Turning the big "2"

Tomorrow (Thursday) , my littlest son will turn 2 years old. I uploaded a video of his singing to Youtube. Let's see if I can embed the vid here. It may not be ready right away - they take time to prep it or something.
(If not, click here to see the video)

beta blogger?

Was just trying to sign in to update ya'll on what's happening, and I saw that there is a Blogger-Beta. Wonder what new features will be with that.

Tonight, for the first time ever (sicne his birth - 2 years ago this Thursday!), our youngest is not in the house. He is spending the night at the inlaws so that I can spend tomorrow at my older sons preskool. Taking into account all the shit I found out at the YMCA (by actually BEING there, and not just dropping the kids off), it's been driving me batty that my son has been in preskool for 4 weeks now, and I haven't been able to observe. Well, tomorrow that ends. I will get him there by 8am, spend the day helping the teacher, and around noon, we will leave together (the boy and I, not the teacher) to retrieve Darth Lance.

I received my first degree black belt at karate class. Nice ceremony and all. One of the best things, besides that both boys were there (wearing white karate outfits), is that the wife may have been bitten by the "hey, I used to do that" bug. All this damn time I've been training (over 2 years straight now), and this was the first time she's ever had time/bothered/cared enough to/whatever - go to the dojo and see what I've been doign with my time. Mind you, she didn't get to observe anything "regular", like a class or anything, but she liked what she saw. There was a younger girl testing for a brown belt, and (for some unknown reason), no one besides black belts showed up. This meant that she had to defend against, and spar against full grown 29-35 year old guys, rather than someone her own age. Seeing that girl hold her own, and keep trying was inspiring.

At my other dojo, things are still kinda crappy, but better. 3 people are still acting like assholes, but at least I can actually GET a partner when it's time to pair up.

Logan received his first "speech service" today. After having his tested, the skool system approved him for 1 hour a week of speech services. Not sure what went on during his 30 minutes of service today, but check this out -
When I arrived to pick him up today, the office lady and his teacher were talking. They told me that Logan had received his services today, and that they were really proud of him. Not for doign a good job in his session, but for how he reacted before it started. It seems that the speech teacher (from the public skool system, not the preskool) arrived today to spend a half hour with Logan. She went back to his room, and wanted him to leave the room with her. Logan politely said "no". He didn't know her, and wasn't about to leave the room with her. After reassuring from his teacher, he finally followed the lady to the front office. The needed to go to a seperate room together, and that meant leaving one building to walk to another. (The preskool owns 3 residencial houses in a row, and has linked them with a covered walk way). She asked Logan if he'd like to help her get some toys from her car. This time, he blatently refused. He told her to get the toys from her car, and bring them in herself. Then watched out the window of the door until she returned with them.

I couldn't be prouder. Although the teafher told him that the speech teacher was "ok", and that she and daddy said it was alright, he trusted his gut instinct, and wasn't about to have anything to do with some bitch that he didn't know - who tried to entice him to her car with promises of toys.
Innocent as it was, gotta wonder what the fuck the speech teacher was thinking. I can just imagine the message "You don't know me, but daddy said it's ok. Wanna go to my car and get some toys?". Gonna have to have a small talk about this with that speech teacher. I swear to God, some people just don't fuckin think.

Like this old fart at Logan's first AWANA meeting. After a horribly done hand puppet play, with a theme of "Keep your promises", the kids sat down for story time. It was done by an old lady that everyone called "gramma ____(something)." She uses a felt board and felt pictures to tell the story of Adam and Eve. Her audience was 3 and 4 year olds. Near the end of her story, she tells how Adam and Eve got thier "leaf clothes" taken away, and were told by God (I shit you not, the bitch ACTUALLY SAID THIS)............"God told them 'because you didn't keep your promises, I have to kill some of your animals to make clothes for you." And with that , she removed the felt sheep from the board. I'm sitting there thinking "Oh fuck. OH NO you DIDN'T. You did NOT just tell little kids "keep your promises, or God will kill your pets". Un-fuckin-believable.

I gotta get some sleep.

Never say "can't"

Well, how's this for "Jack of all trades"...

