Pre-Christmas 2010

Christmas is almost here, and somewhat different in many ways from past years, tho' with many typical joys as well. The tree went up a week earlier than usual, and this is the first year that Santa has had the presence to put the presents under the tree early. Although you might expect an emotional letdown that older kids often get regarding "Christmas present anticipation", seeing them sitting there wrapped but on full display, with new additions appearing unpredictably, has led my often surly teenaged crew to gleefully shake and fondle and count and speculate almost daily. Nikki refuses to believe that the large wrapped box with her name on it is actually a package of underwear cleverly disguised as a ruse to trick her. Joe, having money burning a hole in his pocket and disturbed that the dogs always get something, decided to purchase at cat toy/nap-place pirate ship - couldn't wait until Christmas, so he set it up immediately. We still enjoy the annual family combo Christmas & Mom's/Aunt Edie's birthday party at Camp Kiwanee. This year Aunt Edie did not come up from Florida to attend, but two of her five children participated anyway. Unexpectedly, Moms cousin Howard and his daughter Terry and son Jim came in from Maine to see long lost relatives. We downsized our tree in an effort to not obstruct the view of the television for a month, but thanks to a belated but still in the St. Nick of time extending of unemployment benefits, we didn't have to downsize the gift lists too badly. We have gotten better in recent years to shop more specifically and orderly instead of randomly and emotionally, but still some kids are just so easy and fun to shop for while others are difficult and offer little insight. The job search is still unsuccessfully continuing, although I did receive a very enthusiastic apologetic rejection from a recent application and found a new opening to apply for that I totally qualify for and have the experience for, so maybe the new year will be more prosperous. We get to have all of our still-at-home kids at home for Christmas morning, and get to share Mary & Matts first Christmas as home-owners, conducting the childrens exchanging of gifts tradition at their beautiful house in Hanson.

1 year anniversary

As of today I have been unemployed for one full year. It was fun for a while but it's become a bit unsettling now.

Sox 2010 recap

Things I've decided about the Red Sox this year:

I would have rather pitched Tim Wakefield every 5th day over Lackey or Dice-K - he might not have done any better, but I would have been much happier accepting the results.

Theo should convince Dice-K to accept a trade to the National League (San Fran or LA would be good locations for him)

I would have traded Bucholtz last year and I would have been wrong (even after last nights debacle).

If Mike Bowden isn't going to be in the rotation or the bullpen next year, trade him while you still can.

I would rather have Jed Lowery next year instead of Bill Hall.

Theo evaluated both Mike Lowell and Adrian Beltre correctly.

They should overpay for Beltre (and V-Mart) next year, and Lowell should retire.

Big Papi is a crap shoot for next year. Try to get an Adam Dunn type left fielder so you can afford the risk of keeping OR letting Papi go. If you let him go, DH by committee, rotating people who can hit AND play a position.

If they had kept Ellsbury in center where he belongs, he wouldn't have broken his ribs. Practice Mike Cameron in left & right and he should be a solid 4th OF next year.

Scutaro was OK but I hope the Cuban minor league SS gets here soon (and has learned to hit).

By 2012, I want to see Ryan Kalish, Jose Inglesias, Junichi Tazawa , & Kelly Casey in the regular lineup. If they can't make it by then, they should be trade bait for someone who can.

Keep Tito - he is the best manager we have ever had or could hope to get in this day and age.

Bunny Condo

Ohio girls at Camp Kiwanee

St Lucia revisited - Day 1

As Sue naps from all of todays activities & before supper, I shall try to remember how, what & when so far. I suppose it starts well before our departure. When I got layed off, I had to determine what to do with my 401K. It was not enough to be more than a spit in the bucket for actual retirement, and because I was sort of involuntarily retired, and might not ever get another chance to do this magnitude of a trip again, we decided to put aside a couple months worth of mortgage money and splurge the rest on returning to wonderful St Lucia/Sandals. On one hand, being unemployed, it felt like a huge and ill-advised finacial risk. On the other hand, many couple close to us were suffering through divorces, illnesses and deaths - and to whom ever we mentioned our trip to, everybody stated "of course you should go!" To you all, I say "thanks for enabling us!"
Wednesday we arrived at Logan Airport at 3:30AM for a 5:30AM 3+ hour flight to Miami. After a 1-1/2 hour intermission there, we were on a 3+ hour flight to St Lucia. 40 minutes past San Juan, we were informed that we would about=face and land in Puerto Rico to take on more fuel and wait for the inclement weather in St Lucia to clear up a bit. Instead of landing at 1:15PM, we finally arrived at 3:30PM - "no worries, no problems". Having decided to take a 15 minute helicopter to Castries (St Lucia capital and 15 minutes to our Sandals) instead of the 1-1/2 to 2 hour taxi ride, we managed to arrive well ahead of the other plane passengers headed to the same destination. Weather was off=and=on raining, but still lovely. We settled into our room - upgraded from the one we booked as we were returning customers. Sandals was celebrating "Reunion Week" and having a special dinner for returning guests. We ate a gourmet cooked & presented meal, sharing a table with two couples from Canada (why would anybody want to own one?), a couple from Texas, and one of the Hotel Managers. We won prizes & T-shirts and had a blast exchanging stories with our new-found friends. Although the room we had been upped into was larger and did hav a balcony, we quickly determined that we truly preferred the room we had on our last visit and after thanking them for their generosity, asked if they could please "downgrade" us back to the room we originally booked. They insisted of course it would be "no problem, no pressure" and could handle it in the morning. Having just spent the last 3hours entertaining the hotel manager, Sue regailing him with stories, we felt confident that we would indeed be satisfied. We finished up early (10:00PM) and crashed on our room.