First Day of Kindergarten

Monday (yea, I'm a bit behind on the blog), a big change in Abby and Emma’s life and mine and Sheri’s as well…the first day of Kindergarten. We had to get up very early – 5:45 am – the same time I get up every Sunday. The girls are scheduled to be picked up by the school bus. But on the first day, we drove them (driving your child to school the first day is a bit of a Friendswood tradition, as well.) We got their early, and good thing. Traffic around the school was an absolute disaster. We parked about two blocks away to stay out of the parking lot mess. We took the girls to the classrooms (we decided to separate them) and got them settled. There was another mother dropping her child off in Emma’s class who started to cry. Expected, I suppose, it’s a big life-changing day Sheri did okay. I think she was just nervous and a little worried.
That afternoon, when the bus dropped the girls off at the corner, Sheri was there to meet them. They said they had a good day. Later, when I got home, I asked Abby how her day was. Here answer, “It was boring.” I told her, it will get better once you get into your regular routine. She’s going to be fine!
A big day, a big change, and a right of passage all in one day.

In-Laws Visit

Last week, Sheri's parents were here. My father-in-law, the jack of all trades that he is, brought his skills to bear on our house once more. He built new drawers to replace the plastic drawers that were installed by the contractor years ago when the house was built. Build a house as cheap as possible must have been their mantra back then. The wooden drawer fronts were falling off the plastic drawers so something need to be done. We also installed new countertops and sinks in the master bath and the girls' bath. We quickly discovered that off-the-shelf kitchen countertops are not the same as bathroom counters. We cut and improvised and made it happen. They ended up looking great.
We did some fun stuff too. We took them down to the Island. Sheri got to hang out with her mom a lot. Great visit and look forward to their return

Tropical Storm Edouard

Tropical Storm Edouard made landfall yesterday about 30 miles east of Galveston Island (about 50 miles from Friendswood.) And ultimately, it looked worse on TV or on radar than reality on the ground. In Friendswood, we had about 2 inches of rain and 20-30 mile per hour winds. No damage except for some small branches down out of our trees.
It was fascinating watching how we all prepared for the worst. Everyone put gas in their car. But there were no long lines and everyone remained calm and orderly (like they have done this drill before.) We also had to do the "go to the store and get bread, milk, and bottled water." The milk piece of that equation is interesting. Think about it: if we lose power, the milk will quickly spoil. Water makes much better sense. The whole community experience reminded me of getting ready for a big snowfall up north - particularily in Tennessee.
Nevertheless, Edouard's punch was pretty weak. And we got some much needed rain.

Grandparent Visit

Last week, my parents came to visit for a few days. They have been here before, but we took the opportunity to do some things we have not done before.

We saw the movie WALL-E with them. Overall the movie was good and had a good lesson (as most all Pixar films do). But parts of it did seem to be longer than necessary, like they just needed to fill the time without telling more story. On the Fourth of July, we watched fireworks from the church parking lot. The park from which they shoot is only about half a mile from church. So we got a good view without all the crowds (yet there were several hundred people on the parking lot.) It was also a good chance to see and talk members from Hope - informal style. The next day, we went down to Galveston Island. Being from St. Louis, my parents don't get to see the ocean much. We didn't swim in the ocean. We just got our feet wet. Then we gave them a driving tour of the Island - including the Strand. On Sunday after church, my father asked me to go with him to our local Apple store to talk about how he might set up a home network with their old eMac once they get their new iMac. I had a good time being in the store talking tech with my father and the Apple dude. The coolness factor was high. Dad needs an Apple to do the music work he does. I don't need an Apple and am perfectly happy with my Gateway Desktop (blazing fast and with 3 gig of RAM and huge hard drive) running Vista and my new laptop (see previous post). The coolness factor just isn't quite there as much as Apple. But with Apple, you pay a pretty penny to be cool.

And that's about it. It was good to have them here and it was good for the girls to re-connect with their grandparents.

