Skiing

Meagan, Brenna, Sarah, my parents, and me went skiing to Wintergreen yesterday. Once they had their lesson and went down the hill once after that they all had a good time. It was a pretty good day for it, just a little windy. Temperature was just a bit below freezing, cold enough for them to make snow. Meagan had the hang of turning for the most part by the time we left, and was doing pretty well. Brenna and Sarah we're still falling most of the time when they turned, but had improved a good bit during the day. On our last run right after lunch they were all tired, Brenna and Sarah not doing as well. They all said they wanted to go again, don't know if we'll get a chance this season or not. I think I will try snowboarding next time we go.

House

Well, got a new set of documents to the loan officer today, as they needed more recent copies of everything I had given them before because it has taken so long to get the release approved. Thankfully it was all easy to get my hands on. I love doing everything online. Now if ING would just do checking accounts.
I've been doing some Tai Chi lately, and I need to get back into doing yoga, my back has started bothering me again, due to me sitting almost all day long no doubt. The 90 minute round trip drive doesn't help, but at least I don't have to deal with much traffic, that would put me over the edge. I'm going to ask Wachovia again about getting remote access to their network so I can work from home sometimes. Would be nice to be able to work from home once or twice a week again.

Karate

The kids are doing well in Karate. Meagan and Brenna are making good progress. Sarah is doing well also, but I think she is tired by the time we get there, so is somewhat distracted, jumping around and playing games. Hopefully Meagan and Brenna will be ready to get into the 11+ program soon so I can start taking it with them.

Good news on the house today, Debra and Joe's bank approved the partial release and the documents should be at the title agency tomorrow to be signed and filed with the county. We are supposed to close on the house next Thursday, and hopefully building will proceed quickly from there! I am very excited and definitely ready to get into my own house again.

Karate

I got the kids signed up for Shinki-Ryu Karate, with a 9th level black belt as the soke. He teaches class at the school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I like his philosophy, he doesn't just give out belts for learning how to punch and kick, the students have to follow many of the Japanese traditions in order to progress. They have to actually keep track of altruistic behaviour to people outside the family, things they do to help their family, and a number of other things that aren't done at most Karate schools. He also teaches them respect and responsibilty, which is lacking in a lot of teaching. I will start taking the class as well when Meagan and Brenna are ready to move up to the advanced class, which is currently taught right after the younger students class.

Soccer and Junior Bridesmaids

Well, the last games of the season were yesterday. Brenna's team won, 4-0, Sarah's team lost 9-7 (a good game, high scoring, but we lost focus at the end), and Meagan's lost 2-0. Unfortunately Meagan's team didn't win a game all season. Brenna and Sarah's teams got there trophies for the year yesterday, but Meagan's coach was at a tournament, so they will be getting theirs Monday night at Roma's.

Meagan and Brenna had to go get fitted for their Junior Bridesmaids dresses for Chuck and Claire's wedding. They're getting married June 3 2006. Niki has set the date for her wedding, the weekend before Labor day 2006, can't remember if it's Saturday or Sunday. This is the house that they're renting for the relatives to stay in for the week. They're doing a beach wedding, should be neat.
Joe's father passed away on Thursday, he and Debra and Lissa left today to go up to MA. They were going up on Tuesday, so Joe is upset that he didn't get to see him again. Deanna says it's going to be strange without Debra and Lissa around.
Riley is doing really well with potty training, she has been sleeping in "big girl" panties for a while, and has only had a couple of accidents. We're still trying to deal with Eryn's pooping problem, we're giving her 2 doses a day of senokot to soften things up so she can get some control over things. She will pee if you prompt her, but she's been in pull-ups for a while so doesn't worry about it if you don't ask her. Hopefully things will get resolved in the next 2 months.

Soccer Saturday

Both Brenna and Sarah's teams won today. Sarah did a pretty good job, she still has some issues with following the person with the ball instead of kicking it away from them, but she did pretty well anyway. Brenna looked like she was playing some offense today, as was Meagan. Meagan's team was playing one that was undefeated, so the 4-0 loss wasn't too bad for them.
Brenna's coach had a pizza lunch for them, we were late because Brenna changed her mind on whether she wanted to go or not 3 times. I went with the kids and my parents, Deanna and Debra went to Potomic Mills with Lissa to get some Christmas shopping done. We had a good lunch, kids behaved well. Next week is the last soccer game of the season, so I hope Meagan's team wins so they can at least get one win.

