Clean up

Happy VD to everyone!  With all the cards and floral sales on every street corner, it's hard not to forget today.  Of course, after ~36 years of wedded bliss, momma and I tend to do this day on the d-low.  At this point in life, we are trying to downsize/eliminate stuff instead of accumulating more trinkets & baubles.  We are trying to focus on a simpler, less cluttered lifestyle.  Given what we amassed over the past few decades, that may take a while.   

Following Abby's lead, I have been cleaning out some of my files/pictures.  Been resorting and reorganizing some albums.  Moving things around,  Rebuilding some old albums.  Of course, there are more than a few dog pictures.  Here are a few from the dump:

One left over from Thanksgiving at my brother's house with my dad and Claire passed out from too much turkey & dressing.   

A few from the old days.  A lot of people from my previous company have reconnected on line and have been posting updates and pictures of the old days.  It's been 16 years since the old place got bought out and shut down and a number of people have moved out of the area.  A lot of us have items in our cabinets/closets we collected over the years at the farm and a few have been posting pictures of old items that they took or held on to when the plant shut down.  This is one of the mugs they gave out at one of our annual picnics.   

And a key ring with one of our product names.

Our Airstream group had their annual luncheon and I ran into these two old retired Airstreamers.  A cute couple even considering the one on the left celebrated her 93rd birthday last week.

And, a few left over shots from last month's half marathon.  I always look at the shirts intending to buy one, but just can't seem to find the right slogan for me.  

And, this week's prize was something I spotted while driving into work this week.  Do you see what caught my eye?  
  

Nuts to you

Slowly working my way back to some sort of normal.  Barely 1 week inside of February and I feel like it is April already.  Work is a real challenge right now.  Ever since our merger with our Italian compadres, things have take on a whole new direction.  Lots of new priorities, objectives, initiatives.  And my favorite word - "synergy".  Anyone who has gone through one of these merger/buyout deals is intimately familiar with that term.  We've already seen a few people depart the scene.  The operations VP, 3 Engineering Fellows, one of the Marketing directors, and, oh yea, the new president.  Most of these guys had over 15 years of experience with the company and they knew were all the bodies were buried.   Needless to say, it has left several people around here about as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  Not sure of my ultimate role or longevity, but being a pragmatist (or maybe a pessimist), I fully expect things to change in a big way.  We are already working on new goals/objectives.   As I tell my people, the boat has turned into a new heading.  Either you are on board and embrace the new direction or you may wind up as a castaway.  Remember the mantra:  Resistance is Futile. 

And don't feel sorry for me.  I am not really complaining.  I've done a lot with the company and I see a lot of new opportunities ahead.  I've traveled to a lot of places and seen a lot of things, so I am grateful for the chances I've had.  I still feel a I have a strong roll in the new regime, albeit different.  I expect a road trip to France/Italy in the near future, so things are not all that bad.  Beyond this year, who knows?  In the meantime, I will take the cards dealt to me.  Besides, one of the few benefits is that all this drama at the office has kept me distracted from dwelling on Claire. 

Another distraction has been the damn cough I have had since October.  Nothing I have done, nothing I have taken has seemed to help.  Multiple trips to the doc, with no real progress.  Around Christmas, I finally switched over to a pulmonologist - a guy that deals with respiratory problems.  A chest x-ray revealed nothing, allergy test was negatives (although I told my wife that he said I might be allergic to redheads), but the CT scan (computed tomography) showed some small obstruction in one of the bronchi of my lung.  Nothing alarming, just something to get checked out.  At this point, I am so fracking tired of this cough that I am willing to try voodoo or a seance to get rid of it.  So, the doc recommended a Bronchoscopy.  That is similar to a colonoscopy, just from the other direction.  Normally an outpatient process.  Check in early, dress in that silly hospital gown, get wired up and knocked out and they run a scope down your throat (or nose) into your lungs.  I was knocked out at the time, so I don't recall anything aside of being hungry and really jonesing for some coffee.  Everything came out fine and the doc said they found a pistachio lodged in one of airways that was creating the irritation/coughing.  Pistachio?  I don't recall having any of those for a long while.  Like, maybe back at one of our football games at A&M. As my loving wife glibly pointed out, you are what you eat.  Gee, thanks.  Good news is that the nut is out and I should start to recover soon.  May take a week or two for the irritation to go away, but, hopefully, this is will clear up quickly.  

Feeling a bit better now, if not somewhat sore/tired. Not sure if that is from the procedure or from the lack of coffee.  Of course, that does not spare me from any lectures I get from my loving spouse on watching what I eat.

Yea, right.  I'll take that advice to heart....