Uh oh. That sucks. Hope you're OK tonight!

Hmmmmm... Sour beer good, sour milk not so much. Easy fix, Al - pop a Consecration.

Popped into the city. Texted Al, now I'm glad I didn't call. Good that you got some good sleep! Had a Chili Relleno at a favorite spot, and walked around a bit. Fun day!

Off in a few to go to a Kosher Wine Tasting through our Temple's Brotherhood.  Should be fun, and somewhat tasty.....

Popped into the city. Texted Al, now I'm glad I didn't call. Good that you got some good sleep! Had a Chili Relleno at a favorite spot, and walked around a bit. Fun day!

I didn't get any text! Planning to call today though so pick up the phone!

Hmmm, it seemed like it went through, I'll double check the number I have for you when you call later.

Received a couple of weird texts on my phone from someone I don't know wanting to get together......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kidding.  

 

Just returned from a day long fencing tournament that is a 2 1/2 hour drive each way.  The temperature outside was 45 degrees and the gym was about the same.  Froze my buns off for five hours but it was worth it to see Lance make the semi-finals only to lose to the top seed.  Fencing is a very interesting sport when viewed up close but probably boring when watching on the tele.

Made my first Santa appearance tonight, a tree lighting ceremony at Camana Bay, which is a large and quite nice outdoor shopping "mini city" and cultural center.  The crowd was estimated at 3,000.  They were expecting 4,000+ but there was some light rain.  It's good to be back at it, just as fun and wonderful in every way as ever.  My schedule is getting quite full again this year.  I'll probably end up doing 70-80 events.  Last year was 66, if I remember correctly, and there is all sorts of new stuff on my schedule already.  

 

One lady was so anxious to book me on a Saturday this year, that she was willing to pay me to ride along with me from one event to another so that her kids can get some private time with Santa!  Ok, whatever.  It's your money, lady!  We've worked out a good story for explaining why I'm traveling in a convertible instead of by sleigh.  Rudolph and a couple of the other reindeer took off on a joy ride in the sleigh, so we're going to have to drive around looking up in the sky trying to find them.  Meanwhile, they'll get to sift through the toy bag and candy bag and pick out what they like, and then will get to serve as honorary elves at the next event.  It will be a surprise to the kids.  

 

We have it arranged whereby as I'm leaving from the first event (where her kids know that they're coming to see me at), I'll drive past her outside the parking lot as she's getting ready to leave the event, and then invite the whole family into my car to help me find the reindeer.  Once we arrive at the next event, I'll say, "Oh, there are a lot of children here.  Maybe they can help us too!"  Then off we go to start event #2.  I told her that it would probably be best if they only helped me for about 15 minutes or so, and then they could magically bump into her sister who can give them a ride back to their car.  The kids won't know what hit them, and she insists on paying my standard fee for a 1 hour home visit, which ain't cheap these days...

Pretty awesome stuff Wayne.  I don't know how you can keep up that pace of visits/appearances but your energy level and commitment are commendable.

This morning a poor bastard who looked like he just finished a triple shift (and I'm guessing from car, clothes and language skills, not by choice) blew past a stop light, narrow missed a bicyclist, and plowed into our car as we were going through the intersection not far from our home. The angle of impact swung us around a bit, but caused a surprising small amount of obvious damage to the car. He hit though right behind Esmé's car seat. What could have happened kept my mind spinning most of the day. 

 

We were heading to a birthday party and still went, so here's a photo for what didn't happen today. 

 

 

o_O

 

Yeezh, dude.

Wow!

Very glad to know that your guys are okay!

Holy crap, Ric.  Glad to hear people are OK, and car damage hopefully minimal.  But yeah, that scare, especially with kids in the car, will get the adrenaline pumping.  I used to fucking hate those "Baby On Board" signs until we had my son.  I still never put them on/in, but understood the concept a lot better.

 

Wayne, sounds awesome, very good & creative planning; the kids should get a big kick out of it!

Yikes, Ric.  That kind of thing will definitely mess with you for a bit.

 

Enjoy the season, Wayne.  It snowed just a dusting here last night so the kids are starting to think in those terms which will make for a lot of fun times this year.  Andrew wasn't quite old enough to really get it last year but should be a terror at unwrapping this year.

Glad no one was hurt Ric. Scary stuff.

I'm so glad everyone is OK! That us scary shit to say the least.

Scary stuff, Ric.  So glad all is well.

 

Wayne - what Greg said.  Have a great Santa season.

Yikes Ric, glad to hear that everyone is ok and the damage is minimal. Scary moment.

Hoo, hoo Santa, have a great season!

Scary moment, indeed, Ric.  Nice of you to be able to see that perhaps his life isn't so great.  You're a compassionate man.  But the main thing is that Esme wasn't harmed!

 

Incidentally, I need to figure out where that e key with the tilde is, in her honor.  Such a great name.

Edited November 24, 201312 yr by Wmcmanus

Ric very glad to hear you and the family were unhurt in the accident, scary indeed. 

I'm very glad this is just an unfortunate incident with no injuries. People really don't take seriously how dangerous a vehicle can be.

Ric, you have great perspective on what could have been aweful and very glad no one was injured. 

Glad you are all OK, Ric.

Thanks everyone. I really don't want to make too much of this, but probably more playing and laughter today than normal. Lots to think about including that we followed the bike into the intersection. What would have happened if positions were reversed? He obviously didn't see the bike, so would he have seen a car and stopped? Would he have hit the bike instead? Overall, everyone lucky.

And I'd like to officially thank Hyundai and Britax for the protection.

So glad to hear that nobody was hurt Ric! Esme is an absolute doll, and it's terrifying to think anything bad could have happened to her.

 

Play on Esme...play on!