Sunil's Room Renovated

Mom and John painted the waves on the walls back at Christmas. Sunil added the "pieces of eight" raining down from above.
The kids and I painted the fish and the seaweed.

Sunil also tiled his own trophy shelf. Not pictured we added a full length mirror and removed an old dresser. The mirror from the dresser is going to be remade into an additional "window".

Happy Father's Day Sid!

The kids made a shirt for Sid. The red letters are velour! The hands prints are their own and the decorations continue around on to the back.

We have an apple pie in the oven for Grandpa, too!

ACCCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

I just found out that one of my very best friends is going to make some major changes in her professional life. This is going to change everything but I guess I shouldn't say more until she informs the powers that be.

Work productivity

It has been a tense few days around the office. But we have completed our annual certification audit with flying colors. It always feels good when they acknowledge the hard work that we've done and remind even when they remind upper management that there are still improvements that need to happen (which of course we've been begging for for some time). The traditional end of the audit is celebrated at a local pub with a few drinks and yesterday was no exception. For a change this year a few of us stayed longer at the bar than we spent at work that day. It made for a very long day but it was worth it. I will even go so far as to say that the work that was accomplished during the course of the evening was invaluable. Conversations that really needed to happen but couldn't be worked in to every one's travel schedules finally have been completed, the team refocused and quite a few misconceptions cleared up. Plus it was a really fun time with a good group.

The trophy shelf is up and the mirror grouted...

Sheela has arranged her trophies by sport class. On the left are gymnastics and dance trophies (one of which turned out to belong to Sunil and had to be returned), soccer is in the center and the far right is for golf.

End of year awards

The t-ball season has come to a close. The last games were held Friday night. The team has progressed from hitting off the tee to coach pitch (more or less), not everyone scores everytime any more either. In one inning we actually made three outs either by tagging the runner or throwing to first. In one inning we tagged all four runners out at home (about 3 seconds apart). At the end of the season party each boy recieved a trophy and an Allen Baseball t-shirt.

We have new neighbors already...

Brenda, et al, moved out on Monday. Terrel, et al, moved in on Tuesday. She and her husband, Lan, have three kids going by the names: Callie (12), Curtis (8) and Berly (7). Berly is short for Kimberly. Callie's name is Eileen. Her mother was suprised by the change but took it in stride.

The final step

Sheela added the grout to her trophy shelf. It was a goopey, gooey mess but a lot of fun. Tonight we plan to hang it up.

To swim or not....

We've finally achieved a few really pretty days over all but we can't seem to get away from the occasional rain cloud or thunder shower. Unfortunately the thunder started right at the beginning of the swim class and we were sent home before a single suit got wet. We'll try again tonight...

Quilt

While I was at work yesterday my friend Barbara snuck by my house and dropped of a quilt that she made just for me. It is beautiful. She chose dark greens, blues and reds against a bright yellow backing. She says it is to lay across my lap when I'm reading (though it is big enough for a twin bed). I was really touched. It was too dark to get a good picture of it but I'll add one when I can.

Yay June!

Once again another May has been survived.  It is one of my favorite times of year but I'm ready for a break.  June has only one soccer tournament, one t-ball game and one round of swim classes (for each kid).  This should let me concentrate on the chaos that is my day job.  Really it isn't that bad but we are gearing up for our annual surveillance audit and we wanted to have more projects completed than we managed to really put to bed.  I still think that we are in pretty good shape.

Party Day

Sunil had four friends over today for a very low key party. They played basketball, ate cake and then went up to the sprayground to cool off.

A dinner out

We concluded Sunil's actual birthday with a dinner at Macaroni Grill. We even indulged in chocolate cake (which I ate with the fudge sundae that came with his kid's meal). At least I did get up and go work out this morning.

Weekend birthday

In keeping with Sunil's birthday tradition we took him to a Frisco Roughriders game. This year we extended the game to be a whole weekend event. It should have started with his Friday night T-ball game but there was some rain.


Saturday we spent the night at the hotel next to the ball park. We spent a few hours in the pool, hot tub and sauna. Then went to a kid-friendly pizza place for dinner, cartoons and arcade games. The folks took the kids back to the hotel while Sid and I went bar hopping (sort of). We really spent our time wandering outside in the cool evening air enjoying the fountains and the ponds up in Frisco. We eventaully stopped for a drink and some live music at an Irish pub before walking back to the Hotel.

Sunday morning we enjoyed a cooked to order breakfast at the hotel, spent some time in the pool, and walked across the street to the game. The rain held off. The weather was perfect for sitting outside and AA baseball is a treat. One of the highlights was the removal of the tarp from the field. When they folded it over it looked like it was raining underneath.

Six years old!!!

Sunil woke up to breakfast in bed today in honor of his birthday. His meal of choice was Grammylyn's cinnamon french toast and chocolate milk. From there we moved in to gift opening: a "Cars" clock and lamp, a Roughriders team t-shirt and a DVD. After that we measured his height on his seahorse. I don't actually translate the marks into an English measurement but he is nearly two inches taller than last year.

