Accepted!

I received notice in the mail yesterday that the girls' transfer applications were accepted by their prospective new school for next year. So my efforts of a month ago weren't for naught. BUT, now I have even more paperwork to fill out in less than two weeks. Bleh.

RVing (She's back!)

This afternoon I got to see Darby for the first time since Wednesday morning. It was good to have her back in one piece. She seems to have had a blast. Fishing, kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, etc.

After I picked up the girls we went to dinner at "Cheeseburger in Paradise", a relatively new establishment in the OKC area. Now, it was tasty to be sure, but you'd think a place like that, which specializes in burgers, would have the best burgers ever. But they did NOT top Fuddruckers.

The girls weren't all that concerned about the food because they had balloon animals things (a sword and a hat) made by a freakish man in stilts. They were plenty pre-occupied by their latest distraction.

After dinner we went to see RV. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, though the previews I had seen made it seem humorous. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. It was RATHER funny, and an excellent family movie overall. I expected Robin Williams might get over the top, taking over the movie, but he kept pretty well in context and actually didn't detract from the movie. All three of us walked out glad that we went to see it. So, three thumbs up from us.

PJ before you can buy it

What a pleasant weekend surprise. I pre-ordered Pearl Jam's new album like a month ago, but wasn't expecting to get it until AFTER the relase date next week. Well, I've been proven pleasantly incorrect as it arrived in my mailbox today, a few days before you can buy it in the store. Even better, they included a live album from a concert in 1992 with my pre-order. What a bonus!

Here here... and here... and... here... oh yeah, here too

I had a black-tie event to attend this evening. Mostly it was hand shaking, toasting (LOTS OF TOASTING), speeches, and a fancy-ish dinner. But there were a few laughs as well. Okay, quite a few laughs, but it was also VERY long. Like four and a half hours.

I would not have gone at all, but the company spent a good deal of money on a table, had the room for me to join the more important folks from the office, and of course, it was an opportunity to reduce the total cost of ownership of the tuxedo I purchased years ago. I've had that thing for ten years and it still fits! Though I do think I'm just a few pounds from needing to have the pants altered or replaced.

So it was a who's who of the Oklahoma military industrial complex in attendance. Commanders from every major unit in the area. I've been in plenty of rooms with colonels and generals, but not so many at once. I'm pretty sure every military rank was represented. I know I personally saw one, two, and four star generals. I think the Lt. Governor was there, though I didn't see her.

Shortly after getting there a little after six, I jokingly stated that it would probably be 8:30 before we ate. I had no idea I'd only be off by nine minutes. It would have helped if my office mates that attended last year would have let me know they intended to eat BEFORE the event also. Good thing I wasn't drinking. I put water in my wine glass for the toasts, so I was well hydrated at least, if not well fed (at first). I lost count of how many toasts there were, but it was enough to make me need to use the waste disposal facilities. The dinner was actually decent, though I couldn't eat the almost raw steak, and the desert was definitely the best part.

It was AFTER 10:30 when I got out of there, which I thought was a little crazy, and I'm not even sure it was over when I left. I just couldn't take it anymore. I'm wondering if I should have waited, though, because I had to fight a serious downpour on the way home. At least it didn't downpour on the way there. It would have sucked to have had to sit in a wet tux for four hours.

How do we let it get so bad?

Shelby was begging me to go to the mall tonight after fencing, so we went and did a little shopping. We both needed new shoes and she wanted to go to Claire's for a few new girlie things. We were there entirely too long for my taste. But, she's all satiated now, so...


I've known that Shelby's shoes were going down hill for some time, but until you see the side-by-side comparison of old and new shoes, you don't realize just how bad it had gotten. Yikes.

She's gone :(

Well, I stayed at the school until they were about to leave. I feel bad because almost everyone's parent(s) were going on the field trip, too. Only a few parents aren't going. And then Shelby saw that Darby's classmate's sibling was going. She got all gre-envious on me.

On the plus side for Shelby, she's getting all the attention from me. She gets to pick where we go, what we do, in the evening. No arguments or compromises with siblings. I think she likes it.


