Notival

A week ago today was our first softball outing. We had a fantastic first inning. Then pretty much fell apart after that. We lost, 10-12, but that's okay. The team as a whole learned a lot. We learned so much that we have already secured our first victory! We are now 1-1. Granted, that victory comes from the team that pulled out of the league, so we won the forfeiture, but it still counts.

Our next game is tonight at 6:30. Should be nice and muggy since the rain came through today.

I learned at noon today that I will have to take the last two weeks of the year off work. They are furloughing all contractors for the final two weeks of the year to save money. I was planning to take the last week off as vacation anyway, so the furlough itself is not to big a deal. The bigger issue is how many more places are they going to try to cut?

The Squid is running for student council President. I told her that maybe she was aiming a bit high since she's new to the school and would be running against Juniors. Maybe she should try for a different position. She said she didn't care about winning, just wanted to beat a specific other girl. Maybe not the best excuse, but whatever.

In theory, I am on a softball team. I have been on this increasingly mythical team for over a month now. In that time, however, we have played a total of one game. Ninsi is on two softball teams, and has managed to play a total of three games, I think.

The requirements for a rain-out are to lax, in my opinion. It wasn't raining last night until late, and last week it did not rain after about noon. At the rate we are going, we will be playing into December. We already have games through the middle of November. We haven't even been able to have a practice because of the rain. Going to try again this Sunday though.

Not a whole lot else going on. The college football season is shaping up quite poorly. I have a little more hope for the pro level. I don't think Washington is going to manage to do anything this year, but that isn't unusual.

The Squid will be getting her driving permit as soon as she finishes reading the handbook. Probably one day next week. Then I'll start the real meat of her driving lessons. I'm not really looking forward to that. Sixteen is way to young for a person to start driving on their own. I have come to this conclusion slowly, over the last 15.5 years.

NASA did slam a satellite into the moon last night. At least we have that going for us, because it is pretty freaking awesome.

Yesterday, the squid took the written test for her driving permit. 'Written' is perhaps not the right word. It was done on a computer with a touch screen. I had to take the test on a piece of paper, but I doubt that has been done much in the past two decades.

She has been learning to drive at home, under my tutelage. So far, so good. She passed the written test, so now we can begin the actual driving portion of the learning. It's a regimented program that we are following, and I intend to follow the book pretty closely.

I took the morning off to go to the doctor this morning for a check-up. Had not been in a couple of years, so figured it was about time. Pretty much a routine physical. Turn, cough. They took some blood. I don't know if it is my doctor, or Texas, or what, but the nurse and then my doc asked when my last tetanus shot had been. If it has been so long you don't remember, they will give you a booster. They are apparently trying to get all the adults immunized as they come in. So, I also got a shot in the arm this morning after they took the blood.

They also took my picture as part of their new system. The whole thing is managed in a database now. It was all installed about two weeks ago, and they are still getting used to it. Which is probably why I was there for about two hours even though I was the second person in the door.

I suppose the tetanus shot was a good idea, as I have a propensity to walk around barefoot a lot.

The Squid came home the other night with something that she had only heard about in rumors and stories. To her, it was a myth of the mightiest proportions. She had, for the first time in her life, received a Certificate of Perfect Attendance at school. It was for not missing a day in the first six weeks of class. We were all very excited by it, and last night I took her for a celebratory dinner at her new favorite place to eat - Souper Salad.

This was really a pretty big deal, since she normally misses 8-9 days per semester. Of course, the streak is now in jeopardy, since I received a text from her this morning and she thinks she is getting ill. Still, it's quite the accomplishment for her.

I think I will frame the certificate. :)

Halloween is this weekend. There's almost too much going on to know what to do. I'm sure we will manage to manage. After this weekend, we're done til Thanksgiving. And that signals the start of the end of year 'no time to do anything' season.