Saturday, August 30, 2014

One Week In

I am now one week in at my new job and I am really enjoying things.  I feel like this is a position where I am actually going to get some help in advancing my skills, not just stagnating.  The company actually encourages continuing education and training classes which is something I was looking for.  However, one thing I have realized is that I am way behind in where I should be with respect to my engineering skills.  I am having to learn things that I should have picked up years ago.  Unfortunately, the previous job I had didn't do much with trying to stay current with industry trends and advancements. 

So I think it will take a little bit of time, but I think I will eventually get up to speed sooner than later.  I already have some projects I am working on and areas I am going to be responsible for, which is good.  And the fact that I need to review the whole casting process to become familiar with what we are doing will keep me very busy.  I haven't had much in the way of casting experience since I graduated, so it will take all of my spare time reading up on things and reviewing other materials.  But overall I think things are going good.

Sarah's Car

Sarah is the proud owner of a 2002 Saturn L300.  It actually has pretty low mileage for being twelve years old and we got a good deal on it pricewise (no thanks to our wonderful government).



Well about a week after picking it up, we had it back at the dealer because it is leaking oil.  Not a lot, but there are large oil spots on the driveway and the dealer told me that he had replaced all the valve gaskets, so I want to know if this is where the leak is coming from.  So he put it up and looked at it and saw that it was leaking from the gaskets that were replaced, so now he is having those changed again, along with some oil filter gasket.  Hopefully this will take care of the problem, because I don't want it leaking oil all over the driveway constantly.

Monday, August 25, 2014

First Day Hooray!

After a long and frustrating summer, I started my new job today.  I sure hope this one works out for a couple of reasons.  Number one, getting laid off royally sucks, but two, and more importantly, I think I am really going to like this place. 

The people are great to work with, at least the ones I have met so far, and it looks like I am going to be doing a lot of the things I tried to get implemented when I was working for KBI.  They know what it means to be an engineer here... the systems, methodology, etc.  It is very refreshing to be around people who share the same goal.  It isn't an ideal situation at the moment, but I think it will evolve into a very good position.  From what I can gather a lot of it is stuff that is coming down from the corporate headquarters, which is one reason it took so long for them to offer me the job to start with.  I'm glad they did though, because of all the places I interviewed, this was the one company I was hoping would make me an offer. 

Today was long in that I had paperwork and orientation materials to go over, and then when that was done I had a lot thrown at me.  It was a little overwhelming at times, but I think I will get the hang of things, I just need to get in there and get my hands dirty (so to speak).  It is quite a relief to be back doing engineering work.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Runaround

Three and a half years later, Kris is still dealing with the fallout from her mom's death.  At the time she died, Kris had to go around and get all of her parents' accounts changed over to be in her dad's name only.  Most places she had to go were very freindly and helpful.  Then there were others that were more of a hassle.  One in particular was a savings account at a credit union in Milwaukee.  The closest branch was on 76th street near state fair park (there was another branch somewhere in the 'da hood too, and we didn't want to go there) but they wouldn't do anything over the phone.  The amount of money in the account was minimal so Kris just left it alone.

So last month we got a notice from them saying that we needed to convert to a "paperless statement".  If we didn't and they had to send us a paper statement they would charge her dad $2.00 per month.  Kris called to try and rectify the problem, but they wouldn't help her over the phone, they said she had to come into the branch to take care of it.  So then she figured she would just go online and register the account for a paperless statement.  Unfortunately, there was some problem preventing her from doing that when she tried.

After a lot of frustration she finally figured we should just drive down there and take care of it, though she didn't know if they would accept the paperwork showing that she had POA for her dad.  We got all paperwork from the lawyers when her mom died and brought it along, not knowing exactly what was required. 

When we got there it was lunchtime so there were only two tellers working, and one was in the process of helping a man who was trying to close out his accounts.  When she asked why, he said mainly it was the hours, that they weren't open late on any days or on Saturday mornings, so they were never able to get to the bank to do any of their banking, so he was closing all of his accounts and moving them to a more convenient bank (boy that sounds familiar).  I looked at the hours on a small advertising leaflet and it said their lobby hours were 11:00-4:00.  That sounds like it might be hard to get there unless you weren't working.  The other teller was running between the guy in front of us and the drive thru, looking like she was a little overwhelmed.  I figured we weren't going to get anywhere with her. 