Update, 27 April
Ugh, I MISSED her call. Darby tried to call me with a status update and I missed it. I had to take Shelby to fencing this evening and I put my phone on silent. However, I forgot to turn the volume back on so when she called me to let me know everything was fine and that she was having fun, she got my voicemail. But she left a message and I'm pleased that things are well. This time tomorrow she'll be back in town, though at mom's.

Pre-separation anxiety

188 miles. That's how far away Darby will be from me tomorrow. For the first time ever, without either parent nearby. I've traveled many times for work, but the girls then stay with their mother. It's her first multi-day trip on her own. And I don't like it.

One the one hand, I had a big trip my 4th grade year (3 days, 2 nights, we flew from Oahu to the big island and did a lot of touristy things), and everything worked out fine. On the other hand, this is a much different time, one where our kids are actually under threat of being captured and eaten.

I'm very uneasy about not being able to get to her quickly if something went awry.

Stacking up

Today was Darby's first baseball practice (well, second, but she had to miss the first). The concern, of course, was whether she'd hold up well being the only girl on her team, or if she'd have issues of self-consciousness.

Fortunately she did quite well. She did not perform without flaw (see example below), but I have difficulty complaining overall. In particular she surprised pretty much everyone (myself included) by snagging a ground-ball zinger that was hit VERY hard by the biggest kid on the team. She fielded the ball and got it to first without much delay. She played third base most of the practice, and didn't have too much trouble adjusting (vs softball field size for example).



Her hitting was okay, needing some adjustment to the smaller ball, but she did better towards the end.



So did she stack up? For the most part, I think so. There are a couple boys that are just too big for her to contend with, but most of the others are about her size and with similar or lesser skills. I think she's going to be able to contribute.

Glasses all over again

Sometimes Often, Shelby needs do-overs. Such was the case with her eyeglasses. While Shelby got her first glasses almost a year ago, she lost them, much to my dismay, a number of months ago. We finally got around to getting her eyes checked again (to make sure there was no prescription change) today, and having her pick out new frames, which we'll pick up later in the week.



While her first set was fully covered under insurance, this time around only lenses were covered, so we went for the cheapest pair we could find. However, she's been so advised that the replacement amount would be deducted from her bank account should this pair get lost.

If it wasn't this it would be something else

This predominant quote from Elizabethtown also happens to apply to my mother quite well at the moment. If it's not a (third) divorce or bankruptcy or declining health issues or murder across the street, it's... medical malpractice!

That's right, folks, her apparently very overpaid periodontist, after performing non-trivial oral surgery upon her (read: a procedure that has already greatly reduced her comfort level), then prescribed her a penicillin-based antibiotic. For you and me that would be fine. BUT MOM IS ALLERGIC TO PENICILLIN YOU FREAKIN IDIOT. READ THE BLOODY CHART.

So now that mom is broken out in hives and OFF any kind of antibiotic (thereby deemed further uncomfortable), you want her to see you again this week so that she can pay you MORE money that she doesn't have, being uninsured?

Fantastic. Well, be advised that I'm touch with Philadelphia lawyer friends for a malpractice attorney referral. You could have killed her you fool. And your "oh, I'm so sorry" is all you can come up with? Unbelievable.

Darby in handcuffs and Shelby's underaged drinking

It's a slow news day, so we'll cover a couple of topics from Friday that didn't make the cut originally.

Darby informed me that she was handcuffed on Friday. They had a visit from a police officer who handcuffed some of the students to give them an idea what it was like. She said it hurt quite a bit, so I'm hoping that was a formative moment for her. Fear of being in handcuffs established at an early age could be useful in keeping her on the path.

Later on Friday, while Shelby was with her mother, she took a sip of grapefruit juice, against her mother's recommendations. She experienced a serious case of bitter-GFJ face, and asked the question... am I ALLOWED to drink this? Apparently she thought it was an adult beverage, judging by the taste.

