July 31, 7:12 PM

As of right this second, I am on vacation!  Can I get a whut-whut!

I gots me a house on the beach.  I gots me a big cooler.  I gots me a really nice beach chair.  I gots me a golf tournament involving four days of golf and booze and whut-whut.  But that's not until tomorrow.

For right this moment, I have a perfectly-poured gibson.  And that's enough.

Oooop!  Chinese food's at the door!  I've got to go!
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

July 31, 11:12 PM

I need a bigger bag.

Or less stuff.  I'm usually a light packer but the beach house doesn't have laundry, so it's either go light and be grubby or go heavy and use a bigger bag.  I suppose I could go light and wash clothes in the sink, old school.  But I was advised that the scent of Dawn on me isn't exactly an aphrodesiac.  So that's out.

Where's my gibson?  *rummages*
 
 
 
 
 
 
August 1, 9:30 AM

Hear that sound?  That's pork roll frying in my kitchen!  Pork roll, a.k.a. Taylor ham - the king of all breakfast meats.  My wife, Christine, bought a leg of the stuff for our vacation kickoff breakfast.  Now she's preparing a pork roll, egg, and cheese sandwich on a toasted roll for me.  *Sigh*  

I'm on vacation. 
 
 
  
    
  
  
  
 
 
 
 
August 1, 11:35 AM

Packing, packing, packing.  I used to make this trip with my golf bag and a small duffel thrown in the trunk of my little white CRX 2-seater.  Then I got married and it became my golf bag, my duffel, my wife's suitcase, her toiletry case, and a small bag of shoes. 

Then I had kids.  Now I have a list.  Now I have a minivan.

A full minivan.

I am, I remind myself, on vacation.  I'm also running very, very late.  We should have been on the road hours ago.  I hear the voice of the lead penguin in Madagascar: "Keep smiling, boys."
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
August 1, 6:42 PM

The eagle has landed.  I get to the top of the stairs and look out from my balcony to see the waves of the Atlantic Ocean greeting me like a friend I haven't seen since childhood.  In fact, this ocean is a childhood friend I've kept in good contact over the years.

It took me quite a bit of effort to get everything from the minivan up to the third, topmost floor, but it's worth it.  You have to be at the top, just for the view alone.  The sound of the surf is constant.  It will be the background noise for the next week.

My kids are freaking out in glee, running from one end of the place to the other like they were just released form prison.  My wife's a bit on edge after almost six hours in the car dealing with the "are we there yet"s and the "I have to go potty"s.  We've had words today, been cutting, angry.  Basically the typical taking the stuff that's making us angry and throwing it at the other person because we're running so damn late and I'm stuck in a car and I hate your music and I can't believe I had children with you.  But I hand her an ice cold beer and all is well for the next five minutes. 

She kisses me and I feel like a good husband again.  Reagan, my oldest at three and a half, does a drive by on my leg.  She gives it a big squeeze and runs off after her sister Emerson, two. 

Yes, I am the man.  Well, I could be the man if I had the motivation.

Now where's my beer?
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
August 2, 1:13 AM

It's quiet, except for the surf.  That's like a constant thunder rolling in the background.  There are times when the loudness of it draws my attention and I laugh at myself for not being used to it anymore.

I'm just checking in to see if Vic's blessed me with another Richard update.  It's almost a relief there's no update since I'm too tired to deal with it until the morning and it would kill me all night.  >8<

U2's Running to Stand Still is playing in iTunes.  I've never heard it before, and I'm really liking it.  That in itself is funny because I normally HATE U2 with a passion.  But I'm liking this song, so I guess what do I know?  The music situation is really bugging me.  I couldn't locate my iPod (*shakes fist at the kids*) and the rig is Christine's, so it's got all her music on it.  I love her but no.  Just, no.  But it's my own fault for not synching the iPod up before we left. 

Don't ask me why I'm keeping a journal, I'm not normally that motivated.  Time for sleep.  Tomorrow we're off to my aunt and uncle's for a birthday party for my cousin's kid.  I'm looking forward to seeing some family. 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
August 2, 10:27 PM

What a day.  It's been a long one but it's been a good one.

Behold the crowning achievement of post-millenial American capatalism: Wal-Mart.  They sell everything.  Well, not exactly everything, but damn close.  More to the point they sell it cheap.

We needed a few items for the rental, just a few things you tend to take for granted and don't think about packing despite having done the beach rental thing for many years.  These are things like a kitchen towel, tin foil, a book for the beach, etc.  Well, we ran that errand on the way out of town to go to my aunt & uncle's for the birthday party.