The picture is pretty crummy, but it was all I could get this morning.

The transformation begins

Sheela spent six months deciding how to redecorate her room. SHe has decided to paint the walls teal (with help from Grammylyn and GrandpaJohn). She asked her Dad to build her a shelf for her trophies and a frame for her full length mirror. The shelf and the mirror she will adorn with a mosaic in teal, cobalt, orange (really it's red) and white glass tiles and mirror chips. She will paint a faux mosaic around the arched window. Her she is edging the mirror in a bright white. The teal walls were completed later in the day and look beautiful (but I don't have a picture). The furniture is in and the shelves and trophy shelf built. If we get enough rain to cancel practice tonight she can paint the shelf and the mirror frame. Tomorrow she can start to apply the tiles. Then we will tackle the paint around the window.

Kids Club Opens today

This summer they have combined all of the clubs (one from each of the 13 elementary schools) into a single location -- one of the middle schools in the area. Because the groups have been combined the kids will get to play with their friends from other schools (some that they've known since pre-school some from their sports teams and some that are siblings of their siblings sports teams).

I took the kids to visit last night and we were given the grand tour by Miss Maggie. Miss Maggie knows Sunil well as she was a student teacher in his Kindergarten class. The kids also were greeted by name by at least a dozen of the other "teachers". The teachers all appear to be less than 25 years old and super high energy.

The theme of the year is "decades". Each of their different rooms was reminiscent of a different decade (or era). The cafeteria is a 50's diner where they will eat their lunches. There are movies playing in the 70's drive-in movie theater. There is a room with just dinosaurs (and volcanoes). There were rooms with just toy cars, rooms with just Lego building blocks, rooms with just dolls, rooms with just pet shop pets (yuck), rooms with video games, rooms with art projects, music rooms, gym activities, etc.

The school is across the parking lot from the city pool (outdoor) and the kids will get to swim once or twice each week. Today Sunil and the little kids will have access to the bounce house. Sheela and the bigger kids will get their turn on Friday. Each week there will be at least one field trip off campus to go see a movie, go to the park or go to the one of the gymnastic gyms, etc.

Last Day

Today is the last day of school for my kids. The Allen school district, like almost all of the others around here, have already made up their snow days and are ready to set the kids free. The kids, I might add, are equally ready to be free. There is one school district that didn't plan their schedule correctly and still has to call the kids back the Tuesday, after the holiday weekend and high school graduation ceremonies, to get that legally required 180th day on the books.

The Allstar Kickball Team

Sheela was elected to the third grade Allstar team at the end of the annual kickball tournament. Her class team placed first this year. She thought that meant she'd get to play against the teachers but that honor is reserved for the winner of the 5th grade/6th grade championship game. This gives her a nice distance goal towards which to strive.

The home stretch..

May is always our most challenging month. We cram in too much and then follow that up with the school cramming in a little bit extra and quickly we are overwhelmed. But we've almost finished the month and I don't think we've dropped the ball on anything yet. I have Dr's appointment today (the last of my laser treatments!). Tomorrow night I've having MY Girl's Night Out. Thursday the Sharmas leave for NOLA. Thursday is also the last day of school. Friday Sid will stay home with the kids. Friday night Mom and John arrive and Sunil has a t-ball game. Saturday is the Plano Pacers Jr Sprint (we may or may not bother with that). Saturday we will stay at the Embassy Suites by the ballpark. Sunday we will go to the ball game. Monday is a holiday. Monday night is the Kids' club open house (at the middle school.) Tuesday Summer Kids Club begins. Wednesday Sunil turns six. Thursday we hit the end of the month! First one there wins.

Here are a few photographs....

Sunil finally collected his talent show t-shirt. His was initially misplaced and it took a week to track it down. The show was great and I was very proud of all the kids.

The new sleeveless jerseys were a big hit as the temperatures were in the upper 80s... at least until the storm hit.

Kindergarten Spring Sing

Sunil's grade level musical performance will be this evening but first they get to put on a concert for the whole school today as a practice event. The real deal will be tonight.

The end may be near....

but it might be a good thing. Sheela is considering hanging up her cleats. She hasn't made the final decision yet, but she is exploring other activities that she might like to try instead of soccer. The current list includes: piano lessons, art classes, softball and basketball. This week alone we've also been given fliers on Track, swimming, dance, gymnastics, cheerleading, fencing and martial arts. Of course, she still has a small sided tournament this weekend and she wants to play in the second indoor summer season (it will also be small sided games).

DI rides again

Sunil's Destination Imagination team gave a repeat performance of their DI skit (with an added introduction explaining their team challenge and the DI concept) at last night's talent show. It was very well received and I'm pleased to say that the microphones were actually working during their entire skit. Not every group was that lucky. My favorite acts this year (aside from the DI team) were a stand-up comic "What is brown and sticky........ a stick" and a third grader playing the guitar and singing "Folsum Prison" (yes, he wore a black shirt).

The kid is perfect..

TAKS scores came out again. Sheela's math score was perfect just like her reading score. She amazes me.

