Aftermath

We woke up today and the power was still on. Compared to other areas, we were barely affected. Chincoteague island was underwater (my wife was worried about the wild horses), Carrie's friend Charlie reported NYC shut down all public transportation and bridges (no escape!), and in NJ there was a picture of a shark swimming in someone's yard. This is a storm that some areas will be talking about for decades.

By comparison, my neighbor's mailbox fell over and we have some standing water under our porch. The largest casualty of the hurricane was Shane's sleep pattern. He took a 30 minute nap driving back from Nana and Pa's yesterday, went to bed late, and then woke up before 5:30 AM. Unfortunately, I was up past 11 because that was supposed to be the apex of the winds. I wanted to make sure I was awake in case anything happened. Thankfully, nothing did. Carrie went upstairs earlier, but she was still awake when I followed suit. You could feel the house shifting in the wind once you went up a floor! It was enough to keep my wife awake.

Not me! I fell asleep quickly. I like the sound of rain. If the storm wasn't causing so much havoc in other people's lives I would have even enjoyed the ambiance.

I got an email from work today saying "The school's fine!" I would say the odds are 75/25 I'll be back in the classroom tomorrow. There are roads shut down all through the county, but I don't think the school system will want to stay closed for too much longer.

Situation Sandy

Sandy is creeping up on us.

It's been gloomy all day. The temperature has been slowly dropping and I haven't seen the sun for a while now. There's been no rain, yet. The wind is still waiting in the wings, too. Bands of rain have already hit where Carrie's parents and her brother's family live, but we're in the clear here (for now). The Redskins lost, but if all their losses were bad omens DC would've sunk below sea level by now.

I do know that school's been cancelled for the next two days. I thought they would wait to make an announcement. Perhaps they wanted to put people at ease? Regardless, I'm going to be home the next couple of days for some predicted heavy weather. The state park Carrie works at is closed until Wednesday.

There's not much more to do now other than sit and see. I'm not as worried about the storm as I'm worried about Shane being ornery for the next several days. He doesn't understand it when he's forbidden to go out in a normal rainstorm much less the fringe of a hurricane. If the power goes out, there will be no Thomas the Train to mollify him! Ha ha! I'm laughing now, but it won't be funny if it does happen.

I'm sure we will weather through this. It's a big enough event I wanted to post something!  Hang in there, East Coast.

You learn something new every day

I used to love cicada husks as a kid. They were the coolest things.

Who am I kidding?

They still are!

Shane calls them "Kays!"

There are a bunch hanging off the pine tree Shane likes to play under. Every now and then I'll pick one off and stick it on him for fun. I think they surprised him at first, but he'll grab for them now, too! I try to leave some in his reach.

Now, I thought that everybody loved cicada shells. The actual cicadas can get annoying, but the shells....they can hang off of anything!

It turns out my wife is creeped out by them. I know this because she told me.

I confirmed it by sticking one on her!

She knew what she was getting into when she married me, but I don't know if she was counting on this:

Mike humor.

I'm sure Nana will apologize to Carrie after she reads this.

Politics....meh.

I don't like to discuss politics, but a historic moment is only a couple of weeks away so I guess I should say something.

Frankly, I don't like either guy much (Romney v Obama). It feels like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" sort of election. Somebody's going to win, life will go on, and hopefully whoever is in office won't do anything too stupid.

My big problem with American politics is we treat anyone who doesn't agree with us as an enemy. It's Republicans vs Democrats...FIGHT! There's no discourse, only discord in that mentality. Politics is not meant to be a sport. You're not supposed to blindly cheer for your 'team' without bothering to think about issues or research your position. I can't say I'm always the poster child of good citizenship since I'm busy, but at least I know I should do it. I'm not sure it even registers for some people out there.

I may vote for a third part like Mickey Mouse as a protest. Yes, it's throwing away a vote in some ways, but I think that the two party system of "throw lots of mud," "don't work with the other guy because it'll hurt your party," and "anyone who disagrees with us is anti-american" will one day be the death of the US.

So there.

That's my political piece.

