HSM2

So the "High School Musical" festival continued this weekend with part two, which Madison has really enjoyed a lot.  Her favorite character is still Sharpay Evans, mainly because "she's funny." This has been a big deal for her - she can't wait for movie time each night, to sit down and watch the next installment.  Tomorrow night, we complete the trilogy with part three, and then after that, a solo adventure with Sharpay.  We even have the concert experience, which we haven't seen yet.  But with Madison's enthusiasm, we just might check it out.  And then after that, the one they filmed in China too…!

Daddy had to make dinner reservations today, this time for the Daddy-Daughter Date Night in just a week.  They just announced this, and it was already full in several locations around here, and only five available slots that I know of in one last location.  So, at 1:00 am, Daddy found a place and made a quick reservation.  Next week, we're going to the Daddy-Daughter Date Night.  And just barely, too.  It was funny - I sent an emergency email to our friend Chris at 1:00 am, and he was able to get a spot too.  Last year, he and his daughter went at the same time as us, so it was fun for Madison to have a friend along as well.

This will all be for next Saturday, which is shaping up to be a busy day.  We already have an appointment to make a Valentine's Day-themed craft at Home Depot in the morning, and perhaps after that, we'll be heading over to something Madison hasn't done yet, which is on Daddy's 'to-do' list:  an ice hockey game.  Yep, there's a discount for tickets on this one particular night, and I think we'll try to make it over there.

Today we got the last of the Star Wars messages written, and it would have been 'just in time,' if not for our temperamental fire marshal.  Apparently, it's more of a subjective call on his part as to what is safe, and what is 'in the code,' as there's been a bit of back-and-forth about what is legal and what is not.  To begin with, he made the claim that all styrofoam on our stage was not to code.  Which is odd, because just about every church has it on their stage in one form or another.  So we asked him to find that in the code to show us, and the reply was an adjusted answer:  it's legal, so long as you coat it with repellant (which we heard him say two weeks ago), and so long as (here's the new thing), the coating is applied by someone who is certified to do it.  This all just screams of the sort of thing we had to deal with up north with unions and so forth.  I remember vividly an illustrated sermon in Rochester, New York where I was the spotlight operator who had a choreographed routine to do, and yet I was not permitted to do that choreographed routine because I there was another guy who was only allowed to operate the spotlight there, because in essence I was taking his job.  And, if we used him, we'd have to pay him a lot to do the spotlight, and learn how to do all the stuff that I'd been doing all along rather easily, and in fact had been given a plane ticket to Rochester to do in the first place.  This was one of my first impressions of unions, and given the complete lack of common sense of it all, it was not a good one.  Anyway, as noted before, carpet catches fire and gives off poisonous fumes.  So does plastic.  By extension of logic, these should be banned from buildings too, apparently, unless coated with a repellant.

How does this affect Madison?  Good question!  The new "Star Wars" series has to wait until March, and we have to provide some sort of 'filler' messages to make up for the last few weeks of February.  This is something I loathe entirely:  'filler' services.  Because of all this, we can't do our very best for these kids (including Madison), and we're wasting time.  Because of bureaucratic nonsense like this.

Coincidentally, there is the Iowa Caucus this Sunday.  Madison will be learning about the process somewhat as we move along through the season.  Currently, there is a lot of worry about who the winning candidate will be.  Mommy and Daddy have been watching some of the live rallies in Iowa at night, and there are some good candidates out there.  Or, at least, better ones than what we've been dealing with thus far.  This will be the third President of the United States in Madison's lifetime, and hopefully he'll be the right one.

And… should any of the candidates be reading this, if you pass a law prohibiting certifiably insane fire marshals, you have my vote!