Snake Encounters

Another rainy day cancelled soccer practice on Tuesday so went to the PTA meeting instead. I'm not a fan of the PTA meetings. Very little productive happens because the attendance is too high. Attendance is high because they plan something fun for the kids so that the kids will drag the parents to the meetings. Part of the school's ratings are based on how active the PTA is which is shown by meeting attendance and overall sign up rate. You get a school directory for free if you join or you can buy one later but the price is the same as joining.

Tonight's entertainment was a visit by Critterman (or the Snake Guy). He brought with him a few dozen of his favorite snakes and was very entertaining. The kids got to "pet" his largest snake on the way out.

Top 30

I made the list of top 30 workout women (or whatever) at the gym.  Based on my 1133 points for last week I ranked 30^th in my dedication to the cause.

Merry Christmas to me!

Sid bought me a pot rack for Christmas. The one that I got last year I returned after he threatened to hang it with steel cabling instead of the decorative chains. I'll add a green plant up top be very pleased with the whole effect.

Dinner with Friends

Brenda, Jeremy and Jaden came over for dinner last night. We don't get to see them very often. Though Brenda and I have lunch at least once a month. Jaden is two and a half and completely besotted with trains. Our kids have an incredible collection of wooden track and train cars. Sunil and Jaden had a great time. Sheela was at a sleep over.

It was very nice and completely low stress. The house was already clean and dinner wasn't anything too fancy.

IC Festival

Sheela's DI team attended an Instant Challenge Festival yesterday. They had to complete four different challenges and were able to watch another team complete those same four challenges. They weren't given their point scores but they did get feedback from the appraisers (which is much more useful).

I took Sunil, Seema and Nita to watch but we quickly figured out that it was too chaotic to be worth it. There were 16 teams (5-7 kids per team), their 16 team managers and at least 32 appraisers all in the cafeteria working at the same time. The nieces went back to their shopping spree, and Sunil went with Sid to take care of some rental stuff. I bought a dishwasher.

For their challenges:
They built a tower out of straws, cups and coffee stirrers. The tower had to be built on top of a basketball but could not be connected to the ball. They had three minutes and it had stand unsupported for at least 10 seconds. Points were awarded for each inch of height, teamwork and creativity.

Write and perform a skit about a book. I don't remember the details on this one but book was called The Green Potato and Sheela played the part of a bookshelf. Again points for teamwork and creativity, also for presentation and clarity.

Write and perform a skit about three creative uses for glass. Their three uses were: a portal to another dimension, a lava lamp and a clone mirror. One of the girls went in to an antique glass shop and accidentally touched the portal. When she arrived in the other dimension she was in a lava lamp store. While choosing her lamp, she decided to fix her hair in a mirror. When she looked in to the mirror it cloned her. The only thing her clone could say was, "Do you want a donut?" They both returned through the portal. There was a time when I would have said that a portal was creative, but it appears in almost everything this team has done for the last four months.

The fourth challenge was another skit. In this one they were supposed to make a funny TV show, I didn't catch the nuances. Their show was about science and accidentally shrinking some one's dog then accidentally turning it into a ferocious beast.

Behold the Quiet Series III

Here Sid puts on the final pieces of the ultra quiet trim kit for the new dishwasher. Instead of running out and buying a new one the day the other died I ran out and attempted to buy one but was so turned off by the poor quality of the displays that I came home to stew about it for a day. Really, at both of our two local mega-fix-it-up stores either doors didn't open, didn't close or the racks would fall out of more than half of the display models. Even after I knew which one I wanted I couldn't bring myself to fork out the money. I figured I'd be over it by lunchtime on Monday and I bring one home from work with me. But I ended up not working Monday, or Wednesday because of the ice. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I had lunch meetings. So we washed dishes by hand for a whole week (the horror!). I was definitely ready to spend the money by Saturday and Sid even put it for me that same day. I love that man.

It finally died... and I couldn't be happier....

Well, it was our old dishwasher and I guess I will be happier when I actually have time to replace it… not to mention hauling its carcass out of the backyard.

Manufacturing Engineering Supervisor

It is now official… I have my new business cards to prove it.

Amaryllis

Every year for Christmas Grammylyn gives each of the kids an amaryllis. Both are blooming right now. Sheela's is almost done with its second round. Sunil's is just getting started with its first round.

