It's getting late and I don't want to be tired on Monday morning, so I'll try to be quick and to the point.
- We took the family to Kimball's on Saturday. The family had a great time. Michelle got to meet some of my co-workers. Claire got to re-meet an friend she hasn't seen in over a year. The event was rained out near the end, so we left about an hour early. We took the family out for dinner at Valentino's, a local pizza/sub shop.
- We did the usual Mass and donuts ritual this morning. This afternoon Michelle and I cut the grass. Big surprise, eh? At least it wasn't too hot. I'm sure the lawn appreciated yesterday's rain. Last summer about this time it was dying from endless sunshine and heat.
- I took Claire, Abigail, and two of their friends bowling later this afternoon. Later Michelle and the boys joined us for ice cream at Haywards. It'd been a few months since our last candlepin bowling adventure. I think the girls were starting to miss it. Afterwards we played frisbee in the front yard. I should say we played until Claire collided with Mighty Timbo when attempting a catch. Crash! "This will all end in tears … I just know it!" (extra points of you can place the famous quote)
- A bunch of us watched The Hiding Place this weekend. It the story of Corrie ten Boom and her family. Wow! What a drama! Even though the movie sounds like it could be Schindler's List or The Pianist, it is a message of faith, hope, charity, selflessness, generosity, sacrifice... It gave us a lot to discuss with Claire. It should be required viewing if you attend a Catholic high school. Instead I got to see things like Jesus Christ Superstar. Nowadays they probably show The Vagina Monologues.
- On the lighter side, we also rented Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Can that really be the same Keanu Reeves — star of Speed, A Walk in the Clouds (Michelle's favorite), and The Matrix?
- Michelle also met another mom of a little boy with microtia on Friday. She had taken the kids to the park when this other mom approached her. Her son is almost exactly a year younger than Mighty Timbo, but Michelle said he had the same telltale right ear (or lack thereof). This family lives nearby in Amherst, so they exchanged phone numbers. Hopefully they'll get together again soon.
- Gina and her two kids arrive on Tuesday. Everyone is getting excited.
- I know nothing about a supposed ATI and AMD deal that isn't already speculated in the news. By the time you read this, it may be that the rumors are true, or completely busted. They don't give us any insider knowledge on this. There are developments I have insight on. This isn't one of them.
- In Thursday's mail I received a ProClip for my Garmin Nuvi automotive GPS unit and I love it. No more windshield suction mount. This thing is much sturdier and easier to reach. I recommend the ProClip if you have any GPS, MP3 player, phone, or PDA that you want to keep accessible while you drive. My Garmin saved my posterior yet again on Friday when there was a traffic backup on route 495 north. Later on route 111 there was yet another, and again it gave me a great detour. Between the two I think I only lost about 10 minutes with workaround routes. In my hour+ commute 10 additional minutes is just noise. It beats sitting there going nowhere fast.
- Several weeks ago the office shut down my ability to effectively use my iBook at my desk. I'm back to old school style email via mutt during the day. I'm only checking my email a few times during the work day, mainly to avoid distraction. On the plus side, I've been training SpamAssassin and it's getting better every day.