In my last post, I left you at Ikea with my brother and his wife.  Well, after spending next to nothing on a bunch of neat stuff for the house, we said our goodbyes to Seth who was on his way back to Ft. Campbell.  We went on to Frisch’s for a quick lunch.  Good stuff, but not what it used to be, imo.  So now it was our turn to head to the Outlet Malls.  I’m really wishing that I would have gone the day prior with my brother as it was ass cold.  I mean, even for my polar bear self, it was cold.  Hunter, Chloe and I went one way, while Liz went another.  The plan was to meet up somewhere in the middle.  Evidently, the three of us can cover the mall 2 and a half times in the time it takes Liz to cover two stores as we were stuck walking around endlessly while we waited for her to finish up.So an hour or so later we finally leave, headed back to Dayton for one final night with the family.  But we didn’t even make it half way when I noticed that I was not in possession of my phone.  I was positive I had it when I left the mall, but it was nowhere to be seen.  I pulled over at the next exit and searched the car as best as I could, but to no avail.  So we decided it had fallen out at the mall and turned around to look around in the parking lot as I knew I had it before I got in the car.  Of course, the phone wasn’t there and I was certain my phone was gone for good.  I decided the only option was to go to the nearest Best Buy and purchase a new device, but I was worried sick that since it was New Years Day, everything would be closed.

Luckily, Best Buy was open and I made a quick stop to check out their selection of phones.  In typical Deke luck, my upgrade doesn’t kick in for another 2 months and all the phones worth buying were $700 or so.  So much for that idea.  We had back to Dad’s where I called my carrier and informed them my phone was lost.  I started the process of an insurance claim when my Step Mom walked in and told me to check the car again.  I was convinced it was not there as I looked carefully in the daylight and couldn’t find it.  But, I thought, what the hell.  What do I have to lose?  I went back to the car and slid the drivers seat front and back a few times when my phone flew out from between the seat and the seat belt latch — somewhere that in this car is next to impossible to see.

I’ve lost my mind, i was starting to think as I secured my phone.  The second time I’ve lost tech this week — the first being my tablet as I put it on the dashboard of the car at 11pm and forgot it was there and freaked out.  In my defense, the case is black, it was dark, and I never put my tablet there.  Anyway, we stay at Dad’s until around 9 when we depart for the house.  We agreed to come by before we left town, which, after a good nights sleep and a relatively smooth packing process, we did.  Visiting one last time with Dad before we headed home, we finally left around noon.

We left around noon primarily because it was starting to snow and we didn’t want to be caught up in it.  The drive to Cincinnati was relatively easy, with only minor problems caused by the snow.  Cincy to Louisville was pretty smooth, was just a few rough spots where the wind and snow were issues.  Luckily we came through when we did, because not much later a 40 something car pile up took place where we were no more than an hour previous.  Stopping in Louisville for a quick trip to a Barns and Noble to get Hunter a book he had been looking for all week and no bookstore in Dayton seemed to have.  We decided then to hit up hobby lobby so Liz could get some craft crap and then Best Buy so I could by my replacement 360.

By the time we left Louisville, it was 4:45pm and getting dark.  We quickly hit the road on the way to Nashville where we were to stay the night and leave out early in the morning.  A few miles outside of Louisville the weather turned to shit.  The wind picked up and the snow started blowing.  People were sliding off the road left and right.  What normally would be an hour and a half drive turned out to be 4 hours as we pulled into Bowling Green around 9pm.  Stopping here was our best bet as we knew the Microtel is a good place to stay and had a TV compatible with the new 360 I bought earlier — Netflix is nice in a hotel.

We head out down the road for a quick meal at the Outback and return to the hotel and quickly fall asleep.  The plan was to get up around 7 or 8 and drive back to Little Rock, arriving around 2pm.  Luck had other plans.  Remember back in July at my brother’s wedding when I mentioned that our battery died?  Right.  Same battery, same situation.  Except this time it was much, much worse.  This time, the roadside assistance tech ran some diagnostics on the car and determined that the car was pulling directly from the alternator because the battery was fried.  He said that the next time we turn the car off, we will need another jump.  I asked him where the nearest walmart was and quickly made my way over there after thanking the tech and getting a jump.  I pick the battery I need and take it to the desk and asked how long it would be before they could put the battery in and was told 2 hours because there were a few oil changes in front of me.  This was unacceptable.  I asked why they couldn’t quickly change the battery in between oil changes and she said it was not policy.  I relented and had her put me on the list.  I walked outside and called area stores for prices and install times and was better off staying put.  About that time, a tech came outside and was looking at the car next to me and I asked him what was needed to change the battery.  He told me what I needed and showed me where they were and I picked up what I needed and the battery, checked out and proceeded back to the car.

And as I arrive, a tech is walking to my car to change the battery and told me that everyone would have to get out and he would have to take it into the bay.  I said that wasn’t cool, and asked if he could show me how to change the battery myself, which he did.  30 minutes later (it took a while to get the battery re-secured) we were on the road again — this time with renewed determination to make it home as soon as humanly possible.  Arriving home around 7pm — yes, that’s 5 hours later than planned — we quickly unloaded the car and crashed…having little energy left after such an “entertaining” day.

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After a pretty uneventful, yet late (and long) drive to Ohio, and after going to my clients office and planning a full network move, we finally make it back to Jon’s (hereinafter referred to as “the house”) and settle in for the night.  Chloe sleeps all night, as does Hunter, so we all slept fairly well.  And then the sun came out and Chloe woke up.  Stupid biological clocks.  Up at dawn with nothing to do but wait for my client to call — he is notorious for waking up extremely (like after noon) late, we head over to a local Perkins for breakfast.  Naturally, half way through the meal, my client calls — surprisingly early, I know.  We agree to meet within the hour and hang up.

