Opening Old Wounds

I was on the elliptical yesterday watching Sports Center on ESPN and they did a story on the pre-printed t-shirts that were made declaring the Patriots the Super Bowl champions. They showed both sets of shirts and hats on the field and the scramble towards the end of the game to have either set ready for the winner. Fast-forwarding through the ugly part, the t-shirts ultimately ended up in a Nicaraguan village for the kids there. That was nice but somehow a tiny (big?!) part of me was still disappointed...

Ashleigh has a game tonight quite a ways away so we are not going. It is across town and Lucie is busy getting Elliott a haircut and I have my interview meeting. She still has many games to go. We went to her friend's game yesterday. I can tell you this - boy's lacrosse is a LOT different than girl's!!

It Is Aliiiiiive!

The close-up green bud you see in the picture is of the Patmore Ash tree I have been writing about. Thanks to the prayers from Sally (!), it has bloomed!! Hard to tell from the picture but there are buds all over the tree so I think it is going to be alright.

We had a busy weekend at times. Went out to eat at a pizza place with friends. The women did some scrap book shopping. After that, we all went bowling. I haven't bowled in years but did OK. Had a couple of strikes and a spare or two. Then I started thinking about my form and fell apart. Good time anyway.

Saturday was another Ashleigh lacrosse game. It started off cloudy and cool. Then it sprinkled so they stopped the game at the half and made the varsity play. After that, they finished Ashleigh's game. Meanwhile, it got sunny, hot, humid, cool, rainy, cloudy and probably would have snowed if we stayed any longer. Pretty weird. The rest of Saturday was pretty laid back. Cooked on the grill and caught up on some Tivo stuff.

Sunday Ashleigh went to University of Delaware women's lacrosse game with her team to watch how the game should be played. After church a group of us spontaneously went out to Friendly's. That was fun. Just appetizers and ice cream but it was a nice time.

Last night the Red Sox and Yankees played on ESPN. I watched the final 5 innings or so. Almost bailed befoe the game was over but James shamed me into staying on if I was to call myself a real fan. The Red Sox won.

I heard from an old friend today who is now a recruiter for a local company so I sent her my resume. Tomorrow I am meeting another friend to discuss an opportunity with him. That should be interesting.

Spring Is In The Air... And My Face

The weather people say it is supposed to rain this weekend which means that it won't. But just in case they happen to be right, I went out and did some yard work. Changed the oil in the lawn mower, sharpened the blade, did some edging, mowed the back yard, etc. You know spring has arrived when you do the first mowing, the birds wake you up in the morning, bumblebees are in the fruit trees and, of course, when you are walking with your hands full and you walk right through a spider web in your face. And no amount of sputtering, spitting, blowing or wiping your face on your shoulder will get it off.

But I got all that done and mopped the kitchen floor too. Ashleigh is spending the night at a friends right after school and then I will get her after her game tomorrow morning. Lucie has an AED recertification class tomorrow morning so she will miss the game. Tonight we are meeting some friends and going to a new scrap-booking store at the next town over. Fortunately, there is a pizza place and bowling alley so the men-folk will busy themselves with that while the women spend money.

Keep an eye on the Hale Family Web Site for the status of Ashleigh's lacrosse games. She is 0-4 now. I am beginning to think they are the Anti-Patriots...

All Coming Together

Well, it has been a good couple of day. Lots of little things have been coming together. First, Ashleigh's prom night went well and she had a good time.

On Sunday morning a friend from church approached me with a short term project doing some contracting work for his company. He and I will work out the details on that.

Meanwhile, I got a call from an old friend who is coming into town next week and wants to talk to me about an opportunity he is working on. I am actually pretty excited about that and am hoping that works out.

Last night the NCAA college basketball team that I needed to lose for me to win our church pool contest was leading by 9 points with 2 minutes to go. My team hits a 3 with 2.1 seconds to go to send it to overtime. They eventually went on to win 75-68. That is also the total number of points I predicted would be scored in the game (143). So I wound up winning the contest. And I don't follow college hoops at all!

