Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
California - here I come!
What a week! It was a bitter sweet one as I bid farewell to my colleagues at the bank, and met briefly with a few new co-workers! I did get my new laptop though, just before I fly out to San Fransisco for my first day with the new company. Even though I arrived back home before 1pm on Friday, most of the remainder of the day was spent setting up the laptop. A friend of mine, who is a financial advisor, also stopped by to assist me in a few financial technicalities of switching jobs! Liesel and Nath, made some chocolate chip cookies for my visitor and me .... God bless their hearts :)
Saturday was another beautiful day! In the morning, Liesel had volunteered to help with a medical study at the hospital, so I had a boy's only house most of the morning! That afternoon, Nathan and I headed to Home Depot so he could pick out a ceiling fan for his room. We found the fan that he loves, as well as a few other items I need to complete a few projects around the house.
In the evening we had FFN (Family Fun Night)! It was my choice and I took the family to Mitchell's Ice Cream parlor. Here they have an incredible array of delectable dishes to pick from. And they did not disappoint!!! Liesel had the Black Raspberry Chip and Nathan settled with plain chocolate. As for me ....... Caramel Fudge Brownie ice cream!!!!!!! Say no more!
Sunday was just crazy! It started at 6:45am for me when the alarm ripped me out of my deep sleep. I was playing at church again and had to report for duty at 7:45am! I really enjoyed the church services and finally headed home at 12:30pm. After a delicious roast lunch prepared by Liesel, Nathan and I headed upstairs to tackle the installation of his new ceiling fan! This was by no means an easy task, but two hours later, I turned Nathan's room into the brightest and breeziest room in the house! After that brief stint outside of my comfort zone, I went over to Josh's room to hang some art that Liesel had purchased. That was something I had done many times before so it was fairly quick. Then, after dinner, it was time to mow the yard!! That took 90 minutes to get the lawn looking neat again and I could reward myself with a cool shower! There was just enough time to pack my suitcase for my week long trip to the Googleplex in California!
The last item on my checklist is the completion of this blog. This leaves me a few minutes to sort a few things out before retiring in this timezone for a while!
Saturday was another beautiful day! In the morning, Liesel had volunteered to help with a medical study at the hospital, so I had a boy's only house most of the morning! That afternoon, Nathan and I headed to Home Depot so he could pick out a ceiling fan for his room. We found the fan that he loves, as well as a few other items I need to complete a few projects around the house.
In the evening we had FFN (Family Fun Night)! It was my choice and I took the family to Mitchell's Ice Cream parlor. Here they have an incredible array of delectable dishes to pick from. And they did not disappoint!!! Liesel had the Black Raspberry Chip and Nathan settled with plain chocolate. As for me ....... Caramel Fudge Brownie ice cream!!!!!!! Say no more!
Sunday was just crazy! It started at 6:45am for me when the alarm ripped me out of my deep sleep. I was playing at church again and had to report for duty at 7:45am! I really enjoyed the church services and finally headed home at 12:30pm. After a delicious roast lunch prepared by Liesel, Nathan and I headed upstairs to tackle the installation of his new ceiling fan! This was by no means an easy task, but two hours later, I turned Nathan's room into the brightest and breeziest room in the house! After that brief stint outside of my comfort zone, I went over to Josh's room to hang some art that Liesel had purchased. That was something I had done many times before so it was fairly quick. Then, after dinner, it was time to mow the yard!! That took 90 minutes to get the lawn looking neat again and I could reward myself with a cool shower! There was just enough time to pack my suitcase for my week long trip to the Googleplex in California!
The last item on my checklist is the completion of this blog. This leaves me a few minutes to sort a few things out before retiring in this timezone for a while!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Season of change
Everywhere one looks in North East Ohio, one cannot deny that Spring now has her foot firmly in the door! Trees have embraced the warmer temperatures and have begun preparing their buds for their annual showcase! Lawns are green, and flowers are blooming! One of my favorite things about living in Cleveland is that we have four distinct seasons that each have their own own unique beauty!
Another change for us is that little Joshua is now eating solids! It was a challenge at first to get the cereal into his mouth, but as every parent knows, it is all about perseverance :)
One of the biggest changes for the McCarthy family is that I will be swapping my daily commute to a large corporation in downtown Cleveland for a much shorter bicycle ride (possibly) to a much smaller company one suburb away!
