Once you pop...

You can't stop... don't forget, it's bubble wrap appreciation day.

So go pop some.

Teeth like Shelby's...

I got a call from the ex-wife this morning. The girls' school called her saying Shelby had a toothache. Normally she could have handled such a thing without me, but Shelby's regular dentist was not in today. Shelby was referred to a different dentist, which meant they wouldn't have our insurance information on file. So I had to meet Shelby and her mother at the school to give them the insurance information. Of course, this task was met with unexpected complexity due to the weather. The rain and at most light dusting of snow we were supposed to get turned into an outright snow storm (for these parts). Fire the weathermen I say. I mean, coaches that go to four superbowls without winning get fired. Firing is the least we could do for these so called forecasters of weather.

The verdict at the dentist? Shelby has two permanent teeth trying to come into the same spot where there's a loose tooth, and that baby tooth isn't really ready to come out yet. So they've got her on Tylenol with codine as needed pending a visit and decision from her proper dentist probably Tuesday. My big fear here is that they'll want to pull not one but two teeth. Am I the only one that remembers the experience of coaxing my own daughter to put the nitrous mask on so the dentist could drill-and-fill cavities some seven months ago? Having to pull the teeth of my seven year-old would be a harrowing experience indeed. Darned impatient teeth. Typical of something of Shelby's. They're as impatient as she is. Sheesh.

Re-credentialization

My credentials to work on the air force base expire next Monday, and I just yesterday got the paperwork done to re-up my badges. Oh how I wish the process didn't take a whole morning to complete. It's amazing how inefficient the process is. Go to this place, wait in line, have them sign, go to another place, wait in line, have them sign, go back to the place you were just at, wait in line... sheesh. It's only funny because the badge is so "high-tech". Digital certificates, 2-D bar codes, holographic watermarks, memory chips, PIN codes, magnetic strips, none of this to mention the supporting infrastructure of various types of servers and card readers and software/middleware. Putting the two things (the card/infrastructure and the process to get one) side-by-side is the laughable part. Surely it could be easier. Better.

Happy Birthday, sis!

Almost not worth the free pizza.... almost

Tonight there was a security seminar that seemed interesting enough. So while the girls were with their mom at Shelby's fencing lessons, I took a shot at the seminar. I had forgotten about the free pizza associated with the seminar until I got a call from them reminding me to show up around 5:30 to make sure I got some pizza before it was gone. So I did. At 5:30 sharp I was standing there, looking for pizza, trying to forget the traffic madness I endured to be there that moment. Yet there was none to be found. By 6pm, the supposed start time of the seminar, there were probably 30-40 people standing in line, awaiting free pizza. It was getting ugly as the formal line began to breakdown into a mob. And to top it off, the cute receptionist tells us that we need to go ahead and go to the presentation room so they can start the seminar since the pizza wasn't there yet. When we all arrived at the seminar, there was a packed house, I'm told of over a hundred total, all of which were dinnerless and hungry. So the seminar began in earnest, only to be interrupted twenty minutes later when the pizza finally arrived. Picture a hundred hungry men on a charging quest for free pizza. It was craziness that could have only been worsened by free beer and a football game. But man it was tasty. And after a thirty minute scarfing hiatus, the seminar continued, but its fangs were no more. I later learned that the presenter was told to skip ahead because of the delays. Much of what I found of interest on the seminar agenda had been skipped. It became merely a free food vehicle, rather than an educational experience with the bonus of hunger satiation. What a shame. While I can't say it wasn't worth the free pizza, it was barely worth it. I wouldn't make the drive knowing what I know now. But since I was already there... the experience was somewhat redeemed.

Crime doesn't pay... but even if it did, you can't spend that money in jail

It has been confirmed. The people that broke into my house in November are sitting in jail as I type this. I spoke with the detective this afternoon,and he said that the recent (and previously noted) burglary ring bust in Del City did in fact include those who were in my house without authorization.

With warrants, the police searched the houses of those caught, and found a missing credit card of mine in one of the houses. That credit card was on my dresser and pending destruction when it was swiped, because it was near expiration and I had already received its replacement. The day after the robbery I reported it stolen, so I know that it wasn't used for criminal benefit. Glad I was able to get one last "charge" out of it, even though it had expired.

Unfortunately, in confessions given by the perps, all of the stolen goods were sold within 2-3 days of the crime, so it's unlikely I'll get any of my stuff back. But that's okay in a sense, because at least I know they won't be coming back to visit anytime soon. If the choice is getting stuff back or having them in jail, I'll take the latter any day. Though I'd still like to have my digital photos back... :(

Many who are burglarized, such as I have been, are not granted the slightest sense of restitution. So I am definitely grateful to be among the more fortunate in this regard. I'd therefore like to send out a big thank you to the Del City Police Department. I will sleep easier this evening thanks to your efforts. Hopefully the criminals will not.

Super Eagles!!!

