Hey, I didn't

expect this. I am in Chillicothe, OH on business where there is now 1 inch of new snow on the ground. Some schools up north of Columbus are closed, but not here.

I traveled here last night, but before leaving, I checked Weather.com where they said nothing about new snow until later this week. That is not fair!

However, a coat of new snow makes things very clean and pretty. Hope your day is a good one.

On to Regionals

C has qualified for the regional HS swim meet in the 200IM, 200 Free and 500 Free. As she can only swim 2 individual events, she will need to choose where she thinks she can do her best. 2 of her relay teams also qualified for team events.

At the conference swim meet, C placed 5 in the 200 free and 2nd in the 500 free. Just before swimming in the 200 free, she had a BGR of 44 and was cramming food in her face between Event 1 (200 Medley Relay, she swims back) and Event 3 (200 free). She was going low in her relay, but finished fine. Her 200 time was her worst and if not for the low blood sugar, probably would have placed second. She had recovered, and probably was high by the time she swam the 500 free event

We are still very proud of her and are looking forward to Regional Swim meet in Goldsboro, Feb 4

I have determined

That one of things I have allergies to is artificial cherry flavoring. It seems that a Diet Cherry Coke (or Pepsi) started this and I have eaten several other things flavored artificially with cherry. I ate something Saturday with the offending flavor and nearly immediately broke out in hives on my hands.

I enjoy cherry flavored things, too bad I will not be enjoying them as often.

New Pictures

C was having some fun with the digital camera and thought she was looking really good last night after her dance routine at the HS basketball game. And she took some pictures to prove it. I thought I would post a couple to let everyone see the latest.

Some random thoughts from a recent trip..

To FL, I did not take any more pictures, so you will have to suffice with the previously posted pic's below. We never left the Marriott Resort during daylight hours and every day looked the same, minimal fluorescent lights in a conference room with a temperature too warm to stay awake watching presenters read to a college educated audience mindless PowerPoint presentation after PowerPoint presentation while outside is was mostly sunny with a high around 8oF. We got to see the outside at lunch for about 15 minutes, then back to the cave. When we finished at 5PM we had about 45 minutes of daylight left before the sun went down, but there were more "small group" meetings to attend for discussions of what had been discussed, before going to dinner at 7PM, so that sun was missed as well.

At dinner, it was watching many people drink heavily to numb the pain of the day and to begin numbing the pain of tomorrow. Then, back to the hotel bar where those same people drank heavily. Sometimes, it was fun to watch, knowing how silly they looked. I feel sad for them, however, that their personal lives are not full enough without drowning the world with $750 bar tabs. It was good, however, to see one of the guys at the meeting. His youngest daughter, age 27, died tragically on Christmas day and getting together to focus on something other than his daughter seemed to lift him a bit and help the grieving process along. I pray for his strength.

There were 4 of us that did not drink, so if and when we left the Marriott for any reason, we were the designated drivers to keep things safe.

I came back from FL just as white as I went. I guess they did not want us to taste what we are missing. And this is to be a reward for a year of hard work! I hope we do not have a bad year.

Thanks for the cold, whomever gave it to me.

Business Activities

Today, after the meetings, we went and played golf at at local course. The teams were divided to be as fair as possible. A "Captains Choice" format was played to keep things moving. The team I was playing with won with a team score of -6. Everyone contributed equally and we all had fun. I was also fortunate to win the long drive contest, with a drive of about 260, but only because I hit the fairway. There were longer drives, but longest drive in the fairway was the requirement.

Beginning tomorrow, it is boring meeting city. I know, you feel for me!

Pictures from

As I said in one of my previous posts, I am in south FL on a business meeting and here are the pictures to prove it. We are staying at the Mariott Hotel and Resort in Key Largo. One picture is the view from my room.

The other is a shot from another room.

I am off to...

This week, my wife and kids are jealous of me because I will be in Key Largo, FL at a business meeting. What they do not understand is that these business meetings spend from 9AM until 5 PM sitting in conference rooms talking about things that would normally take only 2-3 hours if they were held in the office. This goes on for 4 days. Then, in the evenings, most of the attendees drown their displeasure about work or family life by drinking very heavily and acting foolishly. The evening festivities are fun to watch, as I do very little, if any, drinking other than diet coke.

I will post the occasional picture as available. It will be 81 for highs, 65 for lows. There will be one afternoon of Golf in Homestead, FL.

Was it something I ate?

Beginning last Saturday Evening, I noticed a weird itching sensation on my hands. I paid little attention to it. It got a little worse on Sunday and Monday, but noting that could not be tolerated.

I left on Tuesday to go on a business trip to Atlanta, noticing a little more itching. By the time I got to Atlanta, with business stops in Charlotte, NC and Greenville, SC, there were welts on my hands arms and ears. When I got up on Wednesday AM, my left eye was swollen nearly shut. I called my business contact in Atlanta and told him that I was unable to meet with him for the planned sales calls (I looked like a figure from a horror film) and told him I was going to the doctor.

I drove home (my philosophy is that if it is within ~7 driving hours, drive it, because the process of using commercial air service takes 7 hours to get almost anywhere) and went to the doctor.

The doctor indicated that they did not know the cause, called it "contact dermatitis" and gave me a steroid cream to stop the swelling and itching. Occasionally a new blister show up, but when it does, I put some 'roid cream on it and the itching and blister go away in a very short time. So, I am no longer eligible for any Hall of Fame and fear the Grand Jury and Congressional testimony, but I am much better.

No pictures of this, because it was gross. Now to figure out what I ate or touched to caused this.

Swim Team, Part 2

On Wednesday, C had another HS swim meet. Her team lost, but not due to C. In C's events, she got a first in the 200 Freestyle, and a second in the 100 Backstroke. In the Relays, her Medley team got a second (C lead off with a great backstroke, leading when she touched).

In the 4x100 Freestyle relay, her team was behind about 4 body lengths after 2 swimmers. The swimmer before C made up about half the distance. C was able to help here team finish 1st by a body length. As I said in a previous post, she has heart and competitiveness.

Swim Team

Tonight was a high school swim meet with C. While they are not typically held on a Friday evening, this was a good meet. We swam against the powerhouse team in our conference, a team that has many students that participate in year-round swimming and is generally good.

They overwhelmed our team with numbers, being larger than our team by a factor of 3, but we still did well. C placed 1st in both of her individual events, the 200 Freestyle and 100 backstroke. Her relay team got two 2nd place finishes, the 400 Freestyle and the 200 medley relays.

C has such a great attitude about swimming in that she tries very hard in all of her races. She has great heart, swimming hard, even when behind.

I am proud of her.

Happy New Year

K, C and I enjoyed each others company last evening, A went out to a friends house, spending the night. It was a quiet, and uneventful New Years Eve for us. Safe too! Hope yours was as exciting as you desired.