As you can tell I've been reviewing my blog the last couple weeks. Sprucing it up, making it a little more user friendly. In doing this I've gone back through and read a lot of my older post. While not all of them are masterpieces, there are some gems. My last post was my Top Five Tech Post, so I figured this one should be my Top Five Family Post.

If you've read this blog for any length of time you know that I am one of those guys that just adores his family. They mean the world to me, and are pretty darn funny besides. So please take a walk down memory lane with me as we revisit some of my favorite family posts.

5. Fred Potatoes, A Shave and Three Words: I know this is a recent post, so of course it's still on my mind, but it means a lot to me.

4. Boys Vs Boredom and Boys Vs Boredom Part II: This is of course a two part post, that started mainly because my brother and I were talking about when we were kids. Childhood memories are the best, check it out, and see if we have similar experiences.

3. Capt'n Cranky : This was an interesting time in my life. I was having some "male" problems. My Wife was actually surprised I wrote this blog post. But I figured if I was going through it, there had to be someone else who was going though the same thing. So if I could make them laugh and not feel alone, then it was worth the little bit of embarassment. By the way, my favorite word in this blog post is "man-o-gram".

2. Is That a Peacock in my Livingroom or are you just Happy to See Me : It's not everyday you come home and there's a peacock in your livingroom. A bright blue peacock, yeah, enough said, huh?

1. The Little Boy Goes for a Joyride : I think this one is pretty self explainatory. When the Little Boy was three he felt like going for a drive. This post is mostly in my Wife's words, and it's really sweet and funny.

Well I hope you get a chuckle from these posts. I know they make me smile.

Happy Life

I got a call from my friend RP today. He had a story to tell me that he was sure I could appreciate. You see he rides his bike to work almost everyday. However his ride home isn't along traffic filled streets, with hundreds of cars puffing out smog. He rides right along the marina. He gets some great photographs on his rides to and from work. If you look at his work you can tell that birds are the majority of what he shoots and posts. Well a few days ago he posted a pick of a seagull. He half joking said, please feel free to print it out and use it on your dart board. RP grew up in Florida along the beach. He grew up fishing and surfing, so he knows that seagulls are rats with wings.

Well today, that changed, he saw a seagull that was in a bad way. Apparently this seagull had a lure that was hooked in it's beak and his feet. In the water this little fellow wasn't going to make it. So RP did what most people wouldn't, he hopped off his bike, ran down and fished the seagull out, took him to the boathouse near by and free the bird from the lure. He did a good thing, even though he doesn't like seagulls.

This made me think of a time that I hopped into a fountain to rescue a pigeon that I didn't want to see drown. Like RPs dislike of seagulls, I detest pigeons. I mean "pig" is right there at the start of their name. So why don't I like pigeons? Well I didn't always have the desk job I have now. I worked with my Dad for many wonderful years. However the jobs weren't always wonderful.

On one rainy cold night we got a call from a client, a bank that isn't around anymore, anyhow in one of their loan offices there was a mess to clean up and patch. You see the building had a flat roof. The pigeons had found a way between the roof and the ceiling. Well with the rain, there were lots of pigeons in that nest. Lots of pigeons equals lots of pigeons poop! Well with all the water from the rain and the mess that the unfortunately this pigeon bomb, made the the ceiling collapse right on to a loan officers desk. Our job was to clean it up and to patch the ceiling and to patch the roof in the rain. The pouring freezing rain. So of course I think, strike that I know that pigeons are rats with wings.

So you could see why I don't like pigeons, and I'd imagine that RP has a story like it.  So why did RP save that seagull and why did I save that pigeon. Well respect for life. That's something worth respecting.

Happy Life

Childhood dreams are important, do you remember yours? I can tell you some of mine. I wanted to fly. Fly like superman, I can't tell you how many good bath towels got used as capes and snagged on the old swing set as I'd try to jump of the swings and grab the "cape" to fly. I wanted to be a computer programmer (yes, honestly I was a geek from way back. I'd check out byte magazine from the local library and then type in the programs into the Apple IIe they had in grammar school) I wanted to be a photographer. I was always fascinated with cameras and how the worked. I took pictures in my head all the time as a little kid.

Well now that I'm a "grown-up" I've looked back and can see that I've actually achieved some of my childhood dreams. By day I'm a Sr. Web Developer,  so definitely get to program computers. In fact I get to program for all computers that have an internet connection. How cool is that?

Of course my hobby is photography. (Hobby is used in the most generic way, but obsession is much closer to the truth.) I've taken more pictures of the Boy then I can count (10 or 20 gigs worth). If you want to see some of my work, I have a photoblog, feel free to take a look.

I feel pretty fortunate about both of those things. However I don't think I would of ever realized that both of these things were childhood dreams if I hadn't sat down and watched Randy Pausch's lecture.

Randy is a pretty interesting guy. A Professor at Carnegie Melon, and a leader in the Virtual Reality field. His lecture is called "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". It's part of a lecture series called "Last Lecture". The concept behind this series is simply this, hypothetically if you knew you were dying what would your last lecture be?

However Randy has a little twist on this, you see he is actually dying of Pancreatic Cancer. His lived longer than the 6 months that this doctors gave him, but mostly from his courage.

