Just in time for another quarterly update.

I guess this is when I'll find out who reads this thing. If my mother-in-law checks here, we're all in trouble. Back to that later.

Since April, Terri has now been retired from the Air Force for a little over a year. She's working with a subcontractor in support of the organization she used to work for, and is hoping to be able to get back more closely involved soon. She's been traveling here and there, but not as much as she was a couple of years ago.

Jason and Sam will once again be in the same school in September, as a Junior and a Freshman. It should prove to be an interesting year. We know for sure that they will share one teacher, the choir director Ms. Wanda Boley. She's affectionately referred to as "The Bolinator" by her students.

I managed to get myself elected as the First Vice Commander at our American Legion Post. My primary responsibility is taking care of the membership, as in handling membership applications and renewals. Renewal notices went out about two weeks ago, so with nearly 800 members, this is my busy time of the year. Sam has been a huge help, and Jason has pitched in as well, as we're doing some new things this year and it is a lot of work.

We rode the Lung Association Asthma Ride that weekend that fell over the last couple of days in May and first of June. Sam made 20 miles this year, while Jason, Terri, and I rode the 64 mile ride. Then I got rained on bringing people in out of a nasty storm.

We're working on getting some things done in the condo to be able to sell it. The market sucks for sellers, but we've got an opportunity to buy a house and we shouldn't do too bad, the prices just aren't what they were a couple of years ago. Of course, neither are the prices of single family homes, so I think it's a wash.

We're supporting another Marine Parents United conference, this one close to home in Chantilly. I'm really representing the Legion Family on Saturday, and Terri is planning to help with the accompanying MCQ sew-in.

And finally, the part I'll be roasted for; the bikes.

I've wanted a motorcycle forever. When I was stationed at Langley there was this Catch-22 thing happening; you had to have the safety course to have a bike on base, and you had to have a bike to take the safety course. I lived on base. So it seemed very difficult and I never got around to it. I never moved off base until Terri and I were married, and the desire for a bike took a back seat. Fast forward 18 years and gasoline is $4 a gallon, and we've paid the Kia off. I get frustrated driving around getting 15 MPG when I don't need to be carrying anything, I'm essentially driving around a big box of air most of the time. I tend to pick a few things up at the store at a time rather than big grocery runs, and I'm back and for the the Legion and just running errands most of the time I go anywhere. Since we bought Jason's scooter, I use it when I can. At 90-100 MPG, why not?

So Terri and I have sort of matching bikes. Terri's is a 2007 model year 250 cc Honda Rebel built out of the crate for her, mine is a 2008 model year 750 cc Honda Shadow Aero. The Rebel only comes in black and silver for 2008, but the red from 2007 matches mine exactly. The Rebel will get 70-80 MPG, the Aero around 50-60.

I'm planning to get us into the MSF class over the August 23 weekend. This safety course is considered essential by many experienced riders, and successful completion qualifies you for your motorcycle license without any further testing.

I'm going to duck for cover now.