. Those old ladies are untouchable in this town, and they all know it, and use it against the rest of us. We are being held hostage in our own home. I’m not kidding. In every borough, the old ladies are the worst.

  • Last Day of Work Before Vacation

    There are a couple of things that I miss about working. I was lucky enough to have a couple of office experiences with some really great people, so to camaraderie of working with stealer people is one thing I miss. The other was working on a day before vacation starts. It was such a wasted day, and also a day that felt the closest to what the last day of school was like. (And for that matter, the feeling of the last day of school is the greatest feeling that I wish desperately that I could experience again… but alas… that is a story for another blog.) Sitting in an office, talking to co-workers about the pending holiday that we would all be off for, and just watching the minutes tick by was such a slow burn of boredom and anticipation wrapped in one. I don’t think I spilling the beans on the fact that in an office, no one, and I mean no one, works on the last day before vacation.

    There were so many times in the office, before Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or 4th of July, when we would spend the whole day just taking, swapping stories about families, and crazy things uncles and aunts would do after a bourbon or two. Bad Christmas gifts from siblings was a popular topic as well. A few times, I think before Christmas vacation, the office would head out to a bar and hang out for a couple drinks. Christmas lights and martini’s is a state of mind during the Holiday Season.

  • Busy Morning

    I wouldn’t say that I was dreading today, but I knew I had a lot to do. That was the reason that I didn’t sleep the best. Sure, there was a good/bad late movie on last night, which didn’t help.

    But, today was the last day of school for the kid, and there was a finely dusted glaze of excitement in our apartment this morning. The cusp of Summer vacation was upon us, and the kid was bubbling over with glee to get it all started. For us the parents, we needed to take the appropriate pictures of “The Last Day of School,” so we could compare them to the shots we took on the first day of school. There was a noticeable bit of nervousness in me as we all walked to school. Something about last days that fill me with melancholy and the feeling of saying goodbye to people you’d grown accustom to seeing daily. The kid bounded off with her friends into school. No one really works on the last day – it’s just a fart around day.

    My next task was to take the car in to be serviced. As Summer is almost here, we are about to start our serious driving season – traipsing around the Mid-Atlantic states, and New England as well. I never thought I would be the type of New Yorker who owned a car in the City, yet here I am. And as such, the responsibilities of car ownership are thrown on me – the maintaining of our car which requires that I drive it to the service center on the westside of Midtown. I like to take West End Avenue to get down there, as it’s an avenue, and an area of the City that I am never in. Full of big old apartment buildings that I’m guessing were built in the 1920’s or so. It is a land of doormen, and people who have to go to work, but well to do jobs, because these people have expensive bills. Like I said, it’s a part of New York I never go to, so I always feel like an explorer when I am there.

    Then to round out my morning, I hit up the Trader Joe’s on 93rd. In the mornings, the place is a mix of older people, and people who look like they just got done working out, and aren’t in a hurry to get to work. Usually, I’m in and out rather quickly. I don’t dottle as this isn’t my favorite chore. Today though, 93rd TJ’s music player was ripping it up with some forgotten 90’s rock. Yes! I am now their target demographic, and they are catering to me! About damn time! Awesome choice with the 311 – and maybe I was too harsh to them when they came out! “I Alone”!!! I haven’t heard that song in years. Alive was a great band! Remember Alive? Me either! Because their name is actually Live. Good memory, I have…

    Now home, it’s blog and making a Summer playlist for all the driving that I’ll be doing. Yes, Live and 311 might make the cut. Going to eat lunch and pick the kid up from school. Hopefully the rain will hold off so she can have some park time with her friends. I still have to make dinner, and start planning the rest of her vacation.