03.31.07
Check Up
Yesterday was Charlie’s two month check up. He is now 10 lbs. 8 oz. and about 23 inches. His doctor said that everything was fine and dandy. Charlie was to get some shots, but we are passing on those for a couple of years. Instead we will just keep injecting him with thoughts of love to keep him nice and healthy. 
Also, Charlie is getting much stronger. I think that by wrapping him up allows him to really work on his muscles. Soon he’ll be a little Popeye. He is starting to scoot around a bit too. Sometimes he figures out that he can use his legs to push himself around. Note to self: DO NOT KEEP CHARLIE ALONE ON A HIGH PLACE. Overall, I agree with the Doc. He is following the normal baby cure, however I would call it the baby wave! Surf on…
03.29.07
One Step Closer?
My interview with CVCC went really well yesterday. The panel of four people asked all the common questions one would expect when interviewing for a teaching job. Their reactions to my answers were positive and they never looked too confused. One time they even said, “Nice, no one has ever answered it like that before.” This was at the very end of the interview so, I at least left on a high as George Castansa would say. I also had to teach a 15 minute lesson. I created a project about their mascot, who is a pirate, building a fence around his cabana. You can read the story here. Max & Min Problem Overall, I enjoyed the entire interview. Not just because I got to talk about myself the whole time 
but I was able to talk about education with other educators in a constructive way. Sweetness! They are to let me know if I am offered the position some time after Easter. Maybe the Easter Bunny will bring me a basket with a contract inside! 
03.27.07
Grandpa Visits
What a fast and memorable weekend I just had. Grandpa Walsh and Deb stopped in town to see Charlie. They arrived Saturday afternoon and left Monday morning. Saturday night I cooked up a mexican fiesta. Pam and Mike were able to join us. It was their first time meeting my Dad. (Yippee, April and I’s parents have now finally met each other, just over a year after we married. I guess that is what happens when they live 11 hours apart and there is no traditional wedding. 
) Sunday morning we relaxed with a late breakfast before heading up to Boone. There we gave them the tour of ASU and of course a quick pizza break at Mellow Mushroom. Next we drove over to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We drove around a bit and hiked too. Other than a quick little thunder shower the weather was perfect! We ended the day by eating at our downtown. It is so nice to be able to walk downtown to a nice restaurant. Especially, when I am so full and I need to walk off the BBQ Pork & Cheese Fries that I had for an appetizer. Then this morning they said good bye to April and Charlie, as she headed off to school. We walked over to a local diner, and of course I had to have the livermush, biscuits and gravy, and two over easy eggs. The perfect southern morning energy. 
Sad to know that they’re already back in Indiana, but April and I had a blast. We talked about how we felt like we were on vacation with them here. They brought such an exciting energy with them and continued it all through the visit. There are a couple of pictures of their visit, which will be in the ‘Charlie 2 Months’. Thanks for the awesome visit Dad!
03.24.07
Who wants me?
Hopefully CVCC does! I have my first interview with them on Wednesday. This will be my first professional interview because I was hired at a job fair, where if you are breathing they will take you. (Hard to imagine that was 7 years ago!) The job fair wasn’t that extreme but I never had to face any type of panel. Oh well, first time for every thing. I am really excited and nervous at the same time. This is good though; it will keep me on my toes and in the moment of the interview. Time to go and prepare. But that will have to wait. My Dad is visiting us this weekend. April and I cannot wait to have him here. It will be his first time here in Lenoir, and Charlie’s first time seeing Grandpa. Let the family fun roll on…
03.21.07
Happy Spring!
Looks like I will not get the snow that I wanted. 
Oh well, maybe we will get some next winter, and by that time Charlie will be able to be out and play (lay) in it. Time to spring to the next season, as the earth continues to hurl through space. Sure is beautiful to be hanging outside again where the trees here are blooming and so are the flowers. My new special addition allows me to experience the seasons in a whole new way and I love it. This means driving with the windows down just far enough so that there is not a wind storm on the child seat, strolling around the neighborhood keeping Charlie shaded so that he does not burn his skin or eyes, and going camping for the first time as a family. All this makes me very excited to begin another season with my son. Last night Charlie slept for the first time all the way from 9:30 to 6:00! What a great Spring gift he gave us. Thanks Charlie. I leave you with a spring time greeting I wrote a few years back.
