Adventures of Darth Daddy

The M-Latt is no more

2011-09-03T03:09:00.003-04:00

If anyone remembers (or does a search for the M-Latt), it was a Mobile Light Armored Troop Transport. A kids trailer and Kids seat attached to my bike. It was stolen Aug 21st, 2011.

I will miss it. I will also keep looking for who took it.

Inspired - at least for the moment

2009-08-20T01:01:00.002-04:00

A debt of graitude from Drake, and his wonderful blog.
Also found him on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-United-Kingdom/Drake-Studebake/221645245116

He recently wrote about the 2 games that his child plays the best. 1 is pooping in a brand new diaper. 2 is waking up as soon as placed in the crib.
OMG! My sons all did the same damn thing!! No sooner did I change a diaper, and HERE COME THE GRUNTS!! And no lengthy chorus of "OH HELL NO" from you will change a thing. (cept another diaper!)

And I swear that there is some magical hidden button, on my kids dupa, that triggers them to wake INSTANTLY upon being placed in their cribs. All 3 did it. I used to fall asleep holding them, I was so tired. Then, I'd wake up, se them sleeping, and gently set them in their crib. As soon as I thought I'd get some rest - BAM - "Hey daddy!! Wanna play for another hour??" And once again, no lengthy chorus of OH HELL NO will convince them to go back to sleep.

For those of you still tuned in - I still have 3 little dark lords of the sith running around. 6yrs, 4yrs, and 1(almost 2) yrs old. I am STILL the stay at home parent, and with the exception of a slight crack under stress this early summer, love the job. During this past school year, the anti was upped as the oldest started kindergarten. No more lazy mornings of getting the 2 oldest to the same preskool by 9am. Oh no - 6am is now the "get up" time, oldest on the bus by 7am (or whenever the hell the bus felt like showing up). One mourning the bus just never showed - so I woke up the other 2, loaded us all in the truck, and headed off to skool. Only to be informed (and wrongly so) that WE must have missed the bus. Oh yeah - our fault. Must have ben daydreaming as we both sat on that corner, completely missing a BIG ASS ORANGE AND YELLOW BUS going by. Needless to say, me and my sarcastic super power are not quite the favorite (or welcomed) at my kids school anymore.
Then I had to have the middle child to his preskool by 9am. Pick up the oldest at 11am, then the middle by 12 noon. THEN it's off to lunch, and nap time (mostly for me).

This year ( 3 weeks from now) will put the screws to me even tighter. 2 of them on the bus at 7am, to be followed by 2 separate pick up times. And I was JUST starting to enjoy this "sleep late in the summer" mirage.

Let's hope the trucks stays running!!

Is this still here?

2009-05-21T22:17:00.003-04:00

Man, I remember a time when this blog was the world to me. A means to keep track of my thoughts, reach out to others, and just vent when I needed to. Those were the days.

Now, I tend to open up Facebook, start to type something, and then just close the browser. Too damn many people have tried to use my blog ramblings to screw with me. Someone even tried to use my "religious" ponderings to get me kicked out of my (Christian) martial arts organization. And I was the senior instructor!
Someone recently posted a message that he came across my blog, and was glad to see it. He was happy that he wasn't the only one in my position (stay at home dad).

I don't think I deserve the accolades anymore - the ones who deserve it are the ones who haven't been silenced by dipshits who try to use your own words against you. Keep up the good work ya'll - I'll keep checking in from time to time. Maybe soon I'll find a new pair and be back at it full force.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-27T14:45:00.000-05:00

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving everyone!!

Closer to the end of the year

2008-11-19T23:36:00.002-05:00

Darth Landon now has 4 teeth. He has stood several times (unaided), but still has not started walking.

My fingers took 15 minutes to dethaw (I created that term), but it was worth it. I just got in from decorating the outside of the house for Christmas. Still have more to do, but I got lights on the roof and the peak of the house. I also managed to put a 4ft tall Grinch inflatable on the porch roof.

Things are as busy here as they have every been. Busy schedule with the 3 boys, martial arts programs, repairs on the family fleet (mostly brake jobs). Now that they end of the year is approaching, things are only going to get worse. Both mine and Darth Logan's birthday are in December, as well as 2 Christmas performances at different schools, work , and all the "trying to get more work"! I'm starting to fill the calendar with Santa work.

Not much else to write. Hang in there, and I'll do the same.

He can STAND for that

2008-11-05T23:36:00.002-05:00

I've been in hiding.

But I had to post that yesterday, Darth Landon stood (unaided) for a full 15 seconds. Hasn't taken his first steps yet, but he's on the way.

Tooth number 3 made it's appearance a few days ago.

Looking back

2008-06-13T23:22:00.002-04:00

As Darth Landon has begun to become mobile (starting to use his knees to crawl, and refuses to stay in one spot), I happened upon a video tape I had made a few years back. In it, Darth Lance was about the same age as Landon is now - it was unbelievable watching that tape. Logan was soooo young - and his speech was monosyllabic. And Lance could only screach, and was barely able to pull himself up. Amazing how much has changed over the past few years.

The other day, Logan was talking about ghosts and monsters - and said that if I even saw one, it would "Scare you the HECK!"

Then again, the other day we were driving, and some jackass cut us off. Logan called him a "meat ass". I frown on my kids using that kind of language (specially at the age of 5), and promptly corrected him (that is, AFTER I was able to get control of myself from laughing so hard!!)

Clapping, fishing

2008-06-08T01:55:00.003-04:00

Just a few quick things:

The baby clapped yesterday - his first time doing so. He turned 9 months old, and thought that dada was worthy of applause!

I took the older 2 boys fishing today (their first time). Didn't catch anything, but we had a great time, and discovered the largest Popsicles known to man (pictures to follow soon).

Today, I took both Darth Logan and Darth Lance to a "free fishing day" at a city park. The heat got up to 112 degrees today, so we stayed in the shade as much as possible.

After we were done, we sswung by another park to enjoy a bit of the Indian festival (Native American) that was going on. Made beaded necklaces, got feathers for our hats - then headed towards home.

Cept that it was so damn hot (no AC in the truck yet), that we got super thirsty. We were passing a YMCA, and decided to stop in to refill our cups with cold water. After we had a few sips, I looked at the boys (we were all in shorts), and decided to go swimming. No towels or change of clothes - but what the hell. After about a half hour of splashing around and cooling off, we finally headed for home.

The wife thought that we fell in the river and got eatten by fish! (we were gone quite some time)

Airbag light on my 98 Blazer

2008-05-30T00:03:00.003-04:00

Problem solved. Thank God for Ebay. I didn't actually buy anything, but it's sure nice to be able to SEE what something looks like when it's removed. I got to see what the front airbag sensor looked like. (STILL can't locate it on the truck though)

More importantly, I got to see what the passenger and driver airbags looked when removed from the vehicle. My truck doesn't have a switch to turn the passenger side off. That's pretty much ruled out being able to put the oldest boy in the front seat. I've barely been able (by very limited seat selection) to fit 2 safety seats and the infant carrier in the back seat. SO, I was able to locate the wiring connector, and unplug the front airbag.

Won't that create a problem with getting the car inspected, you ask? WHy yes it will. That damn airbag light in the dashboard is a major pain the ass. I took the truck to get inspected, and that light refused to turn off. As a result , it failed. I read that there is a fuse that you can pull, but that it will make the light stay on , rather than make it go away.

The answer - I took apart that damn dash board, and removed the instrument cluster. Pretty simple, I must admit. I disassembled the cluster, and found 2 led lights that are on a motherboard. So much for just plucking the bulbs out. I was afraid to remove them for fear that it might mess up some other electrical system.

Now I can't say what you should do next if you are having the same problem, but it sure would seem easy enough to cover those lights with some black electrical tape, so when you turn the car on, the lights won't shine through.

This wouldn't 'fix' the airbags, just the light problem. If you WANT airbags, go to a garage and get them fixed. I personally don't want them, and am not at a loss for not having them wired anymore.

Playing catch up

2008-04-28T22:01:00.002-04:00

When I started the blog, I hoped to find a few things. A means to vent when I needed to. To connect with others in a similar position as mine. As a means to keep a journal of what went on in my mind, so my kids can later look back and see me for who I am.

I've really been shying away from blogging for over a year now - since I beheld the problems that it has the potential to create. I've often had people tell me that they are proud of how I seldom hold anything back, and feel comfortable saying it like "it is". Problem is, I just ain't as comfortable with it as I once was. I've considered creating a separate blog (a private one) to continue with, just for my kids - but the idea of not being able to connect with others out in the real world makes that seem kinda lonely. I got plenty of "keeping to myself" already.

So, I will try and get back on the horse. There will be, of course, certain taboo subjects that I will try my best to refrain from. I've noticed, of lately, that religion is a subject I am best to keep my mouth shut about.

That said - on with the show...... There's a few things that I've been meaning to blog about lately...

1. Men - ya'll are some nasty no aiming sombitches. This is coming from a father of a 5 and a 3 year old. There is nothing (NOTHING) nastier than having to take my kids potty, and spend 10 minutes cleaning it before I would DARE let my kids sit on it, or come in contact with it. There are even times when I am forced to march my little potty warriors back to the table, and tell the wife that she needs to take them (hopefully, the ladies potty won't be as bad). We've even had 1 nasty incident where the smell and heat of the mens room caused me to throw up (followed of course by my son throwing up, because he saw me do it). Now anytime we go into a public bathroom, and I start coughing, so does he. For the love of all 5 power rangers - AIM DAMMIT!

2. Why the hell is everything so damn expensive???!!! The YMCA wants $50 -$150 for activities, like kids tball, or soccer. Even the local parks are charging $50. Good luck finding a martial arts school that offers classes for less than $100 a month (and without a 3/6/9/or 12 month contract.) Here's what I think about contract - if the company offers customers a service (at a fair price) that doesn't suck, you don't have to worry about locking people into a contract.

3. F*CK gas companies! I have 2 antique cars that will probably NEVER see the street again, cause I can't afford to run them. One has a 440 engine, and the other a 472. If these greedy profit driven fuckers would just be happy with 2 billion on profit, instead of 4 billion, maybe every goddamned thing would 't be jacked up in price. I'm sure glad I didn't invent an engine that works on milk! Holy shit! Seen milk prices? You have if you have kids. There's a martial arts seminar that is 2.5 hrs away from me. I have to factor in gas in the total price, and see if I can afford the TRIP! Not the seminar, but the damn TRIP!

The other day, I saw our very own King George II (President Bush, to the rest of you), and a reported was questioning him. The reporter started by stating that it looked like gas would hit $4 a gallon by summer, or fall. He was cut short by our smart ass (oil invested) king snickering "You know that for a fact? I hadn't heard that" (hehe). Think about this, King George - when the hell was the last time you had to dig around in the limo for change to put gas in? When was the last time your ass had a $10 bill in your wallet, and 3 kids in the backseat, and had to seriously decide between lunch for the kids, or 2 gallons of gas to get them to school tomorrow? Fuck you! Maybe we outta create some bicycle with armor (like a Pope mobile bike), and make his ass ride around on it for official functions. I hate being nickel and dimed to death - and seriously hate being $4 a galloned to death as well.

Dear Mr President,
Please don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.
Your unloyal subject.

3. Airbags. The airbag light in my truck (98 Chevy Blazer) stays on when it damn well feels like. Almost made me fail last years annual vehicle inspection. I don't really care if it works or not, and I need to get that damned dashboard light to stay off. Any ideas? I thought abotu pulling the dash apart, and removing the light, but I'm not sure about how much shit is attached back there (how easy it would be to pull and resintall), and I've also heard that the lights are not bulbs, but leds (so Im scared to screw with it, and cause an electrical surge in the system).

I thought about drilling a hole right through the front of the console, hopefully hitting the bulb.

I've read of people pulling a fuse, but that there are other systems linked into it, and the truck doesn't run right again.

I've also read a bunch of people (online) who suggest taking the truck to Autozone, and they will scan it for free. Autozone by me don't know shit about this. If there is a bad sensor in the front, that needs replaced, that means paying fullprice to a mechanic to run the test. (that sucks!)

Any suggestions would be great. (it only need to be deactivated during the inspection, but can be permanently dead if needed)

Hey Kev!! (I'm no slacker)

2008-04-14T23:05:00.001-04:00

I tried to post a comment on the "Im no slacker" web blog site, and got the following message. The hyperlink led to a second page that told me that BAD BEHAVIOR was blocking me because I suck or something.

