We Got A Winna

Elliott had a game this morning and I am happy to report his team won! Yahoo. Elliott went 0 for 2 from the field but they were good shots. He has really stepped up his defensive game and he had 4 rebounds. At least two steals too and an assist. I told him how Larry Bird used to play. (For those who don't know who Larry is, look him up...). When Larry had an 'off' game offensively, he would make up for it defensively, working the boards, etc. I have Elliott's stats on the web page.

Today is house cleaning day. Mopping, etc. That is OK. It is rewarding to see the floor clean for the full two minutes before the dogs tread and shed on it....

Hale's on Fire

Elliott and I did pretty well in our respective basketball games last night. Elliott played some great defense and grabbed a couple of rebounds. No turnovers. He handled the ball well too. He got his shot blocked by some kid much taller than him but he fired off 2, 3-pointers that were in and out. He did hit a nice jumper. Unfortunately, his whole team didn't score in the third quarter (he had to sit out - there are timing rules so all the kids can play) and they lost again. Lots and lots of turnovers.

We left there and went to my church basketball night. Only 8 of us but I had a huge night. Drained most of my outside shots. We had a good night overall. My knees don't bother me at all - which is strange since a few weeks ago I thought it was time to hang up the sneakers. Early in the night someone gouged my middle finger with their fingernail. You would think they punctured an artery the way it bled. I didn't even notice I was dripping blood on the carpet until I happened to look down. Elliott scrounged up a Band-Aid but was almost too grossed out to stick it on me. It was on my shooting hand but since I shot so well, I am thinking of wearing a Band-Aid every week. If Michael Jackson can wear a glove on one hand...

I picked up my Pathfinder yesterday. They did an excellent job replacing the bumper and washing the car. It looks brand new again.

Ashleigh is going to a sleepover / birthday party tonight. Not sure what the rest of us will do. Probably catch up on some Tivo-ed shows.

No Respect for the King

Whenever there is a holiday before our trash pickup, our trash pickup is delayed a day. Wednesday is our usual pickup day so I packed up the trash and put it out this morning (Thursday). No pickup. I called our trash company and while on hold, a recording was playing re-stating that holiday delay pickup policy. Right then a live person came on and said that the company doesn't recognize MLK as a holiday. And they have no trucks in our our area until next week. So, as someone told me, I have to do the roll of shame and bring the trash back.

Tonight Elliott has a basketball game. We always look forward to those.

I did my civic duty today and sent in my absentee ballot for the presidential primary (which will be held while we are cruising).

Silent Mouse

I have a new mission - find a silent mouse. When I am updating church info on Wednesday nights at the church, the mouse I use seems to be quite noisy. (Noisy being loud when I double click. I could use the touch-pad but that is not too easy to control.) I am not sure if I am actually disrupting the service but it seems loud to me. So I did a google search and found there is quite a potential market for silent mouses (mice?) and keyboards. One company makes one but it is expensive. And I found a step by step guide on how to dissassemble a mouse and take out the click-maker. Not going to do that.

Actor Heath Ledger was found dead today. He was in some of Lucie and Ashleigh's favorite movies (The Patriot and A Knight's Tale). He was pretty good.

We have been spending the past few days finalizing cruise plans including car rentals and what excursions to go on. I actually laid out my bathing suits the other day. Won't be long now...

Monday Catch Up

What a busy past few days. Whew. Thank you Dr. King for sharing your dream and giving us all a slow day... ha ha.

I will add some things in no particular order. Today we went down to the Rehoboth Beach outlets to do some shopping. My Pathfinder is in the shop now for most of the week to get the bumper replaced from the accident. They gave me a Chevy Impala to drive. So we piled in and braved the freezing cold to do some shopping. That went well. Elliott and I got some new cruise sunglasses and he got some t-shirts and swimming trunks. Lucie got some shorts.

