Cody and I went to Whitetail yesterday with our Indian Guides group to do some snow tubing. In getting ready, I discovered that I didn't have a hat or gloves. As we were meeting everyone in the parking lot of Wal-Mart, I figured that I'd just pick up a new hat and some gloves there.

Well, silly me, I forgot that it's February. I mean, geez, apparently Spring is just around the corner (mind you, as I type this there's 5 inches of snow on the ground left over from last week, and it's snowing now). They had all their tank tops and flip flops out. When asked about ski caps and gloves, they looked at me as if I was silly and said "No, we don't have any of those". I was almost stunned. Wal-Mart, not HAVE something? sheesh

So Cody and I went hat-less, but the day was nice and neither of us was too bothered by it. We had a good time. I managed to find a tube that had a plastic bottom instead of a vinyl one. Got myself a good running start, belly-flopped down onto it, zoomed down the hill, crashed into the hay bails at the end and went through. It was awesome!

Also went and saw the new Jackie Chan movie, Shanghai Knights, this weekend. Oh man, I laughed my butt off. Hopefully, I'll get a review of it up and stuck in my movies section. I've let that part slack off a bit, but I'd like to get it up and running again, along with the Gallery script for picture management. Time will tell.

I think this is the first Thanksgiving I've ever spent on my own. Due to a last minute change in plans, Gail and the kids went down to see my folks in North Carolina. I'm flying out from BWI at 7am tomorrow morning to go to Cleveland for work related reasons.

Gail and I also celebrated our 10th Anniversary yesterday. Seems like it should be a big milestone, and I guess it is. We didn't celebrate it like it was one though. We exchanged cards, and then she left to go to NC. I spent my anniversary evening alone as well. How weird.

We have a gift certificate for Maggiano's though, given to us by a friend for our anniversary, and she's even going to watch the kids. So sometime this next week, month, whenever we find the time, Gail and I will sneak out and spend a quiet evening eating some very good food. It sure doesn't seem like it's been 10 years. I mean, that's almost a whole third of my life. It sure doesn't seem that long. I can't imagine my life without Gail, and I imagine if we weren't together, I'd be that much poorer. Not financially speaking, can't get much more broke than we are now. But I'd be so much less of a person. She's definitely become my better half, and I'm much better off with her with me. I love you Gail!

I had to go to the school last night to take a couple of tests for my Student Development class. One was called "Choices" and was basically a career placement test, telling me what I'd be good at. Seems I should be a writer, journalist or screenplay type, or maybe an educator. I think helicopter pilot was in there as well as financial advisor.

I think that test is full of prunes. Financial advisor? HA!

The other test was a personality test called "Please Understand Me" and after asking a ton of questions, it printed out this long report of myself, which, scarily enough, I found to be mostly true.

Go figure.

I had to run to Sam's Club last night to get some moose food for the perpetually hungry moose in our house. It was probably one of the more comical visits to Sam's Club I've had.

First off, don't go at night, or on weekdays. You really should visit Sam's Club (or Price Club/Costco) during the day on the weekend end. Yes, it's crowded. Yes, the checkout lines are long. Yes, parking sucks. But! There's a much better variety of free samples during weekends, and you can practically feed the whole family a well-balanced meal just by going through the different isles.

I had to run outside at about 5:30 this morning to chase my dog around the house. He was barking his head off, and I didn't want him to disturb the neighbors. What he was barking at, I don't know. We did a couple of laps around the house before I managed to catch him, and he barked every where he went. I guess he was just telling the neighborhood to get up. It was also damn chilly outside this morning. Didn't help that I was chasing after the dog in just a t-shirt and light cotton shorts. Fall is definitely here.

My old roommate, Mike, called last night. It was great to hear from him. Being outside in the cold this morning reminded me of when we roomed together in his house back in Flagstaff. The house was pretty nice; 3 bedrooms, a huge deck, and right on the dog-leg of the 6th hole on the Country Club golf course. And the price was right (though I was always behind on giving him money for bills and such). The house was originally built as a summer cabin, and as such, wasn't insulated against the cold weather we got in Flagstaff.