* Nick entry *



We got some sad news about a week-and-a-half ago that Grandma Winfield (Mandy's Dad's mom) died. She was born in 1910 and was a few months shy of her 98th birthday. Of course Mandy found out while I was sitting in the Cleveland airport waiting for my connecting flight to Orlando but fortunately the services aren't being held until August 4th. So all of the family is heading to Buffalo, NY this weekend. Me, Mandy, Grady, Scott (her brother) and Dave (her Dad) are all going to ride up in my Yukon since it has three rows.



We'll get back Monday night around 11PM or midnight...and then I turn around and leave Tuesday at noon for Florida for work. I get home in the early afternoon on Friday (the 8th) from Florida only to leave with Scott, Lauren (my sister), Jeff (her husband), Mandy and Grady for Hilton Head. We'll probably stay somewhere in southern West Virginia (either Beckley or Princeton), stop in Rock Hil, SC the next day for lunch to see Mandy's cousin Paul, his wife Jennifer and their new baby boy Ethan (who's just one month older than Grady. Oddly enough, they named their son Ethan Robert which probably would've been Grady's name had he been born a few years earlier.



We're all looking forward to Hilton Head. Mandy and I went there with some people we knew while living in Memphis and liked the area. We got a house on the second row from the beach so it should be pretty nice. It's got like five bedrooms, three floors, a pool, bla bla bla. Mandy's uncle Rob and aunt Lori are going to visit us for a few days since they too live in Rock Hill, SC while my uncle Charlie and his wife Cindy might stay a night or two as they'll visit from their home in Jackson, GA. Especially during the summer months I notice a greater percentage of parents who travel with a small child on an airplane. It always looks like such a massive hassle that I can't imagine choosing to go anywhere where I'd have to get on a plane with Grady and/or any children we may have in the future. The amount of stuff you have to take with you for such a small human is amazing. Even with a roof rack and a luggage carrier I slide into my trailer hitch we'll be fully loaded on our way to Hilton Head...his pack'n'play, a stroller, his bouncy chair, various toys...and I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting about. Eh, he's worth it.



Speaking of Grady, he continues to get taller. Mandy keeps making fun of him because he's starting to get some rolls on his legs but it's what he's supposed to do! I guess I take a kinder look at him gaining some weight since every picture of me at that age could just as easily have been a meatball with a face...I was seriously a tubbo of a baby. He smiles all the time, he laughs, he rolls over...he's awesome. He's getting better at sleeping for longer stretches through the night but we're still not getting 7-8 hours straight as is common for babies his age. Still, no complaints. His personality is starting to show which makes it a lot of fun to interact with him. I know every parents says this, but any rational person would look at Grady and recognize that he'll likely be quite attractive as he gets older. He does have good genes after all...



Frank (my cat) killed a squirrel a few weeks ago. Normally this wouldn't be noteworthy except for the manner in which he "killed" this particular squirrel. So it's about 9:00pm...the sun has almost set, Mandy's asleep, Grady's in his crib and I'm downstairs locking up the house and turning on outside lights. I look out the windows by the front door only to notice Frank laying the flower bed while this squirrel is kind of making these small two-foot leaps in the general area of Frank. The odd part was that Frank was just laying there watching this happen - not pouncing on the squirrel. I open the front door, Frank just sat there and looked at me and it was then that I could tell that Frank had somehow disabled this squirrel. So I went to bed thinking that surely Frank will grow tired of watching this thing flop around, kill it, and drag it off to wherever he takes the various animals (moles, birds, squirrels, field mice, etc) that he kills. Nope. I go downstairs the next morning around 7:00am, look out front (Frank spends the night out during the warmer months), let Frank back inside...and notice that the stupid squirrel is still flopping around. I go to the garage, get a shovel and a bunch of those plastic bags you get at Kroger...and hit the squirrel on the head a few times to put it out of its misery (Frank had put a hole in it near the back of its head). It was absolutely awful. And then the cat comes inside, he purrs, he's sweet....it's just when he's outside he's angry. That cat has murder on his heart. I don't mind the moles and field mice but I could do without him killing squirrels and birds.



A few houses have gone up for sale on or near our street. All have sold within a few months (even a FSBO sold in three months which kind of surprised me, I wouldn't think FSBO would work that well in this market) which makes me feel good about our area should we want to sell in the next few years. We've made some upgrades on our house (granite, new flooring, carpet, light fixtures, etc) so we should do really well on our investment. We have a pretty lot, we were lucky to buy when we did.



The new season of Mad Men just started on AMC this past Sunday. TIVO recorded all of last seasons episodes for me (13 total), I watched them all with Grady over a three day period, and absolutely love that show. Rescue Me, Nip/Tuck, Lost and Swingtown are all interesting shows as well. I watch a lot of Law & Order reruns on TNT when I travel. Sometimes it's the only thing on worth watching so I kind of got hooked by default. Family Guy and The Office are really good as well.



I was able to visit for a few hours with my Great Uncle Dick and Great Aunt Mary Lou in Englewood, FL during my last trip to the gulf coast. It's always good to see them. Last time I was there in May they were in the middle of their big Alaska driving trip.



I'll be in New Mexico and Colorado later in August and then out to Idaho and Utah in late September. I've got another trip to Florida and a trip to Michigan scattered in there as well. Florida gets old...everyone thinks Florida is so great but when you're just there to work and not go to the beach Florida is just hot and humid, especially in the summer time. I loathe the heat and humidity...it's one of the many things I don't miss about the South.



Speaking of which, college football is only a month or so away. Ohio State should be disgustingly good. I honestly hope they play an SEC team in the championship game and beat them like a readheaded step-child. SEC fans are beyond obnoxious. I've had to watch the last two national championship games in the state of Florida (I was working). I suppose I shouldn't judge the people too harshly as there isn't much going on in their lives down there...but it is just annoying. For example, in the last championship game (LSU vs. Ohio State) there were fans of Florida, LSU, Georgia and Auburn at the bar I was at to watch the game. They all kept chanting "SEC" before the game, during the game, after the game. It was one of the dumbest things I'd seen in a while. It would be like me going to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch a bowl game of Wisconsin vs. Alabama and chanting "Big 10" the entire time...what do I care about Wisconsin? Ugh, just gross. Not to mention that six of the bowl games that SEC teams participate in are basically home games for them anway...



Life in Gahanna is still going really well. We're lucky to live in such a nice part of Ohio. Gahanna was ranked the 97th best place to live in Money Magazine in the US. The Creekside area has been completely renovated...it's a really nice area to walk and eat. They even made these really expensive condos some going for almost $800K. Gahanna is trying to move up in the world. It's not what it was 25 years ago when we came to visit for the holidays...



Mandy and I just found out that some friends of ours in Memphis (William and Robin) had a baby boy a month or so again...William Griffin. It seems like everyone we know has either had a child recently or is pregnant. So congrats to William, Robin and Courtney.



That's about all I have. I know Mandy will make fun of me for writing so much...."you write the dumbest things"....eh, whatever.