Hurricane Ike

is expected to pass just close enough for us to know it. Fossil Rim did decide to cancel our bike and actually will be closed for three days. So we are sticking close to the house for the weekend. I'm actually expecting to be babysitting the freezers again when the power goes out.

School commitments

The school year always starts with a flurry of commitments. Last night was curriculum night for both the 2nd and 5th grades. At least I only had to sacrifice one night instead of two but it meant that I was at the school for the two and a half hours between the time I get home and the time Sunil goes to bed. It doesn't leave much time for actual parenting.

Tonight is join scouting night for the cub scouts so we have to go up again tonight with Sunil to sign up again. He's very excited, he got to wear his uniform to school today.

Tomorrow is the first PTA meeting -- this time they disguised it as an ice cream social to get the kids to bring their parents in. I'm hoping to skip this one.

Friday night is the parent's planning meeting for our cub scout den. We need to divide up duties for the year and set out schedule.

Saturday we were supposed to join the pack for the first day of Boy Scout popcorn sales. Unfortunately we are already committed to the bike ride down in Glen Rose.

Yesterday the scouts sent home fliers regarding: scout night at a Ranger game, a Mavericks game, an FC Dallas game, the Mesquite Rodeo, and CUBE (a family event). All of this happens in the next seven weeks.

We were given dates through the spring when the kids are not allowed to travel, have Dr/dentist appointments or be ill due to test dates, practice test dates, assessment dates or conferences.

We spent 45 minutes talking about the 5th graders trip to Sky Ranch. I'm going to be a chaperon so I get to sleep in a cabin with 16 ten year old girls for two nights.

Gaps

We've known the time was coming but it is finally here. Sunil lost two teeth yesterday, one at school and the other while flossing before bed. Actually I got to pull the second one (my first time really pulling one) because the floss knocked it crooked but he couldn't get it out. I told Sunil months ago that the tooth fairy pays double if you lose two at a time.

Sheela still has a gap left in her mouth too. I took pictures of both the kids this morning but neither of them are stellar. The kids are not at their most cooperative early.

Poor tactical decision... repeated

I've given up trying to convince Sid that wine does not cool down any faster in the freezer than it does in the fridge.  He's convinced it does.  So once again we froze a bottle of wine.  This time a Texas Sweet Moscato he's been meaning to try.  It turns out I'm not a fan of this one, but it never had a chance.  Your basic thawed wine is undoubtedly less appealing than your freshly chilled wine. 

Current favorite recipe

We have a new favorite recipe around our house. Its not at all what I expected the kids to like but they swear they love it.... cheesy catfish fillets.

Mix 1/3 parts sour cream, real mayonnaise and cheap grated Parmesan cheese together throw in a handful of dehydrated, minced onion. Spread it over the catfish fillets and bake at 350 oF for 25-30 minutes. If it hasn't browned a little on top -- broil it for a few minutes. It will turn brown and bubble.

I usually mix 1 cup of each and use less than half of it on the fish. The rest I smear on sliced french bread and broil. This has long been my favorite appetizer. If you save it in the fridge the onion flavor gets stronger (better) overnight.

Surveys

One of the most inspired marketing strategies never pursued by my company was their "voice of the customer" initiative. The person driving the project left almost as soon as it was out of the box and no one else seems as drawn to it as I was. Unfortunately it is not my area of the company.

The gist of it was pretty easy... ask the customer what they want before you decide what to sell. It sounds easy but is not the way things are done. We tend to work with a single customer on an idea rather than 1000s. We get a product that is perfect for the one person that give the product to for free and no one wants to buy the product.

I love surveys. I know most people hate them and think that they are an inconvenience but how many times do you get frustrated with something and there is no one there to here your gripe?!? I love having an opinion and being asked to share it as opposed to forcing it down someones throat. I take every opportunity to influence my world.

For example about seven years ago Chrysler called and wanted to ask me about my car buying experiences. I was home alone. There was nothing on TV, so why not? They wanted to know.

The only cars I'd ever purchased were Fords. Did it matter what their adds said, no. Did it matter what features were offered, no. Did it matter where the adds were displayed or broadcast, no. What was Ford doing that they weren't? That's easy, 30-ish years before they hired family. I was the lucky recipient of employee discounts. What would it take to get me to consider buying one of their cars? An employee discount might make it possible. A year later every manufacturer under the sun was offering employee discounts. I'm not really taking credit for that, in fact I find it pretty annoying. But I might have played a part in making a change.

The blogger survey link is listed on the dashboard page. Mostly my responses to this survey were "every thing is great" but they did ask for input on new features. Everyone has to have something that they want and can't do or don't know how to do. In my case I want an easy way to copy my blog to a CD or storage device to save forever. This is the closest thing I've had to a diary since I was 18 and the bulk of the kid's childhoods are recorded here. I'd hate to lose that forever but I don't have time to save it little by little. Maybe they'll create a process for me to archive my memories just because I took the time to answer their questions.

