Media Man

I guess it is kind of funny the way things work sometimes.  On Wednesday, I was interviewed by the UWW newspaper (the Royal Purple) about a “virtual” team project that my project management students are working on this semester; my student teams are paired with teams from universities around the world to complete a team project.  During that interview, I made mention of my fantasy football experiment in my introduction to information systems class, to which I got an e-mail about yesterday (Friday) that they would like to do another story on that.  In my Website development class on Thursday, a campus video camera stopped by to film me teaching, which I suspect is part of a news bit being put together about the facilities at the new business building.  Then yesterday (Friday) afternoon, I got a phone call from a reporter from the Journal-Sentinal wanting to interview me about the presentation I gave last week in the Wisconsin Dells.  As it turned out, he is a reporter for their business section, was doing a story about a northern Wisconsin woman that was using search engine optimization (SEO, or the topic of my presentation last week), and wanted to know if I thought SEO for small businesses was a viable strategy.  All of this hopeful will result in some good press for our department – we need more IT majors!

Things got a bit colder this week.  It was in the upper 30’s to low 40’s every morning with highs only in the 50’s.  And finally this morning we had frost everywhere at it was only 30 degrees out.  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  And now there is a chance for snow in the next couple days.  It was bound to happen sooner or later.  I don’t really mind the temperatures or the snow (yet), but starting the cars and warming them up in the morning.  I really feel pampered after not having to deal with that for the past 3 years.

We got our first offer on our house this year, but it was $40,000 less than what we were asking.  We are willing to come down a couple thousand on the price, but not that much.  Hopefully something else will come up.  Our 6 month contract with our real estate agent is almost here, so we are hoping that some friends back in Alabama might be willing to buy our house – passing all of the savings from no real estate agent fees onto the selling price.  We just want our house sold and we have already accepted the fact that we will be doing it at a loss.

Something that I have not mentioned in my posts in the past few weeks is that Ben no longer has Buddy – his stuffed teddy bear.  About 3 weeks ago we lost Buddy, so instead of turning the house upside down, we decided it was a good time to ween Ben off his favorite companion.  Ben took it in stride as we explained that Buddy went to see his aunt (P’Pook) and grandma (Yai) in Thailand.  Every so often Ben will ask where Buddy is (only about 5 times), but every so often he will also ask when I am driving to school if I could drive to Thailand instead.  Ben became attached to a blanket as a substitute for Buddy during those first two weeks, but for the last week he has not needed anything to comfort him.  Leaving Buddy behind has gone about as smooth as breaking Ben from his pacifier.  Jet did find Buddy after a day or two of searching, but we have stayed firm in keeping Buddy hidden – who has been at his side for the past 2 years.  We have done a little more work on potty training Ben this past week and have had some success.  Hopefully this will be something that will be as easy as the transition from Buddy.

Waukesha Thai Temple

Just reached halftime of the Packer game and I wanted to give a quick update from the weekend.  We did go to the Waukesha Thai Temple (http://buddhahaksa.org/) on Sunday and met up with Jet’s host family, Jack and Kathryn.  Jet has known them for 10 years and that was the first time that they had visited the Thai temple and they had a good time.  Jet’s host family are both faculty members at UW-Milwaukee and have an interest in teaching in Thailand.  We have talked about arranging something for the past few months, but it appears that during Christmas 2010 might be an option.  We also saw our latest friends (Robin and her adopted son “T”) and they had a good time too.  What a nice way to wind down the week.

Cold Again

Although we have had some cool weather since I have been back to Wisconsin, this has really been the first week that is has been cold.  It began on Monday with very strong winds and rain and lasted through the week with temperatures in the 30’s in the mornings and only reaching the 50’s for highs.  During these times I miss those Alabama autumns.  I am sure once the leaves start to fall around here that the brisk weather won’t seem so bad.  And speaking of colds, I think I have a slight one that hasn’t really gotten me down, but you never know what it will bring tomorrow.  I just have a scratchy throat with some very minor congestion.

We enjoyed ourselves at the Breast Cancer run last week Sunday and I ran stride for stride with Kristin, which was a lot of fun.  What was a little annoying was that they had the walkers start before the runners so that the actual run was about 1 hour behind the original starting time.  We attended Harvest Fair afterwards (see pictures below) which was also a blast with Ben – especially playing in the hay.  We left just as the heavens opened and it began to pour outside.

