First-Ever Track Meet

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan didn't have track this morning.  They were practicing some events that Evan was not a part of.  Evan qualified for the 300m Hurdles only.  It was nice sleeping in some.

After the kids went to school, I left to go to HomeAway.  I had a meeting with Aaron.

For lunch, I went to HomeAway and they took me out to lunch for my last day.  We had a nice time.  I enjoyed my time with the people of HomeAway.  When we got back to the office, they gave me a framed Young Frankenstein signed by Mel Brooks.  It was an amazing gesture.  I was absolutely floored.

I went back to HomeAway where I met with Mandy and then I interviewed a potential candidate.

Rachel and Evan met me at Evan's first track meet.  It was very long and Evan's event was at the end. I know he was really excited about it.  He raced in the second heat.  He was in the far lane so he started with the lead and was able to hold the lead until the second turn.  He started off very very fast.  I thought to myself that he started off too fast.  There were only three runners in that heat.  He came in third but he almost overtook the second place runner at the end.  You could see how exhausted he was at the end.  Nevertheless he should be proud.  He shaved 6 seconds off his time from his time trial.

We came home and had Coke ham.

The boys are getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Flu Shots

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today was one of those days where it starts out warmer in the morning than it is in the afternoon.  Noah and I walked to school and it wasn't too bad.  Around lunch time the cold front came in bringing rain and cooler temperatures.

Around mid-morning, I went into Touch To.  I was able to get some work done there and then went to lunch with Aaron.

Rachel stopped by the BCRC after teaching and then she had a doctor appointment.

I drove to pick Noah up from school since it was drizzling and cold.  Chewie rode with me.

I worked from home in the afternoon.

For dinner we had flank steak.

After dinner, we went to HEB to pick up some medicine and get flu shots for Rachel and the boys.

The boys are playing on their new computer now.

Until next time...

Basketball Game

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Thursday continued the busy streak.  As soon as we got home from taking Noah to school, Rachel left to teach and I had a phone meeting.  When that meeting was up, I drove into Touch To so Aaron and I could meet.

We didn't finish the meeting before I left to meet Rachel at Wholy Bagel so I went back to the office after lunch.

Rachel had a staff meeting which she could call into.  Then she went to a coffee shop to meet a PR woman who was trying to see if there was some work Rachel could help with for one of her clients.

Rachel picked Noah up since I was at the office.

Tonight, the 7th Grade "A" and "B" teams had basketball games at the middle school.  Cooper, Evan's teammate and friend from TRPD, is on the "B" team.  Evan wanted to go to see the games.  Noah wanted to join Evan so Rachel dropped the boys off at the school to watch the games.  I picked them up afterwards.  They seemed to have a really good time.

We made pizzas at home for dinner.

The boys are now in bed.

Until next time...

Just Keeping Moving

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan was able to go to school this morning.  He still seemed quite down, but he was well enough to go to school.

After we walked Noah to school, I went into Aaron's for several meetings.

Rachel went to the Austin Tennis Academy for her first day of teaching.  Their first day of school was today.  The last time Rachel taught in a classroom, Evan was not yet born.

I came home after the meetings and ate lunch at home.

Before picking up Noah, I dropped Evan's baseball stuff at Cooper's house.  They were taking Evan to practice today and Evan was riding the bus home with Cooper.

Rachel got home in time to get Noah.

Rachel left to go to tutoring at the same time Noah and I left to go to a doctor's appointment for him.

After the doctor, we went to HEB and got steak to grill.  I also got the stuff I need to make a chocolate creme pie for Evan since he was feeling down.  For Noah, I got bacon and I wrapped his steak in bacon.

We all ate when Evan got home from baseball practice.

Rachel went to a photography course after tutoring.  She's on her way home now.

Adam just peed on the floor.  His reward is being out on the porch.

Until next time...

