Life skills

Sunil learns to open my champagne for me.

The OLD climbing gang

Mack, Cindy and I took the kids rock climbing yesterday.  It was great in spite of advanced age, increased weight, and degenerated joints.  The kids didn't know how much better we used to be and we were too busy trying not to break to worry about it too much.  I should have some better pictures posted by the weekend.

science benchmark test

The following is an excerpt from an email Sunil’s teacher sent yesterday.

“I have good news. Sunil's grade on the science benchmark was originally reported as an 80, however, he actually scored a 95!  
The tests were scored by a scantron machine.  When I went back and graded them the "old-school" way, by hand, my grade was different from the computer score on a few students. I gave the information to our test administrator. She double checked and now the computer system reflects his actual score of 95.”

I was pleased enough with the 80 but this bump puts all three of his benchmarks (Science, Reading and Math) in the high 90s and as impressed as I am by this I’m even more impressed that his teacher double checks the computer.  I love this school district.

Christmas Shovel

Sunil is thrilled with his folding camp shovel.  Unfortunately his next camping trip is two months away.  In the meantime I've given him this small grassless plot to dig.  It was left grassless when we moved the basketball goal a few weeks back. 

Nostalgic moment

Sunil (and Sheela) are using the Tandy leather kits to make stuff this morning.

Not pretty but white

Merry, Texas Christmas (y'all)!

Sheela and I

Skated too.

Not falling

This is Sunil skating very well at the new community rink.  The skates are fabulous padded hockey uppers with figure skate blades.  Very comfy.

It's official

My new job title is "Business Process Improvement Manager".  I still report to the Director of Operations but also report to four of our five Presidents.  The 5th one stays in California.

Rib roast

Sunil learning to cut the rib roast on family cook night.

Great Day

I had a great day at work today.  I can't say much work got done but it was good.  We had two more "culture" meetings with the masses (only a few at a time).  I love hearing everyone's opinions about the company and their suggestions for making it better.  Then if that weren't enough of a feel good moment I agreed to "mentor" someone through their career decisions (presumably because I give such good advice).  I followed that up with a feedback session with one of my favorite managers.  She actually used tha phrase "walks on water" to describe me.  I'm pretty sure that went straight to my head.  She did promise me some constructive feedback on Monday.

Surprise Audit

Well a government inspector showed up at the office today for a surprise audit of some of our processes.  She actually didn’t expect to perform an audit as her records didn’t show that we performed those processes even though her scheduler told her that we did.  We do and she did.  There was only one tense moment and it was mostly tense because she couldn’t decide if she wrap up for the day and come back tomorrow or if we should work late and get it finished.  The draw back to her working late would be that we’d all have to work late and I had to pick up the kids. It made for a very long but very successful day.  We wrapped it up and I beat the pick up deadline by almost 6 minutes.

Sheela's birthday dinner

The “official” dinner was held at Macaroni Grill this year.

Stunning Lake Walmart

For a few minutes every morning parking across the street in the Walmart parking lot is not too bad.

Found

One pair of black boots... If they're yours please contact me so I can make the appropriate arrangements.

Greece

Sheela is making a topographical map of Greece.  The base is a 15" ceramic tile spray painted blue.  She projected the image on and traced the important parts.  Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania are all painted green.  Greece is white.  Here she is adding texture with a spray can of latex caulk.  We spent days mulling over ways to glue on her clay mountains before deciding to try the caulk.  She likes the caulk so much she isn't even going to use the clay.

I molded mine

Grammylyn's turn

Assembly 101

Sid teaches Sunil to roll sushi.  He found a place downtown to buy sashimi grade fish.

Sashimi and Saints

Homemade sashimi, beer and the undefeated Saints.  What a day.

The party planning is complete

All we did was bake and decorate a cake (Mom and Sheela took care of that), call a few friends over and buy hockey tickets.

