12/20/09

There is most definitely an expiration date concerning my patience for dealing with certain unnamed family members, children, and in-laws. We reached that expiration date tonight. I won't be going into any gratuitous detail or anything, as they are still relatives of mine, but there came a point in the night where I had had enough. I thus found it prudent to grab the remaining four beers from the fridge and retire to my sleeping quarters to do some reading. 'Tis better not to open my mouth in such a situation, I have learned over the years.

Long drive home tomorrow and then a day off on Tuesday. Hopefully I can get a good break concerning Wednesday's weather and we'll be back in the swing of things.

12/19/09

I don't know exactly how the word 'vacation' is defined, but I suspect that I got suckered today. I went for a ride over to Gaylord with my father so that we could pick up a few supplies and get out of the house for a while. My brothers and my sister-in-law had already left to go snowboarding and my sister's kids were getting pretty loud. Getting out and about sounded like a good idea. At some point during the drive, the topic of firewood arose. We had some left from last night but not enough to get through the weekend. Dad mentioned that he had spotted some dead trees along one of the streets near our rental house. So, on my vacation, I got to trudge up the side of a mountain and carry logs back to the truck. Then, back at the house, I got to take turns with Dad as we sawed the logs into pieces that would fit in the fireplace. We were using a simple hand saw. That was big fun... or something.

Plenty of relaxation by the fire through the rest of the night helped to make it feel more like a vacation though. Good enough.

12/18/09

It often gets overlooked, but Northern Michigan really is a beautiful slice of America at this time of year. Unfortunately I (along with everyone else) just lost to my youngest brother in a poker tournament to round out the night. Such is life. The drive up north was pleasant and relaxing. The weather was good. Our rental house at Boyne Mountain is rather impressive and the beer has flowed freely thus far. I can't complain.

12/17/09

Spite is underrated. I had some unfinished business from my last trip back home. Today was the day that I was forced (in a liberal use of the term) to tend to this unfinished business. Never one to make things easy though, I left my full winter beard on prominent display. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry about it. Just accept the fact that bald dudes with grizzly beards are not exactly on the cutting edge of masculine attractiveness. The result of tonight's sociological experiment - it really doesn't matter. I'm an ugly bearded mofo and she just had to deal with it. Unfinished business concluded. Spiteful nature satisfied. Yeah, I can't stand that chick. So obviously it's amusing to me that things went as they did. I'm pretty manly... or something along those lines.

I think I'm riding up to Traverse City with my father tomorrow but I really don't know. Whatever. Somebody will call me in the morning and give me some kind of direction. Good enough. For now, I'm just pretty manly... or something along those lines.