Here's the photo

The Eternal Search for Balance

This is an interesting type of travel that is sometimes used in the Philippines. The locals call this augmented motorcycle thingee "skylab" in reference to the long fallen satellite. It is a motorcycle with a 2"x6" board laid out across the back of the seat. If you look at the thing from an overhead view, it does sort of resemble the outline of skylab, thus the name. If you look closely, you can see that there are eight people on this vehicle. The thing that amazed me about that is that our new vehicle-The Flyboat, only seats seven. It's pretty darned big, as far as I'm concerned...and then you see this little motorcycle, precariously balanced, with eight people aboard. That's really amazing to me!

Balance has always been something that I've worked on having in my life...but it's been hard. It's always been a case of too much of one thing or not enough of another. As parents, J and I teeter back and forth, somehow getting things done. I'm amazed how we function...but things do get done. Sometimes quickly...sometimes slowly...but they get done. I have to credit J for the balance we have. She is amazing because I think I just suit up and show up and she's the true brains behind the operation. I don't tell her how much I love her and respect her.

So, Jennifer...if you're reading this, just know that your husband does worship the ground that you walk on. Yes, I'm samok...I'm disorganized...My ADD is a real pain in your butt...but I'll suit up and show up for you as long as I draw breath. Someday, we may even get to ride something like skylab and enjoy the scenery...Okay...you won't even let me ride a jeepney without supervision...so maybe that's out too.

To The Flyboat!!!

Okay, I realize this title really is a little cryptic, but what the heck. The big new is that we bought the Ford Freestyle. I didn't think I'd feel this way about a new vehicle, but I'm happy as a clam...even though we have to start making car payments again next month. J said I was beaming all weekend about the car/van, or whatever you want to call it. This is weird because she is the primary driver of the thing. She's taking the kids to daycare/preschool and I will be taking the little red Dodge a half mile down the road to the bus station every morning. Of course, I will be driving the Dodge to my teaching job three evenings a week also, so it'll still getting a little mileage. It's basically her car...but I'm the one that feels happiest...weird???

Back to the whole "Flyboat" thing. The kids are big fans of Wonderpets. I suppose J and I are also fans of the intrepid trio, since we see the show too. Goobs and The Bun have started to memorize the dialogue between the characters. As you can see from the picture that Lenny, Tuck, and Ming Ming travel around in this cool thing called "The Flyboat." Since we're always singing or saying lines from the show and the Wonderpets are stars in our home, we thought it was only appropriate that we need the new Ford Freestyle "The Flyboat." Now, whenever we go out to the car together, we all shout..."To the Flyboat!"

How exciting is that...?

Here's the Town and Country

Whoops, the pictures are backward as far as size goes. The Town and Country seems pretty typical as far as minivans go. But...it's got the DVD player, so I'm seriously thinking about how it might just keep Goobs and The Bun pacified on those long trips when they will be fighting.

Here's the Freestyle

The Freestyle seats seven and I I think it looks cool...

What do you guys think???

It looks like my researching spouse has come up with two options for us. After looking at price and performance online, she's decided that we need to look at two kinds of vehicles...A. The 2005 Ford Freestyle and B. The 2006 Chrysler Town and Country. Each of the vehicles has about 30,000 miles on them, but each has pros and cons. They both come with ABS brakes and passenger side airbags. Ratings online make them pretty much comparable as far as safety, performance, and dependabiltiy, so we're in a bit of a quandry. The big thing that the Town and Country has that the Freestyle doesn't have is a DVD player, otherwise known as the "silencer of the masses in the back." The thing in the Freestyle's favor is that it doesn't look like a minivan. J doesn't want to look like she's driving a minivan...I guess it's a vanity thing... Honestly, I could care less. If it has decent gas mileage, is safe, looks fairly decent, and gets us from point A to point B, I don't care...Okay, I do have one requirement. I want good tunes for us...so, a good stereo is a must. If we can get it with an IPOD dock, it would be really rockin', but I'm not going to whine if it doesn't have one.

What do you guys think? Any advice for us. We'll be test driving tomorrow. I can't wait!!! I'm getting rid of my piece of crap car. Of course, I'll be driving our little red Dodge, but it's still better than my rust bucket. J will get the new vehicle...but gosh...I am excited to get ride of the Olds. Whoopee!!!

Any advice anyone has about choices would really be welcome!!!

It's been a while

Yes, it's been a while. Work and life have conspired to make life complicated and so I haven't been blogging with regularity. I've got a little time today, so I'm getting back on the old blogging horse and taking a ride.

I found this Sesame Street picture parodying "The Boss" and I thought it was kind of cool, so I thought to myself "Self...why don't you stick this on your blog..." and I did. No particular reason, but I did it.

So...what's happening these days? Well, we've just finished another first week of class and it's been exhausting. I starting teaching night classes again on Monday, so my busy life just continues. I've got two weeks left in my Ed Law class. I've got a couple of assignments to finishand I have to present a final project on Saturday the 19th. I love my life, but my God I'd like take a little bit of a break and just lay on a beach. Our little Dodge is getting a older by the day, so it's time for us to get another primary family vehicle. J absolutely loves researching this and has spent countless hours online looking for the best deal. She's pretty doggone good at it, so she's taking that deal over. I do sort of feel that I am abdicating some sort of manly duty since it's dealing with vehicles, but honest to God, I think she's probably better at car shopping than I am.

We had our second round of parent/teacher conferences last week. I can't believe this, but Miss Andrea is telling me that Goobs is good in the classroom and is a leader. It's not that I don't doubt my son at all, but he and his sister are a little on the wild side at home. Miss Andrea did say that his language skills are high and he has no problem expressing himself. I noticed a few weeks ago that he was using irregular verbs in the past tense. He said "Sami broke my toy," which made me swell up with pride-my boy is getting it!!! IThe truth is that I am really proud of my son. I am waiting to see how conferences will go with The Bun. She might be a little more of a problem in the classroom...she's the stubborn one who likes to tease her brother. That's not for a few years yet, so she'll have time...and so will we.

Well, I've got stuff to do, so I'll say goodbye for now. Hopefully, I'll be able to post tomorrow.