Overdue update before I leave the country...

It's been quite some time since I last posted on here, so I figured I should at least throw an update up. Frankly, I've been busy with everything that's been going on, and have had, (like Linda) a brainfreeze when it comes to writing about something. Granted, I occasionally throw up a cellphone picture on twitpic, but I have to say that it's tough to think of interesting things to post, but I shall give it a go!

As of right now, 04:36 a.m., Thursday morning, I'm down to one shift left(tonight), and 6 days before my best friend Rene drives me to Logan International Airport in Boston, for my '09 "Homecoming". I'll have Hayleigh this weekend, and then a few extra days to get things ready before flying out Wednesday night. I spent many nights doing research on multiple websites for the best flight, and found Boston to be the more direct, and least expensive flight. I could have settled for T.F. Green in Providence for commute purposes, but the connecting flight would have taken me to Philadelphia or New York City, before a direct flight to Glasgow. To me, that seems a little assinine, like taking one step back/two steps ahead, while Logan is one giant step forward, then a baby step ahead, haha. So I'll just make Rene have to deal with Boston traffic and tolls, so I can go from Logan to Heathrow, and THEN catch a connecting flight to Glasgow. I tried to make an attempt to get a flight to Prestwick airport, which is much closer for the family coming from Cumnock, but unfortunately Prestwick only deals with smaller airports in the UK and Europe.

The family is just as excited as me about coming over, and I'll finally get to meet my cousin Stewart, who I haven't seen since I was a child, and is finally home from "Oz", as he was a professional rugby player there for several years, while also attending college for Civil Engineering. He's since retired from rugby and is now back in Cumnock, bartending at my Aunt Sadie's Inn, while trying to find work in the UK. I'll also get to see my wee cousin Katie, who is getting ready to go off to the University of Dundee in a few months.

I was hoping to take a trip up to Stirling to check out Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument, but as usual, unexpected bills had popped up, and the funds are a little low. I'm fine with that, as I'll just spend some time with the family, play a round of golf in Muirkirk with Uncle Stewart and cousin Stewart, do some hiking around Cairn Table(possibly with Claire), and spend the evenings winding down at the Mercat with the locals and some McEwan Lite draughts. Aunt Sadie had threatened to throw me behind the bar for a wee bit, to pour some pints, so that could be quite interesting. There also may be a slight possibility of me taking a journey to Edinburgh next weekend, to attend a gathering of Scotster.com members in a local pub. I'm also thinking about putting some information, videos, and pictures together to promote my Aunt's place, as there isn't much information about the Mercat Inn on cyberspace. I'm bringing my camera, along with a digital camcorder that Rene is letting me borrow on the trip, and will have plenty of stuff to post about when I get back. Till then, stay safe and enjoy the next few weeks while I'm gone! LOL

Celtic Women on "Dancing with the Stars" tonight...!!

The Celtic Women will be performing on tonight's elimination show of "Dancing with the Stars." I'm hoping to catch a glimps of my favorite, Lisa Kelly(for obvious reasons), lol.




Also, good news. My July vacation has been approved by my supervisor. All I have left to do is to save the money for the plane tickets and some spending money, and on July 20th, I'll be flying over to Glasgow! Yeah me!!!

Oh yeah, I have a blog......update time.

So I'm back to work after taking a week off for vacation with my daughter before she heads back to school. 1st grade already, my word does time fly by! What did we do for vacation you ask? I had planned to go camping with her for a day at Yogi Bear Campground in Sturbridge, MA, and possibly a trip to Six Flags New England, and my Dad's in Westerly, but due to my never ending bills, funds were to low. It felt like we did nothing, well, as far as day trips, but we did end up spending time with one of my best friends, and his kids. Unfortunately, he had some stuff go down at his job and ended up quiting, but he had already started the interview process for another job. So needless to say, we were both off from work, and had the kids, which our daughters are best friends like ourselves.

So we pretty much relaxed and let the kids go at it every day. We did get to go to Quaddick State Park for an afternoon and I never realized how much of a fish Hayleigh is. I sat on the bench under a tree, as I hate swimming with fish, and there were three huge pumpkin seeds lurking around when I first went in, so needless to say I wasn't in the water very long. So I sat on the bench nervously gazing out into the water, while my 6 year old and her friends were flopping around and diving underwater without her usual Hannah Montana life preserver on. She wears it while in pools, as the water is usually close to being over her head at times, but she was smart and wouldn't go into the lake too far. After a while she came out and we played in the sand for an hour or so, then headed back to my friend's house to have dinner on the grill.

Our last day was last friday, where I treated her to a pedicure at one of the local nail salons(the ex wife loves to spoil her with girly stuff, it wasn't her first time). I spent the time sitting across from her, glancing back and forth from her to the front of the store where the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen was getting her fingernails worked on. Of course I was to shy to do or say anything, so I continued to watch Hayleigh while she attempted to have a conversation with the oriental lady that was painting her toe nails. Honestly, I know the lady didn't understand what she was saying, and spoke in extremely broken english, but it was cute and funny to watch Hayleigh at the same time enjoying her "pidicure" and trying to talk to her. We then continued on to the friend's house again, before bringing her to North Windham to meet up with the ex around 6:30 pm.

I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and doing fire department stuff, and went ATV riding with friends on Sunday, before heading into work Sunday night. Now I feel like the "white cloud", as it's been extremely quiet all week so far, on the 9-1-1 front, so I decided to try out my laptop's movie maker and made a slideshow. It's my first attempt, so I decided to make one about my trip last September to Scotland. My friend Linda(who's probably the only one that reads this blog..lol) has mentioned that she wants to go, so I figured I should post it. I'm hoping to get some more fire department pictures so I can make one for that. Enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think....
i