Not this weekend but the weekend before

We went out to the science center to see the Star Wars exhibit. It wasn't as exciting as we thought it would be but it was still cool to see all the stuff. We also walked around the rose garden across the street which I loved. After we headed out to Santa Monica to look around and saw this "super hero" band.

If you are in the area...

Tomorrow (April 21st) and Sunday (April 22nd) I will be holding a Garage Sale at my moms in San Diego. 10382 Matador Ct. The sale will start at 7am. The monies raised will be donated to my MS Team. The MS Walk San Diego is on Sunday the 28th of April. Please come out if you can even if just to say hello. Have a great weekend.

Round 1....Fight!

Red Sox vs. Yankees starts today. It really makes for some great baseball even if you don't care about either team. A-Rod has been really hot this year, so I hope a trip to Fenway cools him down a bit. I really wish the Dodgers/Giants rivalry was still as heated as this too, but the Giants haven't put up much of a fight for a while.

Answer

Askew Babies

I miss you guys!

Lack of postage

Please forgive my lack of posting. Last week I began a new position at a Middle School and lets just say things aren't going fantastic. I am TRYING to teach 16 boys. These boys have horrible GPA's, have low attendance and have ZERO respect for adults. I will do everything I can and try my best but so far all I can do is have them answer quesions out of textbooks and work on Language Arts worksheets. It is impossible to get them to all be sitting at the same time let alone have them be quiet so that I can tell them anything. They constantly are showing each other up, trying to intimidate each other and picking fights. I am not sure what I can do for them as they don't care an ounce to help themselves. Any ideas on how to tame wild beasts is welcome.

Gangs all here

We had our traditional Easter dinner at Paul's great-aunt Jean's house.

We ate a delicious ham dinner, searched for jelly beans and easter egg chocolates around the house, tried to guess how many eggs were in a jar, and had some nice conversation. Of course there was also the traditional sibling smack down.

At Play

Brunch

This happened two weeks ago...

On the day before Easter I was down in San Diego for a brunch with some ladies (Tif, Annie, Kjirsten, Aurora, Nicole, Erin) from the old VGC youth group. Everyone met up at Tiffany Henning's house and we made omlettes, had fruit, muffins and mimosas. It was such a great time just hanging out together. I can't even begin to tell you how much I needed a morning like this. I look forward to our next get-together. Hopefully some more ladies can join us.

So it goes...

Boys Weekend in Vegas

Yeah, I'm a lazy poster. This is actually from two weekends ago. My dad had his bowling weekend in Vegas, so Brad and I went with him. I was also a lazy photo taker that weekend so you aren't going to get much in the way of pictures either.

We drove up on Friday and came back Sunday morning before I had to be at work. We spent most of our time at Texas Station which is where we were staying. In fact, the only other casino we saw was when Brad and I drove over to a poker tournament at the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood. I did ok and was the chip leader at my table for quite a while before taking a late hit and just missing the final table. Brad came in 6th which paid $120. We were in another tournament later that night at Texas Station. We both made the final table in that one, but neither of us got paid. My dad did get to watch me take down a big pot though so that was cool.

The slots weren't good to me either so I didn't play much. However, seeing as how it was the day before the baseball season started, I did make my World Series bets which should pay off come October. I'll make money if the Red Sox or Dodgers win the World Series. I also put a bet on the Orioles. Job Tate keeps trying to say that they're good and I know he wouldn't lie to me. Plus at 50-1 odds Vegas must think they're a sure thing too.

His Easter 2001 strip caused a lot of controversy. It seems appropriate to repost since he died today.

B.C. -- Johnny Hart

Easter

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words.

Date Set

We will be having the garage sale to support the National Multiple Sclerosis Society on April 21st and 22nd. I will be accepting any and all items you may want to get rid of to sell for this event anytime between now and then. Please shoot me an e-mail (BUsoftball16 at MSN.com) or call if you have items you would like me to pick up from your residence. I hope that many of you can make it to the sale on either day to see if there is a treasure you just have to have. Please help me make this a successful event and thank you for your continue support.

Calling You Out

Where are you Hawaii, Maine, South Dakota and West Virginia.

Hurry up and visit our blog!

Since we were listing bad songs....

