Sorry, Long Time No Post

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been quite busy at work and play.

Early November, Chris and I went on vacation to Arizona and Utah. We had been looking forward to the trip for several months. The following is a short synopsis of the trip.

Started out rather unusual. We got to the airport 3 hrs. prior to departure. We were traveling first class and were entitled to lounge in the Alaska Airlines Anchorage board room. It's a relaxing area with drinks and snacks complimentary. When we were going in, my left shoe felt odd. I looked down and discovered the comfortable shoes I had not worn in several years had torn on the inside bottom of the left shoe. I thought "oh well, I'll just change into my sneakers when we land and toss the torn shoes. By the time we climbed the two flights of stairs to the board room the shoe had deteriorated quite a bit. We sat down and after five minutes I looked at the floor in front of me and to my surprise the floor was riddled with what appeared to be disintegrating rubber. My shoe was now in total meltdown and the entire bottom was falling off. I looked at the bottom of the right shoe and it also was starting to disintegrate. I'm about to get on an airplane flying first class and I'm wearing a pair of shoes that need to be tied around the bottom to stay together. The board room closed and I'm embarrassed to get up. I could then see portions of my shoe in the path I took to my seat. By the time we got back downstairs the other shoe had totally disintegrated also. Fortunately there was a store in the airport that carried slippers. Of course my size was unavailable. So I wore extra large slippers for the next 10 hours and two flights. It was quite funny.

Okay, we got to Las Vegas and drove south to Eloy, AZ. There I went indoor skydiving prior to re certifying in the air. I was able to get in only 5 actual skydives but it was great.

After two days in Eloy we traveled to Pheonix and spent a couple of nights there. We went to a NASCAR race at PIR. It was a blast and Chris was certainly in her element. She was able to explain to me many things of the pre-race activities. We are looking forward to going to another race at another venue. Then we headed north to the Grand Canyon and drove around the east rim. It is beautiful. We didn't spend much time sightseeing because the best part of the trip was still ahead of us.

We were anxiously heading to Cedar City, Utah, to be introduced to our first grandson, Porter, and seeing the extremely missed Brighton. Oh yeah, Danielle and Kyle were going to be there also. We spent near a week there which wasn't long enough. Got to enjoy the company of Kyle's sister and brother-in-law, Casey and Tyler. I went golfing with Kyle and Tyler in St. George. It was great. Time flew by and we can't wait to get on the move again.

As soon as we got back, I had to head back to the slope for another two weeks. I've been back a week and have been somewhat lazy, but not too much. We went to the Acuren Christmas party and had a good time. I spent two days in Anchorage at a company business meeting. I hope to go ice fishing with Andy Penyak this Saturday. I've got to go to San Fran Monday for a 1 day meeting that will take three days round trip. I'll get back from there on Wednesday and fly to the slope on Thursday. Another 2 weeks in the grinder.

May not get another post in until I get back home on the 30th of Dec. Sarah flies in the same day I do and we are looking forward to seeing her. She will be back for a couple of weeks vacation from her senior year at the University of Montana.

I'll try not to take so long until the next post. Drop me a line to say Hi. I think of you all, that's why I'm always busy...............Love, Dad, Bob, Jeff, G'pops, and other names I may not be fond of!!

Shoe Shine, two bits (25¢)

At work the other day I was putting some protectant on a new pair of boots. I share an office with the Quality Assurance Officer. We were chewing fat and the subject of shoe shining was brought up.
I flashbacked to my youth and my days of shining shoes in the late 60’s - early 70’s. Back then, when you grew up in a city like Worcester, Mass and you weren’t too well off you tried to morally come across some coin in many different ways. Paper routes, lawn mowing, snow shoveling, coal shoveling, shoe shining, etc.
If you were going in the shine biz, you had to have a shine box. So you scraped together any wood and nails you could find and you built yourself one. Fence boards worked well. And it was a time to be creative with industrial skills. Once your box was complete, filling it with the necessary supplies was your next task. If there was polish lying around the house, great. If not, come up with some monies to purchase some. Throw in a few rags, a brush, nail an old belt on the box for a shoulder strap and off you went.
You would walk down Main St. soliciting people on the street, in diners, drug store lunch counters and in bars. The owner or person working in these places would sometimes run you off before or just as you had a customer. Usually 25¢ was the asking price and a good day would net $2-3.
Those were the days when people seemed to have taken better care of their shoes. Maybe because of the fact that nearly all shoes were made of leather, including the soles. Heels had to be replaced once in a while, so you would take them to a cobbler and have them replaced. Cat’s Paw was a popular brand of heels. Many times I dropped off or picked up shoes at the repair shop. The shoe repair stores were run similar to a dry cleaner. And sometimes they were the same place. Like many other crafts, cobblers are rare or no longer needed. Technology and availability replaced many things, and cobblers were not immune. Shoe repair can still be found, but not like when I was a kid.

Oh well, the Sox put up a valient effort, but the Rays did well and will most likely win the world series.

Next year. If your a Red Sox you've heard that before.

I'm not trading in the license plate.

Dustin Pedroia...MVP, best player on any field.

Short post due to depression.

Aunty Pat

On October 16, 2008 my Aunty Pat past away. She leaves 5 children, William, Alfred, Teresa, Robert, and David. She also leaves her sister Margaret. She survived her brothers Francis & John and Sisters Joyce, Marion & Barbara.


Aunty Pat was born on December 17, 1934 and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was a graduate of Classical high School.

We lived in the same three decker on King St. for several years during the late 60's early 70's. It was great for a kid to have his cousins so close. We got to know each other more than other families may have. It was a lot of fun. Not so much when the oil ran out and there wasn’t any heat. Aunty Pat on many occasions made toast for me after I ran my paper route and before I left for school. I can't remember any specific conversations we had, but I thought it was cool that she and I were the only ones up and talking, besides Heidi, our German Sheppard. She made me feel comfortable as my socks were drying on the stove. Some other things I remember about Aunty Pat when I was a kid, she always seemed to know when I was up to something. Like breaking windows or setting off firecrackers where I shouldn’t. But I don't think she ever told on me, she just let me know that she knew and disapproved. I guess she figured that would be sufficient to put a stop to it, and she was right. I haven’t seen My Aunt Pat for thirty-five years, but she left me with some life long memories and some useful communication skills. Rest in Peace, Aunty Pat, and thank you.

Second first Post

OK. I'm starting this blog to generate what I hope will be a frequent and easy method of communication with the entire family and freinds spread all over this great country and possibly abroad. I got the idea from Danie (our oldest), who is very diligent at updating her post. Sarah (our youngest) is also diligent at biannual posting..............yukyukyuk.......we love you Sarah.

I will attempt to post pics, videos, etc; of anything that is going on in this neighborhood, and I would appreciate input from all of you.

One more thing, my grandson was born 10-08-08, Porter Oakes Comin..............can't wait to fly a kite with him.

Gpops

First Go

This is an effort to post pictures and thoughts about what's going on and what I've been doing. I decided to go this route because I'm constantly visiting both of my beautiful daughters blog pages and being frustrated when they are not updated. So I figure I can't gripe if I'm not posting anything. Danie does a fairly good job of updates, but still, they seem too far apart. Sarah on the other hand is diligent at posting every six months or so, yukyuk. Sarah is quite busy at UM and working too, so I give her a pass. Not to say Danie is'nt busy with LilB' and about to bring our first grandson into the world. We are very proud of both of our girls.
Annnywayyy..........I'll see if I can develope a page that you will want to visit often.
One more thing, if you have any suggestions about my page.......I'm all ears.