Apple Picking and Head Butts

This weekend, as almost every weekend, flew by way to quickly and here it is Monday morning and another week of work lays ahead.  Despite the too short weekend, it was jam packed with activity.   It all started Saturday morning with apple picking (as I am sure you guessed by the title of the blog today).  Originally, my wife was planning on taking our son apple picking with some of our grandparents last weekend.  However, when I heard of those plans, I said no.  Its not that I didn't want them to go apple picking, its that I didn't want them to go apple picking without me.  Back in July, on a weekend that I went up to Vermont to work on the pavilion by myself, my wife, son, and mother in law went blueberry picking without me.  I saw pictures, but I wasn't there, and I would have liked to have been there.  So now that its apple picking season, I definitely wanted to be there the first time our son picked his first apple off the tree.  So we headed out first thing Saturday morning, arriving just after the orchard opened, to pick our first batch of apples.  It was a perfect morning, temperature just right with abundant sunshine.  We walked and walked, our son walking most of the way by himself, and got to the first row of trees.  After picking a few, and handing our son one to eat along the way, a staple of picking your own apples, he got the hang of it and started looking for apples himself.  The area where we first started didn't have too many apples on the lower branches so we headed for a different area, with different apples, and there were a plethora at his level.   In addition to the ones at his level, there were also a ton at the tops of the trees.  So, after having him hand his half eaten apple to my wife, I lifted him up and had him grab some of the big juicy ones at the top.  He needed to use two hands to grab them, but he figured out quickly how to grab them, twist, and hand them down before picking more.  It was a lot of fun and we managed to get a few good candid shots of him with an apple in his mouth and some with him wandering around, in his own world, enjoying apple picking season.  We figured he would be tired, and about halfway home, he was passed out.  I knew it wouldn't last long because we took my Jeep and my wife wanted to go driving so that she could re-learn how to drive a stick shift.  Sure enough, as soon as we swapped seats in an industrial park and she started driving, he woke up.  It was probably the bucking up and down, back and forth, that did it.  To her credit, though, she got the hang of it pretty quickly as she had driven it before, and we were off and running for about half an hour, driving around and around, but never leaving the parking lots. 

 

So that was our excitement on Saturday.  On Sunday, I spent a little time with my son and wife, but for the most part, I worked on our son's new room.  I finished up around 5 in the afternoon so I could spend some time with him before he went to bed.  We were fooling around, playing hide and seek, and essentially just getting rowdy.  Well, as I was sitting on the kitchen floor, tickling him, he lunged upwards unexpectedly and slammed his head into my lip, giving me a nice bloody lip.  It took all the effort I had not to swear or lash out.  I just grunted, pushed him away, and got up.  Luckily, he is still small and doesn't have that much weight to him, so the bleeding stopped shortly after it started.  However, after I went into the bathroom to check it out and make sure it wasn't too severe, he tried to deliberately head butt my wife.  The second time was different than when he head butted me.  He ran over to her, stopped, and then tried to whip his head back and slam it forward.  My wife knew what was coming and was able to stop it before he did any damage.  I did get a little upset, but I got over it soon enough because he is still young and probably doesn't fully understand what he did to me or how it hurt.  I'm sure this head butting won't become a permanent activity, or at least I hope it won't, but if it does, I will figure out how to stop it when we get there.  Outside of that, he is amazing to play with.  With my schedule being the way it is right now, with work and also trying to get his room done one day a week, I don't get to spend nearly enough time with him as I or he would like.  My wife says on the days when I don't come home before he goes to bed, he always wonders where I am and has a little harder time getting to bed.  On those days, I do try and explain to him in the morning that I won't see him before he goes to bed, but its a long way off for him and he is not even two yet, so it must be tough.  The longer days, or at least the ones where I don't make it home before his bed time won't last forever.  The days are getting shorter and the amount of time I will be able to work outside before it gets dark is diminishing.  Winter always affords me more time at home, which I love, and a little more time off.  Work is crazy, though, and maybe this winter will be a little different.  We shall see.  All I know is that within a few months I should be home every day before our son goes to bed so I can at least see him more every day than I am now.  With that said, he is now up and our day is about to get started.  If I can, I will be back in the morning, however, I probably won't be home till late, so we shall see. 

Short One

This has been an utterly crazy week, although which week isn't crazy when you are self employed, have an almost two year old running around the house, and a wife that's pregnant?  Yes, life is crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Worked late last night, didn't get home till around 9 at night after starting work at 8 yesterday morning.  So, this morning I am talking to my wife instead of writing a lengthy blog post about something that tickled my fancy earlier this week.  On top of that, I actually have to leave the house at or before my wife does to go look at a job.  Not complaining, just have a lot to do this morning.  Some things must slide in an attempt to keep sanity and a sense of normalcy in this house, and unfortunately that something is my writing.  As much as I would like to write every morning as I used to, some days its just not possible, and I am not getting up earlier than 3:45 to write.  I do need my beauty sleep, even if its just 6 hours a night.  Its not really about the beauty sleep, because lets face it, if I get more sleep, its not going to make me more beautiful.  If I actually try to get more than 6 hours when I am not tired, I just get up earlier.  The only way I can sleep late is if I have had an exhausting week of work and actually need the rest.  Most of the time, however, 6 hours is more than enough.  Its not like I am a lawyer that needs a fully functioning brain in order to paint, just a sense of balance for working on ladders.  I don't know why I picked out a lawyer as someone who uses their brain, but I guess they do sometimes.  Perhaps a more apt analogy or comparison, or what have you would be an accountant dealing with ethereal numbers that somehow define a business and how it is supposedly functioning and working and its overall "health".  To me, if a person who owns a business is working, not in debt, and has money coming in, then their business is doing just fine.  Sure, there are varying degrees of how a business does, but overall, especially from my point of view, which happens to be a simple one, and if I continue on this tangent I will forget what I started the sentence about, a business is only as healthy as the person running it.  Wait, that doesn't make much sense, but I guess I warned you about that when I mentioned that I don't need a functioning brain to paint.  I do need one to deal with people which I love doing, but not to paint.  On that happy note, the shower has been vacated and it is calling my name.  Its time to get washed up, cleaned up, eaten up, I mean make food and eat it, and get ready to start my day earlier than normal.  Such is my crazy life, but its mine and no one can take it away from me damn it.  Oh well, here we go...