The only thing I'm looking forward to is the election maps. I always think it's hilarious to look at different news sites and see which states they're awarding to who. It's usually a bluntly clear picture of how biased they are or are not. I don't know why, but it amuses me.

Wait, I lied. I'm also looking forward to all of the political commercials to end. They get really annoying and feel like an insult to intelligence in general.

Okay. I'm all done now.  I have more pictures to sort through to finish my post on Shane and I's walks, but I spent most of my free time on my online course and this. I have my other course tomorrow, so I probably won't finish it until Thursday.  Friday is Parent's Night Out and Carrie and I are going out to eat with Dan, our renter, and his girlfriend before we have to pick Shane back up for bedtime at 8 PM. That'll be fun!

A Vocabulary Revolution

Shane and I went to the gym again today. He went to play with all of the kids whose mothers were in dance class; I went to work on the homework for my online class.

It was a win/win/win situation. Shane got to play with other children. Carrie got to sing. I got to do my homework (the least win of them all, but at least it's done).

Then something strange happened.

At 7:45 PM, I walked into the playroom. Shane was the only straggler once dance let out. He was running around pushing a big car he could ride in happy as can be. One of the girls there looked up at me and said, "Your son has such a big vocabulary for his age!"

Oh, how things have changed.

A month ago, Shane was saying a handful of words and qualified for speech help from the county. Two tubes in his ears later, he's imitating and guessing at new words to the point a child care worker is complimenting him.

I was a proud father. The girls went on to talk about how great Shane was and how there's a 2.5 year old that doesn't say nearly as much as he does. I admit: I ate it up. There was a little bit of worry about putting Shane through the surgery, but I can't imagine a better result than the one we've gotten. Shane's been ear infection clean and he's talking. Sometimes, he talks so much I wish he wouldn't be so insistent with what he wants! ("Go? Go? Go? Go? GO!!!! SEEEE!!!!!...Go?")

I was a little happy-sad when I tried to pick Shane up to leave and it got me thinking. The boy ran off to another new toy and grabbed the girl's hand who was complimenting him. For the next 10 minutes, he dragged her around the room and generally didn't come whenever I tried to call him over. It made me a little sad he didn't sprint over and yell "DADA!" I know a losing battle when I see on, so I only tried a couple of more times to call Shane. I was not fully opposed to him getting some more energy out before bedtime anyway, so I figured I'd let him enjoy himself a little longer before breaking it up for bed time.

A parent's job is to love your kid and do what's best for them. That means you can't always be the playmate if you really love your child. I've always known that, but it is not something any parent I know looks forward to. I thought that would kick in more as Shane got older. The truth is it starts happening whenever you have to put limits on something or you choose to put the baby on the other side of the baby gate so you can pick up whatever he knocked off a counter. Shane's been mad at me before, and he'll be mad at me again....but as long as he knows I love him that's fine with me.

I'm writing this here for you to read one day Shane. You weren't too happy about me dragging you to that surgery, but I'd do it again and again for this result. Keep in mind that the next time I'm the bad guy I may be playing the good guy in the long run.

Anyway, It's nice to know your old man and pretty mother got the ear surgery decision right. You're talking!

Do you know....

Do you know what my wife does when Shane and I are out and the house is empty?

I do. She sings.

SINGS!

How do I know?

When Shane and I got home tonight, Carrie's voice was hoarse and the laptop had lyrics on it. All very telling evidence.

Plus Carrie admitted it.

I'm no detective, but I know a confession is pretty damning in a court of law!

Just a silly post. I'll post another after I finish my online course's homework.

A Quick Stroll

My wife is a canny shopper. She always buys at clearance prices and reads through a bajillion reviews to make sure she's getting the best product for the best price. 

I'm a whole lot cheaper. To me, there's no better price than handing over a few bucks at someone's garage sale or picking up a "curb-side carryout."

Nana trained me well. I have some funny stories I could (some share involving old pool furniture), but that's neither here nor now.

Today, Shane and I went down the street to look at a "water table" one of my neighbors put out to the curb.