Today, the baby and I went out for a bite to eat, afterwhich we picked up big brother and headed to a local playground. Later, after momma joined us, I treated the family to dinner (Ok, it was McDonalds - but I had a coupon). Took the 3 yr old to an AWANA gathering (big playgroup kinda thingy at the same church I train samurai sword at). Stayed with the kids to help out (and check out what was goign on). Returned the 3 yr old home (8:15pm), tucked him in bed, then (with only a 60 watt lightbulb in a shop light) replaced the front brake pads on the wifes minivan. Once that was done, I took it on a test run : to the library to return dvds, and to the grocery store to get milk.

All I neede was yardwork and something dealign with a bandaid and I dare say I'd have run the gambit of my skills.

Oh, and tomorrow I get to sit on my first "review board" for a young girl's karate exam - as well as receive my shodan (black belt) in karate.

sweeeet!


"I can bring home the bacon ----- na NAA na na --- Fry it up in a pan -- na NAA nana..."

Found this oen of Lance in an archived folder 

Darth Logan was asking what a tripod was for, so after 4 sucky pictures, we finally got this good one. 

Back from the dead

I'm very sorry for not having posted in the past 2 weeks. I've been lazy, busy, and honestly downright disinterested. I've had fantastic things to share, some twists of stupidity, and some heartfelt questions to pose to all - and just never got the spirit to type any of it. Partially cause of the stress of dealing with family matters. Partially because of the limited time I get on the computer anymore. And partially because I still feel under the microscope by readers at my dojo. But we'll get to that another time.

I'll try to put things by topics - so you can skip the boring sounding ones.

BIG BIG BIG OH SHIT with the truck.
At the end of 2004, a drunk driver hit the wife's Blazer. We all went to the hospital, and had no problems. Darth lance was only 1 month old at the time, so we were very fortunate that no one was hurt. The truck (hit from the front/drivers side) was totalled. We used the insurance money to purchase it back, and I went to work to repair it. At the time, I was fevorishly trying to restore my 1977 hearse into my primary vehicle. My Firebird was unsafe for the babies, and too damn small. When the truck accident happened, the wife wanted something else, and I saw opportunity in the shape of a green metalic blob that used to be a Blazer. I fixed it up, and it was back on the road in about a month. The plates (this is the important part) wer valid until Aug 06. I was unaware that the plates were negated because of the buyback. So all this time (Oct04-Aug06), I've been driving around with "ficticious tags". If I had been stopped by poice, they would have impounded the truck, and I'd have had to walk home with the babies.

I found this out when I tried to renew the tags, and got a ration of shit from the DMV. 3 weeks and about $250 later (after a DMV inspector looked the truck over for $125), I now have legal tags. (actually, 30 day tags, cause I got personalized ones. I'd post what I got, but I'm afraid some asshole will be able to trace me that way). I wanted KURGAN, like I used to have, but someone else had snatched it up.

I've been wanting to tell about that big "OOPS", but being persona nongrata at the dojo (1 student being a cop), I figured it was better to wait till it was all taken care of to share it.

LOGAN'S DAYCARE
Logan started preskool. This was his second week. He seems to like it, although I'm starting to have my concerns. The wife assures me that preskooler just take longer to establish bonds and friends. Hopefully, the MIL will be able to take Lance for the day (next week), so I can squat in on his class and see what goes on. In my experience from the YMCA, I know a shitload more of what goes on than their staff would like me to know. It's never wracking to knwo I've given my son to a preskool for 2 weeks, and haven't seen first hand what goes on. I don't expect him to coem home preped for college , or with a list 3 pages long of friends, BUT learning and socalization are the main reasons we enrolled him. They are also primary reasons we returned to church, and that ended up getting shitcanned. At least that was free. And we were there to observe the "goings on". I guess time will tell. Lance has sure enjoyed his "daddy time". We get up around 8am - eat breakfast, play , watch some cartoons, go for a bike ride or drive to a park - have a nap, and then head off to pick up big brother. I was pickign Logan up at noon (after his lunch), but he got really fussy at home. By leaving him at skool from noon-2, he gets to nap with his class. He hasn't napped since he was about 2 years old, but those 2 hours really make a difference at home/in his attitude. And if I just bring him home, he refuses to nap , and we fight more. So, leavin him there to nap seemed the logical conclusion. I try to put Lance down at noon as well, so that they are both napping around the same time. That way, when i pick up big boy, he and little man are refreshed and good to play.

STRESS WITH THE WIFE's work
Actually, it's not her fault. The kids started to get hungry, and very fussy. I got them snacks, whiel waiting for the wife to get off work, but I didn't want to give them too much snacks, and ruin their dinner. And, I have a window in which I can eat, or I have to wait until dojo is over. (Not smart to woof down dinner, and then spend the next 2 hours being thrown to the ground.)