Soccer Rich weekend

In contrast to last weekend this weekend we have both a tournament and a regular season game. Sheela ended up only playing three of the four scheduled 4 v 4 games today. The last one was delayed due to rain and her teammates had other plans. This worked for me too.

Sid took me out to an elegant dinner at our favorite chop house. Sid's sister and his mom went out too and left Grandpa to sit for all four kids. They seem to have lived.

Soccer-free weekend

We had an honest to goodness "soccer-free weekend". Sheela chose to play in only two of the Spring tournaments and this weekend was the one she skipped. She'll be both pleased and bummed to find that her team won (and by penalty kicks at the end of regular play). She has a fair amount of team pride, but I know she'll be jealous of their trophies.

The next two tournaments are small sided teams. I don't know how the coach will divide the girls up but they will be playing against each other instead of together as a team. The first on is 4 v 4 so it will probably be three teams of five. The second tournament will be 3 v3 so four teams of four.

Sheela went to an ice skating birthday party followed by a sleepover. Sunil had a friend come to stay the night with him. I managed to spend some time reading and to get the laundry done. It's not glamorous but it's us.

Windy

We had some storm last night. I wasn't actually here to appreciate it. I went out for girl's night out with the birthday girls. By the time I got home everyone was sound asleep. I wasn't even out late. Apparently when the power goes out, and stays out, there isn't much to keep them entertained. The drive home was a challenge because the traffic lights were out and there were trees down across some of the roads. A bunch of the newly planted trees down Exchange pulled up, many of the largest pear tree limbs broke off. The pears bloom beautifully in the Spring but they tend to horde water which makes the branches heavy. The wind was too much for them. A few of the tractor trailers parked at the construction sites blew over too.

I missed it all happily tiling my mosaic picture frame and chatting with the girls. We topped the evening off with an excellent dinner at Cantina Laredo.

The last resort

My heart goes out to Rodney and Nanci (friends of mine for more than 25 years) they have come to the realization that their oldest child needs more help/support than they are able to provide. They have found a residential school that looks like it might fit the bill. They live in Michigan and the school is in Utah. He will be there for one to two years. That is a long time to have your child that far away.

Helen

We lost another colleague last night to cancer (of pretty much everything). She was a quiet lady that I didn't know very well. We generally credit her with making the smoking porch a floral oasis in the midst of our Texas desert. She was definitely a smoker but she enjoyed gardening at the same time. She will be missed.

They bloomed briefly...

I'm glad that I snapped this picture when I did (I almost waited until I'd have a chance to get a good one). They bloomed two days before I left for BC and were already done by the time I got back. I think they may have been beaten to death during the storms.

BC.... farther away than I thought

I loved Vancouver. It was very pretty and the people were great. I was impressed by our vendor, particularly the eyes of their quality inspector. I managed to take a ride up a gondola to the top of Grouse Mountain. I walked around in the snow and watched the snowboarders trudge by. Then I went back down to the beaches to sit out rush hour. I got back to my hotel in time to watch the Dallas Stars lose the seventh game to the Vancouver Cannucks. I slunk out of the bar quietly to go back to my room -- but not before polishing off the white fudge brownie sundae.

The flight home turned out to be 10 hours longer than scheduled. We were right on time entering Dallas airspace the first time but we didn't beat the storms. We diverted over to Midland/Odessa to wait it out. They weren't able to get us off of the plane (the gates were all full and we didn't have out own stairs) but they managed to bring in a few pizzas.... 60 slices for 150 people. They did try.

After four hours we went back to Dallas only to find that we were so far back in the pecking order we would run out of fuel so we went to Oklahoma City. This time we were able to get a gate and were allowed to stretch our legs and use the bathrooms. Unfortunately it was after 9PM and ALL of the snack bars/restaurants were already closed. We couldn't get any food or buy any more reading materials (I finished my book long before Odessa). We didn't get back to Dallas until midnight but at least there we had a choice of restaurants when we did get in.

The weekend is shaping up

Tonight we start with Sunil's T-ball game and move directly in to the Spring Fling at the elementary school. This dance is an annual after TAKS-testing celebration. It is a family affair but very few of the fathers seem to show up.

Saturday morning Sheela's soccer game (quarterfinals) has been rescheduled to conflict with Sunil's team picture appointment. Sid will take Sheela and Claire to the game while I help herd around the 14 little Angels.

Theoretically we will meet up for lunch and then I will take the kids downtown to pick up the nieces. Ban is coming to town for a conference and the girls would like to see their grandparents. The grandparents are going out in the evening but I'm just staying home to do laundry so this is actually good for me as it will keep the kids entertained.

Sunday Ban will come back for the girls and we may actually get to visit with her some before she heads back home. Then Sheela has an early afternoon soccer game. I am leaving directly from there to go to the airport. I'm flying to Vancouver for a meeting on Monday. I actually get to travel alone for a change and I'm looking forward to it. The schedules aren't easy between here and there so I'll get to stay an extra night. The meeting shouldn't take more than a few hours after which I'm free to drive around and see British Columbia. I've never been there.