Lizzy's Big Adventure

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

During the summer, my routine has been to get up, come downstairs and then feed the cats.  Then I make sure that Lizzy comes downstairs and doesn't have any problems walking down the stairs and I let her out.  She'll stay outside for 20 minutes or so. While she's outside, I get on my computer and do work.  This morning was like any other morning.  After about 20 minutes, I looked out the window and I didn't see Lizzy walking around.  So I went outside and I still didn't see Lizzy.  I walked around the side of the house where our air conditioner is and I still didn't see Lizzy.  Calling for her is fairly useless since she's mostly deaf now.  I raced inside through the house and ran out the front door and looked in the front yard and I didn't see Lizzy.  So I ran upstairs, got some shoes on and then really looked through all the bushes and things in the backyard.  My concern was that maybe she passed out or something in the landscape and I couldn't see her.  But she wasn't there.  I raced back in the house and yelled for Rachel.  I ran back out to the back and did one final look and then back in front.  I looked down the street where the fence is - thinking somehow maybe she broke through the fence and was walking down the street.  I still didn't see her.  I was thinking where does a 14-year-old dog who doesn't move that quickly and who had a stroke 2 months ago, hide?  So then I ran around to the driveway of our house and as I was coming around, I could see under our neighbor's cars and through to their grass and I saw 4 brown legs walking around.  I ran over to their front yard and Lizzy looked up smiling as if to say "Hey, there you are!" and she trotted over to see me.  She was just smelling all the plants and all the smells and enjoying herself.  She had no clue why I was making a big fuss.  She just enjoyed her big adventure.

I'm really not sure how she got out.  When we went back to the backyard, the latch was open on the back gate.  But I think that I ran out the gate to the front yard that last time.  So it's possible that I left it open in my haste.  I don't remember whether I had noticed it wasn't latched when I ran out the gate.  I went through and didn't see any loose boards.  Even if there was a loose board, Lizzy doesn't have the flexibility to squeeze through anything anymore.  We'll just have to keep our eye on her.

After that I went into Aaron's for a meeting.  Rachel had a phone meeting and then she and the boys ran some errands.  They stopped at Wheatsville Co-op for lunch.

In the afternoon, I drove Evan up to Main Event for a birthday party for twins that he plays baseball with.  I stayed up there and worked from a coffee shop.

We had dinner when we got home.

The boys are asleep now.   Until next time...

More Camp

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Noah had his third day of acting camp.  He seemed excited to go.  I dropped him off and he was completely fine.

Evan got picked up for his second day of transition camp a bit later in the morning.

Rachel left to go to the dentist.  I left shortly after to go into Aaron's.  He wasn't there, but I needed to do something on a computer in the office.

Rachel picked Noah up from camp.  He said he had a good time.

Evan was invited to go meet up with a different baseball organization.  We told them that Evan was going to stay at TRPD, but they still invited Evan to practice with them anyway.  Evan was ok with it because I think he was having a bit of baseball withdrawal.  He seemed to have a good time.  He said, and I expected this (especially since we've already committed to TRPD), he still liked TRPD better.  It's good to see how other organizations are run though.

When we got home, Rachel and I had dinner.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

That Kind of Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

On the way to walk the boys to school this morning, I got a text from Aaron that there was a bug in the Focus Forward stuff we needed to walk through.  I finished walking the boys to school and called Aaron.  It was clear that I was going to have to skip Camp Gladiator to work on this issue with him.

Rachel still went to Camp Gladiator and then went to tutor after that.

When she got home, I was still finishing up the bug.  About 30 minutes after she got home, we were able to go out to lunch together.  Tomorrow, I'm meeting some friends instead of going to Wholy Bagel with Rachel so we pushed today.  We figured since it was Thursday and not Friday, we'd try something new.  We went to a coffee shop called Alta which is on Lady Bird Lake.

When we got downtown, we drove around for 20 minutes or so to find parking.  We eventually gave up and parked in a garage by the Convention Center.  The garage was pretty full and we ended up on the 7th floor.

