Step Right Up!

Every year around Luke's birthday, we make a point of catching the Big Apple Circus. We've been going for five or six years now, and it never fails to please us. In my opinion, this is the finest circus around. It's small enough to get front row seats if you become a member (for only $75 dollars a year), big enough to have some really great talent. The circus always makes me think of what a circus must have been like back in the 40's or 50's. Plus, the circus is nonprofit, and all the proceeds go to children's charities.

Sitting on the front row, you feel like you're really in the circus. (Which, inevitably, I always am... I get pulled into the ring every year it seems!) This year, a bicycle comedian pulled me in and made a complete fool of me. One task I had to perform was blowing up one of those balloon-animal balloons. Very hard to do, but I was determined to do it. I blew so hard that, though the balloon indeed inflated, I nearly passed out afterward. Becky was laughing so hard she was crying.

One other thing about sitting on the front row: the horses scare the bejesus out of me. I mean, these half-ton animals are galloping around inches from us. I just see one of them going berserk and stampeding over us. I'm always a little happier when the horses leave the ring. (One year, they had camels, and the camels were really wild... like they were barely contained. Yikes! No thanks.)

All in all, it's hard to describe the joy and fun we get out of this circus. I could summarize every act, but the magic wouldn't be captured. Suffice it to say that the boys and Becky and I have grins on our faces the whole time, and that's plenty enough for me.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the night:

Kilt Wearin' at the Bus Stop

I put on my kilt and took the kids to the bus stop this morning, just to get some reactions. The bus stop is a very quick way to see everybody in the neighborhood all at once.

It was funny walking down there with the boys. They kept ten paces behind me at all times. Once at the bus stop, they wouldn't leave Pam and Phil's porch, and when I approached them, the ran away. You remember that experiment you'd do as a kid, where you'd take a bowl of water, sprinkle some pepper in it, and then put in one drop of dishwashing soap? Remember what happened? The pepper would fling itself to the far edges of the bowl at the introduction of the soap. Well, this morning, I was the soap.

Reactions were about what I expected--a mixed bag. Some of the moms thought it was zany and crazy, but essentially liked it. One mom asked if Becky would be ravishing me later today. (I'll take that as a compliment.) One mom was genuinely interested in the kilt, and the story of our trip to Scotland. A couple of the moms and one dad wouldn't make eye contact with me at all. (I just love putting people on edge, whisking them out of their comfort zones.) Pam, Phil, Marijo, Beverly, Tiffany and probably Dawn all loved it.

On the way back home, I saw Catherine, who's a big-time southern belle, and I could tell that she did not approve one bit. Mind you, she was very friendly, but you could tell that this was just not what one does! She asked, "What day is it?" As if kilt wearing were only authorized for "Scotland Day."

It's funny. There are all levels of conformity in this country. What was once non-conformist is now mainstream alternative (e.g. goth, punk, etc.), but still conformist to its own particular genre. It's truly refreshing to step out of the conformity box once and a while and be truly, truly nonconformist.

And anyhow, it was fun to embarrass the boys. That is a father's job in life--to embarrass his children by his mere existence--and I relish the role.

It Came!!!! The Kilt is HERE!!!!

IT CAME! IT CAME! IT CAME!!! HUZZAH and HOORAY!!! IT CAME!

Aye, I'm a wee bit excited. My hand-tailored Ancient Campbell (Campbell of Argyll, specifically) tartan kilt has arrived! I've been waiting for so long to get it, so I was absolutely dumbstruck (well, not really dumbstruck, but giddy perhaps) when I walked through the door and saw this:


I jumped right into opening the parcel, and me wee little laddie, Luke, couldn't keep his hands off me sgean dhu. (The wee knife I keep in my sock.)

Here's all that was in my parcel:

The belt (not shown), rabbit fur sporran, and strap.


The sgean dhu.


And, of course, the Ancient Campbell of Argyll tartan kilt, sized Scott Harris.


Luke, of course, was unable to resist the sgean dhu.

Here I am modeling the kilt, though I will note that I was too excited to pull out the proper socks, flashes, shirt and tie. Purists will please forgive me. It was only a quick fitting.

And here is my reaction to the first time someone laughed at me in my new kilt. Call my knees knocky?! Aye! You'll want a piece of me sgean dhu!


I can't wait to head down to the Exxon station in this baby!

Meyer Lemon Tree

I can't believe Barry had to remind me to show a picture of my Meyer Lemon tree. I'm really falling down on my blogging. I shouldn't have had to be reminded of that!