Error 403

We're sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /wp-comments-post.php on this server.

Your Internet Protocol address is listed on a blacklist of addresses involved in malicious or illegal activity. See the listing below for more details on specific blacklists and removal procedures.

Your technical support key is: 44e4-8954-1366-73cd

You can use this key to fix this problem yourself.

If you are unable to fix the problem yourself, please contact zezz at swbell.net and be sure to provide the technical support key shown above.

Craigs list posting

2008-04-14T22:34:00.002-04:00

Ok - I just found this on Craigs List - am I the only one that finds this hilarious?!?! I want SO BAD to send knock knock jokes to them!

FREE CLOCK (MOYOCK)

Reply to: sale-642709200@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-04-14, 10:09PM EDT

FREE CLOCK. BROKEN GLASS. DOESNT WORK. SERIOUS EMAILS ONLY.

Location: MOYOCK
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 642709200

Some pics of Landon

2008-02-27T23:36:00.002-05:00

Picking it back up again

2008-02-19T22:21:00.003-05:00

I really need to start posting again. Been kinda shy since my martial arts blog blew up in my face. I need to watch what I post - but that has never been a trademark of mine. Not here and certainly not in real life.

Anyways:

BABY NEWS:
A week or two ago, the wife accidentally gave the baby soy based formula. It was a brand new can, but it was the same exact brand as what he had on New Years night - the night that we almost lost him. Shortly after his bottle, he had a similar reaction - throwing up and slowed responsiveness. Not nearly to the degree as new years, but enough to make us suspect that what we had here was an allergic reaction to soy.

We took him in to have him tested, but the test needs to wait a week or so. We just had him in for an MRI, and after 6 times of sticking him, they couldn't get the sleepy drug into him. We had to cancel the mri. And my little pin cushion had no more veins for the soy test to draw from.

An EEG came back clear. So we really REALLY feel that soy is the culprit.

MARTIAL ARTS STUFF:
Well, I've found a new home from home. When I need a break from home, I go to my dojo. When I need a break from my dojo, I have found a wonderful Kung Fu school to visit. It's really good to be hooked up with a christian martial arts organization. No fussing over contracts, or membership fees, or all the trappings of commercial dojos. Just nice people who want to share the art. I learn new things, and am invited to share my experiences to broaden the scope of their students. I even founded an Aikido Fellowship. With luck, I'll be able to work with some local churches and organizations, and set up training times. It's good to turn a hobby I love into something that I can pass on to others. My sons love it too (specially Logan).

More to type, but I need to hit the hay. 6am comes earlier and earlier each day.

Brain Doctor today

2008-01-15T10:35:00.000-05:00

Later today, we have our visit with the neurologist.

Say, have any of you ever experienced a flash fever? Not sure if i mentioned this earlier, but the other day, I was in the garage for a while working on a broken washing machine. It was cold, but I was dressed warmly - even had a knit cap on my head (and over my ears).

Came inside for bed, and BAM - forehead was on fire, and my body was shaking. I was freezing, even to the point of teeth chattering. Slept for about 3 hours , with fever dreams. (Repetitive tasked dreams that wont let you actually get any rest), like filling and refilling a glass of water.

When I got up the next morning, I was fine. Appetite didnt come back till the following day, but no more fever.

Weird

More about the baby

2008-01-13T22:30:00.000-05:00

We had our visit to the cardiologist. They were only going to repeat the ekg, but I was a pain in the ass enough that they conceded to also doing an echocardiogram. I may have been a pain in the ass, but it's MY baby.

It made no sense to simply repeat the ekg - if the results had been the same, it still could have been a false abnormal reading to to the placement of the leads. The prior ekg read a let axis deviation. Simply put, his heart was tilted to the left. Most infants, if anything, have a right tilt.

Anyways, the ekg showed a slight abnormality, and the echocardiogram showed that he has PDA ( Patent Ductus Arteriosus) . There is a small channel (tube) in the heart, that passes blood from one side to the other. In the case of most infants, this passageway will close itself within the first weeks of birth. Darth Landon's hasn't closed yet, but it's still within a realistic time frame to not freak out or expect surgery. They want to check him at 1 yr old, and double check that the tube has indeed closed

The symptoms of PDA are lack of appetite, shortness of breath - none of which the baby has been showing. If anything, since the New Years Eve incident, his appetite has increased.

So - it's highly unlikely that this PDa thingy caused the problems - and we have an appt with the neurologist next week.

Still lookin for answers..

Oh - one more thing for you watch out for - the newest SCAM

2008-01-13T22:18:00.000-05:00

Poor people have a new scam. no more of that boring 'standing on the street corner' mess. The new scam is to drive their car to a parking lot (Walmart, KMart, Grocery Store, Wendy's, etc), and approach people for money. The boohoo story is that they have run out of gas, and desperately need to get back home, or to their job, or whatever. I got taken twice but f*kers like this, and finaly today, caught one in the act. The wife went into Walmart, and I stayed in the car. This trailer park reject rolls up in a pick up truck, scopes out his prey, and starts approaching people with a "I ran out of gas" story. Mind you, he had enough gas to pull into the spot next to me - AND it was the 2nd time he repositioned his truck.

He finally gets some money from a woman - walks back to his truck, and sits in the back seat. He watched her until she left, and as soon as she did - BOOM - his ass was right outta that seat and back to begging.

He made a mistake when he decided to roll up on my wife and son as they returned. I was out of our truck like a Swat team - cut him off on his approach after he initiated verbal contact, ordering him back to his vehicle, and told the wife to get the boy loaded. Then I stood guard until they the family and 'stuff' was secured.

Con artists piss me off - but when they approach my family....

What is with these crazy bastards?!

2008-01-13T22:10:00.000-05:00

Is it justme? Or are some of you out there (people with blogs) that have been having weirdos post some crazy shit recently?

The other day, we went out to eat, and 'ran into' the owners of that horrible McDojo I used to go to. Didn't say anything - never knew if they saw me - but later that SAME night, someone posts a comment to my blog. It was posted to an entry WAAAAY back to 1995 or so, was that specific dojo related, and sounded like some 15 year old punk on Red Bull. The comment stated how I was a wimp and such, cause I hung out with the kids at the dojo, and was a scared to train with the real adults at night. This rant went on for a few paragraphs. But it didn't add up. I only trained at night, never met the guy they said taught there (who could apparently kick my ass) . It was as if a complete stranger came across that entry , and felt compelled to type shit .

ANDs

Just last night, some pick from CA visits my blog around 2am, and posts this little gem.

It also was from 1995. What the f*ck?? The coment made it sound very personal, and factually incorrect. Who the hell are these fruit loops with too much time on their hands??

ps. Info on the second guy:

Host Name	pool-71-104-206-242.lsanca.dsl-w.verizon.net
IP Address	71.104.206.242 Disease [Edit Label]
Country	United States
Region	California
City	Yucaipa
ISP	Verizon Internet Services Inc
Returning Visits	0
Visit Length	7 hours 26 mins 27 secs

That's right - 7 friggin hours this asshole was on my site. I don't get it

Visit to the cardiologist

2008-01-11T20:12:00.000-05:00

Thanks to all who have commented their support and concern over Landon. Much appreciated.

We had our visit to the cardiologist today. They performed another EKG on him, which yielded slightly different results, but still indicated a left axis deviation of the heart. He said that in most cases, if any axis deviation is present, it's to the right in infants.

They followed up with an ultrasound. End result was that they discovered Landon has something called a PDA.
They said that it is small, nothing to be concerned about, and will probably resolve itself by the time he reaches 1 year old. THey want us to return when he is one to be rechecked.

Bad thing is that this PDA thing (according to the Dr) could not have been the cause of Landon's episode. So we're still in the dark there.

We have an appt with a neurologist next week.

So far , so good

2008-01-04T00:46:00.000-05:00

Another eventless day with the baby. But the whole reality of what happened starts to kick in again when it's time to feed him. Today, he let out a loud burp, then gurgled a little, and my heart bout stopped.

Call me uberfreaked, BUT...until he find out what happened...

We go NOWHERE without my cell phone. I charged it with $10, and it's good till April 1st.
No more Old Country Buffet
No feeding the baby without the phone close by
The wife is NOT to use the canister of formula that she used that day
No more dipping the pacifier in the macaroni and cheese
And if we EVER have to go back to that same hospital again, I'm going to jail. We waited entirely too damn long in chairs. I wonder how embarrassed the hospital staff would be if you asked to use their phone, and called an ambulance to take your kid to a different hospital.

*(Something I wanted to note) - Logan got an mp3 player to Christmas. I loaded it up with 80's songs he asked for, and one of them was "You're the best" from the Karate Kid sountrack. In the ER waiting room, Logan climbed up in the seat next to me, started callign Landons name, and then started to sing to him...
"You're the best around, nothings gonna ever keep you down..."

That's when the tears started (mine, not his). It was such a touching moment. My 5 year old had picked such a powerful line to sing.

THE WEATHER:
It's turned bitter cold in the last few days. Even snowed for a few minutes the other day.

Other stuff:

If anyone happens to have QUICKSITE 2.5, or Web Page Construction kit 4.0 - can you please send me the registration code?? I've been using this program for years, and it recently UNregistered itself. I remember when I bought the program, that the code wasn't included. I had to call the company, and they said "Oh yeah - we forgot". I can't find the install disk, where I wrote the code on.

Follow up visit with the pediatricians

2008-01-02T20:26:00.000-05:00

Well, he's still alive and kickin. No problems today. We made a follow up apt with the kids dr. After hearing all we had to say, he was stumped as well, but tends to favor the idea of a seizure. He scheduled us an appt with a neurologist.

On a different note, does anyone know what happened to The Bean's Dad?
I clicked on the link to his blog, and it's a dead link. Tried to Google him, and got nothing.

New Years Eve terror

2008-01-02T00:54:00.000-05:00

I'll start this entry by saying that the baby is alright now. There's a happy ending (so far).

New years eve, the kids and wife and I decided to venture out to eat, and take a run to our favorite thrift store. We ate an Old Country buffet, and everyone was in good spirits. We drove to the thrift store. The baby had woke up, and wanted fed. The wife gave him about 1 ounce of formula, and he went back to sleep. The wife had gone her own way in the store: she had the baby and Logan - I had Lance. When we finished shopping, we headed out to the car. The baby woke up, and spit up. He spit up enough that we needed to change his outfit. SO the wife changes his otufit and diaper - and he spits up more. Then we notice that he's rather unresponsive. He's alive - and breathing - just not alert. We thought it might be that he was sleepy, but we were still worried. Rather than the 20 minute trip home, we decided to divert to her parents house, not more than 5 minutes travel time away. Figured we could get him out of his carseat, and get a better assessment. We made it about 1 minute down the road when the baby started spewing again - in large volumes. The wife was turned backwards in her seat, and I could hear the baby barfing, and coughing. I pulled over, and got the baby out. His throw up was milky - same color as formula - but God, there was so much of it. And the baby was worse. Much worse. No eye contact, no tracking of his eyes. pupils fixed and dilated - breathing was low and deep, and no muscle control whatsoever.

We had no cell phone - so we jumped back in the van, and drove a block down the road. I ran in and called 911. Within about 2-3 minutes, we had a firetruck and ambulance there. The baby started to regain some of his color (he went ghostly pale) once they put him on oxygen. But he was still very unresponsive.

We get to the local children's hospital within about 30 minutes, waited in the waiting room for about 3 hours, and once they finally got us a room, he started to snap out of it. He was able to lift his own head, his eyes we open and alert, he'd track us as we moved, smiled, laughed, cried once he realized how hungry he was. It was as if he had been short circuited for 3 hours. He never lost consciousness, but 'woke up' 3 hours later.

We saw no visible signs of seizure. No eyes rolling, no body flailing. The Dr's told us that at this age (3 months old), seizures in infants tend to be violent. He had not fallen on his head, no blunt force trauma, no signs of seizure. They monitored him for 2-3 hours after that, and ended up finding out nothing. At least not what caused it. They did an ekg of his heart, and it came back normal. They tested his blood, and his sugar level was fine. Now, he had just gotten breast fed right before they did the blood test, so that may have altered the results. He is up to date with his shots - but had not received a vaccination in over a month or so. In searching online for similar symptoms, I've come across sites with parental horror stories of similar happenings within hours or days of the child being vaccinated.

