5, the forgotten number

I can't believe I forgot to post pictures of Savannah's fifth birthday. We took her to "Old MacDonald's Farm--a quasi-petting zoo/playground/pony- and train-ride type place near us. Here are a few of them, more of them are under "more pictures":
Savannah on her exhausted ride.
Anyone remember playing in the plastic ball pit? I haven't seen one of these forever.
Right before the train ride around the place.

Ghosts

That thing is disturbing.
It's Halloween almost and I had an interesting conversation the other day about ghosts.
I have a few questions for each of you:
Do you believe in ghosts?
If so, can they be mean? Are they here to harm us, if they want? Can they haunt us for no reason at all (seemingly)? Are they clueless about our "dimension"? What's it like on the Other Side, keeping your above answers in mind? How do ghosts fit into the Plan? Do they obey Laws or Boundaries set by God?
If each of you would click on the comments link and take the time to answer these questions or write an essay about the subject, please do. I have my own ideas, but I wanted to hear it from really wise people.

I'm tired, but rested, and lonely

You're due for an update, right? Well, here it is.

We've been very busy lately. I have just closed out a project at work, then went to two weeks of training on a new software program at work (http://www.slb.com/content/services/software/geo/petrel/index.asp?).
Pretty exciting if you like that sort of thing.
After that, I took a two week training course on Structure and Stratigraphy in West Texas/New Mexico (El Paso/Las Cruces) and then Utah (Orem, Price, Moab). It was good to see what friends and family I could while I was there. Although I really needed the break, I am glad to be home again.
Wanna learn what I learned on the trip and see pictures? Click on our "More Pictures" link and take a tour--the stuff that's not proprietary, anyway.
Karen was supposed to be home today, but the weather in Houston has been very bad. Flooding, tornado watches, etc. I actually had minimal problems commuting to work. Others weren't so lucky, but they let us go home whenever we wanted today so we would be safe.
I miss Karen and the girls. I wouldn't be updating this blog if they were here. (Sorry, you all aren't near as special as you think you are in my eyes!)
That's enough rambling...

The saga continues...

So, we are nearly finished on the bathroom tile. All that is left is to seal the grout. I've posted two photos: one last night, one this morning. The tile we bought changes colors according to the temperature. What do you think?
Pretty good, huh? (You can also see our painted bathroom.)

Here's Karen working hard screwing down the subfloor. To the left of her is our WC. We painted it orange. We hate the color with a light on, but it looks okay with only outside light. Feel free to tell us what you think. No don't. You cannot tell the real color from that picture.

Labor Day Weekend

We are tiling our master bath. It sucks (sorry, no other way to describe it). It wouldn't be so bad if the WC didn't have the angles in it, if I had all the right tools, and if I didn't eat broccoli the night before. Oh well, it, by far, beats the carpet we had.

The Others...

Karen's brother, Jon, and sister-in-law, Bonnie, are visiting right now. As is customary for us, we enjoy being hosts and showing all the sites around where we live. I have been working, so I haven't been able to partake of the fun as much. Karen visited the museums, Brazos Bend State Park (alligators everywhere), beach, etc. We've also played a bunch of games--namely Settlers of Catan. As much as we've played that, Karen and I don't seem to ever win. So, come on over--you're guaranteed to feel good about yourself after a visit with us.
Savannah's foot is fine, by the way--it took a bit to heal, but she seems to do all right.

Broken?

We thought Savannah broke her foot yesterday. She still can't put any weight on it, but after the x-rays, there is nothing broken. She had a blessing before she went in--maybe she'll be fine very soon.

At Sea world. We were there two days. The kids loved it. Highlights: the Log Ride, Dolphin Show, Sea Lion Show, Waterslides, Rollercoaster, and more...

August '06 Update

Not much has happened in the last month. We've taken it pretty easy after our Sea World vacation the first part of July. Karen and I have decided to start going to church again. I try hard not to smoke on Sundays, but that's as far as it goes now. I'll stop drinking caffiene in 6 months, as far as I can tell now (don't want to set my goals too high). Oh, and good news--Maya is my child, we're 96.3% sure--at least that's what the tests have shown.