Final Year Send Off

Sarah left for school this morning.  With any luck, this will be her final year before graduation.  I'm not sure exactly what she will do yet.  If she decides to stay with PA school, she'll have to take a couple of extra classes, which means no graduation in May.  If she goes with just getting the human biology BS and intends to go get an advanced nursing degree, she could graduate in May, but she'll have to take 17 credits this semester and 16 in the spring.  Or, she could split it up so she doesn't have as many credits, and graduate next December.  We'll have to see how this semester goes.

In any event she packed up her car last night (for the most part), finished putting a few things in today, and she was gone by noon.  Unfortunately, she couldn't get everything loaded up in her car, so I told her we'd drive up the few things she left tomorrow.  I figured that if we left early, we could be back home by 3:00.  Plenty of time to finish prepping the driveway to get resealed on Monday. 

A New Computer

After the hassle of the last couple of days with backing up phones, and syncing to iTunes we have FINALLY decided to get a new desktop computer for Kris.  THe whole problem had been the fact that we were still using the Dell we bought as the extra computer for Sarah to do her homework on when she was in either 5th of 6th grade.  I think it was 5th, but I could be wrong.  It was originally a Windows XP operating system, and I upgraded it one to Vista.  It had been slow, but was good enough for what Kris used it for.  Until of course Microsoft stopped supporting the OS.  Since then its performance has been getting progressively worse.  

The last straw was when I found out that I could not update iTunes to handle Kris's new phone.  After discussing it, we decided to bite the bullet and get a new one.  The good thing is that we only needed a new tower.  No need to get a new monitor, or keyboard, etc.  In addition, it was on sale so I also saved almost $100 on it.  Now, we should be completely updated in both phones and computers for the foreseeable future.

New Phones

It was finally time.  Everyone on the family needed a new phone, and I finally went ahead and replaced them.  We have been an AT&T family for somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years.  It is probably more like 16 or 17.  I think we switched when I started my job at Krueger Bearings.  We have been with them since before they were AT&T, they were still known as Cingular Wireless.  So that tells you how long it has been.  But at first it was just me and Kris.  Then we added a phone for Sarah when she started middle school, and the same for Ali, though I think we may have gotten her phone when she was in 5th grade.  But they were always add-ons.  It was never a whole sale replacement of phones, mainly because of the timing and cost. 

Since I contacted AT&T to see if we could get a deal on phones since we have been customers for so long, but they couldn't do anything for me.  Amazing that if I were a new customer, I could have gotten four new phones for the price of two, but because I have been a loyal customer for 15 plus years, they said, sorry.  Well I said sorry too and decided to change carriers.  Verizon had a BOGO deal going so I took it.  And we pretty much end up paying the same amount, except for the monthly charge for two of the four phones.  I guess I'll have to start playing "the game" of switching services every few years now to get the newest phones for the best price.

There was a small problem though when I picked them up last night.  The girl at the Verizon store asked if I had ported the old number.  I thought that meant transfer, so I said yes.  And then when I got home Kris informs me that all of a sudden, no one had any service on the old, existing phones.  My plan had been to set them up one at a time, making sure to transfer everything and ensure the new phone was working properly before deactivating the old one.  That plan went out the window and I spent the rest of last night setting up Kris's phone as well as the girls.  And what a mess, because first they wouldn't transfer, then I found out that the sim cards in the phones were mixed up, Sarah had Kris's number, Kris had Ali's, and Ali had Sarah's.  I also found out that the version of iTunes on Kris's desktop was not compatible with the newest iOS.  Which meant before transferring data, I had to set up profiles on my laptop for everyone, sync their phones (which took about 60-90 minutes each) before I could get everything transferred to the new phones.  I spent a total of 9.5 hours doing it so everyone had their phone set up for when they woke up in the morning.  The only one who didn't have a phone was me.  Luckily it still worked over the wifi, so I could text if I needed to, plus I actually just got a new phone for work, so I could use that one until I got my phone set up.  So now we should be good for the next 2-3 years.

U-Haul Blows

Sarah will be moving out of her apartment at the end of the semester and moving into a new place next month.  In the meantime, there is going to be about a two week lag between Sarah and her roommates moving out, and when they can move into the new apartment.  This predicated the need for a storage unit.

