Noah!? Yes, Lord! (Bill Cosby routine)

I'm just home in Ajax for the weekend and I have had time to think about my first leg in Whistler. I love it out there except things are lonely without my family and everything seems to be "drippy!" My training week in Vancouver was the worst because of the rain and because my Bell family was not around either! It seems that if it's not actually raining on you, you're dodging drips of water from melting snow on the roof. Cold water dripping down the back of my neck is beginning to feel like home. From the time I arrived in Vancouver until the day before I left, you could measure the amount of sunshine in hours! I was seriously considering having to double or triple my vitamin D dosage. I was going to post pictures of some of the artwork at the Athlete's village on this blog. I changed my mind when I found the brilliant sky and the absolutely stunning vistas on my trip to the Vancouver airport. That day was filled with sunshine from just after the time I got up until the time I caught my flight.

I posted a picture of a scenic view just outside of Squamish on my last post. At the time, I just did it to show that only 30 minutes away in Whistler, we had about a foot of snow on the ground. In full sunshine that same picture is stunning. They say that the trip to Vancouver from Whistler is much better than the other way around. Despite having to endure twenty days of rainy weather, I felt lucky to have experienced that glorious trip to the Vancouver airport in full sunshine.
Maybe the point of all that rain was to set me up for that trip back home on the Sea to Sky highway (which might be called Snow to Ice highway for the Olympics).

Twenty days and nights of rain (or snow). That's half the rain that Noah got! I was waiting on the call and considering the expense of a 60 x 30 cubit yacht. I'm just not sure what a cubit is and how much wood that would entail!

Skiing above the Clouds

Jeff B, my new best buddy called me while I was in Vancouver to report that there was a dumping of snow in Whistler. I think he mentioned 150 cm. I know that when I last checked, the mountain was reporting 500 cm. Since Jeff P. drove down from Whistler for his training, he left me with the use of that vehicle to drive back alone. Now having to drive on my own from Vancouver to Whistler, I started imagining avalanches, road closures and heavy traffic all the way up, especially because it was a weekend and the local ski buffs would be heading for a weekend of skiing. I can't say that I was disappointed to find only rain until believe it or not, Squamish, which is about 30 minutes from Whistler.

I took this picture on Saturday on the way back to Squamish, as it was a scenic lookout. We were getting ourselves ready for a year of skiing. We stopped in Function Junction to try to outfit Bill and Jeff P with skis and poles etc. Jeff P ended up paying $35 for skis and poles (165 cm Elan skis with Tyrolia bindings) and Bill as usual found boots that were free. The boots were only 5 years old and they were Salomons. A little side note about Bill is that he says he takes directions very well. We will have to verify this with his wife though. In his defence, he did walk into the local IGA one day and walked out to find a pair of skis with a note on them saying, "Take me, Free." He ended up with K2 skis which were about 165 cm. I have never been to a ski resort town where you find used ski equipment which is free or next to nothing! I believe that since we found this place in Function Junction, you would be better off just buying your equipment here, rather than going to the expense of shipping it to the mountain. These skis are cheaper than renting and it's easy to find a decent pair. I'm envious because I don't think my equipment is as good as this free stuff! Anyway, we ended up going to Squamish because Bill thought he could find a better deal. He couldn't but I ended up finding some great Olympic stuff. I think I will wait until after the regular games to load up though because Bill says they will be giving it away, so please tell me if you would like me to buy you something.

The roadway in front of our hotel is filling up nicely with snow. Believe it or not, a good chunk of this snow melted by Friday night because it rained up here in Whistler as well. Somehow rain on the "Wet Coast" doesn't surprise me anymore! I just can't believe that not 30 minutes south of Whistler, there is so little evidence of snow! The nice thing about having so much snow on the ground here though is that the "Bombing" sounds have subsided a little as the snow on the ground dampens the loud thumps of falling snow. When we only had about six to twelve inches of snow, the water laden snow from the roof would slide off and hit the ground with a huge thunk. You would swear you could feel the floor shake. Some of the guys are in part of the hotel where there are roofs which jutt out below the main roof. Apparently, when the lower roofs get hit with snow you think the sky is falling! It wasn't so bad when it happened and you were awake, but in the middle of the night, I was awakened many times. Or maybe it was the jet lag!

