Portal 2

My wife beat Portal 2 tonight.

She was ecstatic. I don't know what happened during the end video (she was wearing headphones), but Carrie started cracking up while Shane and I looked on, puzzled.

I introduced her to Portal maybe a month ago. She'd already memorized the "Still Alive" song (and recorded herself singing it), bought a t-shirt, and then she made me buy the sequel when it was on a 75% off Steam sale.  Me?  I'm on Chapter 3 out of 9. I'll catch up now that she's not going to be playing it much more!

Flashback: They Don't Make Them Like They Used To

Flashback post. (Aka, one of the many posts I wanted to do, but the pics were never uploaded or I got distracted.)

Before school started, Carrie and I took our first (and still only) vacation from being parents. We dropped Shaney off with Carrie's parents, went to an amusement park, and WE TOURED A WW2 BATTLESHIP!

(Note: there are videos and other things that need to be uploaded but it's late o'clock and I'm not doing it tonight.)

Do you smell burning?

Thursday was not a typical school day.  It was the last day before the break, so it was filled with children asking "What's the point of having school today?" and teachers who are thinking the same thing.  Of course, if there was no school on Thursday, everyone would just say the exact same thing on Wednesday and we'd have to make up the Thursday at a later date.

So basically, Thursday was supposed to be an easy day where everyone was just going through the motions and some families decide to pull their kids early for vacation. There was even a hour read-in scheduled at the end of the day! Sweet!

Of course, when do things ever go as planned? (Was Murphy divinely inspired when he wrote his law? It feels like the 11th commandment sometimes).

I love my wife

After a long day for both of us, Carrie decided she wanted to watch some Monday Night Football. San Francisco is playing Pittsburgh.

The lights are out.

The game is set to start, and the lights are a no-go!  A transformer blew and delayed the start of the game.  Minutes ago, that same transformer blew again!

My wife's response?

"I find it ironic that the lights are out at Candlestick Stadium."

I love my wife.

Placeholder post

I was just working on my resume a little and browsing the news on CNN and saw a headline stating Kim Jong Ill 2 has passed away. Thank God. The man has helped suppress a whole country and set up a cult of personality worshiping himself. It's a momentous occasion for the Koreas, so I figured I'd post a quick blog entry stating what I was doing when I first heard the news. It's 10:30 at night, I just got done washing baby bottles and picking up, and I was working on updating my resume to try to get into the entry pool for a type of job in the county I may want to try one day. In other words: I'm doing nothing terribly exciting. Oh well! I hope this will usher in a chance for peace and stability in a habitually rocky region. The ego-maniacal loony is dead, long live the next if he's not more trouble than the sire. 

My computer problem has been fixed. No, I didn't fix the old computer. Instead, I've retasked Carrie's laptop into my electronic play-pal. It was just reimaged last weekend when windows had a catastrophic failure, and I've customized it and uninstalled much of the HP freeware that was sucking up processor power.

It's funny, but gaining the laptop shows how far my marriage has come along! In the beginning, Carrie didn't want me messing with her laptop or trying to fix it if broke. I offered to help a few times in the beginning, realized she'd rather do it herself, and then gave a mental shrug and only offered suggestions if she was ever really stuck. My wife never was for long. I chuckled a bit when I pointed this out, and I got my wife to roll her eyes. I'm sure she has plenty of similar stories about my quirks, and we'll leave it at that.

I took video of Shane today tearing around the basement. He got to see Chuck E Cheese's for the first time yesterday and there were some good photos there as well. Over the winter holidays, I WILL upload some of this stuff.

I love tutoring

Tuesday was business as usual for me at tutoring. I came, I worked, and then...then the unexpected happened. I got a Christmas gift! There was dark chocolate, P.F. Changs gift cards, and a card offering a free night of babysitting!

Have I mentioned I really like the family I work with? If not, I want to mention it right here, right now.

Tutoring is a job yet a hobby for me nowadays. The money is nice, but it's mainly just going into savings or Carrie going fan girl and buying a Bazinga! shirt. After a week of dealing with kids with extreme academic difficulties crowded en mass, legal papers, and upset parents, it's nice to work with a single, bright kid, and a nice parent. The kid actually reminds me of myself in regards to many of the things he struggles with. He's ADD, unorganized, and apathetic. He does like success, he's got a good sense of humor, and after some initial resistance we bonded and crap gets done. I've even forgiven him for being a Cowboys fan! Ha! I feel like I'm making a difference. That's more than I get from work most days where I just feel rushed to get everything done. It's great to just focus on one student and make an impact.

That is all for tonight. I need to go try and fix my computer so I can write longer posts and upload some Shane-annigans. I didn't get a chance last night with coming home at 5:45 and then having to rush Carrie to an urgent care, but that's another story. Life is definitely busy and exciting.

Computer kaput

The desktop is dead for the moment. Safe mode loaded, but a system restore and a scan disk did nothing so it's a deeper set problem. Carrie wanted to see how it was broken while I was watching Shane and she said safe mode wouldn't load for her.

One of these days I'll have time to fix it. I put Shane to bed, checked in with Carrie and then I've been doing chores since.

And do you know what? I'm not the least bit stressed about my comp dying. Video games are a nice time kill, but I get so much more dine without them. Plus, I'm looking forward to fixing my comp. I like discrete problems with a clear solution to puzzle out. I'm thinking it might be fun to try a technical position in my county at some point for a break from teaching, but not a break from education. I like learning new things and it could be refreshing.

