Nightmare Weekend

So who knew I would have something to post again so soon right? Btw, thanks to those that stopped by last week and said hello. Good hear from you all and glad you are doing well.

So last week ended bad for me. I was in the process of hiring a new guy and I thought I had it all sewn up. It was someone I knew, so it was great for me in that I knew what I was getting, and he would be a great fit. Really take some pressure off of me. I pushed my boss to get the job upgraded and got a great comp package together and thought he was excited about it. Finally on Friday, I get the offer letter put together and get it to him. He gives notice, they counter, and bones me and stays. WTF. So much for new opportunities. Now I have to start over again and the clock is ticking. The guy I am replacing is leaving on Thursday, so I already will have at least a couple weeks that I need to fill it, but I am going to Vegas, so I really need to cover it. I will figure out a way for the 2 days I am away, but I really don't need the stress.

So my wife picks me up on Friday afternoon to go up to NH for the weekend with the kids. Trying to get one last ski weekend in before the season is over. The season will actually go into April, and some places maybe even May, we have a bunch of sports things coming up, so the time will be tight to get up again for a while.

We drive the 3 hours from Boston, stopping on the way for dinner and get up around 7pm. Unloading the car, the kids beeline for the bedroom to play video games and both of the bedrooms are completely saturated with water. I need soaked. Squish, squish, fucking squish. The rest of place seemed fine, but the bedroom floors were toast. Even the wall in the bedrooms looked good. We ended up wearing our boots to bed.

First thing Saturday morning, I had to rip out all the carpet and padding in the rooms. They are small rooms, 9 by 11 and 11 by 11, so they weren't worth trying to dry out. I ended up on the phone with the association treasurer about it. What happended was all the snow had piled up outside the back slider and created a big ice burm. Last Saturday, it rained like hell up there, and the water had nowhere to go but my slider. Also, the grade of the landscaping to the left of the building, next to the slider is about 18 inches about the slab, so all the water just poured down there and in. They ended up bringing in a backhoe and clearing all the ice and snow away so it can't pool again. They have to fix the landscaping, but have to wait until it thaws. While the guy was there with the machine, I had him demolish my patio, which was noting but a few pieces of slade, and dig a hole. I am going to bury and catch basin and put in some 4 inch perforated piping so lead the water to the basin, then out the back. Everything is too frozen now though, but a lot of thaw means a lot of water, so we will be worried about it now until spring is over. What a pain in the ass.

Finally, around 2pm I had done all I could really do, so we went skiing. I have adventurous lately on the slopes. I tried the snowboarding thing a couple weeks ago, but last week was all over the jumps with my son. About 2 hours in, I hit a big jump and thought I was the shit. My wife was impressed. About 100 yards down the mountain, I went at another one. This time, I went way too fast, it was a lot steeper than I judged, and I launched myself a little too early. My wife said I was screaming like a little girl as I got about 3 feet in the air and landed with a 200 pound thud on the small of my back. I mean it hurt like hell. I lost both poles and one ski. My wife thought I broke my back for sure. I couldn't catch my breath and thought I couldn't move my legs for a minute. My kids looked like they saw a ghost. "What a dipshit I am", was all I was thinking. Oh, yeah, and how the hell and I ever going to live down a ride on the ski patrol sled??

I collected myself enought to get back to my feet and put my stuff back on to get down the rest of the hill. I was obviously done for the day and the weekend. It sounds funny, but thinking about it now, it could have been seriously disastrous. I have been hobbling around the last 2 days now, with a monster bruise on my lower back, upper ass. Baseball practice is out for me tonight, and I have to get better so I can get back up to NH on Friday to check the place out.

I have a guy coming today with drying equipment to dry it all out so we don't get a mold situation. Hopefully the association will take care of that too. They are responsible for the outside only. That is why they took care of the clearing of the ice and snow so quickly, but this wouldn't have happened in the first place if the landscaping was corrected, or the snow and ice was kept up with. Unfortunately, I am new at this place, so I don't know how much fighting I will have to do.

We'll see. Ok, I am done with my rant. Have a great Monday everyone.

Disgusting

July 25th was the last time I posted? WTF? Man, life has been busy, but really, 7 months?

Ok, so obviously, this is dead on the vine. Life has overtaken, and I no longer have time for as much poker as I used to enjoy. Why not a quick update then huh?

I have been way out of touch. I can't help keeping up with Don's blog, and Carmen's blog, at least every couple weeks or so. I know I am missing things along the way, but here's to hoping everyone is doing well.

So, basically, I was swamped from August 1 through the beginning of November coaching Pop Warner football. I had great assistant coaches, and I couldn't have asked any more from the kids in terms of effort and attitude. We started out 7-0, then lost our last regular season game. We got a first round playoff bye, won our first game, then lost in the semi-finals for the league. I had so much fun and got a lot out of it, but man was it a lot of work. Very time consuming, and as a result, the job suffered a little. Luckily, I have a cool boss that supports me spending time doing that sort of thing, but I feel like I am still catching up now. I joined the board for the league and I am now helping with fundraisers and that kind of thing. I don't think I can commit to the head coach thing again for next year, but I still have 2 younger sons that will go through the program, so I will stay involved and eventually probably get back into coaching.

As soon as football ended, basketball began. I ended up "coaching" my first grader's team. Beehive basketball at it's finest. Being only once a week, it wasn't bad at all, and actually ended last night. Baseball practice has already started for my oldest at an indoor facility. I will be involved in 3 teams this year, since all of my boys will be old enough to play. Insanity.

Back in the fall, we had an opportunity to get a ski place up in NH at a great price. It is a small condo, but located in a perfect spot for skiing in the winter and hiking, fishing, etc. in the summer. We jumped on it and have been skiing our asses off since around Christmas. It is a long drive, but we go up just about every other weekend, sometimes consecutive weeks, and the kids are all loving it. Just 2 weeks ago I tried snowboarding for the first time with the kids. It was painful, but fun. I will most likely stick to skiing, but might switch off every now and then for a change of pace. My 7 year old picked it up real quick and that is all he wants to do now. I found a cheap used board on craigslist for him, so he is all psyched up to go boarding this weekend.

Work is good, but real busy. I just had one of my guys quit last week, so I need to get him replaced quick so I won't have to do too much work myself. I am working on getting a guy that used to work for me in here, so hopefully that works out.

That is about it. I am heading to Vegas April 5-8 for a weekend with the guys. Looking forward to that for sure. I will try and post some updates every now and then, but honestly, this is pretty boring stuff. Maybe an update of how my trip goes, and how the poker tourney I am running for the football league goes will be worth reading. Not sure. I also still owe Hoff a post on something he tagged me on in (gulp) November. I got the email just before I left for Florida with the family and never got back to it. Sorry man. I am sure you gave up on me by now.

Anyway, hope all of you are doing well and staying happy.