Exploring Arizona...

     After the excitement died down from picking up the family and getting them to the apartment... (still can't believe how clean it is. Of course, I won't be able to find anything for a while), we all slept... (except Natalie who was up at 7 and figured out how to turn the tv on for cartoons: she figured out the remote faster than I did).  I made breakfast for all and then we went out for a guided tour of my "hood".  I drove them around Tempe and then downtown, showed them where I worked, and then we wanted to check out the Botanical Gardens for some cactus and other indigenous plants.  We drove there and found out it was closed for a private party... (bummer).  So, instead we took a ride into Old Town Scottsdale and had lunch at the Mission... (could be the best guacamole I have ever eaten, no offense to those who make their own).  They prepare it at the table and I am inspired to actually try to make it myself...(hopefully I won't poison myself in the process). FYI, here's a great website for cooking hacks like your author for all kinds of recipes and cooking hints---www.allrecipes.com.

     But I digress...(and you know that no one goes off on a tangent better than I do).  After lunch, we walked around Old Town and the shops... (the girls are master shoppers. Nothing in the stores goes uncooked at or untouched).  We left (dragged them) out of there and went to pick up the rental car in Tempe, then home to pack for the trip up north to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. I turned the family on to the only fast food that I will eat and we had In N' Out burgers for dinner.  We left Sunday morning and drove up "the" 17 to the Flagstaff area...(the transition from desert to pine forest is amazing...pay attention, Sheryl, zzzzzzzz).  We checked into the hotel... (the beginning of the "one and done tour of 2011". More about that). Then we went to the Meteor Crater... (a practice hole for the Grand Canyon), but it was amazing how a piece of rock (I know its not just a rock) 150 feet across could make a hole that huge...(They found pieces over 2 miles from the impact zone). www.meteorcrater.com. (Blogs that entertain AND inform).  The wind was howling so hard that I thought we might lose one of the girls, but they were troopers and it was spectacular.  I nodded off in the movie...(dark, cool, zzzzzzz).  We then had dinner at a local brew pub (Sister and Bro-in-law are connoisseurs of micro-brews).  There are some pretty awesome restaurants in Flagstaff but the best part of Flagstaff was the weather.  It was in the 70's during the day and down into the 50's at night (Phoenix was in the 90 's that week).  Inspiration #2--plan 2-3 day excursions up north during the red-hot summer to come.  We were now prepared to visit the highlight of the trip (for me the highlight was having sister and family here), the Grand Canyon...

Where's Jimbo)

I know a few of you have been asking that question...(you have been asking, haven't you?). April has been a whirlwind month and there's a lot going on so I will catch you up the best I can. Due to technical difficulties (read that as operator error) I couldn't publish this blog so I am rewriting it and hoping for the best. After Country Thunder and several washings of my "cakies" (new word I coined because my khakis were "caked" with mud), I spent the Monday and Tuesday (April 11 and 12) finishing getting the apartment ready for the grand visit from the previously unnamed guests...since this is written post-visit, I can tell you that my sister and her family came to visit for the girls spring break vacation. It was even crazier because we... (read that "me") were able to keep the girls in the dark without spilling the beans. My sister didn't reveal where they were going until they were in Atlanta waiting for their connecting flight. How cool was that? I heard the shrieks and excitement via phone call from Atlanta and it made me even more excited that they were coming.

Before they arrived on Friday the 15th, I worked Wednesday and Thursday at the Convention Center with a pair of 15 hr days... (my boss "punished" me for working for the other company last weekend). The days dragged on because I was anticipating the big visit but I made it through... (the concert by Three Doors Down ended the Best Buy convention). Friday morning I did last minute tweaks to the apartment and went to the store and stocked up on some things from the supermarket, including some "gravy" milk... (2% milk. I only drink skim which the girls refer to as "skin" milk). Their flight arrived pretty much on time and I picked them up and brought them back to my apartment. Sheryl and Craig took the guest room...(finally get to use that room) and the girls shared the queen sized aerobed in the living room. I couldn't believe they were actually here. Looked forward to spending the week exploring my new state with them...

Some personal notes that I included in my original blog...Happy Easter to all and their families and welcome to Melanie Lee for joining the extended family. Congratualtions to Andy and Christy (especially Christy) on their baby girl. Stay tuned... Just getting started.

What a week it was...

What a week this is turning out to be... a couple of days of automatic pilot and just plain old survival instinct. As I have explained, in the security business you need to strike while the iron is hot and my iron is set on "molten lava" right now. Last week was a reminder of how much work I can get if I want it. After working Sunday (13.5 hrs), Monday (12.5 hrs) and Tuesday (15 hrs) at the Convention Center, I drove down to Florence, Arizona Wednesday morning and did a 15 hour shift at Country Thunder until 2am Thursday morning! Just writing about this stretch is making me tired again, but I survived and the rest of the week was easy... (Thurs. 12hr., Fri. 8 hrs., Sat. 8 hrs. and Sun. 12.5 hrs.). Total days--12 in a row. Total hours worked--109.5 hrs. So here I am enjoying two days off before heading back to the convention center on Wed. (15hr.) and Thurs. (15hr.)before my "visitors" come on Friday... They are staying from the 15th until the 23rd and I am so excited to have them visit my "hood". I am sure it will be busier than my work schedule (I wonder why) but they are on vacation and I'm just glad to be tagging along. The apartment is cleaner than it has been in a long time (although still a work in progress), but it's a guy's apartment (not filthy but cluttered with stuff). Country Thunder was fantastic! Being a huge country fan myself just added to the enjoyment. I even saw some people who remembered me from the previous year (favorably). I spent my days posting people and check id's and working the camping entrance... (those clever fans always try to sneak alcohol in, but I caught most). Wednesday I spent at the gates keeping people out because set-up was still going on. Thursday was the actual start of the event and I saw Sawyer Brown play for the second time that week (they played at the Indian Gaming Association convention also). Friday the acts moved to the huge main stage and Jason Aldean rocked the house with a great show. Then came Saturday... I woke up Saturday morning and was greeted outside with steady rain and cold (Arizona cold not normal cold) temperatures (high 40's). I was scheduled to work from 11am to 7pm and would have stayed later (Martina McBride was the headliner) but the venue was a mess. The road leading into the venue (there is only one way in and out) was sloppy and rutted and potholed (thank you Jeep for making my truck) and the venue itself was a sea of mud... (bad day for khaki). I wondered how we would distinguish between the staggering drunks and people just trying to walk... it was a cold, wet mess but the fans came out and braved it and so did I. The sun finally made an appearance around 6pm and I hightailed it out at 7pm... Sunday was a beautiful day... (mid 60's, sunny but still muddy) and Toby Keith ended the festival with a great show. My four day friends and I made plans to meet there again next year (country fans ROCK!) and I got outta Dodge (Florence) around 11:30pm and made it back to Tempe around 1:30am. It will take a few washings to clean the khakis but the memories made (thanks to all the fans who behaved most of the time) will last a lifetime. Great music, great people and paid to be there...it doesn't get any better than that.