Anyway, Barry, here you go:

Quiet Weekend

Not too much to report from this weekend. I mostly spent the weekend aerating my yard, throwing down grass seed, fertilizer and lime. (Which I don't particularly wish to remember.)

I did complete Eddie's 777 model. (Note, I completed it. Eddie doesn't quite have the attention span for it.) He's really excited about it now hanging in his room. I'm mostly proud of the landing gear. Those buggers are really hard to do, but I think the painting came out pretty good.

I'm also pleased to announce the first of about a dozen Meyer lemons off my lemon tree. This is a really big deal for me, since we tried for about five years to get this baby to set fruit (and keep it from falling off). It's finally happened; I have about a dozen really nice looking fruit just about ready to pick.

First Days of School Pictures

Here are some nice pictures of the kids' first and second days of school. Since Becky forgot to take the camera to the bus stop, I had to wait for our neighbor, Tiffany, to get me copies of her pictures.

Dinner with Mr. Jiang

Eddie had the good fortune, this year, of being placed in class again with his best friend, Tao Tao. This evening, Eddie wanted Tao Tao to come over to play after school, so last night I called Mr. Jiang and asked if he would send a note to the school so his son could come home with Eddie.

When I got home, Eddie and Tao Tao were playing in the cul-de-sac, and having a great ol' time. Then Eddie decided he wanted to give a concert for the neighborhood (Tao Tao was less enthusiastic). A "concert" by Eddie means he dresses up in his Harry Potter robes, grabs two fallen cherrytree twigs, pulls out his CD player, puts on some Mozart, and proceeds to "conduct" the music, making wierd faces of concentration with his lips.

Mr. Shaughnessy and Mr. Giglio were his unfortunate captives... I mean... audience. Tao Tao was relegated to beating two drumsticks together--a job that Eddie thought Tao Tao was suitably talented for, and one that Tao Tao barely tolerated for the sake of his friendship with Eddie.

Then, after these shenanigans, we ran over to Mr. Jiang's farm. Mr. Jiang told us that his wife was home from work today, and he absolutely insisted that we come over for dinner. I could hardly refuse, since he's asked us numerous times before. Even though we had a cub scout meeting at 7pm, we went over for dinner.

And what a dinner! Mrs. Jiang made about eighty (no joke) pork and leek dumplings, a big dish of pork with bok choy and mushrooms, beef stuffed breaded peppers (Chinese style), and some chesnuts and cookies. I ate until I could eat no more, and there was still enough food for three more meals for four on the table. It was incredible! I asked Mr. Jiang how many dumplings he normally eats, and he responded, "About twenty or thirty." Gosh! That's a farm-hand for you!

As I sat there, stuffed and sated, I soaked in the friendliness of this family, and how happy Eddie and Luke were to be enjoying this "cultural" experience. It's funny how kids make friends so easily. You can take your kids to any playground in any city in the world, and within five minutes, no matter what language they speak, all the kids on the playground will be playing and bonded and in some kind of organized make-believe game.

And yet, as adults, we lose this somehow. Our maturity gives way to reservedness and polite distance-keeping. We don't want to invade people's space. Don't make eye contact. It's a real shame. Because this one night, despite the language barrier, I found myself sitting with my family and Tao Tao's family, at the kitchen table on their farm, eating the best darn Chinese food I've ever had. And we were laughing and having a great time.

Luke would rattle off at the mouth like he always does, and Mrs. Jiang, who speaks no English, and Mr. Jiang, who speaks a very little English, would smile at him and laugh at his jokes, though I'm sure they were just being polite. They didn't understand a word.

I was able to convey to Mr. Jiang the story about Eddie's Mozart concert, and, after a quick translation by Mr. Jiang and Tao Tao's sister, everybody got the biggest kick out of Tao Tao's performance. He doesn't much like music.

We could only stay a short while, but I was glad we did. Mr. Jiang's job at the farm is not going very well, and the family may have to move away. I hope they don't, because if they do, we'll lose some friends. And Eddie will be devastated by losing Tao Tao.

How to bagpipe a cat

Last week, I learned one of those immensely useful things that you only learn when you live in places like Starkville, Mississippi, or Ames, Iowa. This story is courtesy of Steve Foster, a former Navy chief, who tells this story of when he was back in the service:

Steve was in the Navy, and had a friend, let's call him Bud, who had grown up in Iowa. Steve asked him what he did for fun in Iowa.

