February 29, 2000 - Hey Guys ... I can't believe it's already the end of February!! Zephen had a good adventure this past weekend and it looks like we are going to get him involved in boyscouts. We just talked to the local scout master and we'll be signing him up next week. We also picked up some additional gear yesterday (a couple external frame packs and some individual camping cookware). Obviously, I'll be getting involved as well and I look forward to getting some backpack experience before I do the serious hiking next summer with Dave. I checked into cable Internet service and it looks like it's finally available on my street. If I get that fired up, I'll be able to have the WEBcam up and running all the time. That way you can see the empty chair in my office 24/7. Maybe I'll point the camera into our front yard or our living room or something .... I got my taxes back today, so it looks like I can get the new aquarium setup. I'm also looking at a new wooden shed for the yard, some new cabinets in the kitchen, and maybe a new toilet and bathtub. I know I'm dreaming, but maybe I can truly get two or three of those accomplished.
February 24, 2000 - It's my last day off before heading back to work tomorrow. Mary Ann is taking the kids up to Nancy and Dave's tomorrow morning and Zephen is going to join Dave and David on a boyscout camp out this weekend. Mary Ann picked him up some new gear this week and he is borrowing a backpack from Dave. Hopefully he'll have a good time. I need to go attack the yard today and clean up some of the recent windstorm debris. They spent the early part of this week replacing the water lines in our street and it is now one big dirty mess out there. I've had a hard time figuring out where to put the new aquarium, but I think we settled on our bedroom. We don't have an open wall large enough in the living room to accommodate it and no place else seems appropriate. One of our guppies in our nursery tank just gave birth this morning to 8-11 frie. Heather and Mary Ann actually watched the birth of a few of them. I took the kids to the doctor's office yesterday. Heather has caught up to Zephen on her height ( 4'10.5", and may actually be taller than Zephen) and now weighs 77 lb.. to Zephen's 87 lb... Zephen refused to have his height checked. I'm going to spend some time working on some family tree stuff this weekend, so hopefully you'll see some changes here next week. I have just added a WEBcam to my site... nothing special yet, just trying to figure out how to incorporate it.
February 21, 2000 - Hi, everybody. Boy, what a nice weekend!! The weather remained sunny and mild for both Saturday and Sunday. My friend, Dave, and I went kite flying on Saturday. The more I fly my new kite, the better I like it. It is much more forgiving and less radical than our other kites and is good to learn some of the more demanding tricks with. I think Mary Ann and the kids will enjoy flying this one much more in that it will be much less frustrating to control. I did try some new tricks with it and cannot wait to go flying again. Sunday was a lazy day we just spent hanging out with Nancy and Dave. The kids have the entire week off from school, so Mary Ann and they stayed at Nancy and Dave's through today (I had to work today). Thanks, guys, for a great weekend!! Dave just bought a 80 gallon Plexiglas aquarium and gave us his old 65 gallon Plexiglas tank. I'm going to buff out some of the scratches this week, but I'm going to hold off on doing anything with it until I receive my tax return. I figure a new stand and to outfit this tank will set us back about $400-500, but Mary Ann and I are excited about starting a saltwater tank. She borrowed a few books from Dave and is trying to figure out what we want to start out with.
February 19, 2000 - Ahhhhh ... another week of work is done. I'm hoping that we get some wind this weekend so that I might do some kite flying, but the weather has been very nice and sunny so far. I've found myself thinking about windsurfing more and more lately. I'm hoping this coming summer I can scrape the rust off and get back into it. I have vowed to begin working out next week so that I might begin to get into some kind of shape. Since I lost all that weight last year, I've ballooned back up to around 210-215 and my energy as of late is pretty drained. That cold is finally on its last legs and I'm feeling quite a bit better, but I'm still not sleeping well. Hopefully, this weekend will afford me some rest. Mary Ann is doing well at her new store. It has been a slow process for her, but she thinks some of the changes are starting to be noticeable. The floors are much cleaner, the shelves are getting cleaned and dusted, and the store is looking better on a whole. Her new store manager has taken her under her wing and expanded much of what she does, so she is learning a lot more (I think it is prepping her for a promotion). She is up for her annual review next week and I suspect it will be good. I haven't done much with the site lately, but I just added a message board as another way for us to communicate.
