090228 - Pine Cars

090228 - Up early and guys working on cars! Dylan, Sean and Cole had their cars roughed out and they got to use the power saws. Once they got the shapes cut out the kids headed into the backyard and Chris, Jeff & I talked strategy of polishing axles, graphite embedded in the wheels and other tricks that are unspeakable, to make the cars faster... Dylan had a Basketball game today, both of his Gmas were there and GpaW. He is getting better with every game. Our plan was to go up to the Farm and help the neighbors collect sap for maple syrup, but they had boiled it all off in the morning and there was nothing going on. So we went to the farm anyway :-) G was happy to see dusty and the boys played and had the usual fun. Stayed up talking late with dad.

090227 - Blue & Gold

090227 - Another fast day at work runningin the hamster cage of things to do... This evening we all packed up and headed to D's Cub Scouts Blue & Gold banquet. The scouts told jokes and had some skits and we all ate pizza. Afterwards L took J to a friends to spen the night and D had a friend over too. G was out of sorts cause he didn't get nuttin! (except this brownie...)

090225 - Normal

090225 - Up early, calls most of day... GmaW here for dinner. After dinner I went in to get some more work done and L&GmaW took boys to get Meijer to get toys (likethey need more...). After they got home we all played for a bit. GmaW had to go and we got hte boys to bed. I then headed out with Jeff to check the Retton Rehab and a couple other properties. Home and up doing paperwork till late...

090224 + Day @ home

090224 + First full day at home. Up early w/ the boys, then the calls started. L brought me lunch, sat @ desk all day long... Not caught up yet and work still out of control but in different ways... Dinner w/ the boys, L off to a church meeting us boys played w/ transformers, Lego's and wrestled. The took turns getting guts squashed in 'the scissors' and trying to save each other. Trying to catch up on the blog while the boys take showers. Probably another early night for me...

090223 - Shortest night

090223 - Watching the sun rise over Chicago as I arrive at 6am. Short night on the plane but did get a bit of sleep. One flight to go to get home. Got home spent some time with Grant reading books and watching a horse video while L got Jack from school. Had a bite to eat with them and then into the office. Finished the day working. D did his homework with me and then we all had dinner. I took D&J t karate, taking calls from work in between...

090222 - Longest day

090222 - Up early and in to work for another day of testing. We worked hard through the morning and had a touchpoint with the Holland team where we were informed by the customer that the Go-Live would be postponed. This means that this trip was a failure and quite a blow. However it was the right decision and the trip did allow us to get a lot of functionality further defined and refined, and it works! We got Ahndi and Lee out the door early so Ahndi could get home to Scotland and not be stuck in the US another week. I stayed at the office to finish things up, clean up the action lists, email, documentation etc. About 7pm I headed out for a bite to eat with the customer team. It was nice to sit and not be in the total stress environment. We parted ways still friends and I headed to SFO to drop off the car and catch the red eye flight home. Found 'Lori's Diner' in the airport.

090221 - Best of it

090221 - Up and in to the office for another day of testing. Elizabeth went out to get lunch for all of us and the Guys took the opportunity to have some fun. These are the people that I was stuck with in a room for 14 hours a day for the last week, Josue, Glenn, Jeremy, Lee, Ahndi & I. This was a fun moment and the rest of the weeks had some good times of throwing food, water bottles and side splitting laughter. Thank God we were able to keep our cool under so much pressure and keep the atmosphere light with such a cloud over us. We finished the day very late, midnightish and then Ahndi and I hit Denny's again. Ahndi had 2 full grand slam breakfasts and ate every bite! Back on the home front Dylan had a basketball game where he said he shot the ball more, bu they still got beat bad. He has only one game left and I am hoping to make it!

090220 - Up early in to work. Testing all day. Not going so good...

090219 - Up and another smashing day at the customer. The Guys in Holland are making great progress and the testing is going better, but the customer is not so happy and tension is still very thick. Took a break to call GmaW today as she was presented with an award as a Distinguished District Leaders at a lunch that GpaW attended too. When i talked to her she was trying to get GpaW to take her to dinner to celebrate, I think she won. L & the boys had a full day too and ended up at the Spaghetti Dinner at Jefferson, where Grant ate a full adult serving... then home for some popcorn and a movie.

090218 - Up early in to work. Testing all day. Not going so good...

090217 - Up early in to work. Testing all day. Not going so good. Talked 2 L, the fam had a busy day & the house was loud. Finished up @ work 9:30, then to Denny's w/ Ahndi.

090216 - UAT

090216 - No school 4 boys, they had a good day. The first day of UAT was spent mostly on set up and review. I gave a demo of how things go by doing a happy path transaction. The folks around the table, Glenn (you can see his hands), Elizabeth, Jeremy, Josue, my big screen, Ahndi and Lee. Then the customer started with their test scripts. UGH, things did not go well. We were there from 9am to 8:30pm. When the dust settled Ahndi and I headed to Denny's to access the internet and review the day. The Holland team is gearing up as we get some rest.

090215 - Up in the Am and hanging out with the family. I am pretty nervous about the upcoming trip and L is as well. I don't want to go, don't think things are ready, L doesn't want the stress of a week alone with the nutters... The whole fam took me to the airport, which is getting harder and harder to actually get out of the car... But off I go, through Chicago to San Fransisco. Got there fine and was able to find Ahndi. We jumped in the car and found a steakhouse and had the best meal we would have all week. We then headed to San Jose and got settled in to the hotel.

090214 - Basketball V day

090214 - Up, things in order 4 my dreaded trip to San Jose. took all 3 of the boys to the pet store to get a bed for Lilly and then had a nice lunch wih=th them at Long John Silvers. HOme and G went down for a nap whil J&I took D to his BB game. HOme and everyone hung out, the boys watched 'Space Buddies' and I packed.

