Welcome to "HAPPY DAY" !!

I dont have a lot of time to dedicate to detail on this blog, and I really should go into
detail due to the topic...but yesterday I snapped. First, we’d had a bit of a horrible week
with Logan. Not entirely bad, but several memorable moments of open defiance, yelling,
and general un-nice behavior - on both of our parts (Logan and myself). The washing
machine broke (again) - the one side here water went in broke like the other side did, so
we went to the inlaws on Sunday (to do some laundry, among other things). Logan was
in rare form. He threw more temper tantrums than Bob Feller threw baseballs. ANd with
intensity. At one point, when I had had enough, he layed him head on my leg (seemingly
innocent enough) and bit me hard enough to leave marks. I was pissed! I snatched him
up, yelled at him, and put him down flat on the floor. (Controlled - he didnt bang his head
or anything).

On the drive home, the wife and I discussed how bad his temper has gotten, and that I felt
bad about how things were going. One minute Im standing there yellign at a 2 yr old, and
the next, Im envisioning it being 14 years later, and us not gettign along. Scared the hell
out of me. I told the wife that I wanted my little buddy back. I knwo he’s going thru a
change (terrible 2’s and all), but I miss how much I liked taking him places. When he
behaived better. Later, after watching Kung Fu (season 2 - now avaliable on dvd), I
regrouped to realize that it was up to me to not only make a change in his attitude, but
also in my own. Ive often (in criticism of my friends kids) said that kids reflect - they
learn their actions from their parents, and reflect actions, attitudes and belifs back to the
parents. Some parents can’t see themselves in what they dont like about thier kids. I saw
my own anger in my 2 yr old. So....I declared the slate cleaned - and made today
officially “Happy Day”. We did fun thing s- we learned numbers - we worked on fixing a
gate togher - but everythign we did, was happy. When he started to fuss a bit about
takign his nap, I explained that ther ewas to be no crying - after all , it was happy day. “I
want you to be happy - cause I love you”. Sounds corny, but damn if we didnt have one
of the best days that we’ve had in a long time. We got along - when problems arose, I
was able to address him calmer, and keep him calm in the process. Im embarrassed at
having to write this ---I figured of anyone, I was the one who was even tempered, a
model father/mother figure, and really had things in order. But I felt obligated to post
this, in the hoipes that some other poor bastard (like myself) might find himself in the
same situation, and know that there is always hope.

On to the DOJO: Had a nice jujitsu class tonight. Worked on belt level requirements,
and even worked on some ground fighting. It gave us an opportunity to compare and
contrast the teachign styles of Kreese and our Sensei. It was a major eye opener. We
students ended up agreeing that Kreese can’t teach worth shit. A sad comment to make,
when you consider my mecent remarks about the Kung FU Sifu. I fear that I now find
myself placing them in the same boat. Excellent practicioner of their art - but sucky
teacher. I will have to give it some more thoguth ( to make sure that Im just not
reflecting the opinion of my classmates), but I think we may be pretty much done with
Kreese’s classes. And te Kung FU - that’s sad - I saw that Ms. Thing showe dup tonight,
and it was only Sifu, assistant and Ms Thing--and decided to skip class. Let em talk - let
em testify - let em flirt. I got more important shit to do. I think I’ll wait until he gets his
shit together, and starts actually teachign something new....then I’ll go back over for the
classes.That really bites...I enoy the kung fu - just not how the class makes me feel
anymore.

Well - I have new pics of the babies - got to download them to the computer, and get a
copy for the wife.

Shannon

PS. I must admit, that I overexagurated when i said the heater was a flame thrower.
Well - it was, but a small one, and not the WW2 type. I will definietly look into
replacing the “heater exchange”, but I think I got it pretty well sealed for now. As a
matter of fact, it’s better sealed NOW then before the problem occured. The wife and I
have agreed that we will use the IRS refund check (hopefully we will have one of those)
to put towards gettign central air installed. Both our parents have even offered to assist
with money to help us do so. Whatever keeps the house from burnign down!

pss. I was very concerned about carbonmonoxide, even before the problem. I have a
detector, usually in the kitchen, that I’ve moved into the living room. Let’s hope, if
there’s a problem, that the detector will catch it in time.

Saturday Night

Im sorry again for the weird format that the Blog has taken (meaning how the words
appear on the page). THi sis because of me cutting and pasting it from MS Word - for
safety reasons). I don’t knwo why it does this...but I assure you it is not in tribute to T.S.
Elliot.

The heater kicked much ass last night!! Very cozy in the living room, i must say. The
secret was to wait till the kids were in another room, and beat the hell out of the heating
unit. First with vice a screw driver, then with vice grips, then with “Buhhdist palm”
strikes. I was frustrated, but damn if I didn’t fix it! I think that there may have been
some ash/debris blocking the flow of natural gas into the “Fire box”. My rampage must
have loosened it up - and not we got killer heat! Not only did I want the kids in another
room in case things blew up, but also I don’t want them to knwo the secret art of fixing
stuff. This is a time honored mystery of the universe, passed down from father to
son....but only when he is ready. If Logan can’t find the tv remote in time for Blues
Clues, I dont want him to try and “Fix” daddy’s TV with a hammer!

Today was a very nice day - but I did miss a lot of it. This cold is hitting me pretty bad -
not too much of a runny nose, but major nasal congestion, stufy head, and a need to
sleep. I woke up late, and the wife had already fixed the ceremonial mournign waffle for
Logan. Lance was tended to as well. Beyond that...Im having a hard time rememberign
what the hell we did today. I knwo that I tried to wash my karate uniforms, and the
washer is broke again. It’s the freezing temp of the garage that’s doign it. Might have to
bring the washer back int he kitchen. Really have to canabalize mom’s washer for that
workign part soon.
I remember makign a Walmart run at around midnight, for fomula and juice. And that I
foxed dinner tonight - A feast no less---I pulled out al the stops, and made tater tots,
hamburgers, and chicken strips. The ketchup said “fancy” on it, so I served it was well.
Oh yeah - now I remmeber - I took Logan out to the hardware store andbroungt home
lunch! Wow - either Im gettign old, this cold is worse than I thought , or my memory
sucks! We got a $2 C-Clamp to replace the vice grips....it seems secure now, and we can
put the from panel back on the heater.

Martial arts stuff: Got to thinking - Kreese is showing us some neat pins and holds
(submission holds) to use in ground fighting. But it all has had a starting point of being
on the ground, and wrestling. Gonna have to make a point to ask for some techniques to
use from layign on the ground, but while being attacked (like being punched).

Jujitsu: I searched a lot of different places, before finding McKarate. One place was a
nice, small dojo of Aikido. I visited their website again, and saw taht (after I decided to
go somewher eelse, due to thier lack of a decent schedule)..they have not revamped their
schedule. Damn. I’m glad that I got to go where Im at (I think). Im happy that we can
learn different arts, and I never NVER would have gone to a Kung Fu skool. THe only
thing Im leary of (regarding akikdo) is that in my experience, Aikido teachers and
students tend to be ----well - passive. Almost to the “tree huggin hippie” extreme.
Aikido uses an attackers energy against them. It resolves the situation with minimal
violence. That’s neat...but there seems to be a lacking “art of the whoop ass” there.
Jujitsu is similar to aikido....you redirect the persons flow of energy and movement....you
end up ok, they end up on the ground...but they may have stuff broken. Jujitsu seems to
give you the option of indusing pain if ya want to. It’s not “against the spirit of the art” if
an attacker (on the street) ends up with broken bones. Just a though.


