Cheesy Tag

Beth tagged me a while ago and I am finally getting around to it, so here goes:

3 Joys:

1. Family- gatherings, babies, kids, wife, time, fun, food, all of it
   
2. The way I feel after serving someone or after a hard day's work
   
3. "A nice MLT, a mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomato is ripe. They're so perky, I love that." In other words, movies.
   

3 Fears:

1. Unnatural death (burning, drowning, buried alive, that kind of MESSED UP STUFF)
   
2. Not being able to provide for my family
   
3. Rejection
   

3 Goals:

1. Pay as much tithing as possible (Neil Crews gave me that one)
   
2. Make something with my hands that I am proud of
   
3. Gather as many family members in the temple as possible
   

3 Obsessions/Collections:

1. Collections: Stamps (haven't look at them in years), Readers Digest Condensed Books
2. Languages. I would love to learn a dozen languages.
   
3. Hearing peoples' stories. Everyone has something to say- I like listening and learning.

3 Random Surprising Facts about Me:

1. I was an International Studies major before I switched to Computer Science and I went to Furman University on a music scholarship before that.
   
2. My first car was a BMW 320i. It was an import, so everything on the dash was in German.
   
3. I was in Boys Scouts for about 3 months, but I never even made it to Tenderfoot. I wish I had finished.
   

5 People that are Tagged:
It took forever for someone to tag me, so I tag anyone that WANTS to be tagged but never has been. Go for it!

Can't get enough!

I LOVE being itchy- especially when it's somewhere I can't reach. It reminds me of what life's all about!
My doctor is so concerned for my well-being that when I showed up for a physical and told him I loved having an itch I can't scratch, he hooked me up! He's the man.

So here's how it goes (guys only):

1. Take off your shirt (feel alive)
   
2. Reach for the nearest "dry razor"
3. Cut a nice, wide path right through that luxurious chest hair of yours
4. Attach leads to your chest (medical tape works as well)
   

That's it- you'll be scratching for days- maybe even weeks!

Explanation: I went for a physical and the doctor prescribed a Holter monitor for 24 hours to check my heart. Everything's normal, it's just part of his routine.



Yeah!

The REAL providers of our liberty

I meant to post this yesterday, but I didn't get around to it.

Thank you, veterans and active soldiers, for your service. I cannot express fully even the profoundness of the gratitude I feel for your sacrifice and the sacrifice of those who are no longer among us.

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag."

-- Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

Again- thank you.

Tree 2.0

I hold several titles- a few of them with a moderate amount of success, but Arborist is not one of those. I believe I killed the little tree I planted in our front yard a couple of months ago when I transplanted it.

So I made another trip to our friendly neighborhood forest "store" and picked another. This time, planting it was a family effort. My friend Frank even helped- well, "supervised"!


And here it is several hours after planting. I'm fairly hopeful about this one- I did a much better job preserving and transporting more of its root structure.


We relocated the "dead" one from the front yard to the back yard, where it can take its time to recover. I hope I didn't really kill it. We'll see what happens in the spring. I'll post pictures then if it recovers.
Seth is showing off his extreme helpfulness- carrying 3 trowels and the "dead" tree to the back yard.


All I carried was a shovel and two buckets and Supervisor Frank lugged a shovel. Once he got in the back yard, he found a strategic overlooking position (one of the lawn chairs) near the work site and watched the fun. That man is on a fast track to Middle Management!

It's more than just vocabulary

We finally got a gym membership. I was most interested because the local YMCA has a pool and I'd like for the kids to learn to swim, but after we got the membership I thought I should probably use it more than just every once in a while to swim as a family. So, I've been learning more about exercise and fitness.
As friends and family tell me more about "working out," I've learned that there is a vocabulary for the whole thing. Things like "reps" and "sets" for weight lifting, "calories" and "lipoproteins" for health, and more brand names for fitness machines than I care to count.
But it's more than just vocabulary- did you know that there are (according to some) 5 principles of fitness (beware the pop-ups)? When's the last time you looked at the food pyramid? Anyone here know how many leafy, green veggies you're supposed to have in a week? And how about figuring out the difference between a restaurant serving and a "recommended serving"? It's enough to make your head spin.
Here's the point: Some of you, as you're reading this, are thinking in your heads "It's not that complicated, you just make sure you eat... and do... and take..." Maybe it's simple for you, but think for a minute about what it took to learn all you know about it- you've been learning as you go.

The programming world has a huge vocabulary. If anyone in my family (or ward family) interested in learning to program in C#, please let me know. I'd be happy to share. Here's one of my favorite Help Desk acronyms: PEBKAC (pronounced PEB-kack) - Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair

In our church, we have vocabulary and we have a lifestyle. When people visit us for the first time, they probably feel like I do about fitness- happy and amazed, but also a little overwhelmed and worn out. I've been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (I almost wrote "I've been LDS for..." sheesh, I'm slow sometimes) for more than 20 years now, so our vocabulary and lifestyle are a natural part of me and require no thought. But I'm going to work harder to help others as much as I can in the transition.

Those are just three examples of the concept I'm trying to share. And speaking of sharing, I issue a formal invitation to all to help others learn vocabularies and practices- don't leave them in the dark just for the sake of being an exclusive "insider."

The Den

Sure enough, there was indeed a "before".

Here is the before:


And here's the after:

Slacker Dad things to do

I have noticed in the past few weeks that some of my parenting practices are... unorthodox? Sure, that works.

Example:
The babies splash in the tub. They also lack comprehension of the English language. So when I say "Stop splashing," or "No splashing. Not nice", all they seem to hear is "...splash..." and just end up splashing harder.
My solution:
I splash back. That's right- I take a cup of water and I dump it over their heads. Or I reach my hand down into the water and splash a nice handful on them. It gets their attention, doesn't hurt them, and usually gets them to stop (but not all the time). I'm trying to think of a new scheme- something that will work every time. Any ideas? ;-)

Another:
When Seth was younger he liked to sit in my lap while I was trying to do things that required me to get up and down repeatedly, like building a computer. Obviously, it was difficult to get up and down with him on my lap.
My solution:
I gave him some specialized computer socket wrenches and gave him an old shell of a computer to work on while I worked on mine. He still has those wrenches and he goes and gets them sometimes when I need to work on some project that requires tools. Tools as toys? Sure, it's a little edgy, but it works.

I'll post more if more occur to me.