As for the pace of things, well, they are still very busy for both Jet and I.  Jet has already been asked to put in another 8 hours of mandatory overtime next week.  The presentation at the Dells on Thursday went well and luckily Dad watched Ben for the day.  I say luckily because it would have been a tough day having to drive to UW-Whitewater along with driving to the Dells.  Ben had some rough times on the road with me this week – he got carsick on the way home Monday and almost did again on Wednesday morning on the way to school.  I just wonder if having the heat on in the car has been bad for Ben or whether all of the hills on the back roads I take to work have begun to take its toll.  Hopefully this is something I can eliminate by driving a little slower over those hills.  We’ll see.

Tomorrow we will be meeting Jet’s host family and the new family with the adopted Thai boy at the Thai temple.  Jet and I may go out to eat in the afternoon.  Our plan was to do that today, but Kristin was so very kind to make a lasagna dinner for us.  This coming weekend is the National tournament for Aussie Rules down in Ohio.  Unfortunately that has been one of the things I have had to sacrifice (along with working out in general and the masons among other items) since we have been so busy.  You have to make a sacrifice for the things you value, which are family and work.  Besides, it won’t always be this busy, right?

Stuck In The Fast Lane

As you can imagine, things are still very busy around here.  Another week has passed at school and it is time for the first exams, which has sapped time not only at work, but at home in the evenings.  Spending 2.5 hours on the road every day certainly doesn’t help as those extra hours that I am now spending on the road used to go to work on my classes.  When circumstances change, you have to find ways to adjust.  I have a strong suspicion that this “adjustment” will last the entirety of the semester, but I do look forward to when some sense of normalcy will return.

Jet has been just as busy with work.  Since there is such a backlog for loan mitigation requests, she will now have to work mandatory overtime each week.  She only found out about it on Friday this week, so she ended up staying one extra hour Friday and came in yesterday (Saturday) for another three hours.  As you might recall, Jet had the option of pursuing either the “good side” or “bad side” of loan mitigation when she was offered her job and ended up choosing the “good side”.  As it turns out, many people that know Jet said that she would have done very good on the “bad side” as the tasks were somewhat similar to loan closing, which is what Jet did spectacularly before leaving for Alabama.  Since the incentives are much greater on the “bad side” (though the base salary is higher on the “good side”), Jet has wondered if she made the right decision.  I believe she has, but this has added a bit of stress to her this past week.

Speaking of stress, there have been some other concerns that were recently raised.  When we returned from Thailand in July, Donald had mentioned that he noticed some noises coming from my car that were a bit unusual.  The noises were faint, but nothing that I was too concerned about as it would come and go.  In the past two weeks, however, the noises suddenly become progressively worse at the “whistling” sound became much louder and consistent.  Jet took my car to a local Toyota dealer on Thursday to check it out and as it turned out, a belt was going bad on it and had to be replaced.  As it always happens, the warranty had just expired on my car.  Although I had 30,000 miles on the car (I have been putting in over 500 miles each week for the past month), which was well under the mileage for my warranty, I had owned it for 3 years and 1 month, when 3 years was when the warranty expired.  Nuts.  Price for this necessary fix: $400.  Double nuts.  At least the noise is gone.  As Jet and I mentioned, it is tough to put a price on peace of mind.  Besides, if you could, we would be the first in line to buy a little bit more.

We are holding up on our house search because we both agree now that we should not buy a new house until our house in Alabama sells.  Please, please, please house in Alabama – sell, sell, sell!!!  We are just hoping that things become easier and less stressful once that happens.  We really appreciate everyone in Oxford that are taking care of our house for us.  Hopefully this won’t last much longer.

I was back at UWM on Friday for a workshop and I had a chance to meet with my advisor and other faculty that I had worked with.  I also had a chance to talk with Lisa and Gail, administrative assistants who were in the same office area as me for the last two years at UWM.  It really does feel nice to walk around familiar surroundings.  I imagine that I will make the trip there much more frequently in the coming months as I start to work on research again back in Milwaukee.  Speaking of research, I just had another journal article accepted.  It was not at a top journal, but it is the start of my tally here at UWW that will go towards my tenure decision.  It just feels good to have one thing go right.  It is just too bad because with everything so hectic around us, it is so easy to forget all of the good that we already have.