On Saturday, Elliott couldn't go to his basketball game as he was on one of his school's academic challenge teams that was competing with several other schools. It was sort of like a giant Bible Quiz competition (for those of you who know what that is) or a trivia game show. Complete with buzzers and judges and timers. The morning started off rough with us heading out and Lucie forgetting her camera. We hadn't gone far so we turned around and went back. She grabbed that and off we went. We met at a school in Wilmington and then I found out this was an ALL DAY event. I was mentally prepared for a half day. So I became a big poop for a while (until he started competing - then it was interesting). Meanwhile, Lucie gets her camera out and finds that the battery was missing so she figured she left it charging at home. It wasn't until we were on the way home that she found the battery in the camera bag and she had had it the whole time... Anyway, Elliott's team went 5-1 with their only loss being against another team from their school. So they came in 2nd place. His school, Newark Charter, placed 1st, 2nd, and 4th. (His basketball team won big even though he and one of the other good players wasn't there. Next game is this Thursday.)

On Friday I had to take him to the doctor for a follow-up checkup. According to my math, the doctor makes $540 an hour. So Ashleigh and Elliott are now going to be pre-med majors in college...

On Sunday we got busy doing things in the afternoon including running Elliott from ice skating with the church youth group to a birthday party. So I Tivo-ed the Patriots game and watched it later. No one got to me to spoil it either. As soon as that finished, we flipped over to the Packers / Giants game and saw the Giants win. So I know who will be playing Sunday night while we are cruising the open seas. I too have a dream...

Frosty Day

Ashleigh is in the middle of mid-terms at school so she is on a crazy test schedule. Short days.

Lucie was off today so we went to pick up Ashleigh from school, then race over to her (Lucie's doctor appointment). When we got there, Lucie wasn't sure if she was at the right office. Turned out, it was the right office, wrong time! So she went back later.

On the way home we stopped at our bank and got our request for absentee ballots notarized. The presidential primary will be held here while we are at sea. The guy at the bank seized the moment to tell us about this plan they have. Every time we use our credit/debit card, they put $1 in a savings account at 5% interest. At the end of the year, they match the amount in this savings account 5%. Sounded good so we signed up.

It has now started snowing pretty hard. Not expected to accumulate much but it could be rough later for basketball. Then it will turn to rain.

I checked all my cable internet connections in the house, replaced some splitters and wires, tightened everything. I haven't lost connection in 24 hours so maybe I am good. I called the Comcast guy directly (who was here last) and he said he has been in my neighborhood daily due to the Verizon cabling work. At least I am pretty sure any more problems will be from outside the house.

I will have a work update soon on here I think. Some weird things are going on that I won't post here. Keep praying for me.

UnVIEWable

I took my car in for an oil change yesterday and the TV in the dealership lobby was tuned to the show The View. What a mess that is. A bunch of cackling hens each trying to be more controversial than the next. I finally got up and changed the channel to The Price is Right. Drew Carey is no Bob Barker but he is better than that noise.

I bought a giant BJs can of nacho cheese yesterday. I love that stuff but they don't make it in smaller containers. So I bought some Tupperware like things and ladled the cheese into about 6 of those. I will freeze them and thaw them as needed.

Elliott had another game last night. Again, he did pretty good. His defense has really stepped up and he is quicker on his feet. But his team goes into a complete fog at the tip-off. No one wants to take charge and they are not a very aggressive group. In warmups and practice, the team is confident and shoots well. But they seize up in the game. In this game, they scored more points in the 4th quarter than the previous three quarters combined. Elliott is the youngest and smallest one on the team so when he gets double-teamed, it is intimidating. But he only had one turnover. He had 2 or 3 rebounds and 3 shots. They were good shots and I am glad he took them - you can't score if you don't shoot and his team wasn't shooting. His next game is Saturday but he won't make it as he is competing in an academic challenge at school.

I am still struggling with my modem connection. I am 99% sure it is due to the work in the neighborhood (Verizon is installing FIOS and it is interfering with us Comcast users). But I am going through and checking all my connections and being sure it is not a problem on my end.