All is well. But we're damn tired.

Everything is going great with the new baby home. She is a joy. She has spent most of her time here sleeping. However, she's awake enough to prevent us from getting much sleep.

Yesterday we had a visit from her Birthmother. It was beautiful to see the two of them together again. It was as if the start of Z's life journey had been marked. I'm not sure how to put it into words but with the CEO and I in the house and Z's Birthmother present well we were all there. Those of us who love so dearly this is what we had worked for to honor Z by including all of those people in her life who make her who she is and who she will be at that moment we were all represented and we were living up to what we had agreed upon.

I think one of the beautiful things with open adoption is that you are committing to letting everyone who wants to love your child to do so. I've always thought how could not letting people who want to love your child into there life be confusing or detrimental. It just can't be. Through this process or Z's birth and adoption I have become an even more staunch supporter of Open Adoption.

1+1=4

Wow.
This aint' gonna be easy.
Z is home from the hospital and The Kid has been great with her. Yesterday when we picked her up it was one wild ride. The emotions were all over the place. You can see the CEO's blog if you want the details.

Last night was our first night of "no-sleep" in quite some time. I forgot how much attention these little buggers needed. Right now it is just Z and I .
Z is screaming.

Gotta go!!

Baby Arrives!!

10:50 PM on Dec. 25th the precious little bundle arrived. She's perfectly beautiful. Soon after I looked down at the floor and noticed a small rip in my hiking boots.

"Damn it! Now I'm going to have to buy new boots." I looked at my watch, it was 11:00 PM.

Life is strange. Moving from huge event to insignificant in the blink of an eye.

Our lives have changed forever again. And I love it.

It's Go Time!

So here I sit only hours before we head off to the hospital to begin again. I don't know what this wild ride of birth will bring with it but I'm as ready as I'll ever be (Translation: not ready at all).

It seems that at moments like this I should be able to write some very introspective important words. Yet I can't. All that is really going through my head is "I hope everything goes well." And what does that really mean? I guess it is things like: Healthy baby, healthy birthmom, emotional healing and applying loads and loads of unconditional love.

Dog Walking.

Walking the dogs can be a very relaxing experience. I often will finish my walk and think "what did I just think about" and I can't remember. No matter how hard I try I can't think of all that occupied my mind while walking. It seems that the walk allows for me to have a brain dump. I definitely feel refreshed and more relaxed at the end of the walk. I guess it is a simple form of meditation. I get the same sensation after exercising or playing a sport. I love it. I love my life but I also love the feeling of forgetting all about it for a short period of time. I'm glad I've started walking consistently in the morning. I think it's good for my soul.

Habits, OCD or something like that.

I like to do things on the hour or 1/2 hour. I'm looking at the clock right now and thinking I've got seven minutes to write. This freezes me. God forbid I leave for work at 7:05 or worse yet some non-five increment like 7:07. Yikes! I'm already down to three minutes. If I want to hit 7:00 AM on the nose I've got to finish this blog fast. I've added consistent Dog walking to my morning chores, it should have always been consistent. Anyhow, it just puts more crunch time on my morning relaxation routine. ""Crunch Time"" and "Relaxation", hmmm, they don't sound like they mix well. 7:00!!!! Gotta split.

Airplane.

On my way to my Bostion vacation I had a very uncommon experience in the airplane. I enjoyed the flight! Here's the note I made during the flight that captured this rare moment.

Delayed flights, crowded airports, bad food and lots of germs to avoid. However, here I sit on my CHI to BOS leg of the trip alone in the expansive exit row with a good book to enjoy. It's heaven. I never get this alone time, this quiet time. In this small cramped germ filled box I'm oddly at peace. This is perhaps the most relaxing flight I've ever been on. Or should I say the most relaxed I've ever been on a flight. I think the latter is the most true.

More on the vacation later. I hope.

Whatever.

I like it. What can I say, I mean as much as I hate to admit it I enjoy TV. I mean I enjoy it more than I should. It is such a love hate relationship. When we don't put the TV on we generally have a much more enjoyable and relaxing evening. We need to do that more often. I did start the new(ish) David Sedaris book, I'm only a couple stories in but I highly recommend it.

Tonight is my second night of making peanut brittle. It is so easy I love it and it is so great to pass out on the holidays. I think since people don't make homemade candy much anymore it seems like a real treat. Last night I sampled too much. I go wired on a sugar high, I was up until about 12:15 AM, that's no good.

Holidays.

I hate to admit it but at least for the past few weeks I've joined the lame group of people who get stressed out around the holidays. I have always loved Christmas and the sooner the radio started playing Xmas songs 24/7 the better. However, this year with the adoption, travel and work it is very stressful. When writing this I realize that and adoption and travel are two wonderful things. I've need to try and flip my outlook and live by the Monty Python Creed "Always look on the bright side of life..."

Names.

So things are progressing nicely with the adoption except for coming up with a name. Why is choosing a name such a hard thing to do? It seems to me that history may play too important of a roll. When we come up with names some may get shot down because we knew someone with that name and we didn't like them. The name is actually guilty by association, we shouldn't put such boundaries on names but we do or at least I do. I can remember being in grade school and sitting on the concrete steps at the school and thinking that I would name a boy John. There seemed to be a couple good athletes in the school named John so that was a good reason. I also remember having a friend named John but he spelled his name J-o-n. That seemed correct to me. When I met other Johns who used an "h" in their names I thought that wasn't right, that wouldn't be how my child would spell their name. I'm not sure that my naming methodology has changed much in twenty eight years. At least I have learned that naming someone John or Jon doesn't guarantee that they will be a great athlete.

Thanksgiving.

I find that early morning is the best time for me to get things done. I got up at 5:50 AM this morning and went through a lot of junk that I had been meaning to get to for the past week. I just don't have the interest or energy by 9:00 PM, I guess it just seems too much like work and I've already spent all day doing that. Sometimes I question the forty hour work week. Do I really need to be at work for eight hours in a day? That is a lot of time to fill every day. I think with more efficiency the work week could be less, and I would love that.

So Thanksgiving is just going to be the three of us. We were supposed to visit with friends of mine from work but their whole family just got sick. To make a long story short we decided not to risk it with Daisy's history of lung infections. This will be our smallest Thanksgiving ever. Whenever I picture Thanksgiving I always imagine it to be at my Uncle Bob and Aunt Marie's. I don't think we celebrated at their house more than any other? I guess it always seemed like the warmest place, it did always seem like the most crowded and I think I liked that. All this family packed in and enjoying a nice big meal together. The whole day was just about spending time with family without any distractions. I think Christmas wasn't as relaxing it always was more hectic.

Cookie Please!!

All I want is a cookie or something sweet for crying out loud. Every night about 30 min to an hour after dinner I'm dying for something sweet. Where are the cookies!!!

I hate mail.

I hate mail. Mail is no fun anymore. When I was little I was always checking the mail excitedly. I rarely got any but when I did what a treat. Now it's just bills and it sucks. There are the rare days when we get no mail and that makes me happy.

Enjoy!

A friend at work is from Mexico. Sometimes he will drop off a small bottle of Tequila for me. It often hits the spot (like now). Who knew there was more to tequila than Quervo-Gold. I guess Quervo doesn't even contain any agave which is the only ingredient in tequila. My tequila drinking knowledge was stuck in college.

I've recently decided that I don't want to become an expert on food things. I love wine and cheese but I just don't seem to have the drive to want to learn all about them. I've decided that it isn't necessary there are a slew of people in the fine food store ready and willing to point me in the right direction. My job is then only to enjoy......I love it!

I'm sick too (just a bit).

The CEO gave me "big prop's" for taking care of her and The Kid while she was extremely ill. Now I've contracted the cold. However it seems to be a much less severe strain. The CEO seems to be a little skeptical about how I'm acting. Am I taking advantage of her good will? Probably a little bit and I'd like to say thanks to the CEO. I could have been a little more active and done a little more around the house last night but I was able to chill out because of my performance during her illness and my minor illness and I appreciated that. I needed that down time.

Too Busy

This has been a killer week. It all started over the past weekend and culminated with me almost burning the house down early in the week. I exaggerate. What I did do was turn on the tea kettle and leave for work with the rest of the family still sleeping. The CEO's super nose woke her from her slumber and led her straight to the kitchen where she quickly put out resolved the issue. The super nose was able to smell something strange before the tea kettle even began to blacken. Now at the later part of the week the CEO has been hit with a really nasty virus. I've never seen her so down and out from an illness. Of course this has all coincided with an extremely busy week at work to make for one week that I can't wait for to end.

Ka to address your interesting question about leaving an invisible friend at home. With out knowing all of the details I'm not sure I can comment. If this friend is so prominent to the child that it is a distraction to them learning maybe it is a good idea if they take a day off. However, maybe it could be traumatizing to force the child to abandon or be abandoned by their invisible friend. I'd love to hear more before I really chime in.

Hey! Has anyone listened to the William Shatner song Common People? I put a hyperlink to it like five blogs ago. The CEO and I think it is great and I thought it would be worthy of some comments. (2Kool, you are exempt. Thanks.)

We've go to vote this clown GW out of office.
The turnout looks like it is going to be huge and I think that works in Kerry's favor.
This is definetly the most important election in my voting lifetime.

Halloween was great!
The kid probably has around 30 to 40 pieces of candy.
What the heck is a three year old going to do with all that stuff. Lord knows that if we throw it all away on her she will have a fit. She is having a lot of fun setting it up in a long line and counting it.