A Morning of Screaming

Yesterday morning, as I opened up my blog to start writing, our little munchkin woke up screaming.  At first, it was the kind of scream where we thought he might fall back asleep, but it quickly morphed into a, "Get me up now, I want out of this crib" type of screaming.  So, with my blog open and my son screaming, I had a choice to make; get our son up and out of his room a half hour earlier than normal or start writing with him screaming and hope beyond hope that he falls back asleep.  I chose the first option, just get him up.  So he stopped screaming when I got into his room, we picked out his clothes for the day, and made our way downstairs.  He didn't want to go potty right away like we have been trying to get him to do.  No worries, we let him play as it was still early and he was just fine for about 10 minutes.  He sat in my lap, drank some milk, and then decided to throw the cup of milk onto the living room rug.  Well, that ended happy time at the Zamachaj household.  I told him that since he threw the milk, we would be going into the kitchen and staying there while I made breakfast.  From that point for about half hour afterwards, he essentially screamed his head off.  Nothing we did could placate him, he was cranky, ornery, and was trying to get away with things that he knew he shouldn't be doing.  At times, his screaming got so bad and he got so out of breath from screaming, I actually had to hold back a laugh.  He was eating a plum, screaming while eating the plum, and wanting other food that we told him he couldn't have.  It was a ripe disaster yesterday morning that I would rather not repeat for a while, actually, I would like to never repeat that.  But, we all have our bad days, and yesterday morning was definitely bad.  That is, it was bad until breakfast got put on the table and we started eating.  At that point, the screaming stopped and our angry little muffin turned transformed into the happy, carefree boy that we are used to on a regular basis.  Ah, the joys of being a parent.  At least I can laugh at the fact that he is screaming for no reason and doesn't know how to stop.  OK, so maybe it isn't even that funny for most of you, but if you were in my shoes, you would probably think it was a little bit funny. 

 

But beyond the screaming, our son is a pure bundle of joy to have around.  This past Sunday, my parents came over, my dad to help me on our son's new room and my mom just to hang out and watch our son while my wife got some stuff done and dinner cooked.  I had my ladder up to the roof in the front so I could replace a window and our son wanted nothing more than to climb the ladder.  He actually did pretty well on his own, however we didn't let him get that high as he is still not even 2 yet (although a few more weeks and he will be).  So instead of letting him climb up the ladder by himself, I picked him up and carried him up the ladder onto the roof.  Perhaps not the best idea in terms of showing him how to get up on a roof, but its not like he can move a ladder on his own yet, so I am not too worried.  There was no fear of climbing the ladder, only pure joy and excitement that he was getting to go up on the roof.  He absolutely loved it.  The look on his face was akin to someone who just saw Niagara Falls for the first time.  He was looking all around, at the cars going by on the road down below, at all the trees, at his grandmother standing down on the ground.  We didn't stay up there too long as I didn't want a random car driving by to get the wrong idea and call someone about my actions.  It was kind of funny though to see people do a double take when they saw a parent with his son up on a roof, just sitting there.  Of course, after we climbed down, all our son wanted to do was to climb the ladder, but the one time with me was enough.  As much as I love the fact that our son has very little fear of anything except strangers, it also worries me a little as I know that there will probably be many injuries during his lifetime.  My mother, on Sunday, relayed to me that our son is far more adventurous than I ever was.  I know what I was like and I am now thinking about placing our son in a plastic bubble.  Not really, but it would be funny for a day.  Outside of his fearlessness, he is expanding his vocabulary every day and his annunciation is getting better as well.  There are still a few letters that are tricky, but they will come in time.  Overall, I consider myself lucky to have such a wonderful son, and wouldn't have life any other way!  Till tomorrow, where who knows what the morning will hold, be well and be safe. 

Daycare Craziness

Before I get started on my rant this morning, for that's what it will be, let me just say that I love the daycare our son is at.  It is by far, the best one we looked at during our process of seeking out and weeding out daycares.  It is a fun atmosphere with adults who actually care about the children they are watching and the socialization amongst the children is fantastic.  I could go on, but it would detract from what I really want to talk about today, pictures and marketing.  Having gone to Catholic schools from grammar school through college, I was always aware of the fundraisers that we needed to do in order to bring in extra money for those extras that couldn't be fit into the normal operating budget.  I probably started in first grade with my first fundraiser and from there on out, was either involved or at least heard about them in the schools I went to.  That being said, I never in my wildest dreams expected my wife to come home last week and tell me that our son has his first fundraiser.  What?  At the ripe old age of not even 2, our son, or rather us, his parents, have been tasked with a fundraiser.  For what?  I don't know, and frankly, I don't really care as we will not be taking part in any "fundraisers" for our son's daycare.  From what I can gather, there is nothing extra that he needs there and everything seems to be provided for.  We provide him everything except the supervision that he gets.  Therefore, we will not be doing any "fundraisers".  The idea is novel, a coupon book for parents with young kids to help them save money.  The coupon book is fairly thick and if we actually shopped at any of the places that there were coupons for, it might be worth the $25 it costs.  However, the only place we shop in the entire coupon book is Subway.  For Subway alone, we will not be buying the coupon book.  On top of that, we will not be asking our parents or any relatives to buy one either.  Its not like there is some grand prize for whoever sells the most coupon books.  I just think it is a tad bit early to get started on this whole fundraiser extravaganza.  While I recognize the necessity once our son gets older and becomes involved in activities for which a fundraiser is necessary, at his age, the coupon book is most likely going to get returned to the daycare.  I could go on, but I don't really want to as I have other and more important things to talk about. 

 

How about school pictures?  That's right, we got our first flyer with the opportunity to buy our son's pictures from daycare.  He is not even two as I mentioned and already we are embarking on this "school photo" crap.  No offense to the photographers out there, but I studied photography for a while during my college career and my wife is an artist.  As such, we will not be having any other photographer take pictures of our son and sell them to us for an exorbitant amount of money.  I know they need to cover their basis, but the smallest package deal is $40.  I could take a picture just as well as that photographer could, print it, and frame it for about $3.  What gets me even more is that there is an option on there for the photographer to make the pictures "social media friendly" seemingly so the parents of the children at our son's daycare can take those pictures and plaster them all over their Facebook pages to show them off.  "Look at my daughter who is three and not old enough to have a Facebook page yet has such an online presence because of me!"  Crap, I tell you!  There are so many add ons to the packages that a parent could spend well over a hundred dollars on their son's or daughter's daycare picture.  Let me just remind everyone that we are talking about daycare, not actual school.  While some people may call it school, it is still a daycare where they happen to be taught different skills that will be useful to them later on.  I know at times it may seem more like school, but they essentially just have fun there.  I guess there is just a big part of me that thinks our society is pushing things a little too far a little too quickly.  Whatever happened to preserving the innocence of childhood and keeping them out of the marketing (fundraiser) and glamour (photo) arena.  I know I am in the minority here and most parents eat this stuff up, but I don't and probably never will.  I may very well be one of the last of the old fashioned "new" parents out there.  Then again, maybe not.  All I do know is that I won't be taking part in any damn fundraisers or paying any photographer to take pictures of our son.  Daycare will remain exactly that, daycare.  Once our son starts school, that will be a different story, but for now, we are keeping life simple. 

