What's happening

Methinks it's time for us to go back to posting maybe two or three times a week. Just a time and energy kind of thing.
Working more and more in hopes of getting the Kid's Play program off the ground before this fall no matter what may happen. I think the potential for it's success is bright and I hope to be able to add that shining jewel to my resume. Just entails a lot of work and i'm definitely putting in the hours at the coal mine which has led to some discussion of balance at home. Which is the eternal plight of the poor college students and to think I wouldn't say that we waste it on random things but rather will be paying the incoming debt (school loan, saving to buy a new car) it unfortunately means working to live. These next few months will be critical as we look to downsize to a one bedroom (we are paying about $100 for an extra room that we use as a storage closet) which means moving, apply for the FASFA for the next fall, and all the while try to squirrel away money little by little but in the end we are so fortunate to be blessed with so much.
Went and saw "Sherlock Holmes" for date night which led to another "Star Trek" where I found Brynn quietly nestled on my arm enjoying the movies they show in dreamland. As for the movie itself... it was ok. Enjoyable but one that you wait for the cheap theaters to pick it up which leads me to some sad news. For the time being the Joy Theater is out of commission which is a shame because the world is in need of more cheap theaters. It's hard to justify why going to the movie should cost $10 aside from the fact that theater owners need some dough to pay for their extravagant buildings. Now granted I dig the stadium seating and reclining seats but when given the choice I think I can bear the terror of sitting in an old padded seat to save seven bucks, sorry Regal. On the way into Cinemagic we ran into Katie coming out which was nice, funny how the city seems to stretch when your life runs out of time to do things. So Katie, you're so grown up now with your teaching job yet you will always be an old woman to me. IDWTTA.
The Cougars are 0-2 after a valiant performance that saw us give it away at the end 3-4 against Chaos Coed, the top team in our division. I believe it was a matter of our motors running out of gas. Luckily this week we get another shot at Umlauts who I think we can hang with and reclaim some Beaverton Stake pride.

Da' Bears, Da' Saints, Ditka

Got my sanity back after the slog through yesterday. Whoo hoo! Felt so bad because in Elder's Quorum I was fighting back the sleep and as a fellow teacher I know how it is when the group seems lost in space, it was good lesson on the dichotomy of service... doh!
Opened up the mailbox and found myself and nice little surprise, a new ATM card! What's nice about this one is that Wells Fargo has an offer that you can design your own bank card (and by design you can upload a photo) and they'll plaster it on for free which is my kind of price so I figured i'd take them up on their offer. Put a nice little picture of me and Brynn from a Timbers game last summer, good for the next three years. I guess this will make up somewhat karmically for all the crap we had to endure this past Friday when we went to deposit some financial aid goodies before our journey to Costco. Brynn had an issue in that when they added her info to the account (she had previously banked with Wells Fargo before we got married) they pulled up her maiden name and slapped it onto the account. What was such a hassle was that we had to bring in our marriage certificate from the county in order to prove the legitimacy of her claim (never mind in order to change her license she had to bring that plus her new social security... etc) to just change her name. That is when a ten minute trip into the bank became a full blown rodeo as the person helping her kept ignoring our pleas to leave and she tried to sell us everything but the kitchen sink, oh wait, she did (bringing the mortgage broker to speak with us about buying a house after we had mentioned that was a long term goal of ours). It was by far the worst experience i've ever had at a bank and reinforces my habit of depositing through the ATM. When I go to bank i'd like to think I am savvy enough to look up the right people for help when I need it but otherwise take my money, use it to lend to others, and ensure that the next time I swipe my card the money is in the account. I wish we could go back to MAPS.

My battle...

I have spent the last fifteen minutes in a sort of bemused/bored battle with Facebook ads. You all of course have seen the "x" the adorns the upper right hand corner of any Facebook ad but the question is, have you clicked on it? It'll offer you some options as to why you don't want the ad to be shown, all pretty generic fare until you reach the selection for "other". The surprise that holds... how wonderful, wonderful enough to pass fifteen minutes of my life clicking on ad after ad so I could fill in the box and think of clever things (and less than clever things) to espouse my opinion about the ad. All because I know someone will read it and wonder, "What mental malfunction does this guy have?" Well i'll tell you. I have a job that is very cyclical in nature where for stretches I will think about gouging my eyes out just to have something to do and the next minute be slammed by five hundred people who want millions of different things and they wanted it five minutes ago. Anyway fun little exercise (especially after I scored three Pizza Schmizza ads, it's like playing the slot machines) and I am happy to have gone through it for you so that you can move onto bigger and better things.

PS I know this post will ironically show up on Facebook... so aware.

Things I like.

I've been looking around and there are things that I like, that are amazing, and just make a person happy.

* Walking around on your phone being unobtrusive and being able to kick piles of leaves (they hadn't been raked) and just hearing the sound of the leaves swishing, scrapping, and fluttering by your feet. Also not having my phone. The other day I couldn't find my phone (I had left it on silent and apprently it snuck under the couch) and it was glorious. Now Brynn and I have had this conversation over and over but, I do appreciate the convienence of the phone but it's good to know that there are times in which the world can't get at you.

* Holiday spirit. Admittedly I may be a grinch at sometimes (like when it comes to putting up decorations, I want to see nothing before December 1st) but I love the way Brynn gets so into the holiday. I did get my way but she has pressed forward and Father Time has aided her cause and she now flutters about in full Christmas mode. And I love semis with wreaths on their grills. Classic.

* Children having fun. I love when kids go to classes/practices (whether it may be my soccer class or a ballet class on campus) they are in it for the fun. Yes they may pick up a skill here and there but when a child tells their parents that their excited to go to _______, it is because they know they can be themselves and have fun. That why I love what I do.

I hate Hewlett Packard

Well somewhat ironic since i'm typing on an atrocity of an HP but consider this the last product I but from a company that outsources tech support to incompetent liars in India whose male managers call themselves Hilary, stick me on hold forever, and won't send me a stupid battery because I DO NOT WANT VISTA on my computer. That's right because all they want me to uninstall Windows 7, roll it back to Vista all so I can perform a battery check with their stupid program that crashes. Fact is that after spending a week in California this computer should have been running in tip top shape and there is no reason that I should have to run to Best Buy to fix a problem that still exists. After all the Geek squad even backed me up (writing me a little note for my records) and we know how much they know!
Ok that's the rant, onto happier things.
Started at SoccerPlex today and it's good to be working again. Just had too much time on my hands and I think it's going to be a nice fit. The owners having just taken over an established business seem to have a lot on their hands but from what i've seen things are real healthy and in fact growing which makes my previous experience valuable but also opens up possibilities for me to learn so much about the business side of things.
I think I may bring it to HP's attention though, with a nice little model letter I found on Gizmodo.

The river that runs

A picture from a few weeks back when I went on the Willamette Queen for a fieldtrip with the kids. We rushed downtown with only a half hour to catch the boat... we made it on time (aka i'm a cruel taskmaster). Pretty ride all in all, with the kids all getting a chance to pilot the boat up and down the river. It took about an hour and with all the river traffic due to the recent heatwave we got to show our stuff as the belle of the ball. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.