"We Can Dance If We Want To..."

We can leave our friends behind
Cuz your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're...no friends of mine...

Yes, it was the time of year when Emmy's school had their annual daddy/daughter dance. So, seeing as how I was a dad and Emmy was a daughter, we went! Here are a few pix:


Emmy: "Um, Dad, explain again why the DJ put all of us in time out."
Me: "Well, when he says to dance the rumba, don't start dancing the bossa nova."
Amanda: "Hey, we're all making a break for it. Are you in?"


Emmy: "Hey Dad, am I doing a good job of dancing the Charleston?"
Me: "Um, yeah, looks like all of you are...kudos to the DJ for playing music from 1928!"

We had three soccer games this weekend! As tired as the kids get, I get tired too of lugging all that stuff around like chairs and soccer balls and what have you. Emmy won one of her two games and Zach won his!! They really seem to enjoy playing. Emmy more then Zach, but what four-year old can focus on anything?

Next weekend all of my family...well, three of them, are coming out next weekend to watch their games then we are having an old-fashioned Italian dinner. You know, Spaghetti-Os and wine? Anyways, really looking forward to it. Family time always seems to be remembered more then anything else, good or bad. I just try to remember the good.

"Soccer Time...Is Here..."

Yes, the marathon of soccer games has begun and Cari, believe it or not, is coaching both Zach AND Emmy! I hope she knows what she's doing. She usually does! Here are a few pix:


Zach: "Hey Dad, does this shirt make me look bigger?"
Me: "Actually, it's you that makes the shirt look bigger. Do you plan on ever growing taller then 3 feet tall?"
Zach: "Ehh...we'll see. Those cigarettes you gave me last week should help me grow."


Emmy: "Hey Dad, want to see me dance the mamushka?"
Me: "While you're playing soccer?"
Emmy: "Well, you always said multi-tasking is the key to success."
Me: "No, I said making friends with the right people, no matter how vile they are, was the key to success."
Me: "My bad."

Emmy has a Girl scout camping trip this weekend! Two whole days of women, swimming, boating, famous people...no, wait, that was Weekend At Bernie's. Gaw I love that movie. Anyways...she's really looking forward to it. We spent three nights packing her stuff. I can't believe how extensive that list is of hers. Cari deserves most of the credit though. She seems to grasp what needs to be done a lot better then I do. I just show up and (usually) do what is needed. Some people are leaders, some are followers. Sometimes I wonder which one I am. I wanted to be a supervisor here at work until they laid off 70% of them. I could lead people here. I think Attila The Hun said the same thing at some point in his life. Did you know he had a watchtower built, then gouged the eyes out of the architect so his vision would never be re-created. I don't think I have it in me to be like that.

"Snow Part TWO!"

Yes, I had posted some pix earlier on the first day of snow but the next day it snowed even more! We had about a foot and a half of snow dumped on us and it made for some cool pix:


Ever try to take a picture of snow when it keeps falling off the branches?


A great close-up of just how much snow had settled on the branches.


Zach kind of looks like the alien from Alien here. In the background you can see the big truck that got stuck in the snow around 8:30am. Cari had to convince me that my Sentra wouldn't make it out of the driveway if this truck was stuck. As Homer would say, "Woo hoo! Four day weekend!" And that is exactly what we got.


Crepe Myrtle trees sure look different in winter. I wish I had had some kind of coloured liquid to make things a little more colourful.

We'll probably never get snow like this again. Ever. Snow in Texas is about as rare as...well...SNOW IN TEXAS. But we had a fantastic time. Had to keep changing clothes and my skin is still regaining its' moisture, but it was like a winter vacation that a lot of people don't seem to get.

Lately I've been into clothes-shopping. Not very guyish, I know, but I needed some things and wanted some other things. Went to Target about 2 months ago and bought nine pairs of socks, two belts, two pairs of dress shoes, and a polo-style shirt. Got it on clearance and saved a bundle. But I wasn't done there. I went back about a week later and found some cool t-shirts at Target as well as WalMart and picked those up too. Once I get some pix of it all I will showcase them. One of themn was the aforementioned Scooby Doo shirt, but I also found a green shirt with the "Go To Jail" swuare on it from Monopoly. Simplistic yet it lets people know who's in charge. And yes, I do have that kind of power to send people to jail purely on a whim. Just don't tell anyone, or else they'll get jealous. There's my green t-shirt which says 1978 Tennis Singles Championship. Looks pretty cool. Off to bed now. Got soccer games galore tomorrow!

"Turning Japanese!"

Well, not really.

But we did enjoy a nice day of walking around at ye olde Japanese Gardens in lovely Fort Worth on Sunday. Emmy seems to be getting a bit old to enjoy Mother Nature for what it is...which is just there. Not doing anything...just there. Young Zachary had a great time though. Here are a few pix:


Zach: "Hey Dad, what do I win if I get across all these stones without falling in?"

Me: "Um...dry clothes and the privilege to actually sit in the car on the way home and not air-drying on the top of the car?"

Zach: "Yeah, that's a pretty good prize...game on!"

In all actuality, Zach walking these steps about gave me a heart attack. But I had faith in him.


This shot I kind of like. I can really tell I've slimmed down some. In case you can't see my shirt, it's the Scooby Doo gang and it says, "What Happens In The Van Stays In The Van". Clever eh?


Zach: "Hey Dad, why is Emmy pointing at me while we're standing in front of that sign?"
Me: "Um...no reason. Hey Emmy, you didn't feed Zach did you?"
Emmy: "Goodness no! Remember? You said 'If we feed him he'll become angry and start attacking us!' "
Zach: "Anyone got any cheese?"

Had a funny thing happen at work this week. I found someone's wallet in the parking lot right next to my car! I couldn't find a phone number, so I held onto it until today. Fortunately, she had an e-mail address in our system's Microsoft Outlook, so I e-mailed her. Guess what I got? An out-of-office reply! Turns out she's out of town until Tuesday. Fortunately, she left her cell # on that reply so I left her a message. She finally called me tonight around 6:15 thanking me for letting her know I had it and for not not telling her. She said she would pick it up Monday or Tuesday next week.

We don't get the chance to be heroes very often, so when the time comes, don't be a jerk and hide from it. I'm a big believer in karma. What goes around, comes around, and I have enough on my mind without waiting for something huge to drop on me just because I was greedy. The last thing I need is a lay-off or a tree dropping on our house...or worse. To quote Office Space:

"DANG IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A GANGSTER"

In this case, a gangster would be a stand-up guy with, you know, morals and ethics and stuff.