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.