Minor vacation

I haven't posted in quite a while but like I said in my last post, I try very hard not to just sit down and rant and complain about work and life in general.  Unless it's particularly interesting or anecdotal.

I just got back from a 6-day vacation used to escape work and visit family.  Originally, I'd planned to take my vacation in the fall this year, but when the old manager left that all went out the window.  Just in case, I shot an email to HR to see if there was anything I could do to hang onto those days.  Almost immediately, the DM replies and says that I can carry them over as late as March next year, "like he told me before."  That ass said no such thing.  He was hoping I'd just quietly roll over and relinquish my vacation without complaint.

I managed to attend my 2-year-old nephew Emmet's birthday party.  He excitedly opened all his presents until he got to the box of toy horses.  Then he lost interest in everything else and practically had to be dragged away from playing with them so that he could open the rest of his presents.  After that, the onlything that was more exciting than those horses was the birthday cake, made from scratch by his mom and grandma.

Indiana, my 8-year-old nephew, was exploring deep into one of his grandparents' closets and unearthed a box of books I'd had when I was a kid.  There were a few dozen Hardy Boys mysteries, some choose-your-own-adventure books, and the Black Cauldron series.  There was a small argument with his dad about why he couldn't take them all home with them.  That night he insisted that I read one with him before bed, and I was happy to oblige, folowing Frank and Joe Hardy and the mysterious government agent only known as Mr Grey as they investigated an international terrorist/crim ring.  I provided english accents for all the Interpol agents.