Dude, "I got a Dell!"

Yesterday, it arrived - my new Dell Inspiron 1525. Now, some of you might be asking, "Jon, why do you need a laptop? You already have a computer!" And my answer is, well, for several reasons. First, I have discovered that I spend way too much time in my office. Jesus said, "Go make disciples of all nations" not "Get your Master of Divinity degree and sit in your ivory tower." So, the laptop will be a tool for me to get out of the tower. So my plan is to spend at least a half to one day out of the office in the community. I can get out there and at the same time, continue my work on sermons, blogs, newsletter articles, confirmation, and the like. The Biblical image here is Paul out talking and discussing in the marketplace or the forum. Second, a laptop allows me to continue work from home without the mess of transferring or emailing files. Third, it will be great for travel. Fourth, I got a really, really, REALLY great price. I paid less for this computer than for our desktop at home.

For you tech types, here are my stats:

Intel Pentium Dual Core T2370 (1.73 Ghz, 1M L2 cache), 3GB RAM, 250G Hard drive, 8x DVD +/- RW dual layer Optical Drive, Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card, Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module, Integrated 10/100 Network card, Microsoft Vista Premium SP1.

And, I wrote this post from the laptop via wireless internet at home (our DSL box projects WIFI) In a nutshell, "It's so cool!"

The Beach

One of the benefits of living in Friendswood is that we are about 40 minutes away from the the Gulf. We can go to the beach on a whim if we so desire. Today is day two of our four-day "staycation" (a vacation where you stay at home). And this morning, we decided to go to the beach. We usually go to a place in Galveston called Stewart Beach - a family-friendly place with good facilities.

On this trip, Abby felt a bit-more brave. She headed out with me into the deeper water. The waves today were very unpredictable. And after a few minutes a rather large wave hit us - pretty much going over the top of her head. She was never in any danger. I had her hand the whole time. She did okay, but she decided she had had enough.

Philosophical thought of the day: Why does the place where land and sea meet hold so much appeal for us humans? Is this phenomenon limited to just Western Culture, or do they feel the same way in the East? Maybe it has something to do with the explorer in each one of us. The beach is the place where we can adventure into the unknown of the sea, where we are not naturally welcome (we are not designed to live in water), and still be close to where we belong: on land. It's kind of like a child adventuring out on his own, but Mom and Dad are still close enough to hear and see him.

Yet, humanity, with our intelligence and creativity, has taken steps to subdue the seas by venturing out in watercraft of our design - exploring and journeying beyond the safety of land to lands and adventure on the other side of the sea. Any other thoughts?

Speed Racer - The Movie

A couple of weeks ago, I saw the movie "Speed Racer." (Yea, I'm slow getting my blogging done.) Sheri had no interest in seeing the movie. But I did - because Speed Racer was a big memory from my childhood. When I was a kid, every weekday morning (during the summer) I would watch Speed Racer. Then right after it was over, I would go outside and join my other friends who had also watched. We would get together and then ride our bikes around and re-create the episode on our neighborhood streets and in our backyards. Great times.

Back to the movie: The movie did a good job of keeping your attention - some by the very loud color pallet, but the story was well written; kind of like an TV episode in three or four parts. The CGI was over the top. And the cars were way cool. But one thing I wish they would have done during the race sequences is obey the laws of Newtonian physics at least some of the time. For a good part of each race, cars were spinning, moving sideways, etc - almost like they operated in zero gravity with a perfectly lubricated track. Memo to the directors: it's okay for cars to behave normally, even cars in Speed Racer world. I will still enjoy it. Too much is sometimes too much.

Spoiler: the best shot in the whole movie was at the end of the second race. The Mach 5 crosses the finish line for the win. Speed turns the car sideways to slide to a stop and then immediately jumps out of the car and strikes the Speed Racer pose - a total homage to the end of the title sequence in the orginal cartoon series. When I saw that shot, I grinned like a little boy again from ear to ear.