Accord - After almost a year of procrastinating, yesterday morning I dropped off our Accord (my daily driver) at a local auto body shop. As dad can attest, it had some panels with a nasty case of paint peeling. The worst areas were on the roof where there are a couple of patches about a square foot each where the paint wore completely off. Repainting a car that hasn't been in an accident that isn't a classic just seems wrong, don't you think? Even though the car is a 1998, it only has a little over 50K miles on it. Anyway, they will have the car all week stripping and repainting the roof, trunk, and rear quarter panels. Cha-ching! I have a rental car, a silver Dodge Stratus, to use in the mean time. Claire is excited because to her it's like "I have a new car" even though it's just a rental was almost no options: no air, no sunroof, no keyless entry, no CD. In the words of Abby, "boring!". Hopefully I'll have the car back by Friday evening.
Training - The boys are making good progress in toilet training. Daniel really seems to have it down, although he's quite nervous going to bathrooms outside of our house. It's funny that whenever he goes, he proudly announces in a 'eureka!' tone, "I know.... let's go get candy!" He has been a good cheerleader for Michael. When Michael would have an accident he would tell Michael "that's a no-no", but when Michael got it right, he was very supportive. For a while there we were starting to wonder whether Michael could tell whether he was going. The only time he went on the toilet seemed to be coincidence because he would just as soon pee in the yard, on the floor, etc. When he does go correctly, it's so funny because he talks about himself in the third person (somewhat like Bob Dole used to) saying "Yeah Michael! Good boy Michael"
Movies - As I briefly mentioned last time Claire, her friend, and I watched Xanadu last weekend. It had been a long time, decades, since I had seen that movie. The movie is just enough bad dialog to hold the music together. Fashion-wise, it's a real period piece. I hadn't seen leg warmers in ages, let alone Farah-style hair. This weekend I also finally went to see the Wilton Town Hall Theater to see Shrek 2 with Claire and a couple of her friends. I'd been told about that theater for the past two years. It's housed in the old town hall with very reasonable prices for tickets and food. I'll definitely have to take Michelle there soon. Lastly, Michelle and I finished watching Paycheck on DVD. I liked it because it brought up some interesting "what if we could" questions regarding erasing memories and the impact of being able to look forward in time. In many ways it reminded me of the sci-fi movie, "The 6th Day" where they could record your memory (almost like a computer recording its current state) and dump them into a clone.
Phones - As I mentioned briefly last time, Nextel finally got our home line transferred to Michelle's cell phone. There were a handful of days where the number was in limbo. On the whole I like the two phones. The coverage is good with clear reception in most of the NH places I go. I was surprised at how well they did even as we drove to Belmont, NH. The rep said they had to get good coverage through the Loudon area (home of the Loudon race track) because Nextel is a major NASCAR sponsor this year. It would be very embarrassing if they didn't have good cell coverage near the race track. I'm finding that the ability to use direct connect for quick messages to Michelle is very handy. Ex: "I just left the office." "I'll stop by an ATM." "The movie just ended and we're heading home." "I just picked up Abby." That kind of thing really seems to help us stay connected while we're out running errands and such.
School - Today is the last day of school for Alyssa and Tom's kids. It is also Milford Elementary's annual field day. Claire is looking forward to it. Only 9 more days until her last day of school. She and Abby are getting excited about going to Chicago and Indianapolis next month. They feel like lil' world travelers. I wish we could join them but we are looking forward to the visit by Suzy, TJ, and Cass late in the summer.