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Good Friends

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There’s something nice about living in a small town, where you know lots of people. Susan is at camp with the kids for a week. For the last two years, I’ve tried to do some special project around the house for her while she’s gone. I wasn’t going to do one this year, but I got inspired yesterday. To work this little project, I needed a pick-up truck. I called my brother-in-law; he wasn’t home. I called a neighbor; he wasn’t home either. Well, should I just call it a night, and try and get a ride on Tuesday?

I thought I’d try something a little unusual. I posted on Facebook! “Bill needs an able bodied friend, a pick-up, and 20 minutes of your time. Anyone available?”

Within minutes I had not one, but two volunteers to help. I contacted the first guy: Sumner Kinney. He came over to my house (he lives one town away, in Thomaston), and picked me up in his truck. We ran the little errand, and he helped me move “the project” into my living room. Within 40 minutes of my posting, my need was met, and Sumner was on his way home.

Here’s something else nice, too. In the time I was gone, someone else volunteered a truck via Facebook. My neighbor also came home, got my message, and called me back saying his truck was always available to me. And my brother-in-law called back too, and I’m sure he’d lend me his truck too.

It’s nice to have so many friends willing to help out.

Holy Hannah, What A Week

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So last week I was on vacation. I know, I know, I haven’t posted about that yet. I intend too. Anyway, I get back from vacation, and it’s the 4th of July week. So it’s a short week–we’re supposed to be off Friday. And since I was just back from vacation, I had a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it. Then, it all happened at once. We ended up with four people out of the office: two on vacation, one had a baby, and one out sick. Now, when you’ve only got 15 employees to begin with, having a third of them out creates a challenge! But everyone pulled together, we kicked out the jams, worked hard, and got through it. Yeah!

Then the thunderstorm hit last night.

We’re supposed to be off today. Due to the long weekend, though, I didn’t want to leave customers stranded with problems. So I called in this morning to check the voicemail: 11 new messages. Uh oh. That’s way too high; something’s up. In checking the messages, it seems three wireless access points went down in the storm. Phone calls ensue. I call JP. I call Barry. I call JP back. Twice. I call Cam. We all agree to meet at the office. I check the voicemail again. In the two hours that transpire, I get 26 more messages! Yowza!

They’re mostly cleaned up, now. I think I’m headed home. Here’s hoping the rest of the weekend slows down a little!

Wedding Update

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T-two hours to wedding take off. Everything is going mostly fine up to this point. I cut myself shaving this AM, and bled for like two hours! The trash can in the bathroom looks like someone performed surgery in there; there’s bloody pieces of bandage (i.e. tissues) all through it! We went into Bay City for breakfast, and found this little place called Turkey’s. It was very hot, and I paid way too much ($8.50) for two eggs, two pieces of homemade wheat toast, and canned hash. I’m giving the groom-to-be husbandly advice on things like “picking your side of the bed” and stuff like that. I found out yesterday that, in addition to the toast, I’m in charge of announcing the bride and groom at the reception, making sure the music is taken care of at reception, offering the invocation at the reception, and making sure the bride’s aunt is trained in how to use the video camera! Oh, and make sure the officiant (Pastor Joe) has the rings. And learn everyone’s name too! Jim told me that Heather’s husband name is Matt. It isn’t! It’s Chris. Now I have to un-learn the name, and remember the right one! Yow!

Busy Weeks of Marriage, Trips, and Vacation

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Hey gang. I’ve been really slack on the posting the last few weeks, huh. Work has been bangin’ right along. It’s billing day next week, so that takes some pre-planning. Our Newcastle office moved to Nobleboro on June 1st, so that took me out of the office for a couple of days, resulting in two days worth of catch-up. Then I worked out in the field one day, so there’s one more day of behind-en-ness.

Last week was Jim’s bachelor party. As the best man, it was my job to throw it. Today, I’m catching a flight to Detroit, where I’ll pick up a rental car and travel four hours north. The wedding is Sunday. On Monday, I travel back to Detroit, and fly out in the evening. I’ll be back in ME late Monday, early Tuesday. I’ll prepare for billing day Tuesday, then billing day proper is Wednesday. I’ll try to make it throught Thursday and Friday, and then the following week is vacation! Yeah! I really could use one.

Also stuffed in there was my and Susan’s wedding anniversary. We celebrated 15 years of Holy Matrimony with supper at our favorite-est little eatery: Prism Glass. We started off with beef carpaccio. Susan had a veal parmigna, and I had linguini and clams. Dessert was some sort of caramel chocolate cake with banana sorbet. It was all very delicious. There are still so many things on the menu we want to try: pork chops with vidallia onion jam; chicken with artichoke hearts; duck breast with a dried blueberry glaze; lamb chops. Wowwie!

When we got home from dinner, we cut into the top layer of our wedding cake. That’s right! We forgot to eat it on our first anniversary, so we ate it on our 15th! My parents did sorta the same thing; they forgot to eat theirs, and ate it on their 10th. I remember it! I’m sure Julia will remember eating ours, too. The boys are almost 5–they probably won’t. The cake had good chocolate flavor, but was very dry. There was no “freezer funk” to it. The kids didn’t seem to care about the texture; the boys were upset we threw the bulk of it away! I took some photos, but they’re not posted yet.

Playing Catch Up

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Hey gang! Here’s hoping you’re all well. The southern office of Midcoast Internet Solutions (my employer) moved from Newcastle to Nobleboro last Thursday and Friday. I wasn’t in my office those two days. I’ve spent the last two days trying to dig out, but without much success. You may have noticed the Friday Fill In and the MI-5 didn’t make it up this week. I was just too busy. Here’s hoping I can pull this thing up before too much longer. I’ve got a busy weekend, and then next weekend I’m traveling to Michigan for Jim’s wedding.

And so, right now, I’ve got CSN&Y on the Thorens. I made one little tweak and really opened the sound up. It’s sounds dang good! Finally, something working right today!