Monday, May 26, 2008

I Made a Left at Albuquerque





TOP: Chicks just dig the Lump. Especially when they can pound him into submission.
2nd: Sara was later found 2 states away after the "Lumpy Launch"
3rd: Find the Lumpasaurus in this picture. Hint: It's the smaller of the two
4th: The same way we spent most of our baseball careers.
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This morning we finally got to Albuquerque for a long anticipated visit with our friends the Vianco's. Oh my god, we've know Paul for probably 25 years, were there for his wedding to his lovely bride Karen, and somehow had a hand in the birth of their 3 girls...Maria, Sara, and Ana. But I've blocked that out of my memory.
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The visit was filled with fun memories; we first attended the girl's "moving up" ceremony from brownies to girl scouts (Paul just loves these cult organizations, being a member of the gun club, the swim club, and the catholic church). It was actually pretty cool, as the young brownies walk across a wooden bridge, and the older girls scouts remove their sashes and give them a new girl scout sash. And, oh my god, they only lost 2 girls to downing, so that was a pretty good track record.
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Later we went down to the local church parking lot to bike ride with the kids. Oh my god, these kids were fast. Of course, they beat me up most of the hills. Kathy however was able to pull off a win in a bunch sprint. Their bikes were really cool, all frilly and colorful. They were the same ones that Paul rode as a child. Now I see why he got beat so much as a kid.
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Speaking of "old stuff", Paul is the master of keeping things alive FOREVER. He still has his 1978 Taurus (now without paint), has an 8 track player, no cable TV, a dial up computer running DOS, rotary phones, and oil lamps throughout the house. The poor girls would get more technology if they lived in that Texas fundamentalist sect. Luckily Karen is around to keep them aware of the modern world.
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Paul also has the "Midwest collector" problem that I've been espounding on in earlier posts. His collection however is piggy banks, where he keeps his "early nickles". He's got every single one of them that he ever earned, all in numerical sequence by date and mint, and all shiny. In fact, he takes some out each week and shines them...while he's watching "I love lucy" on his Admiral B&W TV, and sitting under his oil lamp :-)
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Anyhow, it was an outstanding weekend, great to see how much the girls have grown up, Karen's doing a great job compensating for Paul, and everything is copacetic in Albaquerque.
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Why isn't Mexico called "Old US" Lumpy out

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