Boston

Remember my post a year or so ago about Sean and sports? Well,I think he made a good decision. Despite a very weird fall rowing season, our club was able to send 3 boats to compete in the Head of the Charles in Boston. Below are the highlights...


Grandma always said, "A poor workman blames his tools..." However, these kids spent most of the fall season behind the eight-ball. They were flooded out of the boathouse, TWICE!
They could not get on the water due to raw sewage leakage in the Chattahoochee. They drove over an hour north to try and get some time on the water. They got up and tried to work out at 5:30 am (still dark) despite it being the rainiest fall ever.

I am proud of them.

This was a weekend of firsts for my first boy.

• First national competition (38 out of 79 teams from 5 different countries)
  
• first plane trip (I know...)
  
• his first visit to New England

AND, the Saints are still ahead....:)

Sunday afternoon

It is a lazy and cold Sunday afternoon. The sound of Saints football (thank you FOX for finally showing a game....) can be heard from NO LESS THAN 3 tv's in the house as well as the required war-whoops and yells.

Daniel walked by on his way outside-- (apparently he did not get the NFL gene) -- and said to me

"Do you think Dad is on drugs?"
"No," I replied, "he just loves his Saints football."

Attitude

I woke up this morning, early. Sean had rowing practice at 5:30. I admire his determination and am proud that he has qualified for the Head of the Charles. However, there are family wide repercussions, because extra practices come at the expense of parental sleep. This morning Rhett drove him and napped in the car. I have the unfortunate malady of not being able to fall back asleep after waking-- so I had a nice slow start to my day. E-mail and FB were checked, lunches made, umbrellas found. Thought things were going great.

After walking Daniel out to the bus, I noticed a huge lake right in front of the front stoop. Knowing the flooding and leaking issues we have had, I spent the next 10 minutes under my umbrella digging a trench with my bare feet so that the water would drain away.

Then came inside to see that Daniel forgot his lunch... crap, not enough time to drive it to him at school-- hope they let him charge....

Then Ryan was just behind the 8-ball, and needed a ride into school. Got him in the car and while waiting at the middle school for the prima donnas of middle school to be dropped off RIGHT AT THE FRONT DOOR, I heard squeaks and saw smoke coming from my exhaust pipe-- lots of it (at least it looked that way on a dark, rainy morning at 7:30). Then I noticed I did not have my cell phone. I opted to drive home and check out the car from the driveway.

Back at home, Sean, freshly showered, making his breakfast, confirmed smoke. Big help.

I parked the car outside-- in case it caught fire (remember my worries?) and got out in the rain and checked the oil level, the coolant level, and the belts... looked good to me-- but....

I pulled out my handy car manual and GOOGLE.

Bad idea.

Within minutes I had called 3 garages and had self-diagnosed a bad catalytic converter. A Google search instantly let me know that the typical repair cost for this on a piece of crap '99 Windstar is between $700-1400. On a car worth about $2400!

Panic... worry... diarrhea ... you name it.

For what ever reason I got in the car and drove. Hoping it would be just emissions. Been there done that before on this baby. No smoke, no squeaks... good so far. The blinking engine light became steady....

For whatever reason, I stopped at the local emission inspection station (the guy there is really nice) and he said he would run a FREE diagnostic on my car.

Final decision? Misfire on a cylindar-- which I had had repaired over the summer, which should be covered by warantee.

I finally made it into school, just in time for adaptive music. I got to sit on the sofa and dance leaves on the parachute with the kids and sing "Don't worry, Be Happy". What a lesson to learn on this dreary morning.

When am I ever going to get it?

When am I ever going to learn to LET GO, LET GOD?

Will I ever learn Don't worry, be happy ???