Well - Think Ill publish this and drift off to sleep.

BTW - Note to Adam _ I found a size 7 lightweight karate gi top (white) at the store the
other day. I’ll wash it (if I can -hahahhaha) and bring it to class on Monday. If it fits,
you’re welcome to it. It’s always nice to have a spare.

Shannon

Friday ( 6am-3pm)

I figiured after that last bombshell last night, I’d follow it up during the day (Friday). There
I was last night, really realy late, sitting on the floor in the living room, and I looked over at
our wall heater unit (natural gas powered). It has s small glass window (about the size of a
quarter) where you can watch the fire inside when it’s on. I noticed that there was moire
light than just that quarter. Luckily, the lights were off in the room, or else I might not have
seen it. Turns out there was a seal that was broken, and allowing gas to leak..and fire with
it! Just enough to start melting the covers on some of the electrical wires. And yes, I DID
tend to it before finishing the blog. Of course, as soon as I realized that the heater was
malfunctioning, a psychic impulse was sent to Logan, prompting him to awake...leave his
bed..and require iummediate attention. I kept escorting him back to his bed..and he kept
following me back out. I had turned the heater off - and disconnected the power from it, but
realized that “heat is good”. I ran a space heater for a bout 15 mintues, and saw that it was
goign to be no good ineffective in the room. That meant, fixing the heater if possible. And I
had an idea....(amazingly, I never did like the show Maguiver). If I could gather some of the
excess material (like the part that had a leak, I could create a make shift seal, and use vise
grips to hold it closed. But the grips were out in the garage, on the washign machine (on the
lid - not used to make IT work). This is when Lance woke up, and entered the “How loud
can I cry and scream” contest. Shit! I forgot to mention that he was in a swing not 4 ft from
the newly realized flame thrower. I moved the swing, took Logan back to bved (again),
went to the kitchen to make a bottle. Thi sis when the wife go tup (it’s now around
4-430am) to see what the hell was going on. She had this pissed off look on her face (the
same one she went to bed with), so I told her “I got this” and sent HER back to bed. Got the
baby his bottle, put Logan on the couch, and season 1 of The Dead Zone on the tv. Cept for
the looming dread of freezing to death, life was good. The baby went to sleep after eating,
Logan went to bed after a fight, and I finally got my vice grips. It sealed it up prety good,
but the heat just isn’t as strong as it was. The gas is burning - the tube it very hot - the top
fan is blowing the air over the tube and into the house----but the heat is mildy warm.
Somethign else is wrong. It’s been running all day , and while it’s nice in here - it’s not hot
like it used to get. Gonna have to look online for a new seal, so I can get my vice grips back.

RANDOM THOUGHTS and RANTS: Why is it that the persentage chance of break falling
to the ground “jelly side down” is around 80%. The percentage chance of you spreading a
blanket out (to wrap a baby up in), and having the 1 damn corner with a tag be right at the
top (and you dont realize it untiul he’s already wrapped ) is around 90%.

Never try fixing a major appliance while the tune of “Ask the Koala brothers” is stuck in
yoru head. But I guess better that than Bob The Builder.

If you move to a town that’s named “LAZY town”, don’t bitch when everyone wants to sit
around and do nothing.

Why is it that I can , with extreme clarity, envision my boys turning into Pinky and the Brain
(In action, AND in size). “Egad brain ---NARF! What do you want to do today?” “Same
thing we do everyday , Pinky....plan to take over the world!”

Useless statistics of the day: Number of diapers changed: 6. Number of botttles and sippy
cups prepared: 7 . Number of naps taken : 1 each (THANK GOD!!) Number of hou\r of
sleep Ive had since my late nap yesterday: 3. If we run out of chocolate, Im screwed!

Names Ive thought of to name my next son: Ferris Beuller Frye, or Valken Rothgard Frye.

Ooops - the smaller deamon awakes. Egor must tend to the Master.........

Thrusday night/Friday morning

Well, I ended up sick last night, and didnt get a chance to blog. So, I’ll moosh 2 days worth
of stuff into this one.
Wednesday: Very nice day with the boys. Lance is working on kicking his feet, and rolling
over. Logan is working on chunky puzzles, and his various Leap-pads. Grandma (my
mom) came over today, to visit. Things went very well. No arguments or anything. She
brought Logan a McDonals Crappy meal - and when Alicia came home, we all went to eat
together. Back home, drop off the family (bow to honorable #1 son), then off to the dojo. I
should talk a bit about Logan here - Ive brough this to the dojo a few times - and he loved it.
The place is so like a daycare (duh- cause it IS), that he had a blast. For a while afterwards,
he got really upset when Daddy went to the dojo, cause he thought he was coming too.
Anywyas, if I was to leave the house to go shopping, or whatever, he’d throw a fit “ME ME
MEEEEE”. He’d want to come along. But when I tell him Im going to the dojo, he stands
up, looks at me and said “ dojojo”. It’s soo cute. Then he says “kick kick, punch punch,
block block” while enacting out the words. Then there’s a small pause, and he says “Bow”,
and he bows all the way to the floor. It’s adorable. In such a short time, Ive instilled in my 2
year old that you bow when you do karate..then I go to the dojo, and see 5-10 year olds that
do this half assed bow when they enter the mat. I just shake my head. Back to my story -
it’s fine for me to leave, as long as I am going to the dojo, and go though this ritual with him,
including bowing to him.

With the dojo story in mind, I started to think of how Id like to seperate us a bit from the
other martial arts that are at the dojo. Kreese’s classes are fun,dont get me wrong. The kung
fu is lackign lately, but has been making me feel like an outsider lately. At least with the
Jujitsu, I feel confident that I have a sensei that has a proper balance of “effective street
application” and traditionalism (with regard to teaching, techniques, and ediquete for class).
If anyone reading has any idea what a don-board (sp?) is, please comment, or email me. It’s
a kind of small sleft, with a box on it, and some stuff inside (like rice and salt). It’s supposed
to go in the dojo, but I cant find any details out about it to make one. Id like to start bringing
a mopre traditional feel to out classes. I rember trainign at Old Dominion University...I was
taking karate , and would watch the aikido people. They’d practice on the far side of the
dojo, wear the puffy pants, and do some really cool stuff. It set them apart from us - almost
like they were an elite. They were learning much more than punch and kick. I’d like to
create a sense of that at our dojo (if even possible). These TKD people have everything
spelled out before them - there’s no sense of mystery. I’d be cool to be the mysterious ones,
who practice that art where we can flip people with a mere flick of our hands(hehe).

Have you ever cause a smell of something - just briefly, and had it take you back in time?
Or you hear a familiar meoldy, and instantly transported back to that high skool dance? I
had that feeling Wednesday night, while I was hanging in mid air, being hip - throwed
(hip-threw?). My classmate is really starting to get the hang of hip throws. If you’ve never
been thrown this way, let me tell you - when it is done right, it is very smooth. One minute
your standing there, the next, you’re floating, then your laying on the ground. When I
started off in Kenpo years ago, we learned hip throws, as well as shoulder throws. I miss it.
TKD has nothing like it. A lot of other arts dont incorporate judo techniques.

