Interesting day in the family

Today is Gaelen's first day at Purdue and we registered Keavy for her junior year at East High School. In a huge change, we bought no clothing at high school registration. I can't remember a year when we didn't do that. For me, I've sprained or strained an ankle overnight just before I leave on a trip to London for work. The pain is bad enough that it kept me up overnight and this morning I've had to resort to pain killers to relieve the suffering (so that I can be ready to get off the plane in London).

My friends Greg and Tony in Paris

From today's West Ham news

"West Ham manager Alan Curbishley claims his club have accepted a bid from Sunderland for Anton Ferdinand. The 23-year-old defender is reportedly considering the offer, thought to involve a fee of approaching £8million. 'The board have accepted the bid', said Curbishley, 'and the decision was taken out of my hands'. "

Anyone who is a Hammers fan should be distressed about the financial situation in which West Ham find themselves. The news that Ferdinand has to be sold to help offset the terrible cost of the signings made two years ago tells much about the current status of the club's pocketbook. The news is especially telling after today's thrashing by Manchester City. I fear dark times to come if a combination of a thin squad and persistent injuries becomes the West Ham norm.

A final picture from Purdue

This is just a look under the bed loft at Purdue. The final location of the refrigerator and a bookcase that was added later changed somewhat, but this gives you an idea of the small amount of space that is typical to dorm life for a freshman at Purdue.

A slightly better look at Gaelen's dorm room

This picture shows Gaelen slightly more "moved in" with the deskt and refrigerator set up. The bed in the foreground is Gaelen's roommate's bed. The window has a southern exposure and has a lot of light . . . .something Gaelen isn't particularly used to in Madison.

In Meredith Hall at Purdue

Here's Heidi and Gaelen working on getting his dorm room set up. The two of them set up this loft bed arrangement to make better use of the small space inside the room. His desk is underneath the bed and so is a refrigerator and bookshelf. In the first 10 days that Gaelen was in the dorm the temperature was in the low 90's and upper 80's. Having a bed in the upper part of the room didn't seem like such a great idea when trying to sleep in that weather.

Loading up the car for the trip to Purdue

Here's the family as we pack the car and get ready to move Gaelen into Purdue. We were lucky to have nice weather for the trip -- however a decision to avoid rush hour traffic in Chicago led us to a very long trip through the center of Illinois. It took us almost six hours to get from Madison to West Lafayette. Coming back it only took four hours and 15 minutes.