"We spent a lot of time bagpiping cats," Bud replied.

"What the hell is that?"

As luck would have it, in the alley outside the bar they were at, was a cat. Walking over, and in one very practiced movement--the kind of movement that someone can only make after thousands of repititions--Bud reaches down and swipes the cat in his hands. In one instant, he is now holding the cat, with all four paws gathered in his left hand, the cat's head under his left armpit, and the cat's tail in his right hand.

"Watch," he tells Steve.

Bud takes the cat's tail and places it in his mouth and bites down on the tip of it. Immediately, the cat begins a loud "YEOWWWLLL!" He then squeezes the cat's head with his left arm, until he gets a pitch he wants, "YEooowWWWoooWWWooooWWWLLLLLlllll!"

Steve is laughing his ass off, and cannot believe he what he just witnessed. Bud lets go of the cat, which promptly takes off down the alley like a bullet.

"Now you know how to bagpipe a cat!"

Choristers at St. Pete's

We received a mailing from Barbara Verdile, Music Director at St. Peter's. It's a really nice description of the Choristers program that Eddie has embarked upon. We're very excited about this program, and when you read the following, you can see that it is a very serious program that will teach reading of music, singing in different languages, and many other things. Once Luke is old enough, he will be doing it too. And the best thing? It's FREE! Some people pay very good money for a program like this!

Choristers: In March 2006 St. Peter's Church expanded its music ministry for children with an additional choral program for young people. Choristers, children aged 8 and up, pursue a professional level course of musical training and play an important role in the life of St. Peter's, which is building a tradition of wonderful music making. Becoming a member of the Chorister's Choir is as serious a commitment as it is a beneficial experience. No audition is necessary, just a commitment to attend rehearsals, learn the music and sing for services. Choristers learn the valuable place of high quality music and the good discipline needed for musical performance in a sacred setting and in their own lives. The Choristers also develop a strong collegial sense of team spirit in a non-competitive environment, which often leads to long-lasting friendships and experiences that they carry with them beyond their lives at St. Peter's. The development of time management, leadership, and cooperative skills are priceless and cannot be learned as a course of study. The choir follows the training scheme of the Voice for Life program developed by The Royal School of Church Music, in which boys and girls learn good vocal production, sight-singing, musical understanding, knowledge of choral repertoire (which includes singing in different languages), and Christian education. This structured program follows a levels system through which singers are promoted once they achieve set targets.

• Novice Chorister: Novice Choristers wear a red cassock symbolizing they are in training. They are committed to learning the rudiments of music, the expectations of choir membership, acquiring basic vocal techniques for singing, and becoming familiar with various parts of our Anglican liturgy through participation in worship.


• Chorister (divided into Junior Chorister and Senior Chorister): Boys and Girls who have completed their beginning training are commissioned into the choir as Junior members symbolized by receiving the white surplice to wear over their red cassock. Senior Choristers also wear RSCM medals with colored ribbons that correspond to their rank attained through the Voice for Life curriculum. Choristers are expected to serve as mature, competent members of the choir, providing role models and assisting the Director of Music and Head Choristers with the younger, less experienced choir personnel.

Choir camp and trips are also important parts of the Chorister experience. Choristers rehearse twice a week on Thursdays from 6:15- 7:15 PM. and on Sundays from 12:15 to 1:15 PM. Beginning this September, Choristers are expected to attend both Thursday and Sunday rehearsals. The Choristers sing monthly for the 10:30 AM service September through Trinity Sunday in June. No prior training or experience is expected of prospective choristers, nor need their families be affiliated with St. Peter's or any particular religious tradition. Boys and girls who are at least 8 years old are accepted. Apart from incidentals relating to travel or social events, there is no tuition cost expected of parents. Instead, the commitment of time and energy balances St. Peter's investment in the hundreds of teaching hours needed to make our Choristers' choir thrive. Please give consideration to joining the Choristers to experience the joy of becoming a part of a long tradition of church musicianship! Contact the Director of Music (musicd@stpetes.net 540-338-7307) for further information or to arrange an interview.

Painting the Porch

This weekend, as I look forward to painting my porch, I am reminded of a favorite joke, which I will now share:

A wealthy landowner in a fancy mansion decides to save himself some money and hire a local redneck to paint his porch. He hires the guy, hands him four gallons of green paint and tells him to begin painting.

