I guess five entries a month just isn’t worth even bothering with. So I’ll throw this one in here and make it an even six. This way we’re all happy. Or I am anyway.

Thanksgiving was nice. I spent the afternoon at my mom’s with my brother and pandy and the traditional butterball. Afterward we went to visit my Grandma. She wasn’t able to join us at my mom’s house. It’s too early for her to leave the alz. Unit. After that I went up to G’s parents. I didn’t get there till eight so dinner was all finished but there was plenty of wine still flowing.

Friday I went and saw Alexander the great. It was more like Alexander The Great Piece Of Shit. Don’t waste your time. Please, please, please don’t waste your money. It was terrible. I fell asleep twice. I may start boycotting Oliver Stone.

After the movie G and I met my brother and Pandy over at my pops house for the Day After Thanksgiving Meal, or The Second Thanksgiving In A Divorced Family Dinner. The dinner was wonderful. My dad made his Seafood Medley which I love (The turkey was really good too mom!). Afterward we played Chicken Foot. I didn’t really dominate. I came out in the middle of the pack. Oh, how hubsish of me.

Saturday I sat around on the couch all morning and then came into work. I’m really giving it a good go here. What do you do when on thin ice? Stop and listen to the crackles and look for a thicker area of the lake or do you skate as fast as you can. I’m flying man.

That night G and I went over to a friend’s house to play cards. It was my first time playing spades. It was ruough. I think I may have gotten a little grumpy. That’s what happens I guess.

On Sunday I slept in, grabbed a burger at the Handle Bar and Grill. It wasn’t really all of that. I finished off the long weekend the way any semi-intelligent, warm blooded, halfhearted American would – with trash TV.

Giving Thanks.

Have you guys ever heard the Bodeans? You have, they sing the ?friends? song. Have you ever seen them live? Borrrrrrrrringggg. I took my mom to the Bodeans show on Saturday for an early Xmas present. It was all black suits and white t-shirts and incredibly dull lyrics. The jackass cowboy and the crazy dancing man in the brown leather vest kept me entertained for the majority of their set. Man, I didn?t know if I was going to survive that first set. The night redeemed itself though. Have you ever seen Sonia Dada? Yeah, neither have I but damn I was impressed. They were good. They had a cool southern gospel sound that really just seemed to fit. The three lead singers all had incredible pipes. All of them kept their egos in check and didn?t power each other out but still managed to sing at what seemed to be full strength. They covered ?Wish You Were Here? and ?Dear Mr. Fantasy? for the encore. It was also fun going to a concert with my mom. I know she really needed a night out after the past week and she really seemed to enjoy herself. I don?t think I?ve seen a concert with her since I went to Rod Stewart (I know, I know) back in 1994. Good times.

It went well. I guess it went as good as it could go. It’s hard. And emotional. But it’s the best thing.

I heard from my mom that my Grandma’s behavior had become peculiar. I called her the next night. Her words were a little slurred, she seemed really tired, and after talking shortly about thanksgiving plans she aimlessly stated, “I’m glad you found the groceries.” I had no idea what she was talking about.

Later that night I got a call from Helga, my Grandmothers neighbor. She had been over to my Grandmother’s house when she began asking about where her husband was, my long dead Grandfather. I got a list of medications my grandmother had on the kitchen table from Helga.

The next morning I called my mother with the list of medications. My mother called my Grandmother’s doctor. Two hours later my mother called me from the car telling me she was going to taking my Grandmother to the hospital.

That night I got a call from my mother. “There’s no need to come down to the hospital. You won’t be able to help down here.” she said.

My brother and I cut out of work early on Friday and went to visit assisted living facilities. We learned a lot. And felt a lot more comfortable about what we had to do. About how my Grandmothers life is going to / has changed. We visited some really nice places and some real shitholes. We spent most of Saturday doing the same thing. Meanwile, the hospital had was running a battery of tests with no definite conclusions: MRI, urinalysis, blood work, CAT scan and others. It wasn’t her medication or the small fall she took a couple of weeks ago (though, if she had a predisposition the fall may have progressed things). The doctors simply expressed she was 92 years old. This is what happens at 92. They lose themselves. And it’s sad because, along the way, we lose them too.

Sunday we went over to my mom’s house to discuss our options and go over brochures for the places that we visited.

On Monday my mom called telling me that her condition may be worse than expected and she will most likely need more help than we had originally assumed. Assisted living wouldn’t be able to provide the care that she needed. She would have to be in a secure environment - most likely an Alzheimer’s unit. Our choices were now narrowed down to two places we liked.