To my surprise, she was actually very helpful.  Kris explained the situation to her and took all over her paperwork and made copies of it.  Kris then had to fill out a couple of forms and then the woman said she was going to submit it all and they should be sending Kris a check for a grand total of nine dollars and change and the account would be closed.  She also said she was going to make a note on the paperwork to refund back the $2.00 service charge.  I think that is the least they can do, though it remains to be seen.  Hopefully this will finally take care of it. 

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Summer Is Ova!

Yep, summer, it's sad to see you go.  We hardly knew you. 

This week marks the start of school prep.  We have already done the back to school shopping and I think the girls have almost everything they need.  On Monday Alison had her registration at North.  We got all her fees paid and her pictures done.  Tuesday Sarah had her school registration and photos, but this time we didn't need to go since she could drive herself.  It was nice not having to worry about that, even though we had to deal with a little bit of a meltdown because Sarah was having a bad hair day, or didn't know what to do with her hair.  That didn't sit well with me, or Kris.  Luckily she got her act together before registration was over. 

So now we have a little over a week before the school bell rings again and we can really stick a fork in summer.  Though I wouldn't be surprised if once school starts we get a two week stretch of 90° heat with Florida-like dew points.  That's just the way this summer had gone.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

War on Squirrels

It's on now!  I am talking about war being declared on the squirrels, and to some extent the chipmunks too.  Recently, the squirrels have taken to eating Kris's hibiscus flowers and buds.  I can't remember how long she had been getting hibiscuses for the summer, I want to say as long as we have been in the house.  But this is the first year I have actually seen the squirrels eating them. 

Now she bought a couple of perennial hibiscus and before I could get them planted a couple of squirrels climbed into it and broke off half of the branches.  So now she has to try and salvage them.  I am hoping that if I get it planted it will at least grow and be able to survive until next year.

After they were planted we went to Stein and used Sarah's discount to get some spray that is supposed to repel chipmunks and squirrels.  Hopefully it will keep them away from eating the flowers and digging in the dirt to bury the seeds they steal from the bird feeders in the backyard.  If I didn't like watching the cardinals and woodpeckers, I'd get rid of all the feeders and save the hassle.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Rock 'n' Roll All Night

Before the unfortunate events of the past few months, Kris had bought tickets for the Kiss/Def Leppard tour this summer.  We actually had two sets of tickets because Kris had found "better" seats a few days after she got the first ones.  I thought, no problem, I can just sell the extra set before the show.  So about two weeks before the show I went to sell them to a scalper and was informed that he wouldn't buy them from me because there was a  glut of tickets on the market.

So next we tried to find someone to sell them to, but everyone we knew either didn't want to go, or couldn't go.  So rather that eating the cost of the tickets, we got the girls to come along with us.  Kris had been saying that they should go for a while, but when we couldn't get rid of the tickets we tried to push the issue.  I tried to convince the girls that seeing Kiss in full make-up is sort of a once in a lifetime experience, since the band is in their mid-60's and who knows how much longer they'll be performing.  So in twenty years they can tell their kids they saw Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons in full make-up.  Ali didn't want to go, and Sarah was waffling up until the day of the concert.  But then Alison decided she wanted to go, but only if Sarah went with her.  After a lot of prodding, she convinced Sarah to go.  I didn't get any pictures of them, but I think Kris took a few with her phone, so if I get them from her I'll post them.

Alpine Valley was almost exactly as I remembered it, except that the hill seemed much steeper than I remembered.  It had been 22 years since I had been there, and even longer for Kris.  It looked sort of old and run down, though the days of stadium rock concerts is long past, so with only a few concerts per year it doesn't surprise me.  And the crowd was quite an eclectic mix of freaks.  Lots of old, overweight people all tatted up who looked like they were still living in 1987.  And the number of them that were completely blasted to the point of barely being able to walk was quite high.  Something I wouldn't expect from people who are as old as my parents.

Now, the review... the concert itself was pretty good.  Even though it was the same mix of songs I have seen Def Leppard perform several times they were very tight and kept things moving along.  And Kiss was very good as well.  The pyrotechnics and theatrics were exactly what I would expect from Kiss.  Even the girls said they liked the fire, and Gene spitting blood, and Paul flying out over the crowd on a trapeze.  They also sang along with a lot of the Def Leppard songs.  So even if they don't admit it, I think they had fun and now they have a story to tell.  My only complaint was that the gear on the stage was obstructing our view somewhat.  It would have been better if some of the video screens weren't there and the gear was pushed farther to the sides.  But then again, I suppose I shouldn't expect that much from a venue that is virtually unchanged for the last 25 years.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Freedom!