Now - on to wednesday night, and today (thursday). When I got home from the dojo last
night, I started thinking about the brokem washing machine out in the garage. The temp
wasnt too bad out thee, so I put on a coat, and went out to look at it. I eventually spent
about 3 hours out there, before I came in and saw that it was 2am! I discovered that the
water valve was indeed broke - that led to the flooding of the garage. But only the cold inlet
valve was broke. I figured I’d just switch the hoses, and be able to wash clothes by telling it
to use hot water, and it would really be pumping in cold. PROBLEM: you can wash clothes
in cold/warm/or hot water, but all the rinse cycles are are cold water only. So, I rewired it.
Now, the cold hose goes to the hot inlet valve. And the wired for the cold valve are
transfered there as well. I ran 2 loads of laundry, and stayed with it to make sure it didnt
flood again. I succeeded in washing all the previously flooded clothes and towels, got the
machine up and runnign again, and got a terrible cold on top of it. I was so into what I was
doing, that I lost track of time AND the temp. Today, I was sluggish. The day went well,
but my ass was dragging. When Al came home, she sent me out to Burger King for supper.
I brought home food, and then crapped out on the living room floor. I heard things going on
around me, but had no idea (nor did I care) what it was - I figured she could take her turn to
be a parent.

Holy shit - our house almost caught fire. We have a seal leak in our wall gas heater unit. It
b ecame a mini flame thrower. Gotta go try and fix it. See ya’ll later.

Back to safety blogging

Ok safety is on - proceeding with the blog. I got netfucked lastnight - types a 30 minuteBlog, and then “lost” it trying to publish it. Very upsetting. I thought sicne I washardwired, it was safe just to type and send. No more of that.

Let’s see - a brief overview of the other 30 minute blog. I tested for my 2nd color belt in jujitsu (orange belt). About half way thru the test, I gotso winded that I started to gag. Had to take a minute or two break - regrouped, thencontinued. I knew all the techniques, but my endourance (or lack of) kicked my ass. This never happened to me before. Gotta do more cardio. Can’t have that happen again. Jujitsu translates into “ the gentle art”. Well, that gentle art kicked my ass in front ofeveryone Monday night. I still passed, even though I started to gag again at the end (itwas the “the test is concluded..now let me see if you have spirit, by making you pushyourself” part of the test). If I was the judge, I wouldn’t have passed me. But, Igraciously accepted the belt, and know what I have to work on for next time.

The Kung Fu teacher didn’t show up..and I was the only one there. Odd, Im noticing,that everyone seems to have some kind of psychic “Don’t show up” feeling when Sifudon’t show...and only I am there waiting for class to start. Starting to piss me off. Theykeep making movie references, and still haven’t loaned me a single dvd to watch. Andafter practice, they used to leave the “teachers lockerroom (a closet really) door open,and we’d chat while they finished changing. Lately, after class..they go in, close thedoor, and keep to themselves (the sifu and assistant). When I get tired of waiting for themto open the door, I’ll yell..”Later guys”. They yell goodbye thru the door. Very rude..andvery out of character to how things have been for the past months. So much for “we’reall one Shaolin brotherhood”. That concept seemed to go to shit (and the “A person hasto limit what they study” speech happened ) when I started taking Kreese’s classes, andquestioned a few things in class. I hope Im wrong, but I get the feelign the Im dealignwith a very knowledgable, but very young sifu. He’s in his mid 20’s, and has neverformaly taught before. So he has to think of what to teach, in what order, bla bla bla. Heis a very talented artist in kung fu. But he is disorganized as a teacher. I though ti waspart of a tight nit fellowship....guess Im just the white guy who keep showing up for class. I’ll have to ponder this more when i get time.

Tomorrow is wednesday, and that means jujitsu , and then grappling. Lookign forward toit. I forgot to call the YMCa today to make reservations for the boys tmorrow.......IMUST remembr to call tomrrow, and try it out on Thursday. It’ll be nice to get an hourbreak..and after my failure during the test, I think I’ll focus on cardio instead of weightsat first.


The boys wer pretty good today. I big problem that Im having is unintended time domincation by Logan. I feel bad that the baby spends so much time in his swing (although he loves it). I’ve been trying to spend more one on one time with Lance. BUTit’s gettign really tiring when Logan chews up 45 minutes to an hour, just to get himdown for his nap. And if Lance cries during that process, it starts all over again.It isimpossible to isolate a crying child from the hearing range of a napping one in this house. The lay out just doesn’t permit it. Today, I got a bit loud,,and started yelling at Logan. Istarted to feel that he was trying to dominate all my time, and by not goign to sleepduring “his” hour, was takign time away from Lance. After holding him for 40 minutes,and rockign him, and tellign him to lay down, to close his eyes.......I finally put him in hisbed.. This led to a 30 minute yelling and cryign bout between us...which ended up in abrain dead dada, and an unnecesarily upset 2 yr old. I clamed down, let him out, and hecurled up next to me (and Lance ) on the couch. Never did sleep. Fortunately, we wentto sleep around 7-8pm tonight. On night when he refuses to nap, he gets uncontrolable. It’s started to be manditory that he takes his nap during the day, to prevent theJeckle/Hyde effect later at night. We’ve also noticed taht, for some reason, when he kipsnaps, he doesn’t sleep thru the night. His NIGHT NIGHT time turns into nap time, andhas a short duration. Which means at 4am, I have a fully refreshed 2 yr old that wants toplay, and watch cartoon, and it ain’t happening.

I bought Alien Vs Predator tonight. I watched it before...it seem pretty whoopass...ceptfor some bullshit plot lines. I’ll refrain from posting my problems with the movie, in caseany readers havent seen it yet. Dont’ want to spoil it for ya’ll. I’ll say this.....thepredators look very Jamaican...and they seem to take to the Jamaican female lead. But, itwas only $15, so I got it. I wanted to get “Capt skypilot” or somethign like that, but itwas full price. Not facinated by any of the characters in that one. It’ll wait.

Well......almost time to feed the baby. I’ll cut and paste this..and “Get er’ done”.

What a "testing" day

Happy 62nd Birthday to Grandma

My mom turned 62 today. She doesn't look or act her age. It's so hard to imagine that my mom is 62. That seems ancient to me. But I guess so did 34 at some point, when I was younger.

TOday, I ended up sleeping in late cause of all the cleaning up I did in the cold garage. (And all the web surfing I did last night). The internet suggests that the washign machine needs the "water valve" replaced. No biggie - 3 hoses, and 4 wires. I even know where I can lay my hands on a workign valve, to maybe save myself the $20 for a new part. The wife and kids are going to her moms house tomorrow to visit (and do laundry!), so I'll see if i can fix ours. The washer /dryer used to be in the kitchen, but I wanted more space. SO I moved them out to the garage, wired an electric dryer instead of the gas one (I hated to see that gas one go - it was nice---very old, but effective). The water for the washer ended up being delivered with super strength garden style hoses, run from the house. So when it gets really cold, they freeze up, and that means no laundry. The water valve cracked a few years ago (on an older washer we had), flooding the garage like what just happened. So replacing this one isn't a massive task - just an annoyance (if it's what is really wrong).