We went to a Thai-American association dinner last night in New Berlin, which was a nice change of pace for the week.  Jet was able to meet a couple of friends that she hadn’t seen since we left for Alabama three years ago.  We also met a couple about our age that had adopted a Thai boy who was about 2 years old.  Amazingly, the guy teaches a communications class part-time at UWW, though his full-time job is working for a local newspaper.  The couple were very nice and had adopted the boy a little over a year ago.  The boy was something else too.  He was shorter than Ben but was as heavy as a rock.  The boy was shy like Ben, but after 5 minutes and they had warmed up to each other, Ben had him chasing him all over the building and they became good friends.  The Thai boy was very interesting because he always wanted to be held and when he got excited, he would stand still and shake – I hadn’t seen any child do this since Josh.  The couple lives nearby Whitewater, but hopefully we will have a chance to hang out with them more in the future.

As for our future, this morning we have the Breast Cancer Walk downtown which will be followed by the Harvest Fair at state fair park.  Both events should be a lot of fun as we will be joined by several of the sisters.  It will also be Jet’s first 5K, which I am sure that she will end up walking.  Jet doesn’t know it yet, but I will hope to surprise her by doing it stride-for-stride with her.  Also looking ahead, on Thursday I have been asked to give a presentation on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in the Wisconsin Dells (http://wisc.uww.edu/ideas-conference.html).  That ought to be an interesting day as I will drive to UWW to drop Ben off, drive to the Dells to give the presentation, drive back to UWW to pick-up Ben, then drive back home.  The key word is “drive” as I will be doing quite a bit of it that day.  Hopefully traffic will not be bad.

Slow Down Just To Speed Up

After a busy week of work it was nice to slow things down and enjoy the weekend.  We looked at more houses on Saturday morning, but we ended up comparing every house to one that we both liked in Waukesha.  We liked it so much that we put in a low-ball offer this morning to start the negotiating process.  Our agent said that the seller will likely counter our offer soon and we will see where things go from there.  Our agent also said that the seller might not be willing to move much on the price, so again, we will see where things go from there.

On Saturday evening we had our first family birthday gathering for Kristin at her house.  Here is a video of us singing “happy birthday” to her.  We had such a good time and had too much dessert.  Unfortunately both Jet and I have gained a bit of weight since we have moved back to Milwaukee, but it is very hard to watch what you eat when there is always so much good food around.  Speaking of videos and birthdays, here is another video Jet took of Ben making a painting, which I believe may have been for Jet’s sister’s (Pookie) birthday.  I can’t really say if it was or not because Jet was only speaking to Ben in Thai, but it is a fun video clip to watch Ben paint.

On Sunday morning we had brunch with Ronnie, Tiffany, and Alayna at the Apple Holler in Racine, followed by a couple hours of apple picking, games, and horse rides for the kids.  Apple picking in the fall was always one event that I missed doing while living in Alabama these past few years and it was just fantastic that we had friends to join us.  We ended up bringing a half-bushel home so we will be eating quite a few apples over the next few days.  If I have enough energy tonight, maybe I can make some baked apples with ice cream.  Mmmmm.

The work week started off great – isn’t everything great after a Packer win – but my schedule quickly was consumed with meetings, and classes, and work.  It was just amazing how fast work is coming in now after keeping a good pace of work these past few weeks.  Almost every spare moment seems to be sapped away by something else, but at least the work is leading to progress, so that makes it both enjoyable and rewarding.  Things seem like they will continue to be super busy for the foreseeable future, so we will see how things go.  One thing that has been sacrificed in all of this work is footy and fitness.  I had hoped to play a lot more Aussie Rules being back home, but with work and the house hunt, there has not been much time for anything else.  Maybe next year.

I realized the other day that I had not posted any pictures taken since returning to Wisconsin, so here is a big batch for you to enjoy.

First Week Of Work

It has been a few days since my last post, and it is just amazing how much I have to update on what has gone on up here.  Things have been quite busy, so that is why I have not been able to post much more frequently, but I will shoot to add a new update at least once a week until things settle down.  Well, my first week of work is in the books and was all was not completely well.  The day before my very first class, I put in a request to change classrooms so that I could be in a room that was equipped for podcasting my lectures.  It never occurred to me that the change would go through immediately and (even worse) it never occurred to me that this last-minute change was the reason why I had only half the class show up for the first day.  As it turned out, I was in the “old” classroom while half of the students were in the “new” classroom.  My department head sought me out afterwards just to reassure me and walked away saying that “at least I have a good story” about my first class at UWW.  He was right that I did have a story to tell, though it did not seem that “good” to me.  It also meant a lot the he would take the time to stop by and talk to me after this mishap – which is what I think the lasting impression of that first day will be for me.

