Marigny Man

Family photos

2010-04-07T11:09:00.002-05:00

Check out Sarah's Picasa for more!!

Father of two

2010-03-19T15:22:00.002-05:00

With the arrival of Eli we were not sure how our lives would change. While it does not seems to different at the moment I know that in fact God is easing us into to slowly. Eli has been a great little man, he very well tempered and so handsome. Slowly he has become more and more fussy but it does not seem as bad because it has been a slow progression to its current noise level (I know its only getting worse). God has also given us our sweet little lady, Emma Grace. She has been a big helper with laundry, dipper disposal and other small errands. Today for the second day in a row she has slept on a mat at work, which is a way of God getting her ready to give up her crib to her brother in a few months. Thank you God for the amazing ways that you work!!
Sarah of course has the raw in of the deal since breast feeding is one of a very few things that make Eli happy. She spends a lot of time with him during the night feeding him, while I wake up periodically to groan and help with a dipper change (sometimes). Sarah is in fact my favorite super hero. What other super hero is as beautiful and sweet as Sarah, but also can make milk, and calm a grumpy man (or 2 men to be exact). I love you Sarah!

Eli James Parks

2010-03-06T13:16:00.002-06:00

Welcome to the world little man!!

More Photos at Sarah's Picasa

Life in NOLA continues

2010-01-08T20:26:00.001-06:00

We moved again (2nd time in NOLA) and no longer live on magazine street. Sad I know. We are now the night staff at the.Baptist friendship house. Sarah, Emma and I are loving it! We get to hang out with cool people and minister in our city. We are coming up on our 3rd year in NOLA, and praise GOD for providing us with good jobs and great friends. But we miss our family and friends on SC too. Our solution is for them all to move here, or buy a jet that comes from SC to NOLA every Friday, and leaves on Sunday,so we can always have our friends and family! Our little Eli (spell check suggested Elk) will be here in three short months. Scary but exciting. We will have as many kids as our parents. Woah are we getting old or what!

Santa

2009-12-08T08:53:00.002-06:00

Sorry Emma, but everyone has to sit on Santa at least once :c).

Halloween Photos

2009-10-31T20:16:00.002-05:00

Check out the rest of the Pictures

Update

2009-10-19T11:13:00.004-05:00

Sooo…Its been a while!! Sarah and I decided that we have not been posting as much as we used to because we both feel like our lives are very mundane right now. So I thought that maybe we could let other people be the judge of whether or not our lives are to mundane to blog about.

Emma is becoming quite a little fussy lady. She loves to get her way, and loves to scream if she doesn’t. She is starting to catch on that her older friends, 18- 2yr’s, at “school” can get their way by pushing other kids out of the way, grabbing toys, and screaming. So she is starting to try these new strategies to the dismay of her Mom and Dad. We have adopted a word for these behaviors from our wonderful English office manager, Naughty. It seems to fit.

Sarah is doing well with her pregnancy, or so she says. I don’t think that throwing up most mornings, not being able to look at, or smell, foods my child is about to eat, and having “tummy” pains all the time constitutes doing well. Maybe I’m just a complainer and Sarah is just the sweetest, strongest pregnancy trooper I’ve met.

Me, well this week I have cut my self several times, burned myself twice, and gotten an electrical shock from working with wires twice. Normal week :c).

Sarah’s Mom and Aunt Kay came into town this weekend to visit Emma. We have hit up the Quarter, Café Maspero, Café du Monde, a pumpkin patch, Buds Broiler, drove to the west bank by ferry, and visited Oak Alley Plantation for an Arts and Crafts Show. And I hear that today Johnny’s Po Boys will provide lunch.

Overall Sarah, Emma, and I are loving our mundane life her in New Orleans, but missing our family and friends in South Carolina.

On a Sport note, we are Ultra Proud of our Saints for going 5-0, glad the Panthers have won 2 in row, proud of how well the Gamecocks are doing, and hoping the Tigers (of Clemson) keep on winning.

Calloway Gardens

2009-08-31T20:30:00.002-05:00

This past weekend the girls and I spent the weekend with our Best friends Kelly, Paul, and Brogan in Pine Mountain, Ga. We stayed in the hotel across from the Gardens and had some fun adventures. We played with butterflies, learned about raptors, and dug around in weeds and trees looking for Geo-Cashes. It was the most fun I had had in the last 2 years. Here are some pictures:

Check out more on Sarah's Picassa.

My Picassa is full :c(

2009-08-31T20:16:00.002-05:00

Okay so my picassa account is full so we are uploading all new pictures to Sarah's account.
Soo March 2007 through August 27th, 2009 is on http://picasaweb.google.com/mattjparks

and

August 28th, 2009 through Present is on http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahmparks

Saints, Cousins, and Waffle House

2009-08-22T20:45:00.007-05:00

Last Friday (Aust 14th), thanks to our wonderful boss, Sarah, Emma and I were able to go to the Saints first pre-season game (we also have tickets to their first real game). We all had a lot of fun and Emma lasted till Half-Time...Yeay Emma! And the Saint won!!
The next day my cousin Kristen, her husband Christopher, and their sweet little man Elias, had beignets with us at Cafe' Du Monde. They were in town from North Carolina for a short vacation and called us up. Yeay for family!! This was also Emma's first experience with beignets, because she had always been to young for them before. She enjoyed her piece, but we have found Emma does not LOVE doughnuts...she just enjoys them. So she did not beg for more she just kinda nibbled at her piece. I guess that is a good thing.
Yesterday we went to the new waffle house in the lower 9th ward of new Orleans (offically Arabi). Waffles houses here in New Orleans (I know hard to believe for fellow southerners) are sort of a rarity, but this one was even more special, because my brother designed the site plan and landscape for it, all the way from Greenville, SC. He is quite talented, though I don't think a Waffle House parking lot offers much of a canvas to work with.
And Some Emma sure is cute pictures. That cute dress is one of Sarah's dresses that she wore when she was Emma's age...So cute! Two beauties sharing the same dress. I guess this means Emma's already borrowing her mom's clothes :c).

Woooah Emma is 15 months

2009-08-21T15:02:00.005-05:00

Today Emma turns 15 months old. Where have the months gone? We look at pictures of her when she was little (birth-12 months) and she looks so little.
Emma's new favorite word is "woooah" I believe she learned it from Daddy. He saw "finding nemo" the other day and loves the part when they swim with the surfer turtles. So daddy says "woah" a lot. This was heightened by daddy taking her to home depot and driving the cart "crazy" and saying "woah". Its quite cute when she trips or falls and looks around and says "woooah".
A few of the kids in Emma's nursery are potty training and she became very interested so we got her a cheap little potty and stick her on, in the morning, after naps, and when she says pee pee, or poo poo. So far she has gone pee pee a few times and 3 good poops. Of course she is preety oblevious to the fact stuff is coming out of her, we just catch her when normally does her "stuff" (right Brogan). Its good experince for her though when she does start "feeling it".

Shoes that attract dogs

2009-08-10T20:02:00.001-05:00

I made a guest appearance on Sarah's blog to show a video of Emma and her squeak shoes.
Check it out

Spring Summer cleaning

2009-08-05T19:42:00.008-05:00

So, my Mom came to visit us here in New Orleans for my birthday (July 27th). She brought with her a vacuum attachment to clean fans. Boy did we need that. Our fans were very dusty, and under the dust was a nice layer of greasy gunk. I was able to clean all three of our fans with the vacuum and a plastic knife (to scrap off the grease). I took some pictures of the last fan blade before I cleaned it. Please do not call DSS because the fans are now all clean and Emma is fine.

top of fan blade

Bottom of fan blade

All Clean!!

How did you spend your Bastille Day weekend?

2009-07-11T20:19:00.008-05:00

So its not quite Bastille Day yet but this is the unofficial Bastille Day weekend. So as we say in southern Louisiana Happy Fête Nationale Y'all! We spent part of our day at the Louisiana Children's Museum Yet another reason why we love New Orleans is the Louisiana Children's Museum (LCM) . We have a year membership to the LCM and decided that it should be our every Saturday field trip. There is an awesome toddler room with every toy you could imagine for toddlers. Emma can just go explore and be a toddler with out us being to worried about safety and stuff. The rest of the LCM is a kind of discovery place/edventure sort of place with a New Orleans theme. You got the Port of New Orleans, a streetcar, a creole cottage and Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood (I know, I'm not sure how that fit in either, but its fun). Its also got the good ole' dicovery stuff (ramps, levers, etc.). Here are some pictures of our fun time.

growl! says the dinosaur

Look at all these toys!

Puzzle pieces or items to bang together..hmm depends on my mood.

I love puppet shows..Here let me try!

It's my Mom!

"Emma give Mommy kisses"

Enough sitting and loving lets ride!

Did I mention i just came from Itsy Bitsy Yoga. DOWNWARD DOG!

Here I am! I was in the cabinet!!!

I'm Driving a Freightship.

Hey Mom, Watch out!

oooo...Bubbles!

Hold on Dad, I want to see if I'm bigger than this Bubble. Maybe if I poke the bubble it will get shorter!

What a day.. Time to relax on Mr. Rodgers porch swing.

