Monday was Amanda's birthday. So we celebrated it slowly over the whole course of the weekend.
Friday night we went to Fresh Choice for dinner. Afterward, we picked up a bottle of ice wine from a adjacent beverage store. I was too ridiculously full from dinner to enjoy it though, so we refrained from opening it.
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On Saturday she went to lunch and clothes shopping with a friend. While she was gone, I fed the kids lunch and we watched the US soccer team lose to Ghana. Since we have an antenna for our TV though, the only channel I could find it on was a Spanish channel. And despite my previous post, I kinda enjoyed watching it, although the kids got bored way before I did. Maybe it's because neither team was doing excessive flopping.
Then in the evening we ended up watching our good friend's kids so they could have a date. While that doesn't sound exciting, we ended up jogging to the park with them while they rode their bikes, which was both a lot of fun and some exercise. Then we had a popsicle party in our front lawn when we got back home. To finish the evening, they all enjoyed watching a Pooh movie together. Both their kids and ours had a great time., which of course also makes us happy.
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Sunday, we went to Bodega Bay where we met Amanda's cousin and his wife. The weather was perfect, and I had some good one-on-one time with Emily when we went for a walk along the beach, and Lucas too when we were running and trying to fly a kite (not much wind though).
Amanda's other cousin (the first one's brother) also met us there later with his girlfriend, and after the beach we went to her Aunt's house for a phenomenal tri-tip dinner that he (Ben) cooked up.
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I took Monday off of work, in honor of Amanda's birthday. We mostly took it easy that day though, since Sunday wore us out (too much sun and lots of driving).
After I let her sleep in that morning we made crepes for breakfast (I cooked the dough and we both assembled them).
Later the kids and I baked a cake for Amanda - she requested vanilla cake with a lemon middle, and vanilla frosting over it which she made to make sure it came out right. It tasted great!
After the kids' afternoon nap, we went to watch Toy Story 3 in the theatre. Since it was Amanda's birthday, I took care of Clara for 90% of the time. Which meant that I only was able to watch the 1st half of the movie, until she was sick of popcorn and started getting restless and noisy. I ended up pacing the hallways with her during the 2nd half of the movie in an attempt to keep ourselves occupied. I can't blame her though, since she has no idea what they are saying in the dialogue.
Finally, after the kids were in bed we sat on our front bench outside and opened the ice wine that we picked up on Friday.
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It was a memorable and enjoyable weekend. I'll have to post some pictures once Landis (Amanda's cousin) sends them to us, since we left our camera in the car:-(
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
A Kick in the World Cup
I want to root for my country, especially in a competition as worldwide as The World Cup. But I'm sorry, the only sport that is more boring to watch than soccer/football is golf.
Not only is it boring, but I simply refuse to support a sport where acting like a freaking sissy is not only not penalized, but even advocated. Watching these dill weeds fly to the ground while holding their faces when no one even touched them is downright sickening. Then, if the other guy doesn't fall to the ground and writhe in pain too then the ref will likely give him a penalty card.
I will venture to say that this may be the only sport I can think of where the professional women players appear to be tougher than the men.
I really WANT to get over it and participate in the cheering though. Somebody please convince me.
Not only is it boring, but I simply refuse to support a sport where acting like a freaking sissy is not only not penalized, but even advocated. Watching these dill weeds fly to the ground while holding their faces when no one even touched them is downright sickening. Then, if the other guy doesn't fall to the ground and writhe in pain too then the ref will likely give him a penalty card.
I will venture to say that this may be the only sport I can think of where the professional women players appear to be tougher than the men.
I really WANT to get over it and participate in the cheering though. Somebody please convince me.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Why I Didn't Vote Today
Amanda and I have voted in probably 9 out of 10 elections. Usually, we sit down with the mailed out information booklets, read through all of the proposition and candidates, and decide what/who we want to vote for. Most of the time our decisions are identical, but not always.
Leading up to this year's primary elections though, we have been up to our ears getting ready for Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church. Amanda is in charge of the drama portion of it, and besides helping her as much as possible in the preparation, I have also volunteered to be the actor/character for 2 of the 5 nights.
Because of VBS, I am going to bed later (11:30+), and therefore getting up later, which leads to me getting to work later. Then on top of that I have to leave work early so I can be home by 4:30pm. So my work hours are going to be significantly short this week. Not only that, but we haven't had time to read through the informative material that we received in the mail.
Ok, now that the whine-fest is over, my co-worker pointed out that I can just swing by the voting station on the way home from work. While this is true, there is still one more reason why I refuse to just stop in and check those decision boxes.