Autumn Arriving

Autumn.  That one word can evoke such a different response from almost anyone you ask, yet I would bet that most would immediately think of leaves turning colors, pumpkins, and cool crisp days.  You will always get the few that bypass the benefits and look immediately to the detriments; raking leaves, cool days, and less sun.  Yet, the detriments pale in comparison when you are out and about experiencing first hand the beauty that is the autumnal season.  Out of the four seasons we experience (five if you include the month of July being "Humidity") in the northeast, two stand out as my favorites, autumn and spring.  While spring is a re-birth, a return to life of everything that has laid dormant through the winter (including humans), autumn is a slow, beautiful retraction of that life that never lasts long enough.  Gone are the long, humid days of summer with the sun shining late into the evening.  Gone are the days when shorts are the norm from sunrise to sunset.  Yet with the disappearance of summer comes a cool breath of fresh air.  Air conditioners are removed from windows to make way for nature's breath and rejuvenation and you could almost feel the air crinkle all around you with its crispness.  There is nothing I like more than waking up in the morning and having to put on a sweatshirt to walk the dogs.  The crisp morning air, devoid of all humidity, is invigorating in ways that summer never can be.  The moment I take my first breath outdoors and see a little puff of vapor upon exhalation is when I know that I can rest assured that I won't sweat that day.  To be honest, shorts are still the norm for me, the last vestige of summer that I won't let go of until it is absolutely necessary.  I for one have always loved the cooler weather, the breeze that flutters through the leaves and raises the hair on your arms with that little chill.  I love the fact that if I get to warm in the sun, all I have to do is find a spot of shade to immediately cool down.   Sure the sun doesn't stay out as long anymore, but longer days will return eventually.  Autumn is about enjoying every minute of every sunny day. 

 

My favorite part of autumn, despite the cool, brisk air, are the changing of the leaves.  It always amazes me how seemingly one day everything is still green and the next the colors become apparent on the trees all around.  Solid green becomes rimmed with golds, reds, and oranges; slowly creeping inwards and taking over as in a coup.  Trees look as if they are on fire; crinkling and crackling in the wind, the leaves a cacophonous melody in the daily song of autumnal life.  Slowly at first, the leaves will release, break free of their summer roost, and meander their way downward, landing with just the faintest of sounds.  The fiery monuments, dancing in the wind become blankets covering the ground with a warm embrace, a final return to earth.  For those few weeks of colored brilliance abounding all around, the world seems more alive than it does all summer.  But only for those few weeks, which makes it all the more precious.  Autumn is the perfect time for a walk in the woods down a meandering path laden with crisp leaves.  Every step announces your presence and with the leaves drifting down all around, your path is erased.  I am in love with autumn for its crisp cool air, the distinct smell of colored leaves, and the view of nature winding down for the year.  Autumn seems to slow everything down a notch, begging everything and everyone to pause and take a breath.  I know I do every day.  And while autumn doesn't last forever, as nothing should, I will take it while its here. 

Ultrasound Continued

As I mentioned yesterday, my wife and I went for our lengthy 20 minute ultrasound on Monday.  Let me just say that the second time viewing an ultrasound such as this was no less amazing than the first time with our current son.  While also enabling the doctor's to make sure that our baby has ten fingers, ten toes, and all the necessary parts of the human body (thank God its not a dolphin), it also allows us to get a little glimpse into the world that our baby has been inhabiting.  Its a tight little watery world and from the looks of it, our baby is perfectly accustomed to it and enjoys its warm embrace.  It also loves exploring its little world as for almost the entire duration of the ultrasound it was moving around as much as possible.  I imagined it trying to hide from the imaging device pressing against my wife's swollen belly, playing its own little game of hide and seek.  At one point it had its feet crossed, then turned and moved away.  One of the last images we saw before the ultrasound was over was a side view where we could see its entire body.  While we were watching, it brought its hand to its face and scratched its chin before moving the hand away, making a fist, and then opening the hand back up.  It was definitely a cool thing to see.  Of course, at one point during the ultrasound, I think when it was scratching its chin, I let my subconscious do the talking and I called it a he.  While I don't care what we have, as long as its healthy, I guess there is a part of me that wants another son.  Yet, I have another four months to wait before finding out if it will be a boy or a girl.  My inner self thinks it will be a boy probably because just going back a few generations in my family, my dad had a brother and I had a brother, and so to the logic continues that our son will have a brother.   Well, there is a 50/50 shot of having a boy.  Only time will tell now.  Yet for all the excitement that we had watching our little baby swimming around in its warm cocoon, I did get slightly annoyed after the fact at the doctor who did the imaging.  It turns out that after my wife left the office, she got a call saying that "Everything was fine", but the doctor wanted her to set up another appointment for a few more images that she wasn't able to get.  Really?  She had 20 minutes to get all the images she needed and five minutes after my wife leaves she gets the call?  I could understand if they saw something abnormal or something wrong, but they explicitly stated that nothing was wrong, they just wanted some more images. 

 

Well, guess what, they aren't getting anymore images.  This isn't the first time that they have wanted to do extra ultrasounds.  When we went for the first one, an internal to see if the baby was actually a baby and if there were two, they suggested we get another one a few weeks after the appointment to make sure everything was on track.  Even then, nothing was wrong, my wife just happened to figure out early that she was pregnant and she happened to show really quickly with a sudden weight gain that eventually leveled itself out.  We refused that one because we felt it was unnecessary and for the same reason, we will refuse this current one they are requesting.  Perhaps what annoys me the most about this latest one is that they had the gall to set up an appointment for her without even checking at an hour that she wouldn't be able to make it.  Further, she would have to go to Yale New Haven hospital to have it done instead of just going to the regular office.  When she got the call to confirm the appointment, she canceled it.  The less intrusion from the doctors the better.  All we need is for them to go poking around when they don't need to and screw something up.  Granted, an ultrasound is one of the least intrusive things they could do, but it doesn't matter.  Its not that I have some horrible gripe with doctors, I just don't like their intrusive nature when nothing is wrong.  So what if we have excellent health insurance that covers everything, it doesn't mean that they can just do extra work so that they can get paid more.  Doctor's have a very important function when it comes to emergency care and sustaining life that otherwise would not be sustained.  However, beyond that, I find that they intrude into a person's life a little too much.  Sometimes it seems as if they are more concerned with making an extra buck off of insurance than with the actual well being of a patient.  But that is the current state of affairs unfortunately.  Since I am on the doctor's track right now, I have noticed a difference between this pregnancy and my wife's last one.  The last one occurred while her doctor's office was overseen by St. Rafael's, at that time a competing hospital to Yale New Haven.  Since then, Yale took over St. Rafael's and is now overseeing the doctor's office.  I wonder if Yale altered how things are done so that doctor's now seek to get more procedures done to rake in more money.  Just a thought.  In any case, we only have four more months till our new bundle of joy enters this world and our lives take a turn towards the crazier.  For now, I must get my morning rolling. 

Ultrasound Yesterday

My wife and I went in yesterday for our 5 month ultrasound.  For those of you not in the pregnancy "know", its the ultrasound when they check to make sure the baby has 10 fingers and 10 toes, a spine, bones, stomach, and all the other necessities.  Its also the ultrasound where you can find out if you are having a boy or a girl.  Yet, despite our small desire to peek at the screen and see what we are having, neither my wife or I did and as such, this one will be a surprise like our son was.  Everything was normal, right on track, and there will be more on the ultrasound tomorrow.  You see, I got home late yesterday and didn't really get a chance to talk to my wife.  So, this morning instead of spending time writing my blog, we talked instead, a much more important activity for us.  So today, I give you a short blog post.  Tomorrow, there is a good chance it will be longer, and then again, if I get home late again (which I might), it might be another short one with more info on our new baby that's growing.  Till tomorrow, enjoy the beautiful weather and be well!