Not so wild

Took the girls to see The Wild. My expectations were low based on some things I had heard about it, but I hoped to be pleasantly surprised. While the girls were entertained, it didn't really turn my opinion of it around. It wasn't quite terrible, but it squandered some potential, for a Disney movie. I did get a few laughs in, and there were some big-ish names doing the voice-overs, but mostly I thought it was strange. At times I seriously wondered what they were smoking when they wrote that movie.

The most humorous moment was not even in the movie per se, but was a question of Shelby's. There were dung beetles in the movie and at one point Shelby asked what they were pushing around. Is it mud? She asked. I didn't elaborate, but then Darby chimed-in. Poop-balls, she said. Oy.

Battle of Wounded Knee

On Easter Sunday, Darby took a significant fall on the asphalt, tearing up her knee and elbow. She had been limping for days. Getting concerned that her fall may have done something serious like fracture her knee-cap, I intended to get her in to see the doctor on Thursday. However, she had a school field trip and didn't want to miss it. Also, she had a party at school in the morning that she didn't want to miss, so I got her appointment for Friday afternoon.

Darby's appointment was for 2:45, but we arrived early to do the expected paperwork. It took awhile to get in there, but once we did, the preliminary examination was inconclusive. Finally, we were sent to another clinic down the street for x-rays. We got there around 3:30, and it was immediately clear that it was going to take awhile. In fact, it was 4:55 before we got to the x-ray room.

The worry was the doctor's office. We were supposed to take the x-ray films back to the doctor's office for analysis, but they were scheduled to close at 5pm. So I called over there to find out what we were supposed to do, and it turned out they were waiting for us. It was 5:15 before we were back to the doctor's office and it took no time at all to review the film. No fracture!

Of course, there is good and bad to this. I'm glad she's not seriously injured after all (right before baseball season no less), but on the other hand we consumed an entire afternoon in waiting rooms to find out that nothing was wrong. Ugh.

Ten years of shawnwright.com

Monday was this site's ten year anniversary and it blew right by me. Can't believe I missed all the fanfare. Okay, so there was no fanfare, but there could have been. Maybe. Or not. Alright, there would never have been any fanfare of any kind whatsoever. But that's okay. Mostly. Almost entirely.

ANYway. Ten years ago this week I decided this whole web thing was here to stay, and that I'd like to be a part of it. With the exception of the look and a few added features, such as this here blog, the site really hasn't changed much. The overwhelming majority of changes have typically been "under the covers"... updating HTML versions, adding CSS, implementing server-side includes, etc. The site doesn't get as much of my time as I'd like (save the blog), so it will never be terribly fancy, so don't be surprised if you come back in ten years and not much else has changed.

I actually didn't buy the shawnwright.com domain until like six or seven years ago. But I expect to be here at this address for many years to come. That is, unless one of the famous Shawn Wrights comes looking for it. But even then, I don't expect to be giving up my "dot-com empire" for anything. HOWEVER, should you be looking for me many years from now but find some movie actor here instead, don't forget that shawnwright.us is mine as well.

A cricket full of cars

What a day... on paper, it was jam-packed from the start. Darby had a field trip, piano lessons, baseball practice, and an arts expo, while Shelby had fencing and the arts expo. Of course, in reality, some things had to give, as the geographical dispersement of the activities made it impossible to do them all. Darby had to miss baseball (gasp) and Shelby had to miss fencing. But even missing those two activities, the day was quite hectic.

When I picked the girls up from school, we had about an hour to get some dinner before the arts expo. Normally, that's a piece-of-cake task, but as I got out of my car, my ex-sister-in-law called me, so I was trying to hold a conversation while also getting the girls rounded-up. Even then, it should have been no big deal, but each of the girls had their own little issues going on.

Darby should have been done with piano lessons by this time, but she was nowhere to be found, though her school bag was laying out in plain sight, wide open (i.e. not zipped, contrary to my frequent reminders). This wouldn't have been a big deal, but I had sent her message not so long ago that I was on the way there. Shelby was in the middle of being verbally disciplined for something she had done on the playground... she had tied the sweatshirt I sent to school with her this morning onto the top rung of the monkey bars and had been taking turns with her classmates swinging from it.

