There is something missing in my living room right now…

Usually, the weekend following Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas decorations. The past years, we would buy a tree, throw it in the back of the truck and drive home with our new friend. It is a tedious process, beginning with choosing the right tree then making sure they cut the base of the tree straight and then unloading the tree from the truck. But our daughter is allergic and the poor girl suffers during the month and a half that we keep the tree up. So because of that, it was said that this year, we would not get a real tree but dig up the plastic one from the garage. I was the first one disappointed because I absolutely love to come home and be greeted by the pine scent. Also, seeing the tree heavily decorated really is a nice plus.

So, since we did have that talk many months ago and we never talked about the tree again, I went looking for the tree in the garage. I took the tree in the house and dumped it on the floor, disgusted. The wife comes and asks me what am I doing. So I remind her of what we had said earlier this year but in the meantime, she has changed her mind and decided we should have a real tree since it’s our son’s first Christmas. So I take the tree and put it back in the garage. Bummer.

Yes, I was already conditioned to have a dull, plastic tree in the living room. And since I had not planned for a tree, and having finished my Christmas shopping and going way overboard, now I have to think about the tree. In the meantime, I had started cooking a leg of lamb and I was not going to leave that in the oven and go get a tree. She kept pushing to go but I had decided I was not going to go out and look for a tree late Sunday afternoon.

So, instead of having the scent of a pine tree and see colorful lights on, I have the light from my desk and the front door light. We have to figure out a way now to get the tree home since we sold our truck a couple of months ago. My car trunk is too small, so I guess we’re going to have to use her car.

And I really miss having the tree up right now.

Till then…

Thanksgiving was not good for everybody…

Dee called me tonight and as soon as she started to talk, I knew something was not right. She asked me about my Thanksgiving and I told her about it and then I asked her about hers. She got sick but that was not as bad as what was coming next.

A while ago, I talked about “our” son, Papo:

Papo has cancer but a couple of days ago, Dee took him out for his walk and he collapsed. She took him to the vet and they did not really take care of him so she took him to the oncologist and they found out he has congestive heart failure.

Papo is 8 and he does not have much more to live. The people she saw were asking her ridiculous amounts of money to treat him and while she is very attached to him, she cannot come up with that kind of money to treat him when it is not even sure they will be able to really save him. She did get some meds and he seems to be fine right now, but his heart is enlarged and no matter what, his heart is not going to shrink back to its old size. Dee was crying and although I love Papo, it is nothing compared to the love Dee has for him. And it is going to be really hard on her because he’s the only presence she has in the house. He is there to greet her at night when she gets back from work; he’s the one who is there in the morning when she wakes up. And she told me already that she will not have another pet after him and I totally understand her.

Damn, this sucks…

Till then…

Bis repetita? O hell no!

When I was about 8 or 9, I was living in the Dominican Republic. My school had planned a field trip to the Capital City of Santo Domingo and I was all excited because lunch was to be at a restaurant where a train delivered the food to the customers instead of a waiter or waitress. All the kids we were so excited because we thought it was so cool and most of the students in the class were going. I asked my dad and he said yes I could go. But the day before we were supposed to go, he flatly said I was not going. I was terribly disappointed and I should have known better because it was not the first time something similar had happened. Something would be said and I would get all excited and could not wait for the day of the event, just to find out it was never to happen in the first place.

Last year, just before Christmas, I heard my daughter and the wife talking about a Nintendo Wii console. I was surprised because I had my daughter write her letter to Santa and had already bought her presents and now they are talking about a Wii? I went looking for one and of course it was a lost cause since all of them were already sold and stores had waiting lists for deliveries in April 2008! So I told the wife it was way too late for that and besides, she did not ask Santa for it, so case closed.

A few months ago, the talk about the Wii came up again. I am not a gamer so I couldn’t care less about what consoles are out there. But I was still surprised to hear mother and daughter talking about the Wii.

About 3 weeks ago, I started telling my daughter that she needed to write her letter to Santa but she kept forgetting. Earlier this week when I was still in the hospital, I reminded her again about the letter and she promised me she would write it. Sure thing, when I finally went home, she gave me a letter asking for a HSM doll set and a Wii. The very next day, she wrote another letter because she forgot to ask for a DVD. And since I had already heard about the Wii, I had budgeted that in my Christmas shopping for this year and was waiting for Black Friday to take care of all my shopping.