So why did I want to switch rooms for podcasting lectures, and what is podcasting?  Well, podcasting is basically recording the audio and video of my lectures (both video of me and of the Powerpoint slides and whatever else I have on the computer) and putting making it available in a file that students can watch again at any time they wanted, either on their computer, iPod, or whatever plays audio and/or video files.  I did something similar the last few years at JSU, but I never recorded actual lectures – I would just sit down in front of my computer and record my voice over Powerpoint slides using screen recording software called Camtasia.  The technology at the new Business building at UWW is amazing, and in these ‘podcasting’ rooms, there is a video camera, a microphone I use, and microphones placed throughout the classroom for student’s voices to be heard – and to make it all happen, all you have to do is click a ‘record’ button to start, and when you click stop, the video will be automatically processed and made available for only my students to access – no work done on my part.  Amazing.  We’ll see how this goes this semester.  So why the podcasting of all my lectures?  Well, I am convinced that there will be some impact this semester in my classes with H1N1 (“swine flu”), so this will be a way to minimize the impact that this could have if any of my students (or myself) is unable to attend due to sickness.  I am sure that having my lectures recorded will also be a good study guide for my students, but really it is about preparing for H1N1.

Speaking of sickness, Ben has had a great time going to daycare at UWW with me every day.  After the second day (last week Thursday), Ben came home with a runny nose and has stuck ever since with an occasional cough.  I suspect this will not be the last bit of illness that he picks up from other kids at the daycare.  Ben really does have a good time there.  Jet was worried about how he might take adjusting to the new place and perhaps being too attached and not wanting to go.  But really, Ben has always wanted to go to “school” and every day that I have dropped him off into his classroom, he goes right to the toys to play and absolutely forgets I am even there.  I have tried getting his attention by saying “good bye”, but to no avail.  Most days when I pick Ben up in the afternoon (I drop him off at 7:30am and pick him up at around 4:00pm), he will run to me shouting “Daddy” and hug my legs.  That really is the highlight of my day.  It has also been great having Ben in the car for the long drive to and from UWW every morning.  For half of the drive we are on the freeway and Ben loves it when I catch and pass trucks – “Daddy - catch him, get him!”.  For the second half, I drive local and pass several horse ranches and farms with cows on them that Ben gets so very excited to see and keep an eye out for.  Also going local, there are a few hills that we go up and down on (Kettle Moraine area) that Ben first would say “Daddy, scared” anytime we approached.  Jet said it was because Ben’s stomach couldn’t take the motion that well.  Now Ben will just say, “Daddy, up-down, up-down”.  Then, of course, Ben and I get to singing in the car too, which just makes the whole drive a blast.  I am so happy that Jet agreed to send Ben to the UWW daycare.

Jet started her first day of work on Tuesday and all this week is just training for her.  The way she described her job to me yesterday, in loan mitigation (her new department) they deal with people having problems to pay off their loans.  There are two sides, one that cuts things off (goes to short sales/foreclosures) and one that helps out (restructures payments, etc.).  Jet is on the side that helps people out so that they can continue to make payments on their loans.  She has said that she will not have much interaction with customers, so I am not sure what role she will play in that process, but I am sure things will become clearer once I learn more about the job after she gets through training.

Still speaking of work, in my ‘introduction to IS’ class today, which all business students need to take, even if they are not a technology major, I will be having a fantasy football draft.  This idea came from another professor teaching the same class who actually doesn’t care much for sports.  My first thought was that it was a bad idea, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.  I could use the example of fantasy football to talk about lots of things related to technology, from databases, to information and decision-making, to software, to who knows what.  And when I first brought it up to my class last week on the first day, all of the guys in my class just about jumped out of their chairs with excitement.  It should be a fun project for the students to work on throughout the semester and I have said that I will give awards/prizes out to the winning team.  The biggest challenge is keeping the project manageable and simple because it is the first time I am doing something like this.  With 50-60 students, I had the class get into groups of 8 and I will only have 6 or 7 rounds in the fantasy football draft so that it can be done in one class session.  Hopefully it all goes well and I don’t have another horror story to tell about my first semester at UWW.  I will have story to tell, regardless.