We took my mom out to a steak place for dinner tonight. Couldn't have gone better. The baby was passed around the table for all to hold (even 2 watiresses that we are friends with held Lance for a while.) Logan was the normal flirt he wlways is (to the waitresses), and Mr. Social to all th neighboring tables. THis place has a series of brown bear pictures (photos that are poster size) on the wall, and he LOVES them. He had to tell everyone about them. When we were done, we came home, put the little ones to sleep (she crapped out too), leavin me some time to myself.

Not much else going on - tomorrow, I hope to fix the washer, do lots of laundry, and not much else.

Back from the edge

Today went smoother than I could have imagined, specially after yesterday. The Kids were fine - the wife came home around 10:45am - we got organized, had breakfast/lunch at IHOP, then browsed around at stores for about 2 hours. We came home, and it was nap time. Baby went to sleep - Logan went to sleep - daddy got frisky. Right as we were about to retire to the bedroom, Lance woke up and decided to rain on my parade. No sooner did he start to cry, then Logan woke up and was upset. The wife got Lance, I layed down with Logan, and the next thing I knew, it was 3 hours later. I guess we all really needed a nap. We were just getting ready to make dinner when the wife discovered that she had flooded the garage. The washing machine stopped working ( the part that determines there's enough water in it, and stops the flow), and it just overflowed all over the garage. I got 1.5 shop vac buckets worht of water out already - and there's no telling what's damaged (in the areas I can't get to yet). And it's very cold out there!! So, I threw dinner together for the boy, wet vac'ed the garage for the next hour, then came in, and it was group "put the children to sleep " time. I finally got my dinner ( I made 2 hamburgers) around midnight.

Well, Im off to Google to see if I can find a fix for that damn washign machine.

Pardon me - anyone seen my patience?

Holy hell - today was right out of the pages of "how to be a horrible parent". The wife had off today (cause of the snow) , and she wanted to take a load of laundry over to her folks house (Our laundry pipe is frozen). She was willing to take us all with her, but Logan threw a fit, and I figured he and I woudl just stay home. Big mistake. She took Lance with her, leaving me with the creature. It was the beasts naptime, so I proceeded to put him down for his nap. 30 minutes later, I finally got him to go to sleep. But while he slept, a strange metamorphasis took place. Unknown to me, I believe the child was exposed to gamma radiation (ref: David Banner), and upon waking, as the light of day hit his eyes, all the adorableness tranformed into rage and distorted concepts of "How to make daddy proud of me". I noticed that he was a bit cranky after waking, so I just held him for a while. Then I suggested (had this planned) we go get somethign to eat. I had managed to squrounge up $3.50 in change (Im still horribly broke from lack of work), and found a coupon for a free kids meal. He wanted none of this. He didn't want to go out - he didnt want to stay home. Jacket? HA - I could ram that right where my son don't shine. So this led to a 30 minute struggle, during which I managed to pin the poor child using a police hold I leanred, wrap him up in his coat, and carry him over my shoulder to the awaiting carseat. We travel to the resteraunt - have a pleasant meal - he is in good spirits. The shit hit the fan when I said it was time to go, and we hadn't played in the playplace yet. What the hell was I thinking? So- after calming him down, we played for a bit. The thing is, we both have these really nice (and very new) jackets. The playplace is 3 tiers, and I always help him up , not only to make sure he don't get hurt, but just cause it's plain fun. So, we abandon our coats and shoes, and play for a while. When I said it was time go, he refused to leave the second tier. The only options at level 2 are to coem back down the crawlway (dangerous for his age) or go up to the 3rd floor and down the slide. He finally slid, then ran back UP the slide. I chased, having fun at this point. He ran all the way up that damn slide, back to the third level. THEN, refused to go back down the slide. A little girl joined us, and (this is rather smart, but still pissed me off) using the girl as a barrier, he raced past her, and down the slide. The little girl went second, and was a pain - she was in the way , and went down very slow. I get to the bottom, and there's no Logan. I race out of the playplace into the store, and he's 4 booths away, crawling, and barking at the customers. I was livid!! I said things in my head that would have made even me blush - until I noticed that I really said them outloud (oops). (I should mention that the slide goes from the 3rd floor to the 1st - and that the 2nd and 3rd levels are crawl space sized for an adult of my size.) Back in the playplace we go - lwhich leads us to our next Roudn of Mortal Combat - titled " Time to put your coat back on." Again, what the hell was I thinking?
I was so fed up at this point, that I stuck him in the truck, and drove him to mother - who was (much to my dismay) no longer at the inlwas. SHIT! Now Im half way across the world from home, low on gas, and am just in time for rush hour traffic. DOUBLE SHIT! We drove home, I dropped him off, and spent the next 30 minutes out in the driveway cooling off. When I fianlly came in, he was back to normal. Well, normal for him. Smiling, perky, wanting to play----and I was sooo done. I held Lance for a while, filled in the wife as to how close there came to being a great disturbance in the Force today, and tried to pretend that all that shit had just happened to someone else. My mom stopped by to visit, and then it was off to kung fu for me. Another fiasco.

I get to the dojo, and no sifu present. Assistant KF guy was there. Kreese is there, and only 1 adult student, who is just practicing on the mat. He said that he was giving Kreese a ride home. Kreese is the only one with the keys to lock the place up. So if sifu dont show, we get booted out. I was gettign pissed. Then, as Kreese was about ready to ask us to bpack it in, TADA - Sifu arrives. The class was cool for a change - just us 3 guys. Then, somethign happened that amazed me. Sifu has often showed how karate is limited, and kung fu isn't. But tonight, while we were practicing foot movements, he decided to throw down on how I move - crescent steps. Half moon stpes they are sometimes called. A long discussion ensues, during which he overexaggerates how you bob up and down when using that moon stpes, and how KF steppign forward is soo much better. I see the merits of what he is teaching, but his example was shitty. The asistant starts ramblign on, like he's testifying - which made it 2 to 1 (me being the 1). So I stod my ground, and tried to explain my position - and it was like talking to a wall. I've had karate teachers , when asked " How about this way?" will say "Oh no - cause I'd (as an attacker) do this to you if you did." Meaning that there was only their "correct " way to do things - Sifu has often critisized this, and told us that there is more than one way to do things. But aparently, this does not apply to moving your feet. At least flirty girl and the kiddies weren't there.

It's starting to snow again - it's a small chance, but skools may be closed tomorrow. If they aren't, the wife may be home early anyways - she had a mourning Dr appt., and may come home afterwards. I sure hope tomorrow is nothign like today way...I hope I hope I HOPE!!

Screwed again

Well -= it snowed today, which meant when the phonerang at 5pm, I knew it was the dojo calling to say classes were cancelled. I was supposed to test for Orange belt tonight (in jujitsu), but it will be delayed till Monday. Im not really stressing the test very much, just annoyed that the dojo again made all their money staying open for the daycare, and decided to screw the adults that train there. I also got to thinking - this place is set up as a Non profit organization. Our tuition is recorded as a donation to the organization. But we had to sign a contract to start going there. Im not trying to figure a way out of it, but I wonder how that would play in court, if someone decided to drop out. If the payment we give them is a "donation", can they contractually hold me liable for "promising" to donate for a period of 2 yrs? If I told a charity I would give them $10 a month, they can't sue me for the rest if I stop donating. Just something to think about.

Anothing sucky abou tno class tonight is I was wanting to see how the Kung FU class is going. Rather, IF the KF class is going. Im still half expecting to come in one day , and have them tell me that there's no more KF classes.

