Kids These Days

Today's sadness made me appreciate what I have even more. Chani went to a birthday party and brought Saya a toy.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

FHE tonight started out rocky, ended up rockin. Emery had to wear his hat as usual. Chani had to hang every ornament, even the old battered paper ones from my youth. Saya sang along with the chipmunks. We only spilled one jug of water, broke one light, and broke one decoration from some good friends, but hey.

My First Holiday Gala

Tonight was my first holiday gala in Cheyenne. Actually it might have been my first ever... I got a cool invitation in my email and everything. I did not take the camera so there are no pictures. They did have some pretty amazing food though. The kids loved it and they were surprisingly well behaved. I saw the president and the vp of the college and the kids got to sit on santa's lap. When it was Saya's turn she looked at him like she wanted to go, but when it came time she would have nothing to do with it. Mom ask her if she wanted to and gave her a slight nudge. She screamed, "No!!!" And backed away.

Earlier in the day we went and got a tree. I took the camera for that, but I didn't take any pics so... It was uneventful. Except that the place to get the permit was closed when we got there. Jill decided to go up the mountain anyway. We got right to the edge of the forest at the visitor center and stopped. Found out they were selling permits there. We did not go home empty handed after all.

Look at all that blood!!!

Today Sucks

Yep, that is how I feel. I came home from work yesterday with a killer headache. Decided to pass out at 7:30, only to wake up around 9 and then not sleep at all for the rest of the night.

Over Two Years

Been very busy with work, new house, new state, training, new kid and all that jazz. I got a new ipad and found a blogger app so I might try to keep up now. But, I am still super busy so maybe not.

Nearly Ready

So, we move next week. Before we head off on our big adventure I thought I would put up one more post. Here are a few pictures of the things we have been up to lately. When I post again it will prolly be from Cheyenne and I am not sure when that will be. We leave next Thursday, but it will take time to get settled and I am not sure when we will be able to get the internet set up at our place.

This was the last time that we went to the beach. It was a good time. The First and Second Kidos are trying to help me catch a crab. But, this one was too deep.

This is a dress that Jill decided to make on a whim. No pattern or anything. Yes I married a talented lady.

The First Kido brought this out one morning. I am amazed at how his four year old mind can just see things. I don't know that he has ever seen a real one before, maybe on a movie, but I know that we never bought him a lego set with instructions for this. He just came up with it one day all on his own. "Dad, don't get run over by the combine."

I Can't Wait to Fish Again

They certainly have fishing in Texas, but it is done completely different to how it is done up north. You really need a boat down here and the type of fish are different. There are no trout to speak of and if a person managed to catch something down here I would be afraid to eat it because of the pollution in the water. Anyway, fishing is big down here, I just haven't participated. Today I was listening to an AM talk radio guy and he was talking about fishing and said something I totally agree with. He said, "Fishing is cool. I mean, it has to be cool right? After all, Jesus hung out with a bunch of fishermen."
It made me think about Ernie and this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFTjeaDlxDI

It is Hot

And only sposed to get hotter. I am ready to get out of Texas so that I can actually sleep at night without the fear of drowning in the humidity and my own sweat. Running has been going well lately and I am anxious to run in clean air for a change. I decided that you don't need to hear all the boring details about my runs so I am only putting up my workouts. Yesterday was just an easy 5 miles, but tonight I did a tempo run. Drew was at the park so I ran three miles with him at a descending pace and when he left I did two more fast, but relaxed. The splits were 6:51, 6:27, 6:19, 5:42, and 5:42 for 31:03 total. The hip was not as bad as it has been and I am hoping that it will clear up over the next couple of weeks. I think that being forced to not run, while we pack and move, might help it out a bit. Only 14 days from now and we will prolly be around San Antonio looking for a place to stay the night before heading north. I got my office pretty much squared away today. Shredded all of the grades and student info that I needed to and all of my non-essential things are in boxes ready to haul out.

I really feel sorry for the department that I am leaving behind, but am very glad I will not be a part of it any longer. The administration is destroying it and it is going to be a rough year for them. One of my colleagues took a job across campus and that changed the entire dynamics of the department. I was on the hiring committee to replace him and I think we got a really strong professor in, but they do not have any experience teaching and I don't think that the administration is going to shepherd them in very well. The last talk I heard was that they were going to give this person, who has never taught before, 5-6 preps. When I came I had 3 and felt overwhelmed and I had experience. Now with me leaving they have had to scramble to find another instructor, but the hiring committee was forced by administration to take on someone who is qualified to teach microbiology. That is great, but I taught Anatomy and Physiology. For those of you who have not had these courses, lets just say they are not the same. The guy that administration forced on the department is NOT qualified and will make things very rough till he either leaves or is forced to quit. Yesterday, your uncle (your uncle is the term of endearment which the department has chosen for our boss, because he is not my uncle, he must be yours) came to my office and was asking me if I had any notes or anything that I could make copies of for the new hire. I looked at him and said, I don't use notes when I lecture, I have a background in this area so I just know the material and talk about it. "You don't have anything we can give this guy to help him out?" I said, he can sit in on my class for the rest of this summer. Your uncle thought that I should bail them out. I know I am leaving close to the start of the semester, but it really isn't my fault you chose to hire a microbiologist to teach A&P. Especially when I know for a fact that there were at least two other applicants with a background in A&P (They originally had me on the hiring committee and then took me off after I made some comments about your uncle's favorite applicant, which he didn't like).

Glad I won't be here next year, wish my house would sell.

Pictures

The picture battle between my wife and I was sorta short lived. She deleted my photo of her so I deleted her header photo and put my picture there. That made her mad because she couldn't fix it. I took pity on her, because she is sick, and fixed it. Sorry if you missed the picture I tried to put up.