Thanksgiving Recap

I worry sometimes that reading a post can give you that same kind of feeling you got when you had to sit through a hideous night of slides from some stupid vacation and not your vacation. It was usually the vacation of someone you hardly knew. You know what I mean...remember when your dad dragged out the screen (the one that felt like sandpaper) and out came the slide projector and the carousel of slides. You just KNEW no good was coming from that night...but I digress.

With that preamble, I ask you to indulge me just a little. It's not very often that your parents celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary, but that's why we fled to Phoenix last week, with Our Lady of BYU joining us, to celebrate my parents 50th. Technically their anniversary is 23 December, but given trying to coordinate calendars around that date, it made sense to celebrate at Thanksgiving. In order to spare you the pain/utter agony of an hour-by-hour recap, I'll be sparing in words and use a few pictures to tell the story:

Wednesday, 26 November
Dinner with my brother and his wife, my sister and her children, and my parents at my sister's house in Scottsdale. My brother made a really good paella. We had a good time talking - it's been years since we'd all been together.

Thursday, 27 November
Up at the crack of down in order to drive halfway to Los Angeles (OK to Peoria, AZ) in order to run a 5K, sponsored by the Arizona Roadracers. My brother-in-law, Wes, joined PTL in this race - this was PTL's first.


PTL put forth a great effort. He struggled during the first mile and I have to admit, so did my patience. But karma got me back for just as I was about to lose my patience, I tripped on my shoelace and went down hard. Tore up my right leg below the knee, but I hopped right back up, sufficiently humbled. If I hadn't calmed down, I would have missed the opportunity to cross the finish line with my son. Crossing the finish line with him was the highlight of the day.


Later in the day it was off to my brother's in the New Mexico-adjacent city of Queen Creek for Thanksgiving dinner. Again, my brother's chef skills were on display. He and his wife did a great job with dinner. Once again, good to be with family.


Friday, 28 November

Lunch in Mesa with my parents - Mexican food. Friday night it was back to my brother's (another endless drive) to do something my dad hasn't done in an estimated eighteen years. He watched a movie from start to finish. We watched "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and it was a kick. My dad laughed and laughed. That was one of the highlights of this whole trip. This movie was made a few years after my parents were first married and this was a wonderful way for them to relive memories. It was a little painful for my kids - it's a long movie and awfully different from movies today but there's no beating the horror that is the late Ethel Merman in this movie.

Saturday, 29 November
Hang on - we're almost done. Spent some time hanging with my sister-in-law and her family, as well as my inlaws who had just flown in from Hawaii. It was great to see them too. Saturday afternoon it was time for the event we were least looking forward to (OK, the event I was least looking forward to) and that was family pictures. We trundled off to Gilbert to take said pictures. There were two other families at the same spot when we got there and we are all dressed the same - blue jeans and black shirts. Ridiculous.

My sister and her three children

My parents - the reason we all got together

After the photo fiesta, we had one more family dinner and then it was back to my parents for a night of memories and honoring my mom and dad. It was an amazing night.

Sunday, 30 November
Not much to report - up at 330AM in order to make a 6AM flight on stupid Ted, again, back to Chicago. We were off on time and with only one dog this time. We got to O'Hare about 45 minutes before the snow started to fall. And fall it dead. It didn't stop until around 1PM today. Five inches of snow on the ground. More to come this week. Umm...winter is here. Funny though, even though it was gorgeous weather in Phoenix and we came back to snow, it wasn't enough to make me want to move back to AZ anytime soon.

Thanks Given

It's the day after Thanksgiving and I must admit that we are enjoying the mild temperatures that Phoenix offers in November. It really is nice out (but still not enough to convince me to move back). SML, Our Lady of BYU, and Jill, SML's sister, are out shopping. PTL went with his uncle and cousin quadding for the day, and CAL and I are at home with my niece.

My sister-in-law and her husband live in a gated community - one that I learned is like the "Hotel California" - you can check in anytime you like, but you can never leave. I discovered this at 530AM when I went to run. Got to the gate and discovered you can only get out with a key, a key I did not possess. After falling during yesterday's 5K, I was not about to go climbing fences, so I just ran around their neighborhood - a lot. When I got back to their house, I learned that their front door has no latch. It was still too early to start ringing the doorbell, so after about ten minutes of pacing out front and pondering my fate, I leaned against the door and it flew right open. I was happy to get back in but was also questioning the security of said door.

We had a good Thanksgiving yesterday. The girls went and saw the schlock that is "Twilight" with my mom, sister and her two daughters, and I am pleased to report that none of the three (SML, Our Lady of BYU, or CAL) thought it was all that great. Maybe twenty years of me and my opinions is starting to pay off! PTL and I went with my Dad to my brother's to get ready for Thanksgiving. My brother and his wife went all out to make a nice dinner. My Dad and I had to make a trip to the only open grocery store to try and find an elusive baguette near my brother's house (which I swear is New Mexico-adjacent) and that was a hideous Wal-Mart Super Center. Don't ever go to one on a holiday...I'm just saying. On another note, apparently baguettes are more difficult to find than bin Laden himself.

