Tis time soon

Rachel and I have been trying to get stuff done with the yard but decided we would like more company. So sometime in the not so distant future we would like to plan a family work day. Probably late May or June. First, we want to get input from everyone and find out what schedules are like. What do youins think?
Tonight we saw "United 93". Very sobering indeed. I have heard other people say they think it's too soon or stupid altogether. But I'm glad I saw it for educational purposes and for remembrance.

I have a job!

At least a part time one. I am the new assistant coach of the NW girls soccer team. Linda Gray, my coach and the still current coach, wants to retire after the '06 season and I asked if I could assist her this year and possibly take over next year if I like it. She got everything approved with the necessary people and I know have a job!

Not sure how this may or may not effect teaching, but I don't even know if I will get a teaching job and I don't want to turn down an offer. I am just praying that God will be in complete control of what happens and that I can happily follow his will for me.

July isn't that far off

Anybody start their all-star voting yet?

Fantasyland

Just finished reading Fantasyland: A Season on Baseball's Lunatic Fringe by Sam Walker. Wanted to through this one out to Dad, Brian, Mike, and Steph, and anyone else interested in the subculture of pro baseball known as fantasy leagues.

It's about a reporter's quest to beat the most elite, invitation-only members of the Tout Wars. Not only is it an entertaining (really funny, actually) look at the realities of modern baseball, but also a case study of popular strategies and a profile of the most famous originators, contributors and players of the game.

Highly recommended.

Kitchen cabinets

Yes,I know that this topic is not one that is going to make you say, "Gosh, I've just GOT to read this!" But I can't help being excited about the cabinets Dad & I bought at the Habitat Store Saturday. They are heavy, high-quality, lightly-used cabinets in an ususual style that fits right in with a cabin. Here is a photo of some of them as they stand in our garage. Aren't they nifty? Doesn't it make you want to immediately plan a trip to the cabin?

one interview down

i had my interview at smithville today. it was very grueling and intense. i walked out and suddenly realized my neck and shoulders were stiff as a board and i had a horrible headache. it lasted a little over an hour and there were two principles there, each with about 3 pages of questions to ask me. as i answered, they took little notes. i think i did okay. i know i didn't answer all of the questions perfectly, but i gave my best and thought through my answers before just blurting something out. me being self-critical, i've gone over and over what i could have said, but i don't think i did too bad. i won't be heartbroken if i don't get a second interview. i'm just happy to have this under my belt so that way i can prepare a little better for the next one. i know what to expect now. and what i really want is one of those 4th or 5th grade spots at NW if they are available. so this is good practice.

they said they will call me by the end of next week to let me know either way. i will keep you all updated.

important reminder

i just thought everyone needed a little reminder: in the words of Mary Roach..."Whatever!"

It's Official!

The cabin now has an indoor bathroom, complete with flushing toilet, tub/shower (featuring both HOT and COLD running water) and even (tah dah!) a DOOR with a lock! Granted, the long wall next to the bedroom consists of one panel of chipboard, the back of the bathtub, and a long piece of cardboard, and the door does not reach the top of the door frame, and there is no sink as yet, but----hey, it's miles better than old Sparky!

We also have a kitchen sink, with hot and cold running water, two drains, and a countertop made of plywood!

Three double beds and a futon complete the luxurious accomodations. We are now taking reservations for summer weekends or vacations.

ok, here is my first one

I will try my first post. Not much to say but I'll send a pic of my favorite nephew.

Several news items

1) Mike had a meeting with his bosses about the upcoming water division. Things are looking great. They want to buy more equipment than Mike expected, so they are diving right in. They will be buying a truck or van, and to start, Mike will basically go to all jobs with a foreman. He also discussed with them the possibility of being a part owner of the new division and they seemed excited about the idea. They were not expecting that, but they will talk to their accountant and work out details. If they agree, we will put in as much $ as we can to purchase equipment and be somewhere around 25% owners (we hope). This should benefit everyone involved.

2) We are now a 1 car family - for a little while. We sold Mike's aunt Lorie our Camry. She is going through a divorce right now, just moved to a rental house, and cannot afford to pay on the van that she purchaced about a year ago. She inquired about our car and we decided that with me barely driving anywhere right now we could sell it to her for a fair price, she can make payments to us, and we will borrow one of the Bowman's vehicles until we need to buy something. We will probably start looking in June, but we are not sure what direction we want to go. I could get a college grad discount on something brand new, but we may just get an old truck for Mike instead. We will be praying about it and waiting until God gives us an answer. The nice thing is, unless I get a job kind of far away, we are in no hurry to buy something. Gary does not need his extra truck until the snow falls and he needs the plow.

3) I have a job interview in Smithville on the 21st. It is for their Gifted & Talented program. I'm nervous, but I know that even if I don't get the job it is still good practice. I also talked to NW's elementary principle. The might soon have a 4th and/or 5th grade spot open when they are doing the internal shuffle from people retiring. If they are left open when the jobs are open to the public, I wanted to get my foot in there. So I breifly chatted with Mrs. McCumber (sp?) and dropped off a resume. She seemed interested, so that could be promising. I am continuing to look for jobs online, but it is still early in the hiring season. I am trying to be patient and stay calm, but it can be so hard to not worry with my future so uncertain. I am prepared with other plans if I do not get a job by the fall.

The Show Must Go On.

About 15 minutes after I got home tonight, I got a call from Dave O'Roark, the director of the drama ministry at our church. After we exchanged pleasantries, he took a breath and said, "Okay, so here's the deal..."

That is never a good sign.

Instead of a strict gospel presentation like our church has done for the past two years, this year they're doing a multimedia presentation, with music, video and dramatic pieces. We asked not to be involved because we were in New Zealand when they started making plans.

