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Unbelievable.

Originally uploaded by DJSuperCub.

I don’t think I’ve ever been able to comfortably sit on the front porch at the beginning of January and write a blog entry. If I had tried this in year’s past, the screen would have frozen over and I would have looked like a popsicle before I had even typed the first sentence. As I look around the front porch here, I’m noticing buds on the lilac tree.

This is whacked.

Looking at the forecast, it’s currently 50 degrees. Saturday is suppose to be sunny and near 60!

I had to take a moment and enjoy the sunshine. I’ve spent the morning cleaning the house. Since the weather is so spring like, I decided to go for spring cleaning. I’ve hung up pictures that have been lying around for the three years that we’ve lived here. I’m dusting and spritzing and spraying and vacuuming everything in sight, one room at a time. I hope to be done by April.

I thought I would be relishing the fact that school doesn’t start until the middle part of the month. I pictured myself just kicking back and enjoying this time between finishing work and starting up school. In reality, I’m a little bored. At least I’m able to give the house the attention it deserves. It’s starting to feel like our palace again.

It would have been nice to have the naked houseboy that we’ve always dreamed about though. We’d call him something sexy like “Seth” or “Dusty”. All houseboys should be named Dusty.

Ours is named J.P.

Studying.

Originally uploaded by DJSuperCub.

Tonight I am retaking the math portion of my college placement test. At the urging of my advisor, I have scheduled myself for the basic college math course even though I don’t currently qualify for it. When I first took the placement exam, I missed the benchmark by a couple of points. Realistically I should be taking the remedial course (since I haven’t taken a math course since 1985), but since I scored relatively close to what was required, she felt if I studied up a little bit I might be able to fudge my way in.

I didn’t think you were suppose to study for a placement exam, but who am I to argue.

So I picked up a college level Algebra I book and have since been swimming in a sea of “x”s and “y”s. Honestly, I wish they were chromosones because then it would be much more interesting. But I’m getting through the self-tests relatively unscathed and I must admit that I’m somewhat enjoying the experience.

I also had my first of two MMR immunizations today. I had to go to the county health clinic to get them. Everyone there is sick and the building is dreadfully old, dusty and depressing. The American health care system is truly as sad state of affairs. The shot wasn’t nearly as bad as I remembered from when I was a kid and I have a get out of jail free card to show when they try to pull me out of class in the first part of February (for not having all my immunizations), since I have to wait a month before I get the final shot.

All this so I can make the roads safer for the driving public.

I have to admit that when I went on campus today to turn in my immunization paperwork, I felt a surge of excitement as I walked between the buildings to the student center. I can’t wait for school to start.

Even if it means I’ll be in the Math for Dummies course.

Wide Selection.

Originally uploaded by DJSuperCub.

The folks in our community have been screaming about the fact that Walgreens was building a new store in our area. They claimed that we don’t need another stinkin’ drug store in this rural part of the state, as we already have Rite Aid, Eckerd, Brooks, CVS and many others.

Apparently Walgreens decided to cater to these rural folks that were complaining.

Earl and I stopped at the store to ask if someone had hacked the sign or something. We were informed that it’s true, they carry Chicken Poop for $2.49.

Winter Solstice Celebration.

Originally uploaded by DJSuperCub.

Earl and I took a moment for ourselves this holiday season and celebrated the Winter Solstice with a feast. Winter is officially upon us and the days are at their shortest, though now they’ll start getting a little longer as each day goes by.

We took a moment to remember those that have passed before us and those that are still with us. We also thanked the Universe for all that has been bestowed upon us at this most joyful time and throughout the wheel of the year.

“Here I am on this night, Yule, Midwinter, the winter solstice, the nativity of the Sun, the time of the longest night. I am here to understand life, death, and rebirth, and to give reverence to those who have endured each.”

Happy Yule to all.

Always A Road Geek.

Originally uploaded by DJSuperCub.

Tonight is the last night of my CADD class at the local technical school (what we call BOCES in Upstate New York). I think I got an “A”. To commemorate the survival of this return to school after 20 years, over the weekend Earl took a picture of me standing next to a sign for my favorite road, Interstate 81.

I know it’s very odd for a person to have a favorite road, but as a diehard “roadgeek” and an aspiring traffic engineer, I do have an unusual interest in this sort of thing and growing up close to Interstate 81 led me to many road adventures throughout my life. Where I grew up, you had to take I-81 to get anywhere.

My return to school full-time starts up in January. I’ll have a copy of this picture in my notebook for a little inspiration.

I know. I’m a big, big geek.

Spicy Rice Noodle Bowl.

Originally uploaded by DJSuperCub.

I have decided that I’m going to live healthier in 2007. In preparation for this task, I’ve started finishing up the chemically based detergents and soaps and I’ve been paying closer attention to food labels, looking to avoid modern miracles such as Splenda and whatnot.

