Herschels came out to tow Chelsea's car - only she did not leave her keys.  So they wouldn't tow the car.  This after I had told her to be sure and leave her keys with her mother.  When does responsibilty kick in?

Had a good trip to Dallas to meet the new team.  Weather was rainy - that same system was heading to Ohio and would turn into snow.  But more on that later.   They are more laid back than Mason.  Took me out to some really nice places to eat.  The first place was very rustic - Pine lodge with tall ceilings, and moose, elk, caribou, etc. on the walls.  The second place also had tall ceilings and had its own micro brewry.  Did have a 'Shiner" that is a popular beer in Texas - I liked the taste.  

Their offices are actually inside the same building as the manufacturing lab. And of course I got a tour of the facility.  Very interesting to see how eyeglasses are made.  They have some automated machinery and also some stations where work is done manually.  The lenses start out as round blanks and aren't shaped to fit into the frame until the last step. 

The flight back wasn't bad until we started to descend into Dayton.  We were in the middle of a snow storm.   Looking out the window, all you could see was white.  Did not see the runaway at all until we touched down.  And the ride home was not pleasant.  About 6 to 8 inches of snow, I think it took as long to drive home from the airport as what it took to fly from Dallas to Dayton.  

This morning the tree limbs are hanging low from the weight of the snow.  It is going to be a nice day to stay inside and fool around on the computer.

Posted by christ77 at 10:26 AM EST

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Oh Chelsea and her luck with cars. The clutch has some sort of problem again. The part that was replaced may have gone bad.  A $120 dollar bill to get it towed to our house.  We plan to take it back to Herschels and see what they have to say.

 Oh how I hate taxes.  Several employers in 2009.  And to make things even more difficult all the entries in my book keeping software for 2009 somehow got deleted when I upgraded to a new version.  So I have to key them all in manually - again.  

Posted by christ77 at 4:29 PM EST

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When/if I go sledding again, I am wearing a pillow.  Both Becky and I hit hard on the hillside behind the house.  And both of us have sore rumps today.  We went sledding with Vanessa and Elaina.  Elaina, of course, had a great time. 

Went out to bonefish grill for a meal and watched "It's Complicated".  It was like a 2 hour movie and it was difficult to sit thru - I had to keep adjusting myself to get comfortable.  We may be young at heart, but our bodies have definitely aged.  We are not as resilient as we once were. 

Posted by christ77 at 2:46 AM EST

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I know why kmart is having a tough time competing against Walmart and Co. Becky was checking for a new pair of blue jeans.  After searching and trying on several pairs, she finally finds 'the' pair.  She goes to the counter to pay. "Sorry we can't sell those to you, they are supposed to be shipped back to the main office and sold off as discontinued items. "

Becky goes, I don't care - I'll pay full price, they fit me better than any pair I tried on.  Still the clerk resists.  I can't sell these to you.  So she complains and asks for a manager.  

So stop and think about this.  You are in a store that sells merchandise.  You find merchandise on the shelf that you want to buy and then the store says - I can't sell this to you.  What the???  I took a lot of business classes while I was in college, my grandfather owned a department store - and even a kid selling lemonade knows this if I have a cash buyer - SELL them the $%&@! product and make a profit!  

Now if it were a product with an expiration like milk then yes yank it.  But a pair of Lee Jeans???   I hope that somewhere there is someone with a MBA that will soon be shown the door...  

The jeans, she was finally able to buy them.  After a half hour of complaining, escalating, and being a pain in the backside.  Kmart join your buddy Dell - two companies that forgot customer service...

Posted by christ77 at 8:27 PM EST

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Nice relaxed Christmas this year.  All the offspring were able to stop in.  A pleasant time to be with family.  Elaina and Cash had a good time of course.  Cash got a new 'car car'.  Elaina got a lot of play dough stuff and games.

Went to see the movie Avatar.  The graphics and eye candy were great. The story a bit hackneyed and cliche.  Can't anyone think of an orignal storyline, or have they all been done?  

Played Civilization online with Eric, Apple, Glenn and Joe.  An interesting game with several twists and turns.  Apple got a bit angry when he got ganged upon by me and Joe.  And as it turned out Joe got second place - not bad for someone that doesn't play the game much.  

Posted by christ77 at 8:19 PM EST

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 Chelsea is moving out of the apartment that she and Ron had been sharing. Not sure if this is definitely splitsville or not, but it seems like she is thinking about moving on.  She is even talking about going to a 4 year college in California next year.  So lots of changes in her life.

We organized a family get together between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  That seemed to go fairly well so we will probably do it again next year.  The two cousins, Cash and Elaina really had a good time. 

Joe has a prospect for a job. A body shop in Fairborn is looking for part time labor. They do collision and restorations, so he should be able to get a broad range of experience if he is hired. Interview this next week. He is still seeing Julia, so they seem to be getting along together just fine.

It's going to be a crafty Christmas.  There is a chance of being laid off at Luxottica, so this elf is putting together some presents in the work shop to conserve cash. If there is a layoff, there will not be a nice serverance package like there was the last go around. 

Looking forward to a nice relaxing Christmas at home this year.  The children will be coming and going thru out the day. I'll be snacking and enjoying some Sam Adams by the woodstove while watching "Christmas Story" on TV.  