Free at last, free at last....  I don't know if that is more for me, or for Sarah.  But today, Sarah got her driver's license.  She was very nervous going up to the DMV in West Bend, but I think it got easier when the examiner came out to take her on her road test.  He looked like he might have been 24 years old at most, so he was able to put her at ease.  Sarah said that he was talking to her while they were driving about things like what school she went to.  I don't know what the point total is that you start with, but she ended up getting three points off, so I guess that is pretty good.

Then we had to go wait to have her picture taken for her license.  It was actually not very bad.  Usually you would expect the DMV to be packed with people, but there was only one person ahead of her.


So she got a photocopied sheet with her picture on it to serve as her license until her actual, laminated card comes in about a week. Here she is about to drive us home as a fully licensed driver (probationary of course).


Which also means my insurance rates are going to get bumped up.  So now she is free to go do things with her friends, or go to work by herself, and Kris and I don't have to serve as chauffeurs anymore.  And we also get to have her take some of the load off of us by driving Alison around to her activities.  So I guess Kris and I have more freedom than she does.  Although I am sure we'll be the ones filling the gas tank.

Here We Go

We are heading out to take a driving test.  Good Luck Sarah!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

A Dose of Reality

During our final round of driving practice, we decided to go by a few used car lots so that Sarah could see some cars.  She had been talking about saving her money for a car and Kris and I thought she should see exactly what they cost.  We went to a few dealer lots and I have to say, even I was a shocked at some of the prices on the cars we saw.  The problem is that there aren't that many older cars around since the President decided to destroy them all, so now Sarah has to suffer.

We did actually find a couple of decent looking, older cars at a "corner" used car lot.  Though I am not really sure that I would trust a place like that.  It really doesn't matter because Sarah doesn't have enough money yet, but I wanted to just give her an idea of what kind of money she was looking at if she wanted to buy a car.  And I think it was an eye opening experience.

Final Day of Practice

Tomorrow is a big day, Sarah goes to take her road test for her driver's license.  So we spent a few hours today driving around letting her get some final practice in.  There was a list of skills that they are supposed to know, so I assume that is what the examiner will be testing her on, so that was what we focused on today.  The big thing that I noticed was making sure she uses her turn signals, and making sure she is over as far as possible when making her turns.  The parallel parking might be an issue.  Her driving instructors taught her a different way of doing it than I taught her.  When she tried doing it the way she was taught, she ended up way too far from the curb.  So I went over it with her again how I learned to do it.  She did it that a couple of time and was able to slide right in where she should be.  Hopefully she can remember that way tomorrow.

So check back tomorrow and see if she is a licensed driver.

Fore!

After driving around Saturday doing stuff for Sarah's birthday, I promised Alison that we would go mini-golfing.  Sarah has actually been mini-golfing a few times this summer with her boyfriend, but it has been a year (at least) since I took Ali.  So after our lunch and checking out the lakefront, we headed back to the Falls, and Swing Time for 18 holes. 


Kris didn't play since she doesn't like mini-golfing, so it was just me and the girls.  And after a few holes the girls apparently told Kris they didn't like playing with me because I was keeping an accurate score.  It came after one hole where there were a couple of hills leading to holes that sent the ball down a tube toward the hole.  I counted all the strokes it took to get the ball over the hill and down the tube.  Apparently when Sarah and Caleb play, they don't count strokes if the ball rolls back.  I guess that makes me too competitive?



But overall I think it was fun.  Ali came close to a hole in one a couple of times, hitting the pin twice and putting her ball about two inches from the hole one other time.   Sarah even got close once or twice. 



The final scores were 50, 56, and 58.  So it really wasn't that bad.  Everyone was over par, so I don't even consider my score good.  



Saturday, August 9, 2014

Happy Sweet Sixteen

Today Sarah turns 16.  She was out with her boyfriend the night before, so we didn't get to actually see her at the exact moment she turned 16.  In the past Sarah would stay up until 12:47 AM which was the time she was born.  Friends would send her text messages in the middle of the night...  This year Kris thought it would be fun to have her go to midnight bowling with some friends and we could celebrate with some of her friends at the exact moment she turned sixteen, but she didn't go for that idea.  So we just let her do her own thing.

