Frustration...

These past few weeks have been pretty frustrating for me and sometimes it seems that it isn't going to ease up anytime soon. I'm hoping it does, just for my own peace of mind.

We still do not have our travel arrangements yet- if it were up to me we would have had them weeks (if not a month) ago. However, the office is taking care of them and letting a travel agency book everything (flights, rental car, hotel, etc). This should be a good thing because it would be one less thing for me to do, but it isn't. I think I have worried more about letting someone else handle it than I would have if I was the one booking them. PLUS, the lady that was working on our arrangements has been "let go". Not a good sign. When they fire the person that was working on your plans and it gets shifted to someone else, who knows what travel arrangements you'll end up with. I'm trying to be calm about it but Nic would be the first person to tell you that I've not been very successful- I call him at least 3 times a day asking if he has received the itinerary yet.

On another note, Nic received the technical reports that he'll be going over and scoring for the MATE competition and I've been looking over them. It has made me quite excited to see what will happen and see who will win this year. There are a few that have become my favorites and a few that I'll be surprised if they work. I think actually reading the reports has been a good experience for me, as now I understand a little bit better what actually went on in the building process for these kids and how clever some of the vehicles are (or aren't). Nic hasn't read them yet (he's been busy with work) but I'm excited for him to read them so that we can discuss (and maybe place bets?!) on who we think will do well. I'm getting excited about being a part of the competition again this year and I'm ready to be blown away. Nic is excited too, but he's just excited that he'll get to spend some more time with Robert Keith (a guy he used to work with at Oceaneering, that has now moved on to Phoenix). They'll be judging together this year.

Our old leasing agency has been giving us hell about the old house we were in (Rose Cottage) which has been a pain. They have been coming up with little teeny tiny things that they think will help them keep part of our deposit (when I know they aren't true) like that there are fingerprints on the glass (perhaps that's from people they've shown the house to, seeing as how I washed them inside and out before we moved and before they did the re-check). It's really irritating and Nic and I have been dealing with them pretty much all week. I haven't heard from them yet today, maybe that is a good sign. Then again, it's only 9:54.

Bob came back into town Tuesday and he came over last night, which was nice. We went to go see the Hulk (it was good) and then came back to the house and I made BLT's. We got caught up on the goings on and worked on figuring out the plans for the next few weeks. Paige (his oldest daughter) just graduated from high school and was 13th in her class (out of like four hundred something). She was really disappointed because they only recognize the top 12 during graduation. I think it's an awesome accomplishment either way and am excited for her anyway. She did get the most scholarship money out of anyone in her class though, and that's what really counts.

I'm super excited for Raime and Joey- they are moving into a bigger house next month. I am so happy for them. I have been so proud of Joey and how great he's doing in school. I knew that he would do well, but he's exceeded my expectations by far. He has a 4.0 and is going to do a work study where he will be tutoring kids in math. I think that is so awesome and I really admire him for being able to juggle two full time jobs, while going to school, and maintaining a good family life at home. I also admire Raime for keeping the house in order while he's so busy. I forgot to mail Raisa her rock from Loch Ness and I need to get on that ASAP!

Let's see... what else has been going on here... The weather has been cold lately and the wind has been crazy. I'm hoping that it settles down soon and gets back to the beautiful weather we were having before. It hasn't really been raining during the day (which is REALLY long here since we are so far north) which has made it a little nicer. It doesn't get dark here until about 11:45 pm and the sun is back up and shining at about 3 am. It makes things interesting- you really have to watch the clock or it will be midnight before you know it. I'll take a picture one night so that you can see just how bright it is when we are going to bed. Thank goodness for blackout curtains in our room.