So there I was talking on semi-listening to the phone, being told by the after-care teacher what Shelby had done, wondering where Darby was, but not being able to text message her phone because I was on mine, and getting verbally taunted by Shelby's classmates that had earlier taken turns swinging on her sweatshirt, while I was using both hands trying to untie the tight knot holding the now very damaged sweatshirt to the monkey bars, with my (very expensive) phone pinched between my shoulder and head (threatening to fall to the gravel-covered ground any moment) to free-up my hands.

This was not a pretty or desirable situation to be in. Of course, it didn't help my frustration level that just before I left work (i.e. not enough time to fix it), my computer crashed hard. Some kind of serious hardware failure. I dread the morning already.

It took a number of minutes to get all those dangling situations resolved. But once we got to the car, both children got some verbal harshness from me. As it turns out, Darby went to piano lessons without her music because she was being too lazy to walk back downstairs to her wide-open school back to get it. Oh, AND she didn't relay to the piano teacher an important reminder message I sent to her phone earlier in the day. I just made Shelby pay for the sweatshirt. I was so appalled by the damage (one arm stretched to oblivion, the other ripping from the torso, and the hood nearly torn off), that I told her she just bought it. I made her give me ten bucks out of her wallet on the spot, then I gave her the sweatshirt back and said, "now that you own it, do what you want with it, not that it isn't damaged beyond practical usability." Man, was I peeved. But it wasn't like I could just drive home and put them to bed early. We still had to get dinner and get back to the school for the arts expo. In less than an hour at that point.

The arts expo was actually rather pleasant, at least in contrast to the rest of the day. I actually got to sit, and then watched Darby and Shelby sing in the choir, and Darby play several songs on the recorder with her class. Then we checked out all the artwork on display, including the girls' six pieces (3 each... and I don't recall seeing anyone else with so much art up on the wall).

After the expo, as I was trading-off the girls with their mother, Darby noticed several crickets on the loose in her mother's car. Her mother had picked-up a bag of crickets (presumably for either her tarantula or the girls' pet salamanders), but there was a hole in the bag so several of them had gotten out. Such a thing is not so much a bother for Darby, who was trying to pick them up, but Shelby is not much of a bug person, so she about flipped out and said something to the effect of "oh no, there's a cricket full of cars." That got a good laugh out of me, which made me nearly forget that there was so much strife a couple hours earlier. Leave it to Shelby to be the quirky comic relief.

Good news and bad news

The good news first...

The girls got their progress reports today. Fairly typical (for this year) results. All As and Bs for Darby (actually on one B, an 89, so almost straight As), and mostly Bs for Shelby, with a couple Cs.

We also got school picture proofs today. I'll update the album with better pics when I get them.

UPDATE, 9 May 2006
Replaced the proofs today with the actual pics.


As for the bad news....

Darby and Shelby were informed by their mother and step-father this evening that they are getting divorced. The parallel is nearly spot-on, despite everyone's best efforts. I was 4 1/2 when my mother and father divorced, and 11 when my mother and first step-father divorced. Darby was 3 and now 10 respectively (Shelby was 1 and 8).

Shelby took things pretty well, all things considered, as she's rather spock-ish like myself. But Darby took it pretty hard. In fact, when I first saw her after she was told, I gave her a hug and she started crying again immediately. And really, any significant discussion about it and she tears up. So I imagine we'll be dealing with this for some time.

So I have this theory. I feel that the girls were too young and clueless as to what was going on when their mother and I divorced, and so the trauma of this divorce boosted the adverse emotional impact this time around. In other words, while the dam was burst, the old water rushed out with the new. Just a theory. But I have it because I was also very young and clueless during the first divorce, and later had an emotional outburst that I personally (even at the time) attributed to my new found awareness of the implications of my parents divorce. Darby's a smart girl, and a VERY emotional one. I think maybe she connected the dots, too.