090213 - Up full day. Was able to sneak in a Dr. appointment and got some meds for whatever this cough fever crap thing i have is... Dealing with P is most impossible, calling while at the Dr office on the table... Stopped to get a hair cuts. Home for dinner, baths, played, bed. L&I watched a show about poverty in Aplacia.... ugh

090212 - SICK still, but up on calls and put in a full day. L had to take Dylan to Scouts. I think i watched the other 2...

090211 - SICK Fever 102, still worked all day, too much to do for P...

090210 - Gma winger died 3yrs ago today. D was home sick today, but thought he could play and not rest, not so easy to explain to him. Work was a challenge today. Uploaded new Norton Anti Virus on all machines in the house. Had dinner with the fam at the table which was nice, until G fell off the bench and smacked his head on the wall... Had fun playing hide-n-seek with the boys.

090209 - Jack school, full day catching up, D to friends to play after school, dinner, everyone home, not feeling great, play, bed, bible bangers, little work, finished blog move from yahoo to here, now have all blog from 2005 to present in one place.

090208 - OSU Hockey

090208 - Up, L&D to church, D was the acolyte at the early service. JG&I hung out at home. Everyone back together for lunch, then the fun began... DJG&I headed to the church where we met up with the cub scouts. We got the Grossl's in our car and off to the OSU hockey game vs Notre Dame (#1). We got GREAT seats, until the students came in which apparently STAND for the whole game which meant we couldn't see anything... So we moved way up high. The boys had a good time but didn't like that I made them stay in their seats, afraid they would tumble all the way down to the ice and G was especially squirmy. Jack liked the music and did lots of dancing. The good part was WE WON!!! After the game we all headed to the Retton rehab project we have going on to see the progress, and the boys got to get out of the car and run wild for a bit. Back in the car and to a McDonald's in Pickerington that had a huge play place. The boys ate and then burned off some more energy. Back home and got baths and everyone to bed as L was getting home from her dinner out with friends. I don't know how she has one ounce of energy left at the end of a day.... I stayed up to watch 'Righteous Kill' with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino in it, FABULOUS movie!

090207 + Coke Knight

090207 + Up and did a bit more cleaning in the office before D's BB game. He is getting better with each game. Home and the boys helped me finish the office cleaning and putting the nic-naks away, they like all my stuff. D,J&I got coated up headed out to Toys R Us to price some Nerf Guns so the boys could plan their earnings... A quick stop at the Home Depot for some salt and caulk, no falling involved this time! Then Blockbuster to grab a couple of movies and Taco Bell to get dinner. Home and fed everyone and the boys discovered they could us an empty Coke case to make a knight helmet and had loads of fun with it. After everyone settled we headed downstairs to watch 'Madagascar 2'.

090206 - Up, lots of thing organized for work today, seeing the curve where the light from the end of the tunnel may be. Took some time to clean the office in the afternoon (started the process last April). After work the fam headed out to Steak&Shake. Dropped everyone off at home and I headed out to one of the rental properties to collect the rent and get the new lease signed. Well I didn't get the rent but I got the lease signed >:- not so happy about that... Home and watched 'Air Bud' with the boys, got them to bed and then stayed up watched 'Max Paine' as I moved things from the old yahoo blog to this one.

090205 + Purple Belt

090205 + Up and busy all day at the desk. Lilly had a vet appointment, she is not 37 pounds... During dinner Terri Clow, a girl I graduated with, stopped by the house with our 10th grade yearbook. We chatted for a bit and then I had D give her a tour while I updated http://www.madison89.com/ Then the whole fam headed to Jack's karate graduation ceremony. Jack had to do his entire form by himself! It was amazing, he did GREAT! He did his weapons and sparring too. Jack now has his purple belt!

090204 - Up and made a couple quick calls. Lori went to School w/ Jack today and G&I had the house to ourselves. G coulored at my desk while I took some calls and did some work and then we headed out to the living room to do some reading. L home and fed the boys and i strapped myself to my desk. Karate practice tonight.

090203 - Couldn't sleep last night, bed 1am, up for medicine to G @4am, awake ever since... So into the office at 6.30am... Worked the entire day done 5.30. Out for dinner and the fam watched 'Evan Alighty'. After the bed time ceremonies I headed back into the office to get some more work done. Bed 11ish.

090202 - Up feel hit by truck, maybe shouldn't have spent 4 hours outside yesterday... Work pc is CRAP. makes the day VERY SLOW. Dylan had early release from scholl today, came home and all the boys melting down; tired, up too late last night... We stumbled through dinner and then karate.

090201 + Igloo

090201 - Up LD&J to church. G&I ran out and got some groceries & lunch. Everyone headed outside for some fun. I started to modify the fort from yesterday and turning it into an igloo. We worked on it for about 4 hours... In and cleaned up and ready for the Superbowl. The Roser families came over and watched the first half with us. G&J fell alseep and D stayed up with L&I to watch the game, it was a GREAT game!

090131 + Up and in the office updating filenames on our photos from January to put in our data base. Everyone ate and got ready for the D's bb game. Gma&paW came down for the game. Dylan did well. Back home and I cleaned off GmaW's laptop. After dinner DJ&I headed outsidae and built a fort and some sledding ramps. Back in at dark for a movie, bath bed.

090130 - Slammed @ work w/ Ahndi & Paul unitl 9pm for Ahndi. Out for dinner. L went to a cooking party, I took the 3 boys out on some errands. We got to the HOme Depot and POW, I fell on the ice while carrying Grant. No worries, i was able to catch us with my BROKEN WRIST!!! OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!! on to the bank and the movie store. Watched a movie with the boys and then up late working.