The Curse of Integrity

Upon reading the title of my blog post, you are probably thinking to yourself, how can integrity be a curse at all?  Isn't integrity lauded by many as a trait that should be held by almost everyone and yet at times it seems as if it is held by very few?  So why do I consider it a curse?  Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't consider it to be a curse across the board, merely in a limited sense when it comes to work.  To me, integrity, however you wish to define it, means that someone cares to a large extent about the impact that their actions have on others.  It means carrying something through to the end, putting in your best effort every time, and ensuring that everything is the way it should be; all this regardless of the impact it has on one's self.  I look up to those who I deem to be people of integrity and seek to avoid those who aren't.  Without wanting to sound conceited, I consider myself, for the most part, to be a person of integrity.  I would like to believe that people can rely on me both in my personal and professional life, and while I do have my slip ups here and there, I try to ensure that they don't directly affect anyone.  Still, none of this answers the question as to why I consider integrity to be a curse.  Many may not understand it, but those who find themselves in my position will probably agree whole heartedly with me.  I consider it to be a curse because once I commit to something, especially when it comes to work, I will follow it through to the end regardless of the monetary cost to me.  For example, I present to you the current job that I am working on.  As is normally the case when it comes to exterior work for me, I underbid this current job compared to the time it will take me to complete it.  I didn't horribly underbid it, but regardless of the amount, I know that I will not make quite as much as I want to on this job.  Yet, despite that fact, I have and will continue to put in my best effort on this job till it is completed.  I will leave no detail overlooked and I will do my best to ensure that I bring the house as close to perfection as is humanly possible.  Its the way I was taught and it is the way I do things.  I put in my best effort regardless of the amount of money I will make at the end of the day.  Do I kick myself in the ass sometimes?  Absolutely!  But I can't and won't change the way I do things because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did.  I am devoted to my customers and never let on that I may have charged less than I should have.  It is not their problem and never will be their problem.  It is mine alone to deal with and as such, I bear the burden alone. 

 

I would like to think that it is because of my work ethic, my devotion to the customer regardless of the monetary value, that keeps the work coming in.  It is also because of this work ethic that I absolutely despise hiring others to work with me.  I have a very hard time watching someone else work who doesn't put in their best effort every day.  There is a very high standard that I set both for myself and for others and I find that there are very few people out there who can reach that standard.  So rather than hire someone and complain about how they aren't doing their best work, I simply don't hire anyone.  Even when it comes to working on my house, I have friends in the industry who I can have help me, but I rarely do as I don't think their work ethic or devotion to detail is an par with mine.  In my current project of renovating my son's new room, I had a friend come over and help me re-enforce the floor.  I purposely didn't work with him as he was doing the re-enforcing, but rather cleaned up the house as it was the weekend of the demolition.  Once the day was over and he had left, I finally took a look at the work he did.  Let me just say that up until this past weekend, I contemplated ripping out almost everything he did and re-doing it myself.  It irked me because I had explained how certain things were going to need to be done, he didn't feel like listening, and as such boards were not level, not flush with the joists they were being nailed to, and it essentially looked like he had rushed through just to get as much done as possible.  That is not how I work and there is a reason for that.  It bothers me even more because he should have known better.  After all, he is 15 years older than me and has been doing this a lot longer.  Yet, that is the way of things for me.  My integrity is my curse and as such I will continue living with it.  I guess I had a little complaining to do today, at least to get it off my chest, and now will move on with the rest of my day.  I sometimes find myself wishing that people cared more about what they did instead of just receiving the paycheck at the end of the day.  Obviously they can get away with their less than perfect work because they are still in business, yet I can't bring myself to do anything less than the best.  While there are many times I am glad that I care about what I do, there are certain times when I wish I didn't.  But I vow never to stoop below what I know I am capable of.  And of course, the answer as my wife puts it to me is to just charge more for my work.  Easier said than done.  There is also the side of me that seeks to not rip people off, even though I really wouldn't be, it is not my style.  Oh well, time to get the day rolling. 

Constantly Amazed

Let me just say that I am really happy that our son can sleep right through thunder and lighting without even a peep.  I'm also glad that our dogs don't give a damn about it either.  With that being said, and as the title of my blog indicates, I am constantly amazed by our son.  This entire week has been wonderful in terms of potty training at day care.  The majority of the week our son has remained dry and actually used the potty about 90% of the time.  Sure, there are still those accidents, some at day care, some at home, but all in all, he is really starting to get a handle on this whole potty training thing.  Its funny in a way that it seems like such a natural process to us as adults, especially those without children, yet when it comes down learning how to control your bowels, sometimes it is not the easiest thing in the world to master.  Any child my son's age is absorbing more of the world around them than they will at almost any other time.  The early years of life are filled with prodigious learning, exponential leaps of advancement and understanding, and a ingrained yearning to master the world around them.  Then we throw in potty training.  "So while you are inundated with all the little details of the world around you and on top of that learning how to talk, I want you to focus on your own body and figure out how to control the muscles that keep you from urinating and pooping in your pants."   Sure, why not.  It sounds so easy to us, yet I am sure to a toddler, it can be a challenge.  Yet, like everything else that they take on right now, they meet it head on with a tenacity to learn that can not be matched by any older person.  Their developing brain is expanding its base of knowledge every second and every day brings new developments that are hard to fathom sometimes as adults.  And of course, with all learning comes those little mistakes, those accidents, and when you have pets, those accidents can sometimes take a turn towards the disgusting.  Yesterday, as my was using the bathroom, our son decided to let himself out the screen door into the back yard.  Quickly finishing, my wife ran out to check on him and as she opened the screen door, she saw our older dog Princess roller her head in something in the grass.  (She only rolls her head in poop of species other than dog).  Fearing the worst, she went outside to check and sure enough, our son had pooped both in the driveway and a little in the yard.  So she ran back inside quickly to grab some paper towel to clean up the poop in the driveway and clean up Princess a little.  Yet, as she exited the back door, she saw Princess in the driveway gulp down our son's poop.  I'll leave it at that and let it sink in.  I will only say that Princess will not be licking me for at least a week. 

