Let the Controlled Chaos Begin!
School has started and the controlled chaos has begun. Summer is always an exciting time for kids (and their parents) because “they don’t have to go to school,” yet sometimes if you think about it, summer can be more chaotic than the school year because of lack of structure.
NOW that the school-year induced structure is back, it’s a serious game of logistics involving who needs to be where, at what time, and with whom? Football and swimming have started and we are full steam ahead. With high school swimming getting cranked up this week – GO DAWGS – that’s just one more element added to the swimming mix.The big kids bolt immediately upon arriving home from school for swim practice that is in southern Sugar Land (yes – Sugar Land is big enough to have northern and southern sections). Chase driving has been such a blessing because I get to actually acknowledge #3 (Grant) when he gets home from school. That being said, the insurance on a 16 year old boy in a truck is quite interesting, but we have a great insurance agent in Sugar Land, thank goodness.
Fort Bend Gridiron Football has been such an incredible experience this year with the league experiencing huge growth. In its inaugural year, the league had 100 players, and now our numbers are over 500. What a GREAT pat on the back for this group of football enthusiasts that thought this league was something Fort Bend County needed. As a zoned league, meaning players are required to play for the zone that will feed their high school. Yes, I said it. Zoned. No recruiting. Positive coaches are instilling the love for the game with these boys – it’s great to see. With Bucky Richardson at the helm (WHOOOOP!), the television and radio exposure for the league has been awesome! Saturday is the first game day for this year for this league, and the boys are so excited and ready to go. GO Bulldogs! (And Ridgepoint, George Ranch and Clements Zones!)
With the Aggies potentially moving to the SEC (or some other conference), it’s proves to be a great swimming and football season for the Remy family. Gig ‘Em………….stay tuned.
10 Commandments for Parents of Athletes
This list of 10 just dropped into my inbox and is something each and every one of us should have tattooed to our hands at meets, practices…..just every day! Something I need to really read and re-read. Dave Thomas, USA Swimming, visited First Colony Swim Team (FCST) and shared this with parents and coaches. It’s really, really good stuff for all parents to remember:
10 Commandments for swim parents:
1. Don’t impose ambitions on kids
2. Be supportive no matter what
3. Don’t coach your kid
4. Only provide positive feedback
5. Acknowledge fears, but try not to give them yours
6. Don’t criticize officials
7. Respect the coach (Coaching is not a profession, it’s a calling)
8. Remain loyal to a team
9. Find goals other than winning
10. Don’t expect Olympians or full ride college scholarships, you don’t need to be an Olympian to learn life lessons.
Do I think this is JUST FOR SWIMMING? Absolutely not. I could (and will) change this to “Parents of ALL Budding Athletes.” How many times have you looked out onto a practice field (or pool) and noticed a parent that is CLEARLY “living through their child.” Maybe fulfilling some dream or aspect of their life that never took shape? And number 8……….remain loyal to a team. That is something that will have to be another blog, another day – hmph. Football. Hmph! Times are changing in our area by the way! Check out Fort Bend Gridiron Football – a new youth football program in the Sugar Land area in their second year. Registrations are ongoing now – visit their website!
I think maybe I’ll expand on this list of 10 statements each week. Just maybe……….just thought I’d share today though!
Traffic Signs & Signals
OK – I’ll a
dmit it. I’m paying more attention to traffic signs, signals, and “what is the purpose of” on the road these days because I have a child in drivers ed now. So……….for those of you that are reading this and live close by, have you thought about the purpose of the actual traffic signal/yield/white stripes combo at University and Hwy 59? Specifically the traffic signal on the post on the little median when you are turning into Telfair. For those of you that DO NOT live close by – let me set the stage. Hwy 59 is a major Houston freeway, and can get relatively congested. When driving south on 59, and exiting the freeway at University Drive, you enter a good, old fashioned, one-way feeder road with 5 lanes. People FLY down this feeder – and I mean FLY! The first intersection you descend upon is University Drive – turn right, and you are in Telfair. Now this all sounds simple, but it’s not. If you are not careful, you’ll either get popped from behind or rear-end someone VERY EASILY. And you’ll be calling your auto insurance agent.
This intersection has normal signals hanging over the intersection in a normal position. It’s this right turn……….It’s one of those right turns with it’s own little “driveway” – one with curbs and a median in between the right turn and the main intersection (it’s illegal to turn right at the intersection btw – it’s marked). Immediately to the left of this “right turn” is a median with a full blown stop light. It has a red light, yellow light, green light AND a green turn signal. Here comes the confusion. The markings on the street include the white stripe that normally means “stop here.” It also has a strip of white triangles about 1 foot away from the solid white line. Okay…..here’s the kicker. There’s also a Yield sign which in some countries must mean STOP HERE. And a traffic signal? Huh?
