The Holtonian

Christmas a few days early

I feel like i haven't been home in weeks, and I sort of havent' been. I was in CT for a week, then thanksgivin in MS last week and now back up to CT for awhile, its crazy.

We did a little Christmas with my family on Friday to save on postage we do it while we're all together on thanksgiving. It was really nice as the gifts were stupendous and it was great to see people's reactions to things.

My brother was engrossed by the book I got him about steam engines. The guy's a train nut and it was cool to see him get so into the book, he wouldn't put it down. Dad got some black licorice that I don't think made it through the night. Mom got all sorts of bath stuff from us and Joy got a nice monogrammed bag to help her feel like a true southern girl with a monogrammed purse and all. Pete also got some greyfriars but the book was clearly his favorite.

I got a much needed golf bag from the folks. Its a slick nike one with the back back strap and a kick stand. I already loaded it up with my stuff and stuck it in my car in the hopes that some day I'll be able to go afford to play a round of golf. Maybe when hunt gets back we'll go play a round.

I also got the new Johnny Cash cd which is pretty much a best of. I like most of Cash's stuff and I've owned a few of his cds from different eras but rarely have I ever been greatful for owning an entire cd from song 1 to the end. This however has all the good stuff including the Wanderer with U2 and a new eidtion of The Man Comes Around that is more country and interesting, I like the one on American 4 better but its interesting to hear it as a more country song. It goes all the way from Cry! Cry! Cry! to Hurt... and man I still tear up everytime I hear Hurt, its so painfully depressingly good.

The wife got some shoes, the gift she was desiring above all others. We also got an amazing quilt from Joy which she made herself. It was an amazing gift that just so heartfelt and cool that I think we can say it was easily our favorite gift.

Anyway, time to load up the ipod and get ready for a long trip.

Black Friday

We went out for dinner tonight to a good little steak restaurant down in the heart of mississippi. Pete steaked it out... lame joke... and it had the outside appearance of a dive bar but inside it was a candle lit tables and dim lighting. I got the "small" filet which was a massive 7ounces of manly beef. It was very good, steak is always good... its good to be an american.

The wife, joy, and I braved the mall today. I mostly people watched but did pa--roose the video game stores. Which I realize is uttterly pointless as you are not allowed to buy anything between November and December for one's self. I did see a gameboy game that was great, it had Rush N Attack, a great classic cold war nintendo game that has a special place in my heart.

Back in the day I was at my cousins house, it was a family get together. They had rush n attack for the old nintendo. I was maybe around 10 years old. Well everyone got in the station wagon and headed off to the mall... everyone but me. I did not notice everyone was leaving and no one noticed that I hadn't piled into the wood panelled wagon. 45 minutes later my cousins come into the tv room and ask me, "Where have you been??!?!?"

"Playing nintendo...."

It was my brief Maculay Culken home alone experience, though I never noticed anyone had left me.

Anyway, so i people watched. The girls bought stuff. Then I dropped them off at Old Navy, and found a remote part of the parking lot away from the chaos and where no one was around. I rolled the windows down, cranked up some OAR and played gameboy... it was a nice relaxing morning.

Missisisiisipppiiis thanksgiving

Hangin in out in the deep south of Mississippi. Man its like 80 degrees outside, its really nice. I just got back from hanging with copper outside. He's chillin outside sunning it up. Pete's house (AKA Obscene Gene) is really nice. Its a newer house in a subdivision with a mixture of newer and older homes. But its beautiful. Plus he's got an arcade Off Road game in the garage. I already played a few games on it and it took me back to the days when I used to spend after school in arcades. Or when I used to visit Concerned at work at Leman's Arcade in St. Louis. Its long gone by now but my brother had the dream job in highschool of an arcade worker. He was that guy, that sleazy guy who works in an arcade, though he wasn't sleazy and wasn't overweight, in his forties, with a mustache... so it was cool. He was the cool highschooler who ran the arcade and let his brother and friends play for free. That's how I beat most of the arcade games of my day, unlimited quarterage from the brother hook up.

It cracks me up that Pete has an arcade game because he's pretty much the biggest anti gamer in the family. He says he's trying to ebay it but I think he's a closet gamer.

