Geek Wannabe – Page 42

Happy New Year!

Breeder's Corner, Geek Wannabe, General Comments Off

Jan 012009

I’ve been continuing to send out resumes and contact the job sites and temp agencies. However, on the theory that nobody is going to be doing much business of any kind (including hiring) until January 5, I also went to help out at the Thrift Shoppe. I’ve been out of class for over a week, and that’s about as long as I can tolerate being indolent and useless.

The Artist (perhaps I should say The Party Animal) spent the night at a church lock-in with about a hundred other teenagers. My mother reports that when she picked him up this morning he was grinning from ear to ear. I never would have predicted, when he was in elementary school, that he would grow up to be such a social, outgoing guy. Just confirms the adage, “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” Of course, he didn’t get a wink of sleep, so now he’s crashed in her guest bedroom for the day.

Alpha Geek and the Director (my control-freak younger son) spent the evening with the new PSP I got my husband for Christmas. To the great surprise of both of us, I actually managed to come up with a present he really likes. And which, of course, both our kids like as well. My parents chipped in and got him a Big Box o’ Accessories for the gadget, including headphones, car power adaptor, and a nice hard-shell case to carry it in. He took it with him to Ottawa last week and watched movies on the plane. And he wasn’t gone an hour before the Director was asking me where Daddy’s PSP was.

The Director still has a cough from the cold he had a couple of weeks ago. Tomorrow I’m dragging his little butt up to the doctor.

And that’s the state of our household, this first day of 2009. Hope you’re all doing well!

Duhrrr

Geek Wannabe, General Comments Off

Dec 272008

Alpha Geek’s parents invariably add to our library at Christmas. This year, they gave him a copy of Panic! The Story of Modern Financial Insanity.

Since starting on the accounting degree, I’ve developed a bit more of an interest in this subject. By Christmas afternoon I was several chapters into it. I’d thought I had at least a basic understanding of the securities market, but after reading about margin calls, apparent discounts, and arbitragers, I looked over at my husband and said, “I feel stupid.”

He looked back at me with that I-shouldn’t-say-it smirk he gets. “Maybe that’s why my parents got this for me, and you got Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover’s Soul.”

I gave him the finger and went back to reading his book.

Merry Christmas, Folks!

Geek Wannabe, General Comments Off

Dec 262008

Been a fun holiday around here:

Sunday I helped one of my best friends move into her new house. She and her son have been staying with family for the last two years, and they’ve finally managed to get their own place. I’m really excited for ’em. I took The Artist with me, because he’s big and strong and loves nothing better than to be useful. Afterwards I took him to his favorite restaurant and told him he could have anything he wanted; he’d earned it.

Sunday night I got to meet my buddy Val and his family for dinner. They’re on their way north, and stopped in town for the night. Alpha Geek and The Artist came along (my younger son was sick and stayed home), and a good time was had by all. It’s kind of freaky how alike our respective youngest sons are. They’re both super-energetic, too smart for their own good, control freaks. They even have the same name.

Alpha Geek is working on getting checked out in a Cessna 172. This will enable him to fly all four of us at once—right now he can only take one passenger at a time, and if he takes our giant Artist he can’t have full tanks.

Grades for my final semester were posted—I got straight A’s. I was pretty surprised that I got an A in Business Income Tax; I made a B on every test. The homework grade must have brought it up.

Christmas morning was the traditional Opening of the Gifts. This year we just got a couple of presents for the boys, but Santa sent them on a scavenger hunt to find them—they had five or six clues (in badly-scansioned rhyme) leading them to the big presents. We had planned on getting The Artist a bicycle, but a couple of weeks ago Alpha Geek found a bass guitar and amplifier for under $200, so we got him that instead. Judging by the fact that he keeps asking us if we can get together and play, I think he likes it. We’ll get him the bike for his birthday, or something.

The day before Christmas, I made Booze Balls à la Cranky Professor. I sent some over to my parents (with the warning, “These are highly alcoholic,” although my Mom knew as soon as she opened them and got a whiff). We’ve also had our traditional Hickory Farms and wine to gnosh on, and my annual box of Moravian Spice Cookies (my parents give me a big tin of these every Christmas, and they’re always gone in a few days).

Christmas day I met my parents at the rehab/care facility where my grandmother’s been staying, and we brought her presents and toured their garden and generally socialized. She’s improved a lot since she first went in hospital; she’s eating and doing laps in her walker and going on every field trip the rehab center offers. I swear that woman is going to outlive me. Nice to know I have such hardy genes in my family history.

All in all, a satisfying Yule. I hope you’ve also had a safe, happy Christmas with the ones you love.

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