 

Beyond the improvements in potty training, our son is on another spurt of learning words.   He has returned back to the stage where he wants to know what everything is.  Just last night as we were reading, he tried a number of new words that he came really close to pronouncing.  It is amazing to watch him learn and grow.  Perhaps it is the way we are raising him or perhaps he is just a unique little child, but both my wife and I forget sometimes that he is not even 2 years old yet.  Sometimes he acts as if he is almost three.  After all, we saw a three year old over this past weekend and our son was perhaps half an inch shorter than this other boy.  Beyond learning new words, reading, playing with his blocks, helping with breakfast, and all the other little tasks that he has mastered and helps out with around the house, he also has a love affair with cars.  He can watch cars go by for hours out on our front yard and heaven forbid you let him have free reign in a parked car for you will never get him out of there.  Even while camping, there are times he would rather be playing in a car, climbing from front to back, back to front, and playing with all the knobs, levers, and buttons than playing outside.  He even has his favorite chair for watching cars out of our living room window.  It is an old 70's era chair that my parents used to have and the back aligns perfectly with the sill of one of the living room windows.  Yesterday, as I was playing with our son before bed, he wanted to "wa cas" as he says.  I was sitting in the chair and picked him up to put him in my lap.  The first time he sat there and watched cars but quickly got off and went to another window.  As that window was not adequate for watching cars, he came back, climbed into my lap, and proceeded to start pushing me off the chair while actually saying, "Dada off cha".   So what else could I do but laugh and get off the chair so he could sit in it by himself and watch cars go by on the road.  It was quite hilarious.  I've said it before and I will say it again, our son is one little independent boy.  Yet I wouldn't want anything else for our son.  I would rather have him be independent and have a desire to learn about everything around him than be a couch potato in front of the TV (which he has not seen yet).  Oh, and one more little funny tidbit before I sign off for today; our son consistently takes his nap at day care with only one shoe on. 

To Remember

Yesterday marked the 12th anniversary of 9/11 and as most mornings go for me, I spend them in oblivion as to the actual day of the month.  As the morning progressed, it wasn't until I got into my van to drive to work and turned on the radio that I realized it was the anniversary of that fateful day when the world was forever changed.   At first, when I heard my usual radio morning show (Chaz and AJ on 99.1 WPLR) dedicate their entire show to remembering 9/11 and the events that transpired, I felt that I didn't want to remember, that I didn't want to have the memories of that day come flooding back.   Yet, as the morning progressed and I moved from my van to work and pulled up their show in my phone, I felt that it was very important to remember, to have that moment of silence, and to hear the tales of bravery and heroism from those that were there.  For our generation, there has not been another event that has captivated the nation and the world in such a way or changed the way we live to such a great extent.  For better or worse, we have become a nation that now watches our backs, looks twice at anything suspicious, and relies on terrorism as a sole reason to fight anyone and anything that moves.  Yet, despite all that, there was a time right after 9/11 when we were a nation united, a nation where you could drive down the street and see an American flag hanging from a plethora of houses.   There was a camaraderie amongst people that has not been seen to such a large extent since that period following that day.  Time passes, many people forget, and it seems even most news outlets forget what happened.  Yes, its been 12 years, but living in the NY region, you would think that the anniversary of 9/11 would get a little more attention than it did.  Yesterday, there was not a single mention of the anniversary on the NYTimes home page online.  There were reports that very few radio shows were even mentioning the day and its significance.  And just last year, to bring it back, a TV news show decided to run an interview with the idiotic Kardashians over the moment of silence.   Does the anniversary of 9/11 mean anything to people anymore?  I know to many in this region, it does.  Hearing the voices of survivors yesterday on the radio and the emotion that filled their voices, you would think it had only been a few years, not 12.   I grew up just a stones throw away from NY and there were many families in my community that lost loved ones.   Perhaps most inspiring were the stories of the firefighters who selflessly ran into those buildings, trudging up hundreds of steps, to never make the return trip down.  9/11, for the tragedy that it was, was also a wake up call to me and thousands of others.  It brought to the forefront how fragile life really is and how we can never take it for granted.  It showed the world that while we may bicker back and forth in our normal daily routines, when push comes to shove, it doesn't matter what country you hail from, we are all Americans.   It sometimes makes me sad to think that it takes a tragedy of that magnitude to unite people under one flag.   Let us make a commitment then, to bring back that sense of community, that notion that if you live in this country, you are an American, nothing more, nothing less.   Our country has had its ups and downs, and some would say we are in a trough right now, yet despite all that, we still have the greatest freedoms of any country on earth and I would never want to trade that for anything.  Is there work to be done to increase those freedoms?  Yes, but no where else can you say what's on your mind without fear of someone locking you up.  You can wear what you want, do what you want, and as long as you don't harm anyone in the process, its all OK.  So a day after 9/11, yes I know, a little late for this, but let me just say that I am damn proud to be an American and hope that everyone else living in this country feels the same way.  For my part, I am going to do my best to put out our American flag for the entire next year, an act which I have fallen short on of late, but one that I feel is incredibly important.  To America, to the lives lost on 9/11, and to all those who sacrifice themselves every day in the name of others, I pay tribute and salute you. 

Back to Syria (Yet Again)

So I know I haven't been this vocal about the political scene in quite some time, but I feel that this issue regarding chemical weapons and our government's response deserves more time and comments as it is such a charged issue.   Its been a while since an issue such as this has had such far reaching implications.  What started as a simple protest in Syria has turned into a civil war lasting more than two years with both sides committing almost equally grave atrocities and involved in a stalemate that doesn't look like it will end any time soon.  And then there is the issue of President Ass(ad) using chemical weapons against his people.  Our initial fumbled response by our dithering president was to immediately react, bomb Syria, and show them who is boss.  Then he backed down figuring he could pass the buck to Congress should they decide to allow him to go in a do some bombing.  Now, the latest in his back-pedaling fiasco, O(bomb)a has decided to put the decision for a military strike on hold in an attempt to work with the Russians to take the chemical weapons away from President Ass(ad).  Allegedly, the Syrians have agreed to let a group of "monitors" come into their civil war zone and take their chemical weapons away from them.  You heard that correctly, the Syrians have volunteered to hand over their chemical weapons to the Russians to have them destroyed.   Are there no alarm bells ringing in any body's head?  From a country that just a week ago denied that it even had chemical weapons to this week where it will hand over their chemical weapons to be destroyed, does nothing sound a tad bit fishy?  But it gets better.  The Russians had this idea, the long time ally of Syria and perhaps one of their greatest supporters.  Don't get me wrong, anything that will get chemical weapons out of the hands of Ass(ad) is a fantastic thing, but will we get all of them?  To me, this reeks of subterfuge.  I can not fathom how such a devious government as Syria would collect all their chemical weapons and just hand them over without question.  This is all just political games that are being played.  I guarantee that Putin, with the thought that we might actually go in and bomb his little friend, gave his friend Ass(ad) a call, and pretty much said, "Let's placate those bastards in the west, give them "all" of your chemical weapons (ha ha ha), and we will have the U.N. destroy them all."  I would say, why don't you gather all the weapons and Put(in) your Ass(ad). 