My neighbor knocked on the door when I was setting Shane up for dinner and Thomas the Train. We hadn't met, so when she introduced herself she mentioned her dog's name. Her daughters are very friendly and take him for walks, so that was actually a good way to let me know who she was!

When Shane finished eating, I stuffed him in the stroller and we wandered down.

The little girls loved Shane. They had him playing with toy shovels, running in and out of a playhouse, and in and out of their garage. Shane loved it. I swear my boy soaks up attention like a soap in water. We've played with the girls before since they like to be outside so much, but it was nice to meet their parents so they know who I am. 

Eventually, Shane and I went home. The boy took a bath, went to bed, and I ended up carrying a huge kiddie water table down the middle of the street. 

Like I said, Nana trained me well. I have no qualms and no shame retasking most things used to be useful another day. I feel most Americans have almost been conditioned to spurn used items for new, plastic wrapped ones. Maybe my love of used items is my own rebellion against the constant barrage of commercials and materialism in our country.

More likely, I'm just happily cheap!

Daylight Savings Is Going To SUCK

Shane consistently goes to bed around 8 PM and wakes up around 6 AM.

Daylight savings is going to suck.

Embarrassing Parent Moment for Carrie!

Carrie took Shane to CostCo today. He fell asleep on the car drive over. To wake him up, Carrie took him to the toy aisle inside. Nothing caught Shane's eye...until the horses.

Shane spent 10 minutes enthralled with a pair of animated rocking horses.

When Carrie finally pulled Shane away to continue shopping, he kept waving and yelling "BYE HO!"

My son is very, very loud. Carrie's response was to sing "HI HO, HI HO! It's off to work we go!" to pretend Shane wasn't saying what people were hearing!

Same mispronounced word, new location, different parent,

STILL FUNNY!

Outdoor Shaneannigans Part 1

Shane loves to be outside.

Rarely a day goes by when my son and I don't spend at least an hour on the driveway, in the yard, or prowling the sidewalks.

Shane's upset? Open a door.

Shane's got energy? Watch out that he doesn't open the door! (Seriously, we have to bolt the doors shut nowadays or he takes off.)

It's hard to take pictures of him when the boy charges and tries to pry the iPad out of my hands, so I took the liberty to go outside and take some pictures of our playgrounds. Who knows how long we'll live in this house, so it may be fun to look back and remember these sights one day.

A Great Cure

One of my students got the hiccups while he was in Theater Arts. He couldn't get rid of them.

The teacher took notice.

"All right. That's enough of that," the teacher said. He told my student to stand up and hiccup for that class.

The hiccups were gone.

That's an AWESOME CURE!! I'm going to try that one of these days.

VICTORY PIZZA!!!

10-Topping large pizza for $10 from Papa John's.

VICTORY PIZZA!!!!!!!

Hail to the Redskins! Hail victory! It doesn't happen often! Eat unhealthy!

After a five TD win, I'm enjoying a monster pizza. I ran out of toppings I liked and had to double up on something! GLEE!

Carrie picked up the pizza so we could avoid delivery fees. She said the place was PACKED. There were over 15 employees being run ragged by a short-tempered manager. The guy at the register even apologized to her.

It got me to thinking: working at Papa John's around here must train you to hate the Redskins. In the past, they didn't win as much, but with RG3 there's hope and more touchdowns than before. My brother, Patrick, works at a Papa John's so I texted him.

His reply?

"Nothing sucks more. I hate RG3 with a passion...." He then went on to describe the passion in words that I'm not going to post! On one hand, I feel bad for all the swamped PJ workers.

On the other hand, I was too busy chewing to feel the proper amount of sympathy.

Victory pizza! WOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Retrospective

I still miss Brogan from time to time, but I'm glad we helped him find another family. He was a lot of work. A puppy and a toddler who's rough on puppies plus a wife who is nervous about big dogs (especially around toddlers) was not a good combination. Separation anxiety and two full time jobs weren't the best for Brogan, either. It feels like he was here longer than he really was, but it was only a couple of months. I bonded quickly, so I guess that's why.

