Orthoween VII

Our work Halloween party has been toned down considerably however I am seated net to a cubical containing: pumpkin bread, sweet potato-pecan pie, decorated sugar cookies, m&m cookies, chocolate chip cookies, brisket, boiled shrimp, lemon cake, seven layer dip, asiago/red pepper dip, swiss cheese and walnut dip, and a relish tray.  The office on the other side of me contains cinnamon muffins, potato-egg casserole, fried chicken, sugar cookies, taquitos, nacho cheese and sausage dip and soft drinks.  I had a meeting this morning in a conference room containing red beans and rice, cornbread, sausage balls, sausage boiled with peppers and onions, chips, dips, deviled eggs, egg rolls, mini cupcakes, pies cookies and tarts.  There are at least six other departmental food stations in the building not including the pot luck lunch/going away party for a friend.  The food is not even the focus of our annual Orthoween event.  There were six large scale skits and numerous costumes.  I'm not big on the dressing up but I do love the food.

Monday night football

Sunil is running around behind me (between the computer and the TV) practicing his "heisman pose" and his spike (complete with endzone dance - pretty mild but with style) after all it is Monday night.

Jack-Os

The kids went to visit the pumpkin patch today with their friends. The pictures are pretty poor but the jack-o-lanterns were well done.
We bought electric candles this year. Each one is a combination of five flashing "christmas" lights. In 48 hours Sunil has managed to break three bulbs and snap the top off of the whole assembly -- it still works to some degree, but we still have 48 hours to go.

Second Seed

Regardless of how the games are played next Saturday the final standings have been set. Super Blue ended up as the second seed in the tournament. We play the last place team first (a week from Tuesday). If that goes well we play again on Thursday, and again if that goes well we'd play whoever is left on Saturday the 11th for the championship. This works out beautifully as we leave town on Sunday the 12th.

Sid update

Sid is recovering rapidly. The first day and a half or so he could hardly stand unassisted. But by the second afternoon he was already doing his physical therapy. Saturday he managed a shower and we removed most of the bandage. Today he managed to go for a walk and to come to Sam's with us (and of course to remove the the rest of the bandages). He has a about a two-inch long cut on the front and a 1/4 inch cut on the back of his shoulder. He can go for periods of time without the sling and isn't watching the clock between pain pills. I figure he will sneak out and drive to work tomorrow to relieve his boredom.

Party Night

The kids attended a Halloween party last night. A friend of Sheela's from last year and his little brother (Sunil's age) hosted a great little get together. Their Mom should win the Mom of the year award. They had 30 kids at the party and the parents weren't required to stay. About 10 of us stayed to help anyway about half of the parents were actually in costume too. I didn't know but one other child at the party and one adult (neither of them related to the host family) but I had a wonderful time and the kids did too.

If you look closely at Sheela's neck you can see her fang marks, at the last minute she decided to be a vampire instead of a witch. Sunil was disappointed that I never bought him a red, light-up light saber. He chose not to take either the green or the blue light sabers, as he did not one anyone to mistake him for yoyo. I'm sure he meant Yoda. He could not be convinced that the color of the light was not the most distinctive part of the appearance of either Darth Vader or Yoda.

The fun never ends

One of the plates on my mother-in-law's ankle has broken.  She will need to have another surgery to replace the plate.  Surgery is scheduled for Tuesday.  She will remain in the hospital for 4-5 days.  They were planning on leaving on Wednesday for India.  They will cancel that trip and just stay here until April now.

25 Years

While I'm at it I should mention that John and Mom have been married for 25 years now.  That's another pretty good milestone.

90 Years

John's Mom is celebrating her 90th birthday today!  That's quite a milestone.  She was planning to come down here in early December but has decided that it is too far to travel.  It was too late for me to make arrangements to get up to NY to see her.

For more information

about the 2006 DI team challenges please visit Challenges.

Surgery it is

Sid has torn the bicep tendon loose and possibly torn his rotator cuff.  Surgery is scheduled for Thursday.  The MRI is tenatively scheduled for Wednesday morning (to check out the cuff).

Medical Tax Saver Account

Well I still have $150 or so dollars set aside in our medical savings account that I have to spend by the end of the year.  I was hoping to work in an actual eye exam and such.  But just in time the family has come through, Sunil has strep throat and the possibility of pnuemonia (they wont read the chest xray until morning) and Sid appears to have torn his bicep loose from the bone... more about that tomorrow too.

A beautiful day to be outside...

or so it seemed from the inside looking out. In the end I relented and let the kids move the easel back inside. It was sunny but also cold and windy. The cold wasn't much of a problem, but the wind kept tearing the thin paper sheets.

