Great while it lasted

Took the kids to breakfast this morning, after sleeping in a bit. There would be no 6am shopping for me. After breakfast, we finally got to see Polar Express, which was a pretty decent kid-movie. Much better than SpongeBob, which we saw last weekend.

It got to be such a nice day (~70 degrees) that after the movie I took the kids to the park and let them play for about an hour and a half while I read a book. I was glad to have the nice weather on an off day, as already tomorrow the high is supposed to be fifteen degrees lower, and the highs all next week are supposed to be in the thirties and fourties. There might even be snow on Tuesday. Yuck.

Mmmm, tryptophane

After an early, and filling, Thanksgiving meal, I went to see the movie National Treasure with some family. I heard mediocre reviews, but I thought it was pretty good. But then, I'm a sucker for history shows and flicks, so I'm probably a little biased. While you certainly couldn't call this film a true history flick, there was certainly a lot of historical reference that was very interesting.

After the movie, I picked up the kids, who had Thanksgiving dinner with their mother, and we went to my dads for desserts.

Not one of the more exciting T-days, but not a bad one.

Definitely thankful

I've been faced with a good deal of adversity over the course of the last month (certainly my least fortunate time in recent memory), yet, in spite of whatever bitterness may linger within me, I'm keenly aware that it could all be so much worse, and thereby I am undoubtedly thankful that it is not.

Of course, I am unquestionably thankful for my awesome children and supportive family. And there's no shortage of thanks that I work for a prosperous company, have a good job, a great team, and excellent co-workers. I know that I don't express as much on a day-to-day basis, but make no mistake. It's in there.

New photos!

A couple weeks ago, we had some family photos taken. Well, this evening, I picked them up, and now they are posted to the album. For the most part, I like how they turned out.

Definitely a Monday

Back on the East coast, we don't (or didn't anyway) get this thing in October called "Fall Break". I was shocked when I first moved here and learned of these two extra days the kids out this way got off from school in October. Oh, and most schools in these parts get the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off as well. Sheesh.

Well, my kids actually don't get those two days off in October, much as I didn't growing up. Their school chooses to observe those two days off during the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. Add that to the Wednesday off day and to the Thanksgiving holidays, and what you end up with is a whole week off. Cool for them. Yuck for me.

It's yuck because I have to go through this ordeal every year of finding child care for the kiddos, which is harder than you might expect for school-aged children. Not all daycare centers staff "school age teachers" at all times, so I'm always a little nervous about this week.

For the past couple years we've been going to a particular center that has been mostly reliable in having the right kind of teachers, but consistent with the way my month has gone, my child care luck ran out this Thanksgiving week.

I called the center last week to inquire as to whether I could take the kids there this year, and I received an affirmative. At the time I wiped my brow in relief and went about my day. So I was pretty surprised when I walked into the daycare center this morning with my kids, only to have the front desk lady tell me, "uh, we can't take them today."

She gave me the whole no teacher bit and I explained my apparently non-existent previous conversation with their employee, but no progress was made, and I found myself moments later in the parking lot, late for work, with nowhere to take my two children.

I couldn't take them home (too many things to do today)... I couldn't take them to work (one would have been okay, two is a zoo)... I had no idea if there was another center around that would take them... ugh.

So we drove to the nearby IHOP parking lot (as I knew that business had free wireless internet that bled onto the street), I got out my laptop and wireless internet card, and I got online to search for daycare centers. After several minutes of searching and calling, the morning was salvaged when I found a place that would take them.

I found it ironic when I got to the new daycare facility that ALL of the kids but one were five and under. Kindergarten students. Which was similar to the population at the daycare center I just left. Oh well, I stopped questioning it and got the kids checked in. Shelby was smiling right away because she was one of the big kids on the block. I could see in her face that she was going to like it there. While Darby didn't express discord, I was a little worried that she wouldn't have a good time.


It was nine by the time I got to work. I worked several hours before having to leave to visit the bank to sign some papers. I had my car refinanced with an extended warranty tacked onto the loan. Same interest rate and only twenty bucks added to my payment. With only seven hundred miles left on my factory warranty, but more than three years left on my loan, I was getting a little nervous about the potential for a problem, especially considering our travel plans for the next couple of years. But now with my new 100,000 mile, zero deductible warranty, I can have some peace of mind about it instead.