Undersea

I spent the better portion of my day today painting the decorations for Sunil's undersea bedroom. I finally have four clown fish, two anemoneas and a star fish ready to hang. The sixgill sawtoothed shark is nearly complete. I still have a dozen large red fish and a few angel fish to go. I have been unable to find a white spray primer and the acrylics that we are using don't cover the brown board very easily. I'm using a ton of white paint (purchased in 2 ounce bottles) to prep the wood.

The t-ball commitment

Sunil signed up to play t-ball this Spring. The season doesn't actually start until the end of March but he's been planning ahead for two years. The season will run until almost the end of June. After all of the build up I hope he's a little bit more interested in going to the practices than he was for soccer. I know that he's 18 months older but catching and throwing are a whole lot harder than kicking the soccer ball and the pace of the game tends to be much slower than the attention span of the players.

Not quite snow

Two days off in the same week. It just doesn't seem possible. I went to the gym this morning when the streets were still clear and the sleet was just starting to fall. On the news they now call that "wintery precip". By the time Sid got back and I was ready to leave for work the roads were getting bad and all of the school districts were closed. I went to the store to by chocolate chips (in case we get bored enough to bake), hot chocolate and some frozen cheese pizzas then slid back home.

100,000 Pounds

As of this morning I have officially lifted over 100,000 pounds since starting our new workout routine.  It is a lot harder for me to want to roll out of bed and head off in to the cold when I know that Sid is still home in bed, but I have been doing it….. except for yesterday.

The freezing rain excuse

I'm warm and dry tucked up in the game room this morning. I did wake up to take the early shift at the gym, but the drive way is like glass and the freezing rain still coming down. I decided to come back in and catch up on some email instead of working out. At least I didn't go all the way back to bed. In 15 more minutes they will post the work/no work verdict on the weather hotline. I'd really like to have a delayed start... or a day off, but this was a casual dress week so I don't want to miss too much of it ;)

SuperBlue North Kicks Off

Because of the increase in soccer popularity here in Texas Sheela's soccer academy has committed to establishing a select soccer team in the Allen and McKinney areas. The 98s will be that first team. Select soccer doesn't start until the U11 year. So we are still a year and a half away. The academy teams feed in to the select clubs much like farm teams feed into minor league baseball. The club that SuperBlue feeds is Sting. Sting has a long and very prestigous history and is known for a very aggressive training regime, strong team discipline and a very strong "sisterhood".

Last year was a spent arranging the team and developing some of the players skills, this year the focus is going to switch to developing the team as a unit. They have been partnered with an older select team in a Big sister-Little sister program. They expect to have social functions monthly: attend baseball games, fun runs for charity, pasta dinners, bounce house parties, things to help them develop friendships. This year they will start every game and every practice with a double column run around the field. Sheela loved the run when they practiced at the Sting complex, it looks good and makes them know that they are part of a team. At the Sting complex they also got to see that it wasn't just a team thing it was a club thing. Every team did it, and they do it all the same way, two columns of girls at a controlled pace. The goal is not to leave the slow girls behind, the goal is to all fall in step. This year they wont be allowed to step on the field if they aren't in the proper uniform (even for practice), with their shirts tucked in and their socks pulled up. This year they will be keeping personal stats, not game stats but speed on a sprint, the number of times they can juggle the ball and shot percentage on an untended goal. This should actually show them theirimprovement over time.

Bait and switch

We needed to have our inspectors come in this weekend to catch up on some of the incoming inspections but someone needs to be here to "Supervise" them. When they asked for volunteers they needed someone for 2-3 hours starting at 9 AM. I was going to be working on some reports at home anyway so I volunteered. I'm sure that I will get more work done here than I would at home on a cold and rainy day with the kids. Almost immediately they switched it to a 7 AM start and a five hour stretch. The good news is all four inspectors showed up so we should be 20 hours ahead by Monday.

We are launching multiple new product lines and product upgrades all at the same time. Our whole sales force gets together for a huge meeting once a year and that is the best time to train them all for a big launch. Unfortunately this creates some huge bottle necks in almost all of the support functions.

School Project

Here is a rather poor picture of Sunil showing off his snowman project. He was given almost two weeks to work on it but did it all last night. At least he got it done and I resisted the urges to a) do it for him, b) suggest better materials and c) suggest other features. I'm glad I held back. Sunil did a beautiful job all by himself.

