Birthday Special +1

Momoko is preparing for a safety inspection in her classroom. She needed me to bring Little Kat to her after school to help. Luckily I worked extra last week and a bit on the weekend. So I took the afternoon off.

Little Kat and I dropped by McDonald's on the way to Momoko's school. Ordered everyone a large fry and large coke with their burger. The person in the drive through window kept telling me that I ordered one medium coke. Took a while to convince her that the person who took our order got it wrong. Little Kat was pleased that they gave us a medium coke in addition to a large coke for him. Double the fun.

After dropping off Little Kat, I returned home. Kit Kat was doing some homework for her psychology class. She had to watch some depressing movie and write about it. They seem to like to involve multimedia in the homework projects. I took a short nap, then drove Kit Kat and myself to dinner.

Kit Kat is part of a club at the local diner. She gets every 5th meal free. She also gets a buy one get one free meal on her birthday. Woo hoo. I like coupons like that. Was disappointed that they got rid of my favorite bacon egg salad sandwich. But hey, they still have some kicking spicy soup. They also gave Kit Kat a free dessert for her birthday.

Back at home, we waited for Momoko and Little Kat to return. We watched the latest episode of Defiance on Sci Fi TV. Unfortunately Kit Kat had to skip the show to complete her homework.

The Melting Pot +1

Kiy Kat has been wanting to go to this restaurant The Melting Pot for a few years. This year we planned to make that happen for her birthday. We agreed to allow Kit Kat to invite her two best friends along for the ride. Momoko and I decided to foot the bill for the extravaganza. Now I told Kit Kat to find out where the place was located, their hours, and make sure they were still in business.

On the day of the event, Kit Kat had got directions to the place. But she did not make contact with them. Momoko then found out at the last minute that we needed reservations! Kit Kat was at an event at her friend's college. Momoko got through and told Kit Kat to make reservations. Turns out they only had really early or really late openings. We opted for really early since Kit Kat was having a party at our house at night.

We got to the place and met Kit Kat there. There was not that much parking. It was difficult to find the entrance to the building. We got a large booth in the back and decided on our orders. We started out with two kinds of chesse fondue. I found that I liked dipping raw broccoli in it. Kit Kat liked this dark bread. Little Kat seemed to eat the most. Momoko was concerned that she could only reach one of the fondue pots from her seat.

The real deal happened during the entree portion of dinner. We each ordered our meats and seafood. It arrived raw. We then used skewers to put the food in the boiling oil. We dumped all the raw veggies in the oil. I loved the mushrooms. My big steaks took a while to cook through.

Just when I thought the best part of the meal was over, we got dessert. There was warm dark and white chocolate to dip things into. These things were cheesecake, rice crispy treats, marshmellows, strawberries, and other small treats. We had to ask for more treats as there was a lot of chocolate. Everyone was stuffed by the time we got out of there.

Back at home, Kit Kat and friends brought some snacks from the store. Then the boys started to arrive. I took a nap. Normally I kick the boys out at midnight. However they got a late start due to the lengthy dinner at The Melting Pot. So I let the boys stay until a little after 1 am. Then it was time for all to sleep. The girls spent the night in Kit Kat's room.

The Good Helper +1

I was working hard on a project at work Friday afternoon. There were some problems that me and a coworker were sifting through. As I was talking to my coworker, Momoko called me at home. She asked me when I was getting off from work. I told her I had no clue. But it might be a late night.

Eventually I got to a breaking point where I needed some job to finish before I could proceed. I called Momoko back. Still did not know when I was going to be off from work. It was going to be late. But I had time to inquire further. Momoko was at school trying to get her classroom in compliance for an upcoming safety inspection. She needed Little Kat to be brought to the school That I could do.

I had Little Kat dress for work (jeans, sneakers, no flip flops). Then I took him over to Momoko's school. We had just been there this week to pick up Momoko's iPad left at work. Poor Little Kat. Had to return to his old middle school. I dropped him off and punched it to get home. Ran into a bunch of rush hour traffic. But I made it back in time for the next step at work.

Usually Little Kat is a slacker in Momoko's classroom. He does not produce too well. This time around he got down to business. He even did a few tasks that Momoko did not ask him to do. They ended up staying there late. Kit Kat cooked up some pork chops for dinner anyway. The two of us ate while we waited for the rest of the family to come home.

Now Little Kat was getting paid to help Momoko. However he was of some use. He partially made up for stealing my pizza bites out of the freezer earlier this week. Not sure if he made up for stealing Kit Kat's pie slice that was given to her by a friend. Time to stop the thief and put Little Kat to work again.

Gifts Galore

Today I was busy at work. Trying to get my latest project done. I made mistake telling a manager that I was trending toward an early finish. Now people want it done even earlier. That's the last time I show my hand to any such slackers. Had to work a little extra past quitting time. That's okay. Things were looking up after work when Momoko got the family a steak dinner. Delicious.

