Snow and ice

Yeah, it's that time again.

Rain/snow/ice mix forecast for Fort Smith starting, well, just about any time now. It'll allegedly continue until late Thursday afternoon. Maybe two inches of it.

Ugh.

UPDATE: Well, we got maybe an inch of snow last night. The streets were clear. No slipping and sliding at all. Today, it's like 50 outside, so all the snow is gone.

Honestly, it was almost a perfect snowfall for Fort Smith.

And, sadly, though the snow was wet and sticky I never found a good target for a snowball. I threw one, but it was at a tree and not a person.

Fort Smith in the news

Those are the old barracks at Fort Chaffee. Last count, 12 were burned completely down thanks to a wind-driven fire.

The area is under something called a "Wind Advisory," which I'd never heard of except in relation to "area lakes and waterways." It's been blowing at a steady 40 mph most of the day, with gusts up to 50.

Fire crews have given up trying to contain the fire, which is now a major grass fire on the Chaffee property.

Closer to home, the wooden privacy fence owned by our across-the-street neighbor has toppled. Some branches are down. I've not looked to see if any shingles have blown off our roof.

Jen's home ... finally

Jen is back in Fort Smith after her trip to Sacramento with Katie to see Sam and Kevin. Finally.

Her original flight from Houston to Tulsa was delayed and then finally scrapped. Something about needing a new part for the plane. So instead of landing at 8:50 p.m. she landed at almost 11.

Of course, she had no way of knowing the flight was delayed until I was already on the road to Tulsa. I was halfway to Tulsa when the delay was announced.

Luckily, I'd goofed off yesterday afternoon. My original plan was to leave early, get to Tulsa around 6:30 and hit the new Bass Pro Shop in Broken Arrow and another big outdoors store in Tulsa. Instead, I decided to just head straight to the airport, arriving around 8:30.

But, thanks to the delay, I had time to hit the BPS. I spent an hour there. Bought a new fishing net, which I'd not done without the flight being delayed.

Worst part of the trip was after picking up Jen, we were both starving. By BPS, there was a Steak & Shake and a Taco Bueno, two chains we don't have here in Fort Smith. So that's where I went. Except both were closed at 11:15 p.m. @#$%&!!! Luckily, there was a Burger King. Chicken fries ... mmmmmm, good. We rolled into Fort Smith at 1:30ish this morning.

Jen lost her voice on Friday, screaming and singing along with an 80s band. She's now fighting off a cold and not feeling too well.

So, the moral of the story is: Don't go see 80s bands.

Seven hours

How'd you spend your Saturday?

I spent mine sanding the ceiling in our bedroom. And then cleaning up the dust.

The previous owner just troweled on the ceiling plaster in big swooshing motions, then never sanded it smooth. I guess she was doing a cheap or more "artistic" variation of that textured popcorn ceiling stuff.

Jen hates it. So I'm tasked with removing it, then smoothing the ceiling so we can repaint the bedroom.

I spent four hours sanding, three hours cleaning up. I swept, Shop-Vac-ed, Swiffered, mopped and Lemon Pledged everything in the bedroom. I did more cleaning today than I have in the previous seven-plus years of my marriage.

The worst part? I only got about a fourth of it done.

Havant & Waterlooville

I love soccer. And one of my favorite things about it is the FA Cup.

For you non-soccer fans, England's FA (Football Association) Cup is a nationwide tournament staged every year. And a few hundred teams enter it each from from the heavyweights like Manchester United, Chelsea and the rest of the famous top division teams to pub league teams (the English version of our rec league softball teams). This year 731 teams entered it.

Today, Liverpool (a legendary, top-flight club) beat Havant & Waterlooville (a semi-pro team) in a tournament match played at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium.

H&W's starting goalkeeper works construction during the week. Another starter is a school teacher, one's training to become a London taxi driver, one is a delivery driver, one's a garbageman and another is a janitor. Liverpool's average starter makes more money playing one soccer match than these guys do in a full year of work. Liverpool's captain told a newspaper he'd never heard of the team before seeing they'd have to play against them. Liverpool is ranked more than 100 places above H&W.

Liverpool won 5-2. But that's not the story. The game was tied at halftime, 2-2. In fact, H&W led 1-0 and then 2-1 in the first half. Bookies in England gave 60/1 odds that wouldn't happen.

Can you imagine the feeling the H&W players had at the half? I'd have paid cash money to have been in that locker room.

7:05 a.m.

Made it back from Tulsa, pulling up to the house right at 7:05.

It started sleeting right after I left the airport. Luckily, I scooted out of there before it began to slick up the roads. I was east-bound and down (Smokey and the Bandit reference) with the cruise control set on 80.

After about four hours of sleep (plus two and a half I got before going to Tulsa), I'm awake. And Jen is still has about another 90 minutes of flight time until she lands in Sacramento.