Then just like Alison, we let Sarah sleep in.  She got up early for her, at about 9:00.  We gave her her gifts, and then we had to go run an errand in Milwaukee, so the plan was to go do that, then maybe take Sarah out for some lunch and go check out the lakefront.

Kris even got Sarah a "Sweet 16 Tiara" to wear for the day, along with a sash.  I didn't think she would actually wear it, but she did (the tiara, not the sash...  that she refused to do). 



It took forever to get where we needed to go because there was a lakefront triathalon going on and the cops had a bunch of streets closed.  But when we finally finished, Sarah wanted to get Mexican food for lunch.  Since her favorite Mexican restaurant is located across the street from State Fair park, and the State Fair was in full swing, we suggested a different Mexican restaurant.  It just happened to be down the road from where Kris and I used to hang out when I was in college, and a place we would go frequently.


And when we finished, we were only a block away from St. Mary's Hill So we went over to check out the lake.  There was a baby picture of my dad that they had seen at one time and I pointed out to both Sarah and Alison that was the hill where grandpa's baby picture was taken.  Though I think Milwaukee was a little cleaner sixty some years ago when it was taken.  But anyway, it was a beautiful day so I snapped a couple of pictures of the girls looking out over the lake, and with the old St, Mary's Hospital in the background.



I wanted to take a silly picture of Sarah holding up the North Avenue water tower, but she wouldn't play along.  So much for being fun on her birthday.


So when we were done down on the lake, we came home and had birthday cake.  Kris made a red velvet layer cake, and mmmm, mmmm, it was good!





Happy Sweet 16 Sarah!

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Turning Twelve

Today Alison turns twelve.  No party, no fanfare, just a few gifts and some cake.  Since Alison was still recovering from having her friends sleepover and staying up all night, we let her sleep in, which was until about 10:30.  She opened her gifts, and then we went to do a little shopping to use some of the gift cards that she got from her friends.








While we were out we went to get some lunch, and we let Alison pick where we went.  Kris mentioned something to the waitress about it being Alison's birthday, and when it came time to leave, the waitress surprised us with a complimentary piece of cake for the birthday girl.


Unfortunately, we had to end our fun early because Ali had to go to cheer practice.  But before she left, we made sure we had cake.






Hopefully, the cake didn't make her feel too full while she was working on her routine. 

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Party Time

Alison wanted to have a sleepover for her birthday this year, so we gave her the go ahead to invite a few of her friends.  Well that ended up as seven of her friends (I think) plus Ali.  We cleared everything out of the basement and let them spread out sleeping bags and blankets. I think this was the largest number of little girls we have ever had in the house at one time. 

They started outside, then came in to do whatever they were going to do.  Kris and I just sort of left Ali alone with her friends.  She's at the age where having your parents around is just sort of uncool.  The only thing that we did was take a couple of pictures of everyone and get a couple of power strips set up to charge all the electronic devices.



The only thing Kris wanted was one picture with all of Ali's friends, which she got when they all had their birthday cupcakes.  It was much easier than getting a cake.


After that picture, the girls were on their own all night.  I got up the next morning at about 6:30, and Alison was awake.  Apparently she was up all night, the only one who actually stayed awake.  A couple of her friends made it until about 4:00 AM, but that was as close as anyone got to an all nighter.  She got a little emotional because one of her friends had me take a picture of them all with her phone, like the one with the legs up above, except I had better lighting.  She was supposed to send it to everyone, but accidentally deleted it instead.  It really wasn't a big deal, but the fact that she hadn't slept had Alison a little high strung. 

After everyone left, she got in the shower, and Kris and I had to go run some errands.  She parked herself on the couch, and after ten minutes, this is what she looked like:


She was still sleeping when we got back a little over an hour later.  Let's just say it was pretty much a wasted day for her.  At least she had a fun time.

Cheer Schedule

This year, the 7th grade Junior Indians football team has only one team.  That means that Alison won't have games to cheer for a couple of weeks this year.  In the past, there would be two teams, and whenever one was playing on the road, the other would be playing at home.  But with only one team, that means there are going to be weeks where the 7th grade team is away, and since the cheerleaders don't travel to away games, they get a break from cheering.

