Gasp!

OK, so it's been ten months or so... But don't worry, this is not going to be a detailed, blow-by-blow account of our lives, but at least cover some highlights... Most of you probably know a lot of this anyway, from various sources.

Anyway, at the end of last October, we found out that Auto-Trol (my employer, for those who may have forgotten) was being bought by a company called Versata. A week or so later, we found out that Versata buys companies, lays everybody off (more or less), and sends the development work to contractors in India. So this added a lot of stress and pressure. On the plus side, as I'd already been putting some effort into finding a different job, I had a head start.

To make a somewhat long story short, I ended up getting offered a job just before Thanksgiving at Baylor College of Medicine. I work specifically for the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center Bioinformatics Group. I started on December 13, and spent the couple of weeks in the meantime working on the cabinet project, and I was able to finish the base cabinets, except for sanding and painting (unfortunately, that part is still not finished, although it is in progress). My current project for the foreseeable future is that I am the sole programmer for the Texas Cancer Research Biobank. This is a project to collect at least 2,000 high-quality cancer samples that can then be gene sequenced to learn more about the causes of cancer. I am writing a variety of applications to help track and manage these samples. So far, it's been a nice change, except for the problem of being in the Texas Medical Center, instead of just down the street. It's been an adjustment to not be so close to home, and able to get to the school, etc.

On the other hand, they are pretty open to working from home from time to time, and that has helped ease the transition. At first this wasn't much of an option, because our computer at home wasn't up to running the necessary software, so as a result towards the beginning of the year we took the plunge and upgraded our computer. I think that has also been nice for everyone.

One particularly interesting bit of my work is that one of these applications needs to be usable in hospitals and similar field locations, and so I am working on an Android version of the application. As a result of this, I have custody of a Motorola Xoom.

Also, in the spring I was approached by a member of the high council in our stake, who I met coordinating some translations stuff for meetings. He told me that his neighbor had a company and was looking for someone to write some software to help manage his company. After a couple of meeting to learn more about the project, we decided that it was a good opportunity. I have been working on that throughout the summer, and am hoping to finish it up soon. This project led to another purchase, as I needed a way to demonstrate my work so far to the customers, and therefore we ended up buying a laptop. Jessie in particular is very fond of it, and usually uses it in preference to the desktop. I have also found in additionally useful in being able to work on the project on the bus to and from work, as well as at other times when I had to be away from home.

In late December, Dee was called to be the first counselor in the Primary Presidency. That has kept her rather busy, along with her usual activities. The president was expecting in the middle of June (as well as the secretary, a couple days apart from each other), so that added to her responsibilities for a little bit, although they did call a third counselor to help. Then, just as the president was coming back after the baby, she had some serious health concerns come up, and that kept her away a bit more. She also spent a few weeks last spring helping to teach a mini-course at the elementary school. Brennan was in her class. She is once again the second VP at the elementary PTA, and now is ending up co-chairing a position on the board for the intermediate PTA as well. Adding all that to the usual efforts to keep the rest of us functioning and on the ball, and she is very busy.

Jessie has had an eventful time. She mentioned the "So You Think You Can Sing" competition, and I know many of you were able to watch that. It was a good experience, and we were very proud of her and her performance. Also at the beginning of the year, Jessie had to decide where she was going to school next year for Intermediate school. She had three options. Space Center is the local school that she would normally go to. At Seabrook Intermediate they have a Science Magnet, but she didn't really consider that very much. She likes science, but not that much... The third option was the GT Magnet (referred to as WAVE) at Westbrook Intermediate. The classes she would take there would be more integrated, and designed specifically for GT students. In addition, they have a wide selection of minicourses that the students get to choose from--everything from Chocolate to Scuba Diving, to Computers, etc. She had a hard time deciding, knowing that a lot of her friends would be at Space Center, but in the end she felt like the WAVE program was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Also, she was again able to qualify for the school's Reading Rumble team. This is a competition where a team of six from each school compete to identify quotes from a list of 20 books or so. Last year was the first year Armand Bayou participated, and they didn't do well. This year, they knew better how to prepare, and so were more confident. Jessie was the top qualifier, and so was chosen as the team captain. At the elementary level, they have three preliminary groups, with the top three in each group going to the finals. There were five rounds of five questions, so a total of 25 questions. Jessie's team got 22 of the 25 correct, for first place in their "zone." This was a big turnaround from last year. One of the other teams in the final was Ward Elementary, the school that won the first two years of the competition. Armand Bayou were neck and neck with them, and towards the end were tied, but again they got 22 of 25 correct, while Ward got 23 correct. So, they were unable to dethrone the champions, but finished in second place. Jessie also participated in a Living History Museum the fifth grade does every year (she was Laura Ingalls Wilder), and in the school talent show, where she sang "Sleep Gently Sleep" in German.