During dinner, a friend was in the neighborhood and dropped off some gifts for me. After dinner, I opened the box from my bro. He bought it over like 2 weeks ago. It was a set of wooden TV trays. We need them since we are watching movies down in the basement man-cave. Then I opened a bag from my mom. I had already plundered the cookies that were in the bag. But there were still many shirts in there, plus some socks.

I openeded a small box from Momoko. It was a nightstand for the bedroom. The top was a nice marble square. The legs were a burgundy that matches my dresser. Then I got a small bag from Kit Kat which contained a Pac-man T shirt. Little Kat gave me a card that said IOU. He also gave me some nom nom figures from the app Cut The Rope.

Then I went to the bag from the friend who dropped by during dinner. There was a whole lot of stuff in there: a four pack DVD set, a card with hotties on it, different gift cards, and I think some other stuff. Just when I thought we were done, I checked my email. Found an Amazon gift card.

I did some Amazon shopping with my gift card. Got a tripod and cast iron metal pot to hang from it. This will be good for camping style cooking. Will come in handy during an emergency. We already have stacks of firewood. Yeah today started out tough. Things have been looking up all night. Little Kat even assembled my nightstand for me.

Boy Scouts Motto +1

I studied late into the night on Sunday. Had to finish up a tough homework for college class. Usually staying up late is no big deal. But I had a plumber coming early the next morning. Ouch. The plumber came on time. He took a look at our broke down garbage disposal. He loosened some screws, sprayed WD-40, and got the thing running again. Nice. I was worried I would have to buy a new one (and schedule another plumber appointment).

The day got better. I finally got in touch with my handyman. He has been busy lately, and missed two appointments to check out what I need done. I had him come over. Showed him all the little things that have been bugging us for the last few months. For example, a cabinet drawer is broke down in the kitchen. Falls out every time we pull it. The handyman made a lot of notes. Next he will give me some estimates. Let's hope they are reaonsable.

Momoko forget her iPad at work. Little Kat and I went to retrieve it. Little Kat noticed how small the school seemed since he graduated from it last year. Naw. It is Little Kat who has grown a lot. We also delivered some soft drinks into Momoko's classroom fridge. At night Little Kat and I exercised. I heard a strange noise coming from my side. Little Kat told me it was just a broke pedal on the stationary bike.

WTH? Little Kat said he broke the pedal yesterday. Ummm and this is the first time I was hearing about it? Come on Little Kat. You were a boy scout. Leave the place looking better than it was when you came. At the minimum leave it as good as when you came. I showed Little Kat how to use some rope to repair the broken pedal. Little Kat may be tall, but he is still just a boy after all.

Friends +1

Yesterday I planned to meet with a friend of mine. It was her birthday last week, and I have a gift to give. There was a meeting scheduled in the morning for my work. So I made sure I was set to take off. The meeting ran late. So I had to bug out to meet my friend on time. Traffic was not bad. Picked up my friend and we went to eat.

We had planned to eat at a steakhouse close to school. However we found the place was closed down. Luckily there was a burger joint in the same mall. Initially I was surprised that the burger place was empty. I guess we were just a bit early. By the time I finished lunch, I had trouble leaving my table. We were surrounded by people trying to order lunch. It felt like a bar jam packed with people on a Friday night.

On the way home there was severe traffic on the other side of the road. Glad I scheduled an early lunch. Becuase if it were any later, I would be in that traffic. Back at home, Kit Kat picked us up some pizza for dinner. Little Kat planned to see a movie with one of his friends from school. It worked out good. Little Kat's friend's mom did the driving to and from the movie.

While at the show, Little Kat and friend saw another female friend there from school who said hi to them. Friend progress.

Get to Work +1

I was supposed to meet my handyman after work to get an estimate on many items we need fixed in our home. He never showed up. This is not like him. He is usually very punctual. Luckily Momoko picked me up some snacks at the mall today. I ate the snacks for dinner. Then I headed to school.

At school, a guy in my class asked if I could help him out with his homework. I asked him where he was at. He told me he was around three weeks behind. Ouch. I usually track one week ahead of the class to maximize my understand in class. This guy is about a month behind me.

The thing that is really bad is that the teacher is slowing the pace of the class because of some slow students. The teacher provides all kinds of help outside the classroom. I mean he is always helping people out if they are having troubles. So I figure there is one of two reasons why this guy is so behind: (1) he is slacking off, or (2) he does not belong in the class.

I told the guy I was too busy to help him out. It is not that I am too busy to help anyone out. I am just too busy to waste my time on a lost cause. There are a lot of things to do in this world. I am going to help Little Kat learn to read better, even if it takes a lot of effort on my part.

I am also not too busy to pick up a card for a student that was in one of my past classes. She, like me, was always working hard and staying ahead of the game in a tough class. That earns my respect and my time. Now I did consider the following statement by Malcolm Forbes:

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.

This guy was behind in class cannot do anything for me. Not now. Not in the future. So what will Forbes have me do? I don't think he wants me to help this kid out. He just wants me to treat him with respect. That's all I am ready to do.