Coffee

I've been getting up every morning this week at 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m. to prepare the coffee, using the extra-big pot because we now have two coffee drinkers in the family.

James complained last week of feeling very tired in the morning, so Cheryl suggested perhaps he should have some coffee in the morning. I wasn't sure if she was joking or not. But he agreed with her assessment, so Monday morning, I got up early and made the extra pot and waited to see what would happen.

He had half a cup with a packet of cocoa and some half-and-half that first morning, which was 'a bit strong'; but he drank it down and went off to school. Afterward, he reported being 'perky' during the first few classes.

Well, that sounded hopeful.

The next morning, we tried the formula a little different. This time, he made the cocoa first by mixing the packet with half a cup of hot water, then poured in the coffee, then added a bit of 1/2-&-1/2. A little bit cooler, a little bit more mocha-esque. Didn't quite get to the 'perky' status of the day before, but close.

He's continued this habit throughout the remainder of the week, so he must be enjoying it. Or he's just determined to do whatever it takes to ensure that he remains awake in his classes. It will be interesting to see how long this endures. I have fantasies of my mom and my wife and my son sitting down at the breakfast table with coffee in hand, laughing and enjoying each other's company. I'm not a coffee fan, but I love to watch other people drinking it together in a slightly conspiratorial fashion. It reminds me of the importance of good fellowship, especially in a family.

A Birthday for Deb

Here's the rough cut of the birthday video, for those of you who couldn't be here to witness it firsthand, which is most of you.



It's a bit rough because I had to do quite a bit of audio editing to clean up the noise, and the volume wasn't right, and I was doing this while trying to do a bunch of other things, so it's not where I want it yet. But being the perfectionist I am, the final version won't be ready for another year or so.

So enjoy this version while you can. As soon as a huge pile of time drops on my head, I'm going to go back and fix it.

An Evening at the Concert Hall

James had a concert on Friday night, the culmination of several months of work with the St. Cecelia Conservatory for Wayward Musicians, wherein the cream of the crop of young talented persons of dubious height are encouraged to give up their Tuesday evenings to the pursuit of excellence in (a) sitting still for hours and hours and (b) attempting to learn music which is far beyond their capacities. James, innocent as he is, was somehow convinced to join this group during a weak moment of youthful frivolity; we, seeking a moment's respite from his constant teen-aged presence, were persuaded to sign off on the deal, and there we are.

As a reward for his diligence and fortitude, and for the fact that any errors in musicianship on his part were either underplayed in volume or masked by the exuberance of his companions, we decided to take advantage of the gifts which were so graciously bestowed upon us by Grandma Green at some point in the near past (i.e. October), in the form of coupons, and stopped by Wendy's for some free Frosty's.

Ice cream is always a worthy reward for a job well done.

Once we arrived at home, the children were encouraged to say a word of Thanks to their Grandmother. It took them a couple of tries.



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James, as you can see, is still dressed in his performance togs, happily slurping up the remnants of his treat. He also attempted to eat the cup, for reasons unknown.

The Concert Band gets a two-week respite, and then will begin practicing for their Spring performance. Here we go again!

Last-Minute Holiday Rush

As part of their last-minute rush to enjoy every moment of their holiday/vacation, the girls dragged out the old car & track set and played with it all afternoon. Not sure if this is something they needed to do in order to recapture a bit of their youthful, pre-school age energy, or they were just wanting to make a lot of "zoom! zoom!" noises, but I don't mind so long as they remember to put 'em all away when they're done playing.

We had a goal-setting session as part of our weekly devotional time, reminding the kids that they are getting old enough now to set their own goals and make them happen. Naturally, the parental goals are a bit different than the child goals. We write down, "Get yer chores done without asking!", and they write down, "Hide in the bedroom til the storm blows over!"

We all need to be more consistent in keeping to a daily schedule, getting up on time, getting to bed on time, helping out with the housework, getting homework done without procrastinating (or reminders from parents). Most importantly, we need to be much, much better about being in the Word.

Then there's that pesky basement...

Drywallin'

The boys are learning the drywall business one step at a time. Seems the way the economy is going, won't hurt for them to have a few skills to earn a few dollars when it comes time to pay for college. So since we have a wall what needs fixin, the boys are working on it under the tutelage of their Dad.



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At Long Last, Wireless (Again)

It's been bugging me for several weeks now. The built-in wireless network card in my laptop has not been working properly ever since the Windows 7 Release Candidate was installed. It shuts itself off after five or ten minutes, usually right in the middle of a video download.

I went on the user forums and found that it was a common problem, something related to a default power-saving setting on the wireless card driver. Unfortunately, the driver that came with my original Vista O/S didn't allow me to change the setting.

When I finally went to the Dell site and downloaded the latest drivers, it gave me a message indicating that the drivers were incompatible with my operating system.

OK.

I was on the verge of re-installing my old Vista O/S -- this is the one what self-destructed after automatically downloading an "update" -- when suddenly, during a reboot, the new driver went ahead and installed itself (regardless of the fact that the O/S is not "compatible"). Ever since, the wireless has been working fine.

Which means now I can sit upstairs with Cheryl and watch the news and surf the net at the same time! Yay!