===================================================================== Mon Feb 26 08:53 EST 1996 Weekend Update: Feb 23-25 On Friday evening, our two elder daughters participated in the 30-hour fast for World Hunger. Joy and I took the two younger ones out for a meat-lover's pizza and bread sticks. Saturday is our "Living by Faith" day (because we "feel no alarm"). I was asked by the youth director if I would chauffer a bunch of fasting teenagers around town on a video scavenger hunt. I agreed, muttering something about doing my part to myself as a parent of teens. I was going to spend the afternoon at a friend's place where he has dozens (yes, dozens) of pinball machines set up. I called my friend to cancel the pin-fest. A half hour later, I was called to cancel my chauffering, due to inclement weather. I was glad enough about both cancellations because I was recovering from a cold and not doing a good job of it on Saturday. Another friend popped in on us Saturday afternoon and we forced him to eat dinner with us. Since we didn't plan a sumptious meal, he had to stomach some daily (and boring) fare from our table. Still, its the company and not the repast that makes the time together special. Later that evening, I drove an hour to a surprise birthday party for another friend of mine. (I know, hard to believe I have friends... longer than a week or so, eight?) This friend was turning 10, sort of. He's a leap year baby and since his birthday comes around every four years, it was important for me to usher in both 10 and 40 for this guy. I understand by some quirk of claendar fate that his next birthday will be in the year 2004; we have a time correction due in the year 2000. This should add to the confusion, making him 11 when he is 48! On Sunday, I led the worship service because our pastor and his family were given a vacation trip to the Bahamas. We hope he had at least as nice a time as we did. Sunday afternoon, I took Miranda (almost 16) to the high school parking lot. It was the only one i could think of that would be completely deserted. She got her first lesson in driving. She correctly translated what I meant when I said "accelerator" as "the go pedal." Lesson 1 was mostly about the brake, otherwise known as the Stop pedal. She actually did okay on her first try. We drivers don't remember how much there is to take in when you first learn to drive, it's second nature to most of us... Metcalfes. She had some trouble with the concept of reverse, like looking behind her and steering in the proper direction. Still, she was getting the hang of that Stop pedal, so we even tried a little of the Go pedal. We'll be seeing a few more empty parking lots until she is more comfortable. I wonder how much it would cost to rent one of those cars with two steering wheels? That's the weekend in review, folks. Have a blessed week. Mark $$ $$ $$$$$$$ $$$$$$ $$$$ $$ $$$$ $$$$$$$ $$$$$$$ M$$ $$$ M$ $ $ M$ $ M$ $$ M$$$ M$ M$ $ M$ $ \|/ ____ \|/ a$$$$$$ a$ $ a$ $a $a $$ a$ a$ $ a$ $ @~/ ,. \~@ r$$$$$$ r$$$ r$ $r $r $$ r$ r$$$ r$$$ /_( \__/ )_\ k$ $ $$ k$ $ k$ $k $k$$$$ k$ $ k$ $ k$ $ ~ \__U_/ ~ $$ $$ $$ $ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $$ $ $$ $$ $$$$$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$ $$ $$$$$$$ $$$$ $$$$$$$ metcalfe@cadence.com Cadence Design Systems, Inc. Phone: (508) 446-6451