This is one of those inspirational things that I think everyone should watch. The repised version of the lecture that he gave on Oprah is embedded below, his full length lecture is here: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Good In = Good Out

Fred Potatoes
This morning for breakfast I had a yogurt. (I'm sure you're thrilled to know that, but wait there is a point to it.) So this morning The Boy (he's not a little boy any more) saw me eating this for breakfast, and he proceded to lecture me on that not being enough of a breakfast. Then he started to list off alternatives that would be acceptable. Oatmeal, Eggs, a bowl of cereal with Soy Milk (yes he was that specific) or even "Fred Potatos"! Of course he meant Fried Potatoes, I knew that. But this one really made me laugh. Not because he misspoke but because it was the first time in a long time I've heard him say something like this. The little kid goof up of words. I adored them when he was 3 and now that he's 7, I don't get to hear them that often. Soon they'll be gone. But today I'm relishing in Fred Potatoes.

A Shave
Last night The Boy asked me if it hurt to shave. I was a little startled by this question, but I answered no, it pulls a little but it doesn't hurt. He simply said "ohh". So I explained how to hold the razor and which way to move with it as to not cut yourself. While I was answering his question in my mind's eye I journeyed back into the house I grew up in, that little house on the main street and the alley. I saw the 14 year old version of me and my Dad teaching me to shave. I remembered the way the afternoon sunlight fell into the room, the way breeze through the house felt, the smell of the shave cream, it all flooded back and drenched me like a huge wave.

Talking with my Beautiful Wife about the Boys question last night she suggested that I show him how to shave. He hasn't really seen me shave. I'm the kind of guy that does all that stuff in the shower. So this morning I changed my routine. I took my shower first, then got dressed and asked him to come in as I was going to shave and I wanted him to see how to do it. So he ran in there, and I shaved in front of the sink, and showed him how to put on shave cream, which direction to use the blade, the whole bit. You know the stuff us adults take for granted. I even showed him on his arm that the blade doesn't hurt going in the right direction. He looked a little nervous at first, but after he saw that nothing happened, it stood there amazed. It was the best shave I've had in a long time.



The Other Three Words
There are three words your Dad always told you that you never listened to. I don't mean "I Love You", those words we can't ignore, and I'm happy to tell you I heard those words often. No I mean the other three word. You know them, "No", "Listen" and "Be Careful". 

"No", which of course taught us that we don't need everything we think we want. No also taught us that there was always a good reason behind his answer. Not just that he wanted to see us miserable, which of course we all thought as teenagers. No meant learning self-control.

"Listen" which means, don't just hear the words, listen to the meaning and the way they are said. Listen means don't think about what you are going to say as we are talking to you, just recieve what I am saying to you. The older I get the more I understand that to listen, is very valuable advice.

"Be Careful" Okay, you caught me, be careful is actually a two word phrase, but I never heard one without the other. Be Careful seems simple, but it's really a phrase that is inviting you to think. Think about what you are doing. Does it makes sense? Will you hurt yourself? Will you hurt others?

All three are really great advise. Well Dad, it's taken almost 35 years, but I think I'm starting to get it now.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Well I haven't written an actual post in a while. I don't claim that this one will be an actual post either, but it will be closer to one them my last three or four attempts. Well between work, family and my hobby (obsession, yes you are right my Beautiful Wife) I've been keeping myself pretty busy. I haven't felt much writing. A blog or, well any other form of writing, journals, short stories, novels, three volume novel etc, are all ways of expressing ones self. Lately I've been doing that with my photography. So I haven't really felt the need to write. However dear friend I've recently experienced something that photographs cannot capture. Mostly because it's auditory.  So on to the back story, from the time I was about 14 years old till I was 24 or so I worked construction with my Dad. It was some of the hardest work and most fun I've ever had. I don't know if you've ever been on a construction job site, but in the 80s and early 90s when I was, there was always one radio on the jobsite with the volume knob turned to 11, blasting rock. Big Hair rock to be exact. Skid Row, Poison, Slaughter, Firehouse, White Lion and many many more. So as with most people, these songs bring back memories of the good times.

Some more back story, As many of you know my Grandma K passed away in November, in a very wise decision, my Mom and Dad and Grandpa K are remodeling Grandpa Ks house, so they can all live together. Being that both of my Brothers are in construction, my Dad is a Sr. Building Inspector for the city, and I have ten years in construction, we felt and knew that we could handle most of the work ourselves. It cuts down on costs and we know it is done right. So the first phase of the remodel/addition is to remodel the kitchen. It was just too small for the number of people cooking in it at one time Sis/Mom/Dad/Brother J, sometimes Brother K and occasionally me. So some walls were moved, some were removed and viola the kitchen is bigger, now we need cabinets for the new walls. We are effectively tripling the amount of cabinet and counter space in the kitchen. Which means there are a lot of cabinets to make. Well cabinetry was and still is one of my favorite facets of construction. So this was the part I was asked to help with.