When my old company announced that a number of people would be laid off in March, I started working on a plan B to cover any worst case scenario that may have arisen! During this time, I applied for a job at this new company, as it seemed my skills were a perfect match for their requirements. I received a reply to my resume within four hours of applying for the job, and was soon being interviewed. Those went well, and I was told that I was shortlisted with one other person. Then there was a period that I did not hear much from the company until the week before Easter. I was told that I had the job and the owner would soon be making an offer to me. When the offer came, it was significantly lower than what I was currently making, and I was quite disappointed, as there was no way I could accept anything less than what I currently earned. I made an optimistic counter offer, and prayed that God would clearly show me where He wanted me to be. Again, there was an unsettling period where I didn't hear anything from the company, and I started thinking that God wanted me to stay where I was..... until the owner came back to me last week saying that he will amend his original offer to meet what I asked for in my counter offer! Thank you Lord.... there was no doubt in my mind that God had opened this new door for me!
I start at my new company on April 24 but I will not be in the office until May 4 since the company is flying me out to San Francisco, California for a weeks worth of training!!! I finally get to visit the West Coast of the USA!!!! I haven't even started working there yet, and i am already loving it! God is so good!
We now return you to the regular programming..........
Friday night was Nathan's choice for Family Fun Night. He choice was to get the Disney's Bolt DVD again (this is his current favorite movie - can you tell?) He also watched it over and over again on Saturday morning before we had to return it.
On Saturday, I gave in to the neighborhood peer pressure, and fired up my lawnmower to cut my grass for the first time in 2009. I guess it is one way for me to get a workout, but it is not in my top ten things to do on the weekend!!! Something that does make it into the top ten list, is having friends over for dinner, which we did that evening!
On Sunday, we attended church as usual in the morning. That afternoon, we had some good chats with our family back home in South Africa. We had a pleasant surprise! Craig (Liesel's brother in the UK) called us on Skype. He had just purchased a web cam, and we were able to share a wonderful video call with him and his wife! Now all our immediate family (on both sides) own web cams, and it is amazing how that technology makes the person on the other side feel that much closer!
Another change for us is that little Joshua is now eating solids! It was a challenge at first to get the cereal into his mouth, but as every parent knows, it is all about perseverance :)
One of the biggest changes for the McCarthy family is that I will be swapping my daily commute to a large corporation in downtown Cleveland for a much shorter bicycle ride (possibly) to a much smaller company one suburb away!
When my old company announced that a number of people would be laid off in March, I started working on a plan B to cover any worst case scenario that may have arisen! During this time, I applied for a job at this new company, as it seemed my skills were a perfect match for their requirements. I received a reply to my resume within four hours of applying for the job, and was soon being interviewed. Those went well, and I was told that I was shortlisted with one other person. Then there was a period that I did not hear much from the company until the week before Easter. I was told that I had the job and the owner would soon be making an offer to me. When the offer came, it was significantly lower than what I was currently making, and I was quite disappointed, as there was no way I could accept anything less than what I currently earned. I made an optimistic counter offer, and prayed that God would clearly show me where He wanted me to be. Again, there was an unsettling period where I didn't hear anything from the company, and I started thinking that God wanted me to stay where I was..... until the owner came back to me last week saying that he will amend his original offer to meet what I asked for in my counter offer! Thank you Lord.... there was no doubt in my mind that God had opened this new door for me!
I start at my new company on April 24 but I will not be in the office until May 4 since the company is flying me out to San Francisco, California for a weeks worth of training!!! I finally get to visit the West Coast of the USA!!!! I haven't even started working there yet, and i am already loving it! God is so good!
We now return you to the regular programming..........
Friday night was Nathan's choice for Family Fun Night. He choice was to get the Disney's Bolt DVD again (this is his current favorite movie - can you tell?) He also watched it over and over again on Saturday morning before we had to return it.
On Saturday, I gave in to the neighborhood peer pressure, and fired up my lawnmower to cut my grass for the first time in 2009. I guess it is one way for me to get a workout, but it is not in my top ten things to do on the weekend!!! Something that does make it into the top ten list, is having friends over for dinner, which we did that evening!
On Sunday, we attended church as usual in the morning. That afternoon, we had some good chats with our family back home in South Africa. We had a pleasant surprise! Craig (Liesel's brother in the UK) called us on Skype. He had just purchased a web cam, and we were able to share a wonderful video call with him and his wife! Now all our immediate family (on both sides) own web cams, and it is amazing how that technology makes the person on the other side feel that much closer!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Trading Spaces
First of all - i want to wish all my readers a very Happy Easter. May you know the power that raised Jesus from the dead within your lives.
Our weekend really started on Thursday, when we had our Family Fun Night. We chose to have it on Thursday since it was Liesel's idea to go bowling at a local bowling alley! We arrived at the Alley at 5pm and Nathan went to pick his ball! The staff put up the bumpers for us so there was no chance of getting a gutter ball. Nathan went first and he absolutely loved "real" bowling! We finished our first game, and grabbed some food from the food stand, and then started our second game! Nathan loved this concept of being able to eat AND play at the same time! It was a great family fun night!
