The Weekend

I have to admit I'm really loving my 3-day weekends now with the new schedule. The longer workdays take their toll during the week, but when it really starts getting to me, it's the weekend again! And with this weekend comes lots of fun stuff.

Today we turned in Courtney's kindergarten registration packet and she is now officially enrolled for the fall at Orchard Dale, where Traci and I both went to school and where my mom works (when she's not recovering from hip surgery). I think Courtney is really going to like school and I think she'll do well. She has been starting to read on her own a little and that is very exciting. I have always been a little scared of that since I have never liked to read yet I want to encourage her to read whenever she wants to. So far so good.

Traci had her annual eye checkup today and we were scared of what new contacts would cost as she has been noticing a difference in her vision over time. However, last year, once we got on Chevron's benefits, we learned that our eye doctor didn't take our insurance. I wound up spending $500 for my appointment and glasses. Well, they just started accepting our insurance, EyeMed. Her contacts and appointment will cost us a total of $120. Much better than we were expecting. It turns out that they were almost forced to start accepting EyeMed since a lot of the people going to his practice have dropped VSP because it is too costly to their employers. I remember when working in underwriting at my last job that EyeMed was always cheaper than VSP and it is accepted at many large retail outlets (i.e. Sears, Target, Lens Crafters, etc.), which appeals to a lot of employees. So after cancelling my appointment for tomorrow (the time wouldn't have worked anyway...see below), I rescheduled for a couple weeks from now. We'll see what happens there.

I wound up taking my car into the shop since it stalled once yesterday coming home from work. I thought the new fuel pump and filter we installed last week had done the trick, but I guess not. It was due for an oil change anyway so I took up to a local shop here that I really trust. Unfortunately, they couldn't fix the problem, but were able to explain why. They said the coil (whatever that is and does) came up when the car was hooked up to their diagnostic machine. However, they said they had fixed that on other Jeeps like mine and it didn't fix the problem, but that it was probably the computer that runs the car. He said that it needs to be reflashed, which resets it apparently. That can only be done at a dealership, so I'll be taking it to a third place to get fixed. If after the reflashing, it still isn't fixed, then he said it probably needs a whole new computer, which will run in the $400-500 range, which is not what I want. Heck I'll flash the computer if that's all it takes! Ok, not really.

Tomorrow should be fun as we drop off the kids at the in-laws and then head with my parents and Nora (Mom's good friend) to Pasadena for her to get an employee-of-the-year-type award from her union. We weren't going to be able to go because our church had scheduled their Easter egg hunt for this weekend, but I found out earlier this week that they cancelled it. Mom was able to get a couple extra tickets so now we can go. It should be fun.

Then comes Sunday, the highlight of my weekend by far! Not only does the 2009 MLB season get under way, but a friend, just today, invited me over to his place for Wrestlemania 25! This is the same friend who will be going with me to Summerslam in August. Fortunately, we know them from church and he and his wife have two girls, just like us. So the wives will be keeping an eye on the kids and hanging out while we are secluded in our pay-per-view "suite" in their house. I could go into all the great matches planned for the 4-hour event, but most of you probably don't care. If you do, just check out the Wrestlemania site for yourself. Man do I love the gratuitous choreographed violence that is the man's soap opera called WWE!

And then after the weekend is over, it's back to work, but only for 3 days as our refinery's business plan roll out will be held at the Disneyland Hotel on Thursday, which I'm volunteering at. That means I have to be there at 5:30 in the morning, but it's over around 1:30 so it's a short day. And then another weekend, which includes Easter! And then another 3-day workweek as I'll be taking a vacation day on my birthday! Man, I love April!

Oh, I also posted an awesome new song on my other blog today so check it out if you have a chance.