Sunday was my first day helping build cabinets. We worked till 7pm that night, I was so stiff and sore. I had used construction muscles I haven't used in a decade. However it was a lot of fun. All the tools have been updated. The nailguns are lighter, the miter saw has  a laser sight on it, so you know where your cut will be. And the cordless drills are stronger lighter, and even have a light on them that shines when you are driving in a screw. So while these toys... I mean tools were very enjoyable to work with. Working with my Dad and Brothers was even better. It was like old times, but just a little bit better, because we are all a bit older and maybe even a little bit wiser. As the tools were updated, so was the radio, the Boys were cranking 80s music, however it was from a channel called "Hair Nation" on Sirius Satellite Radio. Man did this take me back.

Well last night I went over to help, we still have a ton more cabinets to build. And of course, we were listening to 80s rock. So I guess that until this project is done, I'll be a cabinet member of hair nation.

I am just completely adore the Little Boy. I'm sure if you've read this blog at all you know that, but as he grows and he's thoughts grow in complexity, I love hearing what he has to say.  As you may also know I have wheat intolerance. Wheat affects my stomach the same way, a bottle of tequila affects ones stomach. So the Little Boy has been raised knowing this. He has a allergy to cherry flavoring and red dyes so he knows it's important to look out for things you are allergic too. I also happen to have a intolerance to milk. The Little Boy knows this to, but doesn't exactly know why. Anyhow so Saturday morning and I sleep in, so I got up around 6:15am, the Little Boy is already up and has the TV turned on to his channel for Krypto the Superdog. However Krypto doesn't come on till 7am. Yet he was willing to sit through 45 minutes of informercials to see his cartoon. I have to say I am very proud of that kind of dedication to Saturday morning cartoons. So he's there, a informercial for an Oreck vacuum is on the TV and the Little Boy has a glass in his hand. I ask him, "whatca drinkin'?", to which he answers "Wheat Milk.", I ask him again, "so what are you drinking", he replies "you know Wheat Milk, the milk you can't drink in the big jug, Wheat Milk". It was everything I could do to not laugh out loud, he had put together, that if I wasn't drinking it, it must have wheat in it!

Another example of his brilliance. Last night, my Beautiful Wife was under the weather. So he suggest that we buy her some flowers. A great idea of course. But I tell him, well I think she'd like it more if we just made dinner to night.  Then he looks me right in the eyes, holds his little hand up with his index finger raised in that I have an idea kind of way and says, "I have an idea, why don't we just do everything she says!". I told him I thought that was a great idea, truth be told, it was brilliant! He's six and he already gets it.

Happy Cooking

Well it's been over a month since I've posted anything, and lets face it while that coaster from Japan was cool, It wasn't the best post I've ever done. So what have I been up to? Why haven't I blogged in over a month? Well I could say that I've been busy, which is true, but it's would be a cope out answer. The truth of the matter is, I just haven't felt like writing and I just haven't felt that interesting lately. So I'll talk about both those things a little bit.

Writing
Writing is something that I actually find very difficult. I have to reread my post over and over again to find the mistakes which there are always plenty of, but I have a good excuse, kind of, well it's an excuse. Being dsylexic I switch words a lot, and of course they are spelled correctly, they just aren't used correctly so the spell checker is of no help there. In fact the other day I send an email to a vendor. As I always start off my email to the vendor I say "Hello", but on this day, I left off the "o". I got an email reply from the manager at the vendor asking if it was a Fraudian slip. I was so embarrassed about that, but they took it in good stride and had a good laugh about it.

So with writing being so much work, sometimes I just don't feel like it. Which is kind of funny because I do the most documentation at work. I get to document processes and code and well you name it and I get to document it when it comes to our internal development practices.

Not Very Interesting
"Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same" - The Wallflowers, One Headlight. This lyric sums up how I've been feeling lately. Since Grandma K died, "Man I ain't changed but I know I'm ain't the same". Last october I had ridden a marathon fun ride and had been eating healthy and exercising and feeling a lot better, physcially and about myself, however I've had a really hard time getting back there since she died. I know that I should eat healthier and that I should exercise, but ...I don't know, it has been too cold to ride in the mornings but again that is just an excuse. Everything happened so quickly with Grandma K, that I've kind of been fighting an epicurean (eat drink and be marry for tomorrow we shall die) attitude which isn't me. I've physically been feeling the affects of getting heavier again. My asthma has been acting up way too much lately. Today however I saw a picture that just made me feel like my problems just weren't that bad, and that everything is doable. (Warning this may not be suitable for kids, while it isn't graphic, it isn't pleasant either). An unforgettable wedding photo.

Photos of Real Life
I found that photo very moving and sad. Good photos are like that you know, you have an emotional response to what you see. Everytime I look at the photo I see something new. My Beautiful Wife is very observant and has notice that photography is my winter hobby and cycling is my summer hobby. Well it is winter, so I am in the photography swing of my hobby mood. I am surprised sometimes about how passionately I feel about photography. I know that some people say that it isn't an art, you are simply making a copy of what is already there. However I strongly disagree with that.  I feel a good photographer, is an artist because they see the beauty that everyone else has walked passed. A good photo shows you how someone else sees the world and that is an amazing thing, and sometimes there is an honesty and truth about how someone feels that is strong then what they can say. I think this photo is a good example of what I mean.

