Winding Down

Today was busy, busy, busy...had an appointment at 9:30 this AM with an association in Mission Hills (they're having the Nabisco Dinah Shore LPGA golf tournament in Mission Hills this week )...we originally gave them a sealing proposal in 1988 but never did any work for them... and guess what? A big rig spilled it's load on IS 10 near the Outlet Stores and traffic was backed up all the way to Beaumont...I was on the freeway for well over two hours and 1/2 hour late for the appointment...even though the two men I met said they understood, one of them said in closing "We didn't want to see Michelle Wie anyway "...bummer.

The rest of the morning and part of the afternoon was filled with " I need it now " telephone calls and my work scheduling plans have changed...again. We had several more complaint calls...one from the sealing project we've just finished (someone was doing wheelies in front of my house and tore up the new seal...we need it fixed)and another from a lady in an association we're doing next week (we said on the notice we would be sealing today...where were we? And what am I going to do with my car when you're sealing in front of my house?).

On top of all of this I was trying to set up my new Dell Computer (what a joy to use), answering phone calls, scheduling work for tomorrow and answering e-mails...I finally said "I'm out of here" and left around 3:15 PM...it rained almost the entire way home.

Yesterday I mentioned a carne asada seminar in my blog...when I was leaving the office the boss told me not to schedule anything for tomorrow afternoon...he was planning on having a carne asada get together around noon and wanted everyone there...I commented "oh, no ! Tomorrow is Good Friday and Catholics are supposed to abstain from eating meat on Good Friday". "Yeah, right" he replied...I wonder how that's going to go over with the guys...most of them are Latino and Catholic.


Take care, have fun and see you soon.

Wednesday - On the downside of the week

And of course today started out like a Monday morning. I got a call at 8:40 AM from the assistant to the owner of a property management firm asking me to meet him at 10:00 AM, in Indio, on a property that we did last October; he got a complaint from the board last night...we've had at least 8 call backs for absolutely minor, nothing types of complaints (the red curb is really dull and looks like it hasn't been painted...of course it looks that way...there is mud all over it; have the gardeners wash the mud off). Since I already had an appointment at 10:00 and another at 11:00 I asked the assistant ( a really nice person ) to please tell the manager that I needed more than an hour's notice and to please call to re-schedule...I still haven't heard back from him.

Around 9:45 the boss called to tell me that our secretary had a doctor's appointment and wasn't in the office (I knew that) and that I should call the answering service for my messages...(he said that I had three of them and they might be important). One of the messages was for him (he did all the bid work on this association and also made up the closure notices)...the caller said that we were sealing his association and he needed to know which side of the road would be closed and when...He needed this information because he walked his dog 4 times a day and since he didn't want to upset his dog's schedule he wanted to know what time we started and what time we planned to be in front of his house...he said he could give us the times he planned to have his dog out and that way we could schedule the work around these times...he knew we could do this because he used to be on the board of directors...I told the boss this call was his and he had to call this guy right away because it was one of the important messages I had.

Not to be outdone, one of the residents of the association we are currently sealing called the property manager and was extremely abusive and vocal about the very poor, messy job our crew was doing at their association. He said that one of our crew members got seal all over the grass in front of his house and he wanted it cleaned off the grass immediately...( sometimes our guys have to walk on the grass when they are making a pull with a squeegee and end up in front of a concrete driveway...it's better to leave footprints on the grass than it is to leave black footprints on a white concrete driveway). I asked the manager when the gardeners would be cutting the grass...she said Friday was the day. I called the man, listened to his story, and then said that the problem would be solved just as soon as the gardeners cut the grass on Friday...he said he didn't care...he wanted the seal cleaned off the grass NOW...we were getting paid to do a professional job in a professional manner and he didn't consider seal on his grass to be a very professional, workmanlike manner...Sometimes I just love my job (what do you think would happen if we tried to steam clean seal off grass ? Can't you just see one of our guys down on his hands and knees using some kind of solvent on each blade of grass?). Anyway, I guess this is going to be the subject of some kind of training seminar for the crew at our next carne asada get together,

Enough for now...a lot more happened today...we'll make it the subject of another blog.

Good night, take care and have fun whatever you're doing.

Tuesday, Already !!

Did you ever notice how, when you are extremely busy, things go from bad to worse...so much so that you wake up the next day and wonder what happened to yesterday and have trouble remembering just what you did yesterday? Now I don't think that all of this is due to old age...truthfully, the thing I remember most about yesterday is that it was very busy and I had more balls in the air than I care to remember...so I guess I didn't remember very many of them and must have dropped a few balls along the way.

Which brings me to today...(it is really raining out...I can hear the heavy downpour on the skylights...it's especially relaxing this time of night...I do feel very sorry for anyone having problems because of the rain)...I made up my mind that I was going to make a schedule, follow the schedule come hell or high water, and really accomplish something. So much for good intentions...'phone calls, radio calls, emergency calls, and "I need it now" calls sent me back to the drawing board. I now have a new schedule...