I dont know. We have no idea what happened to our baby.

To recap, in case you're reading this from a Google search, and have experienced the same thing...

Within 30 minutes of feeding, the baby started to throw up. No projectile vomiting, just a gurgling, drolling throw up.
The amount of throw up was large. No visible object, like a button or pill.
Lack of muscle control. No neck control, not able to hold up head, not able to clench fist of fingers.
Breathing was slow and faint
Eyes were fixed and pupils were very dilated. If any eye movement, it was sluggish. Eye lids were almost shut - just barely open, like he was peeking.
No fever - body was not hot . Body temperature seemed to drop, and particularly his cheeks got cold and clammy.
Oxygen seemed to bring back some color to his face, but did NOT effect his unresponsiveness.
3 hours later, (give or take), he snapped out of it as if someone had thrown a switch.
Once he had recovered, his heart rate, respiration rate, and pulse ox levels were well within normal parameters.

All the trouble started around 3:30-4pm. We were discharged from the hospital around 11:30pm.

So far, the baby has been eating and sleeping well. He is attentive, responsive, and appears to be back to normal. We have a motion monitor on his bed (with an alarm). But we're clueless what happened - or if it might strike again.

Merry Christmas to everyone

2007-12-23T02:53:00.000-05:00

These 3 screwballs have been driving me crazy! But in a good kinda way.

Been real busy with the kids. The older boys have 3 hours of presool a day, so I get some 'baby time" each day.

I'll try to get back to posting more.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Kissing my 2 year old goodbye

2007-09-28T00:42:00.000-04:00

Not as sad as the title seems - Lance will turn 3 years old Friday. I realized as I kissed him goodnight (he was already asleep) - that it was the last time I would kiss my little 2 yr old Lance goodnight. Tomorrow, I will kiss my 3 year old good mourning!

Things have unbelievable around here - busy busy busy . I can't make it from one side of the house to the other with the same thought in my head. I'll leave one room to go do something - and end up somewhere else, doing something else. 3 days later, it'll cross my mind that I forgot to do 'something".

HE is here!

2007-09-06T11:17:00.000-04:00

It official - Around 8-9am today, LANDON GABRIEL (hereafter to be called 'Darth Landon'), made his entry into this world!

He is 7lbs 14 oz, and 19 inches long.

Mommy is recovering nicely. Better, in fact, than she ever did with the other 2 c sections.

I have to pick the boys up at preskool, get them lunch, and then we're all heading over, so they can see their newest family member.

(When Logan received the phone call about Landon, he was EXCITED!
"Lance, we have a brother - we have a BROTHER! Im happy - I wanted a brother...(long pause).. So, was it a BOY brother, or a GIRL brother?"

Last few hours

2007-09-05T21:10:00.000-04:00

Sewer line is fixed - we can flush and wash now. A while back , we had a sink whole develope in the front yard. The city blew us off regarding fixing the underlying SEWER problem, which resulted in my front yard leaning to the right. I remedied that slightly last night, after I shoveled ALL the dirt that the crew left dugup, after they broke the pipe and went home. They had to bring in a dirt truck to fill the hole today.

First day of preschool went great for both boys.

We're all over the inlaws now, trying to get both boys to go to sleep. Im already dead tired - can only imagine how much my ass is gonna be dragging by 6:30am, when we have to give the hospital a warning call.

We've decided on the following names:

boy: Landon Gabriel
girl: Kylee Rayne (our original girl name from the very first pregnancy)

I'll keep you updated.....

Ya'll aint gonna belive this shit

2007-09-04T14:52:00.000-04:00

Ok - the boys start preskool Wednesday

The new baby is being delivered on Thursday

My old Firebird stopped running . I suspect it needs a new fuel filter or pump. The inspection was expired, and the tags just expired as of September, so I pushed and pulled the car ino the driveway. And GOOD thing I did.

Today, as we were leaving, a construction crew took over the street. They are tearing down one house across the street, and building 3. They had lumber delivered, equipment to tear down the existing house, Virginia Natural Gas trucks, city inspectors, and (last but NOT LEAST) city sewer workers. If it drove a truck, they parked it in front of our house. (we live on a dead end street - one way out, and the carpeted it)

Our escape was narrow, but we made it out - and went to Burger King. Upon return---

The whole front of our house was blocked off - as were all the neighbors. They were digging a whole where my Firebird had been parked (before I moved it). Had I left it there, they would have had it towed.

I wedged in between two of their trucks, and they didnt like that. They finally opened a spot onto my front lawn, and we parked.

Coming up the front steps. my son spotted a dog layin in front of our door. Not OUR dog. So we had to deal with a stray thinking it was home. Hated to call the doggie cops, but I didn't want the old pup getting hurt.

THEN - the city workers break the sewer pipe. They tell me that we can't do certain things - like laundry, or flush the potty, or run our water, or wash dishes. He says that ehy might be able to get a crew out to fix it in an hour - that was 3 hours ago. They put pallets over the whole (with orange cones), and left for the day.

So on top of all that's already going on - we have lost use of our sink, our dishwasher, clothes washer, AND potty!

SHHhhhhh

2007-09-03T10:43:00.001-04:00

There is so much to do today, and instead, Im hiding upstairs for as long as I can. Through the baby monitor in the room below, every 2 minutes sounds like a felony arrest. Funny thing is, I was the one who went through the academy - but the wife has learned a trick or two from me (or all those COPS shows the boy watches.

(read slow, loud, and VERY pronounced...)
"STEP AWAY FROM YOUR BROTHER - do it NOW"

"PUT THE BALL DOWN "

"MOVE AWAAAAAAAY FROM EACH OTHER .... NOW"

oh boy (or oh girl)

The plan

2007-09-03T00:39:00.000-04:00

Ok - here's the schedule Im looking at -

The wife went back to work last week. No students yet, just the teachers there to set things up. Monday is a holiday - I must clean the house as I have never cleaned before.

Tuesday - the wife returns to work, and so do the students.

Wednesday - Logan AND Lance's first day of preschool. This will be Logan's 2nd year at this wonderful preschool, and Lance's first.

Wednesday night - take the boys over to the inlaws, where they will spend the night.

Thursday morning - early - and I mean really REALLY friggin early - call the hospital and ask if they have a bed. We are to tell them that we are scheduled to have the baby by c-section. Why we have to ask for a bed...I have no idea!

Also thursday - the boy's second day of preskool - grandpa has to drop them off, and pick them up, as I will be tied up at the hospital with baby#3.

Friday - Deliver the boys to skool - pick kids up from skool - eat lunch - stop at hospital and see the new baby - - - - and I'm kinda lost from there.

Saturday - I have set this day aside just in case I loose my frigggin mind!

So, in short - the new baby is coming on Thursday!! Wish us luck!

Logan thru the Wendy's window

2007-08-28T00:53:00.000-04:00

Much ado about nuffin

2007-08-19T23:05:00.001-04:00

Damn - as soon as she walked through the front door of the hospital, the contractions subsided. By the time we got to the 3rd floor, signed in, and got her on a machine, the contractions had stopped completely.

Her birthday is on Thursday - the last day to be born a Leo. Before this, we had joked that she would have a Leo this time , and not another Libra. I guess we still have 4 more days.

Haven't read the comments yet, but thanks in advance...

on the way

2007-08-19T17:05:00.000-04:00

to the hospital - they want to check her out

Still waiting

2007-08-19T16:57:00.000-04:00

waiting for the dr's office to call back...

It may be time

2007-08-19T16:56:00.001-04:00

The wife is on the inlaws couch , and having contractions. Could it be time??

Dance in the Sacred Circle

2007-08-19T15:01:00.000-04:00

My little brave, and the adorable "Princess" that invited him to dance.

More pics

2007-08-19T15:00:00.001-04:00

Nansemond Tribal Pow Wow

2007-08-19T14:44:00.000-04:00

I took the boys to a really cool Indian Festival. The Nansemond tribe, part of the Powhatan (Pocohantas related) had a huge Pow Wow in Suffolk, Va. It was so much better than the previous Indian Festivals we attended at Chesapeake. The Chesapeake one seemed very commercial. Almost like people "acting" like Indians. But this festival was quite a site.

A large section was roped off, referred to as the "Sacred Circle". At one point, they had a dance for couples. My understanding was that you had to be

invited in the sacred circle, so we stood at the entrance and waited. I had Lance to deal with, but Logan managed to make it in. An adorable little girl (he calls her an "Indian Princess" took his hand and they walked right on in. (That's my boy!)

I have some really good pics of the participants, but I wanted to post the pic with the boys in them first.

Suprise guest - not the baby though

2007-08-19T14:18:00.000-04:00

Still no baby. The tentative scheduling for the csection is Sept 8th, but the wife is saying that she doubts the baby will wait that long. She says the baby has dropped, which neither of the other boys every did. She has random contractions that take her breath away (wish I still had that effect!)

Yesterday, we went to an India Festival - many pics and stories to follow.

Today, we were at the inlaws, just getting ready to go out front so the kids could ride their bikes, when a suprise guest came to the door. Delegate Paula J. Miller ofThe 87th House District - Norfolk, Virginia.

Good luck in the Upcoming elections.

Things are about to change

2007-08-11T00:09:00.001-04:00

The new baby is due in about a month.

Hard day - harder life

2007-07-25T03:57:00.000-04:00

Been a bit stressed lately. Money is very tight, it's hard to get out alone anymore, and the new baby is due the first week in September.

Add to this that I took the 4 yr old to dojo tonight. That isn't too bad, but after class, we were fooling around - and he threw a sai about 10 ft at me. Mini-sai his sized - but enough to crack my index fingernail and give me a hell of a blood blister under it. I snapped at him - then felt like shit. I teach my students to keep their cool, then I go and lose mine in front of them.

Meanwhile, back in Cleveland -
I've been hoping that someone (anyone) from my old elementary school in Cleveland would stumble across this blog and write me. No luck so far. So, figured I'd make another post with the school's name in it, and hope the search engines pick up on it if anyone is doing a search for old classmates.

Saint Stanislaus ( St Stans) elementary (elem) school, in Cleveland Ohio.
Slavic Village. Fleet ave and East 65th st (ish).

I've googled a few old classmates names, and always come up empty. A few I don't even know how to spell. Maria Brakavitch is one (Brake - a - vitch). I always joked around about her, and it wasn't until I moved that I appreciated how much "herself" she always was. Wish I had been better friends with her.

Catherine Grams was a sweetheart - had major crush on her - always wondered how she turned out (and why she never would go out with me). Stacey York was kinda bitchy (and really into Rick Springfield). Cheryl Lango had a feminine Napoleonic complex. I think she became a doctor. One day, a nasty note from a "mystery person" appeared on my desk, stating how people don't like other people who are boastful and braggards. Obviously meant for me (I really don't think I was THAT bad), but figured she was the sender. Munchkin overachiever. Should never dated her after Phillip Wesolowski (my then best friend) moved away.

Let's see - Eric Slesinger was nice - total jock, but a smart one. Danny Riziki was into cars and racing.

Then there was MY crew - Michael Davidson - Michael Elswick - and Donald Morton. Elswick and Morton were sworn enemies - Mike would hound poor Donald to death, and picked on him all the time. I chimed in as well, so I'm just as guilty of owing Donald an apology for being shitty to him. It was weird - Donald and I got along great when Mike wasn't around - but introduce Mike to the mix, and all hell broke loose. Davidson was an odd duck. After we graduated grade school, he seemed the one to be in the most hurry to "grow up". Sometimes it seemed like showing off.

Over time, I fell out of contact with them all. (all three, at least). Davidson was off trying to be cool - Morton dropped off the map - and Elswick and I fell out when he refused to come down to Virginia to see me. (We had a summer exchange planned, but he wussed out). The last time I saw Donald, I went to his house, and he was pissed off (or disappointed) that I had moved and not written like I had promised. Probably felt like I blew him off. I didn't - just sucked at writing letters.

There was a very VERY cute little girl who i met at the ARNCW club (referred to as the Russian Club). (I remember 2 really neat guys that worked their - Big Zeke and Little Zeke. Big Zeke was a postal worker, and little Zeke was a bald old guy that bartended). Mom was a member, and they only let members in. They had a cool pinball table -and a bowling machine that I RULED on. The girls name was Danielle.