 

As I said, if this actually works and all the chemical weapons are removed and destroyed (which I highly doubt they will get all of them), then the world will be a little better place.  Yet that still leaves that country in the middle of a civil war, albeit without the chemical weapons that can be used against their own people.  Yet, I don't see how this will all work itself out.  There are still the Arab nations speaking out against this initiative saying that it does not stem the flow of blood from the people in that country and it does nothing to stop the civil war.  No offense, its not our civil war.   I would much rather see things resolved peacefully, yet we are far past that point with almost no hope of returning to it anytime soon.   I would say that while we are "gathering" the chemical weapons and the world is distracted with that task, we send in an elite seal team and take out the Ass(ad) at the head of Syria.  If that doesn't stop the blood shed, then perhaps we send in a few more seal teams with elite sniper divisions and start picking off anyone in power.  If you remove the head of the best, the body will writhe for a time but eventually it will wither and die.   If we really want to show our true power, we must do it with subterfuge and deviousness, just like they do.  Pick off their top people and send the message, "this is the beginning, take heed and end this civil war lest more people get sniped."  OK, so that's probably not the morally correct thing to do either, but to me its more acceptable than bombing them with the great possibility of inflicting collateral damages.   Switching my train of thought before I wrap this up, it is amazing to me how little people care about the political environment and what is happening around the world.  Out of all my friends, most would say they don't care and don't want to discuss it.  Yet, this issue alone, if not handled correctly on the world stage, could lead to nuclear weapons being pointed in all the wrong directions.  Iran is watching to see how this all plays out.  You know what they are seeing?  A President of the United States of America who can't make a damn decision when it comes to foreign policy in this case.  Israel is watching as well.  So is China and the rest of the world.  What are they seeing?  A country that used to hold the greatest military and political power wavering in the face of an indecisive leader.  I only hope that O(bomb)a makes a decision that he actually stands behind for once and stops painting the picture that we are a weak country.  We still have the greatest military in the world, yet without a strong leader, what is the use?  The next few weeks will sure be telling in terms of the world stage, and I only wish that more people my age actually cared about what is going on, not just for the sake of the lives being lost, but also in terms of what it means for our children and the world that they will grow up in. 

Potty Training Advances

Despite the fact that Obama is still pushing for a "limited air strike" against Syria for their use of Sarin gas against civilians, I still have a son at home who is working on potty training.  To be perfectly honest, I care a little more about our son mastering his bowel movements than I do about whether or not we bomb Syria.  I have made my opinion clear on that matter, we shouldn't bomb them, and from the news reports, it seems that the majority of Americans are in agreement with me.  So until something new gets reported, I will revert back to the more important matter at hand, ensuring that our son is out of diapers before his little brother or sister is born.  There is nothing my wife and I want more than to have to deal with only one child in diapers at a time.  And the good news is, it looks like our son is getting closer to that goal.  Over this past weekend, he began making improvements on making it to the potty in time to pee.  He is learning how to hold his muscles a little longer and when it finally comes time to pee, pushing that pee out into his little potty.  Soon, we will probably be moving up to the big toilet.  But for now, his little portable potty is much easier, especially when it has to happen quickly.  Yesterday at day care, our son went pee three times on the big toilet, a large improvement from the previous week where he went only once towards the end of the week.  It seems those weekend days where he runs around the house and yard naked are paying off.  Originally we noticed that he would rely on the pull-ups or diapers to catch any pee or poop he had whereas now he can actually control it a little bit more.  The whole notion behind having your child naked actually makes sense.   When you see them start to pee, you can tell them, "hey, your peeing, lets go to the potty!"  When they are in a diaper or pull-up, however, you have no clue when they have to go and as such, can't notify them when they start to urinate or poop.  (I don't know, to me, urinate has a much better ring to it than defecate does, just saying).  Yet, despite all these improvements, there was one funny little incident over the weekend where our son didn't make it to the potty and we didn't even know about it until we went to go outside. 

 

You see, our son was playing in our mudroom off the kitchen by himself before we went into our backyard.   About to put on my sandals to go outside, I looked down and noticed a little yellow puddle in one of my sandals.  Perhaps he thought my sandal was a potty or perhaps it just worked out that way, but the puddle was only in the sandal, no where else.  While a tad disturbing because I where those sandals every day, it was immensely funny at the same time.  Luckily, they are Addidas sandals and I was able to just wash it right off with the hose.   In any case, potty training is moving along quite well and I am hoping that within the month our son will be completely potty trained, at least during the day time, and his diapers can be put aside and saved for the next little one to come along.   So speaking of our next little one, possible names are completely eluding us thus far.  Yet, it is still a little early to be deciding on what possible names we should use when our child is born.  I remember that we didn't even start considering names for our son till about 2-3 months before birth.  At this point, we are still 4.5-5 months away, still a good chunk of time to make a decision.  Its kind of funny, but we are both fixating on boys names right now, perhaps a portent as to what might actually happen or just a deep seated hope that perhaps we will have another boy.  To us, it doesn't matter what we have, boy or girl, as long as our child is healthy.   As I mentioned before, we will not be finding our the sex of our child before birth as we did with our first.  We still maintain that it is one of the few true surprises that one has left in this world and we will capitalize on that to the fullest.  So for now, we wait, we ponder names, we work on potty training with our current son, and I chip away at putting our son's new room back together.  It was much easier working on his first room when I didn't have to worry about making too much noise after a certain hour.  With him going to bed at 630/7, it severely limits the amount of time I can spend on his room.  When I get home in the afternoon/evening, I don't want to run right up and start working.  I would rather spend time with our son, playing with him, than working on his room.  In any case, I have till Thanksgiving to get it done, so I am not overly worried yet, just a little.  Till tomorrow, be well and do a nice deed for someone else. 

Response To Comments

I had a few comments yesterday from my post on Facebook that linked my blog about Syria and not getting involved.  Before I begin my response, let me first state that both comments were from good friends of mine whose opinions I respect, yet still must respond to.  The first comment is as follows (and yes I am copy and pasting it without the explicit permission of the commenter): "Who is to hold Syria responsible for using Sarin gas on it's civilians? Do we let them just get away with their apparent disregard for international law and human rights? If so, what type of message does that send, and how will that message be interpreted by the rest of the world?"  If you want to talk about who is to hold Syria responsible, I thought that we had a United Nations (albeit a defunct U.N.) that was supposed to handle matters such as this.  It should be up to them to create a unified response to the chemical attack with the agreement of all nations who are members.  The fact that certain nations don't want to respond, i.e. Russia, possibly China, should not mean that we bypass them and act on our own or in accordance with 1 or 2 other countries.  Further, if we want to talk about holding countries responsible for chemical attacks, the worst one in modern history, the 1988 attack by Iraq on a small Kurdish town that killed over 3,000 went unanswered and the most that happened as a result was finger pointing.  Iran did it, no Iraq did it, no Iran.  Nobody felt the need to go in a bomb Iraq at that time or for that matter impose sanctions on them, in large part because there were a number of developed nations who supplied them with the chemical weapons they used in the attack.  What has changed since then?  We did not set the example then, so why set it now unilateraly or bilaterally or however you want to look at it.  Syria currently has not ratified the treaty or whatever you will on the use of chemical weapons, therefore, it can do what it wants.  A horrible position to take, yes, but if they have not agreed not to use chemical weapons in any means, who are we to fly halfway around the world and make them agree not to use them.  Granted, I agree that any use of chemical weapons should be banned world wide and the fact that they were used by Syria is a tragedy, but there should be a unified response to them.  I can hear the arguments already to my statements.  "Should we then follow the rest of the world and not be the bigger nation, the one who holds life and humanity a step above others?"  If that is the argument to my statements, then what about all those instances in Africa, crimes against humanity in which thousands of one tribe are raped, mutilated, and killed by another tribe that go unanswered and largely un-noticed by us?  If we put our foot into every instance in which a crime against humanity were committed, then we would be spread so thin we could be walked all over.  So 1400 Syrians are more important than a far larger number of tribal Africans?  Do we pick and choose which crime we answer to?  If so, then perhaps we should look at where our underlying interest are.  (And just for the record, my comment about Obama was not in reference to him getting us into any other war, I know he didn't start the issues in Iraq or Afghanistan, but he did bomb Libya.)

