Sound of Silence

See, the weird thing is that I had plenty of time and topics to write abut over the last week. I just didn't have a functioning computer with internet access to actually compose my thoughts. It's kind of sad that I resort my self to technology as a crutch to write.

In any case, I guess it's time for an update.

It is solidly in the Christmas season at work. Hours officially changed with Black Friday, but now are staring to effect me. See, for the first few weeks, only weekends were really effected, with opening early and staying open late. Now, this week, the whole week has early openings and late closings. My Wednesday is going to suck, since it is then that I both open and close. In fact I have to go in before open to get work done then. I'm going to need some Red Bulls or something.

My Thanksgiving was all right. It was vastly different than past years. Instead of my home playing host to my immediate family, I joined my mom in center city Philadelphia for an extended family Thanksgiving. My brother was married on the next day, so with his wife's family in from another state, they had Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel were the wedding was to be held. It's strange having such a classic meal with menu options. Don't worry, I had the turkey choice. It was good, but nothing like a home cooked meal. I am also surprised how many people actually go out to eat for Thanksgiving. There was over 100 reservations for the hotel restaurant. Granted our party was most of it, but it still seems like a lot.

My brother, Chris, was married on Black Friday. This was significant because it gave me the greatest excuse (aside from a death) to not have to be at work. An added bonus was the extended days off, my first 4 day weekend/vacation since I was sick in January 2008. It was a good ceremony. It seemed non-denominational. They aren't actively practicing anything that I know of. Still, it was good to see all of my family. It is an extremely rare occasion when even my immediate family is all in one place. I talked with cousins, and generally had a good time. I drank and danced and tried my best to ignore my coming sickness. It never fails that I get sick to some degree whenever I am away from work for extended time.

Saturday started day one of house sitting. Since my brother was recently married and heading to a honeymoon in Belize, I was drafted to house sit and watch his cat, Blue. To describe it in a word, I would use "lonely". I didn't have a computer to connect with he outside world, so I settled for ondemand television and seasons of old TV on DVD. I finished up Generation Kill, Fear Itself and The Adventures of Brisco County Junior. I also brought my Xbox 360 to hook up to the HD television... Well, I hoped to at least.

The cords I had were for standard definition. I thought they may work in some capacity anyway. even if I didn't have the ful HD experience, I could at least connect it to the the internet and play some Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 online. Hell, with the new Xbox updates, I could even check my twitter and Facebook accounts. I held out for a day and headed to Gamestop the following afternoon. There I broke down and bought the HDMI cables needed for full High def experience. That was a good $50 right there. Then I headed to RadioShack and grabbed a 3ft ethernet cord for $10. I was in a good mood. I was going to waste away the rest of my solitude filled nights with mass killing of virtual people. I opend the packaging for the HDMI cable and set to connect it to the TV. Were the cable now connected to the TV, it didn't connect to the Xbox. Apparently, I have an early model that didn't support HDMI. Well, there's wasted money. Instead of getting too annoyed, I opted to attach the Xbox to the TV that was in the bedroom I was staying in. It didn' have internet access, but at least I could get some use out of it. I resorted to played a couple nights of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.

Now, if you read this blog with any frequency, you may have perused the one written about the date I had. It was fun. We went out a couple times over the next few weeks. We talked nearly everyday. Then Thanksgiving came, and there was silence. With attempted phone calls and text messages left unanswered, I am just assuming the worst. I just have no idea what the hell happened. I'm not going to try calling again until I hear something back. There are other things I should be focusing on, like Christmas.

Energy Drinks make my mind boil

I drank an energy drink on the way to my car after leaving the bar. It was not my best idea.

I spent the night with the Olde City Sideshow at National Mechanics. It was a good time. There was a decent crowd that responded phenomenally. I saw and chatted with a few people I have not seen in a while. One works at Steven Singer Jewelers, so I know where I have to go if I have any standard adornment needs. There was beer flowing, and loud terrible music playing. Well, the music wasn't terrible in and of itself, it was mainly the DJ playing it. He has no idea what he is doing and wrecks every sound he forces on my eardrums.

Other than that, my dad is in the hospital. I'm not sure if he was released yet. I got a cryptic call from my aunt (his sister). She is sort of a loon, so I passed it off and called my oldest brother to see what the deal was all about. Apparently, at this point all I know is that my dad was admitted for shortness of breath. He is in his mid to late 60s, and a retired Philadelphia firefighter. They performed some tests, but I haven't heard any results. They had him walk up and down the hallway, and he started having trouble breathing. The symptoms could be almost anything. I feel like it's an episode of House. There are many bugs going around that could be the culprit. There was also mention of possibly asbestosis.

I haven't talked to my dad in months. In fact, the last conversation we had was an accident. He was reading down a list of his sons' phone numbers and meant to call my brother, Matt. We talked for a bit, but we really don't have much in common. Hopefully, everything will be fine. I'll try and call him tomorrow.

Anniversary... getting back to it.

Well, today was interesting, a bit.

My mom celebrated her 20th anniversary with her company today. She called me to say they had pizza, balloons and an engraved picture frame. She was exited. It was a good thing. She has been with the University of Penn Health System for a long time now. Hell, I was 8 when she started. I don't even know what she did before that. I think it was some sort of nursing home care thing.

It felt like old guy and crazy person day at the mall. There was a bevy of people who belong under watchful care, that wasn't there. There were a couple of the normal crazies that I can handle. Unfortunately there was a couple that like to talk to themselves and scare people away. The old guys were all nostalgic. One of them, was kind of a dick that couldn't understand that we didn't carry comics from the 50's, i.e. the Golden Age. We usually would, but it's not like every collection we have come in contains rare gems. Most of the crap people try to sell to my store tends to be stuff from the 80s and 90s which isn't worth much.

Hero

Here's an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Posted on Tue, Oct. 14, 2008

Southwest Phila. fire kills woman, injures child

A woman died and a child was injured in an an afternoon house fire in Southwest Philadelphia yesterday.

Authorities did not know last night what caused the fire, which was reported at 5:32 p.m. in the 2400 block of South 57th Street, fire dispatcher Jim Smith said. Firefighters encountered heavy flames when they arrived, but the fire was under control within 15 minutes.

The woman later died of her injuries; a girl was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with severe injuries. Fire Department officials would not release the names or ages of either last night.

Now, it is a sad article. A woman died. There is sort of a bright spot for me. My brother, Ted, was the firefighter that saved the child and also a grandmother.

I just found this out tonight. I think it's pretty cool. Granted, he was just doing his job. He has even saved other people before. I have to give him a call tomorrow to see what the deal is. He may be awarded a commendation.