Just another thing about that introduction to IS class that I just find amazing.  For the first assignment in all of my classes, I have students post a “student profile” on an online discussion forum that introduces the student, tells when they are available to meet (for future teammates), explains their previous computer background (if any), and something interesting about themselves.  This is a good, simple exercise just to get students using the online tools in the class and a good way to get to know who are in my classes.  There were some really interesting things that students posted, but none more amazing to me than one student in my introduction to IS class.  She said that she was a transfer student from Jacksonville State University.  I had to read that twice and then read it aloud to Dad and Jet because I could still hardly believe it.  In my last class I asked this student to stay behind so that I could talk to her – it was not hard to find her because she had a “Gamecocks” shirt on.  As it turns out, she was originally from Racine and got a full-ride scholarship to play volleyball at JSU, which she did for the past 2 years.  I didn’t ask why she came back to Wisconsin, but she is now playing volleyball for UWW.  She was about as surprised as I was when I told her that I was at JSU the last 3 years.  How amazing is that.  To have a transfer student from anywhere in the world, but come from JSU.  And then there are 6 or 7 different sections of the introduction to IS class – and she happens to be in mine.  Wow.  Just wow.

Last Sunday we spent the day at Uncle Marty’s cabin on Long Lake in Genesse, Wisconsin – a little more than an hour’s drive away.  It is a Labor Day tradition that we have done since I was a kid, but haven’t been able to do for the past 3 years since we have been in Alabama.  Jet and I got into a discussion about whether it was 3 or 4 years since we have been there.  I argued 4 years, but Jet felt it was more appropriate to say 3 because we missed the last 3 outings there.  But if we missed the last 3 outings, it has been at least 4 years since we were last there.  You can see how that discussion just went round and round.  Anyways, we all had a good time there with plenty of food to eat.  Jet even got on the lake, but since she didn’t have a swimsuit with her, did not go tubing.

Looking ahead, Kristin’s birthday is coming up on Saturday, so there are some things planned for that.  On Sunday we are planning to have brunch with Capt’n (Ronnie, my good friend from high school) and his girlfriend at the Apple Holler, which should be a great time picking apples and doing whatever.  Something else related to UWW that I did not bring up earlier is that I have joined an informal basketball pick-up session among faculty and staff that plays during the lunch hour Monday – Friday.  I will likely only play on Mondays and Wednesdays because I have class during that time on Tuesdays and Thursdays and am not on campus on Fridays.  It was something that my department chair invited me to and should be a good way to meet other people on campus and (somewhat) stay in shape.  I played for the first time yesterday and was just awful shooting the ball – not that I ever was that good.  The last time I played was last summer (2008) in Thailand and it showed.  Half of my shots were about a foot from hitting the rim and I probably made 20% of the shots I took – and I took plenty.  At least by the end of the lunch hour my team was prepared for my missed shots and were able to use them to score points.  It was a bit embarrassing, but how can I be embarrassed playing basketball anymore.  I just plain stink.  We’ll just see how things can improve from here.

Just a final word about the home search.  Our house in Alabama has still not sold.  Our agent has been telling us for weeks that she had a guy that would be relocating in the area in the end of August and would be perfect for our house.  That fell through.  There is supposedly another couple that is interested and will look again at the house this week, but we are not holding our breath.  Our agent says that at least we are getting traffic, which is a good sign.  I think all that we care about is getting the house sold, however, and it doesn’t matter how many people look at the house.  I think people are looking for houses that have a “bonus” room, but oh well.  It is what it is.  We are still optimistic (at least I am) that it will sell soon.  We’ll see if that changes in the next month or so.  As for houses up here, it is clear to us that although Mukwonago would be a great place to live, there are no houses there that fit what we are looking for.  With that in mind, we have started thinking about houses in Waukesha again – houses that are closer to I-43 rather than I-94.  There were some that looked good last week and may actually be “the one”, but we will have to go look at them again and maybe take a little time before we make any move.

Where To Live

Another busy week is coming to an end and onto the last weekend before classes start.  We looked at over 20 houses last weekend, which unfortunately was not very enjoyable.  There were houses that we liked individually, but nothing that blew our socks off together, which made things stressful and exhausting.  The more we kept looking at houses from Oconomowoc, to Delafield, to Pewaukee, to Waukesha, to Mukwonago, the more questions and doubts we had about every place we went.  One of the primary concerns that has come up in the past few days is to find a house that has access to I-43 over I-94 for Jet to arrive to work in downtown Milwaukee since the traffic on I-94 is consistently worse.  Every evening that I have been driving back to Dad’s house there has been an accident or two that has impacted traffic dramatically.  Since Mukwonago is on I-43, that location has come to the forefront – at least in my mind.  With all of the faculty orientation and kick-off sessions that I have attended this week, I have met several other faculty members that live in Mukwonago, have young children, and just love it there.  This has only reinforced my interest in Mukwonago, which I just saw on Wikipedia is a Potawatomi word for “place of the bear”.  There must be some strange forces at work here.  We are just waiting for the right house to come along.  Hopefully it will be just as they say, something that we can both agree on.