6:10 a.m.

Jen is flying out to Sacramento tomorrow morning to visit Sam and Kevin.

Being a good husband, I'm driving her to the airport. Her flight is at 6:10 a.m. ... in Tulsa.

So while y'all are blissfully sleeping tonight, I'll be heading out the door at 3 a.m. for Tulsa.

Oh, did I mention there are high school basketball games tonight, so I'll be in the office until 11 p.m.-ish? And there's a chance of freezing rain (sure it's only 10 percent, but it's still a chance) in Tulsa?

In case you were wondering

Another Saturday night

(The girls made us pose for this photo at dinner, before heading to the bar.)

"You really should have made reservations," said the hostess.

"Reservations?" I said. "We just want to get some cocktails."

"Yeah, you should still make reservations for that."

Welcome to the trendy martini bar open in Fort Smith.

It's in a really old building downtown, way downtown. It's closer to the river than to the Rib Room.

Not bad, as far as $9 cocktails and $5 beers go. Loved that it's smoke-free. Could have done without the "The Real Houswives of Sebastian County" vibe from some of the tables. I think every other table was occupied by a doctor and his 20-something concubine.

Oral surgery and food

OK, so I know I have zero right to complain about this. I mean, I've done better than many of my friends who've had wisdom teeth cut out. After the first day, I've not taken anything stronger than aspirin.

But, honestly, I think my speedy recovery has made it worse.

I'm stuck eating mashed potatoes and/or mac and cheese and/or scrambled eggs for every meal. But since I'm not in any physical pain, my brain is telling me "Hey, let's get a burger. Or some chips and salsa."

I know my mouth isn't ready for that sort of thing yet. And I honestly think if I was in pain (or any sort of major discomfort at all), I'd not be having these cravings for food I can't have.

I've been reading quite a bit about my options for replacing the freaky teeth. Looks like I'll go with a bridge, instead of an implant. The idea of somebody shooting a stainless steel screw into my jaw freaks me out. And that's what they do with the implant. Shoot a screw into the jaw, then attach a fake tooth the part of the screw sticking out of the gum.

Man, there's nothing on TV during the week

If it wasn't for Law & Order reruns, there would be nothing on TV this afternoon.

Oral surgery went well. I'm not even taking pain meds today ... because I'm tough. No really, there's not been much pain at all after the first few hours.

Oral surgery

On Wednesday, I'm having oral surgery.

Seems my childhood dentist left my two lower wisdom teeth in my mouth and they have to come out.

Also, I still have two primary teeth. That's right, I still have two molars from my childhood. Jen calls them my "freaky teeth" because, well, they look freaky.

The whole process has hacked me off at my childhood dentist and orthodonist. I had freakin' braces as a teenager. Why would you put braces on baby teeth? Why wouldn't you just pull them? And as for the wisdom teeth, my oral surgeon said my childhood dentist probably left them because the bottom ones are much more difficult to extract than the uppers.

I just had what will likely be my last solid food for the next few days - a kicken chicken salad from Goodson's. It's basically buffalo chicken atop a salad. A couple of months ago, I suggested to Mark Goodson, the owner, that they should put it on the menu. He said "All you have to do is ask and we'll make it for you." Next time I went in, it was on the menu ... along with a note that "Local sports editor Scott Faldon suggested this menu item." Good stuff, try next time you're in there.

Anyway, I'm sure Jen will have the camera out once I'm back home. I'm sure she'll want to document the chipmunk cheeks I'll have after this procedure. And I'll be too doped up to stop her.

Birthday gift idea II

That's the new MacBook Air, the newest product from genius Steve Jobs. It's less than an inch thick and weighs three pounds. The thing fits inside a legal-sized envelope. Prices starting at $1,800 but the 1.8 GHZ model runs $3,100.

Now that's playoff football (part II)

Every NFL playoff season should also include the Cowboys head coach (whoever it is) and owner Jerry "Nip/Tuck" Jones feeling the agony of defeat.

Now that's playoff football

Every playoff football game should be played in a blizzard. Even the Super Bowl.

Geez, my PS3 crashed! (Best Buy sucks)

Middle of a game tonight, my PS3 crashed. It wouldn't restart. It wouldn't eject the disc.

Call Best Buy. "Umm, you just need to bring it in and let The Geek Squad look at it."

Take it in. "Yeah, it's broken. Take it to Customer Service, they'll give you a replacement."

One problem, it's a 60g that's backwards compatible with the PS2 games. Sony doesn't make that model any longer.

The 80g is backward compatible, the 40g isn't. Naturally, Best Buy is out of 80g machines. But they've got about 50 of the 40g units stacked 6-feet high.

I ask the high school chick manning the Customer Service desk when some more 80s will arrive. "We aren't going to get any more. But you can order one through BestBuy.com."

