Update from Durham

Time flies between blogs. I have a reasonably good excuse this time however, for some of the days at least.

Normally I blog when I get in the office, while I run a virus scan or Spybot/Adware scan or defrag my disk or compress/backup my mailboxes. The past couple of weeks I have been trying...TRYING to do some sort of exersize semi reguarly. I find the mornings the best time to do it.

So I went to the pool a couple of days before work. I can't say I really swim that much but at least I am moving constantly in the water. Movement is always good and the water can provide resistance, which gives be more bang for the buck as far as time spent and physical effort. And it is low impact so I don't jar by back or knees or ankles. It's getting a little cool in the mornings however and the pool closes in a week or two so I will have to figure somthing else out.

I also have cycled into work a few times. The first day I did it I did not have any real trouble but it did seem a bit daunting climbing some of the low grade but long streaches of inclines. I bring a change of close and towel and such and shower at work. I road the bus back home that day. It was the plan actually, to see how it would go. The bus has a bike rack so I rode to the bus center, ploped the bike on the bike rack, rode < 20 min then plucked the bike off the rack and rode home. all in all about a 35 minute trip. The next time I rode the bike, Tuesday, this week, I rode it both to and from the office. The trip did not seem as strenuous as the first day. Could be because I had an MP3 player in my ear this time. That helped pass the time, and I rode a different bike; one with street tires instead of the nobby trail tires. My thought was less road resistance. Maybe my body was just better prepaired. Who knows. Anyway the trip, as I travel it, is 7.5 miles one way. There are more direct routes to Nortel from my house, It is about 5.5 miles by car, but there are no bike paths or bike friendly roads the route I would normaly go so I take a more cirquitous route.

Anyway I decided to try exercising again, not so much to loose weight, that is always a struggle for me no matter how much exercise I get. I more just feel better and, more importantly, am in a better mood most days, if I do somthing physical. And I am trying to not be as much of a "pill" (as grandma use to say) lately.

As far as the rest of the family goes:
Michelle has almost completed the first nine weeks of school and will be off for three weeks starting September 19th. From what we can tell from progress reports etc she is doing well this year, as always. She is a little frustraited with the band director. I don't blame her honestly, here we are almost at the end of the first quarter and all the further they have come, litterally, is learn to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb". But that is a BLOG for another day I suppose.

Michelle's soccer season officially starts this Sunday. The team played three friendly games a couple weekends ago. They really did not even get a practice in before those games. They did OK. It was a good warmup to get everyone back into the soccer state of mind before the season started up. Michelle scored 3 goals in those friendlies. The team won 2 of the 3 games.

Kyle has been busy with Drumline mostly. He is one of the better players but struggles a bit putting it together with marching. He said he is starting to get it. And in fact he did fine at the first footbal came 2 weeks ago.

Kyle has worked at Coldstone Creamery this past summer. It is an icecream franchise not to far from the house. He seemed to enjoy it but this past week he was offered a job a "Moe's Southwestern Grill". So he gave his 2 week notice a Coldstone. He has a friend who works at Moe's that reccomended Kyle for the job. It's probably a little more money and maybe better hours. That is the hope anyway.

Other than thay, Kyle has gotten back into the school mode without issue. The school had some issues but that too is probably a BLOG for another day. He is taking Band, Civics, Computer Graphics, and... um... I THINK physics. Next semester he is scheduled to take PE, English, Band and Integrated Math. Again, I am not 100% positive. I am sure he will correct me if I got it wrong.

Tyler is busy busy busy. The marching band duties; VP, Uniform Crew, Squad Leader etc. consumes much of his time. He is still working at Harris Teeter, and is also doing field maintenance for the local soccer association. He is also still dating Melodie. We don't see as much of her lately because she is also busy with work and school etc.. Tyler is taking AP Physics, AP Psychology, Band, Spanish and Calculous (AP?) this semester. I am not sure what he is scheduled for next semester. I assume Band, Calculous, Physics and Psycology. It seems like I am missing somthing. I am sure someone will let me know.

Bob is back at ECU. He decided to not take the News editng job. He decided school was more important and while he probably could have pulled it off, it would have been a push. He is still looking for work in Greenville. He turned 21 last month. Karen and I managed to get him there alive. That's half the battle these days. I am sure Bob told me his class schedule but honestly I do not remember what it was and cant find it in e-mail etc. Oh well maybe he will also correct/augment my efforts here.

Karen has been busy getting everyone in the school mode, keeping everyone organized and well fed. Things get crazy with everyone going different directions every day. Her Bowling has started up again. She is the treasurer this year. That requires a little extra paper work each week. She also does the treasurer duties for Michelle's Girl Scout troop, not to mention the family. She has been helping Tyler with the soccer fields (as have I), getting them ready for the first games this weekend.

In a nutshell that is the latest.