Alice's Restaurant

Ma chere and the Ts all settled on Long Island. I have been on the job with the Ps for 16 months. It is safe to say that the transition that was a contributing factor for this blog is complete. I have reached a point with this blog where I am not sure where I should go next. When I started blogging, I thought I might want to continue to write even after I made the transition to my new career. Now, I find myself wondering if anyone really cares to hear yet another vapid rant on social, political and religious issues.

I am thinking about starting a series on what Estate/House Managers do starting with the basics. This sort of follows the idea of "Write What You Know". I want to make sure I leave it generic enough so as to not step on anyone's intellectual property. I have been working on the idea for the last few months. I will try to come up with something soon.

Title by: Arlo Guthrie

Quand On n'A Que L'Amour

Wow, it has been a month. Sorry about that. The holidays just flew by this year.

Here is a recap, briefly I promise, of the past few weeks.

Van broke - $3000

Thanksgiving – Philadelphia with ma chere, the Ts and my sister and some charming friends

Christmas – Washington, DC with ma chere, the Ts, my sister and some charming friends

Vacation – R&R in Washington, DC and Baiting Hollow

New Year's – Baiting Hollow

For those that like the "Webster's Unabridged", here is the filler.

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, the transmission on our van stopped working. By "stopped working", I mean one second we are doing 55 on Sound Avenue heading for Greeenport and the next we are coasting to a stop with no power from the engine reaching the wheels. Thankfully, we have some fantastic friends that live not too far from where we were stranded. Their eldest son gave ma Chere and T3 a ride back to our house while I waited for the tow from AAA.

In the course of one of my conversations with AAA over the fact that the tow was 45 minutes late, I was called a "dumb-ass" by one of the Wisconsin representatives. I kid you not, she said, "DUMB ASS" as she put me on hold. Needless to say, I was livid, fit-to-be-tied, died in the wool ticked off. Of course, while AAA was somewhat apologetic, I never heard back from any of the supervisors that claimed they would get to the bottom of it. I guess in this economy, they can afford to give customers away.

Two weeks later and a few thousand dollars the van was back in our driveway.

Thanksgiving was spent with my sister in Philadelphia. She actually lives in Washington, DC but Phili is a good spot in between Washington, DC and Long Island, NY. We had a wonderfully prepared meal, compliments to my sister and ma chere. We spent some time at Reading Station on Friday before heading back to Long Island. There is a great food market there with good eats and great grocery deals.

The situation with the van put a damper on our Christmas preparations. We also decided that the trip back to Milwaukee would be too expensive and too hard on the new transmission. Ma chere made the most of it by setting out the decorations earlier than we normally set them out. The house looks very nice all dressed up for the holidays. Next year, I will try my hand at outdoor decorations.

I had my 5 year colonoscopy the Monday before Christmas. The preparation for that is always worse than the actual procedure. However, having to wait an additional 2 hours because the doctor was behind schedule almost constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The good news is everything came back clean and clear. And, I will not have to worry about it again until 2013. T1 will be a senior at that point, a camera up my backside might seem like a vacation then.

We enjoyed a nice service at church on Christmas Eve. I had the pleasure and honor of doing the Old Testament and Epistle readings for the candle service.

After the kids came downstairs on Christmas Day, we ate a quick breakfast and headed down the Washington, DC. It is about 320 miles from our place to my sister's. It takes about 6 hours. We celebrated Christmas dinner near Bethesda with a charming couple and their children. They are friends of my sister's from the first time she lived in DC. The rest of the weekend was spent in tourist mode. We spent time at the Museum of the American Indian, Arlington Cemetery, the National Zoo and Annapolis. We got back to Baiting Hollow Sunday afternoon and did leave until Tuesday morning.

A winter storm hit the east coast on Tuesday during the day. By Midwest standards, it was relatively small except that the temperature dropped from 35 to 20 while it was still snowing. The roads were all covered with black ice. The New Year's party was cancelled, leaving ma chere, Ts 2 & 3 and I with a cheese and sausage platter and chocolate mousse for 16. We found a way to survive until Midnight.