The coffee shop had an amazing view.  The service was lacking and the prices were very steep.  I guess rent is high with a view like that so they need to make it up somehow.  I didn't have a whole lot of time because I had to get back and get back working on some of the leftovers of that issue.  And we wasted time trying to park.  So, unfortunately, we were not able to stay as long as we would have liked.

We got back to the car and the line to leave the parking garage was past where we were parked - on the 7th floor.  All we can guess was some event let out of the convention center.  We waited about 45 minutes in the parking garage to get out.  I think the pay system at the bottom stopped working which led to the problem.  When we finally got down to the first floor, they were just letting us out for free.

We got home just in time for Rachel to leave to pick up the boys.

I stayed home to make sure things were going smoothly with Focus Forward.  Unfortunately, a bit later, more went wrong.  I ended up spending another 4 hours, almost thru dinner, to find the issue and fix it.

During that time, Rachel started dinner in the crockpot, left to tutor, and then came home and got dinner ready.  Noah helped Rachel cut up the fruit for dinner.

I was able to join everyone towards the tail end of dinner.  We ate outside on the porch.  Things seem calm now with the project.

The boys are now getting ready for bed.

Until next time...

Getting Closer

This morning we walked with Lizzy to school.  She did alright.  She wanted to stop and smell everything.

I tutored this morning.

Morry went to Aaron's to work and then had a long Home Away meeting in the afternoon.

I walked to pick up the kids.

Right after we got home I took Evan to his baseball lesson.

We got home a little before Morry.

We had various things for dinner.  I had a veggie burger.  Noah had a leftover hamburger.  Morry and Evan had pasta.

Right now the kids are super hyper.  I think they are excited for Spring Break.

Hopefully, they will go to bed soon.

Away From the Office

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning we didn't go to Camp Gladiator.  I was busy and needed to get to Aaron's.  Rachel had to tutor and then she go to a luncheon so we stayed home.

Around 9, I left to go to Aaron's.  Rachel was not far behind me.

Rachel's luncheon was downtown.  It took a while for her to get parking as the first part of South by Southwest began.  It was a luncheon called the "Celebration of Life" put on by Neiman Marcus and Kendra Scott to raise money for breast cancer research.

I came home in time to pick the boys up from school.  They stayed home for about an hour before they went over to Grandma and Papa's.  They had dinner there.

Rachel tutored in the afternoon.

We walked with Lizzy to pick them up this evening.

The boys are asleep now.

Until next time...

Very Very Busy Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today both Rachel and I were going non-stop.  We took the boys to school and then came home.  I was at home for about an hour before I left to go to Aaron's where I worked for the day.

Rachel left just before me to meet a client for a meeting.  She said the meeting went well.

At Aaron's, we had two phone meetings back-to-back with Focus Forward.  Then we grabbed some lunch and then we went over some things for a potential client as well as some projects we already have going on.  I was not able to go with Rachel to pick up the kids.

I got home just after Rachel left to go tutor.  I was home about 30 minutes before Evan and I left to go to his baseball practice.

Noah stayed home alone until Rachel got home.  Then they picked up Grandma and went to a grand opening for a place called the Parking Spot which is airport parking.  They are opening their second location at the airport - this time on the other side of the highway.  Rachel was invited as a blogger and she was able to bring guests.  They had pizza and another food truck.  They also got a goody bag.

Evan and I went to dinner at a new pizza place called Jersey Giant Pizza.  The small pizza is 18".  We both really liked it.  We managed to eat 3/4 of the pizza.

The boys are now sleeping.

Until next time...

On the Phone

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

I had a little time after walking the kids to school to get work done.  But I had a call at 9:30, one at 10 that last until after 11.  Aaron called after that.  I talked to another client in the afternoon.  Then I talked to Mandy about another project.  At 3pm I had a HomeAway call that last for an hour.  Those are just too many meetings.

Rachel stayed home all day.  Her day was much lighter than mine.

Rachel went to pick the boys up by herself since I was on the call.  When she got home, Jude came over to hang out with Noah for a bit.