Posted by christ77 at 8:37 AM EST

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Joe got into an altercation at school yesterday.  Another kid swiped the charger for his laptop.  Joe alerted security, but they said something to the effect that were not allowed to search kids bookbags or lockers.  They had some words in one of the classes and a teacher had to seperate them and sent Joe to the library.  

The other kid was like 4 inches taller than Joe.  Joe got himself pumped up and then walked up to him at lunch time and punched him in the face.  They then wrestled around and Joe was able to get in another uppercut.  When the guys friends stood up,  Joe's friends stood up so that they knew to stay out of it.  Security broke the fight up and I guess the other students in the lunchroom stood up and cheered.  Joe's friends thought that he got the better of the other kid.

 I told Joe that he did the right thing, that you can't let other kids take advantage of you like that or they will just keep running you over.  Unfortunately when you retaliate, you have to be ready to take the heat. Joe is suspended for 5 days for starting the fight, the other kid for 3 days.  Life isn't always fair.

On the other hand, Joe is going on his first real date with Julia this weekend (no chaparone), so the young warrior gets a reward of sorts.

Chelsea is doing a great job as an assistant coach.  If she had the time, I think that she would make a great head coach.  But with school, etc. it is hard for her to find the time it would take to dedicate herself to a program. Sinclair is winding down for winter break, so she will have some free time.

Vanessa is ready for Turkey day tomorrow.  Poor Elaina is sick.  So Vanessa has take a couple of days off of work to nurse her back to heath. Hopfully she is better by the time everyone arrives.  Joe is running an ice route with Eric so that he can home early to help out. 

I worry about Chad.  The city of Dayton is doing layoffs.  He is working for the city of Riverside and they are not doing any better budgetwise.  

With my future uncertain as well, I am handcrafting some gifts in the workshop.  Trying to keep that Christmas budget low. 

Posted by christ77 at 7:13 AM EST

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Not a whole lot going on.  Getting my team ready for basketball season.  There was one unique situation.  Players always get injured.  But we had one fall down stairs and twist an ankle.  Another was thrown from a horse and stepped on.  And the season hasn't started yet.  

Chelsea has been helping me coach.  She has done a good job so far. 

 Joe is seeing Jim and Cindy's daughter, Julia.  There is one drawback to having your son see the daughter of a high school friend. Jim has been telling Joe all the stuff that I did in school!  I tried telling him that Jim is a liar, but I don't think he believes me ;-)

 Vanessa has been busy, busy, busy.  Eric's job has been slowing down.  So he is being a free baby sitter on the days he is not called into work. 

Posted by christ77 at 10:12 AM EST

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Mood:  happy

What a surprise.  I co-signed a car loan for Chelsea to buy a nice used Jetta and within a month she has been in a wreck with it.  Of course it wasn't her fault.  She was making a left hand turn and says the other driver ran a redlight.  The other driver says that Chelsea was the one that ran the light.  No one got a ticket.  So who knows.  The doors on the passenger side are both damaged.  All I have to say is - Sigh.

Chelsea is thinking about moving in with Uncle Vaughn to save on living costs.  I hope that she does so that she can focus on school and not have to work as many hours to pay for rent, etc.

Vanessa isn't getting any breaks.  They tried to lighten her load since she is expecting a baby.  But one of her co-workers broke their ankle.  So now she is working extra to keep their office on track. Elaina went as a Penguin for trick or treat.  She enjoyed showing us she walked up to the doors - waddle, waddle, waddle.

Chad has been busy, haven't seen as much of him recently.  He did win a nice prize in a contest.  That is certainly different from the typical Tilton luck. 

Joe did a really nice job with the roof of the Porshe.  He repainted it to the original black, but it has a mirror finish - you can see yourself in it.  We are going to pull the hood and trunk so that he can work on that next. We are keeping it the silver, but I may go with a metal flake look.  I need to get serious about getting the brakes fixed and making it drivable so that I can get it there for the rest of the body work.  

I am coaching basketball again this winter.  For TVS junior high.  Looking forward to the season.  Last time I coached, I had a team of guards.  Shortest team in the league.  This year I have some height, but no true point guard, at least not yet.  We will see who progresses the best.  But that is what is fun about coaching.  Trying to figure out how get the most from your players every year and every year you have new players that you have to work with.

Posted by christ77 at 10:03 AM EDT

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Doing another Chipmunk rescue from the cats.  Joe has this one in the aquarium to heal up.  Joe put some peanuts in the corner for him to munch on. He curled up and is now napping on top of them.  Sort of like Scrooge sleeping on a pile of money...

 Chelsea is enjoying her job at L-3 Communications.  She has found some significant problems and is working with her boss to get them corrected.  Her predacessors never analyzed the numbers on the reports and so now she is finding problems that go back to 2008.  She is also inspecting labs and whatnot.  So she is very involved.  She also has bought a new car - a Jetta.  The Toyota has never been the same since Ron attempted to hook up the battery backwards and cooked several components.  I told her to not let him near it!

Chad is still working on getting his Sprint fixed.  This has been going on for like 6 months.  I wonder if Sarah is starting to feel lonely...

 Vanessa is still working like crazy, putting in the long hours.  No school this term.  I hope that Eric doesn't get laid off from Home City again when business slows down for the winter. 

 Uncle Vaughn gave me his old Porsche.  A 73 914.  Still in great shape.  Some rust, but not much particularly when you consider the year.  Should be a winter long project to get it road worthy.  It is running now, so that is a good start. 

Posted by christ77 at 8:56 PM EDT

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