 

Now on to the second comment which reads: "Alex - I'm standing next to you and I'm beating up my little brother, wailing on him. Poor kid was pretty scrawny to begin with, but now I'm just stomping on him. You wouldn't do anything? What about the Jews during the holocaust? Should we have "let them figure out Germany." ? ?"   In regards to the second part of the comment in which Germany and the Jews were dredged out of history, I think I have answered that with part of my response to the first comment in which I state that if we are to respond to one act of genocide, use of chemical weapons, are crime against humanity, then we should respond to all of them.   Now on to the first part of the comment.  If I were standing next to you, Anthony as you were pummeling your little brother, would the correct response be to cut off your hands and your feet so that you could not pummel him anymore?  Or maybe I should take your head and slam it into the ground so that the thought of pummeling him were eradicated from your brain.   Neither response improves the situation.  By cutting of your hands and your feet, I am showing your little brother that the only way to solve a situation of violence is with more violence.  If he sees that and learns from it, what is to say that he doesn't react in a similar way at some future point in time.  Yes, by going in and bombing certain tragets in Syria that hold the capabilites for carrying out future chemical attacks we could potentially save thousands more.  But we can't bring back the dead.  No matter what we do, the suffering and loss already felt by those related to the victims of the chemical attack will not be healed by us bombing Syria.  Sure, we might make them feel better for a while, but it won't take away their loss.  What we are doing is acting out of revenge for lives lost.   Is violence answered by violence a way we want to teach our children to grow up?  You say that I am one of the most caring people you know.  Well, I do care about human life, but not the expense of more human life.  I would rather not have my son grow up in a world where the only response is a violent one.  We see where that has gotten us so far.  It has not decreased violence in the world, but added to it.  By re-inforcing that violent acts should be acted upon with more violent acts, we are only perpetuating violence in this world.  Is it a tragedy that those Syrians were killed with chemical weapons?  Absolutely, I would never say anything otherwise.  But for us to respond militarily is not the answer.  Do I have the answer?  Absolutely not, but I would advocate non-violent measures anyday over violent ones.   Reverting back to earlier in this paragraph, and just briefly before I wrap this up (I am sure temporarily), say their were people standing near by when I went to go cut off your hands and feet to save your brother with my samurai sword that I keep strapped to my back (hypothetically of course) and happened to injure them as well.  Would that "collateral damage" be acceptable if it were to save your brother from a pummeling? 

In the end, I do care about human life.  It is sacred, should never be taken by another, and we should always look to protect others.  That being said, we can't act violently against others in the wake of violence.   I do not have the answer, but for me, the answer is not going and bombing Syria.  That will solve nothing and in the long run, probably create more issues than there were to begin with.  Of course we can live with it because we are half a world away and as long as we take out chemical weapons, who cares.  There are much larger issues at stake than just taking out revenge for lives lost.  With that, I leave it in your hands. 

The Price of War

The United States, with Obama wavering at the helm, is poised to enter another conflict not of our own making, the civil war in Syria.   It seems that once again, our president can not make up his mind, which for the first time, I am glad about.  According to the president, we were supposed to begin a bombing campaign this past Saturday in retaliation for the Syrian government using chemical weapons against its own people.  Yet, at the last minute, for whatever reason, he decided to consult Congress about his decision.  As we all know, anything moving through Congress usually moves at a snail's pace, and lets hope that this decision is no different.  The last thing we need at this point is to get involved in another conflict, war, whatever term you wish to label it with.  With our economy slowly on the uptick, we don't need any distractions.  Despite the fact that some people will say that now is not the time to revert back to our isolationist ways, I would say that now is exactly the time we need to focus our efforts and time back on ourselves.  There is some talk that the chemical weapons being used are somehow a threat to our national security.  I would ask for explicit examples of how it is a threat.  The only one's that the chemical weapons are threatening our Syria's own people.  Now, don't get me wrong, I abhor the fact that chemical weapons were used against Syria's own people, if in fact they really were, but that is not our issue.  We are half a world away, and while we used to be the watchdog of the world, it is time for someone else to step up to the plate.   Our country has been involved in some sort of foreign conflict almost continuously for over a hundred years.  Let us now enter ourselves into an era of peace where war is not the answer.  If a country decides to go to war with itself, let it.  As much as I hate the tactics that dickhead Assad is using, and for that matter the rebels fighting against him, that is their problem.  You will find people saying that if we stand by and do nothing that we are in part complicit in the conflict and have share some of the blame.  Yet how are we to help if all they want to do is kill each other.  There is no way unless we start bombing people, and that will only perpetuate the conflict and draw other countries into it, perhaps leading to another global war in which thousands of soldiers from all walks of life are putting their lives on the line, again. 

 

While this is not a topic that I enjoy talking about on a regular basis, I feel that since we are on the verge of entering into this conflict, it needs to be discussed.  The only way we can truly prevent our government from entering into this conflict is by speaking out against it and showing our outrage that we would even consider this.  So what if we are being painted as weak and indecisive, we know ourselves damn well that if we decided to annihilate Syria, wipe it off the face of the earth, that we could do so quite easily.  Would it be humane and justified?  No, but we have the capability of dropping enough bombs that there wouldn't be a corner of Syria left untouched.  The fact that we know we have the capability should be enough.  And while I still don't advocate seeking to end violence by adding violence into the mix, perhaps we should just send up a drone with a few missiles and kill Assad.  Not that that would accomplish anything, but at least he wouldn't be around anymore.  In any case, I have no more to say on this topic.  In large part and regardless of what the citizens of the United States feel our government should do, they will do what they want anyway.  They may claim to listen to us, but we all know in the end that they have other interests that they are attending to and as such, will shove us out of the conversation if need be.  So till tomorrow when I revert back to talking about much happier topics, let us hope for peace, let us hope that don't get involved in yet another conflict, and let us hope that wavering Obama decides to let Syria figure out its own issues, whatever the results may be. 

Puppy Accident!

