Uncle Arthur

One of the 2008 highlights I expected to write was relief that no one close to me died this year. Looks like I’ll have to revise that one as my Uncle Arthur passed away this morning at the age of 77.

We spent many summers at my aunt and uncle’s beach house in Garden City, SC. Arthur was always quick to tell a joke or to tousle our hair. He had suffered from Alzheimer’s for the past several years but could still tell a joke. He seemed in good spirits the last time I saw him.

We spent Christmas Day with my parents, during which I took a moment look at photographs. I found my eyes lingering on a picture of Uncle Arthur with my aunt.

He lived quite a full life. I’ll link to his obituary tomorrow.

Highlights of 2008: Mountains and Sea Vacation

We took a week off in August for vacation, initially with the hopes of getting back out to Orcas Island. When the frequent flyer tickets weren’t available for Seattle, we opted to travel closer to home. Thus it was a few days in the mountains and a few days at the beach.

The mountain in question was Gateway Mountain, outside of Old Fort, NC. After being welcomed with the traditional mountain greeting, we enjoyed getting our caricatures drawn, looking around Old Fort, or just enjoying the stunning view of a mountain sunset. We took a side trip to Chimney Rock, where my photo from the Rock is still featured on its Wikipedia page.

While the mountains were beautiful as always, the area was alarmingly dry. We swam in knee-deep water at Lake Lure. Honestly. Even four months later the area’s still in the grip of a terrible drought.
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Man on Wire

Last night Kelly and I watched Man on Wire, the documentary about wirewalker Philippe Petit‘s astounding high-wire stroll between the World Trade Center buildings in August 1974.

Though it was over thirty-five years ago, his feat is still astounding. Worth a watch!

Highlights coming up

It’s the time of year I list my highlights of the year. This year I will eschew limiting myself to ten, as it’s tough to pick and choose from so many happenings. I will rank them, more or less, though, as I think that’s important.

Look for the first installment sometime this weekend.

Offer on the way?

I’ve been told that an offer is on the way after all. It apparently is on the way to the staffing person, though the holiday probably got in the way. Still not fun being told that I’d be getting a call and then not calling. I thought I had been stood up or something.

With only days to go between now and my expected start date of Jan. 5th, there’s not a lot of time to prepare. But at least it looks as if I’ll have something for which to prepare!

Jolene

Jolene [YouTube]
Cake

Well Jolene unlocked the thick, breezeway door,
Like she’d done one hundred times before.
Jolene smoothed her dark hair in the mirror.
She folded the towel carefully and put it back in place.

Yeah I want to pull you down into bed.
I want to cast your face in lead.
Well every time I pull you close,
Push my face into your hair,
Cream rinse and tobacco smoke,
That sickly scent is always, always there.
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My phone stayed quiet today

My phone didn’t ring today as I’d hoped it would. Could be just an oversight, but it certainly would’ve been nice to hear something – anything.

Hell, its been six weeks since I had a job. What’s another few days?