My speed for pulling this week was 92%, and that’s not adjusted for taking our breaks at weird times one day (which cut my percentages in half for a few of my runs). My very last run on Friday I pulled 254 pieces in an hour in a department where the minimum standard is 220!

I think we’re getting used to having to wake up at 6:45 each morning, for me to drive to work and for Berck to bicycle to class. The bike shop is tuning his bike this week, so on Monday and Tuesday, I guess he’ll have to drop me off and pick me up from work. It’s half an hour’s drive to the warehouse, so he’ll have to drive for two hours each day doing that. Yesterday it was raining, so I dropped him off at ground school early and then picked him up (I get off at 1 pm on Fridays). He can’t fly in the rain yet.

We got a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator for Berck to practice on, and he’s been flying it pretty continually. It’s so detailed that it has nearly the exact plane he flies AND it has Norman’s airport. And you can even set it up for realtime daylight/night conditions and let it check the weather online and give you realtime weather conditions. And when he gets bored with that, he can switch to a biplane or a Boeing 777. Earlier today he was landing a pontoon plane on an Alaskan lake. His instructors say that Flight Simulator is one of the best ways to practice when he can’t actually be in a plane. Some flight schools even hook up some buttons and use it as their official simulator.

Today I went to the Norman farmer’s market (it’s Saturday mornings from 8 to 12) and got some fresh spinach and asparagus. I also got some potted herbs: English thyme, rosemary, parsley, hot oregano, and spicy and sweet basil. We’ll plant them in a planter on the patio…hopefully before a kid walks off with one.

I was craving some chocolate yesterday afternoon, so I made a recipe called something like “Chocolate Fragments.” You bake a layer of cookie in a pan and then cover it with melted chocolate. I started on the chocolate part while the cookie was baking, but by then I realized I was supposed to melt sweetened chocolate squares, and I didn’t have any. So I melted butter and cocoa and sugar instead. I didn’t know how much sugar to add, so I put in as much as the cocoa. This made the chocolate bittersweet (more bitter than sweet), but that’s exactly how I like it. I poured the concoction over the cookie and put in the freezer as directed. It didn’t harden, of course, because I didn’t have any paraffin. So instead of chocolate fragments, it’s more of a chocolate goop. Berck refuses to eat it, saying it’s far too bitter. So I get the whole thing to myself. Yum! The only thing is that it’s nearly impossible to eat without a spoon.