Miscellaneous Musings

This has been an interesting week. New schedule at work, where we added school on Mondays and are now open 9-8 Mon-Thurs, and the regular 9-2 on Fri/Sat. This was an added bonus to the students who have been wanting Mondays. The additional 2 hours are good too on Tues and Thurs (we used to open at 11). It has relieved some of the overcrowding we have had as of late. Not that it isn't good, means we are still growing.

Enough about work. Lets talk about my car. Yes, the regular commuter is showing its age. Although that is only 7, the battery is in need of replacement. It is interesting that even though when I start it up it is dead, it will have enough to start the car after a few turns of the key. The other interesting thing is that the clock will always reset to 12:00, but my radio presets are saved. I guess that is most important. I think today is the day to get that fixed. It's hard to find deals on car batteries. Oh well, like my lovely wife said yesterday, regardless of whether you find a deal or not, you have to get a battery. She is a wise person for someone so young.

Random Ramblings

September 1, 2007 was the day that I officially retired from the Coast Guard, so this past Tuesday was my 2 year anniversary of my retirement. People are always asking if I miss the Coast Guard. In one way, I do. The friends I made, cool places I visited, awesome jobs I did, cannot be replaced by anything in memory. I left after accomplishing my goals, I left after 20+ years, as a Chief Petty Officer (full 3 years), and did all the things I set out to do during my career. I honestly didn't expect to do 20. It was going to be 4 and out, then college, and work. Plans change and the time I spent in the service of the country I love was more than worth the toil, strain, and tears. Spending 6 years in Washington, DC was a glorious ending to my time. You learn alot serving your country in the Nations Capitol. I got to work for the Executive Office of the President (George W. Bush), did time at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and topped it all of being one of the first ever enlisted Intelligence Officers supporting the Coast Guard Commandant. All in all, for someone as patriotic as I am (still get teary eyed when THINKING about "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood) I was honored to serve and honored to be a Coast Guard Veteran.

So, yesterday was Sept 2. It was Lourie's birthday. What exciting things happened? Well, my car battery is about to die and our middle child is still recovering from bronchitis. So, as far as birthdays go, it was pretty crappy for her. Good thing the party is on Sunday where we can all get together and celebrate. I'd like to go on record (since millions of people read my blog, right) and say how much my wife is appreciated by not only me, but by her children, even though we may not say so as often as we must. Being a maid, chef, bookkeeper, chauffeur, and all the millions of things she does isn't easy, but she seems to always do these things cheerfully and without much of a complaint. I respect her, I honor her, I love her, and I am grateful to have her as my eternal companion.

Since I am the family geek and since I have more blogs than I have teeth, I figured I would at least show some love to one of them and post more often. So here goes.

Since the last set of posts, I have retired from the military, we lost all of our fish (flushed), moved to a new state, got a new job, live in a different house, and the list goes on and on and on. We are in the lovely state of California where the "June Gloom" has lifted and we are getting into the warmness of summer. The girls have already gotten out and played in the hose and the other day went to a pool party. We are getting ourselves ready for July when we will all travel to San Antonio for our family reunion. We are looking forward to spending time with Busi, Grandpa, Rob, Michele and all the rest of the kids. It proves to be a great time.

In other news, my job is going well, there is progress towards expanding our lab since we are getting to be more and more crowded, especially Tues and Thurs nights.

I will try and be more diligent in posting updates, and maybe Lourie can teach me how to add pictures! She is starting to know more than me. Scary!