The same thing happened with Ranger (the cat we had to give up due to my allergies). I didn't want to let him go, but in the end it was clearly for the better.

Min and Max have been thrilled, though. Max was crawling around Carrie's head on the couch earlier and wrapping her tail around my wife's neck. Min now sleeps in places closer to the ground where Shane finds her and stuffs his face into her fur (here's to hoping he doesn't inherit my allergies).

We're going to stay a two cat and a boy family unit for the time being. If Carrie tries to bring a fish or gerbil home one day, I'm going to make her take it back!

Missed posts

I hate when I have a great idea, don't have/take the time to write it, and the thought is gone by the next time I sit down at the computer. That's happened a few times this week, and almost did for my Muay Thai post. The best advice I have for anyone trying to post online is "DO IT OR LOSE IT." Taking notes is fine and all, but it's better to get it up or you risk never posting it.

Muay Thai class 3.5 and 4

I'm sore today.

With Carrie's health issues and life as I know it, my attendance to my Muay Thai class slipped.

For class 3.5, I went to the first half of a class one night to put in an appearance. I had to leave when things got underway, but I felt it was important to make the effort to show up. The gym child care only goes until 8 PM and class starts at 7:30 PM on Mondays. The lesson of the day looked like it was going to focus on advancing punches and the required footwork. I picked up a pointer or two, collected my son, and vamoosed.

Carrie's back to 80% now. Shane started to go down for his nap just before noon today.

The timing was perfect.

If I left as Shane went down, in theory he would sleep for almost the whole time I was gone. Carrie gave me a thumbs up and I went for it.

It did not take long for my trouble sensing instincts to tingle. When I arrived, there were only three other students. Two I recognized as advanced and the other had the biceps of a man who works out. Coach walked up to one of the advanced guys and said, "Got a cup? Mouthpiece? Good."

I wrapped up and joined the circle for stretches. We spent much longer than usual. My trouble senses were flashing "DANGER! DANGER!" Coaches don't spend extra time stretching, because they want to kill time. They do it because they have a surprise and they don't want injuries.

Coach's surprise?

It was a cardio day. A mother and daughter combo showed up for class just in time for the festivities.

We started with speed jump ropes. Five minutes. It doesn't sound like much, but if you're not used to it and you do it right you'll feel it. Next, we grabbed weights and had to shadow box holding them. This also doesn't sound like much, but if you do it with an honest amount of intensity you'll feel the effects of the exercise. Mitt work with partners followed. Punching is obviously tiring, but holding the mitts can drain you some too. Try holding your arms out in front of you for two minutes without dropping them when you've already been working them out some. If you're honest and do the work asked of you, you will feel it in your shoulders.

That was the warm-up. The best part of class came when the coach assigned station work. Each pair would rotate through three stations. Two were heavy bags and one was the coach geared up with pads. The goal was constant work. Coach had a timer set for two minutes. When the 30 second mark hit, a bell rang and it was barrage time. Constant 1s and 2s. No breaks allowed. Then, when the round ended, everyone was allowed a 30 second break....after push-ups. If you've never done an endurance sport, this may seem sadistic. The coach was asking for everyone to pour everything they had into a 30 second blitz with constant punching. Once you were out of breath and your arms were sore, you were offered a short break but only after you banged out some push-ups.

If there was only one round, this wouldn't be worth writing about. We did 12.

The toughest rounds of all were those with the coach. He worked you the whole round, made sure you did your push-ups the right way, and then stood you up to do it all over again.

The good news is, I learned a few new moves working with him! When I work with him, Coach likes to be unpredictable. There's some repetition, but he frequently changes things on the fly to see how I react. Today, he asked me to do a 'teep.' I had no idea what he was talking about.

The teep is push kick. You lift your front leg and thrust it straight out into your opponent's abdomen to push them back. The coach did a quick, light example and his toes stabbed straight into my gut. I moved back, winded. Then it was my turn. Coach had me do a lot of teeps to set up a leg kick or to maintain my 1 range.