I've been doing a lot of reading on black and white film and the whole process of developing the film and making prints. It's a science and an art that I would really like to learn. I know that most people have gone to digital, and there are some great digital photos, but there is something very romantic about film, about the process and the even the waiting.  I won't get into the whole film is better than digital converstation here, but you'll be seeing some black and white photos taken with film on the photoblog coming up pretty soon. (Just need to get them developed ).


Listening to: John Mayer - Waiting for the world to change.
 

This morning we were woke up to the sounds of a electrical transformer self destructing and the blue light shows that follows. Then the lights were completely out in our house and several of our neighbors. This was at 2:00 am this morning. We were alble to get back to sleep till the Little Boy woke up, which was at about 6:00am. The Little Boy was excited about getting to use flashlights and candlelight for the first hour or so. We started a fire in the fireplace and gathered around it for warmth and light. I also happens to be really sick with some cold/flu thing that has my head about ready to explode with snot. So my mood may not have been as happy happy joy joy as it could of been, but I mananged. One of the things you have to know is that our stovetop and oven are both electric so food was a bit of a problem. So I took a bunch of meds and we went to starbucks and yes the coffee was worth the drive! Sitting there in the lights of the Starbucks, we came up with a plan of action. We would go back to the house I would take more meds and then I would take the Little Boy to the morning matinee. Well that went as well as it could. The Little Boy and I come home and the power still wasn't on. I didn't expect it to be, as Edison had told us that it wouldn't be on till about 3pm. Well this was just about 1pm when we got home, and the 21st Century Kid had what can only be described as a meltdown. Crying and angry, kicking at the dog or any other creature he could without getting in trouble. As the meltdown was starting to subside an amazing thing happened the lights came back on. And the 21st Century Kids had power again.

Tonight we were watching TV together, watching the Little Boy's favorite show AFV. Halfway though the show a commercial came on that had me laughing so hard I almost cried. However the Little Boy looked at me and said, "I don't think that is funny" at all. Apparently 6 year olds can tell when a commercial is making fun of them too!. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Yesterday was one of those really tough days, that was at the end of a really tough week. Actually a really tough couple of weeks. So let me go back to the beginning and we will work up to yesterday. The Sunday before last I left for Vegas with my good friend and co-worker Ed. We went to DevConnections. He took the SQL track and I took the ASP.NET track. It was some really great and intense sessions. I learned a lot about the new ASP.NET 2.0 stuff and about Microsoft AJAX. Microsoft AJAX makes developing an AJAX application so much easier. Las Vegas is not my kind of town. The only things in town I was looking forward to were the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Bellagio. (So worth the $15) and GM The Drive (So worth the $10). Most people go to Vegas to drink, gamble, see a show and over eat. Well I don't drink, I definitely don't gamble, I have no interest in the shows and I am still trying (trying is the operative word there) to lose weight. So our evenings were in the hotel room waiting for it to be time to talk with our wives. That is how most of our week went.  I missed my Beautiful Wife the whole week. I am one of those guys that are completely in love with their wife. I wrote her emails everyday, talked with her on the phone a couple times a day and it just wasn't enough. I only sleep about 4 to 5 hours a night at the most when I'm not with her. However I wasn't scheduled to get back Friday night. I had a Friday workshop that I was looking for and I was glad it was schedule last hoping that the information would really sink in. However Thursday afternoon I got a call.

The call was from Brother K, I could tell by his tone it wasn't good news. Two minutes later I get a call from Brother J, he tells me the same thing that Brother K did. Grandma K is in the hospital. I won't go in to details but it wasn't good, it really wasn't good. So for the next two hours I was on the phone, finding out what was going on, where things were at with Grandma K. Finally my Beautiful Wife said the words I was waiting for and needed someone to say. "Russ, I think you need to come home." I talked with Ed and as good friends always do, he was ready to drive back to LA. He had a class on Friday too, but he was kind enough to deem my emergency, his emergency. So like the song we were "Leaving Las Vegas". I thanked him all the way home, and it still doesn't seem like I've thanked him enough. Ed did a great job of keeping my mind off of the topic at hand and on music, or whatever, you know, I was just trying really hard not to breakdown and cry in the car. We get to my house just a little after 11:30pm. Considering we left at 7:00pm, we made good time. unfortunately poor Ed still had another hour to go before he got home.

Friday Morning I went to the hospital and to see my Grandma in the ICU. Again, I won't go into detail, those of you that have visited loved ones in the ICU know what it looks like, and those of you that haven't, well I'm happy for you. Its not the kind of place you want to hang out in. But that is exactly what we did. For the next four days, we were either at the hospital or at my Mom and Dads house. It's amazing how every moment was painful, yet it was all a blur. The days melted into each other, and I had a hard time keeping them straight all week. Strange enough early on during this time, I discovered something. I could never be a professional photographer. By now you know I love photography. As I watched my Granddad K kissing my Grandma K while she lay in the ICU, it was real and truly beautiful moment in life. However I couldn't of taken the shot. I couldn't take a shot that would of caused the family so much pain to see later, and I didn't want to take a photo of her in that condition. The next day we talked as a family and all decided we didn't want any photos of her like that.

