Weekend Update

More eagle pics at the Dropshots page...








Family Update:

Stephen:
An Officer and a Gentleman
Stephen was sworn in to the Alaska Defense Force on Friday as a 2nd Lieutenant. Apparently, this means he's expecting the occasional salute as he's now an Officer. The ADF is a volunteer organization similar to the National Guard, but on a State level. He was also in the Virginia Defense Force and enjoyed the people he met and being part of a military style group.
On Thursday last week, Stephen bought me some flowers. They're potted (Gerbera) and lovely yellow. I have them sitting on my cubicle window sill at work. He said he bought them for me because I'd been so nice to him this week while he was stressed out, not sleeping well, and cranky. I think it must have been about 7 years since the last time I was nice to him sufficiently to deserve blossoms.... :o) I recall a dozen roses I received on my 30th birthday.

Tricia:
I gave my first GIS training this week. Maybe I mentioned that. The course is called "How to Build a Basic Map: Quick & Dirty GIS". It's a 4-hour workshop with a powerpoint presentation and 5 hands-on exercises. I developed the course materials myself and think it turned out pretty well (if I do say so myself!). I was unsure, as I was putting the course together just how long it would take to get through the information. But, as it turned out, the class lasted 4 hours exactly!
In addition to offering it to students in the Anchorage training room (13 people), we also linked in 3 staffers from Fairbanks via the internet and a teleconference. I have 2 more classes scheduled for later this month, both full. And I'm being scheduled to bring the class live to Fairbanks at the beginning of May.

Donald:
Finally got off being grounded, so he's now back in possession of his electronic toys. His phone was also finally retrieved from the tubing hill on Elmendorf AFB where he lost it during a church youth group trip at the end of January. Turns out, someone found it and turned it in and they had it in their safe. I got a Visitor's Pass to get on base after work Friday on my way home, and drove in to the snow hill lodge to pick it up.

Tess:
Both she and Donald are on Spring Break of course. Tess is between basketball seasons I think. I keep hearing rumors about a Spring league. Maybe that requires Spring to actually arrive. Not sure.
She went shopping at the 5th Avenue Mall yesterday with her friend, Melissa. Alicia and I were also in attendance. Stephen was across the street at the Egan Center attending a Motorcycle Show and drooling over Harleys.
Tess got some new stuff from American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch and Wet Seal. Oh, and I bought her a wide belt at Nordstrom's.

Alicia May:
She is now in the possession of a new little table and chairs set that we picked up at an Indoor yard sale yesterday for $10. She's been needing a little table to sit at and color or play with her Play-Doh, two of her favorite activities. She also got a new Barney video yesterday and sat mesmerized by it at her new table with a crayon hovering over her coloring book for the duration.

Little Bit:
The dog is 1/2 naked if the quantity of dog hair on my sofa is any indication. She only crawls up there when we're all asleep or away from the house... Hmmmm.

Elmo:
The cat is getting fatter because Alicia has a great fetish for dry cat food distribution.