We passed the rest of the week with a run into Manhattan to visit the American Museum of Natural History on Friday. It was a nice way for ma chere and I to pass our 16th anniversary. Saturday was T3's 7th birthday. We moved all the furniture around in the living room, set it up "theater-style" and watched movies with an obcene amount of hors d'ourves.

And that, as they say, was the month in round up. Pretty generic stuff really. Just living the middle-class dream.

Title by: Jacques Brel

It Takes Every Type of People

I am truly sympathetic to the "Gay Cause" or many other “Causes” for that matter. This is not in the vein of a 1960's Enlightened "Oh, I have a 'black friend' (not that I think that's a problem)" kind of sympathy. I really do not care what color your skin is, who you pray to, where you are from or what gender you get your jollies from. I am much more concerned about important things like whether you will join me for a shot, a beer or a glass of wine and what I should expect to be pouring. (My preference is sambuca; ma chere prefers tequila; wild turkey is for one special occasion though that is negotiable; otherwise, BYOB, I am congenial that way.) Food is important to. We tend towards an omnivorous diet, but I would not throw you out for bringing a good bean salad. Ma chere and the Ts might grump a bit though.

Title by: Robert Palmer

Love and Marriage

I believe that marriage is a sacred sacrament given by God. The Bible tells us that this sacrament is to be performed through God between a man and a woman. HOWEVER, I believe the church no longer has any authority in the realm of protecting the modern concept of marriage. Consider first the farce of a Las Vegas wedding or the secular-in-the-extreme courthouse wedding. The result of these unions is a marriage that is recognized in all 50 states and most of the civilized world. Where was the church when these types of unions were started?

Should I dare ask why a member of the clergy must be licensed or certified in the United States? The answer is rather simple if rather cynical. It is so they can tax both the marriage couple and the officiate. Are we to believe, as most churches do, that a ceremony performed by a judge, with no mention of a higher power (much less Christ), is a "holy union" simply because an xx and an xy joined hands and kissed at the end of the service? JUNK, BALDERDASH! Or, to put a fine point on it, No...

Title by: Frank Sinatra

In My Life

This is where the trouble really begins. Recent news, election results, radical conservative pundits, etc. have rubbed me a bit raw lately. So, here we go…

I believe in the right of life. I believe life starts at conception. I believe that the willful taking of a life at ANY point after conception is not just wrong, it is a sin. HOWEVER, I do not believe in the government's right to legislate or otherwise regulate a person's right to choose. No to anti-abortion legislation, No to capital punishment.

Abortion kills, capital punishment kills. Abortion flies in the face of not just Christian morals but also existential fundamentals. If your Christian beliefs are not insulted, then your agnostic or atheistic codes should be.
Capital punishment does not work as a deterrent. An eighteen year old with a semi-automatic believes he is immortal AND invincible. (Is that the 2nd stage or 3rd stage of tequilla? umm, never mind...) That he might face death for blowing away a rival does not even cross his mind.

However, the world is ours to convince otherwise. Not through the force of legislation, but through love and understanding. Christ gave to us, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..." There is not a suggestion of hiding behind a law in that verse or any other verse I am aware of for that matter....

Title by: The Beatles

Tangled Up In Blue

I am going to get into some trouble here. I just know it. However, I cannot help myself.

I am a Christian. This should not be too much of a surprise for the few of you still hanging around and reading this blog. My faith is an important part of who I am. My quest for faith consumed a fair amount of my formative years. It is solid now and beyond question or doubt.

Because of my faith, I embrace a number of social issues. I believe that anyone can reasonably expect to be cared for when they are too young, too sick or too old to take care of themselves. I believe that anyone can reasonably expect a fair chance at being safe, getting a quality education, getting a job and returning the favor to the next generation. There is plenty of controversy in this paragraph to keep most of us at the dining room table with a few bottles of wine for an evening....

Title by: Bob Dylan

One (Hu)'man One Vote

"Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority." - Henry David Thoreau

Do not forget to vote today. It is the best way to "Support the Troops". Today is the day they are fighting for.

Title by: Johnny Clegg & Savuka