Weekend

We had a busy weekend, soccer on saturday, camping in the yard saturday night, and Kings Dominion on sunday.

Breanna's team won, Meagan's and Sarah's both lost, Meagan was 3-1 I think, and Sarah's was 3-2. I saw some of the game before Sarah's, in the same league, the two best teams were playing, it was quite something to watch. They were really good for their age range. Meagan's team didn't play as well as they did last week, but they did ok. I didn't get to watch much of Brenna's game, it started in the middle of Meagan's, and Sarah's started right after it ended, so I had to go help them get ready. Games were late last week, 10:00, 10:30 and 11:30.

Because of the late games, I decided not to try camping at another location, as it was dark before Deanna got back from doing the grocery shopping this was a good plan. We had hamburgers and smores, the kids put the tent up pretty much by themselves, but the air pump broke right before they were done inflating the last air mattress. This was the one Sarah and I were sleeping on. I tried blowing it up, and got it inflated, but they have both a screw-on top and a valve for something, and I think I forgot to plug the valve, either that or it has a hole in it, and it deflated. I don't do well sleeping on the ground, I was waking up every hour or so.

Sunday we went to Kings Dominion, it was the last day of the season, and season passholders only. It was quite a bit less crowded than normal. The twins and lissa got to ride 3 or 4 rides, then we got lunch. After lunch Meagan, Debra, David and I rode the Volcano, then Deanna rode the scrambler with Brenna and Sarah. Meagan and David then went to ride the Rebel Yell and Hypersonic, Deanna and Sarah rode the Triple Spin, and the rest of us rode on the Carosel. The last thing we did was see the Spongebob 3D movie and get ice cream and funnel cake. Everyone had a good time, we had a pretty good weekend.

My mom was finishing up her certifications so she could teach water aerobics, that's why the kids were home, and she finished successfully. Congratulations Mom!

I got a call from my cousin Niki yesterday, she got engaged (I presume over the weekend), and is going to be getting married this summer. I jokingly asked her when the kids were coming (joking since she's always said she's not having any), and she said the were going to probably start trying next winter! Cool! I know Kenny is happy, as his son is also getting married this summer, both kids getting married in the same year. Congratulations Niki!

Happy Birthday Dad!

My Dad had his 58th birthday yesterday on Samhain, happy birthday dad!

Sarah's team played the only undefeated team in her league, they did pretty well considering. They have improved a lot since they started. Sarah has a lot of fun with it, she just needs to work on kicking the ball instead of chasing it. Unfortunately, they won't be having any more practices, as it will be getting dark about the time practice is supposed to start. Brenna's team won 4-3, and she got to play a lot during the game. She still needs work on going after the ball, and on running. Meagan's team played the Stars yet again, I think they have played them 3 out of the last 4 games we've been to. They lost again, but Meagan is continuing to improve every game. She was playing offense this week, and did pretty well, but didn't score. I think Meagan and Brenna would both benefit from running track, maybe Meagan will be able to do that for the middle school next year.

Well, everything is done for the mortgage except for the actual closing itself, for which I need to pick a title agency and give their name to the bank. Once that is done the building will get rolling. I'm about to make the call for that now.

Flock

I just downloaded the Flock browser, based on the source for mozilla firefox. It has blogging built in, and rss aggregator, integration with del.icio.us, and a couple other cool features, but it is currently pre-beta. It seems pretty fast loading web pages, so we'll see how it goes.

Technorati Tags: browser, flock, beta

Eryn and Riley on the beach. 

Vacation photos

Meagan, Brenna, and Sarah on the beach 

Vacation

We got back from vacation last night. We all had a great time, although
the first couple of days weren't too fun for me. The first day I got a
migraine, the second morning around 5am I got a kidney stone. The
doctor there said it is described as "incapacitating" pain, I'd have to
agree with that. The doc is also a pilot, and he said they ground you
for about 6 months if you get them, because you'd be in trouble if you
had a recurrence in the air. Other than that we had a great time. The
water was cool, but not too cold to swim in, so we had a good time body
surfing the waves. We went to Jockey's Ridge, I got some pretty good
pictures there that I'll post later. We played a round of putt-putt,
and went to the pool at the rec center almost every night. The three
oldest girls got to go shopping with Deanna and Debra an afternoon each,
they all enjoyed that. All in all a good vacation, I'll post pictures
in the next couple of days.

