Said goodbye to H and the kids this morning - they're heading to Oregon to stay with the grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins while I'm in NY. I'm bummed I'll miss S's birthday on Saturday, but it was fun to give her the bike yesterday. She was really excited about it and loves the basket and handlebar tassels. Can hardly believe she's turning 5!

They have some fun stuff planned - staying at the coast, going to Otter Beach (a water slide park) - and they just love going down there anyway, but we all miss each other very much when separated. I think we all said goodbye to one another about thirty times this morning....

Off to NY tomorrow - Jon is driving me down to the airport as part of his contribution - we're leaving around 3am to get down there in time for my 6:30 flight. Feeling excited and nervous and some other things I'm not quite sure of....

Hopefully I'll find time to blog while in NY doing all the other stuff I'll be doing: working with Radical Reference, volunteering at the Indymedia Center, participating in the big UFPJ march on the 29th, doing another march to represent the unemployed - a long line of marchers all waving pink slips - on 9/1, and probably lots more besides once I get there.

I'll be so busy that I'm sure the time will pass pretty quickly.

One thing that all the kids were involved in this Summer was a production of Peter Pan put on by Western Washington University - part of their Summer Stock series. M&N were originally cast to be in it (M as a lost boy, N alternating as a lost boy and as Michael), but they lost one of the lost boys and the director (Jim Lortz) happened to see S and asked if she'd be interested in being a lost boy (many of the lost boys were girls) and so all three of them were in.

The first two weeks were all rehearsals, and heavy ones, something like 5-6 hrs a day. Since the rehearsals were here on campus I was able to join them for lunch breaks, though they didn't really want to hang out with me much after the first day, when they'd had times to make new friends.

After the rehearsals they did two shows a week for about a month and a half (July 8th - Aug 18th), all outdoor shows, all over Whatcom County. They were very popular, with mainly large audiences. Except for a couple of times when S was tired before a show all three of the kids were very positive and happy - they knew their lines (for the most part) and enjoyed being on stage.

This was their summer camp this year. Jim (the director) said they'd never had crowds this large for their plays and will probably do more family shows in the future.

And tomorrow they are going to be acting in a production of their own, a play created by the kids in it and co-written by H and myself (and directed/produced by H). This is part of H's Kids At Play scheme. All the kids are really excited about it, though it has been a bit stressful for H and myself.

Three more days till I leave for NY. I just signed up to be part of a line of people who will be representing the unemployed in America. Sometimes I get a little nervous when I start thinking about this trip, but mostly I'm excited about it.

It's been too long since I've posted. A busy and stressful Spring quarter at the iSchool followed by the bliss and relaxation of summer break.

It's been weird getting back into the flow of non-school life, reconnecting with my wife and kids. I've been spending most of my free time reading comics and watching movies, as well as some camping (Baker River trail with the family - our first family walk-in, carry-it-all-on-your-back camping trip), climbing (Mt St Helens with some old friends), and guitar playing.

Still have a month and a half left!

Going to New York to be part of the protests against the Republican National Convention Aug 28-Sep 4. It's going to be an amazing experience. I've got total support from H and from my friends and colleagues. In fact, many of them are helping finance my trip with donations (which I asked for). It's been nice to get such response from them.

I'm also starting to get nervous about this trip. Took me awhile to fall asleep the other night because all I could think about was what a great terrorist target the RNC would be, and of course the worse possible incident would involve a nuclear bomb or dirty bomb of some kind.

But I can't let my fear keep me from doing this - driving to the airport will probably be the most dangerous part of the trip. I plan on keeping a journal and taking lots of pictures while I'm there.

I'll be working with a group called Radical Reference (http://www.radicalreference.info/) doing street reference for protestors. I'm also going to check out the Counter Convention (http://www.counterconvention.org/) and do some volunteer work there.

H just got back from rehearsal and is excited - interesting conversation about Southern culture.

End of the quarter is days away - one more search exercise and submission of the final paper and I'll be done for two weeks! There's some preresidency readings to do, but it'll be nice to watch some movies and go to bed earlier.

The gatos are officially inside/outside now, and so far everything's been alright. They know where home is.

H just got another role, this one a major lead, as Margaret in "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof", being put on up in Blaine. She's very excited about it. Her rehearsal schedule will be five nights a week for 3 hrs for a month and a half.

M&N start rugby tomorrow. They liked it enough last week that they want to sign up for the 8 week class. I think they'll have a lot of fun with it. S really wants to play too, but has to wait until she's 5, even though last week when we were there for the mini-jamboree she played with the under-8's and did just fine with her catching and throwing and running. I told her that I'd be her coach until she's old enough.

