Newton, North Carolina Post Office - Getting your passport

So since we are doing this epic trip this summer in the RV and planning to go to Canada, it is time to get the three kids passports. To figure out how to apply for passports I went to the site travel.state.gov and followed the directions.  For an individual getting his or her passport for the first time, one must go to either a passport office or a Passport Acceptance Facility that handles the applications.

So I did a search for a Passport Acceptance Facility near me on the travel.state.gov website. It showed me the results below:

So I thought it would be no problem to take the children to the Newton, NC Post Office Passport Acceptance Facility on a Monday to submit their applications for their passports.

So I leave work and meet the wife and three children at the Newton Post Office at about 3:30 PM.  The nice lady in the Post Office kindly informed us that the person who did the passport applications was not there today and that he took appointments.  We had to schedule an appointment for this coming Thursday.

It would have been nice if the travel.state.gov website actually made mention that we needed an appointment to get a passport application submitted.  I guess I should not be surprised that when dealing with a government agency I would have my time wasted.

So if anyone needs to know:
If you want to submit your passport application at the Newton, NC Post Office, you need an appointment.  Call ahead in plenty of time and don't expect that you will be able to get just the time slot you need.  They were pretty full.  The person who accepts teh applications is not at the Newton Post Office but on certain days.

The Hickory, NC Post Office accepts walk-ins for submitting passport applications but there is often a significant wait.  The travel.state.gov website doesn't indicate that the Hickory Post Office accepts walk-ins.  Lots of room for improvement with that site on this front.

Life out of Control

Right now my life feels out of control for the following reasons:

1. Business is very difficult.  We were making lots of money now not.
2. Taking extended vacation this summer with the family - will be gone for at least a month.  Lots of planning.
3. Three children in five different sports.  Every night and weekend there is something - practice or games.
4. Multiple properties to consider and manage - takes lots of time and even more money.

Catch in my left thumb

In the past month or so I've noticed a catch in my thumb.  Sometimes whenn I move our in a certain way it feels like it won't move any further Ehren though it should.  And maybe half the time I can bend it in a different way it will emit a audible crack and then it will move freely. It seems to be intermittent and is not painful when it happens - just mildly uncomfortable.  There's a good sense of relief and things feel like they are back to normal immediately after I hear the crack.

Shit Adrienne says

I'm a free range chicken, yo.  I can't be held back.

Heard around the house today

I was walking through the fourier today and I heard Tamara ask Atticus in a very loud voice "Why are you pelvic thrusting all over the house?"

Atticus: "What is pelvic thrusting?" as he thrusts his pelvis forward and backward on the handrail.
Tamara: "Its what you are doing!!"

Startown Landsharks difficult Season

So Atticus was on the baseball team called Startown Landsharks this fall season.  He has played baseball since he was about 4 or 5 and this was his first season in the kid pitch league.  I think it is called Babe Ruth League 10U.

He has played with the same group of boys for about two years now.  This past spring season which was machine pitch we had a pretty good team with a decent record.   This fall has been brutal to the Startown Landsharks.  For one reason or another the kids had a very difficult time focusing as a team while trying to get used to a human being pitching to them instead of a machine.

I don't even know what our record was but I do know that we didn't win a game all season.  Our final game last night was absolutely brutal.  We were up to bat first and went down 3 up 3 down.  The bottom half of the first inning took about an hour and I lost count of how many batters were walked and the number of runs scored.  We went through 3 pitchers in the first inning.

It has been on hell of a learning experience for the kids and the coaches did the best they could (I was labeled a coach and came to all the games that I could but my lack of baseball knowledge really doesn't qualify me to be a "coach") but it was a humiliating season.  I just hope that some lessons were learned and that next season will be much better.

By the way, Atticus played 1st base and Pitcher.  He walked many and hit at least two batters.  Nevertheless he really enjoyed pitching and playing.

Sick Again!!!

I started getting sick again on Saturday the 3rd.  Noticed a little cough.  Now I have head congestion, headache and am coughing up phlegm.