The end of the weekend is here. It was a hot weekend marked by late afternoon thunderstorms on both Saturday and Sunday. Of course Monday when I get back to work, the weather will be much better!
Saturday was a nice but not terribly eventful 34th birthday. We couldn't find a kid sitter, so I ordered some carry out chicken strips from Chicken Hutch for dinner. I couldn't find a home page for the Chicken Hutch, but some UPenn student loved it and had a few pictures here. Anyway, Michelle and the girls also got their hair 'done' on Saturday. I went to the YMCA and for once didn't bring the whole entourage in tow.
Sunday was just as hot but this time Michelle made sure to fill the kiddie pool up. I had to lector at Sunday's 10:30 AM Mass. The pastor said he would have no problem if I brought one of the twins up during my reading. I did so with Daniel. He was very good behind the lecturn. Man! What a hot day to be dressed as a lector though! Sunday was also my brother, Christopher's, birthday. I gave him a call to check in on how things were going this summer. Unlike yesterday, Michelle managed to find a sitter, so she and I went to the Dry Gulch Grill. The food was awesome! On the way home the clouds were starting to break up from the afternoon thunderstorm and the sun had just set. The pink and rose hues mixed in with the layers of clouds would have made an awesome picture! Unfortunately I couldn't get home fast enought to capture it. The downside of going out alone (as rare as we do) this time was that Michelle missed her call from her friend, Jamie, in Indiana... perhaps in a few days.
I don't think I've mentioned this in the past but I've been trying to stay consistent in reading some daily meditations from a series of books entitled "In Conversation with God". It's always a tremendously inspiring daily read. Every day that I've set my mind to it I always come away with a few gems. There were several today but I was struck by this one: "Man finds his ultimate fulfillment or is lost according to whether he carries out in his life the specific plan God has for him." And there was this quote from Saint Teresa: "He who never stops walking on, and presses forward all the time, may reach his goal late, but gets there just the same."
Tomorrow is the first day of the third quarter. I'm going to drive down and visit a company in Cambridge, MA called SMaL Camera Technologies. They have some IP from VAutomation and they're about to freeze their design and commit to silicon fabrication. If you're not in this industry, let me tell you that this point in a design is a tense moment. Not quite as stressful as waiting to see if a rocket you designed will launch, but not that far off either.
I'm going to go for now. It's been a long weekend because of the heat. Next weekend Michelle's sister, Gina, comes to visit. I hope the weather is milder for her stay.