Monday night my Great Grandmother passed away. She was 3 months away from turning 100 years old. She died peacefully in her sleep, as we all should. We weren’t that close.
But I am close to everyone else that her life touched. This will be a short series in the things I am having to deal with as the bitch good grandson, who also happens to be unemployed, of the family.
I’m a stickler for good service. We all know that already.
I’m also getting tired of the lack of accountability that appears to exist within us currently. Nobody cares, nobody cares to care and nobody is there to make sure that anyone cares. It’s makes for very bad service.
Among the tasks requested of me today was to get my Grandmother to a Notary Republic to have a document signed authorizing digging of the plot for my Great Grandmother. While my aunt has POA for my Great Grandmother, they still required a next-of-kin signature to authorize the dig. I have no idea what happens if there is no next-of-kin, so don’t bother asking.
Of course, for said document to be signed and notarized, it had to be in the possession of my Grandmother. A fact that my aunt had called to take care prior to asking me to assist with the getting of the notarization.
2 hours later, still no documents. 2. Hours. Unbelievable.
So I called, since I had more important things to do besides sit around and wait for a fax machine to ring. First number I called I got voicemail, so I left a message requesting a call back. 2nd number I called I got a person and asked to speak to the person I need, but they were with another family or something. Fine I say, here is my number I say. Sooner than later I lie say because the oldsters window for this kind of thing was short because it was almost nap time. What? Grandma wanted me to tell them she was dead.
20 minutes later the fax machine rings and the documents I require print, followed shortly by a phone call by the person I was trying to get a hold of earlier. Everything clear as a bell, paper in hand, it was time to head to the bank to get the sucker notarized.
For those of you that ever truly wondered what cranky meant, here you go.
Adjective cranky (comparative crankier, superlative crankiest)
Grouchy, irritable; easily upset.
He got home from a long day at work tired and cranky.
Full of spirit; crank.
Yes, that sounds about right for me today.
First progress report of the new school year is out. And, guess what?
Yea, that’s actually teh lad’s! W00t! A report card that doesn’t suck. First time since elementary school.
You could say I was nicely surprised when I opened the mail today.
For those that missed it on the Twitter, I was playing with wine today.
My film transfer project is pretty much done for the most part, as is my family photo archiving. That leaves me to help the g’rents out with a few things around the house. And this one thing in particular.
Back in the ’70′s, my grandparents bought a crappy little lot in the mountains right on Lake Arrowhead. Over the course of 4 years they proceeded to build one of the most beautiful homes on the lake. Built entirely by hand by master craftsman, no expense was spared. Hand picked rock for the pier and fireplaces, solid oak for the walls and stairs, 1 piece bar tops also made of oak. You get the idea.
When my grandfather designed this house, he wanted it to have a wine cellar. So it did. Built into the foundation in such a way that the temperature was always 70 degrees and there was almost no humidity. All without the use of any machinery. Within this cellar lived some truly great wines, and those are what I’m dealing with now.
Among the wines in the collection, besides the 11 full cases of Opus One (79 – 86) are many bottles of BV Latour (71 – 83), Dom Perignon (including a ’69), some fine Sterling Cab (’77) and 2 bottles of Chateau d Y’Quem (trust me, it’s fancy).
Mixed in with this high dollar examples were some more great wines, but not as spendy. Quite a few bottles of Fetzer from the ’70s and 80′s and more than a few bottles of BV Rutherford Cabernet from the ’70s and 80s.
It’s quite a bit of wine and I have taken it upon myself to organize, sort and inventory (the good stuff) and re-store it. Am I sore after moving over 24 cases out of that room into another? Sure. Worth it? Absolutely!
When my grandparents first started moving into the big house in Lake Arrowhead, they had to stock it. Some of the first bottles to arrive were some from Mondavi, of which I have found some ’82 Cab and 1 bottle of ’79 Pinot Noir.
With dinner tonight, Grandpa thought it would be neat to let me pick a bottle out of that room. So, naturally, I grabbed a bottle of BV Rutherford Cab from ’88 (about $50) of which there are many. I brought it out and was shot down since that cab is on the ‘drink it all the time’ list, just from a new vintage. So, back to the room I went. I remembered when I found those bottles of Mondavi Grandpa’s eyes lit up and he sat back and said “That’s some great wine right there”. So, that’s what I grabbed. 1 of the cabernet and that bottle of Pinot.
From that he made me pick. I almost went with the cab, but last minute I changed my mind and decided to have the pinot instead. And yes, it was fantastic. Made even more so after curiosity got to my grandparents and they wanted to know the value. For those of you wondering at home, current retail value of a bottle of ’79 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Pinot Noir is about $125 per bottle.
But that’s not the cool part.
The cool part is that I got to enjoy what is probably the only bottle of that left in my Grandfather’s collection, taken from the first batch of wine that was delivered to the last house he built. And I got to enjoy it with him.
In the midst of everything else, The Resort is getting a serious upgrade (finally) that I don’t have to do (finally). It’s still a few weeks away, but I’m heading out there in a few hours to clean up some things that I should have done a few years ago. N00b stuff with the network. At least I’ll be getting it straighted out.
I’ll be updating the DHCP scope to something that makes sense (really? 10.0? dude, what where you thinking?) across the network including the server, router and 4 WiFi access points. I know, sounds like fun to you too, right? Personally I can’t wait.
Currently there are 4 extra people in my house. Temporarily, of course, but they are still here. I don’t mind that they are here (it was my suggestion), but I do need some ‘me’ time. 8 hours in the car, 4-5 hours in the office by myself and dinner with Mom and Dad should fit that bill just about perfect. It’s not that headphone mode isn’t good enough, I just need a break. It’s been a rough summer, ya know?
Speaking of, resume has been updated and reworked (in .doc format no less, ick). I trimmed out a bunch of extra and brought it back to one page. Here’s to hoping that helped. The problem I have now is actually trying to trim all of my experience, skills and knowledge into a single page without using 6pt. type. It was tough, but I think I managed ok.
On the way back I’ll be detouring through the lovely burg of Las Vegas, Nevada. I can’t tell you why, sorry. No, for reals. It’s like, top secret and some junk. Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough.
Sure there is a jump. What do you think? Do you wanna see what I’ve hidden? I bet you do. C’mon, you know you want to click! (Read on…)
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