On the day this project was assigned they made Texas Snowmen in class and brought them home. For those you not from 'round here a Texas Snowman is a jar of water with a carrot chunk and some buttons in it.

Pressure changes

I woke up with a headache this morning... this is usually indicative of either a late night or a weather change. Sure enough yesterday was clear, brisk and sunny today is dark, moist and cloudy. The storms aren't due until late tonight but I can feel them coming.

I woke Sunil up this morning too. He actually woke up crying. He is sometimes reluctant to wake but even then he's usually cheerful about it. Apparently his head is hurting too. SO I feel a little bit better knowing it's not just me and a little worse because my baby is suffering. Worse than that a large number of people at work seem to have the same headache so everyone is grumpy. Let's just hope that no one schedules any meetings for today... it could turn ugly fast.

TAKS (Reading) Simulation

Today Sheela has to endure a full day of standardized testing (Reading) and it doesn't even count. Today is just the simulated test. TAKS are, of course, the standardized tests used by the State of Texas to rate the schools, the teachers, etc. In spite of everything that the teachers, and ISD personnel will tell you, they do put WAY too much emphasis on these tests. They cancelled Sheela's DI meeting because they didn't want the kids to be out late the night before the test. Sheela went to soccer instead and didn't get home until 9:00. They send home notes reminding us to feed them a healthy breakfast and send a healthy snack (other days we can feed them whatever we can find). Poor Sunil is even more freaked than Sheela. His class doesn't get tested, but they've been told repeatedly that they can't talk in the halls AT ALL on test days.

We opted out.....

of the Foster Care program today. It was a good experience and we learned a lot. I'm glad that we had the time with Blake that we did and I wish that we could have done more.

The amount of frustration that we endured getting approved in the first place was nothing compared to the frustration of not being utilized once we were there. It just wasn't meant to be and we don't want to go through another 60 hours of training this year with no better chance at a placement. Our placement chances don't go up unless we expand our age range or accept sibling sets. These are not places that we want to go.

The last game - take 3

TFC's team manager just called to let us know that the girls have one more indoor game left in the season. This will be the last game for Sheela with this team. As the title implies we've heard that before... more than once. I'm sure that they mean it this time, the next indoor season starts the following week but Sheela is going back to her regular team. This has been a fun diversion but the time came to either pony up with full academy fees for both teams or make a choice and Sheela chose SuperBlue.

Friday night party girl

Sheela is out again tonight. That's two weeks in a row while I'm staying at home. Somehow I never pictured my kids having a more active social life than mine. Sheela and Anna have gone to a gymnastics studio to spend a few hours on the trampolines and tumbling mats. I'll pick them up about 10:00 PM.

Sunil is hugging my neck and twirling my hair. Soon he will have to get ready for his bath. He and Sheela will go to Longview tomorrow to visit their cousins. Grandma and Grandpa will be in India for their birthdays so they are taking care of things early. Sid and I are staying home to get some stuff taken care of here at the house.

A New Year begins

I'm back at work again already. It seems like I just left for the long weekend. Oh well, there is enough to do that I wont have to spend time lamenting the brevity of the break. It should be a fun day for me. They are supposed to announce my promotion to Mfg Engr. Supervisor today.

Sawtooth Shark

Here Sid is cutting out a sawtooth shark for Sunil's room. This one is to be swimming over Sunil's headboard and looking down at him. We have cut out most of the decorations but haven't started to do any of the painting. We have just one set of seaweed cut (but can do 2-3 more), we have a school of seven large fish (I forget what they are called), one mandarin fish, two different types of angel fish, a few clown fish (with anemones) and a star fish. Excpet for the shark every thing was going to be painted with red, blue, yellow, black and white. I don't have enough black or whait to paint a large shark so I will go buy some gray... and maybe some more red. The large fish are red with blue spots.

The candle

Sheela received a book on candle making for Christmas. She used her Christmas money to buy herself a candle making kit. Here she is burning her first candle.

Fitlinxx

The new gym is equipped with an electronic personal training system called Fitlinxx. Everytime we use one of the machines it logs our reps and weight, the same is true for the cardio machines, we can also log in excercise that we get at home, swimming, skating, running, whatever.

New Pacers

The whole family joined the Plano Pacers running club today. It was cheaper than paying by the race. Both of the kids ran this morning and would like to make it a habit. One of Sheela's soccer friends runs with them and she has younger sisters that idolize Sunil. They usually come to the races too. The friend won in the Eight and under girl's category. Sheela finished fourth in the 9-12 girls (she would have been second in 8U). Sunil ran most of the race and refrained from decking the kid that hit him for passing. The kids was probably four so the punch wasn't too hard and it didn't slow Sunil down much.

