Life Lessons

1. Laptops do not make good stepping stones for three year olds.

2. Costco has good prices on laptops.

This post has no title

Sorry.

As I was riding down the elevator to the business center to write this blog post, I had just read an interview with Paul Simon that had to do with his songwriting. One of the things that he mentioned centered on the idea that when he writes, he has no intention. I liked that idea. I think if you write - music... words... anything... sometimes you are too constricted by intention.

Anyway, as I rode down in the elevator, Elton John's "This Song Has No Title" popped into my head. Not the actual song, because I can't even think of what it sounds like at the moment. Just the title. I am struck by oddities. They stick with me. An old
Cat Stevens album(don't remember which one) where the sides were named this and that. Only side this was the other side, and side that was this side.

I actually did have an intention when I first thought to update my blog, and I'll get 'round to it eventually, but you'll need to put up with my rambling first.

I don't really know why you do that actually. Put up with my rambling, that is. You don't need to be here right now. Think of all of the other things that you could be doing... productive things... fun things... necessary things. Blog reading really is just a diversion, isn't it? Live inside someone else's head for a little while? Why? What's wrong with your head?

If your wondering why my rambling is making very little sense this evening, it may be because I'm tired. I'm in Nashville, where I'll be undergoing training for the launch of the new 2007 Nissan Altima over the course of the next couple of days. I learned a long time ago that when I travel West to East that I need to sleep deprive myself the night before I leave, or I can't sleep at my destination. It makes me even less observant than I typically am. Have I told you that I'm somewhere around 13th percentile in observation skills? I wouldn't be a good detective. You probably didn't even know you could get tested for such things, did you. (I know there's supposed to be a question mark at the end of that last sentence, but it's really a statement, not a question, so I think the period is more appropriate.)(Besides, it's my blog, and I can make up whatever rules I want.)(But, you know, if people just made up their own rules, then you have people walking around saying "Aiiite", when what they really mean is "alright". That bugs me. So I'll try to stick to the rules.)

So I stayed up well past my bedtime last night, and didn't get to bed until past midnight. Generally I go to sleep between ten and eleven. In fact, I went to bed so late that Grayson had already awakened, crying, and wanted to be transported to our bed. Which I did. He woke his brother, but Noah was content to go back to sleep on the floor with his dinosaur, but when I awoke this morning at 5:54 before my alarm went off for my 7:25 flight, both Grayson and Noah were in bed with Theresa and me. (yes, "me" is correct. Not I. Take Theresa out and it's me not I. Put Theresa in and it doesn't become I for no apparent reason. I don't know much about writing, and I learn more every day, but I think I'm reasonably safe on that one...)

Where was I. Oh yeah... sleep deprivation. So I'm functioning on a little over five hours of sleep. Two times zones away from home. Having had a brownie for dinner. So you'll forgive me if I wander.

What I "intentioned", when I first thought of posting, was of my experience this past weekend.

I went parking lot racing for the first time in about a year and a half. It's really called autocross, but many people have never heard of that, but when you say "parking lot racing", it provides a generally more descriptive idea of what one actually does at an autocross. Yes, in my car. (Someone was wondering.)

Why the first time in over a year and a half? The last time was a less than delightful experience. I'd say more, but I don't wish to here. If you want the lurid details, ask and I'd be willing to share. Privately.

I arrived early and helped set things up. My club was putting on the event, which was a practice event, not a competition. Two advantages, as I saw them, were that it was my club sponsoring the event, so I could talk to people I hadn't seen in a while, and it was a practice event, so I could, you know, practice. After all, it had been 18 months or more since my last time.

These practice events are set up in 90 minute segments. Your "run group" runs for 90 minutes, then you go work so that others can run for 90 minutes. The lap time of this particular course was just over 60 seconds for me. But because there were 25 cars in my group, and you only run one lap at a time, I only got to run about eight or nine laps over the 90 minutes. That's just how things work.

My intention (there's that word again), was to run a couple of laps with no intention of speed. Just with the intention of seeing where the course went. (It changes every time.) Now I had walked the course early in the morning, and at the lunch break, so I had a pretty good idea of where it went. And I carefully watched others drive the course (with my 13th percentile observation skills). I even helped carry a go-kart off the course, when it conked out, and the poor young driver had no idea what to do.

My first lap was around 63.2 seconds. We use very sophisticated timing equipment that actually times us to one thousandth of a second (xx.xxx), but I don't remember the specifics at the moment. Now that I'd been around once, I had a more reasonable idea of where the course went.

I was relaxed. I was not trying to drive fast. I just wanted to see how the car felt, and how I felt driving it. My next lap was 62.1. A little over a second improvement. Not bad. I felt that when I started "driving", I could probably turn a sub-60 second lap.

When I started "driving" it took me six or seven more laps just to match the 62.1 again. My first lap after that I slowed to a pace slower than my first lap. I adjusted my lines. I adjusted my shift points. I tried to focus on what I was doing, but going faster eluded me. On my very last lap, around the eight or ninth shot at the course, I was able to get down to a 61.3.

I thought about that a lot the rest of the day. A similar experience had happened before. In fact a couple of times. Once, a friend let me drive his Corvette. It had much more power than the 240Z that I had at the time. I respected the power and just cruised around. I beat the owner by several seconds. I wondered what would have happened had I "tried". With experience that I've gained since, I probably would have gone slower.

My point? Sometimes, when we try, we try too hard, and our results are less satisfying, and less rewarding, than when we just relax and have fun. I've seen it in driving. I've experienced it in my writing. I'm pretty sure it happens in all aspects of our lives, it's just that we're not relaxed enough to observe it.

So you see, even though 87% of the population is more observant than I am, I can still come up with the occasional something or other. I can't think of a good word at the moment. It's 11:20PM in Nashville now, which is only 9:20 at home, but remember, I'm working on much less sleep than normal. Let me know if you think of a good word that would have been appropriate. Leave it in a comment. Who know's... maybe I'll edit it, with your word, and you'll be famous. (In my world, anyway.) G'Night

Musical beds

See what happens when I don't have a thing driving me to write? I don't write.

The last thing was my last work program. Not that anyone is really all that interested in what I do on a day to day basis, but it gave some idea of my life on the road. But as soon as the program ended, I didn't have anything compelling to write about, so I didn't write.

Now I don't really have anything all that compelling to write about, but today's subject is somewhat amusing, so I thought I'd put figurative pen to paper once again.

The life of a three-year-old is rife with an incomprehensible nature to adults. Why do they do this or that? Seemingly, because they can.

Case in point - bedtime. I probably have mentioned this before, but for new readers, those that haven't delved into the depths of the archives, hanging on my every word, it bears stating again. The boys don't have their own beds.

They do have cribs that they've grown out of. (And for all of you linquists, running around aghast at the idea that he just ended a sentence with a preposition - that's how he talks. Deal with it.)(Notice how I just referred to myself in the third person? One often doesn't get to do this in conversation, but with the written word, possibilities abound.) So they've been sleeping in the guest bedroom in a queen-sized bed. Or, more properly, they are supposed to be sleeping in the guest bedroom in a queen-sized bed.

At bedtime, it is their wont to go to sleep in the green bed. The green bed because it has a green bedspread on it. The bed in the guest room has a blue bedspread on it, and thusly became known as the blue bed. The green bed resides in Theresa's and my room. Occasionally their sister joins them in the green bed at bedtime, although more often she'll go to sleep in her bed, or occasionally, lying on her bear rug on the floor. (For all lovers of animals, the bear was not real. It was some sort of synthetic fiber white bear.)

Although king sized, even a king sized bed has difficulty accomodating five comfortably. So when Theresa and I go to bed, I pick up various children placing them appropriately in various bedrooms throughout the house. (Doesn't that make it sound like we have this huge place, and there are sleeping kids just scattered everywhere?) This allows Theresa and I a nice pre-warmed bed to slide into. With the idea that the warmth ends much before we do, and we have to turn our pillows over (with any luck) because they are soaked with sweat because our children sweat like pigs through their scalp when covered by a green bedspread (or a blue one I suppose, for that matter) leaving large patches of uncomfortable moisture. I said "with any luck" in the previous sentence, because if they didn't have their head on the pillow, then that means you're sleeping on the large patch of uncomfortable moisture. Unless, by chance, they put their head where the pillow should have been, then perhaps the large patch of uncomfortable moisture could be covered by said pillow. Anyway, I think you get the idea. Moisture. Large patch. Uncomfortable.

Sometimes, though, things go differently. Sometimes, after being placed in the green bed, because they so desperately wanted to go to bed there, as Theresa and I watch television downstairs, we'll see a wraith-like being drift across the hall into the guest bedroom. But, likely as not, we never see anything, and when we go to bed, one or both of the boys have found their way to the blue bed.

Inevitably, when I wake up in the morning, generally at almost 6:30 on the dot, I awake to "I'm hungry". "Daddy, it's time to get up". And Theresa? Nowhere to be seen. My wife has morphed into two three-year-olds. Generally, I sleep through the hows and the whys. But the result remains the same.

When I mention this to some, I get the expected response - "Can't you make them sleep in their own bed?" Mattea went through the same thing, and now she sleeps in her own bed. The boys will too. And when they do, I'll miss waking up to "I'm hungry". "Daddy, it's time to get up". I'll likely never hear it again.

Creatures of habit

We are all, are we not, creatures of habit.

From earliest development when our mothers suckled us at their breasts, through our aging into adults, we find comfort in the familiar. "Stretching your comfort zone" always meant moving into uncharted, therefore uncomfortable territory.

As the parent of two pre-schoolers and a first-grader, the importance of routine guides much of what we do. Disrupt an expected pattern and suffer the wrath of your own ill-wrought consequences!