On the way back from the bank, I had to pick up my repaired screens and storm windows. Following the burglary, I had the broken window replaced the next day, but the window guy had to take my broken storm windows with him for custom work. Plus there were a couple of broken screens that needed to be replaced.


Back at work, I was able to get a few more hours of work in, and got done with much of what I needed to do before having to leave to get the girls. Once I picked them up they were VERY rowdy, I assume from being around the little ones most of the day (other school aged children did arrive after 3pm it turns out), but they both had a decent time of it. Shelby says it was the best daycare ever and hopes they are going back there tomorrow. She's such a character.

While at daycare, Darby lost a tooth. Twice. First, she "lost a tooth", as in it was loose, but then fell out. Then she lost the actual tooth. So, no tooth fairy visit for her I guess...


UPDATE, 23 NOV
Darby found her tooth at daycare today!

Weekend recap

Darby had her first choir practice this afternoon. She'll be performing a Christmas concert with her church choir in a few weeks.

I took the kids to see the Spongebob Movie last night. That was... regretful. We probably should have seen Polar Express instead.


While I'm at it, in the hustle and bustle of the last week, I didn't get to mention that Shelby won all three of her bouts at fencing on Thursday. She bouted one little boy twice, and he's getting really frustrated because he keeps getting beat by her. I think he's lost to her on previous days as well.

Can you hear me now?

My phone lines are back as of a couple hours ago.

And I have my DSL back, so I can check messages and the like from home now. Though it will take some time to be "back to normal".

But this sure beats dial-up at my dad's. Bleh... dial-up gives me the chills.

The tally so far

So far I've determined there are 14 "items" missing (47 DVDs treated as 1 item). To replace missing items: Price $5146.95.

Most impactful of missing items (not on the inventory per se)... more than a thousand digital photos of the kids on our various exploits over the last six months or so since I last backed up my computer data (not that that mattered because my data backups are missing also). Those pictures were priceless.

If you thief types happen to read my blog, I don't care about the "stuff". But my data... that means a lot to me and nothing to you. I would consider you much kinder were my hard drive(s) from my computer to magically appear on my doorstep.

Blog Hiatus

Thanks to the "kindness" of strangers, this blog will experience in the least a slow down, but may not have any posts for a few days or more.

My house was burglarized last night, and my computer was one of the casualties. I have my work laptop to get me buy until it is replaced. However, my phone lines were also cut, making internet connectivity (either DSL or dial-up) a non-option. Until my phone lines are repaired, I have to rely on free hotspots and family borrowed phone lines for the bare essentials.


Thanks for understanding.

We needed that

Of course, when I say we, I mean they. After last week's obliteration, the Eagles needed to come back big and they did. While I still feel we gave up far too many points and yards that would be quite damaging in the hands of a better opponent, I'm glad for win and hopeful momentum shift.

The way I see it, we have three more "likley tough" games (Giants, Packers, Rams), and four "should be winable" games (Redskins twice, Cowboys, Bengals), not that anything is a gimmie this season. I think they can tolerate a loss to either the Rams or Pakcers (not that I'm wishing for that -- knock on virutal wood and all), but prefarably not both, which would keep them at the needed 14-2, signifying progress, and hopefully breaking down the barriers to an NFC championship victory and subsequent Superbowl appearance.


Shawn the non-sports-analyst, signing off.

Forgetful is as forgetful does

After I picked up the girls from their mother's, I had planned to take them to see a movie (Polar Express), but we stopped to grab a bite first. Only, it turns out, we had existing dinner plans on the other side of town.

While we were eating (Shelby was only about half-through with her food, I was a few bites from being done with mine, and Darby was already done), I got a phone call from my dad. "Are you on your way here?" he asks. I realized instantly what he meant of course, and was in complete panic, though I didn't lose my cool on the phone. "We'll be there soon," was my response, which wasn't inaccurate.

So, I finished my last few bites, had the kids pack up their stuff, and we booked across town. Twenty-seven minutes later (yes, I was that far away... and the majority of my journey was on a 70mph highway) we were eating dinner (again as it turns out) with the family at church. It was the annual Thanksgiving dinner at St. Paul's, and it has become traditional for my step-grandfather to buy tickets for the whole family to attend (probably 20 people). So you can imagine my self-frustration for almost having caused him to waste money on three tickets.

