This Was Easy


I'm tired, here's my entry for this week:
What he said
http://thealwayshighfishinoptishin.blogspot.com/2014/05/indy-500-weekend.html

Gradumatation Day !!!

Yes indeed the young man graduated cum laude with double majors in History and Government. The whole weekend was fun and memorable; the baccalaureate was indoors due to rain, then we went to a lecture by The Honorable Kathleen Kennedy Townsend as the school marked 50 years since her father Robert Kennedy was in the area. Not a proud moment for the area as he fought against the anti-integration closing of the Prince Edward county schools for 5 years. Too bad they didn't take questions afterwards, I was going to ask if it was true that her grandmother had a black dress......yeah, still too soon I guess.

Scott Cooper (class of 1992) gave the commencement address after his daughter won everyone's heart by singing that d****d song from Frozen. He's working with Johnny Depp on a movie about Whitey Bolger. I got really excited to hear that, but then realized he said Bolger, thought he said Ford.

So Jackson got his diploma:

Then had his picture taken at the picnic with Elizabeth, yes, she is lovely

Then realized he has to pay for all of this.................just kidding!

TAR took this picture as they drove off campus, it really is a good shot of his "one last look"

Free food brings a crowd! We were glad so many could attend and enjoy

So it is now Friday at lunch and we have a very sad funeral to attend at 2:00. Pat was a wonderful lady, Scout leader, and faithful church lady who often drove the handicapped bus. She died far too young and we will all miss her, so I thought something funny would make us all feel better:

Tonight we set off for the Indianapolis 500, can not wait!

Everything Is Different

I mean it, everything changed this week. Even this laptop I'm trying to use to enter this week's thoughts and musings...........can't wait can you?

Let's see......very impressed with the personnel at Ventamatic. That was the understatement of the year. This week I've been learning a lot, or trying to act like I'm learning a lot (well you see John, you can't access your company e-mail through G-mail because we use Outlook not G-mail.....remember?) I'm lucky to be able to turn this thing on and off, the laptop runs well.

Announcements have been made and travel could start as early as next week. Since I've been gone so much the last week I'd already planned a couple of office days for next week, but it could be only a couple.

Dink got out of rehab this week proving that once again crystal meth can be beat. She's been busy trying to convince everyone she is just fine while all the time barking out commands, so in other words nothing has changed.

Seems as though I'm carrying out a family tradition being in the fan business. Actually I was in the fan business for a few years with Emerson, but I found this picture in the archives recently. Daddy rigged cooling for the little house many years ago. Pretty work and it did the job.

From a fancy restaurant in Fort Worth called the Rodeo Goat, or was it the Goat Rodeo? Can't remember but the food was good and the message obviously unread.

Whatever Throwback Thursday means this picture was posted on Facebook this week, hot huh?

 I like the Hampton Inn in Fort Worth which will be by home away from home when I'm in Texas, but if I'm going to get a good night's sleep someone has to fix this. FYI the sign was glued on. Wonder if I left the television on?

Love the new job, let's go fishing

There Was Something Else......

.......that I wanted to say and danged if I didn't forget it. But anywho we are in the middle of a string of big weekends. Last weekend we went to cousin RAT(L)'s wedding and boy oh boy did we have fun? No seriously, did we have fun? Here's a great picture of the blushing bride

Yes I know, should have kept that one to myself. BTW her exploration was unsuccessful. Hope they're having fun on their honeymoon for many many years.
Then off to DC for the spring AHRI meetings; I was glad to end my time with Skuttle doing this. I've always enjoyed the section work in this organization and will miss seeing that fine group.

And SWMBO did get to eat at Old Ebbitt's Grill, followed by a walk around the White House and down Pennsylvania Avenue. Nice exercise trying unsuccessfully to walk off that bread pudding. 

Cooper Riley: this one is just for you. I'll get you started....................KNOCK KNOCK

Tomorrow morning, no wait, this morning we have to unpack, repack, get Terri's car from the shop, get Dink's van from the shop, take the seats out of the van, drive to Farmville, VA and get everything Jackson owns, then to Midlothian for a good night's sleep. Then back to HSC for festivities and the baccalaureate service and back to Midlothian. Up early Sunday, drive to HSC for the 10:00 graduation, lunch and festivities; then to Morehead City to unload and repack because I have a 5:20 AM flight Monday morning to Texas to start a new job. Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it.  But very excited to see new opportunities for us.