You try to be strong, for yourself and those around you, family, friends, but somehow I still ended up being the cliche` of the distressed family member crying in the parking lot of the hospital. I must say that through this whole experience, my Beautiful Wife as amazing, supportive and caring of not only me, but my whole family. She would visit Grandma K during the day, and evenings with me and when I went to work, she would still visit her during the day.

Yesterday, I left work early to go to the eye doctor. I had that wonderful experience of getting my eyes dilated. After coming home I took a little nap. (What else could I do it, wasn't like I could see anything.) Around 5:30pm, I started getting really antsy, I felt like I needed to go visit Grandma K. The day before she had been moved from the hospital to a hospice facility that was closer to my house. So I started getting ready to go, it was taking longer than usually, because of my eyes. But I figured I'd be ready by 6:00pm and that would be soon enough. At 5:53pm that house phone rings, now I never answer the house phone, my Beautiful Wife does, 30 second later my Dad calls my mobile phone. On different phones at the same time my Beautiful Wife and I learned that my Grandma K had passed away. After a week of struggling and fighting her body had lost the battle. And now we are at a loss. My Wife and I rush over to the hospice and into her room. A few minutes later my Dad and Granddad K are there too, as well as a family friend. We stroke her hair, and silently say our goodbyes. We spend the next 30 to 45 minutes calling different people and telling them, this person that we loved so dearly, and loved us too, is gone. Those were some of the hardest phone calls I've ever had to make.

It had really been an emotion rollercoaster of a week. With each test she underwent there was hope and despair and everything in between. After a week of her fighting and suffering there is some peace in knowing that she is no longer suffering, that she is in God's memory, and He will not forget her. On the other hand my heart hurts, literally and figuratively. I know it will heal in time, but it truly hurts now. Next month my Grandma and Granddad K would have been married 60 years. I hurt for Granddad and his loss. I can't even imagine how he feels. He knows that she is in God's memory too. I know that this comforts him as well.

Today was hard, but not as hard as yesterday. We did those necessary things that one has to do when a loved one dies. Again, I won't get into the details. However there is one thing I worked on today I will talk about, the program for Grandma's Memorial service.  In fact I spent several hours on working on it. I wanted it to be just right. Its not easy trying to summarize such a wonderful persons life and personality in 11 X 8.5. While it was hard to do, it was also theraputic in a way. Don't get me wrong I'm not suggesting that everyone go out and do it, but it did help me and give me some closure (I hate using such a cliche` word, but I don't know of another way to put it).

Here is a little excerpt from it that lets you know what kind of person my Grandma K was in a sentence.

Grandma K never met anyone who couldn't use a hug, and she was always happy to give them one.

I miss you Grandma.

This is my Grandparents Wedding photo. They got married 3 weeks after they meet. Next Month is their 60th wedding anniversary. They make me believe in True Love.

Since august 28th, I've ridden approximately 220 miles on my bike. It's not a lot by some people standards, and it extremely far by others. I've ridden that far for Three reason. 1. My family, I want to be around for a long time for them, and they need me, so I need to get my weight down and my heart health so I can do that. 2. Training, I've been training for a big ride coming up this weekend. My Beautiful Wife has been very very supportive. She's said I could do it from the begining even when I had my doubts. 3. I love to ride, I don't know how to explain it other than that. I've tried several times but I've always come short of being about to express it. So instead I thought I'd show you of all things a commerical. As dumb and as silly and as wussy as it sounds I almost always get teared up when I see it. Often times this is the music that is playing in my head when I ride.

  When you're a kid you know who your enemies are. It's the kid in your class you don't get along with class and any one deemed a "bad guy". However as you get older, who your enemies are gets a little blurry, but there is one guy I know for sure is my enemy. The Ice Cream Man! Oh yes, don't be fooled by his innocent looking brightly colored, cartoon wrapped wares, he is evil, pure evil. Like McDonald's he markets to children. Here's what happened, once someone bought the Little Boy an ice cream from The Ice Cream Man, or Dr. Evil as he is referred to around here, we've also suggested that his parents were never married. Anyhow like feeding a stray animal it only takes once for it to become a habit. Now when we here "pop goes the weasel" the whole house goes to defcon 5, because the Little Boy hits the door at about 300 mph. It's amazing and sad how Little Boy reacts to that song. Its like pavlov's dog meets a crack addict. The crazed look in his eye, the way he runs so fast his feet can't say underneath him. It so scary to see. You don't dare stand in his way, getting hit by a 70lbs blur in the stomach at 300 mph will land you in the hospital. So if it isn't bad enough that Dr. Evil sales sugar from a van he has recently started selling toys as well. Does he have no soul!

So tonight, I was watching TV and pretending that it was interesting, which it wasn't when the Little Boy came in to our room and asked, "have you seem my ttoodoolllee(something completely unintelligible)?". To which I replied "seen your what?" a little louder he says "have you seem my ttoodoollee?" Well I still don't really understand what he was asking me for so I say "I don't understand what you are asking", so at almost a yell he says "have you seem my ttoodoollee?", to which I reply, in a firm but calm voice, "We don't yell, I don't know where it is but I will help you look". Ten minutes later, three adults are search the house for "ttoodoolee", As the Little Boy is  muttering "my only toy" as he search through one of his two large toy boxes. My Beautiful Wife finally finds it and I realize that I had no idea what I was looking for!

