News 2007

Happy New Year a little late

by tami 2007-01-14 08:49:23

We are getting back into the swing of things after the holidays and a visit by my parents. We had a nice Christmas. Santa was very good to us as usual. Graham got a bunch of toys that he just pretty much ignores. The Christmas computers are set up. Mine was a little bit trying at first. I spent a lot of time cursing the stupid thing. Originally we had ordered a sata drive for it. I spent a day trying to get it to work. I finally gave up and told Scott that he should put it in the new computer with the other sata drive that we bought. We went to CompUSA and bought another pata drive since that was what my other disk was. It worked just fine. When Scott tried to use that disk in the new computer it wouldn't work there either. It was just dead and we had to return it. We are still waiting for the replacement.

The rest of my problems came when I decided to put on 64 bit Gentoo. The network was terrible slow. I actually ended up finding a fix for the one after I reverted to a 32 bit system. Scott did benefit from that, though since all of his computers are 64 bit and had the same problem. The biggest issue was that the driver for the graphics card would lock up the machine every time I killed X. Every time I rebooted it had to fix the file systems. Not something that I like to do. The driver works much better 32 bit. Of course it took me two days to get the machine back to where I had it after I reinstalled a 32 bit OS. It seems fine now and I am very happy with it. The new game computer went together without a hitch (except for that dead drive).

My parents arrived on the December 28th. We did as many things as we could think of. There just isn't that much to do here unless you are fishing or going to the beach everyday. We took a cruise on a yacht. We went to the Aquarium and the Lex. We went to the beach. We ate too much. We played a lot of games. We had to go to the book store and get Mom something else to read. I think that we bored them to death. It was nice of them to visit and we were glad that they came. They brought us a start of their sourdough which has been very yummy. We haven't made anything yet but pancakes. I guess I'll find some other recipes eventually.

Scott had a good time in Phoenix. Well except for the football game. It was a little bit disappointing. He got to see Lori and Marcus and had a good time hiking with them. He stayed with Sharon and Gordon a couple of nights. I think that he made the girls take him shopping. He came back sneezing from the cats and dogs but he was sneezing when he left so maybe it wasn't the animals.

Graham went back to school on the 9th and Uni started on the 10th. I had my first class on the 11th. I think it should be good. It was good to get Graham back to school. He needs something more to do then sit around the house and drive me nuts. The first day back to school was very quiet in the house for me. Scott was still in Phoenix. My parents had just left the day before. Graham went to school. It was weird having the house all to myself.

A week of winter.

by tami 2007-01-21 17:35:30

It seems as if we have had our little bit of winter here. It has been cold and rainy and we had the possibility of sleet. It didn't happen, though. We didn't get the ice that other parts of the state did. I had to turn on the heater to take the chill off the house. Today it was 65, though, and I sat out on the patio and read. I think we have another cold front coming this week so maybe we will end up with two weeks of winter.

Upload: Saguaro in Tonto National Forest

by tami 2007-02-02 11:11:38

Scott and I took a trip into Tonto National Forest on 1/9/07. We saw this saguaro on our hike. Red Mountain, in the background, is on the Salt River Indian Reservation.
[b]Submitted by Marcus[/b]

[link=http://www.grahamand.us/gallery/v/Misc/saguaro_in_tonto_800x533.jpg.html... in Tonto National Forest[/link]

Upload: Scott and Loki on South Mountain

by tami 2007-02-02 11:12:56

Scott and Marcus' dog Loki on South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona. 1/6/2007
[b]Submitted by Marcus[/b]

[link=http://www.grahamand.us/gallery/v/Misc/scott_and_loki.jpg.html]Scott and Loki on South Mountain[/link]

Upload: Jackalope- after antlers have fallen off

by tami 2007-02-02 11:13:47

Scott saw a jackalope in the Tonto National Forest. Unfortunately, it had already shed its antlers. 1/9/2007
[b]Submitted by Marcus[/b]

[link=http://www.grahamand.us/gallery/v/Misc/jackrabbit.jpg.html]Jackalope- after antlers have fallen off[/link]

I can't believe what I did...

by tami 2007-02-02 11:33:02

Well I think that the world must have come to an end. On Tuesday I bought a mini-van. I haven't decided if I am excited or embarrassed. Graham thinks that it is the coolest thing ever because it has a DVD player in it. The bus driver told me yesterday that he told her all about it and he was really excited. Scott even said that it drove nice. Here it is. Thanks George, for that discount!