"I'll be inside, watching the football game. Let me know if you need anything," the rich man says.

The redneck is busy for over four hours, and finally, the doorbell rings.

The rich man answers the door, and the redneck says to him:

"I'm all done painting your porch. But, just so you know, that's not a Porch, it's a Mercedes."

Storytime with Eddie

I don't know what grade level this would be considered, but for "stories" tonight, Eddie insisted on reading me this (from his airplane magazine collection):


I thought it would be too hard for him, but he would not be deterred. Well, he read it, and I was impressed. There were a ton of grown up words in there: Khartoum, collapse, independence, Viscount, and subsidiary, just to name a few. He struggled with a couple of them, but plodded on and read me the whole first two pages before I called time for bed.

How many third graders are reading (and actually interested) in the struggles of a mid-African airline?? Eddie's closing remark was that he knew people in Sudan were poor, and how could he help them?

I'm proud of my boy! He's a smart and caring kid!

Go Swim!

Today and yesterday, I had the very distinct pleasure of attending two four hour long swim and stroke refinement clinics taught by Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen (8 time world record holder in USMS swimming) and her husband, Eric Neilsen, of Aquatic Edge. What an opportunity to be taught by two of the very best swimmers I will ever meet, and to have personal instruction from them. And, man, these clinics were FUN!

The clinics started yesterday and today at 5:30am and ran all morning til 9:30am. Considering Karlyn and Eric arrived from Hawaii to do these clinics, I'm surprised at how much energy they had. They obviously really enjoy what they do.

Tuesday's clinic was a freestyle-only clinic, and we had about 20 people. We split into two groups, advanced and intermediate, and worked on deconstructing and reconstructing our freestyle. If I had to sum up the her advice, it would be, "Keep it simple." I was doing a lot of things wrong, and once I got the lessons, I really felt a lot better about my freestyle. I can't wait to practice it on Friday. It seems after the clinic I was breathing less, exerting less effort, and yet getting better speed out of the stroke.

Tuesday was fun, but nothing in comparison to the stroke day on Wednesday. We had less people on Wednesday, only ten or so, so the personal attention was even more. We split the morning into thirds, working each of the three strokes individually. At the end, Karlyn had me swim a 25 of breast, and I was able to do it (with an improved glide) in eight strokes!! That is incredible for me.

On both days, we started the morning with video taping of our old (nasty) strokes, and ended the clinic taping our new, improved strokes. Wow, what a difference! My butterfly before used to be so labored, awkward, and frankly, embarrassing to watch. My new butterfly was indeed a thing of beauty. Even Karlyn said, "Now that's a really pretty butterfly." I was really proud of that, since butterfly has always been my weakest stroke, and is the one stroke that separates the real swimmers from the dog paddlers.

My backstroke and breaststroke were equally improved, as was the freestyle from Tuesday's session. I really want to hang onto these techniques, so I'm going to have to reinforce them in my mind over and over again. They say you should only try to remember one or two things per stroke to work on. Here's my list, which I must practice to become habit:

• Freestyle - arms apart, tight wrists, catch and pull
• Breaststroke - GLIDE!!! At least a 1 second glide!! Plus, arms not too wide and snap feet
  
• Backstroke - purposeful entry of the hands, nice and straight wrists, firm catch and pull
• Butterfly - wide apart hands, no keyhole stroking--nice and shallow

If I can remember these things, all my stroke times should improve, and I do feel like I am swimming easier, getting less tired. (Because I'm more efficiently moving through the water.)

Given the opportunity to do these clinics all over again, I would gladly, gladly sign up again!

Soccer Saturday

These are some pretty good videos of Luke playing soccer today. I only wish Becky had caught Luke's goal on video. It was awesome. He took the ball downfield, and came in at the goal from the side, kicking it in with a really strong kick. It was the first goal of the game. I was so proud!

Luke is the one with the red shirt and black shorts with a silver stripe. Each video is less than 20 seconds long.

Hello Malvern, Pennsylvania, or Fridge Troubles

I seem to have acquired a fairly regular reader from Malvern, PA. I looked on the map and discovered that Malvern is a suburb of Philly. (Go Eagles!) So, I'm happy to have the follow-on audience, and more than a little curious to know who it is. If you're out there, Malvern, PA, leave me some comments below and say "Hi."

(You too, Florissant, Missouri, whoever you are! Go Rams!)

I have a funny little story to share about my refrigerator and the nature of all things mechanical.

