I found a dead Rat

So Monday I came into work to be greeted by the horrid smell of a dead animal....I turned on my sniffer and narrowed the smell down to a corner of the "green room" that i work in (35x35ft room). Well i checked all the traps around that area and found them all to be empty. So I then looked around the boxes under the table until i saw a hole in the wall and assumed the animal was in there, because 2 weeks ago i had the task of entering the attic of our 1905/1910 office house to place rat bait/poison around up there and was assuming some would come downstairs to die.... Oh well i said...the smell of a decaying animal should be gone within a few weeks...I'll live with it. Well today (Wednesday) my friend came in and said "Are you sure its in the wall"...Does she not know that is a dare to me....So I went to work going through each box to find our "little friend"...within in a few minutes I had found a friend...but he was not little. I found a Norwegian rat between two boxes, saw his size and went to get a mask and bags from downstairs.....so i could begin the clean up process...Caution Details are below....

Well when i returned and moved the boxes i was welcomed by a large amount of maggets eatting Mr. Rat, so i put him in a plastic bag and moved on to removing the maggets by brushing them onto a peice of paper with a cd then dumping them into the rat bag. I then borrowed the vaccum from the nursery and vaccumed up the remaing rat fur, poo, and other icky things....The nannies have informed me they will be buying a new vaccum and i may keep the one I borrowed. How nice of them! Here is a link to my old blogg and the pictures of my new friend...Caution Gross Pictures of Rat

Emma's Wish List

I added Emma's wish list to my side panel...And right here

Recycle you Crocs

So I found out today that after your crocs get old and the soles wear out (if they just stink, you wash them) you can donate/recycle them through solesunited and they clean them, grind them up, and make new crocs to send to people in need (the video on the web site shows people in Africa). On the web site you can find a donation center near you, or they give you an adress to send them to. So donate your old crocs!

My life as a truck driver (kind of)

So before y'all freak out and and say "How can you leave your wife and baby to drive trucks" (not that there is anything wrong with that profession).....I'm speaking of analogy I came up with to describe my working life.
Ok here is how it works:

• Monday morning I gas up (eat breakfast) and head off for a week of driving my truck (sitting at my desk at Earth search)...Some days I drive more miles than others (work on more projects)...But I always come home to a loving family (for real).
• This trend continues until Friday when after driving all day i have to unload the truck (Deliver Pitas at Pita Pit)...I get so into unloading the truck that I do not notice that i forgot to set the parking break and I get hit by my truck (Work until 4am... leaving me feeling like I got hit by a truck)....While unconscious from the truck hitting me I sometimes have some wonderful dreams of spending time with my family (The time I spend with Emma and Sarah from when I wake up on Saturday to 6pm that night when i go back to work...it seems so hazy)....When I gain consciousness I realize I still have more unloading to do, so off to unloading I go (back to the Pita Pit)....Silly me forgot the parking break again...Bamm truck hits me again (another 4am night)...Ahh dreams of Sarah and Emma again (time spent with my girls once again)....Time to finish unloading the truck (last night at Pita Pit..sometimes till 12am...last night till 2am)....Then off to drive the truck again on Monday (back to work at Earth Search).
• While it seems I am complaing about working to much in this hard time of no work for some people, I know I am blessed to have a wonderful family and two jobs that would work me 80 hrs a week each if i could. God is good...ALL THE TIME...There are blessings everywhere we look..we must simply wipe the evil of our world that clogs our eyes and open our eyes and hearts to our great and grace giving God..

My baby was in a movie.

So I was looking at pictures of my sweet Emma when I could swear I had seen the same likeness in a movie....Emma is Boo from Monsters Inc. See if you agree...

YEAY FOR SARAH!!

Haha...Sorry I tried to fool you guys....But congrads to Sarah...But I must say Sarah follows me everywhere..First ABA (i didn't want the job grant you)...then Catawba (I taught Kindergarten, she later came and taught 2 yr olds), then I guess the next job we shared we were hired on the same day (Boys Town)...Then i thought i was safe by working at an archaeology firm...How would Sarah follow me here??? Become the nanny (the position I originally applied for and did not get)....Truthfully...I love working with Sarah and I am blessed to have had so many jobs that i could enjoy Sarah's presence....God is good!!


On another note, yesterday (Saturday November 15th) was Sarah's 25th birthday...Sarah has been a blessing in my life and I can not describe how happy I am that she is my wife. Sarah is a very special woman with a heart for God, people, and children. God placed us together before time and I am pretty sure God gave Jesus a high five when they saw how perfect Their match was going to be..God is good!! I Miss You Already Sarah and Emma!!!