I gotta go.

The Boston Red Sox Did It!!!!
I wish I were in Boston to feel the atmosphere of excitement.

Which brings me to what is really on my mind. Travel to Boston. The constant battle. The reason we say we will move back. We are completely sick and tired of using up huge amounts of my vacation time every year to see family. Don't get me wrong, we love seeing family and that in a sense is part of the problem. If we didn't want trips home eating so much vacation we could simply not go but that is not going to work for us. We need to see our families and we want Daisy to feel connected to them.

The kid just wet the bed. Everyone is up.

I'm glad to hear that there are others who are equally wardrobed challanged as I. Sometimes I think that it is a great thing to have such a simple wardrobe but it is when I look at family pictures thatI think "huh, wearing those clothes yet again" or " were these pictures take on the same day?" Only to find out they were taken in different years!!

There are big things a brewing in our family. I don't really know how to put 'em down in words but the CEO really does, she keeps her blog well updated.

I had a strange dream last night about a good high school friend of mine. He live out in the middle of nowhere in a huge mansion. He seemed really sad. I'm definitely making a phone call today.

I repeatedly stuff too many clothes in the dryer at one time. Now I'm stuck again waiting for my pants to dry. My entire wardrobe has been reduced to jeans and tee shirts. That is all I need to wear to work. Therefore, that is all I have. It's kind of nice but what a pain it is when I'm expected to be wearing something nice, I really don't have much that fits that description.

Go Sox!!!!

My beloved Red Sox did it!!!!!
It was a miracle. I can't believe how easily they can still draw me in to their web, usually only to disappoint. This time it was different they actually pulled it off. They were able to bring out the twelve year old in me again and it was wonderful.

On a very different note right now I'm lovin' the new single by William Shatner, yes Cpt. Kirk, he released a CD recently and the single "Common People" rocks. Ben Folds produced the CD and Joe Jackson sings with him on "Common People" it is absolutely hysterical and fantastic all at once. It must be heard!!

Words......

There's a lot to say. After nine months of blogging I still don't feel like I know how to say it. Writing was supposed to get easier the more I blogged. I really wanted to be able to put down in words the small stuff that happens in my day and some how soup it up and make it sound interesting or funny. I haven't gotten there yet, that is for sure. Mostly I just stare at the screen.

I hate going in to work on Monday and having someone asks "So what did you do this weekend?" The problem is the first person who asks me is subject to my very slow boot up cycle. After repeating "what did I do?" six or seven times I'm finally ready to share. The next person who asks doesn't have to experience this but it is that poor first person who must wonder if I spend my weekends on crack or something or maybe I just don't want to share what I do and I'm trying to make something up. I'm sure that's not the case and actually I never gave it any thought if they thought anything about it or not until I started writing this down.

I seem to use a lot of quotes when I'm blogging. I'm always wondering if I'm using them properly. Any comments from the grammatically knowledgeable?

Perspective.

We met with an adoption lawyer last week and he said something that really put my life into perspective. We were talking about some of the birthmothers and how there lives are often in chaos or at least very unstable. He said something like:

"Our lives are very stable, we know that we are going to go home
to our houses, we know that we have a bed to sleep in, we know
that we are going to eat dinner. We may not know what we are
going to eat but at least we know we are going to eat."

He's very right. So I thought what the hell do I have to complain about. Poor me I'm tired and I don't have enough money to take another vacation. It's not that I'm a sad sack but sometimes I do feel like there is just not enough time in the day and I'm never going to get enough sleep. Yes, these are problems and they do impact my life but I'm going to try and act like that little self help book says "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff."

Have a peaceful day.

Sleep. Never!!!

I don't think I've gotten a good nights sleep for the past two weeks and a really good nights sleep for the past three years. A friend of mine (with one child at the time) said to me "I've determined that I'm going to be tired for the rest of my life. So I might as well enjoy the waking hours." Words to live by I thought. I spread the word to people near and far. However, I'm finding it very hard to practice what I preach.

Public Transportation

No time!
I've started doing more stuff in the morning before I go to work. This leaves me precious little blogging time. Ahhh, the trials and tribulations of being a dad.

Yesterday the kid and I took the light rail line over to the central library. I like to pride myself on not really being concerned with my appearance. Compared to some of the people on the light rail I must be extremely vain. What I'm noting is one of the great reasons to take public transportation, people watching. I love it and so does The Kid. We could have rode the rail all day. One poor man had half his ass crack showing. I shouldn't say anything for all I know he could have some sort of illness or who the hell knows what. But the truth of it is that it is tough to get that image out of your head. What can you do?

It was so wonderful to go to the central library with The Kid and to do it on public transportation made it all the better. It was such a less frenetic outing and it seemed like more quality time with her as opposed to all the time we've raced off to the playground. It left me feeling as if I had somehow neglected The Kid during the summer, I kept thinking "why didn't we do things like this more often?"

Off Track

It has been this way all summer, the blog has been off track. We have had so many visitors and then a computer crash. What's a blogger to do? Now with preschool starting I've got more to do in the morning before going to work. The blog takes yet another blow. The blog and I will survive we will regroup and we will push on!

Cat Stevens a terror threat. I mean come on. It seems that all the news and jokes were probably told about this one within the first 24 hours but I just can let it go. It's so damn funny and alarming all at once.

I'm done. I've got nothing.

I've been waking up at 6:00 AM, after going to bed between 11:00 and 11:30. I guess I've got a lot on my mind or something. I know what it is but I don't want to blog about it. Anyhow, the point is I'm not getting enough sleep and this nonsense has got to stop.

We just had the Madre and the Pistol in town. It is so wonderful to see them play with The Kid. Best of all is seeing how much she loves them. I've always been so nervous that living so far away would make it difficult for The Kid to develope a close bond with her Grandparents. My fears seem to be unfounded and that's great.

Getting the oil changed in a car is such a simple task. Why do I hate it so. Both cars need to be serviced. What an annoyance.

Bringing Down the Man

I've just finished reading "Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America." It is interesting although somewhat repetative. It is written by the founder of adbusters, his basic premise is that we (Americans) have allowed corporations to take over our world and it is time to take it back. I've been in a real "Bring Down the Man" state of mind due in part to the book. My small web contribution to the cause it to switch to using FireFox a open source web borwers. Just a small way of sticking it to Microsoft and after only a couple days of use it seems to be better than Explorer. My other website of choice it No Sweat where you can get clothing made under fair trade practices by union shops.

"I've only just begun to fight!!!"

Still haven't resolved the computer problem at home. It has put a real damper on my blog :(
The Madre comes into town today with the Pistol coming in a day later. The kid doesn't seem to be as wound up as normal. I think she may just have a lot going on with school and all.
We've been starting to look into more avenues for adoption. The lawyer we used to finalize our last adoption places a lot of children and we are getting the ball rolling to hook up with him. The adoption stuff is just too heavy for the blog.
I've always wanted my blog to be funnier.
Why can't I achieve that?
Where's the humor in my life?
I know it is out there I just can't seem to wrap my arms around it.
Big goings on this weekend M&D are in town that means The CEO and I get to go out!!!! It is almost scary. It's like venturing into New York city for the first time. It is big and dark but also exciting there is so much out there that we are not seeing or taking advantage of. Don't get me wrong, with The Kid our lives are full and exciting and a different way. However, spending kid-less time with the CEO will be a welcome change.

She's a Big Girl Now.

Today is day one of the first day of school for The Kid. School starts at 9:00 and we are allowed to stick around 'till 9:30. Then she is own her own until 1:00 pm. I know she is going to do great. I'm pretty much speachless about the whole thing. I can't believe that three years have gone by so fast.

Left of center. Big time!

I've always heard that as you get older you become more conservative. Quite the contrary in my case. I keep leaning or maybe I should say leaping more and more to the left. OK , I hate paying taxes but it isn't because I don't believe in them. It is because I don't believe that politicians are spending my money wisely, especially W and his friends. Also, living in hyper liberal Portland Oregon probably adds fuel to my leanings. Anyhow, what has really prompted this rare political blog is that I just got back from seeing Fahrenheit 9/11 (Finally!). My only problem with the movie is that I don't think it was long enough and it didn't go deep enough. There seem to be so much damaging stuff to report on Bush that one 2 hour movie just isn't enough and I'm pretty sure the M. Moore is mainly preaching to the choir when people see the movie. I just keep thinking that there are a lot of people out there who usually don't vote that have gotten pissed off enough at W that they are going to come out and vote and we are going to beat the pants off of this little s#*t. God I hope so.

Who made that?

Who made Crater Lake?
How do you begin to explain that to a three year old?
The Kid, the CEO and I all just got back from a great little vacation. We spent a couple of days at Crater Lake and a couple days in Ashland. The big discovery we keep making is that travelling in the mini-van kicks ass. We can easily do 300 miles in one day and The Kid does really well.

The Kid is up.

Internet Pirate

I brought home my WiFi ready laptop tonight. I turned it on and low and behold someone in the neighborhood has WiFi and it needs no pass key. I'm on line and it's free, sort-a. This is kind of cool.

It's too late for me to be doing this s*#t.

7 hours later:
Eyyyy! Good morning mates! The internet pirate is back.
The CEO turned our mud room into a breakfast nook. I believe she has single handedly changed the "feel" of our house more than any other change we have made. Even upgrading the kitchen somehow doesn't seem to have been such a nice change. I'm out in the new room right now enjoying my breakfast. We never have orange juice when I want it. If I'm having eggs or toast with peanut butter (like right now) I need OJ. I poured myself some water, no good. I think I'll switch to milk.