Well armed Garbage truck

2009-07-02T08:41:00.002-05:00

So Sarah and I were driving to work on Claiborne, and turned down Alvar to cut down to St. Claude (road our office is on). As we turned I discovered there was a garbage truck in front of us. So I prepared for the worst, A/C on recirculate, foot on the break to prepare for sudden stops. Well the garbage truck picked up 1 can on the whole street, weird! We get to a red light and one of the Garbage men (boy really) jumped off and ran to the front of the garbage truck. Well Sarah and I are admiring how proud we were that the remaing Garbage worker was working hard as a trash man and not off in some gang or robbing people. About the time those words left my mouth the Garbage boy reaches over to the side of the truck and grabs something off then runs to the front of the truck. "Was that a gun!?!?" Sarah and I ask at the same time. Sure enough he comes back around to the back of the truck holding a hand gun and stands there playing with it like it was no big deal. Oh my! People are so desinsitized that playing with a gun at work, in the middle of the street, with a car behind you, is no big deal.

Nola is never boring

2009-06-20T20:32:00.003-05:00

Today was Saturday (I suppose it still is). Daddy and Emma did not have there normal 3 mile walk of the uptown, but thats okay cuz they both got a different kind of exercise. Swimming! This was Emma second time in a swimming pool, but her first Official "I'm in a pool, look at me". We got her one of those blowup/Pop up floating devices and they rock. Emma's friends were even hanging on it and it didnt even sink but a tiny bit. I supose I should go fill out one of those chessey I love this product reviews. But anyway We had SOOO much fun at the pool and got to hang out with some of Emma's "school" friends. Emma loved it and everyone in the Family got sunburned (even with 50 spf sunscreen) Daddy the worst, Mommy Next, then Emma a tiny bit on her arm (do not worry grandparents we will keep a watch on it to be sure it doesnt get worse). But you can tell the hierarchy of how the sunscreen was applied. Mom and Dad both worked on Emma. Daddy helped Mom, and Daddy was on his own.
On another note I became obsessed with another item and Sarah told me we could get it for Fathers day (I think I will add birthday as well, Christmas not so fast still got to get me something for that). Its a Netbook! If you have not heard of them, picture a laptop the size and weight of a portable dvd player with a 10.1 inch screen. I'm so excited because this replaces the old Toshiba that died, and I no longer must bring my work laptop home. Its a Asus 1000HE and while you can't play HUGE GRAPHICS shooting games on it (not that I would I'm a Father now) it works for internet and word processing with the occasional movie or video. YEAY! I'll post more when it comes to the house.

Life

2009-06-12T12:48:00.002-05:00

Can I just say how fast babies grow up. I was holding a 3 month old (not sure if that is the right age, Sarah will correct me if not). He could not do anything without help, I was trying to remember when Emma was that small, it was hard to do. She is such a big girl now, walking, playing, eating with a spoon. Before I know it I will be calling her to see how her baby is doing (Sarah had Emma when she was only 24).

My Life in Jobs

2009-06-04T15:50:00.003-05:00

Some of these were only a few times but still count.

Door to door salesman (selling chocolates in Elementary school, I was quite good at it. Come to find out its cuz the people in my neighborhood were all high and had the munches)
Landscaper (made retaining wall once and mowed and raked someones yard several times)
Childcare provider (church nursery)
Camp Councilor (For a few, week long camps)
Childcare provider (after school program)
Landscaper (mowed and raked peoples yards to raise money for Campus Crusade)
Ride Operator at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk in CA (two summers)
Warehouse Manager (5 semesters)
Student Teacher k-4 class for Semester
Student Teacher 2nd Grade class for Semester
1 year old's teacher for 8 months
1st grade Teacher for a school year
Kindergarten Teacher for a school year
Live in Staff at a Children's Home for 9 months
Secretary to a Lawyer (1 day)
Painter (painted part of the outside of our pastors house)
Tiler (fixed some tile in our bathroom)
Shoe Salesman (3 weeks)
1st grade teacher (1 day)
Factory worker (3 days)
2 year old teacher (1 day)
Office Worker (13 months and counting)
Delivery Driver (3 months)
Fast food worker (3 months)
Husband (4 year to Forever)
Father (12 months to forever)

Emma's 1st year in pictures

2009-05-25T18:49:00.004-05:00

My baby is 1

2009-05-21T14:30:00.004-05:00

So today is Emma's first birthday. Happy Birthday Emma! We had a combined party for Emma (birthday) and Karla (going away party) at the office. Someone made awesome vegan cupcakes in all sorts of flavors (smore, mint, peanut butter, praline, etc.). Emma had a vanilla with chocolate cupcake. The only help she received was Mama breaking the cupcake in half..the mess was ALL Emma.
You sing for me!!!

Air Show NOLA

2009-05-04T09:14:00.006-05:00

Saturday we made a trip to the NOLA Air Show in Bell Chase, LA (30 minutes from our house). It was Sarah and Emma's first air show and they had a ball. Check out more pictures at our Picassa Site.

The Blue Angels

Emma and me in a NOPD Swat team truck

Emma Flying a Coast Guard Delphine

Peeking out the window

Yeay for Air Shows

Air Force heritage flight, featuring a P51 Mustang, an F16 and the F22

Let's all go to the Lobby

2009-04-27T10:12:00.003-05:00

The old movie theater concessions song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfDXlgmKFyU&feature=player_embedded

Evil laugh Emma

2009-04-15T19:34:00.003-05:00

Easter pics of Emma

2009-04-09T14:51:00.000-05:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/mattjparks/Easter#

What a week

2009-04-08T10:45:00.003-05:00

This week and a half (March 27- April 7) our family has:

seen 2 grandmothers, and a family friend.
Transitioned to cloth diapers.
Emma grew a new tooth (3 now).
Emma learned to sign more (sorry Kelly)
Emma can clap her hands (maybe the same as signing more)
Drove to a plantation.
Got a new neighbor.
lost 10lbs with wii fit.
experienced a weird cold front.
worked two days till 6 or after.
made Amish friendship bread.
been to the French quarter 3 times

Emma 10 months

2009-03-25T12:17:00.004-05:00

Emma,
Happy 10 months sweetheart! You are so cute and you seem to grow and learn something new everyday. Today you learned how to unroll toilet paper, what a big girl! Your primary obsessions include, Paper, waving, pulling up, kitties, grabbing ears, and of course Mommy. You love to tell everyone around you that you are there by waving yelling and growling. You can growl on command when Mommy or Daddy growl at you. You seem to have aquired your daddy's love of making noises randomly and loving attention. Daddy made you a board book page to honor you love of being noisy. I love you sweet girl,
Daddy

Art in the Home

2009-03-14T19:38:00.003-05:00

Silly tierd time with Emma.

2009-03-14T19:35:00.005-05:00

Please excuse the crazy voices in this video. If you look hard near the end (after Emma lets out a whine) you can see her new tooth.

My art

2009-03-07T16:23:00.004-06:00

So the art that I have been dabbling with is called Salvage art. You basically find something that is used but no longer being used and turn it into art, it quite fun and there are old doors/windows/bottle caps/etc. all over down here. Here is a few items I have finished.

A few impromptive project, we had a window pane missing from Hurricane Gustav that I had mended with some cardboard. It was time to put some plywood up (wood from remodeling project at work) and I had a little extra so I made a Croc. Croc made of old plywood, eyes are old ceramic electrical trinket and gear (green project).

My Pride and Joy this was my vision when I decided I wanted to start salvage arting. Window frame from a door way (bought at junk store for $5). Alligator made of old shelving unit at work, eyes are electrical trinkets (green project), scales are another trinket from green project. Painted with old paint from neighbors remodel. Mounted on cut out from an old door.

Old outdoor light fixture from green project, filled with beads from 2009 Mardi Gras.

Matt wishes he was an artist

2009-02-13T22:05:00.003-06:00

Lately I really have had the "art itch". It seems everyone's house I have been in here in the city has really fun art on their walls. Well I can not afford all the art I want so the only other option is to make my own. I am currently working on a alligator piece that I am going to "frame" in an arch window frame that I got at a antique/junk store. Here is my progress:

Cutting out the alligator I drew

I traced it on to a piece of scrap wood

All cut out, now I need to decorate the gator, and put together the frame

I'm Out!

2009-01-26T14:02:00.002-06:00

My reign as Office manager ended last Wednesday with a very busy day. Wednesday the Fire Marshall was coming to inspect the Shed Office behind our main office (one of many visits during construction). When he comes the children can not exist in the office. We were expecting the Fire Marshall at 12, so i planned to have the kids out by 10 (just in case he came early). Well Mr. Fire Marshall (forthmore refered to as FM) decided to break his appointment and come at 9:00am, before we had put away any kid toys, or taken down any kid decorations. Lucky for us he sat in the car for a few minutes before he came in, giving us much needed time to notice him and begin to throw toys into the nursery and barricaded the kids in the nursery until I could sneak them out. Well I was able to get the FM where he needed to go in the shed and came to get the kids and nannies out. I thought it would be funny to come to the nursery door and disguise my voice to say "Hey son, whats in here?, I'm going to need you to open this door up!" I then opened the door to find the nannies and kids huddled in the corner scared to death...Woops. Out the door i got them and they had a fun field trip to Cafe du Monde, and McDonald's. Because FM came to early I had to call parents of kids that had not shown and get play air traffic controller to be sure they did not "land" at the office when FM was there. In the end all was well and FM will be back in 30 days to give us final approval for the Shed Offices.