I'll fly back Tuesday arriving in time for what I hope to be the semifinal game between SuperBlue White and SuperBlue Royal.

Golf Outing

Yesterday was my spring outing with the corporate bigwigs. We played the back nine instead of the front nine for the first time which was prettier with a lot more water. It wasn't a stellar performance for me (or for my teammates) but once again a good time was had by all. I did win the Grand Prize in the raffle so all was not lost. We have another hefty gift certificate to Bob's Chop House. I'm figuring it will be my birthday dinner.

Sweethearts

This is the formal portrait from the Rodeo dance last month. I think that it is my new favorite photograph.

Bubba Moose

Sid and I intended to skip out last night late to go to a movie but the choices weren't very inspiring. However I skipped every pizza that was offered to me during the course of the evening and didn't feel like cooking for myself. The kids ate pizza at a birthday party. Sheela actually ate pizza at two different parties. The Sharma's ate pizza at home and Sid fended for himself. I was saving myself for a dinner of popcorn at the movie. By the time we got the kids settled and voted down the movie idea it was late and our favorite restaurants were done serving... so were our less than favorites. We settled on the only local bar that we know... Bubba Moose. Apparently Saturday is (country) karaoke night. We had a few drinks ate some pulled pork and actually stayed out until the wee hours. It was a change from our usual routine.

State Tournament

The kids and I went to watch the State DI tournament at UTD this morning. We saw three different versions of the Round About Courage challenge that Sheela's team did. The first team portrayed a gang kid, his gang friend's, his consience, the class whimp and a basketball coach. The kid had to straighten out his life before he wasted it forever. The syory line was okay, but I loved their props. They used three metal trash cans which they hid in between scenes. Mounted around the edges of the cans they'd hung retractable window shades that they could unroll to show different scenes.

The second skit was about saving the rainforest. They did a ton of research on medicines, animals and the impact of clear cutting. Their primary prop was an outdoor patio umbrella covered in leaves and hung with animals, bugs, snakes and flowers. They were on pullies across the top so that they could raise and lower them at different times.

The third team was the first place time from our region. Their props weren't as elaborate and their story line a little bit like Friends rip-off. But it was very funny. The setting was Paris, the future bride was afraid of heights and her boyfriend was trying to take her to the top of "DI fell" tower in order to propose. They even managed to go skiing.

The only other challenge we saw was an improve skit. The team researched six different countries at three different time periods. Then 30 minutes before show time they drew cards telling them which three countries (Greece, China and Mexico) at which time periods they needed to incorporate in to their skit. They also drew a card indicating an improve "device" to be incorporated (silent improve), which three senses needed to be included and a prop they needed to build (magic wand) based on materials at hand (cardboard, paperbags, tape, twine and feathers). One minute prior to the show they drew another card listing another element (a postcard from friend) to incorporate. They set the scene in a girl's bedroom. She was upset because her friend (from the postcard) was seeing new places and she didn't get to travel. She invented a toy that transformed her other toys in to "portals" to their country of origin. I told you portals are very common for this generation.

White Belt

I've officially achieved the status of a white belt at the gym. That just means that I've earned my 15,000 points. I earn 150-300 points each day that I go. They are awarded for time spent on the cardio equipment, the number of weight stations that I complete and the total amount of weight that I lift. When I logged in I was treated to a video award ceremony complete with fireworks (no sound) to mark the occasion. I also ranked in the top 30 again last week. It helps that most people skip a day in holiday weeks. These aren't huge accomplishments but they do keep me going back which is the real accomplishment.

Back to Turkey

Dad and Eileen have headed back to the boat for what may be their last Summer of sailing Triumph. I can't wait for all of the updates. This year they are visiting Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt and Cyprus. Sounds good to me.

Spring Pictures

Here are my babies (such as they are to me). Spring is when they sell you the class picture and then take individual portraits at the same time as a courtesy. Then as a further courtesy they print out a $50 packet of the pictures. As an extra inducement they print the pictures on plastic book marks and key chain tags. The whole set comes home with the kids in hopes that you will choose to buy it all rather than return them.

Bead work

For Easter Sheela received a "hair beader". This allows her to adorn her hair with all sorts of beads. It may even help use up some of the thousands of beads that she was given for her third birthday. We still have most of them.

Snow for Easter

Well not real snow, but a few flurries here and there. We managed to have a nice, if chilly, long weekend. The kids had friends stay over on Friday and they went to stay with Jaz on Saturday.

Buds at last

I have two iris buds for the first time. They are both on the same stalk and appear to be either dark purple or blue. They are still tightly furled so it is hard to tell for sure. I'm excited because this will be the first time the plants have bloomed since we've had them here. Mom and John brought them to me after they cleared out Grammy's flower beds in Williamsburg.

I noticed them this morning after the kids and I returned from our walk to the donut shop. The whole way there (and most of the way back) I kept pointing out other people's iris and I was more than a tad jealous. I was thrilled to see the buds when we got back.

First Game

The Angels opened their season against the Yankees last night. Both teams scored every run. T-ball rules are very simple, half the batting order bats every inning. Each batter gets five trys to hit the ball. Every batter gets to run. Every run scores. The fun lasts four innings.