It took me a while to find a bundle that would not have me pawn my son in order to get it. I could not believe how expensive some bundles can be and how hard they are still to find. I am sure I would not have had so much difficulties if I was looking for a PS3 or an Xbox. Anyway, I did find the bundle, placed my order and moved on to the next item I was looking for.

When I finally made it downstairs, the wife comes and tells me that I should not get the Wii, but go for some karaoke machine. I had to ask her if she was serious because I kept hearing her talk about the Wii and now she is saying that our daughter should wait until she is 10 to get the console! I told her that 1) it was too late already because I had placed the order and 2) she wrote it not once but twice in each letter she wrote. I told the wife that there was no way I was going to say no because she asked Santa and I could not (and did not) want to come with a stupid excuse on why she could not get what she asked for. Furthermore, I think it would have been quite hypocritical not to get it when she got money to buy a flat screen TV. And even if I said I was not a gamer, I do see myself playing either tennis or golf on that 52″ beast we’re getting next week. I also told her several times the story about the different times my father agreed on something and did not grant my wish the day come. I told the wife long ago not to promise her anything that she feels she cannot give her or do not want to give her. I would rather have her refuse right away instead of saying yes today and no tomorrow. I do not think it is spoiling her but like I just said, if there are no plans of ever giving her what she wants, might as well say no right away. And that is why I said in my entry “8 things. Quite overdue…“  and the #4 thing I’m looking forward to is to see her face on Christmas Day, when she will open her presents and see that all the things she asked Santa, she got them. And maybe a little more.

And as long as I can, I will live by that. Never promise my kids something that I cannot give them.

Till then…

Ruffling feathers

I started this post a few days ago but I deleted it. One, because I was writing it at 2am and my mind was not as clear as I had hoped and two because it’s a touchy subject, I think.

Thanksgiving is not something that comes easy to our family. One of the reasons is that this holdiay is mostly North American. People in the Caribbean do not celebrate Thanksgiving unless they are American expats wanting to keep up with tradition.

Last night, after dinner and a funny improvised show my daughter put together, she asked me what does Thanksgiving means to me. I did explain to her the meaning of the celebration and she knows the origin of Thanksgiving but I could not really give her an answer. And it was her mother who added that she never celebrated Thanksgiving before she moved here. I don’t recall any celebrations during my first years in Chicago and we did try to celebrate it once when we were all back home but it was a disaster. And even after moving back here, I don’t think we ever had a nice celebration until yesterday. We were reminiscing our previous celebrations and there was always something that made Thanksgiving day if not a nightmare, a day we could have gone on with our normal lives. I will definitely not bore you with all the details but some of you surely get the idea.

I have been battling so we can keep traditions alive. My wife is from Trinidad and of Indian descent but she does not observe any of the holidays and traditions from home. I was born here but most of my life was spent in the Caribbean and I do try to keep traditions alive. My kids were born here but they also have to know they have roots elsewhere and I want them to at least know about their diverse cultural heritage and make the most out of it.

And as I said earlier, this Thanksgiving was the best one we’ve had. It was simple and everybody ate, had seconds and that made me happy, considering the time I spend in the kitchen and how my cooking is snubbed sometimes.

Let’s see what will happen next year!

Till then…

8 things. Quite overdue…

I was supposed to do this a few days ago, but I never really had enough free time to do it. I am finally doing it even though Thanksgiving was yesterday.

8 things I’m looking forward to:

1. Going to work. As strange as it may sound, I am really not used being out this long and not going anywhere.
2. My next doctor’s appointment. I will feel much better after a clean bill of health.
3. Putting up the Christmas tree. Because of my daughter’s allergies, we’ll put up the plastic one. Not too happy about that but I really have no choice.
4. Christmas day. I really want to see the look on my daughter’s face when she’ll open her presents.
5. Finish watching “The Sopranos”. I have 4 more episodes to go.
6. 2009. Although 2008 was not a bad year, I am always in a hurry for the year to end and see what the new year will bring.
7. My son crawling, taking his first steps and grow up. I think I will need to child-proof the house much more than the last time!
8. Taking much better care of myself.

8 things on my wish list:

1. To be able to finally get together with a dear friend who is far away.
2. To be able to travel to Europe. It’s been a while and I really need the change of decor.
3. To be able to kickstart my studying and get those blasted certifications.
4. Setting up my son’s baptism for February 22, 2009. That will coincide with my daughter’s baptism anniversary.
5. A new home office. Consolidate all the computers in my area with just one PC. It would get rid of all the clutter around my desks. And maybe I could go back to having just one desk!
6. Spend more time with my children. If 2009 is anything like 2008 workwise, it will be somewhat hard to do…
7. Start going to church more often; be a little more spiritual.
8. Relax. Better manage the stress in my life. I am sure that’s what is taking a toll on my health.