Why New Orleans? This is why!

2009-01-14T15:27:00.005-06:00

Some people have asked, "Why do you want to live in that awful underwater city?" Well the city of New Orleans is in fact not under water, though it does have its issues. We live here because its is where God has led us. God has taught us and developed us so much this past year and a half, while always providing for us and blessing us. There is so much pain in this city and not enough people to help soothe the pain. I was working at Pita Pit Sunday night when a gentleman walked in wanting to know where the closest bar was. My Co-worker and I told him about St. Joe's bar about a block down the road. As he was walking out the door he turned around and this is the conversation
Man: "what can i get with 2 dollars?",
Pita Pit: 6 cookies we told him,
Man: "ok I'll take those cookies, and an Ambulance".
Matt: Ok (picks up phone), are you feeling sick?
Man: "Man I've been off my meds for a while, i need an ambulance to take me to River Oaks Hospital."
Matt: Ok (dials 911)
911: What your emergency?
Matt: Hi, I'm at Pita Pit, 5800 Magazine and I have a man here who says he has been off his meds for a while and needs transportation to River Oaks.
911:Has he hurt anyone?
Matt: not that i know of.
911:we cant help you unless he has been in a fight of hurt someone
Matt: he is asking for help
911: Sorry, please call back if he gets in a fight or hurts someone...CLICK
Matt: 911 just hung up on me!
Co-worker: I'll call them (calls 911)

20 minutes later after dispatcher talks to Man, Co-worker, and I they agree to send out a Police officer. This city need people who care about other people, not people who are "just doing their job". Sarah and I want to help people, we pray God will lead us in this.

Big Daddy, Emma, and a baby in my food

2009-01-08T19:41:00.006-06:00

Guess whose the new Office Manager of Earth Search....Give up? Its me!!! Well kind of...our Office Manger (Katie) left for England for two weeks and put me in charge while she is gone. She had some huge shoes to fill. She is the sweetest hardest working person i know...I kind of feel incompetent doing her job but it makes me feel special. In other job news...My last day at Pita Pit is Sunday January 18th....I'm going to miss working there..because its fun...but i will not miss getting home at 5am and needing to sleep when Emma was awake..poor Sarah is a trooper...

Monday was Kings Day here in New Orleans, AKA the official first day of Carnival (first day of Mardi Gras season)...If you live in New Orleans its also the end of that new years resolution to lose weight (not mine..just a fact), because everyday there is a king cake on the counter at work. How do we decide who brings the next king cake??? We bake a plastic baby into the cake of course...who ever gets the baby, buys the next king cake....I had a baby in my king cake on Monday..so its my turn!! Only in New Orleans do you accept that there is a baby laying in your food.Emma had her 6 month check up yesterday...even though she is 7 months (us Parks are slow with our babies checkups)...Emma is 17 pounds, 26.25 in long, and her head is 16.5 in. now...and NO EAR INFECTION...Yeay big girl!

Emma and Daddy at the Doctor...not really smiling cuz we were both tired..

Dear Emma

2009-01-01T19:33:00.002-06:00

Emma,
Daddy was looking at his old blogg entries when he found one from before you were born that talked about what he looked forward to when you were born. Daddy is not at all disappointed by your sweet disposition, beautiful eyes and face, and how fun you are to play with. We have a lot to look forward to Emma, I thank God everyday for you and your mom.

1.) I look forward to holding my daughter and looking into her sweet eyes...and planning how I am going to keep her away from boys.

2.) I look forward to brushing her hair and Sarah saying.."your doing it wrong"..Thanks for the feedback sweetie.

3.) I look forward to watching her sleep (i hope she does this A Lot).

4.) I look forward to watching Sarah put bows in her hair and seeing how happy that will make her (Sarah and Emma).

5.) I look forward to reading Emma my favorite books.

6.) I look forward to practing my animal noises with her.

7.) I look forward to hearing her copy my animal noises.

8.) I look forward to playing with Emma so that i have an excuse to play with toys.

9.) I look forward to teaching her about textures and watching her learn and grow.

10.) I look forward to holding her up during Mardi Gras parades so i can actually get the cool stuff (they only throw stuff to kids).

I found a dead Rat

2008-12-31T11:06:00.004-06:00

So Monday I came into work to be greeted by the horrid smell of a dead animal....I turned on my sniffer and narrowed the smell down to a corner of the "green room" that i work in (35x35ft room). Well i checked all the traps around that area and found them all to be empty. So I then looked around the boxes under the table until i saw a hole in the wall and assumed the animal was in there, because 2 weeks ago i had the task of entering the attic of our 1905/1910 office house to place rat bait/poison around up there and was assuming some would come downstairs to die.... Oh well i said...the smell of a decaying animal should be gone within a few weeks...I'll live with it. Well today (Wednesday) my friend came in and said "Are you sure its in the wall"...Does she not know that is a dare to me....So I went to work going through each box to find our "little friend"...within in a few minutes I had found a friend...but he was not little. I found a Norwegian rat between two boxes, saw his size and went to get a mask and bags from downstairs.....so i could begin the clean up process...Caution Details are below....

Well when i returned and moved the boxes i was welcomed by a large amount of maggets eatting Mr. Rat, so i put him in a plastic bag and moved on to removing the maggets by brushing them onto a peice of paper with a cd then dumping them into the rat bag. I then borrowed the vaccum from the nursery and vaccumed up the remaing rat fur, poo, and other icky things....The nannies have informed me they will be buying a new vaccum and i may keep the one I borrowed. How nice of them! Here is a link to my old blogg and the pictures of my new friend...Caution Gross Pictures of Rat

Emma's Wish List

2008-12-12T10:33:00.002-06:00

I added Emma's wish list to my side panel...And right here

Recycle you Crocs

2008-12-09T09:15:00.003-06:00

So I found out today that after your crocs get old and the soles wear out (if they just stink, you wash them) you can donate/recycle them through solesunited and they clean them, grind them up, and make new crocs to send to people in need (the video on the web site shows people in Africa). On the web site you can find a donation center near you, or they give you an adress to send them to. So donate your old crocs!

My life as a truck driver (kind of)

2008-12-08T09:27:00.004-06:00

So before y'all freak out and and say "How can you leave your wife and baby to drive trucks" (not that there is anything wrong with that profession).....I'm speaking of analogy I came up with to describe my working life.
Ok here is how it works:

Monday morning I gas up (eat breakfast) and head off for a week of driving my truck (sitting at my desk at Earth search)...Some days I drive more miles than others (work on more projects)...But I always come home to a loving family (for real).
This trend continues until Friday when after driving all day i have to unload the truck (Deliver Pitas at Pita Pit)...I get so into unloading the truck that I do not notice that i forgot to set the parking break and I get hit by my truck (Work until 4am... leaving me feeling like I got hit by a truck)....While unconscious from the truck hitting me I sometimes have some wonderful dreams of spending time with my family (The time I spend with Emma and Sarah from when I wake up on Saturday to 6pm that night when i go back to work...it seems so hazy)....When I gain consciousness I realize I still have more unloading to do, so off to unloading I go (back to the Pita Pit)....Silly me forgot the parking break again...Bamm truck hits me again (another 4am night)...Ahh dreams of Sarah and Emma again (time spent with my girls once again)....Time to finish unloading the truck (last night at Pita Pit..sometimes till 12am...last night till 2am)....Then off to drive the truck again on Monday (back to work at Earth Search).
While it seems I am complaing about working to much in this hard time of no work for some people, I know I am blessed to have a wonderful family and two jobs that would work me 80 hrs a week each if i could. God is good...ALL THE TIME...There are blessings everywhere we look..we must simply wipe the evil of our world that clogs our eyes and open our eyes and hearts to our great and grace giving God..

My baby was in a movie.

2008-11-25T18:40:00.003-06:00

So I was looking at pictures of my sweet Emma when I could swear I had seen the same likeness in a movie....Emma is Boo from Monsters Inc. See if you agree...

YEAY FOR SARAH!!

2008-11-16T12:53:00.006-06:00

Haha...Sorry I tried to fool you guys....But congrads to Sarah...But I must say Sarah follows me everywhere..First ABA (i didn't want the job grant you)...then Catawba (I taught Kindergarten, she later came and taught 2 yr olds), then I guess the next job we shared we were hired on the same day (Boys Town)...Then i thought i was safe by working at an archaeology firm...How would Sarah follow me here??? Become the nanny (the position I originally applied for and did not get)....Truthfully...I love working with Sarah and I am blessed to have had so many jobs that i could enjoy Sarah's presence....God is good!!

