iamspartacus.net

Picked up a new book recently and it has totally changed the way I organize and maintain my photos:

Went out recently to shoot a few locations I have had my eye on in Lawrence, one of which is an old storage / garage door on Mississippi Street across from the KU football stadium. Like the end result. Very apropos for hippie town.

After mom (Grandma to some, Jeannie Sr. to everyone else) pointed out to me that she couldn't upload photos to the photo gallery anymore, I began digging into things to see what could be wrong. After a few hours of tedium, the end result is this: it's gone. The database files for the photo gallery have gone missing from the hosting server and sadly, the hosting provider does not have a backup of those files. Long story short, we have work to do in recreating the photo gallery. And I'll be devising a system to ensure I get a clean nightly backup in light of recent events. Sorry, everyone.

Along with about a zillion other firsts this year, Kaysia experienced another one this past week. And how cool for Jeannie and me -- first kid in the family old enough to vote!

The sticker stayed on for at lesat a couple of hours after we returned home -- either a sign of patriotism or merely that she forgot she plastered a sticker to her face at the voting booth.

Below is a paper Andrew wrote for school which I felt was good web site fodder. Nicely done, A.

Look Back and Smile

I couldn’t think of why my stepmom Jeannie was so devastated.  It was as if she needed her arm amputated. As she walked into the room, I immediately knew what was happening. When I was 10 years old, my dog Niki was put down. She had a tumor in her hip, and she kept collapsing. We took her to the vet to get it removed, but they ended up not getting all of it out. However, I am not telling a story about her death, but instead about her life.

Niki was a very happy dog. She would always want to go outside and play, if she wasn’t entertaining herself by making her teeth bleed on a bone, running around the house, stealing the bread off the counter (even when it was in the hardest to reach spots), or napping on my brother’s bed.

Niki, as I said, loved to play, being a black Labrador. She would go to the door whenever she heard the keys or her leash. When we got in the car, she would always jump in the driver’s or passenger’s seat. It got quite annoying if you ever got out of the car for something. Her favorite place to go was the dog park. We would bring a tennis ball and we would chase her around until she got so tired she couldn’t run anymore, or if we got too tired chasing her.

Out of all those things, I think Niki’s favorite thing to do was swim.  I would go out to my grandma and grandpa’s house with my family, and Niki would swim in their pond with the other dogs. Niki also liked the hose. She would put her mouth right in front of the stream, open her mouth and shake her mouth back and forth.

“Don’t worry, she’s a sweetheart”, Jeannie said, answering the door.

“Are you sure she won’t bite me?” the person said, cautiously.

“Yes, she barks all the time”, Jeannie replied.

My stepmom Jeannie would have to go through that with any new guest that came to the house.  Niki was a howler. She would bark and scream like she was being attacked, but instead of being offensive she was just scared. At the same time she was barking, she was backing away with her tail tucked. She was even afraid of the pizza man.

Now that it is a few years in the future, I feel very relieved. Niki had a good life, one filled with joy and happiness (and bread). I have come to the realization that life is very short, some shorter than others, and we should treasure it while it lasts.

Here are the corner of Centennial and Yale things have been busy. But I think I've used that line before. It's been a month since the last write-up and during that time, let's see...

• Kaysia started her season at the Renaissance Festival. She keeps coming home from the festival with roses that guys buy her during the day -- having a hard time figuring that one out.  She also lost her last baby tooth -- at 18! Though she's not very fond of the dentist office now. She's also starting classes in a couple of weeks.
• Andrew auditioned and was accepted for the West Junior Chorale, which means not only is he singing now, but he's starting school an hour earlier -- willingly! This from the boy who could sleep 12 hours a day easily!
• Logann helped me stage the treasure for the UAC Pirate Cruise back on the 22nd of August. We floated the Kaw and buried treasure on 3 different sand bars. The pirate cruise was scheduled for the following day but was rained out... twice! A month later we finally pulled it off and found 2 out of 3 of the treasures.
• Jessica joined the Free State cheerleaders for a kids spirit clinic one Sunday afternoon and then got to cheer the Free State High School football game later that week. She was awesome, and now she's signed up to do the same at LHS this coming week.
• Martin did NOT go to the principal's office. That's part of the daily report we get when asking him about his day at kindergarten. He's having a blast with school, though he's pretty tired at the end of the day. There's no other kid quite like Skippy.
• Jeannie and I took a weekend off -- went to Austin (along with Craig) to visit Kathy over Labor Day weekend. Had a great time. The four of us rented kayaks and hit the San Marcos river south of Austin and found a little white water to play in. Really enjoyed the time with adults and no kids around -- it's a rarity around here.

