Pitching Pi

Dylan and his friends created this video for a Pre-Calculus Project. Kills me.
I can't believe how different school is now compared to when I went.

Jim and Mini Jim

Awwwwwwwwwwww!

Happy Birthday Drew

My baby just turned 14 years old and he's becoming a wonderful young man.

Shortly after this picture was taken Drew took half of the leftover cake and hid it in the corner Lazy Susan cupboard so Bob wouldn't eat it when Drew is at school tomorrow.

But when he turned the cupboard to close it, the cake upended against the inside wall behind the Lazy Susan, dumping gooey cake and frosting inside of the cupboard. This is quite possibly the only spot in the house that's nearly impossible to reach.

OK, maybe if he dumped the cake between the walls it would be harder to clean up.

Cleaning it out involved ingenious uses of spoons, knives and broom handles, numerous wet towels and lots of laughs. In fact, I am still laughing. Note, in the pic below...you can't see the vast quantities of frosting and cake glommed on the bottom and sides of the BACK of this cupboard...now that's funny, right?

But Drew was a trooper and he cleaned it all up.

When he was finally done he said, "Right, so, Mom, ummm....just wondering...um....are you going to make me another cake?"

Jake Bob

Welcome to the world Jake Robert Schreiner!

Whoa. This means Barb and Dan are grandparents!

But I'm sure they're loving every minute of it.

Jake looks JUST like Jim. A mini-me Jimmy is born and ready to be doted on by his huge family. Lucky boy.

Jake - you picked great parents - try to let them sleep every once in a while...

Spang Update

Dylan's band Spang is still going strong. The guys have about 10 original songs and they've started recording them with the goal of putting out an EP later this year.

Their next gig is at Marblehead High School on Friday, January 22nd - a fundraiser for the sophomore class.

Jake was interviewed by in student podcast - check it out...song at the end.

Follow them on their MySpace page.

Taking stock of 2009

I am not, by nature, a pessimist. I mean, it's OK to complain to your closest friends...especially on Friday after work - in which case it's called "therapy" - but otherwise it's not the place to go.

So while I'd like to say 2009 sucked for us, I can't do it. I mean, get real...lots of families have it far worse than we do. We took considerable shots. But we're OK.

So rather than get all paranoid and pessimistic, tonight I asked everyone at the dinner table what was the best thing that happened for you this year?

Dylan says the high point was his time at the Brown University Leadership Institute where he and kids from all around the world met to discuss ways to effectively create social change. Dylan got a taste of college, fell in love, had a kiss on a gondola ride and began his independent life.

Drew loved his summer best. Also at Brown University, he spent a week learning how to create video games at ID TechCamp. He then spent another two weeks at Camp Rotary with his pal Nick.

Bob and I both count our trip to New Orleans as the top of our chart for 2009. It was a time filled with music and love, music and friends, music and joy de vivre. In New Orleans we got back in touch with life after a winter of loss.

Those are some highs. There were plenty of lows.

The year began on New Years Eve when Ben went out into the cold and almost didn't come home.

In February Bob's Dad died sending seismic shifts through our personal universes.

In March Bob got laid off from his job.

In April, in some kind of weird response to stress, a big patch of hair fell out of my head. No lie. Luckily it was in the back, and thankfully it grew back. Freaky.

In May Bob's car died and we had to buy another v-v-van which is exactly what you want to do with your unemployment check, right?

In August we went to the Pacific Northwest for a long-planned action/adventure family vacation which we almost canceled but decided to do anyway. When we arrived in Seattle Drew came down with an eye infection, a fever and a bad cold. As we traveled about in those cold summer weeks among the mountainous watery world of Seattle, Vancouver, and the San Juan Islands we were alternately sick or dragging. Dylan was an uncharacteristically sullen due to an ex-girlfriend he tortured himself over. The news reports were rife with H1N1 - I don't think we had swine flu - but who knows?

