That's too bad, Keith. It was so perfect before.
posted by Lee at 5:35 AM

 
I had such a great line from the last bid. Of course it couldn't work out again. I am home until Friday morning, and gone until Tuesday morning, the 8th. So at least I will see you Lee. I am sorry I am going to miss the camping, all. I thought for sure I had it off, and well...

-KJH
posted by Keith at 8:07 PM

 
I have the Tickets to Hawaii and a letter verifying employment. You are set Mom. Had a great approach today, craziest one i have ever had. They brought us in on an approach into St Louis way South, and then switched us to the furthest North runway at the last second in Horrible visibility. I crossed the numbers about 100 feet to high, and thought we might have to go around, but... We made it. It was fun. It was even a good landing.

-KJH
posted by Keith at 5:30 PM

 
My say on the food: We can have common meals and pitch in on the costs and work. If you want something extra or special, then buy it for yourself. So what we need are menus. I guess we'll have two meals on Friday and Sunday, with three meals on Saturday. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, etc... are fine breakfasts and easy to do. So anyone have a suggestion for the three lunches and two dinners? Meat and veggies, grilling stuff, whatever...

It's rainy here, but still warm enough to be out without a coat. That's pretty nice in my book.
posted by Lee at 11:06 AM

 
We have a camp stove that can be used if needed. Hello and welcome Lee, Melina, Owen, and Matilda. I am in Charlotte. Tomorrow night I will be in Jacksonville. I spent Wednesday night in San Fransisco with Jason. It was fun. We ate at his Dad's restaurant and it was great. I flew in that afternoon and left on the Red Eye for work on Thursday in St Louis. Talk to you all later.
-KJH
posted by Keith at 5:48 PM

 
Hello, we are all here in Baltimore now. Owen and Matilda are confused by the time changes. Mom, I forgot the Eukalyptus completely. I did bring mammi, but the bag was left in New York and I think it's melted by now, so it did not work out. Talk to you all later.
posted by Lee at 4:12 AM

 
Things are cleared up with Finnair. We leave tomorrow afternoon. Talk to you all later. We will be staying at Dave an Mary Haber's while in Maryland, their number is: (410) 235-9365 if you need to get ahold of us.
posted by Lee at 6:53 AM

 
We just got a memo saying things have changed for next month. We have to rebid... So I will find out later, I guess, whether I have the days off or not.
-KJH

posted by Keith at 3:01 PM

 
Good to hear you've got time off Keith. Now if Finnair doesn't strike on Wednesday like their threatening we'll be set. Or Finnair better get us on another plane!
posted by Lee at 3:57 AM

 
The ticket is on order. I will have it on Sunday the 30th. That is the pick-up time. If it is not done by then I will make a special trip to get it. There shouldn't be any problem. I have the whole first week of April off. I need to leave Sunday morning. So we will leave Saturday night, which is when we were planning on leaving anyway. I get back on Tuesday the 8th. Amanda has a concert that night. All are welcome. It is at BYU. Talk to everyone later.

-KJH
posted by Keith at 7:13 PM

 
After your church is ok. Let's say 2.30pm/11.30pm. I might be a bit late, but before midnight. That would be great if you had a machine. Our first game is 3 weeks after we get back and the practice would be excellent.
posted by Lee at 5:59 AM

 
I don't know anything about pitching machines, but our team might do some work soon and buy one. So I'll be asking you for advice later on. Are there batting cages near you? I need to get some practise in.

I'm not sure I'll be able to get online this weekend at the normal times. We are having guests, I think, for the next couple nights. But I could get online late sunday night for me. Let me know.

Will it be warm or cold there when we come?


posted by Lee at 7:18 AM

 
Congrats Michael!
posted by Keith at 11:35 AM

 
Tiina, I must admit, I read, with horror, of the possibility of you losing your TV connection. Life would become unbearable. That ballot in Finland sounds pretty funny. What is the voting age?

