Best News Almanac

I was a little distracted yesterday. Not only was I churning through the bureaucracy and mortgaging significant amounts of treasure to secure a new passport but I was worried about my younger sister’s spinal surgery. I had to wait until well into the evening to hear from my sister’s fiancé. He reported that she came through the seven hour operation with flying colors and was responding well in the recovery room – able to fully move all extremities. I know he’s anxious to get her back home, hopefully as early as Saturday. Thanks to all who sent prayers and positive energy her way yesterday – it helped.

I lost basically a complete day and a half of focus to the lost passport and my excellent boss while supportive was a little nervous because I had to present an analysis to the political leadership this morning on a comprehensive review of the system. Up until sending out the emergency passport forms around noon yesterday I hadn’t even looked at the report. I’m sneakily a little proud of myself because the following four hours were the most concentrated work effort I’ve achieved in years, at least since leaving the military. I always tell people I feel a little like I’m stealing money because the work is comparatively easy to what I did in the military, so yesterday I completely earned the money – at least in the afternoon. The presentation this morning was a huge success.

Trophy Parade

As bad as the day was for me yesterday, stress wise, I turned on the TV in my office to semi-watch the Patriots championship parade in Boston. It was a reminder of the close relationship between the entire region and our sports teams. While the past decade and a half we’ve “suffered” an embarrassment of riches with the success of our teams there was nothing jaded about yesterday’s celebration and you could tell the players were genuinely moved by the outpouring of affection. Maybe this will help us re-sign Revis!

The other night in the middle of my frenzied search for the missing passport (at this point if I find the damned thing I’m going to be really pissed) I escaped the stress with a movie – seeing Project Almanac. I was genuinely surprised at how watchable this teenaged angst filled time travel story was. A group of high school nerds stumble upon a time travel device and use it to hilariously pass a test and attend a concert amongst other tasks.

Since drama was needed the budding romance between the head nerd and his dream girl is endangered by cataclysmic ripple effects. The young cast does well making this semi-believable and being likable. I thought this is exactly what hormone fueled teenagers would do with a time machine. My only complaint was the use of the “found video” technique where everything had to be filmed by one of the cast members. It was forced and more jarring than was needed because the story and the acting was enough to carry the film.

Front Yard This Morning

Since it had been more than 24 hours since I needed to use the snow blower Mother Nature hit back this morning with three additional inches coating the driveway. For the first time in a long time the storm wasn’t accompanied by brutal winds and temperatures so I was snow blowing garbed in my leisure pants which I’m sure the neighbors appreciated. The lack of winds had the snow coating all the trees which I probably would have appreciated for the natural beauty if I wasn’t so entirely sick of the white stuff. Now I hear there’s a major storm inbound at precisely the time I’m supposed to be flying out for Panama next week. That would really, really suck (just sayin). The best thing about yesterday, aside from my sister’s recovery, was a long conversation with my Cali-daughter. I’m sure she does a little jig every time she hears about more East Coast snow but she provided a much needed morale boost. That boost should be maintained tomorrow if the passport arrives but more so because the ABFA and son may be darkening my doorsteps for some long delayed Rhode Island thunder running on Saturday. That would definitely help the stress reduction effort.

My Wife (in dark dress) Seen with her Grandparents
She's Younger Here than Either of our "Kids"