My uncle's lived in the same house since I was born.  Over the years he's made a few changes here and there including a full remodel of the interior a few years ago.  One of my cousins has a pool servicing business - they open, close, and maintain your pool on a contract basis.  Needless to say my uncle's (his father's) pool is pretty sweet.

The kids really enjoyed themselves.  I had to stick closed to my youngest most of the time since she loves to swim and is only two, but we still had a great time.  Plus, being that I'm the only member of my extended family to have moved out of the greater Merrimack Valley area, I like that my kids get to spend some quality time with them.

Everybody showed: my Mom, my sister and brother in law, their twins (my niece and nephew), all my cousins.  The only person missing was my dad.  He worked this weekend so that he could be off next weekend for the golf tournament.

The food was really good.  My uncle makes these things he calls pinwheels.  It's basically thin cuts of beef rolled up around an egg and cheese mix and thrown on the grill.  It's like braciole, but grilled and not baked.  He makes them pizziaola.  Delish.  Plus there's all manner of other BBQ fare: home made Italian sausage, wings, various salads, etc.  I am well fed.

We got back to the beach around eight.  Chris threw Toy Story into the player and bundled the kids up in a blanket.  Mimi - that's what we call Emerson, because that's what Reagan, the older one, called her early on and it stuck - anyway, Mimi fell asleep pretty quick and I tucked her in.  She gives the best hugs, right around hte neck and squeeziung as hard as she can.  The problem is she fell asleep like that, so I had to carefully extricate myself.

Reagan's fading fast.  She'll be asleep very soon.  I'm getting that vibe from Christine.  I don't think we'll be playing cards tonight.  

The schedule for tomorrow is clear.  That's right, there's not a thing on my agenda for tomorrow.  Think about it.  When was the last time you went to sleep knowing that you had absolutely nothing to do tomorrow?  No place to be, no errands to run, nada.  Zip.  Zilch.  Zero.  I can't recall.  So I do the natural thing.  I start an agenda.

Monday's To Do List:
- wake up, kiss the wife
- go get Starbucks while Chris feeds the kids breakfast (she lurves her Starbucks, I prefer Dunkin)
- ???

Basically I'm a slave to the weather tomorrow.  If it's nice, the beach.  If it's not, well, I don't know.  A red flag goes up.  If the weather is wet I'll have two young children with nothing to do.  That's bad. Hmmm... must talk to Chris about this and formulate a plan B.  After.  Rowr.

 
 
 
 
August 3, 12:43 AM

Loooong day, but a good one.  Started at 7:30 AM.  I let Chris sleep and dealt with the kids: breakfast, changes, bathing suits.  The weather is picture perfect for a day at the beach.

Chris rises and takes over with the kids.  I'm off to get sandwich fixings, ice, Starbucks, and some really great Italian bread for the sandwich.  I pick up my 14-year old cousin at my uncle's (another uncle, the younger brother of the first one) place downt the street and she rides shotgun with me.

When we get back to the place it's already 11:00 AM.  I send my cousin Lauren down to the sand to help Chris with the kids.  She brings Chris her coffee.  Today it's an iced red-eye, lots of cream and sugar.  I head up to the unit to make the sandwich.

The stick of Italian bread is not only an hour fresh but it slices easily all the way down it's three foot length.  I apply mustard before adding salami, mortadella, provolone, and banana pepper rings.  Top it off with a dash of black pepper all around before cutting it into twelve slices and wrapping them individually in tin foil.  They go into a small plastic bag with some napkins and I head on down to the beach after donning my bathing suit.

Like I said, picture perfect.  Chris packed the cooler: beer, ginger ale, water, juice boxes for the kids and some fruit.  Lauren brought a big bag of Doritos.  We eat.  The sandwich rocks.

I spend most of my time chasing Reagan and Mimi around the edge of the water.  Thankfully it's low tide so they just look for shells and avoid the waves.  I spend some time with a shovel making a serious tidal pool.  In the process I unknowingly give myself the mother of all blisters right in the middle of my right hand.  That should help me with my golf game, right?

They fall asleep around 3:00 PM and I start in on my new book, Mark Levin's Liberty And Tyranny.  It's a compelling read and I'm enjoying it.  I look over and take in the scene: the beach, the perfect weather, the clear waters, quality time with the family.  I remind Christine what a terrible idea this all was and she just rolls her eyes and goes back to her book.

