Thanksgiving Week

Nov 21th: picked up a bunch of books from a friend. I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

Nov 24th: 32 degrees in Atlanta and Will is out playing golf with David Norman and DJ Hoffer, the former high school basketball marvel. Was busy in Chattanooga but nice to be of service. In addition to young Taylor from Norcross several others are helping: Dennis, Leigh Ann, two other Norcross plant guys, and my good friend Danny from Birmingham.

At the Boathouse restaurant (above) the four of us were stuffed from the meal. During the dinner we had talked about many different things, including desserts. The waitress asked if we wanted dessert. We all shook out heads no, but Danny said YES! Then he pointed to me and said "bring him that real good brownie dessert you have" I told her to bring four spoons. After she brought it we all tasted it: brownie, ice cream, whipped cream, and amaretto. It was good, but Danny figured out the real good dessert was from another restaurant he had recently eaten at.

Nov 25th: Wednesday: sent co-worker Taylor out for Five Guys - he brought back large double burgers. Left Chattanooga at 3 pm. Traffic wasn't that bad. Arrived home at 5:30. Will cooked burgers, I passed on the fries.

Thanksgiving: I'd been on the go the last 48 hours from Chattanooga to East Cobb to Macon. Left East Cobb at 10:30 am for Macon. Ate at 2 pm with 13 others. Left at six. Another Thanksgiving without watching NFL football.

Black Friday: First time in a week that I got to catch up on all my stuff. Fixed my sideways computer screen by googling the problem. Watched Miami/Pitt and TCU/Baylor.

Rivalry Saturday: all day football. College GameDay, GA/GT, Clemson/SC, AL/Auburn, FSU/FL, OK/Oklahoma State. Since 11 pm Thursday I didn't leave the house except to get the mail and walk the dog. Ceil finalized the rehearsal dinner invitation.

Ceil had the leashes in the car when she went shopping. I let Barney out and he was sniffing around where he usually does his business. Then he snuck through a bush when he heard a dog. There were two boys playing. Barney happily sniffed the dog, then chased him around the other side of the house. But then Barney came back running toward me - because the dog was chasing him! Barney ran back out of the other dog's yard, through the bushes - then stopped and started barking at the dog. By then I was laughing.

Sunday: Moe's with the fam. Finally found my wallet that had been missing since Wednesday – right where it was supposed to be. After sitting idle for four days Anna's Jeep wouldn't start, so we had it towed to the shop. Cars are something. Hasn't been super bad. It's all just bad because of the house stuff. Hopefully Anna's Jeep won't become a problem – it runs well. Though it's been it the shop 3 times in the past month, one time was for emissions. CRV runs well, just needed to re-weld part of the muffler. Will's Jeep and my Civic are running well. My Civic has an airbag recall that I need to get done.

Monday: worked until six. C and M were at Perimeter Mall. I stopped by Chickfila to get my November milkshake. That was my supper. Came home and played on the computer. C came home after stopping by the grocery. She watched The Voice. I cleaned up my emails – there were a bunch that came on Cyber Monday. A new show came on after The Voice that was funny but crude, about employees at a Wal-Mart-like superstore.

I closed the garage door before going to bed, and remembered we didn't pick up Anna's Jeep. Tuesday morning Ceil rode with me to pick it up, so it's not sitting around downtown Roswell another day.

Tuesday night I left work at 5:45 and headed over to the Perimeter Mall area for a focus group. Monday night Ceil said traffic there was terrible and last night it was gridlocked. I didn't made any side stops, so I was way early. The focus group was on mayonnaise with olive oil, something I eat only when no other condiments are available. The group took forever to start. We ate four half-sandwiches. I added extra mayo to them so I wouldn't miss the taste, but there wasn't much mayo taste. Perhaps that olive oil mayo is better after all.

It was almost 8 pm when I finished. Had to pick up M in downtown Alpharetta at nine. Stopped off at Chickfila for my free December diet Dr.Pepper. By then it was raining and every time I got in and out of my car I was getting wetter and wetter. The Dollar Tree didn't have what I wanted but Value Village did – I bought a cheap Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger jersey that I need to sell. Passed on a pair of black Nikes. Matthew took forever and we didn't get home until 9:45.

Wednesday: shaved off my beard this morning. Few noticed when I had it and only a few noticed this morning that I shaved. David Letterman hasn't shaved since he went off the air last May. Now he has a LONG beard. He still wears suits, though, and his hair is neatly trimmed.

Will's friend Connor plays for Oglethorpe. This year he's a junior and one of the veterans on the team. I went to a few games last year and hope to get down there for more. I know the Ivy League is competitive from watching Princeton. At times watching Oglethorpe was like watching a competitive church league game, mostly good white guys. During the summer Conner and DJ and other good players play in a competitive summer league at Johnson Ferry Baptist.