Fast Forward

We seem to be stuck in fast forward mode these days.  In the last week we’ve had Sunil’s first basketball game, done the downtown hotel stay, been to the Dallas Children’s Parade, the Farmer’s Market, my company holiday party with another hotel stay, marched in the Allen Christmas Parade with the Cub Scouts, had a DI meeting, a basketball practice, two house closings, the cub scout committee meeting, been to work all day everyday and stayed up talking half the night every night.  Tonight John and Sunil are going to the driving range, Sid and Sheela have the daddy/daughter ball, the rest of us are going to dinner and a movie.  Tomorrow Sunil is going to party and has a basketball game, Sheela is having her party at the hockey game, Jaz might spend the night, we still have to make the cake, Sunday we were going to try to go skating and then take the ‘rents back to the airport.  No Christmas shopping or planning has occurred but the folks and the kids did decorate the house for us.

Festive dinner

Mom set a beautiful table for Sheela's pre-parade birthday dinner.  We are eating at home this year to accomodate Sunil's first basketball game.  Sheel requested Grammylyn's meatloaf.  Later we will head to the hotel.

Application Time

Sheela received her application request to apply as a Junior Zoo Keeper at the Dallas Zoo.  She has a few weeks to turn it back in then a round of interviews.  The competition is pretty stiff for either the Saturday or Sunday time slots and since we don’t home school the weekday slots aren’t an option.  She’d be committed to a 4.5 hour shift every week for 13 weeks.

Texas is Beautiful

I don't always think so but we are enjoying one of the most amazing weeks right now.  It's been in the mid-60s and sunny for nearly a week.  Sid and Sunil are camping so I'm squiring Sheela and her best friend around.  We walked to the donut shop this morning.  There is actual fall foliage out there this year no bright, yellow but plenty of reds, oranges and burnished golds. 

Now we are up at the tennis courts.   While the girls play I'm alternately reading a book and sending emails.  Neither one is really capturing my attention, the sky is too bright a blue to be ignored today.

Later on we will go to see "New Moon" with my friend Cindy.  I don't see her often enough.  One of the things that has suffered from my travel and lunch meeting schedule has been meeting my other friends for lunch.  I'm getting lonely without them. 

I used to think that I read when I got stressed but apparently the reading is for boredom or lonliness.  I get obsessive over music when I'm stressed.  I play the same song a dozen times until I can wear it out and move on.   

Well the sky has captured the girls too.  They are both laying on the court watching the clouds now.  They are about the same age as I was when I became friends with Kathy.  They don't dress alike or talk alike yet but they will before much longer.

Early snack

Sunil, tired of waiting for turkey, tried to eat Dad's ears.... Again.

Sports

Sid took Sunil to the last of high school football games last night.  They played in Cowboy Stadium and the game didn't even start until after 9PM then it went in to double overtime.  The Eagles missed the two point conversion to lose in the last few seconds 35:34.  They didn't get home until 2AM.

 

Sheela and I stayed a little bit closer to home.  We went to another Allen Americans game.  They beat the Corpus Christie Ice Rays 4:0.  This time there were five fights instead of just one but they seemed almost contrived.  I think they got scolded for not fighting enough last time and just put on a show.  That aside the game was good and we sat on the glass once again.  There were maybe 1/3 as many people there this time.  It was also Choctaw Casino/Resort jersey night.  So we received jerseys with the Americans logo on the back and the casino logo on the front.  There were so few fans there that we got an extra jersey for Sunil and a second one for me (they didn't have any larges left so I'm keeping Sid's medium).  One of the boys Sheela knows from school was in the row behind us so he came down to sit with us.

Premier, etc.

Sheela did opt to go to the midnight movie last night.  She should be back at her friend's by now and will go to school today.

It's storming pretty hard right now and we are supposed to be camping tonight with the Cub Scouts.  We don't really want to go because we have too much else doing but there aren't that many Cub Scout activities.  I'm also supposed to be passing out the class B uniforms (t-shirts) there.

Sunil's first basketball practice was last night.  His team will be the Dynamites.  His first game (preigame) will be the weekend of the parade/holiday party but we won't know when until that week.

