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