I can't actually say that I'm intending to run but we did get the family rate.

Books on tape

Last Spring my friend Lynn gave me two of the three Tales of the Otori on CD. I enjoyed them both so much that I held off buying the last book because I wanted to get it on CD too. But I found it at a great price at our local used bookstore, better even than that they had the second book two. Someday I'll buy the first one and complete the set but for know I "re"reading the second and then moving on in to the third. All of this set up was to say that I'm enjoying the second one every bit as much reading it myself as I did having it read to me, but because I heard it first the voices in my head and the rhythm of the words aren't mine. The voices alternate between a man and a woman both of whom have Japanese accents and the rhythm is much more musical.

On a related topic there was a segment on NPR the other day about the death of woman in the Seattle floods last month. Hers was a well known voice, she had recorded hundreds of books on tape. I did not recognize, or remember, her name but they played a voice clip of some of her work and I could immediately think of three books that she surely did.

Coach?

TFC (Allen)'s last indoor game was yesterday.  Sheela played six games with team and the coach was only there for 1.5 of those games.  It was okay early on when his older kids made the play-offs -- there were scheduling conflicts.  During the last two games the older kids were on a break and he neither called nor came to the games.  The girls aren't nearly as offended as the parents.  They played a great game yesterday anyway.  The final score was a tie (3:3) which doesn't always mean that the teams were on par but in this case they were very well matched.

Exercise

Sid and I finally agreed to go join the gym/natatorium up the street. We stopped taking our morning rides when he hurt his arm and haven't been able to get back in to the groove. The weather and the darkness have made convienient excuses for us to sleep in. But we popped up and out this morning at 5:00 AM and were on stationary bikes by 5:15AM. We "rode" for almost half an hour before giving the fitness machines a go. While we weren't the only ones there it wasn't very crowded. This should work out just fine.

A morning off

With my last few hours of holiday I spent some time playing cowboy/farmer with Sunil again this morning. I can't help it, he's just so darn cute. He worked so long and so hard that he needed a quick nap... so I taught him to sleep under his hat.

Then we went over to the park to play and found that the rain from Christmas Eve was frozen into sheets on the slides. Actually we thought it was pretty warm out there.

Catch up sleep

It is already 9:30 AM and the kids are still in bed... both of them. This is just what they needed. We kept them up late three nights in a row but they kept popping up by 8:00 AM. Then by mid-afternoon if you just looked at them wrong they would dissolve into tears. After an hour or two of that I end up in a foul mood and start to go out of my way to look at them wrong but after an hour or so of that the fun wears off.

Even better Sheela's best friend is no longer grounded as of this morning (she punched a fifth grader on Thursday and has been on restriction through the whole holiday weekend). So they have plans to play together this afternoon. I was hoping to arrange for Sunil to go play with a friend this afternoon while I'm at work too but I haven't have any luck.

Greetings of the Season

It's a cold and blustery Christmas morning here in Texas (using Texas standards of course). Sunil is looking mighty cute in his new cowboys boots and hat (he even has me wearing my new boots), Sheela is playing a new video game and Sid and his folks are making the calls to the family. More later.

Holiday Weekend

I have big expectations for this long, lovely weekend. They sent us home early today from work. I picked up Sheela on my way home. I would have brought Sunil home too but the attendance was so low today that they took all of the kids on field trips again today (yesterday only half the kids went and half were supposed to wait until today). Sunil wasn't back yet. This gave Sheela a chance to finish her gift for Sunil.

I did remember to go back and retrieve Sunil. I have only two more items scheduled between now and noon on Tuesday! We are going to visit family friends on Sunday afternoon and then going to spend Sunday evening with another group of friends. That's it. No trips to the store, the library or the skating rink. No soccer games, practices or meetings. No drama days, DI meetings or plays.

This is not to say that we wont do ANYTHING over the holidays, it just means that we can go with the flow. It sounds like heaven.

Cinnamon Bread French Toast

Grammylyn returned from Granbury, TX with two lovely loaves of cinnamon bread. She used the first loaf to hook my young and impressionable son on french toast (she also fed the rest of us). Since she has left for NY it has fallen on me to use up the other loaf. As Sunday was an early morning for us all we had to wait for lunch. Today (Monday) we couldn't even make lunch work but he talked me into it for dinner. I'm down to two eggs and two slices of bread.