There is bad news at Trans States. I am not sure why, but they furloughed 11 people. I think there is a problem with the J-41's, a 30 passenger turbo prop. We are also parking our ATR's, another Turbo Prop, but they were planning on so many jets, I don't know what the problem is. Things were starting to look up too. THe union and the company resolved all grievances filed by pilots over the last 9 months. It seemed like things were on a smooth path. Maybe the war fears are part of it. Maybe its a ploy by the company to get Jets For Jobs approved by the Union. Jets For Jobs would bring 50 - 100 Jets onto our property, but 50% of the pilots flying those jets would be furloughed US Airways pilots. It is poorly worked out right now, and the Union will not sign for it. Who knows whats going on.

Anyway, I will talk to everyone later.
-KJH

posted by Keith at 6:35 PM

 
Timo, the law applies to everyone. Previously, it was just for the children born after August 1966 or something like that, but now they have made it apply to all children of Finnish citizens. Since you merely inform Finland of your existence you are not applying for Finnish citizenship, so there shouldn't be any problem about the US one. The US cannot control who Finland recognizes as Finnish.

Voting here was simple. The ballot was a folded piece of paper with a large circle on one side. Inside the circle you wrote your candidate's number. The election lady stamped the outside of the ballot and you dropped it in the box. That's why Finns had trouble understanding how ballots in America could be confusing.
posted by Lee at 10:34 PM

 
Hello all. Boy am I tired. Melina and her mother's birthday dinner is done and so am I. Spring is here, there's puddles everywhere. The light seems to increase so fast I keep thinking I'm early everywhere in the evening.

By the way, Finland has now enacted the law that let's each of you be recognized as Finnish citizens. You just need inform the Finnish governement of your existence, but until they get the correct forms out, you'll have wait. That means you can take US citizenship, Mom, and not lose your Finnish one. Also, Aila could get hers back (since the law says she never lost it.)

Tomorrow is the parliament elections. It will be interesting to see how this works.

We're all excited. Matilda has been counting down for a week now.

Also, for those of you waiting to come to Finland for the temple dedication, youäll have to wait until the summer of 2005, but I say: Don't put off what you can do today. It would be nice to see any of you over here.
posted by Lee at 12:15 PM

 
Amanda's Birthday is on Tuesday. We are planning to go to Trafalga around 6PM. Later we are going to go to Nascart and do a race. Everyone is welcome to join us. It would be fun if you did. Talk to everyone later.

-KJH

posted by Keith at 1:39 PM

 
Nutty Putty sounds like a lot of fun. Mom, will you be joining us if we go. We need to find out if fires are allowed so that those who don't want to go in the caves can have something nice. I was thinking it is pretty windy up there, maybe taking a kite or two would be fun.

-KJH
posted by Keith at 9:52 PM

 
I hope it will not be too cold there when we come. I am of the freezing cold. But on that note, will there be any snow in the mountains for April skiing? Matilda wants to try a snowboard. She's started to stand on her sled and come down the hill (not too steep of one) pretty good.

Other than that, not too much going on.
posted by Lee at 10:33 PM

 
Mom, I can't call from this Springfield Hotel. It is ridiculous. The phone system is old and some of the card numbers don't get through so it takes forever to just enter the card number. Then it takes longer to try the actual number. And if you mess up twice it makes you hang up and try all over again. So it is Tuesday night (Fat Tuesday), and I am at (417) 833 3108 Room# 2006. If the phone is busy i am on the internet.

Amanda suspected teh fish was pregnant because it was mighty fat. There are a lot of them. 31, two died the first day. At, least only two that we know of. Maybe a few were luch for the other fishies. So 33 babies were born that we know of. That's a lot! You should see them in the little 2 gallon thing we have them in, they are so small and so many. It is funny.

Bye all.
-KJH
posted by Keith at 5:21 PM

 
Hello everyone, again from Charlotte. I am one day into a four day trip. It was good to hear Tupu made it safely. Talk to everyone later.

-KJH
posted by Keith at 1:01 PM