Still down and out!

I doesn't feel right blogging at work. But I am just sitting here waiting for my huge PC file to load. Here it is.

Now it's a couple of days later and I've finally brought the home PC in to be fixed. I hope they are quick.

There is just so much crap to always to be done and when I get home from work I never feel like doing it so I put it off until my lunch hour at work. The problem is a lunch hour is just that an hour.

Big trip to Crater Lake coming this weekend. Of course it seems as if I got more work than I can possibly complete before I cut out of work a day early. Why do I always do it to myself!

The kid goes off to school right after we get back from CL. She's going "Big time!" on us way to fast.

To cell or not to cell.

I keep toying with the idea of getting rid of our "land line" phone and switching to all cell phone usage. The question is how much time do we spend making local calls per month and how much would that increase with the use of a cell phone. I hate doing research like this! But I'm starting to get to the point where I think a cell phone would be very useful. I've always shunned them. I don't know. This will probably another one of my many little projects that sits virtually idle for months.

Rain Delay

This summer has been nothing but hot, hot, hot weather. We finally plan a trip to a baseball game and it rains. I'm so dissapointed. The kid is all decked out with her baseball hat and shirt. She loves sports and I think we would have had a great time. Now I don't think we'll make it to a game until next year! Gotta go. She's serving up tea in her playroom.

The stuff sucks!

I get free computer equipment from work, it is generally slightly used but it should be in good working order. It sucks. I hate to admit it but it does. My wife believes that all our problems would go away if we only had a Mac. I'm not sure if that is true but I can't prove that it isn't. The real problem is that all of the equipment is made by my company and I think we are making poor products. I want to recommend the stuff to my friends and family but it is getting harder and harder to do.

McFunny

Yesterday I witnessed a Chicken McNugget eating contest. The winner ate 61 McNuggets in the allotted 35 minutes. Second place ate 54 and the third and final contestant ate 41 and in the end he left most of his Nuggets in the parking lot and behind the bushes. I personally ate two as I watched and that was more than enough to know that I would be pushing my luck if I ate more than ten of those horrid little things. There were probably about 10 or twelve of us there to witness the contest and one guy even video taped it. When entry number 3 "hurled" the crowed went wild. The whole event took me back to a time in my early twenties when I used to hang out with a lot of guys. I forgot how fascinated and excited we can become when we are in a mob. Things quickly degenerate to the lowest common denominator and we love it and we keep pushing it lower and lower. After all that excitement I couldn't wait to get home and tell the CEO all about it. I should have quickly keyed in on her look of disgust but I guess I held out hope that the punch line of it all would drag her in and let her see the humor. "...and one guy lost it, he threw up all over the parking lot and in the.......you don't think it's funny?" I guess I can understand where she's coming from but for me be it sophmoric, childish or whatever I still think it was hilarious.

Yahoo! News - CBS Newsman Mike Wallace Issued Summons

Yahoo! News - CBS Newsman Mike Wallace Issued Summons: "'60 Minutes' correspondent Mike Wallace, who was placed in handcuffs and taken to a police precinct in a dispute with city parking enforcement inspectors, says he wonders why anyone thought that he, at 86, was a threat."

OK, so this might not seem like my regular blog entry but I'm experimenting. I added the Google toolbar to my browser and it has a button called "blog it" and if I like some web page I see that I'm on I just click this button and it creates a blog entry. It also imports any text from that web page that I have hi-lited. This seems like it might have some cool uses. We'll see. I' probably stick with the blogging I've always done, for the most part. And there is also the fact that this seems like a pretty funny story.

Oh yeah, I did see that the Radiers of The Lost Ark scene for scene remake was recently show at Coolidge corner in Cambridge MA. I hope it gains more momentum.

Our poor little doggie.

For years he has slept in our bedroom. Occasional joining us up on the bed, for an extremely restful evening. However for the past couple of months he has refused to join us. The CEO has put her finger on the problem. He's is afraid of the air conditioner and it doesn't even have to be running. He has always been an oddly observant dog. There was that one time when he noticed that some Christmas cards had been taped to one of the walls in our apartment. No he didn't like that, he had to scoot by the wall in a hurry then quickly turn and bark at it. However, that incident like many others passed as he got used to these inanimate objects. He doesn't seem to be getting used to the AC and I don't know why.

The kid is up.......

Here I sit once again "speechless" so to speak. Just coming off a big couple of weeks with my Sister In-law (blog name: SIL) and her kids. What can I say about it that the CEO hasn't said in her email. I think what I focused on as one of the stranger, or perhaps silly parts of the visit was the food. My SIL kept saying "my kids will eat everything, they'll eat anything." This was often in response to us asking if we should cook this or that or if we should eat out at this place or that place. And time after time the kids wouldn't like certain things. Don't get me wrong they are good eaters but like most humans "they don't like everything." I think the 5 year old summed it up best when I was telling our friend about this issues in her presence. She said "we eat everything that we like." Finally the voice of reason.

The kid is up.............

Silence.......

Our visitors have departed.
Our house is quiet again.
What a busy time.
We had a great time with all the kids and my sister in-law. However, it is always nice when you get your space back. Now we all have to reset ourselves. The whole time the gang was here I was going to bed between 11:30 and Midnight. We were eating dinner between 7:30 and 8:30 and then I would often clean the mountain of dishes that would easily take about and hour to clean the kitchen. It was interesting to have older kids around. I forgot what it was like to be ten. It is great to be a kid. I gotta go. The blog is alive again. I hope I haven't lost my massive audience.

Blog diet.

My sister in-law and her two girls are in town for the next couple of weeks.  The blog will be on a diet during this time since they are occupying the computer/guest room.  We picked them up in this past Thursday and spent quite a bit of time at a place call Bullwinkle's.  Wow, what a crazy place.  The CEO had always said she wanted to go to the family fun center.  You know what they say, be careful what you wish for.  Actually we had a great time, I don't know anyone who doesn't love go-carts.  See ya!  I'll blog when and if I can.

Tonight we feast.

That's it my so called love affair with the charcoal grill is over.  No more burnt or underdone food, no more waiting half an hour before I can start cooking.  The gas grill has arrived!  Our neighbor is a charcoal junkie and he has the knack for cooking on it.  I on the other hand am not.  One of my biggest downfalls was patiences.  I'd don't have time to wait for this ridiculous archaic thing to be ready, I want to eat and eat soon damn it!  It's the 21st century, I'm an MTV kid, I want things fast for crying out loud.  The real bonus is that our charcoal grilling neighbor has had a gas grill rotting away at the side of his house for a couple of years at least.  Take it away they said, no charge.  What more could I want than easy cooking for free.  Score!  I dragged the grill over just a day ago, opened it up, turned on the gas and pressed the ignition. 
 
Fire!!!!
(Imagine big swelling music as if the Lord him self was descending from heaven.)
 
Today I buy a new grill rack and clean the grill up and tonight we feast.

I was on the track and field team in high school and ever since then I have always loved watching the Olympic track and field.  However, with all of the doping charges flying around this year I'm pretty turned off.  I wonder how they will ever get drugs out of the sport.  Sports are so much better when you are a child and you believe that the players are hero's.
 
The CEO is still working on the Ofoto pictures of the Country Fair but in the mean time here is a shot of one of the strange characters:


Red Man

We also ran into The Green Tortoise at the fair and the CEO and I have made it a goal to go on one of their trips.  Maybe to Alaska.  Anyhow check out their website it just seems like the coolest thing.

So last night we watched Bad Santa.  I wouldn't say it was hysterical but we got some good laughs out of it.  I'll give it a 6 out of 10 for a comedy.  I think there is just something inherently funny about a man in a Santa suit who drinks, fight, swears, and steals.  It seems that the jokes could get old fast but the writing and acting was good enough to hold our interest the whole way.  I also recently saw Spider Man 2 probably a 7 on the Tony C movie meter.  I chose Spider Man 2 over Fahrenheit 9/11 only because I would have had to wait an extra thirty minutes for the start of F9/11.  In retrospect that was a bad choice.  I already know that I'm not voting for Bush so it's not like the movie would influence. I'm just so against his presidency that and for some reason I need to see or know about all his screw ups.  He is kind of like a car wreck you just can't help but watch.
 
Blogger has added some new tools and I want to use them just because they are new.  Color, wow check me out I'm blue and bold and italicized.

I've got to see this!

My sister recently told me about a group of teenagers who in the early eighties spent six years making a shot for shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. They started when they were around twelve. So I did some web searching and a branch of Paramount studios has bought the rights to the film in a six figure deal this past February. The article seems to indicate that Paramount may be producing a movie on the making of the remake. I actually came across a trailer that showed the big rolling ball scene and it was pretty amazing (trailer). You need QuickTime to view the trailer and it takes a little while to load but it's cool. Also, Spielberg has scene the movie and apparently loves it. The whole thing is such a cool story I just had to mention it. This movie has got to get out to a wider audience. I think such an accomplishment really strikes a chord with so many people who love movies and made movies as kids. Anyhow the buzz is that the movie is actually pretty damn good.

The Dragon March.