Today is the Little Boy's first day of First Grade. It seems completely amazing to me that the Little Boy is already in First Grade! My Beautiful Wife and I were talking and it seems like just yesterday when we were talking about how it would be only five years till he'd be in school. And now, he's in first grade. He'll now have two recesses and lunch at school. We tried to tell him that these were good things, and I am sure soon he we feel it is.

So as per our ritual The Little Boy and I rode down the the local starbucks this morning and got our usual's. I'm always surprise to see how many people smile at us, and wave to him. Its a great thing that seeing him riding is so nostalgic for so many people besides myself. In November the Little Boy will be riding for a year. Riding with him I've learned more than I think he's learned from me.

One thing I've learned is lead by example, the do as I say not as I do thing doesn't work. You have to ride as you tell them to. For example in California, children under 18 must wear a bicycle helmet by law. However adults are not required to do so. I always wear a helmet when I ride, even if I'm not riding with the Little Boy. If I come home and he sees me riding without a helmet. I've nulled all of the time I spend telling him he has to wear a helmet. So today we are riding home from starbucks and he sees a guy riding his bike, and says too me "That guy isn't wearing the seatbelt for his head!', I agree with him and say, you are right, he's not wearing a helmet." He says, if he falls he can hurt is head.", I of course again agree.  Inside, I'm thinking "Yes!!!! he gets it!, wooohooo!".

Another thing I've learned is, you want to be a good bike handler, it's amazing how quickly they zig and zag. They will keep you on your toes. I can't tell you how many times the Little Boy has jumped all the way across the street and back on our little side street, and cut me off. Crossing a main street at the crosswalk, with cars speeding it two directions, you learn how to do a trackstand, while putting yourself between the Little Boy and Angry motorist, without pulling you feet out of the toeclips, you've learned to handle the bike better than you ever thought you could.

So as I mentioned yesterday, I am home in bed sick on my vacation. I'm trying very hard to stay in bed rest and get better. I really don't want to be sick my entire vacation. So I am watching some of my favorite old movies. The movies that you watch by yourself because everyone else is bored with them.  So I am watching American Flyers. I love this film, it's corny and the acting isn't very good, it has the cheesy 80s synth music in it and completely love it. I remember watching it as a kid.

We use to live in a little house in rosemead. I remember laying on the floor hands on chin looking up at the TV and watching  American Flyers. There was another movie I remember watching when I was a kid was Breaking Away. I also seem to remember that is wasn't just Dad who enjoyed this movies by my Mom as well. In fact I remember very clearly on our family vacations, bringing a bike for Mom and Dad, Brother K, Sis and myself. Brother J was just 3 or 4 years old so he rode in a childseat on Moms bike.  We would take rides around the campgrounds at Lake Jennings. That an about a thousand other great childhood memories, of riding my bike with my Brothers, my parents, or even just by myself. So its save to say that I get my love of cycling from my parents. Now I ride with the Little Boy, I wonder if he'll have the same love of cycling I have?

Well, Sis is off to Indy for Gencon. This is here second time going. It's one of the biggest gaming conventions there is. These people like to dress up for the occasion, which is where she fits in. My Sister makes some of the most beautiful costumes you've ever seen. She is flying over there for the conventions and being the nervous geek I am I had to track her flight. Of course I didn't want to have to hit refresh each time to see how her flight was going so I wrote something to do that for me.

It's Hot! I don't mean warm I mean Hot. Last night I got home from work at 6:30pm and it had cooled down to 101 degrees, but at least there was 80% humidity. However it is suppose to get better by the middle of the week. I know what you are thinking, but Russ you sit in an air conditioned office building all day, why do you care if it is hot? Well, that is true, I do, but I have some very good reasons for caring that it's hot out.

1. The Little Boy, do you remember when you were a kid, I do, and the desire, no, the need to play was so strong that it would completely override the, it's too hot to play part of my brain. He's the same way. Yesterday evening we took a quick bike ride around the neighborhood. It had cooled down to an cool 97 degrees, so we got our hydration packs and rode. We rode for about 20 minutes and that Boy had drank a litter of water. (Minus the pint or so we were spitting at each other. What, he looked hot, I wanted to cool him down, and he just wanted to return the favor.)

2. We don't actually have Air Conditioning at the house, we have an evaporative cooler (swap cooler) and some room air conditioners. Not enough to cool the entire house when it's 108 degrees outside and the humidity is at 80%. Evaporative coolers work by well, evaporation, and so if the humidity is 20% to 40% it works like a charm, if its higher than that, well, it just gets more humid.

3. My Brothers still work in construction. While Dad and I have left the trade. The Boys are still out there sweating their guys out. I was talking with them earlier this morning and they are going through about 4 gallons of gatorade a day trying to stay hydrated. They are framing in the hot sun all day.

Well, It's hot out there, remember to stay hydrated and don't forget the sunscreen.

