Departure

Leaving in a couple hours. I did all my packing this morning. I finished my wife's going away present. I hope she likes it. We had breakfast with her dad at IHOP. It's hard to go away and leave the family behind.

Preparing to leave

In my slow, hands free way I am gayting ready to travel. Preparation is 75% mental anyway. Who cares if I haven't packed yet? Ha ha ha! I need to move.

Birthdays

Today we have two birthday functions to attend, filling all of the afternoon and much of the evening. Dawn needs some sleep. Korbin needs some food. I need some solitude. After 2PM, we'll be juggling chainsaws. I hope it goes better than I expect. Sundays are always so packed full of social time that I feel like I need another day afterward just to relax. Ah well. Inner peace shall be mine.

Saturday on my own

Dearest wife is working today. It's her first Saturday in many moons. It means that I have control of the house and the kids. I'm not worried about our oldest, but the baby will wake up soon and want some lunch. We might still be at the store when that happens. We'll see how it goes. I'm trying to be prepared for whatever occurs.

Anticip....ation

I'm done with my project at work. At least until they want to move the rest of the work. I've finished my book. It was a nice little murder mystery set in Scotland. Tomorrow is the last day of my phase III workout routine. i'm ready for vacation! I get my year end evaluation tomorrow morning. It's a new chapter I feel.

Enlightenment

I heard a fiery tale of family discord from Dean today. Living in close proximity to some family members for a prolonged period causes tempers to flair. It was strange to hear him tell about his dad. Their relationship is much different than my relationship with my father and also different from the relationships I want to have with my kids. He told of one day when he was 18 and the switch just flipped in his head. He was no longer afraid of his dad. I think it was larger than that. He overcame some measure of fear in general, but it helped him deal with his father in a more mature and level headed way. He won that battle and prepared himself to win similar battles. It was his sudden enlightenment, or a western equivalent anyway.

Queues

Sitting, waiting for my project to finish its run. All day. It's nice to have a chance to do some (work related) reading and try out some ideas for new and wonderful time saving devices. I just learned that my current script is running too fast, causing lower priority transactions to stack up behind it. Ha ha ha. Last time the queues got full, we lost the central region circuit inventory database for two days. My bad. Trying not to let it happen on my watch again. Every mistake costs money.

Work

Dawn's first day back to work since the baby. Asher's first day at daycare. Korbin's first time back at daycare for several months. Big exciting day for all! Me, I just do what I've always done. Excel!

Sunday afternoon in the universe

Borrowed that title I did. Today we spent the whole afternoon at aunt and uncle's. They invited us for lunch after church. We ate and talked and started a game of Phase 10. We didn't finish until 630! They fed is supper and baked a cake and made coffee and all kinds of things. I feel indebted to them for opening up their home so completely. We went last week too, so they must have enjoyed our company if they invited us again this week. It was a lot of fun. A lot of stimulus. A lot of food! A lot of Phase 10. It's a ridiculous game when 6 people are playing. Takes forever. At least we all like each other even if the banter gets pretty heated. The kids needed a bit of attention. The kids cause tension if they don't get the necessary attention. I want to fix things that I see are wrong. I think my advice is somehow better than all the advice that's been shared before. It's not. A resounding gong! Shame on me.

Face trouble

What's that on the end of my nose? Anywho, poor Dawn is suffering today. Having a reaction to stress we think. It's a lot of pressure for her to return to work after having a baby. It's been a long time away so she'll need to get her groove back, plus the added responsibility of her little one weighs on her while he's at day care. Hopefully she gets there, finds out it's just the same comfortable grind, gets back into the girl talk, relaxes and has a good time. Less stress is best

Vignette

Your hair looks nice.
What do you want?
Nothing. A smile?
Go bother someone else.
Is your phone working yet?
Nope.
You want me to ask around?
Someone's looking into it.
Your hair is so shiny.
Goodbye.

Jam

I went to a friend's house last night to make some beautiful, soaring guitar music. We fell a bit short of expectations, but had a good time nonetheless. He got a new guitar hero game with the drum kit, so we played that for a while and really enjoyed ourselves. On the way home I had a kind of epiphany about my relationship with my wife. It doesn't maintain itself. Just like any other lifelong pursuit, I need to be engaged in the marriage process at all times. All my investment into my wife and also my kids will pay heaps of dividends in the long run. It will pay dividends even immediately. I love my wife.

Projection

I finally shipped the interminable database project off to be evaluated. Turns out that the one using it has quite low expectations and thought my work was swell. Ah. That's a nice thought. I really don't care about making anyone else happy. This guy seems simple and appreciative, so I like him. The other interested parties will harp on me to add this or change that for the next month, and i'm glad I will be leaving the country soon! Ha ha ha. Also my left shoulder hurts. I need to stretch more often and more thoroughly.

Work resumes

My wife takes up her old job next week after five of six months off. The baby break is over for now. I would like to think that my single income could sustain our family but alas, we are strapped for cash no end. I hope it goes smoothly for her, this reentry. Otherwise the extra paycheck won't be worth the extra stress. It's beneficial to have mother at home and available to the kids at all times. If it could be me instead, I would love it, but this job is just good enough to keep me from flying off.

Brunch

We went to aunt and uncle's for brunch after church today. It was delicious. Quiche! Then we watched a movie while the kids slowly got on each other's nerves. Korbin was so fang tired when we got home that he melted before his nap. My gracious and peaceable wife went and layed down with him until he fell asleep. Sometimes all I see is a nail. Day by day I get glimpses of my own failings. Whatever helps me grow is a good thing.

The brakes

My wife's car needs a new rotor on the front left side. It's been making scraping sounds for the past few weeks. Time to get it fixed. Spent last evening with an unhappy couple. They've been misunderstanding each other for a while now. Seems like they're tired of the roller coaster. Neither of them as sufficient patience to compensate for the other's lack right. Now. Aren't the holidays fun? I want to boycott them next year. Spend a thousand dollars on crap we'd be happie without? No thanks. Anyway, I hope they get sorted out and fall back in love soon or I fear a terminal split. I rack my brain for helpful advice but i'm coming up short. God save them!

Good movie

Dawn's folks volunteered to watch the kids this afternoon so Dawn and I could go to a movie. Every critic is publishing their top ten movies and every critic's list seems to have Slumdog Millionaire near the top. So I coaxed my wife into seeing it today. We may have missed the first 10 minutes but we still came in at a good enough starting point. And I'd agree with the critics. It was a nice picture of India and a strong story about the consequence of your choices and the power of God to make your destiny. Would it be a five star movie if it had been filmed in America with American actors? Probably not. But it was filmed in India. So there.