Roblog

It was Donna. She called to say she threw up and needed me to come home. I caught the bus early (thankfully, they start running at 3:00 PM) and got home at about 4:30.

Donna was in bad shape that evening and night. She slept in the guest bed because it has a more direct line to the bathroom. By the morning, though, she was over the worst of it. She was still very weak and did not have an appetite (she lost 4 pounds in one day!), so I stayed home from work until the afternoon.

Thursday

Elena woke up that morning crying, which is rather unusual for her. Shortly after she woke up, she threw up. We also later discovered that she had thrown up in her crib (which is probably what woke her up in the first place). Amazingly, she only spent a few hours with stomach problems, and 10:30 AM was the last time she threw up.

Now that afternoon (Thursday) was my group's holiday party, which I would be sad to miss. I tend to be the social coordinator of these events, so I had to write out a long email (it took me an hour!) detailing everything that had to be done in my absence.

By the time the afternoon rolled around, the girls went down for a nap, and Donna generously offered to take care of them while I went to my office party. She was still weak, so I gave her the cell phone number of one of my co-workers in case I needed to come home. I promised to leave right after the end of the scheduled festivities.

I was amazed to see that all my little details I listed in my email had been done when I arrived! That's not to say that I think my co-workers are not capable of handling things, but that was a long email I wrote filled with every detail I could think of. Needless to say, the event went well - and I didn't even have to help clean up (a tragic consequence of my promise to come home as soon as possible).

Everyone was still doing OK when I got back home, which was early enough to help bathe the girls, wash their hair, and put them to bed.

Friday

I was summoned to jury duty on Friday, which was the third time since I moved to Houston I've been summoned. The first time I was part of the jury pool for a capital murder case which was eligible for the death penalty, but my answers on the questionnaire were apparently too liberal for the prosecution to want me on the jury (that was a difficult experience for me ... maybe I'll blog about it someday).

The second time I was summoned, I actually served on a jury in a civil case. I realized only after the trial started that I knew the plantiff - a big no-no for jurors. I had worked at the same company as she had (she was the HR director), but since I did not really know her and they would have had to re-try the whole case again, I didn't say anything and stayed on the trial to its completion.

This time, my juror number, 2417-12, was high enough that the courts found enough jurors for the day before they got to my number. I was released from service at 11:00 AM. Slightly guiltily, I decided to go home and be with my still-recovering family, rather than trying to get a few useful hours in at work (work is still slow). As penance, it took me 90 minutes to get home (about twice as long as normal); I had to take the surface bus since it weas in the middle of the day instead of the commuter bus I'm used to.

Saturday

Saturday evening was the time of my company's party. It was an evening party (no dinner) at the Museum of Fine Arts. Although the attire was "business formal", I was determined to wear my tuxedo that I bought back when these events were "strict formal".

Our friend Kate came over around 6:30 to help with the girls while we got ready and to be there while they slept. Since the party didn't start until 8:00, which it the girls bedtime, we didn't have to leave until after we put them to bed.

Everything was fine except that I could not find my tuxedo tie. I did find my cufflinks, so surely the tie should not be hard to find. As far as I could tell, it was not in the house. We stopped by Foley's on the way to the musuem to pick up a tie; they don't carry bow ties. The Al's Formal Wear store that we stopped at next closed at 5:30. So I had to go to the event in my tuxedo without a tie. So I was not only overdressed, but also incompletely dressed. This made me feel rather uncomfortable and a little conspicuous.

We got to the museum at around 8:50. It was already well-attended, but I did not see anyone I knew right at first. The first person we do meet is a partner in the firm - the most executive person I have met personally (he's about my boss^5). He greets us amiably, but Donna and I both notice his repeated glances at my tie-less neck. Great. "Hm. Not partner material," I can feel him thinking.

The party as expected is nice. Good food and we got to wander around the museum. We end up seeing about 8 people I knew, but a group of my coworkers I was expecting to see wasn't there by 10:00, and I was getting tired. So we left early and got home by 10:30.

Sunday

Sunday was the cookie party, our annual event where we make as many cookies as we can in one day. We invite a few friends over to help, but we call it a party to make it sound like it's not too laborious.

Donna takes the girls to church so that I can have my weekly free time to do yard work. I raked the front yard, which took a lot longer and was a lot harder than I had thought. It had rained the day before, so the leaves were sticky and heavy.

The cookie party was fun, although very tiring (as usual). This year, we discovered that it's practically impossible to bake, decorate, and cool cookies without assistance to help watch our almost-two-year-olds. We only had two families come to help this year, so we had to stop when they left. We were able to make about 400 cookies before stopped. We'll make some more over the next few days, but this was a disappointing showing, considering we usually make about 700 (and always aim for 1,000).

Monday

Hopefully, this will be a normal day, except for the Eagles game on Monday Night Football. It's a shame to have to admit it, but my mood tomorrow will depend on whether or not the Eagles get their 9th win in a row against a decidedly strong opponent.