I missed a dear friend's daughter's wedding in August because I was too sick after vacation to go.

In September Bob did a beautiful thing. He volunteered to drive Dorothy to Mexico and get her moved into her new home where she planned to retire. It was an epic trip well-documented by Bob the travel blogger.

Yes Dorothy retired to sort of third world country. I was alternately flipped out (she's retiring to Mexico??) and excited for her (she's retiring to Mexico!). Given the way the year was going, I waited for disaster to strike...but so far so good...she's doing fantastic there and loves her new home.

As for work, this was my third year with WeeWorld.com. Like most companies in this economy, the whole year has been like a game of chicken. The kind where you can't flinch...you just keep on going no matter what may be coming at you. Over the course of the year I spent the equivalent of a month in Glasgow, Scotland with our team there. We've all worked hard, and hoped to breakthrough to profitability by close of year - but 2009 wasn't going to have any of that.

It's bad all over. Tons of people I know are looking for work. In the family...Jim got laid off. Nancy and Scott went through a near miss with layoffs. So did Charlie I believe. Dan's company laid everyone off hoping to save money for when the work came back. But at the very end of the year they announced the company was shut for good. And Dan's worked there for 25 years I think.

Bob has been doing some good consulting gigs and has a few other options brewing. But still, lots of adjustments to make - it's been hard on him. For example, for years Bob called his Dad every day on the way to work just to shoot the breeze.

But as usual Bob inspires me with his reactions to unexpected forks in the road. This time? He wrote a book. It's in it's third revision now and I'm eagerly anticipating my next read through.

December culminated in West Side Story at Marblehead High School. Dylan was a part of a very talented group that put on a spectacular production.

So after all is said and done, I'd say we survived OK thanks to love and hope and friends and family. And laughter. And not taking ourselves too seriously.

This year we're off to the land of SATs and college entrance. Followed by how soon can we sell this other van? And the much anticipated driving teenager. And we're putting pedal to the metal on this game of economic chicken. No flinching.

So goodbye 2009. Let's do better in 2010, shall we?

Merry Christmas!

This year Christmas cards never made the list. Neither did outside lights. Or cutout Christmas cookies (yet).

But Elf Yourself? That made the list!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thatababy

Our good friend Paul Trap is a finalist in the Amazon Comic Strip Superstar competition. His strip is based on in-depth knowledge any parent will identify with. It's also based on his son Bridger, who is a good buddy and bandmate of Dylan's in the soon to be famous band SPANG.

Paul's strip is fantastic and he deserves to win this! Voting ends on November 6.

Please VOTE FOR PAUL NOW and send all your friends to vote too.

***You have to log in to (or create) an Amazon account to vote***

Bored to Death

I only watch a few shows faithfully on TV and if it weren't for HBO, the number would be almost zero.

Here's the best new show of the year. Great writing. Original. Really funny. Ted Danson in his best role ever. Jason Schwartzman. Watch it!

Blogging vs. Facebook

I haven't been blogging here lately and I miss it.

Sure, I've been busy with work, life, travel...but that's kind of normal. I blame Facebook. Especially since I started playing a range of Facebook games like Farmville and Cafe World. I started doing it for work and now I'm hooked. Thanks to all my game neighbors! It's fun.

Facebook is different than blogging, though. It's quick little updates. A blog isn't a novel...but it's more in-depth than Facebook. Ideally I'll keep both going.

One of the things I love about Facebook is that all the people in my life are right there every day and I get to be in on some of the things happening with them. Such as...

- Marty's eating bacon. Again.
- Chuck was in the hospital and now he's better
- Charlie has been tortured by his pool
- Mike and Katie got locked in the bathroom
- Doreen's favorite wine arrived and I need to get over to help her drink it
- Marty's drinking coffee. Again.

And today this great little tidbit landed in my news feed...keeping me up to date on Drew's inner hit list.


I'll be back to blog. Promise.