It poured coming home on the interstate...you can't believe the number of idiots doing 75 and 80 is all that downpour...you hope they get home safely and don't ruin someone else's day.

Time to crash (no pun intended)...I didn't make it to handball tonight...the exercise would have done me good...take care, have fun, see you soon.

Nice Weekend !!!

And it was a very nice weekend...Friday night was rainy, a great night to stay in...so we went out, had dinner at Oscar's and went dancing at Taylor's. Very few people showed so we almost had the whole dance floor to ourselves. We got to know Ed, the DJ, and his wife a lot better and found them to be very interesting people. He claims to have access to over 20,000 songs, has them all categorized and can have music playing for hours without even touching a turntable...so much for the old 45 rpm records ( and I'm sure all of the younger generation have no idea what I just wrote). We promised to be there next Friday night for his birthday.

Saturday after shopping at Costco we renewed acquaintences with Scott the bartender at Chili's (we had lunch at the bar) and Saturday night we danced at the Brandin' Iron where we ran across more friends we haven't seen since the Midnight Rodeo days.

Sunday was a time for another unique experience...I made online reservations on American Airlines for our trip to the Caribbean in June...we just have to wait and see if I did everything right...I'll be awfully upset if we get to the airport and find out I didn't do something I should have done. Anyway they said we have e-tickets and gave us a bunch of numbers as confirmation numbers along with an itinerary which seems to be a mile long...I've got my fingers crossed.

Lunch again Sunday afternoon, this time at BJ's...and the service was so slow that we had to have an extra toddy...I think they do that on purpose just so you drink more. Sunday evening was especially relaxing...I wonder why.

Time to sign off...more tomorrow.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

May the luck of the Irish be with you always...and a special wish to my very own Wild Irish Rose...

Katie and Domenica went to school with Green Ribbons in their hair so they would't get pinched and when Katie was asked what nationality she was she said she didn't know...she asked her mom when she went home and Juli asked her what her last name was...she said "Isola" and Juli asked, "well, what nationality is that?"..."British" affirmed Katie... "No, try again"..."French?",..."No",...well, when Katie got to "Indian" Juli thought it was time to tell her before she got to something Juli didn't want to hear..."no, you're 1/2 Italian, 1/4 Irish, and 1/4 Slovak"..."Oh, good ...could we write that down so I can tell everyone at school tomorrow?"...poor kid... now she had a nationality she could share with everyone... we all like to be somebody, don't we?

Well, time to stop for the night...much more tomorrow, especially about the triplets...they went to see the eye doctor today...we'll give the results tomorrow.

Take care, have fun...see you tomorrow.

Another first

Beth called tonight to say that all was well with the triplets...but that Ryan is on the run again. Steve was trying to feed him his bottle this morning and Ryan kept trying to grab for it so Steve said "ok, you can have it.." and Ryan took it and fed himself...the whole bottle...what a guy!!! And the girls are doing very well, too. Beth feels that Jane is on a growth spurt...she's eating more and sleeping longer. Kiley is wiggling out of her bouncy chair and now Beth is having a devil of a time keeping all of them strapped into their chairs. I guess the fun is just starting.

Everything was hectic at work today...lots to do and not enough time to do it all. One good thing though, I'm going to get a new computer...HooRay!!! It will be bigger, faster, and better...that means I should be able to do more work faster, right? See, everything comes with a price.

Well, as you can see by the time, I'm out of time for the night...there will be lots more to tell tomorrow, I'm sure.

Take care, have fun and see you soon.

Teeth already???

Heard from tripletbetty today...they went to the doctor's office for a check up and Ryan was fussy...the nurse was checking him out and noticed that his gums were swollen...he's getting a new tooth...first one !!!...already !!!

The rest of the day was hectic...lunch was good. The boss took us to the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio for the lunch buffet...usual buffet but I want you to know that I'm proud of myself. I limited my portions ( three plates of each entree and two helpings of dessert )...and stayed away from the potatoes (they had three or four kinds ), lasagna, macaroni and cheese, and deep fried chicken...and I had plain iced tea with no sugar !!! The only slip was that I couldn't pass up the toasted garlic cheese bread (only three slices). Tomorrow we start the Drinking Man's Diet.

And I want you to know that when I got back to the office I didn't have to play "dodge the carpet" to get to the rest room...it was back in place (not tacked down of course but loosely laying on the floor...and the bathroom door was closed).

Lots of good things going on tomorrow...found out today that we're entered in a golf tournament on April 22nd and I have to fill out a foursome...

And I just got back from playing 90 minutes of handball at the "Y"...that's another story.

Time to hit the hay...5:00 AM comes quickly.

Take care...have fun.

Happy Monday

Well, this was a Monday...we had a job starting and, of course, we had all kinds of fun...

The good news is that the triplets are all feeling well today, slept all night and if you want a fun update on what they're doing try http://www.tripletbetty.blogspot.com ...it almost wants to make you have three of the same for yourself.

