The Latest

There’s not much to write about at the moment.

Michael is attending Ms S’s summer day camp, since he needs vigorous daily activity and mental stimulation surrounded by qualified teachers and kids his own age as opposed to staying home with sister S and watching movies all day. He likes it and always brings home stories to tell, as well as fifteen pounds per week of painted and glued Popsicle sticks, rocks, beads, strings and other forms of mixed media artwork.

Sister B has her first job slinging pizzas. What could be better? I suppose if she’d gotten that job at a pizza place I actually like, that would be better… but it’s work experience and you can’t beat that. From what she tells me things are going well and she actually likes what she does; she sounds eager and motivated to advance her position and get more working hours per week. I’m praying to God this sticks, and Sister B takes her daily dose of adult responsibility.

Sister S is, aside from watching movies, volunteering at a pet adoption center, working mostly with cats. Not a paying gig of course, but it is work experience and will be good for her in years to come. Later this year she turns 18, and has maintained this notion that when she arrives at the magic milestone of 18 years, she will suddenly be imbued with all of the wisdom, powers, rights and freedoms of a GROWN-UP. We’ll see how that works out.

Sister L is volunteering at the zoo three days a week. She has a full plate this summer, between working at the zoo and spending time with her friends. She still visits every week and generally maintains a cheery disposition. It’s still amusing to me to see how much she’s like Michael, and yet how many times she gripes at him for doing the very things she does.

For her birthday, I gave my wife the box set of all the episodes of “The Six Million Dollar Man”. We didn’t grow up together, but each of us loved this show when it was on in the 70′s. We knew it was cheesy and the effects were bad (e.g. the “Bigfoot” episodes) but we were hooked just the same. It’s fun to steal an hour every few nights and watch an episode, and wonder what it was we were so captivated by back then. Simpler times, I say.

Summer has finally arrived in Portland. July 4th marked the first day that the sun came out in earnest and stayed that way. And now that we’re past the cold, drizzly grey that we’ve been subjected to for the last few months, I just wish it wasn’t so darn hot. Okay, okay – in light of the temperatures elsewhere in the country, we have nothing to complain about. We’re just not used to it. Heck, I moved here to get out of the heat of Sacramento.

In summary, there’s not much to tell. Life goes on.