Leaving a good job is difficult, I don't do this very often but I've still got a fire in my belly and look forward to many years with Ventamatic. How does one say goodbye? TAR claims that every time I say something funny it is because I stole it from somebody, well, OK, I'll admit many times but not every time, just nearly every time. So I will give proper credit to one of the AHRI crew, and one of their brightest stars Mr. Eric Chen who looked said this to me Wednesday night and then walked off
"I'm not very good at saying good bye"

ChChChChChChChchanges

Captain Columbus landed one of his ships in Morehead last weekend and we were there to capture it on film. Some of the natives thought we were capturing their souls in our magic box but we convinced them otherwise. 

Actually took this picture myself in Roanoke, I've called them to work out an endorsement deal with TAR.

While on the water last weekend we found a familiar boat, glad to see her out and running.

And not catching fish either, as shown here in a remarkably good photograph

Happy 23rd to Jackson. We'll see more of him in the very near future.

Just plain funny as we see Yankee fans boo at a picture of Robinson Cano upon his return to Yankee Stadium as a Seattle Mariner. Is there something wrong with trying to improve your financial package? 

I was able to go through Farmville Tuesday night and have dinner with Jackson. He remarked that his last college class was that day, he didn't know where the four years went. I thought about that yesterday when I made what was probably my last call for Skuttle. Where did those 16 years go? Wow. Next week I will be in DC (for Skuttle) at the AHRI meetings, then to VA for graduation on Sunday, then a 525 AM flight the next day to start a new career. 

Better hang on, or better yet as Ferris Bueller said "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Daisy

This is our grand-dog Daisy. Elizabeth brought her in as a stray, amazing to see a street tough dog learn to trust and love. But with my new job travel schedule we are still not ready. Even though Daisy did whisper in my ear how much she liked Morehead City..........................

We had a fun Easter although it was chilly, windy and rainy, so no travel on the boat. Good times with a great feast Saturday night. And then the house got very quiet Sunday afternoon.

................and then I was off to Indiana Monday morning for open houses all week. I'll be done at 2:00 this afternoon, drive to Marietta to drop the Skuttle-mobile off and pick up a rental, then drive to Morehead for fishing tomorrow morning with the Fishin Optishin. You might want to MAPQUEST this little trip, not much sleep for the next 48 hours, maybe there will be a boat-nap in there somewhere.

Then off to VA Monday, Charlotte Wednesday, and home Thursday night. Getting to the short rows of my time at Skuttle.

Please allow me to introduce for your intellectual and philosophical pleasure, the Tony Basil twist on Swan Lake. If you're curious about Ms. Basil there is another song I can find, but if I were you I would not open that can of worms; Ms. Basil if you please................

New Beginnings

First of all congratulations to Bubba for winning the Masters again; he seems to be a nice down to earth guy who has his head on straight. I'm not sure the Masters management enjoyed his exit from those hallowed grounds, but he owns one of the Dukes of Hazzard cars and he is who he is. 

And enjoyed his dinner that night at the Waffle House. No sirrrrreeeeeeeeeeeee Bob, not unlike Popeye he am what he am.

The FishinOptishin celebrates his birthday Sunday, and it is one of those that ends with a zero, that's all I'm going to say other than I'm itching to go fishin..................Maybe April 26-27?

The boat-owner and her captain went out Sunday afternoon for the first time this year; we made a concious decision to pursue a more active lifestyle Sunday afternoon, rather than lie about on the sofa napping we went out whereby SWMBO promptly positioned herself on the front cushion and slept for two to three hours. We are active seniors. Couldn't find any fish to bring home but did see a huge pod of dolphins having fun.

Since it's Easter do you want to hear the funniest religion joke of all time? I'll bet some readers just uneasily shifted in their chairs, this is funny. From Emo Phillips: Hang on a second. As you start this, yes, I know it's a little fuzzy, and yes, I know you can't stand his voice or his appearance. Try to hold all that in long enough to listen to the joke, it's a good one. It's hard enough for all of the people and all of the religions of the world to get along with each other, ever know of a church to have issues, major issues within itself? I guess it seemed critically important at the time, but I think we are all missing the point of the Great Commission far too often. 

Jay, Holly and the grandchildren are on their way to Morehead for the weekend. Jackson and Elizabeth and her new dog Daisy are coming this afternoon. Am I to feel responsible for introducing Jay and Daisy? Pretty obscure wasn't it? Great (f) Scott!

New beginnings, ah yes. After sixteen years I resigned from Skuttle and am heading towards  a privately owned Texas company called ButlerVentAMatic. http://www.bvc.com/ Coincidentally I interviewed in the mid 80's with that very same company; I guess they ran out of candidates. I'm very excited about this new opportunity. I'll start with them May 12th, heavy travel schedule for Skuttle until then culminating with the spring AHRI meeting. 

And best of all, the tomb is empty. Happy Easter.