ON to other matters- like my wife, who seems to lack the simple skill of soothing a 3 month old baby. With the tag team taht Logan and Lance are doign on me during the day, it's hard to get anything done (cept for if I can coordinate their naptimes). So when the wife comes home, i don't think it's too much to expect that she take over for a bit. Last night, I was finally upstairs moving furniture around, when I hear the baby cry and cry. I coem down to find here on her laptop, with Lance layign next to her - and he's wailing. I asked "what's going on?". She told me that his diaper was changed, he was fed, and that he simply wouldn't stop crying. There have been times, during the day, that he has done the same thing to me. And I admit that there are times when Ive had to set him on the bed, and let him be for a few minutes, while I clear my head. But when IO picked the little guy up, after a little more crying, he calmed right down. She disapeared into the other room. I propped the baby up on my shoulder, and he was asleep in about 45 seconds. I really think all the little tyke wanted was to be held. There really are times when I wonder what she's thinking. AND, after I layed him down in his crib, I found out that she had headed off to bed - no goodnight or anything. Rude. Today she told me that she was just so tired that she went off to bed. I don't want to sound like a bitchy housewife - but sometimes...just sometimes.....

This mourning was soo cute. Logan woke up, then he woke me up, and Lance was still asleep. I turned on the tv for Logan, and layed down on the floor. The next thing I knew, Logan was plopping somethign down next to me. He had gone into the kitchen, and come out with not only a clean sippycup for the day, but he'd gone into the fridge and brought back the gallon of chocolate milk. He started saying "da milk". It was adorable! Maybe in a month or two, I can get him to bring back some waffles and scrambled eggs? (I joke about that, but the other morning, I told m\him I woudl make breakfast - waffles. He went in the kitchen, dragged a footstool over to the fridge, opened the freezer door, and started looking for the waffle box. One smart cookie!

Lance had another amazingly fine day - it started off with him peeing out of his pajamas (and the blanket and sheet as well), but after that , all went well. I've really been making an effort to balance my time either between the 2 boys, or to include both of them. Biggest problem is when Logan says he has to pee, and Im half way finished giving Lance his bottle. Taking an unfinished bottle away from Lance is like trying to get a cheesburger away from me when Im half way done. There's no understanding -- there's just a fight! Logan seems to be dealing with me telling him - "We'll do that in a minute - let me finish with Lance first". Ive also been sure to let Logan hear me tell Lance " Just a second - Im doign somethign with Logan righ tnow". That way, he feelslike he is important too. I hope to avoid ( or at least delay) any jelous feeling that Logan may develop over having to share daddy with the baby.

The inlaws brough tover their dog for us to dogsit. Their plans fell thru cause of the snow, so we're just keeping her for tonight. I cleared out the kitchen, and have both dogs in the house. Using a kiddie gate to keep them in. The cats think it's fun - they keep jumping the gate, and walking around the dogs. No trouble so far. Logan is in heaven - having both dogs in the house.

As Im typing this, the new series Battlestar Gallactica is coming on Scifi. It don epretty well- nice story line and effects - but I still would like to kick somone in the ass over it. They took the characters of Starbuck and Boomer and made them females. Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) is now some blond chick, and Boomer (a black male actor) is now an asian girl. Don't get me wrong, both are pretty hot (as a matter of fact, the asian girl strongly resembles Phoebe Cates!!) - but it's just not right to screw with characters like that. It reaks of modern "multiculturalism".

Well - time to figure out what to do tomorrow. The wife will be home (school canceled cause of the snow) tomorrow - I figure by about 11am or noon, she'll be annoyed with the kids enough that I'll have to take at least Logan out somewhere - just to get him out of the house. There are times when the poor boy is just bored, and ends up getign yelled at by me, then her - finally I realize that it's not his fault, and I take him on a road trip - somewhere fun, just to get him out for a while.

Ps I should note - if my wonderful wife is following along with the Adventure - that she has recently becoem aware of the wonderful world of blogs, and is adicted. Im sure she's foudn mine - I never kept the name a secret from here. She has her own, which I have never visited. I figure if she's got somethign to say to me - let her say it in person. While I must admit times of balancing what "personal" info I want to share with the world, I will still write it as I see fit - even if "big sister" is watching now.

Grasshopper and baby Bee. Honorable #1 and #2 son. 

The adorable Darth Lance 

Fast entry for Monday night

Well - the boys were fantastic today. The wife had the day off from work , and we spent the afternoon at the inlaws house. Came home in time for me to rush off to karate. Weird stuff there , but things went well. I jumped in the grapplign class about 10 minutes late, and ended up wrestlign for the next 45 minutes (that was cooool). The jujitsu instructor had said she was going out of town, and woudl miss Monday. We did ok though - I think we had the most people in the class ever - figures it was a night the teacher was out of towm. I guided the group, and we had a pretty decent class (I hope). Yellow belts worked on Orange belt stuff - white belts worked on yelow belt stuff. ANd a big thank you to Adam, for helping with the warmup. I kept forgettign what came next, and glanced over to see what he was getting ready to do. Made me look good. The only big suprise of the night was when the kung fu sifu didnt' show up. I hat eto think it, but it IS Martin Luther King day. On the other hand, he may have had car trouble. Who knows.

The weather has turned VERY VERY cold. We had a few days that the temp went up into the 70's! I took the boys to a park to play - we had a blast. Then, Walmart marked all their winter coats (ski jackets) 50% off. The day it turned cold agin, we rushed over there, and got some really nice jackets (for the wife and I). Cool thing is that they are almost an idenitcal match ( in style and color) to the nice winter jacket that Logan has. He went thru a time when he refuesed to wear his jacket - and the only way to get it on him was to tel him is was a Spiderman jacket. (It's red and black, and he LOVES Spiderman). Now we all have Spiderman jackets, and he couldn't be happier.

Well - it's freezing up here in the attic. Time to go back down stairs, pop in a movie, and drift off to bed. The wife goes back to work tomorrow, and it's another fun week of me and the boys.

Shannon

Saturday night

Had a rather pleasant day with the family. Went shopping at a local thrift sore (that has amazing stuff - very clean and kids clothes are dirt cheap). I've stopped frequenting all but 1 thrift store, cause of the low quality of stuff they have. But this particular one is kept goign by donations made from the military bases (at least I think they are). A lot of the toys are in perfect condition, and the clothes hardly look worn (some even still have tags on them ). On average, I'll spend about $20-50 per visit (once per week or once every other week) - but the clothing articles for the kids are generally around 45-75 cents each. And the toys - Blues Clues galore! All the stuff that the "hip" kids have outgrown - my 2 yr old is righ ton the cusp of loving. He has always liked Blues Clues, but recently has REALLY REALLY gotten excited about the program. He'll sit and watch -and whenever that blue paw print comes onscreen - "CLUUUUUUUUE Da, CLUUUUUUE". When Joe or Steve act like they don't see it, he stands up, and starts pointing frantically at it, like "Right there, dumass!! Are you blind?!" Reminds me of some of the gestures Ive made, stuck in line at 7-11 with only a Big Gulp, and having to point out the particular box of death sticks the asshole in front of me want to induce cancer with. "DO you have it in the blue pack?" "I don't think so - we have it in the blue tipped pack ,with the green stripe" 'Never mind - give me a different brand with a specific box type that you're out of". Pretty soon Im yelling at both of them , and pointing frantically at the box the customer wants, that the cashier has created some form of retarded visual block in order to be able to avoid seeing. AHGHHGHG!! Fuckin smokers piss me off! Opps ----went right off on a rant there. .. .sorry.