On another note, yesterday (Saturday November 15th) was Sarah's 25th birthday...Sarah has been a blessing in my life and I can not describe how happy I am that she is my wife. Sarah is a very special woman with a heart for God, people, and children. God placed us together before time and I am pretty sure God gave Jesus a high five when they saw how perfect Their match was going to be..God is good!! I Miss You Already Sarah and Emma!!!

On an entirely different note i have been collecting State quarters since they started making them...but took a hiatus after getting married and working but recently began again (being a delivery driver has helped speed my process of catch up). I now am only missing 3 of the 50...(California, North Dakota, and Hawaii)...I'm sure they will pop up eventually but I thought I'd share :c).

Matt's Random Update

2008-11-12T14:38:00.003-06:00

Still Work 40 hrs at "the Search" and 35+ at "the Pit" (it helps me to give them fun nicknames). 75+ hrs total
Told Pita Pit that I would be cutting my hours after thanksgiving. They are trying to convince me to still work 3 days...We will see....
My right knee is getting A LOT better..though still tender when knealing on it and when i scrape it on the car door (did that last night).
Now for some odd reason my right foot has swollen for a reason I can not recall or explain....The minds at Earth Search say it is because it drained from my knee to my foot...I don't know if it works that way...Who knows??
Sarah's Mom (Pam) and adopted Aunt Kay have stormed into the Big Easy for a wild week of attending a Beth Moore taping (lady that does bible studies...I hear she's good)...
Emma has refused to attend (she's already a rebel) so I took her Monday....Tuesday our Friend from Church took her....Wednesday is Daddy day again...Thursday Friend from Church...Friday Daddy day till 10pm when he goes into work....Ill work 8am-4am that day...Is my math wrong or is that 22 hrs out of 24...But Emma is not work :c)...shes a blessing!....with a sweet smile and loud cry.
I have successfully slept on the couch with Sarah for 4 nights now without having to move somewhere else in the middle of the night (I normally get uncomfortable and have to roll around..not possible while sharing a couch)
I don't think I can hold in Sarah's exciting news anymore!!! Sooo... here it is.. Sarah and I are......................................................................................................................................HAHA..Sorry Guys..I don't give up Exciting news that is not exclusively mine to release yet. Its going to change our lives though.

Its not broken!

2008-11-02T15:05:00.003-06:00

Sarah and I decided on Wednesday that I needed some professional Advice on my Bum knee...So we decided that if Sarah did not go back to SC for her planned trip in a week or so that we could afford to let me go to the doctor. So i called and made an appointment for Thursday afternoon ( I love having a doctor you can call at 4pm and make an appointment for the next day)...Well Thursday at Earth Search someone asked to see my knee and everyone gathered around and collectivly decided after touching, poking, and staring, that i had in fact broken my patella. So off to the doctor I go with this new found knowlege that my knee cap was broken...So after all the nurses were done oggling Emma (I dont blame them) they looked at my knee and off to the X-ray i went. As i was laying on the X-ray table i decided that as cool as it would be to say i broke my patela, i did not actually want to walk on crutches for another stint of my life (I cut the bottom of my foot the day after Sarah and I got home from our Honeymoon and was on crutches for like 2 months). I also figured out that it would be simply to hard to work at my current pace (75+ hrs a week) with a broken body part...So i prayed that it would not be broken and when I returned to the exam room the doctor told me that it was not broken, just brusied and i needed to bend it. I replied "but it hurts"...He replied "You are a baby when your hurt"....Grrrr to him. But he made it up to me because when we were checking out he had written on my chart NO Charge.. How awesome is God!!! So i bend my knee now, and everytime it hurts i say "come on Matt dont be a baby!" And Sarah can go to SC now! I'll miss my girls but I know they will have fun!

damage assessment

2008-10-28T20:38:00.004-05:00

Elbow

Knee

Knee view 2

Side Bruise

Side bruise with reference. Notice pointer finger on left hand has a missing finger nail (past injury)

I saved my baby.....Sidewalks of NOLA.....19 of 24...Saved the Baby again...

2008-10-27T09:09:00.005-05:00

So you know girls, always trying to be a damsel in distress waiting for a hero...Well my sweet Emma is not immune to my off-guided stereotype (and joke)...Friday after getting off work at Earth Search (ESI) I got Emma out of the car to walk to our apartment...Well I had not seen her yet because Sarah had picked me up from work (a whole nother story) and i was in the front and Emma was in the back sleeping...So I decide to walk down the sidewalk holding the car seat in front of my face so we could smile and coo and each other....Well next thing i know we are falling towards the cement sidewalk and guess who needed to be saved....Emma....So i hastened to put her car seat down in a safe place and i continued to fall to the sidewalk (it was like a slow motion Matrix scene)..Emma was saved (Mommy ran and comforted her for me) and daddy was laying on the ground feeling very happy Emma was saved...and very pain stricken (PSSS...I may have cried)...Well in the end i made it up to our bed and assessed the damage...One bloody elbow..CHECK....One bloody knee....CHECK....Scrape on my side...Check....All other systems a go...Current Time 4:20pm...Time for a nap before work at 9pm.....Beep Beep at 6pm....Text from my Pita Pit Boss.."can you come in right now, we have a Bookoo (big) delivery order"....Get dressed real quick go to work....Work until 5am...Total 24 hr work total 19 (8pm-4pm ESI, 6pm-5am). Recheck of injuries....Huge bruise on side....CHECK...scrape on elbow CHECK....knee swollen to the size of a baseball....CHECK...all other systems a go.

Small note on the Pita Pit work Schedule this past weekend...Friday 6pm-5am (11hrs), Saturday 7pm-5am (10 hrs)..Sunday 6pm-1am (7 hrs)...Grand total of 28 hrs worked....

On to saving Emma again...Today (Monday) my poor, sweet, awesome, hardworking Sarah went to put laundry in the washer (outside) and the wind blew the door closed. Sarah was in her robe and had no key to get in....Emma's location..laying on the boppy on our bed...Ut Oh...So Sarah calls me (from our wonderful neighbor's phone) up at Earth Search and runs the situation by me.

She took me to work so i had no car to return home
The baby is inside on the bed
She wants to know if she should break the front window to get in
She was amazingly calm

I rack my mind to think of a "mattish" solution (something inventive and/or creative) to this situation and i came up with nothing. So i ran down stairs to my friend Katie...quickly told the story...and she threw me keys to a company car...ZOOM..ZOOM...Home in record time....Open the front door to find that the door to Emma's room is locked so we can not get past the living room to get to Emma...So i run down the stairs (remember my knee that hurt...I did not feel it...Welcome to being a Dad)...Enter the ally that goes to the back door and hear my Emma wailing...SO I RAN FASTER (still not feeling my knee)...I get to the back door and my key is not working fast enough so with my Dadish Adrenalin i kick in the door... run to Emma who is still wailing....Time til she stopped wailing and began to laugh at her parents... 3 seconds (whats wrong with you guys?? Lets play!)

Atleast I have tonight off from the Pita Pit :c)

Be sure to check out Sarah's Account of the excitement

Waiting on the sidewalk

2008-10-13T21:53:00.003-05:00

While I was on the sidewalk outside my office in the 9th Ward today waiting for Sarah to pick me up from work this car pulls up. Quick Matt think what do you do!

a.)Duck...its a drive by
b.)Ignore them..they may be a homeless person asking for money (it could happen)
c.)Pull out your Tylenol... they are looking for a drug deal (here is your chance to get out of debt Matt)
d.)Get your mental map ready....its a tourist asking for directions

Well I was going with C (the drug deal)...But it turns out to be choice D (the Tourist)...and here is their classic question verbatim, "How do you get to that dam that broke on those people??" Ding Ding your a Dork...Its a Levee and are you speaking of the time when peoples homes and lives were WASHED AWAY (not and exaggerate statement, they actually WASHED AWAY)....

The latest on Matt

2008-10-13T12:43:00.003-05:00

Hi my name is Matt, I:

Changed the oil in my scooter for the second time, but could not figure out how to put the transmission oil in (even though i did it once already). Thus I decided to spray as much as i could in the hole then screw it closed real fast. The next day i made it about 6 blocks from my house and the scooter chugged and died, tell me I did not give it enough oil. Yeay for pushing a scooter 6 blocks home when you were already late to work.
Am the Office Assistant at Earth Search Inc.
Am a delivery Driver for Pita Pit
Am a Pita Roller for Pita Pit when I'm not on a delivery.
Am the Grill Master at Pita Pit when I am not rolling or delivering.
Am the Master Turkey Slicer/Roller when there are no customers.
Worked 74 hours from Sunday the 5th to Sunday the 12th.
Get paid on the 1st and 15th at both my jobs.
Love my girls and treasure every moment I spend with them.
love to sleep more then I did before..Who Knew!
Am learning my way around Tulane Campus (cuz i deliver there)
Am proud of the Saints, and the Gamecocks. And Feel Sorry for LSU, and Clemson.
Am Tired right now.
Have discovered Apples, i didnt think i liked them but i do...and supposovely they wake you up better than Coffee
HATE COFFEE (how Sarah and I hooked up I have no idea)
have drank 2 cokes in 3 years (Seriously...Hard to believe for those of you that knew my 5 a day habit at Winthrop and Rosewood).
Will do another one of these later...Bullets have always been my favorite...it helps my Anxiety...Who Knew!