Finally, the little tree I have been watching has really been doing well. The buds are turning green and multiplying. (I know that is making you happy, Sally!)

Tonight Ashleigh has a game way on the other side of Wilmington.

A Nice Relaxing Walk With the Dogs...

...Not! I took the dogs on our customary walk today and had a little excitement. I have a splitter contraption that I attach to a retractable leash that lets me walk both dogs at once (on that one retractable leash). It took some getting used to but now they both walk along and don't get all tangled up or anything. And I don't have to mess with two leashes. So we aren't 100 feet down the road when the neighbor's Rottweiler starts barking inside their house as we go by. Their front downstairs windows were open but the screens were in. Suddenly, that dog busts right out through one of the window screens and is charging right at us! Britni and Jasmine thought they had a new playmate coming and were not afraid at all. But I was yanking for all I was worth to do an about face and get away. The dog was actually fine and never growled or anything. Eventually it went back home and we went around a different route. When we came back around, the windows were closed and the screen was picked up from the front yard.

Ashleigh is getting ready to go to a junior prom tonight so it is like a beauty salon around here. Elliott had a little date of his own earlier - he met up with a bunch of friends at an ice cream place and hung out there with them. I took a nap in the car and Lucie did some shopping in the area.

My WiFi is still acting up. I cannot figure it out. I keep changing channels and trying different options but every now and then, it drops the signal. Very annoying and I cannot figure out what is causing it. One of my neighbors got something new that is interfering or the aliens are starting to close in on me again...

Lacrosse Math

Ashleigh had another game in the windy, freezing cold yesterday. They started off well and were tied at 3-3 at halftime but wound up losing 10-3. There were 11 shots on their goal, 10 scored. I am thinking they would do better by pulling the goalie, putting in a cardboard cutout, and using the extra player for some more offense. But according to my math, if Ashleigh's team continues at this pace, where they score three times as many goals as their previous game while reducing their opponents goal total by one per game, within 3 games they should win 81-7. Someone want to check that?

It rained last night and is rainy today. Our Patmore Ash has more little stubby blooms on it so I am getting more and more optimistic.

I had a great night at basketball last night. I am down about 15 pounds and am really feeling great. Driving and scoring and much more mobile. In one game that we won, I had 5 of the total 7 points. Not bad.

My wifi keeps getting knocked offline for short periods. But last night I had a program running to watch the neighborhood wireless network activity. I got knocked off right when someone's print server kicked in. It went away and my wifi was back. So I think I have found the problem. Now to fix it. That server was on channel 6 which is what I was on. So I am working through my list of channels (1-11) to try and find one that will not be affected. Fortunately, I have managed to reduce my offline time to either one minute or the length of the person's print job.

Should be a quiet weekend here. Ashleigh is going to her friend's junior prom on Saturday night. I am sure all three of us will have a great time...

First Lacrosse Game

Ashleigh had her first JV lacrosse game yesterday and it was quite educational. Her team lost 11-1 but I think she learned quite a bit. She plays an offensive position near the opponent's goal and managed to get off a good shot but it went off the pole! After her game, Ashleigh watched the Varsity girls play - which was a whole different level. She is just a freshman and this was her first game so she and the team can only get better.

It was a real warm day yesterday so it was nice sitting in the stands watching the game. We had a thunderstorm roll through late last night. Which was perfect timing as I had put down the first Scott's and Grub-X treatment earlier that day.

Our Patmore Green Ash tree looks a little more 'bloomier' today so I am optimistic.

For about a week now, every afternoon, the wifi on the home router goes down for a few minutes. The hard-wired connection stays up so I am thinking it is interference of some sort but I cannot figure out what it is. Sometimes we are not even here and it drops (from looking at the logs). Maybe a neighbor installed something or does something between 4 and 6 every afternoon. I am in the process of changing channels and settings on the router to see if I can eliminate the problem. But I have to make a change and then wait and see what happens for 24 hours before I try another one.

At least it gives me something to do...