February 15, 2000 - I talked with my mom and my brother, Jeff, last night, and it was good to hear from them. Jeff finally came through with birthdays and stuff for me and my immediate family is finally updated on the family tree. I got the house picked up today ... sad it will be trashed this afternoon when the kids get home :^) I worked on my taxes today and will e-file it tomorrow. Let's just say the return is pretty good this year. I'm going to readjust Mary Ann's and my W-4 forms at work so that we don't have so much taken out. I kind of rely on a $1500 return each year for my car insurance (about that much, due at the end of May), but our financial advisor suggested we have less taken out and open a money market account to collect the interest. I plan to hook up with her in the next week or so and iron out some more details.
February 14, 2000 - Happy St. Valentine's Day, Everyone!!! I've been pretty busy the past week or so and haven't been on top of updating the site as I should. Nothing new on the family tree, but I have gotten new information from everyone. Thanks for the help. It seems that cold I had was not the same one Mary Ann and the kids caught ... so I am now sick again. Man, this has been a bad year for colds for me. I had gone almost a year and a half with only a little sniffle here and there, but since the spring of 1999, I have just gotten hammered by the colds. I guess it's my own fault in that I live on about 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night and just keep setting myself up to get ill. This past weekend at work was shear hell. I was charge, we were understaffed, and I had to try to try to upstaff all three days. In addition to a heavy workload I spent all my free time calling therapist to fill shifts or helping others get their work done .... basically a short lunch and no breaks for 3 straight days of 12 hour shifts. Rather than the cold getting better, it naturally got worse and I had little sleep because of it. I gotta start looking into the various computer programs available at the community colleges :^) I've been experimenting with some FREE Internet service providers and if all goes well, I'll be changing my e-mail address real soon. I've been pretty happy with the two I've tried with no problems logging on at ANY time!!! Most of them have software to download and there is an annoying ad banner, but www.freewwweb.com had no banners and seems truly free without a catch (but you have to be somewhat computer savvy to set it up). Go to www.internet4free.homepage.com to check out availability of these free ISP's in your areas if you're interested.
February 4, 2000 - Happy birthday, Mary Ann!!! Today, Mary Ann celebrated her birthday once again. We both worked today, but I stopped on the way home and got cake and ice cream and roses. It has been an interesting week for her. When she went to work on Tuesday, she was informed that she would be transferring to a new store on Thursday. The ladies in her store were upset they didn't have time to throw her a going-away party, but they did very well under the circumstances. On Wednesday they gave her cake and cards and several gifts. She was deeply touched and will miss them a lot. She was warmly welcomed at her new store on Thursday and she is looking forward to helping it become a better store. It should have Mary Ann's stamp on it in no time :^). I spent the last week orienting a new therapist at work. So, Mary Ann got a new bowling ball ensemble, a homemade bead necklace from Heather, a few romantic DVD movies ("Thomas Crown Affair" and "An American President"), and next week I'll have the new car stereo installed in the van. Everybody in the house has a cold ... and I'm afraid it all started with me. I'm feeling better, but I am still only at about 60%. I plan to work on the Family Tree stuff this weekend as well.
February 1, 2000 - I'm finally feeling better from that
headcold. I managed to suffer through work on Sunday with a massive sinus
headache, but it is now to a manageable inconvenience. I had the opportunity
to fly my new stunt kite yesterday and am most impressed with it's handling
and it's abilities in light air. Mary Ann's birthday is this Friday and I
need to spend today shopping for a little something for her. I am getting
a new stereo system for the van, but that isn't installed until next Wednesday,
and I feel I have to have something on that fateful day. I did add some new
branches to the family tree information over the weekend. I also need some help from my
brothers and sister filling in information on their spouses and children (go
to Descendants of Robert
H. Teegardin)