That's all from me tonight. I have pictures and videos I want to upload at some point, but I've done more than enough touchscreen typing to desire a real keyboard. Carrie's work iPad is a cool little doohickey, but I can't imagine buying a personal one at the prices they go for. Any totally strange typos and word substitutions can be blamed on Apple and my fat fingers.

I was writing a post...

I was writing a post until a certain kitten who shall remain unnamed jumped on my keyboard. You may remember him attacking the mouse cursor from here: A new obstacle. The screen froze, the monitor became non-responsive, and I had to do a hard shutdown to even reboot the thing. When windows started to load, the monitor went black again, so I'm calling it a night.

Oh, and go Broncos! The first chunk of your game was boring to watch but that was an exciting finish! My Redskins lost today, but it beats the days when they struggled to put up double digits points.

Shane's 1st Birthday Week!

Shane turned ONE this week!

On Sunday, we gathered at my parents house for cake and presents! Shane thought chocolate cake tasted horrible, but that it look great smeared all over his face and clothes. Pictures will be posted once I get my hands on them.

Nana (my mom) turned the birthday party into a "birthday week" for Shane whenever he was at Nana daycare. He was sharing the house with three emergency foster care kids, so they got to join in on the festivities. She took the kids to the mall, and who knows where else!

I stole a page from her book today and took Shane down to a play area at the mall before the stores open. Shane was shy for a change. It took him a while to start running and crawling around. I think there was so much to see and look at that it took him a little to take it all in. After 35 minutes or so, we strollered around the mall, got Dad's lunch (that's me!) and I drove Shane home where he took a really long nap. I felt like a million dollar dad. I need to take Shane out to see other kids more often. It's good for my sanity and his development.

More Shane-annigans and updates will be coming.

A Note on Parenting

Yet another thing people told me while Carrie was pregnant has come true. I was warned that parenting would introduce me to new "highs and lows" in my life.

Allow me to explain.

When your child is upset, you're upset. When they are excited, so are you. The difference is that you cannot control your child's emotions, so you get to ride along whatever roller coaster they drag you on!

Parenting is definitely an endurance sport. Once that little one takes his first breath, you're on duty until the day you die. Sounds morbid doesn't it?  (I tend to look at things in a "what's my duty?" sort of way sometimes.)  Even when Shane's asleep, I have a monitor nearby in case he may need me. The whole parenting gig started off with broken and missing sleep, and even though Shane's sleeping well now I've had to redefine what rest and relaxation means to me. Many times, I spend my off time doing tasks and chores that need to be done so that my  on time will be easier to bear. There are some days I feel burnt out and drained of energy by evening. Those are the days I lay on the floor counting down to baby bedtime and supervising Shane by letting him crawl all over me and manhandle my ears and hair. Those are the days I wonder if I'm a good parent or not.

On the other hand, parenting can also be a rush. When my boy smiles, I feel like everything is going to work out fine. Watching Shane learn a new task or get really excited about something is contagious. Things that I find mundane and boring (like opening a door), become entertaining to watch when Shane's the one straining to reach the handle. I'm really looking forward to the discoveries he's going to make in the coming year! Hopefully, I'll get lots of pictures and videos too, because they're a joy to flip back and look through. Secondly, Shane's instilled in me a strong sense of duty and purpose when it comes to his care. I've never worked harder around the house or at work now that everything I do I feel as if I'm not doing it just for me. I'm doing it for my boy who's counting on me. There's some stress associated with that, but I feel like it's "growing" stress instead of the "tear you down" variety. Finally, being a parent has taught me A LOT. I've read and read, and thought about a lot of things in new ways. For one, I have infinitely more empathy for anyone who's a parent now! Plus, I know that being a homemaker is not the racket I once thought it was. I'd rather be working (unless of course the boy were to be in school most of the day and then I'd reconsider!)

The bottom line is: would I do it again knowing what I now know?  Yes. I'd take a second child if the opportunity came along. I feel like being a parent has been a growing experience for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing my son grow more.

On a sadder note: I received an email this week that hurt to read. I further highlighted to me just how blessed and what a privilege it is that I even have a son. I'll copy it in here, but delete the names so you can read it if you wish. It's an announcement from someone I know that they've discovered their unborn child's brain and spine never fully developed and life outside the womb is not viable. Carrie and I didn't announce her pregnancy until we were sure we'd gotten past the most common miscarriage point (because they happen far more often than people think), and I spent most of the pregnancy praying that my son would be born healthy (working with all of the exceptions to the rule in special ed does wonders for the imagination of an expectant father).

Anyway, click if you want to read the email and remember: kids are a blessing if you have them....no matter how tired you are at any given moment! I'm still amazed it's been over a year for me.

My apologies

My apologies to the two people who may read this, all of the Russian ping bots, and myself for not updating in a while.  Shane skipped walking-walking and he's more into a power-walk and opening doors. I've had to focus more on watching him than typing while he plays.

The little tyke just went down for a nap a little over half an hour ago. Instead of taking a break, that was my cue to RUSH and get as many chores in motion as I could, so that I could take the latter part of his nap off. I've hung up laundry, showered, shaved, carted down new laundry, washed dishes, washed bottles, and grabbed clothes to change Shane into when he wakes up. No single task is extraordinarily difficult or time consuming, but it's hard to do while Shane's awake.

I'm going to try and update a bunch this week, but we'll see if I hold true to my word. I need to keep getting things ready right now, because we're going to go celebrate his first birthday at my parent's house!  It's hard to believe it's already been that long since Shane came along.

Adios for now.