Unnoticed Bonus

Apparently for the last two years the company has inadvertently failed to deduct my insurance premiums from my paycheck. That's a couple thousand dollars that they didn't mean to give to me.... but they are letting me keep. They will however will be taking their deductions from now on.

Bonus Day

Today is bonus day.  Only now we call them "objective based incentives" instead of bonuses.  If we achieve our selected "stretch" objectives by the end of the year we are rewarded with a nice little check.  This was a good year.

Twin Cities

I’m in Minneapolis/St Paul today. I flew up for a meeting this morning. I was expecting the weather to be terrible, but it was in the 40s today and really quite pleasant. I guess it didn’t really matter, aside from the walk to the rental car, to the office and to the hotel I wasn’t outside at all. All of the ponds are frozen over and from the air you could see skating rinks in backyards much the way we have swimming pools in Texas. Today we were meeting with a foam fabricator. I learned a lot and I think we’ve identified some good compromises to improve our yields. I’ll stay one more day for a meeting with our circuit board vendor and fly back late tomorrow night. I’ve been few a few other board shops but I’m looking forward to that one anyway. They use an interesting mix of automation and hand assembly work.

Coach Sid... again

Sheela's second soccer team (Texas FC) played an outdoor tournament today. She missed the first two games but made the night game. Unfortunately the coach had a conflict and didn't arrive until the second half. In the meantime Sid stepped up to the plate and coached again. He did a great job, but the girls lost the game in the end. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's game...its indoors, with bleachers, bathrooms and a snack bar and let's not forget the HVAC system. Pretty luxurious comparted to tonight.

Sheela's Birthday

I failed to mention it earlier but my baby girl is nine years old. How is that even possible? This year all she wants for a birthday party is to have a few friends come by the house (in costumes), watch a movie and eat a chocloate chip cookie cake. It sounds simple and yet we've already had to reschedule it twice because we can't seem to invite people far enough in advance.

Just when I needed something to do....

Blogger came through with a new version. I am home alone for the first time in months. Mom, John and the kids have gone to lunch and to see the Velveteen Rabbit at the Children's Theater, Sid is taking care of the rental properties, Mommy and Daddy have gone Christmas shopping. Its just me and the cat for a few hours. Usually I have a list of things I need to do already and waiting for these occasions but today found me unprepared. So I started some laundry and came to check on Brian and Tracey and what did I find... upgrade potential. So here I am contemplating Blog template changes and adding privacy restrictions to Sheela's blog. Later I may walk to the store and buy something for lunch just an excuse to get out and about.

No orphans for us this year

Sid and I had a reality check last night and have opted to pass on the Ukrainian Orphan this year.  We have already committed to too many other things and it wouldn't be fair to the child.  Maybe next time, with a little bit more advanced planning, we will host a child.

Pegasus

Pegasus is one of the symbols of Dallas. Here a floral paint job decorates a pegasus in the Farmer's Market. After the parade we walked to the market for lunch and to buy fresh berries and roasted nuts.

Tie Shoes

Sunil keeps getting bigger all the time.... this time it is his feet. Here he shows off his new tie shoes (size 11.5). He has been able to tie for quite awhile but there is so much to be said for the sped of velcro. He'll get faster with practice, right?!?

Temperature drop

Wednesday went I went to bed it was still 75 degrees, when I woke up on Thursday it was only 34 -- it dropped from there. We had rain, sleet and snow today... none of it very pretty or appealing. We closed the office early and were sent home. I'm all snuggled up warm at home... Sid on the other hand volunteered to drive out to the airport to pick up the folks now that their plane is really going to land.

I hope it warms up a little bit tomorrow. That's the night of our annual downtown adventure and Saturday morning is the Children's Parade. Think warm thoughts..... think warm thoughts......

Malaria Risk

I was denied when trying to give blood this morning.  Apparently visiting Costa Maya has made me a malaria risk.  I can't give blood for a year.  Oh well, it was worth it to me.

Ukrainian Orphan?

Life just seems to have been a little bit too calm lately... so we are looking into hosting an Orphan from the Ukraine for a few weeks in January. The children come through in groups of 20-25 and stay three weeks while they try to meet as many potential adoptive families as possible. This group is mostly 7&8 years old but the range is from 6-12. We would only host one.  Its early days still, we haven't gotten all of the requirements (or responsibilities) yet. By the way the kids speak little or no English.