We're back from the Country Fair, what a great time. One of our primary reasons for going was to join in the Dragon march and the day didn't start out well in that respect. We arrived at the Fair at about 12:45pm and were told the Dragon march had already happened. When we told The Kid she said, "that's OK Mom, that's OK." What a little trooper. However later she started asking questions about where the Dragon was and that she wanted to see the Dragon. We were heart broken for her. We'll besides that the day continued on with us all exploring the wonderful sights and sounds of the fair. After watching some music and having lunch it was obvious that The Kid needed a nap. We went over to the "Mellow Space" and tried to get her to have some quiet time. It worked in a "so so" fashion. I soon had to take her to the potty; the porta-potty. What a gross solution to bathrooms. These things make me appreciate out-houses. Anyhow we were inside one of these methane boxes when I heard a faint cry. Was that someone calling my name. It happened again. I popped my head out of the box and there was the CEO, "Let's go!!! The Dragon just went marching by!!! Run!!!" We dashed through the fair as if being chased by a real dragon. When we finally caught up to the parade The Kid screamed "Dragon, dragon, dragon." She was on my shoulders screaming and waving her little magic wand. We must have followed the Dragon for almost half and hour chanting, "Watch out beware the magic of the dragon is at the fair," the whole time. That was definitely the highlight of the day. After that everything else was just icing on the cake.

The Kid is up.

I've been putting in extra hours to try and meet a deadline at work. I don't think it's going to happen. It's not the end of the world. I thought having a laptop would really help me in times when I need to put in extra hours and it has helped. However, we can't seem to get The Kid to fall asleep any earlier than 9:30. So turning on my laptop to get some work done becomes very unattractive at such a late hour. The other option has been to get up early and I've tried that, not fun either. It's not that I expected doing work from home to be fun but I did expect it to be more convenient. Oh well it still beats staying late at work and missing time with the family.

This weekend is the Country Fair. We had a blast last year and The Kid has been looking forward to the Dragon march all year. We are going on Friday in hopes that it will be less crowded.

What a boring blog entry.
I'm just sooo tired from working.

Sounds like the CEO is up.

Get a new job if you hate it so much.

Here's a common occurrence that has always bothered me at work.

Time: Monday morning.
Location: On the job.

Me: "Good morning! How you doing!"
Office Mate: "It's Monday...."

What the hell does that mean? I guess it implies that we've got a whole week to go before the weekend and man does that just suck.

I'm glad I enjoy my job.

Welcome.

There has been a little bit of excitement around here lately. A good friend has started her own blog and My Wife (now to be known as The CEO, this was her recommendation) has also posted more to her own blog. I can remember the days when I was looked at as some sort of nut case. Well it seems that more varieties have joined the mix. I'd like to recognize our latest blogging friend with a hyperlink http://www.myhandbasket.blogspot.com/. Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging.

To Ka, based on your last comments I thought you might have been slightly upset with my blog about your animals. The CEO commented on that blog entry also and I believe she may have gotten it right. It was not my intent to be negative. MelloYellow is truly the envy of this doggie dad.

I'd like to mention that at dinner tonight we had some roasted vegetables, they were prepared yesterday and we cooked them Uncle Kooky style. Thanks for the cooking tips UK. The veggies were delicious.

The animals rule.

My sister and her husband have two cats and a dog. These animals don't know how good they have it. When I first arrived I was shocked at how mellow their dog was (blog name: MellowYellow). Then after a short time I came to realize what was going on. MellowYellow doesn't have to do a thing. If she's on the couch and she drops her chew toy she just throws a sad glance to my sister or brother in-law and they happily pick it up. Often the help is accompanied by something like this: "Ohhh, my poor baby. I'll get that for you". I mean, of course the dog is mellow she's living in hog heaven. Our dogs are crazy compared to MellowYellow and the reason may be because by comparison they are living in a state of lock down.

I guess I really can't comment as much on the cats. They definitely didn't make as large of an impact on me as the dog. However they do seem to have the run of the place and I imagine this keeps them very happy.

The Midwest. The place to be.

Back in town after an enjoyable weekend spent in the Midwest. Ka got her Doctorate, what a great accomplishment! It was quite a weekend to have the whole team back together again. It was an interesting dynamic without two of the three spouses present. I think my parents lost some sort of a buffer zone because of this. Pistol once again took it on the chin for his driving habits. Mom, took some good shots too. Mostly aimed at her tea drinking addiction. I'm glad she never tried any powerful mind altering drugs or we would have lost her to that addiction many years ago. Although the tea drinking comes close to running her life I haven't yet seen any indication that she'll be lifting orange peakoe from the local grocery store anytime soon.

The other day at work I ran into someone who has been on assignment overseas and I hadn't seen him for at least a year. He looked at me and I could see all of the wheels clicking as he thought, "who is this guy, oh yeah it's him, what's his name." He was only able to verbalize a "hey, Hey, how you doing." I hate forgetting peoples names. I once worked a job where some guy thought my name was Jack. "Hi Jack!" he said one day as he passed me in the hall. What did he just call me, I thought. Then it happened again "Hi Jack." "Hey, how you doing," I replied. Why did I do it, why let him think my name is Jack. With each "Hi, Jack" I kept digging a deeper hole, I kept thinking I can't tell him my name's not Jack it's been too long he'll be embarrassed. Worse, I'll be embarrassed to have been such an idiot to have let it continue for no good reason. Luckily he was just a temporary employee and I only had to endure this hallway name calling for what turned out to be a couple of weeks. Now I always correct people immediately when I'm called by the wrong name.

I'm back to looking for an angle for the blog.
Let's think on some stuff. How about coffee. No, no good. Oh yeah, how about this little story.

Yesterday I got my haircut. I had about a half an hour wait so I went to the pizza joint and got a slice and a beer as I waited. Sitting behind a large glass wall I viewed the world outside as if I couldn't be seen. It made me want to get out my camera and shoot. I get my haircut at the hipster place down the street. They have the prerequisite "hot waife" taking names and scheduling. They offer me a free Pabst Blue Ribbon or a water while I continue to wait. I've grown out of all the magazines that there are to choose from. I don't even recognize any of the names. Finally I spot GQ with Will Ferrell on the cover, that guy's a riot. I read some of the article and determine the Old School was even funnier than I thought and that we need to rent it again. They call my name and I'm taken to my chair by my hairdresser, Misty. Misty is dressed all in black has died black hair with a medium tight perm down to her shoulders and is on the large side of large (no offense, just trying to paint a picture). She asks me what were going to do I tell her and before she proceeds she sneezes into her hand. She doesn't wash her hand or wipe it as far as I can tell. Why don't I say anything. Well that's just me. I wouldn't want any confrontation, f*#%ing idiot. Anyhow, she continues on and gives me a nice haircut, boogers and all.

I've had trouble writing blog posts this week. Is this the end of the blog.
NEVER!!!
Well, at least I hope not. Maybe this is just some blog down time I'm having.

I showered last night right before I went to bed. When I woke up I almost jumped in the shower. It is such a ritual that I almost don't feel right if I skip a shower in the morning (except on the weekends). Anyhow, I didn't get dirty while I was sleeping, on extremely hot nights I sometimes sweat and maybe then a shower is warranted. It just seems that it is a waste of water to shower in the morning if I showered at night.

The amount of mail we get for pre-approved loans is astronomical. I think this is the worst of all junk mail, spam included. A lot of the letters have wording that actually includes our lending banks and it appears as if the letter is coming from or approved by our bank. These people are real low life's.

I really have nothing to say (see above paragraph). I'm just staring out the window.

"I'm still in that weird place where meat is kind of grossing me out but I eat it everyday."
This is what I said in my last post.
To Ka:
Let's not take everything so literally. I love eating meat, I've yet to find a vegetable that can pack as much flavor and be as filling. My biggest problem lies with the mass production of it. When I think about how it was handled before it got to me it's enough to make me sick.

Speaking of meat, I think last night was the best night I've ever had on the grill. The pork came out great the sweet potatoes were good and the onions were a little crunchy yet not too crunchy. Since we purchased our charcoal grill two years ago I've been nothing but a disaster. Last night I switched my whole game plan and started cooking with the lid on, as recommended in the Weber instruction manual and some grilling book I got out of the library. This is contrary to some massive grilling book that I borrowed from our neighbors. So be it. I have found my path and become a man again! Bring on the meats!

Sometimes I think, what happened to me lately that was funny I need to put funny stuff in the blog. I think all I really want from this blog is to showcase my comedic brilliance. It has yet to happen. My days aren't that funny. Let's take today for instance:
I woke up and organized some bills. Have to make sure everything gets paid on time. Then my wife woke up and we made the coffee together. I never thought I would be one of "those people" the ones who have coffee before they even have anything to eat. We'll that's me. My wife (note: need to find better blog term for "my wife") went off to work for a couple of hours and I stayed with The Kid. We mostly played in her tent, it is tiny and with her and I and both dogs it got way too crowded and way too smelly. My wife came home and I went to work. On my way to work blah, blah, blah....and now I'm writing my blog and it is time to go to sleep. What a funny day I had.

End of day at work. My wife called as I was about to leave, "what are we going to do for dinner?" We are out of ideas and sick of pasta and my calzones. We're having cold cuts. I don't know if that is how it is really spelled. Is it coldcuts or cold-cuts. Growing up I thought they were called co-cuts. I'm still in that weird place where meat is kind of grossing me out but I eat it everyday. What's up with that?

Our damn mini-van still isn't registered. I tried to avoid going to the DMV as best I could. We paid some crappy service $55 dollars to do everything for us. Now they are telling me they have done all they can, submitted all the correct paper work and I've got to figure out the rest. The DMV sent us an incomplete registration without any paperwork, the service is like "huh..never seen that before." What am I supposed to do with this crap. I'm going to the DMV before work today. Wish me luck! I think I'll ask for my $55 dollars back.