A while ago, Liesel had the idea that Nathan and Joshua should swap rooms, since Josh had a lot of real estate that was never utilized! Nathan, being the cautious observer that he is, wasn't too keen on this idea. But after bribing him by allowing him to keep extra toys in the new room, he finally succumbed to the idea and agreed to change rooms. So, on Saturday, our master plan kicked into gear. It was definitely not a simple task, as it involved moving a lot of furniture, including Nathan's bunk beds. I started by removing the door to Nathan's new room! This proved to be the easiest job of the day! Next up, was taking apart Josh's crib - so that we could fit it through the doors! Next it was time to separate the bunks and with the help of my beautiful wife, we managed to maneuver the two beds into the other room without having to dismantle them! After about 3 hours the two rooms were slowly taking shape, and Nathan could now go and select some toys from the basement and the playroom that he'd like to keep in his room! We could tell that he was now very happy about moving to the bigger room, and a number of times this weekend, he asked if he could go and play in his room!! SUCCESS!!
That evening, my friend Ian came over and we had a boy's night in! His wife was working the late shift, and my wife was exhausted from all the heavy duty moving that we did, so it was the perfect evening for the boys to lie back, with a Dairy Queen Blizzard (ice cream) and catch up on our favorite comedy, The Office!
A beautiful sunny day greeted us on Easter Sunday! Our church treated us to another spectacular Cantata. It was a professional production with full orchestra and 30 voice choir! I am always amazed by the quality performances that come out of Providence Church! When we got back home, Nathan headed into our yard to put his detective skills through their paces. With a little help, he found all the cleverly hidden Easter eggs! It was the first time we had the Easter Egg hunt at our house, and the first time we didn't have snow over the Easter weekend - so it was far more comfortable for all of us!
Friends from church invited us to their house for Easter Lunch! The food was delicious and the company was great! Nathan had so much fun that he really didn't want to leave. This was because he was taken down to their basement and shown a large train set that was set up there, including 2 different trains, a tunnel, railroad crossing, miniature buildings and people! But what he enjoyed most, was being allowed to control the trains and speed them up and stop them whenever he felt like it! Oh, the power!!!
Our weekend really started on Thursday, when we had our Family Fun Night. We chose to have it on Thursday since it was Liesel's idea to go bowling at a local bowling alley! We arrived at the Alley at 5pm and Nathan went to pick his ball! The staff put up the bumpers for us so there was no chance of getting a gutter ball. Nathan went first and he absolutely loved "real" bowling! We finished our first game, and grabbed some food from the food stand, and then started our second game! Nathan loved this concept of being able to eat AND play at the same time! It was a great family fun night!
A while ago, Liesel had the idea that Nathan and Joshua should swap rooms, since Josh had a lot of real estate that was never utilized! Nathan, being the cautious observer that he is, wasn't too keen on this idea. But after bribing him by allowing him to keep extra toys in the new room, he finally succumbed to the idea and agreed to change rooms. So, on Saturday, our master plan kicked into gear. It was definitely not a simple task, as it involved moving a lot of furniture, including Nathan's bunk beds. I started by removing the door to Nathan's new room! This proved to be the easiest job of the day! Next up, was taking apart Josh's crib - so that we could fit it through the doors! Next it was time to separate the bunks and with the help of my beautiful wife, we managed to maneuver the two beds into the other room without having to dismantle them! After about 3 hours the two rooms were slowly taking shape, and Nathan could now go and select some toys from the basement and the playroom that he'd like to keep in his room! We could tell that he was now very happy about moving to the bigger room, and a number of times this weekend, he asked if he could go and play in his room!! SUCCESS!!
That evening, my friend Ian came over and we had a boy's night in! His wife was working the late shift, and my wife was exhausted from all the heavy duty moving that we did, so it was the perfect evening for the boys to lie back, with a Dairy Queen Blizzard (ice cream) and catch up on our favorite comedy, The Office!
A beautiful sunny day greeted us on Easter Sunday! Our church treated us to another spectacular Cantata. It was a professional production with full orchestra and 30 voice choir! I am always amazed by the quality performances that come out of Providence Church! When we got back home, Nathan headed into our yard to put his detective skills through their paces. With a little help, he found all the cleverly hidden Easter eggs! It was the first time we had the Easter Egg hunt at our house, and the first time we didn't have snow over the Easter weekend - so it was far more comfortable for all of us!
Friends from church invited us to their house for Easter Lunch! The food was delicious and the company was great! Nathan had so much fun that he really didn't want to leave. This was because he was taken down to their basement and shown a large train set that was set up there, including 2 different trains, a tunnel, railroad crossing, miniature buildings and people! But what he enjoyed most, was being allowed to control the trains and speed them up and stop them whenever he felt like it! Oh, the power!!!
