School starts Monday

Today we went to pick up a few things for school. With the exception of Lydia's binder, Park City School District provides everything you need. Some of the teachers have a wish list for donations or you can chose to provide your own things as well.

We were also able to visit the classrooms and meet the teacher's of both girls today. Lydia will be in the 5th grade with Mrs. Hopkins who just moved here with her family from Northern California. Maille will be in 2nd grade with Mrs. Lee. She is very young and doesn't have any kids yet.

Everyone we meet who finds out Maille has Mrs. Lee exclaims "Oh we LOVED Mrs. Lee!" Apparently everyone LOVES Mrs. Lee and she did seem very nice.

Maille's classroom was decked out with 5 of the nicest Apple Computers I have seen and Lydia's class will be starting the district's new "Computers Across the Curriculum" in January. I'm not sure what that means exactly yet, but I'll keep you posted.

Apparently the program will eventually put a laptop in the hands of every student in the district starting in 6th grade, but this year the implementation of the whole program starts with the 5th graders. I don't think they will be getting laptops, but I do think it is intended to help the teacher let the kids learn at their own pace. This will be great for Lydia and other independent, bright students. We will see how it goes for the others. Like anything else, I think it has stirred up some controversy with people on both sides of the spectrum.

Speaking of controversy, I have been stirring up some of that myself. According to a neighbor, I was on the local radio today. I guess my appeal to the School Board on Tuesday evening was local newsworthy. You see, I have a bit of a bone to pick with the School Board about the busing situation in our neighborhood.

Getting on a school bus here is not something you take for granted. I could bore you with all the gory details, but I'll just say this...our neighborhood is considered a "walking" neighborhood. Even though the only way for the kids to actually walk is a mile down the highway. A highway that is traveled at 45+ mph by THOUSANDS of vehicles a day, most of which are transient (vacationers) to this town. There are NO sidewalks and it is 2 lanes in each direction with a center turn lane. Not to mention the 10 foot wall of snow that builds up along the edge of the road in the winter. Basically NO ONE makes their kid walk to school from our neighborhood. My kids make numbers 21, 22, and 23 for kids in a few short blocks. Sixteen of those kids are elementary school aged.

All of the parents have been paying $200 a year per student to have their kids bussed to school or driving them. The problem for me is that the bus is full. Basically they told me I was tough out of luck and my kids either walk or I drive them. The other half of the story is that I am supposed to be going to work, which makes driving them nearly impossible.

For the most part the district has A LOT of walkers. WAY more than where we moved from. But from talking to other parents in neighborhoods who have already fought this fight, its a HUGE battle to get them to approve the funding. To me its absolutely flabbergasting. But I refuse to back down and my neighbors are all just laughing. But I'll bet they won't be laughing when I save them $200 per student, per year!

Constant Interuptions

I finally said to my girls today...
"If I stopped what I was doing every time you asked me to come look at something or help you with something, I would NEVER GET ANYTHING DONE!!!"

Then I felt guilty, but it was SO true! I guess its just one of those days. Am I alone here, or does anyone else ever feel that way!?!? And honestly is vacuuming such an important thing to do anyway!?!? When I woke up this morning I said to myself "Today I need to do laundry, vacuuming, and send out at least 3 more resumes"...is that really too much to ask!?!? Maybe I shouldn't ask the question, as I may not like the response I get back. But what the heck. Sometimes you just gotta stick your neck out there and see what happens. I either need a nanny, house keeper, and personal secretary or I need someone to ease my guilt here for me!

USPS vs. UPS

Really there is a bigger difference than just that one letter in the acronym. And other than to put a letter in my mailbox (does anyone really do that anymore???) the US Postal "Service" doesn't provide me any "service" worth my time to utilize. Before we left Bellingham I stopped at the downtown post office to mail a box to Brian in Utah. Let me just say that I absolutely DREAD going into the post office. And this visit only solidified that I will NEVER set foot in a United States Postal Service Office again. Mostly because there is truly no "service" in what they do. In fact if they were not a government entity, they would be bankrupt and out of business. But I digress...

