Friday the 1st

I can't believe it has been 12 days since I last wrote. I am sorry, but I guess I was having just too damn much fun!!

Let's see...the 20th through the 24th, TEAM Week kept me hopping around town. It was fantastic to see the old gang again and to spend some time with them. Yep, got some stories to tell...but not here and now. Thanks to Joan, Tom, Rick, Peggy, Jerry, Blake and most importantly Doug, for letting me have a great time. It's great to sober up while you're helping someone else to sober up--gotta be the grown-up sometimes!

Friday night, the 24th, I flew to Cleveland OH for the Knights of Lithuania Mid-Central District Convention and Pilgrimage. I sure did surprise the room when they saw me there at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (Dievo Motinos Nuolatines Pagalbos Baznycia) on Neff Rd. We had a great meeting and wonderful service in the church that afternoon. The dinner was great--ahhh kugelis (yep, I downed three huge pieces), chicken, beef tenderloins, wonderful desserts and libations to quench your thirst. The entertainment that Fr. Gediminas Kijauskas provided were two great videos--one on the life of Antanas Smetona, 1st President of the Republic of Lithuania in the 1920's and the second was the 2nd inauguration of Valdas Adamkus as President of current Lithuania, which happened in July 2004. President Adamkus is an honorary member of the Knights of Lithuania, and I got to meet him and actually give a presentation with him in the audience at the 2000 K of L convention in Los Angeles. Sunday Mass was great--don't get to hear a full Lithuanian Mass here in Nashville--imagine that! Coffee and desserts after Mass in the basement with wonderful fellowship and I was off to the airport.

After Mass, there was also a bookshop in the basement and I purchased some Lithuanian books and a cooking magazine. Saturday after the meeting, John Baltrus, from Pittsburgh PA, and I went to a store there in the neighborhood called Patria. A European foodstore. I was able to buy many Lithuanian items--mushroom soup, green pea soup, a jar of beet soup bouillon, newspapers, herring fillets, rye bread, beer, some tea (caraway, rosehip and peppermint) and I bought some Ritter Sports chocolate from Germany. Never had it before and John said they were great. I got the rum, raisin and hazelnut and it is FANTASTIC!!! If you can get it, buy it. Actual rum--and a lot of it!!

I was pegged a suspect at the airport...the x-ray operator didn't like the looks of something in my bag. They looked and looked, then swabbed it twice and ran the cloth through the machine..."clean". I didn't understand why they didn't just pull the bag out and inspect it. They finally did. And what did he zero in on--the jar of beet bouillon. I guess the x-ray detected powder??? He was pereturbed at first, as the label was in Lithuanian!! I told him the English was on the back. He was satisfied and let me repack and mosey down to the gate. Watched the pitiful Browns against the Giants...now the Titans don't look so bad!!

This week was 'get back to normal' week. After an Oktoberfest meeting Monday night, life resumed the normal pace. Vaidas and I went out for dinner Wednesday to Ru San's over on 12th in the Gulch. I'm not that crazy about sushi, but this was good. The menu is voluminous!! But it is descriptive so you can pick and choose. I had cooked sushi--smoked salmon, scallops, veggies. Prices are very reasonable. Sit at the sushi bar--you can watch them make it, plus you don't have to wait on a waiter to haul the order to you.

I started watching the Presidential debate last night, but turned it off after 37 minutes. I couldn't listen to the babble from both sides. Bush did make some excellent points, but not forceful enough and some of the slings Kerry through out went unanswered. Kerry's poise was fantastic--calm, relaxed... But I give both a C for this round one of three.

Tonight Doug called and I helped talk him through "de-pop up ad"-ing his home PC. After about 1 1/2 hours, he said it was running a lot quicker. He ran SpyBot. I told him to run it in Safe Mode. That way, the bad programs would not be loaded into active memory and would be easy to delete. It seems to have worked.

I also started a project of fixing a leaky kitchen faucet. Well, I got the piece out of the hot water tap--need to take it to Home Depot tomorrow and find a replacement. Plus I cleaned out the "sack" cabinet under the sink--yuck! Now I have room to store my cleaning supplies and get them out of the bathroom!! More room on the shelf for towels now.

And so, now I sit...with a cold Old Style Beer...and a mind cluttered with thoughts and ideas--most halfbaked!

REMEMBER OKTOBERFEST---ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW!!! OCTOBER 9th IN GERMANTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD 7th AVENUE NORTH AND MONROE ST. OPENING FESTIVITIES START AT 9:00 A.M. IN FRONT OF ASSUMPTION CHURCH. CATHOLIC MASS and METHODIST SERVICE STARTS 9:30 A.M. NEIGHBORHOOD HOME TOURS, GERMAN FOOD, MUSIC, BEER, CRAFT BOOTHS, FREE CHILDREN'S AREA, APPALACHIAN CRAFTS, NASHVILLE JAZZ WORKSHOP STAGE, STEFF MAHAN STAGE....all for no admission price!! I hope to see you all sometime during the day. Call me..I'll have my cell phone 615-512-2615.

OK friends...time to put this blog on-line. Have a great weekend!

Mark