Two days left

I'm not sure what I expected to feel after I got the news a week and a half ago that my position was being eliminated. I've only got two more days of work and it feels really strange. For ten years I've been working at the same place and that's twice as long as I'd been in any job prior.

Friday is going to be really hard. There are so many friends in the building that I'm going to miss a lot. I keep telling them it's not goodbye, but it's going to be strange. For me and for them.

I'm mentally making a list of things that I need to do while I'm looking for a job. Some of it is not very exciting at all, but I'm looking forward to getting some things done around my house. After Friday I'll start putting the list down on paper. You, my blog readers, will hear about the list in great detail. I will have more time to blog and will try to bolster the pathetic number of blog posts in recent months. My May is looking quite busy already, so I'll have lots of blog fodder. Stick with me and we'll take this wild ride together!

Here a prom, there a prom

A little over a week ago, my three oldest nieces had their proms. Three nieces, two different high schools. My niece Anissa went prom dress shopping with her dad and found this beautiful green dress which really suits her. Even though she has short(ish) hair, it looks like an elegant up-do. Here she is with her boyfriend, Quincey (from Quinter, how funny is that?), before heading to the prom.

Quincey is in college, but he and Anissa have been dating since last fall, I think. I just met him over the weekend because he came for Zach's birthday festivities. Seems like a nice young man.

Katie and Frank have been dating since last fall, too. They got to know each other when Katie was the manager for the cross country team after she quit playing volleyball (long story). It's important to point out that Katie's dress (it's actually two pieces) was designed and made by her brother, Christopher. He's a senior in music theatre at Oklahoma City University and he's getting a minor in costume design (he's graduating in a little over a week). There were some scary, hairy times concerning the dress, but he got it finished in time and she looked very glamorous in it with her hair down. It's her very own haute couture. Here's a picture of Katie and Frank in front of their tree my sister, Teresa (Katie's mom), calls Fat Albert.

Next month they'll both be graduating and then going off to college in the fall. It seems like just yesterday they were little girls and now they're practically grown.

Pictures of Jessica and her boyfriend (as she's now calling him), Donnie, will come as soon as someone sends them to me.

Zach's first birthday

Zach turned one today. I went to Ellinwood for his first birthday party this past weekend and stuck around to see him on his actual birthday, too. His party was huge! He had a big stack of presents, three birthday cakes and so many people were there to be a part of his birthday that it was unbelievable. His ice cream cake featured Lightning McQueen from the movie "Cars" and he had a special chocolate cake that he got to dig into with both hands. He really had fun making a mess of himself and the cake. First he sat with his mom:

And then his dad (my brother Mark) sat down with him for another round before he got a quick bath and then opened his presents. As you can see, Mark had cake and frosting all over him, too.

Before the festivities really got underway, Caden and Zach said "hi" to each other when Katie was holding them both. After the hamburgers, hot dogs and brats were cooked and consumed, it was standing room only when Zach dug into his cake and then opened his presents. Partly because of the rain falling outside we were crammed into the house pretty tightly, but it was so much fun to see him enjoying his party that it was worth it.

After Caden ate his dinner, he got a little drunk on the Bud Light. Luckily he wasn't driving home and stumbled out of there before 8:30 so he could go home and get to bed.

Here's Zach playing with the dump truck I picked out for him. As you can see, he had lots of help from some of his cousins and friends who were at the party. They helped him open his presents because there was so much going on that he got distracted several times before everything was unwrapped. One of his favorite presents was a toy four-wheeler he got from his aunt Leslie and her family. By the time almost everyone left, he was practicing his trick riding moves by holding onto the handlebars and standing on the seat. He finally gave up about 9:30 (almost two hours past his regular bedtime) and went to sleep. He's been trying to catch up ever since with long naps both yesterday and today. Poor little thing was just exhausted.

Mark's older son, Tyler (who's almost 19) stepped away from his "study time" on a Saturday night at Fort Hays State University to come to Zach's birthday party. I'll leave you with a picture of Mark and his two boys.

Let's call it a restructuring

When I got to work Monday morning I was called into an office. And that usually doesn't mean good news. It turns out that the Eagle is eliminating eight positions across the entire company and mine is one of them. After I got the news, I was given the option of going home for the rest of the day. I elected to go home, even though it was very hard for me to leave considering someone else was going to be stuck staying late working the shift that I was supposed to work. On top of that, there was a vendor working on one of the servers that hasn't come up since the power outage last week. Those of you who know me understand how hard it was for me to leave and let someone else deal with the responsibilities that were mine. But I knew I was going to cry and I didn't want to do it on the premises. So I left. I am happy to say that I got out of the building without shedding a single tear...but not very far down the street before the dam burst.

By the time I got home I was doing much better. The tears dried up and I decided to escape from everything for a while and I met some friends at the Sedgwick County Zoo to keep my mind off of work or lack thereof. I learned some things while I was there.

There's nothing like advice from a couple of three-year-olds to help me keep things in perspective. Hailey and Bella showed me how to keep on hanging in there, even when things get tough and I want to let go.

The giraffes taught me that it's OK to stick your neck out and try something new. This job elimination will open up new possibilities for me if I just have the courage to step out of my comfort zone.


This goose with the slightly off-kilter beak shared with me the finer points of begging for food, which might come in handy if a job doesn't materialize soon enough.

And the chimpanzees, well, they showed me some things that aren't fit to print. Trust me, they're things I'd never do and didn't even want to photograph.

