From sea to shining sea

Okay, so our week didn't quite entail a trip from the Pacific to the Atlantic. But we did drive 300 miles across the midwest to spend the long weekend with Eric's family. Ironically, Kim's family actually stayed at our house as they were traveling from Colorado to New York. (I guess the "sea to sea" headline works in better there). Fortunately, we were able to spend all afternoon/evening with them on Thursday and again tonight.

Back to our weekend: we arrived in Illinois just in time for lunch, and then we headed down to see Grandpa for awhile. Grandpa was kind enough to loan us his photo albums, so we can digitize some of the old photos. It's amazing to flip through the albums and see familiar faces - and some famous ones! We then headed to the river to watch the fireworks display, which were amazing. We had really great seats along the river (and conveniently located next to Steak & Shake), but that meant we ended up covered in ash and smelling like sulphur. It was worth it though! We took a few pictures using the "night" feature on our camera, and if they turn out we'll upload a few.

Saturday was a busy day: a family cookout, followed by time floating in the lazy river and a laaaaaate dinner. We had a great time at the cookout as we got to see friends and family we haven't seen since Christmas. The new SF park is incredible, and it actually reminds me a lot of a smaller, more personable water park. Eric was jealous that the renovated park wasn't around when he was little...this is definitely a step up from the pool they had when he was little!

Today, Eric's dad made good on the bet he lost this winter when the IL Redbirds lost to our beloved Flyers in the NIT. There's double good news here: Kim's car is clean, and Dad didn't wear a speedo as he threatened. (Good thing since our insurance plan doesn't cover blindness caused from speedos.)

Since this post is already a little on the long side, we'll go ahead and make it a little bit longer. We realized this weekend that not many people know what we do all day. So here's the short and sweet version:

Eric is a programmer for medical office management software (the program doctor's offices use for patient tracking, billing, insurance, etc.). He's currently on a project will allow patients to manage their medical information online. He also helps new clients transfer data from their old program to the new one (while this sounds simple, think of it as changing apples into oranges).

Kim's in charge of the admission web site (undergraduate and graduate); all electronic communication to prospective students (from the time they show interest until the day they arrive on campus); virtual orientation (an online "portal" where accepted students can meet their new classmates, select housing preferences, register for classes, take placement exams, etc.); and she writes, and sometimes designs, various letters and postcards sent to prospective students.