I made a new day

2008-10-04T14:38:00.003-05:00

So I started at Pita Pit on Tuesday (our friends and Family Free day 3:30pm-9pm). I found out I would be working Sun-Thursday 6pm-12am (it was 1am but i talked them into 12 so i could get up for work at Earth Search and still have slept some). It was HARD at first to juggle making pitas, answering the phone for deliveries, making smoothies, and delivering. The first day took some getting used to..But I have a system now and its actually pretty fun. I get to make people happy when i give them yummy food..and the tips are not to bad..I get about $20-$25 a night. Thursday night my boss asked me if i wanted to pick up another day (Friday)...to which i responded...Only if i can get trade in a Sun-Thursday shift...He said how about you pick up tomorrow and we can find a day to give you off...That's fine with me...I was looking forward to the "better" tips of Friday night drunk people. OK so my Friday shift is 10pm-3am (really 4:30am with closing duties)...So i come home from earth search on friday about 5pm and hop in bed for a few hours nap...I wake up about 7pm and hang with my girls till my shift at 10...I was able to put Emma to bed..give DJ his medicine (he has a UTI)..and spend time with my wonderful wife. So I go to work and apparently the drunk people didnt get the "tip big" memo cuz it was one of my worst tip nights..full of people rounding off the dollar on their credit card slips (i got $1.62 on on a $18.38 order...I don't think they were drunk to do that math)...But over all it was a fun night...But your mom is right "nothing good happens after midnight"...I saw a SUV flipped people falling over drunk...and girls who made bad judgments on their clothing (i think they forgot their pants, or their skirts were way to short even for New Orleans). My main clientale is Tulane so I'm learning the campus somewhat. ANYWAYS... I get home about 4:30am and ask Sarah this seris of questions:

Why is Emma wearing the same thing she wore last night? (Umm that was tonight..not yesterday) Oh yea..I guess it was.

Did you give DJ his medincine? (nope you did, tonight before you left for work) Oh yea...i guess i did

THIS is when i realized i had created a whole new day of the week FriSatday (the wasted time between Friday and Saturday)....Yeay there are 8 days of the week now...wonder if i can pick up another day now???

Finally food...

2008-09-23T13:20:00.006-05:00

After Gustav our Parish offered disaster relief food stamps. Sarah and I did not qualify for food stamps before the hurricane because somehow I make to much (who knew). So even though I made enough to not get food stamps Sarah and I were still struggling to have food. We did not go hungry but our fridge and freezer were pretty bare (and the cats were looking pretty tasty). After Gustav we had to throw away everything in the bare fridge (we were out of power for 5 days, so the food had actually kind of cooked in the fridge then rotted). The disaster food stamps are meant to replenish the food you lost in the hurricane, but for us it will be a replenish of food we need.

In order to get the disaster food stamps you must appear in person for an “interview” along with all you financial documents, and legal paperwork. The only problem was the fact that each Parish only had one center open to serve that parish. So I found out the center for our parish opened at 6am. I decided to get there at 5am to be sure I was not stuck in the long lines that had plagued the centers the last few days. I arrived at the center at 4:58am and after driving around for about 20 minutes finally found some fellow line goers. Together we asked police, security guards and national guardsman where we needed to go to wait in line. I went the way I thought we were supposed to go and found myself down the barrel of a Guardsman’s M-16 who claimed I had just entered a secure area. After pleading my case to him he escorted me out like I was a POW, gun a few inches from my back. No harm no foul, but I did check my pantys to be sure I had not wet them. Nope..All good. Next I try going up this escalator…Up I went until I was welcomed by a booming voice again informing me I was in the sites of a gun and I needed to turn around. Time for another leader..I’m done. So after walking around for a while we finally found the right area and started a line on the side of the building. We waited and watched as the line behind us grew longer…oblivious to them was the struggle we had endured to find the place to start the line.

I was in and out in less than 30 minutes thanks to the hard work of the social workers who were working 50+ hour weeks…THANK YOU! But I’m glad my wife did not have to be one of you…Emma and I would miss her after all! Sarah and I are going to try to split the stamps into 3 months worth of groceries, and hopefully by then my delivery job will have picked up and be helping the budget.

Top Ten things I love about New Orleans

2008-09-15T08:28:00.004-05:00

10.) Sitting in the bath tub at the back of the apartment and feeling the tub shake a bit when a large vehicle goes by on the street in front of the apartment....Its like a mini earthquake.

9.)The great cooling breeze that comes before a hurricane...Ahhh

8.)Sitting on the porch watching the cars and vehicles going by...Also a good breeze

7.)Street Car rides...again with the breeze in the hair...I don't know who loves breezes more..Me or my daughter...She goes crazy for a good breeze.

6.)A free ferry ride across the largest, almost longest, most powerful river in America...Ahhh the breeze.

5.)Going to the river to see the ships....good breeze there too...

4.)Po-Boys..Mmmm...though I have not had one in a few months

3.)No matter where you go to eat it is always good

2.)You can get anywhere with public transportation and walking.....I like to try to walk places then when I can not get back I catch a bus..

1.) Being able to drive to work, and around the city on a scooter

Being a Dad top Ten

2008-09-08T16:22:00.008-05:00

10.)Bragging about Emma's Development

9.)Watching Emma play in her ExcerSaucer

8.) Talking to Emma and having her talk back

7.) Listening to Emma laugh (she can "belly laugh" now)

6.) Picking up Emma from a nap and seeing that sweet contagious smile

5.) Dressing up Emma in pretty dresses and outfits

4.) Seeing the Joy in Sarah's eyes when I take Emma on a Daddy date

3.) Daddy dates

2.) Taking a nap with Emma while she holds my finger

1.) Looking at Emma and knowing she is Sarah and my sweet baby

All is well in NOLA

2008-09-07T11:29:00.003-05:00

Sarah and I returned from the wilderness of South Carolina on Saturday not really knowing what to expect to see in our beloved city. We have never lived in a city prone to evacuation, much less one that was almost written off as a new marshland 3 short years ago. We returned 2 days after the city "re-opened" to find streets filled with leaves and branches/trees, street lights on the ground, signs blown over, and people cleaning up. There were long lines and full parking lots at the stores that were open, and many parking lots that are normally packed, were eerily bare because the stores had yet to receive their shipments of goods or workers had not yet returned so they could not open. Store parking lots that had not reopened since Katrina were used as staging areas for power crews, relief services, and city sponsored evacuation return locations. We also returned to our apartment to find that some things in the fridge had heated up to a point that they had exploded (biscuit can, milk jug, mustard), but were cool now that the power had returned. Life is not easy in a post-hurricane city, but it is great. We missed our city of a year and a half as if we had been born and raised here. What is it about a city that can do that to you?? We could name off things we love, but I do not think that "things" are what we love about the city, its the city we love, its Gods leading and continuing to spur us on to live a life for him in the city so that the lost people of the city can see and hear that the Lord is good. While we did not sustain any hurricane damage at our house, by the grace of God, we do feel the pain of the people who did lose something in the storm, all the residents of the city lost something this week, We lost the chance to live and love in the city for a long grueling week. May God place his hand over Cuba, Florida, and the rest of the gulf as Ivan comes this way. God is a great big God and he holds us in His hands!!

My Job

2008-08-26T09:30:00.004-05:00

So I have discussed how much i enjoy my job at Earth Search, but i forgot to tell you guys that as of August 16th I am an official employee...Yeay! I am so glad that I was able to find a job that I love (actually God found it..who knew I'd work for an archeology firm...only God). My days are always full of excitement and new tasks...Our boss is so awesome she bought season tickets to the Saints and is giving everyone who wants one at least one ticket to a game this year...Yeay for Jill!! My health Insurance will start in 90 days...and I actually have sick days (not that I use them..I'm to suborn to admit I am sick).

We Check out "Historic structures" to see if they are elagable for historic Preservation. We use this cool Trimble GPS devices to plot where things are (girl is using one in foreground)

We dig holes to look for signs of previous settments or structures (this shows signs of a past building foundation)

Then we go back to the office and write a report about what we found, what previous investigation have found, and our suggestions, someone makes a map and plots our findings on it, then I print it, collate it, bind it, and send copies to the state (Historic Preservation Office), and client.

Matt's Scooter

2008-08-23T12:06:00.003-05:00

My scooter had a photo shoot today in the backyard today...isn't she pretty!

2008-08-23T11:35:00.002-05:00

Thank you Great Aunt Karen! I love my new Bee toy!

Scooter Upgrade

2008-08-13T15:13:00.002-05:00

I got a way cool box for my scooter so i can carry stuff (like reports, rain gear, or maybe even a pizza). It came with out any holes drilled so I had to make my own..Poor Me..HEHE :c)...It could still use a few more screws and maybe another brace plate or 2 but its way cool...and i already used it today to carry a FedEx box of 6 big reports...IN THE RAIN...Nope they didn't get wet......Me i got wet..But its all okay cuz i have a way cool box for my scooter..and its red!! and its huge!! Its 20x20x13...YEAY!!

