Another hard fought battle...

But we lost the war. Final score: 8-6. Ariel's softball team played the mixed U-10/12 squad last night and again, gave a great showing fighting tooth and nail until the very last inning. At one point in the game, we were even winning 5-1 until the opposing team's star hitter came to the plate and left us with a solo home run in one inning and a grand slam home run in the next inning which she crushed to deep right field. That left us reeling on our heels at 6-5.

However, the girls never gave up and while we were down 8-5 with time running down quickly, we managed to get 3 quick outs giving us one final chance at bat to tie or win the game.

Next week we start live pitch which will surely change the whole aspect of the game.

So what does a hydrologist do again?

This morning I had the opportunity to go out into the field and do a site reconnaissance with my project manager. And there was much rejoicing! Huzzah!! Considering that these opportunities are few and far between, I was walking on water. And the weather - mid 70s, strong breeze, bright sunny skies. Hoo boy. It was going to be difficult to get back to work!

So we've been hired by a builder who is proposing to build two houses on the banks of the Arkansas River. However, since they will be building in the floodplain, FEMA requires that the structures being built cannot raise the water elevations during a 1% flood one iota.

That's where we come in. We take the current model that has been developed for the Arkansas River and add in the structures which could potentially block some of the flow. We run the model and it computes new water elevations based on the new data. Then we compare it to the results without the structures in place. If the blocked areas do not affect the water elevations, our client is good to go. However, if the structures end up raising water elevations, then the client will have to either forgo the project or somehow make up for the blocked area by excavating an equal amount of volume (called "cut" in engineering terms.)

According to the plans we have, one of the houses will be less than 20 feet from the river. I don't know about you, but there's NO WAY IN HELL that I would live so close to such a large river. The potential for flooding is just too great. And based on current river levels, the ground floor elevation of the house is only a mere 10 feet above the river right now. Sure the view is great, but the potential to lose everything you own is something that must be considered. I'm sure these will be the same people who then come bitching to FEMA when their house floods and they think FEMA should've done something to protect them.

I'm sorry but if you build your house on the banks of a river, you are entirely responsible if the river floods due to natural causes.

Jen's new baby...:)

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!

Yay!! We won!! And not only did we win, we won XOBX HUEG!!! 14-0, baybeeeee....And they even called the game before it was officially scheduled to end because we were running behind schedule and there was no way for the other team to catch up. Ariel went 3 for 3, I believe, and scored at least one run. The girls who normally had trouble hitting the ball all were connecting and making it to first. In fact, Kayla went 3 for 3 and Alexis went 2 for 3, when in the past, both of them have struggled to even make contact. Next game is scheduled for Thursday against the mixed U-10/12 team we played first and lost 10-9.

Jen should also be getting her piano moved sometime today....I'll definitely have pics up when I can get some taken!

Church Woes

Grrrr. The latest action (or inaction as the case may be) by the bishop of our ward is almost enough to be the last straw. The first straw? During one of our moves out of the house we were staying in (whose owners went to serve a mission for the Church), we were told by the bishop in no uncertain terms that "the church is NOT a moving company." Hello?? Excuse me?? I thought that part of the church's duty was to help out fellow members. That's why we enlisted the help of friends during our last couple of moves. This is also the same church leadership that said Jen was only allowed 3 meals (provided by members) when she gave birth to Braden years ago. I don't understand this mentality where service is frowned upon. And then just recently....

One of Jen's friends (who is inactive) is in the process of going through a divorce. Her soon to be ex-husband also just got fired not too long ago and is working a job making beans for pay. As it is, they have very little money and are always behind on bills. Out of kindness & generosity, Jen gave her friend some money to help her keep her utilities from being shut off. Somehow, the bishop found out that Jen did this and told her, in no uncertain terms, "to stop giving her money & stop helping her out." His reasoning? Because "we all have our own bills to pay and can't afford to be giving money out." What is up with that?? Whatever happened to Christian charity? The bishop also made a comment to Jen about how since her friend was so poor, she shouldn't have had so many kids.

Perhaps he feels like the Church shouldn't help out because her friend has been inactive. Jen explained the reasons to him of her not going to Church, mostly because she feels uncomfortable in the ward, and has been ridiculed in the past. The bishop even went as far to say that "even if she starts coming back to church now, that doesn't qualify her for assistance from the Church."

I'm sorry, but it's not like Jen's friend has been taking advantage of the church for months and months. I don't see other churches who run soup kitchens and meals on wheels deny aid to the needy simply because they don't belong to the same church. It just really chaps my hide when I hear about how family friendly the church is supposed to be and how much charity work they've done overseas and yet here they are unwilling to help a family who is clearly in need.

Another member of the ward also had the GALL to tell Jen's friend that she wouldn't be in the terrible situation that she's in had she gone to church all along. I know that's that member's own opinion and doesn't reflect the Church, but still. Grr.

I told Jen that if the bishopric is being so obstinate about helping out her friend, that she should probably take things up on the Stake level. But it sure leaves a sour taste in my mouth and another reason why I haven't been to church.

A geek in the family

Thursday Threesome

A geek-- Hey, who handles tech support at your place? You? ...the six year old? ...or someone from outside? ...and how about in your web space? No, we're not looking for techs; we're just curious .

Yours truly. I eat it. I drink it. I sleep it. It's just better that way. Trust me. Plus I think I'd go ballistic if anyone tried to do ***anything*** to my rigs. I have a hard enough time letting my wife or kids install software. Muscles clenching....blood pressure rising...easy now, take it easy. Deep breaths.

in the-- computer? Just a curiosity for the designer types: what Operating System are you running? ...and which browser? Since sites can show up differently in different browsers it's more than a casual question.

Windows XP Pro & IE 6.0.2800.1106.xpsp2.030422-xxxx. As far as sites showing up differently, I don't care. I barely have enough motivation to write in my blog much less optimize my site for one particular browser or making sure it shows up nicely in Mozilla.

Family-- Do any family members read your place? Do they care? Do they have a clue? ...and how about your 'off line' friends? ...or do you supply a little bit of separation there?

Yeah - I believe my entire family reads my stuff at one time or another. I hope they care! A few 'off line' friends know about it - even fewer are dedicated readers. They know all my secrets anyway so there's nothing to hide. Ok, maybe not my darkest, deepest, juiciest secrets, but close...

Stay Tuned...

Ugh. I've been home sick for the last day and a half fighting a cold or upper respiratory infection or something. Sore throat. Slight fever. Headache. Just a general not-feeling-wellness. But seeing as how I'm feeling a bit better, going to head into work for the rest of today.

In other news...

While we were watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition the other night, Ty had put up a sign during the rennovation process that said, "4 hours left". Braden immediately said, "four! they have four more to go!" Up to that point, I didn't realize Braden could recognize numbers so that totally shocked me. I mean, I knew he could count up to 20, but I guess I didn't know that Jen had been working on numbers with him. Definitely another Proud Daddy Moment (TM).

If all goes well, we might be the proud owners of a studio-sized piano in the next week or so. Still in the works but stay tuned.

We've also had several opportunities lately to replace our VERY used couch with another one - stay tuned for this as well.

And to top it off, The Office Season 2 gets released officially today. Best Buy is having a special where if you buy Season 1 & Season 2 together, you get $10 off the bundle.