THE DAILY DIVERSION

Well, I've been somewhat lazy when it comes to posting, but I've been somewhat busy at work up until now. This week should be a breeze. There are no bosses here, at all. That could mean that anarchy may reign supreme. It also may mean that I just won't get much done. Either way, I'll take it easy and do things at a leisurely pace.

The only problem is that the boisterous idiot next to me decided to actually come in to work today and is supposed to be here tomorrow too. So, I've got to deal with him. There are a total of 6 people on our floor today, and I'm the lucky one who's sitting next to the most asinine and rude one of the bunch. Lucky me huh?

Oh well! I've got my headphones on and the music cranked up. I'll have to remember to bring in my Ipod this afternoon though, because I can only listen to the 4 albums I have on my phone so many times before I go bonkers.

So, lets get down to the nitty gritty and talk about Christmas!

Overall, my wife and I had a great Christmas. We got to see everyone that we needed to. I didn't get to see one of my friends, but he went home to spend time with his parents, so its not that bad.

We spent Thursday, Friday, and part of Saturday in Bowling Green and had our Christmas with my family on Saturday before heading to Owensboro. We got to the "O" right around 6 pm Saturday night and attended a party at Adrianne's former employer. It was great seeing the kids again and it's amazing how quickly they grow. Just six months ago the youngest, Chloe, wouldn't string five words together. Now, she'll talk your ear off if you're not careful.

After the party we headed to Adrianne's Mom's house. We were there until Tuesday and got to see all of the babies. I know this is killing my wife, because the more she sees our nieces and nephew, the more she wants to have a baby.

While we've talked about it and I've made excuses about why we shouldn't, yet, I know that we'll have to start sometime soon, or she'll go crazy. Right now, I'm sticking with the excuse that I'm not ready to share my Xbox. She knows that it's really because we need time to get used to each other and get used to being married and doing things for each other before we complicate all of that.

Personally, I think the worst thing a couple can do is never get to really know each other before throwing something else into the mix, because they'll never know each other and will regret it down the line. I keep worrying that, if we have a kid right now (actually in 9 months or so), then we'll wake up when we're fifty and the kids are out of the house and say "You know, I don't know anything about you" and that we'll have sleepwalked through all of those years and possibly be miserable (like both of our parents were). I'm not big on repeating history, just in case you didn't know that.

Okay, enough about baby-making... I made sure to give almost everyone on my list a phone call on Christmas to wish them well, except one person. You guessed it... My Dad.

After Thanksgiving I decided that I'm finished trying to make it happen. I talked to my Grandma about it (his mother) and just told her what all has gone down, and I'm leaving it at that. He and I actually had some business to discuss, but, rather than calling me to discuss it, he had my stepmother email me the question. So, no, I didn't get a call from him on Christmas. It's his loss and I'm not going to think about it any further. I just wanted to get it out there.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say that this one was an "8". My father docks it 4 points, but getting to see or talk to everyone else that I love and care about brings it back up 2 points and makes it a damn fine Christmas.

Now we just have to start planning our New Year's party that we're hosting. Well, if you can call two or three other couples coming over to hang out a "party". Tonight we shop for booze and "whores dee O-vores!"

Yeah, I'll go ahead and translate that for you...

THANK GOD (or GOODNESS, whichever you prefer) IT'S DOUCHE-BAG FREE FRIDAY!

Man, it's been a pretty good day! I woke up in a good mood with some shenanigans on my mind! You do know that Friday's are meant for Shenanigans, right? Well, there may be some more in store before this day is over.

My beautiful wife and I are going to a Christmas Party tonight, complete with "Dirty Santa" gifts. I love the whole idea of "Dirty Santa". As I get older I'd prefer to only receive "Dirty Santa" gifts. That way I know I'd be getting something either A) really good or B) really trashy. Either way I'm a winner!

We had our office Christmas party today also. I ended up getting to eat a couple of Corky's pulled pork BBQ sammiches! Yum! Yum! For my Tum Tum!! Adrianne will be hating me later on though, because I went for seconds on the baked beans. Yes, unfortunately, I love to torture her occasionally!

Now, on to the important stuff...

Some folks on Hilltopper Haven (and sometimes my wife too) believe that I don't get anything done at work, no matter how many times I tell them how "efficient" I am. Well, in between some shenanigans, 2 Corky's BBQ sammiches, getting to see Sportscenter in it's entirety (by viewing it in four separate sittings), and singing a few Christmas tunes I was able to get nearly half of my entire work done for the week. Yes, I completed 40% of my total workload for the week today. Take notes people, because this is how it's done!

Well, actually I just cruised through a bunch of things that I had already made notes on last week while I was in Chattanooga, but I still completed them and got them turned in. That's how I get down!

Alright, I'm gonna bounce! It's almost quittin' time and I gotta get my game face on for tonight!

Have a great weekend and GO TOPPERS! BEAT THE VOLS!

Well, I had a dream last night that I can actually remember part of. It was straight out of the movie "Can't Buy Me Love". Really, I'm not joking. Why this movie would pop into my mind is way beyond my rational thinking.

Anyway, here's what I recall:

I have a blonde-headed friend who's a real dork (I don't know who it is though, as I never see his face). For some reason he wants to be popular so he does something to get this girl to take his money and "hang out" with him.

Well, she doesn't do anything with him. He gives her money and she does whatever she wants. Supposedly they're hanging out at the mall, but, instead of her walking and talking with him, she's with one of her friends and he's trailing some 10 to 15 feet behind her, like a mangy mutt.