The paperwork has just gotten out of control. Sometimes I feel like we are running a business not a family. All the bank stuff for the house and all the insurance paperwork is just overwhelming. We got some medical bills that our insurance mistakenly didn't pay. I contact them and they say "we'll try to resolve this if it isn't resolved in 60 days please call us back." Meanwhile I keep getting nasty letters from the medical providers asking that we promptly pay up. Keeping track of all this stuff, forget it, it's a nightmare.

I try to read the news on the web each morning but I've yet to master this task. There are just too many options and before I realize it I'm reading some piece of entertainment junk that has no relation to the serious headline that I originally intended to read. Our local paper the pretty much sucks the NYTimes is available but they charge way too much. The Times is printed within 200 miles of here and they charge $5.00 for the Sunday edition. Give me a break!

I imagine that as the web develops and my web habits develop it will become easier to read stuff online. However, my fear is that the web is soon going to be overrun by the corporations and that I'll have to pay a subscription fee to read things on any of the major news outlets. We've gotta bring the man down! I keep toying with the idea of purchasing my next pair of sneakers from adbusters. They got a sneaker that they are promoting in hopes of bringing down Nike. Good luck. Anyhow, it seems like I could support a good cause and be way out in front on the cool curve. Check it out: blackspotsneaker.org.

I've been listening to internet radio a lot at work. I recently tried to shift back to FM on my ride home. Usually I listen to NPR on the way home and H. Stern on the way in. Anyhow, I tried to listen to some music on FM radio what a disaster. What the hell is going on out there. On the internet I mostly listen to KCRW.org they are a great L.A. public radio station and they have an all music portion to their web site and I listen to radioio.com. I get to both of these stations through the I-tunes player. The I-tunes player is pretty cool, they have done a nice job in breaking down a lot of free internet radio into different genres and you just click and listen.

I haven't spent much time thinking about my lists of favorites. When I start to think about it I just draw a big blank. Maybe I wont list my favorites or perhaps my favorites of things that have little importance such as soap. We use Dove for sensitive skin at home and I do like it, however, I think my all time favorite is Ivory soap. I always felt like it never left any sort of residue. Also, it is 99 44/100% pure which is not only the make up of its purity but is the combination to enter Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. To this day I'm still amazed at the year book quotes that Shannon and I wrote in our high school year books. She wrote "Schnozberry who ever heard of schnozberry." This is what Veruca Salt says to Willy Wonka when they are licking the wall paper. I wrote "We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams," which is how Willy Wonka responds to Veruca. It just seems so odd. Doesn't it? I generally don't believe in things like fate but I just find this coincidence to be too strange to chalk up to anything else. Now they are going to go ahead and remake the master piece. I'm sure Tim Burton and Johnny Depp will do a wonderful job, but I'm also sure that it will be a darker movie. I think the real issue I have with it is that the original is so damn good why, why would you do it over. How about a special re-release. Hollywood, the bastards.

I'm afraid to write that the kid is sleeping late. I wrote it, now she is bound to wake up and this will be yet another short entry. Short is relative when it comes to my posts.

Last night we went down to the local carnival, which is part of a whole summer festival down by the river. It is a pretty big setup with lots of rides and now that The Kid is older she can go on some of the bigger rides. We started to get her all pumped up for it until we arrived and found out that everything was closed until tomorrow evening. Oops. The Kid would have none of it. She would catch a glimpse of someone setting up for tomorrow and she'd say "There, I see people! It's open. I wanna go in now." We would try to explain that it was closed but she didn't completely get it or more likely she wouldn't accept it. My favorite was "How bout go for walk, then come back, then go in."

So I've added a little more to my blog by making my profile available. There is an option to list your favorite movies, books and music. I mentioned this in an earlier blog that I don't have these lists anymore. But I think the web has made these sort of things popular. I'm going to give them some thought. Hold on to your hats my lists are coming!

Last night The Kid and I walked by what was obviously a dead fir tree. She asked what's wrong with it. I said the tree was sick.
"How it get sick." She said.
We talked about how she gets a cold and sometimes doesn't feel good and that the tree probaly had a cold like her. She seemed to understand. Then we were about 10 feet beyond the tree and she said, "I want to hug it." I told that would be nice. So she walked over to the dead tree and put her arms around its small trunk. As we walked away she said "It feels better now?"
"Yes, it feels better." I assured her.
I don't know if the tree really felt better but I sure did. What a great little kid.

It is just too much.
I don't want to pick up another pile of dog crap for as long as I live!

I've been very anxious about my previous blog posting. My first photo blog and I was hoping it would generate a flood of comments. No such luck. I continue to blog in relative anonymity. Who cares!! The blog must go on.

How many times are we going to go to Ikea?
We were talking last night and on the bright side of things is that we have actually graduated up to Ikea. What I mean is that when we were living in L.A. and buying most of your stuff used from yard sales and such we had heard about Ikea and its low prices. We'll we decided to check it out and "Oh my God!" they call these prices low. $500 for a couch how dare they! At least we have come to realize that this is a very cheap price and with Ikea it can sometimes mean it is very cheaply made too. We do love Ikea but the old saying "buyer beware" needs to be applied liberally when shopping there.

We did finally reach the ultimate goal at Ikea: One hour of free day-care. They have a huge fish bowl area where the kids can play while highly monitored. Anyhow, The Kid managed to lie about her age and act like a 3 year old so she could go in and play. There she was in a 20x20 room filled a foot deep with colored plastic balls. Each ball a carrier of 50 to 100 different strains of the common cold, what could be more gross. The important things is she was safe, she had a blast and she didn't seem to get sick. Thanks Ikea, we'll see you soon, I don't know why but we'll have a reason.

-----THE RED ROCKET-----

We'll miss ya :(

Kidney car finally came and towed this bad boy away. There were a lot of memories in the little red car that could. I don't miss it as much as I thought I would but out of respect I think I should list some of the great accomplishments it made (in order of importance):
1) The Boston to LA trip.
-You laughed at Pikes Peak; where was the challenge you wondered.
2) The L.A. commute.
-50 miles one way everyday for three years. You did it with out breaking a sweat.
3) Your week as a food delivery vehicle.
-Without my knowledge you took it upon yourself to help a friend in need and you performed with flying colors. Three cheers to Raymond who knows how to get the most out of his friends cars.

You provided me with many solid safe miles Red Rocket and you did it all with zero accidents and only two speeding tickets. Thank you my friend. I salute you......

Lunch time at work. Seems like a good time to blog. I generally eat at my desk doing work or surfing the web.

"Urgent action is needed to tackle the alarming increase of obesity levels..."
"European legislation would be needed to impose an effective ban on junk food advertising..."

I just pulled those two quotes off of the web from Google News. This whole obesity epidemic is very interesting to me. It seems that news about obesity is everywhere. I hope this is the first step in conquering this problem. Ever since I read Fast Food Nation I have spent a lot more time thinking about what I eat and getting grossed out by it. I think a lot of my blog posts have shown this to be the trend. It just seems wild that we as humans are eating ourselves to death. It's gross. I seem to have specific weaknesses like potato chips. If they are in the house I'll chow down. Thank God they are hardly ever in the house.

I remember in high school it seemed so important for me to know my favorites. Such as: my favorite band (U2 at that time), favorite movie, favorite food etc... It was as if I didn't have a favorite then there was something wrong with me. Why were we so passionate about things like this back then? What the hell am I writing about this is ridiculous. I think I have writers "blog" and I'm just writing for the sake of writing. Probably not a bad thing.

I can't get rid of this damn cold. I played basketball yesterday because I couldn't resist. Man was I bad, I'm blaming it on the cold. Anyhow, I don't think it was smart to play because my nose seems more stuffed up than yesterday.

We have been trying to plan to get back east for my grandmothers 90th birthday celebration in mid August. It doesn't look good. I think we have decided on going back for Christmas, when I have to take the time off anyhow and when there are possibly more flights available.

We still have pictures floating around from the failed adoption we went through recently. I've finally become pretty detached from that nightmare, thank God. I look at the pictures and it is like it was a different lifetime. Maybe we should throw the stuff out. Anyhow, as far as an adoption goes we are still waiting it out and believing that the right thing will happen someday. What we do know is that the next time something happens we need to trust our instincts.

I think I hear The Kid rousing. Man is she cute. Sometimes I just go into her room while she is sleeping and watch her. It would seem that there is not much to watch but when she is awaking she is just a blur of motion so seeing her resting so peacefully is a joy. Eating is currently our biggest problem with her...

The Kid is up!

I was recently viewing one of my favorite blog like web sites it is joshmadison.com. Who is this guy. He has created a great program called convert that I use almost on a daily basis at work, it is for converting between different units of measure.

Why is there no good pizza on the west coast. This is what we must spend about 10% of our time talking about whenever we get together with fellow east coasters. We are stranded in a vast pizzaless desert. What's so hard about a good pizza people?

We'll I've got my airline tickets and I'll be off to see my sister get her Doctorate of Philosphy. Wow, she has been in school a long long time. It has got to be a little scary to be leaving the student life behind. I'm really looking forward to meeting my sisters friends and seeing where she lives. I've created a pretty solid image of her living space in my head and I'm dying to see how it compares to the real deal. It has always been said that fact is stranger than fiction, that remains to be seen.

