It's Business as Usual in the Riviera Maya and Cancun

As I sit here checking and rechecking on the status and position of Hurricane Gustav, I am glad to tell you that the storm did not impact Cancun and the Riviera Maya in the slightest. While I pray for Southern Louisiana, know that if you have a vacation booked this week, you can stop worrying and go with confidence.

Okay, NOW I'm Excited!

I have to admit, I've been pretty bored with the whole presidential process

until now

John McCain chooses his VP

She graduated from Wasilla High School in 1982 and I graduated East Anchorage High School in 1983. I love Alaska and the people of Alaska..they're so real an no nonsense. I'm really excited about this. Oh year, and she's a woman! I especially love that that was NOT the first thing I thought when I saw the news.

Backup, Backup, Backup.

Once a month I download, restore and test the nightly backup we do to our database. Today was that day. It went swimmingly. The process helps me sleep better at night knowing that our backup is valid.

Portability, People!

For today, a rant.

Several times recently I've been emailed something I needed to see in formats that I cannot view. The offenders were in Microsoft Publisher format and then Power Point.

People....send things in a more portable format...for instance, .pdf the stupid thing..everyone can view a .pdf.

You don't even have to pay for any expensive program to be able to do it..just go to www.cutepdf.com and download this perfectly safe freeware.

Rant over.

First Day of School

Son, Last Year


Son, This Year



Daughter, Last Year



Daughter, This Year

Kids Flying Alone

You've probably seen this news story. A little girl flying as an unaccompanied minor wasn't properly cared for by United Airlines upon arrival at Washington Dulles airport.

United Airlines, by their own admission, did not follow their own policies in this situation. The parents and the ten year old girl had a pretty frightening hour until they were reunited. It was a regrettable situation all around.

This situation could probably have been avoided if the girl had been taught some basic things she needed to know before she flew unaccompanied.

• First of all, she needed to be taught what to expect from the flight attendants. She needed to know that she was not to leave the airplane except in the company of a flight attendant. She needed to be given permission to question the people in authority in that situation. She needed to ask that flight attendant "Excuse me, but aren't you supposed to be walking me off the plane?"


• Next, she needed to be taught what to do if she found herself alone. As it was, she went with the flow of people winding their way to baggage claim. When she was finally afraid enough to start to cry an adult approached her and ask if she needed help.
  
  I have told my children that if they find themselves lost in a public situation, to immediately approach either a) a woman with children (with rare exception a mother will drop everything to reunite a lost child with her parents) or b) a person in authority in the situation (like a store clerk or a ticket agent)
  
  If a lost child waits to be approached by someone in that situation, who do you think is quite likely to approach that child? Someone, perhaps, looking for a vulnerable child?


• Lastly, (and I understand that this might not always be possible) she should have been given a cell phone with instructions to immediately dial her parents cell phone as soon as she landed and stay on the phone with them until they were physically together.

You have to count on the probability that everyone messes up. You can't trust your kids to chance. Equip them to protect themselves.

Rock Band

The kids and I are up in Oklahoma at my sister's house today. My brother from Ohio is here with his kids and my dad and his wife are here too.

The latest news is that I'm in a rock band. I'm really bad at it, but it's fun.

Texas Photobooth Company

This was the booth across from us at the bridal show yesterday. They were a LOT of fun and I'm sure they'll get alot of business from the show.

Fort Worth Bridal Show

Terrah and I are here at the Fort Worth Bridal Show with our friend Gina from Real Resorts (THE ROYAL in Cancun, THE ROYAL in Playa del Carmen, Gran Caribe Real and Gran Porto Real).

It's just now starting to get busy now that most of the church services have let out. We are working the Plano show next month so we are taking notes about what works and what doesn't.

Rain! Rain! Don't Go Away!

Wow! What a great rain we've had this morning. According to weather.com we may be seeing this weather for the next 10 days. Glorious!

In other news, Philip and his parents are both sick as dogs at the Intercontinental Bucharest. In our office, Leah is similarly ill. I've ordered her to go home.

And...it's Friday! YAY!

Help Wanted

Sometimes you have to wing it...

My son hates to have his hair washed. His head is THE MOST sensitive head I've ever heard of or dealt with.

Seriously.

His sister I thought was bad, but this kid...un.real.

Anyway, I am guilty of letting his hair go and go and go between washings because I just hate to hurt him and I hate to hear the complaining. This summer it's been really bad. So, finally I've caved and I'm trying to wash his hair about every other day...protests or not.

Last night I had a fun idea. I told Trey to go get his earplugs in and his swimsuit on and meet me in the front yard. I brought out the shampoo and I washed his hair in the front yard. He loved running from the hose while I rinsed off his hair. It made a usually miserable few minutes a little more tolerable. I think it will be a regular part of our routine until the weather changes.

The Mall

I'm not a big fan of malls, but sometimes they must be endured.

Take yesterday for instance. I went to Nordstrom to refresh my T-shirt supply and replace my very worn out Clarks Clogs. (I'm a simple girl.) I decided to walk out to the food court to get something to eat and on the way I passed a kiosk selling some sort of beauty product having to do with minerals from the dead sea.

The girl was so engaging that I stopped. (I had time to kill since I had to pick up daughter from Math Club at a specific time.) The girl had kits she was selling that included a nail buffer, cuticle oil and hand lotion. The original price she quoted was in the ballpark of $50.00. As time went on she upped it to two kits for $50.00. Finally she said she'd sell me one for $25.00.

I hadn't gone to the mall for nail products, so I still went on my way. Later in the day I decided that I really did like the way that one buffed nail looked. It occured to me that perhaps a suitable (less expensive) alternative could be found at Sally Beauty Supply in our strip center.

So, I stopped in this morning. I purchased two different nail buffers. Both of them did a great job. They were about two dollars each. I also bought an 8 fluid ounce of cuticle oil for $2.50. (The one included in the kit was about a quarter ounce.) Now all my nails look just like the one she buffed with her $50.00 kit. For one tenth of the price.

The guy at Sally Beauty told me that at Christmas there was a kiosk at the mall near us selling flat irons for $150.00 that they came to Sally to purchase at the regular Sally's price of $50.00 each. They would come and buy them all at full price and sell them at triple the price at the mall.

See why I don't like the mall?

London and Paris Baby!

I just learned that I won a Europe booking incentive. The prize is a seven night trip to London and Paris. The hotel in London is the Le Meridian Picadilly and the property in Paris is the Westin Paris.

These are much nicer hotels than I would stay in if I were paying. :-)

I'm trying to get ahold of my best friend to see when she's free to go.

YAY!

Mother Daughter Weekend!

We have returned from our Mother/Daughter weekend at the Royal Hideaway. We had a great time. I even finally learned how to operate a Hobie Cat! Daughter went parasailing at Marina Maroma.

Good Times!