Met a guy at Dylan's 5yr birthday party who lives here in Bellingham and has started a currency program - an alternative cash system. I'm going to look into that more; I've been interested in the idea for awhile.

My winning streak in chess is continuing. I've had wins and draws over the last dozen or so games, with only two losses. It feels good, especially since I haven't been able to play as much during the quarter.

Winter quarter is almost over. Just a couple more final papers and I'll be done for a few weeks - and then Spring quarter starts up. I'm really looking forward to the Summer.

And the cats keep on getting out. Now that the weather is a bit warmer and drier the kids have been going in and out of the house more often, giving the cats a lot of chances to get out. We have to figure out what to do, but it looks like they're going to end up being outside/inside cats by default. It's just too hard to monitor them as the door is opened and closed a lot, and that's only going to increase as Summer approaches.

It's been a long, long time since I've posted. Winter quarter is flying by. I'm not getting enough sleep. The kids are eating too much. H is hard at work on her thesis. I miss the sun, and the cats are driving me crazy.

That pretty much sums up how I feel right now....

And so, to bed.

Back in grad school! This is the first day of residency. It will be a busy quarter, with lots of research papers to do. H and the kids drove down to Oregon to hang out with the Grandparents. H bought a iBook today and is going to the OR coast tomorrow for a solo break and to start writing her thesis (and watching a DVD or two).

Residency today and tomorrow is from 8:30-6:30. A long day, but they fed us lunch! Shared my homebrew with classmates, who all liked it. Feels good to be back in school again.

It's been some time since I've posted. Grad school is over for this quarter and I have a break until the next residency in Seattle, in January. It's been really nice to have the time back in the evenings for personal stuff like reading and watching movies. I'm also looking forward to school starting again too.

M&N are enjoying their Aikido classes. H has been going with them and is having fun too. S and I have been hanging out more on Aikido nights which has been fun for me. She's a sweet girl.

This is the last week of school, then I'm off for two months! I'm looking forward to having more time to read and watch movies and try to get some personal projects done, but I realized today that I'm going to miss my daily interaction with the rest of the cohort too.

The kids finished off their Halloween candy today - we bought most of it off them, as we do each year, but they were still left with a pretty good haul, especially compared to the amount of that kind of stuff they usually get, which is close to nil. Seems to affect M pretty hard too, changing his behavior more than N or S.

I should add we had the cats neutered last week. They were a little loggy for a couple of days, but seem to be just as feisty and energetic now. They are taking up a bigger chunk of our budget then expected, what with food and litter and vet bills....

Whew! It's been busy.... Last two weeks of the quarter starting, finished the group project for the 550 class, now have to finish the web site for 541 due by 11pm next Sunday. Still have lots of reading to do in 550 for the last weeks too. And a journal entry. Trying not to stress about what kind of grades I might be getting.

M went to his first Aikido class on Thursday - he really liked it and is excited to keep going, and N, though not as interested at first, now wants to go to, so starting Tuesday he'll join M in class. They have Aikido twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. S is interested too, but she'll neet to wait a few years until she's old enough. M&N will probably teach her in the meantime.

Halloween coming up! The kids are excited. We (H) need to get their costumes done. I'm hoping I'll be able to lend a hand with that somehow. Daylight savings time ended today - it's always strange and a bit difficult with the kids when the time changes. Mealtimes and bedtimes can get a little screwy.

We had a great day today, due mostly to H's reorganizing our daily schedule. So today we had our family meeting after breakfast, then had a family fun activity (went to Cornwall Park and found the GeoCache there), then did our chores (which today meant shopping for two week's worth of groceries). After dinner we played a family game - Hullaballoo and Duck, Duck, Goose.

It's been awhile since I've written here. Had a pretty good trip to the Oregon coast - actually the best 7+ hour drive back with the kids ever.

Apple Fest this Saturday. Should be fun. Expecting a lot of people.

M,N&S continue to draw a lot. When I came home from work they were on the living room floor drawing up a storm, watching an instructional video on different drawing techniques.

Going down to Oregon tomorrow to rejoin H and the kids, then we're all heading to the coast to do some yurting at Honeyman State Park near the big sand dunes with H's family. Got 80% of my school work done today so that I could enjoy the weekend - want to finish the other 20% tomorrow before I leave....

Lots of reading for class this week. H and the kids have been gone since last Friday - saw a few movies and played chess with friends. Nice weather in Bellingham for late Sep/early Oct.

Very tired tonight. Feel like going to bed at 8:30. Miss my family.

The boy's Aikido class didn't happen last week - they didn't have enough uniforms (Gi in Japanese)....

So, we'll try again when we get back from Oregon.