Lance has been getting more adorable as the days go on. I was really worried that he was going to be a momma's boy, having breast fed for so long (like until a day before the wife went back to work!!). But things have been workign out just fine. Diapers, bottles, naps, interactive time.....all going smoothly. I even ventured out to a park the other day - the weather was sooo nice, and in the 70's. It's gone back to the 40's now - it was a fluke - so we played wyile we could. At the park, we had a blast! Logan ran all over the place, played with the bigger kids, and flirted with all the pretty girls (that's my boy!) - Lance was chauffered around in his carrier, and got to see the sights, and some fresh air. I would have used the double stroller I got ($15 used!!), but it was in the wife's vehicle at the time. The hardest part of the trip was when it was time to go - and we were what seemed 400 miles away from the truck - I had Logan up in my left arm , and Lance carried in his carrier with my right arm. What a workout!

The only component I haven't worked back into my "regular" weekly routine is being able to manage the phone calls for my company. I really haven't even been able to return calls. When the wife gets home, there's a "fill in mommy" time, so she doesn't feel left out. There's a while of "family together" time. Hunger is the next emotion to take command, so it's off to eat. Then, time for the dojo. If it's a non-dojo night, the activity doens't stop until around 9pm or so, when it's really too lat eto start returnign phone calls. I'm going to have to start riskign calling during their naptime, but it always sucks when you're in the middle of a big important (and business like ) meeting, to have a screaming kid start up in the background. Most of the times that this happened, they were most understanding (being parents themselves), but it was still embarassing for me.

I've decided that Im going to start going to the local YMCA in the mourning, and trying to get an hour work out in. I'm pretty sure that the baby has been added - and I've been very pleased with their daycare facilities in the past (the few times I used them for Logan). I'm hoping that I can start a routine, and get the kids used to it without damaging them emotionally. I can really use an hour of workout time during the day--not only to enhance my dojo stuff (or compensate for how much it sucks), but also to ge tme back in a decent shape. I'd been hoping that all the martial arts I do would give me a major cardio workout, and get rid of this pot-gut I have, but it's still here! I've got some Tae Bo dvds - guess I might also try putting them on during the day (if the YMCA thing don't wok out). I want to look better - I want to be in better shape - I want to get the attention of beautiful 20 yr olds who think that a guy (self confident in all his masculenity) whocaresfor his own kids is just the sexiest thing.....ooops....started thinking out loud again...ignore that last part.

Well - that's about it for today.

Post dedicated to my son, Darth Logan

(DL) Da
(me) yes?
(DL) Mooooon
(ME) Yes baby, that's the moon.
----------pause------
(DL) Da?
(me) yes?
(DL) MOOOOOOON
(me) yes - that's the moon alright.
(DL) DA DA DA Da DA
Da da da DA DA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA da DA!!! da? DA

(me) - LOGAN! MOOOOOOON MOOOOOON MOOON!


(DL) Da

(ME- calmer) - Yes sweety - what?

(DL) Staaaarrrrrr

The art of kung fu, jujitsu, and potty training

Kung fu - Skipped class on monday and sparred with a buddy. Glanced over a few times, and saw that the only students attending the KF class were flirty girl and a younger girl. I appreciated the time my buddy took to work with me on a few things -- I also think I only missed being more frustrated at the KF class.

Jujitsu (Japanese) - Despite my suggestion to delay my test, so Adam can test with me, the Sensei thinks that testing seperate would make for a smoother test. She feels Im ready to test, and will do so next Wednesday. It also wouldn't hurt Adam any to have more time to get a better feel to the techniques. I know it would sure give ME a better feel if I had more time! (hehe) Anways, she ordered a belt from the main office, so 'they' knwo Im testing. Only a matter of time to see if the shit will hit the jujitsu fan regarding testing fees. So far, no mention of them. I got to thinking - far be it from "them" to miss out on the opportunity make an extra buck, but only adults have taken the JJ class so far. Could it be that they are overlooking the testing fee because (with the kids not taking it), there's no major bulk population to make profit from? Who knows...

Brazillian Jujitsu: Because of the fuckup of Friday, I blew off class on Tuesday, and didn't take it Wednesday because of lack of a partner. Took KF instead

- again, 30 minutes of Ms Thing gettting her flirt on, 10 minutes of Kung Fu, and 20 minutes of talking and bullshiting. This is gettting old very fast. When he mixes up (changes up) command, Im the only one catching the change, and responding correctly. Which means everyone else does it wrong - this leads to more down time, while Ms thing flirts her way out of having done it wrong, and everyone comes up with 4 reasons why they thought they did it right. The art is there - if we'd just GET TO IT!!! Also, Im noticing things here and there - like the Sifu seems to have a major chip on his shoulder against Kreese (maybe justly so). When he saw Kreese watching our class, and a student said "maybe he's trying to pick up some pointers", he made a comment like" All he'll pick up is nothing". That attitude reminds me of my hatred towards TKD. If it aint MY art - it aint shit. Seems to me that a Sifu is not only a teacher/practitioner - but also an ambassador. Spead the word - open the eyes - freely hand out bits of knwoledge to those who ask. I started to wonder if Kreese may be watching to see "Maybe Im missing something". I personally may be reading WAY too much into this, but if the possibility exhists (and he's not squinting his eyes, and making fun of us), maybe there is room for some enlightenment. Also, the sifu stated a while back that he trained for 6 years, and studied on his own for 6 or 7. While he has a combined 15 years experience (and I don't doubt his training was intense and on point), he really has had only 6 years of supervised training. He made a comment about another person (who had studied for 4 years), and said that 4 years just wasn't enough to be able to teach. I'm thinking "You only got 2 years more than that....you got no room to talk, bud". Another blog I follow had a topic of "do we expect too much from our instructors". I think we do - and I wish they lived up to what he expect. When I think about it, I may not live up to my sons expectations of me - but I sure as hell want them to hold me to higher standards than I do myself. If they extect more of me, I am more likely to strive to be more than I would otherwise. I want my sons to grow up to be the best they can be, and be better men than I am. All teachers should expect their students not just to match them, but to surpass them.

The art of kung fu, jujitsu, and potty training

Kung fu - Skipped class on monday and sparred with a buddy. Glanced over a few times, and saw that the only students attending the KF class were flirty girl and a younger girl. I appreciated the time my buddy took to work with me on a few things -- I also think I only missed being more frustrated at the KF class.

Jujitsu (Japanese) - Despite my suggestion to delay my test, so Adam can test with me, the Sensei thinks that testing seperate would make for a smoother test. She feels Im ready to test, and will do so next Wednesday. It also wouldn't hurt Adam any to have more time to get a better feel to the techniques. I know it would sure give ME a better feel if I had more time! (hehe) Anways, she ordered a belt from the main office, so 'they' knwo Im testing. Only a matter of time to see if the shit will hit the jujitsu fan regarding testing fees. So far, no mention of them. I got to thinking - far be it from "them" to miss out on the opportunity make an extra buck, but only adults have taken the JJ class so far. Could it be that they are overlooking the testing fee because (with the kids not taking it), there's no major bulk population to make profit from? Who knows...