There is NO WAY the traffic light on the median is for the main intersection because it’s too far away. If it IS for the intersection, someone wasn’t paying attention to it’s placement. If you start into this little “right turn pathway” you can no longer see the light AND you have to really really really look over your shoulder to see if anyone is coming. So what are you supposed to do? Stop and look for traffic, Yield and look for traffic…….pick a white line to do SOMETHING AT……….we see so many traffic accidents there, that auto insurance agents really should be advertising there. Seriously.
General consensus? Red light means stop – I get it. Yellow light – be careful – I get it. OK – I’m an Aggie, and yes I get the concept of the green light. It’s the red light/yield sign/green arrow thing……….in my opinion, yield means yield, not stop. If there is no traffic approaching, and someone stops (not yields) and you pop them from behind, shouldn’t it be their fault for stopping rather than yielding?
Signed………..Confused Driver.
Ike Revisited – With a Good Ending
As Galveston, Texas, continues to recover from a nasty, natural disaster, I’ve taken the time to reflect on the days following the landfall of Hurricane Ike ……… While Sugar Land had a TON of rain and wind delivered via Ike, it could have been a lot worse – and we all know it. Lessons were learned by all – check your homeowners insurance BEFORE a major hurricane takes aim at you. Some learned that batteries ARE important. Some learned that living without air conditioning and a hair straightener is NOT the end of the world, and that if neighbors stick together, “survival” can be kind of fun.
OK – so it was a bit stressful deciding whether to stay or to go. We weren’t thinking about us, we were thinking about the kids. The youngest was terrified not knowing what was going on with this hurricane-thing and slept in a Storm Trooper costume the entire time.. The middle child was in a boot and on crutches due to a dislocated bone in her foot. And the oldest was fascinated with the weather side of things (and the flashlights, weather-radios, and “bathing” in the pool).
The night before the night before the storm, there was a magical night at Sasu Sushi with AMAZING food and friends, then a hurricane party at a friends house complete with pool-volleyball. Then a mass exodus back to the house to finish taping, boarding, and prepping for the storm. The night before landfall was a calmer dinner of Louisiana gumbo and wine in preparation of what was about to happen. We stayed through the first power outage, but the second outage got everyone’s attention and the party broke up. Hugs and kisses, and back to the casa.
When the winds began, the phones starting ringing. Some of us were up in the middle of the night comparing where our kids were sleeping (in my closet sleeping like babies), were our husbands sleeping through it all (yes he was), and where were the dogs/cats/lizards/frogs (away from windows). When the winds and rain died, a neighbor knocked on the door EARLY in the morn to get us to help with a tree on a different neighbor’s house. How cool is that? Multiple guys got out with chain saws and the truck to pull the tree off the house so it wouldn’t get worse. We walked the neighborhood and entered the houses of those that left checking on things.
Obviously we had no electricity due to the hurricane. Most of our subdivision did not have power, and some didn’t get it for weeks post-Ike. A few smart neighbors had small generators that they graciously offered to charge cell phones for us. Once we all had naps, semi-recovered from the night before and found our rain coats, we all hit the streets with flashlights and food. Did I mention THE FOOD?
With big games of flashlight tag(all ages) going on and neighbors sitting around a fire pit for light, our neighborhood came to life. Neighbors that we had never met before (after 2.5 yrs in the house) ventured out into the darkness. No one was worried about their hair as neighbors drove around, missing downed trees and swapping tales of the storm. Back to the food……We ate like kings for MORE than just one night. We all joke about gaining wait during the hurricane because of how good we ate. We are quite a talented bunch on gas and charcoal grills. Our freezer was full of redfish, duck and pheasant, ice cream and steaks. Other neighbors had wild game, plenty of diet coke, and beer that was getting warm……and in Texas, you don’t let Blue Bell ice cream go to waste. So out came the Dixie cups and straws and slushy Blue Bell was poured into the kids’ cups.
For those that suffered damage, I am so sorry because I know what kind of nightmare insurance companies can be (especially with all the roof damage). For those that left town, you missed a HUGE party. For those that we had the pleasure of hanging with, WAHOOOOO – what a blast!
Will I stay for another hurricane……….hmmmm………….still pondering that one.