Pete's wife Joy has this sweet mac hookup for her job that would make Roesiah jealous. Its like a G5 or something with a sweet flat screen and a power book on her treadmill so she can work while she works out. Yeah its a sweet setup. Its kind of funny that my brother has sweater tech stuff than me since I'm the tech geek of the family. I have a dell desktop that's about 7 years old and a laptop that runs for 45 minutes without a plug.

After bloggin on a mac i realize how much I like macs. I always have just never had the fundage to get one. I love the keyboards, they're so much quieter and easier to type on than a pc. Not sure why but it just seems so much smoother.

Anywho, I'm just relaxin down here reading some of Knowing God. I read it at covenant but couldn't tell you three things about the book other than its about Knowing God. Its kind of sad because I remember really enjoying the book, and I noticed I high lighted a ton of stuff... so it just proves that just because you high light something doesn't mean you'll remember it. Though I have a terrible memory and find that I can't remember stuff after I've read it. I'm going through this book very slowly and deliberately but I'm not a great reader and am not a reader learner. I learn by doing... which usually translates learning by failing, if i fail at something I usually figure out why i failed and then succeed on the second attempt.

Anyway, I'm just rambling because its fun typing on a mac.

Oh and funniest Mississippi comercial:

Some random catfish/fish restaurant: "Our cooking's so good you'll wanna slap your mamma.... though we don't recommend it."

Thanks to the giving

Well I'm sitting here at home on a frigid lookout mtn day. Actually its not too bad but copper is wearing his coat so that tells you something about the temp. I took today and tomorrow off to just sort of enjoy the holiday time. We'll leave tomorrow for Mississippi to see my brother his wife and my folks. Should be fun though we'll miss my brother concerned. But someone has to show the Iraqis how to make a turkey.

THe house is in disarray up here due to the impending Christmas holiday. Since we aren't having any company for thanksgiving here we decided to skip the thanksgiving decorations, though we don't really have many to speak of, so we moved strait to the Christmas time decorations. We got the tree up and decorated, by that I mean I brought the tree up out of the basement and the wife painstakingly decorated while I watched and cheered her on. I'm not allowed to touch the tree. Oh don't worry its for the best. If i had my way we'd own every starwars, gi joe, star trek, etc hallmark ornament they make. It'd look more like a toy store than a christmas tree. So I get to watch the wife make the tree look pretty, its a nice situation.

Though we did have a problem this year with the tree. With the addition of the armoire in the corner our usual christmas tree location was sort of occupado. Granted we've only had christmas here once but that was the tree's spot. Moving the armoire was out of the question so we decided to put the tree next to it and move the recliner into the baby's room for the time being. Well to aid the decorating we kept it out from the wall so the back could be reached. Then when the wife was done I got down on the ground to push it back into the wall a bit so it wasn't sticking out so far in the middle of the room. As I gently nudged it back it..... TIMBER!!!!! proceeded to fall on top of me. Wifey's crying and trying to hold it up, i'm underneath afraid to move so no more ornmanets fall off and break. It was pretty hilarious and I was laughing the whole time, something the wife wasn't too happy about. But we got it up and only lost one ornament completely, one of those glass balls that are dirt cheap. We also lost a crystal icicle but I think I can glue it back together. I think what happened was the frame/stand got bent some how and couldn't hold the weight of the tree. So I wired it to the wall and that's keeping it in good position.

I'm looking forward to thanksgiving. For one we don't have to travel all the way to chicago, though that was a ton of fun and food last year. This year will be a litlte quieter and more just the local holton fam. I think with all the respective clans growing, and grandchildren being born getting everyone (my mom's whole side) together is both costly and hard to organize. My mom's fam is about five families so everyone under one roof is a lot of folks. This year may be the way things are done here on out just because its easier for people. I know its easier for us because its less travel and expenses. With the baby coming next year might see a shift in how things are done as well. Not sure if we'll do it at our house or not but I'd be up for it. Though its the wife's call since she cooks.

This past year there's a lot to be thankful for and i'm just glad and joyful that God has given us a great year with a lot of challenges and a lot of blessings. Happy thanksgiving to any who made it all the way through this.

Start spreading the news

So I'm really bad about spreading news. I'm often the last little raisin on the grapevine and I guess I got used to being the last one to hear things so I just got used to being the last one to tell things. But that being said the wifey is a good way's pregnant.

