First Spring Training game today and a run at another shot at the playoffs.. people will go on and on about the Phillies... I prefer chasing rather than being chased for this season, especially with the younger players sprinkled thruout the roster...

so... I did give someone at work a sixpack o beer to swap out my Broadband Card. But.. it seems there are more problems than originally thought. It aint going to work without sending it off to HP, and that aint happenin'... it will still work fine with wifi and it seems to be destined to become a device to replace Jessica's school computer here at home. I can get another one free thru work, but I kinda wanted a LTE (4G) tablet of some sort but that seems to not be in the cards right now unless I can wrangle some sorta deal thru work to get that instead... problem is that an IPad could easily be acquired, but since someone asked Santa for an IPad for Xmas, I dont think my suddenly showing up with one of those would go down well at the house.

as a follow-up... why does I-Man virtually REFUSE to wear a polo shirt? I occasionally put out a polo shirt for him to wear, and he always comes down stairs in some random t-shirt. Then I remember how old he is. And that I pretty much MUST wear a polo shirt everyday.. and that maybe I need to find a job wear I can wear a tshirt like this to work everyday....

But then again, I could live in Libya right now....

for some reason, my broadband card embedded in my netbook seems to not want to power on. And i never knew how much i relied on being able to connect ANYWHERE until this has happened as i cant seem to make myself use my Droid to update like I actually can. I keep thinking I need to get to wifi and with my jacked up work sched, I keep putting off posts... I could repair the card with other card, but it will take me virtually taking my netbook apart. Perhaps a Xoom is looming in my future? or perhaps I will give someone a sixpack of beer at work to do it for me...

i am always intrigued by the differences in our two children... I-Man comes downstairs every morning with his jeans and plain t-shirt while Ryles has a definite sense of style that reminds me of Harper on Wizards of Waverly Place. But... occasionally, she has blips... like this morning when she seemed to be wearing a jacket under a dress under this sweater/trenchcoat thingy that Aunt Ellen gave her. Of course, a meltdown occurred when she was advised that perhaps the jacket under-layer wasnt needed. After storming off upstairs she returned teary eyed without the jacket with just the dress and sweater thingy... she then proceeded to sigh heavily every 45 seconds from the back seat on our short drive to school.

in other news... i think I have their birthday/Christmas lined up. Should have it wrapped up in a couple of days. Early?.. a tad bit... but I wont have to be worried about it then. All that will be left will be to relay requests to Santa for perhaps one more year...

so the weekend found me at a few cabins on the lake in Georgia with the Frat for their retreat. I did do a few interviews and am pleasantly happy with the Candidates overall. I think that while a transition year is looming, brothers are starting to step forward into leadership positions, and/or position themselves for serious consideration. These events always bring back so many memories, of times and people that I miss...

..today I am watchin' the Daytona 500 and it seems my guy (the twonine) is going to at least run upfront and be a contender... at least until he seemingly blew an engine.. oh boy, he is going to have to scramble now to make the playoffs now. wow.

today we are also chilling with Grandma and Uncle Jerry...

"Troubles, they may come and go, but good times, they're the gold". - Dave Mathews Band

"To be upset over what you don't have is to waste what you do have". - Ken S. Keyes, Jr

routine and new stuff...

part of the routine now is sunday afternoon practice.... I-Man is producing tones amazingly well for what I thought he would be able to do for a while. he doesnt know the range he is showing because he still kinda just views them as random notes. As an aside, I find it startling when I see I-Man's reaction to Music and see a LOT of similarities between him and me and how Music makes me feel at times... its just that he is far more apt to jump up and start dancing. What is so obvious is how it affects him. And to see the happiness makes me cringe when sometimes we have to tell him to settle down, cause I really.. really.. REALLY dont want to curb that enthusiasm for something so imortant to me...

..Meanwhile Ryles is having a slightly harder time producing tones and notes on the Clarinet. She is doing about to be expected for the instrument, which I found tricky even after years of playing the saxophone. I worry that she will become discouraged while I-Man seemingly has an easier time of playing the Euphonium. I try to emphasis to her that even the most experienced players squeak occasionally, and that mastery of that embouchure takes a while longer than a brass instrument. That being said, she is doing fine and producing notes just fine... I still wonder if this is ultimately the instrument for her.

my computer..it havin issues

my netbook has been having issues recently and my broadband card is seemingly dead, leaving me with only wifi... it kinda has changed my pattern of updating here.. but it is fixed now...