Workin’ kind of weekend!
It’s was one of those weekends where everything seemed to be a bit tied to work. My youngest played in “Friday Night Under the Lights.” Our community, New Territory, looks forward to these wonderful spring-ish Friday nights for good old-fashioned hot dogs, hamburgers and baseball. YOUTH baseball that is. Grant’s game was at 6:00pm – the sun is still out. I guess he was a bit let down that he didn’t get to play in the dark. The league provides hot dogs and burgers and the teams that play (normally 2 games) bring the desserts and chips. It’s a blast – everyone just hangs out, chats with neighbors, and the players run rampant after they’re games.
The WORK side of 
Friday night: Summer League Swim Team…We are getting cranked up for practices to start on May 3rd and meets June 7th. As a coach for one of the 2 neighborhood teams AND the website manager/designer/hand-holder for the team’s website (sponsored by Bizopia, Houston SEO Website Design company – which I of course work for), I am evidently fair game for a whole slew of questions regardless of the fact that my child is playing on the field – even at bat. Most of the comments/questions I got Friday night were about the new team suits – a solid black team suit with green trim – and the cutest fish-logo. Can you imagine sitting in a room with 10-18 women trying to get everyone to agree on a suit that will make all 200+ swimmers happy…..? SpeedoUSA forced our hand in forcing us to choose a new suit this year by discontinuing their “2 year suit” program
. These new suits look great – the fish is recognizable to other teams – and has been for quite some time. We’ve done a very good job of “branding” our logo in the community. It’s on EVERYTHING. Every kid I’ve talked to LOVES them, but the parents think they are boring. Oh well.
I worked with a local company, Echo Apparel Solutions, over off the Beltway 8 & Gessner. They were great to work with and do business in Houston, Sugar Land, Katy and surrounding areas. This fish is some kind of elasti-rubber like iron-on thing. I don’t know the specifics, all I know is that we were able to very cost-effectively customize our apparel for the team. This company does all kinds of things: custom embroidery, screen-printing, sublimation as well as providing great choices in corporate apparel items to customize. Team and League uniforms galore. They also did these cool, yellow safety-vests for my church’s volunteers to wear in the parking lots so new members can identify them. Pretty cool. They’ve also personalized duffel bags, sweatsuits (team-wear) as well as fan-wear for National Fusion Soccer, one of the local club soccer clubs. If you need anything for your company, your team, your church…….give Echo Apparel a click or call.
Yesterday, we had our parent meeting for the Tarpons. All those new parents sitting out there in the audience, soaking up every word we said. RELAX………it made me feel old. This is a FUN thing. Yes, it’s hotter than you know what, but the kids that participate – LOVE IT! Keeps the kids off the computers and games and couch for at least an hour every day. What a deal…$95 dollars for one swimmer for the summer. Starts in May, ends in mid-July. Every day……experienced coaches, good technical teachers, fun in the sun, and a little friendly competition. In my book, summer swim team is the best deal around money wise. We are VERY lucky to have such wonderful sponsors – one of which I need to start designing their site.
My youngest and I put in a garden on Sunday. That’s WORK! He wants to attract butterflies and bees, and to grow “something”. He’s such an outside kid. Summer swimming is good for him because it gives him something to do every day – gives us something to form a “schedule” around. I think I’m going to let him “work” on a website “like Mommy does.” We have a family site that I don’t do anything with because I’m always working on someone elses’ site. He’s old enough to “write” a little blog on a page on our family site. He already has a Facebook page – social media marketing at 8 years old. HA! The grandparents will love it…..plus it will help him with his typing skills which the schools ASSUME these kids can all type. Push buttons, yes. Type, no. Who knows, maybe he’ll follow in our footsteps and work at Bizopia one day and design websites for a living. Hmmmm……….maybe not. Don’t think he can sit still that long. We have time……..
Back to work. Working on a mobile auto glass repair site for Affordable Auto Glass of Houston. Great company – easy to work with. Next in line……..a limousine company, then a media transfer company in Sugar Land. Lots to do……..more to come. Bring on the week…………
FunnySEO & Marketing – the MacBurger
In a Facebook exchange today with a few of my friends (Susan Sternberg has an AWESOME photography blog on Smugmug and Tina Tilghman is a massage therapist at the New Territory Club – both out of Sugar Land), we were discussing the MacBook. As the director of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SMO (Social Media Optimization) at our Houston website design company, Bizopia, I can’t afford any “down” time on the computer. I am constantly blogging here and on 4 other blog sites. These sites are part of my SEO job and I chronicle about our clients as well as tips on SEO (and on a good day, swimming tips of the trade).