It's a bird, it's a... oh, wait, it is a bird. And while I am talking about the Philadelphia bird, I'm NOT referring to a finger or any body part for that matter.


Contratulations Philadelphia Eagles! The transgretions of this season are forgiven as you have done all that I have asked of you. You have made progress over last year. Even if you lose the Superbowl, I will be okay with that. Sure, it would be nice if you'd go ahead and win while you were there, but I'd be okay with a second straight NFC title win AND a Superbowl win next year, too.


So are there signs to be noticed here?

Could the matching 27-10 winning score from today and the 27-10 losing score from Superbowl XV mean that the loss of the past will be overcome by the victory of today and beyond?

Does the fact that in 1980 the Eagles won the NFC title game (thereby heading to the Superbowl) AND the Phillies went to the World Series mean that this will also be a good year for the Phillies?


Okay so these are probably coincidences only a fan would notice and cite, but it gives me something to look forward to in the closing days of the football season and the soon-to-arrive baseball season.

"Whatever, just crash it" (aka, I am the crash tester)

Have you seen that commercial? With the kids, encouraging the automobile crash-tester to crash the next car (or minivan in this case)?

"Now do the gold one"

"It's called desert sand mica"

"Whatever, just crash it"


I think every day of late (>= the last five years) I have some microcosmic equivalent to this experience. Be it at work, with customers, with the kids, dealing with my parents, politics, etc...

Everybody just wants to crash the gold car.


Well, I've got news for you, people...

IT'S CALLED DESERT SAND MICA!!!


dammit

Stupid Shawn trick

After I picked up the kids from fencing I needed to stop by my dad's, but it was already almost seven and we hadn't eaten yet. So I entrusted our stomachs to the tastily reliable Little Caesar's hot-n-ready (i.e. save your dinnerless butt) pizza solution, something we could grab VERY quickly on the way to my dad's.

I guess they churn those pies out so quickly that they don't have time to cut them well, as I pretty much always find myself re-cutting the slices. Not that I'm complaining, because five bucks for dinner for all three of us is pretty much unbeatable short of being free.

Well, as we were leaving my father's, I grabbed the empty pizza box and threw it into the outside trash can. But instead of hearing just the box land in the bottom of the can (which was emptied by the city that morning), I heard the knife I used to cut the pizza clang around down there as though taunting me. Ugh. I stopped immediately with a look of horror on my face because I knew I was going to have to go in there after it.

It was a scene of total hilarity. My dad came out to help me by holding the trash can tipped over so that I could reach in and get the knife. Only, in his old age, his stomach has gotten weak, so his gag reflex was in high gear as the rotting smell from the trash can wafted up to his nose. I was trying to reach for the knife, my body basically half way into the trash can, holding my breath so I wouldn't have to smell what I was in the middle of, but the knife was barely out of reach. Each time I thought I had it, my dad would gag and move the trash can. This happened several times, to the extent that I started to laugh so hard that I had to abort my excavation twice just to catch my breath. Of course, this prolonged the whole operation, causing my dad to gag further. I swear, for a minute there I thought he was going to barf down my back as I was trying to get the knife out.

Well, I did finally get it out, but man was it caked in the most disgusting goo. Once I regained my composure (because by this point I was in a complete outburst of laughter at my dad -- which I know was a little insensitive, but I couldn't help myself), I took it inside, rinsed it off, and washed my hands in scalding water for about two minutes.

The kids and I then headed home, but I chuckled about what I had done the entire way. It was just such a hilarious scene, I almost wanted to yell for my little brother to grab the camcorder. Part of my amusement was that after the fact I realized we could have just tipped the whole trash can upside down (since it was empty except for the pizza box) and avoided the majority of the fiasco entirely. But then, that wouldn't have been Shawn-like of me, now would it?

Hope

Not to relive bad news... but perhaps the perpetrators have been found. I have a message in with the local authorities to see if my case is at all impacted.

No, I'm not dead

There are six unfinished entries from the last couple of weeks. Keep getting side tracked...

Communion prep

We did some first communion dress shopping today.

Update
Even though that is the dress she says she wanted in the video, it is not the dress we ended up getting. Personally, I like the final selection.

Happy Birthday Darby!!!

Darby turned 9 years old today. Can you believe it?


--
Today was also report card day. Like last quarter, Darby got one B and the rest As, though a few of her grades dropped a little. Shelby went from 5 As and 2 Bs to 2 As and 4 Bs, so her gradss dropped a little more than Darby's. But both are on the "A/B Honor Roll" so there's not much room to complain. Well, I'll complain about tallies at least. For the quarter, they each got a couple more tallies than the previous quarter. Shelby had 18 and Darby had 14.

Iced-in

I woke up around 5am this morning and checked the weather, which was still just rainy (but cold... ~34), but even so, only moments after turning on the news, I saw my kids' school listed as closed. Ugh.