Nothing else earth shattering...we had a toilet overflow in the office and the carpet was sopping wet last Friday when we left...today the carpet is torn up from the floor and propped up on chairs and a wheeled cart right in the hallway...you have to plan on when to go to the bathroom so you have plenty of time to manuever...and of course the doors to the bathroom are blocked open so you have to be very quiet when you're in there...can hardly wait to see what tomorrow brings...everyday is a party !!!

Have fun, enjoy...

Sunday - kick back day

We found out around 10:00 this morning that Ryan had a good night (slept about 10 hours) and is starting to resemble his old self...what a relief! After reading this morning's USA Weekend magazine we come to find out that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is more common than thought ( our kids never had it ) and occurs from late fall to early spring..."almost all kids will get a bout of it by age 3"...

So, with all that news mom merk and I went to Costco ( what an interesting experience ), tried to have lunch at BJ's (they were packed) and ended up at the Claim Jumper...they had a waiting list and since it was almost 2:15 we went to the bar, ordered a bottle of chardonnay and placed an order to share the Chopped Barbeque Chicken Salad...good thing we ordered the whole bottle (the service was exceptionally slow)! We finally got out of there about 3:45...

But it was a wonderful day. It has been misting heavily all day, almost like a light rain and it just seemed to put us in the perfect mood to chill out and enjoy the time together.

Not sure what's for dinner but I'm sure mom merk has something interesting up her sleeve.

Have fun, enjoy!!!

Hooray, Ryan

What a day this has been!!!...Ryan was released from the hospital about 12:00 noon today...they ran all kinds of tests and figured out that he didn't have any reaction to the preemie immunization shots he was given...they said that he had lots of congestion in his chest...they gave Beth and Steve a prescription for albuterol which had to be inhaled by Ryan through a nebulizer ( a machine which asthmatics use to help in breathing). When Ryan got home he was tired and very lethargic...he didn't want to eat and had all kinds of trouble sleeping...the girls must have sensed something because they had a tough time eating, were all out of sorts and the crying semed at times to be a racous symphony, although somewhat off key for the most part. Nap time seems to have changed things. Steve used the nebulizer on Ryan around 3:00 PM and he almost instantly changed...he napped and drank apple flavored pedialite and had some formula. He just now had another treatment (Steve is saying "you're OK, Bud ) and everything is quiet for the moment.

Pizza and artichokes were the fare for the day (I had four artichokes - they were small) and believe me we all enjoyed the food in spite of the fact that Straw Hat Pizza forgot to put any tomato sauce on the vegeterian pizza.

Things are starting to quiet down now...Steve's talking about the shooting of the Judge, a court reporter and a deputy in Atlanta...what a shame!!!, and in my opinion this guy should be hung as soon as they catch him.

So, we're starting to wind down now. We're just finishing the dinner bottle of chardonnay (it went down smoothly). Hopefully the triplets will be back in the swing of things shortly and everything will be back to normal. The quiet is almost deafening, no,...peaceful, knowing that everyone is ok. It's almost bed time and the kids are sleeping through the night now...hopefully they will tonight,too.

Somehow we're now talking about Beth and Steve's wedding and the funny things that happened (Like Dadmerk's very short tuxedo pants - I had the waist down to my crouch!) but that's something for another time.

We'll be leaving shortly to get home...an 85 mile drive...we're happy and grateful that everyone is in the best of health (for the most part) and that we're able to be of some small amount of help to our kids...sure wish I could bottle this particular point in time...that way, someday in the future, I could uncork the bottle and vividly relive the experiences of yesterday and today...something that only dims in the memories of tomorrow.

Take care, have fun...

just crusin'

Baby Ryan is in the hospital and we're going to leave early in the morning...Beth asked us to help so Steve could get some rest.

The triplets were sick with colds yesterday and Beth felt she should take them to the doctor just to make sure it wasn't something more serious. Ryan had a bad night with breathing problems and wasn't able to eat. The doctor had him admitted to the hospital...they're not sure what the problem is...Beth and Steve suspect it has something to do with the sophisticated immunization medication they give to all preemies...and the doctors are only saying that they won't know anything until test results come back. They're also going to check to make sure that he doesn't have a pneumonia.

We talked to Beth a short time ago...she said that Steve told her Ryan is having a bad night so far and is unable to sleep...looks like it's going to be a long night. Hopefully he'll be fine in the morning.

We certainly didn't expect anything like this...we'll keep you posted

breathing easier

On my way home from work mommerk called to let me know that they didn't admit Ryan to the hospital yet but Beth was going to take Steve something to eat and then get a chance to see Ryan in the hospital...we don't know anything more yet but are hoping that Ryan will be able to come home from the hospital tomorrow.

So we can't make up our minds whether to continue with our plans to go to dinner and dancing or just eat in and wait for some news.

I guess we're better off to go out to eat and then dance a little...that way I may have a few more stories to share...ok, that's it...time to get changed and leave. They're holding reservations for us at Oscar's...see you soon.

just crusin'

just crusin'