Checking In

A catch-all, catch-up post

There are 1,132 posts filed in Checking In (this is page 46 of 114).

Perfect weather for a fun weekend

We had perfect weather for a weekend full of fun. Storms rumbled through late Thursday night that washed the insane amounts of pollen away, leaving the weekend with crystal-clear air.

Watching Great Blue Herons at Crabtree Creek.

We followed up yesterday’s great day with more fun stuff today. Once again, the house windows were open to let in nature and we ate a somewhat-chilly-but-fun pancake breakfast on our screened porch. Then in the late morning we finally got motivated to do some bike riding on the greenways. We started at Atlantic Avenue and rode to Lassiter Mill Falls again, taking some time to practice skimming stones on the water.
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Thanks, I think

I met a foreign-born friend in person yesterday who had only known me from my online stuff. We were chatting when he said this:

“I was looking at the pictures of you on Facebook,” he said. “Those pictures when you had hair? You were a handsome guy!”

Hey, thanks!! I knew he was trying to compliment me and said it with the utmost sincerity, so it took about all I had not to burst out laughing. Kelly howled when I told her the story!

Great day with the family

It was a wonderful day spent with the family. While Kelly took Rocket for a run this morning, I decided to clean the pollen off our front and back porches. The kids soon joined in and at one point were actually squabbling over who would be helping more! It was music to my ears! I only hope this volunteerism will last through their teenage years.

After doing a great job helping me clean, the kids found some “action” in the front yard when the neighborhood kids came over to play. I kept an eye on them while I washed the pollen off our cars and Kelly mowed the grass. We had just enough time to get cleaned up before driving to Brier Creek for Hallie’s soccer game.
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Overpollenated

This spring has been exceptional for the amount of pollen dumped on us by our friends the trees. I was surprised to see how light the street looked Monday morning when I took the dog for an early-morning walk. The street below the streetlight was almost as bright as if it had snowed.

Fortunately I haven’t been sneezing like I can sometimes. And with any luck this pollen will disappear as quickly as it arrived. As of right now, though, it’s unreal the amount of the yellow stuff that’s coating everything!

Update 5:51 PM: The Division of Air Quality says pollen counts in Raleigh have reached record highs. Check the daily pollen count here.

Back from Sedona

We arrived back from our trip to Sedona late last night. Our travel was quite easy, with both kids being travel superstars.

On the way out of the RDU airport we met a family who we’d also seen in Sedona. After riding back to the long-term parking lot and fetching our car, we came upon them standing around their minivan. A quick jump-start later and we had sent them on their way. It was a great way to finish off our vacation.

We’re glad we have Easter Sunday to catch our breath before diving back into the work week. And it’s a beautiful day, too. This evening I’ll catch you up on all the things we did on our vacation.

Raleigh Wikipedia meetup

Dang! It looks like I missed a Wikipedia meetup here in Raleigh. I’ve not been all that thrilled with some of the local blogger meetups I’ve been to but a group of Wikipedians sounds like a lot of fun.

Hopefully I’ll be around for the next one!

Vacation to Arizona

We’re about to embark on a week-long trip to Sedona, Arizona. I’m looking forward to it as I’ve heard a lot about Arizona from my buddy Greg and others. I’ve also been captivated by what I could see through the windows of Phoenix’s lovely Sky Harbor Airport. That’s been as close to visiting Arizona as I’ve been up to date.

I’m looking forward to rediscovering the subtle beauty of the desert. I’ve also heard a lot about Sedona and expect it will live up to the hype. And folks tell me there’s a big ditch that’s worth a good look-see.

If you Internet folks have other suggestions for things to see, let me know!

Feeling more settled

I’ve been contracting at my large network storage company employer for over 15 months now. I feel fortunate to have had a paycheck during this time but a contract job is not as stable as I would like at this time. I kept hearing that my bosses wanted to bring me on full-time but there were never any permanent positions available.

That changed this week. A spot opened that seems custom-made for me. Provided the details are worked out it looks like I could be a permanent employee by May. What a relief that will be!

Cabin fever breaks this past weekend

We really took advantage of the great weather last weekend. The sunshine and temperatures in the mid 70s spawned lots of outside activity. We played basketball with some friends and skated at our house on Saturday before watching Hallie’s soccer game. Then Kelly took the kids to a party while I helped my dad with a fix-it task. It was fun catching up with my parents.

Sunday morning we met a new friend who worked with Gerry for a family hike and picnic through Umstead Park. Hallie went to a birthday party while the rest of us played with the neighborhood kids. We made homeade pizza for dinner that night, which was fun making and eating.

Gerry’s memorial party

Gerry's Party

When I left off in my previous post, Kelly and I were on our way over to the party for Gerry. A party was something he had requested and it seemed fitting to toast him now that he’s gone. A group of friends was asked to organize it and many worked very hard to bring it all together in a week’s time.

A friend of Mandy’s dad had a place he would let us use and the planning group went to see it the Wednesday prior to the party. I arrived as everyone was walking in and was impressed by the facility. Mandy was there, too, and brought her kids. Seeing Emma and Caleb for the first time since the accident nearly brought me to tears again. Gerry so loved his family! Both kids were happy exploring the place so I kept my feelings to myself.
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