Jersey

So this was the trip that should never have been.  It took two weeks longer to schedule than it should have needed and changed purposes at least three times.  In the end I came up early enough to spend the whole afternoon in the office where I spent the whole time calling in to meetings that I needed to attend back in TX.  Meanwhile a truck wiped out a telephone pole next to the tissue bank's distribution facility.  The real reason to be here was to become familiar with their customer service/distribution interface.  The telephone pole wiped out a series of serious high powered power lines.  The live lines constituted a serious risk to public health and safety.  The police closed the facility.  No shipments yesterday or today.  I was supposed to go to the other location but as no shipments were going to be made the customer service department was busy calling all of their customers to apologize.

While this was going on I did manage to drop down to Freehold to visit Rav and Renee for dinner (the trip highlight).  I saw Samantha for a few minutes and talked to Katie on the phone.

Then I tried to check in to the hotel only to be turned away.  My confirmed reservation pulled up in their system for next week.  No biggee - I went across the street.

Today I went to a training class in the office here that I've wanted for 2 years.  It is taught by a group of my friends from TX.  Not really worth a flight here but at least I got something out of it.  Now I'm heading home.

On the Hilton situation a further investigation by my travel agent and the hotel general manager has determined that someone at the hotel altered my reservation when I showed up late and then tried to blame it on a programming glitch.

TV

Sheela was on TV this morning.  ESPN broadcast College Game Day from TCU today.  Sheela went down with some friends and managed a few seconds of air time.

Inspired by Tracy

As a special favor to the birthday boy the kids and I cleaned out our front hall closet last weekend.  Here it is in its organized splendor.  New hooks along the back allow us to hang up the newly updated zoo backpack (contains refillable zoo cups, monorail passes and carousel tokens), the camping backpacks (flashlights, mess gear, lanterns, air mattress pumps, etc) and all of the camel backs.  The real difference is in restricting the hanging rod to two coats apiece.  We have hooks in the front too for my purse and everyday coat, Sheela’s backpack and favorite sweatshirt, Sunil’s baseball bag and backpack, and Sid’s sweatshirt and windbreaker.  Unfortunately it’s been nearly a week and the pieces that didn’t go back in are on the floor in the front hall.  Fun for another day I guess.

A Zoo Day

Gorilla Nap

Love the zoo

Sunday is Zoo Day

Sid's Birthday

Last night Sid and Sunil went to the last regular season football game. It was the first time they've gone to an away game. They expected to leave early (on the assumption that Allen would be trampling Wylie) so that Sid and Sheela could go to a Rock Climbing lock-in with HATS. But it wsan't a trample and Sheela was worn out plus the boys had some logistical issues with getting back home (shuttle buses to the car and traffic and going the wrong way) that kept them out pretty late. In the end they bagged the climbing night.

That said we haven't really celebrated his birthday yet. I'll wake Sheela up in another half hour or so to make pancakes and bacon for breakfast in bed. Tonight we'll do gifts and then take him out. Sheela is getting him a new tent but wants him to pick it out so she is going to make a tent diorama for him to open. Sunil got him tickets to the first home game of the Allen Americans (our local professional hockey team). They are 5 and one on the year. Tonight they will play here for the first time. Our brand new event center just opened last night with a Reba concert. I bought him an accessory for his Garmin that he needed and will take out to buy new boots (his are falling apart before our eyes).

Decision time

I've been unofficially offered a job in our IT department. I've talked to the hiring director and the two other managers and it looks like a lot of fun with a great team. I love both of the direct reports and the director. The job would be supporting and managing all of the IT support for a third of the company (thus the need for the other two managers - both of whom are excellent and would cover my back while getting me up to speed on the actual technical stuff).

The porblem is that my current job is also a lot of fun and hits a wider area of responsibility. I just want to get out of having to support manufacturing in favor of working on more multi-company projects. When our Operations department was a shared service supporting all four companies this was easier to justify. Now we all fall back under one company again and that makes it difficult to the big boss of that company to allow me to spend my time on the others. I've talked to my boss about it. Next week I'll talk to his boss about it. The week after that I'm travelling with his boss. We'll see where it goes. Either way I'm still going to like my job. Not everyone can say that.

