Christmas Review

I had a nice Christmas. Dinner was at Mike and Maggie's house in Parma, OH. Kathleen, Joe, Bob, Mandy, Marnie and her husband Mike , Kendal, and I were in attendance. Tim was working. Lois (Tim's Companion) was probably with her family. Patty and Dan Sr. were at home in Massachusetts. Dan Jr., Laura, and Amy Marie were probably with Laura's family. Patrick was probably in Los Angeles. Amy was in Long Island with her boyfriend and his family. We all had a nice time and enjoyed our presents. I received a Circuit City Gift Card from my nephew, Dan. It came in an envelope addressed to Bob and me. Thinking that it was just a Christmas card, I had Bob open it. Of course, Dan and Laura killed two birds with one stone. I walked into the room just in time to see the gift card. This was on December 22. If it happens again, I'll wait until Christmas. In any event, the gift is greatly appreciated.

Two days later, we celebrated Maggie's birthday at her house. Kathleen, Joe, and I were the only ones at dinner (besides the hosts). Marnie, Mike, and Kendal were there earlier, (before I arrived) but they left to go back to Howell, MI. The people who weren't there at Christmas weren't at this gathering either. Bob and Mandy were both working. It was a nice occasion. Maggie appreciated her presents. We did well working without a net (There was no list.). The next party should be Bob's birthday in February (Marnie's Mike's birthday is in January, but the celebration will probably be in Michigan.).

Maybe tomorrow, I will provide the Gift Exchange assignments.

Questions Answered

I now know the answer about who filled in for Patrick on the trip to Puerto Rico. It was nobody. His parents were able to attain a voucher for a future trip. Speaking of them, they will have an "Empty Nest" Christmas this year. Dan Jr. and Patrick will be staying home. Amy is heading for Long Island to be with her boyfriend's family. It would have been nice to have them here in the Cleveland area to be with their first grandchild. There's always next year.

The gift exchange is going fine. I haven't started shopping yet, but I hope to get started this week. I don't anticipate any problems.

There will be a new report soon. Go to Kendal's blog at http://kendalmarie.blogspot.com for more details on my other great niece. Amy Marie does not have a blog "yet", but anything is possible.

Thanksgiving

I had a very nice Thanksgiving at my sister and brother in law's house. It was just my brothers Joe and Bob, my sisters, Kathleen and Maggie (The Host), my brother-in-law(The co-host), and my niece Mandy (Kendal's Aunt). My brother Tim was working. My sister Patty, her husband Dan, their son Patrick, and ? (Patrick and his previous girlfriend broke up.) are in Puerto Rico on a belated 30th Birthday (Patrick) present trip. (They used to live in Puerto Rico.) Normally, Dan and Patty reside in Lancaster, MA (Central MA), and Patrick lives in Los Angeles. My brother Dan died in June 2006, just two days before Kendal was born. Speaking of Kendal, her parents Marnie and her husband, Mike were at their home in Howell, MI. My nephew Dan, his wife Laura, and their daughter Amy Marie were celebrating somewhere else. They live in Chardon, OH. My niece Amy may be the ? in the Puerto Rico tale. She lives in Boston.

We had the traditional items at the dinner table. It was all delicious. During the course of the evening, we picked names for the Christmas gift exchange. I am in the process of revealing assignments, so don't worry if you haven't received your assignments yet.

Have fun shopping!

Kendal's Future Sibling! (Part 2)

Kendal is expected to have a sister in April. With three girls, I guess we will be going in reverse as I started off with two nephews before I gained three nieces. This scoop came from my sister, but I chose to wait until it reached Kendal's blog. I hope that the two cats and the dog will cooperate. I can't imagine what will happen if a new baby would join my house. I have three cats who climb on anyone and anything but me. I guess avoiding me is not all that bad as cats as obstructions are not on my list of amusements. See the early entries for some of my hobbies.

Tune in later for more observations.

Amy Marie Has Been Chosen.

Amy Marie (My Great Niece) was baptized today! It was after the Noon Mass at St. Mary's Church in Chardon, OH. The Mass was O.K. except we had a "Parade of Children", Anointing of the Sick, and a long-winded Homily. The Baptism seemed to take forever even with just two "contestants". Thankfully, the priest was amusing. Most of the guests were for our ceremony. The other baby (A Boy named Brady!) enjoyed it more than Amy Marie. We had a nice luncheon at my nephew's house. The gifts were not opened when we were there as far as I know, but I assume that they were all suitable. Amy Marie is still too young to appreciate them at almost five months old (She turns five months old on Halloween.). Time will tell if she is anything like my other great niece, Kendal. Go to her blog http://kendalmarie.blogspot.com for details on her life and other adventures including life before Kendal gets a brother or sister.

Tune in for more widgets and other fun items.

Kendal's Future Sibling!