Soooo, I stepped inside the door and immediately counted the 12 people in line in front of me. I then evaluated the 2 employees working behind a counter built with 8 stations (and I have never seen more than 2 people working behind that counter in all 10 years I lived there). At that point I contemplated walking out knowing that it would be AT LEAST 15 minutes before I got to the counter. But also knowing from experience that there was never a "better time" to go to the post office, I decided to stick it out. Promptly after making this decision I see one of the employees finish with a customer and rather than taking the next person in line, she puts up her closed sign and walks away. At this point there are at least 5 more people in line behind me! Floored, I think there MUST be someone else coming to take her place. But to no avail. The only other person who came to the front counter to help was a male who announced he could only help people who were there to pick up packages. Not kidding you, 25 minutes later, I am the next one to be helped and this employee returns from what I assume to be a break. She removes her closed sign and calls me up. Without so much as a smile or how can I help you, I hand her the package I am attempting to mail. Our conversation went something like this...

me: How are you today?
employee: Fine (with a funny smirk on her face)
me: How was your break?
employee: Fine (with a quizacle look)
me: That's good. I spent your entire break standing in this line.
employee: Oh, really. (notice not even so much as a hint of care or apology)
me: See this is the only place on earth that can stay in business and have this kind of customer service. If you worked anywhere else and provided this type of service, the company would be out of business and you'd be out a job.
employee: (no reply so I continue)
me: Not to mention that my time is worth money too, so I will be sure to send the Postal SERVICE a bill for MY time spent in their line. Oh and by the way I do have other options for mailing things and I WILL NEVER send another package through you guys and you will continue to have cuts in staff and eventually you won't have a job anymore, because people are starting to figure it out.

At this point I am done and leave.

But today I am going to mail a box to my brother in San Diego and I will be sending it UPS! Because when they ask "What can Brown do for you?" I know the answer will NOT be standing in line for 25 minutes to mail a package! And when I need to pay a bill...I will use on-line bill pay! And when I need to send a letter or thank you...I will send it via email. And so at this point in my life the US Postal "Service" could quit their "service" altogether and then I wouldn't have to keep recycling all the CRAP they leave in my mailbox! But that's a rant for another day.

Bad Hair

Only a good dad will put up with little girls who make your hair look like this...

Have you ever mattress surfed?

As a kid I remember going to my neighbor's cabin on Mt. Hood where we would spend our indoor hours (which were few really unless we were sleeping) mattress surfing. At the top of stairs was a large room containing 12 twin sized mattress which provided endless hours of entertainment (we also designed some of the coolest obstacle courses and forts)! So if you haven't tried it you should. My kids discovered it today all on their own. While I had nothing to do with them discovering it, I did discover that I am not nearly as graceful of a mattress surfer today as when I was a kid. There are more pics here.

The Jordanelle Reservoir

We went here last Sunday. Lydia and Gretchen had a good time. Maille was cold and Brian was tired. I just liked the opportunity to be out of the house and taking pictures.

Coincidence in Church???

I do not believe in coincidence, but here is where we've gone to church the last two Sundays. The first Sunday was a little awkard as the people who were supposed to run Sunday School and the nursery didn't show up. It it being a fairly small congregation, people jumped in and it all worked out. I could tell they were not TOO used to it, but very willing to help when needed. This week started a 4 week series on Finding God's Will for your life. It gave me some confirmation that we are where we're supposed to be here in Park City!

The second week upon entering the nursery to drop off Gretchen I met an amazing home schooling mom of 8 children. Through our conversation (or rather me prodding her for information on local pediatricians, where to buy soccer cleats, and what kind of gear we will need for a very snowy winter) we discovered that we live in their old neighborhood and just around the corner from their old house! Then upon going upstairs to find Brian in the sanctuary, I see our neighbors just down the row. This young couple happens to be heavily involved in Young Life and he is a pastor at the church. We also came to find out, through further conversation with them, that the area Young Life Director also lives in our neighborhood. (For those of you haven't known Brian and I long enough to know that Young Life is the reason we are married today!) It felt like further confirmation that things are as they are supposed to be according to God's will...not coincidence.