Chris Moss Online

It’s been a pretty good week so far, except that I have a bit of a cold. Not surprising given that the temperatures here have been up and down quite a bit. 30 one day then 70 the next, then 40. It’s sunny and about 70 today but supposed to rain on the weekend and only be 49.

Fortunately, I won’t be here to experience that. I’m leaving tomorrow to go visit my friends Tim & Kate in St. Pete. Kate gave birth to their first baby, Isaac, 3 months ago. I have waited about as long as I can so that the parade of grandparents, etc could subside. One of my neighbors has been comissioned to create something special for young Isaac but I don’t think it will be ready for this trip. Will give me a reason to go back.

The fact that this month seems to be flying past does not bother me in the least. January is the most heinous of all months! Even though it is Texas, it is still cold. I hate cold weather and Jan is our coldest month, as it is with most places in the northern hemisphere. Yesterday was spent primarily indoors. Although it was sunny, it was 43 degrees and the wind was blowing about 43 miles an hour. Despite a list of things to do a mile long, I let the day slip away while surfing in front of the computer.

Last night was dinner and “game night” at Bobby & Ian’s. It’s always a blast, and Ian is such a wonderful cook – he always prepares a great meal. The boys like to mix up the crowd when they can. Jai came along again, which is great because he is very competitive. But this time AJ & Danny came, too, which was a nice surprise as we don’t see much of them these days. For those that don’t know, Danny is only 20 and is undergoing chemotherapy for Leukemia. He has been in & out of the hospital but only has one more round of treatment to go. He really looks great now and I think he will be just fine now that he can see the light is at the end of the tunnel.

One of our friends had his wisdom teeth taken out yesterday. It reminded me that my dentist has recommended that I have this done. I suppose they recommend this to everyone, but no one has been able to satisfactorily justify to me why it should be done.

Originally, the cynical side of me assumed this was something dentists have been telling people to generate extra income. But my dentist doesn’t do this procedure but recommended a dentist. Maybe he gets a referral fee, I don’t know. I like and trust my dentist, but I’m still not convinced that paying money (surely it’s not 100% covered by my dental plan) and inflicting pain on myself is medically necessary until such time as I have a problem with my teeth (if ever), at which time they can come out.

Yesterday afternoon, one of my clients called to invite me to come along to dinner tonight at Palomino, followed by a Dallas Mavericks (basketball) game. An underwriter and his broker were taking him out and it was nice of him to invite me along…it was fun. The game was fairly uneventful and then got quite exciting in the last few minutes of the 3rd period, and the Mavs ended up winning by 20 points.

Also yesterday, my boss decided I should attend an asbestos conference in DC next month. The host hotel is the Ritz-Carlton. We have a client that is also going and it was also decided that I should stay at the same hotel. Seems like a waste of money to me, but at least it is being wasted on me. We stay at La Quinta when we’re in Houston but when “people” are around, I guess we get to make up for it.