Category: Parenthood


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*

Two little tasks ahead for me in the next day or so.

First: I am trying to implement a smarter formmail in php so that my multiple domains can handle it without it becoming a security whole.

Second: I am looking to write a worm for my SQL database to fix the Categories on roughly 250 posts that are labelled as “Uncategorised” even though they have the correct category. I suppose this would make a good WP-Tool.

I think I have mostly fixed the issue with the LiveJournal importer, so I’ll be working with my one customer on that this week.

Nothing really pithy today as the weekend has been consumed by toddler and clock changes. So overall, I just want to fall over.

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. ☺