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It snowed! And this time, even in inches it is noteworthy, at least for this part of the country.

We were on our way to ATL and actually turned back because the storm was so bad – lots of ice on overpasses and poor visibility and wrecks and stuff. We took the boys outside to play when we got home and they loved the first hour or so – until the thrill of snow turned to just cold and wet¹.

I was all set to make fun of the news folks who prepped for days and days about the coming storm: when we woke up on Saturday there was a light dusting, but no real snow. Not until about 9, anyway. My bad, newsguys – you don’t completely suck at weather.

1. Really, that’s more my gripe than theirs. [↩]

Dobbs does. Little man fell asleep in the cart at Costco today, and I got to try out my new phone (which I completely love).

Mary Reed and I celebrated our anniversary a couple of weeks ago.  We went out to dinner at Highlands and then went to see the Phantom of the Opera.

Highlands was excellent, as always¹.

One of the highlights of this visit was that Frank Stitt himself prepared our meal.  I have seen him in the restaurant before, but that night I saw him walk out of the kitchen with the our plates in his hands and say something to the server who then brought the meal to the table.

We rounded out the night with Phantom of the (Birmingham) Opera.  It was… well, it wasn’t my thing.  Let’s just leave it at that.  The important part is that we had a great time together.

1. Lots of people tell me that they think its overrated, and not really so great; to which I say – I may have had a better meal occasionally than one at Highlands, but I have never consistently had the perfection of the experience that I get at Highlands.  Simply great. [↩]

We went back to Dauphin Island this summer, and caught crabs again.

I kid¹ . We vacationed again with my parents and my brother’s family, but in a different house this year. All in all, a week is a long time to be away, especially with so many children² , and with two of them less than three months old³ , but all in we had a good time – especially the boys.

1. See, that’s a crab in the orange bucket that Papa or Peter caught.  Bigger here. [↩]
2. We now have three, obvs; and Peter has two little girls now. [↩]
3. Drew is just a couple weeks older than Haines [↩]

Some time ago, a woman my wife knows said that she likes to go to church on Sunday if only to have some time away from her kid. We thought at the time that her attitude was a bit out of whack, and still do, but I can’t deny that there is some bit of truth in the notion.

This morning, after a pretty nice morning at home, we made it to church on time. The boys were a bit wrinkled, but we were there.

After, we hit Lowe’s¹ and then the Moose for lunch.

Napping was still not so good again. I left shortly after putting them to bed for a soccer game, and the sitter told me she thinks they slept, but since they cut off their monitor² she wasn’t sure.

All in, a very good day³.

Two down, five to go.

1. In what was the fastest trip ever for me. [↩]
2. It makes me a bit nervous that they know to do that. [↩]
3. And not just because I left for three hours. [↩]

My wife and I have been planning to clean out the attic basement for manymanymany years.  On March 10, we finally got around to doing it.  It is simply amazing how much stuff you accumulate over the years.

We had a very scientific approach – we took everything out of the basement and put it into the backyard.  Everything.  Then we made three piles, just like on that TLC show, “Keep”, “Trash” and “I-Don’t-Know-Yet.”

The boys were a bit confused.  And maybe a touch concerned (as it was late afternoon when we got the notion).

I used the blower to clean out the basement, then moved all the “Keep” section back into the basement in neatly ordered rows, while MR reviewed the “I-Don’t-Know-Yet” stuff.  When we were both done, we moved all the trash behind our fence (thank God we live on a alley, and only had to carry this junk about 20 feet) and all the rest into the basement.

When I started working in the real world, I imediately became aware of several things, not the least of which was that I was not quite as prepared as I thought I was.  And not in some big way so much as in a lot of little things.  A lot of them.

I realized that I was more or less at the mercy of my peers.  They had valuable knowledge about very important things… Would they share it with me?  Or mock my failures?  (Both, as it turned out.)  Anyway, I survived (so far) and its all a journey, right?  We go to work, we learn, we grow, yada, yada, yada.

So I thought it might be helpful to collect a list of some of the little “ah-ha’s” that I have learned or been shown over the years, in lieu of for my high school or college having offered a “basic survivial” kind of course (not that I would have taken it, mind you). 

• Never fill your coffee cup up all the way, even if you drink it black.  Its a good idea to leave a full inch or so at the top; that way, as you are walking back to your desk on the first day of work, you don’t spill the hot, dark liquid all over your nice white shirt.
• Read the paper.  Or better yet, read Google News.  Just read.
• Its ok to be a phantom bomber, but don’t get caught.
• George had it right – it really is a good idea to carry some papers with you at all times, people really do think you are hard at work, even if its just your football / basketball pool paperwork.
• You will be stupid for the first six months or so at your new job.  No matter how old you are, how many jobs you have held, you will still have a learning curve.  Sure, you may be able to negotiate a new contract that saves millions, but you have no idea who to call when the printer is out of toner.

More to come…

We spent the week with my folks and my brother’s family at a house on the bay side of Dauphin Island. This picture was taken on the last full day, on the beach on the ocean side. Here is a map, we were off to the left.

All in all, it was a great week – the boys had a wonderful time (although Dobbs did have some trouble walking on the sand and in the kinda-rough surf, especially when he was tired), I was mostly able to not work and MR and I were even able to spend a few hours by ourselves at the beach. One of the highlights was a visit to Dauphin Island Sea Lab, particularly for those of us named Reilly.

OK, so it’s not the greatest shot, but its the only one I have from his first official swim lesson.  That’s Margo, his teacher.  She said he was a little Michael Phelps.