A rare moment of pure stillness. The dogs are out on the porch napping. The Kid is asleep and my wife is out at the hardware store. A friend from work is coming over for dinner tonight with his wife and two kids. We need to have people over for "formal" dinner parties more often. It forces us to clean the house, or to at least make it look presentable.

Wow, was it fun to have The Pistol out for a visit. My absolute favorite moment was watching The Pistol and The Kid dance around the coffee shop to the piped in music. Neither one of them having any inhibitions and The Pistol with his shirt on inside out, I mean, he might as well have been one of The Kid's age appropriate playmates. It seemed in that moment that life had gone full circle for him and he had or maybe has recaptured the beauty of living life like a child.

Sometimes we feel that The Kid may be missing out on a lot by not living so close to all of her Grandparents. The idea of moving back has never died. Who knows what will come of where we live. Neither one of us ever thought we would live where we now do. I still sometimes ask myself "what am I doing here, how did we get here, what is this strange city."

It has been a very eventful few days here. I have lots to tell and currently so little time to tell it. I'm going to try and do a quick brain dump of hi-lites right now.

Pistol Pete:
Dancing in the Coffee Shop.
Wearing his shirt inside-out while out and about.

I'm back from a 5 min. interruption.

Wow, I've just run out of steam.

I feel like I'm going to collapse. Too much wine and cheese tonight. Or can you really ever have too much wine and cheese. I think not.

The kid is going to bed.
It's a late one.

The Pistol bolgs:

The kid up at 7 we are at the park at 8 45 minutes later -- must cut out visit the big B talk about ID design with the R. Little kid runs around crazy for an hour. The kid and I spend the day on life's larger issues face painting ? what makes rain? What is a post office and what shall it deliver ? We develop a new theory --- life should be simple bugs are important. I'm introduce in the store as P when ask again as to what my name is she shake her head and responds louder with the P. The kid has the answer to life's questions---- the question is do we want the answer We close the night off with a reading.

"The Kid Is Up!" She stayed true to the mantra by spending half the night awake crying because of her stuffy nose. I maybe got a total of four hours of sleep, that's fun.

The Pistol is enjoying himself with The Kid. In some critical areas they are like little mirror images of one another. They can't find their shoes, they take things out and leave them all over the house and the mess that they can both create with food is amazing. The dishwashing skills of Pistol continue to amaze me. I believe that the legally blind would be able to see the food particles left on a Pistol qualified clean dish. The other one that is amazing is how he handles a cup of tea or coffee. He's the Exxon Valdez of mug handling.

biG, if you read this, have my wife log into her Ofoto account and check out the two latest albums I posted. Pictures of Mom and her State of Clay show and pictures of The Kid and The Pistol. Thanks.

I don't think I'm going to have Pistol post a blog. He may not totally appreciate my witty comments above. Maybe he wont mind. I'll think about it.

The Pistol arrived and the kid was very excited. She was in shock actually, she couldn't say a word but you could read it on her face that she just couldn't believe that her Papa had finally arrived. At the airport she proudly put on her new baseball hat, which last night she had to sleep with, grabbed her Papa's hand and walked with him to the car. She held his hand the whole way. When we got home she ran around the house saying "Papa look at this, look at this...." She showed Papa all of her stuff and amazingly went to bed with only minor complaints.

Today all of us are going to The Kid's music class. Then after that there are really no plans but I'm pretty sure The Kid will tell her Papa exactly what she wants and he'll be more than happy to comply.

It has been a slow week for the blog. However, I believe there may be good things to come soon. The Pistol arrives tomorrow evening and "my contention is that he'll have a good take" on things when he gets here. So I'm hoping he'll honor biG's idea and post an entry to the blog. Lets keep our digital fingers crossed X.

It's a whole new look today.
I look professional now. There is even a new commenting option. I think it may be improved for those of you who like to ramble on a little bit (Ka).

So, this past weekend we went to Breitenbush Hot Springs (breitenbush). It is very Oregon. We spent one night there in a little cabin. The deal is that the place is kind of a get back to mother earth spa. They hold workshops and classes on Love, Sex, Spirituality etc... Alright let me cut to the chase they have like 10 natural hot springs on site and your are allowed to go in naked, this is the option that 90% of the people choose. So I wasn't sure what my choice was going to be then I just decided to go for it. It was fine. The real problem I had wasn't whether I felt comfortable with my own nudity but was that I wanted to relax and sitting in a small hot tub with 6 other people was not my idea of total relaxation. I want to be alone. What I realized is that I need physical space to truly ground myself. That is just how I am. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy myself. I did, we all did. There was plenty of nice trails to walk. Some small meditation sanctuaries. Also, there was a mothers day weekend retreat going on and there were kids everywhere so Daisy had a blast. The food is provided as part of your stay and it is all vegetarian and all organic and was very delicious. The big problem I have with the vegetarian diet is the gas. After two days of eating this stuff I was a methane balloon ready to burst.

The kid is up.

I'm still out here thinking of doing a blog post, haven't had time yet. We just got back from a weekend trip to a hotsprings spa. Lots to tell.....

Back soon.

Last night would have been a perfect night to kick of a meat free week. I sat down at the table to eat my beautiful veggie meal, I looked down at it and thought "let me just reheat that left over sausage that will go great with all of this." It was delicious.

The Kid spent her first night in a big girl bed. We'll she really didn't spend the night there because at about 3:15 am she decided it was time to wake Mom and Dad. After a few failed attempts to get her back into the bed she walked down the hall and joined us at 4:00 am. We try again tonight!

The Pistol is on his way out here soon and I'd love to complete a lot of projects that were unfinished when he was here in February. If we could just finish a damn project.

I keep meaning to add this link I came across one day.
I was reminded of it when biG was thinking of developing a fragrance.
Check it out. I plan on buying all of my bathroom products from here someday.

www.anthony.com

Places like Taco Bell and McDonald's are just beyond my abilities for food consumption. I don't know what I have a bigger problem with the industry that runs the place or the kids that serve the food. I once worked a summer as a grill cook at a pizza joint. I was 18 years old and I remember exactly how I handled food. My filthy hands were all over the food. I mean I would bet that 50% of teenage boys don't wash their hands after they pee. Teenage boys are gross.

I've started playing basketball again, twice a week during lunch. I'm glad I started up again. I had missed enough games in a row, do to work, that I had started to forget how much fun it is to play.

The kid is getting funnier every day. Last night we had a fork fight for the last cube of watermelon. She was cracking up and then when we let her win she stuffed the piece in her mouth, pointed at me with her fork, looked me in the eye and said with a big stuffed face smile "Daddy's piece." My favorite thing that she is doing currently is her suggestions. We'll may ask her if she wants to read a book and she might say "how about.... go to swings and slides, how about that."

In the recent past I would look at the slides at a playground and think how boring. Not able to give the slide any perspective. Now when I see The Kid on a slide I think how exciting. The slides may be about ten feet long that is like five times longer than her. If I could go to a park with fifty foot slides I think I would have fun too.

Some comments regarding recent comments:
Fast Food Nation is the reason I keep toying with the idea of giving up meat. Everything about the meat producing industry was disturbing. I have trouble explaining to people what is so bad about the industry because it would take too long. It is better just to say "read the book."
biG: Any luck selling the house?
Ka: A meat free week sounds like a good idea but since I do about 1.5% of the cooking I'd need my wife to buy into it. That's just an excuse, I'm sure she would.

The grammar free zone still gets my interest in one of my recent blog's I wrote "I look forward to me free bagel...." Call it a typo or really bad grammar but I like how it sounds, very caveman or maybe it is more like what an Irish Jew would say.

I'm getting a laptop from my company so I'll be able to work from home. I'm kind of mixed about this. I do want to be able to work from home so I can reduce staying late when I've got a lot of work. However, the down side is now I'm working outside of work. Is this the beginning of the end. The reason I requested a laptop was so I could have more flexible hours and support my wife's needs while she works. Overall I think it is the right thing to do.

Our poor dogs. They need more walks. This is a discussion we constantly have:
"They deserve at least one walk per day."
"I know they do"
"We'll we should do that"
"Yes we should"
"It only takes 10 minutes to go around the block"
"You're right"
"OK"
Then we don't do anything about it.
I'm going to take them for a walk now.

Let me try and respond to some of the comments made to the prior blog.

Readers: Ponder on that sentence for awhile. The kid is up.

Tony C's blog seems to be morphing into something that I had originally proposed to reader Ka. I'm wondering if there is interest in going in this direction. Which would be to open the blog up and allow anyone to create a blog entry. This format would get rid of the comments and would create a running capture of all our dribble. Part of me likes this idea but another part of me is against it. Right now I am the blog king and my useless dribble is the launching pad for everyone else's useless dribble. I would have to give up my blog king title. Am I ready for that?

Today is bagel day at work. I look forward to me free bagel with more anticipation than should be allowed.

The kid is up!!!

Now this is what a blog is all about.
Three cheers to my readers.
What does tall smell like. I ask you, what does the sky smell like? Tall perhaps would have no smell, or should I say it would be a smell eliminator so all you would ever smell is pure freshness.

Another point one of my blog readers made that I'm very happy about is that a blog should be "a grammar free zone." I applaud this because I believe that my grammar is horrific and my audience is the grammatical equivalent of the Three Tenors (whatever that means).

I love the web.
It is made for the MTV generation. Is that still me or do you eventually grow out of that definition and have to pass it on to the next generation? I'm writing in my blog and surfing for child safety window virtually simultaneously.