So, both Jeff P and Bill got outfitted (I still spent more money in Squamish on other stuff) and we decided to head back to Whistler and buy lift tickets. They have something here called "The Edge" pass. It works out to about $55/lift ticket and you can buy them in 3, 5 and 10 units. The nice thing is that you can refill this pass and still pay a discounted price. The price depends on what time of year you refill. Regardless, it's still cheaper to ski here than it is to ski at Blue Mountain or Mt. Tremblant. So if you like to ski and you have some air miles and can build yourself a bear proof igloo...

I took a few more pictures at the top of the mountain today and unfortunately, they just don't do the view justice. As you might be able to tell, we were skiing above the clouds. Basically, we took the gondola to near the top of the mountain(to get higher there is another chair lift where you ski in a bowl). We then skied down to the one/third station (they sometimes call it the midway station, it really isn't). This station is down below the cloud! Now, we did have a little problem today with Bill as he has never skied before. I tried to teach him as best as I could but the snow was so deep and heavy and I am not a ski instructor, that he tweaked his knee on a turn. He said that he could feel his knee pop. We left him in the good hands of the ski patrollers and he told us to just go out and enjoy our day, but you can't help worrying. When we got back to the hotel we found him on the "hot tub and beer" regime to recuperate. It is customary for the Bell team to start their apres ski party in the hot tub even though it is generally all male. I have to say that I felt really old when a young lady looked at me in a rather puzzled look when I was talking about the Calgary Olympics. She said she wasn't even born yet. (350 dogs years!! Yeesh) Bill then retired to the "love lounge" to play some video golf, drink, watch TV, drink, play poker (with a round totalling about 15 players) and of course drink. Another choice would have been to go to the Irish Pub which you have to go to at least once (but not many more times for me because of all the fiddling that goes on). The GLC is another choice and again 350 dog years! Although we were witness to somebodies bar tab that try as he might he could not reach $1000.00. Bet he was doing laundry the next day! Merlins is another choice and this became Joe's favorite only because he could watch UFC with a room full of other fans of blood and broken bones. We had a discussion in all this drinking (as you're want to do) that we thought it was harder on our wives than it was for us being away from home. Yeah, it was but we all still did miss 'em. Anyway, I think Bill is going to play it up tomorrow so he won't have to climb any ladders!

I took this video just outside of the mountain top chalet. It starts with a look at the Olympic Ilanaaq. Now, I have always called them Inukshuks but I guess we are speaking a different language here. To the left of the Ilanaaq, you get a glimpse of the gondola coming up from Whistler village. To the right, you get a glimpse of the Peak to Peak gondola which is now under maintenance repair. We watched a guy pull himself up to a Peak to Peak gondola from the ground and suddenly I didn't feel so bad having to climb ladders. Although you can't see it at the chalet, there is a wooden deck which you are supposed to see. It is covered in snow and obviously service pending.

Go East Young Man

I just got back from a full week of training at our Bell facility in Vancouver. Now I could try to make a joke and say it was more saltines and rock salt but it actually wasn't. I also wish I could say that I am now an expert on our 5500 switches but I think that will come once I take down the Olympic network a few times. Hopefully, "they" will let me play with the switches before the actual games start. There's no better feeling than to have a switch go down during a competition and make the repair without feeling the pressure of the world and the eyes and cameras of the media. Some of you may have already experienced the joy of following that reality TV series for weeks (where hockey players don figure skates), only to see the blue screen of death for the last half hour of the series. Apparently, there was a power failure or something at our favourite cable company in Toronto and many of the affiliates out west missed the finale. It had nothing to do with my 5500switch training by the way. Should you hear complaints from our Olympic athletes, then you can start pointing fingers.

Now you might wonder why there are no pictures in this post. Mainly because I didn't want to get my camera wet. My boss was kind enough to drive me down to Vancouver on Tuesday morning as he and his assistant had a meeting in the same building as I did. So why is this blog worthy? It is natural for the driver to get a fairly good understanding of where he came into a new city or at least know where north is. I was the passenger however! I was just looking out into the grey and wet oblivion on my trip into Vancouver. I looked at my travel arrangements that day and saw that I was staying at the Westin. "Oh great," I thought, "I will get a heavenly sleep!" My boss did tell me that I wouldn't need a car and that the Westin was just a few blocks away. So we parted ways with me carrying my laptop bag and the smallest rolling suitcase that I had in Whistler.