Other than that, I learned how awkward I can be defending. The coach had me defend at one point. He came at me throwing slow punches and leg kicks. I was supposed to bat down the punches and check the kicks with my knee. I was only able to focus on the punches or the kicks at one time. I could not keep track of both. At one point, I automatically launched a low block (from Tae Kwan Do) at a kick. Coach grinned. "That would be bad! There's the old martial art instincts." The smiled dropped. "Don't do that." Blocking a kick with an arm leaves your face unguarded from a punch plus a good kick can break a forearm.

Class ended with a sparring match between the two advanced students. They were told to "go 20%" and not hurt each other, but you could tell it exhausted them. It was fun to watch and learn, though. I went home sore and happy. There's a nice shiner forming where my ankle meets my right foot, my shoulders are a little stiff, and I'd do it again. I feel like I've improved a fair amount in the handful of times I've been to class. The only way to keep getting better is to keep going and it's a lot more fun to get in shape while learning something than it is to just do basic exercises.

I need to keep working on the basics, but I look forward to when I can learn about clinching. I wonder how much my wrestling and jiu-jitsu background will help.

In the Zone

Shane's gone with me to the gym/church day care a couple of times this week. On Thursday, he was the only toddler there. He got to monopolize the attention of both girls working that night!

I finished working out, and dropped by to pick Shane up. The girls were laying on the ground as Shane ran around them. When they saw me, they smiled and told me a story.

"It was soooo funny! We were laying on the ground with him and Shane ran up, full speed, and jumped on us!"

Shane's an active boy! I smiled.

Then, a thought dawned on me....uh oh.

"[Shane] didn't call you a horse did he?"

Shane at the Gym

Shane went to the gym with me today. There's a child center and I feel it's a good way to kill two birds with one stone. I get an hour to exercise; Shane gets to be supervised and play around with other children his age.

It's a win-win situation.

After burning off a Pop Tart and a half, I went to pick up Shane. Do you know what I found the boy doing?

Shane and his new friend, Christopher, were standing in a toddler sized bathroom stall taking turns flushing the toilet. The boys were fascinated. Flush after flush they chortled and pointed. "SEE!!!?!?!??!" Christopher and Shane waved goodbye as the water whirled away.

I've never seen a pair of boys so happy in a bathroom. Sometimes, you have to envy children and how excited they get about things that no longer register with adults.

Awkward Parenting Moment #I-Lost-Count

Today was cold, rainy, and Shane wanted to be outside playing in it. I wanted to be somewhere warm and dry where his cold wouldn't get any worse.

We compromised on going to Target.

For 10 minutes, we sat in an aisle filled with so many pink items that the color physically assaulted my senses.

Ten minutes.

In that pinkwashed aisle, there was a shelf of all of the Disney princesses that caught Shane's eye. To be more specific, he was fascinated by the horse pulling Cinderella's carriage.

For 10 minutes, my son refused to leave that girly aisle while he kept pointing at the princess shelf and saying "Horse!"

Shane can't pronounce horse. To the rest of the world, a man was standing with his son in an aisle full of Disney princesses while the little boy pointed and yelled "HO'S!"

Drive-Through Dilemma

Something I've always heard is "don't make foolish promises." Sometimes in the Bible I've ready adds "especially to God!" There's a set of verses in Ecclesiastes Chapter 5 that spell it out.

I've made a few promises to God in my lifetime. The ones that scare me at the ones that I don't remember, but God does. 

My running tally of promises I know of:

1) If I ever get a book published the advance proceeds of [the first book] will go to a charitable cause in his name (I said the first book almost as if I was assuming I'd write more than one! I suppose I should write a book if I ever want to be tested on this). 

2) Not to look at porn knowingly (I made this one back when I was 16, lapsed once around the 18 year mark and been faithful since...the knowingly is because the internet is the internet and the most honest of searches can sometimes scar you for life).

3) To be faithful to the covenant of my marriage.

4) The next time I go to a drive-through window I will pay for the person's meal behind me.

Wait.