On an entirely different note i have been collecting State quarters since they started making them...but took a hiatus after getting married and working but recently began again (being a delivery driver has helped speed my process of catch up). I now am only missing 3 of the 50...(California, North Dakota, and Hawaii)...I'm sure they will pop up eventually but I thought I'd share :c).

Matt's Random Update

• Still Work 40 hrs at "the Search" and 35+ at "the Pit" (it helps me to give them fun nicknames). 75+ hrs total
  
• Told Pita Pit that I would be cutting my hours after thanksgiving. They are trying to convince me to still work 3 days...We will see....
• My right knee is getting A LOT better..though still tender when knealing on it and when i scrape it on the car door (did that last night).
  
• Now for some odd reason my right foot has swollen for a reason I can not recall or explain....The minds at Earth Search say it is because it drained from my knee to my foot...I don't know if it works that way...Who knows??
• Sarah's Mom (Pam) and adopted Aunt Kay have stormed into the Big Easy for a wild week of attending a Beth Moore taping (lady that does bible studies...I hear she's good)...
• Emma has refused to attend (she's already a rebel) so I took her Monday....Tuesday our Friend from Church took her....Wednesday is Daddy day again...Thursday Friend from Church...Friday Daddy day till 10pm when he goes into work....Ill work 8am-4am that day...Is my math wrong or is that 22 hrs out of 24...But Emma is not work :c)...shes a blessing!....with a sweet smile and loud cry.
• I have successfully slept on the couch with Sarah for 4 nights now without having to move somewhere else in the middle of the night (I normally get uncomfortable and have to roll around..not possible while sharing a couch)
• I don't think I can hold in Sarah's exciting news anymore!!! Sooo... here it is.. Sarah and I are......................................................................................................................................HAHA..Sorry Guys..I don't give up Exciting news that is not exclusively mine to release yet. Its going to change our lives though.
  

Its not broken!

Sarah and I decided on Wednesday that I needed some professional Advice on my Bum knee...So we decided that if Sarah did not go back to SC for her planned trip in a week or so that we could afford to let me go to the doctor. So i called and made an appointment for Thursday afternoon ( I love having a doctor you can call at 4pm and make an appointment for the next day)...Well Thursday at Earth Search someone asked to see my knee and everyone gathered around and collectivly decided after touching, poking, and staring, that i had in fact broken my patella. So off to the doctor I go with this new found knowlege that my knee cap was broken...So after all the nurses were done oggling Emma (I dont blame them) they looked at my knee and off to the X-ray i went. As i was laying on the X-ray table i decided that as cool as it would be to say i broke my patela, i did not actually want to walk on crutches for another stint of my life (I cut the bottom of my foot the day after Sarah and I got home from our Honeymoon and was on crutches for like 2 months). I also figured out that it would be simply to hard to work at my current pace (75+ hrs a week) with a broken body part...So i prayed that it would not be broken and when I returned to the exam room the doctor told me that it was not broken, just brusied and i needed to bend it. I replied "but it hurts"...He replied "You are a baby when your hurt"....Grrrr to him. But he made it up to me because when we were checking out he had written on my chart NO Charge.. How awesome is God!!! So i bend my knee now, and everytime it hurts i say "come on Matt dont be a baby!" And Sarah can go to SC now! I'll miss my girls but I know they will have fun!

damage assessment

Elbow

Knee

Knee view 2

Side Bruise

Side bruise with reference. Notice pointer finger on left hand has a missing finger nail (past injury)

I saved my baby.....Sidewalks of NOLA.....19 of 24...Saved the Baby again...

So you know girls, always trying to be a damsel in distress waiting for a hero...Well my sweet Emma is not immune to my off-guided stereotype (and joke)...Friday after getting off work at Earth Search (ESI) I got Emma out of the car to walk to our apartment...Well I had not seen her yet because Sarah had picked me up from work (a whole nother story) and i was in the front and Emma was in the back sleeping...So I decide to walk down the sidewalk holding the car seat in front of my face so we could smile and coo and each other....Well next thing i know we are falling towards the cement sidewalk and guess who needed to be saved....Emma....So i hastened to put her car seat down in a safe place and i continued to fall to the sidewalk (it was like a slow motion Matrix scene)..Emma was saved (Mommy ran and comforted her for me) and daddy was laying on the ground feeling very happy Emma was saved...and very pain stricken (PSSS...I may have cried)...Well in the end i made it up to our bed and assessed the damage...One bloody elbow..CHECK....One bloody knee....CHECK....Scrape on my side...Check....All other systems a go...Current Time 4:20pm...Time for a nap before work at 9pm.....Beep Beep at 6pm....Text from my Pita Pit Boss.."can you come in right now, we have a Bookoo (big) delivery order"....Get dressed real quick go to work....Work until 5am...Total 24 hr work total 19 (8pm-4pm ESI, 6pm-5am). Recheck of injuries....Huge bruise on side....CHECK...scrape on elbow CHECK....knee swollen to the size of a baseball....CHECK...all other systems a go.