Once I found my "Goldrush" room at the Bell building, I stowed my luggage in the corner and we all introduced ourselves at the meeting. Everybody was impressed (and some envious) of the few pictures I had taken of the snow. Lunch came quickly and many of us went to the Keg which was just around the corner. Once our first day of training was over, I asked the instructor for directions to the handy dandy Westin. She proceeded to draw me a picture on the white board and, with the Bell building and Keg as my only reference, I grabbed my rolling suitcase bag and shouldered my laptop and headed out to my "heavenly sleep."

It took a few blocks before I started to feel like a twenty-first century bag lady. I was looking for a good shopping cart but I think they were all taken! My directions were to walk a couple of streets one way and a couple of blocks the other way. On the white board it looked like you would have to go south and then east because everybody knows that south is on the bottom of a drawing and north is on the top of a drawing. I pulled out my handy GPS we all call Maggie and was worried that I hadn't given it enough time to charge. Didn't matter, there was no signal anyway! Now I could have jumped into a cab and suffered the stare of some foreign driver because my trip would have been a couple of blocks but I decided to call somebody else that is famous for his "short cuts." My father-in-law Hugh! Thank God for the 10-4! I called my handy dandy travel guide and was asked which Westin I was booked in at. "You mean there's more than one" I asked? You'd think that since most of Vancouver is on a flood plain, it would be fairly flat. Just try wearing your Whistler approved "Wet-Skin" jacket, toting a fully loaded rolling suitcase with a laptop strapped to one shoulder and a cell phone stuck to your ear with the guy on the other end asking "Well, where are you? I think you have to go east." You find out quick that there are enough inclines, especially when you've been going the wrong way and you have to go up and down them twice.

I had a lovely dinner with Catherine on Thursday night at the Burgoo restaurant. I thought it would be a nice treat since I had the use of a vehicle. I pulled out my handy dandy GPS Maggie and wouldn't you know it! Same thing, I was driving in ever increasing concentric circles around city blocks to try to find a decent satellite signal. Now I was a twenty first century bag lady driving a car with no clue where I was going, just like your typical cabbie anywhere. When I told Catherine about this adventure she said that I should just remember the mountains are always due north. Only on a clear day!

It's been nearly two weeks now that I have been in BC. I can count the number of times I have seen the sun on one hand and still have fingers left over. I definitely have not seen the mountains as a backdrop for Vancouver and my GPS "Maggie" must be upset with me! My Gillete Mach 4 razors are starting to look pretty good on my wrists! I've told all the guys that I'm still not sure that I'm in the mountains! I could be anywhere! The sky is always covered in a grey mist so you don't see much of anything beyond a couple hundred feet. I've got one week and I will be going east, as long as I can find the airport!

Olympic Fever

Okay, so this weekend I was on vacation. It started out with a birthday party at Sachi Sushi (say that fast 3 times) where I met Michele to celebrate her friends birthday. Now before the phone calls start to Laura, you could say that Michele is related to me. We grew up on Howland as neighbours and became related when her sister married Laura's uncle who happened to be my best friend. So now my best friend is also my uncle. You can't make this stuff up. I think it was hard for Michele to spend time with her party and also entertain me and my party of six but we all had fun trying. Of course some of us from my party where not heard from until Sunday (from the ruckus at the other table, Michele might have found the same thing), which is too bad because I bought myself a day pass to go skiing at Whistler which conveniently enough opened early. Once people found out that Whistler was to open on Saturday, they waited in line from about 5 pm Friday. I don't think I like skiing that much!

I know that skiing in the mountains is not like skiing in Quebec or Ontario. Luckily, several people that don't ski or others that haven't skied in a long time decided to back out because on this day, the green runs were challenging enough. There was alot of snow and Whistler management decided not to groom on this opening day. So basically, once the hills were skied on a bit, we had the makings of some pretty good moguls. My ski buddy Brian had also not skied in a very long time and dressed for weather on Mont Tremblant, Quebec. He was utterly soaked by the end of the day from several falls and all the exertion trying to get back up and just plain skiing in warm weather. He got pretty loose as we neared the midway station gondola to bring us back down and ended up in the virgin snow. He was leaning forward as you should on groomed runs and kind of landed on his side. He buried his pole trying to find solid ground to right himself, the snow was that deep there. This fourth picture was supposed to be a short video for Christine but the batteries on my camera died and I had to settle for a picture instead. The green run on the right was easy enough but the cliff on the left leaves new skiers wondering and doing the "pizza slice." I never heard that before but I guess it means "snow-plough." There were many skiers who were fans of downhill, but on the whole it was not as crowded as the hills in the east. I'm now looking at getting an "Edge" pass which will get me on the hill for about 30% less. I'm not sure if I will get the 5 or 10 lift pass because apparently after you use up your pass, you can still buy more lifts at the discounted rate.