For several months now, our 15 year old fridge has begun sweating, particularly in the space between the freezer door and the lower fridge door. It's so moist with condensation, in fact, that when you open the fridge door, drips of cool water fall onto your hand as you reach for the milk.

Figuring that one of the seals was leaking, and that cool freezer air was leaking out, I checked all the rubber gaskets around both doors and found them intact. So, why in the heck was it still sweating? I was dumbfounded but didn't want to have to call in an appliance repairperson, nor did I want to replace an otherwise perfectly working refrigerator.

Several more weeks of this annoyance went by, until I noticed one day a tiny little switch nestled in by the temperature controls. I had never seen it before, probably because either it wasn't there, and only showed up by the work of house elves, or because I don't stoop low enough to see it on the top panel near the lightbulb. The switch said, "Exterior Moisture Control": on or off. And it was "off!"

What a eureka moment! This was incredible! To me, this was the equivalent of owning a very old car--a clunker--and having it make a horrible grinding noise every time you turned around a corner to the left. And then, upon opening the hood of your car to examine the problem, you find a trim little switch that says, "Horrible Grinding Noise When You Turn Left": on or off. Hell yeah, turn it off!

So I turned off the Moisture button. And, lo and behold, the problem was solved! No more moisture, no more drips. I quietly took credit for being a genius while saving myself countless dollars in needless repairs or replacements.

I am forced to ask, however, why does the fridge manufacturer even have this switch? Why not have this function enabled all the time? Am I now spending countless dollars for kilowatt hours of heating for the front of my fridge? I guess my next utility bill will tell.

Our recent visitor

Eddie captured this monarch with his net today, and he shared it with the new kids across the street. He plans to set it free in the morning, but the insect clearly liked the butterfly bushes in my yard (a fragment of which are shown in the picture).

First Day of School

I must say that today's first day of school didn't turn out quite as I would have expected. Sure, the boys got up alright--not too much moaning about the early hour, or the hustle to get teeth brushed, breakfast eaten, clothes on, and out the door. They got onto the bus just fine and headed off to their first day of school.

Then, not two hours later, Eddie told his teacher that he didn't feel well. She asked him to come up to the front, and on his way, BLLLECK! He threw up all over the floor. Yes, my son got the dubious honor of being the first kid to throw up, and hence, the first kid sent home from school. I guess we tried out that new school nurse. So, Eddie spent his day like so:


Luke had an otherwise normal first school day and was thrilled to have pizza and oranges in his school lunch. He was most distressed, however, to learn that first grade involves spending lots of time at his desk. Oh, the misery!


After work, I got home and received a welcome surprise birthday present from the LeDucs. They gave me a wonderful pewter kilt brooch with my Clan Campbell crest on it. Ne Obliviscaris! (Never fortget!) I also got a traditional highland gift! A "grow your own caber" seed! Yes, as it says, "The complete 'tossers' guide to growing and throwing an authentic Scottish caber." I guess when you get good at this stuff, you've become a "complete tosser." I'll have to practice on that. But first, I have to get that seed planted.

Garage is DONE!

The garage is complete! I decided not to paint it... for now. I can always do that later, but for now, the job is done. Here are the pictures from the completed job.

I'm really pleased with how much clutter this removed from the garage. I can get out of my car now without tripping on skateboards and Tonka trucks. It's wonderful.

As Becky put it, "It's an anal-retentive's wet dream."

Indeed, it is.

Body For Life Update

For those of you who follow my Body For Life experience, I have posted my journal of the first 12 weeks. I think, for me, it would have been easier to see someone else's journal to get started on the program, so I'm posting mine here for others to follow.

Some things to note in the journal:

First, since the journal is a bunch of scanned pages, it is really big. At 55 pages and over 16 MB, it may take a while to download, so don't download it unless you can afford to wait a bit, depending on your Internet connection.

Second, I only journaled the weight lifting portion of the experience. I already have a very structured swim program, and my eating habits were not so out of whack that they required extensive "re-education" like is done in the program. For me, Body For Life was just adding the weights and remembering to eat well and properly.

Third, you'll see how I managed while travelling on business, or while on vacation in Scotland and Iceland. I think it's really important to see how a program like this can work even when you're not at home. It's important to keep up the consistency, in my mind, so that you don't fall off the wagon.

