In Memoriam
I was all gung-ho about completely catching up last week, but the week had other plans. Last Tuesday, November 7, 2006, my grandfather Max Arthur Abston passed away and I quickly flew to Spokane for the funeral. All my life us grandkids always called our grandfather "Papa." The night before the funeral, all eleven grandkids got together to plan the eulogy and make a list of our favorite memories. Even though most of my readers were at the funeral, I would like to share for those of you who did not know Papa.
Papa had a woodshop in his garage and he made all sorts of fun things for kids. He made trucks, trains, slides, play kitchens, Barbie houses--complete with furniture, and the world's largest deck. The deck was huge! Large enough for a handful of little tykes to have Big Wheel races around the perimeter. We often played CHiPs on that deck. (Yes, I am a child of the eighties.)
When I was on my church mission, and when I lived in France, Papa was my most faithful writer. Mostly he wrote about the temperature, mowing lawns, and beans. Beans were his favorite food. But I appreciated every letter; they were always filled with his love. He always showered his grandkids with lots of love. He would always say, "Hello sweet sweet" or "How's my favorite Meredith." (or insert the name of another grandkid.)
It was harder to say good-bye than I thought. He will be missed. The funeral was lovely, and I was very glad to see all my family (except for one brother-in-law, niece, and nephew who were dearly missed). I don't remember when we were last all together. We all got to take turns holding the new babies, we ate lots (which is normal for our gatherings), and remembered our dear Papa. So despite the very sad event, I was glad to be with my family. I didn't take a lot of pictures but I will be posting the ones that I have (or that have been forwarded by relatives) shortly.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
The Votes Are In!
Actually only two people voted, and I am very proud of one of the votes. Sorry to say Kiki, it wasn't yours...but I am very happy you voted, and you will be rewarded.
The other vote was from the blog "Trust but Verify" (TBV) that writes about the Floyd Landis case. As you can probably imagine, I have it bookmarked and I read it everyday. Since I listed Floyd on my ballot of blog topics, TBV came upon it and voted for Floyd! I feel kind of proud, but also a little embarrassed in case he saw the cycling blog entry when I forgot Pat McQuaid's name and called him Dennis.
Trust But Verify is a great source of Floyd info because he scours all news stories, blogs, and whatnot about Floyd. He will publish the good and the bad, but like me this blog is very pro-Floyd. Look it up! Soon you will know that Floyd is innocent!
I wonder if Floyd scans the blogs and has found mine. In that case I am very embarrassed about my faux pas.
And now for the cycling update. Floyd and his defense team has released their defense to the public. I have read through a portion of the documents, and I firmly believe something fishy is going on at the infamous testing facility. The lab made grave errors, but I don't think they did it because a French cyclist didn't win (again). The French did better this year actually, I thought, though Thomas Voeckler is still not at the form he was in for Lance's 6th win. I think the whole mess is because of the McCarthy-esque witch hunt that the UCI and WADA are obsessed with.
The Italian sports authority (and I am not referring to the sporting goods chain) has decided that there is not enough evidence to convict Ivan Basso, so they have dropped charges (unless the Spanish authorities dig up real evidence). I was very happy. But then a few days later Team CSC and Ivan parted company. Now this is a bit of a conundrum, because CSC was my favorite team because of Ivan. I'll still like the team because of Dave Zabriskie, but I am about to pledge allegience to the team that picks up Ivan. There have been no team announcements yet because the UCI has not yet cleared Ivan. That organization has so conveniently forgotten all of his clean tests. If the anti-doping tests actually work...
Thanks TBV for the vote! Next up, Halloween!
Actually only two people voted, and I am very proud of one of the votes. Sorry to say Kiki, it wasn't yours...but I am very happy you voted, and you will be rewarded.
The other vote was from the blog "Trust but Verify" (TBV) that writes about the Floyd Landis case. As you can probably imagine, I have it bookmarked and I read it everyday. Since I listed Floyd on my ballot of blog topics, TBV came upon it and voted for Floyd! I feel kind of proud, but also a little embarrassed in case he saw the cycling blog entry when I forgot Pat McQuaid's name and called him Dennis.
Trust But Verify is a great source of Floyd info because he scours all news stories, blogs, and whatnot about Floyd. He will publish the good and the bad, but like me this blog is very pro-Floyd. Look it up! Soon you will know that Floyd is innocent!
I wonder if Floyd scans the blogs and has found mine. In that case I am very embarrassed about my faux pas.
And now for the cycling update. Floyd and his defense team has released their defense to the public. I have read through a portion of the documents, and I firmly believe something fishy is going on at the infamous testing facility. The lab made grave errors, but I don't think they did it because a French cyclist didn't win (again). The French did better this year actually, I thought, though Thomas Voeckler is still not at the form he was in for Lance's 6th win. I think the whole mess is because of the McCarthy-esque witch hunt that the UCI and WADA are obsessed with.