My niece Marnie is pregnant again. We learned this at her sister Mandy's 30th birthday party. I heard Kendal talk for the first time. Nothing really philosophical has come out yet, but only time will tell. I do expect hospitality in her future, as she grabs things for people. She also "feeds" you. I'm glad that I didn't get that service. You never know what will happen.

Speaking of Kendal, I have Marnie's blessing to give out the blog address where you can learn about the trials and tribulations of her life. It can be found at http://kendalmarie.blogspot.com .
It's entertainment that can educate. By the way, for those outside the family, Maggie is really Kendal's great-aunt and my sister.

Next time, maybe you'll hear about Amy Marie Sweeney (The one without the blog).

The Family Now Knows

After I write this message, I will reveal to the rest of my immediate family that this blog exists. They should be assured that they will not appear in a bad light. In fact, the family will only have a "minor" role here. However, I hope to reveal Kendal's "blog" address soon. I'll get the blessing of her parents tomorrow. I e-mailed them weeks ago, but I guess that they were having "too much fun" to respond. This will be the first time that I will hear Kendal speak. Unfortunately, "baby talk" is not one of my talents, but I will do my best to "entertain".

The Truth About RSS and My Great-Nieces

Last week, I planned to add some RSS oriented features to this blog. They are currently sitting near my "Favorites" Area in Internet Explorer 7 on my computer. At least, they aren't hiding in my "tons" of favorites. One of these days, Widgets and RSS will live together in an environment where I can easily deal with them.

I have seen my second great-niece, Amy Marie Sweeney, for the first time this week. Everyone thinks that she looks like her father when he was younger. The jury is still out on that.

I'll see my first great-niece, Kendal Marie Schmidt again in about a week. She does resemble her mother. I'm still waiting for permission to link her blog to this one. Tune in to find out.

An "Official" Definition of "Widget"

According to the Associated Press, Widgets are a Web accessory that people are using to jazz up their home pages, blogs, social networking platforms (Such as MySpace and Facebook), and computer desktops (Microsoft Vista). This definition was included in an announcement that USA Today will be offering widgets that contain news updates and other information from the newspaper for installation on blogs and personal Web pages. This report was featured in the Business section of the Cleveland Plain Dealer on September 6, 2007.

I haven't investigated USA Today's Website to see how easy it is to install. Even if it is simple to install, you will make do with WKYC (Cleveland), KTRK (Houston), and KCBS/KCAL (Los Angeles) for news and other information. More will be added as soon as I become more familiar with RSS (This was discussed earlier.). I am a fan of local news that probably won't make USA Today.

Have fun anticipating what will be upcoming on this weblog!

It Was Really About 10:30 P.M.

I don't know why my post time said 7:23 P.M. Blogger must be on California time.

RSS Is Coming Soon!

Thanks to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, I learned that RSS is another system that makes widgets easier for blogs and other websites. This means that there will be more "education" added to this blog. Of course, I have to become more familiar with RSS. Stay tuned!

Widgets

I noticed the source that provided the WKYC Report that I added to this blog. It is Widgetbox. They can be found at www.widgetbox.com . I am starting to go through this site to find material that would "enhance" this website. Hopefully, we will learn from these sites.

New Feature from WKYC (Cleveland)

I have added headlines from WKYC, Cleveland's NBC affiliate, to my blog. It is my favorite station in the world. They come from a station employee who also has a few blogs. I am not affiliated with WKYC, but enjoy learning about Cleveland, Ohio (and beyond).

Inspiration

I promised you a story about why this blog exists. Here it is.

My niece had a baby last year. Her husband started a blog to document her life. Eventually, I will have a link to this blog. I hope to receive their "blessing".

I have a friend who does not read blogs of people that she does not know. She's missing a lot of useful information. I promised to come up with a blog someday.

I procrastinated until I wanted to read some comments on "Ohio Media Watch". I learned that I needed to be a Google/Blogger member. I became a member. I started this blog because of the promise to my friend. These days, posting to "Ohio Media Watch" requires membership. I can read comments. I have only posted to a blog once (I think!). I corrected an error about a television show. It was confusion between "Hope and Faith" and "Hope and Gloria". The posting was acknowledged.

Live Journal was the distributor of this blog. It was my first major experience with a blog. I signed up with them, but I never followed through with them. I needed the inspiration that I discussed in the last paragraph. Now you know why this blog exists.

Cookies, JavaScript, and Other Interests

Due to technical problems, I couldn't get into my Blogger account. My JavaScript and Cookie settings were not at Blogger "standards". I thought I had the problem fixed days ago, but an immediate reopening of Internet Explorer did the trick. Hopefully, logging in will be simpler.



I have some other interests beyond those mentioned previously. They include Public Transportation, Radio Stations, TV Listings (Out of Town), and Restaurants (Chains).



Next time, I plan to reveal the inspiration for this blog

Welcome to My New Blog

Welcome to my new blog. This will be an adventure. I will discuss my interests. They include banks, libraries, malls, and religion, among other things. Feel free to comment.