May the spring time awaken,
the potential within me,
which was manifested through the winter,
and now bloom into a pure essence,
that excites my mind and body
to fully experience the
mystery of the upcoming moments. 
03.19.07
Andy’s Illness
My computer (Andy Apple) screen went black yesterday, I was wondering if the video would come back. After searching through the forums on the Apple site, I discovered that this is a common problem with the G3 laptop that I have. My computer is five years old but it still works great. I love how healthy Andy has been through out the years. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. The thing is that the hard drive works just fine, the problem is the monitor. The solution was to take off the back and mount something on top of a certain area. I thought this was just a crazy idea, though much better than paying $50 to possibly get it fixed. So, I took some business cards, tape, and a screw driver and went to surgery on Andy Apple. I felt like MacGyver using these simple tools to fix my mechanical devise. Strange enough it actually worked, however the computer is still on the fritz. Being with out my computer can be done yet it certainly is a convenience that I LOVE. Maybe this means that a new Apple laptop is my future! SWEET, but a job first would be nice.
03.17.07
All Nighter
I remember back in the day when I would pull all nighters with my Geneva friends drinking cans of Mt. Dew and playing video games. Being able to stay awake till the sun came up just felt like the cool thing to do as kid. Never would I have thought that being able to sleep all through the night would be such a cool thing. Well, Thursday and Friday were the first two evenings that Charlie slept through the entire night. 
As you might imagine, this was not as big of deal for me as it was for April since she is the one that has been waking up nightly around 2 o’clock to feed him. (I should also add that she then wakes up at 4:30 to run on the tread mill. What an amazing women she is!) The “all nighter” news transpired like this. She woke me up in the middle of the night with extreme excitement saying, “DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS!?”. Some how with early morning fogginess my internal clock told me four, and the actual time was 4:05. “That it right, how did you know?”, April she said with shock. Still not knowing why she woke me up, I asked “Why?”. “Charlie is STILL asleep!” So I guess he is moving right along schedule with perfect steps. Next week he will be going to his new babysitter because his other one is recovering from a hospital visit. This means that more people get the joy of being around Charlie. Spread the love, feel the love, be the love! Have a great St. Patrick’s Day, Slainte.
03.16.07
What to celebrate?
After having another super duper 
) is Talk Like A Pirate Day. So I thought I would try to find a calendar that list a date and what is associated with it. I didn’t find one, however I did come across some other neat calendars like Human Rights Calendar and The Mathematicians Birthday Calendar. I think that the one of the top days to celebrate is April 16th, International Astronomy Day. I would see it as Universe Day! How much sweeter can it get than to celebrate the star dust that makes up my body, or the force that formed the Milky Way, or the power in creating that big ball of fire that shines on me daily. Which makes me think; if the Universe had a birthday, when would that be? Maybe it would be January 1, 15.6 billion B.C. 
If so, then at the next New Year’s Eve, when the ball drops, I will shout “Happy Birthday Universe!”
03.14.07
A Pi-errific Day
Since todays date is 3/14 then this provides the reason to celebrate the grand wonders of 
03.13.07
Non-Spring Break
Spring Break: Why is it a spring break when it isn’t even spring yet? My Eve-Spring Break started last week with perfect timing. I get to babysit Charlie all week long! Besides that I get to work on the multiple projects on my working on, all of which have to do with education. Recently, I have been writing and writing and writing some more. This literary focus has caused me to miss working with Math. True, I do get to teach math 8 hours a week, but I would love to be taking another math class this semester. Luckily, I get to work on my modeling comprehensive exam this week, which just adds something else to my do list. I find the process of time management amazing. When I am busy, find more time to do more things, as opposed to finding less to do when I am not active. Maybe this is one of the skills that quickly become developed when parenthood shows up. Or it could be that I am feeling really excited about all that is happening in my life, and this passion spills over to the thought of further exploring. Oh well, I think about that later. Time to bask in the vacation sun!