Okay I guess that covers at least one small detail about each of us. I know I left out a ton of stuff, but that will have to wait.

So summer finally came to a close, much to my chagrin, and overnight our schedules went crazy. The kids, the adults -- everyone. Were it not for weekends, I think we would all implode.

Um, yeah. So I don't really have a tie-in for the photo above. I thought about trying some sort of "life goes fast -- like a motorcycle", but I just wasn't feeling it. Fact is, I thought the photo was kind of fun, so it's here and it's staying. I hope you like it. If not, jog on.

Andrew is no longer the youngest grade in school. He's enjoying 8th grade -- at least mostly. He made it into the Newspaper and Photography classes, both of which he really seems to like. What he doesn't like, however, is that whole getting up at 6:30am bit. Ah, the joy of re-entry.

Logann is starting his Fall session of CYT, which will occupy a good deal of his time over the coming months. And he is putting the finishing touches on his anti-gravity potion. Pictured at left is a recent trial run at a local park. Logann is quite proud of his inventions. In addition to his accomplishments in the levitation arena, Logann has been spending significant time behind the wheel lately. And as much as I would love to use that statement as a segue into a healthy bashing of Logann's driving abilities, the truth is he's really good. Jeannie took him driving a number of times over recent weeks and more recently, I went with him. It appears all those long nights playing Grand Theft Auto actually paid off! Next step: turn 16 and acquire license.

Kaysia is set to work another season at the Renaissance Festival. She worked there the past 2 years in a booth making and selling wax roses (and no doubt swooning over various Robin-Hood-type guys that walked the fairgrounds, but we won't go into that right now). So once again she's prepared to dawn her Renaissance-era garb and work the show starting the first weekend in September. We'll be sure to show up in large numbers to heckle.

Let's see. Other areas of interest: Martin. Martin is in kindergarten this year -- big step for the little man. His daily response to our question of "how was school today?" is always the same: "Good! And I didn't have to go to the principal's office today." Not sure exactly who put the fear of God into Martin about the principal, but I suppose it's a good thing because without that healthy dose of fear, Martin is left to his own devices, which can oftentimes render unpredictable results. The latest creation of Martin's was chronicled with my camera and is featured below. Welcome to our world:

Jeannie is in full-swing with the school year, reportedly with a good batch of kids this semester!  She's crazy busy, which makes me that much more grateful that she's taking a semester off from grad school. To put things into perspective however, in addition to her busy teaching schedule, she came to me the other day with this realization: in the same 24 hour period she had taken our youngest to kindergarten roundup, and also taken our oldest on a college interview. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

And let us not forget Jessica, who is probably the most excited in our family about the new school year.

She loves third grade, her teacher -- pretty  much everything except the 6:30am wake-up call.  New this year is her after-school schedule. She and Martin both walk home after school now where Andrew or Kaysia watch over them until Jeannie returns later in the day. Big-time responsibility for an eight-year old.

I guess that's it. Oh, Jeannie and I are taking a mini-vacation over Labor Day weekend to visit Kathy in Austin. More to come following that trip, no doubt.

Here we are, almost at the end of July, which means August, which means just two more weeks until Summer is essentially over and the school year begins again. I know the warmer months generally move faster than their colder counterparts, but this summer has broken all the records in that area. Watching Jessica spin in the swing tied to the giant oak tree in our front yard only served as a reminder of just how quickly it all flies by.

I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never be able to keep this up to date with all of the major events that take place in our family. I was able to come closer to that goal when the kids were younger and fewer in number. Not now. But I can't let one particular event go unchronicled -- Logann's first date. I'll spare the details in favor of staying on Logann's good side. Logann and Hannah went on a double-date with Kaysia and Tucker last weekend. I think their expressions in the photo tell a better story than I could with words:

And lastly, where would I be without my sweetheart? Well, I'd be in a world with a little less sarcasm and sass, but who needs that? Jeannie has enjoyed the summer immensely, from what I can tell. But as we inch closer to August, I can see classroom preparation, lesson plans and thoughts of "how do I keep these kids awake and semi-interested" occupy her mind more and more lately. We find that oftentimes, the best method for staying in the present is a deck of cards, good music, and a heavy dose of sarcasm and innuendo. ...and perhaps a martini or two.

About a billion other things happened since the last time I wrote, including a short but sweet visit from Jeannie's sister Kathy, and Up a Creek's first big float weekend of the summer (finally). The above, however, seem to rise to the top of the list... at least for now.

Okay, I'm late in getting the photos online but they're finally there. So for all of you who were waiting to see the pictures from July 4th (read: Mom), you can access them in the Photo Gallery here.