What was that last promise? Drive-through? Does that seem kind of odd for a promise to God?

The Christian radio station in our area talks a lot about 'making a difference' at the drive-through. The idea is you pay for the person's meal behind you as a random act of God's love. You won't know the people or anything about them and you drive off with your own meal so you don't receive any kudos or glory on your own. I've heard about it for years and thought "Gee, wouldn't that be a nice surprise." 

Of course, I've never done it.  I've thought of it before, but I was always gun shy and never pulled the trigger.

Why is it that some of the most innocuous things can be the most intimidating?  I've climbed mountains, SCUBA dived, raced cars, taught middle schoolers, but saying an extra sentence to someone in a drive-through window causes me to pause. Maybe it's because it so out of the routine? Maybe I'm cheap? 

Who knows.

I made that promise and a month passed without me driving up to a drive-through. 

Yesterday, Shane fell asleep in the car and I decided to extend the drive/nap. I went by a Chic-Fil-A and made good on my promise.

It was weird. I kept looking up in my rear-view mirror to see who was going to pull up behind me. Eventually, a guy pulled up in a Honda. He had a hat on and I have to confess my first thought was "He looks like he could be a jerk." I saw a kid in the back though, and I reminded myself the point of the activity was not to pick and choose. It was to freely give when I'm already one of the more blessed people in the world to live where I can drive a car up to a window for a spicy chicken sandwich (no pickle). 

I said nine extra words, "I want to pay for the car behind me" and it was done. It made me feel silly for my hesitations. The cashier seemed surprised at first. She said "OK" and then tried to confirm the order from the guy behind me. "I don't need to know. They can confirm." One of the other workers nearby didn't seem surprised and told her what to do. I got my meal, said "Tell them God bless" and rolled away. I didn't even look in the rear view mirror.

When I parked and finished my meal, Shane was still snoozing. I saw my receipt listed everything the other car had ordered. I put it away quickly, because I felt like a snoop looking at someone else's order. I did spy two kids meals before I crumpled it.

It felt good not to welch on a promise. It felt silly to have been intimidated by nine extra words and a little extra cash.

I had to smile when my sandwich had two top buns and no bottom ones. Maybe it was God's way of saying "you'll always come out on top if you're acting for my glory and not yourself." The carbs were welcome.

Silly little journal, but God's kept Shane napping for longer than usual after he woke up at 5:20 AM. I figured I should do something Sunday related with the gift of time.

Working Towards That Raise

As a teacher, education is tied to pay.

I educate to earn a paycheck and my personal education can influence how much pay my educating receives. That’s why I started this big push to earn more credits over the summer. The sooner I get the raise, the sooner it starts factoring into my retirement and the rest of my career.

Right now, I’m taking an online course, an in-person course for 3 hours a week through October, and another 3 hour a week course in November. Last night, I got home at 7:45 PM. (Actually, I would’ve gotten home a few minutes sooner, but Carrie and Shane decided to get their kicks by ambushing me at the high school my course was at. It was a pleasant surprise.)The online course is a lot of writing, so you’ll probably see more resurrected journals when I get a chance to do them.

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about how busy things were and they haven’t let up. There was a crisis in my school’s community the day after I posted, Carrie got sick over the weekend, and then she had an operation today that’s she’s feeling like total crap from. Her parents came up to help with Shane for today and tomorrow. I’m sitting in the car typing this up on my work computer while I wait for Carrie’s pain meds prescription to be filled.

The good news is: the excitement should be done for a little bit once Carrie heals. The first big holiday coming up is Halloween and that should be a fun one. I’ve been ordered to find a Halloween party for us to attend, but who knows if that will happen or not. I wonder how many trick-or-treaters my new neighborhood will have…

Note: I wrote this Thursday, but then didn't have an opportunity to post it. It's Friday night, Shane and Carrie are both snoozing and I just got done with all of the dishes. Carrie's folks left after I got home from work. Carrie's still on bedrest and hurting, but I've seen improvements in her demeanor. I'm hoping she'll be feeling much better by the end of the weekend. Time will tell!