I can't believe I'm now a Dad and that when I think of MTV my first thoughts are "how am I going to protect my daughter from this filth." How times change. I'm pretty sure it is filthier than when I was a kid but maybe I'm just getting old. I guess it doesn't personally offend me and I still do like a lot of the new music that is coming out. Not the pop but the alternative stuff. Although I don't listen to the words as if they had biblical weight as I did in High School.

I'm in blog heaven with "FOUR" that's right "FOUR" comments posted to my latest blog entry. It seems that my fan base has just quadrupled overnight.

I'm here all by myself with the kid. It is my third day of it being just the two of us. She's a great little kid. It seems the day just flies by and I get nothing "personal" accomplished. All of her needs are at intervals that disallow enough time for any meaningful work. Today I was able to get some yard work done while she was napping and she even joined me for an hour and a half after she woke. Tomorrow I'm going to try and record our day on film (really compact flash). I brought home a digital camera from work and I think it would be fun to have a day in the life record to show my wife when she gets back.

In my blogging I have made an effort not to use names. I'm not quite sure why. However I've become accustom to writing this way and since my audience is primarily family and friends (lets be honest it is only family and friends) I wonder if you all find it odd or some how interesting. As if maybe you are reading about someone you don't know?

Tonight the two of us had calzone and salad. When my wife isn't here my eating habit deteriorate slightly. You know I eat right from the salad bowl and push food onto my fork with my fingers. The little one is getting old enough where I think she may start to develop memories of things like this. I hope not. It seems at worst she thinks things like this are funny and that's OK.

Also I have to take time out to give a big shout out to my newest blog "commenter":
What up 3!!!!
Thanks for the kind words and advice on blog direction. Peace.

I can't stop reading the comments that were posted. Someone urinated on my sisters lawn. I don't know what would feel like more of a violation a smashed car window or a patch of dead smelly urine grass. I think I may take the window. I've had my car vandalized before and I kind of felt like "hey, what the, why..." and then I got over it, although paying for the replacement window sucks. But to find someone peeing on your lawn that is like "HEY, COME ON!!!" It reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where for reasons I don't remember George shouts at someone "we live in a society here!!!" I mean what is going on with people. The awful thing is I can't wipe the smile off of my face. It is just so damn funny. Isn't it?

Good morning. It seems that if we don't let the little one have the super long nap that she wants then she tends to sleep later. Praise the lord!

Sometimes I think that our big dog might as well be a teenage boy. He pounds around the house always running up the stairs, he crys when he doesn't get enough attention, he eats like every meal is his last. The dog can't do anything quietly. He drives me crazy! Then there are times like now, when he comes in the room and lies down next to me and keeps me company. What a good boy.

I'm starving for breakfast but I don't want to have cereal because I'll use most of the milk that is left and the little one needs her milk in the morning.

My sister is a vegetarian and I often wonder if I could do it. When things like the mad cow scare hit it becomes plainly obvious that the vegetarians are doing something right. Then I think, OK we will only by meat from organic farms. The price of that stuff is through the roof and at some point they are still killing the poor innocent animal. I don't know. For now I've pretty much dumped red meat as an option.

I watched a video by William Hung online and it was a riot. He is one of the American Idol rejects. He has no talent for singing or performing but that is exactly what makes him so watchable.

My wife is off to North Carolina on Wednesday evening so I'll be flying solo with the kid until Monday evening. It should be a good time. I've got big ideas for what I want to get done around the house but I'm sure I'll come back to earth soon. I think my number one goal is to cleanup the yard. I may be able to do that with the little one running around getting dirty (helping, as she like to call it). Oh yeah, I'm also going to bring a digital camera home for the weekend all I need is one great shot and maybe I can win a camera from work. I hope so. I feel like a broken record but I think adding photos to my blog will help me take it in "the direction". "The direction" being a direction I have yet to become aware of.

Just posting a quick blog tonight. I need to keep this sucker alive. We have been very busy and the little one keeps getting up early and spoiling my blogging. I will be back. My fan(s) must be satisfied.

She has been waking up as early as six!
Too early, not good. It is right at my get ready for the day time. I love her to pieces but some time alone in the morning is a great way to start the day.

Yesterday we went and met our daughter's pre-school teacher. What a disaster. The teacher spent most of her time talking to us and some time giving our daughter a lesson and then observing how she performed. It all started off great until the kid touched something and was told by the teacher that she was not allowed to touch it. Big problem. She was not happy being talked to by some stranger so she broke down. Then the teacher picked her up and brought her to a chair to sit with her and try to reason with her, I guess. But by this time it was too late the kid was into a full blown meltdown. Eventually with her Mom's help she recovered and performed another lesson. However, I don't think we have recovered yet. The problem we now are having to decide is whether this teachers methods match well enough with our daughter and will she be happy in her class. How do you make that call from just one meeting? We have decided to have another go at it and make the call from there. If it still doesn't feel right we will request another teacher.

She's up.

Oh my sweet blog.
How I do not want to forget about you.
I have not had the time to write as of late. Sorry.
The big challenge I'm going after now is submitting a digital photo entry into the hp employee photo contest to try and win the digital camera I'm dying for.
Wish me luck.

I didn't mean for my previous blog to sound like it did. In reading it again I realize that it did not put my wife in a positive light. Big oops! I have always found it difficult to correctly express myself with written words. So much can be taken away from what is read that is different than the writer intended. Especially this writer. I think I'm going to remove that entry. I hope no one else read it.

I've been playing basketball about twice a week for maybe the past five months and I love it. However, it has always been hard to balance the basketball playing and my hours at work. Now I've got to start juggling my Fridays so my wife can go to training for her job which starts this fall. I'm so excited for her and am more than willing to do whatever it takes to help make her successful at this job. I believe it will be a great outlet for her and provide much needed time away from home. The downside for me is I think I'm going to have to drop one of my basketball playing days for awhile, that sucks. I'm going to be getting a laptop soon and I hope that makes my life a little easier. Ideally I'd like to put in the standard 40 hours per week and to do it between 7am and 6pm. However with some of these other obligations I need to be more flexible and generally I'd accomplish that by staying late at work. That just doesn't fly with me anymore. I like to be home for dinner and to spend some time with my wife and daughter. I hope that laptop will alleviate these issues.

Just back from a big over night trip to the coast.
Was it relaxing? Yes and no. We had a great time but traveling with a two and a half year old has its challenges. Also traveling with the dogs is always interesting. They were good boys but I think what gets me most is there noises, especially in the middle of the night. The ears on our lab, when he shakes his head it's like a bass drum solo. The minivan is a great way to travel. What a pleasure the drive was compared to what we are used to.

The coast was definetly a needed break, however, I think my wife and I are still both very stressed out. We both are constantly tired and have back and neck strains. I guess we are still not over the adoption fiasco. I told maybe five people in work what we were going through and I thought I was keeping everything on the "down low" but I've had about 15 people ask "how's your new baby". I don't want to tell the story any more even the extra abbreviated version I've been giving sucks to tell.

I keep getting the same questions and comments over and over from friends and family who I make aware of my blog.

-Why do you do it?
-Who are you hoping reads it?
-I don't get it?

I don't have the answers to these questions. One thing I have found is that this is the longest that I have ever gone keeping a diary, of sorts, so that fact alone keeps me going. I know it is kind of a diary of the mundane and that's OK, at least it is some kind of an outlet for me. It takes me barely anytime and it allows me to focus, I guess it is becoming my morning meditation. I'm not sure who I want to read this thing. Why would I want anyone but close friends and family to know about such personal stuff? I don't know. Also it's really not that personal or deep. I guess that's why I've keep it pretty generic. All I really know is that I enjoy doing this and I've got some crazy notion that at some point this is all going to gel and move in a direction that makes sense to me and can be understood by everyone else. I imagine if I was publishing some sort of a story online or a documentary or something like that there would be no questions. I think that this is why I keep writing, someday something may evolve. Who the hell really knows. But, until then I may just keep recording the mundane aspects of my life.

It feels like the morning after. Even though it is the morning after the morning after. The actual morning after just felt to unreal.

It's time to get going and put a price tag on the "Red Rocket" my old Geo Prizm. I'm hoping to get $500 dollars for it. I think it is worth it. I guess I'll bring it in to the car wash this weekend and give it a good cleaning. It'll be sad to say goodbye. I've held on to the car for too long already. I keep telling myself that I'll take my wife's old car into the shop and I'll use the "Rocket" for one final day or two. However that plan has been linger for at least two weeks now. So now the rocket is just costing me money to insure as it sits in front of our neighbors house. I'm sure our neighbor is less than happy about that. Sorry.

I was telling my wife that we are becoming a family of unfinished projects. She rightly pointed out that we are that family. We got the kitchen remodel 90% complete, our daughters play structure also 90% complete. We bought the new minivan but have yet to sell the old car, I'll give that a 95% complete. Our yard was partially landscaped by yours truly. The list goes on. This repeating pattern seems harder to break than I thought it would be. I'm guessing that this happens because we both enjoy working on the big picture but then when it comes down to the details things get less exciting and we loose interest.

The adoption.

It finally came to a finish yesterday afternoon. The birthmother was unable to place her child with us. We knew she was on the fence the whole time. In retrospect we may have even known that this was always going to be the outcome. When it all started we told ourselves and her social worker that we didn't believe that she was going to follow through on an adoption but that we would go forward. We did this because we knew that the birthmother needed support and we kept a small dash of hope alive that she may place this child with us. In the end I think the decision she made was the best for us and hopefully her too. Her decision was very unstable and I believe that she could have been swayed in any direction right up to the end. Thank God she had some people around her who were not willing to make the decision for her because that is what she was looking for.