Short of a half million

Well in our first three months of regular attendance at the gym I've managed to lift 440,940 pounds. Not everything gets logged but it's close enough and makes me feel pretty good about myself. We did go ahead and sign up for a full year.

Christmas in April

Sheela found a package of gingerbread cookie dough (already cut in to men and trees) in the fridge. It's been here since Mom's visit in early December. It was slightly past expiration but she wasn't planning to eat them. She and Sunil decorated an army of men today. She plans to turn them in to Easter decorations to start.

Two points

Sunil scored his first basket today (from terra firma instead of standing on Sid's car bumper). Sheela wants credit for coaching him through it. To celebrate his accomplishmnet Sheela made him spend the next hour doing basketball drills. He was pumped enough to enjoy it.

Cancelled - Opening Day

Today begins the official T-ball/baseball season here in Allen. Normally it is marked by the symbolic throwing out of the first pitch (that would be the baseball part), team parade around the field, a team banner contest, food booths and a dunk-your-own-coach dunking booth. Last night due to an amazing quantity of rain the fields are closed and the celebration cancelled. Sunil's team will have their first game Monday night.

Lies

Ive been reading Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Got Wrong by James W. Loewen. This book was actually recommended to me by my 16 year-old niece. I've enjoyed it but I confess I'm mostly just skimming it at this point. It's due tomorrow and I wont have time to read it in any more depth next week so I'll take it back. I may get it again at another time. It spent too much time harping on the importance of Helen Keller's socialist tendencies early on -- I almost gave up before I got to "lies" I consider to be both more important and certainly more interesting. One of Loewen's theories for why American students hate to study history is because it has been rendered completely two-dimensional and all of the reality has been drummed out in the interest of making both the country and our National figures/heroes seem perfect especially when they weren't. I have to admit I was convinced that I hated studying History. It was boring and irrelevant. It's only been the last ten years or so that I've realized that I am interested.

National Young Scholars Program

Sheela was nominated to a program for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders called the National Young Scholars Program. I've never heard of it before, but her 2nd grader teacher nominated six kids to the program this year. Three of them are friends of Sheela's. It sounds pretty cool to me (rather like summer camp for geeks). It is a week long program at a hotel downtown. She would share a room with 1-3 other girls and do a research project with a team of other kids. It looks like the Dallas camp only offers one topic for the third graders - it's a forensics class (fingerprinting and hair analysis). It sounds like a condensed version of DI. It is, of course, very pricey so we will probably pass (plus she is pretty nervous about staying away for a week) but it was flattering to be nominated.

Sweathearts of the Rodeo Dance

Sunil and I went out last night. He took me to dinner and the Mother-Son dance. We had a great time.

Quite a few of his friends were there, but we mostly spent time toghter. There was a horse roping contest, penny pitching, hat tossing and of course plenty of dancing.

Western Day

Friday was Western Day for the Kindergartners. Here Sunil is wearing his hat and sitting in the saddle in his classroom.

High School Soccer Game

We went to the last home game of the season for our local high school team. Sheela's team was invited to be ball girls during the game. One of the team captains used to help coach Sheela. This was the first time we've gotten to see her play. She is really good, the whole team is good.

The most impressive part of the evening though was the field. It has full bleachers, gorgeous grass, full snack bar and electriconic score board. It is the football stadium for one of the JUNIOR high schools. Texas is big on soccer but insane about football.

A productive, well-timed trip

The trip to the Northeast was very productive. I'm (once again) trained to safely handle dry ice. I didn't know that that was the point of the trip, but it's always good to get a refresher. Most of my questions were answered too. Best of all our return flight cleared the airport before the winter storm moved in. We made it home with no poblems.

Springfield, CT

I'm going to Springfield, Connecticut tomorrow for a one day visit to our sister company. They have a product line that they would like us to help them support. It involves setting up some special storage and monitoring systems, and quite a few additional registrations. I get to lead the effort from our location, but we will be mostly following their script. Have I mentioned that I love the variety that I have in my job?

This may be my first visit to Connecticut. I may have driven through as a child but I don't actually remember being there at all.

A year

It has been a year since my friend Lynn passed away. That seems like only a few days and a lifetime both. I'm sure she would be pleased with the way we have taken care of the things that were important to her.

The Nap Game - my personal favortite

I promised I'd play with Sunil after work but I was too tired to be much fun at trucks. He decieded that I might enjoy another round of the "nap game" instead. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this activity it is played in two parts. In part one we lay down together and he sucks his thumb and twirls my hair. In part two we fall asleep. Part one only lasted about 30 seconds, part two lasted three glorious hours. At 9Pm we got up had dinner and went back to sleep.

Spring sprang while we were gone.

This is actually our neighbor's Bradford Pear tree... but we get to enjoy it. Many of our neighborhood streets are lined with pear trees. It makes it very easy to see when the seasons change.

The mummified Bat

I posted another picture from the caverns but it ended up on Sheela's blog instead of here. Take a look if you get the chance. The link is in the links section (of course).