A me brag

I won closest to the pin (for the women) in the golf tournament today.  It was pretty much my only contribution to the team's efforts.  I spent my $100 gift shop credit on golf shoes and Hurricane Creek jacket.  Whoo-hooo for me.

Happy Halloween

I was hoping to have some photos from the company party to share but that will have to wait.  Thursday was our 9^th Orthoween party at work.  The Marketing Department did a spoof of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory complete with inflating a girl to look like a blueberry to tie for first place with the accounts receivable department’s reprisal of Michael Jackson’s Thriller.  My favorite was the IT department’s 1980’s MTV Video Award show.  Different people filmed themselves singing the songs and then edited the original videos to feature themselves.  My friend Steve shaved his head, put ona dress and did a Sinead O’Conner song, Suzi did Madonna, we also had Devo, Kiss, ZZ Top and Rick Ansely.  Excellent!  Once again went around with the judges for a prime viewing spot.  I did not intend to be in costume but was drafted to fill up the giant underwear as the Fruit of the Loom grape leaves.  There were five of us in that underwear.

 

The kids are mostly costumed up.  Sunil is going to be a werewolf and Sheela a vampire.  They’ve both found friends to Trick-or-treat with tonight.

 

Today Sheela has some friends over helping her make her campaign posters.  She’s running for PRIDE council president.

 

Sunil has gone to escort his friend back home.  The friend got poked in the eye with a light saber (she’s okay) but she’s had enough of the boys for today.

 

Sid’s catching up on property stuff.  I’ve been alternately working from home and cooking.  The kids carved albino pumpkins this morning and we roasted the seeds.  They look good (the seeds) and they smell good but when its all said and done they’re still pumpkin seeds and more trouble than they are worth.  I made shrimp fettuccini for lunch and have an apricot pork loin in the crock pot for dinner.

 

The sun is shinning today so I keep finding excuses to just go stand outside for a few minutes.  If I could kick the kids out of the house I’d go for a bike ride.   

Campaigning (or more Mom bragging)

Sheela is running for school president.  She spent the weekend with "her staff" writing speeches and making posters.  Yesterday she had to address all 600 students.

She also gets to represent her school (along with another good friend) in the UIL Number Sense competition in January.

Missing post

I wrote a huge post over the weekend but don’t see it today.  Makes me wonder where I sent it……..  Long story short:  The weekend was beautiful, the kids are fun, Sid worked some, I worked some and Halloween candy is good.

Maternal Pride

I'm all proud of Sheela - she was elected to Pride (Student) Council.  I'm pleased that she wanted to serve, pleased that she got elected but particularily proud of the fact that she had to finagle her way in to the election.  She missed the deadline (she was home sick) but took her paperwork in the next day anyway just in case.  It turns out that the official paperwork collector was out sick too and the substitute collector has known Sheel for years. 

Afternoon floor nap

Model T

We also toured the Farm Museum including their classic tractors and car.

CUBe

What a beautiful day!  It's 75 degrees, sunny with a constant breeze.  Sunil and I went to an all-you-can eat Pancake Breakfast hosted by the McKinney Boy Scouts.  Then we headed a little bit farther up the road to a full day Cub Scout event.  It's educational, it's fun, it's outdoors.  My life is good.

Sid and Sheela have gone to mentor the new Dads and Daughters on a HATs campout so today is just for me and the boy.

He's done the archery, and the fishing, and the bean bag toss.  He practiced driving nails, built a marshmallow shooter and a bug collector.  He's taking the BB gun safety class now.  Then we're off to practice feats of skill and knot tying.

Nail driving

At CUBe

Arrrrggghhh

Guilt is such a waste of time.  I'm starting hour two of the DI Team Manager training.  I'm not the manager but no one else could come.  I don't have the time either but I feel badly about having to rely on the other parents to haul Sheela back and forth so I'm forcing it to fit in the schedule..  This is how I got sucked in to handling the Cub Scout t-shirts too.  It explains how I got sucked in to working the water rocket launcher booth at CUBE this weekend.  Without the guilt of shafting my family I'd be home with my family.  That's just wrong.