For us the worst part was the waiting. When we were at the hospital during the birth we waited in the lobby for over an hour before we were allowed to go in and see "our child". Both my wife and I felt that this was a very bad sign. We did then get to spend some time with the child and a whole host of other characters. It was very hard to connect with so many people around and with a birthmother who was scared to let us connect. We went back for a less chaotic visit later in the day and it was nice but still not a warm and loving experience. However, I was able to let "him" into my heart and I finally allowed my self to get excited about having a son. I don't want to say that this was a mistake but it definitely was my source of pain later. The following day the waiting continued. To make a long story short: The birhtmother spent all day flip flopping between her decision and the social worker kept checking in with us to tell us the latest position. Then finally late in the afternoon after my wife spoke with the birhtmother the social worker called back and said "she can't do it". What hurts from all of this is not so much that we "lost a child" because I don't quite feel that way but it is that I was very emotionally invest in these past few days and having it come to an end is a huge relief and it allowed all of the emotions to finally spill out.

So that is the short version of what went down. Now we are back in the adoption pool and preparing ourselves to start this crazy ride all over again someday.

MY biggest blog fan brought up a good question:
"....there are two things I've committed to seeing: the northern lights and Amsterdam. How about you? Or are there things you want to do?"
I haven't set any goals of places to go or things to do. However, there is much I would love to see and do. A friend of mine in L.A. once said to me that if you haven't done something that is reason enough to do it. I think that this is good advice. I've tried to leave my self open to accept more experiences. At this point in my life I can't expect that their will be a lot of travel to exotic places, but I haven't ruled it out for the future and when the future does come around who knows what will interest me. Right now I'm just concentrating on being happy with where I am, travel is going to be limited for some time to come. This doesn't bother me. A day spent with my daughter is worth more to me than any trip in the world at this point.

I went to the bookstore the other evening. I love browsing in the bookstore. The truth of the matter is that I browse like I'm an avid reader but I'm actually quite the opposite. Yet another thing that I keep thinking I will change about myself.

One full hour of crying. Who can sleep through anything like that? The kid goes weeks without a problem. Then, Bam"!!! She spends the next few nights waking up between 1:00 and 5:00. She cries and yells and just refuses to go back to sleep. Why? Why, does this cycle exist?

I want to play basketball today but my next is still killing me. I'm hoping that the exercise will work out the knots. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

MY NECK!!!! This typing is beating me down. Can't c...o...n...t...i...n....u.....e......... Ahhhhhhhhhh!

My back is killing me. I've got all this tension in my neck from work, home, adoption etc.... All I want to do is "veg-out" in front of the TV. I know I'll feel no better when I'm done. I've spent all day rubbing my neck and no progress. I completed my task at work that was weighing me down. I thought that would relieve some of my stress. I guess not.

I've got to part with my '93 Geo Prizm. It's parked outside just calling me to come and drive it. Now I'm driving the Corolla and it is great, however, the Geo is the only car I've known for 10 years. I'm going to miss it. I need to take some photos. I don't know if it will do her justice.

500 dollars that is all I can expect to get for her. What a shame. So many great years of service and now she's worth next to nothing. At least in monetary terms.

I've got to get to the library!

Between work, family and this weird adoption thing I'm just dying. I'm so tired. Even when I get good sleep by 9:00pm I'm dog tired.

It is absoultely fantastic to check my blog and see comments even if they are all from my sitster. I don't care it still makes me feel great!

I keep debating whether I should start to write about our pending adoption or not and I keep coming to the same conclusion. Not. I still feel very protective of my emotions around this and I hope that when "it" finally goes down that I can do a big download of everything that we have been going through.
My mind is on work right now and I'm finding it hard to concentrate on writing. Basically I keep making a list in my head of everything I need to do within the next few working days to make things right with my project. I've got a heck of a lot of stuff to take care of and I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. It just seems as if since the begining of this year that a good portion of my day at work is spent dealing or maybe just worrying about things at home. My "life/work" balance isn't good right now, at least not mentally. When there are big life events going on I often use work as a means of escape. The down side is during these times I don't have the time to throw my self completely into work because I know I have more important things outside of work. Then I just keep turning this cycle of opposing thoughts over and over in my head and the end result is little progress in both areas.

Time. That's what is lacking. I thought I would have time to write every morning. I don't. I like to read the news and I take care of my daughter until 8:00am. She is usually the one who wakes up and captures my morning time. My original plan was to use the morning to post my thoughts to this blog. It aint workin'. Right now she is sucking down a sippy cup full of milk with what appears to be overwhelming passion. She loves milk more than life it seems.

I talked to Dad tonight. He sounded tired but excited to talk. The little one was such a handful I had to help control her and got off the phone early. Maybe I'll send him an email. I felt like that guy in the song. You know the one "...my boy was just like me, yeah. He'd grown up just like me." I really wish I had been able to make time for him. Dads are important. I feel a lot better now I just wrote Dad a nice e-mail to get him up to speed on where our adoption stands and on the MiniVan.

The MiniVan has been a nice distraction. We have a lot to tell about our latest adoption "prospect" for much lack of a better word. We are holding a lot of the information close and it is not for release until something goes down. And something may be going down really soon and it both feels like something is coming while also feeling like something is not coming. Meanwhile I keep thinking things like "How the hell are we really going to pay for this car" and "I've got to do the damn taxes!!"

When we bought this house I thought this is great it is like having rent that never goes up. The problem is you need your earnings to go up to actually have such a thing become an advantage. That has yet to happen. Damn company!!

I'd really like to have more music. I've been listening to internet radio a lot at work and it's great. There is a lot of good stuff out there and I've started to write down some of the performers. For some reason I keep thinking "I don't want to buy a CD" they are useless. Yet I really don't have a computer system setup to interact with our stereo nor do I have an MP3 player. I never have any of these new gadgets but I sure would love to have them.

How many of the same meals have I eaten in my life. If I really start to think about meat and how it is processed, what they feed the animals and how they are treated. Gross!! Maybe I could be a vegetarian. Then I have a good piece of prosciutto and I think this is great who cares where it comes from.

The MiniVan.

We picked up our used Toyota Sienna this morning. What a little moment of confusion. All the paperwork to understand. Plus we met this woman and she opened the van door and her two kids (ages: 3 and 5) are sitting in it. It just seemed kind of strange, you know like "what are you kids doing in my car". We are speculating that the couple selling us the car are getting a divorce. It is just a feeling that we've gotten as we have delt with them over the past few days. They don't really seem to communicate with each other. I hate to judge people on their looks but that is exactly what we are doing to these people. They are like the super-suburbanites. She has bleached blonde hair and over sized well manicured nails. He drives around in a white Jag and they live in a McMansion.

I had a roommate in college once say "Stereotypes exist because they are true". It is such an awful blanket statement but it probably carries some amount of truth. I'm sure there are aspects of my life that could be easily stereo-typed but even so they don't define me as a person. But when you are dealing with someone for such a small moment in time the stereo-type may define them. I guess that is OK.

I've just found the coolest thing it is called RSS. All the webheads are probably all over it. However, I read an article in Slate that explained this tool and you've got to check it out. I'm using SharpReader to take advantage of RSS. It is basically a great new way to organize web sites to make searching for the news and articles that you read daily very simple. Check it out.

If I wanted to make this Blog interesting I'd start to write about how we may be adopting a child soon but I really don't want to get into it.

I have this thought almost everyday: "When am I going to get a raise". I hate the fact that money has become so important in my life. Honestly though, I've been with the company for over three years and they have only given out one raise, you know due to the economic situation and all. I love my job and the people I work with but I'm beginning to hate the company.
I've got so much stuff to do at home and yet I sit on my ass more than I should. I love to just relax on the weekends but this family thing really increase the level of responsibilities. On the up side I love my wife and my daughter is a little miracle but I just wish there were less worries and we could live it up a little more than we do.

How come I can find the time to write this stuff, yet I don't have the time to email my friends or family? I've got to find time to wash my dogs. The smell is horrendous. I'm really thinking a photo-blog is the way to go. The problem is I need to get a good digital camera. I need $500 to fall into my lap. This damn MiniVan search is driving me crazy. We found one with really low miles for a great price but not all of the options. I'm sick of looking around.

No time to write much today. I'm going to get my drivers license. I've got to get 8 out of 10 correct to pass. Wish me luck. Oh yeah, it looks like we are the proud new owners of a minivan.
I can't believe it.

Monday morning. The baby monitor is off so I need to tune my ears to my daughter's morning sounds. She can go from a whisper to a roar in no time at all.

Tomorrow I need to get my new license. I've been living in this state for almost three years and I'm still driving with an out of state license. How come some of life's easiest task are monumental for me. Here's another one, take my wife's car to the shop. I've been meaning to do this for well over a month. My car is a wreck. We are having company come this Tuesday. I need to clean my car today. It has gotten to the point where I'm embarrassed by my own car. The paint job has turned from shiny red to a powder red and with the missing hub cap it is like I'm driving around a car with a black eye.

I'm not really hungry this morning. Yesterday I had to run to the store to purchase some paint thinner and I bought a dollar bag of malt balls. I ate almost the whole thing on my 3min ride home. What was that all about?