1700 Miles

We arrived back home today around five o'clock. All in all it was a wonderful trip. After a full day of Roswell on Thursday we drove to Ft. Davis, TX and went to a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory. The lecture didn't really hold the kids attention. Sunil in particular was not impressed, but the constellation talk, outside under a West Texas sky, was incredible. We even saw a few meteors. But Sunil was really won over by the telescopes. I counted fifteen and I think we managed to look through them all. They ranged from 8" to 36" mirrors. We saw starts, star clusters, supernovae debris, Venus and Saturn - complete with rings and moons. Afterwards we drove to Odessa to spend the night.

Odessa is more than just a convienient stopping place, it has a famous meteor crater of its own. Actually a pair of craters that are still visible. The main crater was originally (50,000 years ago) more than 100 feet deep. Now it is only about six feet deep. This was our second attempt to see the crater and museum. Last year we arrived just as they closed the gate for the night. This time we managed to walk the crater (in broad daylight) but they opened the museum late and we couldn't wait for them.

Roswell, NM

We had a fabulous day yesterday and crammed in as much of Roswell as we could. I got to see my friend Jackie. She lives here now but we used to work together in Dallas. She took us to the UFO Museum. She left it up to us as to whether or not we really wanted to go but how could we pass it up? Then we went to one of the museums here and saw a variety of things, including Goddard's workshop and some of his prototype rocket parts and some antique guns and swords.


Then we went out to Bottomless Lakes State Park to run around some. We came back for wine tasting at a local winery. The wines are all local and were quite good.



Next we headed out to the Bitter Lakes Wildlife Refuge at dusk to watch the birds. The time of year wasn't optimum but it was a beautiful time of day.

Jr Rangers again

Of course the kids earned their Junior Ranger patches again. Here you earn a patch, then you can show the patch to buy the badge. They completed all of the requirements in the first five hours and then got to wear the badges for the rest of our visit.

Carlsbad Rocks

The original plan was to spend three days in Carlsbad (personally I thought that we could wrap it up in one) and then to go down to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park for a day. We ended up staying in the caves for three days. Each tour was better than the last.

The first day we hiked down the 750 feet from the Natural Entrance to the cave. It isn't a particularly difficult walk but it is very dramatic with lots to see, especially for your first time cavers. The trail is dimly lit mostly with lights behind the cave features to add drama. This formation is called the whales mouth.
Once you reach the cave "floor" you find a snack bar and a gift shop. This is something that would never be allowed today. We bought our lunch and then set off on a tour of the "Big Room". The big room is the size of 14 football fields and the path circles the perimeter. Of course it isn't all visible at one time as the room meanders around quite a bit. Most of this path is wheelchair friendly and takes you past such sights as the Hall of Giants, the Totem Pole and The Lions Tail. Then we took the elevator to the surface. Sid did try to hike out but he didn't have time the cave is closed at night.

The next day we walked in again and then took a guided tour of the scenic rooms. The three most highly decorated rooms include the King's Palace, the Papoose Room and the Queen's Chamber. They were incredible and the guide added a lot of detail about the formation of the rock, the formation of the caves and the formation of the speleothems.

The third day we cheated on Sunil's age by a few months so that we could take a tour of the left hand tunnel. This is another guided tour but only 15 people get to go each day and the tour is given entirely by lantern light. They even had half-sized lanterns for the kids to carry. Since entry to this tunnel is so restricted it looks a lot more natural than the big room. They used to have weddings, parties and Chamber of Commerce meetings in the big room so the floor has been leveled.

Most of the cave is inactive (it is underneath a desert after all), but in some places water is still seeping in and the formations are still growing. Growing formations appear wet and glossy. Falling water drops are called shooting stars and getting hit with one is called a cave kiss.

Pics to come soon....

maybe even tonight. For now we have left Carlsbad Caverns behind and find ourselves in Roswell, NM looking for aliens. We have a reliable connection and an indoor pool. The kids have been great and deserve to burn off some excess energy. We are off to the pool.

Pecos, Texas

We drove as far as Pecos today. It's a little over 400 miles from home. The drive was mostly made with the DVD players running which doesn't really interfere with the sightseeing out here. West Texas, much like East Texas, is relatively flat and dry. The landscape was even more depressing in that nearly every bush along the way has caught and held an empty plastic bag blown in from somewhere. Pecos its self is a sad town. The buildings are old, but not historic, the restaurants are mostly closed on Sundays or For Sale and the movie theater is only open two nights a week. We had dinner at the motel and went to bed early. Sunil is feeling poorly so we may need to attempt to find a doctor in the morning.

Dinner out?

I'm definitely not in the mood to cook tonight. We have to get through all of the packing, planning and arranging still. We haven't done much in preparation for this trip beyond doing the laundry and setting out a vague plan. But we will be eating out for every meal for the next week. I guess I'll have to cave and come up with something homemade tonight.

We have a Spring Break plan

We will leave Sunday morning to drive over to Carlsbad Caverns. We will stay there 2-3 days and then go to Roswell to visit my friend Jackie (and the UFOs). Friday we plan to head back to Ft. Davis to go to the McDonald Observatory Star Party. We should be back home late Saturday.

