Wrapping the Mackerel

Wow, Fridays are coming around fast these days.

It’s pretty great working from home. I get more done faster than I would at the office and I only goof off slightly more. It’s a win-win and it uses no gas.

I’m supposed to meet Michael at Dogfish Head Brewpub this afternoon for a couple of happy hour beers. It’s a schlep over there but we’ve not had a chance for any male bonding in a few weeks and our team spirit is suffering for it. Maybe I can write off a few beers as ‘Teambuilding.’

I’m not quite right today. I spoke with Sam’s mom yesterday to arrange for Sam to come up for the Christmas celebration. Cindy wanted to hang on to her until Christmas day and when I told her that wasn’t going to work she deferred to our divorce decree. It says something different anyhow but when I told her I needed Sam by the 23^rd at the latest, she feigned a headache and hung up. I called her again today and she still claimed to be sick but I reiterated in clear and forceful terms that I would pick Sam up on the 23^rd or the 21^st, it was her choice. It skeeves me and kind of upsets my ka or wa or whatever it is that one calls the ocean inside (it’s all choppy now.)

Just to lump all of my issues together, I had dinner with G-lo and J-Bro last night. G-lo was fishing for any resentments I might have against any of my various family members, or better yet against KG or Ronnie. I told her I’d never been happier, all was good. She was disappointed but she kept digging. They took me to a little French restaurant in B’more, Petit Louis. The menu was designed back when Julia Childs was still in high school, so you’d expect them to have it down, and they do, but it’s just so much the same year after year and it’s not really all that interesting to begin with. I had a Roquefort salad and a small piece of broiled Rockfish over a few roasted Cauliflower florets. The wine was good though; a Gran Cru Chablis, not as dry as I like but smooth and creamy and just hinting at raisiny.

G-lo gave me a shirt, an Indian Madras in green and purple from Orvis. It’s really not my style but I’m not all that stylish of late and she may well have missed it even if she had been paying attention. KG felt kind of bad because G-lo gave her a $10 bouquet and I got a $70 shirt, reinforcing that for G-lo it’s all about ‘blood.’ Blood makes noise. Partially in the spirit of ‘What Would Jesus Buy?’, we’re trying to get past gift-giving this year and truly the last thing I need is another shirt. For the Christmas parties we specified no gifts for anyone but the kids. I don’t know how it’ll work but maybe it’ll keep the pathology and melodrama down a little. Then again it’ll still give G-lo an excuse to give Sam a better gift than Ronnie ($50 vs. $100, with the big bucks going to blood.) If that happens there are going to be words said, and I don’t want to have to say them but I will. Maybe we should have said no gifts.

So, still looking for a program. Northwestern has one with the best professional fit (Clinical Informatics) but it’s $33K. What with the girls starting college next year and us trying to move, I don’t yet know where that might come from but the Universe is generous and I am trusting that at least part of it will come from somewhere. The other programs I’ve found are sort of unknown online universities and I’m not sure saying I have an MS from McDonald’s University is the message I’m paying all that money to convey. Hmmm, well G-lo said she was very happy that I am going back to school, oh boy.

My Belgian Saison ale that I added Brettanomyces to is turning out to be a terrific beer. I’m making a label for the case I still have left. Since Brett confers flavors described as horsy or barnyard, and since Brett is a wild yeast, I’m calling it Wild Horse Ale. Here’s the label so far.