A couple months ago, a PTA member from La Canda called me and let me in a little secret. Jen had been nominated and was
going to receive the Founder's Day award at her school. Every year the PTA awards a small group of teachers, parents and
administrators at each school in the district. So i got the day off from work, but at the same time convinced Jen that was going
to have a really bad day in meetings and crap. All last week i complained about how bad Friday was going to be at work. Then
yesterday i showed up in the school office just before the award was going to be announced. Jen's father and I both were there
hiding in a little side conference room. Meanwhile outside, all the kids in the schools are being corralled into their outdoor
assembly area. We were told by PTA members that we should sneak outside and stand in a walk area where Jen would not be
able to see us. What i knew, but decided to temporarily forget, was that Jen can't sit still for 5 minutes. So we were standing
there talking and suddenly realized Jen had just popped out of her seat and was running around the corner, coming right at us.
Bob mumbles something and runs. I turn slowly, put my hand up to the side of my face as if i'm scratching something, and
quickly follow Bob. We both run down another hallway, and get around a second corner to get out of site. We're both
laughing, but at the same time worried that she saw us. So we head back into the office, and wait there for a little longer.
Then again a PTA member tells us its all clear and we can stand on the walkway again. So now we're hiding in a group of
people 5 feet away from Jen. They start to announce the awards, and then the problem hits us. The first couple recipients are
standing right next to us, and now everybody's attention is focused in our direction. We reduce ourselves to the "duck down
and scratch the head with the hand in front of the face" technique. By some miracle it actually works. Jen's name is
announced, and she walks up to the stage. Even as she walks by, she still doesn't see us. Its not til she's up on stage that she
spots us in the crowd.
Now here's the best part. Yesterday was Pajama day at her school, so all the kids are wearing their pajamas. Most of the
teachers are as well, including Jen. If she had known about the award she never would have been caught dead in her pajamas
up on stage. So the pictures for the paper and the award program are all of the group of people with Jen in her pajamas.
I stick around after the little award assembly and I head back to Jen's class to wait for lunch. I watch her teach a couple little
lessons and then we head off to lunch.
After lunch i head out on a mission. I head out to Fry's in Burbank and pick myself up a dual 2.5 G5 Mac. I've been talking too
long on this one, and i finally needed to drop the cash on the computer. I drag the HUGE box home and crack the thing open.
Then the phone rings. Just my luck. I was on the phone on 4 different calls for 2 hours. So it took me a little while to get the
system up and running after a few hours of running around taking care of other things.
So now i'm moving in. All my major apps have been installed and i'm just getting everything the way i like it.
Jen gets home soon after i get things running and the phone rings again. This time Jen gets it, but we're happy to find out
that Chris and Christina are going out to dinner in Old Town and want us to join them. Now we've all lived about 5 minutes
away from each other for about 5 years now, but we never have been out in Pasadena together. We always end up seeing
each other down at Annie's parent's in Irvine or some wedding or something. So we meet Chris and Christina and their friends
Kate and Dave at la Luna Negra for dinner. We hang out there for a couple hours just having a good time and drinking a whole
lot. Then we finally move on to a little bar on DeLacy. I don't remember what the hell its called, but it used to be a gym, then
a Jerry's Deli and now this bar. So we hung out there for a little while longer then headed home. It was a greta night and a
nice excuse to get out of the house.
Being the dumbass that i am, i got home and sat down on the bed for five minutes and passed out. I didn't drink any water at
all, so at 6 AM i woke up after a full night of sleep and had the worst headache. I got up promptly and drank about a gallon of
water and sat back down at the G5.
Congrats Jen!!! Wish I could have seen the look on your face when this all went down.
Dave---in case you and jen havent allready, you can see my ´progress´ here in spain from my website and ´shitty´blog :)
