Harlem Globetrotters Pic

Well, he isn't a 'trotter but he has "The Official" Globetrotters ball and that's good enough for me.

Bonus Night

Sid and Sheela are braving the snow for the HATs Winter Campout.  Sunil is staying with a friend.  I wasn't prepared for a night alone and my peeps are all busy.  I toyed with the idea of going to a movie but nothing sounded good.  I toyed with the idea of going to the hockey game but it doesn't seem like it will be fun alone.  I settled for a steak dinner and a Sangria Swirl Margarita at a place close to home.  I'll be curled up in front of the fire with a book by 8PM.  That's good enough for me.

NFC Champions

So many years were such a disappointment that I don’t care whether or not the Saints win the Superbowl; I’m just pleased that they are getting the chance to go.  Winning would be pretty cool though….

 

Sneak shot

I took this before Sunil told me that pictures aren't allowed (his rule).  He is warming up for the first of his two games today.  In between he'll race his car in the Pinewood Derby.

Giants of the Savannah

The zoo is opening a whole new section Memorial Day Weekend.  It will be called Giants of the Savannah and will have large enclosures for a band of 10 elephants (we have only two right now), 12 giraffes (we have only three right now) and a pride of lions (our male lion passed away and the lioness has been off exhibit ever since).  Hand feeding of the giraffes will be allowed and a part of the Junior Zoo Keeper program last the kids got to start socializing the two newer giraffes by feeding them and getting them used to crowds of kids up close.  The Junior Zookeepers get to do one field trip/special event almost every week when they work.  Sometimes it’s a back lot tour of the tiger cages during their training, sometimes it will be a special talk with one of the keepers.  This program sounds so cool.

 

BTW – Sunil wants to have his birthday party at the Zoo this year.

Building Tour

We took the Operations Department and the Quality Engineers to tour the construction for the new building on Friday.  The place is huge.  We are in 70K sq.ft now and the new place will be 150K sq.ft.  The bulk of the structure is open to the “second floor” ceiling line so it is one great big room right now.  Enough of the conference room and office walls are up to get a feel for the place and it feels really nice with lots of windows and glass walls to allow light in.  I’m getting pretty excited we have just over 100 days until the move. 

4 of 5

Sheela had her interview for the Junior Zookeeper position at the zoo this morning.  They told her that most people score a “3”, she scored a “4” out of a possible “5”.  A “5” would mean that someone was perfect so they never give 5s.  That’s pretty encouraging.  But they still have a week’s worth of interviews to do.  She won’t hear until the 28^th or 29^th.

Chilly elephant

It's pretty cold at the zoo today.  They left the fountains on and one of the elephants froze.

A quiet moment

Hectic Times

There are times when so much is going on that I can hardly think straight.  December was one of those times.  Every year, some where along the line in December I start to think “how nice it will be when crunch time is over and we get back to our normal level of activity.”  That is a good thought and pretty predictive but a little while later that morphs in to “I can’t wait until the holidays are over so that we aren’t rushed, over committed and stressed.”  That’s just dumb. We are rushed, over committed and stressed – all the time.  We do it to our selves.  Realizing that the stress didn’t go away after the holidays was worse than having the extra stress in the first place.

 

School is back in session these days which means Basketball practice, DI practice, marathon club, technology club, UIL teams, PRIDE council and Cub Scouts are back on the weekly list.  Kids Club is a life saver because the kids stay at school in the afternoons for Kids Club we don’t have to take them back and forth to most of those other activities.

 

Today Sid has gone to work out, I’m taking both kids to Sheela’s UIL competition.  She is on the “Number Sense” team for her school.  They have 10 minutes to solve as many math problems as they can without writing down anything but the answer.  The award ceremony will be this afternoon.  This evening Sunil has team pictures followed by a late basketball game.  After that Sid and I are going to the last holiday party of the season.  Tomorrow Sheela has an informational session at the zoo.  She is applying to be a Junior Zoo Keeper for both the Spring and Fall sessions.  The whole family may make a whole Zoo day of it but it only about 20 F here and that idea might get scrapped.

Cookie Icing

Sheela tried a little bit to hard to squeeze out the icing.

Applique

Sheela made this for me for Christmas.

Taffy tart making

New Year's Day 2010

Was pretty much a non-event.  We slept late, watched a half dozen episodes of Mythbusters and napped.  We did end on a high note.  Sid's friend Mike has an interest in an authentic Chinese restaurant down in Garland.  Tonight was their grand opening (under their management) quite tasty.  Sunil's new favorite is won ton soup, Sheela's is chicken fried in cheese.  Now I'm saving seats for the late showing of Avatar in 3D while Sid drops the kids back out the house.