Responsible Children

I’ve been brushing up on my Love & Logic skills again.  Sheela is very excited about the second Twilight movie that is being released in Nov.  Her best friend is going to see it at the midnight release party and wants Sheela to go too.  She’s mentioned half a dozen times that Hunter gets to go and then gets to skip school the next day to sleep.  She finally asked me if she could go too.  I told her “yes… but” she has to pay her own way, get Hunter’s mom to drive her and she can’t skip school.  If she thinks she can stay awake all day and be sharp enough to participate in class after staying up all night she’s welcome to try it.  She decided that she would be too tired for school.  I’m counting this as a success even if she changes her mind when she figures out that the school day in question is an early release day leading in to the Thanksgiving break.

NJ again

I'm back in New Jersey tonight.  Tomorrow I'll be touring another of the Tissue Banks.  I'm fascinated by all of the uses for the different tissue forms.  Donation is starting to look like a better option than cremation... Just so you know.

Ace parenting on my vacation day

Sure Sunil, you can climb the rickety, old fence.  It's not dangerous if no one gets hurt, right?!?

And the Wailers

And Three Dog Night

Roger Daltry Stage

Yes, I do know how bad these pictures are...

Aerosmith stage

Last Night

Tonight is the big appreciation party out on Treasure Island but before that we have a sushi dinner and afterwards stops at least the Buena Vista and the Redwood Room.  I'm pretty over the Redwood Room by now so I'm hopping to hustle everyone in to Lefty's Irish Pub and Piano Bar instead.

The conference gave me enough to have been worth the trip but I think I won't be back for a few years.  Most of the benefits to me are the time with the IT teams from Italy and San Diego.  They are in Dallas every couple of months we just need to schedule time while they are in town to talk.

Sailing

The tropical storms that are threatening the area have held off long enough for us to risk a sailing trip this afternoon -- my first in the Pacific.  One of the vendors chartered a 65ft boat for the afternoon.  Have I mentioned how much I love my job and this show?

Funky Mirrored Chair

Haight-Ashbury

Still a neat area.

Soft sculpture

I'm sitting in the lobby admiring, of all things, a plush looking black bowler stuffed with an apple.  The whole thing is maybe two feet tall and three feet in diameter.  It's a strange hotel.

IMG00137.jpg

The arm chair in my room at the uber-trendy Clift Hotel in SF,CA.  I may be able to get a picture of the rest of the room during daylight.  It does not look like everywhere else I've ever stayed.  The walls are mostly mirrors and curtains and the night stands are clear acrylic cubes.

Postponed

The golf tournament will be pushed back a month or so because of the amount of rain we received.  Actually I'm really pleased for the delay.  I'm taking a vacation day this week, travelling next week and travelling again the week after.  I really need to go in as much as possible this week.

Dinner

We've made a conscious choice to cook and eat dinner together as a family every Sunday night but more tan that we've started planning our meals for the week on the weekend.  Everyone gets to help decide what we are going to have at least part of the time and they usually help with the cooking.  The food is better and the stress level lower than when we make it up as we go.

This week we lead off with cheese fondue (with crab meat) and a chocolate fondue course.  Monday was chicken quesadillas, tonight is hawaiian pork chops, Wed is lasagna in the crock pot, Thurs is the meat fondue course with schloss sauce.  Friday we left open in case the boys go to the high school football game.

First Concert

One of the dots is Sheela during her first concert.

Apples

For years the only apples I would eat were Granny Smiths.  I love the crunch and the explosion of tart juice.  Over the last few years however I’ve gained an appreciation for Fuji apples.  They are still firm but much mellower in flavor. But now for the first time I have an actual new favorite – the Honey Crisp.  It is every bit as crunchy as a good Granny but instead of tart it is unbelievable sweet.  I’m eating at least two a day.

