Our friendly neighborhood squirrel hunting for his acorns.

Not much to note this past couple of weeks. More work and more work. Last weekend (the one before Valentine's weekend) was spent working. Leah had some serious chores on the computer. Her goal was to make a mini portfolio to send to potential employers. It may sound simple but is far from it. The booklet is 5.5 X 5.5 in. That requires re-sizing all portfolio pieces to those dimensions, printing and cutting them to size. Printing involved purchasing ink re-fills, special 110 lb paper and slogging through the monotony of manual two-sided printing. When you turn the page of a booklet you certainly don't expect to see a blank page afterall. And once the pages were printed and dried, they required very careful cutting to size. This was where I got put to work. I used a metal straight edge and a plain razor blade. There were 20 pages in total and my hands only malfunctioned during the cutting of one. I suppose that puts my accuracy at 95%. And just when you think you're done, you have to hop in the car and drive to Kinko's to get the little booklets spiral bound. That project didn't require much writing just now but in real time it took the better part of our Sunday. The final product was great. The booklets are mini in size but not in content. They contain a well-rounded samplng of Leah's work, which is all excellent.

Since our last entry two scarily stereotypically middle American weeks have passed by us. The dreaded alarm clock rings in the morning and I work on getting caffeinated enough to see straight. The previous day's funk is washed off, shirt is buttoned, tie is tied; In the car and off to work I go; "Break" times are cherished and the end of the day can't come soon enough. Apparently this is just the way it goes in mid-winter for teachers. At least that is what all of my co-workers say. I am fairly sure that is over now though. I am just over halfway through a three day weekend and spring break is only four weeks away.

One week later.

Well, I really did mean to get this published earlier than this. But now that so much time has passed I suppose I will fill you in on this past week. It went fairly quickly as it was only four days long for me :) Leah and I had a couple of nice walks on the greenbelt as we were both able to get home at reasonable hours most days.

Leah had a busy week of applying for jobs and readying herself for a trip back to Michigan. Her cousin Tasha got married Saturday, Feb 20 in Zeeland, MI. Leah was bestowed the honor of being a bridesmaid and so made the trip back to participate. I would have loved to have been in attendance but left myself out due to outrageously expensive airfare to GRR. From what I've heard the wedding was a success and the bride and groom both had wonderful times. And that is what counts.

My weekend has been lonely but good for the most part. Saturday I had my favorite kind of morning, pajamas, coffee and a good book. That was followed by a very nice bike ride that kicked my butt and dinner with Ryan at a place called the Hills Cafe. I got chicken fried steak; I am ashamed to say that this is one of my favorite meals since moving to TX. Marie was in Galveston Friday through Saturday night and so her boyfriend Ryan was without his significant other as well. This afternoon (Sunday) Marie, Ryan and I met at the Barton Springs Pool. The weather was sunny and 75 deg. I got a nice long swim in and some time in the sun. Not bad for late February.

As I am writing Leah is in the air on her way back from the wedding weekend. Her plane was delayed and then moved and so on and so forth. Her flight finally took off and she is scheduled to be home ~5hrs later than anticipated. It will surely make for a rough Monday for her chauffeur.

That's all folks.

Love Leah and Jay.