My thoughts, as of late, have been meandering around the idea of behavior modification. We're not talking brainwashing here. Not the malodorous reek of twistedly torturing another to bend them to one's will. Nothing like that. What I have in mind falls more within the realm of pleasantly mindful and behaving children, brought to this state by an organized and methodical approach to guide them toward the behaviors that you wish them to perform, and moving away from those behaviors that you wish to see less often (or not at all).

Reading an airline magazine prompted these musings initially; an article on a Sea World trainer discussing the training of killer whales. One particular statement leapt out at me: "You don't want to antagonize an 8,000 pound killer whale".

I don't want to antagonize my children either. I don't want to alienate them from their mother or me. We daily read of accounts of crime, oftentimes violent. How much of this behavior stems from developmental wrong turns taken. From poor choices in trying to "improve" behavior at an early age. Little Johnnie's misbehaving? Yell at him. That doesn't work? Hit him. That doesn't work? Bind him and gag him and put him in a closet. These things, people do. Raising antagonized 8,000 pound killer whales.

We are guilty of occasionally raising our voices at our children. (Doesn't that sound better than "yelling at them"?) We do not hit our children, or worse. We wish for our children what most parents wish for: a good life. A life of meaning, and contribution to society. Are there better ways of trying to achieve peace at bedtime than what we are currently doing? Yes. Are there better ways of coaxing the desired response and managing future behavior? Yes. Do we know what they are? Not yet.

But. (There's always a "but", isn't there?) We can learn from those that know. We can read, and talk to people, and view information that will guide us to where we need to be. I am a believer in life-long learning. I am not a real believer in schools. Let me clarify that thought. I am not a real believer in the idea that schools will provide a meaningful education. (I know someone with a masters degree whose spelling is atrocious.) I do, however, believe in the idea that schools provide an excellent foundation for a life of learning. And we can continue to build on that foundation to create a sound, strong, and roundly educated being.

Wow. Can I get "out there" quickly, or what?

I don't know if you saw that coming, but I sure didn't.

You know that I think tangentially. And when I write, it gives me the opportunity to explore those thoughts, revisit them, and wrap things up cute as can be. I was just going to write about eating tuna every day for lunch (Creatures of habit). Eating tuna every day for lunch doesn't seem to be nearly as interesting as behavior modification though, so I think I'll leave that part in.

That's all folks!

I know that I said I'd be back in a couple of days, but after thinking about it, I decided to wrap things up today. "Why?" I hear you ask. Well...

Tomorrow brings the last day of this particular program. And I have two dealerships to train, after which I somehow get to the airport (probably by begging a ride from my afternoon store) to fly home. There, Theresa will be picking me up with a vanload of children. By the time we get home, I doubt that updating my blog will be my priority. That, and I have nothing better to do at the moment.

So... now you have a better idea of what I do with my life. Not that you really wanted to know, but it's my blog and I get to fill it up with whatever I wish! A lot of driving. A lot of fast food. A lot of hotels.

Now that this program works to its' conclusion, I've got a couple of other projects on the horizon. Mark hired me to write a full model line training program for one of the Nissan regions. The hope is that it will be an ongoing program presented to "new hires" on a somewhat continuing basis (essentially, one week a month). That could prove to be a good thing. Since I am writing the program, when available, it makes sense that I would present it. And the Infiniti side heard of this, so there is a possibility that they would like to do something similar. Which, if I am selected to write that too, could provide for some additional training as well. So some possible stability in an otherwise unstable business.

And in October, Nissan will be launching the new 2007 Altima, which I am trying to arrange to conduct in the Northwest region. But much time lies between now and October, and nothing concrete exists yet.

So, with that, I ride off into the sunset, and you'll get no more blogging from me.

You know how...

sometimes you got nothin', and sometimes inspiration smothers you with its' omnipotent presence? Well, todays' drive was one of those inspirational days.

First... I think the state of Utah is onto something. You don't really need to fix something, if you just tell people about it.

I wrapped up my session this morning in Utah, drove into a nearby parking lot to change out of my slacks and nicely pressed program shirt into shorts and a t-shirt (hey... I'm a Southern California guy... I know it's not a phone booth, but then again, I'm not Superman.) (At least I changed in the car to prevent any phone calls to the nearest constable.) But I meander. Once on Interstate 15 headed toward Vegas, I set the cruise control at a comfortable cruising speed precisely 7 mph over the 75 mile per hour speed limit. Most cops give you some kind of leeway on the posted speed limit. My personal thinking states that anything less than 10 percent over the said limit defies a ticket. This would get me into Sin City in about 5 hours. (Now you're starting to see why it takes me so long to write anything... it's all this other stuff that gets in the way...)

In any case, I'm just cruising along, minding my own business when I see the following sign on the side of the road:

Bump
1500 feet

Then, sure enough, a short time later there was a bump much harsher than one would reasonably expect to find on a major interstate thoroughfare. One which, when hit at 82 MPH, exercised the suspension significantly more than one typically experiences on the United States Interstate Freeway system.

Now, one could argue I suppose, that it might be prudent to slow down upon sighting such a sign. My thought, though, takes a different direction. "WHY DON'T THEY FIX THE ROAD!"

But then I thought, "You know, I think they're on to something here".

Just think... when driving along a well traveled boulevard in town, the sign could read:

Relatively Large Pothole
1000 Feet

Or in a residential neighbourhood:

Beware Sinkhole
500 Feet

Certainly, signs come cheaper than repairs, so the populace would be writing letters of thanks to elected officials for more judicious use of their tax dollars.

And my audio book had already reached its' conclusion, so I resorted to over the air radio. If you're ever near Salt Lake City, tune in 97.5 FM for 24/7 Christmas Music. I know niche programming creates optimal advertising, but gimme a break! The further I got, the fewer stations I could receive. At one point I actually heard, on a dreaded "Soft Rock" station "Boogie, Oogie, Oogie". I'm sure that I danced to this in my past, but it was, what, 20-30 years ago? But then, scanning the dial, on a dinosaur rock station I heard a song that I must plug into Pandora: Lowrider. I can't wait to hear what it comes up with.

Not having seen many state troopers yet, I saw one head northbound on 15. Then a few miles later, I saw another. Generally, when much real estate needs to be covered, rarely do you see patrol cars that close to each other. So... it's gotta be safe right? A few miles after that, also northbound, I see an unmarked, grey Dodge Charger with some unsuspecting soul pulled over to the side of the road. (Although I would have been less surprised to see a southbound traveler inconvenienced so.)

Then a few miles later, a woman passes me in her cabriolet Porsche Carrera S4, doing around 90. Hmmmmm... a breaker... So I let her get about a half mile ahead, and fall in behind. She got me about 80 or 90 miles down the road before she pulled off in Beaver, Utah. Back to 82.

Also, before I left Utah, I saw a sign for Toquerville. Must be the kid in me, but all I could see was "Toker-ville". Not that I would have any personal (historical) knowledge of what a toker might be.

Then, as I completed my days' journey, having driven through three states this day (Utah, Arizona and Nevada), I realized the majority of my mileage has accrued. Slightly over 3600 miles in about 3 1/2 weeks.

I'll have a final report for you in a couple days.

Wow! Is it Tuesday already?

I figured I'd wait 'til today to drop in a new note, so I could update my trip mileage too, as I rolled into Murray, Utah (just south of Salt Lake City) this afternoon. We're looking at around 3200 miles since I picked the car up on the 11th of August. And still Las Vegas awaits.

Like an idiot, I ran out of gas yesterday. Fortunately, my lovely and beautiful and very intelligent wife takes care of me, even at this great distance. She purchased a membership in the automobile club a few years ago. I don't know that Theresa has ever taken advantage of any of the benefits, but I have used the gas refill twice. (The last time I was driving an Infiniti Q45 somewhere in upstate New York. That's right... I run out of gas all over the country... I am not limited by geography.) In self defense, I found myself engrossed in an audio book, which neared its' climax, so whilst my body drove, my mind listened. Let this be a lesson to you, wheeled travelers.

Speaking of wheeled travelers, as I drove through four states these last two days (Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah), there seemed remarkably few state troopers on the loose. Exceptions did exist; near state lines (always favourite haunts (see how I'm appealing to Aussie's and Brit's there?) ) and some aerial officers as well. In Oregon, I noticed a plane flying overhead, well away from any major metropolitan area. I'm thinking aerial surveillance. Sure enough, a couple miles up the road, about 5 troopers had 5 separate offenders contributing to the general fund (or wherever the proceeds go). I couldn't help myself; once clear of the area, I ran the GL450 quickly up to triple digits and a bit beyond, and just as quickly back to cruising speed, just because I knew I could.

Yesterday, when hunger made itself known, a Dairy Queen sign beckoned. We don't have many DQ's in San Diego, and I couldn't remember the last time I'd been. So I pulled in, ordered a burger and a Blizzard. A Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard. I didn't know which to eat first. Knowing that I had many miles ahead, I ordered at the drive-thru window, and took them with me. (Typically, I would not eat fast food in someone else's $60,000 car. But I was hungry.) I also added a drink at the window, knowing that ice cream makes me thirsty.

When handed my frozen treat, the server asked if I'd like a lid. "Sure", I replied. And I was amazed. She capped the Blizzard with a tall clear plastic lid with a kind of outward lip on it that, once removed, could be attached to the bottom of the cup, providing an air space between my fingers and the cup, to prevent accelerated meltage, and with said outward lip perfectly placed to catch drips and spills! In fact, when done with my blog entry, I am off to applaud DQ's management team for looking out for my borrowed cars' interior. (By the way, I ate the burger first.)