Off season uncertainty

SuperBlue decided not to play indoor soccer this winter, so Sheela has accepted an invitation to play on another academy team.  This one is called Texas FC, she will play for them the next 6 Sundays (more or less) but wants to still practice with SuperBlue.  Her regular academy coach is trying to pull in enough new girls to divide the team into two teams and her former academy coach is trying to put together a team.  Based on which coach she chooses to practice with will determine which of her friends she gets to play with, until they figure out they don't have enough girls for all of these teams and then she has to take her chances as they cuts girls from the roster again.  I prefer things that you sign up for with preset schedules where you either register in time or you don't.

Free turkey

Even though we celebrated Thanksgiving with our traditional red beans and rice we managed to have turkey leftovers. When shopping near the turkey holidays it is very easy to earn a free turkey or two. So yesterday we roasted our bird. I am a convert of the roast inside of a paperbag school, but the free bird didn't come with a paperbag and our local market doesn't stock paperbags. Sid initially promised a grocery store run but he didn't end up going until after the bird was already done. So I had to make do. Had I planned the event carefully in advance I would also have sliced up granny smith apples to roast under the turkey. You don't eat them but they make the gravy really good. Anyhow we did the follow the basic directions on the plastic wrap and it came out very tender and juicy. Since I wouldn't be home to baste (we went swimming at the least convenient time during the cooking) or to cover the browning skin with foil I oiled on a layer of cheese cloth in the beginning (thank you Jan Duster, circa 1984) and the skin came out perfectly browned.

Now lets hope that the turkey soup attempt improves enough to be edible.....

Stomach bug

Well it's been a useless two days from my point of view. The good news is that I can once again be in the same room with food. Tomorrow we will be having the traditional Sharma Red Beans & Rice Thanksgiving meal and I'm planning to actually eat.

Welcome to Georgetown

This is my favorite group photo. It was taken at our last port of call, Georgetown, Grand Caymen. We all toyed with the idea of opening clandestine bank accounts but it sounded like more trouble than hanging out at the beach. We took the path of least resistance and were pleased with our choice.

A casual dinner night...

This was one of the nicer pictures of me and my kids.

The first formal night

The night of the first of the "formal" dinners we got the full crew together for a picture.

In the back row are Sid (with a beard), Dad and Luke. I'm in front of Sid and next to Eileen. Karl is slightly behind Eileen. Lisa and Carie are in front of us. Then Brandon, Katie and Sheela. Kyle, Sunil and James are in the front row.

The recap

Sunday we flew to Ft. Lauderdale and took a cab to the pier. We boarded early but both Karl and Luke were already there. Dad was only 10 minutes behind us.


We set sail before dinner but still managed a walk on the deck on our way down to the dining room. This is Ft. Lauderdale as we head out on our adventure.


We woke up in Key West for a short layover. We all went ashore but dispersed early. The Sharmas spent some time walking around with Opa. We met up with Karl, Lisa, Brandon and Oma after their parasailing trip.

Day two found us in Cozumel. Our shore excursion took us to an "all inclusive" beach called Playa Mia. It wasn't quite as inclusive as we'd been lead to believe but the water was warm and a pool close at hand when the salt and sand became overwhelming.

Day three was spent in Costa Maya, Mexico. The water here was by far the prettiest. We started off at the crocodile park and then split up. Sunil and I went back aboard to relax while Sid and Sheela joined up with the Luke and Karl, et al for some snorkeling.

Day four was by far my favorite. We went to a beach in Georgetown, Grand Caymen with the other "kids" for a wonderful day of just goofing around.

Day five was spent underway playing a cutthroat game of Risk or sleeping depending on your temperament. I'm told that Sid and Brandon were the last two standing. Tradition has it that we only play to the last two players or the game would never end.

Day six found us back in Ft. Lauderdale for our goodbyes. Luke, Carie, Katie and Kyle had an early flight back to Michigan. The rest of us stayed as long as possible and then went to a motel on the beach to spend the day. It made a nice transition to the "real world". Karl, Lisa, Brandon and James flew back to Arizona in the later afternoon.

Dad and Eileen left this morning for their drive home and we flew home from Miami.

