'Fee Bill'

Thats the term LSU uses when its time to pay again. And daughter #2, Amanda Grace, called me from BR this week to let me know the Fee Bill for fall had arrived :-(

These aren't cheap of course! I remember reading when she was little about how I had to start saving for her college education early because the cost of education would be out of the roof when she went. Well I didn't have to many nickels to save back then so I figured I would worry about that another day. Eventually I did manage to start a college fund and save up for her. When she graduated from Marcus in 2005 I had a whopping $3,ooo!!!! Lets just say that is pathetic, you know what I mean if you have a kid in college...

Somehow by the grace of God I have managed to pay these fee bills without borrowing a dime so far. Many things lined up to make it possible that I wouldn't have ever imaged. Its by no means easy, in fact, its down right painful making the fee bills go away each semester. But I'm happy to be able to do it and I'm happy to do it for her.

Like any parent I worried about her going off to college. But Amanda dived and has blossomed at LSU. She has great grades, works on campus, and has made great friends and roommates. College is a molding and transforming experience in many ways and I'm so happy to see how she is growing there. I'm proud of what she has accomplished.

So here is to the junior year of my pre-vet LSU Tiger daughter! Bring on those fee bills, the investment is worth every penny!

P.S. If you have little kids start saving for the college now! Everything you read about the cost of sending a kid to college is all true....

From Somewhere

My parents both grew up in a very small town called New Roads, Louisiana in Pointe Coupee Parish. This is near Baton Rouge and sits on an oxbow lake that used to be a part of the Mississippi River. Even today this town looks like its stuck in the 1950s. Things move very slow in New Roads and most things just don't change. My Dad's family has a plantation there that has been in the family since before the civil war.

As a kid I moved around a lot since my Dad was in the Air Force. But we were from New Roads. We lived there for a while when I was in elementary school but even when we lived elsewhere it was always home. And during the summers when we were away we would head back to New Roads.

Of course, the place to stay was Grandma and Grandpa Gremillion's house. Days were spent down on the lot, a camp my Grandpa bought on False River. The lot is where the fishing happened. Cleaning fish was just something you did! And fish fries were the best. Grandma and Aunt Helen would make the special mustard based corn meal breading to fry in. Plus you got lots of hush puppies. All the Gremillion cousin's were there. There was lots of swimming, jumping off of the pier, boating and water skiing.

Dad's parents lived on the 'river'. Visits to Grandma and Paw Paw Morrison's house on False River was good fun. This was across from the backery so fresh donuts would be had by all. The snowball stand was just down the road too! And Grandma kept those small coke bottles in the closet down the hall. Chris and I would then head down to the river and check out the crawfish towers and play on the pier.

Some days we would head to Gretchen street. This is were all the first cousin's lived (14 of them total). Often we would play kick the can until late at night.

And the fancy diners were at the original Ralph and Kacoo's before it even thought about becoming a chain.

New Roads remains strong roots for me. I could go on and on about so much of the place. These are my memories and traditions.

The thing I wonder is what my kids will think about when somebody asks them where are they from? They are a product of the burbs. My wife and I are from different places and we have moved here after moving around ourselves. Our parents gew up in small town America. Our generation has moved around to where the work is. And now our kids have these extended roots but not deep roots. Some gravitate to our past roots and some of the kids want to chart their own course into unknown places. I guess they would just say they are from Flo Mo...

Work....

Work seems to go through a continual change. I'm sure its because I'm getting older but its all a changing work place in the U.S. these days. Ten years ago we did everything right here in Fort Worth, design to manufacture. Now a days we design in 5 locations across the world including the UK, 3 locations in the US and China. And we manufacture in China, Malaysia or Mexico, no manufacturing in the U.S, period.

On top of going global we are also shrinking. Attrition is eating us up and hiring is not allowed in the U.S. You see we are premium engineers here and only low cost engineers are hired. They live in Beijing, Hangzhou or Shanghai.