Small note on the Pita Pit work Schedule this past weekend...Friday 6pm-5am (11hrs), Saturday 7pm-5am (10 hrs)..Sunday 6pm-1am (7 hrs)...Grand total of 28 hrs worked....

On to saving Emma again...Today (Monday) my poor, sweet, awesome, hardworking Sarah went to put laundry in the washer (outside) and the wind blew the door closed. Sarah was in her robe and had no key to get in....Emma's location..laying on the boppy on our bed...Ut Oh...So Sarah calls me (from our wonderful neighbor's phone) up at Earth Search and runs the situation by me.

• She took me to work so i had no car to return home
• The baby is inside on the bed
• She wants to know if she should break the front window to get in
• She was amazingly calm

I rack my mind to think of a "mattish" solution (something inventive and/or creative) to this situation and i came up with nothing. So i ran down stairs to my friend Katie...quickly told the story...and she threw me keys to a company car...ZOOM..ZOOM...Home in record time....Open the front door to find that the door to Emma's room is locked so we can not get past the living room to get to Emma...So i run down the stairs (remember my knee that hurt...I did not feel it...Welcome to being a Dad)...Enter the ally that goes to the back door and hear my Emma wailing...SO I RAN FASTER (still not feeling my knee)...I get to the back door and my key is not working fast enough so with my Dadish Adrenalin i kick in the door... run to Emma who is still wailing....Time til she stopped wailing and began to laugh at her parents... 3 seconds (whats wrong with you guys?? Lets play!)

Atleast I have tonight off from the Pita Pit :c)

Be sure to check out Sarah's Account of the excitement

Waiting on the sidewalk

While I was on the sidewalk outside my office in the 9th Ward today waiting for Sarah to pick me up from work this car pulls up. Quick Matt think what do you do!

a.)Duck...its a drive by
b.)Ignore them..they may be a homeless person asking for money (it could happen)
c.)Pull out your Tylenol... they are looking for a drug deal (here is your chance to get out of debt Matt)
d.)Get your mental map ready....its a tourist asking for directions

Well I was going with C (the drug deal)...But it turns out to be choice D (the Tourist)...and here is their classic question verbatim, "How do you get to that dam that broke on those people??" Ding Ding your a Dork...Its a Levee and are you speaking of the time when peoples homes and lives were WASHED AWAY (not and exaggerate statement, they actually WASHED AWAY)....

The latest on Matt

Hi my name is Matt, I:

• Changed the oil in my scooter for the second time, but could not figure out how to put the transmission oil in (even though i did it once already). Thus I decided to spray as much as i could in the hole then screw it closed real fast. The next day i made it about 6 blocks from my house and the scooter chugged and died, tell me I did not give it enough oil. Yeay for pushing a scooter 6 blocks home when you were already late to work.
• Am the Office Assistant at Earth Search Inc.
• Am a delivery Driver for Pita Pit
• Am a Pita Roller for Pita Pit when I'm not on a delivery.
  
• Am the Grill Master at Pita Pit when I am not rolling or delivering.
• Am the Master Turkey Slicer/Roller when there are no customers.
  
• Worked 74 hours from Sunday the 5th to Sunday the 12th.
  
• Get paid on the 1st and 15th at both my jobs.
• Love my girls and treasure every moment I spend with them.
• love to sleep more then I did before..Who Knew!
• Am learning my way around Tulane Campus (cuz i deliver there)
• Am proud of the Saints, and the Gamecocks. And Feel Sorry for LSU, and Clemson.
• Am Tired right now.
• Have discovered Apples, i didnt think i liked them but i do...and supposovely they wake you up better than Coffee
• HATE COFFEE (how Sarah and I hooked up I have no idea)
• have drank 2 cokes in 3 years (Seriously...Hard to believe for those of you that knew my 5 a day habit at Winthrop and Rosewood).
• Will do another one of these later...Bullets have always been my favorite...it helps my Anxiety...Who Knew!
  