Wednesday after work The Little Boy and I were in the backyard playing some "spaceball" (I've been trying to to teach him that the game is baseball, and he says it right most of the time, however I kind of like it when he calls it spaceball). I've been working with him on batting. I've been throwing him some soft under hand pitches and currently he's hitting about a quarter of them. Not a bad average for a 5 year old I must say. We use the soft T-Ball baseballs that have a rubber core. Last thing I want is for him or I to be hit in the face (or lower) with a regular baseball. Brother K can tell you how bad that is. (when he was a kid, he pitched a regular baseball in grade school to a kid during recess and it came back and hit him in the nose. It caused him a lot of sinus trouble over the years. His jerk of a teacher told him he was fine and that he should just walk it off. Years later same teacher gets hit in the face with a soccer ball which is so much softer than a baseball and the guy passes out and had to be taken away in an ambulance.)

Anyhow so I was pitching a few to him and for fun I throw a tennis ball for him to hit. It's about 50 to 60 feet from the area he was batting to the 6 foot high fence in the backyard, well he cracked the tennis balll perfectly and launched that thing high and right out of the yard. I yell, "Incoming" and "Sorry" and the tennis ball landed in the neighbor behind us' patio. The Little Boy look at me, like, "What do I do, I am happy that I hit the ball that well, but I hit the ball over the fence man!" I smiled at him and said. "Yeah, did you see how far you hit that thing, It cleared the fence!" So he ran the bases we have setup and made sure to come by and give me a high five as he was passing second base, and  just because he could he went for a second lap around the bases. Our neighbor was of course very nice and threw the ball back. I told the Little Boy, "I think we'll have batting practice at the school, you hit way too well to practice in the backyard". He smiled and gave me a hug.

Reading Lessons

Tonight after playing catch with the Little Boy (he insisted that we play catch, I didn't fight him on this one, I know when to pick my battles), we did his reading homework. I'm amazed that a kidergartener has reading homework. I don't remember having reading homework when I was in kidergarten, but there we were. It was this little printed book with 21 pages and not more than 10 words on any page, some sentences were as simple as "Mit is mad at Mat" (The names have been changed to protect the innocent). Anyhow the way it works is that I read the word and the Little Boy repeats it and we read the whole book once. Then we read it a second time and I point to the words and he reads them to me. Most of the words in these little books he knows by sight, however was one tonight that he had to sound out. "Mmmmm Aaaaa Tttt, Mat". He turns to me and says "I learned that today". Can I just tell you how my heart swelled with pride over that. We got to a section of the book that called out the two characters names, with an exclaimation point. So I explained to him that an exclaimation point means that you read it louder to show surprise or excitement. To which he replied  "I'll make sure to tell my teacher tomorrow, so she can learn it too." I told him that I was pretty sure that she already knew it, but he was free to tell her if he wanted to. I've really enjoyed reading to him over the past years, but not as much as I think I enjoyed him reading to me.

The Great Wheeze

Well I am just about over the flu, or whatever it was that had me down for the count. I missed a week of work and from near as I can tell they missed me too. I talked with a vendor the other day and apparently it has been discussed that I was out ill, and that they would know where things stood as soon as I got back. That pretty much took care of my dread that there were going to get rid of me for being sick all the time.  Anyhow I am feeling better, but my asthma is still a mess. The strange thing about my asthma being out of control is that my sense of smell is somehow heightened. Now before you get to thinking hey that is cool. Let me tell you it's not, sitting on the train and being about to smell all of the perfume, after shave, shampoo, deordant or lack there of, hand lotion and hair gel that all the people in the car I'm sitting in are wearing is not cool, not in the least. It actually makes me feel bad for our dog, if his nose is 10 times more sensitive than ours, no wonder he sneezes all the time.

Well this week I've been fairly ill with the flu. However that doesn't keep the Little Boy from wanting to go in the backyard and throw the old horsehide around. Okay, horsehide... how about the old baseball sized Super Soft ball around. After all he is is Five and a regular baseball is just a little too hard. We spend about an hour this evening playing catch. Well, I would throw the ball in to his glove, and he would throw the ball in ways in which defys physics and every once in a while I'd actually catch one.

I've been trying to teach the Boy proper techique with his catching and throwing. However a five years old doesn't really care about technique, but what is fun. So twisting around and throwing the ball in a very spastic manner, is the funniest way to do it. However it scare the heck out of me to be ten feet away when he is doing this. He has this wierd Randy Johnson side arm throw that when he can control it, is pretty good, however most the time, even the dog ducks when he throws it. Of all the summers of playing ball with my Brothers and Sister, I never felt the need for a cup, as much as I do when playing catch with the Little Boy.  Next week we will work on batting.

I am sick, I mean, ear infection, dizzy, feverish, can't situp and can't swallow my own saliva sick. This morning the little Boy came in to our room, Baseball glove on his left hand, baseball in is right looked me straight in the one eye I had open because I heard him enter the room and He asked me if I wanted to play "Spaceball". My left ear is clogged and I can't even standd up, yet it was really hard to tell him, no I was sick and I couldn't play baseball with him.

I would first like to start out by saying, I am home sick, with an achy, fevery sore throat, tired kind of thing. So this post may or may not be up to par in the writting/wit and general goodness category. However I've wanted to blog for the past two days and this is the first opportunity I've had to do so.