The Italian sports authority (and I am not referring to the sporting goods chain) has decided that there is not enough evidence to convict Ivan Basso, so they have dropped charges (unless the Spanish authorities dig up real evidence). I was very happy. But then a few days later Team CSC and Ivan parted company. Now this is a bit of a conundrum, because CSC was my favorite team because of Ivan. I'll still like the team because of Dave Zabriskie, but I am about to pledge allegience to the team that picks up Ivan. There have been no team announcements yet because the UCI has not yet cleared Ivan. That organization has so conveniently forgotten all of his clean tests. If the anti-doping tests actually work...
Thanks TBV for the vote! Next up, Halloween!
Sunday, November 05, 2006
I've just been scolded
I have been very lazy in writing about my New York adventures. Well, maybe "lazy" is not the best word. I think "too busy" works a bit better. On Monday I made a point to stay home at night, do laundry and catch up, and I even wrote about a trip to Boston. Somehow while writing I lost my wireless connection and I lost the entire post! So much for my good intentions. Now I get to try again and catch up.
So, where to begin? Maybe I'll just make a list of things and you guys can vote on what you want to read more about. I like this idea. Here's the list:
I went to Boston
I had my first guests to show around
I saw a Broadway play
More delicious restaurants
Halloween
I broke up with dessert
Floyd Landis/Cycling updates
I'll get everything started with my quickie trip to Boston. In September (yes, that long ago) I headed to Beantown. I found out that my cousin Alicia was going to be there to visit friends and go to the BYU/Boston College football game. Now, football is not one of my favorite sports, but I thought it would be fun to see my cousin. When I decided to go, I thought it would be great fun to take a train. Thanks to my time in France I have grown a great love for rail travel, and it is pretty popular here in the East Coast as well. However, it is not cheap. It would have cost about $200 for a trip to Boston which, by the way, is no great distance. Instead, I took the advice of my roommate and took the bus.
There are several bus lines in New York to help the car-less get to places like, Philly, DC, Montreal, and Boston. Buses are a lot less glamorous than the train but it was only $30 round trip--a definite bargain. Let us keep in mind, however, that you get what you pay for. For example, I got four and a half hours with my knees jammed into the seat in front of me.
The most famous of the bus lines are the ones based in Chinatown. In fact, the phrase "Chinatown Bus" describes any of the lines commencing in that neighborhod of NYC. The two lines that go to Boston are the Fung Hua and the Lucky Star. (Yes, I think of the early eighties Madonna song when I mention the Lucky Star.) Both bus lines offer the same features: low price, seats that don't have a lot of leg room, and a brief stop at a Chinese buffet in Connecticut. I decided to go with the Lucky Star, and it was not because wanted to hum Madonna during the trip. The week before my trip one of the Fung Hua buses overturned on the way back from Boston. That helped the decision process. You may be wondering how I enjoyed my meal at the Chinese buffet. Well, truth be told, I didn't eat at the buffet. I generally don't eat at Chinese restaurants that have tator tots next to the fried rice.
My time in Boston was pretty short because most of my trip was spent at the football game or at church. The game was good, as far as football games go. In the end BYU lost, but they lost in double overtime; so it was exciting to the end. To be honest, by the time the second overtime came around I didn't care who won. I should have kept that little secret quiet because a few people questioned my loyalty to my alma mater.
Saturday night after the game Alicia, her friends, and I had dinner in cajun/mexican restaurant in Harvard Yard (Square? I really wasn't there long enough to remember.) I was ready for dinner because we didn't have much to eat throughout the day, and if you know me you will also know that I need to be well-fed in order to avoid a low-blood sugar disaster. Normally when the blood sugar levels dips I start crying. On rare occasions I turn into the spawn of Satan. And that is what reared its ugly head at the restaurant. The restaurant was crowded, and we were lucky to get a table for nine, even though we had a wait a while to get it. Finally it was our turn, and we had to elbow our way through the throng to get to our table. The restaurant has a policy that it will not seat a party until everyone was present. We were all there, but only some of us were better at pushing through the hordes of hungry people. When only four of us made it through, the host asked if we were all there. I said, yes, the rest will be there soon. Then he told us the house rule that everyone had to be there. And then I snapped. Out of nowhere Angry Meredith came out and yelled at him, and said that we were all there but they were having troubles getting through the crowd. Doesn't seem that mean, right? On paper, no, but I must have been vicious because the restaurant manager ended up seating us. I also managed to have the blow-up in front of a group of servers, including the one assigned to our table. He jokingly asked if I was going to yell at him too, and from that point on I was worried that someone was going to spit in my food. I don't know if anyone actually did, and my pulled beef enchilada was delicious. I did apologize to the host on our way out.