But last night, Mark Price, one of the guys doing a dramatic reading with Dave, broke his foot in the parking lot of the church.

So now I have to memorize a 6-minutes monologue in the next 19 hours or so.

Prayer would be appreciated.

And to top it all off, Ace wasn't eliminated from American Idol last night. His sorry butt keeps skating through each week.

You've got to be kidding me

http://www.lasikathome.com/index.html

we have a piano

we got a piano from mike's aunt lorie. if anyone has old beginner lesson books i would enjoy them very much. hopefully soon i can start claire on some lessons. also we don't have a bench so if you know where we might find one that would be nice too.

This is especially for mom

Spellcheque!

http://www.spellingsociety.org/news/media/poems.php

Hee hee

In case you don't get The Learning Channel, check out some of the ads they've been running recently:

http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/lifelessons/lifelessons.html?dcitc=w99-530-ah-0013

My personal favorite is life lesson #73.

Food for thought

On Wednesday of this week, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.

Mike's exciting job news

Mike is going on his first water job tonight!! He has been waiting for this for over a year now. Mike has been pushing the owners to buy equipment and get going on water jobs, but they are a little tight with their money right now and they just keep putting it off. Today, a water job came in (in case you didn't know, they advertise that they do water damage and then they just sub it out, which is how Mike met them in the first place because they used to sub their jobs out to Servpro - they get jobs regularly so Mike has repeatedly reminded them that all they have to do to get the division going is get equipment because the jobs are already coming in, no advertising needed), and the owner asked Mike what it would take to just go out and do it instead of subbing it out. He said he could run and rent some equipment with no problems and go straight out to the job. So he and one other guy are working late tonight. It is the best type of job he could ask for - no contents, small basement, clean water - and he hopes that after the owners get a taste of what the bills look like and how much money they will get from it, they will decide to just go buy the equipment and get moving on this. Pray for Mike that all goes well and they will move forward with the water division.

New Zealand photos

What wonderful photos of New Zealand Wes and Carrie sent us! They are so beautiful! I viewed them at work, because I have cable there, so they download faster. Incredible! The only problem with viewing them at work is that occasionally I had to hide behind my monitor and wipe away a tear, caused by all the beauty I was seeing.

I am looking forward to the gathering on Sunday.

we need some updates!

i've been sending my updates via email, so i don't post on here all that often, but we need to hear more from mom, brian, and rachel! i just heard that rachel has been teaching once a week. holy cow, when did this start?! how is it going? what subject do you teach? we need to hear what's going on with you folks!

oh here's a bit of an update. i went to a rugby game last night, professional level. it would take me hours to describe everything there, how it works, etc., but let me just say that rugby is WAY WAY WAY better than american football. i don't know how i'll go back to watching the browns. sorry, i may sound like a traitor, but it's true. american football is boring and played by pansies compared to these guys. :) and you know what else? they're actually LOGICAL! the numbers on their jerseys actually mean something. they represent specific positions. and the rules make more sense. and they have SALARY CAPS!!! Harvey told me it was 3.5 million, and I thought, okay, 3.5 per player. no, its for the whole team!!! they don't let their players get out of control and demand millions and millions of dollars, and it levels the playing field so they don't have teams like the yankees lording over everyone! we really need these guys over in the states to kick some sense into our athletes. they were appalled when i told them the league minimum in baseball is a little over 300,000. anyway...

and i also saw a big puffer fish wash up on shore yesterday. it was still alive and flopping around, but when i helped it get back to the water, it wouldn't swim away, so i would guess the seagulls ate it. stupid fish.

Whales on the horizon

It's Thursday, March 23rd in New Zealand, and we're in Kaikoura, on the east coast of the south island. In an hour and a half we'll head out to see to go whale watching.

Since our last update:

Monday we limped out of Tongariro Crossing and rushed down to Wellington, on the southern tip of the northern island, hoping to make the 2pm ferry crossing to the south island in time to do a little sightseeing. We squeaked in at 1:40 pm, rushed in to return our car, and... found out the 2pm ferry was cancelled. So there we were, stuck at the ferry station (not the nicest part of town), until 6:15 pm.

We grabbed a bite and lounged around; things got a little more interesting when a very young "gentleman" (I use that term only to indicate gender) showed up to fix the 2 broken internet terminals in the station. Something (we missed the beginning of it) led to an altercation with a party van man also parked in front of the station, and soon we were treated to a 10-minute cultural display on the ancient form of fight-posturing by males of European descent. We also experienced a bit of a new foreign language, sometime known as "Kiwi cursing that would make Quentin Tarantino blush."

The ferry crossing was uneventful, though on an unexpectedly large ship (think smaller cruise ship), and we arrived on the south island in reasonable time. We hopped in a rental car and headed up to Blenheim, a small town about 20 minutes, where we discovered that everything (including hotels) in New Zealand shuts down much earlier than in America. After knocking on closed doors with "no vacancy" signs for about an hour, we finally found one bleary-eyed bloke working late who gave us a room.

Tuesday we took a vineyard tour (which ended at a chocolate factory -- God is indeed Good). The vineyards were absolutely lovely. We also learned a bit about how expensive and wealth-generating the wine business is. We got some great pictures which we'll share when we get back.

Yesterday we headed west along the northern coast of the island to Nelson, where we sailed out on a catamaran. It was a wonderful 6 hours out at sea and at a couple of small islands, including a tour of New Zealand's second-oldest lighthouse.

Today, as mentioned, we go to see the whales, and then we head to Hanmer springs, home of thermal pools and mud treatments.....