the return of the 4H...

It feels late. It is only 8:35, but I am dog tired. The week has seemingly flown by, as work has been dominating much of my time. After five weeks off, the 54 hour week (with tomorrow yet to count) is somewhat overwhelming. I finally feel like we are getting into routines, though, and it is nice to be making money again. I do wish that it was like Shirley's first week of school, though, in that she had a half day yesterday and today off. Oh well. Got to pay the bills somehow, I guess. I am happy to have a job.

So Janine's parents arrived yesterday. It has been fun to have them here, especially for the kids, I think. I guess they warmed up to them pretty quickly, as they barely seemed to notice me come home either yesterday or today. It is nice to see them all getting to know each other and enjoying the time together already. Hopefully they will all continue to have a good time. They went to the zoo today, and Juancho, who we thought loved elephants, would not get near the elephants. Kind of funny how that works. And as a side note, Andres and Juancho are obsessed with the Chick Fil-a' cow that was there the other day. They are both enamored and frightened of the dumb thing, but it makes us laugh. Every time we are in the car now, they both begin to talk about the vaca...we know exactly what they are thinking. Strange.

I got Son Volt's new album the other day. The first listen did not yield great results, and to say the least, I was bitterly disappointed. It will not make my top albums of the year as of now; we'll have to see if it grows on me at all. So far the Shins' "Wincing the Night Away" is the best album of 2007. My picks for 2006: Neko Case's "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" and Ray Lamontagne's "Till the Sun Turns Black" with an honerable mention to Built to Spill's album "You in Reverse." I did pick up the Best of Sam and Dave, though, which is incredible. I don't know if anyone could call Sam and Dave underrated, but I think they are.

Shirley's first week of school has been nuts. She was place in an "age appropriate" class, which means that she is in 3rd grade instead of joining second grade (she just completed first in Colombia). Essentially it means that she is skipping 2 grade levels as she enters a new country/culture. The only good thing is that she is in a dual language class, but even with that benefit she is finding it difficult to do the school work that the other kids are doing. TWO GRADE LEVELS!!! Are these people idiots or what?!? My politics remind me that it is that knucklehead W's "no child left behind" nonsense, which irritates me to no end. Yeah, that's a good idea...put her two grade levels too high and see how she does. While you are at it, why not give her a papercut and pour lemon juice all over it, morons. I am not happy with the system and am ready to fight it.

The boys have been continuing to adjust well. They seem to have been having fun during the day and have been pretty good about everything. Two year olds just demand a lot of attention whether they mean to or not (and they would really rather not have my attention when they are trying to not sleep at night), but they are joys. All three kids have different ways of making us laugh, of making us smile, and though they are work and can frustrate us at times, they are so wonderful.

I think Gerald Henderson did it on purpose.

I think Chris Simon should be suspended for the remainder of the season, the playoffs, and the first 15 games of next season. And undergo anger management. What an idiot.

I located a 1982 Nissan/Datsun 210 in Fort Collins, CO. I really want to check it out. Maybe it has four horns. Maybe it is blue. Maybe it has off-colored fuzzy dice in the mirror. It supposedly has only 32,000 original miles on it, which would be absolutely amazing and would take some of the edge off the numbing, pride-depleting, recent purchase of the now infamous minivan.

One time, in a mid-70's renovated cargo van, my friend bolted a lazy-boy to the frame of the cargo area for a nice extra-padded seat. So three of us piled into the van and decided to take it off road. It was a very comfortable ride. It reminds me of the time that a couple of buddies of mine and I piled a couch into the back of a large pickup and took it out to the roadside to relax and watch traffic. We also had lemonade.

Tournament time. March Madness. Anyone interested in a bracket? Let me know and make sure I have your email and I will get one going. More news later.

The song for the day is "I Take What I Want" by Sam and Dave...