News Update

Another week has rolled by on the shore of Lake Superior. The weather has turned hot; the air conditioner is running; summer is here! I managed to get out for a couple of golf games this week. There was some improvement as I posted scores of 84 and 86, and dropped my handicap to 15.1. The garden is doing fine, except for the potatoes—nothing there—I guess those Safeway potatoes must be treated with something to keep them from germinating. So far we've only been using radishes and rhubarb.

I've had a bit of help-desk work this week as schools scramble to complete student report cards and end-of-year reporting to the Ministry. Once this is surge is over, it should be the end of my work with the small schools of northwestern Ontario. Travis and I made back some of our money in our investment training. We also had our final class in the direct-teaching part of the course. Now we move on to a couple of research projects, and then the establishment of investment teams. A memory chip failed in my laptop, so it's at the University tech shop over the weekend getting a replacement chip. As a result, I can not tell you exactly where I'm at in investments, but it's improved a little, despite a mixed week on the markets.

Erin worked all week (Part time is not what it used to be!), and Kristian got back in day care. He's is talking more and more with us, but is often shy in groups.

Impact Promotions had its grand opening last evening, so we attended that and celebrated along with Trav and the rest of the company.

Wendy has continued to look after us in her usual style (To which we've become accustomed!); she has been spending a lot of effort in recent weeks to take care of BJ. He's still hanging on, and some days shows improved activity. We're not sure what to make of it. Wendy also continues to apply on jobs from time to time; nothing has developed from it yet, but we keep hoping.

And that's about it for this week.

News Update

Another week has passed and summer has come to the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The garden is flourishing (finally) and the reseeded parts of the front lawn have germinated and are growing out nicely. I have finished a little data project for our schools, and taken a couple of support calls, but really there's not much happening on the work front!

As the week began, we celebrated Fathers' Day (early) and my children gave me a coupon for ten rounds of golf! So, that was great! And, with the improved weather, I managed to get out for two games this week. The second was quite satisfactory (and I kept both below 90) and my handicap remains at 15.3.

Wendy and I have had a couple of meetings with financial advisors this week. We're considering how we should manage our registered pension money and whether we should add to our investment in this house. We cancelled our satellite TV, our phone service and our internet service, and amalgamated them all with Shaw. Unfortunately, our phone installation had a problem, so we could not make long distance calls for most of the week! They finally fixed it this afternoon, so we're fully back in business.

Travis and I had a bad week with our investments. We made a mistake of going against our training and strategy, and the falling market early this week made us pay for it! As a result, we both lost money for the week, and I now stand at only 30.4% gain for the three months. Still, that's pretty good!

BJ has continued to amaze us with improved mobility and health. We don't know how long this will last.

Erin has completed her fulltime work, and I now working part-time while also getting her training program in place and enjoying the summer. Kristian continues to progress very well. He now has a batting tee, and enjoys playing ball in the back yard, the living room, the kitchen—what a kid! He also got a haircut this week; he's continuing the cuteness theme.

Travis continues with work as per usual; his major accomplishment this week was the purchase of a new iPhone 3G S! I can't even quite figure out how to operate the thing! In spite of being a techno-geek, I'm having trouble keeping up these days!

And that's the kind of week it's been.

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior, in my hometown. It's been an exciting week in our household as the Penguins performed the improbable—coming back to win games six and seven to overcome the Red Wings and win the Stanley Cup. I did not think they could manage to beat Detroit in Detroit in game seven, but Travis did not lose heart. He explained to me that Penguins had faced four 'Game Sevens' on the road in franchise history, and had won them all! So, make it five! They've still won them all!

Otherwise, it's been a quiet week around home. I've been doing a little work on a small data project for our soon-to-be-former schools. There still remains a little work to be done with student data reporting at the end of the month, and then I'll be able to wrap things up. The garden is finally coming along, although the weather refuses to cooperate. I've reseeded some patches in the front lawn—it also needs some heat! And the investment training continues. Trav and I had a very good week, and I'm now at 34.3% for the three months. So, I've applied for my online brokerage package, and we'll soon see how it goes in reality! Scary!

Wendy has been remodelling the laundry room. I've helped with installation of some additional shelving and it's now looking much roomier. We have Eric/A and the boys here this weekend—I think we're celebrating Father's Day a week early! Anyway, it's nice to have them around.

Erin just has a few days of full-time work left. She bought herself one of those little netbooks this week, and it seems to run just fine. Kristian continues to develop and express himself better and better. We are much encouraged by the efforts being made with him in speech-therapy. It's paying off. He can express himself even better in signs, but we don't know the signs!

BJ seems to be making quite a recovery and is getting around pretty well now, although he still refuses stairs. He's also started eating better, so that's also encouraging.

And that's about it for this week.

News Update

We pass this week in our hometown on the shore of Lake Superior, but it is a momentous week nonetheless! The week begins with Eric/A and the boys here. We enjoy the visit. On Monday, we get the news that the Ministry of Education has decided to end the existence of the small boards who have been employing me for the last four years. This is a fair shock for me, although some of my colleagues claim to have seen it coming! (They might have mentioned it to me!) What it means is that I am unemployed for sure for next year. I have been expecting a contract for about one hundred days, so we'll have to think of how to replace the income! The prime option right now is to complete the transition to retirement. Wendy has dusted off her resume and is considering a couple of advertised jobs.

The weather has been decidedly non-June-like and I even had to cover my tomatoes one night as frost was threatened. I have managed to get out to practise golf a couple of times. The ball is not going particularly well! (Probably need to change brands of golf ball, or get new clubs!) The lawns are progressing well with the occasional rain even though we're not getting much heat.

BJ is doing decidedly better. He still needs to be carried around a fair bit, but he's back to walking some on his own as well. We continue to be concerned.

Kristian had a big session of hearing testing this week. He has learned enough of the process to cooperate effectively and the technicians were very confident that valid readings had been achieved. We look forward to the results once all their calculations are done. Kristian continues to develop more facility with vocabulary and communication, and he has a wonderful personality. Erin moves toward the completion of her full-time employment later this month. She is looking forward to a summer with lots of time for Kristian before he begins Kindergarten in the Fall, and she heads back to school herself. She will be working part-time doing some of her current duties while she goes to school.

Now that Trav had graduated, he is continuing to enjoy his work at Impact Promotions, as well as the odd project on his own. He's been particularly happy to see the resurgent Penguins come back to make a good series of the Stanley Cup playoffs, although tonight's 5-0 spanking did not impress him! He has also continued his training with me for investments. We had a scary week, but eventually it worked out well. I'm now at 31.3% gain in just under three months.

And that's about it for this week.