Sarah knew about this back at the beginning of the semester, so she went looking for a storage unit she and a couple of her roommates could rent for a month.  I suggested the U-Haul facility in LaCrosse, since it was close by and reasonable on their rates.  She went online back in March and looked for availability, and was lucky enough to find a 10 x 20 unit, indoors and climate controlled for the month, so she snatched it.  Fast forward to today.

I get back to my desk and see that there is a call on my cell phone from Sarah.  I call her back and she says she is screwed…  She is at U-Haul and they told her they don’t have any units available.  I said, “But you reserved one two months ago”. And she said the manager at the U-Haul place said she was sorry.  She then pointed out she has a confirmation that says she is supposed to “move in” today, and the manager told her the reservation system doesn’t work that way.  They told her basically all they had for her was a 5 x 7 storage box.  Which won’t even fit everything in her room, let alone her other roommates.  I told her to take it for now and I would have to see what we can do.

She said she and her roommates have been calling other places trying to find a storage unit they could rent, but no one has anything available.  It makes sense because it is the end of the semester and anyone going home for the summer is storing their stuff rather than hauling it home, and then hauling it back to school in August.

I ran into the same problem with U-Haul two years ago when Sarah was moving out of the dorms at the end of the school year.  I went online looking for a unit and found U-Haul advertising they had one, but when we got there they said, “nope”.  I thought it was partly my fault for waiting until two weeks before to look for something, so I figured that if Sarah found something two months ahead of time (actually almost three months) it would be a sure thing.  After all, if there was a problem there was plenty of time for U-Haul to let her know.  I guess they just don’t roll that way.  I told Sarah not to worry about it, that I would figure it out.  She didn’t need to stress herself out (since she is about to take finals) and I’ll handle it.  She was coming home for the weekend anyway to help Alison with prom anyway so there wasn’t much she could do about it now.

I started looking around online and there wasn’t a whole lot available.  There were places that didn’t answer the phone, other places with nothing available.  After about 45 minutes of looking, I was able to find a place in Sparta that had some storage units available for a reasonable price, so I called to reserve it.  I got a recording saying to go online to view their availability and to reserve a unit.  When I did, I got an error with the system.  ARGH!  I was planning on calling back and leaving a message figuring I would have to take care of it on Monday, but someone actually answered.  After explaining to him what I wanted and was trying to do, he instructed me to just text him my contact info and he would make sure it got reserved, and then we would just take care of paying for it next week.  That was a big “whew!”  One thing I don’t need to worry about for the weekend now.  Although I am so tempted to cancel the truck I am planning on renting from U-Haul to move Sarah next week.  If I knew of any other moving truck rental places, I would do it in a second!

Varsity 2020

Alison found out her team assignment for 2020, and no surprise, she made varsity again.  I say no surprise because Kris and I expected her to make varsity again, but then again, you can’t take anything for granted.  Their team is going to be the same as last year, with the addition of one freshman.  There was one girl who is in Ali’s class who got bumped to JV last year, and was trying out again this year (She was an alternate on Varsity Ali’s sophomore year).  I thought that the coach may at the very least let her be an “alternate”.  Even if she wouldn’t be on the competition team, she could at least cheer for games.  But no, she didn’t make it.  So now we have about a month before practices begin for the upcoming season.  I am hoping Ali has a good senior year.  It is going to be very hard to top last year in terms of nationals, and I don’t count of state much, just because I feel like we get screwed by that governing body.

The Holy Spirit

  

Today we celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit at Alison’s confirmation.  Alison is now officially a Catholic.  Boy, was it a long ceremony/mass!  I remember Sarah’s confirmation being long, but not three hours long.  We had the Arch Bishop actually do the mass/ceremony, and not just a regular bishop, so it was a pretty big deal.  We were warned ahead of time that the Arch Bishop usually speaks to each candidate for a minute or two before he does the anointing.  And there were about 90 candidates, so the anointing portion took roughly two hours to complete.  I managed to get a few good photos, and was able to take a couple of pictures of Ali being anointed.  That was discouraged when Sarah was confirmed.