Misc. photos from the cruise

All the "kids" and our families all went to the beach together at our last stop in Georgetown, Grand Caymen. Here Kyle, Sheela and Sunil work on the sand city. There were some issues with the levees. Katie is swimming.

Adventure Ocean had plenty of activities to the keep the kids occupied even in the evenings. This was Sheela on the pirate parade.

Swimming in the main pool was salty but fun however the kids prefered the kids' pool with the traditional chlorinated water and a slide. Sunil's face is a little bit too narrow for even the smallest of swim goggles, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to wear them.

Home Again

What a fabulous time! A zillion pictures will follow but for now just know that we are back home safe, sound and a little bit worn out.

I'm off to start laundry and then take a nap.....

Let's cruise....

We are leaving the house around 6:00 AM and we'll be back mid-afternoon on the 19th. We may have internet access from the ship but I'm not counting on it.

2nd Place

SuperBlue lost 1-0 today to Samba 98. They still earned some pretty nice trophies and this was one of the best games of the year. Almost the entire game was played in the center. Each team had less than 10 shots on goal. Samba definitely had to work for their, it was a perfect set-up and follow through.

I have a picture of Sheela with the trophy but I've already packed the camera for the trip. SO it will have to wait until we get back.

This is America and more

The 3rd Graders put on a Veteran's Day musical last night titled "This is America". It was about half an hour long. They sang seven or eight songs, each played a musical accompaniment to one of the pieces and many (including Sheela)had speaking parts too. I recorded a few short sections of it on video on my tiny camera, but I haven't had the time to figure out how to share it with the masses. Come visit, I'll play the 38 second clip and you'll feel like you are right there. I may even sit you in a child sized chair while I elbow you in the ribs.

We missed the soccer game last night but according to the website we won 3-0. So we are guaranteed either 1st or 2nd place and we've planned a pizza party celebration for Saturday night. The championship game is Saturday morning.

Sunil was home sick from school yesterday but is back in action today. Just in time to turn in his homework and collect some to take with us. I figured out last night that the kids are off of school the whole week after we get back and not just on Thursday and Friday. Kids Club says it will open but they haven't sent home any information yet and usually we have to sign up for full day times a week or two in advance so that they can choose which school the kids will attend on those days.

I've finished the pre-boarding paperwork and printed our expidited passes. I can't check in for the flights until tomorrow morning. We have a hotel for the night we get back. I haven't figured out a rental car for the day after but I'm sure that we can take care of that when we get to the pier. We should be all set to go.... except for the packing which can't be done until the laundry is done.... but we are getting close.

Playoffs - Round 1

There were no surprises in last night's first round play-off soccer game.  SuperBlue won 8 or 9 to 0.  Sheela scored one goal.  The next round game will be Thursday night, but we won't be there.  The third grade class has a Veteran's Day Music Recital that evening.

Happy Birthday Sid!

While today is his actual birthday the kids and I took Sid out on Saturday night to celebrate. We went to Medieval Times to watch the jousting and to eat dinner with our hands. We had a really good time. Sunil was fascinated right from the start but became a touch uncomfortable during the fight to the death. Once I explained that they were pretending to die he started to enjoy it again.

Heros

Sheela's DI team had their first meeting last night.  They have already chosen their challenge for the year.  It took them less than five minutes to decide.  They all seem happy with their choice.  They want to write a play about a hero overcoming a personal challenge.  The play will be done in the style of theater in the round.  They need to include one special effect that does not involve any form of electricity (even static is outlawed) and two "side trips".  The side trips are added bits that showcase extra talent from the team members.  If someone is an accomplished dancer they may include a dance number, or a martial artist may due a routine, someone may sing, or compose and recite a poem, it could be almost anything.

Taj Mahal

It seems like just yesterday that I switched the calendar from the picture of Lake Biwa to the picture of St. Petersburg but it's been 10 months already.  Since then I've had the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple, Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam, Nassau, the Bay of Mustique, Kenya, the Temple of Poseidon and the pyramids in Cairo and now the Taj Mahal.  This year has gone awfully fast so far and it doesn't appear to be slowing down.

 

Sid's birthday is in three days.  We leave on vacation in nine days. Thanksgiving is four days after we get back.  Mom and John arrive a week later.  The Children's parade is the next day; Sheela's birthday is four days later.  We may go to Mexico City the following weekend.  Then its time for the company party, the kids last day of school, Christmas and New Year's Eve…..

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.