Breaking News from Sulhoff Dinner Table

(MP) -Rachel Sulhoff watched her daughter reach out a daring finger and dip it into the butter on the butter dish. Trying to dissuade her daughter from using such bad manners, she said, "Honey, butter is very fattening." Elizabeth replied, "But good!" as she smiled happily and took another finger-ful! Later, Rachel wished she had simply said something to the effect of, "Elizabeth, it is rude to put your fingers in the butter. Please do not do it." However, she did not say that, and hence the opportunity arose for a four-year-old to sum up every American's battle with food in two words.

Poetry in Locomotion

The 2009 Georgia Tech Press Guide is titled "Full Steam Ahead". Tonight I found out why! My Yellow Jackets discarded a 19-year dry spell in style beating Virginia in Charlottesville in almost every aspect of the game.

They ran more.

They passed farther per attempt.

They scored more points from kicks.

They had more critical conversions.

(They unfortunately had more penalties).

And they maintained possession of the ball a full 25+ minutes more than the Cavs!

This was the first full Tech game I've gotten to watch in about a year and I couldn't have been more pleased! I definitely caught them in stride. Even when the emotions of being winless in Charlottesville since 1990 and the weather posed a serious hindrence to an option offense that relies on sure footing and excellent ball handling Georgia Tech demonstrated why they deserved to be at the top of the Coastal standings in the ACC.

Next week they are away at Wake Forest - definitely win-able, however I know CPJ well enough to know that he doesn't take any game for granted. His coaches and managers and trainers and video crew are doing everything possible (even now, just hours after a huge victory on the road) to ensure his players are fully prepared for the Demon Deacons and another important away game.

Go Jackets!
In Him,
David

Huh?

(MP) - This post is benign and seemingly unimportant. Hi.

Weather

(MP) - Oddly, the fall has brought colder weather to Kabul. Who-da-thunk?

Gecko Sightings

I recently mentioned a gecko sighting in the garage when Elizabeth caught one and it lost its tail. However, I wanted to take a moment to tell you a true gecko tale!
About two months ago, just before Julia's wedding, one of the little buggers got into the house when I opened the back door to pick up some toys from the patio. To make a long story shorter, upon trying to catch it, it immediately disappeared! My neighbor was trying to help me and we both agreed that the thing just vanished out of his hand! So, I went to Julia's wedding, hoping for the best, which was that it had gotten back outside. Weeks go by. Then one night, when Elizabeth wasn't going to bed, her sharp little eyes spotted a gecko crawling on the floor along the edge of our entertainment tower, past the bookshelf and underneath the subwoofer. We pulled the tower and shelf out and even took apart the subwoofer, but did not find the thing. We found quite a few other odds and ends inside the subwoofer, though!
Well, today, at least a month later, I was hunting for a certain large and empty plastic coffee cannister in which to potentially store some school supplies. I thought it was on the floor of the pantry. It was. I shoved over the bag of bags to get said cannister and that's when I screamed. I knew it was just the harmless gecko, but seeing it crawling it's creepy crawl away from me still elicited that shocked reaction when one sees something alive in your house that isn't supposed to be there. I told Elizabeth, lizard-catcher extraordinaire, that she had to catch it when I lifted up the coffee canister that it had hidden under. Well, she did make several attempts before it crawled under her! She jumped to get it but missed and the darn thing scurried under the oven! It'll probably be another month before we see it again. At least we ended up doing a thorough cleaning of the pantry floor and a fairly decent cleaning out under the oven!
Here is the link to see a picture of our accidental pet (though ours is a little bigger than the one pictured). http://www.outdooralabama.com/watchablewildlife/what/Reptiles/Lizards/mhg.cfm

I am back in Afghanistan

And I have been for almost two weeks.

The last 130 days are slowly ticking away and I am starting to finally get back into the "post-leave swing". I've started several projects lately and I have a few more left to start in the hopes of getting most of the concrete work done before winter sets in.

I am not travelling as far as I was before the break but I am travelling about as often. The air is getting a little clearer as the cold sets in, but it is still a drastic difference in air quality from the North Georgia mountains or the Gold Coast of Florida.

I have been exercising more lately, running almost every other day. I also use the stationary bike and occasionally workout on the rowing machine. In general though, I still feel like I need to lose a few pounds.

Every day I am comforted by my Creator and my life is made perfect by His grace. It is a hard concept, grace; but it gains importance in my life daily. I am constantly reminded that I am saved by grace alone and that anything good that comes from me, actually comes from Him - driven by His grace.

In Him,
David

Elizabeth, the reader, bike rider and lizard catcher!

Yes, folks, she is something! She began reading with gusto last week! She said, "You tell me the letters to write and I'll write them!" and then she would read what I had told her to write. We started on some simple sentences yesterday.
Also, she has finally started enjoying riding her bike. She is a few inches taller than she was in April at her birthday (go figure) and can maneuver better.
And, at four years old, she is lizard catcher extraordinaire! We have quite a population of geckos around the house (we've watched it grow in the 2.5 years we've lived here). But, today, one youngster is now without his tail. He had found his way into the garage and was hiding in between a piece of cardboard and the garage wall. Andrew found him and then called Elizabeth to catch him! Well, she did, but she pulled off his tail in the process. It was great, though a little disgusting to see the tail continuing to wiggle around on the cardboard for the next five minutes! I was shuddering! I'm so so so glad, that even though we live in the suburban south, that my kids still get to experience nature and life all around them.
Speaking of nature around us, there is also this subtropical spider living in our front yard. We looked it up in Andrew's spider guidebook. It creeps me out to flip through the pages of that book, but this spider is not very creepy at all! He is very cool looking. He has a very hard, very large, oval-shaped, shiny white abdomen with 6 black spots and 4 spikes around the outer edge of his abdomen. He has this really tiny head and legs, but builds beautiful webs. The kids and I go check on him every other day or so.
So, Elizabeth is growing and learning so much every day. I wish she'd learn to take a nap on the days she had ballet, though! She's loving ballet and doing fine with it, though it's very introductory. She just focuses much better when she's had a nap. And so do I, for that matter. I think I'll get my 20 minutes in real quick!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

This may be my shortest review ever because I can't really think of anything more to say than what is already posted on PluggedInOnline about this animated film.

Still, here is my personal take:

They should have named it "Awesome with a Chance of Awesome!"
I though it was phenomenal and I think you will too.

In Him,
David