She asked me why I hadn't blogged about it yet and I told her, "Because you didn't tell me to yet..." I guess I didn't know what the statute of limitations were for blogging about pregnancy.

But yes we're pregnant, a good 15/16 weeks or so... wow that's like four months or something. WE find out the sex in a few weeks which we're dying to know. I can finally know what color paint to buy, black or neon green.

So far things are going well, the wife has gotten through the first trimester and is in the second pretty well. She had a sickly first tri with no real up chuck but a good amount of queesie ness. I on the other hand did not experience much of that, i just sort of sit here.

She popped out a bit while i was gone on business, I came back to a wife with a belly which was pretty funny and cool to see. We have premonitions that's its a girl, more just assumptions and speculations based on dreams and old wive's tales. It will be the immediate family's first grandchild on both sides so I'm sure whatever it is it will receive tons of spoilage... hint hint. I'm guessing the baby will like things from bestbuy... just a guess.

This is why I've been working on the floors in the office, as it will no longer be an office it will be a baby's room.

We're really excited about this little blessing from God and can't wait to start living vicariously through it.

We won't be doing any weird naming contest like Freddy and we have some names in mind. I'm pretty dead set on a guys name and basically trying to use my open-ness to girls names as leverage to lock up my boys name. Its all about politics. So be praying for us that it all goes well. Money's the big issue as always with everyone. Not sure where it will come from but we figured we'd always wonder that so why not just make it more interesting with a baby in the mix.

Updates and Walking the line

Well I haven't blogged in a while, heck I haven't even been to my blog itself in a while. I've been out and about for a good week or so. I went up to my company mother ship up north for a good week last week. It was ok, training for my new job as an Underwriter.

I'm looking forward to the job but the training's rather a drag. A lot of it is sort of ho hum boring but some of it is good at setting the proper mindset and to get me thinking about things from a different perspective. And eating on the company dollar isn't half bad either.

I had lobster twice, one at a steak and lobster joint, that was ok, just strait from the tank, to the pot, to my belly. Nothing fancy just dead crustacean. But then I also went to an upscale Oysterbar with Root (Who was also up on business). Think of this place as Northshore or the Boat house but only good and snobbier. There i had possibly the most expensive and best lobster i've ever had. It was a stuffed lobster but man it was fantastic. I also ate a nice rack of lamb at my hotel's restaurant and a few other delightful meals. Nevertheless and needless to say, I'm much heavier for the trip and kind of tired of eating out.

It was hard also being away from the wife for so long. That was the kicker, its not as fun enjoying fancy meals if I'm the only one eating them.

But luckily she'll join me for this next trip up for training and we plan to make a little vacation of it, as much as we can at least.

I got home late friday and was very tired. I had just seen this 60 minutes special on how hotels are usually invested with bed bugs so as soon as i walked in the door i through all my clothes in the washer on hot and jumped in the shower. I don't think the hotel had bed bugs, but i did get a nasty bug bite some how, it might be from the down feather bed i slept on, as i may be allergic or one of the feathers might have pricked me while i slept.

Saturday we just sort of slept in and then went out and saw Walk the Line. Overall the movie was good and the music was really well done. Jauquin Phoenix was pretty darn near a spitting image of Cash and had all the manerisms and songs down perfectly. Reese Witherspoon wasn't the greatest June Carter impersonator, but I feel she took the role and made it her own. When she sang I didn't nessesarily think June Carter, but I got a taste of who June Carter was. In some ways Reese might actually have a better signing voice too, its not necessarily better, but it sounds a little sweeter, but then again the one june carter cd i have is a later one of her and Johnny. But I think Reese did a great job of acting, in the sense of taking a character and bringing it to life and not just doing an impersonation.

That's the hard part with Biopics like Ray and Walk the Line. With Ray and Cash you have these iconic characters that are vivid in people's minds and to not portray them in an impersonational way would hinder the story. THe actor has to portray them in a manner that is pretty much an impersonation otherwise we as the audience wouldn't believe the story. With the side characters, or supporting cast, there's more wiggle room. June can be played with some liberalities because frankly Cash is the one that sticks out in people's minds. I did like Shooter Jennings playing Waylon Jennings, that was kind of cool. Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, it was cool to see all these somewhat mythical rock legends and how they all came to be connected. Wifey and i thought how cool it would have been to see Cash, Carter, Waylon Jennings, Elvis, and Jerry Lee lewis all in the same night.