But it all worked out, you could say. We didn't have to stand in line (usually the line takes awhile to get through), and we walked away with VERY full stomachs. I had a plate full myself, along with some pumpkin pie. And Darby really packed it down with TWO plates full AFTER we had just eaten. Shelby had about a half-plate full, which normally would have gotten her in trouble, but all dinner transgressions went unopposed this evening, since I had already made the biggest of them.


I had been told about the event several times, but I kept forgetting to put in on any calendar. But I knew exactly when it was, to the extent that if you would have asked me, "hey, when's that dinner at church?" my response would have been, "oh, it's on the 13th." It just SO doesn't feel like the middle of the month already. I mean, didn't this month just start? I could swear that dinner was next weekend. Though I will admit that ALL DAY I was wandering around thinking, don't I have somewhere to be today?

Permission to drive freely

On the way to work today, I was sitting at a stop light when a motorcycle cop came zipping by, squaked his siren once, and stopped in the middle of the intersection. He proceeded to dismount his vehicle and make a gesture directing everyone to go through the red light. I think it caught everyone off guard, though, because no one obeyed his initial gestures, so he had to do them again. Eventually, everyone ran the red light. On purpose. But with permission.

That was pretty swell. I hope it happens more often.

Hmm. Upgrades.

I just got home from work after completing a major hardware and software upgrade that went south this afternoon. I left work to go watch Shelby fence and to grab a bite, but then went back to try to salvage the upgrade. I was finally able to recover from the problems and get it done, but it was ugly. Hopefully I won't be having to do that again any time soon.


Shelby won two of her three bouts today at fencing. Her mother and I have noticed she has become a bit of a fencing snob towards the newer kids that haven't figure it out yet. I should probably try to fix that, but she's very stubborn, so I know it won't take.

Slacker Shelby returns

Shelby's teacher wrote a note in her assignment pad today that Shelby had not done ANY of her classwork today. So we had to do it all this evening. I really don't like it when she does that, as it throws off the whole night.

I planned to take the kids to the library because Darby needed to get a book for her next book report, and she needed to get a research book for her science project. I was going to have Shelby pick a book as well, but instead I had her take her school bag in so she could do homework.

It doesn't help that she operates devoid of haste. Because of her slowness, I didn't want to have her pack up all of her school stuff, only to unpack it at the house and start again, so we stayed at the library until she was done with her work. However, that took longer than I would have figured, so there was some backfire factor. We ended up being at the library almost two and a half hours. While Shelby did homework, not only did Darby find some books she needed, but she also got all of her homework done and read two or three books while waiting for her sister to finish.

It was after nine again by the time we got home, and we still had to deal with baths, so we got to bed fairly late again, as with Monday.

Everybody likes to be a winner

I got a good solid three hours of work in before having to depart for a vendor security forum I had half-heartedly signed up for a few weeks before. Boy was I surprised at the outcome, and more than glad I went after all. Not only was the main speaker very good, but there were way more vendors than I had epxected to see, many of whom had interesting product demos. I was genuinely caught off guard by the turn-out, both with respect to the attendees and the vendors. And then there was the pay-off. FREE LUNCH.

It's always hard to argue with or complain about a free lunch (though there are those that always seem to find a way), and I feel I'm usually realistic in my expectations of that lunch. I wouldn't generally expect a feast, but rather a modest and complete in most ways meal. Little did I know in this case that I was in for yet another surprise. It was a feast. Wow I tell you. It was all Italian (my favorite) and there was loads of it. I jammed my plate full of all of it. Lasagne, bow-tie pasta (I can't think of the name), spaghetti, chicken parmesan. Yum.

After the very filling meal and the conclusion of vendor discussions, they had a drawing for door prizes, which was a further surprise for me. While I knew there would be prizes, the number of them was higher than I would have guessed. And as luck would have it, I won one of the prizes, though I'm not sure I want to divulge what I won, for fear of reprisals.


Okay, okay, okay, it rhymes with "tripod". Pretty cool, huh? Particularly when you consider that I didn't REALLY want to go to the thing initially.

Falling back again

A couple weeks ago we "fell back", setting our clocks back an hour to more efficiently manage our sunlight usage. Maybe I haven't quite adjusted, or maybe I have somehow overcompensated internally. Whichever the case, when I woke this morning, I had that distinct feeling of behindness. Sure enough, the alarm clock was yearning unfulfilled in the distance, meaning I had to spring to immediate action if the morning were to be salvaged.

