It Snows then it Rains

Yes, I'm still alive and still busy. Yes, we've had snow twice already. First was the popcorn-screwing up snow storm with 5 inches. Two Fridays ago we caught the northern edge of the storm that spanked the Midwest and ended up with 8 inches of snow in 3 hours or so. The first real cold weather followed with several days last week in the low teens for highs and near zero at night. Not fun. This week is supposed to be in the 40's with rain. Even better.

In other happenings:

• I attended the first Frat Pack meeting at Lakeland. It was fun, but the most entertaining part of the night was afterwards when I was waiting for a meeting that was to follow. One of the frat guys found me sitting in uniform with a group of girls sitting in the student center in front of the TV with "One Tree Hill" on the screen. His look was priceless. It wasn't as good as it sounded since the girls were students I've taught and I was actually playing Tetris on my phone not watching TV (How can one watch "One Tree Hill"....).
• I did the vast majority of my Christmas shopping in about a half-hour at the Fox River Mall in Appleton the night before the snow storm. It comes close to a new record, but it is easier considering that several gifts were tickets to events that I purchased on line.
• There have been a number of management team changes here at our office besides the new Director of Field Service. His previous job, Director of Finance Service, has been rolled into the Director of Support Service job roughly doubling his job. He is now in the spot of looking to fill two spots on his team. His team will be unique in that it will do both finance and program with a balance between the two in all assignments in the department.
• We are so close to Quality District that I can taste it. We need a small number of Boy Scouts to make it and we're quickly running out of options but I still feel confident that we will succeed. That's not bad at all considering how bad things were when I got here.
• My fantasy team's shot at the playoffs is being decided as I type in the New Orleans-Cowboys game with four of my players being in it. It will be darn close. The part that kind of sucks is that I am playing Brian for the spot. If I win that's it, if he wins our records are tied and he wins on points scored in the season. That tie in our last match-up screwed it up. Either way I learned a lot this season that I can use for next season. We won't discuss the Pick 'Em league...that's going south quickly.
• The council Christmas party was Friday night in Appleton. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was a Casino night with Texas Hold 'Em, Blackjack and Craps there to be played with fake money. I played Hold ' Em for a while and spent the rest of the time watching other play and drink. My supervisor was well toasted by the end of the evening. By the time I got home it was after 1:30am.
• This leads to the next morning when Brian and I worked a Toys for Tots toy distribution center with the goal of inviting new youth to join Scouting for free as a Christmas gift. We recruited 3 kids, but spent a lot more time helping people chose toys for their kids. The person welcoming the folks took a special joy in having me help out families with all girls where I am no help at all. She swore it was educational for me. There were a lot of parents there who did not speak any English at all. That was a special challenge. Suffice it to say I was exhausted by the time I got home after being on my feet for 8 hours on three hours of sleep that followed a very busy couple of days. I was out cold on my recliner a half hour after I got home.
• Last, for now, I decorated my living room for Christmas today and got my gifts completed and wrapped. It doesn't quite seem like Christmas yet, but I'm trying to get there. Brian and I are doing our gift exchange tomorrow and I'm looking forward to giving him his gift which I'll explain in my next post.

Until I post again.