I said to myself yesterday when I got to work, “I should blog,” but I didn’t feel up to it. It was a long but enjoyable weekend, I wish I would’ve had Monday off, to be honest. I’m looking forward to eventually having a job where one actually accrues “vacation,” cuz then I’ll be able to (theoretically) take these useless Days of Christmas off.
So yeah, Mom and Dad stayed over on the 23rd, that was nice. We had a late dinner at Brooklyn Grill, where I locked the keys in the car. Mom has the triple-A, though, so shortly after we got done eating, the car was open again. No harm, no foul on that front.
We left for Milwaukee around 11 on the 24th, and so we arrived at Jen & Joe’s in advance of the Packers-Vikings? game. That was a helluva contest, no? Quite an enjoyable game, and when we got down to the 2-minute warning, Dad, Joe and I had reasoned that if it went to OT, we would have to forego 5:30 church and go to midnight mass instead. Thank goodness Mike Tice is a moron (and a moron who has a job for at least another year, which delights Packers fans across the midwest). Grandma, Uncle Dave, and Adam came over for the game as well, and Joe’s mom, Kathy, went with us to church and hung out for the evening as well. Nice ‘Eve’ in general.
On the 25th, we opened some gifts, everyone gave and received adequately, then we stopped over to the Saffords before heading to Mukwonago for the Bock X-Mas? shindig. That event was kind of a blur for me — it seemed like we weren’t there that long, and I didn’t get a chance to talk to everybody, but I did get my turn to hold my little 2nd cousin Jake, who looks exactly like his mom, or exactly like his dad, depending on who you ask when. Aaron brought some fabulous beer from Capital Brewery, whose wares I had not sampled previously, and Dan and I decided we should go up north for ice fishing next month.
Boxing Day we went over to Grandma Markowski’s house, and I thought it was kind of funny that for the first time that I can remember, we all sat together in the basement watching some of the Bizarro Packers-Vikings? Game: whereas the premium matchup on Christmas Eve decided the NFC North champion, Sunday’s game between the Bears and Lions would settle the question of the division’s biggest loser. That turned out to be Chicago, although they got seriously hosed on a touchdown call in the game’s waning moments, so that debate may not be so cut-and-dried. Something else that day that I found to be hilarious: Uncle Dave and Grandma bought me the same pair of gloves at Kohl’s. Now I have a spare.
On Sunday night, back at Jen & Joe’s, the 6 of us played Jen’s new DVD-based trivia game, “SceneIt?” Everyone else assumed that I would dominate the game with my vast wealth of useless movie knowledge, and as it turns out, they were right. It was a fun game, though. Dad even knew a few answers, and humored us all by staying awake for two full games.
I ended up staying over one extra night and then calling in to work on Monday morning. I arrived back at my desk @ 10:45. I think I’ll probably work another couple hours on Thursday to make up the difference. Or I might not, depends how I feel after tomorrow. I’m gonna guess “bored out of my skull.”
After the NFL weekend, my playoff tree encountered a few very minor changes, most notably, the unexpected Green Bay victory in Minnesota leading to a playoff contest @ Lambeau.