Over the summer, Jessie kept herself busy with reading, bowling, and various activities with some of her friends. This summer she actually participated in two bowling leagues--her usual one, and a Monday night scholarship league. In one of the Monday night games, she set a new high score, 184. She was also able to babysit for someone in our ward a couple of times (she did it at our house, with oversight from Mom), and also completed a Red Cross babysitting class.

Now she is adjusting to intermediate school. She has definitely had more homework, and has been very diligent in working on it all. She's made some new friends, and is enjoying the type of homework, and school work, that is very different from what she has done in the past. Some examples include a creative compass (on castles in Germany, and involved drawing four German castles from pictures); a visor representing aspects of a book, such as theme, character, etc.; a language arts test that included writing new dialog for a Peanuts comic strip using spelling words, and a paper comparing herself to a piece of scientific equipment. I might try to see if she is OK with me posting that last one on here. She is also very anxious for her birthday, especially to leave Primary, and is very happy that her birthday is on Wednesday this year, so she'll get to go to her first Mutual on her birthday. She was very happy recently to put her last Primary program behind her--although now she's disappointed because there is going to be a Stake talent show in November, and you have to be at least twelve to participate...

Brennan has been very busy as well, although not quite the variety. Just before Christmas we learned that he had also qualified for the GT program. He has enjoyed that. In February, baseball started. This was Brennan's first spring in kid pitch. It was a difficult transition, but overall he played well. The team (the Red Sox) had some really good games, and a couple that weren't so good. Brennan had some pretty eventful moments over the season. In one game he was stealing third, and the catcher's throw hit him right in the center of his chest. The next game, he was coming home on a wild pitch, and the pitcher stepped on his leg. Last Saturday, he was hit by a pitch, and has a nice bruise on his leg. In hitting, he had some bad luck, with a couple of balls hit directly at fielders on the other team. He worked hard, though, and learned a lot. The last week of the season was interesting, though. On that Tuesday, he came home from school and his pinky finger on his right hand was swelling and purple. He told us that he had collided with another boy (a former baseball teammate) at PE. It kept getting worse, and after a lot of debate (going into the next morning) we decided to take him in to the doctor to get it checked. Dee got an appointment for a little before school got out (he had a game that afternoon, so we didn't want to be too late). When she got to the school to pick him up, just after she entered the building she got a phone call from the school nurse--Brennan was in to see her; he had collided with the same boy again, and this time had a gash on his forehead from his friend's tooth...

Anyway, it turned out that his finger wasn't broken. Still, he didn't play in the game that afternoon (the last regular season game). Saturday was the first game of the tournament, and though his finger was still very sore, he went ahead and played. It was a very close game, but in the end they lost.

Brennan also bowled this summer and is also bowling this fall, and has three times increased his high score, up to 135. He also read a lot, and played a lot with friends. He's now in fourth grade, and seems to be doing well. He is also playing soccer. In his first game he played goalie for most of the game, and did well, although his team ended up losing 3 - 2. In the games since then he has played goalie part of each game, but also plays a lot at forward and full back. They've won the other three games they've played. The second one I got lost trying to get there, so we missed the beginning, but he was still able to play a lot and made some good plays. The third game he scored two goals, and also impressed the other parents with his speed. There were a couple of times when he was playing fullback when he got to a ball with the whole field open ahead of him and took off down the side with the ball, but neither time was he able to score. Then, in the fourth game Brennan had several shots just go wide of the goal, and one hard shot that hit the post. Last Saturday was a bye, and we'll be out of town this weekend, so it will be a little bit before he gets to play in a game again.

I'm sure that I've missed a lot of things I should mention, but this will have to do.