Update

Things have been busy, busy, busy. Derek keeps telling me to update the blog...so here goes (but no pictures - sorry).

Helen is enjoying her weekly tennis group on Tuesday evenings. She's been playing with a core group of 8 or 10 ladies for a couple years now. They compete in a low key "Calcutta" style round robin tournament for 8 weeks or so. Helen usually feels too tired or too "something" each week and tries to wriggle out of it, but once she gets out there she has fun. I always point out to her that she'll screw up the tournament if she doesn't show. The ladies have been very nice and brought us a couple of dinners to help out while we have taken care of our nieces.

The boys have soccer practice on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and games on Saturday. I'm the coach of Adam's team. We picked up a couple of players with a clue, so that helped. It's still hard to stomach sometimes...pass the ball...kick the ball...it's right in front of you...run...hustle...pay attention...get your head out of your *** (I wish). Both boys seem to really enjoy it. Adam still falls down all the time. Derek still hates offense.

My tennis team is hanging in there and should make it to the playoffs. We have a lot of players, but can't seem to get many wins at the bottom of the lineup. As the captain, I'm trying to get everyone some playing time, but you gotta win if you're playing at the bottom.

My Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have been a pleasant surprise. I like the new coach's hard-ass attitude. Unfortunately, the only game I really watched was the only loss and I almost blew a gasket at all the mistakes.

I'm also continuing to deal with all the contractors on our home improvement projects. It's crazy how many different opinions you get from so-called experts. I'm trying to move forward, but there's so many variables - it's paralyzing. I prefer to keep myself "disengaged" most of the time for that very reason - you can spend a lot of time spinning your wheels.

Our niece, Lindsay, has been coming over on weekends while her Mom and Dad recuperate. Mom and Dad are doing well. That means hand-offs from Helen's parents on Friday and Sunday nights. We're getting a break this weekend - Lindsay is staying with her Aunt Pat. We've really enjoyed our time with her, but it's nice to get a break. Derek told me a couple weeks ago that it's been fun having Lindsay over, but he's ready to just be back to our immediate family. I'm sure Lindsay would rather get back to her immediate family as well. We're all just craving some down time.

Since we don't have to wait around for the Lindsay hand-off we're going to the high school football game tonight - yeah! It's always big fun for us boys - not so much for Helen, but she wants to be with her family.

I've also been very distracted by all this financial meltdown stuff. I'm a business\money news junkie anyway, so this has been debilitatingly addictive. It's like a train-wreck that I just can't take my eyes off of. I've been reading stuff like this, this, and this for over a year about how bad things could get. I remember telling Helen all this stuff (she can only take so much) and how I felt so burdened by it while almost everyone else was just running around in ignorant bliss. These are truly historic times - not good historic mind you, but historic nevertheless. For a laissez-faire, Libertarian, live within your means, capitalist like myself it's disgusting to see what we've become...comrade. Let it burn. Being in the mortgage software industry, I've been experiencing the meltdown firsthand. Luckily, we were bought by a big company last year...maybe I'll make it through, but it's not looking good.

Pictures

There's no crying in swimming...especially with those chunky legs

...that's better

Adam takes the Nestea plunge

Derek get your head in the game

Lindsay loves being pushed around in the float

Derek loves his cousin Brooke

Lindsay enjoys her breakfast - she's always in such a great mood in the morning

Trying on Derek's cowboy hat

Derek's soccer game

Lindsay enjoys the action from the sideline

Adam's turn to take a break

Lindsay crawls off the bed to sleep on the Ducky

Helen and Derek said the last post was boring because it didn't have any pictures, so here's some pictures.

Update

Whew! It's been a while since my last post. There's really good news to report about Helen's brother, Mike, and his wife, Chris. They are both out of the hospital. They are doing well and Chris is even blogging again. It all seems like a blur - a bad dream. We can't begin to say how thankful we are that their health is improving.

Congratulations to my sister Kelley and her beau, Paul, for purchasing their first home - actually a triplex. They've been renting one of the units for several years and had an opportunity to purchase the triplex when the aging owners decided to sell. They've become homeowners and slumlords all at once.

My sister Katie has been enduring a terrible time in Baton Rouge following Hurricane Gustav. Although the national media downplayed Gustav because it didn't impact New Orleans, Katie said that the area of the state west of New Orleans was in way worse shape then after Hurricane Katrina. A coworker fo mine, who is from Louisiana, had family and friends come and stay with them a week after Gustav because of flooding and lack of power. There were some horrific traffic jams coming and going.

Our immediate family has been going non-stop with school and sports starting back in addition to inheriting our nieces on weekends. I'm also continuing to meet\coordinate with contractors about various home improvement projects and within the past few weeks I became:

• Captain of my tennis team when the other captain's work schedule changed.
• The coach of Adam's soccer team when the original coach's son decided to play baseball a couple days before practice was to start.
• The tennis chairperson for our swim\tennis club because everyone thought I was organized and would be "perfect" for the job.
• Point man for our neighborhood in dealing with a budding "Mexican" complex across the street.

...and I'm still trying to hold down my "real" job.

I'm not somebody who likes a lot of hooks in me, so I'm not sure how all these obligations are going to work out. Remember, I'm a take care of yourself teach a man to fish kind of guy, but I'm also a step up and be a man kind of guy and that's what compels me to (and irritates me when others don't) make an effort to make things better in whatever your sphere of influence happens to be.