When we decide to call it a day it's 5:00.  Time for dinner.  Quick showers all around to wash off the beach and we jam into the van and head off to the Galley Hatch, and old local stand-by which is very good with the kids.  Food was adequate, and they have Bananas Foster, which is only the best dessert of all time.  Of course I have to get it.

On the way home I stop at a pharmacy to get something for my blister.  They have these sticky blister pads now - I was thinking gauze and tape, since it's in the palm of my hand and I don't expect anything to stick.  When we get home I slap it on and marvellous Jesus it sticks and flexes with my hand.  Only thing is, I did it before I thought to wash the damn now-open blister and it's hurting like a bejezus.  I'm hoping it doesn't get infected.  I'll look at it again in the morning and see if this miracle blister pad hasn't worked some kind of magic.

The renters next door seem nice and we chat with them over beers on the balcony for a couple of hours.  My mother calls.  Her and Dad are off tomorrow after all and will be joining us at the beach.  Christine isn't thrilled at the thought of spending the day with her mother-in-law, but that's her problem.  I'm delighted.

I log into the site before going to bed.  OMFG!!  Richard updated!  I'm shot for the next hour.  Chris knows that look in my eyes and gives up on me and heads to bed.  I post to Richard's thread and already can't wait to see advancement.  I love that game and that terrible character I've created.  I never play a villain and the new experience is simply too fun for words.  Yay for Vic!

OK, bedtime.  Tomorrow should be interesting.
 
 
 
 
 
August 3, 9:51 PM

Vacation.  Evolved.

ROFL  

Twas another picture perfect beach day to day.  Adding to the mix was a visit from my parents which lasted nearly all day from noon on.  That was a treat.  They came with my nephew and a cooler full of chicken cutlet sandwiches.  Thanks, Mom. 

My kite needs work.  It pulls to the right, like it wants to fly sideways.  There were three kites in flight today and mine looked like the special needs kid at the school picture, off to the side doing it's own thing badly while the others flew prominent and true.  I brought it back down and sure enough one of the wing vanes was sliding up closer to the nose, throwing it out of balance.  I fixed it and we'll try again later in the week.

Remember the blister I told you about yesterday?  Well it's huge, throbbing, and just a mess in middle of the palm of my right hand.  I used a blister pad all last night and today but it didn't seem to do any of the speedy healing claimed on the box.  My tee time for the tournament's practice round tomorrow is 11:30 AM and I have no idea of what to do except to let it air dry tonight (I removed the damned useless blister pad) and then pad it with some gauze and tape it up in the morning before I head out to Haverhill Country Club to meet my Dad.  I'm so bent.  This is totally going to ruin my game and sink us, I know it.  The area surrounding the blister is red and inflammed - possibly infected. 

Time to cowboy up, I guess.  I'll tape it so it doesn't get worse from the friction and gut it out.  But I'm going to play like shit, and that suxxorz.  Fie!

More than a blister.  LOL 

I digress.  After the beach we all went to Al's Seafood.  I had the fried clams plate.  Christine had steamers and lobster stew.  The kids split a fish & chips.  All was superb.  Mom picked up the tab.  I couldn't persuade her to let me do anything other than lay down the tip, which I did.  Thanks Mom. 

The kids were mostly asleep by the time we made it back to the beach house.  That's OK, because Chris had the foresight to put them into their nightgowns when we were getting into the car at Al's.  It was just a matter of carrying the two of them upstairs and putting them in bed. 

Chris made friends with the first floor folks and she stopped to chit-chat.  She'll be up soon, I'm sure.  In any event, it gives me time to get this update in and try to figure out how best to tape a blister in the palm of my hand.  (No masturbation jokes, please.  If I hear another one I'm really going to lose it.)

Oh, and no picture today, sorry.  I decided against bringing the camera down to the sand and we forgot it at home on our way to dinner, so the pic of Al's Seafood I had planned didn't happen.  But since I gave you three on Sunday, I'm still good. 

Vacation matters.  *giggle* 
 
 
 
 
 
 
August 4, 10:51 PM

Todd Winkinson: "What a day!  What a great day!"

So I finally get to sleep late.  Christine deals with the kids' 7:00 AM wake-up call and lets me just roll over and keep snoozing.  Very nice. Very. very nice.  I lurves me my snoozing.