That doesn't mean there weren't other (perhaps more significant) factors. The girls were VERY close to their step-father. In fact, as my ex-wife knew him before me, the girls have technically known him all their lives as well. He's been to most, if not all, of their birthday parties, etc. This was no trivial bond to break. He was quite the good friend to the girls. And though I'm sure there will remain a bond of sorts if he keeps in touch over the years to come, clearly there's been damage here today.

I'm sad for my girls. I understand what their going though. Distinctly. And I had long hoped they would never know so blatantly and directly this feeling.

Taxing

Mondays are flipping by so fast I can barely stand it. It's all rather taxing if you'll excuse the pun.

Perhaps the bigger issue is why on Earth, as I type this, am I not yet done with my taxes? I had ALL the data entered BEFORE February was out, so what they heck is the problem? Well, I think I was all taxed out. I do my parent's taxes, and I had done mom's in February and Dad's in March. And this is not to mention the fact that starting this year I have to do taxes for two states, which was not something I was in a hurry to figure out. So here I am with a mere few hours remaining. Ugh. I definitely should have been enjoying a tasty refund months ago...


Update 11:40PM CDT
So I just got done. Ridiculous, huh?. I only hope it wasn't supposed to be done by midnight Eastern time.

If you waste the day, the day wastes you

That's my day's biographical description. Probably someone has said it before, so no offense if I've unintentionally lifted it.

Basically I piddled around way too much, then when I needed some things to work out, everything went wrong and I had no time left to resolve it.

The only bright spot was a couple music gambles that paid off nicely.

More mobile

It's the day I've been dreading. Okay, maybe not THE day, but A day I've been dreading. The day one of my daughter's gets a cell phone. I've been contemplating getting her a one-way alpha pager for the express purpose of being able to receive quick messages from her parents. For example: "On the way to pick you up, make sure you have your baseball uniform on, tell your sister to get ready."

However, after much research, turns out it's a better deal to use one of my old cell phones with a prepaid phone card. T-mobile's prepaid cards have free incoming text messages. So, now Darby, at age 10 (gasp), has a cell phone. She has a few minutes for emergency use, and can receive unlimited text messages, which is helpful for me.


So while I was getting Darby a phone card, I broke down and got myself the phone I've been drooling over for a few months. It's very nice. But as a Windows Mobile phone, it will take some getting used to.

Tryouts

Darby's softball team of the last couple years isn't fielding a team this Spring, so I signed her up in a co-ed baseball league so she wouldn't miss a season of ball. Today was "tryouts", though that's a little misleading. All the kids make it, but they did a standard set of exercises (throwing, catching, running, swinging) with each kid so the skill levels could be rated. The teams are built evenly so they need to know everyone's abilities.

Darby did pretty well, better than some of the boys. There were about 20 boys and 4 girls. Darby was the second-best girl, next to what can only be described as an amazon girl. The league is 10-12 year-olds, and I would have called this girl, who's like a foot taller than Darby, AT LEAST 14.

I'm annoyed at myself because I almost always have my camera with me, but I left it in the car today, and it was parked pretty far away. Otherwise I'd have some tryout pics online. I presume we'll find out how Darby did another time (in the coaches' eyes), as they sure didn't mention it today.

Dr. Pizza and Easter Monkey Love

Monday is family night at Fazzoli's. The girls like to participate because they have a free arts and crafts table for the kiddos. I got things started off badly by spilling my soda onto my pizza plate. Initially, I just knocked the cup over onto the plate, and only a few drops of soda leaked out. It wasn't until I tried to recover that disaster struck. As picked up the cup, the lid popped off and half my soda immediately evacuated its container.

The kids got a huge kick out of that. They were laughing in some way or other the whole five minutes it took me to get it cleaned up. Darby said she loves it when I spill stuff (which isn't all that uncommon), because she doesn't get in trouble for it and she can laugh about it. The girls were particularly amused because after cleaning up I still ate the slightly tainted pizza (thus the Dr. Pizza reference).

At the arts table, they were painting paper mache easter eggs. If you can't tell what that is above the word "love" on Shelby's egg, it's a monkey. Here's a closer look. Shelby's a bit of a monkey fan. You'd think she'd paint a bunny on an easter egg. But no. Monkey. And love. For Easter.