I found out from Norm and Anne that their daughters would be in Whistler on the fourteenth. Now I have to tell you this story and I hope that it doesn't come out wrong. Fiona (or Ona as Kristin called her) and Catherine were Kristin's baby sitters at one time. Catherine inherited the job when Ona got a real job and the transition was seamless. Kristin loved both of them equally. So in my mind, both of these women are still the cute and well behaved teenagers. Well, one of the guys from the Bell team asked me what I was doing for the night and I responded that I had declined going out for a drink with my "baby sitters." He just looked at me and said that was "wrong on so many levels." Anyway, everybody here is amazed that even here, so far away, both Laura and I have friends that mean so much to us. Now before I get too far, I have to say that Catherine asked if I would like to join them for a wine tasting party on Saturday night. It was really a great idea, but I will admit that another night of drinking might have been too much. Although I didn't drink enough on Friday night to miss skiing on Saturday, I might have been over my limit with a wine tasting on Saturday night. We agreed to meet for brunch and I am glad that we did. I had such a great time hearing from them and meeting their friends and Catherine's fiance, Jeff. They are all such great sports for taking the time to brighten up what would otherwise be a lonely weekend.

To continue with this story, once we met up, we all got to talking right off the bat and the waitress asked us in the nicest way to order. She also mentioned that she was under pressure because she was expecting to get the Italian and Austrian Luge team in for breakfast. Now as you know, my mission is to get autographs of athletes on my Canadian flag without becoming a stalker. I asked the waitress if she would be kind enough to ask for me. She found an 8 1/2 X 11 and turned it into a card, which was so thoughtful. The picture proves that she got the signatures for me but I have to say that I didn't want the autographs for myself. One of the guys from the Bell Team (Remo) saw the Italian team practicing when he visited the Sliding venue and thought better of trying to get a photo and their autographs. All the teams are paranoid of other teams learning their secrets! Anyway, his dad in Italy is a great fan and I know it means more to him than it would mean to me.

So the topic got around to the Olympics and the locals are talking about moving out for the month. It is of course going to be traffic pandemonium. Everyone needs a permit to travel the Sea to Sky highway (I'm thinking they should change the name to Rain and Snow highway). I told them not to forget the Paralympics right after and I also mentioned that these were the exact same arguments I had heard with the Calgary Olympics. When the Calgary Olympics finally came, they turned out to be the most memorable, unifying and satisfying thing that had happened to that city. I can't recall what happened to the nay-sayers. Did they catch Olympic fever or did they truly move out for the month? I think most caught the fever because I know I did. It is the reason I considered coming to Vancouver. It is the reason Laura pushed me to come to Vancouver. I think BC and Canada will love these Olympics! The locals just don't know it yet!

On a Clear Day...

One work week has gone by and I can't tell you how exhausted I am. I don't know what kind of mix-up there was that a building (ie. hotel) can be built for athletes where there is no provisioning for TVs in each room! Now you might say that the Americans are very demanding to want a TV in each room but let's just take a second here! These rooms will be sold as rooms/condos after the medals are safely stowed in garage drawers and the only buyers that will be interested are Taoist monks and convicts because two days worth of sweat and copper will be torn out and recycled. Just wanted to get that off my chest! I'm tired and I feel like I'm always at work. In these few days all I have done is sleep, eat, go to work, return to the hotel, eat, have a few laughs with the guys I work with and start the cycle all over again.

It might be the weather because it just seems to be cloudy and dark or just outright snowy these days. We had one day of sunshine which really brought everybodies spirits up. I don't know how the guys that have been here for a longer period could stand all this gloominess. It is probably the few days or hours of outright brilliance when you can finally catch a glimpse of the mountains. Now I know all three Lim girls will want a few pictures of mountains, so here are a couple just to satisfy their craving and maybe make up their minds to visit.Now before you start saying that I'm just here on vacation, the first picture was taken on our way out to work. Please notice that all the clouds just opened up and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Okay, so it cleared up that day and the second picture was taken when we went down to "Function Junction" for lunch.


The sunshine did not last for long as the third picture greeted me out the front door on the next day of work. I get a kick out of the conversation during our morning meetings. You would hear things like, "I'd like you guys to go the USA and do such and such, you guys go to France and do that" etc. If a stenographer copied all this you would think that we are all world travellers. Today, I personally went to the USA, Latvia and SVK (Slovakia, I think).

