Happy Birthday, My Son

 
Today my son celebrates the first year since his birth. I thought time flew when I had one child - now with the second it seems to have accelerated even more so. He's such an amazing and happy little boy and truly a blessing to our family. He's grows more capable every day and I look forward to the days we will spend playing at the park, jumping on the trampoline, and swimming in the pool. As we did with his sister, his mother and I continue to wonder how such a beautiful baby came from the two of us. I only hope that I can be the kind of father that a baby like him deserves to have. 

A little Visitor

 
Well, Shelley, I can do just as good as your pigeons. This morning, the wife calls me down to the bathroom and this little guy is what greets me. After coming home from church, I left the garage door open becuase I needed to do some work out there. I guess there must have been a crack in the door from the garage to the house and this dude decided to make himself at home. Given a bit of gentle guidance, I managed to help him find his way out, although not before he made a few attempts to fly through the bathroom mirror. 

Yes, I took the Food Quiz, Too

You Are Chinese Food

Exotic yet ordinary. People think they've had enough of you, but they're back for more in an hour.

What Kind of Food Are You?

Did I mention I hate oriental food? People think they've had enough of me, but they come back for more? That doesn't sound particularly good, does it. Ah, well. I think I'll go have a steak - tomorrow.

Knights of Columbus

I've been a member of the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal order of Catholic men, for a little over four years now. In that time, I've made a lot of good friends and made connections with many of the families at our parish. Like most people, I struggle to live as I know I should and to be a good example to others, especially my kids. My membership in the KC's and being active in the parish has helped me by, quite frankly, surrounding myself with people who are far better Christians that I am who provide me with great examples of how to live. I know I'll never be the man I want to be, but I'm going to keep trying to get their until my last day on Earth.
Tonight, we had our regular monthly meeting and I did something new for the first time. We had an initiation for several new members. It is a ceremony who details are a secret of the order. The purpose of the secrecy is not to hide anything from the world, but because it is a beautiful ceremony and the new members are able to get the full impact of it by coming in without foreknowledge of the details. Maybe I'll figure out a better way to explain that some time.
Anyway, our council, 8960, has a team that performs this ceremony for the new members and I recently joined that team. Tonight was my first opportunity to do the part that I've been practicing for the last few months. It is an important section that I deliver and I'd been working on it hard because I believe these new men that we welcome in the KC's deserve my best. I was nervous, but my part went smoothly and I was pleased that the reaction was favorable from those who heard me.
I recently read a report that suggested that those who are teenagers now are becoming less connected as people because they spend so much of the communication time doing instant messages, blogging, myspacing, text messaging, etc. Not even so much as talking on the phone, which was what we did back in the day before all of these internet channels came to be.
As I've gotten older, I realize more and more that we really need to spend time in person with our fellow humans in order to really live. Whether it's working on a project with the KC's, taking my kids to play at the park, or going out on a date with my wife - these are the events that I'll remember and cherish as I look back on my life. The computers, technology, and internet are just tools and toys - they are not life and we have to be careful that they don't displace our lives and keep us from taking time to enjoy the real events, some of which we'll only get once chance at.
Well, that was all loosely connected. But, it's late and my mind is starting to wander, so I'd better wrap up for today.

Where have I been?

Well, I must confess - it's been so long since I've made a post that I had to get my password reset. I see Shelley manages to post every couple of days and I haven't posted since before Thanksgiving. I keep waiting for that return to normal after the rush of the holidays. Yet, I'm starting to realize the truth that with kids and a wife and job that this is "normal".
So, I'm left with just trying to do a better job of fitting a comment here and there into the time that I do have. As for lately, like most Americans, I've been trying to lose the weight that I gained last year. In what has become an annual tradition at my work, I've been in a 10 week weight loss challenge with 55 of my coworkers to try and drop 7% of our starting weight. We just finished week 9 and I finally made it across the 7% threshold and I will hopefully finish about 20 lbs down from the beginning of the year. I've still got another good 35 lbs to go after that, but I think I'm on track this year to finally get back down. The wife and I got a family membership to the YMCA this year and we've stuck with regular visits, so we're both making progress. Having childcare available has really taken out our last excuse to not exercising more. Now that the kids can have something to do and be taken care of while we can exercise has really helped push us in the direction we need to go - down.
Whatever you have to do, find a way to get in shape. We're not getting any younger and it's going to continue to get harder to get in and stay in shape if we don't do it now.