Still alive

by tami 2007-04-09 12:53:10

Yes we are still alive here in south Texas. The web page has been woefully neglected. What has been going on since my last post on Feb 2nd? Well not much as usually. I survived having both Scott and Graham home with the flu for a week. Let's not do that one again. We had a nice spring break trip to New Mexico. We visited with Scott's family and went to White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns on the way home. I'll try to get some pictures up later today. It was a good visit except for Scott's allergies.

We are dealing with soccer and t-ball right now. Right now we have t-ball practice on Monday, soccer practice on Tuesday, a t-ball game on Wednesday, soccer practice on Thursday and a soccer game and a t-ball game on Saturday. Our last soccer game is this Saturday, but we have 2 rain outs to make up. Hopefully they won't get too worried about making them up. T-ball has been going since just after spring break and continues through sometime the end of May. It is a drag as usual. Graham seems to enjoy it, though, which is what matters. The league is being a pain this year so we'll see how things go.

The first grade went to the San Antonio Zoo last week. I think that the kids had a good time. The weather turned out to be quite pleasant. It never got hot and it didn't rain. It stayed overcast so that helped to keep the temp down.

We had a quiet Easter. It was cold and rainy over the weekend. I think that we set a record low one of the days. Scott and Graham colored eggs in the morning. Graham had an egg hunt with the neighbor kids and then we got out the confetti eggs. Once the eggs were gone we headed back to the warmth in the house. Graham only asked for us to hide the dyed eggs for him once. Then I turned them into deviled eggs. There are still a few left, but I don't expect them to last the night. Both Scott and Graham love them.

New cousin

by tami 2007-04-09 12:57:14

Here is Graham's new cousin, Aubree. She turned 2 months on Easter. She looks pretty cute in her Easter dress.

stitches

by tami 2007-05-09 07:03:07

I never manage to get news posted even when we have it. A couple weeks ago Graham had Friday off. It was one of those teacher days. A few of the neightborhood kids were over playing in the backyard. As usual the older kids were picking on the youngest. Graham said something to him that made him mad and he dropped a piece of wood on his head. Graham was on the ground and the boy was up in one of the huts. Graham came in crying and when he turned his head he had blood running down it. He was pretty upset about all of the blood. I explained that head wounds bleed a lot, but usually aren't very bad. After I got the bleeding stopped and looked at the gash, I thought that it might need stitches. I called the doctor's office and they had time to see him, so in we went.

Graham was very concerned about the whole stitch thing. He kept asking if it would hurt. I told him that they would give him a shot so he couldn't feel it, but that the shot would probably hurt. He was not looking forward to the whole episode. The doctor was great. He explained everything to Graham so he would understand what was going on. Graham did a very good job getting the shot. I think he only flinched once. He didn't cry and stayed as still as he could. The doctor put 3 stitches in his head and then sent us off for x-rays. There wasn't a fracture so we were good to go.

That night was Athenafest at Graham's school. It is the big fundraiser/festival for the PTA. Graham told everyone he saw, "I have a stitch in my head". He was very proud of it.

The stitches came out last Friday. It healed up very well. Graham has done a good job of not picking at it. He doesn't like me to look at it anymore.

The doctor asked that we put peroxide on the wound a couple of times a day (while the stitches were still in). He said that it would help it not get too scabby and make removing the stitches easier. I managed to give Graham a blond streak in his hair. I wasn't even thinking that it would bleach it out.

Happy Mother's Day

by tami 2007-05-14 10:23:22

I hope that everyone had a Happy Mother's Day. We had a quiet day for the most part. We went to brunch and then out for a little bit of shopping. My boys bought me a new camera for Mother's Day. I got a Nikon D40x. It is really nice. Not that I have done much with it yet. I was tired of not being able to get very good action shots with my old camera. There is huge difference between 3 megapixels and 10. The only bad thing is that the autofocus won't work with our old lenses. I don't think that it will be too big of a deal. The lens that came with it is sufficient for now. I expect that at some point I'll buy telephoto lens, but there isn't any rush.

Friday is Mother Goose Day for the 1st grade. They dress up and have a parade and I don't know what else. He wants to go as one of the blind mice. He tells me that 2 of his classmates are going to be mice too. We have been looking for mouse ears and a tail. We managed to find a mouse nose. We bought some Scooby Doo ears and a cats tail and I think that I'll try to spray them gray. I need to get a gray t-shirt for him too. This is a busy week at school. In addition to Mother Goose Day on Friday, the 1st grade is performing at the PTA meeting tomorrow night and Wednesday morning is the awards assembly for the 1st grade. School is out next Thursday and then starts our long summer. They have pushed back the start of the school year by 2 weeks. Not sure what we'll do with Graham. Right now he is registered for a soccer camp and Seacamp at the Aquarium the last 2 weeks of June. He is also registered for camp at the playhouse the end of July. That should give him a little big more to do then just sit home and drive me crazy. We are also discussing a couple of vacation possibilities.