Beautiful Fall Days

The last few days have been too pretty for words. It has cooled off some. It is still more than 90s in the afternoons but the evenings and early mornings are cool. Last weekend we managed a couple of family bike rides plus Sheela and I walk almost every evening after dark. We've been on the go all morning and still have to buy a birthday gift and participate in the Cub Scout Fair but them we get to chill for the rest of the weekend. I'm planning to trim hedges and clear flower beds. I may even plant a few Fall flowers

DTI Scan

The son of our friends is back off to St. Jude's Hospital today. Early tomorrow morning he will have a DTI scan done of the suspected brain tumor. This scan is similar to an MRI but provides much clearer images. Here is a sample scan - pretty don't you think?!? Anyhow keep him in your thoughts on Thursday. We aren't really pulling for either an operable vs inoperable designation as much as we are hoping for a clear treatment decision from the team of Doctors. They've been working on this for 5 or 6 years already.

Rearrangement

Well my boss has restructured our department again essentially giving making my counterpart my boss and putting all of my people under him. This was supposed to be freeing up all of my time to tackle this really big project I've been lobbying for for the last three years. But they aren't going to fund it again this year... even though they actually budgeted the money for it this time. I'm pretty disappointed three years is a long time to wait for something that you know needs to be done and now we've rearranged and I have nothing new to show for it.

Labor Day Weekend

Sunil and I camped out Saturday night. We just pitched the tent in the backyard (the big tent this time) in hopes of a family camp out. It was pretty warm and muggy with it. Sid was gone within half an hour... Sheela left about an hour later. Sunil and I toughed it out. Actually by that time it was cool and pleasant. We had a very nice night. The tent is large enough to hold a queen sized air mattress, two twin sized mattresses and still have room to walk... not to mention room to stand all the way up. This tent is a monster. Sunil started out on his own mattress but somewhere along the line he ended up curled up under my chin just like when he was small. He is such a sweetie.

The next night the night started off a little bit cooler and Sheela stayed out all night with us. both kids competed to see who could sleep the closest to me. As soon as they fell asleep I wriggled free and went to one of the other mattresses for another great night's sleep.

Aside from the camping and some marshmallow roasting we didn't do much over the holiday weekend. I went shopping, Sunil played with friends and Sheela and I worked on our paint-by-number pictures. Actually I'm doing Sunil's. The little spots and the paint mixing were more than he wanted to work through.

Fossil Rim

We've signed up for the "Moonlight" Bike ride at Fossil Rim Wildlife Park in a few weeks.  We get to ride around the outside of the wildlife enclosures around twilight.  Now we are looking for a place to camp down that way so we don't have to drive back afterwards.  Hopefully this will make up for us skipping out on the night time ride through the Everglades. 

India again

The Sharmas have arrived safely back in Pune. They took a different route this year flying through Quebec, Iceland, Moscow, Karachi and landing in Mumbai. Apparently this is 2000 miles shorter but did not involve any plane changes (or opportunities to stretch your legs or use a real bathroom). They will stay there for five months.

Color Guard

Sunil's Den served as the color guard at last night's pack meeting. The attached video clip is for the Grandparents.

The fallout continues

Last week's storm messed up some of my equipment at work.  We thought it was under control on Wednesday but Thursday the trouble escalated.  Friday I got called back in to work.  Over the weekend I had to keep running up to check it out.  We finally got to a point where we can manage the repair only to have a second unit go down last night.  I patched it together this morning but it won't last forever.  The first unit will be out of service for at least a week.  So I get to go back in to work every day over the holiday to add more dry ice to my temorary storage containers.  When the first repair is completed we will need to take the other unit off lime for at least two weeks.  I'm using up 500 pounds of dry ice every day.

Quick trip

Sushama brought Seema and Nita by the house for a few hours Friday night so they could visit with Grandma and Grandpa.  Nita spent some of the visit fencing with Sunil.

 

Olympic fever

Like many others our whole family was sucked in to watching countless hours of Olympic action.  Here Sunil and Sid are kicking back to watch some of the swimming events.

 

Coconut

The Sharmas came home with a coconut the other day.  Sunil loves cracking them open more than he likes to eat them.  Here he spends some time with Grandpa picking off the shell.

 

Welcome back

School started up again this morning.  Here the kids are ready to go wearing their new grade level t-shirts and carrying their new backpacks.

 

Chores

It's the time of year again to choose chores.  Sheela chose counter wiping, kitchen sweeping and mail retrieval.  Sunil fought for emptying the dishwasher and keeping the fridge stocked with soft drinks.  Both kids still have to do laundry and straighten their own rooms.  The beauty of chore selection week is that the kids are all excited about their choices and they not only do them cheerfully they compete to see who can do them the most often.  It won't last.

Waterpark

Thursday cleared up enough for me to take the kids to the water park for the day.  It turned out to a perfect day.... it was warm, not crowded and kids were awesome.  They each brought a friend one of which brought half-price tickets.  We had to tear ourselves away before we ready but everyone took it well. 

Thursday was also "Meet the Teacher" night.  Sheela's teacher is male... A first for her if you don't count her art teacher.  He also teaches her advanced math class.  He's a big Cowboy fan so she is over the Packers.  A lot of her friends are in her class again.

Sunil's teacher is brand new, fresh from school.  I think we are going to like her, she has a lot of energy and a great attitude.  Sunil has a bunch of friends in his class too.