And today, when I called Theresa, I actually remembered that today marked another milestone in her life, and wished her a happy birthday. One doesn't turn 45 every day! (Sure... chronologically, she might be 43... but...) Her calender called for Theresa and the kids to dine with her parents this evening. I'm sure they will treat her well and with the care necessary for the aging...

I realize now...

that we picked a bad time to get married, oh those seven loooooonnnnng years ago. (Just kidding, T)

We just had our seventh wedding anniversary on August 28th. This year I spent that morning training in Beaverton, Oregon, and the afternoon driving to Seattle to train the next day. While driving, I called Theresa to see what the kids put her through the night before, and to see how her day had progressed thus far. Probably one-ish or so when I made the call.

I checked into the hotel around 2:30 or so, and they had a business center, so as soon as I dropped my stuff off in my room, I went down to check my email and check out NDISB to make sure that the wheels had not fallen off.

I kicked out a couple ne'er-do-wells that had registered in the NDISB forum to get our members to go to their weight loss promoting websites or other nefarious online activities. Then I went through and read all of the forum entries, which I do daily (probably to the scorn and dismay of the majority of our members. Remember... I'm the only guy...)

As I went through the entries that day, I saw that Theresa had made reference to it being our anniversary. I immediately picked up the phone and called her back. The first thing out of my mouth after Theresa answered was "You probably thought I forgot about our anniversary, didn't you?"

I did admit to reading her forum entry, though, which prompted the call. But it also prompted my search that afternoon for just the right anniversary gift. (No, I hadn't gotten anything yet.) I had a pretty good idea in mind of what I wanted, but I hadn't narrowed it down yet.

Theresa just got a new laptop to replace her circa 1903 Sony Vaio. The Sony is so slow that it's basically just good for checking email now... as long as there are no images in them. But as she set up her new dual-core, 2Gb of ram mega laptop, she expressed a desire for a second monitor which would make her design and creative work so much easier.

Typically, I go for the traditional anniversary gift idea thing. But I reasoned that this year, with her new business, and her new computer, and as hard as she works at her new business, that she really needed a second monitor. So now she has a 17" flat panel Sony (see it here) that she can expand her desktop onto. She actually got that on the 30th, as I didn't get home until late in the evening on the 29th. Now she can design all of the wool and copper that she wants to!

But back to the topic at hand. Why was this such a bad time to get married? 'Cause Theresa's birthday is September 5th. So, I get just over a week between finding just the right anniversary gift (which she loves, by the way), to finding the just right birthday gift. And because of the nature of my work, I'm generally away on Theresa's birthday. This year will be no exception. This Sunday (Sep. 3), I'll be catching a plane to fly back to Seattle so that I can drive to Salt Lake City and be there to train on Wednesday. I'm pretty sure when I call on Tuesday though, that I'll remember to say "Happy Birthday"! (She's had the same one for wayyyyyyy longer than we've been married...)

Why is it that...

you can't get a good milk shake anymore?

Seriously. You ever order a milkshake at a fast food restaurant? It's soggy before they put it in your hand. I always ask for a spoon when I order a milk shake, because I don't like to have to work at trying to get it through a straw. The typical fast food shake today does not pass this simple test. Requiring a spoon to eat it. Pretty much the entire thing could be poured through the straw into the trash, and at least then you'd get the enjoyment of trying to accomplish this task without gooing up their floor any more than it already is.

And when you do find a decent shake (see my earlier entry about Edie's Diner), it costs you five bucks or so. Now I don't really remember if I got a shake at Edie's (I don't think so), but I did get a couple of real shakes at other similar diners and they were very proud of them. Very proud of them indeed. I could get a half gallon of Breyers for what they're selling these things for. Okay... so the Breyers would have to be on sale, but I mean... five bucks?

You know what else I don't like? My chest hair is going gray in a big way.

I was shaving this morning, and a big ol' glop of shaving cream slid off of my chin, down my chest and landed on my bare left foot. As if that wasn't humiliating enough (I often have large audiences watching me shave in my hotel room whilst traveling (Shhhh... don't tell Theresa)), as I wiped away the remains, I noticed that much of the hair on my chest was white. When the hell did that happen?

The tough part is, it seems to be working its' way down. It's all white near my throat, regains its' magnificent darkness around my ribcage, and remains so along that path. I don't have to paint a picture here for you do I? Good.

But all of this does not bode well for the future. I mean, who wants to be seen with a guy that has grey chest hair. I thought not.

I know... waxing! (I didn't see "The 40 year old virgin", but you all know what I'm talking about, right?) Yeah... that's the ticket. Only one problem... once you start, where do you stop?

Oh yeah... a mileage update. 17 days from pickup, and I've got 2,269 miles on the clock. Just got to Seattle area today, home tomorrow night for the week, then off to Utah. That should be a pretty drive.

Gone racin'

Well... watching anyway.

This weekend I couldn't make it home because of the long drive that I needed to make. Well... I could have, but I would have had to fly home Friday night, get home after everyone was asleep, and fly back on Saturday evening to make a 9 hour drive on Sunday. So I elected to not go home this weekend. But... I will be getting home on Tuesday, and will be home the rest of the week before I fly out on Sunday to resume my training. More about that another day.

Friday, after work I drove from the Sacramento area to Medford, Oregon. Then on Saturday drove from Medford to just south of Portland. If you've not driven in this part of the country, you really need to. The pine trees are so thick that they are layered in front of each other like sardines in a can. Except that they are much nicer to look at. And probably smell better too. San Diego weather may be among the most welcoming to guests, but the lack of rain doesn't let it approach the abundant conifer production of the great Northwest.

Had dinner with Mark on Saturday night. He's the guy that hires me for these programs. We determined that we've known each other about fifteen years. And we still speak to each other! In setting up the dinner engagement, I learned that Mark was racing this weekend at Portland International Raceway with his brother-in-law Todd (who I just worked with on the Nissan Versa launch). Saturday was practice and qualifying, with a couple of races on Sunday. (They both run Spec Racer Fords, a class in which all of the cars are identical, which makes for some very competitive racing.) I didn't think I'd make their first race, until 6:00AM this morning when I was awakened by the logging train blowing his horn outside my window. So I crawled out of bed, into the shower and grabbed a bagel and off I went.

Picture post card weather provided the wonderful racing weather that everyone wishes that they had every time out. Met Marks mom. And his best friend since he was a kid. Mark made some beer brats for lunch. And then invited me over to his place for dinner, which he and the lovely Suzanne prepared together (isn't that sweet?). Also got to see the house that they'd just moved into a couple weeks ago in Southwest Portland. Beautiful mature backyard landscaping provided the perfect environment for a thoroughly enjoyable end to a very relaxing weekend on the road. Then I got to come back to my hotel where the upstairs neighbors have decided to continually re-arrange the furniture to be more accomodating to the herd of elephants that they brought with them. I could swear the sign said "No Pets"...

Computers!

Why is it that our entire lives seem to revolve around computers?

Theresa just received her new laptop, and overjoyed may not be too strong an adjective. But then, it took us a day or so (over the phone with both of us tired) to get it to be recognized by the wireless network at home. Now she is in the midst of trying to configure it so that it does things the way she wants it to. It could be days before she sees productivity.

My laptop won't boot, so I'm traveling computerless, and trying to find an access point wherever I can. (Brother can you spare a few bytes?)

Tuesday, I thought my hotel had a business center. No dice. Wednesday my hotel had a business center. They wanted sixty-nine cents a minute for internet access. (I don't know... I think $41 bucks and change is just a bit much to spend for an hour of internet happiness)

I finally got my wish tonight. Two computers in the business center. Unfortunately, one is almost exclusively taken by the teen daughter of one of the desk clerks. I could swear it said "Business Center" on the door. So I hop on between other actual hotel guests on the one available computer.

But... on to other matters.

In reading the paper the other day, I saw where a former NFL football player turned television analyst had given up his sportscasting job to pursue philanthropic goals. Laudable behaviour. And while never really comfortable with his decision to work in television, he had donated his entire salary to a foundation to help kids. When asked about the extent of the donation, he said something like "More than a car, but less than a house."

This got me thinking. (I think tangentially, as many of you know.) What kind of car? What kind of house? Where? How much did I pay for my first house? (Actually a 2 bedroom condo I bought with my first wife in '79.) (I don't know how many wives that I may ultimately have, so this will eliminate any confusion in the future regarding which wife I was referring to.) (Not that I'm thinking that I need another wife, or anything. My current wife is doing a splendid job of raising my children as I wander the globe, or at least the North American part of it.)

So, where was I? Oh yes... cars and houses. This is something I never expected to hear come out of my mouth. (Or in this case, out of my fingertips.) This is something that old people say. So, I guess, by definition, this makes me an old person. The car that I am currently driving cost more than my first house!

That's ridiculous, isn't it?

2007 Mercedes Benz GL450. MSRP $54,900, destination charge $775, with several thousand dollars worth of options. Total Price: $62,775.

1979 2 bedroom condo - used. I don't remember the exact price, but I think it may actually have been $54,900 also. No destination charge and no options. Total Price: $54,900. (Wait... houses aren't used are they. What are they? Existing? Yeah... I think that's it. I'm sure that's what I've seen... existing home sales.)

I don't know what's worse today. The price of new houses, or the price of new cars. They are both way more than they should be.

But speaking of Wednesday (which I was just a moment ago)... I had an opportunity to have dinner with Edwina and Mark on Wednesday evening. She had read my blog, and asked me to come over for meatloaf for dinner. She claimed that she didn't know that I liked meatloaf. I'm sure that it's come up in conversation, though. In fact, I don't know how it could not. "Man, it's been hot lately hasn't it? I don't know what's up with the weather, but it's crazy all over the country. That reminds me, I really like meatloaf, don't you?"