...here's Alanis Morrisette singing Fergie's "My Humps". Yes, it's as bad as you think. No, you can't look away.

Question:

If you could stop any song from ever being played again, which one would it be?

I'll start it off:

Pour Some Sugar On Me -- Def Leppard
or
Last Resort -- Papa Roach

One More

Some of the BGG's on Ladies Night

Idlewild Blues.....

Half Way There

The MS walk is now a month away. I would still love it for more people to join our team, as most of our members are virtual walkers which means they are supporting the team but cannot be there to physcially walk. There is some room at my Mom's house if anyone wants to sign up and come down on Saturday and spend the day in SD before the walk on Sunday. If you would like to join our team as a walker or virtual walker visit this website.
Then click on the link that says Join Our Team.

We have made it to the half way point for donations. Thank you everyone who has helped support me and this cause. To donate to me online visit this link. If you would like to support another walker on the team simply click the My Team Page link and then click on the name of the person you wish to support. Thank you again, love to you all.

Da na na na na na

They say its your birthday...

Sunday brought the Askew Birthday Party. The Eldridge's graciously opened their house once again for a lovely day. A bounce house in the front yard, a pool in the back yard and yummy food inbetween.

The day included but was not limited to bouncing around in the bounce house, smacking a pirate pinata to get some candy, singing happy birthday over a pirate cake, playing pin the flag on the mast and goofing off in the pool.

Below you will find funtastic photos of these events.

Baby Kate was so cute in her party dress. Photos of Uncle Paul holding Kate, Cyndi and Kate watching the pinata getting smacked, Angela holding Kate for the first time and a photo that finished taking as soon as Kate was done smiling.

Here are some head shots from the day of the party.

From R to L and Top to Bottom

James, Abby, Cyndi, Conner, Drew, Kate, Curly

BGG's

After the poker party, it was girls night out! Moe and I headed out to Fashion Island to meet up with Curly at work. After Curly checked out we headed upstairs to Red Robin for some booze and food. Our waiter was HI-larious. We got quite a few looks with the glasses we were wearing. Moe and I while walking to put some stuff in the car even stopped one woman dead in her tracks. After dinner we went across the street to the movies and saw Reign Over Me the new Adam Sandler movie. We grieved the Charlie shaped emptiness in our booth. It was good times with great friends.

Pokers

On Saturday afternoon Paul and Bradley drove down to the Eldridge home while Cyndi followed them. The boys were all meeting up to play some poker while Moe, Debbie and Cyndi headed out to do some grocery shopping and grab lunch. The boys had fun. Bradley came in second to Moe's brother Mark and Paul won all his money back by playing different card games after he was knocked out of the poker tourney. Paul and Cyndi were also excited to meet Kate for the first time. And as always it was great to see our buddy James. (The older kids were out with Grammy at Build-a-bear.)

Employment

Short version: I got a teaching contract for the rest of this school year

Extended version: I was called on a Monday and asked if I would be interested in applying for a temporary teaching position in a near by school district. I said sure. On Thursday I was called to say an interview would be scheduled for 3:15pm on Friday and could I make it. I said that sounded good.

So I showed up had my interview that lasted less than 30 minutes, my feeling was that it went alright but and that it was a good experience to have had the interview as I never had one before, however I figured there was someone else they were interviewing that would have been more qualified, experienced or something. Then at 8:30pm on the following Wednesday my phone rings and it is the Superintendent of Personnel with a job offer for me. I had to listen to the message three times before I believed what I heard.

I proceeded to call Paul to tell him about it but he didn't answer. I waited till he got home. Paul said what are you waiting for call them back. I did and set up a time to come sign the contract the next day. We proceeded to call family and friends and tell them the news.

I am nervous about the upcoming position, I know there will be a lot of work ahead of me. Thank you for all of you who have been praying for me to get a teaching job. I appreciate it, while this is only temporary it will really help me get my feet wet and be a great experience.

Catch Up

For St. Paddy's Day we headed out to La Mirada Park. Paul and Cyndi haven't been to play disc golf here in forever. Since it was a beautiful day out we wanted to do something outside and thought this would be a good way to spend the day. Paul won of course, but we had a fun time hanging out together.