Maya and her friend Lydia made use of my workshop to make this bird house. They had very little supervision from me and I think the result was quite good, if a little over built. I think it is safe to say that this sanctuary will stand up to a huricane. Maya has instructed me to drill a hole exactly as indicated. Rest assured I will be following her directions to the letter.

 
This evening we fired up the new grill for the first time. Jeanine thought it would be nice to have rotisserie chicken. We turned up all the burners and closed the top. This is what we found moments later. Needless to say, future chickens will be cooked on a lower setting. We decided to finish cooking the chicken on low heat and it turned out surprisingly well (once we chiseled away the skin). When Jeanine and I moved into our first home together, she planned to treat our moving crew (several of our strongest friends)to a turkey dinner. Most people would simply order a couple of pizzas; not my Jeanine. She covered the turkey in a cheese cloth which came into contact with the heating element and caught on fire. First hours in the house and we almost burned it down. I have come to regard these roasting disasters on new equipment as something of an initiation which is guaranteed to produce a subsequent lifetime of delicious food.

 
This afternoon my soccer team’s undefeated season came to an end in the Divisional finals. In the opening minute I beat my defender down the right side and lofted a 30 yard shot over the goalie who I caught too far out. The ball struck the upright and for the difference of a quarter of an inch bounced out instead of in. Nicolai photographed the game and took several nice photos including this one where I am intercepting a pass.

 
Kyle’s girlfriend, Chloe, joined us for dinner this evening. Despite her beauty, she is very camera shy and I have to sneak up on her for a photo.

 
The second bridge did not fare so well as they tried to match the weight. In addition to the fun had by all, I was very pleased with the work that was accomplished and feel we made excellent progress on a number of very challenging topics.

 
Not content to settle for a tie, both teams insisted on testing the bridges to detrmine a winner even though both withstood 8 pounds from yesterday. We added soda cans and water bottles to bring the total for this bridge to something like 18 pounds and still not failure.

 
Our twelve hour workday ended at Legal Seafood where we enjoyed a nice dinner and an opportunity to get to know eachother better.

 
In the afternoon we tackled the challenge of organizing over 150 suggestions from members of my staff into themes and then distilling from those the highest priority items we need to address.

 
Today was the first of a two day offsite (actually held onsite to save money) meeting for the leadership team in my organization. We started the day with a Building Bridges competition. Both bridges, constructed entirely from newspaper and tape, survived load testing with the weight I had brought to work. Tomorrow we will find more weights and determine which bridge is stronger.

 
I left the house extra early this morning so I could take Marie and the kids to the airport for their return flight to Minneapolis. Although it has only been a couple of months since we’ve seen Rose and Sophia they are both at that age where they are growing and changing so quickly it is hard to believe. Nephews Mario and Rory are on the French Riviera with Marie’s sister.

 
Jeanine has become quite attached to Togo, the duckling we are caring for. I must admit there is something very satsifying about having this little guy follow you around everywhere you walk. Whenever s/he (we don’t know) is out of the pen you must shuffle your feet for it is certain she will be underfoot and at risk of being squashed. Between baby Rose and the baby duck I thought Jeanine might warm up to the idea of another baby. Nothing doing, we are going to have to settle on three plus the idiot dog who is barking at deer in the backyard as I type.

 
Kyle interacting with his cousin Rose. Kyle has a wonderful way with babies and it did not take long for her to warm up to him.

 
It has been nice catching up with my dad. He is looking rather good considering some of the recent health scares. Here he describes his walk around the neighborhood this morning. Each day he has gotten stronger and been more aggressive with his pace.

 
Sophia and Uncle Carl have been enjoying numerous games over the last hour. Here she shows me how her toys go together.