Subject: Weekend Update: November 9-13, 2000
Date:    Tue 11/14/00 11:17am

I crawled out of my bathroom window onto the roof of the spa room last
Thursday because of a rainy weather forecast.  The room is framed in
with plywood which allows far too much precipitation to reach the
inside of the room.  I stapled plastic to the roof and didn't overlap
it in the proper way.  Half of my room stays dry and the other half
gets dripped on.  The roof is, in part, one reason for delaying other
activities.  We have searched high and low and finally found a roofer
who will put on a seamed metal roof, but they are late and will likely
to be able to start the job no earlier than the first week of
December.  We hope to be using the spa, anyway, before Thanksgiving.

Our builder returns from Florida next week, where I hope he has gotten
a tan, much needed rest and relaxation, and a resolution to the
Presidential stalemate.  I haven't discussed politics in my update
because I have dear loved ones who think otherwise than I do and I
prefer to regard them as dear loved ones, and for them to keep loving
us for who we are, too.

Last Friday, we all carromed to one place or another.  Joy is still
heavy into the Tenderheart Treasure party season, and Emily is heavy
into finding different places to stay each weekend, so it seems.
After I dropped Emily off at the Silvas on Friday, I headed up to
Nashua where Miranda and Jessica planned to be.  They are part of an
ENC drama group called Acts (appropriately) and were scheduled to
perform for a New England District quiz meet.  Friday evening Boston
traffic delayed their arrival but I was in pleasant company with good
friends from around the district (who wondered what I was doing at a
quiz meet).  I got to spend about an hour with Miranda and some less
time with Jessica.  I miss them.

On Saturday, we abducted Mandy and Jessie from the Nashua Church,
picked up Emily at the Silvas, and stood for a family portrait for the
Lowell church's pictorial directory.  Frame it folks; it may be the
last time the six of us get to pose together in an official photo.
After the shoot, we retraced our steps and redeposited our girls in
their prior locations; Andrew came with us.

I took Joy to pick up her birthday present early; her birthday was on
Sunday.  She's "forty-something" now; 41 to be precise. No really!  I
know I created some confusion by throwing her 40th birthday party on
her 39th birthday but she's 41 now and if you're still confused,
you're safe to know and say that she's forty-something, or somewhere
between 40 and 60.  I wanted to give her one of those chairs that has
a motorized lift in the seat but instead opted for a victorian chair
for the living room.  I don't know how disappointed she was not to get
the motorized chair but she seemed content with my selection, which
she actually selected many months earlier.

My parents came for a visit that afternoon and stayed overnight.  Dad
is supplying at the Malden church while they are in a leadership
transition.  While Pepperell isn't exactly on the way to Malden from
Falmouth, we got them a little closer for the Sunday morning haul.

They took Joy and I out to Applebee's for Joy's birthday. We agreed
not to tell the wait staff about Joy's birthday to avoid the raucus
ado made for a free brownie and ice cream.  We watched home video
Saturday evening that dated back ten to twelve years.  I can't tell
you how much those images are worth.

I spoke with Julie White on Sunday: she thanked me for taking her son
for the afternoon, along with a bunch of other teens that came back to
the house with us after the spaghetti luncheon at the church.  I told
her that we saw her kids in our videos the night before, which struck
up the conversation about building a consistent record piece by piece,
creating a legacy, or heritage - not unlike the reason I continue to
write these weekly updates to my open journal.  I am closing in on six
years of recounting the life and times of my family on a weekly basis,
and for those of you who have enjoyed it, I am glad; you're welcome to
look in.  Maybe it will be nothing in the years to come, but then
maybe it will be like ten- to twelve-year old video images.

Back at work on Monday, I thought it would be a good idea to reload
the operating system on my laptop.  Careful as I tried to be, I blew
away my address book and many email messages that I had stored.
Fortunately, I have been redundant with my address book updates on my
other (unix) system or I would be in dire straits, especially with my
father's sermon distribution list which numbers over 500 at present.
As it is, I have some rebuilding to do to recreate the state I was in
before reloading the operating system, without the glitches that led
me to reload in the first place.  I *hope* my address book is
up-to-date but I really can't ask people to "raise your hand if you're
not here."  

My wife's father arrives today for an extended stay through
Thanksgiving and we'll be glad to have him around.  Perhaps we'll
watch a few more home videos.

Mark