8 things that happened today:

1. I woke up at 5 and spent most of the morning shopping. My Christmas shopping is almost done!
2. I had a nice, long nap this afternoon and I felt much better afterwards.
3. I absolutely wanted to do this tonight, although I had promised a certain someone I was going to do it a few days ago.
4. I started cleaning up all my e-mail boxes. I still have a long way to go…
5. I was happy and surprised my daughter still talked about last night’s dinner. She enjoyed it and made me happy for eating everything in her plate for a change.
6. I am still debating if I should shave or not. I look like a bum so I guess I’ll shave everything tomorrow or Sunday.
7. I still have not called my mother to let her know I am out of the hospital. I have to say I am a little surprised she has not found a way to try and get in touch with me since I called her last Monday.
8. I can’t believe I found a way to get this done. I didn’t think I had that much on my lists…

8 people I’m tagging:

I don’t know 8 people here so I am not tagging anyone. But feel free to steal this if you want to.

Till then…

I’m out

After a few days of forced “vacation” in the hospital due to kidney stones, I am back home and believe me I am happy!

Although I did have my laptop during my stay, I did not feel like writing. I spent lots of time watching TV and surfing sites with StumbleUpon. I think I updated my Twitter once and my FaceBook accounts more often but that was about it.

Very briefly, what happened was getting some serious pains in my right side that made me fear an appendicitis. The girls were out to see “Bolt” and because I was alone with my son, I had to wait until everybody was back to go to the hospital. By the time I got there, the pain had shifted to my back and I was told it was kidney stones. I was admitted and the treatment began. It took me over 24 hours but it passed and there was no need for surgery or anything else. I thought I was going to be discharged the next day but the doctors wanted to run some additional tests and make sure I was completely rehydrated. So I spent Monday there. Tuesday, more tests, more saline and since everything came back ok, I was finally discharged tonight. I still need to be followed up and I will have to change some of my old and bad habits. The doctor was nice enough to give me the rest of the week off. My boss won’t be that happy but he did also tell me to take my time. It’s Thanksgiving week anyway. There might be some stuff going on tomorrow but Friday, the place will be a ghost town.

One bad thing is that now, whenever I will feel pain in my back, I’ll be wondering what will happen next. I guess right now what I need to do is to go to sleep and hope I will have a full night’s rest. I should actually take something to help me sleep…

Till then…

Party at the hospital

So I will be spending the night in the hospital. I just saw the doctor and they are keeping me tonight to make sure I pass the damn stone. The wife and the kids left a while ago so it’s going to be a long night. No martinis for me tonight…

Till then…

Stoned

CT scan showed a kidney stone. I don’t know if I have to stay overnight or not. We’ll see…
Till then…

I know much better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon…

I am in the hospital. I woke up with some discomfort but as the day progressed I was in a lot of pain. The girls went to the movies and I had to wait until they got back.

I just came back from a CT scan and had blood drawn. It’s a good thing I am part of this institution and it’s even greater that it is really quiet. Hopefully I will not have to stay overnight.

I’ll update as I get more info.

Till then…

I sure am such an old coot…

I am a 007 fan. I have watched all the James Bond movie too many times and would still watch them if they are showed on TV. “Quantum of Solace”, the latest installement of the series came out last week and I was supposed to see it with my friend Dee but she kept postponing it. So tonight, after the much unnecessary nagging from the SU, I decided to go and see it by myself.

I figured after putting my daughter to sleep that I could grab a quick bite to eat and try to make it for the 10:45 showing, so I stopped at the Subway by the theatre and sat at a small table. No sooner I started to eat, a group of young adults sat at a table close by but one of the girls could not sit with her other friends and came and sat at my table. She was flirty but I could have been her dad so I just listened to what she had to say and kept eating my sub. After a while, they all left and the girl that was sitting at my table kept waving at me. Weird.

I made it to the theatre but the 10:45 showing is sold out. So now I have to wait until the 11:25 showing and that’s over half an hour away. I can’t believe how many teens are still out so late at night. I was able to find a bench and decided to post this while it’s still fresh in my memory and have enough time to kill.

Anyway, I am going to go in and walk around till I can get in and get a seat. I hope the movie is really worth it.

Till then…