I am giving thanks today for the re-emergence in my life of Diet Pepsi Vanilla:

This hasn't been sold in Chicagoland now for probably a year but this sweet nectar of the gods is still avaiable here in Phoenix, so I am enjoying it here while I can. For this, thanks is given.

Good thing that TED is dead

We've made it to Phoenix where in spite of it only being around 70 degrees, I'm sweating like a Finn in a sauna. I think something must be wrong with me...seriously. I'll probably have a stroke during the 5K tomorrow.

We had the misfortune of flying on TED to Phoenix this morning. This was United Airlines' ill-conceived attempt at a low-fare airline within the airline. It lasted longer than all the other experiments (RIP-Metrojet and Song), and there's a reason all these carriers are dead. They sucked, well, Song didn't but the concept did. Anyway, TED will be dead sometime next year and not a moment too soon. Things looked so good when we got to ORD today too. No lines at all and the crowds weren't awful. We holed up in the new Red Carpet Club on the "B" Concourse and then went down to the gate only to discover that the inbound aircraft was late. The crowd at the gate was an indication of things to come. It was a cacophony of crying babies and yelping, barking dogs. The kind of little dogs that go in carriers in the cabin. The next three and half hours weren't going to be good.

We boarded about ten minutes late and it looked like we were going to get out pretty close to ontime. I had a dog in my row and another dog was behind SML, CAL, and the Boy. They had a crying baby behind them along too. Well, then the flight attendants start counting dogs and things went south. 40 - that's forty - minutes later, it was determined that we had too many dogs in the cabin so a dog had to go. So did the accompanying passenger. We got to watch the "Ballet O'Blame" in between the customer service agents too. I was livid by the time we finally backed off the gate.

So once we were in the air - TED continued to blow. As usual, one cup of soda, no whoe can for anyone. The crying baby fiesta went on most of the flight. I could go on and on. It was just a whole lot of unpleasantness. I'll be so glad when TED is officially dead - maybe Mother UA can go back to focusing 100% on its core customer base. Now - I do have to give a shout out to the purser on the flight. He was cool - he came back halfway through the flight to thank me for my business, and as he put it, "helping to pay United's bills." He also offered to comp a "mini meal." That was cool. But that's another thing...

What compelled United to include a can of tuna in their for sale meals? Why not just hand out vomit scented blankets? It's the same thing. The lady in my row could not buy the meal with the tuna in it fast enough and when she cracked open the tin o'tuna, its noxious fumes filled the cabin in no-time flat. What would compel an airline executive to think that putting canned tuna in an enclosed metal tube that is already, in most cases, a flying labratory of sickness, is a good idea? FYI - it's not. It's hideous. All it does is make you question why you paid several hundred dollars to be exposed to canned tuna fumes. And it makes you angry.

This explains why as soon as we picked up Our Lady of BYU that we made a beeline to In-N-Out. That was a good thing. So, now that were at my sister-in-law's, comfortably settled, it's time for the Thanksgiving festivities to begin. Only three more days until the TED return.

Peace: A Snow Run

What started out as rain during the night quickly turned to snow here in Chicagoland early this morning. Once the snow stated to fall (which, I am delighted to report, was melted and gone by 10AM), I felt compelled to get out and run. These were big snowflakes and I had just read a blog post in Runners World about that first run in the snow and I knew I had to give it a go.

It wasn't a long run - only about 2.5 miles - but it was really satisfying to find myself running as the snow came down. The face mask and hat I had on made me look like I was dressed to commit a felony armed robbery at the local mini-mart but it also gave me a different perspective as I looked forward during the run. I found myself focusing more on what surrounded me. The sensation of the snowflake or two that slipped behind the mask and cooled my face was refreshing. It was quiet too. I was surprised at how different our neighborhood looked with a nice dusting of snow. I look forward to more runs like this but am not sure how I'll handle it once the snow comes down in earnest, sticks, and piles us up. Something tells me I'm in for a real boss slip and fall injury - maybe a broken wrist before the winter's over.

After my run I made my way to the Naperville Running Company to get some decent gloves. I am a huge fan of this store. Their staff is awesome. Totally friendly, helpful, and non-judgmental. You don't have to be a Dean Karnazes or an Usain Bolt to get treated well there. When I was there today, they put to bed the rumor I had heard that Brooks was discontinuing my shoe. Mercifully, they are not...just releasing an improved version in January. I was all set to by a couple of pair if they were being discontinued and I'm mighty glad I don't have to do that!

Snow and cold will not be much of a worry for the balance of the week. We head to Phoenix on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. Our Lady of BYU will join us so we'll all be together for the first time in earnest since she bailed on us in June. It does look like we might have some rain on Thanksgiving but that's not a bad thing. PTL and I are running a Turkey Trot 5K with my brother-in-law, Wes, and it's supposed to by in the mid-60's and rainy. Perfect Chicagoland weather.

You know, it's good to be alive. Yeah, the world economy sucks and looks as though it's going to get worse. Our President continues to redefine lame duck presidency into complete and total do nothingness. But it's still good to be alive. It's good to be counting blessings and giving thanks.