So I turn up at their house (a two bedroom condo in Walnut Creek that I'm sure costs more than $54,900) to a meatloaf in the oven. And after I changed into shorts and a t-shirt I was talking to Edwina as she pulled it out of the oven to baste it. I had never seen a meatloaf this large in my life! Seriously! It had to weigh ten pounds! It wouldn't fit into one of those wimpy little loaf pans. NNNooooooooo... It was baking on a cookie sheet. Edwina: "I was going to put Italian Sausage in it too, but I forgot to take it out"

What... it could have been bigger?!

When we dined, Mark sliced thick slabs from the Bunyanesque loaf (the only proper way to slice a meatloaf), although each weighed about a pound. We had to cut them in half prior to consumption, for our own well-being. Then, when I left she was trying to get me to take some with me. "Just take it and put it in a ziplock bag in your briefcase."

And you thought I was strange...

At least this time...

I told you I would be back Monday. And, lo and behold... here I am!

You know why I won't buy an SUV? Because when I went to fill up the Mercedes for the first time earlier this week, I couldn't. The pump wouldn't let me! ("What?" I hear you thinking, "is he talking about?") The pump stopped at $75.00. $75.00! And my tank still was not full! (More to follow, as you will see in a moment)

Anyway, when I got done with my training on Thursday, I set out for my hotel, which I had already programmed into the onboard navigation system. While driving from one city to the the next, I usually know generally where I want to be. That being said, I'm definitely a broad strokes kind of guy. I don't pay attention to the details. But when I kept driving, and driving, and driving some more, it occured to me that perhaps I should pull over and take a little closer look.

It seems, while conducting my afternoon training session, a sales consultant had reprogrammed my navigation unit. Taking me to a non-existent random location that was generally in the vicinity of where I needed to be. But that took me about six miles too far. In fact, I had driven past my hotel, which I saw, right beside the freeway. (And I thought to myself, as I drove past it, "I guess I'm not staying there 'cause they were sold out or something")(I had stayed there many times before)

But on Friday night, I got to drive home. I ended the week north of Los Angeles in the city of Valencia, which is about 150 miles from home. In good traffic, I can make it in just over two hours, as freeway provides the primary conduit. But by the time I could depart my afternoon venue, the clock said four. And it said eight when I got home. It was not good traffic. But I did get to see the kids before they went to bed, which is always a treat for me.

Saturday morning came with Noah having replaced Theresa next to me in bed. I have no recollection of anything happening in the dark of the night. Theresa, however, felt compelled to inform me that my sons are synchronized in many, many ways. One of which, apparently, includes their (ahem) elimination habits. Noah got up in the middle of the night and needed (read: wanted) his mom to help him. At the conclusion of his business, he crawled into bed next to me. Not fifteen minutes later, Grayson woke with the same need. And as Noah lie in Theresa's place in our bed, Theresa elected to replace Noah in their bed at the conclusion of Grayson's business. Ours is, indeed, an unusual home.

Oh. Before I forget, I'll give you a weekly mileage update. You may recall that when I picked up the GL, it had but 20 miles on the clock. As of Friday night, pulling up to the curb at home, the tally read 703. Not excessively high for the week.

Saturday night brought the final free concert at the park for us. We had plans to meet Ann and John with their daughter Catherine, and Emma and Elise with their French grandparents who speak very little English (long story) for the evening. San Diego provided its postcard-like weather, and an uber relaxing evening was enjoyed by all. (Typically, we arrive awash in alcohol. Not that we're lushes or anything... But we usually take some wine or beer, and Ann and John usually bring something, so there is generally an over-abundance. We all must have somehow been thinking along those lines, because this time we showed up with the lone bottle of wine. Although, I must say, we really needed no more, as the group of old-farts in front of us (this coming from someone over 50, so take that as you may) had consumed enough for everyone surrounding them. And they provided additional entertainment, as only gray haired line dancers can!

Sunday came all too quickly and I prepared to make the trek north. My goal had been to leave by noon, but you know nothing ever goes according to plan with three kids in the house. But I did make it out by one. But first I had to go the bank and deposit my check to keep the wolves away for yet another week. And replenish the petrol in the Mercedes, which has a highway rating of 18 MPG. And go by the post office to drop off the FedEx envelope so that it would go out on Monday. And drive back home to pick up something that I'd forgotten. But I eventually did make my way down the road.

This week I'm going to rack up just a few more miles. Because while I started the week in San Diego, I will end the week in Medford, Oregon. So, to start, when I got in last night, I had to fill the tank as I was on fumes after the drive up to Santa Clara (near San Jose) from San Diego. So, Sunday 1:06 PM: $73.78 to fill the tank. (At least it didn't run into a pump limit) Sunday (No time stamp, but roughly 9:00 PM) $83.51 (Smart gas station owners. Why limit the pump to $75 when there are so many SUV owners out there?) Sunday total fuel expense: $157.29. My odometer reading at the end of Sunday evening: 1171. (Yes... the company pays for the gas...)

As I prepared to drive away from my afternoon venue today, I programmed my hotel into the nav system. I chose not to follow this afternoons sales consultants suggestion, which would have taken me roughly 387 miles out of my way...

No matter how hard I try...

I can't seem to update daily.

But this time it's not my fault. Really!

I get to my hotel room last night, and my laptop decides not to boot up. So I turn it off, and try it again. Nothing.

Actually, the night before it had acted up as well, but it booted and I was able to get some stuff done. Last night, nada. Tonight, nada. I'm online using one of the hotel's computers. I fear for my laptop. It seems to be hard drive related; never a good sign. Of course, it wasn't a good sign last weekend when I was home and I saw Noah starting to step on my closed laptop as he was getting down from the table. (I stopped him, but I have a feeling he may have actually stepped on it when he got up to the table)

So. I have a couple of days worth of stuff to catch you up. We'll skip the really boring stuff, and I'll just give you the boring stuff!

I think I'm coming down with a cold. Yesterday I was all stuffed up and had some post nasal drip by noon. (Doesn't that sound better than saying I had a runny nose?) So... so as not to be offputting to my afternoon group, I took some antihistamine. Which just about made me sleep through my afternoon group. So when I got back to my room, I nodded off. Theresa called me as I was dozing, so we talked a moment (although she knows that I don't really know what I'm doing or saying when in that state, so she hung up quickly.) I easily could have gone back to sleep, but I needed to get something to eat, so I went off in search of sustenance.

I was staying in Marina del Rey, a fairly posh beach neighborhood west of LA. Cruising, the marina I saw Edie's Diner, so I had to go in as it clashed with all of the froo-froo upscale restaurants. Totally 50's, down to the little juke box selector on the tables of each booth. It was difficult to choose between the meat loaf (a perennial favorite of mine) or the pot roast dinner. I opted for the roast. Very good, with outstanding fresh cauliflower, brocolli and carrots. Not overdone, which is very easy to do, and usually how they arrive in less attentive eateries. (I should say, I typically grab something fast-foodish and take it back to the room, but as I had no computer, I gave myself a nice dinner out.)

It also allowed my to go to bed early. Except I made the mistake of turning on the television to check the Padres score and it was tied 4-4 in the 9th (vs. the Giants.) So I kept cruising the channels and watching for updates. I finally decided to go to sleep while they were still tied in the 12th. (Giants ended up winning)

But even with that, I woke up before my alarm went off. So I guess I got a decent nights sleep.

Today, the highlight of my day was when Theresa called, only it wasn't Theresa. Wait. That didn't come out right. My phone said it was Theresa calling, but it was Mattea on the other end! I was pleasantly surprised, as Mattea rarely wishes to speak to me on the phone when I'm gone. And here she was calling me!

They were in the van on the way to Old McJunior (Actually Carl's Junior, but it's a long story. Maybe another time) to get some chicken stars and french fries. So we talked about her day, and then it came. "Are you going to bring me back anything from your trip?" Ahhhhhhh. The real reason behing her anxiousness to talk to me! Mattea knows that I will periodically bring something back for the kids. And as I didn't bring anything home last weekend, I guess she thought she'd prime the pump for this weekend. I said that I might, and asked if the boys wanted to talk to me. And they did! I talked to both Noah and Grayson! We talked about their day, and they told me what they were getting for dinner. And Grayson was quick to point out that he wasn't going to eat in the car. Then Grayson hung up.

When my phone rang again a moment later, I figured that it was Theresa just calling to finish up. But again, I was wrong. It was Mattea asking when I was going to go to the store - tonight or tomorrow. So how could I not pick something up. I went out and found a Fry's. Wandering around, I was surprised that they had a kids book section. So I got the kids a book about Millicent the plain caterpillar (or something like that).

Tomorrow, I'll be going home for the weekend. Actually, for Saturday and Sunday morning. I need to be in the Bay Area on Monday, so I'll need to leave around noonish on Sunday. Probably a little later than that. And if it's okay with you, I think I'll hold off on my blogging until Monday night. Tomorrow and over the weekend I'll be with the family, and I won't be getting in until late Sunday to my hotel. But I promise, I'll fill you in on all the good stuff. Until then...

I am trashed!

It's only 10:48, but I am totally trashed. I will fill you in tomorrow.

Travel Day

(PS: (usually comes at the end, unless you're me) I typed this up last night, but was unable to post due to losing my wireless connection)

Today was officially a travel day for me. That means I wasn't required to actually present my program to a dealer, I just needed to travel to the vicinity of the dealer to be able to make my presentations tomorrow. Well... today actually. Since it's around 1:00 AM on Tuesday morning.

