Weds - Nov. 5

What a Wednesday!!

Today is ....... the day after an historic Presidential election in the USA. While the outcome of the 2008 election has left me with great concerns for our country for the next many years, the fact that we have the ability to let our vote be counted is what makes America ... well... America. It's fundamental to our nation's foundation. The ability to put those into office who represent the will of the people they serve. Our freedom to vote makes us allies with likeminded countries and makes us targets of others who rule by other means. We have the freedom to choose our leaders by majority rule in this country and we get what we get at the end of the game!

Today is ........ the day Rachel had an MRI with contrast dye on both of her shoulders. She has had shoulder problems for quite awhile now. We believe it is a result of the swimming and hard soccer playing she has done in her past. The doctor prescribed PT for awhile but it really hasn't helped much so the next step was to do an MRI to determine if there are any tears, etc. We were there today for 4 (YES FOUR) hours for what I was told would be 1.5 hours! The 1.5 hours was just a teaser ..... you sit in the waiting room for 1.5 hours before we even talk to you. Yea, that's what it was. Rachel said the only painful part of the whole process was the lidocaine shot at the beginning! She said that hurt a lot. The injection of the dye didn't hurt. Then... a LONG time in the MRI machine waiting for it to do its thing.... then it had to be rebooted.... then they had to REDO the whole thing. Yea... it was fun. The good news is we don't have to wait long to get the results - tomorrow morning with her doctor.

Today is ..... the day I won the Sales Excellence Award for 3Q Sales at Wells Fargo Bank!! I was recognized on a national call today for my 3rd Q sales which were really nice. I get a nice $250 award!! It was a nice recognition!!!

Today is ..... (although I meant to do this on Sunday) the day I want to thank Mom (Meme), Perry & Macie for coming to Rachel's marching contest in San Antonio last Saturday. They are really special because not only did they come to watch Rachel march, but then they stayed all day/night through the Finals because Rachel's band made it to the FINALS. They also had to spend way too much money to do this (the BOA contest completely takes advantage of the parents who want to see their kids march at $50 a person for both prelims & finals).... and Rachel thanks you for coming to watch her!! Rachel's high school marching band, Friendswood, placed 10th in the Bands of America SuperRegional contest last weekend. While at first glance, one may not thing 10th sounds all that great. But... let me tell you, it was very, very good for Friendswood. Not only were they 10th out of 50 bands, but they were the first 4A band that has EVER made it to a BOA Finals competition - EVER. And.... of the parts that make up the score they came in 3rd in sound at the individual level. And.... it was Friendswood's FIRST TIME EVER to compete in the BOA SuperRegional competition. Friendswood is typically a UIL traditional marching band and they had to make significant changes to win at BOA because BOA rewards for creativity more so than straight line marching. They really did great. However, I will say... by sometime that evening, all the bands started sounding a like and we were REALLY tired. We were also distracted by TRYING to get the score on the Longhorn/Tech game throughout the night. It was a 24 hour event - we dropped her off on Saturday am at school at 3:45 am and we got home from the competition at 3:45 am on Sunday morning!!!

Have a great evening!!