I am completely opposed to people voting when uninformed. I don't care if you're a communist liberal or a nazi conservative, as long as you know what the hell you're voting for when you check those boxes, then more power to you. But it is my belief that many (most?) people go to the polls and just go straight down along party lines. Or at best they may carry a suggestion card with them from some organization and just follow their guidelines to the tee.
Admittedly, in the past I have been one of them. In 1993, at the age of 22 (yes, I am getting old), I voted for Bill Clinton because I thought he seemed cool. That's right, for no other reason but that.
In my opinion, there should be a screening process of some sort (a mail-in questionnaire?) which demonstrates that each person has an actual reason why they are making their voting decisions. And only then would they be allowed to make their choices count.
All of that to say that I didn't vote today because a) lack of time, and b) to do so would be in violation of my own principal of informed voting.
Leading up to this year's primary elections though, we have been up to our ears getting ready for Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church. Amanda is in charge of the drama portion of it, and besides helping her as much as possible in the preparation, I have also volunteered to be the actor/character for 2 of the 5 nights.
Because of VBS, I am going to bed later (11:30+), and therefore getting up later, which leads to me getting to work later. Then on top of that I have to leave work early so I can be home by 4:30pm. So my work hours are going to be significantly short this week. Not only that, but we haven't had time to read through the informative material that we received in the mail.
Ok, now that the whine-fest is over, my co-worker pointed out that I can just swing by the voting station on the way home from work. While this is true, there is still one more reason why I refuse to just stop in and check those decision boxes.
I am completely opposed to people voting when uninformed. I don't care if you're a communist liberal or a nazi conservative, as long as you know what the hell you're voting for when you check those boxes, then more power to you. But it is my belief that many (most?) people go to the polls and just go straight down along party lines. Or at best they may carry a suggestion card with them from some organization and just follow their guidelines to the tee.
Admittedly, in the past I have been one of them. In 1993, at the age of 22 (yes, I am getting old), I voted for Bill Clinton because I thought he seemed cool. That's right, for no other reason but that.
In my opinion, there should be a screening process of some sort (a mail-in questionnaire?) which demonstrates that each person has an actual reason why they are making their voting decisions. And only then would they be allowed to make their choices count.
All of that to say that I didn't vote today because a) lack of time, and b) to do so would be in violation of my own principal of informed voting.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Selfish Attitude for Menial Servitude
I am really dreading the next two weeks in preparation for and execution of VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church. I know I should have a better attitude about it, but my selfishness is annoyed (even ticked off?) about putting everything else on hold and having my wife and I bust our butt in all of our spare time.
And compared to other couples/families at our church, our sacrifice/participation is probably trivial.
Yeah, as I'm typing this I know that I should probably be praying more about it too.
And compared to other couples/families at our church, our sacrifice/participation is probably trivial.
Yeah, as I'm typing this I know that I should probably be praying more about it too.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Diminished Sympathy
While my political opinions are generally conservative, I fall somewhat close to the middle ground regarding my stance on numerous issues, including illegal aliens.
I can see the human sympathy side of them wanting to support their families. I also know they work hard at the mostly labor-intensive jobs that they fill, and in doing so are contributing to the economy by lowering the costs of the goods and services of the companies that they work for.
However, since my political views tend to lean in the conservative direction, I can certainly see the arguments against illegal aliens as being valid too (increased crime, use of taxpayer's resources, failure to integrate into our culture, etc).
I learned something new and interesting about the issue today though. Did you know that there is a fairly quick way for all immigrants, illegal included, to gain citizenship to the United States through service in the military?
I must admit that this diminishes the sympathy side of my opinion by a substantial amount.
I can see the human sympathy side of them wanting to support their families. I also know they work hard at the mostly labor-intensive jobs that they fill, and in doing so are contributing to the economy by lowering the costs of the goods and services of the companies that they work for.
However, since my political views tend to lean in the conservative direction, I can certainly see the arguments against illegal aliens as being valid too (increased crime, use of taxpayer's resources, failure to integrate into our culture, etc).
I learned something new and interesting about the issue today though. Did you know that there is a fairly quick way for all immigrants, illegal included, to gain citizenship to the United States through service in the military?
I must admit that this diminishes the sympathy side of my opinion by a substantial amount.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
You Are Getting Sleepy. Sleepy. SLEEPY.
I am chronically sleep deprived. A couple of Saturdays ago it was the first time in many months/years that I opened my eyes in the morning without forcing them.