I stayed home for many reasons, one of which was to take Grayson to the doctor's office, so Theresa wouldn't have to take more time off from work. He's been throwing up periodically, with no apparent reason. The doc thinks that it could just be constipation (which has been somewhat of an issue). We'll give hime the benefit of the doubt and see if that improves the situation.

Another reason was that I actually needed to finish preparing to make my presentations starting tomorrow (this morning). Our participant sales consultants use workbooks that we provide to them during the course of the training. So I like to place notes in a participant workbook, and use it in front of them. It encourages them to use their own workbooks. (I'd like to say that was my idea, but I "borrowed" it from another trainer years ago.) So I spent a good part of the day doing that, as well as researching the Mercedes. (It seems that it may have 2 reverse gears, which I find difficult to believe, so I am asking our technical guru to check it out more thoroughly.)

Then I wanted to help Theresa with the kids tonight, so I fed them while she worked. Then I realized that I had forgotten to pick up my slacks from the dry cleaners. And my other slacks are being FedEx'ed from my hotel in Seattle to the house. (You get the idea that I can't keep track of my pants?) So I had to go out and buy a cheap pair of slacks to get me through the week after the kids were fed.

Then I still had to pack, and gather materials together for my program, and eat something (I couldn't bring myself to go through a drive through with this car just yet. It only had 20 miles on the odometer when I picked it up. But I know that day is coming...) Then I had to drive 120 miles to my hotel. Which is why I didn't get checked in til after midnight. Then I had to iron my newly acquired slacks and a shirt for tomorrow. And update my blog.

I think I'm going to go to bed now, but I've got to check my email first to see if there is anything important I need to know before my first day of training. Wish me luck!

So how long do you want me to keep this up?

Sunday

I think I already mentioned that we slept in this morning. That was kind of nice.

As Theresa made breakfast, I was writing my last blog entry. Then we had a nice meal, and Edwina and Mark got ready to leave. We saw them off safely shortly after.

Mattea's friend Catherine had a birthday party today for her sixth birthday. For some reason known only to Ann and/or John (Catherine's parents), they decided to invite 25 kids to a bowling party and apparently all 25 accepted. (Plus assorted hangers-on like Noah and Grayson.) It was in a special darkened party bowling room with blacklights, disco lights, very loud music and who knows how many kids and adults running around. All of the kids seemed to enjoy it. Catherine's birthday cake was a rather odd concoction. It seemed to be a birthday cake, but then it turned in to cupcakes, grouped closely, and all joined together by an extremely generous layer of fluffy, whipped cream style frosting. Unusual. (Or maybe not. I don't go to many parties for six year olds.)

We came home and none of the kids wanted to nap, so they watched some television. I still had my program to prepare for (you remember the one... the reason I decided to blog daily for a month or so?) So I sequestered myself in my office to get some work done. Then Edwina called saying that there was a fire which shut down I-5, and after a series of phone calls we determined that they were going to spend the night not far from where they were turned back. So I was made travel agent, and found them shelter for the evening (Thank you Yahoo!Maps - a very handy resource if you ever need to travel much). Then I was actually able to get a little work done.

We got the exhausted kids to bed, and it was time for dinner. Watched a little TV, ate, and now we're off to bed.

You really want me to keep this up for a month?

It's Happened!

Already, only three days in, I missed a day of posting to my blog. I knew it would come eventually, but even I figured that I could go longer than that before I missed a day. Oh, well. I'll catch you up.

I just got out of bed about 8:30, so I'm writing while all of this is still fresh. There were five bodies in the bed that I got out of. I only remember going to bed with one beside me. Go figure. But let's start with yesterday.

I already forgot what time I woke up. I'm thinking that it was about 7:30 when Mattea crawled into bed next to me. Noah and Grayson had already joined Theresa on her side at some point during the night. I know for a fact that it was after 1:00 AM. Because I went to bed about 11:40. And Noah started to cry at 11:54. He does that instead of just getting up and going to the bathroom, which is what he really needs to do. But I guess he has to go so bad that it hurts, so he wakes up crying. So I got up and helped him go, and laid him back down on the floor where he was sleeping and went back to bed.

At 12:55, Grayson woke up crying and had to go to the bathroom. So I got up with him, took him to the bathroom, and place him next to his brother on the floor when he was done, and went back to bed.

We got up around 7:30 when Mattea joined us in bed, and Theresa took the kids downstairs so they could have breakfast. They enjoyed cereal or pasta, depending on their desire. And then we got ready for the last day of swim lessons at the local Y.

Mattea did wonderfully, and she has improved dramatically this year. We feel that a big part of her improvement stems from the fact that she goes to the pool once a week with ESS (Extended School Services? - her normal after school care at school, which is where she goes during the summer when Theresa goes to work). The boys don't much care for swimming lessons, and they don't want to get their hair wet. Although Noah blew bubbles today! He was very proud of himself.

Came home, and Theresa got Mattea ready for ballet lessons at 10:45. Auntie Sister and Mark are visiting for the weekend. Mark had gone to help his daughter move into her dorm, and Edwina and Noah went to ballet with Mattea and Theresa, so it was just Grayson and me at home.

I turned on the television for him, and I envisioned myself being able to get some stuff done when Grayson asked me to sit with him. Since I'm gone all week, I couldn't say no. So we watched Higgly Town Heroes and Little Einsteins. By then he was starting to yawn, so we lay down to take a nap around 11:00. We woke up at noon when Theresa got back. They lay down with us, but no one went to sleep after that, so we got up after awhile.

I really needed to fix the sprinklers, as the lawn was starting to turn brown, so I went outside to check out the damage. (You remember the flooding incident, right?) Fortunately, it was an easy fix. The guy that had installed the new sprinkler bank forgot to use pvc glue on one of the junctions, and it just took several weeks to work itself to the stage to blow apart. That guy would be me. So I glued the junction together and all should be right with the world. I have to still test it today.

Then it was time to go to the first Charger pre-season game of the season. Talk about your basic rip off. If you wish to buy season tickets, all pre-season (what used to be called scrimmages when I was in high school) are included. At full price.

Verb 1. scrimmage - practice playing (a sport)
practise, rehearse, practice - engage in a rehearsal (of)

Certainly these games could be categorized as scrimmages. Okay, so you are playing another team. IT DOESN'T COUNT! Worse yet, for the consumer, if you wish to buy a popular single game ticket (ie; Chargers vs. Raiders), you are required to buy a two or three game package, which includes a pre-season game AT FULL PRICE!

Anyway, the game started at eight, so we left at six to be there in plenty of time, and just get to enjoy some of the pre-game ambiance. Except that the game really started at seven, and we just barely made it to the stadium in time. (Just for the record, Theresa thought the game started at eight.) But we did get to watch Philip Rivers have a great first series scoring two touchdowns on his first drive. The first one was taken away by a receiver that didn't get his foot down in-bounds, so they came back with the same play and scored again. I thought that was a particularly gutsy move, but it worked. Overall, Rivers made a pretty strong debut, then turned it over in the second half to a guy named Feely who showed immediately why he was a backup quarterback. The game really did deteriorate into a scrimmage. We made it to the fourth quarter before calling it quits and heading home. But we still didn't get home until after 10:30, and I was too tired to blog, so that's why you didn't get my daily update until this morning.

But as long as I'm blogging, I'll give you last nights activity. We got home and I put Noah on the toilet, and he went, then I laid him back down on the floor. Tried the same thing with Grayson (who was sleeping in underwear for the first time in forever, because he is still having problems staying dry at night. But he had been dry three consecutive nights, which is the requirement to go into underwear in the Hernandez household) and he balked and said he didn't have to go, so I didn't force the issue. So I was up at 3:40 this morning changing a wet Grayson and blotting a soaked carpet.

Theresa, in her wisdom, thought of a novel way to keep the boys from rolling down the stairs while they are sleeping on the floor upstairs, which is where they have decided to sleep while Auntie Sister and Mark visit. We still have a body pillow from her pregnancy days, so she decided to lay it at the top of the stairs so that they would not roll down the stairs. I mention this now, because when I got up at 3:40 to change Grayson, Noah was sleeping on top of the body pillow at the top of the stairs. So had he decided to roll over in his sleep, he would have gone tumbling down said stairs. So I left him on the pillow, and just dragged it away from potential disaster. Perhaps we won't put the pillow there any longer.

T3 - Train The Trainer

That's what today's activity is called. Pretty descriptive, no?

Whenever we (guys like me, although, there are a few women who do this) are hired, we need to be trained about what we are going to teach others. So we are gathered together from all parts of the country, and in fact the world, as some of the trainers hail from Great Britain, Canada, and occasionally other countries. And we "learn the program".

This particular program is a 90 minute presentation, made primarily to Infiniti sales consultants, although periodically a manager or two will sit in as well. I started to tell you about it, when I was so rudely interrupted by arrests made halfway around the world. We will be comparing the new Mercedes GL450 full size sport utility vehicle to the Infiniti QX56 full size sport utility vehicle. While the QX56 has been around for a couple of years, the GL450 is a brand new vehicle for Mercedes, so Infiniti wants to educate their sales consultants about the capabilities of the competition.

We spend the day seeing the program modeled (someone else presents the training as we are to present it). We watch it and participate as our sales consultants would. This is actually quite helpful, as we get to see it from the "other side". In this case, that only takes 90 minutes. Then we review the content and look for problem areas that may occur. Then we research the vehicles to look for the questions that will occur that are not incorporated in the training agenda. There are always questions. Then we go our merry way, and have the weekend to let it sink in, practice it... whatever it is that we do to learn the program.

As there are too many Infiniti dealerships for one person to train in a reasonable time, the country is divided into six territories, and six teams each travel within their assigned territory, training the staff of those dealerships within their scope. In this case, each team consists of one person. Sometimes the teams consist of two or three people.