Soccer Saturday

Meagan did much, much better playing soccer today. She kept after the
ball, and was paying attention to the game the whole time she was in.
Unfortunately they were playing a team that had them by a good bit in
average age, so they lost despite playing a good game. Meagan took it
better this time, and enjoyed playing, so I think that's good progress
also. Brenna's team tied, but Brenna didn't get to play much, she's not
very fast and doesn't go after the ball. Sarah's team was playing the
second best team in their league, AND evidently completely forgot how to
play between our early practice on Monday and the game. They were
running around the ball instead of kicking it. Ah well, they did have
fun, that's what counts.

After the game we took Riley and Eryn to get their hair cut. The cut
off about 10 inches from each of them, it's around the bottom of their
ears now. It looks really cute on them, I'll post pictures after we get
back from vacation.

Vacation

Well, its off on vacation I go.  Should be having 3 soccer games tomorrow, hopefully Meagan's team will win this one.  After that the 3 older kids are going with my parents for the night, and the rest of us are going to finish getting ready and pack things up to leave in the morning.  I am hoping to get in a night or two of camping while we are down there, as it's supposed to be sunny until next weekend.

Robotic Car

http://www.blog.speculist.com/archives/000478.html
Wouldn't we all like one of these?  I think we are a number of steps closer due to the DARPA Grand Challenge.  I've been following the Virgina Tech Smart Highway project since it got started, it being my alma mater, and me hating driving AND having to drive about 90 minutes a day.  Hopefully that will soon be a thing of the past.   I'd love to be able to get in my car and tell it where to go too, I can think of a lot of things I could get done with an extra 90 minutes a day.  I could probably even get part of my work done, what with wi-fi being offered everywhere.

More Rain

Meagan and Brenna's soccer practice got canceled for the night.  Sarah's coach moved her practice to last night, so she at least got hers in.  It's looking like rain here for the rest of the week, but Saturday looks like it's going to be sunny, so they will get their games in before we go on vacation.  Sarah's team is starting to really understand the game, we've been working on getting them to pass the ball, not get in each others way, and to play defense.
We're going to Corolla on vacation starting Sunday.  I need to get our tent dried out so we can get some camping in during the week.   We have a house directly across the street from one of the recreational centers they have in the communities.  The weather is looking good for the week down there, sunny through next Thursday.
Work is going pretty well.  I'm doing some that is at least more interesting than converting procedures from MSSQL to Oracle.  I am working on converting an application from VB6 to .Net that talks to a DTC (Depository Trust Company) mainframe.  We have two options to talk to it now, using files (basically EDI), or message queuing.  I am, of course, hoping for the latter option, but the odds are currently very much against it, as their data team does mostly file moves, and doesn't know much about message queuing.  You'd think a large company like Wachovia would have people that know about pretty much everything, but I guess not.  I'm trying to read up on security some more in my spare time, I'd really like to get a job in that area until I can move into the bioinformatics or biotechnology fields.

Rain

Well, soccer got rained out on Saturday. On the good side we got to finalize the plans for the house, and it looks like we signed our contract at just the right time, as we avoided being screwed by the cost of materials increases due to everything going to Louisana. I also heard that FEMA has bought up all the used recreational vehicles. Don't even get me started on that. My parents were planning on doing a cross country tour next summer in a used RV, so I don't know if they're going to be able to go that way with it.
I saw a summary of the Kaine vs. Kilgore debate that was on TV, which finally allowed me to make up my mind who I'm voting for. After looking at their web sites and what they have done, it was very difficult to tell a difference between them, fortunately something came out in the debate, Kaine and Warner raised taxes in order to balance the budget, so I'm voting for Kilgore. I'm all for a balanced budget, but I don't think we need to be raising taxes to do it, there are plenty of programs and wasteful spending that can meet with the axe instead of raising taxes.

Parents back from vacation

My parents and one of my cousins got back from vacation last Sunday night.  They spent a week with my great-aunt in Michigan, in the "north woods."  My great-aunt has a cabin on a lake, where they spent the week.  There is no electricty and no phones, they cook with gas or on a grill.  They had a good time, and really like the area.  They went to Mackinaw island and a bunch of small towns in the area, got some really nice pictures.  We are going to go visit them next summer, and maybe stay in the cabin in the woods as well.  

Front picture, from the left, Meagan, Brenna, and Sarah. 

Picutres of the girls soccer uniforms, Meagan's team is the Sharks, Brenna's is the Soccers, and Sarah's team is Spike.