There is some extra stress associated with letting the kids spill paint and wash water in the house but it was worth it. They had a great time and no permanent damage was done. This must be the first time they've really gotten to mix their own colors (we used acrylics instead of water colors). They did a few more later in the evening but the "art wall" only holds so many at a time.

IMAX

We all went to see the movie Mystic India at the IMAX theater today. I love the IMAX movies, all of them, every single one has been wonderful. This one follows the experiences of one of India's most famous yogis. He leaves his home to begin his solo journey at the age of 11 by throwing himself into a river at full flood and then walks 8000 miles over the course of seven years.

Sunil was a riot during the movie... he has a comment about everything, is easily terrified by the dramatic scenes and so moved to joy during the uplifting scenes that he has to kiss somebody.

Lost one

Super Blue lost their game this week (2-0).  We finally played against the other first place team.  It was by far the most fun to watch of any of the games so far.  Both teams were really pretty even in terms of skills.  Not to be too snotty about it but we play a much cleaner game, they were big on tripping, pushing and shoving.  We are still tied in terms of points because we've played one more game than they have, our bye week is the last week.  But unless there is a mojor upset somewhere along the line we'll end up in second place.

Another audit

has been successfully completed.  This should be the last of our external audits for this year.  It lasted three days and we rated only a few minor non-conformances.  Unfortunately, two of them were in my area of responsibility.  In my defence, they've only been my job for a month and a half and the problems are years old.  But instead of fixing it myself I was waiting for our new quality director to start (its normally a quality function) so that he can make his mark on the system.  C'est la vie.  Over all it went really well.

We have passports...

and birth certificates back for the children.  I was a little bit worried that they wouldn't arrive in time.  But it worked out beautifully.

Rising Stars - Challenge

Sunil has been assigned to a Destination ImagiNation team. In his age group (4-7) he is a Rising Star. Their challenge is to: write and perform an eight minute long play, featuring a landmark and an invention. At some point they must use the invention to modify the landmark in some way (and it must make a sound of some kind). The land mark that they build must be large enough for at least one of the kids to get in and one of the characters in the play must wear a hat made out of newspaper. They must present at least three facts about the chosen landmark.

They have to do their own research, story writing, set design and building and make their own costumes.

The team manager is a 4th grade teach. She is lobbying to have the meetings after school in her classroom. From my point of view this is perfect! There would be no extra commuting to arrange, when its time for a meeting he can leave Kids' Club, afterwards he just checks himself back in.

Sheela's team manager hasn't contacted us yet to talk about times/locations/ or challenge selection.

Team Photographer

One of the player's parents is sports photographer so we are getting some really good game photos. This is from three weeks or so ago. The team is still undefeated with only three weeks left to play.

Semiannual Golf Tournament

Once again I joined in the IS Department Semiannual Golf Tournament and once again my team came in last (but this time we tied for last). The weather was cool and windy. Apparently the wind is only a factor if you hit the ball up in the air... when you dribble it off the tee and across your toes the wind isn't a problem.

The Hawkeye is very near and dear to the heart of our golf co-commissioner. I thought he was photo-worthy.

Dog Tails

Friday night I took the kids (and Analeise) to the Dog Tails Kid's event at our local hospital. There was free food, free bounce houses, dance performances, martial arts performances and best of all a chance to get a look inside of the Careflight helicopter. I believe the event was supposed to raise our awareness of children's cancer.

Parent Teacher Conference Number 2

We met with Sunil's teacher today. The highlight for me was getting to watch how quickly his daily draft book writing has improved... that's not to say he doesn't have a long way left to go to be considered a writer. He started off with a picture described by random groups of letters. Then as each week's new "hot" word was learned he worked in some recognizable content. The hot words have been: I, me, you, like, to. Each one useful in almost any kindergartener's every sentence.

He also did very well on his basic skills assessment, including correctly answering all five of the comprehension questions, both implicit and explicit, following a passage that was read aloud to him. Apparently that is quite a feat.

Parent Teacher Conference Number 1

I spoke to Sheela's teacher today. I just love these meetings. Sheela is doing very well in everything and is a pleasure to have in class. She's cheerful and cooperative, polite and attentive, enthusiastic and supportive. Her reading fluency increased over the summer by leaps and bounds (usually kids regress slightly over the summer).

Color me the proud parent.

Nearly complete

Sheela lacks only the hem and the application of the frog (as in a frog closure and not an actual frog) to complete her witch's cloak. I think it looks pretty darn good.

Down on the field...

