An Occassional Glimpse Into My Life

As some of you may know, every Friday afternoon Kathy and I go to Amy's school and tutor / mentor some children. Today I got a new boy named Michael. Michael is the the 4th grade. He should be in the 5th but that did not happen. Michael was to meet with me this afternoon, but just before time his teacher came to the family counselor and told her Michael was in the office because he had been disrespectful to her. The family counselor asked for me to wait while she went to the office to see if he could be released to meet with me.

Michael is, again, in the 4th grade. He is also on probation for shoplifting at Oshmans. He also is possibly going to become a ward of the state as his mother is considering giving up her parental rights because she just does not want him anymore. Yesterday he stayed home alone because he was sick. The family counselor said she received a phone call from him saying CPS had just turned the electricity off at his apartment. She went to work on that.

Michael was allowed to come meet with me. Very quiet at first but I had a picture left over from last week of the dolphins in Hawaii. I gave it to him and immediately he warmed up to me. We talked about what he likes to do. He likes to draw. He also likes football. We talked for a while and then played a game of Connect Four. He was very good at it and had a great time. I asked if he would like to meet with me next Friday and he immediately said yes. I asked him to bring me some of his drawings. He is suppose to be a very talented artist. So we have set a time for next Friday afternoon for Michael and me to meet and talk and do whatever to try to help this little boy feel like he is liked and needed. So sad.

Everyone hug your children tonight and tell them how much you love them for there are children who tonight will go home and go to bed and never know what it is like to be loved.

till then

Look who is rising on the charts. Brandon !!!!!

Yes folks, it is a tropical disturbance approaching Belize. Unbelievable.

Yes it is true. This is Mauna Kea on the Big Island where we were. The white at the top is snow. The mountain is some 18,000 feet tall. Amazing, that in 80 degrees paradise, you can also have snow.

Ski Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!

till then

Since we have been going to LTF, I have developed a real distaste for ugly old men. Mind you I am not a young rooster, but some decorum is in order here. The men's locker room is an interesting place. I have been horrified by some of the things I have seen. I will not go into details, as I am sure most of you would prefer, but get real, there are towels provided......for God's sake, use them.

Anyway, so far this week I have been to LTF 4 times. We will go tomorrow and Sunday, if we get the house work done. I am up to an hour on the treadmill at a fat burning pace. I think it is working. I notched my belt up an extra notch on my jeans today. Jeff, I am certainly not burning the calories that you are but' I think the slower pace is working. It feels good to work out as much as we are doing. Hopefully it will keep us going for many more years.

It has been a very busy week work wise. When I got to thinking about it, this is the first week I have been in the "office" in a month with the holidays and then a trip we took. Alot to catch up on. Oh well.

Well, the weekend is upon us and we plan some house cleaning and hopefully some relaxing. Certainly a trip to Costco will be in order. Good grazing. Everyone have a good one.

till then

Well, I know it has been almost a week since I posted, but it has been very busy. Returning from Hawaii on Tuesday, a full day in the office Wednesday then off to Kansas City Thursday. Returned Friday evening, then off to see Brandon at Floores, then to Bastrop on Saturday for Kelli's shower. It has been a busy week.

I finally uploaded all the Hawaii pics to Yahoo. I sent everyone an email re this. Too many pictures to load up to Flickr. I will pic some good ones a upload to Flickr soon. Hope everyone enjoys.

Ok, Jeff we are coming to Lubbock. I booked the Residence tonight. Decided not to do TRA. It is a bust anyway. Nothing to make me believe Houston would be any better than Dallas. Save the company several thousand dollars. It will be fun.

So this should be another very busy week in the office. Will post somemore later in the week.

till then

Well, we got to see some whales but it was impossible to take pictures as they came up so fast you could not get your camera up to shoot in time. They were not leaping out of the water liked I had hoped, but it was really cool. These dolphins were swimming out with us. Look at the center of the other picture and you can see the spray coming up from a whales blow hole. They were cool. It was an awesome experience.

The water got really choppy on our way back in. One time the whole front end of the Cat dipped down and drenched everyone on the front bow. We were in the back at the time, thank goodness. Cool boat. Had an open bar the whole trip. Great Mai Tai's. Fun Fun Fun.

A quick post as we are getting ready to leave for our whale watching excursion. The first picture is obviously fireworks. At the end of our party last night they had a 15 minute fireworks show. It was awesome. We endured the wind all night but had a good time. Food was lacking in quality but the bar was open. You drink when you can for free as the bars are quiet pricey. The first night KP and I went to the lounge where she had 2 martinis and I had 2 glassed of wine. The bill, $50 prior to tip.

The second shot is from the lounge chair I was sitting in yesterday afternoon. It is out on a point here at the hotel. We plan to be back there late this evening to catch sunset. Should yield some great pics.

We are having fun. Tomorrow will be a kick back day lounging by the pools then a trip to the spa for a shower, perhaps a short workout, then dinner and off to the airport at 8:30 for our trek back to reality.

I should have some pics up later tonight or in the morning of our whale watching excursion. Hope we see some.

till then

After a 14 hour trip, The Man movie, numerous segments of Everybody Loves Raymond and Out of Practice, we made it to Kona around 10 PM Hawaii time, 2 AM Texas time. By the time we got our bags, took a 30 min. bus ride to the Hilton, got checked in and to our room it was midnight, 4 AM Texas time. Kathy and I both were still in a "travel" mode and could not settle down enough to go to sleep. We unpacked some, watched some TV, had a few more glasses of wine and finally around 1:30 AM, 5:30 AM Texas time we laid down and went to sleep only to awaken around 6. Figured that would happen. Probably be awake after just a few hours of sleep each night. Your body just cannot adjust.

Oh well, it is pretty here. The part of the island we are on, the west side, is very volcanic. I will post all the pictures when I get back but volcanic rock is everywhere. The pics above are the ocean, dah, from our hotel. The waves are huge compared to what I have seen before. The other pic is our tower. There are 3 towers to this complex. Our room overlooks the golf course. We spent alot of time today just walking around and getting to know the layout. We went to a shopping mall down the road and had lunch. After getting my booth set up we went and got a bite to eat to carry us over till tonight. We have a pool side reception with heavy appetizers. Probably real healthy stuff.

Everyone have a great day. Tomorrow is the work day, all day and then a "show" reception tomorrow night. We have to be in our booths but everybody is drinking and eating. Alot of business gets done but we have to remain in our booths till 8:30.

till then

Well, the packing has started for our trip across the Pacific. We leave Wednesday for Waikoloa, Hawaii. Waikoloa is on the big island of Kona. For those of you who might want to call us here is a brief chart to compare times:

Time Texas Hawaii
7 AM 7AM 2 AM Do Not Call Unless Life Or Death Situation
12 PM 12 PM 7 AM Ok to Call Except Sunday and Monday
3 PM 3 PM 10 AM Ok to Call
6 PM 6 PM 1 PM Ok to Call
9 PM 9 PM 4 PM Ok to Call
12 AM 12 AM 7 PM OK FOR US TO CALL YOU!!!!!!!!

Ok everybody get the picture?

Well, I will try to post in between Luau's and whale watching.

Mahalo