It's a shame all the problems that people go through in their life. A shame that friends fall out of contact, and it's years later that we look around and say "Hey, what every happened to...". I look at the class pictures from St Stans, and remember those people like it was yesterday. Wonder if any of them do the same, or if I'm the sole owner of the photographic evidence that we all survived 1977 through 1984 while dealing with Catholic school, nuns, growing up, and each other.

Well, it's almost 4:30am, and we have an early morning tomorrow. We have a meeting around 9am, during which an IEP (individual Education Plan) will be created for Lance (speech and developmental delays). Hell....by the time I get to sleep, it'll almost be time to wake back up. I thought that sai hit me pretty hard - just wait until tomorrow morning takes it's best shot.

Night all....

Say WHAT?!

2007-07-09T00:22:00.000-04:00

My oldest son - amazes me sometimes. He can be yelled at several times for just making the most annoying sounds - just to make them.

And then, he can shock the hell outta me. I've been teaching the karate class how to say hello in Japanese. Also, I've added how to introduce yourself. I stuck to a simple version, but recently learned a more formal version from a video lesson. At the dojo, I taught people to say
"Konichiwa. (insert name) des." Roughly translated means, "Hi. I'm (name)".
The video version said "Konichiwa. (Name) des, dozo yurushku." (adding 'pleased to meet you).

Today, Logan walked in the room, so I said "Konichiwa, Logan-san." And to my amazement, my son responded with :

"Konichiwa, dada san. Logan des. Dozo yurushku." It took me 2 months of practice to remember "dozo yurushku", and he just spouts it out like it nothing.

LATER THAT NIGHT, as he was falling asleep, I was telling him that I loved him more than the ocean has water. (We went to the beach today). He says "Dada, I love you more than if you were in the ocean, sitting in a pile of peanut butter, in a deep deep part. Cause I can do THAT."

Don't know where he got THAT one from - but I get the message loud and clear.

Before the fireworks start

2007-07-03T23:51:00.001-04:00

Well, it's Tuesday night, and tomorrow is the 4th! I'm planning on taking the family to the local park (the kids call it the Tubbie Hill) for fireworks tomorrow night.

We would have had swim class on Wednesday morning, but those pricks at the Y decided to cancel classes. I don't get it - cancel 10am classes because people want to see fireworks at 10PM.

Had a nice night at the dojo tonight. Last night was the first weapons class. Started working on proper bo ediquette and taught a few opening steps for their first kata. A number of kids showed up last night for their first class, and had no idea to bring a bo with them, so my class was small (another instructor took the non-weapon using students).

Tonight was another night of younger, and lower belted students, so I kept it fun and very basic (covered a few stances and a few blocks), and of course - UKEMI! (rolling and falling ---mostly rolling). Can't belive that a large number of styles (and dojos) leave ukemi out of their practices. Hell, if it weren't for the ukemi part of the training, I'd need to hire a chiropractor. It's amazing what a few forward and backward rolls can do for reliving stress on a cramped spinal column.

Well, the boys are asleep, and I'm hungry - so off the fridge I go. Wish me luck!
ps. No gummi bears for me tonight!

Sunday

2007-07-02T00:51:00.000-04:00

Lottsa work, and not much interesting to report.
We picked up a small green fishing pole at a yard sale for Lance ($3.50).

The boys are taking another swim class at the YMCA. Let me tell you about that friggin place. I want it GONE. Not just our membership canceled, I want it torn down and turned into a parkign lot for a McDonalds or a strip mall. We go in last week for the kids swim class, and Wayne at the front counter decides to pester us (after we walked away) about some updated phone number. THe wife gives him our same home phone, and he stares at the computer screen, and says "we already have that one". So I send the wife and kids off (running cover for them) and try to deal with Wayne as best I can. I tell him that if there is already a number in the system for us, and we gave him the same number - it makes sense that the number on file IS a current number. As the account is PAID up to date, good bye and don't bother us with updates.

We go to leave, and instead of "Have a nice day", we're greeted again with Wayne. This time he wants to know "Do you have a funny message on your home answering machine?" (I do indeed). I start to joke and say "Dude, why did you call us when you know we're not home?" Then I hits me - this asshole is checking up on me. His response was that he "needed to confirm the number we gave him". I asked "What the hell - you think we gave you a bogus number - after it was already in your system?" He says "Well, some people do."
I am proud of myself. I felt at that point I had to choices - 1 :was to pull Wayne over the counter and beat the ever lovin shit outta him. or 2: stare at him with a "what the fuck?" look on my face until he felt uncomfortable. I chose the second. I don't know if I have the will power to repeat that generous display of good decision making.

I tell you - stay clear of the YMCA. Buncha assholes. Let me clarify - buncha retarted money seeking assholes. I picked up a sheet from the Indian River YMCA - it was a double sided sheet that had activities (for the summer) for kids. every single one had a cost for it. They started at around $40 and went up to $120, It was more if you didn't have a Y membership.

I just glad that the wife was with me this time - I've told her about how much I get screwed with by Y people - this time she got to see it first hand. At the end of summer , I'm going back to Bally's. Shitty water in the pool - dirty locker rooms - dorky jock staff members - but less shit to put up with than the ymca.

I've had a checking and savings account at Chartway Federal Credit union for going on 15 years now. When I had excellent credit, I applied for a car loan - they offered me $100 and said "good luck". When I wanted a home loan, the offered me $1,000 and said "good luck". When I wanted to open a savings account for my son, they lost my name on their sign in sheet, and made me wait and hour and a half in their waiting area. They "lost" the sheet I signed in on, and made me sign in AFTER everyone else (during that time frame) that had come in.

When I started my magic business, I needed a business checking account. They told me to fuck myself. They said they had too much to do to bother with a small business like mine. When I dusted off the account last year - and went in to by the kids bonds at the counter (3 times), they charged me a $6 "you bothered the cashier" fee. They terminated my credit card account, so now I can't make my payments online (OR in the branch).

Having had enough - I went there to tell them that they were all FIRED. They told me that I couldn't do that. Check this shit out - In order to close out my checking, savings (and my sons savings account), they had to transfer all the money into the savings. Then they had to withdraw $1 from MY account, and deposit it into the kids account to make it "active", so that they could withdraw all $6 and close his account. Then, withdraw all but $5 from my savings account, because they refused to close my account. REFUSED! Because I still am paying on a $300 balance on the credit account, they said I HAD TO keep the savings account open. What the fuck do they think $5 is going to do for them. Insure that I make my payments ontime?!

I made THEM do all those transactions, so that they wouldn't slap me with a $6 service charge as a counter fee - then take that $6 from my $5 account, and charge me an overdraft fee of $35. You laugh, but they would do shit like that!

What's more - the entire time I was there - they never ONCE asked me "Why" I wanted to close my accounts. Customer Service is dead. If you don't believe me - get a Greenbriar Family YMCA membership, or a Chartway Federal Credit Union account.

Anniversary of my blog

2007-06-25T00:57:00.000-04:00

I was looking over at the "old posts" list, and saw that my first blog entrywas

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

5 days from now, it'll be the blog's 3 year anniversary.

A lot sure can happen in 3 years.

Dad, this pole is BOKKEN

2007-06-25T00:39:00.000-04:00

He was actually casting better and farther BEFORE I tried to show him how. I tried to show him how to cast from over the right shoulder.

He was much more effective at performing shomen uchi (overhead strike to the front). I guess he really IS paying attention in sword class!

Fishing on Father's Day 2007

2007-06-25T00:20:00.000-04:00

Logan had been asking for so long to go fishing - I figured Father's Day was the perfect time. Off to the ocean we went.

Good daddy, good sensei, bad blogger

2007-06-24T23:38:00.000-04:00

As a blogger, I have recently been a failure. Selfish, I guess. I spend so much time devoting myself to the boys, trying to salvage my marriage, develop goals and teaching plans for the dojo - that I seldom get any time for myself. When I do get a break at night to go online, I'm usually taking the opportunity to research "stuff" or just watch a movie.

By "stuff" I mean all that "I wonder" stuff that crosses the mind throughout the day. Why do the wind patterns of Jupiter rotate both clockwise and counter clockwise? What kind of bug was that I saw in the garden this afternoon? What's the difference between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks? What advances have been made in the area of plasma, as related to 'states of being'? Why the hell does my HP m425 camera INSIST on focusing on the things 10ft behind my son, and not on his face? That kinda stuff.

RECENT GETAWAY
I recently got to go on a mini vacation. I got to officiate (and compete) in a big karate tournament in Tennessee. Quite a drive. 8 hours. But it was well worth it. Gonna make a post about it - too much to go into and keep anyones interest.

OH SHIT - THAT'S ME!!

I actually got published. A long time ago (about 3 years) I got interviewed by someone for some parenting magazine. I'd long since forgot about it, until 3 months ago. I got a call from an editor that wanted to confirm my remarks. I obliged, and didn't think much of it, cept for how outdated it was. When I first became a full time dad, I had a Boba Fett diaper bag /backpack that would have rivaled even Dora the Explorers backpack. You name, I had it. But as time went on, I started to realize what was needed, what could be left in the car, and slowly downgraded to my current equipement (1 diaper, a zip lock bag with 3 wipes in it, and about 6 bandaids). This will undoubtedly increase once the new baby arrives, but not anywhere near what I started off carrying.
Anyways, I didn't ask the name of the magazine, and soon forgot about the call. Last week, I'm sitting in the waiting room (baby dr appt), and between wrangling the boys, I started browsing thru a magazine. A saw a picture of a guy with with a big ol backpack, and I thought "Hey, that looks like me". It wasn't me in the picture, but a quick scan of the article revealed my own name, and my quote. WOOHOO. I published! (kinda)

I'll update the blog with some new pictures soon, and tell more about that Tenn trip, and what's going on at the dojo.

If you're reading this, thanks to all for hanging in there.

FATHERS DAY 2007

2007-06-17T12:52:00.000-04:00

HAPPY DADDY'S DAY TO YA!!

Funny quote from the 4 yr old

2007-06-05T00:30:00.000-04:00

We went on a quest for about a month to find Logan some "dojo underwear" with the cup in them (in his size), just like daddy wears. Finally found them at The Sports Authority, and he's been wearing them ever since (at the dojo, that is). Now we have matching gis' (white outfits with patches), matching hakama (samurai puffy pants), matching bokken (wooden training sword), and matching shinai (bamboo kendo swords). Add to this a pair of white briefs with a cup to protect "Pepi".

Tonight, we decided after class to wear his dojo pants and his cup home. After a late stop off at McDonalds, he was getting in the car seat and sat down on one of the metal clasps. He started to yell and complain, and told me what happened. I said "Well son, ya gotta be careful", to which he replied:

"Soon, dad, I will have to get a cup to put on my butt too. A big one, so I don't get hurt when I sit on things".

(Should I just duct tape a pillow to his tooshie???)

Postal worker makes my day

2007-05-31T00:39:00.001-04:00

A few weeks back, I went shopping for a few outfits for my boys, and decided to get one to send to New Mexico to my 7 mo old nephew. Today, we finally got around to taking it to the post office to send.

I had both boys with me, and plopped them up on the counter while the clerk determined the cost for shipping. Logan mentioned that he loved Star Wars, and the clerk told us that he had Star Wars stamps. KEWL!

At the end, he asked if there was anything else he could help us with - so I said "Got any Shrek stamps?". He thought , and said that there may be some coming out in October. Double kewl!

As we concluded business, and I lowered the boys off of the counter, the clerk said "Ya know, the world need more dads like that."

I was floored. Hadn't really done anything out of the ordinary, but another guy saw that as wonderful. I thought a second and responded "I needed a dad like that."

He half smiled and said "Man, I know what you mean. Me too".

Elementary, My dear Dr Watson

2007-05-20T01:21:00.000-04:00

It's late, but I GOTTA share this.
I've recently put a few new video making programs on my computer. I've also installed some neat photo editing software programs. Somewhere along the line, I messed up, and it caused a very bad problem.
After I take pictures, I remove the sd card from the camera, and place it in an "egg" ( a usb card reader). It's been so much easier to just copy and paste the pics/vids, than to go thru the tedious process of connecting the camera to the computer, and dealign with upload software.