So the girls tell me there are prizes at the center of the paper mache eggs. I suggested they wait to destroy their eggs until Easter day, which they're okay with.

Ice Ball and Base Age

We saw Ice Age 2 this evening, which was pretty good. I'm not sure I entirely agree with what I've heard about it being better than the first one. Personally I didn't care much for the addition of the musical aspects. But the girls really liked it, so, it got the job done. After the movie, since we were already downtown, we caught the remainder of a ballgame that was in progress. It was only the top of the third, though, so we saw the majority of the game. I managed to keep the girls mostly calm for several innings, but they were more concerned with playing in the grass. So we moved from our seats to the grass for the last couple innings of the game, which the Redhawks won, by the way.

Cold lesson

Darby and Shelby take turns getting showers first, and earlier in the week Darby used up most of the hot water, so Shelby had to take a half-cold shower.

Darby went first again tonight and I warned her three times to move along. After five minutes I asked her if she had washed her hair yet. She said no. I asked if she had washed anything yet, and she said no. So I turned off the hot water.

I told her I wouldn't let her stand there doing nothing and getting all the hot water again, leaving her sister with hardly any. She didn't like that at all. In fact, she started to cry. She said it was REALLY cold. And it was. But I explained that Shelby didn't have a choice about the matter the other day, and that there were plenty of warnings.

If felt bad, really, but the point had to be made.

Redrum, way too close to (my other) home

While I was at work today, in a meeting actually, my mother called me from Philly. She said police cars and an ambulance had pulled up directly across the street. She asked if I could try to find out what was going on. Once I got out of the meeting, I checked the websites of the Philadelphia ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates. What I saw was... unpleasant at best. I talked to mom a couple hours later and she said the police were still there, and that there were more news vans than she'd ever seen before. She saw a number of her neighbors being interviewed by reporters. If it weren't for the 8-foot tall locked gate in front of mom's house, I suspect those reporters would have been knocking on mom's door to ask her questions, too.

The stories:
ABC Channel 6: Burglary Ends in Murder
CBS Channel 3: Home Robbery Turns Deadly in Juniata
NBC Channel 10: Man Dies After Surprising Burglars in Philadelphia

Home opener

Today was opening day for the Oklahoma Redhawks, a mandatory event for me. I was initially worried about weather quality during the game, as leading up to it the wind was quite strong, kicking up much dust. On the way to the game there were dust clouds sometimes obstructing highway traffic. In this picture of downtown OKC, you can see some of the dusty haze in the distance (as well as the highly wind-blown flag).



Fortunately, the weather calmed down enough for the game to be enjoyable. It wasn't a pretty game (mistakes all over the place on both sides), but it was fun (if not nerve wracking at times) and we did win. It took FOREVER, though, as the game went 13 innings. The 'hawks really blew it a few times, with opportunities to take the lead or win the game left on the table.

I was a little disappointed in the attendance level. Last year it was much higher. Perhaps the fact that there was a hockey game impacted crowd size. Oh, and the one negative impact that the weather did have was the cancellation of the post-game fireworks. :(

Back to fencing

Shelby FINALLY got to go back to fencing today. Though she was clearly out of practice. She only won one of her four bouts. At least she's finally (though not exactly consistently) getting her classwork done.

Geese, smart creatures!

I had a management seminar to attend this afternoon, and at the end they wrapped-up with a nifty presentation called "Lessons from Geese" (PDF). Good stuff. Between these lessons and the golden eggs, these guys are on to something.

Promiversary

Fifteen years ago today was my high school senior prom. My how the time ticks by. A decent time was had by all, though we had to cut the night short, not because it was a Thursday night, but because of a collision of obligations. Several of us seniors had auditioned and been accepted into an honor band (the 1991 Archdiocese of Philadelphia All-Catholic Band), and we already had to miss the first day of rehearsal in order to attend the prom. So the morning after the prom, we had to make a two hour trip west of Philadelphia, to the West Chester area for two and a half more days of rehearsal before the Sunday evening concert.