Evan and I left for his facility practice while I was still on the call.  I wasn't saying much and just muted the phone and had it on speaker while we were driving.

Later in the afternoon, Noah joined Rachel on her tutoring appointment.  They are heading home now.

When they get home, we'll have a late dinner.

Until next time...

Quite Cold

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Our walk this morning to school was quite chilly.  It was 28 degrees outside with a 15 mph winds.  A few weeks ago when it was 23 degrees, there was no wind so it didn't feel quite as bad as it felt this morning.

A few days ago, Aaron asked me to fill in for him at a meeting today at HomeAway.  He had a meeting with a different client.  So I drove up there.  I actually had a phone call with Focus Forward when I first got there, and then went to the meeting.  I just listened.  It was more of an introductory meeting.

Rachel and I met at Wholy Bagel afterward.

We decided not to walk to get the boys.  It was still quite cold.  It had only warmed up to just above freezing and it was still windy.  We drove to the community center and then walked from there.

For dinner, we had Papa John's delivered.  We watched a new show on Netflix called The White Rabbit Experiment.  It's a science-type show.  The boys liked it.

They're getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Back to the Grind

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We all slept in a bit.  It was a tiring trip, though we had fun.

Evan went on a bike ride with Papa when we got up.  He seemed to have a good time.  Noah didn't go but he agreed to ride his bike tomorrow.  We'll see if that happens.

Rachel and Noah went for a run.

I drove and met Aaron and Dmitriy at a place where they are working on an interactive screen.  We went for lunch together at Easy Tiger.

We had grilled chicken for dinner.

After dinner, Rachel and I went to Target and HEB to get some things.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...

Google Fiber

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

The title of this post is Google Fiber, but it could have easily been "Very Cold".  This morning, it was 23 degrees on the walk to school.  It was not windy so I don't think it was any colder than that.  But it was cold.  Rachel seemed very uncomfortable.  Lizzy and the boys didn't mind.

I had a meeting where I gave a demo when we got home.  Then Rachel and I went to the airport.  Rachel had a meeting to get her Global Entry.  My meeting is scheduled for January.  We were hoping they could fit me in but they couldn't.

We stopped at Academy on the way to get hand and foot warmers.

Just after lunch, Google came to the house.  We had schedule Google Fiber to be installed.  With that we'd get 1 Gigabit download and upload speeds.  For comparisons sake, typical internet speeds are between 10 and 20 Megabits.  So this is 1000 Megabits.  I have been looking forward to this.  The installer was very good.  He knew what he was doing.  He actually came early which is a first for this type of service.  Aaron came over and we talked through some stuff with the installer.  Papa also stopped by to see how they were setting it up.  Aaron and I are going to put some hardware for work in the house since the internet speed will now be that good here.

Rachel went to pick up the boys since we were still dealing with the installation.

For dinner, we had some coupons and a gift certificate to Taco Cabana so Noah and I went and picked up the food and brought it home.

The boys will be getting ready for bed soon.

Until next time...

Rachel's Busy Day

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

After walking the boys to school, we had a our last Camp Gladiator class of the week.  It was in the 40s when the class started.  It didn't take us long to start peeling off layers though.

As soon as we got home, Rachel showered, got corned beef in the crock pot and left to go to a HomeAway meeting.  I left shortly after her to go to Aaron's.

Aaron and I had to move, unpack, and set up a 70" touchscreen monitor that weighed 225 pounds.  The moving was the hard part.  It was in a box but the box had been cut so we couldn't easily move it.  It's for a project and the monitor is not ours.  We have to give it back to the client.

Rachel had lunch with the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls and then went back to HomeAway for another meeting.

After HomeAway, Rachel had several students for tutoring.

I picked up the boys from school.  Evan did his homework, then he and Evan played outside some.  Then Evan and I did his baseball hitting homework together.

For dinner, we ate the corned beef and corn on the cob.

The boys are getting ready for bed now.

Until next time...