 

We found out after mass from Ali’s sponsor that the Bishop was impressed with the Saint name that Ali chose, St. Gianna Beretta Molla.  He told us that there is a shrine to her in LaCrosse, which surprised me.  I knew there is a shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe, but I didn’t know there was a shrine to St. Gianna there.  I think that is pretty cool that she can connect with her Saint that way.  The next time we go to LaCrosse we’ll have to stop by and have a look at it.

Lawn Care

We had at least a decent weekend weather-wise so I thought it would be a good time to actually go out and rake the grass.  Last year because of the wet April that we had, I only managed to rake the front lawn, and didn't do much in terms of fertilizing because of having all my free time taken up by the kitchen.  So this year I wanted to get out and get it all done.  

As of about a week and a half ago, the ground on the north side of the house was still frozen, but with the warmer weather it has since thawed out.  So yesterday I spent a good eleven hours outside raking.  I got out and started around 7:30 AM and finished at 7:02 PM, with about a half an hour lunch break.  I managed to get a good 3 bags full of grass, and one that was filled with sticks/twigs and bark that was scattered about the yard.  The down side of doing it all in one day was that I could barely move when I was all done.

The next step is going to be seeding and filling in bare spots that the squirrels have dug up in order to level things out.  I also noticed when I was raking there is a lot of moss (and when I say a lot, I mean wherever there wasn't grass there was moss growing).  I'm going to have to look into how to get rid of that before I start seeding and fertilizing.  Hopefully this year I can keep the weeds to a minimum and thicken up the grass.

I Now Have Credentials

After a long while, I am finally able to put some credential letters behind my name.  I am now officially a Certified Quality Engineer, CQE.  I had been wanting to take this exam for some time, but the problem was that I needed to get materials to study, actually find the time to study, and then shell out $350+ to take it.  Luckily, now that I am working at Badger Meter they are picking up the cost of the test as a job related expense as it is part of my professional goals.  The rest, getting the materials to study and actually finding the time to study were the hard part.  I was actually originally slated to take the exam last December.  However, with spending all my time trying to redo the kitchen last summer, and then having other things going on in late October/early November, I had little free time to study (unless I wanted to just forget about sleeping).  So I was able to postpone it until today.  And after 5 and a half hours of hell, I finished and got my results right away.

Like I said, the test was 5.5 hours, and was open book.  And I took every second to finish.  In fact, I think I may have had 20 seconds left on the timer when I submitted all my answers.  But then after the timer ran out, The screen said "Congratulations, you have passed."  WooHoo!  Now I just need to wait to get me actual certificate.  It said it will take up to two weeks to get it in the mail, but then I'll need to get myself a frame for it to hang in my cubicle.

Goings To Semis

We made it to the arena just a short time before our session was supposed to start.  Last year was a little chaotic, but I am glad to report that in contrast to last year’s competition this year they figured out how to keep things moving.  Part of it was that all the results were announced in a different venue (the baseball stadium across the way).  That way, UCA kept things right on schedule, or at the very least within roughly five minutes of the scheduled time.

Our girls were slotted in the first ten performances, or so.  And unlike the last couple of years, we have learned that you don’t need to sit in the venue for the entire session.  We were there for a short time before, and then as soon as the girls were done, we cleared out of there and went to hang out someplace else.  This kept the crowds in the venue small, and we were able to get a good spot for the girls’ performance.  And we didn’t have to sit thru the rest of the teams waiting for the results to be announced.  We saw the girls shortly after they performed, and then went over to wait for the results announcement.

As far as the performance went…  they were on.  The cheer went well, the dance and tumbling was great.  There were a couple of small wobbles, but for the most part they were perfect.  

One thing that I thought was not really fair is that they get judged on crowd participation.  One of the first teams that went were from Jacksonville, FL.  They had a LARGE contingent of fans, and why not?  They are only about a two hour drive away.  They were very, very loud and raucous.  As opposed to us, who had pretty much just the parent contingent to cheer on the girls.

The results?  Well we ended up making the Semi-Finals.  I should add there were three sessions for Ali’s division, and a total of I think 54 teams?  That’s a rough number.  But 50% of the teams make the semis.  And then they pare that down to 15 teams for the final.  This year (as opposed to when Ali’s team made semis when she was a freshman) they got to celebrate.  Two years ago, the announcer botched their name, Menomonee Falls.  Everyone was sort of sitting around like, was that us?  This year we were announced about midway thru the teams, and they got the name right.  So it was very exciting for the girls!  Congratulations, now on to the Semis!