The skool my wife teaches at has denied her a planning hour, as well as a lunch hour. She teaches special ed, and has 1st, second, and third graders in her class. WHen it;s time to teach a subject, she has to teach ALL 3 GRADE LEVELS at the same time. Often times, her aid is removed from her class, to help out other Speced teachers to are too incompetant to do their own damn job. The skool further decided to spring "mandatory meetings" on her, for several days, for after skool. So she's in meetings, and I'm losing my fuckin mind - we're all hungry, the kids are beligerant, and I don't want to take off for food in case we miss her. When I finally decide "LETS GO!!", it takes 20 minutes for the kids to get preped. Shoes, socks, new diaper, wear these shorts, put this shirt on, OK GO NAKED, I DONT CARE! It all escaltes until its almost out of control. Then she walks in and gets the brunt of it. None of which she deserves. This happened 3 days in a row. By the 4th, I was prepared and ordered pizza.
I know it's not proper form, but Im considering going to her office and politely askign who's ass I gotta kick (or sue) to get my wife a lunch period.

Martial arts stuff
Although it's lessening, and still has not "come to a head", I'm still being treated like a leper at dojo #1. In contrast, things at dojo #2 couldn't be going any better. I've been kinda "taken under the wing" of the head instructor - and under his close watch, have had pretty good success teaching classes. The kids have responded the best of all. After the kyu ranks go home, the dans and I (black belts) have been staying after for an hour or more working katas, judo, grappling , or whatever. It's such a good feelign to have that kind of comrodery (sp?). When I left dojo #1 last time, the students were staying after class to review testing stuff. I was unwelcomed to join in. It was lead by a student to was supposed to loan me instructional dvds before my first test, and left me hanging. I passed the test, thanks to other classmates who went over technqiues with me. But I've always been bitter about how he stiffed me. Since then, he's become the Blockbuster of our dojo - openly swapping movies with everyone. (cept me). Oh well. I've heard tell that a testing is comin up soon. If Im not sure of the testing material, I can always cruise the web. Too bad no one at dojo #2 trains in that art. In dojo #1 I feel like I'm not a purist, but at dojo#2 I end up defending all the dojo #1 stuff. I dunno - just rambling I guess. Now, watch THIS come back to bite me in the ass somehow tomorrow at dojo #1. people pissed off because I DARED mention their dojo in a less than favorable light.

RECAP:
Let's see -the truck is running good OH YEA, almost forgot. I had resuracted the Firebird from our driveway. I wasn't sure if the truck would pass, or how long before the DMV inspection would be over, and it sucked having to pick the older boy up from preskool by bike (see previously posted pics of my multi-person bike transport device). I get the car insured, registed, and new plates, and am in the process of getting new tires for it. The fucker stalls out a mile from home, and leaved the baby and I stranded. I had to walk home - baby in one arm and the car seat in the other. When we get home, I put the car seat in the (then still illegal) truck, drive back to the abandoned firebird to get the OTHER car seat. Then we drive home, and later, drive to pick up the boy from skool. When it was dark, I used the truck to tow the car back home. If I had been stopped, I would have gotten a ticket for not having the firebird inspected, and would have had the truck inpounded. It was not a happy day for Sith Dad. But it all worked out. Still have to work on the firebird. It's gotta be sold, but i'll get nothign for it if it won't even run. Gonna replace the fuel filter first - it's gonna suck if it's the fuel pump. My 87 had it on the exterior of the engine - easy to get to. This bastard has an electric fuel pump located INSIDE the gas tank. You have to drop the tank to get to it.

I'm off to cruise the web a bit. I'll be posting some pics soon .

Batman milk, and Incredibles milk

Taking Margaret's advice, to solve the problem of the depleated supply of Hershey's green chocolate syrup, I think I have come up with an acceptable solution.

Regular brown chocolate syrup will now create what will be called "Batman milk".

Strawberry syrup will create "Incredibles milk".

Today, Logan (favoring chocolate of any color) had Batman milk, while Lance had no complaints to having Incredibles milk.

I had toyed with the idea of making the pink milk "Superman milk", but we're not all that big of Superman fans. If the Incredibles theme doens't win Logan over, maybe I'll switch to calling it "Flash milk".