Brazillian Jujitsu: Because of the fuckup of Friday, I blew off class on Tuesday, and didn't take it Wednesday because of lack of a partner. Took KF instead

- again, 30 minutes of Ms Thing gettting her flirt on, 10 minutes of Kung Fu, and 20 minutes of talking and bullshiting. This is gettting old very fast. When he mixes up (changes up) command, Im the only one catching the change, and responding correctly. Which means everyone else does it wrong - this leads to more down time, while Ms thing flirts her way out of having done it wrong, and everyone comes up with 4 reasons why they thought they did it right. The art is there - if we'd just GET TO IT!!! Also, Im noticing things here and there - like the Sifu seems to have a major chip on his shoulder against Kreese (maybe justly so). When he saw Kreese watching our class, and a student said "maybe he's trying to pick up some pointers", he made a comment like" All he'll pick up is nothing". That attitude reminds me of my hatred towards TKD. If it aint MY art - it aint shit. Seems to me that a Sifu is not only a teacher/practitioner - but also an ambassador. Spead the word - open the eyes - freely hand out bits of knwoledge to those who ask. I started to wonder if Kreese may be watching to see "Maybe Im missing something". I personally may be reading WAY too much into this, but if the possibility exhists (and he's not squinting his eyes, and making fun of us), maybe there is room for some enlightenment. Also, the sifu stated a while back that he trained for 6 years, and studied on his own for 6 or 7. While he has a combined 15 years experience (and I don't doubt his training was intense and on point), he really has had only 6 years of supervised training. He made a comment about another person (who had studied for 4 years), and said that 4 years just wasn't enough to be able to teach. I'm thinking "You only got 2 years more than that....you got no room to talk, bud". Another blog I follow had a topic of "do we expect too much from our instructors". I think we do - and I wish they lived up to what he expect. When I think about it, I may not live up to my sons expectations of me - but I sure as hell want them to hold me to higher standards than I do myself. If they extect more of me, I am more likely to strive to be more than I would otherwise. I want my sons to grow up to be the best they can be, and be better men than I am. All teachers should expect their students not just to match them, but to surpass them.

I swear I entered another dimension

Not of sight and sound, but of things and ideas. Let me start off by saying that Friday sucked. So far, all week, I have enjoyed about an hour or so of down time when both the kids nap. Today, Lance decided not to nap. He did a bit, but only for 30 minutes, while Logan was up. Then, as I was trying to put Logan down for a nap, Lance woke up, and Logan never got a nap. It got very frustrating.....added to this was that Lance decided it was the perfect day to scream and cry as long as he could. He was fed, he was diapered, he was amused, but nothing would shut the little booger up! He even thumbed his little nose at his swing, which is generally a sure fire way to get him to sleep. It got so bad, that I finally snapped. I told Lance to shut up and sleep, told Logan that he was fired. When his mother came home, she could have both of em, and I quit. After this outburst, I must have scared Logan a bit - cause I walked out the door to check the mail, and when I go tback in, he was sitting ever so nicely on the couch. Normally, I can't get out the door without him throwing a fit. Lance of course didn't care one way or the other, and just kept screaming. About an hour later, things calmed down very much. Lance was still screaming - Logan was a bit more agreeable, and my mind had magically transformed itself from the stardard cranial matter into a brillliant display of the power of playdo. It was like that time I went to see The Wall - and all of a sudden, life is gooooood - oked dokey. I think I had a short sircuit , or a mind melt down, or something - but it was nice. I like to think of my head as a computer - and Friday fried the processor. When the wife came home, she asked if I wanted to leave for a while - to relax. I had no gas in the truck, no money, and no urge to do anythign other than sit there on the couch and keep munching on those Oreos. I was too far gone for escape.
THEN - I had the brilliant notion of taking in the Friday night Judo class with Kreese (which, form my previous posts, I've said was going to be Brazillian Jujitsu - ground fighting - regardless of the classes title). So, off the the dojo I go. Finally, I get to leave the house with a purpose - a destination - an opportunity to whallop the shit out of someone (with respect), and in return, vent some frustration that was inside that little shoebox in the back of my fried brain. I et to the dojo, and the teacher says that he forgot about class, and made other plans. In his defense, he DID offer to stay and work with just me for a while. But at this point, I figured why bother. He'd only get pissy about having his plans delayed. Had he have been a librarian or a Walmart worker - no problem - but this is a guy that was going to wipe the mat with me, to show me how it's done. Not a guy to have in bad spirits. The "team" ( the feel good kiddie club) is getting ready for some cheesy ass tournament, where Im sure their son will get first in - and if he doens't it's not cause he was beaten, but because he was robbed and the judges sucked-wink wink). So , ther ewill be no class saturday, or the next Fri and Sat. Serves me right for actually thinking that I could get more out of this place.
KUNG FU THURSDAY NIGHT: The previous night was strange. Have you ever had a group of people talk to each other, in your precense, and never seem to look at you, talk to you, or even respond to anything you say? That was my Thursday night KF class. It was about 15 mintues of KF, and 45 minutes of girlie girle getting " her flirt on". This sucked as much as having to chaparone a group of 11 yr olds, who think you suck. Then , after class, the sifu starts talking about crosstraining. Now, prior to this, the golden benefit of KF has been that you can learn different styles. "If I have a gap in my snake, my crane can close it up". All of a sudden, I swear Im at a church meeting - and Im possessed by evil. Without ever saying ME, or dirrect references, sifu goes into a 20 minute surmon about how you have to devote all of your effort towards one thing - 100%. If you try and learn 2 things, you only have 50% fo reach , and will take twice as long. 4 things, 20% and 6 times as long (yes, I know that the math is wrong - that only added to the humor of what I was hearing). And the assistant - man, I thought he was going to "testify" just like you see in the movies. YES LORD, ONE THING AT A TIME, YES!. Everything the sifu said, the assistant reinforced with short, "oh yeah", or "that's true". I couldn't help but with of the example of the Amish, and that I was being shunned for taking any other class than KF. Nothing was overtly said - but it felt that way. I also noticed, and I'll bring this up for more discussion at a later date (and try to be ethnically sensitive), that I was the only honkey in a class of all black students. Strange how minorities tend to gravitate towards KF, and white people gravitate towards Karate or TaeKwonDo. So being the only white guy, and the oldest, being the only one that crosstrains in other arts, and the only one that actually WANTED to learn some goddamned kungfu, really make me feel like I wasted my time coming in that night. It bites when the message is nice, but the messenger is unplesant.

So now I have a grappling instructor that hints at any other art not being worth the time, and a Sifu that seems more interested in flirting with the girles than focusing on teaching me things to prove the first guy wrong. (If your reading along, Adam, I hope you know how much I appraciate your time when he have class together). The only thing that's flowing well at the dojo is the japanese jujitsu class (hakko ryu). I just wish this class was longer than just an hour. By the time we're warmed up, and practice a thing or two, it's time to end. I'd like more time to explore some things that I feel Im rusty/uncomfortable at. Im just not feeling the umph out of this class like I want to. I learn techniques, and they work in class, but I don't feel like "WOW - look at what I can do!!". I want a bit of wow from my classes.