Service project

Clean the creek

Another rainy day

Spent with Maya.

Six Weeks

I can’t believe today marks the end of the first six week grading period at school. It has gone really fast. Grades won't be out for another week but I believe the year got off to a strong start for both of them.

Taking shape

Because the land around here is generally clear and flat large buildings are generally constructed from poured concrete walls that are then hoisted up in to place and bracketed together.  Here is a snap of the walls being raised on our new facility.  My cube space, or as we call them “snoffice”, will most likely be right inside the front first floor window as seen from here.

It's official

I’m going to Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco.  I have plane tickets, room reservations (at the uber-trendy Clift Hotel) and a full conference pass.  This should be the last of my trips for this year and if not for the six hours of lectures each day would qualify as a vacation.

The entertainment

This year Aerosmith, Roger Daltrey, the Wailers and the Fixx are all coming to the Oracle OpenWorld Appreciation Event on Treasure Island.  Oddly enough I think I’m the most excited about seeing the Fixx again.  It’s been probably 25 years but it was one of my favorite concerts.

Song and Dance

While up here in MA I got to have lunch with a former co-worker.  His nickname is Dance, his wife's given name is Song.  Together they are a competitive Line Dance team, Song and Dance.  They also work as DJs.  He's a very nice guy and he has made a hobby of collecting music.  Thanks to this recent visit I have nearly 300 songs on my MP3 player.  Not bad considering I've only had it for five days.

Not quite the Big E

The Eastern States Exposition is going on here in Springfield and I planned to go tonight with my friend Jeff and his family.  But storms were moving in so we settled a dinner out instead.

The Expo, or Big E, is the New England equivalent of our own Texas State Fair.  I was looking forward to it as I've never been to anything else that was similar.  I've been asked before if the Texas State Fair is bigger than other state's fairs.  Everyone in Texas really does think that they do everything on a larger scale but I don't have a way to judge.

One thing I was going to pass up even if we'd gone was this year's special treat --  a bacon cheesebuger served between two glazed donuts and if I heard correctly deep fat fried.  Doesn't even really bear thinking about does it?!?

International Terminal

Once again I'm flying to Hartford today and I get to leave from the International terminal.  It's my favorite.  The food is better, the window shopping is better and the energy is better.  If that weren't enough of a plus for this trip I also get to fly First Class today.  I don't actually know how that happened but I'm pleased none the less.  I even get an actual meal on the flight and I didn't have to pay to check my bag.  Best of all though is that I believe I've managed to duck Sheela's cold.  It was a close thing over the weekend but it never really developed beyond my annoying coughing phase.  I love my life.

Did I mention

That the rain had stopped?  It's beautiful out this evening.  The kids are spending the night with friends while Sid and I celebrate our 18th anniversary.

Rivers and Storms from the past

The Gales and the Rioses came over for dinner last night.  George, Stephanie and Sid were in JROTC togther.  Richard was a friend from college.  Richard and Amanda just got married and moved to Dallas.  George and Stephanie (and their boys) are driving from NM to NOLA and we are the halfway point.  We may see them again on their way home next week.

Cold and flu season is upon us

Sheela stayed home from school on Friday with a fever and a sore throat.  Have the folks out from work are home with kids that either have the flu (already) or strep throat.  The strep possibility had me worried so I did take Sheel to the doctor.  She is negative on strep but can still expect about five days of fever and coughing.  Without Motrin she is pathetic, with it you can't even tell she is sick.

Ice Blue Irises

For the first time in over a week it isn't raining today.  So I took five minutes and planted the iris rhizomes that Mom gave me in July.  They are pretty well brown and crunchy but they still had a few green leaves and I've seen them come back from worse treatment.  I have a ton of Chocolate Daddies, one really pretty gold and now hopefully some ice blue around the tree in the front yard. 

I was planning to dig them all up do a little bit of thinning and intermixing but it went from HOT to WET too fast this year.  Today was the first real chance I've had and apparently I'm just too lazy.

Palm Springs

I've been invited to present at the National Sales Meeting in Palm Springs in February.  They still have plenty of time to change their minds but I was pleased to just be considered.