I went to see the play H is in last Thursday (A Buttload of Walbeck), and thought it was great! H is in three of the plays (there are a bunch of short pieces, one after the other), and I thought they were all very well done. Good acting and writing, especially for B'ham! Much better than I expected - I had pretty low expectations...

Went fishing on Saturday up in Canada and caught four humpies on my fly rod. Had a great day. It was hot enough to wade out into the Chilliwack in shorts. That was the first time I've actually caught fish on the fly rod. Gave three of the salmon away to friends and neighbors.

Today N complemented S on a drawing she made!

H is busy painting our room. Apple fest is coming up, as well as a tour of KCLT houses, starting with ours, so I know she'd like to get all the painting done before that.

School work hanging over my head, though I'm still keeping up. Listening to Los Super Seven's "Canto".

M&N start Aikido class tomorrow. I'm going to observe, though I don't think I'll be able to participate since I can't get there early enough. As it is I'll be riding there right after work.

We're starting in on Ethics & Professionalism this week, after doing two weeks of copyright law. It feels weird to change gears after being immersed in Title 17 so intensely.

H has almost finished a painting that she's going to give to Heather. That darn left corner is still bugging her though....

S fell asleep tonight while laying beside me after we finished singing songs. She must have been pretty tired - it took her about two minutes to conk out.

Twilight's tail got caught in the dishwasher door this evening when I closed it. The poor cat yowled louder than I've ever heard him do yet. I got his tail out pretty quickly, but he kept it close to his legs for quite awhile, and it had a definite kink in it too. But I think it's all straightened out now....

M&N&S&H had a fun day of doing and making lots of projects. The kids enjoy projects, making anything it seems like, to no end.

H had another great night at her play. She only has two more performances to go, and then we'll see. I hope she gets to be in another play relatively soon. Even though it sometimes causes extra stress and work for me it makes her so happy that it's worth it (and the stress factors aren't as great as they used to be....)

Got 8 web pages up tonight, all "under construction", but it feels good to have them ready to go. School work continues to be challenging, both intellectually and organizationally. Besides getting the web pages done there's a major project that has to be coordinated on-line with four other people, and all the readings, lectures, journals, excercises and discussions have to be kept up with.

N stayed the night last night at the Dillon's. He had fun, but M missed him terribly. S was going to sleep in the same room with M, but then M wanted to sleep with H, so S moved back to her bed, M slept with H, and I ended up sleeping in M's bed. Whew!

The Bellingham Traverse is this weekend. I'm volunteering again. Not sure what I'll be doing. Maybe next year I'll be able to compete.

And so, to bed.

Today everyone got invited to go to the waterslide park, for free! This is a big deal because we just went to the waterslide park two weeks ago, and it was very expensive (but fun). So we realized we can probably only go once a summer, and would have to wait until next year for our next waterslide family adventure.

But one of our neighbors, who's kids come over and play with N, M, and S a lot and who works at WWU, invited our family to go as part of a larger birthday party happening there. Someone was celebrating their 60th birthday party and rented out the entire waterslide park for his party, and invited all his friends and told them they could bring guests too. And I guess there was music and food and lots of watersliding...

But I couldn't go. I had to finish a paper for school. One that I somehow lost from the computer last night, and had to basically start over again. And someone needed to stay to do the grocery shopping too.

I got the paper done, and H and the kids had a lot of fun, so it worked out well for everyone.

Today N said he really liked S, that she's "a good sister, she's fun to play with and she's smart", pause, "I think she's smarter than us". This was a remarkable statement from the older brother who has "hated" her for so long....though not constantly I must admit - they've always gotten along, it's just not consistent. In fact their relationship, with M too, can be pretty rocky at times. But these bright moments really make a difference for us. H called me at work just to let me know. They continued to play well together all day.

They're all very excited about tomorrow because they've decided it's their un-birthday. They're giving each other presents, toys that they already have, but it's the idea that counts, right? Now how the cake is going to work I don't know...

H is at the premier of the play she's in tonight. She's the first character on the stage. She was nervous and full of excited energy when she left. Hope she had fun. Wish I had some flowers for her....

School work deadlines coming up. I've got to do some writing tonight, at least 300-400 words. Easy!!

Working on HTML. It's getting easier the more I do it. Listening to Uncle Tupelo.

Yeah.

Our lawyer should be drafting the "demand letter" next week. Hopefully this whole house thing will be settled this year.

Labor Day weekend. H just took the kids for a hike after a rough morning. By rough I mean yelling and crying and such, especially for N. Stayed up until 1:30am again doing school work, but H let me sleep in until 9:30. Very sweet of her. Got up, cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes and lost my temper and gave out hugs and now I'm doing school work again. H looked tired and tense when she left. Hope the hike helps them all feel better.