New hair

Joel and I both got haircuts at Hal's on Thursday (yes, we are both post-cut). Thursday was a great day.
The Haiti trip just got back. I was going to go on it, but decided against it in lieu of finishing the dissertation...which is still not done. However, after a great meeting with Rich (on Thursday), I think the end is near. This is great news. I have been working on it this weekend and getting a lot done.
I also got the floor down in the basement, where it had been torn up since we had the work done on it. I also have been over to Todd and Jodi's twice in the past two weeks. Todd got a Wii, and it is quite fun (tennis, mainly). Anne and I graduated with Todd and Jodi (we were not the only two to marry within our graduating class) and now they live just down the road--they even have a son who is just a little older than Joel. It is kind of neat to see how lifestages work. We are definitely in one. I am not sure what you call it, but I know others who are in it with us. I have been over to Ryan's (across the street and over two houses) a bit lately too. I am in a mens group over there on Tuesdays and we are all really digging the group. It is a lot of fun and we are growing together well.
It is nice to see spring. I went out running today for the first time in a while and had a good run, though turned out to be shorter than I thought it was. I cannot wait to get grilling. Ryan and I have vowed to start grilling in the front yard so it can be more community-oriented than the backyard thing is.
Work has been really tense lately. It has mainly been a single "challenging" project that has required a lot of overtime. Of course, you don't get paid for overtime, you just get...well, nothing. A job, I guess. I am cool with the occasional few hours over here and there, but this is getting to be a chronic condition of way more than a few hours. I hope it ends soon.

Anyway, life is definitely looking pretty good. I just hope Anne gets into this nursing school program. She is so excited (and interested) in her Anatomy/Physiology course that I know she will do well. I just hope she gets the chance. We should hear within the next few weeks. At least we have the fun of Joel. He is getting a great sense of humor and he is getting really really interesting.
Speaking of Joel's mind: The entire hierarchy of the world hinges at the top not on "living/non-living" or "matter/non-matter" but on "hat/non-hat." At least this is what Joel has in his mental model of the world. He is terribly excited about putting them on, taking them off, and just wearing them. He even gets excited when he anticipates a hat to be on a character who appears on the next page of one of his well-read books.
Todd's kid apparently does a similar thing...only for shoes. You have to love that stuff.
That reminds me of the "This American Life" on "kid logic" from a week or so ago. Anne and I are quite addicted to that show. Ok, gotta go get Anne from her trip to visit her brother in Tempe.