Happy Birthday, Mom

Doing some of the things that she loves.

I'll try to find more photos to post later.

And remember, Dad is still older than you are.

Thank you

It is the day to give thanks. But we should give thanks at all times and in all things. So, what am I thankful for this year? Hmm, where to start?

* I've got good friends, both real and virtual (read: online)
* I've got a new house (read: home)
* I've got a great family (read: family)

I could go on and on, but then I'd never get to the photos...

Comment on the food: Nhami (or for you English speaking peoples: Yummy)

Some of the 45 dozen or so cookies that were made the last few days...


Breakfast at Chez Aubrey...


My dad's plate at formal dinner...


And so you don't think that it is all about food, here's my folks...


And my brother and his wife...


And then me, my loving wife and kids...

Sure, there were other family at the dinner this afternoon/evening, but if I added them here, what would Angie blog about?

What did we do today? We ate. Read the paper. Watched the parades on TV. Played Thanksgiving Day Parade Bingo. Did laundry. Watched Football (American, for my foreign readers). Played Thanksgiving Day Football Bingo. Ate more. Ran to the store. Read some. Lazed around. Went to Angie's aunt and uncle's for dinner. Ate more. Played cards (Hearts, not Skat. Yes, it is a real game. See more info by reading Foster's Skat Manual). Came home. Taped CSI and then a rerun of The Office. Talked with folks about the punishments that they inflicted on my brother and I growing up. Laughed. Wanted to eat some more but couldn't. It was a good day.

Tomorrow we go shopping. Then put up the Christmas tree. Raking leaves will happen sometime over the weekend, I've been assured of that.

Saturday, out to the big bookstore in Knoxvegas. Then, celebrate Christmas while the family is all together.

Sunday will be church, then lazing around, watching football, eating, playing games, that sort of stuff.

Monday will include going back to work, school and home for our parents and brother (and his wife).

Catchup

So many things to blog about, so little time. Here's what's been occupying my time lately...

The new Eagles' CD, Long Road Out of Eden. A double disc that one of the best bands around released at Wal-Mart. You can't buy a regular CD for $11.88. Some very tasty music. I'm particularly taken with the song I Love to Watch a Woman Dance. A very well crafted song written by Larry John McNally. Other reviewers on the 'net apparently aren't as smitten with this song as I am. I don't compare it to any other song, I just like it. Overall, the guys in the band seem to want to have their political/ecological viewpoints heard. I don't agree with all of them, but it is nice to hear some quality music.

Wiki what? I've been learning some wiki syntax, mostly for the online Luser Game I play, but we're also starting to do some wiki stuff at work. I came across TiddlyWiki. It is a self contained wiki on a single page. I guess they do the scripting inside the page. Kind of nice, but some of the wiki syntax is not the same as what I would expect. TiddlyWiki is more of a click wiki, as opposed to hand coding. Not bad, just different.

If you've been keeping up with my wife's blog you'll know that the kitchen curtains are now in place. You're welcome, dear.

Tomorrow we will have a teenager in the house. I don't think that there will be that much of an attitude change. From anyone.

My folks are traveling across the US to spend a week and a half with us. Very nice.

I've also been playing with some CSS. I understand it, I just can't get my head wrapped around the location of the code inside the document vs. the location of the elements on a web page. But, I did revive the present that my brother gave to me a while back. markaubrey.org It is a work in progress. I'm hoping to get some CSS happening and include the genealogy and US Civil War sections.

I'm in the final chapters of One Hundred Years of Solitude. It still is an interesting read. Thanks again, Tali, for suggesting it.

We worked on some music for Christmas at church orchestra practice last night. Angie selected some nice pieces for us to perform.

And I won one of my Fantasy Football games this last weekend. My brother won his game, over the clear leader of the league. The Aubrey boys are on a roll.

That's it, for now. More later, I'm sure.

I'm Scraping

I'm scraping the frost off of my car windows the last two mornings. The crispness in the air is wonderful. The trees are probably at their height of color.

I'm also scraping the bottom of the barrel in my Fantasy Football Leagues. I've been playing Fantasy sports for about 20 years, off and on. It started with Roto Baseball. Then my good friend, Steve S. asked me to be part of his Fantasy Football League. Every Monday and Tuesday, we would get the newspapers and do the old fashioned method of figuring out scores with a pencil and a calculator. Now days, I just get on the web and click a few times and I'm still in last place. It is now much easier to lose. I'm 3-6 in my 8 team Yahoo! league. I'm also 3-6 in the ESPN league that my friend Paul B. hosts. I'm twice as bad as I am good. My brother is also at 3-6, but I have about 100 points ahead of him.

Okay. He's really scraping.