Well - time to wrap this up. Now that I have a wired connection, I'm venturing to write the blog directly, and not cut and paste it from a word processing program. Tomorrow is another day -

3rd day with the boys

Day 2 was going fine until we ventured out to Chikfila for lunch with a buddy of mine. Lance cried so loud hat strangers were coming over and trying to calm him down (realego boost fo rme..NOT), and Logan decided that that was THE day to defy the laws ofhighchairs. He refused to stay in a regular seat, so I got a high chair. This was fine, forabout 3 minutes. Then he had to stand up in it, and then it was holy hell getting him backINTO the seat. Then he just cried for 5 minutes straight. Most of that 5 minutes he wasslumped over the side of the chair drooling. All of which made me look like a completebafoon. I lost it. Yelled at both of them, threatened the bigger one, even snapped at theinnocent buddy across the table from me. I threw all the food into a bag, and we headedback home. Later, I cooled down, and regrouped. What a friggin nightmare that was.
Day 3 was much better. The baby is responding wonderfully at having to deal with me,instead of getting a boob from mommy. Logan is coping well with having to share daddywith baby Lance. As a matter of fact, this mourning marks the 4th day in a row that hehas gone pee pee in the potty. We still have messes in the diaper, but it’s a start. Thismourning, he even went poop! I never thought I’d be discussing anyones poopoos,including my own, but today was worthy of flying a banner over. He dragged the coversoff of me, and kept saying “PEE” “PEE”. Then , when I go thim on the pot, he started tomake those funny grunting noises that he hears daddy make. I started making them too,to half enoucrage him (and half make fun of his impersonation of me), and sure enough --I hear PLOP PLOP PLOP. He looks at me, and says “Uck” (short for ‘yuck’). I assuredhim that UCK in the potty was a wonderful thing, applauded, danced a bit, and evencreated a song of praise, on the spot, for him. He seemed very proud of himself (but nottoo much of the dance and the song I did).
DOJO NEWS: Took another class with Kreese, and call me looney, but Im really startingto like it! Got a learn some neat ground grappling stuff, and even got to do a bit offreestyle with a partner. It’s so nice to finally have someone my own size to get somehands on experience with. No offense to the $250 their parents paid for the test, but I’dwipe the floor with all the black belts (this includes all th frivilous Masters and GrandMasters titles that TKD hands out like they are candy) that this place has to offer. I daresay that at first, I was a bit scared to be the only student to show up for a class withKreese (this is why we decided to make it a ‘pairs’ thing), but I think I will try and attendthe Tuesday and Friday night classes. Tues will be a hapkido class, and Fri is morejudo/grappling/Brazillian jujitsu. Gonna have to see if my including 2 more nights oftraining will effect the home life. Logan usually goes to bed around 8-9 pm, which iswhen the classes start. It may be too hard for the wife to put Logan to bed, with Lancestill crying (if that happens). We’ll see.
Well...off to bed. My blogs have been a little lacking , due to bad internet connection. I’ve been using the 400 mgz laptop downstairs, cause the 2 gig upstairs gets a shitty wifisignal. I haven’t had time to run a cat5 cable up here yet. I DID, however, get a G wifi router to replace the B I currently have. The range should be extended enough to make adecent connection ( till I get that cable run).
(2am update: Ok - had enough with this friggin suck ass connection - finally took 15 minutes, and ran a 100ft cat 5 cable to the computer. Only was I could publish this tonight)

FIrst day of "Just the boys and me"

Well, toiday marked the official first day I had with the dark lords alone. The wife went back to work, and we were on our own. I have to say that things went unexpectedly fantastic. Even ventured out to Rally's for an early lunch. The hardest thing that I need to learn to balance is being more interactive with Lance than just giving him a bottle, and putting him down for a nap. With Logan, it was so simple - he was the only baby in the house - and if he was awake, he had my undivided attention. Now, I have to balance my time with both of the boys. Im hoping that the end result will be that Lance will get more time than Logan did at that age. I remember a particular time, after Al went back to work (after Logan) - she came home, and I told her how fussy the baby was that day, and how he cried and cried. I've having a hard time remembering just how interactive Logan was back then, and at what age. Wish I could remember. I don't want to neglect Lance - but I guess to err on the other side really won't do any damage. I don't think that overexposing him to me and his brother will be bad. If anything, it may help to prepare him for dealing with a crazy family.

Logan is such a good big brother - trying to shhhhh Lance when he cries, bringing over electronic toys for Lance to watch, trying to put the babies paci in his mouth when he squwaks. Only problem so far is that Logan is starting to be very VERY physical. He can be so gentle most of the time - but he's only 2, and occasionaly is a bit rough when dealing with the baby. Just need to make sure I keep an extra eye on them when they are together.

On the "potty training" battle - I think the tide is turning in my favor. Logan has never been scared of the potty - quite the opposite. He started wanting to sit on th epotty a few months ago. When he did, he encouraged it. When he lost interest, we didn't push the issue. He's back to wanting to sit on the potty, but he also wants to make it a 3 hour thing. He'll initiate the "potty run" by himself, or will follow me in when I have to pee. After Im finished, he started to yell PEE ---PEE. Then he'll put his smaller potty seat in place, ask for help up on it, and will actually pee. Then he'll reach behind him, flush, and start to get down. That's when the troubl estarts (if you can call it trouble). He turns around, and demands to get back on the potty. PEE. PEE! SO I plop him backj up, and sure enough - he pees again. THis goes on 3 or 4 times, until I tell him this is the last time to pee. He'll finish up, hoop down, then want to wash his hand - which leads to wanting to brush his teeth. Before you know it, a quick run the to john ends up taking me 15-20 minutes. It wouldn't b e such a problem, but now I have Lance to worry about. But every time I start to get impatient, I keep hearing this voice in my head going "Sorry, I don't have to to potty train you, and save me money on diapers" or " Sorry, I don't have tim eto teach you good dental hygiene". Thi svoice, of course, always encourages me to just smile, sit back down on the stepstool, and keep tellign him what a good boy he is. Let's hop ei keep hearing that voice!

Tonight was the first night back after the new year. The jujitsu teacher had a nice class. We reviewed testign material, then moved on to some brown belt level stuff. Even had a new student in class tonight. When class ended, it was over to the kung fu class (already in progress). Worked in impact drills ( strengthening the wrists), then some speed drills. These speed drills were cool. Using these hand held targets, we took turns striking each other (from above, below, and from the sides). We paired off, and one person blocked/one person attacked. The emphasis was not only speed, but also using an open hand to defend. IT was nice to put some of these "moves" into use. It's one thing to practice in mid air, but another to see how effectrive they are in full speed. At one point, it was jut like when Neo was fighting the bad guys in the Matrix, and blaocks many aattacks with only 1 hand. Smoooooth. Only thing about how good the KF class went, is that I'm hoping I don't miss anything "good" on Wednesday when I take the ground fighting cl;ass instead. I just wish that Adam had Tuesday or Thursday nights open. The grappling class is scheduled for these nights, and I would have to miss a KF class to take one. Guess we'll see how it goes. I hope that the grappling class fun and worth the effort. I realized tonight that with regards to the KF, Im like a kid addicted to candy. Each class has some secret to reveal - some enlightenment to take with me. That's why I was rather upset when classes were cancelled.

Well, almost 2am - gotta publish this, and head off to bed. Another exciting day awaits tomorrow -