In honor of our 500th post, We've decided to start a new tradition. We're calling it the monthly update.
Instead of posting pictures, it'll be a short article about what's happening in our lives, both good and bad.
It's a hectic time for Brian. He's finishing the launch of three new products for Dell, and there are a thousand of small details and decisions he has to make. He's also writing everything associated with the launch and conducting training on the new products literally worldwide. He'll be flying to Europe in a couple of weeks to train the salesforce there -- it's a good opportunity to see old friends, but these trips are called 'The Death March" in Dell because the trainer is in a given city for about 18 hours -- so a different city each day. There's no time to sightsee...just wake up, train, and fly out.
Erin is settling in with a new manager and happily offloading the unpleasant managerial duties. But she's very busy as well. As part of her role she's also getting the occasional shiny new gadget to play with -- the latest is a Flip video camera.
In our personal lives, Brian was just confirmed, and Erin just received into the Episcopal church. We've very happy with St. Richard's in Round Rock, it suits us and makes our kids very happy. Though, if you judge Brian by how well he's keeping his Lenten obligations...he's not a great Christian. 8-(
Erin is clobbering the weight loss front, with over twenty five pounds lost and more to go. Fitting into clothes from college is almost enough reward, but since she's also part of a 'Biggest Loser' contest at work, she's in the running for a $1000 prize! Brian is also working out every day and has joined a workout group at work so stay tuned for more details from both of them.
The girls are thriving. Charlotte remains happy taking both ballet and kung fu. Over the weekend she demonstrated the ballet leap followed by a crane strike, so she's already defining a new hybrid form of martial arts. Jane is talking up a storm, and her command of English is so good that she can be told to go to bed and she heads for her room.
We're slowly chipping away at the house. We've removed many toys from the downstairs playroom and put them upstairs, which lets us reclaim one of our sitting rooms. Brian's ordered a couple of new doorknobs to test. He's also put a lot of effort into the yard and gardens, including a beautiful planting on the front porch. He's trying to get everything done before our trip to Nashville in April, so much to be done on weekends. We also got a bid for hardwood floors, but the unpleasant surprise of a large tax bill means that the wood floor project is on the back burner.
Anyway, as you can tell, all is well. Stay in touch!