It was after dark last night and I felt the need to head out for a walk with my dogs.  With my wife in bed and my son at that point sleeping for hours, I collared and leashed my dogs and headed out around the block.  We were about half way through the walk, turning a corner in the road, when I heard what sounded to be a car traveling at a high rate of speed approaching from behind.  We were on the sidewalk, so I wasn't overly worried, and yet, when I glanced back to see what was going on behind me, I saw a car swerving back and forth, bumping the curve, and headed right towards me.  It was traveling extremely fast for the road it, and I, were on, and I barely had enough time to react.  With two dogs in tow, I jumped as far and fast as I could out of the way.  I unfortunately startled my older dog Princess, and as I jumped, she moved right in my way and my boot landed on her paw, snapping it instantaneously.  So if you have gotten this far, you are probably wondering what happened next.  The answer is nothing.  I never went on a walk last night and more importantly, my dog never got hurt.  So why did I spend the time writing a half paragraph worth of fiction at the start of my normally non-fiction blog?  As a joke, more or less.  Let me explain.  There have been a number of times during my blog writing extravaganza that I have alluded to events that I describe on my blog in detail that get taken totally out of context from the blurb that is written.  It seems that some people never click on the link that I post on Facebook to find out exactly what I am talking about and the comment that they leave on Facebook is completely and totally off and has nothing to do with my given topic.  The most recent example I can give is when I wrote about my brother's house and the issues that he is having with it.  I was talking about the leaking shower that he needs to fix, which has nothing to do with pipes, and yet I got a comment about how leaky pipes really suck.  Its not the only time it has happened, but I figured I would play a little joke and see how many comments I got on Facebook that were completely off the mark in terms of what I was really writing about today.  So for all of you who actually read my blog, you will get first hand reporting, tomorrow, of the comments I receive and what actually happens int he world of Facebook. 

 

I find it a little disturbing that so many people readily believe almost anything that is posted on Facebook or any one of the news sites that has popped up over the last few years.  While there is much validity to a lot that is posted, not all of it is true and it seems that many people have lost the ability to verify things for themselves.  Things are taken at face value and not researched or verified often times leading to misinformed people, luckily most of it is trivial and doesn't have much bearing on people's lives, however, if something seriously important were to be passed along, unverified, and believed by thousands of people, it could make a serious impact on the lives of others.  Hopefully that never happens, but it could.  I'm just gonna throw this out there without waxing to political, but didn't our country invade Iraq under the veil of weapons of mass destruction when there weren't any actually present?  It seems reasonable to believe that if our country can believe (or fabricate depending on what you want to believe) in something that isn't true and mount a decade long war over it, people will believe something insignificantly untrue on Facebook and leave comments on it.  I guess I am writing this, not only as a joke to see what kind of comments people leave on Facebook without verifying the story, but also as a warning to check references, verify stories for their validity, and hold onto a little bit of skepticism in regards to what they read and hear about.  Also, I would ask that anyone who is reading this and is a friend of mine on Facebook, not to leave a comment indicating that my fabricated story is in fact just that, a fabricated story.  For today, I actually must end early because for some reason, our son decided to get up an hour before normal, at the ripe hour of 4:55, and is now sitting in his high chair doing a puzzle over and over and over again while I write this blog.  Have no fear, he can not see the screen of the computer, and I am not completely ignoring him while writing this, however, I do feel the need to hurry this along so I can spend a little time with him instead of just keeping him in his high chair.  Right now, he is staring at me, getting a little ornery and tantrumy, and before he completely flips out, I must attend to my child.  So with that said, tune in tomorrow for the update on this little joke that I am playing on Facebook and we shall see what the outcome shall be.  If you are not friends with me on Facebook, my post there will go something like this, "Yesterday a tragedy almost occurred.  While walking my dogs in the evening, a car swerved towards us, I jumped out of the way and landed on my dogs foot, completely crushing it.  She is fine, but in a lot of pain right now..."

Camping the Summer Away

For most Americans, Labor Day weekend signifies the ending of summer as children return to school, the days get shorter and cooler, and life seems to return to normal.  Many people go on their last vacations for the year, try to suck the last bit of fun out of summer, and BBQ to their hearts content before it gets too cool to sit outside with friends enjoying the warm summer days.   Its kind of funny how life for many, revolves around the ever present school year.  Summer doesn't technically end till September 21st or sometime around then, yet we may as well consider it over.  There will be very few if any beach days left and the school year rhythm will commence once again.  For me, summer doesn't end till September 21st as the days are still warm, shorts and t-shirts are the norm, and life ticks on as usual.  Yet, as we always do, Labor Day weekend is one of our last camping weekends of the year.  This past weekend was no different, albeit we had more people camping than we usual do.  My whole family was up "camping" (meaning my wife, son and I camped, and my brother and parents stayed in a hotel).  My wife's mom came up and joined us as well, and a couple of friends made the journey with their dog for the weekend.  All in all, it was a relaxing weekend with no work to be done except cutting and splitting wood.  I left Friday morning with our dogs to get everything set up including trimming the clearing.  I left around 10 in the morning and while I cruised through with no traffic, I was amazed at the amount of cars on the road heading north for the long weekend.  By the time I got up to Vermont, however, the stream of cars dissipated somewhat and I was left with what seemed like just local traffic.  I stopped and got some beer for the weekend and arrived to a campsite that was begging to be cleared and utilized.  So I got to work and within a few hours everything was set and ready to go.  Then it was time to wait for everyone arrive.  I am personally glad I left as early as I did as it took my wife, who left after work around 3, about 4.5 hours to get up to our campsite due to traffic, accidents and slow moving people.  But, she got there safely with our son, and that was the most important thing.  The next group to arrive was my friend, his girlfriend, and their dog, at about 1030 at night.  The three dogs ran around, got to know each other all over again, and began forming their little pack for the weekend.  That was it for Friday as the rest of the family was arriving Saturday morning.

 

Saturday turned out to be a bit rainy with off and on showers, a touch of sun here and there, and yet despite the rain, it was still nice and relaxing.  The best part about the rainy day was that we had a pavilion that was completed to keep the rain off our heads.  On top of that, it didn't seem overly dark and dreary as the roof is clear, corrugated plastic sheets that allow all the light through, yet no rain.  Our son loves camping.  While we brought some blocks and other toys up for him to use, he didn't even bother touching them once as he had plenty of big boy toys to mess with.  He helped build fires, he tried pushing my big trimmer around almost all day, and when he wasn't involved in any of that, he was exploring the cars and trying to get into them to play.  Its pretty safe to say he thoroughly enjoyed himself.  He got to stay up later than usual and even then, there was no part of him that wanted to go to bed.  The same activities continued all weekend.  Simple relaxation.  By the time Monday rolled around and it was time to pack up and go home, I don't think anyone wanted to leave.  I know that I definitely did not want to go home.  I could have stayed up in Vermont for the rest of the week, however, in order to stay there for the week I would need money and without working, I don't have money.  So, life must return to normal.  I must go back to work, slog it out for the rest of this short week, and enjoy this coming weekend when it gets here.  Whenever a vacation ends, whether it be a long weekend or a whole week, there is always a period of depression that sets in.  My dogs sensed it yesterday morning when everything started getting packed up.  In fact, I had a very hard time getting my younger dog Aspen out of the shed and into the van to go home.  As soon as we started driving, the dogs laid down and slept the whole way.  I sank into my little depression almost immediately and didn't come out of it till I was almost home.  Today, I am good, still longing for Vermont, but accepting of the fact that I will have to wait till October to return there.  Normally, I would go up on Columbus day weekend, however, as it is our son's birthday that weekend, I will probably wait till the weekend after, who knows.  For now, time to get my day started and crackin, shuffle my wife and son off to school and daycare, and re-pack my van for work.  Thank God for coffee!