Taking Daddy For a Walk

Abby 9 months

The walker

Some good friends loaned Abby a walker since their little one has out grown it.  Abby is learning to get arround with here new wheels, check it out. 



Thanks H&J! 

Trip to Lubbock

We made our first trip to Lubbock together since I graduated this past weekend.  Wow 4 years sure has brought major changes to the Hub City!  There is a real highway running next to campus, new places to eat and most importantly, Lubbock is wet!  It was strange to see people walking out of walmart with a 12 pack. 

We were in town to appraise the Texas Destination Imagination Tournament.  (Abby stayed at home with Ben's parents, and had a wonderful time.)  The tournament took up much of our time while in Lubbock, but we did make time to visit some of our old stomping grounds.

We drove past our out house, and it still looks the same, overgrown bushes, barely alive rose bushes, and weeds for a yard.  Yep that is the house I remember!  I also got to go by the CE building and see some of my old professors.  It was strange to walk the halls of the CE building, it seems like forever since I was sitting in room 205 listening to lectures. 

The bigger realization I came to while spending time on campus was, I survived college with out an iPhone!  As we took the bus around campus, it hit me, we didn't have a phone with an app to tell us when the next bus was coming, or where the closest Starbucks was, or even the ability to check my email on the bus.  How did we survive? 

I did stop by the basement of the CE building and snap a picture of my photo hanging on the wall.  They put up a class photo of each graduating class.  Gosh I wish I still looked like this! 

We also made it by to see the new giant class ring at the alumni center, this thing is huge!

We had a pretty good trip!

English 1 EOC Testing in TX

My school district has invested a lot of money in making all of the High Schools 1:1, meaning every high school student has a laptop provided to them. This is a great resource for the student and the teachers. But it also means that we get to "pilot" certain programs for the State. One of the pilot programs is online testing.

So, today is Day 1 of 2 of the English 1 EOC (End of Course) Exam. This morning started out terribly, children and administrators were running around like headless chickens. But eventually everything was sorted out and testing began. I actually prefer the online testing. I think our kids are more comfortable testing on a computer than on paper. Especially for an English test. I'm not sure the upcoming Algebra test will be as smooth for the kids. The program we are using is pretty nice also. It basically locks down the students computer, and if anything goes awry, it notifies the teacher's computer. Let's hope Day 2 goes a little smoother in the beginning.

F*ing DART Police

I am normally an advocate for Police Officers. They provide a service that is rarely appreciated, but always demanded.

However, I am rather "upset" at the Dumb B* of a Dart Police officer. So here's my story:

It was Friday morning and I am merging onto I-35 from PGBT like I do every weekday morning. I quickly make my way over three lanes and cut a gap to get into the HOV lane. I cross the double white line (DWL) every morning, because the official entrance to the HOV lane is a mile down the road and I don't want to sit in traffic for 15 minutes to to get there. So, I cross the DWL. Behind me is a car and then I notice the cop behind him. As soon as there is an open shoulder the cop cuts over and move in behind me with lights and sirens. I immediately pull over, knowing that I was in the wrong. The female officer approaches and asks for my license and insurance. She then asks me to roll down the back window. Well, we have a problem now. I drive an extended cab truck. And as most people know, the back window on extended cab trucks do NOT roll down. They flip out to the side and inch or so. I thought this would be obvious, but apparently not to this lady. I tell her it doesn't roll down, then she makes a comment about "oh, it's broken?" In my head, I say "no, it's not broken you idiot, it just doesn't roll down." It was at this point that I realized I probably got pulled over because she thinks I'm the only occupant. I guess she could not see my daughter in her car seat. She goes back to her car, runs my info, then comes back and gives me the ticket for crossing the DWL.

I understand that I have broken the law and I am ok with the ticket. I have never been given a ticket I did not deserve (however, the converse has been true on several occasions.) I also always take care of my tickets.

Which leads me to today. I am on Spring Break, so I go in to take care of the ticket. It has been over week and a half since I received the ticket. I drove 20 minutes to the indicated court house. I walked up to the counter and handed my ticket to the office lady, we'll call her Pam. Pam takes my ticket and types in the number on the computer. She then says, "Oh, they haven't entered the ticket yet." I tell her the ticket was issued over a week ago and she tells me it has been taking longer than that for them to be entered into the system. We now have a major problem, since I can't come at another time. Pam can't do anything for me, since I technically don't exist yet. She can't even make a note that I "appeared" in court. So I asked her if I can take care of this by mail. She says yes and then starts listing off all the stuff I will need to submit. I stop her and ask if there is some sort of paper or form that I could have so that I don't forget all of the info. Apparently, there is not any sort of form for this stuff. Pam is a little frazzled with the whole situation, but is trying to help me the best she can, so she grabs a sticky note and writes the info down. I realize this is not going anywhere, so I take the info and leave.

So, to recap:

-B* cop writes me a stupid ticket

-I go to pay it, but the B* cop hasn't entered it yet

-I ask for a form, but the stupid gov't doesn't have one.

I broke the law and am trying to do my part, but the gov't can't pull it's proverbial head out of it's proverbial ass. Now I have to wait on them.

The many faces of Abby

This is what happens when I try to get one good picture of Abby.