As I eluded to just a moment earlier, Jet accepted a position at Chase in downtown Milwaukee.  This was her employer for three years before she left with me to Alabama and she has a great network of friends and managers that are still working there.  Another decision that has been made this week is where to send Ben for daycare.  Ideally we would have him at a daycare nearby where we would be living, but since we don’t know that yet, the next option was nearby where Jet or I worked.  All daycare centers that we saw charged from $200 to well over $200 per week for daycare in downtown Milwaukee and in Waukesha county.  Hearing good things about the daycare center at UW-Whitewater from faculty members that sent their kids there, I checked it out.  It allowed us to pick and choose the dates we sent Ben there and was much cheaper than everywhere else.  Since I usually will not be on campus on Friday’s, that would be four additional days each month that we didn’t have to pay for.  All told, it would be around $130-$140 each week for Ben, giving us savings of over $400-$500 each month in daycare.  Not bad.  It was a little nerve-racking registering Ben for the daycare at UW-Whitewater because the day I brought that option up to Jet, there was only 1 space available on Wednesdays, so we had to make a quick decision.  I think it will turn out to be the right one because the daycare center is next door to my building and will be very convenient.  I all but begged Jet to let me do this because I am very excited about the opportunity of spending more time with Ben each day, albeit in the car.  Maybe I will regret this.  Ben starts daycare on Wednesday, the first day of classes at UW-Whitewater.  I have been asking Ben if he wants to go to “school” with Daddy the past few days and he has said “yes” with a smile every time.  We’ll see how Wednesday goes.  It might actually be tougher for Jet as she has been asking if she can come along dropping Ben off.  I don’t think she should drive over 2 hours just for that.  Jet has been great in getting all of the supplies needed (blanket, pillow, bag, bike helmet, wipes, etc.) for Ben’s first day.  I am really excited about Ben’s first day.  Hopefully it will go well.

Job Job

It has been a few days since my last post, but I am sure that you can imagine that things have been very busy for us lately.  The big news is that Jet has accepted a job working for her previous employer, Chase, in downtown Milwaukee.  In fact, in the past two weeks Jet has had interviews for four different positions, which has resulted in two job offers!  This is great news as I have always known that Jet is an exceptional talent that was always being overlooked at in Alabama – which is the primary reason why we are back in Wisconsin now.  This is also good news because it will give Jet some certainty (the job search has given us both a lot of stress) and a chance to link back up with her friends at Chase.  Speaking of friends, Jet has already made a few after taking Ben to Gymboree in Brookfield and is with them this morning for a play-date in New Berlin.  As for myself, I was invited to a friend from high school’s bachelor party last week Thursday (9 holes of golf at Noye’s park, dinner at Bayshore, shooting a few games of pool) and we all attended the wedding on Saturday night.  Hanging around old friends felt great and is helping as we adjust to our new lives.

It was not all good news, however.  I ended up getting food posioning from the dinner I ate on Thursday night and was sick all day Friday.  What is really bizzare is that in the past 20+ years I had only thrown-up once (self-inflicted, as I reported earlier), but in the past two weeks, I have thrown-up twice.  Go figure.  I am lucky that it was only a 24 hour deal, instead of the 5-7 day stomach virus last time, because the next morning (Saturday) I felt great and did the Irish Fest 5K run with Kristin, Sandy, and Maggie followed by playing an entire match of Aussie Rules.  The Aussie Rules game was tough, though, as it was my first match of the year and I had not been training in the past few weeks.  There were several bad decisions I made and I got winded often in the second half, which likely cost the game for us as we lost 46-42 to Minnesota.  Jet also had a tough go fighting an ear infection these past few days.  I had been putting drops in her ear several times a day, which only provided temporary relief, until Jet got some medicine that seems to have taken care of the infection.  Hopefully that is all we have to face anytime soon.

With the prospect of a job on the horizon for Jet, we started looking at houses on Sunday and will have an agent show us more houses tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday.  There are not many options available for us in Mukwonago, unless we wanted to build, so we have started looking elsewhere.  We visited the Thai temple in Waukesha on Sunday morning and decided to look at houses in the area because we had the time and were a little surprised to find some we liked.  Of course there were some problems.  The first house we liked is in our price range, but is not the “open concept” type of house we like that is great for hosting parties.  The next house we liked was above our price range, but had the most beautiful view of Waukesha that you could imagine and would have been perfect for guests.  The house was also a bit too much of a house for us (5 bedrooms), so we will have to keep on looking.  It was nice to dream about that house for a little bit.  It was almost like dreaming you had won the lottery.  It’s a good thing that common sense has prevailed because the taxes alone (nearly $7,000) would be tough to bear, let alone utilities and mortgage payments.  One thing that those houses we liked have done for us is get us thinking (and liking) Waukesha more and more.