I leapt from my bed, got the kids' breakfast ready, and hopped into the shower after sending the kids to eat. Ten minutes later I was dressed, as were the children, and everything was going reasonably smooth, absent the tardiness. The kids finished their morning duties while I made school lunches, until finally it was time to hit the road. But not before one last time-check. Ahh! School starts in six minutes, I thought. So we scurried out the door in a mad haste, thinking we'd be lucky to make it on time.

As we approached the school, with only minutes before the starting bell, the kids were having a typical morning skirmish in the back seat. I remember trying to quell the outbreak by saying we were almost to school, we'd probably be late, and that we didn't have time to argue over silly stuff.

No sooner had I said that did we reach the turn lane, which I made use of to turn into a... completely... empty... parking lot?!?

I stared intently at the clock in the car after coming to a complete stop. Seven... oh... one... This can't be right, I kept thinking. It's eight o'clock. Eight I tell you, not seven. There's just no way.

But no matter how many times I looked at my clock or my cell phone, the answer always came back the same. It was seven o'clock. I couldn't believe it. The kids immediately burst out laughing as I threw my head back against the seat in disgust. Not that I was an hour early, but that I was so cluelessly an hour early.

How could this happen? How did I miss the warning signs? How did I miss-read every clock I encountered prior to pulling into the school? All I could think was "worm holes". There's no other explanation, and I think even Occam would back me on this one. There's just no way -- NO WAY -- I tell you, that I woke up, got ready, and got somewhere an hour early on accident. It just doesn't work that way for me. I'm either a little early by design, or just in time if not late by some manner of interference.

After spending about ten seconds in awe of the moment -- during which I hypothesized my wormhole time-compression theorem -- I realized we really would be late if we didn't get a move on. So we got ourselves out of the car and into the school for pre-school care. The whole way in, the girls were skipping, giggling, and singing, "we're errr-ly, we're errr-ly" in clear mockery of their father. I couldn't help but think the entire ordeal was the harbinger of a bad day on the rise, as I made my way to work far earlier than usual. It was about 7:26 when I pulled into a parking spot, and I would soon find that my expectations for the day were far underrated. But that's a tale for the next entry.

(pause for intermission)

38,056

That's the number of spam emails I just deleted off my system that I had been collecting since November of 2002. (Yes, I realize that's more than 1500 messages a month... I get A LOT) I'd been in search of a good Outlook-plugable bayesian spam filter for some time, and only recently found one that I like. If you're unaware, bayesian filters are considered to be the best among spam-filtering mechanisms, but to be effective, they must be trained. So I had been saving up all of my spam until I found a good enough filter that I could train. About a month ago, I started using SpamBayes, but I held onto my arsenal of spam until I was confident in the program.

At some point I'm going to setup a SpamAssassin server on my home network and won't need SpamBayes, but that day has not yet come.

No comparison

It was a Foxy day, and I was glad to have it. But the day ain't over yet. You still have time to make the switch, so that you, too, can have a foxy day.


--
In kid news, I zipped across town after work to hopefully catch Shelby in a fencing bout. But that did not work out, as there was no bouting for her. She should most definitely be bouting on Thursday though, so I'll have to try again.

Darby has a school musical on 9 December, so you interested family types have been forewarned. It has been posted to the calendar. Contact me for details if you're going.


--
I must say that I'm not super keen on this time of year from the where-next-will-there-be-a-thanksgiving-party perspective. The kids each have one at school. There will be at least two family-related t-day gatherings. And I know there will be two work-related festive-feasting-fests.

I'm already confused about what dish I'm supposed to bring to which function. Just tonight I was trying to figure out what to do about Darby's party. Her mother sent money and goods to school with her already, but now we're getting the impression from Darby that that wasn't good enough. So I have to "have a talk with the teacher" just to get the straight story. Bleh.

Monday(ne)

Mondays. I tell you what.

My phone rang at 6:45 this morning with horror stories of the most terrible kinds of network outages being experienced at work. The kind that causes anything and everything to break. The kind that keeps your internal customers from getting "out" to do their jobs. The kind that keeps your external customers from getting "in" to do their jobs. Worst of all, the kind of outage caused by someone else's something else and/or something or other, and over which you have no power, influence, or favor towards a resolution in a customer acceptable, non-death-resulting manner. And still yet the "bad guys" walk away free and clear with their heads held high as though they were heroes all-the-while and in their own right. I am to this moment baffled by the events of the morning.