Anyways, for the last 2 days, whenever I've tried to copy and paste data from the sd card, my computer jams. Then I get the "Dr Watson's debugger has found a problem" (or something like that). I can view pictures and videos that are already on the computer, but cannot upload new from the sd card.

THEN, I noticed that after opening ANY folder on the computer (that contained avi files), I would get an error that said:
Installation at 0x03c415b referrenced memory at 0x00000000, and it could not be read.
Like Im supposed to knwo what the hell that means. I ran registry checkers, and startup managers, and nothing helped.

FINALLY, I came across a webpage that offered a working solution (so far) .

The solution was:
Run regedit and find the following key :- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler
Delete the "Default" value then close.
You should now be able to see .avi previews almost instantly but without the crashes

So far, so good (although only about 15 minutes of opening and closing various folders.

Boring shit for anyone whose system is running perfect, but invaluable info for anyone having the same problem I was. Transfering pics and vids of the kids is 75 % of what I have a computer for. (for the nosey, the other 15% is porn and the remaining is for making music cds and reading about other peoples lives thru blogs). Ohh, and let's NOT forget about Ebay!

Fall of Falwell - oh well

2007-05-15T22:22:00.001-04:00

Just saw that Jerry Falwell has kicked the ol' bucket. Hope he has to pay for perverting the mind of good Christians like he did. What he ought to have got on tv to say was "Put your money back in your own pocket - just be good and love God".

Anyone to bottles and tries to sell God should be ashamed. People are dumb enough as it is - but dangle heaven in front of poor people, and you get even poorer people with false hope.

Refelctions

2007-05-12T22:13:00.000-04:00

I Love this pic - it the reflections from the center hubcap on a Fire Engine. The local Rec center had a "Touch A Truck" day, where various trucks were opened up for little ones to climb in and out of.

2007-03-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

YEEHAW! Just when I thought all that edukashun has been passed on thru my genes, my hillbilly heritage creeps to the surface again.

2007-03-30T23:21:00.000-04:00

Just like Dada

2007-03-30T23:20:00.000-04:00

Took little man to the YMCA to play a bit of ball. We'll be kickign our membership to the curb shortly. It's costing us $75 a month fo r a family membership, and they really haven't showed us they are worth it. I've been ousted from the childwatch area (when parents are ENCOURAGED to participate - I guess they meant MOMS are encouraged), they LOST my toddler one day (they took the kids outside to play, and between the playground and the return trip in, they "misplaced" Lance for a minute, they never had any programs that are geared towards my needs (something that my and my kids can do together), their martial arts programs suck (and charge a pretty penny for it as well), and even though the wife has friends who are getting reduced memberships through the so called OPEN DOOR program , we were flat out rejected (even though they are making roughly 10 grand more a year than us, and we've got 1.5 kids more than they do).

I even pitched an idea to the Y that I'd conduct a karate class once a week, in exchange for the $35/mo family membership that they offer employees. They turned up their noses at me. Now I an certified through Karate For Christ, they largest Christian martial arts organization in the world. I figured with all the bible verses they painted all over the walls, and that I would do it for free, it was a sure sell - but no. They'd rather pay nitwits to do "sessions", and charge the members extra for classes - than to offer members a free class.

I just might have to break my Bally's membership out of mothballs.

Tons of pics

2007-03-30T23:08:00.000-04:00

Been a bit busy with life and all lately, but I wanted to prove that Im still alive and blogging, so I'm gonna throw a few pics ya'lls way. I'm constantly clicking away with my camera - I think my kids will be the most documented "non rich" kids in history.

NBA Lance

2007-03-30T23:07:00.000-04:00

"I'm small, but I think I can sink this one"

Helping Hand

2007-03-24T11:44:00.000-04:00

Another shot from our latest Zoo trip

ME TOO!

2007-03-24T11:43:00.000-04:00

Me Too - at the Zoo

Astronaut

2007-03-24T11:41:00.000-04:00

From our trip to the planetarium

Flying a kite

2007-03-24T01:36:00.000-04:00

Now THIS is multitasking. Keeping track of a 2 yr old, a 4 yr old, video taping AND flying a kite.

At the Dojo

2007-03-24T01:26:00.000-04:00

Logan receiving his yellow stripes on his belt after his test.

Logan at a Playground

2007-03-24T01:23:00.000-04:00

Some quick thoughts

2007-03-24T00:20:00.000-04:00

Wednesday night marked the end of the "paci" era for little Lance. He bit off the end of the paci (and presumably swallowed it). We had limited his use of pacis to nap and bed time, but now they are a thing of the past. I remember when Logan was convinced that he was a big boy, and that the "paci fairy" was coming that night to take his pacifiers. The Paci Fairy would give those pacifiers to sad little babies who didn't have any. That story not only made him feel a finality to the pacis being gone (no negociating), but also empowered him, since he was doing it for the greater good of crying little babies.

Lance, however, we fear is about at a 6 month delay. Globally. He climbs like a monkey and is a daredevil, but even his run is still a fast paced gallop (ackward and lacking grace). The process of removing the paci was actually easier with Lance. I showed him that it was broke, and had him throw it in the trash. That night was hard for him to sleep, but he got over it. I just wish he was at the cognitive level that Logan was, so that I'd get to tell that "paci fairy" story again.

With another baby on the way, we're (meaning IM) having to seriously rethink the whole "I got a 4x4 Blazer" thing. The front seats have airbags that are not able of being turned off. Unlike my wife who is VERY turned off by the truck now (or maybe it's just me). Anyways, It's going to be very tight fitting a third car seat in the back of the Blazer. Sure wish I had 4 grand to throw down on a used Yukon, like the neighbor just did.
I've started to take another thought about un-mothballing the 1977 hearse. Before the truck became mine (we got hit by a drunk driver - the truck was totalled - I bought it back and restored it), I had fixed up the hearse to be the "new" family car for me. And no, I have not problems rolling up to church or preskool in a black hearse with flames on the hood, and unloading 3 demon spawn. The only thing is that damn 440cu in engine - and that gas prices are going thru the friggin roof (again) (still). At least with the Blazer, that 6 cylinder is compensating for the fact that it's a brink on a roller skate. Ya gotta remember that since the late 80's , my ride had always been a black Pontiac Firebird. V8. Going to the truck was humbling, but seeing how it protected my family arose a new found sense of respect from me (to the truck). Prior to the accident, I hated that goddamned truck. And it hated me back. But we've seemed to get along pretty well for the last few year(s).

Not sure if I wrote about this, but on Saturday March 17th (St Patricks Day), Logan tested and passed his karate test. It was a great event. 3 peewees tested together, and 4 teen/preteens tested seperately. All passed with flying colors. This was not only a triumph for those who tested, but for me as well. I've been the primary instructor for the past few months. Watching these kids (especially my OWN) performing karate basics, blocking, kicking, KIAIing (yelling) with all their heart, and spouting off common dojo terms in Japanese was heartwarming. It appearantly appeased the black belt panel that tested them, because for THEIR good show I received a promotion. No longer part of the "apprenticeship program", I can not spout a full 1st degree shodan. In karate terms, that means not I am a full black belt. In realistic terms, that means that I'm still the person who scours the internet for martial arts color sheets for the kids, but NOW I can do it with a different belt on. Seriously, it's nice to have achieved a respectable rank without having fallen prey to the trappings of the numerous commercial dojos I've trained in. None of the bullshit of charging outrageous testing fees, or massive membership fees to Internations organizations in order to verify your rank. None of the keeping me from testing so that I can be used to teach the lower belts. None of it. But what I did find was opportunity. To share what I've learned, to step up when needed in a leadership role, and fill in the gaps to make the wall stronger. I've been given a wide degree of latitude by the head instructor, as far as teaching strategies, technique differences, testing requirements, and so forth. But at the same time (to pat myself on the back), I'm the only one there who can name all of the 20 some kids by name (and be able to discuss their strength and weaknesses, on and off the mat).

Ok - enough on that - Im off to raid the web.

Mail fraud alert - $6.19 from M.L.C. Funding

2007-03-23T13:18:00.000-04:00

I got a check today from a company called M.L.C. Funding Inc. It was for $6.19 Seems like a harmless amount, except that I wasn't expecting any rebates. The Bank is Guaranty Federal Bank, out of Mequite Tx.

A quick Google search discovered a posting on Yahoo Answers about the check, with a link to an article describing just what a scam it was. Thugs sent out checks for $6.19 - you deposit them into your account - and BAM, they gotcha! They can request a copy of the check, which will give them your signature, your account number, your bank, and so forth.

If you receive such a check, go to www.FBI.gov and find you local office. Report it to them, and keep it in a safe place in case they want it.

Bloodsuckers

2007-03-13T23:33:00.000-04:00

Seems like you can't go very far nowadays without someone trying to milk money outta ya. If it aint the gas stations overcharging for their fuel, it's the cable company jacking up their rates. (BTW - Cox Communications is NOT my friend in the digital age!).

But it's the subtle blood suckers that urk me the most. For example, order a Whopper, add cheese, and see the price get jacked up 60 cents. (We've started smuggling in our own cheese. Used to be we only had to smuggle candy into movie theaters). Asso, while we're on fast food places (like Booger King), have you ever taken a good look at your receipt? A meal combo will be posted as $2.99. You can get it "large sized" for 80 cents more, or SUPER GIGONDO sized for $1.20 more. If you don't specifically tell them you want that number 2 combo SMALL sized, they will automatically jack you up for the upgraded combo. Happens at Rally, Burger King, and a few others.

The most recent blood lettings involve my cell phone and my tv. We'll start with my phone. I've had a pretty nice plan for about 2 years now. The year long contract ran out - and I downgraded to a non contractual $5 a month plan (no long distance and 12 cents a minute). Great for the occasional emergency call. Now I've received 2 notices and a phone call (recorded message) that as of July, my phone is piece of shit. They network that they are cirrently using will be upgraded (Cingular) to a better network, and I'm shit outta luck. Great way to sucker all of us non-contract people (and even those close to termination of their current contract) to HAVE TO sign up for a 2 year contract in order to get a phone that works.

To top that, I saw a new bit on tv tonight that says the government has mandated tv station sto upgrade to digital in stead of their current analog. This means that all non-digital tv are worthless (unless you purchase the digital converter - currently no in production, which means no price is set). I also heard that each household is supposed to get 2 $40 each vouchers towards the purchase of 2 of these magical digital converters.

Only a matter of time till they "upgrade" the car fuel so that we all have to purchase new cars.

A STAR is born

2007-03-13T00:14:00.000-04:00

Had a great day today . I got to go with Logan (and his class) to a local planetarium. We got to see stars, slide shows of planets, and all sorts of good stuff. My mom came over and watched the little one while I was galavanting thru the galaxy with Logan, but he didn't mind at all. What a major difference between my boys - Logan's attachment phase was MAJOR at age 2. Lance on the other hand, is SOOOO layed back and easy going. It's like day and night.

I got a great picture of Logan looking like an astronaut, but the camera is outside in the car.

Here's the first clue

2007-03-03T20:24:00.000-05:00

I was planning on making subtle little hints about the wife being pregnant, but then I got overwhelmed with life and didn't get to post.

A few posts back, here was the first one - I figured I'd repost it, cause I'm so proud of how I worded it...

ABOUT BEING LATE:

Ok - maybe I shoulda put this one first. Before I left for the seminar, I made sure I packed things and pretty much knew where everything was. I had lots to do. Had to pick up 2 other people, had to travel 250 miles, had to practice, had to make sure my house was in order. All things that required time precision. I did not want to be late on any task. Not late to pick peopl up - not late to arrive at the seminar. The night before the trip I was informed by the wife that no matter how early my departure was going to be, we were already late. Then she told me a one liner that proved it.

ONE LINER - get it? A pregnance test!

Back to reality...

Went to church again tonight. Haven't been in a while. I've been taking Logan with me, and he's SOOOO much more managable at 4 yrs old than he was at 2 or 3. Last week, the wife had a girls
night out on Saturday, so I dared to take BOTH boys with me to church, and all went pretty damn well. I did plan well, and brought crayons, a coloring book, and a shitload of cheerios!

I've started to fill in on the closing portion of the karate class. Each class ends with all the students gathering around, hearing a selected bible verse, a lecture(or discussion) on it's interpretation. We allow time to individual prayer requests, then say a short prayer to end the class. Nothing too preachy, specially from me. I like the way I've been able to select bible verses that relate to martial arts training, but aren't so preachy that I feel like a priest on a pulpit.
(And if you're wondering...yes, Jesus WAS a black belt. You don't think all the money changers tables in the temple turned themselves over, do ya?)