Since the sales consultants are already (or should be) familiar with their own product, we bring them the competitive product. In this case, the GL450. Since there are 6 teams, 6 GL450's need to be purchased for the program. Since I will be starting in the greater Los Angeles area, and the training was held at Nissan headquarters in the Los Angeles area, my assigned vehicle was one of the vehicles used in the training today. So I drove home in a 2007 Mercedes GL450 that had 20 miles on the odometer when I drove it away. The base price on this particular black GL450 is $54,900. Once the destination charge and options were added, the total retail price, as it says on the window sticker, is $62,775. I don't think that we'll be buying one anytime soon.

And so it begins...

My flight was scheduled for a 12:34 PM departure. Terrorists were arrested in London, so the entire world of airport security responded.

Arriving over two hours early for my flight was not enough. I missed my flight by about 5 minutes. When in situations such as these, one can take a lesson from the martial arts - specifically Judo: "a primary principal of judo is that of taking of advantage of aggressive force by giving way rather than resisting it". It does no good to get angry or upset. These feelings only create negativity. So I just rolled with the punches, so to speak.

I was able to make the next flight, which was due to leave about an hour later, and which only left slightly late. Interestingly enough, the flight attendant was offering complementary cocktails, even though the flight was only a few minutes late. I think they felt sorry for all of us stuck in the long security lines. I chose to pass on the cocktails, since I had a six o'clock meeting when I eventually did get to LA.

On the flight down, I was using my laptop for some research and closed it for a minute while I got something out of my briefcase. When I opened up my laptop, it froze, and I couldn't get it to fire up again. Turn it off, turn in on... no Windows. And I couldn't hit the tiny little reset button, because I had no paper clip in my briefcase.

So we landed, and I found my rollaboard, which I had checked because I didn't want to have to throw away all of my toothpaste, shampoo, etc. Interestingly enough, my bag was already here. I say that, because the flight that I thought that I had missed, was cancelled due to "Passenger action", whatever that means. So I guess they just loaded up everyone's luggage that had already been checked, and sent it on down anyway, sans owner.

Anyway, I made it to the hotel with about 10 minutes to spare for my meeting. That lasted about an hour, then a few of us went out to get some dinner. I got back to my room at about 9:30 or so. Theresa had called while I was at dinner, so I called her back and we talked for a bit. Actually, we had talked a little earlier in the day (I forget exactly where I was), when she was ordering her new laptop. We wanted to make sure it was properly configured.

So... now it's 11:41, and I still have some reading to do for my training session tomorrow. Welcome to my world!

Oh... and the slacks that I'm supposed to wear tomorrow? They're still hanging in my hotel room in Seattle.

Be Prepared!

Not only is that the Boy Scout motto. It is also a warning to you. I am going to attempt to blog daily for the duration of my next program, which starts today, and ends on September 8th.

"Why?" I hear you asking of yourselves. You realize, of course, that you can't answer, because you don't know why. "Why, does he do these things to us?" Because he can, would be the glib answer. The somewhat more correct answer would be to document an entire program (albeit a short one), so that my family (along with whoever else might read this), will have some understanding of what it is that I do for a living.

I'm am choosing this particular program for a couple of reasons. It is short. Some of my training programs are six to eight weeks long. I don't think that I could torture myself (or you, dear reader) for that long. This one is less than four. Also, my actual time in each dealership is somewhat reduced from a typical training program, because of the content, which will actually give me some time to write.

Speaking of which, I suppose I should tell you a little bit about the program. I will be comparing the Mercedes GL450 sport utility vehicle to the Infiniti QX56 for Infiniti. To do this, I will fly to Los Angeles later today from Seattle (which is where I handed off my current program of training Nissan sales consultants about the Versa and how it compares to the Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit (very favorably, I might add). For those of you who may have missed a post or two, that program started on June 22, when I flew to LA for training on that session. Since that program does not end until next week, I had to hand it over to someone else to finish. I was able to do this only because I have a good relationship with Mark, the guy that hires me for these programs, and he took pity on my and moved me from the Versa program to the QX56 program so I could get a couple extra weeks of work.)

I have to go now. I just got a phone call from Todd, one of the guys that I've been working with on the Versa training. He said that there was a potential terrorist attack thwarted in London this morning, and that all US airports security measures were being raised. It is currently 8:10 AM, and my flight doesn't leave until 12:36 PM, but I have a feeling that a good part of my morning will be spent waiting in lines. Fortunately, most of my time will be driving not flying over the next several weeks. More later...

Bonus!

42 hours.

That's about how long I got to spend at home this past weekend! (Usually it's only about 34 or 36) Of course, about 15 of those were sleeping.

But, I only had one training session on Friday morning, so I got to head home early Friday afternoon. Flying in from Portland, I got in and Theresa picked me up in the airport in her dad's recently acquired BMW Z3, which Theresa was car sitting. It had been sitting in the driveway all week, and she was sorely looking for an excuse to drive it. Her boss had given her tickets to the Padres game (we lost to the Washington Nationals, but they were nice seats (any free seats are nice, don't you think?)) We had a great opportunity to spend some time, just the two of us for a change, taking in America's game, on a beautiful San Diego evening. The outrageous heat wave had passed, and it was an absolutely gorgeous, "convention and visitor's bureau" way to end the week.

And then came Saturday morning. Swimming lessons at 9 (Mattea is getting really comfortable in the water, and I feel confident letting her "swim" on her own now, while the boys want nothing to do with anything involving getting their hair wet). Ballet lessons at 11. (The boys will be starting next month) Naps for the boys (Theresa joined them and slept longer than they did... I'm not really sure why!)

I took the kids to the grocery store after everyone woke up, and they all thought it was great fun. The boys wanted to walk, so I pushed the cart while behind me trailed three golden haired munchkins linked hand-in-hand drawing smiles from most passers-by. (A dad with one child commented "I thought I had it tough!")

When I got back, Theresa was getting ready for an evening out with her sisters. Later we discovered that they hadn't been out together, just the three of them, for about 5 years. This from three sisters that live within the same county! But they went out to dinner and took in a play about three sisters (the impetus for the evening.)

Then Sunday morning we got the kids fed, I did my laundry, packed, mowed the lawn, didn't repair the sprinklers that had caused the flood the week before, and drove the BMW back to Jim, who let me drive to the airport. (He used the excuse that he wanted to ride in the passengers seat, to see what it felt like.)

Now you know what my weekends at home are like. Generally minus the ballgame.

June 10th!

June 10th was the last time that I updated this thing? Someone should tell me these things! Today is what... August 2? I think that is waaaaaay too long, don't you? (Of course you do. That's why you're reading this now, right?)

There has just been way too much to write about since then. My first idea near the beginning of July was to write about what I did on my summer vacation. My summer vacation was the 4th of July weekend. We did stuff, but I don't really remember what we did now. I'm sure we had fun. (Don't you love it when I don't get all caught up in the details. Things just go so much faster.)

One of the reasons that I haven't written anything, is that I have been extremely busy lately. I started another project the last weekend in June. The national launch training program for the new Nissan Versa subcompact. When I train, I travel. Said travel with this particular program has already taken me from LA (for training) to Bakersfield, CA (first training city), through central California, over to Reno, up to Bend, OR, continuing up the state to the Portland area, where I am now. I'll be up in the Seattle area by this time next week. Then I have to leave this program prior to its' conclusion, to start on another program comparing the new Mercedes GL450 to the Infiniti QX56 full-size SUB. Oh, did I mention that I'm driving all of this way? So basically, LA to Seattle, driving a small car (with two other guys in two other small cars, the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris for comparison purposes) in about 6 weeks. Oh, and did I mention that I fly home every weekend from wherever I happen to be, so I can actually spend time with my family? Finish training at 5 or so on Friday, drive to a nearby (or not) airport, get home after everyone's in bed, spend a day and a half at home, and back to the airport on Sunday afternoon to fly back to wherever I flew out of to drive to another city to start work on Monday again. Oh, did I mention that the Infiniti/Mercedes program will have me going from LA to Seattle, to Utah, then to Las Vegas in three weeks? (At least for that one I'll be driving the Mercedes!)The glamorous world of business travel. And I still need to squeeze in flying home on the weekends between all of that driving for the Infiniti program.

Fine you say. So update your blog in the evenings when you're just hanging out in your hotel room, you say. Would that be before, or after, booking hotel reservations for every night of the travel mentioned above, for me and my two traveling partners. And it would definitely be after checking in on NDISB stuff to make sure nothing has blown up during the day. Then I have to check the NDISB forum and delete the spam posters who are joining the forum to link to some website that has nothing to do with scrapbooking. And naturally, I have to read the forums to see what's going on, and drop in a post or two of my own if needed just to keep things interesting. I suppose that I could do it before programming my Palm/Garmin based navigation system with the next days' dealerships and hotel so I know where I'm going. But usually I just crawl into my bed around midnight, so I can get up and do it all again the next day. (Thank goodness that Hampton Inn has instituted a nationwide rollout of actually putting comfortable beds in their hotel rooms (Imagine That!)) Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of Hampton Inns near where I need to stay. I'm rreally hoping that Holiday Inn Express (which is everywhere) picks up on that and encourages their franchisees to do something similar. So far, all they have is shower heads and new sheets. Seriously, they are so proud of their new sheets, that they are plastered all over their home page.

Anyway... the real reason that I wanted to post anything this evening is to tell you that I am sooooooooo proud of Theresa!