AM/FM Radio Kit

Sunil built his first radio today.  It works well but only in a completely silent environment - it's a good thing Sid and Sheela were gone for the weekend.

Bear Year

This marks the beginning of Sunil's 3rd year as a Cub Scout.  He is working on his Bear Rank.  Our den is down to only 4 or 5 boys.  That is pretty small especially if anyone doesn't show for an event.  There are too many events to attend them all but I like the boys (and their families) so we are sticking together.

A mid-zoo nap

8 Years

Of the LaCerte Family Children's Zoo.  We've been bringing the kids here for 8 years and it it still one of my favorite places at the zoo.  I love the "creek" and watching the tiny kids toddle around in the water.  It's about the only place where I like other people's kids.

Zoo day

Shut down

Wow!  It has been a frantic couple of weeks and I’m ready for a break.  I stumbled in from work and promptly fell asleep on the couch.  After repeated “Wake up, Mom” attempts the kids gave up and fed themselves.  Sid wandered in later and did the same.  I’ve been staring at Facebook for an hour now and I realize I’m still not really awake so I’m going to bed.  Tomorrow it’s just me and the kids while Sid rodtrips to Austin with Hudson for a football game.  Sunday we’ll hit the zoo and Monday we’ve got home paperwork to get through.  The common theme here is three days without work.  Can I make it that long?

Orchestra

Sheela ended up borrowing her cousin's viola instead of mine.  Nita played for a semester in 3rd grade and hasn't used it since.  It is an inch or two shorter and so fits her much better.  I kept mine at home for now to see how it goes.

One of the drawbacks to having the instrument instead of renting is that the required music is included with a rental but not provided by the school.  As we joined so late we didn't get the info until Wed and we had to find it before Friday.  It turns out the store is close by but they ran out of the Viola version before we got there so we had to run all the way up to Frisco before that location closed.

Not too different

An industrious Saturday

I woke up early with no one to play with and no pleasure reading at hand.  So instead of lounging all morning I weeded the front flower beds and trimmed the hedges.  I'm a pretty infrequent gardner so this qualifies as news. 

Then I went for a haircut (a picture may follow).  By the time I got back Sid had convinced the kids that we owe him car detailing (we really do).  So we dejunked it and are getting ready for washing, waxing, vacuuming, and Rain-X-ing. 

Then we need to hit the library, the snow cone shop and the grocery store.  It's a fondue night here at the house so that will take the rest of the evening.  We are supposed to camp in the yard tonight.

Tomorrow the kids are going to the zoo with Sid while I go to work in the morning and to see "Mama-mia" at the Music Hall in the afternoon.

A new concept in reading

Sunil doesn't like to read stories but he likes to read.  This totally foreign concept took me forever to identify and I still don't REALLY understand it.  He wants to read books of facts about volcanos, snakes, the Civil War, etc but has no interest in reading about what happened when the volcano blew up the town, or a boy and his pet snake, or the little boy carrying messages to the front line during the battle.  Is it really reading if there is no plot?!?!

2009-2010 School Year

We are underway and off to a good start.  Both kids love their teachers and are still excited about doing their homework.  I know it won't last so I have to enjoy it while I can.

Sheela managed to switch in to the orchestra.  That was the plan all along but took a little bit of doing to get it done.  Tomorrow she'll go for the first time. 

Shavings and Chips - Practice

Sunil is working on his Cub Scout requirements today.  He is carving a racecar out of a bar of soap.

Kaleidoscope

Six Sunils sharing secrets.

That's a lot of vacation

I'm wiped out and we still have to slay the dragon, twice.  It's almost 7PM on the second day and we're done with the water.  The girls are in the arcade and the boys are cleaning up. 