I made a new day

So I started at Pita Pit on Tuesday (our friends and Family Free day 3:30pm-9pm). I found out I would be working Sun-Thursday 6pm-12am (it was 1am but i talked them into 12 so i could get up for work at Earth Search and still have slept some). It was HARD at first to juggle making pitas, answering the phone for deliveries, making smoothies, and delivering. The first day took some getting used to..But I have a system now and its actually pretty fun. I get to make people happy when i give them yummy food..and the tips are not to bad..I get about $20-$25 a night. Thursday night my boss asked me if i wanted to pick up another day (Friday)...to which i responded...Only if i can get trade in a Sun-Thursday shift...He said how about you pick up tomorrow and we can find a day to give you off...That's fine with me...I was looking forward to the "better" tips of Friday night drunk people. OK so my Friday shift is 10pm-3am (really 4:30am with closing duties)...So i come home from earth search on friday about 5pm and hop in bed for a few hours nap...I wake up about 7pm and hang with my girls till my shift at 10...I was able to put Emma to bed..give DJ his medicine (he has a UTI)..and spend time with my wonderful wife. So I go to work and apparently the drunk people didnt get the "tip big" memo cuz it was one of my worst tip nights..full of people rounding off the dollar on their credit card slips (i got $1.62 on on a $18.38 order...I don't think they were drunk to do that math)...But over all it was a fun night...But your mom is right "nothing good happens after midnight"...I saw a SUV flipped people falling over drunk...and girls who made bad judgments on their clothing (i think they forgot their pants, or their skirts were way to short even for New Orleans). My main clientale is Tulane so I'm learning the campus somewhat. ANYWAYS... I get home about 4:30am and ask Sarah this seris of questions:

Why is Emma wearing the same thing she wore last night? (Umm that was tonight..not yesterday) Oh yea..I guess it was.

Did you give DJ his medincine? (nope you did, tonight before you left for work) Oh yea...i guess i did

THIS is when i realized i had created a whole new day of the week FriSatday (the wasted time between Friday and Saturday)....Yeay there are 8 days of the week now...wonder if i can pick up another day now???

Finally food...

After Gustav our Parish offered disaster relief food stamps. Sarah and I did not qualify for food stamps before the hurricane because somehow I make to much (who knew). So even though I made enough to not get food stamps Sarah and I were still struggling to have food. We did not go hungry but our fridge and freezer were pretty bare (and the cats were looking pretty tasty). After Gustav we had to throw away everything in the bare fridge (we were out of power for 5 days, so the food had actually kind of cooked in the fridge then rotted). The disaster food stamps are meant to replenish the food you lost in the hurricane, but for us it will be a replenish of food we need.

In order to get the disaster food stamps you must appear in person for an “interview” along with all you financial documents, and legal paperwork. The only problem was the fact that each Parish only had one center open to serve that parish. So I found out the center for our parish opened at 6am. I decided to get there at 5am to be sure I was not stuck in the long lines that had plagued the centers the last few days. I arrived at the center at 4:58am and after driving around for about 20 minutes finally found some fellow line goers. Together we asked police, security guards and national guardsman where we needed to go to wait in line. I went the way I thought we were supposed to go and found myself down the barrel of a Guardsman’s M-16 who claimed I had just entered a secure area. After pleading my case to him he escorted me out like I was a POW, gun a few inches from my back. No harm no foul, but I did check my pantys to be sure I had not wet them. Nope..All good. Next I try going up this escalator…Up I went until I was welcomed by a booming voice again informing me I was in the sites of a gun and I needed to turn around. Time for another leader..I’m done. So after walking around for a while we finally found the right area and started a line on the side of the building. We waited and watched as the line behind us grew longer…oblivious to them was the struggle we had endured to find the place to start the line.

I was in and out in less than 30 minutes thanks to the hard work of the social workers who were working 50+ hour weeks…THANK YOU! But I’m glad my wife did not have to be one of you…Emma and I would miss her after all! Sarah and I are going to try to split the stamps into 3 months worth of groceries, and hopefully by then my delivery job will have picked up and be helping the budget.

Top Ten things I love about New Orleans

10.) Sitting in the bath tub at the back of the apartment and feeling the tub shake a bit when a large vehicle goes by on the street in front of the apartment....Its like a mini earthquake.


9.)The great cooling breeze that comes before a hurricane...Ahhh


8.)Sitting on the porch watching the cars and vehicles going by...Also a good breeze


7.)Street Car rides...again with the breeze in the hair...I don't know who loves breezes more..Me or my daughter...She goes crazy for a good breeze.


6.)A free ferry ride across the largest, almost longest, most powerful river in America...Ahhh the breeze.


5.)Going to the river to see the ships....good breeze there too...


4.)Po-Boys..Mmmm...though I have not had one in a few months


3.)No matter where you go to eat it is always good


2.)You can get anywhere with public transportation and walking.....I like to try to walk places then when I can not get back I catch a bus..