Not just us

The wind damage was on the news this morning…. denuded rooftop after rooftop all across the Northern suburbs.  The speculation is that the damage is all tied to one particular company's product.  I find that hard to credit.  The different housing tracts involved are anywhere from brand new to 15 years old at least.  In any case we have someone coming by today to take a look at ours.

DI Competition

Saturday both kids' teams presented their solutions to the challenges they selected last October. This was the first time that I was able to watch Sunil and the Gators perform their tour of the Statue of Liberty. While on the tour they discover that the statue is really a fake. It was very cute.

Sheela nararated for her team, The Solar Storm. They were a group of Superheros defending their city against a dragon and his dragon master. The superhero that saves the day had to overcome her fear of reptiles in order to help.

At Sunil's level, Rising Stars, they don't get scores or awards. They do all get ribbons, pins and certificates. Sheela's team did not place in the top six (the only ones that are annonced). They received pins and ribbons as well.

The State competition is in April here at the University of Dallas. Sheela has asked to go and watch. I'll take her and any of her team mates that want to come along so that they can see what the level of effort went in to the first place teams solutions.

Home disaster number three

Let's hope that "disaster" is an overstatement. We had some incredibly high winds yesterday. The sky was a muddy brown all day long. Even though it was finally warm it wasn't a nice day to be out. So I spent my spare time curled up in my bed attempting to sleep through my allergies and listening to the wind rip the shingles off of the roof. The good news is that half of the ones that turned up in our backyard really came from the neighbors roof.... not really much comfort that.

I can't see our roof well enough for a picture but I have a great view of Greg's. As you can see the sky is clear and bright today. I'm hoping we get at least a few days rain reprieve so we can get the roof fixed.

Summer Cruise

Dad and Eileen have made their arrangements to join a large flotilla (or armada, maybe) of boats cruising the Eastern Med this Summer. I think that they will hit Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Israel and Egypt. They get not only to visit the coastal towns but will take numerous in land trips to round out the experience.

The TAKS Fairy

The third graders (and perhaps the 4th and 5th graders) were visited by the TAKS fairy on Monday. She blew magic bubbles at them and sprinkled pixie dust on them to help them obtain good scores on their TAKS tests. The tests were administered today.

Bone Density - Not mine

A friend of mine has just been informed that she is firmly situated in the danger zone for low bone density. She is in her mid-40s and was not expecting this. They wanted her to go immediately to obtain her handicapped parking tag in order to eliminate those long, dangerous walks across parking lots. They've told her not to lift anything heavier than 8 pounds (one of her cats weighs 13 pounds - Bello's kitten, Norbert). She has been given a variety of prescriptions and will really take them. She is not cancelling next week's ski trip. She's an adult, its her risk to take.

Over-scheduling pays off

The original; plan was to kick off our weekend with a babysitting gig (I owe a friend a favor), a soccer practice and a play date with a friend for Sunil. Tomorrow we have two parties, a soccer game, a t-ball practice and laundry, Sunday there is one more soccer game, a funeral (well the viewing) and both kids need to rehearse their DI parts.

Tonight the planets aligned in my favor. I had to leave work early to drive the girls to soccer practice. Normally I bring them back but the other mother's plane was delayed (snow storms, yada, yada, yada) and I need to be home when when Jaden comes over (I was going to be cutting it very close). Sunil was going to play with his friend up the street but the friend came home from school with a fever. Sunil rode to practice with us.. and fell asleep in the car on the way back. Sid was delayed. Jaden (and his folks) were delayed. I ended up with a whole hour of uninterrupted computer time. I managed to outline goals for the department and the staff, plan for two Monday meetings and follow up on a host of other outstanding items. I managed another two hours after everyone showed up because they were watching a movie. I'm almost caught up.

Sick to death of death and dying

Another co-worker lost her mother this week after a very brief fight with cancer (of pretty much everything). That funeral is Monday. I've known Brenda and her baby sister ten years. Another co-worker has cancer in both lungs, her stomach and her spine. This has been a hard year around here.

Daddy Daughter Dance 2006

I finally managed to swing by the AISD office to pick up the picture. I think they look great (and happy). Sheela wanted to take off the sweater but they had already recorded her as wearing red on the form (to avoid screw ups) so they convinced her to leave it on. I like it anyway... it makes them look more like the 2004 picture.

The bloom is off the rose...

the new dishwasher has developed an "issue". It isn't too bad really, one of the tines on the upper rack rusted through and broke off. At less than a month old the warranty will take care of it.... except that I didn't keep the original receipt and can't prove its age. Today I will try to wheedle a replacement receipt out of the retailer.