I added a metal peice to it to help support its size (it comes past my luggage rack)

My first try at making a support for the box, and shows how far it comes off the rack.

Barge and ditch

2008-08-10T19:34:00.007-05:00

While Sarahs away Matt will Play!
So Its almost time for Sarah to get back from the Carolinas and while i did not anticipate how much i would miss her and Emma (A LOT) I sure had a lot of fun in their absence. Two bigger events happened in the last few days that i was a part of. First of all their was the big Oil Spill and clean up along the Mississippi River. So I really wanted to see them lift the barge out of the water (it sank after the wreck) So they finally started strapping it up to lift it out last week. So after work I would go watch to see the progress...There was usually no progress but i got word on saturday that they might be raising the part of the barge finally...so i got to the port just in time to see them put this BIG oily barge piece on another barge...THEN they brought it to the bank i was standing on! So i was within 10 feet of this way cool barge..I was watching the news that night and they had put police tape up and you could not get within 100 yards of it now. A Way cool adventure.

Coast Guard Photo of Barge stick up out of water and crane boats and and the barge they are going to put it on

I took this from the bank with the camera phone

Today i went to a birthday party for a little girl at work...It was a blast i got to be the offical grill master and cooked chicken, hamburgers, garden burgers, sauage, and hot dogs. I also got to be a pool monitor and watch soem cuties swim around the pool....As i was leaving i got to help get a car out of this BIG ditch...to bad it was my car....But after getting a truck and rope and chain we pulled her out...YEAY GOD!!...We ended up with the front left bumper being crack and dented in...But i popped her out and ill work on getting the crack filled...could have been worse if i had rolled (which as i was going in the ditch i was almost sure was going to happen)....Yeay God again!...

God is good!

2008-08-06T19:52:00.004-05:00

I am so blessed! God amazes me more and more everyday it hard to not give Him all the praise as i go through my day, then as the day ends i look back and realize that God is in everything and has blessed me more than I even thought of as the day flew by.
Today God helped me to get my bill of sale and title notarized so I can finally get a license plate for Toot. Also my teeth started to hurt and i was bummed that me and Sarah and I did not have enough money for me to get a cleaning and and X-ray...So i get home and guess what is in the mail...A coupon for not just a free cleaning but also a free X-ray...GOD IS GOOD...

God has given me the most wonderful wife who has so much love for me and our sweet daughter. She is an ever present reminder of how good God is and how wonderful his plan is for me. I could not imagine a better friend and sweetheart. Thank You Lord for my best friend!

God had given Sarah and me the cutest sweetest little girl. Only God could have designed such a wonderful fit for Sarah and my Family. Thank You Lord for our Daughter!

God has given me my job that for the first time in my life i don't dread going to, I no longer throw up every morning from the stress and dread of work. I go to work and have fun...no matter what I'm doing (checking oil, producing reports, being a nanny, or cleaning, whatever). Thank You Lord for my Job!

Scoot New Orleans...

2008-08-03T21:07:00.002-05:00

Today I took advantage of the girls being out of town to join the Scooter Club in New Orleans for an hour of hanging out...and a ride to the lakefront then back to the quarter for the Satchmo Summerfest (Louis Armstrong's Birthday). I put some pics up on Picassa....

Not superman..just a christian...

2008-07-31T19:14:00.001-05:00

So yesterday and today were very busy days in the life of Matt....I started my day saying goodbye to the two most wonderful people in my life as they flew off to South Carolina for two weeks...Having them gone reminds me how much God has blessed me with my girls....I got to work at 7:30am after I dropped Sarah and Emma off at the airport.
Yesterday:
Tuesday I was given the privilege of maintaining the vehicles at work now (6 of them)...its pretty fun...I have been checking the break tags, oil, tires, maintenance issues and cleaning them up a bit. So far i had to put coolant in all the cars...put air in tires...and clean out the cars...
When i got home i talked to my Dad and he told me how to refinance our Car (we needed to payment to go down). So i called up USAA which is the company Sarah and I use for pretty much everything (insurance, credit card, banking, now car loan, and they walked me though refinancign the car (it took about an hour of talking to them, then i called our current financer to find out the 10 day payoff...then called USAA back and talked for a little longer. Then i talked to Sarah on Skype, sold my scooter trunk and talked to the guy who bought it from me...he has the baja 125 (older model of my scooter), so we compared scooters and had a good time....As i was going up the stairs to the apartment i heard a loud BUZZING noise...I turned around and realized it was the nursing home across the street and a lady had found a way to open one of the doors and was attempting to get out in her wheelchair...I knew this was not normal, so i ran across the street and approached the lady who was shouting at me to help her...I asked her name and gained her trust a bit and was able to convince her that i could HELP HER find a nurse....So i push her in the building and around all this halls with elderly people just sitting around...I thought this is odd , where are the nurses??? As i was dialing 911 to report that there were no nurses at this nursing home a nurse walks out of an office and about killed me with her look at me...I explained where i had found this nice lady i was pushing and saud bye and tried to get out the door I came in...But it would not open (the elderly lady must have been majic to open it). So i go back to the lone nurse and tell her i cant get out...she gives me a code and out i go...
Today:
today at 7am i took a truck to the shop for an alignment and oil change before it left on a project..While i was test driving one of the trucks today a little lizard (anole), crawled across the window so i rolled it down and let him in the truck, and like a dog he sat on the passenger seat till i opened the door for him. How cute!
Then i got to put a project area on a geomorphology map, produce a few reports, and be a nanny in the nursery....
WHAT AN AMAZING FEW DAYS!!! ONLY BY THE GRACE AND LOVE OF GOD COULD I STILL BE SANE, AWAKE, AND HAVING A BALL...

Who needs a car....

2008-07-31T19:08:00.002-05:00

My scooter is the coolest..I needed to go grocery shopping and I did not want to move the car because I do not want to use any gas...and i had a good parking spot....So i took the scooter...I forgot to take a picture of toot the scoot with the groceries but she did a great job..Look at all she carried....

Emma and Daddy

2008-07-28T08:40:00.004-05:00

So I thought I would let you guys in on some of Emma and my fun times. I must preface this all by saying that Sarah is the Best wife and Mom ever. Sarah wakes up at night to feed Emma and hold her..while I somehow sleep through it 99% of the time (sometimes I wake up). Anyways..on Saturday mornings Emma and I have a "daddy date" where we go somewhere other than sit in bed with Mom...So far we

took a nap in the living room
watched Monsters Inc. in the living room
The next week we found a yard sale and bought a BIG Tupperware box full of girls clothing (6m-4t) for $10.
This week we went to Big Easy Scooters to look for a scooter trunk for daddy. All we found were a lot of really cool scooters.

Emma and I also have fun playing little tummy time games. Daddy's favorite is "scary fingers" we learned this game while watching Monsters Inc. Emma will put out her fingers and open and close them a little bit and it looks like when Mike Wazowski and Sulley were practicing for scaring that day. I think its the cutest and she just smiles and smiles when I say "scary fingers."

Busy weeks, and the scoot needs a name

2008-07-26T13:45:00.004-05:00

It has been quite a busy couple of weeks at work. We had a Huge report to go out to the Corps, and they wanted 40 copies (one for each of the corps offices libraries around the US). We also made 3 copies for us (1 unbound, two bound) It would have been a big feat to do 43 copies of even a small report but this one was 3 volumes because it was so BIG. Volume 1 was the report which turned out to be about 330 pages, Volume 2 was Appendix A which was tables of all the artifacts found and it was 400 pages, and Volume 3 was Appendix B,C,D,E which was another report, artifact pictures, and more tables it rounded out at about 160 pages...If your keeping count that about 800 pages times 43 copies, roughly 35,000 pages. Needless to say it took up 10 ream paper boxes, and we joked we might need to take the HEMI truck to deliver it to the printer company (it also had to be perfect bound, like a book). We told them they had a week to bind it. As i carried it out the door to put it in the Tundra, people kept asking me if i was going to try to take the Scooter...Naw i said, even though i think i could make a little trailer for my scoot. Speaking of which my scoot needs a name, we already have Tomtom the tomtom, Sammy Santa Fe, Loui lumina, and Emma the baby (we named her!)...So The scoot is a Baja Sun City 150..what do you think his/her name should be??

New Orleans- A sensory experience

2008-07-10T08:00:00.007-05:00

New Orleans is such a beautiful historic city..a girl at work commented that the state is 200 years old, but New Orleans is 290 years old. This city is a major part of the history of America, we sit on the longest river in America that happens to bring in a lot of ships for exporting and importing. We are alive in well...or maybe just on the right track to well.

From riding my scooter I have discovered that a ride to work in New Orleans is much more than just a commute, its an experience on a scooter. I determined today that I use every one of my senses on my "ride" to work.

