summer breeze, makes me feel fine...

check it out... the storms of summer have arrived. yesterday we were under a severe thunderstorm watch for most of the day. periodically it was upgraded to a tornado warning, then downgraded, then upgraded again. we actually got some heavy rain for a bit, and some high winds, but nothing spectacular or dangerous. the clouds looked pretty wicked though, hence the pics lol

In a word...

babysitting. it is what it is. lol one of my closest friends, David, who lives in virginia, left his cat (Kitty) here in michigan with his in-laws. it's been like 3-4 years now. for some reason they can't (or wont) keep the cat any more and suggested putting her in the pound. David was understandably upset and against this action. as was i. i remember when he got kitty. it was during a "wild" time in both our lives. she's been a part of the fam for 9+ years. to let her go to the pound at this point would be cruel. all they would do is euthanize her since she is so old. so i volunteered to keep her until..... what ever. thats the kinda guy i am ;)

so anyway, ....she's in heat. i neglected to inquire if she had been fixed. apparently not. so now i have this hot and bothered old cat crawling around my pad, screeching and yowling 24/7. ah the joys of lifelong friendship LOL

Great weekend. Hung out with the kid. Di

Great weekend. Hung out with the kid. Did some shopping. She won a scholarship to a week long camp, so she needed a new swim suit. MAN i wont EVEN go into the drama that entails lolOther than that we had fun. Had chinese one day and mexican the next lol I promised her Red Lobster next time. Its time for crab legs!!Oh yeah, the zoo is open! We are so there next weekend! Oh wait, next weekend s my birthday ;)

Thought i'd ask the question...why do ge

Thought i'd ask the question...why do geese act like gangbangers? They are bullies.

i can hear the Ocean...

i upgraded!!! lol well the full story is i was seriously considering jumping ship from Helio to either ATT or Verizon. not because i was unhappy with Helio service, i get signal almost everywhere and the plan i have is awesome. i just HATED my phone. i did the typical consumer thing, buy jumping on the 'free' phone they offered during the holidaze instead of picking a good phone. caveat emptor right? lol

so anyway, i was all set to make that move, actually had the ATT Tilt on order when i decided to give Helio a call. they made me an offer i couldn't refuse. so here i am with my new Helio Ocean.
as you can see, it is a dual slider. full QWERTY keyboard on one side, dedicated keypad for dialing. the software is top tier. Helio really has made this phone their flagship model. It has totally intergrated the all of the popular IM, email, and social sites smoothly into the interface. total pocket communication. it also has a 2mp camera with flash and zoom. plays mp3s and videos. total web browsing. it can even stream Youtube videos. not much more i need in a phone lol

i'll post a more definitive review one i've had it a couple weeks... ciao!

Celebrations continued....

Look at the size of her sandwich!! Its as big as her face! LOL Eating at Joe's Be-Bop BBQ in Navy Pier.
Crystal Garden in Navy Pier. Notice the leaping fountains in the background?
Aliyah getting counseling from a piece of art in Navy Pier Park.
We're dwarves!! LOL
Finally heading home after a LOOOONG day of reckless merriment and father/daughter bonding :) On the train, relaxing for the 3.5 hour ride home.

Celebrations!

Ok you've heard of the MEP tests right? If not, they are standardized scholastic tests used in Michigan to guage where your childs aptitude (is that the right word?) is. Well Aliyah took hers not too long ago and we recently received the results.

She scored well above average in just about every subject, which to be honest, wasn't a surprise. My daughter has always done well in school. What WAS a suprise is her math score. She not only scored highest in her grade (7th) but she scored highest in her SCHOOL (6 - 8th grade)!! The principle came to personally congratulate us and she received a letter from the Governor.

So anyway, to reward her, I decided to take her on a trip to Chicago, via train! Both were first for her so it was very exciting. With her about to be 13, it was her first "big girl" trip. We had a blast. Check out some photos...

This is Aliyah on a bridge on Michigan Ave? I can't remember LOL
In front of the Sears Tower of course. We didn't go up this time... line was too long.
On the water taxi, on the way to Navy Pier
Aliyah watching a group of canoeists on a tour LOL I'll post some more pics in the next post or two.