The rental car comes. It's a Chevy Aveo.  OK, I can roll with that.  It's only for a few days and only to get me to the country club and back.  I decided to rent a car so that I didn't leave Chris alone with the two hellions and no car.  It turned out to be a good move since it was terribly humid and the greenheads were out today down on the beach.  Chris took them around to the midway and then to Wal-Mart where she basically pushed them around and did some casual, slow-paced shopping for stuff for back home: bargain bin DVDs for the kids, a copy of Blues Brothers for me, a doll to replace the one Emerson lost yesterday, and so on.

I get to Haverhill Country Club at 10:45 for an 11:28 tee time.  Dad's not there yet, he's running late.  The cart guys already have him bagged up so I take his cart and go to my car to bag up.  Then I take it down to the driving range to get warmed up before we have to play.  While down there I meet this member Al SomethingthatstartswithaB.  Dad and I were kicking around restaurant ideas yesterday on the beach and he tells me about this place called Keon's which is fairly new and supposedly the best restaurant around.  Al owns this place. 

I don't look a gift horse in the mouth.  I introduce myself as my Dad's son and mention that I'm out of town and looking for a place to take my wife for a nice dinner and my father says his place is the best around so do you think you could get me a table tonight?  Al is only too happy to call the place and get me a table for two anytime I want.  I make a clal to verify my Aunt's babysitting availability and then ask if he can get us in at 8:00 PM?  He says absolutely no problem, I'll see you then.  Score!

Dad shows up as I'm warming up.  Lately I'm hooking my irons and I ask him to check my swing.  He says my hands are too far forward.  I correct it and sure enough I'm hitting straight again.  That was my second biggest worry aside from the blister, so do do do do dooooo, I'm lovin' it.

The first tee is right by the club house, in a spot where there's always a lot of people mingling on a busy afternoon.  So you've got a gallery when you tee off.  And these are the guys I'm going to be playing in the tournament.  No pressure or anything.  I proceed to crush my drive right down the middle of the fairway.  I actually elicit oohs and ahs, and a few comments from the gallery to my Dad about bringing a ringer.  (They know better - they've all seen me play.) My Dad's telling people, "Yep, that's my partner!"  I'm feeling good.

I proceed to have a great round.  I made two birdies.  If I play like this during the tournament we might actually have a shot at winning our flight this year. 

The way it works is this: there are eight flights, and each flight is comprised of eight two-man teams (the member and his guest).  You only play versus the teams in your flight.  You play every other team once, so it's seven nine-hole matches.  It's match play - lowest score out of the four balls wins the hole.  Ties split the hole.  Team with the most points after nine holes wins the match, and matches can be tied.  If you beat the other team by three or more points, you get a bonus point.  The team with the most points in the flight at the end of the tournament wins the flight.  I forget what the cash prize is but I think it was $500 last year (split between the two players)

Flights are organized by handicap.  You add the two handicaps for the team together and they are grouped with similarly rated players.  My Dad is an 8 and I'm a 23, so we total 31.  Our flight averages 30.  So we're OK.  We're in the fifth flight out of eight, the "Trevino" flight.  Normally we're in the sixth flight, the "Watson" flight, but my handicap has improved enough that we've moved up.  That's good and bad.

About the blister: I let it air-dry overnight and slapped a giant band-aid on it and then wrapped it a few times around in athletic tape just to hold the band-aid in place.  It did the trick.  It hurt, but I was able to play on it and it looked fine when I removed everything after the round.  I should be OK - crisis averted.

Wow, this is running way too long, so let's sum up the rest of the day.  Updated the Richard thread - yay!  The restaurant was amazing.  I had osso buco and Chris got seared sea scallops and both dishes were culinary delights.  There was a bottle of pino grigio, and dessert - white chocolate bread pudding with raspberry sauce.  Yummy.

The kids weren't asleep when we picked them up but they went right down when we got back to the beach house.  The full moon was brighter than I ever remember in my lifetime.  The beach was lit up like it was daytime. The ocean looked like it was made out of diamonds where the light reflected.  I needed a poet to adequately capture the moment but I'll settle for a pic from my horrible camera that I can't figure out how to use.
 
Time for bed.  Think good thoughts for team Scalera tomorrow.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
August 5, 9:39 PM

Team Scalera is in second palce!

It was a perfect day for golf.  It was warm but not humid.  I got two sleeves of Pro V1 balls and a new umbrella as my gift - the club gives the guests something every year.  I give Dad the balls - they're expensive, high-end balls and I'm simply not good enough to take advantage of them.

We saddled up and had breakfast - the breakfast was coffee and donuts/danishes/muffins etc..  Our first match teed off at 9:44 AM and it was close. We went back and forth the whole nine holes but in the end we won by one hole.  Score one point for team Scalera!

