Volume 4 Lesson 3

This week was a mixed one for me, as I had a few ups, but Janice was away on business. The ups: I spent a few good days with my children while JB was away, and that was nice; I had 3 Pokemon Go EX battles, and defeated and captured 3 Mewtwos. That was cool. In addition, I found out that my oldest daughter has a “contributing” role in the play, as the basketball coach. I also gave a “clinic” in how to speak New York to the Glee Club at my children’s school, as they are singing 3 songs from Broadway musicals whose setting was NYC, for their concert. That was quite a good time, and I think that the students enjoyed the session. I know that I did.

I learned a lot this week in my German class, as far as finding mismatched names and places was concerned. I learned a few methodology tips which will help me in my research, and this was a positive for me. I am looking forward to utilizing what I learned to do this. I also had a good week in my Elder’s Quorum calling, by visiting with a few men who I had not seen in awhile. I want to enhance myself in this calling, and this was a step in the right direction. I hope to sustain this momentum in the coming weeks, which will allow me to do a better job.

Volume 4 Lesson 2

This was Week 2 of the term, and it was a good experience for me. The only negative for me was that I had to drop my business class. It was a tough decision, yet it was the right decision. I dropped the class because it did not fit in with my future plans, and I would be wasting my time. The big downer for this is that I will not earn my Certificate in Entrepreneurship, and that bothers me. I will, however, be able to focus on my German genealogy class, and also get some research done for my family. Silver lining…

As far as German class goes, I had a good week. I learned about “Outside of the box” documents/places that I could research, in order to find information on my ancestors. To my knowledge, one family emigrated from Baden in 1867, but from my research there were siblings alive who may have stayed in their and not immigrated to the United States. One of my goals is to locate one of the siblings, and trace their descendants to see: Where they ended up; if they entered the military; if they went to a university; or if they stayed in Mittelschefflenz, Baden, Germany for the duration. The resources that we learned about in this lesson will help me to do that.

Volume 4 Prologue

I am down to my last two classes at BYU-Idaho, and then I will graduate. These are exciting times for me, and I am ready for them. There has been a lot of drama with my Staten Island daughter recently, and it is taking a toll on our relationship. First, it was announced that her school, St. John Villa Academy on Staten Island, is closing its doors at the end of the year. Understandably, she is very emotional about it. Second, she decided, at the last minute, to go on the Senior trip to Hawaii over Easter break. When she asked her mother (my ex), instead of saying “No!” or “I’ll have to talk to your father about it,” she threw me under the bus by saying: “It is okay, but if your father pays half.” Seriously?!!! I was/am pissed about it. It put me in a no-win situation, and I had to pony up $1700. Third, she wants me to change our flight plan for her February trip to visit me, because it conflicts with the season ending girl’s basketball game, and she is the team’s manager. A little bit of back story on this: My ex, her mother, is totally wrong wen it comes to this week, and since it is listed on the school’s calendar as “Monday to Friday,” that is all the time I get with her. And she is unyielding with this. I asked her if I could pick my daughter up on Saturday, and drop her off on Friday, she declined with an emphatic: “Visitation is Monday to Friday!” In addition, when we were negotiating this, I wanted to alternate this week with Easter, and she would not do that. So I am stuck. So…I spoke to my ex, and my daughter, about who would reimburse me for the $800 I would have to pay to change flights, but there was not a good response. Finally, my daughter told me to forget about it, and that she would just keep with our original plans. She is my oldest, and I love her a lot, but what has transpired in the past TWO WEEKS really has me pissed off. I had been put in the position to look like the bad guy in each of these situations, and I do not think it was fair, and now she seems to be mad at me. Sucks…