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Frozen Eggs
Before I continue, I would like to share a huge milestone in the McCarthy family! This past Monday, March 30, 2009 marked our family's third year of living in the USA. It has been a wonderful three years, and we have loved every minute. We would not change anything, life in the USA is good! God has blessed us and opened all the necessary doors for us, and we know that we would never have made it this far without Him!
Something else significant this week, was that we had our warmest day in 146 days! The mercury actually surpassed the 23C/73F mark! I even drove home with my air conditioning on! But we are still living in Cleveland, and snow has clawed its way back into our forecast! A winter storm is expected within the next 48 hours with some accumulations possible!
The effects of this imminent cold front were felt on Saturday by Nathan and myself. We had gone to our town's Easter Egg hunt, where 15 000 plastic eggs were scattered around a field. So it wasn't so much a hunt..... rather a free for all! The field was surrounded by hundreds of children, most being restrained by their parents as they eagerly awaited the signal to scavenge! After the signal, children of all ages flooded into the field and the eggs disappeared into packets and baskets. Nathan did have some success and managed to lay his hands onto ten eggs! These little eggs each contained some candy and a tiny figurine. Seems like a pathetic reward for our patience in the freezing wind, but Nathan enjoyed himself and that's all that matters!
Later that afternoon, Nathan helped me cleaning out the interior of my car, as I am having it inspected on Monday, by a lease end inspector. My 3 year lease of my CR-V is almost up and Honda need to ensure that I looked after their vehicle satisfactorily! If he gives it a thumbs up, I think I will be getting a new car shortly! That will be one of the few big changes occurring in the next few weeks! Keep watching this space for updates!
Family Fun night was at it's usual time on Saturday evening, and we rented Disney's Bolt. Liesel and I had a few reservations about the story, as there we a number of scary scenes, yet Nathan seemed oblivious to them and actually loved the movie. He was pretty upset that we had to return the movie the following day!
On Palm Sunday, we were blessed with blue skies and mild temperatures. But my favorite part of the day was definitely the worship at Church! I was part of the band, but this week we had a special guest playing the flute. He was the Jimi Hendrix of the flute world! His lead pieces were so pure, melodic and crisp!It was an absolute privilege to have played with him! After Church, and lunch, I took Nathan with me to get my CR-V washed, and then we stopped at a playground on the way home and had some good old fashioned fun in the sun. After we got home, Nathan donned his helmet and mounted his bicycle. Josh had his hat on and was placed in the stroller, and the McCarthy family went for a very enjoyable walk around our neighborhood! The trees all have buds just waiting to burst open in color, but hopefully the upcoming snow showers will not delay their blossoming!
Something else significant this week, was that we had our warmest day in 146 days! The mercury actually surpassed the 23C/73F mark! I even drove home with my air conditioning on! But we are still living in Cleveland, and snow has clawed its way back into our forecast! A winter storm is expected within the next 48 hours with some accumulations possible!
The effects of this imminent cold front were felt on Saturday by Nathan and myself. We had gone to our town's Easter Egg hunt, where 15 000 plastic eggs were scattered around a field. So it wasn't so much a hunt..... rather a free for all! The field was surrounded by hundreds of children, most being restrained by their parents as they eagerly awaited the signal to scavenge! After the signal, children of all ages flooded into the field and the eggs disappeared into packets and baskets. Nathan did have some success and managed to lay his hands onto ten eggs! These little eggs each contained some candy and a tiny figurine. Seems like a pathetic reward for our patience in the freezing wind, but Nathan enjoyed himself and that's all that matters!
Later that afternoon, Nathan helped me cleaning out the interior of my car, as I am having it inspected on Monday, by a lease end inspector. My 3 year lease of my CR-V is almost up and Honda need to ensure that I looked after their vehicle satisfactorily! If he gives it a thumbs up, I think I will be getting a new car shortly! That will be one of the few big changes occurring in the next few weeks! Keep watching this space for updates!
Family Fun night was at it's usual time on Saturday evening, and we rented Disney's Bolt. Liesel and I had a few reservations about the story, as there we a number of scary scenes, yet Nathan seemed oblivious to them and actually loved the movie. He was pretty upset that we had to return the movie the following day!
On Palm Sunday, we were blessed with blue skies and mild temperatures. But my favorite part of the day was definitely the worship at Church! I was part of the band, but this week we had a special guest playing the flute. He was the Jimi Hendrix of the flute world! His lead pieces were so pure, melodic and crisp!It was an absolute privilege to have played with him! After Church, and lunch, I took Nathan with me to get my CR-V washed, and then we stopped at a playground on the way home and had some good old fashioned fun in the sun. After we got home, Nathan donned his helmet and mounted his bicycle. Josh had his hat on and was placed in the stroller, and the McCarthy family went for a very enjoyable walk around our neighborhood! The trees all have buds just waiting to burst open in color, but hopefully the upcoming snow showers will not delay their blossoming!
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