**

So I'm back at work today and now I remember why I played the lottery. UGH! Sleeping till noon was really so much more satisfying. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention? I was on vacation last week. It was exquisite! Nah, I didn't really do anything, but isn't that what vacations are all about? Yeah, I kinda thought so too.
The power cord on my laptop has a short in it somewhere. I did some research on the internet and found that a new power cord is gonna run me about $70. I mean WTF? It's a damned POWER CORD! So I'm gonna take it in to a computer store here and see if they can't fix it. My mom has the same brand of laptop as I do, so I asked her to borrow her cord until I could get mine fixed (she doesn't hardly EVER use it) unfortunately they are two different cords and connecters. Fortunately, she let me borrow the laptop so I'm not completely going cold turkey but until I can figure out my password for my outlook express, I may be spotty on receiving or sending e-mails. I feel like I'm on a deserted island or something.
I don't know what got into me yesterday. I cooked my ass off. Homemade chips and guacamole from scratch, My world-famous pork and crab fried riced for dinner and an apple crumble pie for dessert. The fried rice was finished off last night and there is only about a quarter of the pie left so I guess they were okay. Oh, and if you get Blue Bell brand ice cream? Lemon Ice Box Pie. Trust me on this one. You'll LOVE it!
I have a pack and a few cigarettes left and I am gonna try to put them down again. Wish me luck. The doc actually offered some new pill that is supposed to help and I think I'll take him up on his offer. Either way, it's time to quit. I had a complete physical a few weeks ago and passed with flying colors. The diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol are WELL under control. Heart strong, lungs are functioning well, but they say I have the lungs of a 65 year old. Not good but quitting now should help that immensely.
Okay, It's Monday and I gotta get back to work. Have a great week ya'll. Talk to you soon.
Love,
Me

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

... they'd have no luck at all. What an ordeal my mom and dad are going through. You remember me telling you about the last time we had all that horrible rain? How my mom and dads house flooded, not once but twice? The good news was that they got all new carpet in the house and did some renovations that had been on the back burner for a while. The house is really looking good.
Well, Josh had been sick since he got back home and they hadn't seen him. Saturday, I loaded up the car and we went over to say hi and just spend some time hanging out. When we walked up to the door, I could hear a vacuum cleaner going. Pretty unusual since mom has a cleaning lady that comes in now and again while she is at work to do that shit for her. (Yeah, must be nice, right? And she calls ME spoiled. Pffft) Anyway, we walk in and the high-heat industrial lights are out and there are two shop vacs going full blast. They got flooded again.
No, we haven't had any bad rain lately. Apparently the cleaning lady has one of those swiffer-type mops with the cleaning chemicals in a bottle on the handle. You know the kind I'm talking about. The last time she left, she put the mop near the water heater. There is a tube that branches off the feed to the water heater that provides water to the automatic ice maker. Well, the chemicals ate through the line and there was water spraying all night long.
That water was spraying right on the water heater as well. It got into the electrical system of the heater and tripped the circuit breaker. When dad woke up, he started cleaning up and went to reset the circuit breaker. As soon as he did, flames exploded from the water heater. I mean shit! WTF? Luckily the fire was under control within minutes and did no damage to the house. Also luckily, the circuit breaker did its job and the house didn't burn down in the middle of the night.
So the end result is, they get a new, energy efficient water heater and dad has the impetus to do the renovations on the utility room he's had planned for a long time. So all's well that ends well, but you just gotta be asking "What's next?" That's how my weekend went. How was yours? Later skaters.

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yeah, yeah, yeah ... I know. So spank me (please?) I don't know what the deal is. I just really haven't had much to say and have not really been hanging out much lately. I apologize for that. A couple of things have happened though that you might find interesting ... or not. First off, one of the guys in my office (he works on the paper with us) got a job with FEMA in New Orleans. He is from near there so this is perfect for him. He drives from New Orleans and rents an apartment here during the week. It is a promotion and means he will be closer to home so I'm really happy for him. It really sucks though because he does a lot of work and will be missed in the office. The rest of us are going to have to bust our asses now picking up his part of the workload. Another good thing is that it COULD, maybe, possibly, I hope, mean a promotion for me. But of course, now that I've said that, there's no freaking way it's gonna happen. We'll see. Second, I went in to the boss and asked about the possibility of writing the occasional cooking column for the paper. Nothing spectacular, just a tips, techniques and the occasional recipe column. She brought up that it might be a good thing to put on the post TV channel. So I may have a cooking show soon. WHODA THUNK IT? Not me, but I'm kinda excited at the prospect. We have a professional kitchen on post that they teach culinary classes in so that's good and it would promote the class so it's a win-win for everyone I think. We are gonna sit down and talk about it when I get off vacation. Speaking of vacation, I took this week off so we could go watch Joshua graduate from basic training. It ain't happening. When Joshua was born his feet were really deformed, so deformed they had to break them and he wore plaster casts for the first six months of his life. He has never really had problems with them since then, but apparently they were just lying dormant. Once he got to basic with the constant running, marching, etc., they started bothering him. He was tested and diagnosed with a partial foot deformity and deemed unfit for service because of it. He was medically discharged and got home Monday. It's all good. He was disappointed but now plans to go to college and get a degree. A good decision on his part, I believe. So he'll find a job for the summer, put some money away and start in the fall. That, I believe, is about it. I am taking a road trip this weekend to get out of the house and spend some time with me. I'm really looking forward to it and hope to have some great pictures to share. I'll also try to post more and get by your sites. In the words of Lou Costello, "I been a BAAAAAAAD BOY." But I think I need to post more often. I miss you all. Well, until next time, take care. Tommy out!

Posted by Tommy Gunn at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)