This place isn't so much a nickle and dime operation as it is a $5 and $10 operation but I'm glad we came.  The waterpark is great and inclusive but the Magiquest wands are $15 min plus $10 to make it work.  Then you can dress them with jewels, ornaments, belts, etc.  I hate feeling cheap but I'm not buying bling for a wand.  Or dress yourself in cloaks, armour or fairy garb - which I'm also too cheap for and the kids were too cool for.  You can pay extra for the arcade, the spa treatments.  There is a whole kid spa with a sweet shop theme for the kids - imagine chocolate fizz facials and cheesecake scented scrubs. 

Great Wolf

We are enjoying our mini-vacation at our local Great Wolf Lodge.  There are both indoor and outdoor waterparks.  For a little bit of extra cash you can enjoy a ton of extra activities.  So far however we haven't left the water (and we are on hour six).

Charmed Life

I've always known that I live a charmed life - bad things don't really happen to me, for which I'm eternally grateful, but even the minor inconveniences rarely plague me for long.  All of that just say that Sid and the kids found my camera in the "zoo" backpack yesterday.  Yay!  I got all my vacation pics back and can take the camera with me tomorrow to wish the Sharmas a safe journey and the on to the "Lodge" for a back to school celebration. 

"Value People", "Own It" and "Have Courage"

These, along with "Be One", "Create Dialog" and "Just Imagine" are our company's six cultural beliefs.  I think I exhibited all three of these today by teaching a full day class today on our company's "Journey to Accountability".  I rated "Value People" both for taking the time to invest in myself and for sharing this knowledge with others.  I rated "Own It" for ensuring that my level and breadth of knowledge were sufficient to the task and for ensuring the whole team of trainers gave it our best effort.  I rated "Have Courage" for getting up in front of 30 people to teach a subject I'm still learning.  I still hate talking to groups but I did it.

This was a fabulous experience (that I get to repeat two more time this week) and a few more times later this month and again with the Sales force at the National meetings.

I am so wiped now that I couldn't even eat dinner and I only taught a third of the day.  I can only imagine what it takes to do the full day.

Weekend Work

I’m up here at the office again on a Saturday.  This time I’m helping out the quality department with incoming inspections.  They have a huge backlog and too few hands so a few hours here and there make a big difference.  I’ve posted here almost every time I’ve had to work on a weekend so it seems like it is often but really it’s not.  What I find striking today though is that nearly our entire manufacturing staff and half of the warehouse staff are here again.  The mfg folks work a four day week with Fridays off but they’ve been in every Friday and every Saturday since early June and they are still cheerful.  This is a great group of people.

Sponge War practice

The Cub Scouts are practicing their funnelator aiming skills in preparation for a pirate battle planned for the Family camp out later this Fall.  Mostly it's an excuse to play up at the sprayground on a hot day while showing off pack spirit.  The "sponges" are cloth covered sponge balls soaked in cold water.

New approach to life

Our corporate culture is heading for a shake up. I'm pretty excited about it now that we've gotten past the misrepresentations of what is to come. The initial directive was related to the hyper-precise set-up requirements sent along for the training room layout. Once we got to the actual content I was pleased. The watch words are a "culture of accountability" and the process is very positive. I spent a whole day in training this week absorbing the big picture, the watch words, the goals and the steps in the process. I was in one of the early classes but eventually all of our employees in North America will receive this same training. I was particularily impressed with the number of division Presidents and Vice-Presidents in attendence (and teaching portions of the material). What I didn't appreciate at the time was that I would be teaching the class myself by the end of August.

Yesterday I sat through a second day of training this one "Train the Trainer". A small group of us have been selected to champion this throughout the company. We have two weeks to polish up our act and then we have to start training the rest of the employees. I don't do a lot of structured, formal training so this is going to be stretch for me.

Cracked tooth

Out of respect for Sheela's privacy I no longer blog her every comment and action (Sunil isn't embarassed by it yet) but she was pretty proud of her latest "doins".

She broke a tooth biting in to popcorn last night not even a kernal but the fluffy white part.  A molar split right in half.

Today the dentist pulled both halves out by hand.  The root had already resorbed (which is why the tooth was so weak) and the replacement is ready to pop through her gum.

Sunil - Pretournament Shot

Sheela - Pretournament shot