Random thoughts

My brother-in-law Rob, who I love to death, has been making his way toward the middle east (Alaska, to Baltimore, to Germany, to Italy, etc.). He is in the Air Force. Last night I found out that he was stuck in Germany, because the plane the soldiers were on BROKE DOWN. What the hell? Whoever heard of a plane breaking down? It's not like a car - "Oh, I think we need new spark plugs." NO!  A plane should have been thoroughly checked that all was good before take off! Or is that just me? My sister-in-law said there was some sort of leak. What? What if it was gas? When the plane leaves the hangar and the mechanic sees the collection of fluid on the ground, shouldn't they call it back before it hits the runway? And worse, they were fixing the plane and then going to put the soldiers back on the SAME plane. There is no way in hell I would get back on the same plane. No thanks. I want the one that wasn't broken, thank you very much. That's how we treat our soldiers? With a, "Thank you for serving. That is, if we even get you there in the first place in our crappy broken down planes."

Allie has developed an obsession with sticky notes. I find them everywhere. On piles of clothes with directions where to put them, on the door with the high and low temps of the day, and today, on the TV with, "Sorry about my behavior this morning. Specifically at 8:33." How cute is that?

Justin had his 'Arrow of Light' cross over ceremony the other night. This is where he 'crosses over' from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. It is a big deal. They have a ceremony with fire and the parents and talking about how he is leaving childhood and becoming a man, etc. He was very proud and so were we. The big questions for him though, were: Does this mean you will back off now? Do I get to have new rules and stay up later? Do you stop telling me what to do? He was very disappointed to find that the answers were NO. Sorry dude. Not yet.

I've hit the 'down in the dumps' portion of my recovery. I thought I was mostly better, but the last couple days I have had horrible headaches and I can't keep anything down. It's times like this that I get mopey and start thinking that this surgery was a mistake. It's so...permanent. I know I'll feel better again in a few days, and I know the dumps have something to do with the fact that I can't keep my anti-depressant down either, but they still suck all the same. I'm sure it also has to do with the cold - the ambient temp this morning was -21F, with a -40F windchill. Not exactly walking and exercising weather. And sure, it has been suggested that I go walk around the mall, but really, who wants to warm their car up for 1/2 an hour with these gas prices, to go walk around a mall filled with things you can't afford, only to come out and freeze again? Especially when I am only up to a block and a half of walking? I just don't have the drive...

Jim gave Jack a bath tonight. It was funny - you could see the debate go across Jack's face on whether he could make it to his kennel (which is his 'safe' zone - once he's in there he can't be scolded or dragged out) before Jim did. Jim won.