From that early call through about nine I was on and off the phone with various folks trying to get a handle on the situation. And there were five other folks also on the phone with various folks trying to get further handles on the situation. It was that bad. So much so, that I about lost my head in other regards.

In the hustle and bustle of the morning, I outright forgot to feed the girls breakfast. We were pulling into school (and I was on the phone) when I realized we were getting there way earlier than we should have. Oh crap. It occurred to me the girls hadn't eaten, and I could NOT just drop them off without breakfast. I pulled out of the turn lane and we proceeded to the nearest grocery store for some donuts. After several eaten-on-the-go donuts, we returned to school just in time for me to drop Darby off and let the school know Shelby would be late.

I still had to take Shelby to a doctor's appointment. She was due for a flu shot. Of course, you never tell kids -- EVER (for you new parents) -- that they are getting shots. But then you get silly, probably child-less nurses that blow your cover. Which arm do you want your shot in, she asks Shelby.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

And that was just MY reaction, because I knew Shelby's was to follow. And boy did she throw one big stinking fit... before, during, and after the shot. She eventually calmed down, but it took an 8:15am sucker to do it, which is saying something, because I don't think I have ever given my children candy at that time of day.

A little tip for you new pediatric nurses out there. NEVER advertise to a child that he/she is getting a shot, in particular by asking which arm to use, because their answer is always neither. You might as well ask on which side of the head you can hit them with a hammer.

You're supposed to do the whole, hey, what's that over there? [stick] Oh, did I poke your arm? Let's put a band-aid on that little unexpected boo-boo.

Amateurs. Sheesh.


It was almost nine by the time I got to work after dropping a whimpering Shelby off at school. And wouldn't you know it? By the time I got to my desk, all of the outage issues had just gotten resolved. I'm not sure if I was more relieved that I didn't have to deal with it too much further, or furious that it took so long to begin with as to entice the possibility of my further involvement. It was a travishamockery that's for sure.

The day was surprisingly uneventful beyond a few minor follow-up issues, though I was catching up for the remainder.


But there was no rest in store for us post-hectic-workday, mind you. After rushing to pick up the girls from school and stopping by the house to quickly get changed, we had to head straight to parent-hell, without collecting our two-hundred sanity-dollars. You see, tonight was Darby's end-of-season softball party. It was at Chuck E. Cheese, and we were there for two and a half hours if you get where I'm going with this. The girls had a blast sure, with plenty of pizza and games and dancing about, but all parents now the hell that is the CEC. I'm certain no further explanation is required.

We got home at a quarter 'til nine, with baths and homework still remaining. It's been a heckuva Monday, and I can barely see the end in sight.

Stolen

The Steelers did the Eagles in good. You could say they stole the spotlight. After what they did to the Pats last weekend I kinda thought they might. But I'm still disappointed. The season still has great potential, but it just didn't seem like the Eagles stepped up to the challenge. As good as they've been this season, they owed us a nail-biter at least. I could have dealt with that better. Getting stomped was just NOT one of the avaialble options for this season if they are to be taken seriously.

EVERYONE now takes the Steelers seriously. Anyone alseep at the NFL wheel this season is now keenly aware of one of the big forces to be reckoned with. 21-game winning streak? Bah. Undefeated superbowl favorite? Bah. I hope the Eagles have learned something from this. Or else they are doomed. Because every future opponent is watching tapes of that game right this moment.

Just please, oh please, don't let this be a momentum shifter. Progress is the key here folks, and I'd like to see 14-2 (preferably 15-1, but I won't be unreasonable) from this season and a super bowl appearance as sure signs of progress. I'm not even asking for a superbowl win (though it would be nice). Just an appearance. We can win next year for still yet more progress.

Incredible

I took the kids to see the Incredibles Saturday evening. And, it really was incredible. Another instant Pixar classic. The kids loved it, and I'd almost bet I loved it as much or more than the kids. Wow. I kinda want to see it again already.


--
The day started out with a haircut, which was risky, because the next event was holiday photos. But it turned out okay, as did the photos. It had been a couple holiday seaons between family portraits. At least the last couple portrait sessions with the kids, I skipped getting my photo, but I participated this time. It wasn't too painful. Here's a scan of the order sheet which is useless for anything other than seeing our poses.