Sight- This is not a new one for me being that you can see out of a car also, but when you are on a scooter you have nothing to block your view of the wonderful architecture and history that the city radiates. But you also have nothing to block the view of the sad things of New Orleans. Food/shelter lines on Claiborne, storm ravaged buildings that no one has touched (despite some being very beautiful), the homeless village under the I-10 bridge, the disrepair of most of the streets.Smell- It's amazing the smells you discover when you riding that you never knew were there, or grossly misjudged the strength of until now. I begin with negative and finish with positive on this sense. First discovery, the stench of the homeless village under I-10. It makes perfect since that it would not smell great, but it makes your heart hurt for this people even more when you smell the strength of the urine and unclean smell, and this is with the area being pressured washed twice a week. Second discovery...Food Smells. New Orleans is known for is wonderful food, but does it really have to tease me like this...Does it not know that I don't have the time nor money to stop and try it...

Taste- This links back to smell a bit...I can almost taste the ham, egg, and cheese Po-boy at the pink Po-boy place on St. Claude and Elysian Fields (Gene's Po-Boy), though I have never actually tasted it. The drive by McDonald's is a sensory experience too...Ahhh chicken biscuit (sometimes I bow to this temptation)

Touch- The feel of the wind on you face and skin is an experince that can only be experienced, and not discribed. Its like sticking your head out the window in a car, without the fear of falling out, or losing control of the car. You can also feel the wonderful streets of New Orleans, smooth 3% of the time, bumpy 97%....Ahh but its one of the things that lets you know your home.

Hear- Of course you can hear a city with its emergency vehicles, construction, street cars (clang clang) and car noises, but riding a scooter adds to this. Not only do you hear more city sounds but you hear them better. Also riding a scooter adds another dimension , I listen to every bump and sound the scooter makes and the sounds that come from the road, just to make sure I am not losing parts of the scooter, or my lunch off the back (I know i should have put it in the seat storage, but so much easier to just bungee it to the back). My hearing came in handy several times when I have lost reports off the back (just once), and this morning when my lunch fell off (under seat storage from now on).

Emma's first dip in the Ocean

2008-07-03T22:12:00.002-05:00

Emma car Ride

2008-07-03T21:12:00.002-05:00

Scoot, scoot, scooting around

2008-06-19T19:06:00.002-05:00

I am now the proud (but still a little scared until I learn to drive better) owner of a Baja SC 150 scooter. I bought it about a month ago so I could have a cheap way to work and still let Sarah have a car. So there was some trouble with the Title (they could not find it, and had to order a new one). Anyways...I got to pick it up Sunday (Fathers Day)...but the store is on the East side of NOLA and i had to find a way to get home without taking I-10 (that's toooo scary). So i found a way home and Sarah followed behind with our sweet girl sleeping in the back seat of the Santa Fe...Good girl Emma!!! I took the Santa Fe to work on monday because i had a box of reports in the back seat that would not fit on the Scooter. As of Tuesday I am a scooter commuter (i just made that up..HAHA)...and i Love it...I'm still gettting the hang of leaning to turn and other two wheel vechicle skills, but I am enjoying it...and all my Acheology friends think I'm sooo cool with my helmet when i walk it the office...AHHH I am cool...I will post some pictures of me riding my HOG (what would a baby HOG be???)...Untill then i have a stock photo from the website.

A day in the life of Matt..

2008-06-12T18:52:00.002-05:00

Life has become so exciting and full of adventures with Sarah and my sweet baby Emma. Emma is slowly getting into a somewhat schedule and I am having fun at work.
Usually Emma will go to sleep around 9pm at night and we will go down with her, she will wake up and eat and love on Mommy (or Daddy if he is awake enough) then go back to sleep. Then she will wake Mommy and Daddy up at about 6:00am or so and Daddy will hold his sweetheart (and sometimes Emma..J/K), then go he will go get ready for work and set up the bed for Mommy (Put the computer on the bed and plug it in, set the remotes on the bed, get the Breast Pump ready, make Sarah breakfast, etc.) Then Daddy makes his lunch and water bottle. Then with a kiss to his two girls (sometimes three if Peaches is out) he is off to work at Earth Search.

Earth Search is a Archaeological research firm that mainly does
Investigations for companies around the Southern Mississippi Valley area
to determine if there is any archaeological elements that would
be effected by construction at sites by the companies. We can also monitor sites
during construction to take care of archaeological artifacts and/or burial sites
that are unearthed in construction. We work with the Corps of Engineers
pretty often.

My job at earth search is to help create and publish the reports to the companies. Its fun because i get to work with maps of New Orleans (one of my new major interests, if you recall my excitement with the 1912 map of New Orleans i got framed, if you don't click here), and i get to learn how to do stuff in Photoshop and Arch-GIS and all these other fun programs. It also appeals to my accomplishment mentality where I can make a report, then produce, and deliver it to the client (or FedEx it). I also get to take care of kids in the nursery every so often (We have a nursery), i get to run errands to pick up pictures of sites, buy items for the office, go to the bank, and go to the FedEx box and Post office. I am having so much fun and i hope that they hire me (everyone keeps saying they love me and do not see why i would not be hired) But its all still in Gods hands.

Emma Grace Videos

2008-05-26T20:48:00.005-05:00

Blue Light Special!!!

2008-05-24T12:23:00.004-05:00

Well Blue light special is normally refuring to a sale at K-mart...Or that time when you went a little to fast and you get to see a police car up close. But this Blue light special is in fact quite special to Sarah and I. Its Emma!!! Poor Emma has Jaundice so she has to sit under a blue light in the nursery whenever she is not nursing. Poor little Emma lights up the window she is sitting under. I love my little girl!

My baby Emma is here

2008-05-22T18:04:00.004-05:00

My sweet Emma is finally here!!! She was born after 16 hours of labor...and then a C-Section. Our Emma was born at 5:48am on May 21 (her actual due date). Sarah and I enjoyed being alone together with our sweet girl as she learned how to breast feed (Sarah was learning too), found her fingers, and stuck out her tongue a million times. Then we were joyed to welcome Sarah's mom on Wednesday night. Sarah's Mom spent the night with Sarah and i went home to sleep around 10:00pm. On Thursday I came to see my girls in the morning then went back to work at noon. My day at work ended about 4:00 when the power went out in the office and we had to rush to plug the 6 network computers to a portable generator before back up power strips ran out. We Lost 1 network because we needed a password to turn it off to move it to the generator but we didn't have the person in the office that knew the password. It should be OK though. Then i decided to take some reports i had finished to the Post Office because there was nothing i could do at the office with the power out. On the way to the Post Office i decided to drive by the lot were Michael designed the landscaping for a Waffle House. It still just an grown up lot with an empty slab, can't wait to see if finished! If you would like to see more of my sweet Emma check out her picassa site it is http://picasaweb.google.com/mattjparks/EmmaGrace.

Cool stuff about New Orleans

2008-05-17T20:13:00.004-05:00

I love finding out fun little fact about the city and the history...I always find it, tell Sarah what I found and move on....Well today Sarah told me to start blogging them so I would not forget and everyone else could know too....

Today I found out that World Cotton Centennial 1884 World's Fair is now Audubon Zoo and Audubon Park...which is the park next to our house.
Sarah and I live in the 14th ward...this is funny because one of our girls used to always say we lived in the 13th ward and call it out like she was in the 13th ward gang...Our girls were funny cuz they thought they were so "street" when they were just little girls who didn't really know much about life except what their just as uneducated on life friends told them (one girl said tide was a crappy brand and gain was the best...same girl said the "nice" jean were at k-mart and not wal-mart, target or the mall).
The store below our apartment used to be Herwig's Bicycles. We knew it had a nice sign out front but we never knew how import a landmark this was for the city until we started giving directions to our apartment and everyone said "is that above Herwigs?"...So i googled it and didn't find to much information but we did find out the business started in 1934, and closed somewhere between 2003-2007. I'm on the case of this one...I'll get my historic architect buddies to help me when I get to work Monday.

Some famous fellow uptowners are Louis Armstrong, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees, and author Anne Rice.
New Orleans 24-mile Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest bridge over water in the United States.
The total miles of canals (above and below ground) in New Orleans exceed that of Venice in Italy.

More to come!!!!

Update on life

2008-05-12T20:55:00.004-05:00

Life has been quite busy for us the last few weeks. I went to an interview at the Audubon insectarium (the one that was on dirty jobs!), but before i was called back for my interview i received a call from my "pimp" (aka KELLY SERVICES) they had a job for me as soon as i could get there that day. The individual job is unimportant but it tells the story of Sarah and my life the last few weeks. We make plans then I get a call from KELLY and i have to decide if i take the instant money from KELLY or if i continue on the path with whatever my plan was. Its quite stressful for someone with an Anxiety Disorder. I turned down a KELLY weekend position (Fri,Sat, Sun) because i already had a Orientation at Tulane for a childcare position that Friday. and Sarah and I had a Garage sale scheduled for that Saturday. Well I get a call from KELLY with an offer for $14 per hour to work Saturday and Sunday (sorry Yard sale was canceled for this one). The Monday following i was scheduled to continue my orientation at Tulane childcare, but knew it was not a consistent position (its only subbing, and they could not guarantee i would get 40 hrs a week). KELLY calls with an offer for a month long assignment that started that Monday (i know i can't cancel the orientation, thats to big of a bridge to burn). So i ask KELLY if i can start on Tuesday instead if Monday, and they said Yes..GO GOD!!! Well that led me to have to tell Tulane on that Monday that i would not be avaliable to "sub" for a month...thats not easy to say on your first day of work. But i did it. Funny story, it turns out that the month long assigment with KELLY is with an Archaeology firm that i interviewed with a month ago to be their nanny but i didn't get the job...Small world. Well i show up to work at the firm and people recognize me, which i knew they would, what i didn't know is their reaction. "We didn't hire this guy for a reason" was all i could think of. Well when i show up they had a totaly different reation.."oh..its like God sent you back to us". They are kidding around about "keeping me around" but i would sure like to know if its a joke or for real so i can call Tulane and let them know what is going on. But i love working at the firm so far and am having tons of fun...Let see what God has in store for us....