According to the news, the freezing line was dissecting the OKC metro and nearly to my part of town. They predicted icy conditions for the whole of central OK, and they were right. I went back to sleep after emailing work and turning off the alarm, knowing there wasn't any reason to get up. Just a few hours later, Darby woke me up asking about school, though I sent her back to bed. I looked outside and things had digressed quite a bit, so I was glad I wasn't out there driving in it.

After a whole day of being stuck in the house, the kids and I did go ahead and venture out for some dinner (after 20 minutes of ice scrapping). Not sure what condition the highways are in, but the streets are pretty crappy. Doesn't seem like any effort whatsoever has gone into street clearing by the city, one of the things I dislike about this area in contrast to the east coast. Even when we know it's coming, we don't prepare...

I've already learned that school is closed tomorrow, too, but I've made alternate arrangements for the girls as I must take care of some things at work tomorrow. I definitely don't look forward to the journey.

Will the real #2 team in the nation please step forward?

The game is not even over yet and I can't bear to watch anymore. I'm still a fan and all, so it's not like I'm disavowing them. But for weeks I've heard nothing but how much better OU was than USC (from OU fans granted), so it's difficult to reconcile what I've heard with what I'm seeing. A couple more years of this and we'll have to change our name from the Sooners to the Bills.

Calling all Oklahoma (or vicinity) CISSPs

If you live in Oklahoma (or are willing to travel here from not too far away), have your CISSP certification, and can afford to pay (or have your company pay) for an ISSEP class, I'd be interested in communicating with you. I'm trying to get (ISC)² to send an instructor to the OKC area to hold an ISSEP class, but they won't do so without at least 10 students. Since mid-December, I've scurried up 8 interested (and qualified) folks, so I just need two more. I'm hoping some OKC or Tulsa area CISSPs (or their friends) lurk my blog. If so, please let me know. Thanks.

If you have no idea what the acronyms CISSP, ISSEP, or (ISC)² mean, please ignore this entry as even if you email me to ask what those mean, I probably won't be putting you on my list. No offense or anything.

Back to school

After two weeks of Christmas vacation, the girls (finally) got to head back to school this morning. I think the hardest part for them was getting up early again. Shelby didn't do so bad, surprisingly, but Darby just plain didn't get up. When I get out of the shower, they are supposed to be ready to go, but Darby was still asleep and had to rush to get ready.

No tallies on their first day back, but Shelby did get her finger pinched in a door, leaving her with a good size cut, which her teacher called me about this afternoon.

Ditto

Refer to what I said last week about the Eagles. Then rinse, and repeat.

Dammit.

Fight blogism now!

Blogism - acts of prejudice against those who exercise their right to free expression via web logs.

Examples include being fired, not hired, or perhaps not dated because of the content of your blog (or website).

If either of the first two apply to you, you should contact Curt Hopkins to tell your story. If it's just the latter that applies to you, join the club.

Not so unfortunately Snickety

The kids and I went to see Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events this afternoon. Darby berated me last night because all the other older kids at the new year's thing had seen it except her. She thought she wasn't allowed to see it because I made some kind of statement previously expressing non-excitement about seeing it. So now we've seen it, and I must say that was surprisingly pleased.

No resolution

My previous resolutions haven't quite been lived up to, so I've decided not to make new ones that will also go unresolved. I've much to do with regard to the old ones... and have you seen that study of 10,000 people, 6% of which say they fulfilled their resolutions? What a sorry statistic... besides, who says resolutions only last for a year? What if I want to make a three-year resolution, maybe with two option years?


--
We went to a friend's house for our new year's eve celebration, where there were several other kids and plenty of kid activities. The girls say they had a great time and they want to do that again next year. They got to toast the new year every hour (since it was new years somewhere afterall) leading up to the local new year with non-alcoholic champaign. And then there was the huge amount of confetti, the noise makers, and let's not forget the bubble wrap stomp. There was a huge sheet of bubble wrap that all the kids got to stomp on at midnight. It sounded just like strings of firecrackers going off if you weren't looking.

It was about one in the morning by the time we got home. We live less than ten minutes from downtown OKC, and as we passed downtown on the highway, we could see what seemed like every single road backed up with traffic. How crazy was that since it was almost one at the time and many of those folks stuck in traffic were probably there since shortly after the ball dropped (or raised as it does in downtown OKC... I've never understood that). You won't ever catch me doing that if I can help it.

Since we got home so late and had such an active day and evening, I encouraged the kids to sleep in. I just can't believe they actually did it. I first woke around ten, didn't hear a sound in the house, and fell back asleep. About noon I heard a noise and went to check on it. It was Darby, who said she had just gotten up. I don't ever remember her sleeping that late. Crazier still, was that Shelby was still asleep. So I asked Darby to keep it quiet. It wasn't until almost one when Shelby finally got up. Everyone has since gotten their showers and we're heading out to grab a bite and catch a movie.