Another Big Day

Last weekend was a big one for both Abby and Sam. On Friday night Grandma and Uncle Ray came from Indy, so that Ray and I could go to the game while Grandma got to spend a day with Abby and Sam. In the morning after pancakes--chocolate chip for Abby and Sam, blueberry for Cindy and Ray, and peanut-butter with chocolate chips and blueberry for me (Grandma had some as well though I forget which kind)--Grandma, Sam, Cindy and Abby went off to her soccer game while Ray and I, after his traditional stop at our local Tim Horton's, went off to the football game. In contrast to the game Cindy and I went to (YSU) we had little problem finding parking and getting on the shuttle from the West Campus lots. The game itself went pretty well and wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicated (34-21). In some ways the most remarkable part of the whole experience, aside from the game, is the efficiency with which OSU and the city are able to move such a large volume of people-100K+- in and out of the campus area.

[Cindy wrote most of this]Sadly Abby's soccer team went down 2-1, but Abby got her first experience at fullback and liked it. Apparently Sammy had a grand time playing with Grandma. After the game they went to one of our favorite metroparks, Blacklick, for a special celebration at the park. They went on a tram ride, went wading in the creek (Abby saw tadpoles), and created some beautiful artwork at a couple different craft stations. Then they came back home to meet up with daddy and Uncle Ray so that we could all go out to dinner at Abby and Sammy's favorite restaurant-- the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe! This has been their favorite place to eat for a couple of years now. Abby looooves their cheese pizza and Sammy likes their kid-friendly marinara pasta (when he's in the mood for eating). They also love to go to the game room and watch mommy and daddy win lots of tickets for prizes. Abby really likes that awful crane game (you know, the one that is virtually impossible) but Chris was able to win a Care Bear for her. However, he was unable to harness a stuffed gorilla for Sam. After an hour or so in the arcade it was time for Grandma and Uncle Ray to head back to Indianapolis, much to the kid's chagrin.

A few random items/thoughts:

• For reasons known only to him Sam really wanted to sleep naked tonight. We're not sure why, but he had a monster fit putting on his jammies. It sort of reminded me of the old song, Pink Pajamas. If you don't know it ask a Boy Scout.
  
• The House really let us down yesterday. Hopefully sanity will set in the next couple days.
• It may amuse some to know that 20 years later calculus has once again reared it's head in my life. I'm taking an Ag Econ class this quarter in which some facility with calculus will be integral to my success.
  

Financial Crisis

I came across this at another blog and found it to be a decent and somewhat funny explanation of how we got into the current financial crisis, though I must warn that it has some crude and offensive language. Interestingly we got into our house through one of these questionable mortgage deals but refinanced it as soon as we could.

In terms of the bailout Tom Brokaw has a good piece on it at the Wall Street Journal.

Abby's Big Day

Saturday was perhaps the greatest day ever for Abby. In the morning she played soccer and played 2 quarters at her favorite position, goalie, which incidentally was my first position as well. Her team won 5-2 with Abby only letting in one goal which wasn't entirely her fault. The girl who scored on her put the ball to the opposite corner. After her game she went to her friend Teah's birthday party, and had a grand time. But the biggest thrill was later after the Buckeye game when Abby, her papa', and I went fishing and Abby caught her first fish, which turned out to be a turtle. It was a small thing obviously but Abby was rightfully proud. After we put it back Abby caught another which this time was actually a fish! It was a small bluegill as you can see in the picture. So all in all it was big day for her. For those keeping track, I haven't caught anything yet, darnit!

ARRRRRRRRR....

Tomorrow be international talk like a pirate day....arrrrrr!! If ye' don't yet have a pirate name ye' best be gettin' one matey! Click on the link below, if ye' dare!

My pirate name is:

Red Harry Flint

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Update: Arrrrrrr....and this be Cindy's pirate name (It be much cooler than mine....darrrrrnnnnn!)

My pirate name is:

Captain Jenny Rackham

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

I liked this comic from Saturday

Normally I'd like to keep this space free of political content but I found this terribly funny.

Things happen in 3's

There is the old saw that things tend to happen in 3's, and it would appear that the past few days would testify to the validity of that observation. Saturday's fiasco of a football game was followed up by a fairly nasty wind storm on Sunday that knocked out our power for about 5 hours or so. Considering there are half-million or so around the state that are still without power, we were, relatively speaking, lucky. The only real dilemma occurred with dinner--since we didn't have power we couldn't cook anything, I ventured forth to find some fast food or something only to discover that everyone else, including the myriad of restaurants around us, didn't have power either. Thus, I drove back empty handed, but not before being flipped off for treating an out stoplight like a four-way stop. Eventually we were able to cobble together a meal that was surprisingly filling. For the most part the kids held up pretty well, with only Abby getting a bit scared at bed time. Fortunately we got our power back at 9:30 last night. Except for a couple downed limbs on a tree we escaped without any real damage. On the upside Abby had her first calamity day since her school didn't have power this morning, of course that may come back to haunt her later.

To round things out this morning Sam woke up with a pretty bad fever (>100) and couldn't keep anything down. According to the Doctor it appears to be just a virus and likely to clear up by Wednesday. Of course this wasn't his normal doctor and this particular doctor graduated from That School Up North, but nonetheless he appeared competent. Regardless Sam is about as pathetic as can be right now.

Hopefully Karma will eventually balance things out.

Well that stunk

35-3 ouch!

Sam's accomplishment

Yesterday in his second day of pre-school Sammy accomplished something I haven't in my far too many years of schooling--he feel asleep in class. Poor guy has been sick all week. We thought he was doing better yesterday, but obviously not.

Another Blog

Last week I threatened to put a blog on my musings about higher ed. If you look the My Blog List to the left you can find a link to it. I intend to use that space to respond to various questions I get about higher education and to comment on issues in higher ed as they come to me.

Priorities

E. Gordon Gee, President of The Ohio State University, explaining why was a bit late to a banquet today.

"....I was massaging Beanie Wells foot. For most folks it's just a football game, but for me, it's my damn budget running up and down the field."