As for our house in Alabama, things are still positive, but nothing done yet.  There have been a few more showings of the house and we have heard that one family “really” liked it.  We were told that the mother of their agent is having health problems, so we will see if that plays a role in their decision.  Our real-estate agent has one person relocating in the area in a few days that liked the house, so hopefully something will get done soon in the coming days.

Looking ahead, school begins for me in less than two weeks (Wednesday, September 2) and all next week will be orientation and meetings.  One of my classes was cancelled and I was given a new class to teach this week, so that course preparation is what has really been keeping me busy lately.  Jet will likely begin her new job just after Labor Day on Tuesday, September 8 and will have a full week of training waiting for her.  Another thing that we will have to work on is finding daycare for Ben, but Jet seems to have a good lead on a place in downtown Milwaukee just three blocks from where she will be working.  Things are starting to shape up a bit up here, lets hope things continue to progress without too many snags!

Milwaukee

It has been a fast few days during our first days back in Wisconsin.  The drive up to Wisconsin took 15 hours (we left Oxford at 5:00pm and arrived in Mukwonago at 8:00am) and was completely exhausting.  Dan and Brandon were amazing in not showing any exhaustion from driving the u-Haul truck with my car in tow, even more so when they helped unload the truck into storage.  Maggie showed up with Dan’s brother and friend who were just awesome in unloading the rest of the truck.  After a few minutes getting things started, I ended up on the sidelines as I was on the verge of collapsing.  By 11:00am, we were finished and Dan and I returned the u-Haul truck and transport trailer to a u-Haul location in West Allis.  I went back to my Dad’s house and slept for 3 hours and was very appreciative of all the wonderful help we received during our move.

When I got back to Dad’s house, he was just leaving with Jet and Ben to the Wisconsin State Fair, where they stayed and enjoyed themselves until the rain came falling down.  The rain was on-and-off for the next few days and on Sunday we began our house search.  We began looking in Mukwonago, which seemed like the logical choice before we returned to Wisconsin because it is situated about halfway between Whitewater and downtown Milwaukee, and is in close proximity (under 30 minutes) from my Dad and sisters in Milwaukee.  From our brief stop, we liked what we saw, but we are still thinking about what the budget should be for our house.  Before returning back to Milwaukee, we stopped by the Elegant Farmer to pick up a couple of apple pies to go with the Alabama BBQ we had and shared with our family for dinner that night.  The weather was forecasted to be in the 90’s that day (Sunday), but coming from daily 90-degree weather in Alabama, the 90-degree day was very different in Wisconsin.  It was very windy out (the only time it seemed we got wind in Alabama was when a tornado was coming through) and was very cloudy – as if it were going to storm at any time.  It eventually did storm out in the afternoon, setting off a few severe thunderstorm warnings/watches and flash flood watches.  It was a little funny seeing some of the family getting worked up about the approaching weather, which seemed like nothing to me.  I am sure when the first few snowfalls pass through this winter, the roles will be reversed.

We spent the day yesterday (Monday) traveling out to Whitewater to check out my new office and I was grateful to meet a few new co-workers while there.  It took about 70 minutes to arrive on campus there from Dad’s house, which took a little longer due to the road construction in the area.  Our original plan for the day was to head back to New Berlin to continue looking at houses, but we decided to take the other way around town (away from the construction) towards Watertown where my other sisters live – just to see how that drive was.  We were stuck behind a truck for a good part of the drive, which made the ride seem longer than it actually was when we finally reached I-94 at Johnson’s Creek.  We were glad that we did take the route, however, simply to see how far of a drive it actually was as we were also considering moving in that area as well.  Although it would be nice being closer to Watertown and our sisters there, right now Mukwonago seems like the best option for us.  It would be funny if we actually did get a house in Mukwonago, however, as it would be a similar situation to our house search in Alabama.  Before arriving in Alabama, we searched online and figured that Oxford would be the best place for us – and it was!  Could Mukwonago be a similar situation? 

