Thursday, June 29, 2006

Breathe...

OK... I need to breathe a little here.

Bad news last night, the couple who was... (that's right, was) buying our house decided to NOT buy our house two days before closing. More to follow on this late breaking news. Breathe... breathe...

Sunday, June 25, 2006

It's Official...

Our daughter just cut her first tooth, my wife just called. She also said 'ma ma ma' for the first time today.

I apologize for not writing alot lately. Bad manners, me not being around much. I have been in San Diego since the 18th, and working over 60 hours since then. I will be in San Diego until the 2nd of July. My wife is still at home in KC MO, visiting our family. ALot has happened this week. My wife found an awesome house to move into, and the couple who owns it accepted our offer. This will be our 10th time moving in the 9 1/2 years that we have been married. All of them are directly related to the military. No complaining here, we love moving and all, but now that we are civilians, it's alot more stressful.

AWTM wrote about her little road trip / adventure, and I am sure my wife can directly relate to that. 15 hours in a minivan with a 8 month old, and a 5 and 6 year old boy can make for some interesting travel time. Schedules are way disrupted by events like this. They are supposed to return to Louisiana on the 29th, a day before we close on the house we are selling there. Please pray for her and the kids, it's gonna be a rough few days for them. I wish I was back before they were. We'll all be re-adjusting to the 'normal schedule' for at least a week.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

What's in a name?

Being a 'weather guy', I know how the general public likes to take pot shots...
The NHC has had its fair share of 'bad press' but this is downright absurd.

A co-worker pointed this out a few minutes ago:


NHC Names Link

Quoting from the site:


...the 2005 list will be used again in 2011.
The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is
so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different
storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. If that
occurs, then at an annual meeting by the WMO committee
(called primarily to discuss many other issues) the offending
name is stricken from the list and another name is selected to
replace it.


Several names have been changed since the lists were
created. For example, on the 2004 list (which will be used again in 2010),
Gaston has replaced Georges and Matthew has replaced Mitch.
On the 2006 list, Kirk has replaced Keith.

End Quote

So....
Why on earth would you replace one name with another that
sounds like, or
is even very closely spelled like an offending one from
a previous season?

Someone should ask them why they picked not one,
but TWO names like that for 2011.

2005 retired storm names:            2011 replacement storm names:

Dennis                                     Don

Katrina                                Katia

Rita                                        Rina


Stan                                         Sean

Wilma                                     Whitney



What do you think?
I am curious to see if anyone else finds this as clear as I do.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Raining in the house

It's been a long while since I posted anything.

It's not that I don't like writing. It's that I don't
have all the time that I want to do it. Maybe if I worked
at home...

Here's a little summation of the last 2 weeks:

We finally worked out a compromise with the family who
is buying our house. We are closing the deal on
June 30th, but we have an occupancy waiver
allowing us to remain in the house until July 31st.

My wonderful wife (I swear she is still a Navy wife at heart)
has totally worked out our packing and moving down to
the last detail. We are going with a do it yourself move.

The main problem is, my wife, two boys
(ages 6 and 7) and our daugher (8 mos.)
will be moving to Colorado until
October 1st.... alone. I am still under
a contract to remain in Louisiana until Sept 30th.


At least it isn't another deployment,
and it's not a hurricane induced seperation.

She left Sunday morning (with the three kids)
to drive to KC Missouri for a week,
drop the boys off, and head to Colorado for
2 weeks to find a house. I really feel for her,
since that is a 15 hour trip to KC on a good day.
She had heavy rain near Memphis through
Cape Girardeau... and our daughter decided to
start cutting teeth two hours into the trip.
We are not used to her crying. She is the most
laid back baby I have ever seen. Seriously.

Our daughter is such a blessing... we often
joke that if she had been first born,
we would have 5 kids by now. LOL... We
almost didn't have her after our youngest
son gave us an exciting 4 years. I need to
write up a few of his 'best' tantrums.
That's fodder for another post.

I am leaving for California this Sunday,
for a two week business trip.
She comes back on the 28th of June,
just in time to prep for the closing.
I arrive on the 2nd of July....
But wait... there's more:

Last night I was watching a movie on
the couch, fell asleep and woke up
around midnight. I went to walk down
the hall to the bedroom, when I felt
a drip on my head. I looked at the
glass of water I was carrying
and tried to figure out how 'that'
just happened. Hmm... another drop
hits my shoulder and I look up.

A nice ring of wetness was slowly taking
over the ceiling, and directly above
that is our AC unit in the attic.
*Don't know why people want
to put things like that in the attic,
must be a southern thing.

I go up and try to find the source,
look at the drip pan, check the
drain pipes. It is beyond me.
All I am thinking is, we close on the
30th, and neither of us will be home
to take care of this.

It'll be fine. I am honestly not worried.
I have faith that God will take care of us.