During the Games, this Olympic village will be heavily guarded by our RCMP and augmented by our Armed Forces. But for now, the only augmentation to security are these coyotes. According to Blaise, one of the security guards, these coyotes show up every day at about 7 am. He jokes that when they're late, he docks their pay. I have to admit that on this particular morning, we were all bushed from pulling coaxial cable for the American's TV viewing pleasure on the day before.
All of us had only seen the gloomy weather outside or the pipe filled, impossible to move ceiling tile covering a twelve inch ceiling space. We asked that a few minutes were granted to familiarize ourselves with all the buildings that comprise our venue. That is when we ran into our canine security guards. Who knew that the training I received for wild life encounters would actually come in handy at our venues. The rest of the guys want to see a bear (me not so much)! This venue was built on top of a garbage dump and many provisions were put in place to ensure that methane gas does not pose any problems for the athletes. The wildlife however still remember it as a feeding ground.

At the risk of spoiling the big surprise for our Olympic athletes, since I don't really know any, I will try to get as many candid shots onsite. Our Bell Team will shortly consist of about 70 people at this hotel. I have to say that I am envious of some of the pictures they are able to get of the athletes training. I am told that everybody feels that way so we have decided to share our favourite pictures. I am awed by a few of these pictures I was able to take, inspired by the sights worth remembering and hopeful that I can see some of the sights my team mates have recorded.
I will be skiing tomorrow but only after I can sleep in (but no later than 9:00 am since that's when breakfast ends). I promised Christine that I would record a run, so I hope the weather holds up.

First day of work

Well, I'm here, in Whistler! At first blush I thought this trip started with a 10-4 call from Jeff while we were travelling to Mont Tremblant. But getting on a plane and enduring a take-off and landing, from really good weather to really good duck weather got me to thinking about what the heck got me here.

I think this trip started with my wife on Barranca Beach in the Algarve. Like many beaches in the Algarve, there are many rocks or large stones along the sides of the beach. For those of you that know me well enough you know that when the mood hit me, I used to be in the habit of piling stones. Before I go any further I will say that I am not responsible for any of the Inukshuks or rock piles along the 401!! At any rate, the mood hit me at Barranca Beach that day. I saw a bunch of stones laying there and assembled them into a pretty good replication of an Inukshuk. Then we went back to our favourite restaurant and tried to explain to our waiter what an Inukshuk was and how it was the icon of these winter games. Okay, that's lame but it's pretty late (in my body time) and I think I have a good case of jet lag.


When the shuttle bus from Vancouver dropped me off at the front of "Blackcomb Suites" (and not really knowing if I was at the right hotel) I basically tackled the first guy I saw with any Bell paraphenalia. It turned out to be Brian who was my neighbour across the hall. He let me know that I was in the right place and it was at this point that I let the bus driver go! I met my roommate "Laurent" from Montreal shortly after. He didn't let me know it at the first meeting but I was saying his name wrong. It is supposed to sound more like Lawrence than the way I was saying it. I just kept thinking "Oh God, it's the whole Mont Tremblant, Mont Blanc thing!" If anybody meets a local from the St. Jovite area, they have a particular way of saying Tremblant! Where I would say "trembl'on't," the local St. Jovite people would say "trembl'eh'nt!" So my french roommate's name is actually pronounced like "Loren." I just hope I never say "Low rent" because that is the way I try to train myself to remember it. Anyway, it turns out that Laurent is a marathon runner. Good for him! However, he keeps his running shoes and his spandex running gear (I call them underwear, 'cause they look like shiny long john drawers) in the closet next to our entrance door. He tells me to not worry and hang my coat in that same closet and when I slide the door to hang my coat, "STANK!" My best buddy Jeff put it best. He said it smells of "ass." I take my belongings quickly to my room and decide that I will use my double sized bunk bed to store my stuff. I have to say it took a couple of nights to get used to the idea of sleeping in a double sized bunk bed. I was always worried of getting up with a jolt and sitting straight up. This of course would have resulted in a concussion from the bottom of the bed above which would have knocked me out. I wondered how many times it would be safe to go through this nightmare-concussion ordeal. I sure wish my boss let me go earlier so that I could have at least come to some agreement with Laurent about taking the king sized bed with the ensuite bathroom. I decided that since Laurent's running gear were stored in the closet directly opposite my bathroom at the front door, that would at least put me in the right mood for my morning bowel movements!