Can I help you?

2008-04-19T15:41:00.000-05:00

Last night I was awoken from sleep by a lady giving a tour of our apartment to someone who wanted to rent it, so I got out of bed and explained to the people that my wife and I live here and are current on our rent. The people then got angry and started yelling at me...But i was able to grab my bat from the closet and scare them off.
THEN.....I really was awoken from sleep (it was a dream)...and Sarah is telling me that a drunk man was stumbling about on our porch. So i thought it was a great time to tell Sarah how my dream was a lot like what was really happening. Then I realized that i needed to do something about this drunk dude. So i go to where i left my bat in my dream and of course it was not there...but i found it pretty quick in the closet. So i go to Emma's room and peak around the corner to see what's happening and get ready to defend my wife and apartment for the 2nd time in the night. So while I'm sizing up the guy Sarah calls 911 as i give her the play by play on the guy trying to knock down our door and banging on our window. I gave Sarah a description of a guy in a white tee-shirt, a black Beret (French hat), and jeans that were undone. He continued to bang on our door then he went over to Sarah's flowers on the porch and "stopped and smelled the roses". Then i watch the guy walk past our door and i hear him bang on our neighbors door then the door opened and King (our neighbor's miniature Dovermen pincher) go crazy, and i realize the drunk guy has gotton into our neighbors apartment. So i did what every good neighbor would do and i went to our door to open it and go get this man before he hurts our neighbor. After all the math was in my favor Me plus neighbor man beats drunk dude. Well as I am unlocking our door the police show up and shine their light on our balcony/porch as i see our neighbor "escorting" the drunk man out of his apartment. The policeman gets the drunk guy to come down and the drunk guy stumbles away. So our neighbor man and I then Sarah when i told her she could came out on the balcony and talked to the policeman down below. The policeman says that he has dealt with this guy before and he seems to just be off his medicine and confused. The policeman has taken him in to mental hospital before but they can never keep him because he is not severe enough (the mental hospitals are over crowded). The policeman apologized for the inconvenience and said he was going to make sure the guy got "home" to where ever he was going to sleep that night. I told Sarah and our neighbor thats why we lock the door, and our neighbor chuckled and said he would try it now. Sarah and i came inside to bed and Sarah prayed for the poor confused drunk guy, and we praise God that he has kept us safe once again.

Lastest job

2008-04-13T18:02:00.000-05:00

So the V-day Festivities finished up last night and i got to hang out with some cute little kiddos, one of which was a Very Cute little mixed 3 yr old who was deaf but had a hearing device that i was not familiar with. It had no hardware around his ear but the device had a little circle magnet that could pop on and off the back of his head. The magnet device was connected my a wire to some bulky hardware he wore under his shirt. He had one beautiful blue eye and one dark brown eye. He also had a sweet adorable little brother who never stopped smiling and getting into Everyones Business, if you were playing he was going to find out if he could play too. His MomS were adopting him and his brother and i was so proud of them.
While I was waiting for the bus i had a interesting New Orleans Moment. I have become so "used" to the city that none of the following events really surprised for made me skip a beat. However these nice sweet old ladies were not "used" to the city and were quite frazzled.

The experience began with me arriving at the bus stop to find a car that had a ticket on for parking in front of a fire hydrant, that was not the interesting part though. The car had been broken into through the drivers side window which was smashed along with part of the windshield. It looked like the hubcaps had been taken but then when the "robber" found out they were cheap plastic they dropped them on the sidewalk.
NEXT. A poor young man was recovering from some sort of drug/alcohol dependency by leaning against a newspaper box and cough, choking and moaning.
NEXT. A homeless man was smoking and stumbling around talking to himself.
And Last of All. A pair of women were kissing passionately against the fence.

All of this was happening literately on the same street corner as me and these poor old ladies. Well they are just gawking and decide that it is time to cross the street, but not before saying something like "oh my goodness, where are we?" On cue I say "Welcome to New Orleans". Yeay for this fun city!
Sarah and I went and got some white paint today and painted Emma's bookshelf (Sarah's Grandma Frances') and toy chest (we bought at consignment store when we lived in Rock Hill). We were very proud of ourselves.

Thanks Sarah

2008-04-11T20:30:00.001-05:00

Well thanks to Sarah I had something to fix that i had never fixed before...Tile in a bathtub. I sized up the job and found that only about 5 tiles needed to be put back on the wall. So off to Lowes i went (I chose them over Home Depot cuz i had a gift card). The next part of my post should be skipped if you know anything about re-tiling.

I started right by looking for grout to put the tile up correctly. Well grout is complicated and not the cheapest so i put a scraper and the smallest container of pre-mixed grout in the cart. then i went to look for some adhesive to "glue" the tile up instead of grouting it. FOUND SOME...YEAY for an easier job. So home i go to put up the tile...easier said than done. Aparently all these little peices of tile can only go on the wall one way...and i just started "gluing" them up so it was to late when i figured out they were not all going to fit right. Sooo I do the best i can and call Sarah in to ask if it looked OK and she aproved the project...YEAY for me doing something new...

OK YOU TILE LOVERS CAN COME BACK!!
So as you may assume after you put the tile up you can not take a shower in the shower for atleast 48 hrs. So baths were OK...But between me and Sarah the tub was only used 2 times in 48 hours......by the same person :c)...I'm not telling who it was.

Update on the job front:

the sub teaching job on Monday was less than fun...enough however for me to know that was not the school for me....and apparently i was not right for it cuz i got no call back :c) OH WELL.
The "not so good" job interview ended up being pretty good and i just waiting for my references to go through and i might have "THE" job....but i might still need another "who cares what they pay, just pay me something" job.
I got to do a job at the Super Dome for the V-Day festivities working with some cute kidos, it was great fun, and i get to go do it again tomorrow. I even get the whole real city living experience of walking 6 blocks then catching the bus home from work. But it was Ok cuz it was fun and Sarah had to babysit tonight. I even got a free newspaper from this guy on the bus that just left it.
God has provided us with enough money to cover our expenses for this month...and i am positive He will continue...hopefully through a job for me...But Gods in control...not me.
I also got to paint the railing and a few windows on our pastors house...it was quite fun and a good experience!

Matt's Blogg Continues

2008-04-04T13:50:00.000-05:00

Hey guys i went ahead and made my own blog once again. I'll try to keep it updated! Here is whats been going on the last few weeks:

Sarah and I left our job on March 12 and moved down the street....hence the change in address...and we have both been unemployed since then.
I have been applying to everywhere that even sounded remotely possible for me to do and make enough money to still live here...I'm pursuing education and non-education jobs.
After being turned down by many many jobs i decided to apply to jobs i might be able to do and that i knew did not pay enough to live here (maybe i can get like 4 jobs)...and a few of those turned me down to.
Sarah and I have been praying throughout the whole process and we know God is here with us, we just are not patient people. Good thing God is in control or we be going crazy.
As of April 3 I am now employed by KELLY Services (i will capitalize it so not to confuse with my wonderful friend Kelly) , which is a temp agency. They have me set up to work April 14th through the 22nd, so we need to be in prayer that they will be able to find me enough work to sustain our family. God is again in control.
After I got back from the hiring process at KELLY i laid down for a nap (they gave me way to many tests at KELLY, and i was exhausted) I get a call back from a church school that i had written off as a rejection, they want me to teach on Monday and be observed. This school is not ideal in the least, there is no job security (the job i would be taking is from a teacher that "just wasn't working out"), and class size is 26 in a "Sm-medium" room.
It begins to bring up the feeling for me and Sarah that God is in control of our lives, but what does he want me to do! I get call backs from my "not so good" jobs (thank you God) and they want to interview and I'm filling my schedule with all these "not to good" job interviews that usually lead to me waiting and them not calling. I'm afraid I'm going to forget one or double book myself accidentally. I need to carry a schedule book around with me to be sure i do everything (WOO Flash back to Crusade leadership).
Emma Grace Parks in now in her 8th month in her mama and is making herself at home with jabs and kicks and pushing on her poor mama.
I put up shelfs on our back porch to put stuff on and I am very proud of myself.
Apparently a dog lived in the apartment before us because i have filled up a 10 gallon shop Vac about 5 times. I look in the places you don't think about..behind the dryer, on the fan blades, in the big vent that i don't know what it does on our floor (Michael and Amy have one.) I think i could build my own Mastiff, anyone interested :c).
I just did an online survey for Tulane to earn $15...Yeay! for Gods provisions (small they may be).