We arrived at my Kristin’s house in Milwaukee early in the afternoon to take a rest and eat some lunch, but found ourselves consumed with a search for a kitten for the next few hours.  For the second straight day, Ben did not take an afternoon nap – which I am sure he loved.  And after 4 hours of searching for the cat, both inside and outside the house, it was Ben that called me over to Kristin’s kitchen shouting “Daddy! Daddy! Meaw! Meaw!” and indeed, the kitten was there.  Whew.  I grabbed the kitten and rushed outside to show Kristin and Bryon before returning to the house only seconds later to find Ben crying.  Just before Ben found the kitten, he was consumed with Kristin’s other cat, Badger, who is not always kid-friendly.  I warned Ben – “Meaw Got” (Cat bites) and told him to stay away.  The moment I left the house, Ben cornered Badger and tried to pet him.  Badger then bit Ben in the arm.  I hope Ben will remember that and not try to pet Badger next time.

The week ahead will continue to be busy and will likely rush by just as fast.  I plan on spending more time at UW-Whitewater to continue preparing for the upcoming semester, but with a 1 hour+ drive each way, I will try to find as much work as I can complete from Dad’s house.  On Saturday morning, I am planning to do a 5K at the Irish Fest with Kristin, Sandy, and Maggie.  There is an Aussie rules match against the Minnesota Freeze just afterwards, which will be my first match back with the Milwaukee Bombers and actually my first footy match of the year.  I guess things have been so busy this year for us that footy has taken a back seat to it all.  Perhaps running a 5K before the match is not the best course of action, but I don’t think I ever had a chance to do a run with 3 sisters before, so I just can’t pass this opportunity up.

It Was Almost Like A Song

… but it’s much too sad to write.  Goodbyes are always tough.  The last week here in Alabama has really been no fun at all.  I guess that is just one way of knowingthat we have made some impact on others down here.  We already know how much these Southeners have meant to us.  Man, goodbyes are always tough.

I turned in my keys and my ID card to JSU today and got a chance to say goodbye to some very good friends.  A few at JSU had some very generous words that they shared with me about the impact I had during our three years down here.  I was just part of a great team, however, as there are many others here that make significant contributions without ever looking for recognition.  What a great environment to have been working in and I will look forward to visiting either during the upcoming SAIS conferences or race week.

Last night it was goodbye to the many friends I made at lodge over the past two years.  These are just a tremendous group of guys that was really a pleasure seeing every Monday night.  I should only be so fortunate to find another comparable lodge up in Wisconsin.

Sunday it was goodbye to some of the neighbors during a homemade ice-cream party that Linda and Donald hosted for us.  A few in the subdivision got together and gave us a very nice digital photo picture frame.  It was totally unexpected, but a great gift that we can use to display the pictures we have taken during the last few years here.  It will be even tougher these last two days as we will have to share our last goodbyes with our best friends.  Man, goodbyes are always tough.

I picked up our 26′ u-haul truck today and was very impressed.  I had a message on my phone this morning that the truck I was supposed to pick-up at a location in north Anniston had a problem where it’s engine light could not be turned off.  I started to worry.  The 24′ truck that I took on the drive down here three years ago was such a clunker that I vowed never to drive a truck again.  It was a very long drive when I arrived in Alabama as there were many hills that you had to climb on the way past Huntsville to Birmingham on I-65 and then just outside of Birmingham on I-20 towards Oxford.  I remember very well having to get a full head of steam as I approached hills and started to panic when I slowed down to 35 miles an hour barely reaching the tops.  I even remember rocking back and forth near the tops as if that would help the truck continue on.  I literally lost 5 pounds in sweat in those last hours of driving.  I was re-directed to a location in west Anniston and the truck we got has only 17,000 miles on it and it drives like my own car – very smooth with some good pick-up when you step on the gas.  Awesome.  Brandon (one of our Wisconsin neighbors) came with me and Donald to pick-up the truck and then stayed with me as we loaded it up with all of the items that we had in storage since April.  A few Thai friends joined us after two hours and helped us a great deal by helping us get the final boxes in the truck.  It has been in the mid-90’s this week and the heat had just about sapped the last bit of strength we had.  Hans (our German neighbor) came over for a little bit to help load a few items from the house in the truck.  We have about 90% of everything loaded up on the truck, which should be manageable to load with minimal help on Wednesday.

We have also had a rush of showings too, which has been keeping us positive.  The couple that looked at our house last week did put an offer on the house around the corner (nuts!), but we had another couple look at our house on Monday, one look today at 5:00pm, and another showing scheduled tomorrow for 11:00am.  With all of this traffic, hopefully something will happen.  It only takes one.