First, I am absolutely blown away by her devotion to her scrapbooking business, Natural Designs in Scrapbooking (which you can find at www.ndisb.com). She truly and consistently puts this pompous and meandering blowhard to shame. She gets up early with her kids, immediately starts working on NDISB stuff, gets the kids fed and dressed and off to school, goes to her "real job", and then reverses all of that at the end of the day. Seriously, she is on her laptop for hours a day at home before and after going to "work". She's working two forty hour a week jobs, plus raising a family in my absence, and I come home on the weekends and throw a monkey wrench into her perfectly organized chaos!

But what just about brought tears to my eyes was her selection as the Featured Designer at A Cherry on Top (http://www.acherryontop.com/)for the month of August. After I read about Theresa, I scrolled down and saw that the ACOT Creative Team used her featured kit to create some layouts. And just seeing so many women using her designs to make memories of their own really struck me in a way that hadn't happened before. I don't know why, because I've seen her kits used in lots of layouts before. I guess sometimes you can't really account for why you feel the way that you do. I just know that I am incredibly proud of Theresa, and just totally, totally amazed at her untiring dedication to her customers and team of designers and creative team members that she has working with her on the site.

Theresa knows all of these things. I tell her all the time. But you don't know that's how I feel. I should say that you didn't. Now you do.

Theresa... you are an inspiration to me, and as glowing an example as could exist for our children. (Even when you're yelling at them because they're fighting over who's going to pee first!) I love you deeply.

Things that we need

We need lots of things around our house.

I need to put up some hooks near the front door for the kids to hang their jackets on. I actually bought the hooks already at Home Depot. But they came on a black mounting board, which I felt would not merge well with our pink walls, that we need to paint but haven't gotten around to it yet. So I had to paint them white. I've painted them white now, but I don't like the way that they came out, so I need to sand them down a bit and repaint them. I'm beginning to think that I should have looked around some more.

We need to clean out our garage. We only moved in 47 months ago. It's when the month count gets into triple digits that I think that we can admit to having a problem. Why is it that people count in months when they should be counting in years? "Jessi's only 26 months." Or they count in weeks when they should be counting in months? "Billy Bob here's only 28 weeks."

I desperately need to clean out my office. I periodically go through it and make a mild effort at cleaning. Just this week I've been on a cleaning binge. Would you like to see the progress that I've made on my desk?















You probably get the impression that we are a slovenly bunch. Not really. I am just horrible at making decisions, so I choose to make no decision, which results in unseemly piles upon piles of stuff. It is not uncommon for me to find an item that has been on my desk top for over 2 years. I have also developed the ability to ignore things. Theresa could probably tell you that I've been doing a pretty good job of ignoring her for years! Which is not really true. I just don't listen all the time.

You know, this post started out as just a little blurb about why we don't have a new kitchen table. By the way, that is one of the things that we need. But I decided to document why we're not going to get a new kitchen table anytime soon.


All of those little marks that you see in the wood are gouges placed there by one or the other, or more likely, both of our two male offspring. You know, I don't remember Mattea ever damaging anything by pounding on it. Sure... she did her share of damage by drawing on things with markers, but she was not nearly as destructive as the two boys seem to be. And those dents were placed on the table top with spoons. Just think of the damage they could manage with knives!

But when I decided to call the post "Things that we need", I started thinking about other things that we need. I'm a very tangential thinker if you haven't figured that out about me by now. Occasionally I actually make it back to the idea that I started to present in the beginning, but often I don't. But that's when I'm speaking. The advantage of the written word is that I can go back again and again, until I have connected various random bits.

Earlier I mentioned documentation. The photo of the kitchen table. And I thought to myself, that my dedicated readers (and you know who you are) would probably like to see documentation of the other things that we need as well. Which led me to the thought that if I actually took pictures of this stuff, and put it out there for the world to see, that it may in fact provide some kind of motivational factor to take care of these things. (Knowing myself as I do, not very likely, but one never knows)

I hear Theresa trying to mediate a disagreement between the boys downstairs. "Who had it first?" "Me" says one. "Me" says the other. Theresa threatens to take whatever it is away, and somehow the noise level subsides, and it's back to boys bantering and Mattea playing Chutes and Ladders with her mom.

Speaking of tangential thinking. Theresa took Mattea to a lunch with the teachers that we bid on to help raise money for the school. One of the teachers ran out to pick up the pizza, and the other was asking questions of the kids. "What's your favorite movie?" Many of the other kids (all kindergartners, some boys) responded with action flicks or fighting movies. Mattea's response - 101 Dalmations. "What's your favorite game?" X-Box this, Playstation that - Mattea "Chutes and Ladders". Theresa said that Mrs. Johnson was beaming with each answer provided by our little girl. I'll live with the messes for that kind of development for our children.

Sometimes ya just gotta wonder

We were going to the store the other day. We must have been feeling brave, 'cause all of us were in the car.

No. We were going to Grandma and Grandpa's for a Memorial Day get together. That's why we were all in the car. But we had to go to the store, before we left. Anyway, we were driving down the street and saw a kid trying to break into what I assume was his car (it was in a driveway with two other kids watching and the garage door was up. Maybe he was just a really ballsy thief). The driver's side window must have been down a bit, because he was using a hanger to try to release the lock. Apparently nobody told him that traditionally, one uses a wire hanger, unbent and with a little hook on the end or whatever it takes to operate the lock. He was using one of those tubular plastic hangers, holding each end by his fingers, with the hook dangling mid-window.

I didn't have the heart to stop and tell him.

Hard wild eggs

My children are like me in many ways. Routine oriented. Stubborn. Dark-haired, and dark-eyed. Okay... so maybe not the last one. (Theresa had to give them something, I guess)

My boy children need to eat breakfast as soon as they get up from their nap. Almost the first words out of their mouths are "I'm hungry!" And yes, they really do take naps at night. They last about 10 hours or so, but apparently, in the world of Grayson and Noah, whenever one lays down to sleep, it is to take a nap.

Generally, breakfast consists of those all-time staples - cold cereal or instant oatmeal. (Although it really is not all that instant when you put five or six packets into a large mixing bowl and put it in the microwave for about 8 minutes.) If we happen to have fresh fruit on hand, which we generally do, they will often snack on some grapes or watermelon until the oatmeal is ready.

This morning, Grayson wanted some eggs. Theresa and I had eggs for dinner a few nights ago, which prompted him to ask for eggs for breakfast. I forgot about them yesterday, so he reminded me this morning while he was helping me get out of bed. He wanted eggs with ortillas. No, that wasn't a typo. For some reason, Grayson's tortillas are missing a "t". So I got Mattea and Noah some cereal and Grayson watched me scramble some eggs for him, and heat up his ortilla. While we were cooking Grayson's breakfast, Noah asked "Are those hard wild eggs?" He had remembered the hard boiled eggs that we had colored for Easter and perhaps thought that all eggs were hard wild eggs. I don't really know why some ideas become ingrained in the mind of a toddler. Maybe he is the only one that truly understands that the product of a free range chicken must be a hard wild egg.

8/7 Central

Being a parent can be a journey fraught with peril, emotional distress, times of silliness and laughter. And this all before the arrival of your first child! Once they do arrive it just gets better.

While still an infant and toddler, Mattea's first experiences would often bring tears of laughter from her exhausted, awe-struck parents. Her innocence. Her sheer wonder of the world around her. The joy with which she experienced her new life.

With six years (six years!) worth of experiences under her belt, she operates with much more savvy in the ways of the world. Fortunately, not so much that she has become insufferable. Certainly though, she experiences fewer all-new experiences in day-to-day living. But she still occasionally offers amusement to her slightly less exhausted parents.

The other day, the kids watched television (The Disney Channel, which is virtually the only broadcast television that they watch) and a commercial played that caught Mattea's eye. (I think almost all, if not actually all, commercials on The Disney Channel are for other Disney Channel shows or Disney products.) A show was coming up that Mattea wanted Theresa to TiVo for her. (If TiVo is not yet a verb, it should be.) When Theresa asked Mattea what it was and when, Mattea told her the name of the show, and that it would be coming on at 8/7 central.

For non-family members

(I really do more than just hang out on the forum all day. Remember... I am Everywhere... all the time...)

For family members only

(For those family members who read the previous post... I really am busy!)

My blog and real people

Had I known that actual real live people read my blog (ie; other than family members), I may (underline MAY) have been more inclined to update on a more frequent basis. But now that Bob has left a comment, calling me out for not updating in over a month, I guess I have to write SOMEthing. (When my family tells me that it's been awhile since I've posted anything, I can always put them off with how busy I am. But when one of our extended family members comes over from NDISB (Theresa's scrapbooking store/forum/gallery), they know that I just hang out in the forum and pretend I know what I'm doing as a webmaster and site admin, so I can't use that same line.

But, what to write?

I could write about the kids. I can always write about the kids. In fact, I've been meaning to post about this for awhile, but I haven't taken the appropriate picture yet, but I guess I could do that now. (Picture me getting up and going to get the camera and taking a picture of the "subject item". (of course, I'm not really doing that, but you can imagine it, nonetheless.))

A few weekends ago, with Theresa and Mattea at Mattea's Saturday morning ballet lesson, I remained home "watching" the boys. Okay. We weren't physically in the same room. Or on the same floor. But we were all inside the same house at the same time. That has to count for something.

I sat at my computer in my office, as I have been known to do from time to time, but this particular time I heard coughing. But not your regular three-year-old coughing. More like your "I'm choking, somebody help me!" coughing. I took this audible cue to mean that I should, in fact, see if perhaps one of my children needed tending to. By the time I got downstairs, Noah and Grayson had both thrown up on the carpet of the family room, not two feet away from where they could just have easily thrown up on the tile floor. Kids.