Can you order it, have it shipped here to the store and save me shipping and handling charges? "No, because what you order from BestBuy.com comes from a different warehouse than what comes to our store."

That really didn't answer my question. Let me talk to your supervisor. Get the same explanation.

I tell them how I can go to Lowes.com, order an entire freaking garage and have it shipped to the local Lowe's for free. You see, Lowe's understands that if you make a customer happy he's more likely to return. They both seem perplexed by this idea of "making the customer happy."

So once I get my new 80g via BestBuy.com, I'm done with that freakin' store. I'll buy electronics from Wal-Mart before I head back there.

McFadden must hate BIlly Joel

Story ...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Heisman Trophy runner-up Darren McFadden was handcuffed by police and then released without charges after being involved in a "pretty rowdy scene" at a piano bar early Thursday.

Arkansas' All-American running back and at least four others were at the downtown bar when a disturbance broke out shortly after midnight, police Lt. Terry Hastings said. A bouncer was hit in the face as he was trying to get the group to leave, Hastings said. A police report did not specify who hit the bouncer.

"There was a whole bunch of people there," Hastings said. "They were inside and it spilled out into the street."

Outside, McFadden was handcuffed by a police officer "because he was agitated and was provoking aggressive behavior inciting the incident," according to the police report.

"We handcuffed him for a few minutes because he was rowdy," Hastings said.

McFadden, who was the only person handcuffed, was released after he calmed down. Hastings said it was routine procedure to handcuff a person to gain control of a situation

http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/7659740?MSNHPHMA

Reaction ...

Who gets into a fight at a piano bar? And what self-respecting future NFL player from the rough part of Little Rock goes to one? Was it the only place in the River Market that would serve drinks to the underage McFadden and his pals?

And what were they fighting about? Did McFadden want to hear Don McLean's "American Pie" and the dueling pianists instead played "Piano Man" by Billy Joel? Or maybe McFadden wanted some Elton John and the piano players went with "Brown eyed Girl" by Van Morrison?

A birthday suggestion

If you're not sure what to get me for my 40th birthday, here's a suggestion ... an 82-inch ultra HD TV.

Smoke-filled bars

Saturday, after that damned Steelers game, we went out for drinks.

I'd forgotten how much I hate smoke-filled bars. Don't get me wrong. I love bars. But now that I'm almost 40, I can't stand walking out of one smelling like an ashtray. I got home after hitting three bars and immediately took a shower to get the smoke off me.

The night really made me appreciate the anti-smoking laws passed in major cities.

One of these days, after I hit the PowerBall, I'm going to open a non-smoking bar. Just to prove that it would be profitable. And so I could have a proper pint of Guinness without some hipster douches filling the air with Marlboro Light smoke.

Use or lose days

The vacation day structure at work is odd. Generous, but odd.

We get something like 17 days of vacation and/or sick days per year (or as the HR types call it "Time Off With Pay" or "TOWP"). You don't get sick, you can use them all for vacation. Take a long vacation or two, and you better not get the flu.

As you stay with the company, they start throwing more vacation days at you. I think I get something like six weeks of TOWP per year now. If you don't use it all during a calendar year, you can roll some over to the next year. So if you're planning to go to Europe for a month in 2009, you just don't take any days off in 2008 and you're set.

Problem is, I don't take that many days off. Party Squad trips, Mancations, a couple of hunting days and a trip or two to see the in-laws and that's it. I might take three weeks off per year, which leaves me with a ton to roll over.

But the company won't let you keep rolling days over and over until you build up a full year's worth of vacation. So you have to "use or lose" the days you rolled over in say 2007 before your work anniversary in 2008. Unfortunately, the company won't just cut you a big check for that TOWP and call it even. So you're basically forced to take vacation days.

Which is exactly what I'm doing these days. Between now and the end of February, I'm taking 12 days off.

Any suggestions on how to fill those days would be appreciated.

Well, that sucked

Dear Pittsburgh Steelers,

Please cover the QB sneak next time.

Sincerely,

Heartbroken and hungover

P.S. If Dallas wins the Super Bowl, this will be the worst NFL playoffs ever.

About the black background

I read somewhere that it's more energy efficient than having a white background. Since I'm a greenneck*, it seemed like the right thing to do.

Plus, I think it's easier on the eyes.

* - Greennecks are a combination redneck (goes hunting, etc.) yet tries to be environmentally friendly (recycling, reducing, reusing, etc.).

Hey, I'm now a blogger

Jen has been bugging me for years to start blogging. She thinks I'm funny, which is required since we're married.

Anyway, after joking about it, she finally threatened to turn the den into some sort of pastel and flower covered room. No more Steelers photos on the wall. No more PS3 games. No more beer signs. In other words, my man cave would become a tea room.

So I started a blog to keep that from happening.