Done with 1st grade

by tami 2007-05-25 10:40:48

I can't believe that the school year is done. Yesterday was Graham's last day of 1st grade. End of August he goes back to school as a 2nd grader. I can't believe how old my baby is getting.

Lots of rain

by tami 2007-05-30 11:03:33

We had a rainy weekend and now it has turned very humid. Monday morning we had about 5 inches in the rain gage. We were supposed to go to a lake with friends for the weekend, but that was canceled due to the lovely weather. It was a pretty blah weekend for us.

Congratulations Scott!!

by tami 2007-05-30 11:03:47

We received the official word yesterday. Scott has been promoted to associate professor and has been given tenure.

Enjoying summer

by tami 2007-05-30 11:06:27

I have only been out of school a few days but I am having a good time.

We survived!!

by tami 2007-06-15 08:50:41

Yesterday Scott and I took Graham and 3 of his friends to Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. He decided that this is what he wanted to do for his birthday instead of having a party. We spent at least 14 hours with 4 seven year olds and survived to tell about it. Over all I think that the boys did really well and everyone seemed to have a good time. First we hit the water park. We got the boys suited up and then decided that it would be best if they had a parent doing things with them. Scott went to get his suit while the boys played in the wave pool. Then Scott took Graham, Ben, and Phillip on the rides that they wanted to do. Neil wasn't very interested in the water stuff. He had sat around with me holding towels. Once they decided that they were hungry we got them out of the water and went to find food. After that we got them changed again and went looking for roller coasters. Graham had never been to an amusement park before and never rode a roller coaster. The first one the boys hit (while I was taking swimsuits back to the car) did cork screws, loops and went backwards. Graham wouldn't have anything to do with it, but the other 3 boys loved it. We rode on the train and ended up in the kiddie section. The boys rode a couple really lame rides there, but after riding the kiddie roller coaster, Graham decided that he would ride one of the bigger ones. We did the medium roller coaster and he loved it. They actually rode that one a couple of times. Then we headed to the big wooden one. Neil decided that he wasn't up for that, so I rode with the other 3 while Scott and Neil played games. What a rough ride. They went back to the medium one after that and rode it a couple more times. They weren't big enough for the other roller coasters. We rode the train again and went back to the twisty roller coaster. Graham still wouldn't ride it, but the other 3 did. Then we went for souvenirs and started the trip home. When we got to the south side of San Antonio we stopped for a burger. We got back to Corpus around 9:30 I think. We dropped off the boys and stayed and talked a while with Phillip's mom since he was the last to drop off and we hadn't talked to her in ages. It was probably going on 11 before we got home. Graham wanted to stay up and play, but I got him in bed. I think he was asleep before I had the light shut off. All in all it was a good day and I think that they had a fun and memorable time.

sleeping

by tami 2007-06-15 15:51:17

So little boy blue who didn't go to bed until almost 11 last night was up a little after 7 (I think I didn't look at the clock that closely). I told him he looked tired and to go back to bed. That wasn't going to happen. Well he asked for a blanket a little bit ago and is now asleep on the couch. I think we wore him out yesterday. I talked Neil's mom earlier and she said that he slept in until 10 this morning. I think we wore out 4 boys yesterday.

Vacation update

by tami 2007-07-07 22:06:30

We are one week into our vacation. We had a good time in Denver. Graham really enjoyed seeing his cousins. Scott had a good time beating his sisters at Scrabble. I think that he won 3 out of 5. Poor Karen didn't win a game. Gina wanted to quit after 2 games because she had won both of them. We shopped, saw a movie, went to a concert followed by a really nice fireworks display. We ate and played games and chilled out on the deck. Gina and Joe have a very nice house up in the mountains.

We left Denver on Thursday and headed to North Dakota. We had a late start and got in around 7. I had a terrible headache and pretty much went straight to bed. Graham and Scott went for a walk and got ice cream. The next morning we went to Roosevelt National Park and had a good time driving around and hiking. The area is very beautiful. We saw bison and wild horses and lots of prarie dogs. In the afternoon we went to hike to the petrified forest. Our directions were kind of dodgy, but we finally found the place. Graham who didn't want to do the hike wanted to go further once we got there.