I know what you're thinking, but Russ you always have a laptop with you and can blog at a moments notice. And while that usually is true, this week I am sans laptop. At work we are beefing up security as everyone must do, and when installing some security software on the good ole' D800, the harddrive, said, "Now I'll not have any of this" and promptly turned itself into a non bootable drive. Well after I rebooted and and got a blue screen of death, I tried again, after all it is a Microsoft machines, and a reboot can do miraculous things for them. To quote Roy from the IT Crowd, "Have ya tried turning it off, and turning it back on again?!",  But alas on my 17th reboot and blue screen of dead, I began to get the picture that something wasn't good. Or as elegantly said by one of our Help Desk Techs. "Umm, It's toast". So the good ole' D800 will go through the PC version of Overhaulin. The case will get fixed, we'll add a bigger harddrive, clean up the video card driver and add a DVD player and 8 monitors in the doors, alligator upholstery and 4 12" subwoofers to round it out.

Well tomorrow is Moving Day for Grandma and Grandpa K. Dad and I will leave shortly before sunrise to pickup the "Moving Truck" and start the adventure. I know tomorrow is going to be a lot of work, and being sick isn't going to make the task easy, but my family will be there, so at least I know that we will have some fun. We always do no matter what the task is. The fact is that I am really looking forward to them being closer. 4 miles way, is so much better than 94 miles way.

During this week, we (Dad, Brother K, Brother J, Puddin' and Myself) were over at Grandma and Grandpa K's new house doing some work. You know helping to get it ready to move into. Well Wednesday were were drywalling the garage. Brother K wasn't feeling good that night so it was just Dad, Brother J, Puddin' and myself. It was a lot of hardwork, and a lot of fun at the same time. Brother J, who is technically the youngest, shared the bosshood with Dad. Man you should of seen that guy putting up drywall, Puddin' and I had drywall screw guns and just couldn't keep up. It really made me miss working with them. It's obvious to me that Dad is really proud of how good and fast (and I mean really fast, yet very very good), brother J is at what he does.  Dad leaned over to me and say "He may not be the easiest to work with but man that kid, kicks butt." I looked at Dad and told him "J's very easy to work for, just do what he tells you and do it his way". We both smiled. He's come a long way from that kid we were screaming at during "The worst concrete pour ever" OR TWCPE for short. Dad and I can't mention TWCPE in front of brother J with out him curling up in the fetal position. But the cryings stopped, so I think he is starting to get over it.

So as you may or many not know, I have a mole over my left eyebrow. Sometimes I think about having it removed. In fact in some photos, I've photoshoped it out, but on the other hand it's part of me so it's free to stay as long as it doesn't cause any trouble. So in short, I don't like it but I don't hate it. Until today that is, this morning sitting on the sofa with my Beautiful Wife and the Little Boy, he turns to me and says look I got a spot just like you. Apparently he has a bad pimple and it's in just about the same spot as my mole. I asked him, "how did you get that?" and he replies "From you, Silly" while smiling, Maybe this little mole isn't so bad. It can stay, as long as it doesn't cause any trouble of course.

Okay, so the talk about moles reminded me of some dialog from Austin Powers Goldmember, so I've posted it here for your enjoyment

Austin Powers: Nice to mole you... meet you. Nice to meet you, Mole.
[to Foxxy as Basil & The Mole leave]
Austin Powers: Don't say mole.
Foxxy Cleopatra: Now stop.
Austin Powers: I said mole.
Foxxy Cleopatra: Stop.
[Basil gestures him to hush]
Number Three: Bye.
Austin Powers: Mole.
[Basil & the Mole try again to leave]
Austin Powers: Mole.
[Basil warns him again to hush]
Austin Powers: Mole.
Basil Exposition: Oh, shut up!
Austin Powers: [Basil and The Mole walk out and Austin lets loose] Moley, moley, moley, moley, moley!

At the Little Boy's school, They apparently have a little toy shop that the kids are allow to pick one toy from to have if they've accomplished some goal or task. The Little Boy filled up his star card with gold stars so was allowed to go and pick up his prize. He choice was interesting to say the least. He picked a flying cow. Remember the little battery powered airplanes or birds that hung from a string to the ceiling and would fly in circles till the battery wore out, well he has the cow version of that. When I called home around lunch time to see how things were going he told me all about it, and asked that I help him play with it when I got home. Of course he was so excited he forgot it was a cow and called it a flying pig, which somehow seemed very ironic, but I didn't bother explaining it to him. Irony and five years olds don't go together. It's just one of those things. So what I didn't know was he was laying the ground work to have me install the flying cow accessories when I got home. 

Fast forward to the train station, My Beautiful Wife and the Little Boy pick me up, and as I enter the car, The Little Boy has a list of questions for me, to see how long he would have to wait to see if his flying cow could actually fly.

Little Boy: Are you sick or cranky?

Me: Well I’m not cranky but I am having a some trouble breathing.

Little Boy: Oh, so your not cranky, that’s good

Little Boy: Do you have to go poop or pee?

Me: I don’t believe that is any of your concern young man!

So after this little conversation my Beautiful Wife explains that he has been waiting all day and really would like me to assemble it for him. So with my trusty cordless drill (Thanks Brother K, this things works flawlessly) I had it mounted to the ceiling in no time and the Little Boy got to see a cow fly.