The Clarke Family News

30 June 2007 [Saturday] Keegan and I are going to Max's birthday party today. Not sure what else is planned. Sometime this week we need to hit the foodstore and pick up all the stuff for our 4th of July party in the cul-de-sac. We also never made it to South Carolina to get illegal fireworks, so we'll pick up a couple of boxes of the ones they sell here. The kids still enjoy them anyway. I just get tired of all the same type 'thing' after awhile. 29 June 2007 [Friday] One day back at work today before my long vacation. Rode the motorcycle in as Keegan took the bus again this morning and allowed only me to take him! :) So glad I got to see him do it before Kindergarten was over as this is his last day of Kindergarten. As I type this today he's got only 1.5 hours left! Amazing. What a big boy he's growing up to be. I rode the motorcycle in today. Really hot and humid out. I'll be sweating tonight when I leave in all my protective gear. But ...

31 May 2007 [Thursday] Rode into work again today. On the way to work, noticed at a stoplight that I had my Guzzi crashbar still 'resting' on the front of the bike! YIKES! Pulled over at the next side street. On Wednesday I was showing Keegan were it went as I had to put it back on, and I left it there and forgot about it. The only thing holding it on, was the 2 brackets to the horn!!! So I strapped it to the back of the seat. I was going to go out and lunch and try to put it on in the parking garage, but I am not feeling well in 'certain areas' so skipped that. I'll have to strap it back on the seat on the ride home, or perhaps zip tie it to the frame and put it on this weekend. I need to spend some time this weekend doing three things (1) Put the crashbar back on, (2) Changing the gearbox oil in the Guzzi and (3) Putting the Ural back together (from the broken interupter from the Ride For Kids!) We'll see how much I actually get done with how hot...

-- 21 May 2007 [Monday] Rode the motorcycle into work today. Busy finishing up AutoRecruiter WP! Yeah! Now I just hope it works without issues. Nothing else major. Can't wait to transition back to CR team. Hope it goes quick. -- 20 May 2007 [Sunday] A very nice day. 82F and sunny today. We got a slow start, but then Amanda wanted to attempt to rent a row boat again at Bond Park. This time it went great!!!!!! I was so excited that Keegan and Carson didn't fuss about putting their life preserver on. They got right in the boat and Ian cried while we strapped it on, but I picked him up and he was fine with it. This was my first time ever in a row boat. I rowed us out with Amanda's guidance on how to turn, row, etc. :) It was fun once I got the hang of it. Windy day so I rowed out and she rowed back in with the wind. Great fun and the kids can't wait to do it again. We rented it for one hour - only $3. Next time we'll do two hours and bring our fish...

-- 26 March 2007 [Monday] Normal work day so far. Amanda has to go into work tonight for a bit. -- 25 March 2007 [Sunday] An outside work day if there ever was one! In the morning I finished up the trim work in the bathroom, then we went and rented an aerator for 2 hours. Man, what a workout! While I ran that, Amanda cut the grass for the first time this year. I used the full 2 hours of the aerator. Really hard to move around and it kept stalling out when trying to go up the hill, which was a real pain. We had lunch and played a bit then seeded later in the afternoon while the kids hauled out the sprinkler and started to play in it since we needed to water anyway. I figured out I like seeding in the spring since there are no mosquitoes yet, so watering at night won't be so miserable as you won't get eaten alive. We have to water for 3 weeks. I sure hope it rains some to help us out. It sure feels good to have it done though as I know we needed to do it. Amanda and I were in bed...

-- 8 March 2007 [Thursday] Super busy day at work again. I got a lot accomplished. Amanda is going to skip going into work tonight which is a nice break for her. I'll probably put down a few misc. pieces of tile that I can, as cutting takes time and I want to do what I can while I wait for the rest of it to dry out. -- 7 March 2007 [Wednesday] I worked from home as Amanda worked the front desk all day. She had a busy day from 7am-7pm, but the extra money is really nice now, especially since I do not trust Peopleclick anymore from a stability standpoint. I was able to get our Great Wolf Lodge pictures posted online too so Amanda can send out to family. Amanda and I finished putting the full pieces of tile in last night, so all that remains now is the cut pieces and the grout. We look to have the washer and dryer back in by Thursday next week when my mom comes down. Waiting the 2 days in between for drying time is what is taking so long, but I don't want to rush it, t...

-- 12 February 2007 [Monday] Finally found out about the re-org at work today. A lot of new managers and I'm reporting to Kiersten Grey now so that works out fine by me. I wish I would have had an offer for a manager position, but no such thing. If I would have stayed in the Services team I am sure I would have been offered it, but who would have known things would change so much within the 6 months since I left. Found out that they are reducing our 401k matching as well, which is a bummer, but also told we would get a small bonus (which will really just offset our reduced 401k match). But better than nothing. At least I am still employed as well. Leaving at 5pm today to pick up Keegan from Timothy's house. His mom called last night asking if he could come over after school. I'm very excited for him and hope he does well. It was his last day at school before track out starts so he's excited about that too, and throw in there Valentines Day exchange and he had a lot goin...

-- 06 February 2007 [Tuesday] It was a very cold 17F this morning at 7am when I went downstairs with Keegan. I'm actually thankful for the cold, in the hopes that it kills some of these bugs we've had so bad over the past two years because of warm winters. Chicago was something like 0F this morning! Today at work we are suppose to hear about the big re-organization that is going to happen, but I'm skeptical as it's 10am and still nothing had been announced, nor any meetings set up for it. We'll see. -- 05 February 2007 [Monday] Nothing much today. Came into work as usual. Keegan and I had to stop in the morning to pick up a snack for his school, as it was his snack duty for one day this week. We ended up with cinamon graham crackers. Eric found out over the weekend that his boss OK'd for him to work remote back in NC, so he's supposedly aiming to be back in NC the first week in April. We'll see how that goes. I offered to help him drive a vehicle back bu...