An hour or so later, I am dropped of at my client’s new office and begin getting the new spaces set up for the move.  This was the easy part, as I would later find out.  Finishing up the preliminary tasks, we head to the old office where the demolition of the current network is scheduled to begin.  I start the process of determining what is attached to what, and begin to disconnect the computers.  Crawling under the table to unplug wires, I had to disturb what can only be described as a small family of dust bunnies to reach my goal.

A few hours later, all the PC’s are disconnected and packed, ready to be moved.  and I finish the day on a high note.  I send a message to Liz to come and pick me up and I go over the next day’s business with the client and soon depart.  Evidently Liz had been shopping because the car was full of shopping bags and barely enough room to put my bag and myself.  We head to Dad’s and spend the rest of the evening there before we head back to the house and call it a night.

The next day is relatively uneventful, with not so much as a hiccup in the daily routine — breakfast, work, Dad’s, the house, sleep.  It isn’t until Friday that the fun truly begins.  The idea was to finish up with the client, then hang out with Dad most of the day.  However, due to some scheduling conflicts that didn’t materialize as planned.  My brother was in town visiting and I got done at the clients at close to the same time he got finished shopping at the Outlet Mall in Cincinnati.  We meet up at Dad’s house and spend the evening catching up.

Saturday was spent hanging out and generally taking it easy.  We had planned on taking Hunter to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, but after loading the car up and heading to the museum, we discovered it was closed.  Hunter, of course, wasn’t too happy, but understood.  We decided to make the most of it and go to one of my childhood favorites — Graeters Ice Cream.  Having our fill, we headed back to Dad’s to plan the evening. My sister, in town from Arkansas as well, had a creative idea to take a photo that was taken of the family back in 1992 and retake the photo in 2011 since everyone was in town — a rarity in our family.  The plan was put in motion and we all met up at the Front Street Lofts at 7 and find the elevator lift and take a few shots.

Of course, nothing works as planned, as Jon was late getting off work and didn’t show up until around 8pm.  All of us were taking practice shots and getting ready for the final cut — all of us except Liz who stayed in the car with Chloe.  Luckily, she had no objection to this, as I thought before I went out for a smoke.  After Jon arrived and everyone was ready, we took the final shot and disbanded.  Unfortunately, that was the last (and only) time I saw Nik on the entire trip.  Oh well.  We all left and went to my Aunt and Uncle’s for a new years party — or what was supposed to be.  By the time we arrived, the crowd had already dwindled to people we didn’t know and a few of the other aunts and uncles.  No cousins.

Bummed, we decided to head back to the house and ring in the new year with Jon, Emily, Seth, Nicole, Liz, Hunter, Chloe and myself indulging in New Years Eve revelry.  The ball drops and everyone soon leaves as they are tired, and we were as well.  The next day is shopping — finally.  The only hitch – I still had to get paid for my work.  And of course, my client didn’t want to wake up until around 11 — 2 hours after we had planned on heading to Ikea and the Outlet Malls.  We head down to the client’s new office and I go over things one last time and receive compensation and say my goodbyes.  We meet up with Seth and head south to Ikea.

Find out what happens during our shopping excursion and the trials and tribulations of driving in January in the next installment of the Holiday Adventures series.

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So Christmas came and went with out so much as a whimper, with lots of great gifts to be given and received by all.  Arriving home from the inlaws house around 4pm, we had 6 hours give or take to pack and get the car ready for Ohio.  Unfortunately, like most things in my life, Murphy’s law is in full effect.  Nothing got packed until the morning we are to depart.  No big deal, we still got out of town by 7 am.

Driving straight to Dayton is about a 11 hour drive on a good day — e.g. no children, frequent pit-stops, etc.  With kids and stops, this can easily turn into a 12 hour plus drive.  Ours, thankfully fell somewhere in the middle, around 11.75 hours — not too bad, but a tad too long in my opinion.  Anyway, we make it to our motel in Dayton around 9:00 pm and get our room.  Normally, we would go to Dad’s first and get settled in, but we were meeting a friend and wanted to visit with her before settling in and doing the family thing.  The idea was for the kids to go to bed and for me and Liz to mosey over to her room (she was staying nearby) and catch up on old times, etc.  Of course the kids were having none of it.  Chloe didn’t want to sleep and Hunter decided he wanted to stay up and watch TV.

Finally, the crotch spawn children went to sleep (around 10:45 mind you) and we went over to our friends room and hung out.  Evidently, around 2:30am, Hunter woke up and freaked out because he couldn’t find us (we forgot to tell him where we would be) and went outside to look for us.  I heard the door open and close and rushed out to find Hunter traumatized.  So I took him back to our room, told him to chill for 3 minutes, ran to our friends room and gathered Liz and said our goodbyes.  30 minutes after finding Hunter outside, we got him calmed down and back in bed.  As it was now 3am, we decided to go to bed ourselves.

Waking up at the ripe hour of 9am, we packed the car up and drove the short drive to Dads house where we were greeted by Beth and an army of small fuzzy rat looking things dogs.  We all moved into the living room where we were told that we would be staying at my step-brother Jon’s house for the week — which I thought was pretty cool.  The downside was that we had to wait until almost 5pm for Jon to get off work and meet us at Dads, let alone get ready and take us over to the house so we could get settled in….and I still had to have a meeting with my client that evening!

Arriving at Jon’s around 7:30, we quickly got the 5 minute tour and visited with Jon for a few minutes.  Having to go to my client’s office and take schematics of a network move and discuss the week’s projects before 10pm made for a quick stay before we were all in the car again.

Stay tuned for part 2 of my Holiday Adventure as I deal with dust bunnies larger than a cat and an earsplitting, blood curdling, ultra-mobile 10 month old and confined spaces!

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