The Ongoing Adventures of Lumpy and Grinny - February Edition

So what do I do?

1. Apologize
2. Beg forgiveness
3. Remove feet and put bacitracin ointment on the incisor wounds
4. Remove any photos of offended individual from the website
5. Remove the blog
6. Re-work the blog
7. Send a copy off to the person offended and get permission
8. Re-post the blog
9. Learn from my mistake

Here is the blog rework with any reference to her name removed and no pictures of her whatsoever.

Here I am thinking that I should just give up the whole idea of a personal web log when I get hit with e-mails asking me why I have not written any personal blogs of late. After explaining that I find my personal life nothing much to write about other than a constantly recycling cycle of work, more work and work, misfortune, more misfortune and misfortune, and that any blog on it would consist of nothing more than a series of run on sentences, I was struck by the fact that I received more than one e-mail regarding this matter. Okay, I concede. I will continue to write personal blogs from time to time.

However, a daily journal is not going to be the format. I simply have too many other writing projects and I wish not to bore anyone to death. I am going to hit the highlights only. Also forgive the somewhat jerky transitions and such. Starting in March, I will do it as I go along. After working on this one for almost a week I am just letting it go and getting the post up.

So here is the scoop in the life of the Lumpomatic:

I am still having massive amounts of dental work done. I am making at least two dental visits a week. February is root canal month and, likely, March will be build-up, crown and cap month. It is rather brutal but it is nice to have a mouth that can chew. I have reached a scary point with going to the Dentist though. I actually squeezed naps in during my last two root canals. I am sorry there is just something wrong with that picture, something terribly wrong.

In other areas, I am still working like a dog and, surprisingly, I am still ga ga over my current girlfriend. She is a treasure and a gem. She is also Japanese, which means she is humble, modest and private. Hereafter I shall refer to her as Grinny which is my pet name for the petite woman. (I call her this cause she weighs in at about 98 pounds and 99 of them are teeth and grin.)

Grinny and I attended a very kewl surprise party. John, Kathy and Tyler comprise a Christian family I met through Grinny. They attend the church Grinny and I attend. They are very kewl people. John is a writer and a very good conversationalist. John's creativity was showing when he planned this event.

All three of them have February birthdays. Now isn't that too kewl? (Not that I am biased or anything... I turned 41 on the 15th.) This year just so happens to be Kathy's 50th. John played it like this. Kathy is busy getting ready for Tyler's surprise party, a large gathering occurs at the neighbors house (including Kathy's best friend who came all the way from Texas), the group crosses a lawn, the best friend rings the door bell and Kathy is floored. I really was tempted to put the photos of here crying up and such but I dare not. The cakes however were awesome. Tyler's Golum special was a work of art but the wicker heart was so perfect I regretted eating it.

All in all it was a great party with but one regret. The amount of time Grinny and I could stay mandate to be less than we desired because of my work schedule.

The following week contained a holiday supposedly for lovers. Now the Japanese are very practical people and I was pressured not to celebrate this holiday. Nonetheless, I was still going to try...

You have been warned...

To start the day off, I worked all night at the third shift job you keep hearing about. When I ended my 7-hour shift at 8 AM I was ready to get a move on with my plan. The weather, of course, was dreary and miserable with deceptive patches of intensely bright sunlight, which served more as to blind everyone than to warm anything up. I, however, was determined. I had the perfect gift idea and Grinny loaned her digital camera to me.

My plan was to trek about 12 blocks to this oriental gift shop located downtown. Several months before, I noticed these really kool bamboo plants; each one twisted into the shape of a heart. I knew it was the perfect gift. I was just waiting for the right time.

I should also mention that there is a reason I did not just buy it the instant I saw it. Grinny is Japanese. The love of my life is from halfway around the world. Needless to say her customs and traditions are very different from mine. For example, I often try to carry her book bag, which, in her world, implies that she is helpless and a child. Compromise is a requirement in our relationship.

I carry her bag on odd numbered days and eat with chopsticks on those days. We do the opposite on even numbered days. Now what has this got to do with Valentines Day? The Japanese almost never give women flowers or gifts. Therefore I needed an "occasion".

So, with camera in tow, off I go. My plan is to take a few pictures of a few of my hometown's better landmarks while en-route. My first stop is this church on the corner of Euclid and 30th. I can't even remember the name of it but it is a pretty nice looking cathedral and I am rather fond of the gargoyles on each corner. I was also very curious as to just how well the digital would capture a silhouette and flare. I confess I am rather impressed.

Next I capture Mather Mansion which is now the property of Cleveland State University. This old house was once just one of many along Cleveland's Euclid Avenue which was once called "Millionaires Row". It is rather ironic that the century old house I live in is the last of such homes being used as a residence for most have long been torn down.