So Saturday finds us sitting in the motel room watching the Prologue of the Tour de France. Pretty sad, huh? The pool is closed which is where we planned to spend the afternoon. Today is our chill out day. We visited the dinosaur museum this morning and then we walked through the mall. I got a manicure and a pedicure. Graham and Scott had to go find a tire gauge since the van keeps complaining about the tires being low. We had lunch at a local burger joint and then vacuumed out the van and put air in the tires. It is hot. 103 when we came back from lunch. I don't know that we'll move much today.

Tomorrow we leave for South Dakota via Devils Tower. We have a cabin near Hill City for 4 nights. I am looking forward to it.

Back home again.

by tami 2007-07-18 17:03:46

We got back from our trip Friday night. We had a good time in the Black Hills. We saw most of the sights and got in some hiking. We also just sat outside and enjoyed the trees or read a book. The hot tub was nice too. There was a sand pit at the cabin and Graham spent his spare time there building caves and Needles Highway.

Graham really liked Devils Tower. He climbed around on the big boulders with his dad. I think that was what he liked best about the whole trip, well apart from seeing his cousins. He got to climb a little bit at the Badlands and liked that too.

The drive home was very long. We left the Black Hills around 7:20am and drove through to Norman, Oklahoma to spend the night. We got there sometime between 11:30 and 12 that night. There was a big storm in Nebraska to the east. Eventually we had to turn into it and then we turned south again. We managed to get out of the rain about the time we hit the Kansas border. It caught up to us over night and we drove in rain the next morning. It was still raining when we crossed the border into Texas. We didn't even stop to get a picture of the state sign. I have a blurry one taken from the van as we drove past. The rain was gone by the time we hit Fort Worth. We were there about 10am, but still had to deal with stop and go traffic. I can't believe that they haven't fixed I-35 north of I-30 there. It was bad when we lived there 15 years ago. It is still bad now. We had to deal with traffic for the rest of the drive. We sat in traffic in Austin at 2 in the afternoon. We had a little bit of traffic in San Antonio. We tried to run out of gas on the outskirts of Corpus, but managed to get to a station in time. The joys of a road trip.

I now have over 1100 pictures to sort through. Having a 4 gig memory card in the camera lets you shoot a lot of pictures. I haven't managed to fill it up yet. I'll be a while sorting pictures...

Playing catch up again

by tami 2007-08-10 12:44:57

Yes another month has slipped away from me. I think that it has been as uneventful as most of our months. Graham had his last scheduled camp the last week in July at the Harbor Playhouse. He said that he really liked it and would do it again. We are still not sure what he did there beyond play a game called Booyah.

We went to Austin last week for an overnight stay. The uni had a shrimp boil for incoming freshman and alumni and wanted faculty to go and meet/talk to the new students. Austin has been on the list for awhile so we thought that it would be a good opportunity. Our first stop was REI. The one in Austin is the closest to us. We are looking at family tents. The one we are interested in was on sale when we were in Denver, but we didn't want to have to drag it around with us. It isn't on sale anymore. I guess maybe we should have bought it. The store didn't have the one that we are looking for, but when the time comes we'll probably just order it off the web. Scott and Graham got some cloths while we were there. After REI we could check into our hotel room and then we went to the [link=http://www.zilkergarden.org/]Botanical Gardens[/link] for the afternoon. The shrimp boil was going to be there later in the evening. We enjoy the gardens and the huge park that it is in. Austin is a lot more appealing to me the Corpus. Oh well. After the shrimp boil we went to the bridge with the bats. It was very close to our hotel. We waited and waited and waited. We saw bats, but it wasn't really what I was expecting. I thought that we would see a big swarm leave the bridge and it just didn't happen like that. It was still good. Maybe the view is better from on top of the bridge. We'll have to try that if we go back. On the way home the next day we stopped at the big outlet mall between Austin and San Antonio. Scott got a bunch of shirts and Graham got school clothes. I got a new frying pan. hmm... What is wrong with that picture?

The bad thing about the trip was that over the weekend I started breaking out in a rash. Nasty rash. Poison Ivy type rash. Scott ended up with some too. Graham luckily is clean. I went to the doctor to get something to take care of mine since the last time I had something like this it wouldn't clear up. I wasn't going to be miserable for weeks. Scott had to deal with his at SIGGRAPH since he has been there all week. We are both starting to clear up. We both think that we got it at the bats. The doc didn't think that it was poison ivy because my reaction wasn't severe enough. I just wish that it would go away. I am tired of being itchy.