We grabbed some dinner after the photos, and then we booked it to the movie theater to see the Incredibles. We almost didn't go because Shelby was taking so darn long to eat while Darby and I were both finished.

After the movie, I had to take the kids over to my dad's so that I could go to work. There were some big changes that had to be made and I was only expecting to be there thirty minutes or less, but it ended up taking two hours. I'm glad I went in though. I originally was going to try to implement the changes from home, but there were some big problems that I either wouldn't have been able to address, or it would have been slow going trying to address them.

I think the kids stayed up late at their mom's last night. When I picked them up, they fell asleep in the car on the way to take pictures. Then, instead of staying up late at my dad's as I would have expected, my dad says they fell asleep not long after I dropped them off, which was already after bed time technically. And even though it's only a five minute drive from my dad's house to mine, they fell asleep in the car, too. It wouldn't be so bad, but we're supposed to go to early mass in the morning, so they won't be able to sleep in like they often do on Sundays when we do late mass.


UPDATE, 23 NOV
The photos mentioned above have come in, and they've been posted to the album.

Flexon, flexoff

Like three years ago I splurged $330 -- more than I had ever spent -- on my glasses by getting a pair of those flexon frames that snap right back to shape if they're bent out of shape. I felt guilty about it at the time, but it's proven to be quite the worthy purchase. I haven't had to even fathom getting new glasses since, instead only purchasing new lenses every year, which is covered by my insurance, so I'm actually saving money now.

I'm notorious for falling asleep with my glasses on. Usually it's not too bad. I wake up, they're still on my head, no big deal. This morning, however, when I woke up I felt a stabbing sensation in my back and was like, what they heck is that? Turns out it was my glasses. I was laying on them with the full force of my 150 lb. body (I know, hefty, huh). In years past an event like that would ruin my day, because my glasses would "never be the same again" and I'd spend the rest of the day, and often their lifespan, tweaking with them trying to restore them to their original form.

Not today. Not with flexon. I got up, put them on my face, and pressed on with the day. These things rock. I plan to get laser eye surgery one of these years,, and I fully expect these to be the last pair of frames I have to spend money on.

Breaking streaks

Darby's last softball game was this evening (what a cold one!), and I am pleased to say they got their first win.

Granted, the other team was missing four players and had to forfeit. But hey, when it's your last game and you're winless, a win's a win, right?

Technically we still lost the game, though it was officially a win in our column. Four girls from another team filled the gaps on the team we were tp play against so we could still get a game in and, you guessed it, we lost, however unofficially. But it was close.

As if on cue (last game, last chance), Darby chimed in with one hit and a ground out, as well as good fielding plays, to end her hitless (and contactless) streak.

Our schedule should get a lot quieter now that the season is over.

Forgiving morning

Twice already this morning I could have been having a much worse day. First, I caught the morning frost early enough to have it not be a factor in the timing of our departure. Then, I ran a red light unintentionally, but was spared an accident by the awareness of the drivers perpendicular.

It was one of those times where the sun was right in my eyes after turning east, so I instinctively pulled down the visor. Well, there's a light I go through every morning that is green 99 times in a hundred. When I noticed the fact that there were cars waiting in the other direction (a rarity) this morning, I bent down to see under the visor. Wouldn't you know it, I saw that the light had turned red, and I realized that I was going 40 (the speed limit), with no hope of slowing down in time to stop for the light (I was practically under it already).

If any of the kind folks my opposite had been in more of a hurry and floored it upon the light change, I might be blogging about much worse things right now.

Almost swatted

I got a call from Shelby's school today. She got into a physical altercation with another student, a teacher told me, and they were both to receive swats I was told.

However, when I picked her up from school, she said she didn't get a swat. Hmmmm.

Optimus Wins!

Funny. Hey, I'd vote for him.

Election Day -- the kid's perspective

When I picked up the kids, Shelby asked me if I voted for George Kerry.

Darby says she must be a Republican because she likes George Bush. I told her she could be a Republican or a Democrat and still like George Bush if she wanted to, or that she could also be either of those and still like John Kerry. The important thing, I said, was that you be involved and vote.

I approve this message

Today is the day folks. Speak out with your vote. It will be your voice.

