The May Family  
The May Family; Garland, Texas

 

28 Janaury 2006

Cutting the Cord

By way of a heads-up and an FYI, we are in the process of cutting another cord to the oppressive Comcast. As of earlier today, we have subscribed to VoIP service from Vonage. An LOA has been submitted in the hopes that we may be able to preserve our existing number. Preliminary compatibility checks suggest we will be successful, but queries to SBC (when investigating the plausibility of switching to their DSL service) six months ago provided contrary information. We shall see.

An important impediment to making this move at an earlier date was reported incompatibilities between DirecTV and VoIP. However, recent discussions within the TiVo Community and preliminary tests suggest this hurdle has been cleared. Therefore, we are in the process of transitioning to a plan which will save us close to $360.00/year in telephony costs and fees, while greatly extending the available features.

More information to come as we progress.

21 Janaury 2006

Birthday Brunch

We celebrated Rebecca's birthday early by coordinating a brunch gathering at Rockfish. Margaret and Theodore made a day trip over from Tyler to join us; Kristie, Mark and Aidan ventured out from Lewisville as well.

14 Janaury 2006

Drama and Regalia

Rebecca participated in her second parade of the school year. Ordinarily, this event would have taken place back in September as a presence in the Jay-Cee's sponsored Labor Day Parade. However, in an effort to foster increased ISD participation in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade, two NFHS organizations — the band and the Sterling Stars — agreed to shift their participation to this mid-January event.

No reflection on the Sterling Stars, but this was a largely farcical happening. The parade was plagued by several pitfalls. Turnout was extremely thin; even though the date was moved from the traditional Monday to the preceding Saturday. Just about the only spectators were the parents of those participating... largely WASPs. On two occasions the procession was interrupted by a train transecting the path of the participants. The first time represented an inconvenient delay of only a few moments. However, just prior to the end, the interruption lasted for the better part of a quarter hour. Most unfortunate was the fact that it was NFHS which was caught on the wrong side!

It was a good experience for Rebecca, nonetheless; though it was quite frustrating for the spectators.

Concurrently and on the opposite side of town, Collin began a five week dramatic workshop. Both Elizabeth and Herman are leery of the results as he does not really need any further training in that department. ;-) Despite those tongue-in-cheek reservations, this will be an excellent opportunity for Collin to acquire some useful skills and direct his energies toward a useful goal. Somewhat to her dismay, Rebecca will be attending as well.

The class lacked the registratiion of one participant to make. So, Elizabeth volunteered Rebecca for the task. Due to the delayed progression of the parade, she was unable to attend any portion of the first class. Her brother diligently noted the day's activities and summarized them for her benefit after the fact.

01 January 2006

Surprise Guests

We enjoyed the company of unexpected guests for dinner today. While out shopping for groceries, Herman received a call from Sandy that she had traveled to Dallas for a belated Holiday visit. She and Marianna were invited to a dinner of ham (a gift from our Long Island cousins), cornbread, black-eyed peas and cranberries.

An interesting note: Marianna was observed to take several helpings of cranberries during the course of the meal. When queried about her appreciation, she offered that she had never had them previously. Of course, that is incorrect. It may very well have been, though, that she had never had fresh cranberries. Who knows?

An exchange of gifts followed dinner.

 

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December 2005 archive

 

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last edited: 2006.01.30