And in addition my industry is technology. So what used to be a concentrated effort and a couple of years to produce go anywhere communication devices has now turned into a fast turn of a brand new technology for high speed data anywhere!

All of that translates to being extremely busy at work. From the moment I walk in the door to the moment I walk out I'm literally using every single minute to accomplish many tasks that have to be done right now!

I don't know why I'm telling you this. It just seems amazing me at this time how surreal the whole situation is becoming. And looking ahead to the next 5 years is beyond anything I can even image. In the next few years when your enjoying your WiMAX, LTE and UMB, I'll be cranking out the next technological revolution with the last 2.3 premium engineers left in America.

Carpooling

I've been driving to work 35 miles each way for 13 years. That's about 220,000 miles! And I did it all by myself. Most of that time the price of gas was under $1 a gallon (remember that). Since my wallet wasn't really impacted I wasn't thinking about green Earth or greenbacks.

Now that gas is approaching $3 a gallon I've succumbed to the carpool. I broke down and committed to restrictions on my freedom to come and go. I've had to give up the freedom to drive my car all alone 70 miles a day any time I want :-(

They guy I car pool with lives maybe 2 miles from me and he has been driving the same 70 miles a day. And he committed to giving up his right as an American to drive unrestricted anytime, anywhere as well.

But you know what, I wish I would have done this a long time ago. Its nice to only have to drive every other week. Its nice to have someone to talk to. And it's cost saving and earth friendly.

MLB Stadium # 7

Some recent discussion came up on Brent's blog about 10 things you always wanted to do. One of his was getting to every MLB park for at least one game. This used to be a big dream of mine as Joan can confirm. But like all things has slipped by the way side over time. After a recent trip and aquiring number 7 maybe the excitment is back! I can't do it in one long summer road trip like Brent wants to but maybe I'll get to at least half of them in my life time.

Visited so far:

1. Dodger Stadium - this was my first, seeing the penguin

2. Angel Stadium - just down the road, more so cal baseball

3. Arlington Ballpark - the Rangers old stadium, probably shouldn't count on this list!

4. Fenway Park - this was a dream come true to visit the big green monster

5. Wrigley Field - another dream come true to visit the friendly confines

6. The Ballpark at Arlington - the Rangers new, and very cool stadium

and now

7. Camden Yards - I got to see the Orioles beat the Yankees with Clemmons pitching!

P.S. As a side note I did have some sad misses.... the old Tiger Stadium even though i visited Detroit many times in college and the old Komisky stadium in Chicago despite being in Chicago several times as well :-( Maybe I better get to New York and visit Shea and Yankee stadiums before the wrecking ball.

Words of wisdom from Brave Combo:

Do Something Different

---

Don't believe anyone.
Don't read your mail.
Make light of every word you hear.
Turn off your radio. Quit your job.
Do something different. Disappear.
Do something different. Disappear.

Think like a child. Laugh at cocaine.
Never ever ever do what's proper again.
Understand everyone crystal-clear.
Rid yourself of fashion. Disappear.
Remove yourself from fashion. Disappear.

Reverse your morality. Listen to bands
That play only music you can't stand.
Forget how to worry. Enjoy your fears.
Stop your life insurance and Disappear.
Stop your life insurance and Disappear.

DC

Ventured to DC a couple of weeks ago for work. Fortunately I did have time to go down to the mall and revisit all of the monuments.

Its amazing these idealic men who lived in a pretty harsh time were able to accomplish what they did. Today's United States seems very far removed from those beginnings.

For a citizen it is awe inspiring to stand in the presence of these men and makes one proud to be an American. While at the same time its heartbreaking to walk the walls of the war's fallen and know that more fall every day.

Thomas .... we hold these truths to be self evident

and Abe ... Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

And my generation's legacy... the wall. After walking the Vietnam (and Korean) wall you only wonder what the Iraq wall will look like and what its legacy will be.