So Scott was in San Diego for Mary and George, rode in the Ore to Shore on Saturday.

Mary: "I have never been so #!#@!#?# dirty in my life."

Scott: "Mary doesn't look very happy".

Back to school

by tami 2007-08-24 11:32:44

Scott and I started school this week. Scott is teaching two classes. I am taking 2 classes. There is an intersection there. Graham starts Monday. And there was much rejoicing! He is ready. I am ready. It is past time. Our summer break is way too long. Graham got his hair cut this morning so he looks somewhat acceptable. We get to meet his teacher today at 2. He is in Miss Miller's class this year. His friends Neil and Natalie are in the same class. We haven't run into anyone else that we know. I guess we'll find out the rest of the kids today. I don't have all of his school supplies purchased. I guess I'll have to deal with that this weekend.

School is OK

by tami 2007-08-29 13:48:46

Graham seems happy with school so far. I am sure that it has something to do with not having any homework yet. I expect that will change soon.

Sick already

by tami 2007-09-07 11:27:39

After only 8 days of school, I have a boy home sick. That didn't take long. When he got off the bus yesterday, I didn't think that he looked very well and the thermometer showed that he had a slight fever. He seemed OK the rest of the evening. He rode his bike and did normal Graham things. He went to bed early. Not a normal Graham thing. He usually wants to stay up later. This morning he was hotter then last night. So he is home. I think that he is feeling better now. He seems a little bit more chipper then he was this morning. He is making paper airplanes.

I love that sound

by tami 2007-09-29 08:48:55

Last night we went to the first Conquer the Coast Criterium. I love the sound that the racers make as the speed by. Graham had a good time playing. I don't know that he was very interested in the racing. The crowds were small, but it is the first year. Maybe it will take off. I would like to see it take off.

As we lay in bed this morning listening to thunder and pouring down rain, we were very happy that we didn't sign up for Conquer the Coast this year. There hasn't been much biking going on this summer and we didn't feel like we were up to it. We are going to do the Goliad ride in October instead. That should be lots of fun and Graham will get to do it with us.

They have moved the time trial part of Conquer the Coast to the start of the ride. The time trial is referred to as "Toughest 18 Miles in Texas Time Trial". Those 18 miles were the part that went down Mustang Island and you are usually going right into a strong head wind. If it is no longer doing those particular 18 miles, does it still deserve the name?

Flower in bloom

by tami 2007-10-01 12:10:56

Our Bird of Paradise finally decided to bloom.

One of those days...

by tami 2007-10-01 12:18:52

Mondays are wash the sheets day. Graham took off his sheets and brought them out to be washed before he left for school. I took the sheets off our bed when Scott got up. I then gathered all of the sheets and put them in the dryer. I now have warm, dirty sheets. sigh...

Good Ride

by tami 2007-10-27 22:08:20

We enjoyed the ride last Saturday in Goliad. I wasn't expecting the course to be so rolly, but it made a nice change from Corpus. The weather was nice too. We ended up doing 50 miles even though the week before we decided to only do 50. We didn't do too bad. The tandem was slow on the hills, but I think that I would have been too if I had a 50 pound sack of potatoes on the back of my bike. Graham's pedaling is hit or miss. He is either not putting much effort into it or sprinting. We need to work on a steady pace some where between the two.

Thoughts on Halloween

by tami 2007-11-01 07:03:06

So what is up with the teenage boys that come around trick or treating with their pillowcase and no costume? A few that came to the door last night were just too old and need to move on to other things.

So what is up with the parents that take their toddlers (young under 2 probably, I am not even sure that one of them could walk yet) out trick or treating and collect candy for them? They aren't actually going to let them eat all of that, are they?

So here is our trick or treater. He came home with way too much candy. We have started sorting out what he'll eat, what he won't eat, and then we'll still have to cut back on his loot.

Smile and say cheese

by tami 2007-11-20 11:01:24

So my goof-ball child comes home last week with his school picture. Lovely grin. If we get them retaken will you do a real smile. No. I guess we don't even need to go there. I am sure that the grandparents can't wait to get this one in the mail. And then there is the haircut to go with it. We got it cut the weekend before the picture was taken and the guy completely butchered it. I should have just let Scott do it. It would have been better. Oh well...

The big day approaches...

by tami 2007-12-23 09:18:38

...and we are still unsure if Graham is getting any presents this year. He has been particularly bad since Thanksgiving; coming home from school with citizenship marks almost everyday and two on some days. He has been working hard to earn back his presents, but he is running out of time. We'll see how he does today.