Everybody here on my crew said that because I brought my skis, I also brought the snow. For the most part, it was raining for the past few weeks, almost every day. With all that rain I think I would have started building an ark! Nonetheless, I got excited to see the snow plow/salter go around our traffic circle on my first morning in BC. It seems to melt though and then it starts to accumulate again. I learned today that it has to do with the frost line and its movement down the mountain with day time heating. Just a matter of time before the frost line is well below us. Lift tickets are about $1500 for the season, so maybe if I don't eat for a month I'll be able to ski.

I jumped right into work today and sitting in our trailer you would think that we are zipping around the world. You would hear things like "I did this something in France. I did that something in Poland" etc. There are many other companies here as well working away, doing their thing and it kind of reminds me of being on a movie set. Everybody is happy and peppy and positive. I also got to know Joe at the worksite today! I can't say that he fits that happy, peppy mode. Of course he was having a "friendly" discussion with Laurent over the amount of time it took him to activate ten IP phones. He was starting to get the reputation of being addicted to the "crackberry." Additionally, with Laurent being from the Montreal area, he is used to the more structured work habits of the Quebec union local. At 10:30 sharp he's looking to have a coffee break. At 12:00 pm sharp he's looking to have his lunch break. Since we skipped coffee to have an hour break at lunch and then delayed lunch to finish what we were doing, we all expected Laurent to be ravenous. When he ordered a coffee and carrot cake for lunch, we all just turned to one another and said, "What the ..."

I got my last piece of luggage today courtesy of Michele, more commonly known as Mickey. I would say she is pretty happy and peppy and positive so maybe its something in the water. I know they seem to see enough of it!

The Big Send Off

The late mother of a dear friend of mine taught her son (whom now resides in Labelle, Quebec) to just say “Thank you.” Instead of risking the feelings of the donor and possibly cheapening the thought behind the gift, she would scold him with, “Just say thank you, but say thank you, gracefully!” So when David found himself the recipient of a thoughtful gesture he thought, “Ah, you really shouldn’t have! I don’t deserve this! This is too much!” But he did what his mother had taught him and he said, “Thank you, gracefully!” That’s my David!

I won’t say that I hate birthdays, birthday parties or the tag of officially becoming a year older. If I don’t have to be in the limelight and I can hide in the corner, I will eat, drink and be merry at any party. But when the spotlight shines on me and I become the centre of attention, then it truly becomes uncomfortable. That being said, I thought that I had gotten through another birthday with the usual fanfare that I am most comfortable with; small intimate party with a minimal amount of gifts. Maybe it’s a lack of self esteem or a lack of confidence thing surrounding birthday parties. Our family really never had huge birthday bashes growing up complete with a multitude of gifts, so I never really had that kind of experience!

Yesterday, be it because I was turning an even 5 decades (I was told 350 in dog years, yeesh!) or because Laura wanted to give me a great send off, or a combination of the two, I was treated to a party in my honour. Despite my feelings of dread, it was great to see so many friends and family coming together in celebration. My wife Laura is really the “party girl” in this family and you just have to love her for that. Some people were under the impression that it was a surprise party but the last surprise party in my honour didn’t turn out that well. It’s like me and giving blood; bad things won’t happen if I give myself a chance to get used to the idea. (On a side note, I tried to tell the nurse that she should lay me down to take blood and she agreed with me once she observed the 200 lb. man convulsing in her lap. I really haven’t gotten over the needle thing so its God’s little joke to inflict me with a hypothyroid and the need for regular blood testing. My hearing is good though! The vampires, as I call them, always yell “Crash cart” as soon as they recognize me)

Many friends and family attended and those that were invited but could not come, sent their well wishes. Many brought gifts (although I know they were instructed not to) and had to endure the big oaf in the limelight opening them. Maybe that was the point!? Then in the sweats of opening gifts, one last gift was opened and it was more than I could have ever expected. I always thought that the trio on the card and myself could have played at least one game of golf together, so on a personal note, you had me at “From Terry, David, Hugh.” I have felt blessed and my family has been blessed just to be among the “conoscenti.” Then today, I have received many well wishes from people that didn’t know about the party and again from people that were at the party and all this has left me speechless and humble. I wish I could verbalize my feelings now in a way that everyone would truly appreciate but all that comes to mind is “Thank you, gracefully!”