New England Business Trip

As there is always something that happens on our business trips, I didn't expect this one to be any different. I wasn't disappointed.

About 9:30 p.m. the night before, our scheduled 6:50 a.m. US Airways flight from CVG to New Hampshire (through Philadelphia) on Wednesday was canceled. As they were not able to get us on another flight that would get us to NH in time for our meeting, we canceled that leg and took a flight (through Philly) to Portland, ME. I didn't sleep much that night as I came down with something. I'm still not sure what it is, but here it is a week later and my head is still spinning.

Our flights there were fine, but I stayed the entire evening/night in my room vegging/sleeping...trying to get up some strength for our meetings on Thursday.

Thursday morning arrived and I felt a little better. We drove up to our meeting, but my partner typed in Augusta, ME in the GPS in lieu of Gardiner, ME (which I told him) and, instead of being early, were about a half-hour late. The meeting went really well, though, and we headed to Boston for meeting number two.

Along the way, we stopped at a nice restaurant in Maine and were nearly poisoned by some nasty stuffed mushrooms. The chef even acknowledged something wasn't right.

We arrived in Boston for our next meeting and there were some interesting individuals in our meeting, one of which I thought was going to sprout fangs and fly around the room (a dude with one-inch finger nails filed to a point on each finger, a bright blue blazer, and long hair combed back).

After the meeting, we went back to the hotel to check in and change. I said I was willing to try to to go out to dinner with the team, but I didn't want to stay out too late. We drove around Boston for an hour, just to end up back at the hotel, where they ate and I went to my room to veg and sleep some more.

We met in the lobby at 5:00 a.m. on Friday to catch our 7:15 a.m. US Airways flight back to CVG (though Philly). At 5:30 a.m. at Logan Airport, we were advised our flight was cancelled (just a warning for anyone that wants to fly US Air...that is two now in two days). They were able to get us on a Delta flight later that morning that took us directly to CVG, which ended up getting us in earlier than we planned.

Oh, one more thing, Heather called me at 7:04 a.m. and said that US Airways just called to tell me my 7:15 a.m. flight had been cancelled. That's right, they not only called 11 minutes before the flight was to take off, but they called my number in CINCINNATI (Cleves) to tell me my flight from BOSTON was being canceled. Quality!

We go again on Monday to Oregon and Idaho. I'm sure I'll be writing something about that soon.

Girl Power!

Livvi had her first Tae Kwon Do tournament back on 1/27/2007 where she placed first in one event and third in two other events. Her second tournament was later that same year on 11/10/2007. That time, she placed first in two events and third in one event. Today was her third tournament, with her stiffest competition, yet. She was up against two boys, one of which was also a red belt, like her.

The competition began with the blocking pattern. Livvi has gotten first place each time she has done this in her two previous meets. Today was no different!

Her next event was the board break. We all thought it was going to be a front kick, but they instructed her to do it with a palm heal strike. She did her best and got second place in this event...an improvement over the last tournament!

The last event was the heavy bag freestyle. She got first place last time and it was really close this time. I wasn't sure what the outcome would be, but she did it! She got first place!

You can see the video of today's events here.

Livvi has really grown into this sport and loves it! You can see the growth from one video to the next. Her instructor is encouraging her to start sparring and she seems really excited to try it. Stay tuned for updates on that.

Congratulations, Livvi!! xxx/ooo

Home School Report

We just got a report on "our" progress with the homeschooling of Olivia with OHVA. I'll let the report speak for itself:

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Goal progress:
Mrs. Shaut made the goal for Olivia to be challenged in her school work and be on 3rd grade material come next year. Mrs. Shaut is enjoying the curriculum for Olivia and she is on a great track!

Curriculum and academics progress:
Olivia is working out of some 3rd grade material. She is very much able to handle the work. She is a very bright little girl.

Success Plan (attendance/progress):
The Shaut's started mid-year, but are working great with the curriculum. Olivia keeps up on her hours and is making great progress.

Scantron results:
Olivia scored a 2664 in reading and a 2352 in math.

Teacher comments:
This family is wonderful to work with! I would not know that this family is new to OHVA. They are doing a wonderful job and working very hard. Olivia is a joy to talk and work with! What a model family for other OHVA families!

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I can't tell you how proud I am of Heather and Olivia! This is the very reason we wanted to do this, because we knew Livvi needed to be challenged. Great job, Livvi! Also, I hope this is an encouragement to you as well, Heather. Your dedication to your children is really making a difference and making them better kids! I love you both!!

Baby Brother?

No, it is not what you may be thinking. We are NOT (thank you, Jesus) expecting another child. However, today is my "baby" brother's 40th birthday! How old does that make me?! It is really hard to think of your younger brother as being 40 years old. Well, at least he has more gray hair than I do. :-)

Love you, Brett! Happy Birthday!!

Joie Likes to Sing

Joie loves to sing, so I got out the video camera to see what I could capture. Below, she is singing Phineas & Ferb's "Gitchi, Gitchi, Goo (I Love You)" and Go, Diego, Go! Enjoy!

Hoedown

Tonight, I had the honor of escorting Olivia to her American Heritage Girl Father/Daughter Square Dance. While I absolutely hate dancing, square dancing is bearable and kinda fun. It was a blast being there with my Livvi! We had a really good time. It was a little hard hearing the caller and knowing what to do. Too many people talking when Liv and I were really trying to learn. We had fun anyway and she requested to go home after about an hour and a half as her feet were sore (I didn't mind as mine were getting a little tired as well). I love hanging out with Livvi! Yee Haw!

Snowy Tuesday Rant

This past Tuesday brought more threats of snow all day. However, it never really started collecting on the ground or cars (other than a heavy dusting at best) after hours of snowing/flurrying. It wasn't until after 3:00 p.m. that it just started dumping from the sky...about 2 inches per hour. I realize that would qualify as a dusting in most areas, but it apparently is a big deal here in Cincinnati. What would normally take me about a minute or two to get to the highway from my office took me 30 minutes and what would normally take be about 30 minutes total from work to home took me TWO HOURS! Come on, people! It is just snow. No ice, this time, just snow! How does a major highway, like I-275, become a parking lot when there isn't an accident blocking the way? Observation told me it was the merging of cars from the exit ramp onto 275 where the backups occurred. How does this happen? I saw zero accidents on my way home (probably because you never got over 10-20 mph), so tell me, how does traffic come to a complete stop?! Incredible!

As if that wasn't enough, I made it to within 3/4 of a mile from my exit (about 75 minutes later) and people were leaving the right-hand lane to merge into the center lane. When it came my turn, I realized why. There was a red car PARKED in the lane (not the shoulder, but the lane) and the lady was outside her car, scraping snow off her wipers and windshield! Why she couldn't have 1. pulled over or 2. taken the exit to take care of this problem is unknown to me. Granted, this wasn't the reason everything was backed up, but it is people like her that don't know how to handle the snow!

There, I'm done, and I feel a little better now. Man, I sure hope I never have an accident in the snow, now!