Our market choices for healthy living is rather limited. We are graced with FOUR Wal*Mart Supercenters (Always Chaos, Always) within 25 miles of our home. We also have some regular grocery stores that have a small “Nature’s Cubbyhole” section and one larger market that has a full blown “Nature’s Way” area. There’s also a natural food store called Peter’s Cornucopia.

Anyways, last night I went to Peter’s for the first time, with the hopes of finding all I needed to make this transition easier. The first thing I noticed was that everything was more expensive, as I expected it to be, but I really didn’t anticipate a half gallon of organic orange juice clocking in at $6.99. No thanks, I’ll juice the oranges myself.

I browsed through the soup section, where some quick-type rice noodle bowls caught my eye. Moderately priced (no second mortgage required) with relatively healthy nutrition information on the side, I tossed them in my little basket and moved on.

Today I’m having my first of these lunch delights. The first thing I noticed is that some assembly is required. I expected to add water, but I was also asked to add the contents of three packets, including some dehydrated vegetables, something that suspiciously looked like ramen noodle powder and a small packet of oil. I punched up the required time on the radarange microwave and voila! Lunch, three minutes later.

It is VERY spicy. Much spicier than I anticipated. Much spicier than anything we had with Karl and Randy back in Boston last month. I’m thinking the spicyness is in the oil. It’s rather tasty though. I’m looking forward to my next lunch.

Sunroof.

Originally uploaded by DJSuperCub.

Usually one does not even dream of opening the sunroof in the middle of December in Upstate New York. Said sunroof is usually frozen shut this time of year. But today it was near 60 degrees so I just had to open the sunroof, drink in some sunshine and enjoy the fresh air.

I don’t know why I don’t look happy in this picture, I was quite excited to be out in the beautiful weather.

At Bonefish Grill.

Originally uploaded by DJSuperCub.

Earl and I joined my sister and mother last night for dinner. We went to a newer chain establishment outside of Syracuse called Bonefish Grill. It was our first time there and I found it to be somewhat akin to a PF Chang’s of the seafood set. The food was wonderful and we had an absolutely delightful time. I was going to go easy on the food and drink since I had my annual physical scheduled for this morning, but then I decided that if the doctor questioned why my cholesterol was high or whatever this morning, I would have just put my arms out and said “take me as I am.” Earl likes to call it the “Tango J.P.” So we had a full course meal, complete with beer on the side.

With the maddening rush of the holidays, it’s nice to be able to just calm down and spend some quality time with friends and relatives instead of just dazzling them with gifts. I feel as some other bloggers I read do, if I’m in the mood to give a gift, I’ll give a gift, regardless of the occasion. I find the kinship with others to be more important than exchanging a trinket or two.

We’re not going to get to see everyone we’d like to see this holiday season. This makes me sad. Unfortunately there’s just not enough hours in the day to accomplish all that we want or need to do. But I am looking forward to seeing family members and friends, enjoying some conversation and just hanging out during the holidays.

Even if we have to extend the season until January 14th or something.

Where’s The Birdie.

Originally uploaded by DJSuperCub.

Tom decided he needed a closer look as to what was going on today.

Then I took a look at Homer’s World and saw that he had a cat picture up on his blog today too. I guess great minds think alike.

Earl and I finally got around to putting up the Christmas lights outside. Even though the we’ve had warm weather on and off for the past couple of weeks (aside from the snow and cold weather last week), we decided to wait on putting up the lights until it was below freezing and it was completely dark outside. It adds to the merriment of the gesture by making it a really big challenge for all involved.

We’ve lived in this house for three years and have basically followed the same template when putting up the lights around the porch. For some reason we couldn’t figure out how we got the lights mounted around the front door. So we said the heck with that and tried something new. After getting all the lights installed securely, we found several bulbs were blown and needed replacing. Since it was a Sunday evening, we headed to Wal*Mart (Always White Trash, Always) to see if they had replacement lights. We wandered through the “Trim A Tree” section where there were no trees and no lights to be found. After being reprimanded by a surly Wal*Mart “team member” (Always Bitchy, Always) that the Christmas Trees, Lights and Decorations are not in Trim-A-Tree but rather in “Live Plants”, I abandoned the cart and made a call to K-mart to see how late they were open. Turns out The Savings Place is open until 11 p.m., time to head across town. I think we can all safely assume that my blood alcohol content level was entirely too low to spend any more time in Wal*Mart (Always A Mistake, Always).

I love K-mart, especially our local store. They’ve done little to update the interior, aside from replacing the cash registers every few years. It’s like taking a step back in time. It’s the same size as every other K-mart in the world but it still has it’s “Big K” sign on the outside. I was delighted to see that despite that “Big K” thing, some ads posted had a “Kmart” logo on them reminicent of the old days, except it was all red. I don’t know why marketing folks have something against turquoise, I find a red “K” with a turquoise “mart” quite inviting. K-mart should stop trying to be everyone else and start being themselves. They should take a cue from Kmart Australia and implement that logo.

We found what we needed, checked out via a friendly cashier and headed home without spiking the blood pressure too high. K-mart is The Savings Place.