As promised...

After three days of steady snow and about 18 inches on the ground, the storm has passed. It was nothing short of unbelievable. Below are a few pictures from the weekend -- including the annual Murphy Family Christmas Party (we missed you Melissa!).







Next up.... LONDON!

Waiting

With all the rain in recent weeks, I had just about given up on seeing any large quantities of the white fluffy stuff before 2009. I have yet to see any flakes out my office window, but the skies are ominously gray, and my co-worker just announced to our pod that the storm hit the 128-belt only minutes ago. The weather channels are predicting heavy snow beginning this evening lasting into the wee hours of Saturday morning, and a snow emergency went into effect at 9am this morning. Schools were canceled across the board and companies are granting early dismissal to their employees. Although many people dread this kind of Nor'eastah, as a devoted patron of public transportation, I just look forward to the peaceful lull that nearly every winter storm brings. Three cheers for the first real snow of the season!

(I'll be sure to post some pics tomorrow -- the one used in this post is from 2007 and is not mine)

In a Fog

We have had three days of very dense fog overnight and most of each morning (luckily no golf delays though). I alerted Colleen to use her fog lamps on the way to school, and to make sure she turned them off when she parked so the car battery wouldn't die. This happened to Melissa in high school and she had to wait for AAA and miss crew practice while the battery recharged. Anyway, I went to a holiday party last night, a cookie exchange where no cookies were exchanged, but some alcohol was consumed. Got up this morning and low and belold my car wouldn't start! Yes, I left my fog lamps on all night and I had no power. AGH. Called Mercedes to come jump my car and found out that my smart car has two batteries, one for the engine and one for the extra stuff. If I used the key fob to start the car and not the keyless start, the car should and indeed did, start! Yeah! I learn something new all the time.

Not having dad around every day has forced me to be somewhat self sufficient in troubleshooting problems that I usually left to him. He probably has found the same thing true as well. I'll be glad when we are back living together every day and we can revert to our own realm of expertise!

What is wrong in this world?

Just read a very small piece in the local paper about the American, a terminally ill 59 year old former computer scientist from Chicago, who recently committed suicide on British TV with his wife by his side. He wanted to lessen the pain and suffering of himself and his family since he was going to die at some point anyway. Apparently he made this decision in 2006 and created a documentary concerning his decision. I don't judge the family decision to end his life, who can say how one would react in the same circumstances. However, why is everyone jumping on the band wagon to put this stuff on TV and/or the internet? Why do people need or even want to watch this sad event? Does everyone need and want 5 minutes of fame? I guess this is just another sign that I am getting older and the generation gap is getting bigger. I really question what direction our world is going in; it seems like it is backwards. Backwards to medieval times and before when it was sport to watch hangings, killings, etc.

Ideas for Londontown

One of my co-workers lived in London for a while and had the following suggestions for our visit:

• Portrait Gallery
• Ben's Cookies
  
• War Museum
• Cambridge/Oxford (day trip if we have time)
• British Museum and Reading Room
• Greenwich
  
• The Globe Theatre
• Kew Gardens - Richmond
• Portobello Road
• Camden for outdoor shopping
• He also suggested two Curry Houses (I thought maybe we could supplant the Chinese Food on Christmas Eve with some good London Curry):
• Khan's (Typical curry house in Bayswater)
  
• Rasa Samudra (all Fish, near Forrester's London office)

Counting down - only two weeks from today until I leave :)

Winter Formal 2008

At last the long awaited Winter Formal pictures! Before the pics though you have to hear my rant. I know winter formal is not at all about the parents, but what a night I had. Jim, Em, and Mel will appreciate this. First we (Colleen and I) had to pick up the fire pit from Sarah's house (at the beach) for the after party. We drove to Veronica's (in Mandarin) to drop it off and pick up some of the kids in Colleen's group. The group was huge, 40 some kids. We drove to Timaquana Country Club (on the other side of the river) for pictures. This is a beautiful country club overlooking the St. John's river with magestic views of downtown Jax. However, it was dark out so don't know why we had to go all the way there, anyone's house with Christmas decorations would have done nicely. It was totally chaotic at TCC, there was another huge group of kids taking pictures as well, juniors (ack, seniors cannot be seen with juniors) and they had a party bus, totally cool. Obviously a parent was involved in planning that group. Then we had to carpool to Five Points. Two limos were picking up the group after their dinner at a restaurant there. The idea being it would be cheaper; good intention, bad plan, too much driving. I think it was a wash. Anyway, back through downtown and out to the beach. I met up with Robyn and Randy Riegler at Ruth's Chris for a much needed glass of wine and some dinner myself. As you young people know, it is a lot of organizing, preping, driving, and they only stayed at the dance for 30 minutes. That's right 30 minutes! One more dance to go....prom!

Okay, here are the pics. Everyone looked great and they all said they had a fun time. Which is, afterall, the point!

Colleen and her date - Bradley. (Melissa, note
the sneakers.)

Mel and her date, Shubert with Colleen and Bradley.

The Farn Family (aka Fearsome Foursome), Haley, Colleen, Mel, and Sarah.

Group Shot

College Bound

Good news!! Colleen had her first acceptance for college today from Florida State Univ (FSU). Jim and I are so proud and hope that this will be the first of many!

This Chicken'z Got Skillz