Lesson Learned

Here he is, our boy James.  Don't you love the new glasses?  I think they suit him very well. 
Last week, he wrote a constitution for his class and got everyone to sign it.  It had things on it like no note passing, no tattling, no rumors, etc.  Then he decided there should be class elections and the teacher said ok.  The some kids made posters and campaigned.  Today was election day.  He and this girl made a deal to vote for each other.  He voted for her, she didn't vote for him.  Poor guy lost by one vote, but not to that girl.  Lesson to be learned: always vote for yourself! 
He called to congratulate the winner after school.  Very sportsman like.  I was proud.   

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 4

Day 4 started early. I was all ready to go by 6:00 when I had a conference call scheduled. On the call they told me they didn't need me after all. Good thing I couldn't sleep past 4:30, or else that's what I would have called information that would have been useful yesterday!

I talked with Tracy this morning. She said James got his glasses! I'm curious to see what kind of glasses James would choose and how he looks. I was eight or nine when I got my first glasses. James is ten, so I can relate.

I had a productive day of work, which made me happy. I still have a lot to do before next week, when I'm done here and move on to my next stop.

Tonight it was warm outside. I like spring, but I especially like spring when it feels like summer. Tonight I could have taken off my jacket but I forgot because it's such a lightweight jacket. I needed it all day in the cold U-shaped server room.

I had dinner with my coworker, who is also traveling. He wanted to be back in his room before Survivor started. I rarely watch TV and I haven't seen Survivor in years, but I watched tonight. It's interesting and pretty entertaining in limited doses.

I'm four days in, and it feels like longer. And I still have 18 more days after this one. I have a lot of respect and also pity for people who travel all the time for work. They do what is needed to provide for their families, and I respect that greatly.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 3

Day 3 has arrived. On most of my trips, by Day 3 I'm halfway through or even ready to leave. On this trip, I'm just settling in with no end in sight. I still have nine days until I leave sunny California, and there's plenty of trip left after that.

I had a nice Skype chat with Tracy and the younger kids this morning before work. I got to see Jonny's two fish! He sure is excited. I was happy to see some of my family. Chatting with James and Amelia doesn't really work in this time zone on a weekday, but maybe I can on Saturday.

I made a lot of good progress today, clad in my jacket in the chilly U-shaped server room. I could get used to Qt. Qt has been forced on me but has been a pleasant surprise. In fact, some things about it are better than Java. Java is still my sword of choice, but Qt is quickly becoming the dagger hidden in my boot. Considering what Oracle might do to Java over the next few years, I'm happy to expand my arsenal. And that's about as far as I want to take that metaphor right now.

I had lunch at a great Chinese place that a colleague discovered. I had a full meal (no drink) with table service for about $6.25 plus tax and tip. Back home it's hard to find a fast food sandwich for that. Of course, back home there isn't 12%+ unemployment like there is here. In that sense, like many others, there's no place like home.

I have got to stay up a couple more hours or I will never get to Pacific time. Must...stay...awake...

A few photos for you (and Daddy-diddo)

Here's Amelia all decked out for the 2nd grade musicaL How does your garden grow?  Gary was there for that.  She had the most lines and got to say them solo.  It was cute!

 Jonny has decided to breed fish.  Here are his latest additions: above Rainbow the boy, he's really colorful.  Fire is below.  She's a girl. He's been excited to breed them for a long time.  We'll see if it works out.  Apparently, ideal conditions are 80 degrees and fresh worms.  It may warm up in the summer, but Jonny is my boy who does not want to be a plumber (toilets are stinky) or a trash man (strink again) so I'm not holding my breath on the worms.  They are stinky too.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 2

I had a productive full day of work on Day 2 in California. I'll be working a bit more before bed. All work and no play makes kiddodiddo a dull blog, so today's entry won't be long.

The room I worked in today was a U-shaped server room. Thankfully, all the servers were at one end of the U, so I sat at the other end and had a fairly quiet day outside of meetings and discussions. But being a server room, the air conditioning was excessive, so I'm glad I had my jacket.

I called Tracy after work. Jonny used his saved allowance to buy two pet fish today! He wanted a boy fish and a girl fish so there would be babies. I don't know if Tracy let him know that fish try to eat their babies. This should be interesting.

Business Trip Extraordinaire--Day 1

Time for a new blog series that will act as a journal of my longest business trip to date. I have just started 22 days of saving the day and taking names. I also hope to have some fun along the way and share some of it with you, gentle reader.

Tracy and the kids were very kind to drop me off at the airport this morning. I could have taken a taxi but we wanted to spend a little more time together, so Tracy offered to drive me. She's so sweet! Right now I'm looking at a photo of all seven of us that I brought with me. I miss them all and though it's a long trip, I'm grateful that my job usually does not take me away from my family for this long.

I flew on American Airlines today, which is unusual for me. They had no TV or audio entertainment, which was actually a refreshing change. My flight to Dallas was late, and I barely made my connecting flight. I was planning on lunch in Dallas, and the airline did not have enough sandwiches aboard for everyone who wanted to buy, so I missed out on lunch. Hey, life could be much worse.

On the domestic portion of this trip, I have two laptops with me. I thought I would make life easier by carrying them in two different backpacks. Arriving in California, I promptly left one of them on the rental car bus by mistake. Thankfully, when the same driver returned, the backpack was still on the bus.

It's cloudy and cool today in Southern California. Methinks Day 2 will be jacket weather.

I've now accomplished my goal of staying up as late as I can to get used to the time zone. I usually don't bother but I'll be here until next Thursday so I need to do it.

Have a good night everyone, and I look forward to blogging at you again tomorrow.

What are little boys made of?

Last month or so, Jonny, Simon and I were playing "I Spy."  I always get a kick when Jonny spies something "made of pure bark." (a tree) 
So I said "I spy something made of pure bark" and just to tease, the answer was Simon.  When I gave the answer, Simon cried out: I'm not made of pure bark.  (pulling up his shirt and grabbing his tummy) I'm made of squish!

Place and Show

Last month, our pack did a Pinewood Derby.  James wanted the car the same as last year, after all he came in first.  Why mess with a good thing?  Last year, there was a work shop with power tools.  This year there was a coping saw and a pocket knife. So the results were not as professional, but it had a lot of heart.    Unfortuantly, as a den leader I didn't get to see much of the action on race day.   I was quite pleased to find James came in second place!

 He's not quite smiling in the picture because Amelia is behind me and he's trying not to laugh .

    

The district pinewood derby was hyped up at the pack meeting, so this weekend we went to cheer James on.  (as a side note, our family cheered for James and the announcer always commented that James brought his own cheering section.  I was surprised that we were the only ones cheering for our son.)  The event was well organized with over 100 cars racing.  James' car earned a nickname as it whizzed down the track "the Blue Streak."   He came in 3rd in the Webelos division, hence 2 trophies, one car!  As a finalist in the webelos, he was invited back for the grand champion round.  There were 12 cars in that one and he came in 5th. I was proud of James and his good sportsmanship.

double digits

10 years can change you from this

to this!

Happy Birthday, James!  love you tons!