Catch Up!

This weekend was a good family weekend. It started off with Friday evening that I was able to get much of my workload done for the week so I felt like I've actually accomplished something. Second, Meredith and the boys came down to my work for lunch.

On Saturday we went to the Fort Worth Zoo, where we have memberships, and participated in a Baylor Alumni Diadeloso Event (Day of the Bear). There were door prizes and we met some very nice Baylor Alumns. We were even singled out as a "mixed marriage" of Aggie to Baylor Bear as well. Hey...I wore green and yellow for the day. The zoo was packed. There were more people visiting the zoo than I have seen in a long time. Afterwards, we went home and all of us slept for the afternoon. Alex and I are slowly watching through "The Lord of the Rings" making sure that we skip over the really scary parts.

Today we went to church and then went to the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival. It was really nice seeing several Denton friends from my time working at the city. I was even told by one of the police officers that I should apply for the Director of Planning position. He said that he felt I could do a really good job at it. I'm not so sure. I'm having a little heartburn over presenting my first divisional budget tomorrow morning as well as attempting to hire my first person solo in the coming week. Lots of little stressers that depending on how well I do, will be reflected in my performance review as a manager.

The past week has been a time of working on the house. I've repaired the hole in my ceiling that I placed (2'x3') by falling through from the attic while looking for a wayward Easter basket. Dad came over last Saturday and we repaired the hole rather well. I've also installed new florescant lighting in my garage and have planted herbs, tomatoes and okra in the garden. It seems like I'm always working at accomplishing something.

I'm thinking I may take Friday off.

Whew!

After some time off from blogging...mainly because of the vast amount of time that has been spent on Life 2.0 upgrade I've been having lately...I can sit down and write some stuff out.

Its been a little hectic with the two boys. Alexander has started showing a little of the small regressions including some bathroom problems, wanting to sleep in our bed a little more and being overly loud at times attempting to get our attention. Ford has decided that 8pm is his bedtime - thank you very much - and lets us know under no uncertain terms that he is mad if we don't hit that time. Also, car trips are not his favorite pasttime, particularly when the car is stopped.

We've had some lovely outings though. A couple of weeks ago we found out that Thomas the Tank Engine was in Grapevine pulling the passenger cars along the Cotton Belt Line. We only found out about it late in the day from the news. So we packed up and went out to see if we could find Thomas. Luckily we arrived just as they were disconnecting Thomas from the cars. We got to see them put Thomas on the turntable and park him. Later in the afternoon we went to Grapevine's Botanical Garden and playground.

Adding to the stress that Life 2.0 has created - I have been promoted at work. I'm now the Planning Official and I report to the Director of Planning and Engineering. Its a lovely raise and a ton more work, but since Meredith isn't teaching this semester...its a good upgrade.

One of my first things as the new Planning Official was to go to Texas A&M to a Sustainable Urbanism conference. We heard from James Howard Kunstler - a bit of a rabble rouser of a speaker - on the end of the oil boom in the country and the beginning of a period in gloabl history in which we need to focus more on the local habitation of our communities rather than how we will be able to focus globally.

This next week I will be setting up interviews for a new planner position and hopefully I can get someone on board that will help me with the development review items.

Life is good. Its just a little stressful.