This afternoon we moved her into the place we liked best. We showed her around, pointing out things we thought were cool: the two cockatoos by the kitchen table, the jewelry box that sits out on the table for everyone to wear when they want to feel pretty, the nice courtyard, the room filled with chachki and do-dads, tactile things used to spark memories, and the little collie named molly who hangs out with everyone during the day. Mom, Grandma, my brother and myself sat down at one of the facilities tables for lunch. She was quiet as usual but seemed pretty lucid. She likes my hair curly but she had trouble grasping that this is where she’ll be living now. At one point my Grandmother spaced out while looking in my direction and I saw vacancy in her eyes. I had to turn away and watch the two cockatoo’s to keep from crying. It just wasn’t the right time to cry. This is going to be hard.

G’s backyard, Denver

On Friday I went to Red & Jerry’s. It’s one of those “super fun centers”. Except instead of bowling, putt putt golf, and laser tags, it has off-track gambling, thugs, and terrible service. We went their for Chancs birthday. He rented out one of the poolrooms (billiards, not the hole filled with water) and had about 50 friends and family over. It was pretty fun. I spent most of the evening sitting on a brick wall with a new friend Kara. We pretty much sat there and made fun of everyone in between telling jokes and being as dirty as possible. I got gum on my pants by sitting on the brick wall. This gum later got transferred onto G’s nice leather couch. This caused a little drama but was remedied on Sunday night. After the birthday party I went over to G’s and sat around and talked with a few of her friends. G then talked me into going over to Chanc’s house for his “afterparty”. It was fun but I didn’t feel like staying out till 3:30 in the morning.

On Saturday afternoon me and A.P. went golfing at Inverness. I was a really nice course and both A.P. and I played pretty good. We played $0.50 (when did they take the “cent” sign off of keyboards? What did they replace it with?) skins and it all ended up in a tie. It’s always nice hanging around A.P., especially now that we don’t get to see each other as often.

That night I met a bunch of friends out at the Red Room. I shoved down one of those Red Rooster Cogburns which was delish. This is surprising cause that place has really gone down hill since it’s remodel. The menu has really gone down hill: it’s too expensive and most of the food is crappy. Normally the service there is pretty good, but on this night in particular it was for crap. After a quick meal and drink, we all headed out to the Wilco show at the Fillmore. I didn’t know much about these guys going into the show but it was pretty good. The bad was pretty talented. They have a strange cult-like following that I couldn’t really peg down. I must be spending too much time seeing all this indie crap. Why haven’t the hippies jumped all over Wilco yet? I guess They’re not noodley enough.

On Sunday, G her father and I went to the Denver Ski Expo. This is a great way to get yourself all psyched up for the coming season. I can’t believe I walked out without buying anything.

That evening I watched A Man And A Women, which was a great love story. The surplus of driving scenes and the spatial dialogue combine with the style if cinematography made it seem like a French version of The Graduate without the adultery. And in slow motion.

The city looks lonely from my bosses office, Denver

There has been nothing happening in Hubsville because there has bee a lot happening with hubs. The bad news fisrt. I’m having difficulties at work; I’m not going to get into it here. Hell, I don’t even discuss it in with anyone; I’m not talking about it here. I’m just running into some bumpy roads. Hopefully things will get resolved. I’ll be busting my ass these next couple of months, expect posting to be light. Secondly, there is this whole presidential election thing. I’m not going to write about that here either. You can go read about it…. well everywhere.

Now, what you came here for, the good news. Actually I have no idea why you came here. So I’m just gonna give you the good news anyway. I had my 32nd (ouch) birthday this weekend. Last Friday my Dad took me out for sushi and G took me out for drinks. Saturday we had our kickball tournament. My brother and I collided in outfield resulting in my brother displacing a rib. I got a direct smack to the face from the kickball resulting in a lost contact. The opponents ran my 60 year old father into the ground resulting in a very wore out oldest man in the league. We got beat 25 to nothing. If you have been to hubsville before, this will come as no surprise. We still had a blast playing. Despite having only nine players, three who have never played before, we still had an absolute blast.

That night I hit up a couple of Halloween parties. The first one being held by my good friend Rod and his wife. It was a fun costume party with lots of close friends and lots of beautiful new babies. The second party was a gigantic house party (150 or more people in costume) with a giant disco ball, smoke machine, dance floor, dj, shot slide, unlimited amounts of beer and a three tiered chocolate fountain. That party was lots of fun too but the vibe started to get a little weird towards the end.

Sunday G took me out to brunch at Intrigue which was good, but very shy of it’s appealing name and definitely not worth it’s hefty price tag (fucking $5.50 for a small glass of oj). I bet their dinners are pretty good though. Afterward did some yard work and lazed around for the afternoon. Then I went to my mom’s for the traditional birthday dinner red beans and rice. My parents and G gave me all kinds of cool things like books, cashmere sweaters, dvd’s, and computer stuff. So for the past weak the good has definitely outweighed the bad but only by a margin.