Devry Days ...

Mark started at Devry today.  Lila drove him to Addison, IL and then visited with her distant cousin.  I worked (5:30 - 17:00).  Temp is down to the 80's (from 100+).  Lila are out on the patio by her sunning pool.  BTW she has a great tan.

A rare day in June ...

Actually this isn't such a rare day but it is a nice day.  I'm still employed at OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS but I am feeling some stress (too much project & too little engineer).  Jim, Linda and Nathan are up from Texas this week to see their family in Momence, IL.  We hope to see them while they are here.  Mark has finished his English Comp class at Elgin Community College (ECC) and is enrolled at Devry University in Addison.  Classes start July 9.  Lila is looking for work in Addison so she can play chauffeur more economically.

Lila bought a blow up pool and has been pruning the yard.  She will retrieve Kaylee and Henry this  afternoon for an overnight visit.  Kevin and Janet will be moving Janet's mom tomorrow.  Anne's daughter Alexandra is expecting a boy ("Mychal") and may be induced on Sunday.  We picked up a gift card to send.

Still alive and kicking here.  Still married. Still employed.  Still over-weight.  Working lots of casual overtime since Bill Small left.  Brother Don & Nancy visited a week ago.  Lila is busy at Autism One (it's Memorial Day weekend).  Way behind at work and struggling ... interviewing a new engineer for the GM products on Tuesday pm.  Need to cut the grass and pay bills today as well as work on "work".  Would love a downtime weekend.  Also need to finish reading a book from my pastor.  Should call Anne and send a gift for her Grandchild.  Hope to take a weeks vacation and visit family this summer.

Car issues (cont'd) ...

A week ago last Friday, Lila's Equinox had an exhaust valve freeze open.  Garage #1 opened the engine and tentatively estimated $3000 fix the valve.  We shopped around and wound up paying $400 to Garage #1 and will also pay $1800 to Garage #2 to install a used engine with 67, 000 miles on it.

15:15:  Just got back from a nice walk with Lila and Leo (our dog) down Gale St.  Weather is beautiful and we saw a coyote in College Park.

Fan Feedback ...

My Biggest Fan (and Best Friend) informs me that the term "Land Of Lincoln" refers to the entire state of Illinois rather than just Springfield.  I will therefore revise my Blog heading to reflect this ...

Killing time ...

I'm killing time sitting in a Starbucks in Crystal Lake, IL.  I had just settled into work this morning when Lila called to report that the Equinox had developed an engine noise and was limping into Immanuel school in Crystal Lake where she is teaching today.  I drove to Crystal Lake and had the car towed to a shop and will wait in Crystal Lake until Lila gets off school at 2:00 pm.

So ... what else is new lately ...

Kurt K. from OMRON is in Sao Paulo, Brazil testing four Window Wiper, Ceiling Lamp, and Door (W2CD) body control module prototypes for a module design intended for sale to FIAT.  Things are going OK except that Kurt (a really large guy of Germanic heritage) hurt his back and got a bad Brazilian sunburn.  Back in St. Charles I am trying to break off working on the W2CD module so as to support worst-case-analysis calculations for the GM Trailer Brake Power Module project ... but, of course, I am not working today because I am at a Starbucks in Crystal Lake typing on a lab top ...

Income tax issues?   Oy vey ... lets not even go there .... suffice to say we owe Uncle Sam a bunch after raiding my 401K last year to buy our house on Gale St....

We had one warm sunny (albeit windy) day on Monday or Tuesday and I now have a raging case of Spring Fever ... If the weather was warmer and drier today, I would be looking for a fishing spot ...sigh...

It is surprising to me that as I expect things to start settling into a dull boring routine ... things just keep happening ... like Lila's car breaking today ... and her brother Bill had surgery on his finger this week due to an industrial accident ...

This weekend I need to call Anne to check on her situation(s) in Carson City ... and I should call Janet, Rox, and Don.

In any case I am thankful for God's continuing spiritual and temporal blessings.  Amen.

Blog catch up...

* We attended Kaylee's third birthday party last Saturday (2/11/2012) at a kids party center in Des Plaines.  Ryan drove up on Friday night for the party.

* Lila is called to substitute for a pregnant teacher at Immanuel in Crystal Lake for the rest of this school year.

* A Thrivent rep visited this week and we will consolidate IRA money ($65K) at Thrivent

* Lila  bought some outfits for school at an indoor mall north of here this afternoon.

* Kevin and Janet dropped Kaylee and Henry with Lila and I on Saturday from 10:00 am till 10:00 pm to attend a 5-movie fest with Steve and Becky.

* I installed a new doorstop in the downstairs bathroom and a new igniter in the kitchen oven this weekend

Groundhog Day Movie Festival - Woodstock, IL (Filmed here)

Lila &I standing near the site of Bill Murray's puddle-in the-street scenes

Lila near Gobblers Knoll

The Tour group

An on another note altogether .... Lila found a 1908 graduation picture of my maternal Grandmother (Alma Moore) on a geneology web site.  She is centered in the last row where the fold crosses her right shoulder.

Disney On Ice ...

Lila left a bit ago to attend the Disney On Ice at Rosemont with Kevin's clan.  Mark (asleep) and I are at home in Elgin. I brought some work home and am now trying to get interested in doing it.  It snowed a small amount last night so I scooped Lila's half of the driveway.  I'm waching Eureka (episoide 22 - God Is In The Details) on Netflix.  Anne emailed with concern's about Alexandra's pregnancy yesterday so I spoke to Alex and Anne on the phone.  Lila, Mark and I saw the Tailor, Tinker, Soldier, Spy movie in St. Charles last night and ate pizza at Giordano's.  I signed up for on-line chess a couple of weeks ago but I dare not play real people until I can at least play kiddie-chess with the computer.  My chess game is on a par with my non-existent golf game.

Day #22711 in the Life ...

Above is the latest PCB project (Automobile window control).   Lila had a call to substitute teach but it fell through due to a foul up ... darn.

It snowed six inches on Friday ...

It snowed six inches on Friday so I got to run the small (98cc) snow blower that we bought last summer at a yard sale.  Yesterday, Saturday, Lila and I went to a birthday party (100 years old) for the mother of of Lila's friend.   It was a large and well organized and impressive get-together at the First Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana.   Went to Sunday School and church this morning.  During installation, I broke a new oven gas igniter Lila had ordered a week or so ago ($50) ... darn it.  Lila wasn't happy, either.  Saw the Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close movie (Tom Hanks, Sarah Bullock, John Goodman).  Very heavy movie with lots of Oscar potential.  I've been watching the Eureka TV series on Netflix ... entertaining SF show.

Hey!  Look what I found ... is this cool or what?