If you are qualified and able but do not, please then shut up, as you have chosen to remain silent.



--
I was in line at the polls for thirty minutes this morning. I realize this is probably short by national standards, but it's by far the longest I've seen the line at my voting location in the seven plus years at my current residence. I'm glad to see the turnout high, and I was glad to see young, first time voters in attendance and asking questions.

Kid update, from while I was gone

The kids went trick-or-treating on Saturday night. Shelby was lauded for her cute costume, while Darby wasn't happy about the copy-cats (others with the same costume she had).

Darby had a piano recital on Sunday. I hear she did well once she got a copy of the music. She lost hers and had to get another copy from her teacher. Strange that she's been telling me for weeks that she knows it by heart.

Shelby had a fencing test last week and moved up another level. She has "one stripe", whatever that means.



UPDATE, 2 NOV

At fencing today, I further examined the ranks of the junior musketeer program. There are 24 levels (25 if you count "no rank" -- those not tested) to test through. An instructor said they'll tests every 4-6 weeks, if the student seems ready to advance. There two sets of green/red/blue rankings (which make up the apprentices, musketeers, and musketeer corps) each of which has 0/1/2/3 number of stripes. For example, 1st green (apprentice), 2 stripes. Here's a pic of the whiteboard with all the students' rankings (Shelby's is circled).

One last photo round-up

Here's a (unfortunately slightly blurry) pic of the bride and I.

Here's the just-got-married-mobile, which was pretty cool.

And, finally, these are definitely the scariest looking mountains I've ever seen. They look more ominous in person, rather than in the photo. They're outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and I call them the teeth of the earth.

Trip notes from the way back

I accidentally missed a shortcut I always take on the way back, so I added some miles to my trip unintentionally. 1,054 miles was my total miles coming back, with 14 hours and 24 minutes of traveling, only 42 minutes of which was non-driving (gas/restroom breaks).

In total, I put 2,159 miles on my car for this trip that was effectively one solid day in Arizona. From the time I left to the time I returned, 67 hours and 10 minutes elapsed, 29 hours and 20 minutes of which I was traveling (27:23 actually driving).

I finished my bottled waters, though I think I still have a code red left. I also finished my pringles and ritz bits, had some cheese nips, a couple pop tarts, a banana, some peanuts, and a sandwich. I didn't listen to as many CDs, though I did listen to a few. The singing was very minimal, and I actually sat quitely with my thoughts for a good couple hours. I would say most of the time I listened to pieces of several football games as I could find them on AM stations, as well as to a lot of sports radio in general.

The most notable event from the road was my "run-in" with the Border Patrol. On I-25, a little north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, there's a Border Patrol check point. Now, I understand the need for these check points, but really, what "hard core" illegal immigrant is going actually take that road? If they've gotten passed the border itself, they're not going to be fooled by a very apparent choke point that allows no traffic through without inspection. Plus there are other roads they can take to get around that station. But I digress.

Here's a "best recollection" transcript of my conversation with the representative of the department of homeland security (subject to weary-driver-fuzzy-detail-insertion):

Border Patrol Officer (BPO): "Are you a U.S. Citizen?"

Me: "Yes."

Editor's Note: Conversation should have ended right there.

BPO: "Where you coming from?"

Me: "Tucson."

BPO: "Where you headed?"

Me: "Oklahoma City."

BPO: "What's your business?"

Me: "Pardon?"

BPO: "What's the nature of your travel?"

Me: "Visiting family, attending a wedding."

He then walked around the car, looked inside, presumably looking for my stash of contraband, be they things or people.

BPO: "Do you own this vehicle?"

Me: "Yes"

The whole time I was holding my driver's license, prepared to show it to him. At this point I offered it to him, but he waved his hand to clearly indicate he had no use getting to know his harassee.

After another few moments of looking things over, he then waved me through.


Now, I'm in favor of a thorough approach to such activities, but I was a little put off because every car I could see ahead of me while I was in the line to be checked had a MUCH shorter visit with Mr. BPO. He seemed to scrutinize them less.

Let's see some equal application of the law, folks!

Pitching on two-days rest

I think I know how starting pitchers in the MLB feel when they pitch in the playoffs on two days rest. Having just completed another 1000 mile drive, two-days after my last one, every part of me feels like goo. There's more to tell, but I must sleep.