Scrimage Results

Last weekend Sheela's DI team (Solar Storm) entered an instant challenge scrimmage.  We just received their results.  They tied for 8^th place out of out of 45 teams in the task based drill and finished 16^th in the performance drill.  I never did get a clear understanding of the challenges.  The task involved suspending at least one lego a certain height off of the table top.  I don't know what they used to build their fixture but they received full credit for the first one and a few extra points for the additional pieces.  The performance involved a person going on a trip being presented with three gifts by their friends.  They went on a shopping trip and bought a canteen, a map and a snack which were then given to the traveler for use on her trip to Madagascar.  Their originality points hurt them there but they did pretty well on their presentation. 

Angels

Sunil is an Angel, and this time it isn't just me saying so.  That is the name of his t-ball team.  There are 14 five year olds on this team… I'd go so far as to bet that he is the oldest one.  I can't imagine trying to keep these kids on task.  So far from the list of names I don't think there are any that he already knows.  Practices start this weekend… stay tuned.

Reduction

Our manufacturing department had its first reduction in force in five years or so.  Luckily it was a very small number, but we've gotten so efficient with the production that we've been holding back our capacity until the sales catch up.  Even after stellar sales the last six months we can still make more than we need.  It was sad to see the people go but it had to be done.  Two chose to leave even though they'd been offered other positions and one took the transfer.  The shortest term employee affected had been here over four years; the longest had been here eleven years and was considered by many to still be a newbie.  We don't let people go often and they almost never leave on their own.

Metric mania

I just survived a two and a half day meeting/seminar on setting meaningful metrics at work. It was actually extremely useful... if a little bit dry. A simple analogy was used to explain why tracking most metrics doesn't really help you reach your goals:

when you become dissatisfied with your physique you resolve to lose 15 pounds. For the next few months you track your weight gain and weight loss. The result of which is a nice graph showing your normal weight fluctuations. Instead you should chose the primary behaviors that would make your clothes fit better: eat less, excercise more. You track food/calories and excercise time/frequecy instead. This way you focus on something you can actually control and you get immediate feedback on whether or not you are on track. Every few weeks you can check your progress but you don't focus on the result.. you focus on the behavior.

After that 10 minutes of class we spent two more days choosing goals and establishing our metrics (based on previous project pitfalls). It seems like a lot but in the end I think it was worth it, and it was very gratifying to find out that we all agree on our past mistakes and that in every case we've already laid a foundation for correcting the problems. Now we need to track our progress on implementing the changes and then monitor the new systems. Simple, eh?!

Extra work?!?

Sheela brought home her practice TAKS scores this week. She did very well, in my opinion, 36 out of 38 and 39 out of 40 fro reading and math. I not only had to acknowledge that I'd seen her scores I had to choose a method for her extra practice. She can stay in from recess one day a week and work with the teacher, stay after school one day to work with a teacher or bring home extra practice sheets to do at home. She chose to give up a recess, but was curious as to why she needed extra practice. I'll admit I was satisfied with the scores and didn't think it appropriate to assign extra work. I guess there is always room for improvement.

It turns out that it wasn't getting three questions wrong that earned her the extra work. She didn't show all of her work on all of the problems. In the true TAKS test it doesn't matter for the scoring but they want to make the point that the method matters.

Because I so enjoyed the sting index....

Justin O. Schmidt, an entomologist created the Schmidt Pain Index after being stung by almost every type of bee, wasp and ant. This index compares the overall pain of Hymenopteran stings on a four-point scale.

1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm.
1.2 Fire Ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.
1.8 Bullhorn acacia ant: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.
2.0 Bald-faced hornet: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.
2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine WC Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.
2.x Honey bee, Africanized bee and European hornet.
3.0 Red Harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.
3.0 Paper wasp: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of Hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.
4.0 Pepsis wasp: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair dryer has been dropped into your bubble bath (if you get stung by one you might as well lie down and scream). That would be our friend the Tarantula Hawk.
4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail in your heel.

The Tarantula Hawk

Sunil found a fully intact (dead) tarantula hawk in his room today. Instead of giving it to Sheela for her bug collection he has decided to keep it and start his own collection. The tarantula hawk is closely related to the cicada killer wasp but instead of placing a dead cicada in with its larva it places a dead tartanula in with the larva. Charming.

According to the Wikipedia "The sting, particularly of Pepsis formosa, is among the most painful of any insect. Commenting on his own experience, one researcher described the pain as '...immediate, excruciating pain that simply shuts down one’s ability to do anything, except, perhaps, scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations."It is listed near the top of the list in Schmidt Sting Pain Index. Although the sting is quite painful the effect is reported to last only a few minutes and is fatal less often than the honey bee. '"

Happy Birthday Seema!!!

Seema is the tall, willowy one in purple. We are celebrating her birthday this time around. It coincided nicely with the Sharma's return from India which always means new clothes and sparkly jewelry. Don't they look great?!?

Snow that sticks

Last night the snow finally kicked in. Sheela was disappointed to find that the schools didn't close. But as you can see the streets are pretty clear. Sunil was disappointed to learn that when you stay home sick you don't get to play outside.

Actual snow

We had snow yesterday morning for nearly an hour. It fell in big, beautiful flakes that never actually made it to the ground. Not even the cars turned white. Sheela didn't even believe that it happened (she was in the school library with no windows). Sunil's class went outside to play in it for a few minutes.