Microwave

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We walked the boys to school this morning.  On the way there, we saw Lizzy's dog friend, Tucker.  Tucker's family got another Australian Shepherd named Pumpkin.  While Tucker is super excited to see Lizzy as well as all of us, Pumpkin was quite scared.

When we got home, I left to go to a conference downtown for something called NodeJS.  Aaron and Mandy were there too.

Deborah came over and worked at the house today with Rachel.

I was at the conference all day so Rachel picked the boys up from school.  She then took Evan to TRPD for his facility practice.  Noah had to go too.

We made a pork tenderloin for dinner.

After dinner, I went to Best Buy to get a new microwave oven.  Ours broke on Sunday.  It is 13 years old now and just to get the problem diagnosed is at least $50.  So I ran to Best Buy and got a microwave oven tonight.

The boys are in bed.

Until next time...

Mid Week

This morning we walked to school.  Our neighbors, the Marquarts, were walking at the same time, we we walked with them.  They have a cute little puppy that walked too and it was very interested in Lizzy.  Lizzy seemed really happy the whole walk.

I took it easy at home and did some work.  Morry went into Aaron's.

We walked to pick up the kids from school.

Morry and Evan left for baseball practice around 4:45.  The plan was for Noah and I to go get him a haircut.  He didn't want to go. He threw a fit and insisted we not go today.  I just didn't feel like fighting any more.  I tried to convince him and gave him reasons on why we should go today, but he just didn't want to go.  Obviously, I'm not very happy about that.

For dinner we had leftover ham and couscous.

The boys will be getting ready for bed soon.

Camp Champions

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Today the fifth graders went to Camp Champions.  You can read more about Camp Champions here.  The kids stay over night in cabins and they will return tomorrow.  Evan need to be dropped off at the school by 7am.  I drove him there and made sure he was waiting in the right spot with his class and then came home.

Rachel, Lizzy and I walked Noah to school when I got home.

We did Camp Gladiator this morning.  It was cooler though it had rained earlier in the morning so it was kind of humid.

When we got home, I went into Aaron's.  Rachel stayed at home.

Rachel and I both walked to get Noah.  It seemed so quiet where we pick the boys up with no fifth graders around.

Noah had football practice this afternoon.  When we got home, we had dinner outside on the porch.  It's finally cool enough to eat out there and the bugs aren't as bad.

Noah will be going to bed soon.

Until next time...

Meeting At Aaron's

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

This morning, Rachel walked with Lorena after dropping the boys off at school.  Lizzy and I walked home after saying goodbye to the boys.

I went into Aaron's this morning.  Aaron, Mandy and I had a meeting about Focus Forward.  It was a good productive meeting.

For lunch, we met Mike before he left to go home to Seattle.  We ate at this little Mexican restaurant that I had never been to.  It was pretty good.

Rachel didn't have to tutor this afternoon so she stayed at home after walking to get the boys.

I took Evan to practice in the afternoon.  We stopped at Grandma and Papa's on the way home to drop off a packet that Evan's teacher wanted to give to Grandma since she is helping to teach.

We had smoked turkey legs for dinner.

Rachel is helping Evan with his math now.  After that the boys will get ready for bed.

Until next time...

Meetings

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

We didn't have a Camp Gladiator class today so Rachel went for a run when we got home.

After her run, Rachel had a phone meeting with someone from HomeAway.  He wanted to prepare for their meeting this afternoon.

Rachel then got ready to go and went up to HomeAway.  She met Aaron there and they also prepared for the meeting.  They went to Whole Foods for lunch.

I went to Smoothie King at lunch time.

Rachel's actual meeting was in the early afternoon and ended at the time we had to pick up the boys so she wasn't able to come get the boys.  She got home shortly after we got home.

Evan had strength and conditioning and hitting practice today.  The were pushing a sled today with 40 pounds of weight on the sled.  It looked very tough and tiring.  Then Evan did well hitting.

We had corned beef for dinner.

The boys are in bed now.

Until next time...