Feb 04

January was an interesting month. We started it off with a visit from Justin to celebrate the passing of the New Year and it ended with a pretty devastating ice storm that knocked our electricity out for three days. We were lucky in many ways though. Several people I know were without power a week later. Most folks I know seem to have been restored within six days. My friends Craig and Karen put the six of us up in their home. They did not lose their power throughout the storm and had an extra room that we slept comfortably in. Craig and Karen have made my list for best person in the world. Not many people would take-in a family of six for three days and nights. We had fun. Craig has two kids (one boy and one girl) and all our kids played well together. We ate out at Red Robin, Longhorn Steakhouse and of course McDonald’s. We watched movies (Stepbrothers was a riot … loved seeing the Metallica posters up on John C. Reilly’s wall … guess I am an immature loser too). We took the kids to see “Hotel for Dogs”. Melissa and Karen went out for a massage. It was a great way to weather the storm and we are very lucky to have friends like Craig and Karen Matthews.

Icy Backyard Snow Angel Stella Neighbor's Tree

The weekend before the ice storm I was rear-ended in the G35. The rear bumper and the rear quarter panel absorbed all the force and everyone was OK. I have a 1/2″ gap between my truunk and the right rear quarter panel and the absorbtion material between the rear bumper and the frame is completely pushed in. I can’t get the car into the shop until the first week of March due to all the wrecks that have happened the last several weeks with the weather. If it weren’t so slick and icy (and cold) I would drive the K bike into appointments.

Stella Dressed-Up Jammy Stella Trees

All the rest of the photos for January are here.

written by mark

May 25

Thursday was another big day this week. Kayleigh “graduated” from pre-school, James submitted his diorama project on white alligators and we took delivery of our new TV. Melissa and James made the objects for his diorama from some kind of clay or putty and then they baked them in the oven. It turned out really nice. I particularly liked the alligators.

Kayleigh got up on stage to sing a song she had made up about God. She experienced a little stage fright and Ms. Debbie (her teacher and pal) came up to help her through it.

The TV is a 58″ plasma that we got a great deal on. I bought a new AV receiver, a new “up-converting” DVD player and a really neat Logitech Harmony universal remote control. I made some good deals on those as well. We all liked the way the table, the mounting and general installation turned out.


James with Alligators WHITE ALLIGATORS!

Kayleigh the Graduate Boob Tube

written by mark

May 01

I woke up and looked out the bedroom window to a pretty sunrise this morning. I am hoping this bodes well for the month of May. I have to be on the road for a week this month and that tends to grind on me. I think I have it in the back of my head that this will be the last business trip until the annual meeting in late August.

Other than that, it feels like Summer is close and everything is going to be alright. I am looking forward to having some fun with friends and family this Summer. I am plotting another bike trip in the recesses of my brain …

May Sunrise  Sunrise 2

written by mark