Tag Archive: Aiden


Slice of Life by Gisele http://giseleart.com/

My social networking time has gone to hell. I think that’s readily obvious from the lack of frequency on this blog.

I suppose one could say that no news is good news. Or that the lack of postings indicates I have a vibrant and busy life.

They could say that; I think however my response would be, “Comme çi, comme ça” (assuming I have remembered how to spell my H.S. French.)

There is no patently ‘bad news’ at the moment. Work is settling in. Life is settling in. We’re even holding the rare social night. 1.25 nights a month. (You get a quarter/month night when you schedule poker on the 2nd and penultimate 4th Wednesdays.)

There are so many things just out of reach right now for a number of reasons.

First, and foremost is ‘move recovery’. Two cross country moves in two years is physically and mentally devastating. Including the move from Pittsburgh in 1998 and the return move this year I have moved 9 times in 12 years. I am told that 3 moves is equal to a fire that destroys everything you own. So I have done that 3 times. (And yet, my comic book collection survives) Personally, it is my plan (as usual) that this leap, was the leap home. Er… this move was the move home.

Second is the health and wellbeing of my family. I am as previously mentioned a care-giver for a person living in chronic-pain. On top of that, we are parents to an almost-four-year-old. And let me assure you… We take personal Will very seriously in our family. And our dear son (who really was born on 9/3) seems to have inherited both his parent’s penchant for being STRONG WILLED. Happily however, he is easily bribed by the reward system of giving him “Blue’s Clues.” Not the show, but awarding him 1/2 to a ful paw print “Clue” for good behaviour.

Work is keeping me busy. Last week I put in 3 10′s, an 8, and a 4. I also managed to walk down 19 flights of stairs twice during the week much to the amusement of my cube farm neighbor who is in stunningly amazing shape. I wish I could talk about the details about what I’m working on beyond… yes… I’m writing an iPhone app. Because “Mondo-Cool” doesn’t even begin to explain it. I can’t even tell people the cool code-name I came up with for a potion of the project because the name itself is an amazing give away if you try to solve the puzzle.

The overly-seasonable heat of the summer has also been a killer. As I inch my way through my early 40s I find that the heat really wears me down. I find I want to spend most of the time sleeping. Sometimes this includes work, but I’m pleased to announce that I have never slept on the job.

In town I’m beginning to ramp up my contacts. I have a few sitters that we’ve tried for Aiden. This seems to have gone well so far. (Someday, I will have to post about the hell that was my live in nanny when I was young who was hired in when my parents went to my father’s medical conferences.) I’m also preparing to start doing classes in my tradition again. There are so many local activities and people from my past and I’m currently farming thru which ones I actually want to bring back into my life. 12 years away gives one time to think and also to grow up a bit.

My metro Pittsburgh years were ages 19-30 and now I return at 42. There’s a HUGE difference in personal outlook when you return at that age.

I can’t think of much more now. I just wanted to get a post out there for the love of Pete. (A phrase which I’ve never understood) Now I just need to get my random stolen picture for the post. (Which, for Marcos’ benefit is in fact the now obvious way that I track hits rather than my pixel graphic)

I hope to come up with more soon. But saying that I will just makes me fall off the net for a while.

hrmnph. Must not be too stodgy.

*waves*

When you log in on WordPress it has a checkbox that says, “Remember me.”

I haven’t posted here since the interview. As anyone left reading can tell.

There have been a few things that have contributed to this.

  1. From the time of the interview I had a verbal job offer within 2 days. I was in town for a week 2 weeks after, had 3 weeks to move, didn’t find a house, moved to an apartment and this weekend I’m moving into the house we finally found.
  2. We were initially unable to find day-care for my son. As a result; mom has been on full-time solo-parenting duty. Please see my post on being a care-giver to understand how wrecked she’s been in the evening.
  3. I’m back to full time work as of 3-4 weeks ago after being off work for about 4 months. With this not only comes the adjustment of rigourous work, but ramping up in new technologies. Well, old technologies but handled in new ways you’re expected to learn, grok,and take ownership of already.
  4. And least of all… I haven’t had much to say.

Moving back to the ‘Burgh has been good. I bus downtown. (I miss my afternoon busses usually by a minute). I’ve reconnected with a few people. Some of which I thought I’d never speak to again. One really nice lunch this week at Primanti’s with probably one of the last people I thought I’d enjoy a lunch with. And for the record. I wouldn’t mind lunching again or more regularly with this person.

I’ve been chatting with an old friend from my SCA/Pennsic days online. Many of my old friends from then are married and/or have kids. (Hell, I do) My one friend and I have been up talking often until midnight local time or later. Since I get up at 5:30 for work (I am working 7-3 to be home early)… this has left me a little groggy in the morning. But the conversation is wonderful. So, I expect those conversations to continue even if we adjust our curfews.

I’m hoping this little exercise will start to break down the mental block I’ve had about #4 above.

Initially any new posts may be short so I don’t overwhelm myself into not posting.

My amusing link for the week has been the anonymous crush meme at:

http://www.thiscrush.com/~lordandrei

So here’s a chance to humour me either publicly or privately, openly or anonymously.

More soon. *waves*

Beware the toddler’s CRAW!

Aiden has now moved into the talking phase that I must compare with an episode of “Get Smart.”

He ran over to us while playing a computer game and declared, “Shopting Beg!” My wife looked at him and said, “Shopping Bag?” He quickly corrected “No! Not Shopting Beg… Shopting Beg!” After a moment, she tried again, “Something Big?” “Ooh, yeah!”

There was an episode of “Get Smart” in the 1960’s that really drove home this amusing breakdown in communication. If featured a less-than-Asian villain known as the “Craw.” (The exchange can be seen on YouTube at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftgAG3Vnif8 )

Today has been a horridly slow day at home. Aiden and Heather both have the sinus disaster that I had on Friday. As a toddler, this means Aiden is a fountain of mucus. He knows how to get a tissue and wipe off his face; he just doesn’t do it with much accuracy or intent.

We both took a pretty big brunt of this last night. When Aiden is sick the treatment is typically Motrin. This means that Heather must be awoken because I can’t touch the stuff. Apparently, my big drug allergy is Ibuprofen and liquid Motrin causes my fingers and hands to rash and swell. Whee. Once that was done; I fielded him as he coughed and sneezed himself awake the next 3-4 times throughout the night.

Typically we try to keep Aiden’s computer and TV time down on the weekend. When he’s sick, this tends to be relaxed. With him sick, Mama sick, and Daddy falling asleep… all bets are off. 3 episodes of “Teen Titans” and 2 hours of http://Starfall.com later and it is lunchtime and hopefully nap time soon.

Naptime affords me time to continue to study up on my toddler-pidgin English. The time at least may give me a change to screw my head back on enough to face another 4 hours of honange (Orange).

I love my boy. ☺

My favourite picture to date

Yes, I admit it. I have a lot of pictures of aiden_freeman. I’m averaging about 700 a year. Every now and then I try to get artistic. Sometimes… art just happens.

A few weekends ago, we took Aiden to Wild Waves park. He’s been eagerly loading himself into the car. On this trip, he got in the car and pressed up against the window for the first time. I was fortunate to have my cell camera ready. I’m actually really happy with how this picture came out.

Main picture behind the cut.

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