Month: December 2008 (Page 2 of 7)

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday was a nice Christmas Eve. My parents are back in town, so I spent most of the day at their house. Today is our big family gathering, so my mom was making food preparations. My nephew Daniel and niece Anna also came over and hung out for a while.

When it came time to get ready for church, my mom suggested I drive Daniel and Anna home, then drive to Lloyd and Lauren’s house to get ready. DRIVE?!? On snow? Fortunately, when snow is really cold, it’s almost like dirt on the road. It’s not very slippery. I squashed down all my jibblies and did it. I did fine.

I went to a basketball game last night. My niece’s team was playing against the public high school in Wahoo, Nebraska. Brent and I drove her out, then watched the game. It was fun. I think it was the first basketball game I’ve watched since last Christmas.

Rachel was a starter. She really plays well. When the baskets switched at halftime, I tried to get some pictures. Rachel’s position was right of the basket, so her back was to us most of the time. I did get two pictures of her being fouled, though. They are below. I’ll also include an action-type picture, but there’s no basketball in the shot. I honestly don’t remember what’s going on in the picture, but it shows Rachel a little better.

They didn’t win. Their team is really young right now. There are no seniors on the team and only three juniors. Rachel is a 10th grader.

Last night I received my much-anticipated massage. It was wonderful. The masseuse found the knot next to my right shoulder blade that has been hurting so badly and she just pressed on it. When she got it just right, I could feel it through to my chest and up the front side of my neck and into my chin. It was great. The only drawback to the whole experience was having a cold. But I only dripped a little bit while lying face down. She ended the session by putting something called Biofreeze on my sore back. It’s a menthol-type ointment. I couldn’t believe how cold it made me. Yikes! I was shivering!

Lauren picked me up after I was done. She had been to Walmart getting a few sundry items, including some things that will help keep me warm in this cold Nebraska weather. One of the things she got me was an undershirt tank top. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I’ve ever worn one of these. Do I look tough, or what? I should wear these all the time.

I had good plane flights, despite my cold.

The trip started off bad because of Northwest’s stupid $15 charge for checking a suitcase. If not for the TSA’s stupid restrictions, I’d be able to carry-on everything I need. I think they’re in cahoots. I should send the TSA a bill for $15. It’s their fault I had to pay it.

Things got better when I sat in my EXIT ROW seat for my first flight. It was wonderfully roomy. The Minneapolis airport was once again a fun place to have a layover. I had a Godfather’s personal pizza, then browsed their huge mall-like area. I was delightfully intrigued by the hand-dryers in the bathroom. It was a design I had never seen before. They were made by Dyson.

My trip to Lincoln was nicely uneventful. But it’s cooold in Nebraska.

UPDATE: Here’s the picture of my hand in the dryer. It uses thin “blades” of air to squeegee your hands dry. It actually worked quite well, as far as I could tell.