There was a beautiful LUNAR ECLIPSE tonight. When we left church, the moon was a crescent - when we got home, it was half, before the boy laid down to sleep it was 3/4, and now it's full again.

Well, that's about it for now. If I think of anything else, I'll be back tonight....

I'll just come out with it

2007-03-02T22:52:00.000-05:00

I had made a few "in blog" comments that no one picked up, so I'll just blurt it out. By September, we will have to stop calling Lance the "baby", as the "new" baby will want that all for her (or him) self.

Stay at home of a 4 yr old, a 2 yr old, and an infant. Oh shit - what have I gotten myself into?!

All blogged out

2007-03-02T22:26:00.000-05:00

Im still here - just had too much going on. It's been a rough ride.

Finally made peace with the cable company (meaning I had to kiss their ass and pay an $80 deposit, PLUS the first months fees upfront), so my internet is back on. I downgraded to a slower speed, but for what I use it for I can hardly tell the difference.

We lost a loved pet on Valentines Day. Check this out for having a fucked up day. It's 11:45am - I got 5 minutes to get Lance's socks, shoes and jacket on, and 10 minutes to get to Logan's preskool (all within reasonable time scheduling), when I hear a thump in the next room. I look in, and see our cat stretchign his legs. I look closer, and see that his legs are twitching. I race to him, and find him having a convulsion. His tounge is hanging out, his eyes are fixed and dialated, and he's gasping his last breaths. I scoop him up, and take him into the bathroom, and as I set him down, his body twitches. Now I's a mess. Is he dead? Dying? Is there a chance to race him to a vet? How am I going to get him into the cat, get Lance into the cat, drive fast to get Logan, and still make it to a vet on time?

As it turns out, he passed away immediately. Then I had to go get the 4 yr old, get both boys and myself some lunch, and tell him that Michael had died. He took the news well. Better than I had expected. Having recently lost his great grandfather, the concept of dying (at his 4 yr old level) was now a foreign concept to him.

A few days later, I'm driving back home from picking up the older boy from preskoool, and the trucks starts to lose power. I was able to drain the battery enough to get home and in the driveway without too much difficulty, but along the way shit kept falling out from the engine compartment (metal things) and hit the road. It sounded like someone was under the hood throwing crowbars out every few blocks. Scared the shit outta me!
When I got home, and lifted the hood, I saw that the fan belt was loose. VERY LOOSE! THe Tentioner - that small springy device (with a pulley on it) that loosens and tightens the fan belt had fallen to pieces, and fallen out the damn car! That explained why the alternator wasn't recharging the battery (and the drain). Good thing it wasn't an older car, which have the cooling fan dependant on the belt. But then again, had it have been an older car, I'd have used the alternator to tighten the damn belt, and not had some cheap ass part fall off the car. I had to stick the kids in the bike taxi, and pedal my ass up to Burger King to get them food (we had NOTHING in the house).
After the wife got home, I borrowed her car and ran up to Advance. $40 and 20 minutes later, the truck was as good as new.

stranded

2007-02-15T10:58:00.000-05:00

COX cut off out tv cable and internet. We were behind on the bill, and even though they INSIST on confirming your primary and back up phone numbers when you call them , the fuckers didn't bother to use either one of them to tell us that a cut off date had been chosen.

Ok - I wrote the above at around 2pm, sitting in my truck, thanks to the wifi I was able to access from the playground down the street. Now, it's 1am, and Im online thanks to a free trial of dial up.

I have found hell - and it is dial up.

Tuesday - cute song heard on the way home from dojo

2007-01-30T23:31:00.000-05:00

Odd how the timing of some things just seems to be perfect. For example, last year Logan's favorite song was The Heat is On, which is sang as "I'm 3 years old". He indeed was 3. Now he's moved on to Doctor Doctor (Thompson Twins) as his favorite. But I was driving home from sword class tonight and heard a song on the radio about a dad and his 4 year old (Logan is now 4). Some of the lyrics (like the chicken nuggets ) are a little corney, but man that song hit a chord in me.

Here's a link to the video on Youtube.

It's called "Watching You", by Rodney Atkins.
It's all about how a 4 year old boy is watching his dad, and picking up cues on "how to be". Man, do I ever know how that feels!

MORE ON MUSIC
Last week Logan and I were in an "I love you MORE" contest, when he decided to give up, but in a most unusual way. Right after our 4th round of "NOOOO, I love YOUUU more", he looks at me and says
"Dada, you can run, you can hide, but you can't escape my love". I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

I've been practicing piano (Casio keyboard) more recently. As well as strumming away on my guitar. The boys have their own guitar and keyboard. Through trial and error, I was able to learn to play "Don't stop the rock" by Freestyle on the keyboard. I got it down so well that the boy thinks I recorded the song for him. When we jam to it in the car, he'll sometimes say "Thak you da, for making this song for me. Too cute.

In the Watching you song, he refers to the son as Little Bear. It reminded me of some of the nicknames Ive had for the boys over time. Logan's nickname was "My little pierogi". We're slovak, and I love pierogi!

Lance has probably had more names. He was the fartingest little boy when he was a baby. And Logan is a wild card who laughs all the time (and acts silly), so I called them "Toots and Giggles", when they were together.

Another Lance name was given to him by his then 2 yr old brother. We tried to get Logan to say "Ba-BE", but he always said "Ba-bee-bee". So we called Lance Baby Bee.

Or my little Jelly Bean.

Logan was called "Your Majesty", and Lance is still refered to as "My tiny King". The tiny king reference is an inside joke. The wife has phots of her a a very young age, with a baseball cap on that has the letters TP on it. She said it was for Tiny Princess, but I've always joked her by saying that it was for Toilet Paper.

SICKNESS
All us boys still have a bit of chest congestion. Gets really bad in the mourning, but after an hour of being up, it lessens. But the wife has been hit the hardest lately. Always tired, out of energy, upset stomache at the mere mention of some foods. She made a dr appointment for Feb 7th. Guess we'll find out then about how long it'll be before she gets to feelin better.

Karate stuff
Tonight was a pretty nice night at the dojo. Only a handful of little ones for karate, and 3 others for sword. The head instructor took the kids, and left me to go over the first sword with the iaido people. I wanted to take Logan tonight, but I think it's better to limit him to Thursdays. This way, he don't get burned out, turn against martial arts, or against me for yelling at him to stand still and quit running around. I love having him at dojo, but there are some times (like when trying to talk to adults) when he can drive you up a wall. Although it's held in a church, it's a HUGE church, so I constantly try to keep an eye on him. One on him, one on the teachers, one on the students, one on myself ---you get the idea.

To keep the kids interested, I instituted a neat system of rewards where the students will accumulate points for attendance. Over the period of 6 months, when will have earned prized like custom made karate headbands, and even their own sparring gear.

Another thing I'm working on is having theme nights. Like maybe doing a cardio "tae bo" styled class one night a month. I got the go ahead tonight to plan a Kung Fu night for the kids. It'll be neat to pass on mwhat I learned in Shaolin kung fu. Because of the use of animals, I think it's so much easier to captivate kids interest with kung fu than karate. Soon, we will put that belief to the test.

Also discussed tonight were plans for the 2007 Homecoming Seminar. We'll have people from Va , NC, and a few other states attending. It's a good thing we have a HUGE gym. I'll post more on that as plans are set.

Well, I have an hour to browse the web and then head for bed. Night all!

Lots to say

2007-01-22T11:11:00.000-05:00

There is a cold that we are all taking turns dealing with. Logan is on the down side of it, but he also just finished taking amoxicillin for a week. The baby has been coughing pretty bad with chest congestion, and a runny nose. I've had a stuffy head, but now it's progressed to really bad chest congestion. We've all kept warm when we go out, but I guess even so, if the weather is wacky, you're bound to catch something.

I attended a martial arts seminar this weekend in Northern Virginia. Besides the iaido class I co-taught (samurai sword forms), other instructors covered bo staff forms, Okinawan kata, practical application (extracting real life stuff from practice forms), and a few other things. It was a 4 hour drive to the north, but well worth the trip.

Strange thing happened though - I've trained in various weapons (bo, jo, handbo, sai, tonfa, weighted chain, nunchuks, bla bla bla), but most of my recent study has been sword. Either what to do with it when it's in your hands, or how to disarm someone else with one. At the seminar, when I participated in a weapons class, I knew what I was doing, but it felt like speaking in a non-fluent foreign language. I knew it, but hadn't practiced it lately. But when I got a sword in my hands, it felt gooooood. It flowed. I can fight or do flashy moves with other weapons, but don't think I've ever hit the big 3---- 1. I can fight with it 2. I can defend against it and 3. I can take yours away. As much as feel resentment at how shitty I was treated at my Aikido class in Norfolk, I have to admit that I can't keep the art out of my head. It works.

ABOUT BEING LATE:

Ok - maybe I shoulda put this one first. Before I left for the seminar, I made sure I packed things and pretty much knew where everything was. I had lots to do. Had to pick up 2 other people, had to travel 250 miles, had to practice, had to make sure my house was in order. All things that required time precision. I did not want to be late on any task. Not late to pick peopl up - not late to arrive at the seminar. The night before the trip I was informed by the wife that no matter how early my departure was going to be, we were already late. Then she told me a one liner that proved it.

PARENT TEACHER CONFRENCE
We had our first parent teacher conference this mourning. The principal occupied the boys in another room while we sat down with his teacher. As expected, he got rave reviews. Plays well with others, is very friendly, artistic - everything a dad always hopes to hear. We really made the right move switching him to this preschool. If you are reading this, and your children are attending Chesapeake Christian Academy, I implore you to take a day off of work and sit on on the school for the day. If you are happy with grumpy people and militaristic styled compliance methods - by all means, leave your precious little flower there to wilt.

SNOW!!!
Yesterday, we had snow. For about 5 minutes. At first it was small. Then the size of the flurries got HUGE!! Big Big BIG flakes! Then it stopped, and upon returning it was very small - like hail instead of snow. Logan got to see it, but Lance woke up (from his nap) right after it had stopped. Fortunately, I've been very lazy about taking down the exterior X-mas lights on the house, so when it started to snow, I ran out and fired them up! We were the only house in our hood so nicely lit during that 5 minute snow "storm".

Let see - I guess that's about it for now. I've been busy using my computer time to scoure the web for martial art pictures for the kids at the dojo to have as color sheets. At first, I just wanted them to color them for fun, but then I started using them to reinforce whatever I taught that night. If I taught front kicks, I found color sheets showing proper form. Same with strikes, stances and blocks. I've also developed an attendance contest, with prize levels
- but I need to make the actual "put it on the wall" sheet.

Oh, and Logan got to see dad's sewing skills and artsy side today. I had bought some white material , and red fabric paint, and started working on headbands for the dojo kids today (Hachimaki). Very simple design. White cloth, big red circle. I'm going to put the names of each person in black, written in katakana. Should be a nice suprize for them when I'm done.

My browser keeps crashing!!!!

2007-01-09T23:38:00.000-05:00

The boys have been sick. But they are better now. Logan has an ear infection. Lance is over his massive liquid poops.

Logan has been invited to a birthday party coming up soon, for a friend at his new skool.

I have a martial arts seminar coming up next weekend, where I will assist in teaching Iaido (samurai sword stuff).

I'll try and type more when the browser is more stable - it's crashed 4 times already!

Fuckers at Walpoff and Abramson

2007-01-05T00:07:00.000-05:00

Those friggin blood sucking lawyers decided to pull a swift one. They won a judgement against me a while back, from a Disputed Discover Card balance (that they bought out).

The decided it would be funny to put a seizure on my business checkign account right before Christmas. The amount that they ended up with is piddly, but man did they cause me some trouble. The bank froze the account, and about 4 charges (at fast food places) went thru, but I was charged an additional $35 each for them. Every day that they account was in overdraft, I was charged an additional $5. But I couldn't bring the account OUT of overdraft, cause any money I put in got froze. even though I called to cancel the automatic withdrawl (from my cable/phone/internet compnay), it was too late, and they already proccessed it. That meant that they would process it twice (2 payments, each processed twice - each time occuring a $35 overdraft fee), AND a returned check fee to the cable comapny.