My other half (husband) has been pushing me on the MacBook subject lately because of virus-issues, and how this Apple product interfaces with so many of the things I use…….Adobe Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and all the IPods, ITouches, and IPhones that my family owns. It just makes sense. So, on Facebook I posted something like “am I going to be able to get used to this QUICKLY?” Meaning – at MY AGE. I tried to explain and remind a few of the guys here in the office that we didn’t have computers when I was in the womb 
and all I’ve really know is a good old fashioned Windows driven PC. I still remember when they dumped this THING with a “mouse” on my office desk. I just stared at it – I had had ONE class in college on a Mac (I was in Kinesiology/Education-WHOOP!) – and that was it. Everything I know has been self-taught. THEN here came “Windows” and all the changes with all the different versions………
So I post my “concern” and friends started commenting as they do on Facebook and one friend asks “what is a MacBook? Is it something from McDonalds?” Naturally this opens an entire other string of comments (well, it IS Friday). I throw out there – wouldn’t a GREAT and POWERFUL pairing – Apple & McDonalds? McD’s could use one of those “branding iron” things on their buns and make a MACBurger? I don’t know – in my “marketing” mind, I think it would work – ha!
Just one of my totally random thoughts at work. It’s all about the wordplay for me – it’s an SEO thing!!!! Finding different ways to market client’s ideas through words and the search engines on the internet. Some are easy, some aren’t. Susan Sternberg’s is real easy – go look at her photos on her blog site – you’ll get the “picture” fast. They are WONDERFUL. I’m particularly fond of the Austin HS Swim Team pictures………
More later – I totally stopped working on Houston Auto Glass Repair‘s newest website – http://mobileaffordableautoglass.com – and I need to finish it. BTW, the guys are great – and yes, I’ve had to use them. Unforunately, it was due to a bozo act with my Navigator……….broke the tailgate window – they fixed it in less than an hour FROM THE TIME I CALLED.
Haiti and Houston Handyman
It is REALLY hard not to feel sorry for these poor people in Haiti – another 6.1 earthquake this morning? As I sit at my computer (nice little Dell by the way) and start banging out today’s work while being mad that I have to replace a back door, a garage door opener and drive in Houston (which I absolutely hate doing), these people have NO homes, no water, no food……it’s crazy. I can’t imagine how the children feel – it’s not like kids in California that are sort of use to a tremor now and then.
I don’t wake up well anyway – someone yelling GET OUT – GET OUT at 4:00 in the morning is not going to be met kindly. You assume things are built well. Hotels, hospitals, etc…..they can’t possibly be trusting anything in Haiti now as it has all been shaken. As I go through my day, I know I will be feeling bad that I’m contacting a “home remedy” company – a remodeler of sorts JUST to fix my back door that the dog has scratched so badly. These people need a ISLAND remedy company – not just a door company.
With websites and blogging being my business, I usually sit down in the mornings with something in mind to blog about on some site somewhere. Sometimes I check out the news first. So…..I sat down to blog about my garage door opener (that I squished my fingers in the door closing it last night after putting bikes away) that is broken and whether or not I’m going to try to replace the gears or just buy another one. A neighbor said by a gear driven one……any comments? But in the background I can hear the Today show discussing yet another earthquake in Haiti – THOSE POOR PEOPLE.
I wish I could send our buddies at Home Remedy Houston to Haiti instead of my house. I can live with the scratches on door and frame (now the mice getting in is another thing ). Home Remedy Houston is a Houston handyman company. They do large home remodeling projects as well as small projects like mine. I can fix a lot of things, but the door frame has to come out. I’ve already spoken to Home Remedy Houston about a kitchen remodel and got a good paint quote for painting the foyer that requires creative scaffolding. I’ll keep you posted. We take care of their website, so I’m going to use them personally.
Now I’m off to the tax office to try to find my LID taxes and to drop some disks off for DVD duplication at Sugar Land DVD. I really hope things settle down for Haiti – this is truly tragic!
Last Minute Appeal????
Seems I’ve only been writing about rain and swimming lately. So here’s something new. Normally, first thing I do when I get to work is peruse the news across the nation to see if something sparks my interest for blogging. Well – this sure did – on Law.com:
“In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal Wednesday morning to hear the last-minute appeal of a Tennessee death row inmate, two justices clashed — one with some bite — over whether an execution after a lengthy delay is cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.”
