bigmacbear: Me in a leather jacket and Hockey Night in Canada ball cap, on a ferry with Puget Sound in background (Default)
TUESDAY (New Year's Day)

I got up around five to find Gary awake and doing something with his phone. I went to the bathroom and back to sleep until the alarm went off at six. Gary told me he'd been up since 1:30 or so.

We were packed and ready to go about 7:40, and arrived at Colleen's by eight. We each had a banana for breakfast and Colleen put away the leftover soda, applesauce and gelatin cups. We chatted for a half hour or so, then said our goodbyes and left for the airport. We got our bags checked in and got through security without incident, even though I had to do a bit more disassembly and reassembly than usual due to the tablet and my suspenders. We went directly to the gate and decided to wait until Minneapolis to have lunch.

The aircraft was a Bombardier with four seats across, but we both needed seat belt extenders, which was unexpected. A cute cubbish dude in a heavy tan jacket kept getting up with the seat belt sign on. Across from us was a family of four, likely grampa and three grandkids, who were headed to Saskatoon.

When we arrived in the concourse in Minneapolis, I noticed someone sleeping on the floor between the charging station and the people mover. We made our way to the airport mall, but found the food court closed for renovation. Fortunately there was a restaurant just before the entrance to concourse F, where we had lunch (a turkey burger for Gary and a Juicy Lucy with sauteed onions for me, both with coleslaw and surprisingly good unsweetened tea).

The gate area got very crowded and I noticed a couple of bears across the way, the younger with a thick dark beard and the older wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon labeled BEER which was a bear with antlers. I saw them seated together as we boarded the plane. I thought the cute daddy cub with 3 children had the aisle seat, but it remained vacant until a very well-behaved girl of perhaps 6 or 7 boarded with her mother and took the seat; her mother sat a few rows behind us. We got to see snippets of the first half of the Rose Bowl in which Ohio State was leading 14-3 before we landed. I ended up having the same shoulder and back pain I experienced in Tacoma during my last SMC performance there because there wasn't room to "spread my wings", so the wait for the multitudes of children having to get out of the way before we could disembark was agonizing.

When I got into the terminal I sat down to stretch my back before I hit the restroom. We collected our bags and caught the shuttle to the light rail station. The train trip was unremarkable. When we arrived at Union Station bus stop to catch the bus to Everett, we heard a screeching of tires and witnessed a pedestrian crossing against the light and nearly getting creamed by, of all vehicles, a police cruiser. That car and a second police SUV just behind it in traffic lit up, and when we boarded the bus (a Double Tall, where we sat downstairs in the back with our bags) and passed the scene, two officers were still interrogating the hapless pedestrian, who was a rather cubbish dude but clearly not very bright. On the bus back to Everett Gary showed me the final score of the Rose Bowl: Ohio State 28, Washington 23.

When we arrived at Everett Station I called for an Uber but the driver apparently picked up someone else and my phone battery died before I could cancel the trip. So we ended up taking a conventional cab home. I later got the Uber trip straightened out without incident.
bigmacbear: Me in a leather jacket and Hockey Night in Canada ball cap, on a ferry with Puget Sound in background (closeup)
Christmas was fun. [livejournal.com profile] gmjambear and I each got some video footage of the family's "Jingle Bell Rock" gift exchange (everyone stands iin a big circle and you pass packages to the right on "Jingle" and to the left on "Rock") and hopefully we'll get some more from my sister and edit them all together.

Boxing Day brought a significant snowfall, after which we went outside and played in the snow with my grand-niece Alyssa and grand-nephew Aiden; there's a big hill behind my dad's place and they had sleds already waiting for them in Dad's garage. After Alyssa's mother came by to pick her up (as she got off work early due to the weather) we headed out for chili for lunch.

Thursday we had lunch at White Castle and did some grocery shopping with Aiden in tow, and that evening Gary and I headed for downtown Cincinnati to see the Cyclones play hockey against the Elmira Jackals. As usual, lots of bears in the stands and a few on the ice. Unfortunately for the 'Clones, Elmira won 4-3. As a promotion, they had the Stanley Cup out on the concourse so we got our pictures taken with the Cup.

Friday I went to get my hair cut and beard trimmed since I was done with my Santa impersonation for another year. Later we did some photo processing on Dad's computer so he's got copies of our Christmas snaps, and then hit the YMCA on Winton Road which I'd visited last time I was in town. We were pleasantly surprised to find our ActivTrax accounts work there too, since the old FitLinxx system was specific to the facility where you signed up. Unfortunately one of my contacts washed out in the pool so I have to wear my glasses until we get back home.

Yesterday we attended my nephew Andy's wedding. A good time was had by all, even if there was a slight misunderstanding when it came time for family photos, but that was cleared up by the time the party was over.

This morning I took Dad to church, where a very nice-looking otterish/bearish fellow was the lector (reader). Afterward we had breakfast at Dad's favorite restaurant, First Watch, did a bit more shopping and came home to watch the Bengals beat the Ravens, 23-14. The late game is still in progress and I'll catch up when I finish this post.

We return to Everett tomorrow evening just in time to ring in the New Year. Wishing you and yours a happy and prosperous New Year!

March 2025

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