I can't help but wonder how much smarter/stronger would I be, or how much better memory would I have if I were to get the proper sleep throughout my life? Or how many years I may have even shortened it.
==========================
I recently attended the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) in San Jose for three days. On Wednesday, the first session that I was planning on attending didn't start until around noon. So I woke up in the hotel by myself, with nowhere to go for a few hours. It was absolutely incredible to be able to just go back to bed, then when I was finished sleeping to just lie in it a little longer.
I realized that this may be the only time I get to do this for a long time, perhaps many years, or even the better part of the rest of my life. That may sound overly dramatic, but even when I have previously traveled for work, I was due at the customer's or sub-contractor's facility first thing in the morning. At home, even when my wife lets me sleep in there is noise downstairs. Also I can't seem to avoid the self-imposed pressure to not sleep in too long so I don't keep the family waiting on me for breakfast, so I can start cranking on my to-do list, and/or so I can help Amanda with the kids.
So this may be a revelation. I think that Amanda and I should be deliberate in making this happen for each other as Mother's day and Father's day gifts. 24 hours of being away from the house, kids, and even each other. It would start in the morning, then she can hang with friends, have time to herself, see a movie, or whatever. Then just go to a hotel and sleep in to her heart's desire.
I can't help but wonder how much smarter/stronger would I be, or how much better memory would I have if I were to get the proper sleep throughout my life? Or how many years I may have even shortened it.
==========================
I recently attended the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) in San Jose for three days. On Wednesday, the first session that I was planning on attending didn't start until around noon. So I woke up in the hotel by myself, with nowhere to go for a few hours. It was absolutely incredible to be able to just go back to bed, then when I was finished sleeping to just lie in it a little longer.
I realized that this may be the only time I get to do this for a long time, perhaps many years, or even the better part of the rest of my life. That may sound overly dramatic, but even when I have previously traveled for work, I was due at the customer's or sub-contractor's facility first thing in the morning. At home, even when my wife lets me sleep in there is noise downstairs. Also I can't seem to avoid the self-imposed pressure to not sleep in too long so I don't keep the family waiting on me for breakfast, so I can start cranking on my to-do list, and/or so I can help Amanda with the kids.
So this may be a revelation. I think that Amanda and I should be deliberate in making this happen for each other as Mother's day and Father's day gifts. 24 hours of being away from the house, kids, and even each other. It would start in the morning, then she can hang with friends, have time to herself, see a movie, or whatever. Then just go to a hotel and sleep in to her heart's desire.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Look Dad - A POLICEMAN!
I recently attended a pancake and parents breakfast with my two oldest kids at their preschool. It was a good way to take a break from my work routine and spend time with them.
But after we sat down and started eating, my son looked over at the next table and exclaimed to me "Look dad - A POLICEMAN!". Sure enough, another dad had joined the breakfast in his uniform.
I thought about how that used to be my dad, the policeman in his uniform impressing all of the other kids. What about me though? I'm just another stiff in a polo shirt. Oh sure, it could be worse. At least I'm in good shape and I don't embarrass my kids with high tube socks, sandals, and short shorts.
But I would have made a great cop. I would like the conflict and the risk. I'm pretty confident in my ability to handle myself, I'm comfortable in an authority role, and I have above average communication skills. I'm pretty sure of at least this much - I would have made a better cop then I do an engineer. But dad discouraged it, and God led me down other paths I guess.
So now the question is this (or is it more of a quest?) - in what ways can I be impressive to my kids? Aside from being an exceptional dad, how can I be an exceptional man? One that my children would be proud of and/or want to brag about?
But after we sat down and started eating, my son looked over at the next table and exclaimed to me "Look dad - A POLICEMAN!". Sure enough, another dad had joined the breakfast in his uniform.
I thought about how that used to be my dad, the policeman in his uniform impressing all of the other kids. What about me though? I'm just another stiff in a polo shirt. Oh sure, it could be worse. At least I'm in good shape and I don't embarrass my kids with high tube socks, sandals, and short shorts.
But I would have made a great cop. I would like the conflict and the risk. I'm pretty confident in my ability to handle myself, I'm comfortable in an authority role, and I have above average communication skills. I'm pretty sure of at least this much - I would have made a better cop then I do an engineer. But dad discouraged it, and God led me down other paths I guess.
So now the question is this (or is it more of a quest?) - in what ways can I be impressive to my kids? Aside from being an exceptional dad, how can I be an exceptional man? One that my children would be proud of and/or want to brag about?
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