Apples And Oranges

I just finished a week of corporate training at work. Loved it. First, just the education about financial stuff was interesting, and then how where I work does it all online. Such a simple and easy way of doing business. The culture is 180º from my previous job. Here they are all about individuality and new ideas and progressive thinking. The top line of their "code" is "we are new here." Every day they strive for new innovations and ways of doing things. Truly customer oriented.

While I was in class, I was still working though. I had my Blackberry on and was able to reply to emails. Had to leave class a couple of times to handle a situation. But it was not just tolerated, it was sort of encouraged. There was a break-in early in the morning of my last class day though. Some knucklehead came in and stole some cash registers from the ground floor Cafe. He was caught and had quite a history of thievery. I was called in to help with the investigation and pull surveillance footage. We learned some lessons and will keep moving forward.

Elliott started the LONG (and expensive!) process of dental work this week. They put some palate expanders in and that will lead to jaw alignment stuff and then braces. But he is worth it. Lucie has had to run him around to appointments and ferry the kids quite a bit.

The air is chilly at night now. Still sad to see the pool closed up.

Smokin' In The Boys Room

The other day someone started a fire at the high school so they evacuated and Ashleigh and Elliott got to go home early. It could have been a problem as I was working a special event and Lucie was sitting in a jury pool waiting to see if she got picked. They found a ride home and Lucie wound up not getting picked so it worked out OK.

The kids are doing really well in school. Ashleigh has a new field hockey coach who is really working them hard but they are now 2-1 and Ashleigh has scored twice! Their hard work is paying off. Elliott got word the other day he got accepted into Wilmington Charter School. That high school is one of the top 100 schools in the country. But he isn't going to go. It is in a rough section of Wilmington (about a half hour away) and he would have to be driven back and forth. I am working in Wilmington now but our schedules wouldn't work out. And the school itself is in a run down dreary building. He is in advanced classes and the Cambridge program at Newark High so he will be fine. He, and we, are just happy he got in!

Work continues to go very well for me. I am loving it and fitting in. They threw a big retirement party for the guy I am replacing yesterday. It was quite emotional for him and I have big shoes to fill but I am ready. I have a week of corporate training next week which should be interesting.

I am closing down the pool today. I hate doing that. It is nice and breezy out but the daily air high temps are only in the 70º's now and the pool water was 69º this morning. Jasmine loves to sit on the top step in the pool and enjoy her personal Jacuzzi (there are jets in the steps) so she will be sad too when I cover it up. She told me so...

Labor Day Laborer

It is Labor Day and I am happy to report that I am in the laboring pool. Which sure beats being in labor in the pool. Although laboring in a pool wouldn't be bad... The weeks just fly by in a good way. I am busy learning at work and making some changes and developing and learning the culture. So far, still so good.

Speaking of the pool, it is getting chilly in there these days. The nights are cooling off and the pool is only able to creep up to the mid 70ºs most days. We planned to go to the beach today but it was cloudy and breezy so we went down to a big mall in Maryland (Towson - about an hour away). That was nice but we were sad to see the Rainforest Cafe was gone from there. It was expensive and the food was just OK, but the experience was fun (like eating in a rain forest oddly enough with moving stuffed animals, sounds, thunder and lightning, etc.). We brought Ashleigh there for her birthday party and Lucie's mother there once.

And now, speaking of thunder and lightning, I got a new Blackberry Storm. I needed one for work and they are paying for the data plan. So I upgraded my old phone and am loving this one. It is online all the time so it is cool to be able to hit the 'Net for whatever I need. In fact, we were at the mall looking for the Rainforest Cafe but couldn't find it so I googled for it and found it was gone. Pretty slick.

A&E are enjoying school. It is a bit of culture shock for Elliott to see the riff raff be so disrespectful and rude with bad attitudes but he will distance himself from that and be fine.