What a friggin mess! Finally got it all cleared up (the bank was understanding , and refunded most of the fees). Still got to hash things out with the phone/cable compnay.

Message from the dead

2007-01-04T23:47:00.000-05:00

Ok - not the actual dead - from the " dead to me" department.

Lat month, I received a raher stange phone call. It was from someone looking for me. At first, I thought it was a bill collector, and almost hung up. But when I asked why they were looking for this person (me), I got an unexpected response..

Turns out my bio father, (estranged for almost 20 year now), was in trouble with the county for having a messy yard. He was told to get i tclean, and a community group was trying to help him get it all straight. One of them decided to play social worker, and ended up discussing his family - me. He told her that he had lost touch, and wondered if she might be able to find me on the internet.

Mind you, he is very tight with his own mother, and she's had our mailing address (from Xmas cards) for 6 years now.

I gave the lady on the phone permission to give him my address (which he shoudl already have had, or had access to), and figured that'd be the end of it.

Then, a week or two later, cards came. One for each of the boys, and one to me (and my wife).

This is where it gets confusing. The one to me (and the wife) seemed pleasant enough. Lot of hints at self pity, and subtle hidden agendas, but nothing terrible. The one to Logan seemed nice. But the one to Lance struck a nerve. Wording like "Sorry I don't know your name . Maybe someday I can get a picture of you?!" Im reading this going "who the hell is he trying to intimidate? My 2 year old? You want photos, asshole, you talk to the big man - not try a guilt trip on a 2 year old".

I shoudld mention that all 3 cards had NO return address on them. Only a phone number in the one to me. This brings to mind Sun Tsu (The Art of War). Something like "he who can decide the location of victory has an advantage". By not putting a return address on, he's trying to force a phone call. I figure he feels he'll have an advantage over the phone, have a better time at sidestepping issues, and be better able to manipulate the conversation. And perhaps he might. But, if I choose to respond, it will be in a method of my choosing, and it will be in writting.

Im actually suprised to have even gotten the cards. The story I was told goes like this...
This community group is trying to help him clean up his property. He's walking thru it deciding what to scrap and what to keep. There was a small fishing boat that he wanted to keep, and told the lady "I hope to one day take my grandkids out fishign on that boat".

Two things came to mind:

Number one: One time, he was very in the rears with is child support. My mother took him to court (and this was back in the late 70's, when the courts didn't give a shit about enforcing child support). He had a motorcycle, and the judge threatened to take it from him. He beg and pleaded that the bike was old and worthless, and barely worth $1,500. The judge let him keep it, and was they walked out of court, the doors of the court room weren't closed yet, as he turned to my mother and laughed "$1,500 wouldn't even touch the chrome of that bike!"

Number two: He'd be better off getting a blow torch and a seat warmer, cause if he ever takes my boys fishing , it'll be ice fishing. Cause it's gonna be a very cold day in hell.

Screw it, bring on the new year!

2007-01-04T23:33:00.000-05:00

Over the blues - done with the blaaaaaas. It seems (through visiting a few of my fellow dad blogs), that the time of year is when we have the most to write about, and have neither the time nor the urge to do so. Add in my recent dojo fiasco, and I've really been reluctant to put anything into writing.

But, it's a new year, and with it come renewed resolve to "say it like it is".

Today, after waking up, my miniature dark lord ran to the bathroom and threw up. This was right after my even more miniature dark lord tested the holding capacity of his diaper, with less than desirable results. Great way to greet Thursday, huh?

An our later (decision time of whether to take big boy to skool or not), he was feeling fine and wanted to go. His throw up was entirely yellow mucus looking stuff - probably the result of post nasal drip and a pissed off tummy. He looked, acted, and felt fine, so I took him to skool .

After pickign him up (and signing the incident report of how he banged his head on the playground equipment), we came home for lunch. As I set the bowl of macaroni and cheese on the table, he started crying and said he couldn't eat it. A mid grade fever struck out of nowhere, and he was feelign like shit. He was upset that I would be mad if he didn't eat. After calming him down (and reassuring him that dada was not going to be pissy over macaroni and cheese), baby brother went down for a nap, and I got big boy to lay down as well. Then both napped (baby for longer than Logan). He whined, cried, fussed, and wwas burning up for about 2 hours, and then came the miracle cure. Kinda. He asked for some applesauce. We have strawberry flavored applesauce, in single serving tubs, and that rought Lazarus right back from the dead. He still had a fever, but was laughing, and singing, and rather chipper. The wife said after I left for dojo, he played nicely, and went to bed early.

Must be some virus goign around. Darth Lance has had liquid shits for 3 days now. That nasty acid-type poop that they boys used to get when they were teething. The kind that if you don't change the diaper with minutes of them pooping, it starts to burn their little tooshy.

Both are fast asleep now - but it's gonna be a restless night for me. Even if they sleep through, I'll be waking ever few hours to check on them.

I have more to share - but I'll break it into different posts..

1st Day of 2007

2007-01-01T13:29:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to all!

Singing kids

2006-12-18T22:35:00.000-05:00

Today was a very nice day. After dropping Logan off at preskool, Darth Lance and I headed over to the grocery store for cookie dough. Logan, at his new skool, has been practicing for a "Christmas Program". About 20 little ones (ages 3-5) were going to be singing christmas carols for an audience of family members and friends. Each family was asked to bring 2 dozen homemade cookies.

THE COOKIES: At first, it crossed my mind to just buy some Keibler Softbatch, and spread them out on a plate. But I figured I'd have some fun, and bought the already made dough for sugar cookies. Instead of huge ass cookies, I made them children sized. But when I pulled them from the oven, they looked so damn plain. I fumbled thru the pantry and found some red and green sprinkles. But these damn sprinkles just rolled off of the cookies. They were still hot, so I poked one with my finger to make a hole, and put the sprinkles in the hole. VIOLA! My raid also turned up a package of green icing, left over from Shrek cookies, so some of them even got drosted around the edges.

THE PROGRAM: It was adorable. Well, ----ok---- if you had a kid in it, it was adorable. I did, so it was. Video taped the whole thing. Sure wish I had video of things that I did as a kid. It'll be nice to show the grandkids (one day) the first school program that their daddy was in.

The children as all nestled, all snug in ther beds, while visions of Ebay dance in their heads. I'm off to cruise the web.

Should mention

2006-12-15T10:05:00.000-05:00

Before I get nasty emails, or lawsuit papers, I should note that my recent aikido dojo has absolutely nothing to do with the Fuyura quack in California. A few other students hold him is similar contempt like I do. (Or, like they do ME - hehehe).

And Maggie --you has such an eloquent way of putting things! Love it!

Another aikido problem

2006-12-14T23:19:00.000-05:00

While Im on a roll - let me tell you what a piece of shit I think that Rev Furyura is. I've been in his Yahoo group for about a year and a half. In that time, we've all had ot listen to his whiney self pity "I feel sorry for me" crap about how he wished he had gotten married and had a family, but the art and the dojo demanded so much out of him. Boohoo.

Talk about aikido being an elitist martial art for know it alls - this list took the cake. People (mostly Furyura himself) bitched about people "trying out" different dojos. In his mind (and everyone on this psycotic list), once you picked a dojo, you shoudl dedicate yourself entirely to it. Any other training shoudl be forbiden, as you owe the teacher your dedication. The teach is supposed to have the utmost responsibility and respect, in that they knwo what it best for you, and you shoudl not question it.

In a word - bullshit! What fantasy land dojo is this asswipe teaching in? And don't even try to mention "dojo fees", cause he gets his panties all in a bunch. We get banter about how it's not proper to ask him about rates - as there are others who are in charge of that. Like he's some friggin aiki saint, and is trying to pull a Saegant Shultz about all that dough he's rakign in.

The final straw was when he went on a rant about people "dojo hoping". Meaning, not sticking with HIM. I posted a well thought out note about how even "traditional ways" were not "traditional" at some point in history. Basically, don't bitch about how American culture is so different from how old Japanese culture used to be. Specially when you are asking people for money. If he was givin it away - by all means, rant on. But when you are charging people a high fee- don't bitch when they comparison shop.

He goes friggin nuts, and posts a message about how much "crap " there is on the internet, and how he wishes there was a way to "flush away all the shit that doesn't deserve to be there, or be spoken by people who are ignorant". Shortly after,(that same day) I was booted from the group.

Printakid.com

2006-12-14T23:05:00.000-05:00

I found it!

If you get a chance, check out WWW.PRINTAKID.COM.

They do some cool work with personalizing books and cd's.

I got "The Robots of Sedna". In the last week, I've gone thru the kids library weeding out old books that are just taking up space. But this one will never find it's way to the scrap pile. I gotta say that it's a biut pricey for someone as broke as I usually am. But it is a hard coever book, nicely bound, bright vibrant colors, and very customized. I got to include a forword from me to Logan. And they even printed the lead character to match my description of my kid (hair color, eye color, eye shape).

Just might have to get one for Darth Lance to keep things even.

Nah, Im still here - just thinking is all

2006-12-14T22:14:00.000-05:00

I'm still alive - no longer hiding from the terror of Thanksgiving dinner - nor all the unrelated bull I've been dealing with. I've had many good things goign on - just haven't wanted to writ ethem down. Since getting screwed over by my former dojo for what I write here, I've been kinda reluctant to share anything. If they want to be pricks, it's none of their business what I'm doing. Sucks knowing that they have a window into my world. But more on that later...

My oldest son turned 4 last week . We had a small party for him, with only family invited.
One thing that sucks about having a December birthday is that it's usually too cold to put up my moonwalk. The party was small, but pleasant.

My son's Father turned 36 today! Sure don't feel like it. I still feel like a 16 year old, wondering who that old guy is who looks back at me from the mirror. 36. That's supposed to be ancient, isn't it? Had a decent day though. My mom asked what I wanted, and I figured PJ's was a save request. I told her that I would like 3 pair, and knew where I could get the kind I wanted for about $15 a pair. (I then ordered 3 black kung fu uniforms, just like the one that I already use for PJ's)! It's light, but warm - comfortable, and somewhat stylish, in a Jackie Chan sorta way.

For dinner , I got my pick. Ended up settling on Old Country Buffet, cause we had a few $1 off coupons, and did we ever hit the jackpot there tonight! Turns out tonight was their "christmas night". They had a DJ playing Xmas music, a Santa Claus, a clown doing balloon animals, and 2 costumed mascots. We all got up and danced the chicken dance, and had a great time. Unfortunately, we missed Santa Cow at Chickfila tonight, but he's supposed to be there on Saturday too.

THINGS I NEED TO DO:
I was contacted by 2 book publishing companies, and asked to review a book each , and write a review on my site. I have taken forever to get thru these books, and will post the promised reviews shortly.

Also, (I'll give this one it's own post), I was contacted by a comapny that created personalized books for kids. I was given the chance to review their product, and write about it here as well. Soon as I dig out her email, so I add hyperlinks to her site, I'll get that served up as well.

And to the reporter from the LA TIMES, just send me an email. I'm hard as hell to contact by phone.

Now, about this dojo shit. I've been holding back saying anything - I know that this blog is a one way feed right to them. I hate to say anythign bad - and wish no ill will - but I got shit on, and I'm not happy about it. Having decided not to return, now I got nothing to lose in sharing.

For months, I kept a martial arts blog. I kept identities annonimous, never used real (if any) names, and vented when people pissed me off in class. And did they ever. Started off with one old fucker who wanted everyone to kiss his ass. Lonely old bastard who is supposed to have money, and has offered just about everyone there a job. Guess that's one way to get everyone feeling subservient to you. This asshole joins forces with a midget kiss ass, and they start to play school yard games at the dojo. They'd arrange so that I ended up with no partner during class. Word of my blog spreads, and soon almost everyone was giving me the cold shoulder. Giggling while they walked past me - sitting in a group far away from me - like I was being shunned. Of course, no one ever had the balls to say anything to me. That would have been too adult. Even though no one wanted to discuss why I was being treated like shit, there finally came a turning point when it all started to work itself out. I learned to deal with the assholes, and some of my shunners opened up to work with me (not TALK to me, just partner with me). Things were returnign to an acceptable level. Although, ther ewere still times in class where I'd end up sitting on the side writing things down in a notebook, cause I couldn't get a partner to grab my wrist.