Now that I officially hit the campus I had one more area cathedral on my list it is one of the oldest in our city and it used to have brown bag organ concerts every Wednesday at noon. Trinity Cathedral will, at some future point, get a photo shoot of it's own out of me. This also happens to be the nicest looking spot on the entire University. (Most of the architectural theme at CSU is "ugly structures in concrete and bronze tinted glass", combine this with the pigeons that move in and add their own decorative touch and you will rapidly get the picture.) The building just to the left of dead center is a favorite hang out of mine. It is the Cafe Aroma. They have great coffee and 10Mbps wireless.

Alas, my little excursion has no time for coffee I have one more photo to take before I hit my final destination. The Huntington Bank Building has the world's largest bank lobby. Built in 1923 it is one of Cleveland's first and oldest skyscrapers. It occupies the better portion of one block; the lobby is three stories tall and has entrances on three separate streets. The 22 story building offered more office space than any Cleveland structure until the construction of the BP Tower in 1985.

I am now on the final leg of my journey and I near the Old Arcade which is a beautiful century old pedestrian mall which has been renovated into the Cleveland Hyatt. It cost a fortune in the era it was built and it was funded solely by local wealth. It needed over 850000 in the late 1800's for construction. It is rumored to be cost prohibited by today's standards.

Now all I need do is walk down a flight of stairs to the gift shop and... What?

Just my luck... Well, we opted to just go out to dinner instead and wrap my birthday into it as well. (That would be the 15th and I am accepting belated gifts.) Since the Outbroke Steakhouse took twenty minutes to sell us gift certificates we opted to just go basic and ended up a Denny's. Grinny was not exactly decisive but you all know me. I knew exactly what I wanted.

All in all not a bad adventure.

In more pleasant areas, my love life is grand. Grinny is a gem and still smiles a lot. She is most supportive and helpful, she is bright and pleasant, and she is, beyond any doubt, the best woman I have ever had in my life. We are pretty happy together.

All the dental work, all the hours I work and all the sites I have been busy on have really put me under the gun. I am dead serious when I say this. I would not be able to achieve all of this with out her help. I do not expect her to help me at all. She insists.

It is a hectic lifestyle bouncing back and forth, working about 54 hours a week, spending a good 6 hours a week in a dentist's chair and trying to hack code in between. Having someone as wonderful as her around is a synergetic Godsend.

All of this running around, however, and such has beaten her down a bit though. She is tired. I am not one who needs much sleep. I also tend to keep the caffeine stream well stocked. (I know, there are some of us who think blood is meant for veins and arteries but God invented the coffee bean for a reason.)

A little more background information might help the reader here. I live in downtown Cleveland in my Fraternity House. Grinny and I also rent a nice little two bedroom in Old Brooklyn which is about 6 miles away. My room at the TKE Fraternity House is little more than a place to crash and study. It usually is a rather cluttered mess resembling some type of scary stacking game. I really don't mind living there too terribly although I miss having a place for my recording studio.

The house in Old Brooklyn, however, definitely gives me more room for my clutter and a place for a studio, clean bathrooms, showers and kitchen must also be noted.

Grinny and I spend most of our time split between the two places. I work third shifts and Grinny is a masters student in accounting taking an overloaded class schedules split between two campuses. Grinny and I share her car, abuse the public transportation system and take advantage of having two locations to sleep at to gain time together. (One must also be aware that Grinny and I can share the same bed and not sleep together. Our schedules are such where I have dinner with her while she eats her breakfast and, after I sleep while she is in class, we get to switch who eats what as we dine together again.) I know not a normal relationship or life. Hey we are talking bout Lumpy here. Grinny seems to have even adapted to the Cleveland weather. As I said before though, she can't keep up with my vampire like ability to not sleep, She is tired. I really wanted to do something nice for her. She has been so good to me that my desire to spoil her a bit has grown into a need.

One of the fun things about dating a woman from halfway around the world (Grinny is from Japan) is one gets to try all kinds of new foods such as napa, diakon, lotus root, (shown in photo) hijiki, bok choy and seaweeds. I also get to share with her, some of our recipes as well. And I do like to cook.

At the time I began this blog, I actually had a day off that day being a Sunday. (This will be the second one in the month of February.) Grinny and I made sure that we attended the Saturday evening service so that we could have an entire Sunday together. I crashed early and awoke at some early AM hour from the couch. The local Marc's had a pretty good deal on some Strawberries which Grinny was so fond of that the photo is her current desktop background. I figured the best thing to do was to cook up a nice breakfast. Chef Lump‚ prepared pancakes with chocolate/strawberry syrup and some gourmet scrambled eggs tastefully seasoned with garlic, onions, 7 different pepper seeds, sesame oil and seaweed. After letting my love sleep in a bit, I drug her out of the bed and fed her. (By the way, for those of you wondering why I did not server her in the bed, it is because to a Japanese person that would be dirtier than walking around in your house with shoes on.)

After breakfast, we decided it was nice enough for a walk. We walked to Parma... heh. The weather was perfect...

CYA in March