The second match was very much like the first.  It was close but we won.  So at the end of the day we had won both of our matches.  Only one team had done better - they won both matches as well but they won their second match by more than three holes so they got a point and a half for the match.  When all was said and done, they had 2.5 points and we had 2, putting us in second place after only one day.  That's a superb start for us and I'm beside myself that Dad and I played so well.

Chris spent the day on the beach with my cousin Lynn and my other cousin Dan's wife Donna.  They had alot of fun and the kids did, too, so that was ncie to come back to after golf.  We got pizza and relaxed, and I promised I wouldn't spend so much time on the computer tonight. 

Thus ends today's update.  I leave you with a thumbnail pic of the view from the upper deck of the clubhouse looking down the first hole from tee to the green in the distance.  HCC is a beautiful course, and I wish you could all be here to watch us play and cheer us on.

Later gators.  Three matches (27 holes!) tomorrow!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
August 10, 4:20 PM
 
Okay, okay, I know I neglected my vacation journal.  Not much to say about that except to say it was unavoidable.

The ocean was as calm as I've ever seen Friday as I was leaving for the club around 7:00 AM.  It was like a sheet of glass - beauitiful.

Friday morning we had breakfast at the club - Friday they had a full hot buffet including an omelet station.  I wish I could say that we played as well as we did on Thursday, but unfortunately we didn't.  Of the three matches we lost two and halved one, which meant that at the end of the day our score was zero.  Funny as it may sound, that put us in fourth place. 

After golf I had a quick gibson with my Dad and then I left the club to go back tot he beach and help Christine pack.  We had to be out of the rental house by 10:00 AM on Saturday and I didn't feel right drinking at the 19th hole while she was stuck with the kids ansd trying to get us packed up.  We ended up getting everything in the van and were ready to go by 10:00 PM, so we said screw it and returned the rental car Friday night and went to stay at my parents' house.  That way Chris and the girls could sleep a little more and I could just go to the club with Dad in the AM.

The laptop was packed when I got back and I was too tired after I got to my parents' place to dig it out of the packed van and make an update.

Well, Saturday we had breakfast again and then played the last two matches.  We won the first by three holes for a point and a half and then we halved the final match.  That gave us a score of one and a half for the tournament, which left us in a three-way tie for third out of the eight teams in the flight.  Hey, it's not our best showing - we took second last year - but it's respectable and I had a lot of fun hanging with my Dad.

Saturday night was the tournament dinner.  The cocktail hour started at 6:00 PM.  I went gibson, gibson, gibson.  Dad was all about the dirty martinis.  Chris stuck with vodka tonic and Mom had chardonnay.  We all had a great time and ended up getting far more intoxicated than was necessary.  My gibson total stood at six before I switched to 43 when we left the dining room for the deck and a smoke.

If you don't know what 43 is, I suggest looking it up at your local liquor retailer.  Do it now.  I was far too cocked to make a journal update, at least any that would have been semi-coherent.

Sunday was not fun.  We woke up and planned on leaving for New Jersey - my folks live just over the New Hampshire border - around 10:00 AM.  The kids ate breakfast and CHris started fiddling with the last few things we needed to toss in the van before we left.

Now I have to give you some background here.  We've been having some trouble with the passenger-side sliding door on the side of the minivan.  It had been sticking and not working smoothly.  Now I told Chris, do not use the passenger-side door.  Well, she opened it and the door damn near fell off.  The top roller came off the track and the back roller came off the track and the only thing holding it on was the power arm on the bottom.  Not a good thing.

Well, after an hour I had managed to get the top roller wedged back into its track.  That allowed me to get the door closed enough so the front edge was flush and the safety catch there could engage.  The back side of the door was another story.  The hinge wouldn't fold properly and kept me from getting it closed.  Well, I worked with it for half an hour and then I decided to get pissed.  I put all my weight into it and heaved.  It closed enough that I heard the electronic catches engage, but the door was still open a little bit. 

I pulled on the open edge as hard as I could and it wouldn't budge.  I figured, Emerson's car seat was pretty secure.  I drove home with the door the way it was and made it fine.  Tonight it goes into the shop.

Today I was back at work, but working from home.  I had two hundred and thirty four emails.  Busy busy busy.

Well, that's it.  My vacation's over.  It was a blast, and I hope this journal was entertaining for you as it was fun for me.  See you in the games, folks.

--END TRANSMISSION--