1.) Being able to drive to work, and around the city on a scooter

Being a Dad top Ten

10.)Bragging about Emma's Development


9.)Watching Emma play in her ExcerSaucer


8.) Talking to Emma and having her talk back


7.) Listening to Emma laugh (she can "belly laugh" now)


6.) Picking up Emma from a nap and seeing that sweet contagious smile


5.) Dressing up Emma in pretty dresses and outfits


4.) Seeing the Joy in Sarah's eyes when I take Emma on a Daddy date


3.) Daddy dates


2.) Taking a nap with Emma while she holds my finger


1.) Looking at Emma and knowing she is Sarah and my sweet baby

All is well in NOLA

Sarah and I returned from the wilderness of South Carolina on Saturday not really knowing what to expect to see in our beloved city. We have never lived in a city prone to evacuation, much less one that was almost written off as a new marshland 3 short years ago. We returned 2 days after the city "re-opened" to find streets filled with leaves and branches/trees, street lights on the ground, signs blown over, and people cleaning up. There were long lines and full parking lots at the stores that were open, and many parking lots that are normally packed, were eerily bare because the stores had yet to receive their shipments of goods or workers had not yet returned so they could not open. Store parking lots that had not reopened since Katrina were used as staging areas for power crews, relief services, and city sponsored evacuation return locations. We also returned to our apartment to find that some things in the fridge had heated up to a point that they had exploded (biscuit can, milk jug, mustard), but were cool now that the power had returned. Life is not easy in a post-hurricane city, but it is great. We missed our city of a year and a half as if we had been born and raised here. What is it about a city that can do that to you?? We could name off things we love, but I do not think that "things" are what we love about the city, its the city we love, its Gods leading and continuing to spur us on to live a life for him in the city so that the lost people of the city can see and hear that the Lord is good. While we did not sustain any hurricane damage at our house, by the grace of God, we do feel the pain of the people who did lose something in the storm, all the residents of the city lost something this week, We lost the chance to live and love in the city for a long grueling week. May God place his hand over Cuba, Florida, and the rest of the gulf as Ivan comes this way. God is a great big God and he holds us in His hands!!

My Job

So I have discussed how much i enjoy my job at Earth Search, but i forgot to tell you guys that as of August 16th I am an official employee...Yeay! I am so glad that I was able to find a job that I love (actually God found it..who knew I'd work for an archeology firm...only God). My days are always full of excitement and new tasks...Our boss is so awesome she bought season tickets to the Saints and is giving everyone who wants one at least one ticket to a game this year...Yeay for Jill!! My health Insurance will start in 90 days...and I actually have sick days (not that I use them..I'm to suborn to admit I am sick).

We Check out "Historic structures" to see if they are elagable for historic Preservation. We use this cool Trimble GPS devices to plot where things are (girl is using one in foreground)

We dig holes to look for signs of previous settments or structures (this shows signs of a past building foundation)

Then we go back to the office and write a report about what we found, what previous investigation have found, and our suggestions, someone makes a map and plots our findings on it, then I print it, collate it, bind it, and send copies to the state (Historic Preservation Office), and client.

Matt's Scooter

My scooter had a photo shoot today in the backyard today...isn't she pretty!

Thank you Great Aunt Karen! I love my new Bee toy!

Scooter Upgrade

I got a way cool box for my scooter so i can carry stuff (like reports, rain gear, or maybe even a pizza). It came with out any holes drilled so I had to make my own..Poor Me..HEHE :c)...It could still use a few more screws and maybe another brace plate or 2 but its way cool...and i already used it today to carry a FedEx box of 6 big reports...IN THE RAIN...Nope they didn't get wet......Me i got wet..But its all okay cuz i have a way cool box for my scooter..and its red!! and its huge!! Its 20x20x13...YEAY!!

I added a metal peice to it to help support its size (it comes past my luggage rack)

My first try at making a support for the box, and shows how far it comes off the rack.

Barge and ditch

While Sarahs away Matt will Play!
So Its almost time for Sarah to get back from the Carolinas and while i did not anticipate how much i would miss her and Emma (A LOT) I sure had a lot of fun in their absence. Two bigger events happened in the last few days that i was a part of. First of all their was the big Oil Spill and clean up along the Mississippi River. So I really wanted to see them lift the barge out of the water (it sank after the wreck) So they finally started strapping it up to lift it out last week. So after work I would go watch to see the progress...There was usually no progress but i got word on saturday that they might be raising the part of the barge finally...so i got to the port just in time to see them put this BIG oily barge piece on another barge...THEN they brought it to the bank i was standing on! So i was within 10 feet of this way cool barge..I was watching the news that night and they had put police tape up and you could not get within 100 yards of it now. A Way cool adventure.