I went back to work on Tuesday with a new attitude. So many people in the building have offered me their support. It's humbling, really, to have so many co-workers stop and ask how I am or tell me how much they'll miss me. I won't forget any of you and I take all of those wishes and those words of encouragement with me as I move into this next chapter of my life. Honestly, I'm optimistic about my future. I will have some time (thanks to a severance package) to re-charge my batteries while doing some jobs around my house. I really would like to step out of the technology field and get into something else. I'm not sure right at this moment what that is, but I'm positive that I'll know it when I find it. So after May 2nd, I'll be looking for my next adventure. Thanks to my friends at the zoo, I'll know just how to go about it.

Zach's first year

Some might say that I'm a little over the moon about my nephew, Zach. Well, those people would be right. Every bit of time I get to spend with him is special, just like it was with my other five nephews and four nieces. They're all (almost) grown up now and I have special bonds with each one of them. Over the past year I've been bonding with Zach. The first year of life is my favorite because they change so much in that year. I try to get back to Ellinwood to see Zach (and Caden, too) at least once a month. This is Zach's birthday month and next weekend is the big birthday shindig. I got an invitation from Zach's Birthday Party Committee (it was a committee of three) and I'm excited for a week from today when we'll celebrate his birth with a cookout, birthday cake and lots of presents. More on that next week.

Wednesday Zach got his first haircut (that's my headless brother Mark and Zach's dad holding on to him in the picture). Terri sent me some pictures and said that he didn't cry or throw a fit, was just curious what she was doing. That sounds just like Zach. It looks like Lori did a great job cutting his hair. I can't wait to see it in person.

Is it just me, or does it look like he's telling her how he wants his hair to look in the picture above?

Let's talk tractors and torture the cat

I have neglected up to this point (because I've been so lax in blogging lately) to mention that my sister, Teresa, had surgery a little over two weeks ago. She had some disks in her lower back (three, to be exact) that the stuffing had come out of, so they went in through her belly and put in some spacers and fused those puppies together. Didn't look like fun and she assures me it wasn't. But now she's on the good drugs and I'm going without. This past weekend I went to Ellinwood to see the little boys and visit the infirm Teresa. Zach went with me to her house on Saturday so his mom and dad could run errands. Zach got to try out Uncle Kenny's miniature tractor. He really enjoyed the ride I gave him. And it was a great workout for me. Really.

After lunch and his nap, Caden dropped by with his mom. My nephew Christopher was in town from Oklahoma City for the weekend, too. Zach and Caden talked and bonded over Kenny's tractor. After their version of tractor talk, the boys turned to torturing Gus (it's short for Asparagus), the cat. I shot some very amateur video of them, but I couldn't resist posting it. Notice how Caden samples Gus' tail.

Very late Easter pics

Every year we have an Easter egg decorating extravaganza at my parents house. My dad doesn't ever stick around to enjoy it. It seems he always has something else to do. Hmmm, curious. This first picture shows the process in full swing with Kyle, Teresa (the best name writer usually), Jeffrey, Jessica and Victoria.

My great nephew, Caden, was in the Carolinas (his first plane trip went well, thank you) visiting his maternal grandparents. But Zach came for egg decorating and loved every minute. Terri (his mom) dressed him in a plain white t-shirt so it could get dyed from the experience and then we all signed it.

Mostly he just liked to lick the eggs.

And play with the wire egg dippers.


As you can see from this final shot, he's not at all afraid to get his hands dirty.

The Jayhawks are #1!

I'm a big fan of NCAA basketball, especially the Big 12 conference and the Kansas Jayhawks. You can see from the picture that I own a big Jayhawk foam finger (thanks to my friend, Laurie, who gave it to me a couple of Christmases ago). That means I'm a pretty hard-core fan, I think.

Two years ago I attended two games at Allen Fieldhouse and that only fueled the fire. The regular season games are fun, but I heart March Madness. The Jayhawks and I usually have a March Madness routine: they break my heart by losing a game that they should have won. I always forgive them and go back to loving them by the time the next season rolls around.

Twenty years ago when Danny and the Miracles won the 1988 Championship, I was a college freshman. I remember watching that game at the dorm on someone's tiny television. That year I got a Final Four t-shirt from some friends for my birthday. I always thought of that championship as a great birthday present from my Jayhawks. I haven't professed my love for the Jayhawks on this blog because I thought it might jinx their season. I shouldn't have worried because Monday night all the naysayers were silenced.

THE KANSAS JAYHAWKS ARE THE 2008 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

Speaking of superstitions, my friend Lori B. chalked up Monday night's championship win because she was wearing her lucky slipper socks. My friend Monty changed his shirt in the middle of the game on Saturday night because he felt they were losing their mojo against North Carolina. I can't argue with their logic and I can't fault them for their enthusiasm. For all I know the socks and the shirt change did help.

I have to say that on Monday night during the championship game, I thought they were going to lose to Memphis when they were down by nine points with 2:12 left on the clock. Who didn't think that? But the Hawks came storming back and stunned the Tigers. Mario's Miracle shot to tie the game with seconds left on the clock was pure magic. I jumped out of my bed (where I watched the second half) because I was so excited. I feel so special to have been a part of it just by being a fan. What an awesome championship game. I watch them every year, but this year was something truly special. This victory has been just as sweet as these cupcakes I found at Dillons and we ate during Saturday night's semifinal game:

Come on, chant it with me: "ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK. KU."