So it was a good movie with great music. Not my favorite movie yet, in fact I think I still like Cinderella man the most of the somewhat oscar caliber movies i've seen this year. Granted I haven't seen any of the indie far out there flicks or the contraversial flicks that will inevitbly win the oscar.

not much to say

Wow, what's a blog? Man its so slow to get online a lot of times I don't even bother.

Today's activities... blowing the leaves. Man its a chore but I figure I should do a pre-emptive strike. THoguh I'll come back from my business trip and it will look like i didn't do a thing. But first I drink the coffee and warm up. then i blow.

Highspeed slowly

Well the high speed dial up (oxymoron I know) hasn't been all that high speed. Well today it just wouldn't work. I thought it might have been the insta jack so i hooked it up to a phone line downstairs... nothing. So i tried queing the modem, nothing. So i was like, great busted modem. Well I pulled it out and man it was covered with more dust than my text books in college. So I dusted it off, especially the phone line holes and now its actually moderately fast. I'm wondering if the dust was slowing it down. I'm going to try the insta jack again and see if it works better now or if it does really make it slower.

Dog is cute, Panera is good, and I still like the element

So a cold snap hit the chattanooga area a week or so ago. The house got down to the mid 50s as we got put on a waiting list to get our gas turned on. WE made due with some space heaters, a sleeping bag, and lots of blankets. But our poor little buddy Copper couldn't muster up enough fur to keep himself warm so we bought him a little help...

It took him a few days to get used to his faux suede fur lined coat, but now its like a second skin. It was pretty hilarious the first day or two with it. He didn't know how to move so he'd just stand there, aware of the warmth it provided but afraid if he moved it might escape him. He also had adjusting to the height of it, he kept ramming into the coffee table and end tables as he tried to crawl under them.

But now the heat is on, and the weather is warmer so he not needing it as much.

We also started our christmas shopping tonight. We do christmas with my family over thanksgiving, saves on shipping that way. I'm looking forward to thanksgiving down in Mississippi at my brothers new home.

As we hit the mall for some gifts we stopped at Panera for dinner. I worked for Panera for three years and it still is one of my most favoritest places to eat ever. And I got something new tonight, well two things new. Wife ordered the Tuscan chicken, very good choice, and a garden salad. I got the French Onion in a bread bowl, with swiss cheese (i always ask for that I hate the asiago on french onion, doesn't melt properly), and I asked for the new Steak sandwich. Well they gave me the new steak salad, so I brought the mistake to their attention, they let me keep the salad and gave me the sandwich too. The sandwich was fantastic, its a steak sandwich with sundried tomato sauce and is grilled. The salad was good too with lots of blue cheese and walnuts and steak. And the French Onion was again as always oui oui.

On a side note, I still want Honda element. We followed one up the mtn all the way home tonight and I still really am in love on some levels with that car. The interior mostly and just the entire practicality of it all. So those looking to buy me a car out there.. wink wink nudge nudge.

And speaking of cars... I popped my hood on the sentra the other day to put some oil in it, it leaks on a pretty regular basis. So I pop the trunk and on top of the engine lies this metal rod, some part of the engine, unattached to anything in the engine. I pick it up, look at it, and then try to figure out where in world is carmen sandiego... then after that I looked to try and figure out where this rod went. Couldn't figure it out, i was late for work, but it didn't look important, car ran fine so I guess it must have been my johnson rod. I guess I broke my johnson rod. Oh well. But its just another sign of my cars impending doom that I always speak of and never happens.

So I'd like to get an element if the sentra dies, but a honda bike might be more my price range. Which wouldn't be bad, Roe wants me to get a vespa/stella but I told him I'm not that confident and cool. Like people make fun of him when he rides and he takes that joke and turns it into a complement. I'd just take it personally, low self esteem and all. So i'll get my middle america middle mangement middle of the road honda nighthawk or something. Or an element if someone gives me some sweet moolah. I tried selling tupper ware but uncle rico has cornered the market in my area.