One of the unexpected perks of the evening was getting to run around where the cowboys play. All four of the kids took full advantage of it.

All dressed up...

Diwali

Diwali is a five day Hindu festival which occurs on the fifteenth day of Kartika. Diwali means "rows of lighted lamps" and the celebration is often referred to as the Festival of Lights. During this time, homes are thoroughly cleaned and windows are opened to welcome Laksmi, goddess of wealth. Candles and lamps are lit as a greeting to Laksmi. Gifts are exchanged and festive meals are prepared during Diwali. The celebration means as much to Hindus as Christmas does to Christians.

 

Tonight we went to a Diwali celebration at Texas Stadium. We estimated that there were 25,000 people there. Six or seven dance programs and a drama depicting the victory of Lord Ram over the ten-headed Ravan were to be the main entertainment.
Typically at the end of the program an effigy of Ravan is set aflame. Due to the number of people there tonight they had to modify the program some and we ended up coming back home before the roasting. Here is a picture of the effigy as we saw him.
While we were waiting to get the festivities underway Sheela, Sunil and I indulged in some henna tatoos. When the henna is applied it looks like a chocolate paste. After it dries it flakes off and leaves an orange pattern. The pattern will wear off over the next week or so.

State Fair of Texas 2006

What a wonderful day. The kids and I went with our friends Alma and Kristina to the fair. We spent a small fortune but it was worth it. Alma ate until she was sick and the kids each came home with a velvet rose and a small stuffed bird.

Sunil was a lion in the Backyard Circus. He got to bare his claws, roll over, and jump through the ring of fire. Kristina was a mother butterfly. She got to help the 22 junior butterflies twirl around on stage. There was also a tightrope walker and a human cannonball.


We ate turkey legs, corny dogs, funnel cakes, grilled corn on the cob, nachos, ice cream and snow cones. Not all of us ate all of that but we did okay. This year's specialty is supposed to be the fried coke but I heard that it wasn't worth it. It's actually coke flavored fried dough rolled in powder sugar and something else sticky.

Sheela and Kristina rode on the Skywheel ride (they are in the orange car in the top ring) and on the baby roller coaster. Sunil and I did the roller coaster too but he was not a fan. The girls also came down the huge slide but didn't think it was worth the money.

I'm playing hooky...

and its wonderful. I slept late. The kids slept late. But by 8:00 AM I was ready to drop them off at Kids Club (this is their Fall Break from school). In my original plan I was going to take the whole week off to play with them, but that didn't work out. I get today and Friday. Friday we will go to the State Fair of Texas. This year the star food attraction appears to be fried coke. It doesn't sound like much of an attraction to me but I'll at least take a look if not a taste.

Today I'm catching up on household chores. Its not that I can't do this while other people are home but I don't. So this is working out well. The Sharmas are still in San Jose, CA. I've dusted the tops of the kitchen cabinets, I've rearranged my closet and the extra bedroom closet. I've culled the kids rooms for stuff they don't remember that they have and I am hiding it until I can drop it off for a garage sale. I've cleaned behind the couch (that wasn't in my plan but Sid moved the couch this morning to find something and I took a look... yuck!) I was going to clean the inside of the refrigerator but I think I'll go get a haircut instead. Then I may spend some time filing our mountain of paperwork... or not.

Surgery for Opa

Today is the day that Dad is undergoing his rotator cuff repairs. The best thing about this is that it is minimally invasive, this is one of those surgeries that used to be MAJOR. It still has a potential for long rehab. I'm sure Dad will follow his Dr's and his therapists orders and will recover rapidly. Good luck Dad!

A old era in reading (revisited)

I've started checking out books from the library again. The thing is that when I take the kids to the library I'm not allowed to leave them in the children's area unattended (at least not Sunil and Sheela is not old enough to count as "attending"). I'm not getting to go up to the main section of the library to look for books for me. So I'm making do with the "kid's" books. I've recently read Beverly Cleary's Dear Mr. Henshaw and Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons. Sunil actually picked them out. They are both Newbery Medal winners and were wonderful (and of course really easy to read). I'm hoping that Sheela will read them before we take them back but she is still working her way through the fourth Harry Potter and has a quite a ways left to go.

Little Man

Sunil is not feeling very well today. He's still so little that I'm afraid he'll waste away to nothing if he skips a meal and when he coughs his body doubles in size and then caves in on its self in a most alarming manner. In the last year or so he's moved from twirling his hair and sucking his thumb to twirling MY hair and sucking his thumb when he needs a little comfort. He says that he only sucks his thumb at home these days but I can't tell because I only see him at home.