Decided to light a fire under the dimwhitted duo's ass, and suggested that they were gay (on my blog). This caught the attention of the owner, a self proclaimed "free speech liberitarian", who booted me out of the dojo for a month, while seeking legal advisment of whether or not I was a liability to the dojo. After my emails we ignored, I wrote a post on this blog, and finally got a response. After a month of being booted, I was told that I could come back, but it was up to me to work things out with everyone. Mind you, I'm not kissing anyones ass. Not when I wasn't in the wrong. I'm not above saying sorry if I offended anyone, and for writing what I did. At least I would have if they'd have talked to me, instead of acting like fucking children. Even people I never said anything about coped attitude. And then to find out that the owner was pissed about an entry where I said mean things about his wife - after she BIT me during practice.

So, I decided screw it. What's the use of my having to kiss people asses and make them feel happy and "safe", when I'm paying just as much to be there as they are? And if anyone should be feeling "not safe", it's me. Shit going on behind my back - everyone grouping against me - people bringing guns into the locker room. At one point, I considered packing myself to go to practice, for fear of being the only idiot who brought a knife to a gun fight, so to speak.

While I'm flattered by the whole "They sense the dark side in you" thingy - but it's just not worth it. I get to go to dojo as a hobby, for fun, to relieve stress, and to get out of the house for a while. What's the use of going somewhere that was causing me more stress that my kids are? I met some really worthwhile people there. Nice people and nice martial artists. Hope they know who they are, and understand my telling my feelings about my experience, and that it has nothing to do with them. Shame how a few bad seeds can ruin the barrel. But on the good foot, I get to keep my rank! Hurray - I'm still a friggin white belt! And a member of an organization with no other instructor around. And no onther way to progress in rank other than to go somewhere else and start all over again. Whoopty shit.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T16:26:00.000-05:00

Shhh - not too loud. I'm upstairs at the inlaws - hiding. Too much family down there - too much turkey in here!
Oops - Logan just found me - now "we're" hiding.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Wanted to jot this down

2006-11-14T22:45:00.000-05:00

We all went to visit Logan's "great pa" in the hospital the day before he passed away. We saw him around afternoon, and he passed away that night. We had preped Logan for what he would see by telling him that greatpa would have an oxygen mask on, for air, just like firefighters. He seemed fine when we entered the room, and even wanted the wife to pick him up, so he could see greatpa better.

In the car on the way there, Logan had commented on how pretty the sky was, and that he was going to tell greatpa about it. The wife said that was fine, that maybe greatpa didn't have a window.

In the room, when the wife lifted him up, he looked down at greatpa and said "The sun came up today. It was a good day".

I hope to hear something that calming before I go.

Other goings on

2006-11-12T01:40:00.000-05:00

The wifes grandfather passes away a few days ago. He was in his 90's. His passing was expected at any time, but as with all loss, regardless of the anticipation, it still strikes without warning.

The boys were on the best behavior during the wake and service.

Logan liked seeing "great paw" when he was alive. He's still much to young to grasps the concept of loss on this scale, but to prepare him for it, I tried to explain death to him. (There was no body at the wake or service - he'll be cremated. Not sure how Logan woudl ahve reacted to seeing a corpse ).

Anyways, I explained to him the within each of us there is a spirit. A life force. And that sometimes, that spirit wants to be free. Free from being sick, and from being old. He followed along, and acted like he understood.

But I think I did a much better job when I compared our spirit to batteries in a toy. I explained that just like when you remove battereies from a toy, that kinda what happens when our soul leaves the body. The battereies can go somewhere else to be recharged - and maybe even put into another toy - the the body of a dead person was like a toy without batteries. It used to move fast, then started to slow down , and now doesn't move at all anymore. We miss our toy. We miss playing with it, but the toy isn't sad anymore. It can't break, or be slowed down anymore.

A few times since then, he's seen dead people on a tv show, and commented not only that they were dead, but that their batteries had been removed.

Tonight (the church service was this morning), before he fell asleep , he informed the wife and I that his batteries were very strong. We said "They sure are, sweetheart - they'll last you 100 more years"

Letter from me

2006-11-12T01:06:00.000-05:00

Sorry fo rmy absense. I've written several posts trying to explain what was goign on - and never posted any of them. I had hoped that there was still a way of working things out. 3 weeks from the initiating event, I trust that the reason I'm getting no reply is because the worst has happened, and they hope I go queetly away. Such is not my way.

For almost a year, I've had problems with someone at my Norfolk Aikido dojo. He's a real asshole. I was friends with him when he first arrived - I found out what an asshole he was, and didn't talk to him much more. He orchestrated a bunch of problems for me at the dojo, causing a bunch of people to not talk to me, or refuse to work with me. Nothing was spoken - it was like I was being shunned.
No one would talk about it . There seemed no way to "fix" the problem. Being quiet and humble wasn't working. I wrote a post on my martial arts blog in the hopes of stirring up whoever read it (enough to get them talking to me), but instead I got an email from the instructor asking me not to come back. I was deemed a legal risk to the dojo, and asked not to return until they could talk to a lawyer.

Since then, I have sent not only a letter of explaination, but 2 follow up letters, and have recieved no response. I originally posted my Freedom Of Speech post to show that I was not a legal liability, and hoped the dojo would encounter no action because of what I posted.

The farther we get from OCt 20th, and the lack of response from the instructor lead me to believe that I have been 100% officially kicked out of Aikido of Norfolk. The 'hands off approach', and 'letting us work it out' appearently only applied while I was being shit on. While I sat there with no partner - while people talked behind my back, while people organiazed partnering so that I'd have to sit there with no one to wirk with, - - - I was on my own. As soon as I try to do something to provolk change, I get booted.

I will miss the instruction. I'll miss Steve, Sean, Mark and Wendy. I'll miss the new guys who made comments like "I really enjoy working with you", and "Man, I wish I had partnered with you earlier - you really took the time to show me this technique. You'd make a good teacher."

I'd still like to hear from you , Jim. If there's a way of working things out constructively, I wouldn't mind persuing it.

I figured I'd write this post because it's bound to get back to the dojo. I'm not sure whether my emails are not being received or being ignored. I'm willing to sit down and talk about this - I'm willing to make compromises for the sake of maintaining the class atmosphere - but I'm not willing to be hushed when I have the right to speak out. And I should have the right to be informed if I'm being officially kicked out. Going to the dojo was my release of stress from home - it shouldn't have been allowed to become a source of stress.

Legal Note from the Author

2006-10-22T23:43:00.000-04:00

“The postings on this site solely reflect the personal views of the author and do not represent the views, positions, strategies or opinions of any group, organization, school or training facility.”

"The right to freedom of speech is guaranteed under international law through numerous human rights instruments, notably under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as Amendment 1 of the United States Constitution under the Bills of Rights. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes preferred, since the right is not confined to verbal speech but is understood to protect any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used."

Legal Note from the Author

2006-10-22T23:40:00.000-04:00

Anniversary

2006-10-21T23:51:00.000-04:00

Today is my 6th wedding anniversary. Been dating the wife since we were in high school, so we've actually been together for about 17 years, but been actually married for 6. We took our time.

Had a pretty good day today. I've been asked to temporarily not return to my dojo, so instead of my usual Saturday morning practice, I made breakfast for the family, straightened up the house a bit, and took a long nap with Darth Lance. I almost got Darth Logan to settle down with me, but he bailed before he fell asleep. That meant that mommie didn't get a nap either, as someone had to stay up with Logan to make sure he didn't get into trouble.

Dinner at Logan's Roadhouse led to a mall trip so the kids could browse the toy and pet stores.

Not much else. I'm off to bed.

Please don't eat the Play-Do

2006-10-15T22:42:00.000-04:00

I mentioned in passing something that warrents more Blog-time. A while back, when I myself was trick-or-treating, a lady had made address labels, and stuck them to the miniature candy bars that she was giving out. That way, should there be a problem, she could be contacted. (OF course, anyone can make false labels for poinsoned candy - it's not foolproof, but seemed like a grand idea). When we bought of home, I decided to do the same. But didnt have stickers, but had bunches of business card for my Kids Party Entertainment company. So, for the last 5 years, we've handed out sealed sandwich bags containing a hard cany, a chocolate candy, a trinket and a business card. Never got any business off the cards, but people can always link the bag back to me, and hopefully have more confidence that the candy is safe.

We were at Costco last month, and saw a huge bag of playdo (very small containers). The bag held 80 individual containers, and was $20. I thought "THAT'S IT!" No more worrying about what candy to get, should be get more cheap candy and have kids think we were cheap, shoudl we only get candy that we ourselves like (in the event of a post holiday surpluss)? No more worrying about all that shit. A piece of hard candy for the "older" kids, and PlayDo for all the little ones.

And whatever is left on November 1st goes to our kids. (Well, most will - the house always gets it's cut ).

a thousand pardons

2006-10-14T23:59:00.000-04:00

I got the system up and running without too much trouble. Although time consuming, it was for the best. I had been fighting with it for months now, and new that a reinstall was enevitable. Windows starts faster now, and I was able to take a closer look at programs that were cluttering up the hard drive, but never got used. I hunted down several EXE files, and after it didnt start up (meaning that a reinstall was required), I booted the folder.

Anyways, things have been going smoothly.

Logan: Still at the preskool we signed him up at. I'd like to find another one, just haven't had the time. Nothing terribly wrong with the one he's at, just a bit pricey (and we'd prefer a 3 day a week one instead of a 5 day a week one).

Lance: Seem that he grew up overnight. He's taken to singing now. And It finally hit me the other day just WHAT he was singing. I'd start singing E_I_E_I_O, and he'd reply "WEE UUW wee uuw". Just last week, his brother was walking throught the house singing "We will, we will ROCK YOU", and Lance started singing along. His WEE UUW corresponded to WE WILL.

Starting to get ready for Halloween. I got trinkets from last year (after holiday sales) as well as little Pladoh containers to hand out. Jsut not sure what to dress up like. It was so much easier when I didn't have to worry about being able to manage the kids as well. (MY kids). I've been Sully from Monsters Inc the last 2 years. It's a nice blend of "Scarey if I wanna be", with "Soft and fuzzy for the little ones if they are too scared." Maybe I'll break my Darth Vader costume outta mothballs. I've been tinkering with a better voice amplifier. I've also created a looping mp3 of Vader breathing, that can be wired inside the helmet. We'll see. I'm just waiting for someone at the boys preskool (or at the dojo) to say that Darth Vader isn't appropriate. I'll remind them that he is the parton saint of our family (hehe).

My plates for the truck arrived - I've wrestled with whether or not to post them. I do have a fear or some ass hole tracking me down by using them, but hell - there's enough on here that anyone could use already. For my customized plated, I chose:

SITH DAD

Well, off to cruise the internet a bit. Looking for good ideas for the next kids karate night.

The last hour of my life

2006-10-01T22:34:00.000-04:00

Well, it had to happen - my Windows XP finally crashed, and layed there, dead on the size of the information superhighway. Ever since updating a few programs (and hardware, like this suckass MACH Speed motherboard), I've had hang ups, stalls, reboots, and a frequent message from windows saying "You're computer just recovered from a very serious problem". I figured "Yeah, I know - but it's better now, right?". Until tonight.

It would try to start up - get to that screen where the little ball goes across the screen - then BAM - it would flash a blue screen and reboot. Before all this shit happened, it DID tell me something about a windows file being corrupt. Shit happens.

Anyways - the only way to get back up and running was to spend the last hour reinstalling Windows. It's a pain, but hopefully I can get rid of some other issues, like it refusing to install the windows fax driver.

Only problem is now I have find, download, and reinstall ALL THAT DAMN PROGRAMS, that make my computer time worth it, like Foxfire, DVD43, DVDshrink, Divx player, Winamp, and all the install software from the video card/logitec camera/printer - ALL OF WHICH decided it was some fucking grand idea to throw installation file over into the Windows/system or Windows/system32 folder (which is blank now).

Well, I'd better get to it.

Turning the big "2"

2006-09-28T00:45:00.000-04:00

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?

2006-09-25T23:38:00.000-04:00

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"

2006-09-21T00:26:00.000-04:00

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..."

2006-09-19T00:09:00.000-04:00

Found this oen of Lance in an archived folder

2006-09-19T00:06:00.000-04:00

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

Back from the dead

2006-09-15T23:15:00.000-04:00

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 .