Now, it may just me being too hard today because I have a head cold and not much oxygen is getting through to my brain, but come on…….two judges clashing over cruel and unusual punishment of a death-row inmate? Now, I’m not really sure what makes me more angry – the fact that they are spending my tax dollars “clashing” over how someone was treated on death row OR the fact that they are NOT addressing that the person ON DEATH ROW did something obviously TERRIBLE or they wouldn’t be where they are.
Luckily in my life I haven’t had to deal with attorneys – other than my best friend who is one, but she’s harmless:-). I have had the pleasure and have gotten to know some attorneys through my job – via their websites and questions/interviews that I have to conduct to get correct information posted on their sites. Lester Van Slyke, Fort Bend County Attorney is one that is pretty cool – should one ever NEED an attorney. He specializes in Fort Bend Divorce, DWIs and Criminal Law. Fort Bend is growing so fast….more and more “big city” things seem to be happening. More crime. More divorces. More custody battles. Mr. Van Slyke can legally handle all of these things.
He’s a good old fashioned, man – officing in the Richmond/Rosenberg area – very close to the court house and Sandy McGee’s. With movers and shakers moving to the Fort Bend area (including Sugar Land, Richmond, and Rosenberg), seems there are quite a few high-profile divorces going on and Mr. Van Slyke is right there in the middle of it with all the big whig city attorneys.
If I had to hire a dwi, divorce or criminal attorney in Fort Bend County, I’d want a seasoned attorney, with old fashioned standards, and that is in touch with current changes in laws and technology. It’s a fast world, I would want things handled as fast and as thoroughly as possible. I would feel totally at ease using Mr. Van Slyke. Good guy! Check out his website at www.vanslyke-law.com.
Swimming in the Rain
A lot of my friends ask me if the kids swim in the rain. WELL-YES they do! Aren’t they getting wet anyway? Red Cross suggests that you don’t train/swim if it’s rain hard enough to mess the top of the water up enough so keep you from seeing the bottom of the pool. Well, as FCST’s kids will tell you, we swim in the rain regardless.
My babies (U8 swimmers) swam in the snow last year. I was so proud of them. You know in Sugar Land, Texas…it can snow one day and we can literally be in shorts the next day. It’s wild. As a swim coach – it’s a complete headache. New parents are worried about their kiddos swimming in the rain – again – aren’t they going to get cold anyway?
With all the different cultures and family structures around here, I have to come up with so many different ways to say things. That’s what I find challenging about my SEO (search engine optimization) job…..it’s all a game of semantics. More on this tomorrow.
Sugar Land Family Day
Well …. it’s the last weekday of summer break and we decided to take the family to lunch and a movie. Have you seen “Aliens in the Attic?” Pretty cute. Before the movie, we visited Grimaldi’s Pizza up by the First Colony Mall in Sugar Land. Excellent. You get to pick your toppings and the hand make a specialty pizza – the pepperoni was awesome. Salads were huge. And they gave the kids dough to play with while we were waiting. You might want to rethink that decision…………
After lunch we ventured over to the AMC Theater on Sweetwater. Surprised that the place was not packed on tax-free Friday, we sat on down in the COLD theater. They only had one preview – that’s my family’s favorite part. But it was good one – The Lightning Thief. I totally appreciate Percy Jackson and the book’s ability to instill a shared love for mythology………ANYWAY – back to Aliens.
Pretty cute – some parts are hilarious. The part where Snuggles/Spark plays the music with Hannah was pretty cute. I think Fort Bend Music Center, Sugar Land & Houston’s one stop shopping experience for the music lover, should borrow that clip and make an ad out of it for their store. I can see it now – Sugar Land Guitar Lessons featuring Spark on the Electric Guitar. Or………..Houston Piano Sales featuring Spark on the Baby Grand Piano. I think it would be hilarious.
I can see Spark (the four armed, bug eyed alien) talking about piano sales in Houston, while playing an upright. Laying on top of the upright piano would of course be an acoustic or electric guitar. WHen he’s done delivering his two cents worth on buying a piano in Houston, he could go straight into Stairway to Heaven on the guitar. He could talk about his guitar instructor at Fort Bend Music Center and how COOL he is. “Sugar Land Guitar Lessons….na na na nah…….got get ‘em…..na na na nah” – need to buy a guitar in Sugar Land? Na na na nah!”…and so forth. It would be so cute!
Now if you are seriously looking for an instructor, FBMC really does provide Sugar Land Guitar Lesson INstructors………and they also sell pianos! Adios!