Seeing that they had already remedied their own situation, I proceeded to clean things up before someone came home and started asking questions. While performing my janitorial duties, I asked the boys what happened. They both said that they were just eating Mattea's bunny cookie (it was just after Easter).






As you can see, while still in the wrapper, it looked like an appealing bunny cookie. Upon removing it, experience tells us that this is not, in fact, a cookie, but a bar of soap. Experience that 2 three-year-old boys had yet to acquire.

(Just as I was posting these pictures, Noah came up to me, saw the picture, and said "That's not a cookie!" When I asked him what it was, he said "Soap!" He seems to have gained some knowledge in the experience!)

Blogthings

OK.

This is the last one.

Really.

You Are 18% Addicted to Blogthings

You're either a Blogthings newbie - or you haven't been sucked in... yet! Right now, you're at low risk for addiction. But we'll make sure and change that.

How Addicted To Blogthings Are You?

Help! I'm taking tests and I can't stop myself!

I saw another test that said something like "What kind of writer are you?"

I don't know that I agree with the results of this one. I don't feel like a poet. And I certainly don't have the legs for it, if you have to have legs like the girl in the picture.

But I suppose that is better than the test maker saying that I should avoid ever putting pen to paper ever again.

You Should Be A Poet

You craft words well, in creative and unexpected ways. And you have a great talent for evoking beautiful imagery... Or describing the most intense heartbreak ever. You're already naturally a poet, even if you've never written a poem.

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

Now this is interesting...

The same place that had the "Muppet Personality Test" also had a "3 Question Personality Test". Just like it sounds. Three questions, and they tell you who you are. Interestingly enough, I think they got it about right. Let me know if you agree or disagree. Don't be surprised if I critique you.

Your Personality Is

Rational (NT) You are both logical and creative. You are full of ideas. You are so rational that you analyze everything. This drives people a little crazy! Intelligence is important to you. You always like to be around smart people. In fact, you're often a little short with people who don't impress you mentally. You seem distant to some - but it's usually because you're deep in thought. Those who understand you best are fellow Rationals. In love, you tend to approach things with logic. You seek a compatible mate - who is also very intelligent. At work, you tend to gravitate toward idea building careers - like programming, medicine, or academia. With others, you are very honest and direct. People often can't take your criticism well. As far as your looks go, you're coasting on what you were born with. You think fashion is silly. On weekends, you spend most of your time thinking, experimenting with new ideas, or learning new things.

The Three Question Personality Test

I find myself somewhat perplexed.

I was checking out a blog, and saw that the blogger had been designated "Kermit" by the Muppet Personality Test.

That sounds interesting, I thought to myself. As there was a link to the test directly below the results which were posted at her blog, I clicked on the link, and took the test.

You Are Animal

A complete lunatic, you're operating on 100% animal instincts. You thrive on uncontrolled energy, and you're downright scary. But you sure can beat a good drum. "Kill! Kill!"

The Muppet Personality Test

Now, nobody has ever really come out and pronounced me sane, but on the other hand, I really don't believe that I've ever been called "a complete lunatic" before.

And I am really suspect of the whole "thriving on uncontrolled energy" thing.

I did mention something about entertaining a crowd by beating on things.

Be careful how you answer personality tests.

Freeze!

You know how sometimes on Mondays you move a little more slowly in the morning than on other days of the week? This past Monday proved no exception.

We had visitors for the weekend (my sister Edwina and her husband Mark came down from Northern California) and Sunday was a particularly physical day. We went to the Wild Animal Park and trudged all over the park on foot for several hours. Normally, I wouldn't be too affected by this (he says in his deep, manly, strong, vital voice), but... within about 50 yards of walking into the park, Noah forgot how to walk, and needed to be carried. The whole way. All day long. (I hear you laughing... well... you try walking with an extra 30+ pounds attached to your hip up hill through the snow and the rain and the... wait... where was I?)

Ah yes... Monday morning. The alarm went off at 6:00, its usual time. I am assuming this, because there was no reason to change it to 6:40, when I actually started hearing it. So I reached over and woke the boys up, and altogether we made enough noise that we woke up Mattea on the other side of the house, and Theresa, who was sleeping downstairs in the guest room (see prior post!). We're running around like crazy, trying to get ready and not be late (Mattea's first bell at school rings at 8:10 AM). So with all of our hurrying and scurrying we managed to get out of the house in... one hour and twenty five minutes! We saved a whole five minutes!

Fortunately, Mattea's school is just a couple of blocks away. But there is the dreaded traffic light at Ted Williams Parkway between us and the school. Dreaded, because Ted Williams is very heavily used in the morning by commute traffic. Also, because the school is right up the hill from the light, all traffic going to the school from the south must pass through this intersection. So, it took us two cycles to get through the light, with the toes of my left foot tapping out a manic beat on the carpeted floor of the van, with one eye on the clock and a firm grip on the steering wheel. I have had to go the "The Office" before, and I didn't want to have to do it again.

As we drove up the hill to the school, I lowered the passenger's door window to listen for the coming bell. We arrived at school prior to the electronic tone, so with relief I pulled up to the curb along with all of the other "life on the edge" parents. We said our quick goodbyes, and Mattea was off with the raft of other children heading for the gate. Then it came. The first bell.

And Mattea froze. Right where she stood. Just like a statue.

It was like some time warp scene from a movie, or some television commercial where the hero is standing there, and everything around them is moving in fast motion.

Let me digress. When the kids are out on the playground in the morning, and the first bell goes off, they are instructed to freeze. Stop playing. Stop yelling. Stop doing whatever it is they are doing. And then the playground monitor has control, and can say something like "Okay, let's line up for class!"

But Mattea wasn't on the playground. And as her time froze, everyone else's time around her went into hypermode, as kids, knowing that they were on the edge of being late, scooted past and around her.

In a moment (or possibly two or three), Mattea realized that people were actually moving past her, and she saw one of her classmates running by. She latched on to him, stopped him in his tracks like a wild animal hit with a light in the dark, and gave him a great big hug! Then, off they went, running to not be late for class.

The world of my little girl.

Wake up. Get dressed. Eat Breakfast. Leave.

How long could it take?

In our house, generally about an hour and a half.

My alarm goes off at 6. (Technically, it's Theresa's alarm. I don't have one, unless you count my cell phone's 3 alarms which I use when I'm travelling. It can be quite useful to have multiple alarm settings!) I'm not really a morning person, so it takes me a few minutes to actually recognize that music is now playing. (Theresa has it set to "radio", and I would never think of changing something that Theresa has done!) So I guess some of this time must rightfully be claimed by me. When suitably roused from slumber, I reach over and start waking Grayson up.

Grayson is usually the one that we can't move from the "green bed" (our bed, which currently has a green bedspread on it) to his own crib at night. He is a fairly light sleeper, and when being picked up or laid down in his crib, that is often enough to wake him to the point that he realizes he is no longer in the green bed. Which brings him back to the green bed.

Once Grayson is awake, we both start saying "Nooo-ah... it's time to get uuu-uuuup". Because, even though I may have been successful in moving Noah from the green bed to his crib when we went to bed, it is highly likely that he will wake up in the green bed in the morning. He used to just wake up at some random hour, get out of his crib, and wander into bed with us. Now he prefers room service. He wakes up (still at some random hour) and cries until I go get him and bring him back into the green bed.

If you missed my earlier post regarding bedtime, the boys refuse to go to sleep in their own cribs. So they fall asleep in our bed, and if we are successful, they are moved into their own cribs when we go to bed.

If you're starting to think that it must be crowded with four of us in bed, you're right. Which is why Theresa generally won't be found in bed with us in the morning, because when Noah joins us, he takes pleasure in thrashing about in his sleep, which drives Theresa to the guest room bed. (Yes, we finally got it cleaned up, so she doesn't have to sleep on the couch anymore). By now, it is usually about twenty after six, or sometimes later, and if Mattea hasn't joined us by now with all the racket that the boys are making (which she usually has), we'll go get her out of bed.

Then we go into the boys room to get them dressed, and Mattea goes back to get dressed as well. If there are no green train underwear (of which we only own two pair), it takes Noah forever to select proper undergarments. Grayson, though not as picky, is no speed demon. Then we select a shirt. If there is no white dinosour shirt (Noah) or yellow Micky Mouse shirt (Grayson), again, we go through the selection process. We have tried having them pick something the night before, but then they've had a whole night to change their mind. Finally, we get to pants. Right around now, I'm thinking we would have been better off just buying 10 or 20 of exactly the same thing... shirts, pants, underwear, socks... just to avoid all of this! I thought the days of clothing selection were only going to be applicable to Mattea. Wrong!

So usually, we're finally dressed by 6:45-6:55. So we head downstairs to get some breakfast. Deciding on what to eat usually isn't a problem. Generally everyone is hungry and will go with whatever selection that I throw their way. But they are s-l-o-w eaters. Most mornings, by now, Theresa has joined the mix somewhere along the way, and if she is out of the shower, I'll head up and take my own while she monitors the mealtime progress. Typically three bowls of cereal later (each) (at 7-9 minutes per bowl) everyone takes their bowls and places them on the counter or in the sink. With any luck there are no clothes to be changed due to spills. Then we get jackets on. Then we find sunglasses. No, not those sunglasses. Those sunglasses. Then everyone gets herded out to the van. After Grayson has to go find his brown guitar to take with him. And Noah goes and gets his yellow guitar. And Mattea has to go back in and get her snack and schoolwork. Then somebody is wailing because he or she doesn't have something that they desperately need. So I head back into the house. Then as we're ready to pull out of the driveway, I remember that I forgot the check for daycare. Or Mattea's lunch. Or my phone. So with any luck, we're pulling out of the driveway around 7:35.

Wake up. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. Leave. As simple as that!