Coast Guard Photo of Barge stick up out of water and crane boats and and the barge they are going to put it on

I took this from the bank with the camera phone

Today i went to a birthday party for a little girl at work...It was a blast i got to be the offical grill master and cooked chicken, hamburgers, garden burgers, sauage, and hot dogs. I also got to be a pool monitor and watch soem cuties swim around the pool....As i was leaving i got to help get a car out of this BIG ditch...to bad it was my car....But after getting a truck and rope and chain we pulled her out...YEAY GOD!!...We ended up with the front left bumper being crack and dented in...But i popped her out and ill work on getting the crack filled...could have been worse if i had rolled (which as i was going in the ditch i was almost sure was going to happen)....Yeay God again!...

God is good!

I am so blessed! God amazes me more and more everyday it hard to not give Him all the praise as i go through my day, then as the day ends i look back and realize that God is in everything and has blessed me more than I even thought of as the day flew by.
Today God helped me to get my bill of sale and title notarized so I can finally get a license plate for Toot. Also my teeth started to hurt and i was bummed that me and Sarah and I did not have enough money for me to get a cleaning and and X-ray...So i get home and guess what is in the mail...A coupon for not just a free cleaning but also a free X-ray...GOD IS GOOD...

God has given me the most wonderful wife who has so much love for me and our sweet daughter. She is an ever present reminder of how good God is and how wonderful his plan is for me. I could not imagine a better friend and sweetheart. Thank You Lord for my best friend!

God had given Sarah and me the cutest sweetest little girl. Only God could have designed such a wonderful fit for Sarah and my Family. Thank You Lord for our Daughter!

God has given me my job that for the first time in my life i don't dread going to, I no longer throw up every morning from the stress and dread of work. I go to work and have fun...no matter what I'm doing (checking oil, producing reports, being a nanny, or cleaning, whatever). Thank You Lord for my Job!

Scoot New Orleans...

Today I took advantage of the girls being out of town to join the Scooter Club in New Orleans for an hour of hanging out...and a ride to the lakefront then back to the quarter for the Satchmo Summerfest (Louis Armstrong's Birthday). I put some pics up on Picassa....

Not superman..just a christian...

So yesterday and today were very busy days in the life of Matt....I started my day saying goodbye to the two most wonderful people in my life as they flew off to South Carolina for two weeks...Having them gone reminds me how much God has blessed me with my girls....I got to work at 7:30am after I dropped Sarah and Emma off at the airport.
Yesterday:
Tuesday I was given the privilege of maintaining the vehicles at work now (6 of them)...its pretty fun...I have been checking the break tags, oil, tires, maintenance issues and cleaning them up a bit. So far i had to put coolant in all the cars...put air in tires...and clean out the cars...
When i got home i talked to my Dad and he told me how to refinance our Car (we needed to payment to go down). So i called up USAA which is the company Sarah and I use for pretty much everything (insurance, credit card, banking, now car loan, and they walked me though refinancign the car (it took about an hour of talking to them, then i called our current financer to find out the 10 day payoff...then called USAA back and talked for a little longer. Then i talked to Sarah on Skype, sold my scooter trunk and talked to the guy who bought it from me...he has the baja 125 (older model of my scooter), so we compared scooters and had a good time....As i was going up the stairs to the apartment i heard a loud BUZZING noise...I turned around and realized it was the nursing home across the street and a lady had found a way to open one of the doors and was attempting to get out in her wheelchair...I knew this was not normal, so i ran across the street and approached the lady who was shouting at me to help her...I asked her name and gained her trust a bit and was able to convince her that i could HELP HER find a nurse....So i push her in the building and around all this halls with elderly people just sitting around...I thought this is odd , where are the nurses??? As i was dialing 911 to report that there were no nurses at this nursing home a nurse walks out of an office and about killed me with her look at me...I explained where i had found this nice lady i was pushing and saud bye and tried to get out the door I came in...But it would not open (the elderly lady must have been majic to open it). So i go back to the lone nurse and tell her i cant get out...she gives me a code and out i go...
Today:
today at 7am i took a truck to the shop for an alignment and oil change before it left on a project..While i was test driving one of the trucks today a little lizard (anole), crawled across the window so i rolled it down and let him in the truck, and like a dog he sat on the passenger seat till i opened the door for him. How cute!
Then i got to put a project area on a geomorphology map, produce a few reports, and be a nanny in the nursery....
WHAT AN AMAZING FEW DAYS!!! ONLY BY THE GRACE AND LOVE OF GOD COULD I STILL BE SANE, AWAKE, AND HAVING A BALL...

Who needs a car....

My scooter is the coolest..I needed to go grocery shopping and I did not want to move the car because I do not want to use any gas...and i had a good parking spot....So i took the scooter...I forgot to take a picture of toot the scoot with the groceries but she did a great job..Look at all she carried....