However, since there are only five or six 8th grade cheerleaders, a lot of the 7th grade cheerleaders were asked to cheer 8th grade games when the 7th grade team wasn't playing a home game.  I think Alison is going to do most of them, because it almost doesn't seem worth it to only sheer three games this year.  It makes me wonder what things are going to be like when her class gets to be juniors and seniors.  I have a feeling their team is not going to be very good.  But they have a few years to work on it I suppose.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Back to the Oral Surgeon

First thing Monday morning I ended up calling the oral surgeon.  Sarah came and woke me up at 2:00 AM complaining that her mouth hurt.  She was in tears, it hurt so much.  I asked if she had taken a pain pill (Vicodin) before she went to bed.  She hadn't.  So now she was going to have to wait 40 minutes to an hour for it to take affect.  In addition, she was told not to take any of the pills on an empty stomach, so she needed to eat something before I could give her one.  When I told her this, I got "but I don't want anything to eat".  Well then you don't get a pain pill!  I had her just eat a cup of pudding quickly, and then gave her a pill, and sent her back to bed.

She was awake by 7:00 AM (which is completely unlike her) so I knew something was still wrong.  She said the Vicodin didn't help at all and she was awake most of the night.  So after hearing that and conferring with Kris, I called the oral surgeon as soon as they opened at 8:00.  When I descried the pain she was having, they said it sounded like a dry socket.  We went in at 10:00 and the doctor was going to have a look and if it was a dry socket, he would just pack it quickly and she'd be done in 15 minutes.

We got there and she went in by herself, but I could hear the nurse asking her about what was going on.  Then the doctor came in, and got the same story.  He apparently didn't even examine her mouth, he just went right in and started packing her lower left jaw.  She was done in 10 minutes and he said she should feel better in 10 to 15 minutes, but that then she may notice the other side more and be back to have that side packed the next day (with a smile of course). 

He was right, after about a half an hour she was out of pain, though she was still a little bit swollen.  She kept ice on her face most of the rest of the day to get the swelling down, so we'll see how much that helps now.  Hopefully that will do the trick and when she goes for her follow up on Friday everything will be hunky dory.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Called Back

As Sarah was sitting on the couch watching TV icing her face she got a call on her cell phone.  It was set on vibrate so I didn't hear it ring, only her say "Hello?".  Then a few other things, and when she was off the phone she put her arms in the air and said she didn't need to look for another job anymore. 

The call was from the manager at Stein asking if she would be interested in coming back to work.  Apparently there are a few girls who are going to be going off, or back, to college, so they need to have some regular part time people.  And since they liked Sarah her boss gave her a call to see if she was available to come back.  She is going back in tomorrow to get her paperwork back into their employee payroll system.  She is pretty happy about it because it means she'll be working more hours than she had been, which also means more money for her.

And on the plus side, if she is still there in November maybe we can get a discount on a new Christmas tree.

Friday, August 1, 2014

They're Out

Sarah is now four teeth lighter.  Her wisdom teeth were extracted this morning and now she is recovering.  All four of them were impacted so the oral surgeon had to put her out.  It was a pretty quick procedure.  Her appointment was at 8:00, and she was done in about a half an hour.  With recovery we were back home before 9:30. 

At first she was crying when we were getting ready to go because of the anxiety.  I tried to take a picture, but she wouldn't let me.  This was as good as it got.  I told her that it was no big deal, but she has friends who had theirs out and they were telling her all about the pain, and she has heard stories of the other things that could happen, like infections and dry socket.  But once we got there it was a piece of cake.

The oral surgeon's nurse said she is going to be a happy drunk, because as she was coming out of the anesthesia she was giggling and laughing.  I took some video of her sitting in the chair in the living room giggling and feeling her face.  Apparently her face was numb so she kept pawing up her face in awe.  When I get the video converted I may post a clip.

A little later in the day a couple of her friends stopped by to see how she was doing and bring her pints of ice cream, which was nice.  Her boyfriend actually brought her a couple of cartons of ice cream the night before.  Unfortunately, we didn't realize it until the next day that she couldn't eat any of it.  The flavors were mint chip, and butter pecan, and she can't eat anything crunchy, like nuts, or the chocolate chips.  At least she'll be able to eat it a few days later, but it's sort of like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey, teasing her with the ice cream because she knows that it is here and that she can't have any of it.

The doctor said she should be out of pain by Monday, so hopefully things will go well over the weekend.