2 Things - Assembling items and Trip to VT

Mike - Well, last night I assembled my very first item for Daniel. One down, Six thousand, one hundred and fifteen to go... ;-) And, in true Dave Barry fashion, the item, a "Snap & Go" stroller (it is basically a frame with wheels tht holds the car seat, allowing one to make the car seat into a very basic stroller to be used for the first few months) came with specific instructions for docking 8 different models of baby car seat... but not ours. Oh, and there are at least 21 possible combinations for positioning the various components of the docking system, including whether you even include certain components. All I can say is... it seems to be working. The second item is the downstairs changing table, which I have finished one out of 6 steps in assembling... the first few steps of Step 1 are fine... but there is definitely a point in the process where one needs a third hand.

I can see Christmas on the horizon... ;-)

Some of this was covered by Holly in a comment, but I wanted to put in in a post. On Friday, Mike M., Vicki, and I travelled down to Tech (that's VIRGINIA Tech, you know, the real Tech for those of you outside of the Old Dominion) for Saturday's game (if that's what you want to call it) against ECU. It was great to see Marcy and Clay - and great to share congratulations on both sides (Marcy - I love the ring and Clay - good job!). Vicki bought us a very cute VT sleeper (the article of clothing to sleep in) with footsies! And a great soft VT ballcap. It was also great to be able to share thoughts and get helpful advice.

We won't talk about the game, other than to say... it resembled a poopy diaper. At least we won. Not that we deserved to.

This was the 1st time I'd been down to Tech since the tradgedy. The memorial is beautiful - dignified, restrained, yet powerful. What struck me harder - harder than I thought - was walking by and around Norris Hall. You can't go in - it's still being treated as a crime scene. It's eerie - you can see desks and full bookshelves in the offices on 3rd floor. The windows still appear to be damaged. And there is plastic ductwork in all of the rooms. As I walked up the steps aprroaching Norris after crossing the drillfield (the sidewalk running between Norris and Burris), the steps visible in every picture on TV, and walking by the grassy area where the escaping students jumped and where responders carried the injured and fallen out...it struck me how I'd walked those very steps and that very path probably every single schoolday for 5 years - either going to my classes in Norris or past Norris to Randolph (or turning left to Robison or Deering or Williams). There was a great Sports Illustrated article in 1999 on that season in which President Torgenson used the word "perturbation" to describe the effect VT had on the college football world that year. Walking around Norris, a different word came to mind - though similarly mathematical. Incongruity. That's how all of this felt. This event was an incongruity. And this place is now an incongruity. They've taken the sign that says "Norris Hall" down - only the small plaque on the building itself identifies it. It's a beautiful Gothic building, with shady trees in front, sitting along a major pedestrian thoroughfare for getting to and from academic buildings. If you don't look through the windows and notice the plastic ductwork, you would never know that this idyllic spot was the site of... you know. Vicki's younger brother, Douglas (who is an amazing young man), is a freshman at Tech and has been down there for all of two weeks or so. While we were there, he said, "This is Norris? I've been walking by here every day! I had no idea."

There were many, many flowers placed at each of the 32 stones of the memorial. Someone had placed a flower on the front steps of Norris. I thought it fitting.