Emma and Daddy

So I thought I would let you guys in on some of Emma and my fun times. I must preface this all by saying that Sarah is the Best wife and Mom ever. Sarah wakes up at night to feed Emma and hold her..while I somehow sleep through it 99% of the time (sometimes I wake up). Anyways..on Saturday mornings Emma and I have a "daddy date" where we go somewhere other than sit in bed with Mom...So far we

• took a nap in the living room
  
• watched Monsters Inc. in the living room
• The next week we found a yard sale and bought a BIG Tupperware box full of girls clothing (6m-4t) for $10.
  
• This week we went to Big Easy Scooters to look for a scooter trunk for daddy. All we found were a lot of really cool scooters.

Emma and I also have fun playing little tummy time games. Daddy's favorite is "scary fingers" we learned this game while watching Monsters Inc. Emma will put out her fingers and open and close them a little bit and it looks like when Mike Wazowski and Sulley were practicing for scaring that day. I think its the cutest and she just smiles and smiles when I say "scary fingers."

Busy weeks, and the scoot needs a name

It has been quite a busy couple of weeks at work. We had a Huge report to go out to the Corps, and they wanted 40 copies (one for each of the corps offices libraries around the US). We also made 3 copies for us (1 unbound, two bound) It would have been a big feat to do 43 copies of even a small report but this one was 3 volumes because it was so BIG. Volume 1 was the report which turned out to be about 330 pages, Volume 2 was Appendix A which was tables of all the artifacts found and it was 400 pages, and Volume 3 was Appendix B,C,D,E which was another report, artifact pictures, and more tables it rounded out at about 160 pages...If your keeping count that about 800 pages times 43 copies, roughly 35,000 pages. Needless to say it took up 10 ream paper boxes, and we joked we might need to take the HEMI truck to deliver it to the printer company (it also had to be perfect bound, like a book). We told them they had a week to bind it. As i carried it out the door to put it in the Tundra, people kept asking me if i was going to try to take the Scooter...Naw i said, even though i think i could make a little trailer for my scoot. Speaking of which my scoot needs a name, we already have Tomtom the tomtom, Sammy Santa Fe, Loui lumina, and Emma the baby (we named her!)...So The scoot is a Baja Sun City 150..what do you think his/her name should be??

New Orleans- A sensory experience

New Orleans is such a beautiful historic city..a girl at work commented that the state is 200 years old, but New Orleans is 290 years old. This city is a major part of the history of America, we sit on the longest river in America that happens to bring in a lot of ships for exporting and importing. We are alive in well...or maybe just on the right track to well.

From riding my scooter I have discovered that a ride to work in New Orleans is much more than just a commute, its an experience on a scooter. I determined today that I use every one of my senses on my "ride" to work.

Sight- This is not a new one for me being that you can see out of a car also, but when you are on a scooter you have nothing to block your view of the wonderful architecture and history that the city radiates. But you also have nothing to block the view of the sad things of New Orleans. Food/shelter lines on Claiborne, storm ravaged buildings that no one has touched (despite some being very beautiful), the homeless village under the I-10 bridge, the disrepair of most of the streets.Smell- It's amazing the smells you discover when you riding that you never knew were there, or grossly misjudged the strength of until now. I begin with negative and finish with positive on this sense. First discovery, the stench of the homeless village under I-10. It makes perfect since that it would not smell great, but it makes your heart hurt for this people even more when you smell the strength of the urine and unclean smell, and this is with the area being pressured washed twice a week. Second discovery...Food Smells. New Orleans is known for is wonderful food, but does it really have to tease me like this...Does it not know that I don't have the time nor money to stop and try it...

Taste- This links back to smell a bit...I can almost taste the ham, egg, and cheese Po-boy at the pink Po-boy place on St. Claude and Elysian Fields (Gene's Po-Boy), though I have never actually tasted it. The drive by McDonald's is a sensory experience too...Ahhh chicken biscuit (sometimes I bow to this temptation)


Touch- The feel of the wind on you face and skin is an experince that can only be experienced, and not discribed. Its like sticking your head out the window in a car, without the fear of falling out, or losing control of the car. You can also feel the wonderful streets of New Orleans, smooth 3% of the time, bumpy 97%....Ahh but its one of the things that lets you know your home.

Hear- Of course you can hear a city with its emergency vehicles, construction, street cars (clang clang) and car noises, but riding a scooter adds to this. Not only do you hear more city sounds but you hear them better. Also riding a scooter adds another dimension , I listen to every bump and sound the scooter makes and the sounds that come from the road, just to make sure I am not losing parts of the scooter, or my lunch off the back (I know i should have put it in the seat storage, but so much easier to just bungee it to the back). My hearing came in handy several times when I have lost reports off the back (just once), and this morning when my lunch fell off (under seat storage from now on).