Finally, you'll see I've taken liberties with the program as I went through it. Mostly, I adjusted the abdominal workouts, since I wasn't getting enough from the program with the structure they had there. I also added a few more exercise types that I found in other books to keep things interesting. I'm also not slavishly filling in every column in the charts, just enough to keep things going. One can get too compulsive about these things.

It's been about eight months, and I am still going strong on the program. My weight is rock solid at 185, and I am just starting to see those ribs and abs peek through my chubby middle.

Body For Life Journal [PDF download] - 16 MB

Garage Repairs

What did you do today? I spent the day with my son, Luke, wiring up some new electrical outlets and putting up some plywood for shelving.

We're following the plans from this month's issue of The Family Handyman, which is really quite a cool magazine. The project we're doing is not really very complex, but it will improve the storage and organization situation in the garage dramatically. Essentially, the project involves placing large sheets of plywood onto the walls so that you can attach shelves and bins anywhere on the wall, and not have to space out your storage on 16" stud centers. It makes much better space of the wall. On the old wall, I had one whole 16' wall which was consumed with all my shovels, hoes, pitchforks, etc. Now, all of those will consolidate down to a single 3' section, and the rest of the wall will be bins and shelves for boys' toys, skateboards, rollerblades, etc.

Luke was really a big help--apart from the fact that he would follow me around and pluck things from my toolbelt. He was particularly fixated on my drywall saw, and I just didn't like him grabbing at it each time I turned around.

In fact, he was so intrigued by my toolbelt, that I had to get him an apron full of stuff of his own! He was basically my sous-chef in the handyman sense. I'd let him drive some screws, hammer the chisel a few times, and hand me screws. He lasted all day, about eight hours. I was impressed.

By tonight, we've finished all the electrical, patched and mudded the drywall back up, and finished the first wall of plywood. Tomorrow or Monday, we will finish the second wall and maybe consider getting the shelves and bins up.

I still have to decide if I'm going to paint it or not. The project is painted in the magazine, and looks really nice, but this is a garage after all. Not sure if it needs that much love.

School Days are Approaching

We just returned from the open house at the boys' elementary school. What a zoo! I am definitely demophobic. All these moms, kids and a few dads were wandering the halls bumping into each other. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

But, it was nice to meet the boys' teachers, and both boys look like they have a great year ahead of them.

Luke's teacher is a brand new teacher, and she seems really excited to be starting. She had all the stuff laid out on all the desks, names on them, and had prepared a scavenger hunt that they boys could do to explore the room. Luke really seemed to like her.

Eddie's teacher was nice too, and apparently, she's really an interesting person. Our neighbor, Pam, heard her speaking once at a meeting, and Pam remarked that she could sit there and listen to her for hours. Another bonus for Eddie is that his friend Tao Tao will be in his class again this year!

With over 700 kids at their school (and seven first grade classes this year), the boys are definitely in the big leagues.

Aspiring to be better

I've set my goal for being a good father. This is it.

Breakfast with Eddie

After a very busy week with customer meetings, I decided to take off today and begin a four-day weekend. As the remnants of Ernesto have started to arrive, I figured it was also good not to fool with a long commute today.

Luke went to Andrew's for a sleep-over, so we had a special night with Eddie. We all watched RV with Robin Williams (Thanks, Mom). Eddie really enjoyed the movie, especially the part where the RV goes into the lake. I explained to Eddie that the only part of that movie that actually happened for real to his Dad was the part with the poop sewage spewage. He couldn't hardly believe it!




Then, after my soaking wet run in the rain, I took Eddie for a special breakfast at the local diner. It was really nice to spend some one-on-one time with by big boy. I never hardly get to see him, just him and me.

Eddie had an egg sandwich with bacon, and an apple juice to drink. I had coffee, a large water, and two eggs over easy with hash browns and wheat toast. And do you know what I like best about this restaurant? The bill was six dollars (seven with tip). That's my kind of restaurant! Dingy, smoky, but cheap!

At breakfast, Eddie and I mostly just fooled around playing with his matchbox car, and I fooled around taking some video of it. Eddie wanted me to edit the video to insert land and sky around the car instead of the setting in the restaurant. His ideas are much bigger than my computer's capabilities!

So, what does the day hold for us? At one o'clock, we have parent teacher conferences, and maybe I will start wiring the new outlets in the garage today. Presently, the house is full of kids (since our neighbors are at their own parent-teacher conferences). Justin is here, and Mikey too. Andrew would have been, except that he spewed all over the carpet this morning. I sure hope he's not coming down with something, and I really hope Luke didn't get it!