Friday, July 23, The Saint Paul Travelers Company announced it will lay off 10% of its staff. The company did not make that announcement to its own employees. My husband got no email or memo, and there was no meeting to announce it. My husband learned this because his window from his cube at the Saint Paul Travelers overlooks the news ticker dat-board at the Minnesota Public Radio building nearby in downtown Saint Paul!

Saturday July 24, we took our kids to the Minnesota Zoo. The St Paul Travelers Company had an employee discount day, and we purchased tickets for it several weeks ago. We watched an IMAX film about coral reefs, went through an exibit about animals from Madigascar, including Lemurs, We rode on a hay-truck being pulled by a John Deere tractor to a farm yard and the kids enjoyed the petting zoo. I couldn't drag my 5 year old son out of the petting zoo pen! He was petting a goat, and protesting, "But he likes me! He likes me!" We had lunch under a canopy, part of the company plan, but the Saint Paul Travelers is such a big company, my husband didn't recognize anyone there! We came back exhausted and dehydrated, just in time for my daughter to go to her friend's slumber party.

Sunday, yesterday, we drove off at about 9 am to join our friends at their camp-ground. Many of them were old college class-mates of ours, but really were my husband's friends more than they were mine. He's currently in a stock-investment club with most of them, but their whole purpose for this camp-out was to play role-playing games. Not Dungeons and Dragons specifically, but other games like it. One of them had made super-hero capes for all the children, and when my daughter asked if she had any purple ones...yes she did! We were all so impressed, as my daughter has been looking for a purple cape for weeks, to complete her costume of her hero Raven , the Teen Titan! The adults played volley ball. The children played with squirt guns, and I took numerous trips with them to to the nearby old-fashioned water pump from the ground, pumping the lever so they could fill all their squirt guns some more. I've secretly banished all toy guns from our house. I don't buy them and luckily no one has ever given them to my kids as a gift. So this was a total novelty to both my kids and they loved it!
Again, that afternoon we returned home more dehydrated than before, I fell asleep on the couch that afternoon. Made hot dogs for dinner, fell asleep on the couch after both my kids' baths, and still slept through the night, and didn't want to get up this morning!

I just found out my friend Jeff who applied for a job here, didn't get it. So I'm not taking it too well right now.

The big news here in our office today is that the 'activities committee' set up two large book shelves in our break room, to serve as the company lending-library. Today both shelves are STOCKED FULL...of paperback crime novels! Every last one of them is a crime novel. Well apparently at 2:00 we're having an ice-cream social for it anyway, so I'm going.

My boss forwarded my friend's resume to another manager in the company who is also looking for someone, so I still have some hope for that, but he'll have to interview again, and even if he gets it he won't be in my department. Grrrr.

Two week-ends ago, we took our kids to ride the first day of the Minneapolis light-rail. We were in line for about an hour, but it was still worth it , we rode from the Veterans' Administration Hospital at Fort Snelling to the Metrodome in downtown Minnapolis. Then we rode the city bus back to the VA to get our car, and go home. Somewhat hypocritical of us, since we never ride the bus any more.

Last week end we took our kids to downtown St Paul to watch the "Grand Excursion" paddle boats come in from Davenport (LA? IA?) but as soon as the first one appeared, it started pouring rain and we had to take our kids home!

The next day was Sunday, the Fourth of July, and it didn't rain that day, for a change, and we took our kids swimming at Long Lake, a city beach near our house and we had a blast and got sunburned in a relatively short amount of time!

Two days ago, Saturday, we took our kids to downtown Minneapolis, to see They Might Be Giants play a free children's show in front of Orchestra Hall. The whole big plaza was full of alt-rock parents dragging their very confused children behind them becuase it was the parents who wanted to see TMBG, not the kids! My 10 year old daughter whined the whole time, and my 5 year old son spent all his time playing with my hair.

Saturday night my friend Debi had her cook-out in her back yard. It was so great. 3 people there now work in an office I USED to work in, and it was fun to hear the gossip and grill hamburgers and roast marshmellows for s'mores on the embers! She filled a little rubber wading pool with water and we called it a pool party.

Yesterday, Sunday, I took my son to a sign-language Catholic church in North Minneapolis. It was odd for me to take my son to Church, when it's my husband who is the Catholic, and I'm the athiest. But I'm trying to take advanage of every free opportunity to improve my sign language and that's one thing I can say for visiting churches, its free. My son spent the whole time alternately climbing on me, going limp, and humming his own little repetitive tunes to himself. I'm sure everyone there thought he was retarded. I'll take pity over hostility any day!

The free sign language group I've been meeting with for an hour or two on Friday nights at a local Barnes and Nobels book store have been really helpful, as well as the Friday sign-language lunches I've been having with co workers, 2 of whom are deaf.

Back at my desk at work right now. Chatting to strangers over my IM, at my desk. Taking phone calls from users. Today I might find out if my old friend gets the job here, that he interviewed for, over a week ago. That would be so great!

I submitted my application for part time work at Barnes and Nobels this week-end. So that makes Sam's Club, Target, and BN that I have applied to for a 2nd job. Each place says that they probably won't be looking for more part timers until their summer students go back to school in the fall. My husband and I are in a contest to see who can get a part-time job first. Who ever loses has to stay home with the kids while the other person works.