Emma's first dip in the Ocean

Emma car Ride

Scoot, scoot, scooting around

I am now the proud (but still a little scared until I learn to drive better) owner of a Baja SC 150 scooter. I bought it about a month ago so I could have a cheap way to work and still let Sarah have a car. So there was some trouble with the Title (they could not find it, and had to order a new one). Anyways...I got to pick it up Sunday (Fathers Day)...but the store is on the East side of NOLA and i had to find a way to get home without taking I-10 (that's toooo scary). So i found a way home and Sarah followed behind with our sweet girl sleeping in the back seat of the Santa Fe...Good girl Emma!!! I took the Santa Fe to work on monday because i had a box of reports in the back seat that would not fit on the Scooter. As of Tuesday I am a scooter commuter (i just made that up..HAHA)...and i Love it...I'm still gettting the hang of leaning to turn and other two wheel vechicle skills, but I am enjoying it...and all my Acheology friends think I'm sooo cool with my helmet when i walk it the office...AHHH I am cool...I will post some pictures of me riding my HOG (what would a baby HOG be???)...Untill then i have a stock photo from the website.

A day in the life of Matt..

Life has become so exciting and full of adventures with Sarah and my sweet baby Emma. Emma is slowly getting into a somewhat schedule and I am having fun at work.
Usually Emma will go to sleep around 9pm at night and we will go down with her, she will wake up and eat and love on Mommy (or Daddy if he is awake enough) then go back to sleep. Then she will wake Mommy and Daddy up at about 6:00am or so and Daddy will hold his sweetheart (and sometimes Emma..J/K), then go he will go get ready for work and set up the bed for Mommy (Put the computer on the bed and plug it in, set the remotes on the bed, get the Breast Pump ready, make Sarah breakfast, etc.) Then Daddy makes his lunch and water bottle. Then with a kiss to his two girls (sometimes three if Peaches is out) he is off to work at Earth Search.

Earth Search is a Archaeological research firm that mainly does
Investigations for companies around the Southern Mississippi Valley area
to determine if there is any archaeological elements that would
be effected by construction at sites by the companies. We can also monitor sites
during construction to take care of archaeological artifacts and/or burial sites
that are unearthed in construction. We work with the Corps of Engineers
pretty often.

My job at earth search is to help create and publish the reports to the companies. Its fun because i get to work with maps of New Orleans (one of my new major interests, if you recall my excitement with the 1912 map of New Orleans i got framed, if you don't click here), and i get to learn how to do stuff in Photoshop and Arch-GIS and all these other fun programs. It also appeals to my accomplishment mentality where I can make a report, then produce, and deliver it to the client (or FedEx it). I also get to take care of kids in the nursery every so often (We have a nursery), i get to run errands to pick up pictures of sites, buy items for the office, go to the bank, and go to the FedEx box and Post office. I am having so much fun and i hope that they hire me (everyone keeps saying they love me and do not see why i would not be hired) But its all still in Gods hands.

Emma Grace Videos

Blue Light Special!!!

Well Blue light special is normally refuring to a sale at K-mart...Or that time when you went a little to fast and you get to see a police car up close. But this Blue light special is in fact quite special to Sarah and I. Its Emma!!! Poor Emma has Jaundice so she has to sit under a blue light in the nursery whenever she is not nursing. Poor little Emma lights up the window she is sitting under. I love my little girl!

My baby Emma is here

My sweet Emma is finally here!!! She was born after 16 hours of labor...and then a C-Section. Our Emma was born at 5:48am on May 21 (her actual due date). Sarah and I enjoyed being alone together with our sweet girl as she learned how to breast feed (Sarah was learning too), found her fingers, and stuck out her tongue a million times. Then we were joyed to welcome Sarah's mom on Wednesday night. Sarah's Mom spent the night with Sarah and i went home to sleep around 10:00pm. On Thursday I came to see my girls in the morning then went back to work at noon. My day at work ended about 4:00 when the power went out in the office and we had to rush to plug the 6 network computers to a portable generator before back up power strips ran out. We Lost 1 network because we needed a password to turn it off to move it to the generator but we didn't have the person in the office that knew the password. It should be OK though. Then i decided to take some reports i had finished to the Post Office because there was nothing i could do at the office with the power out. On the way to the Post Office i decided to drive by the lot were Michael designed the landscaping for a Waffle House. It still just an grown up lot with an empty slab, can't wait to see if finished! If you would like to see more of my sweet Emma check out her picassa site it is http://picasaweb.google.com/mattjparks/EmmaGrace.