Thoae were the memorable highlights of my trip to Boston. Like I said, I didn't have time to see the historic locations in Boston. But I did see Ben Affleck's/Jennifer Garner's house. I'll see the more important stuff on my next trip to Boston.
So now that you have read this, please write a comment and vote for the next entry. Will it be my first broadway play or my feelings about a tough break-up? Did I go trick-or-treating? You vote, I'll write.
I have been very lazy in writing about my New York adventures. Well, maybe "lazy" is not the best word. I think "too busy" works a bit better. On Monday I made a point to stay home at night, do laundry and catch up, and I even wrote about a trip to Boston. Somehow while writing I lost my wireless connection and I lost the entire post! So much for my good intentions. Now I get to try again and catch up.
So, where to begin? Maybe I'll just make a list of things and you guys can vote on what you want to read more about. I like this idea. Here's the list:
I went to Boston
I had my first guests to show around
I saw a Broadway play
More delicious restaurants
Halloween
I broke up with dessert
Floyd Landis/Cycling updates
I'll get everything started with my quickie trip to Boston. In September (yes, that long ago) I headed to Beantown. I found out that my cousin Alicia was going to be there to visit friends and go to the BYU/Boston College football game. Now, football is not one of my favorite sports, but I thought it would be fun to see my cousin. When I decided to go, I thought it would be great fun to take a train. Thanks to my time in France I have grown a great love for rail travel, and it is pretty popular here in the East Coast as well. However, it is not cheap. It would have cost about $200 for a trip to Boston which, by the way, is no great distance. Instead, I took the advice of my roommate and took the bus.
There are several bus lines in New York to help the car-less get to places like, Philly, DC, Montreal, and Boston. Buses are a lot less glamorous than the train but it was only $30 round trip--a definite bargain. Let us keep in mind, however, that you get what you pay for. For example, I got four and a half hours with my knees jammed into the seat in front of me.
The most famous of the bus lines are the ones based in Chinatown. In fact, the phrase "Chinatown Bus" describes any of the lines commencing in that neighborhod of NYC. The two lines that go to Boston are the Fung Hua and the Lucky Star. (Yes, I think of the early eighties Madonna song when I mention the Lucky Star.) Both bus lines offer the same features: low price, seats that don't have a lot of leg room, and a brief stop at a Chinese buffet in Connecticut. I decided to go with the Lucky Star, and it was not because wanted to hum Madonna during the trip. The week before my trip one of the Fung Hua buses overturned on the way back from Boston. That helped the decision process. You may be wondering how I enjoyed my meal at the Chinese buffet. Well, truth be told, I didn't eat at the buffet. I generally don't eat at Chinese restaurants that have tator tots next to the fried rice.
My time in Boston was pretty short because most of my trip was spent at the football game or at church. The game was good, as far as football games go. In the end BYU lost, but they lost in double overtime; so it was exciting to the end. To be honest, by the time the second overtime came around I didn't care who won. I should have kept that little secret quiet because a few people questioned my loyalty to my alma mater.
Saturday night after the game Alicia, her friends, and I had dinner in cajun/mexican restaurant in Harvard Yard (Square? I really wasn't there long enough to remember.) I was ready for dinner because we didn't have much to eat throughout the day, and if you know me you will also know that I need to be well-fed in order to avoid a low-blood sugar disaster. Normally when the blood sugar levels dips I start crying. On rare occasions I turn into the spawn of Satan. And that is what reared its ugly head at the restaurant. The restaurant was crowded, and we were lucky to get a table for nine, even though we had a wait a while to get it. Finally it was our turn, and we had to elbow our way through the throng to get to our table. The restaurant has a policy that it will not seat a party until everyone was present. We were all there, but only some of us were better at pushing through the hordes of hungry people. When only four of us made it through, the host asked if we were all there. I said, yes, the rest will be there soon. Then he told us the house rule that everyone had to be there. And then I snapped. Out of nowhere Angry Meredith came out and yelled at him, and said that we were all there but they were having troubles getting through the crowd. Doesn't seem that mean, right? On paper, no, but I must have been vicious because the restaurant manager ended up seating us. I also managed to have the blow-up in front of a group of servers, including the one assigned to our table. He jokingly asked if I was going to yell at him too, and from that point on I was worried that someone was going to spit in my food. I don't know if anyone actually did, and my pulled beef enchilada was delicious. I did apologize to the host on our way out.
Thoae were the memorable highlights of my trip to Boston. Like I said, I didn't have time to see the historic locations in Boston. But I did see Ben Affleck's/Jennifer Garner's house. I'll see the more important stuff on my next trip to Boston.
So now that you have read this, please write a comment and vote for the next entry. Will it be my first broadway play or my feelings about a tough break-up? Did I go trick-or-treating? You vote, I'll write.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
