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They grow up so quickly

My youngest has been to kindergarten 2 days this year. They were short days with only the teacher and 2 other students to acclimate Evan to the environment and the routine. On those days, I drove him to school and Cathy picked him up.

Today, Evan went to school full time. He is very excited and insisted on riding the bus with his sister. He was first in line and I missed the picture because I was introducing Evan to the bus driver. Amy, 8 years old, is proud to be taking care of him, holding her head high as she shows him the ropes. This is her realm and she will be his guide. His same aged friend also rode the bus so I know I’m not alone in putting my baby in a big orange box and entrusting his safety to someone I don’t know. We do have a great bus driver! I’m excited for Evan. It’s cool to see him growing up. I just wish it happened a little slower.

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What a lucky day!

I just spilled a full mug of coffee all over my desk. Fortunately I rarely clean the desk so I was very lucky to have a large stack of project notes to absorb much of the coffee and prevent it from damaging the trinkets and clutter that is sitting around waiting to be thrown away. Now, that smear that used to be a ftp password, is that an oh or a zero or the letter Z?

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So, just grab em?

Okay, what I gather from this Reddit discussion titled "Do women intentionally press there boobs up against men?" is that women basically have no feeling in their breasts. This changes everything! And explains a lot. You know, like when you’re working through certain Freudian fixations and she’s staring down at you with that quirky look of "can we get on with it already?!" like the one she wears when the line is moving too slowly at the grocery. Oh to be twelve again with this knowledge! …now where’d I put that book on erogenous zones?

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Not an Atypical Morning

Awoke in a panic, exhausted and mentally drained. Sleep called but domestic duties demanded my immediate attention. I awoke the 8 year old to prepare her for her 3rd grade classes. The 5 year old doesn’t start until tomorrow so this morning has less chaos. I don’t even turn on the lights for the two high school students as I’ve made them completely responsible for themselves including getting themselves to the high school. Amy and I choose to walk to the bus stop instead of driving. A friend, returning from dropping his child at school early, stops and chats with me while we wait for Amy’s bus. I enjoy the chat but walking home alone I over analyze the conversation questioning whether or not I listened too little and talked too much.

Back at the house, I realize the teen driver has let a tire with a slow leak go completely flat. I was supposed to fix or replace that tire over the weekend. So I pull out the compressor and inflate the tire. Right as it finishes, she and her brother walk out wordlessly and drive off. Parenting teens is truly a thankless endeavor.

Cathy and I and the younger children have been indulging in one of our microvacations in town staying at a friend’s house, cooking steaks, taking the boat out on the lake and such. We enjoy it. The teenage girl thinks it’s weird to stay in someone else’s house so she stays home. I suspect that she enjoys feeling grown up by having the house to herself. Well, almost to herself. Her older brother stays home too. His Aspie ways don’t permit much deviation from ritual plus when we aren’t there he has unfettered access to playing his video games around the clock. I suspect comfort zone is part of the teen girl’s reason for staying home too. I wish they would join us but at the same time it’s nice knowing someone is keeping our dogs company and walked. I was also home frequently as I’m on tight deadlines this week and not really set up for remote work (my antique computers aren’t luggable).

So this morning additional domestic duties called. On my way into my client’s office I drive to my friend’s house to be greeted by two buck and a doe in the driveway. Birds caw and chirp. Frogs announce their presence. I walk the dog to get the paper and let the cat out of the house. Next I water the plants on the porch, move sheets from washer to dryer, and pick tomatoes and peppers from the garden.

This is a great way to start the day!

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Happy Anniversary Cathy!

Nine years ago today and after nearly two years of dating, Cathy and I were married at Gatlinburg’s Ye Ol’ Tyme Photo Boothe and its been one grand adventure since then!

August 25, 2001

Cathy is the most wonderful wife! Her smile, her twinkle in her eye, her laughter, her love. Everything about Cathy makes me happy.

Cathy I love you! Happy Anniversary! I look forward to many more!

  1. This post.
  2. 2009 anniversary
  3. 2008 anniversary
  4. 2007 anniversary
  5. 2006 anniversary
  6. 2005 anniversary
  7. 2004 anniversary
  8. 2003 (started blogging in ‘04)
  9. 2002 (started blogging in ‘04)
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Vroom Vrrroom

Wahoo! The Jeep is working again. See. I do my own brakes. The job is an hour or two tops. But this time I misplaced my Haynes manual, and forgetting that Autozone has repair manuals online for free, I grabbed some torque settings off a forum and ran with them. Buuut I grabbed the number 41 and decided the brake caliper bolts should be 41 foot-pounds but nooooo 41 newton-meters is what the forum was referencing. And 41 ft-lb is much more torque than the 30 ft-lbs that I should have been using. So at about 35 ft-lbs the bolt turned to butter and snapped. Ahhh! Brought me back to my freshman engineering classes at the University of Tennessee. We had this cool machine that would stretch metal bars until they thinned in the middle and snapped. Somehow we were supposed to associate numbers with the snapping but mostly I stared in awe at the great coolness. Anyhow, this is how the Jeep has looked for much of the past week:

My daughter is very pleased that I will no longer be commandeering her car! I’m sure it would have been Karate Kid uncool to have mom dropping the senior off at high school holding cars keys and a parking pass.

Update: Ride into client’s office went well today. The Jeep even stopped without having to run it into anything! I did catch a check engine light for a bit on the Interstate but after stopping at Starbucks the Jeep seems happier.

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Doing those thing ya gotta do

It’s 1:40am. I’m exhausted. I’ve just torn my office apart looking for a lost piece of paper required for a form. I found it! Unfortunately, I’m now torn between grabbing some sleep or staying up all night to fill out the form for which I needed this piece of paper (no small task). Of course, one son has to be at the high school by 7:45 so tomorrow is an early day. This adult life is hard sometimes. I recommend keeping yours as simple as possible. Stay on top of things. Don’t procrastinate. And with that said, I’m going to bed. This paperwork can get done tomorrow.