Having To Move

Today is Preliminary Day, and instead of taking the time in the morning to meet, focus on their routine, and maybe get in some last minute practice, Ali’s team had to move hotels.  HAD TO is a relative term I guess because they didn’t actually HAVE to move hotels.  But since the team had to stay in the Wyndham off the Disney grounds, they are not able to utilize all the Disney perks; mainly being the transportation.  So instead of having to have the parents shuttling the girls around from the hotel, to the competition, or to their practices and the parks, the coach is moving the girls to a Disney resort/hotel.  So we are getting the girls all loaded up and shuttling them from the Wyndham to the Disney Pop Century Resort.

The move actually went pretty smoothly.  We ran into a little problem when we got to the Pop Century because I followed the instructions from the guard at the gate, and we ended up in the wrong place.  Luckily we figured it out and got the girls to the main lobby with the rest of the team right away.  The bad part was, however, that they couldn’t get to their rooms right away.  They were going to have to drop their stuff off, and then after their round, they’ll head back to the resort and get moved in.  But I guess that at least having their things there is the important part.  So now they have about 4 hours to prepare.  I hope this doesn’t throw the girls off.

2nd Place

In preparation for the UCA Nationals (not exactly) Alison had her Brookfield Blast cheer competition today.  The team always (or at least always has) attended this competition, and it just so happens to be the week before Nationals, so it serves as a good warm up.  I will say that this is the competition I absolutely loathe.  That is because this is a competition that last the entire day.  I think the competition starts off at around 9:00 AM, and because there are so many teams that do it, there are several sessions.  Part of the reason is that they include individual cheer routines and stunt groups.  It takes FOREVER!!!!  It is the equivalent of a dance competition doing individual solo routines.  This year there were three sessions, and we were in the final one.  Oh, and Brookfield always “honors” their seniors since it is their last competition, and they do a big thing for all the seniors too.  It really does make things take forever!

This year there were something like 4 or 5 teams in Ali’s division, and they weren’t bad.  There were a couple of flaws/mistakes with their routine, but there was another team (I am not going to name them) who ended up being better.  I can’t say that I disagreed with the results.  I was hoping that I missed something or there was something that the judges saw that your average spectator would say, “huh”?  But no.  So congratulations girls!  Let’s build on this and go tear it up at Disney!

Ankle Issues

Kris got a message today from Alison’s cheer coach.  She wanted us to know that Ali was in tears today at practice when they took their break because her ankle was in so much pain.  She said she wanted to know if Ali had said anything to us about it (which she hadn’t).  And also wanted to make sure we were aware because she wanted to make sure that Ali didn’t end up causing any permanent damage to her ankle.  She recommended taking her to the doctor to get it looked at.

Actually Ali had been complaining about her ankle hurting for some time, but whenever we suggested taking her to the doctor, she refused.  Now she doesn’t have a choice.  We have bought several different types of ankle braces for her and she refuses to wear them because “they feel weird”, or she doesn’t like them.  Well it looks like now she isn’t going to have a choice.  We’re making an appointment to see the doctor this week.  Let’s hope there isn’t anything permanently wrong.

Healthy

I finally got in to the doctor for my “annual” check-up.  I as actually due back in October, but I had forgotten to schedule it, and then due to my schedule, and the doctor’s, I decided to simply push it back to the new year.  I didn’t really have any concerns so I figured it wasn’t a problem.

Everything was cool.  All my blood work was normal, there was nothing new or concerning found on the once over, well, almost nothing new.  The doc did tell me that I have a hernia, but I knew that already, or at least I was pretty sure that I did.  I have had it for almost a year, I h\just haven’t had the time to take off to go and get it fixed.  But other than that, all I have left to do is schedule my 50 y/o guy test, which I am actually dreading.  I am going to put all those things off until we get back from Ali’s Nationals trip.  Then I’ll see about scheduling appointments for all that stuff

Winter Cleaning

Today was winter cleaning day.  That’s sort of like spring cleaning day, except in the winter.  I have needed to get at cleaning the basement for at least six months, ever since we moved things down there during the kitchen demolition.  Then during the stages of the remodel, things just got stacked on top of bins, and other things moved around, and nothing was ever cleaned up because I didn’t want to take the time.  Today it was finally time. 

