Sheep Guarding Llama

I had to get up at a quarter till seven this morning so that I could get logged in and do some morning work.  Pretty normal for a Saturday for me.  I put in a few hours before anyone else got up which worked out pretty well.

The weather was really nice again today.  My family is really fortunate that they came down this weekend.  They managed to avoid the incredible heat and get to see the DFW at its best.

I ended up having just tons of work that needed my attention today and got very little free time during the day.  Late in the morning, everyone went down to the pool to swim while I watched the dogs and worked.  I was planning to wrap some stuff up and head on down to the pool myself but just before I was able to do so Liesl was brought up because she was exhausted.  So Liesl slept and I worked and watched her and the dogs for several more hours.

At least the day turned out to be very productive.  I got just tons of work done.  And Liesl got a nice nap and the dogs did not have to be lonely.

Dominica, Gayle and Gwen came up from swimming around three thirty.  We visited for a while and then everyone showered and got ready to go to La Cima for our six o’clock dinner reservations.  Even when we have plenty of time it always seems like it is a rush to get ready and to get out of the door.

Dinner was excellent.  There was a wedding at the club tonight so we dined in the Lakeside Room which is neat because it has views of our apartment and my office.  This was Dominica’s first time ever having dinner in Lakeside.  Nicki and I ate there once previously.  It makes a nice change from the Skyline Dining Room where we normally eat.

After dinner we headed back to the apartment and turned in early.  Aunt Gayle and Gwen are hoping to be on the road very early tomorrow and want to be up around four in the morning which is pretty crazy.  I was the first to go to bed, however, as Liesl was upset and not feeling well and needed me to stay with her or else she would cry a lot.  The upside is that I was able to go to bed nice and early and get some real sleep for a change.

This morning when I left for work Liesl called out “I Love You” as I headed out the door.  She is so sweet.

Very little going on today.  I’ve been feeling pretty exhausted all week.  Some more interviews today.

After work we went out to do some shopping.  We hit the storage unit to drop things off from cleaning around the house.  From there we went to McDonald’s for dinner.  We discovered that Liesl loves McDonald’s Filet-o-fish sandwiches and playing in the McDonald’s playground.  She had great fun playing on the jungle gym.

We also went to Kroger and did our grocery shopping.  It was a busy evening.

At home we just spent the evening cleaning and preparing for our guests tomorrow.

This morning Datamation published my article on The Differences Between Managing Engineers and Support Professionals, one of my article series on IT management that I write for them.

For some reason I was really exhausted today.  I ended up sleeping in late and then working from home for just a little big this morning before heading into the office.  I got in around nine thirty.

No interviews for me today so I am using the day to catch up on the “normal work” – ho hum.  Around ten thirty I ran out and picked up coffee for the team from Panera Bread.  Traditionally everyone on the team seems to drink Starbucks but since being down in Texas I have made several runs to Panera for their light roast, which is very different from what you get at Starbucks, and several hard core Starbucks fans have made a point of telling me how much they love Panera’s coffee, that they now drink it regularly and how it had never occurred to them to even try it previously.

I am always surprised because I think of Panera as a premier coffee destination (along with McDonald’s McCafe and Tim Horton’s) where most of my friends would choose to go for coffee naturally should they be out looking for some and not brewing their own at home.  With their free and easy to use WiFi Internet access, wide range of food options and casual atmosphere that makes reading and working easy to do I am surprised that more people do not use them all of the time.

This evening Dominica and I had originally planned to go to La Cima for pasta night but we were pretty worn out after I got home and decided against it.  We figured that it would be best to just stay in instead.

I can’t believe that August is over already.  This year has been flying past us.  We have now been in Texas for almost nine months which is very hard to believe.  We have been in Texas longer than we lived in North Brunswick, I think.  In several weeks we will have been in Texas as long as we were in Peekskill before finding out that we were moving to Texas!  Now that puts it into some perspective.

I was really tired this morning and overslept a bit.  It was a rush to get in to work today.  Today there were several more interviews in my week long interview marathon.

Not much news today.   Busy day but nothing too interesting.

I came home  a little early so that we could get up to La Cima for our dinner reservations.  Tonight is the last evening of August and we have to use our “Plus Membership Benefits” tonight or lose them.  We had a lot of benefits to use during the month of August and we were struggling to get up to the club enough to get all of our benefits!

Our reservations were for six which is perfect because it means that Liesl has only just woken up from her afternoon nap in time to go to dinner.  Liesl has been napping later and later recently and has shifted from napping during my lunch break to not going to sleep until after I normally would go back to work which is better for me getting to see her during the day and better for going out to dinner.

We had a good dinner tonight.  I opted for all kinds of food that I do not normally eat including salmon and cucumber tartar for my appetizer and the shrimp and crab cioppino for my main meal.  Very healthy.  The cioppino was a lobster broth and very tasty.  My father would love it, I think.

I was very wise tonight and got my dessert to go.  That made for a more appropriately sized meal for me.

Liesl did really well at dinner tonight too.  She is getting more and more mature and getting used to how to behave when she is at the club.  We have also learned more of what to feed her and how to pace the evening.  It is very encouraging to see how well she does eating in a fancy restaurant all of the time though.  It is very good training for her.

The cutest thing is to watch how well Liesl does with her napkin.  She keeps it in her lap just like she is supposed to do and after almost every bite of food she brings it up and wipes her mouth – just like an adult. She is so proper and elegant.  It is truly adorable.