I-35 Fender Bender

Last Thursday, I had the delight of a highway fender-bender. Very nerve-wracking. Three cars in front of me all hit their brakes hard and I followed suit. Luckily, with my new tires, I was able to NOT slide and hit the truck in front of me. However, the truck behind me was not so lucky - and technically, neither was the back of my van! All humans involved are fine.

The damage didn't look that extensive - although the total came to around $3k to repair. There's some scratches on the bumper - which is also cracked. Also, the trunk/hatch (whatever it's called) is bent right at the latch area, so we couldn't open it. That's going to make the camping/canoe trip next weekend very interesting!

Anyway, the guy's insurance is covering the damage and the rental vehicle, so that's good. The downside, I'm probably going to be in this van until it finally ups and dies at this point. It has now been damaged on three sides (I tried to remove the driver's door with the garage frame one day and a guy hit the sliding passenger door in the work parking lot one day) and I honestly think this thing is cursed!

Lord - save me from running into anything head-first. Or if I do, please let me total the thing (but no one inside it!) so I might finally be rid of this albatross!

If I can get pics from the insurance agency I'll post them later.

T-Ball

The boys are playing t-ball this year and it's probably the singular funniest thing I've ever witnessed!

Everytime Travis gets up to bat, they put him on the wrong side. He holds the bat correctly and they look at him like he's daft because he'll hit it into the backstop. THEN they remember he's the lefty!


Thomas gets very serious about the whole thing and tries to field every ball - even if it's on the wrong side of the field!

Joe keeps encouraging this - saying it's just "aggressive" playing, but I kept telling them both they have to let the other kids field too and learn their positions. Eventually, Joe & I will get on the same page in this parenting thing.

All in all, they're having fun and it's just an "intro" to baseball. Hopefully, it's a sport they'll continue with, especially Travis - left-handed pitchers can make a good living (and help their moms retire early!)

Jazzoo 2007

As part of my duties at DEG, I get to be the project lead for pro bono accounts. One of these most popular events is Jazzoo, a creative black tie gala at the Zoo to benefit the Zoo Learning Fund. The pro bono part of the account is that instead of getting paid, we get to attend - the entire office! It's a really great event with a LOT of food, fun, dancing and drinking. Here are a few photos from this year's event:

Trish (my date) and me on the NEW Endangered Species Carousel		Left to Right: Lisa (Retail/Support), Dan, Jason, Wing & Dave (all the guys are engineers)
Left to Right: Steve (Account Service), Ferris, Dan & Wing (other three are engineers)		Left to Right: Jenna (Sky's date), Sky, Rita (Greg's wife) & Greg; Sky & Greg are engineers

The Hair Cut!

OK - I'm FINALLY posting this. For those who haven't seen me recently, the hair is gone - really really gone! Here I am, just a few hours before it was chopped off:

And (TA DA!) here I am for Jazzoo, from the front and the side. Yep - it's ALL GONE!

Pre-K Graduation

The boys have graduated - from Pre-Kindergarten!

They had a cute little ceremony where the kids came in and introduced themselves in sign-language (finger spelling their own names) and did lots of other signs as well. Then they did a couple of little songs and went through the months, days and other information. They each had to go up to get their certificates - Thomas was first. When they called his name and told him to come up he said "what do I have to do NOW??" - it was too funny! They are SO ready for Kindergarten to start in August!