For reasons that will not go fully explained at this time, that weekend in West Chester became one of the most influential in my life. Some of the people I met that weekend I remained friends with for many years to come, and others I would run into again at different points during the Summer of '91.

Several members of that All-Catholic band joined the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, and I would later run into them while myself a member of the Black Gold Drum and Bugle Corps. It was particularly interesting for us to meet up in different parts of the country, post-high school, fulfilling further musical endeavors, after having been brought together by an earlier musical endeavor. A particularly memorable meet-up occurred in June of '91, in Madison, Wisconsin, not long after this photo was taken.

Oh, the memories...

Fencing future in doubt?

After a month out of fencing, today was to be Shelby's first day back. When I dropped her off this morning, I particularly told her to ensure her school work was done so that her return would be unobstructed. However, when her mother arrived to pick her up, the work was not done. So, though she insisted she wanted to stay in fencing, she missed yet another lesson, her 10th in a row I believe.


In Darby news, she lost a tooth (ripped it out of her own skull was more like it), a molar, today. It was strange because I thought she had lost all of her baby teeth already. Now I'm not so sure, as I've apparently completely lost track.

Flat on her face both ends

When I picked Shelby up from school, she was damaged goods (she insisted on that second pic). She told me she tripped at school and fell flat on her face, and that the interior lip-split filled her mouth with blood. I'll be visiting with the school tomorrow because no one called me about the incident, and Shelby says they didn't even give her ice for her lip, which she reports was rather swollen.

As though beating up the ground with her face weren't enough, Shelby then fell hard on her butt in a parking lot after dinner. She was about to run out into the street when I yelled at her to stop and look first. In trying to stop, she stepped on some gravel and down she went. She spilled her drink and had a good limp getting back to the car.

It's been a rough day for Shelby to say the least. So I didn't even say a word about the tally she got today, other than to joke about it, asking if she got it for putting her face on the ground too hard.

Opening Day, Phillies preview, and so much for the OKC Marlins

Today is one of the best days of the year, the completion of a triad of events that makes the certainty of winter's passing as clear as that of Summer's approach.

First, there's the official arrival of Spring, then there's daylight savings time (well, for most of us), and finally, there's the start of a new baseball season. Good-bye winter, welcome Summer via Spring's proxy.

Sure, the first game was delayed, but the season got underway nonetheless, and I have mostly positive expectations for it, even when it comes to the Phillies. While the professional opinion puts them at third by season's end, I'm hopeful for a surprise. After all, no one expected them to be two games out of first (and one game out of the playoffs) at the end of last year, and it's largely the same team. So I think it's mostly a matter of whether we can keep up with the improvements everyone else has made, while also making our own improvements.


Sadly, though not surprising, the recently alluded thoughts of the Marlins coming to OKC looks to have lost momentum in favor of San Antonio. Good luck SA, as that would mean another team in reasonable driving distance, and yet another new ballpark to visit!



Update, 3 Apr
Perhaps I spoke too soon. The Phils were slammed 13-5 by the Cardinals in their season opener. Ouch.

Getting medieval

The girls went to the annual Medieval Fair this afternoon, where Shelby got dressed up as a belly dancer like she did last year. Though she did express disappointment that the actual belly dancers didn't let her dance with them this year like they did last year.

After they got back from the fair, we went to Hobby Lobby to get their artwork dry-matted for their upcoming school art show. I was shocked to learn that the earliest they could get done with the 6 works we brought was 1 May... a MONTH! How can they get ANYthing done at that rate of speed. Well, I asked if I could take the paperwork they filled out to a different store, but they said all of them would be just as busy. I was about to get "medieval" myself, but then they said they'd "try" to get it done by the 14th. I explained that the art show is on the 20th, so it really isn't a matter of trying, because I certainly didn't mind going somewhere else. I went ahead and left the artwork there, but I'm not happy with the uncertainty. Is there somewhere else I can take that kind of stuff? I'm clueless in that regard (beyond Hobby Lobby).