He Turned 18 Saturday

It's been a while since I blogged. Bad me, I know. It's been kind of hectic what with working on weekends, working evenings, band stuff, enchilada dinner, etc. And in the midst of that, my baby turned 18. Here's the rundown:

Enchilada Dinner - one of the band's two major fundraisers where the boosters make enchiladas, rice and beans and sell plates for $5. We use the cafeteria at the school and some of the cafeteria ladies volunteer to help. They know how to use the huge cookers and warmers.
I got to use the new chopper they got just four hours before we started preparing supper. I diced 3 cases of tomatoes in less than 45 minutes all by myself. Even the principal was awed by the machine. The cafeteria manager said it was the best $3,000 they've ever spent. That's about how much my property taxes are per year, so I guess it's mine. I got to break it in. I'll let them keep it.

Work - we got our data center move done and last weekend and this weekend were designated for testing the clusters to make sure everything works after the move. The schedule is from 6 PM Saturday night to 6 AM Sunday morning. We wanted to be out by midnight last weekend, but the cluster fail over didn't work, thanks to ignorant application programmers making changes without notifying us.



Band stuff - We're in the playoffs. We had our last regular-season game last Saturday afternoon and I had to go straight to work. The band chaperones and roadies always go out to eat after a game, but I had to miss it this time. It's always a lot of fun. We take our kids, too. Heck, everyone has to eat!

Turning 18 - DS#2 turned 18 Saturday. Last year there was a football game on his birthday, so I surprised him with a cake and some goofy little balloons. For the past two months he's made me promise to not get him a cake or throw any kind of party, since there was a football game on his birthday this year, too. I made the promise, then he changed his mind about a month ago. Then the week before, he said no again. I told him that was okay since I wouldn't be able to be there. We had concession duty the night before and I asked the drum majors if they would get the group singing happy birthday at the after-game party, since he was turning 18, but don't tell him. They were on board. Then at the game I was telling one of the other chaperones about him making me promise not to get a cake or have a party for him. He adores this person and thinks very highly of her and they get along great. Her comment was, "He has to have a cake for this birthday. After all the crap I've given him over the years, it's the least I can do." She left as soon as we got to the band hall to go get him a cake. I'm not sure how much he appreciated it, but I know I did, even though I couldn't be there. I was at least able to give him his presents before we left for the game: "300" and "Transformers," two of the greatest movies of their genre, according to DS.

Happy Birthday, munchkin (no more). Love you.