It ends up growing old with him, but he can't confront her, at all. So, he tells me all of the awful things she does and how he's paying her to befriend him, yet it's the exact opposite and it makes him look even worse. This is where I step in.

I go to the girl's house. By the way, she looks just like Anna Farris (from Scary Movie and several others). Actually she looks just like she does in this picture.

So, I go "pay her a visit" and basically ridicule the shit out of her, making her cry, twice. I give her several options for how she can cure the situation (of which I can remember none right now), and she agrees that she'll take care of business and make things right.

It ends up that she and my friend become actual boyfriend-girlfriend, but I can't stay asleep long enough to find out what happens in the end.

That happens when they're remodeling buildings next door and start working at 6:30 in the morning. It's always fun to wake up to something that sounds like gun fire, even when it's just guys dropping very heavy pieces of concrete, steel, or wood.

So, there you go! Another visit inside my head. Like I've done on my most recent dream recalls, I don't plan on breaking it down. I'll only say this... I don't like making people cry!

Yes, I finally made it back home yesterday. I'm back in the office today trying to catch up on emails, reading Hilltopper Haven, and filling out expense reports.

I logged 875 miles from Friday, December 1st to Sunday, December 10. That's good for $389.38 in my pocket! Not too shabby, huh?

I've decided that I like Chattanooga, just not the drive there. I can't stand going up and down mountains. It's bad enough with me trying to control my vehicle around tight corners at 80 miles per hour, I don't need a tractor-trailer doing the same thing next to me! Those roads over there scare the hell out of me, and I couldn't imagine driving them in the rain, sleet, or snow.

My travels were relatively uneventful though. I got most, if not all, of my Christmas shopping completed (and wrapped too) while I was gone. I still have a couple of ideas, but we'll see if I can make them happen or not.

I had a couple of nice meals while on the road, but with the budget restrictions my job has put us travelers, we had to cut it back a bit. I will make one recommendation... If you happen to travel to Chattanooga, be sure to stop by Sticky Fingers BBQ. It's good stuff. They've got several sauces, which are all tasty! I had the rib sampler, where I could have four different sauces. I didn't get to thoroughly enjoy the habanero sauce because I was full from eating the three other styles. It was spicy though!

I didn't get to go to a couple of places I really enjoyed during my prior trip to Chattanooga though. That one meal, in and of itself, would've eclipsed my daily per diem for food, and I would've had to do some "creative accounting" to get that one paid for. Oh well! Maybe when I take my honey there sometime we can go there (on our own dime. Yikes!).

Really, there's not to much else going on here. I'm getting ready to start up a whole new "project" which will mean that I'll be insanely busy, again. It'll also mean that I might be a bit grumpy! My boss told me this morning that they'd like to have it done by the end of January. I gave him my best "good luck with that" face. We just started a "project", which I have plenty of work to do on, and they want to yank me off of it to start another one. Remember folks, you can only stretch a rubber band so far before it breaks and comes back and slaps you square in the face. Right now, there are a bunch of rubber bands that are pulled pretty damn tight!

On a positive note, since I didn't mean to vier off into something negative... I finally got to see my honey again! It seemed like it had been several weeks since we last saw each other, and I sure did miss her! I guess she missed me a little bit too. I think I made her day by not making her watch any sports yesterday once I got home! We'll see if that trend holds out tonight!

It's been a while, try about 14 months, since I've been on the road for work. Next week I will be terrorizing the fine folks in Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tennessee.

I've never been to Cleveland, but I really like Chattanooga when I was there last year. Of course, last year, when we made our visit, it was summer time and the weather was beautiful. I don't know if we're going to have the same luck this time around. I'm sure it will be cold, if nothing else.

Anyway, I'm packed and ready to go. I'm actually packed for a couple of separate occasions. I'm heading to Bowling Green this afternoon (depending on what time my boss lets me get out of here. Usually he lets us leave early if we're traveling on our own time.) to spend the weekend and watch the Hilltoppers face rival (if you want to call it that) Eastern Kentucky University.

Then on Sunday I'll be leaving BG to head on down to Chattanooga. I'll be there all week before heading back to Bowling Green the following weekend, so I can catch what should be a great matchup between Western and Southern Illinois University. SIU has had a really good basketball team for several years now, and this year is no different. The following Sunday I'll head back to Memphis to be with my sweetie-pie again.


I like traveling and getting to see a little different scenery occasionally. This week, again the only week I've traveled this year, just happens to be the only week I don't want to travel.

At the bank, we do not have a Christmas part. Hell, outside of a couple of us hanging out outside of work, we don't do anything together, other than work. However, my wife is having her Christmas party this week, as well as a fund raiser-type basketball game in which she's supposed to be a cheerleader. I really don't want to miss these things.

I'm the only husband that's not been out to the school to be shown around to all the other teachers. This week is/was my one chance. It was the chance she had to prove that I actually exist and am not a figment of her imagination. Well, I hate it, but it's not going to happen. Even if I tried my damdest, I couldn't get back to Memphis in time. It sucks!

Not only am I going to be missing my honey, but I'll be missing a couple of events that mean something to her also. I'll see if there is some way I can make it up at some point in time.

Okay, so I'm going to pack my stuff here at work that I will need for the trip. I'm hoping to be out of here by 3 pm today, so I can get to BG by dinner time! Next week means that I probably will not post anything on here, so deal with it!!

Just kidding! Have a great week!