I had actually started trying to clean off my workbench a couple of weeks earlier, but now it was really time to dig into it and start throwing things away. It took a total of about 10 hours, but at least I can walk around now without tripping over boxes, or bins, or stepping on screws.  I threw our two large, yard trash bags of things that were no longer needed (items from bins that I don’t know why I was saving, scrap wood that came from the remodeling of the kitchen, etc.).  It was a long stressful day of climbing around and cutting up my fingers digging thru things, but I am done for the time being.  I think Kris and I will still need to do some more rearranging since we still have some to store a couple of bins and boxes of Christmas items.  I have a door down there too that I bought years ago to replace the one in the front entry for the closet.  If I can get a free couple of days/weekend, I’d like to rip the old one out, finish putting vinyl floor and new baseboards in the closet, and put the new door up.  But that means having a whole weekend to work on it.  And I would need to get the door and frame sanded and stained first, which would take at least another whole weekend.  I would also eventually like to do some remodeling in the basement and get rid of the folding table where everything is stored right now.  But for now, being able to move around and get at the things I need to get at is a win in my book.

Greenfield X-treme

Today was supposed to be Alison’s first cheerleading competition since their performance at Waukesha South.  I was looking forward to seeing how they are since they have had about a month now to work with their “alternate” who has taken over for the girl who was suspended.  Additionally, I wanted to see the changes to the routine.  They need to start getting some experience with their routine in a competition setting to prepare for Nationals in a month.  Unfortunately, they had to scratch today’s competition.  One of their girls (a flyer) came down with the flu and has a 103 fever, and unfortunately, they don’t have an alternate to take her place.  So the choices were to perform minus one girl, or just pull out of the competition and focus on the next one, which is what they did. 

I feel bad because my mother was driving down just to see her compete and then has to find out that it has to be canceled.  I guess on the plus side, that left an afternoon to sit around and visit, instead of sitting in a gym listing to music that could rival the sound of a jet landing.

CNA Exam

Last summer Sarah completed a CAN course thru the Waukesha Area Technical College.  However, due to changes in testing, and other program issues she didn’t take her final licensing exam at that time.  The program director sent her information on taking her test a few weeks later, but by then her semester at UWL had started and she didn’t want to take time off from her regular classes to study for her CNA test and just planned on going to take it once her semester was over.  She was able to do it at WCTC while she was home over Christmas break.  

Well that day was today.  She had been studying for it for the past week or so.  I don’t know how heavily, but I know she was.  When she graduated from the program, I think she had somewhere in the neighborhood of 97% on her exams, so I thought this would be pretty easy for her with just some minimal refreshers.  Not quite.  I asked her to send me a message when she was done and let me know how things went.  I got a message around lunchtime that said something to the effect of, “it could have been worse, so we’ll see how it went”.  Later when I got home Kris told me that she got a message from the school saying congratulations, so I guess that meant she passed.  She found out later that she passed by about one percentage point.  But she passed, which is the important thing.  People always used to tell me when I graduated, no one is going to ask you if you just barely passed, they just want to know if you passed, which I did.  Same for Sarah. 

Now when she goes back in the Spring, she can see about picking up a job someplace in LaCrosse as a CNA to start banking some patient contact hours.  She has a roommate who works as one at a nursing home, so maybe she can see about getting a part time job there.  That would help with some extra spending money and get her some patient hours.  Congratulations Sarah!  You’re halfway there!

DNA On The Way

Yesterday Kris finally reviewed her instructions and spit in her vile for her 23 and Me DNA test.  This morning I sent it off.  I’ll have to go back and see approximately how long it takes to get results back, but I wouldn’t think it would be more than a month or so once they receive it.  I just hope that it doesn’t result in the FBI showing up at our door because the DNA shows up as a relative of a serial killer, or a bank robber, and they are looking to track someone down.  At the very least it will give her some medical history and who knows what else it may end up telling her.