Without a doubt, my wife is wonderful.
We all have our faults, and me, well I have more than the avereage share. Heidi sometimes shows hers, too, but on most days, she's just plain wonderful.
I guess I'm feeling a bit sentimental today, remembering that three years ago, I asked her to marry me and she said yes. I am not sure I've been that nervous in my whole life as when I asked her that question, but she said yes, and the rest is history-in-the-making. I'm also feeling hopeful for the future. not just because I know she'll be wonderful tomorrow or the next day, but because she fixed dinner tonight, and sat down next to me, and started flipping theough a "baby stuff" catalog.
Yup, we're still planning and thinking about that little tyke who we hope will become part of our family in June 2003. We've thought about how to paint the baby's room, what furniture we want to get, and the like. I'm cautiously optimistic, not wanting my excitement to wreck the whole thing.
So, here I am, the expectant father, passing out candy to 3 - 12 year olds, knowing that if it all works out, MY kids will be out trick or treating in only a couple years. Weird to think about that, I guess. Getting married was the first step. Buying the house was the next big step. Now we've perched ourselves at the edge of parenthood... a very big step indeed. But one I am happy to take, just as Heidi was willing to take that first step into marriage. What a wonderful day that was.
And so they continue on. Dreams fueled by passion and hope for tomorrow are still flashing before my eyes, even as I thank God for the miracles of today. I hope that in the days to come, that I can be the dad my kids will be proud of, that my wife will still cling to, and that I want myself to be.
Carving pumpkins is a strange thing to do, isn't it? I mean, it's really only recently that people have been, on the whole, creating wonderful pumpkin carvings that are pretty to look at. Quite different and not just the scary things that glow orange as the candle flame stabs out into the dark driveway.
I guess we could do worse on a quiet evening at home than carve pumpkins, though. Heidi and I have spent the last hour or so scraping out the cold innards of these massive pumpkins we purchased 30 miles from here. Carving was not intricate, as in recent years past, mainly because we did not have time to come up with cool designs. So, we have one happy, and one scary pumpkin on our front steps. The test-lighting went well, and I hope they look good to the trick-or-treaters visiting us requesting healthy snacks.
Yeah, right.
We'll be shoveling 100% sugar filled "fun-size" snack bars and lollipops into plastic pumpkins, pillow cases, and probably some pockets. We're not skimpy on passing out the candy, either. COme to our house and you can expect that yor parents will e telling you not to eat all your candy in one sitting, even if ours is the only house you've been to so far.
Last year, we handed out candy to the kids. And beef jerky to the dads. I don't recall there being any moms out with the kids last year, come to think of it. Well anyway, this year, it's just candy. If they want something different, like something healthy and full of fiber, they'll have to have some of the leaves from the yard, 'cuz trick-or-treating is all about candy.
Except for those folks in Connecticut (where I used to love, oh so many years ago) who gave little plactic bags fill of pennies (well, maybe ten or fifteen). But who wants to go home with fifteen cents? I mean, wouldn't it have been just as easy to get a bag of Snickers or something? A+ for effort. C- for interest level. It's not like they were providing stock market tips along with the money or anything.
So here I am, an adult (or so I like to think) getting ready to do what I wanted neighbors to do when I was a kid. I'm gonna tell the kids to take a handfull. Not one or two treats, take a handfull. And the last kids who come to the door before 9:00PM get to take the rest. I fugure 4 hours of handing out candy is enough, right?
Just remember to gove some to your mom and dad. They are, after all, the ones who are standing at the end of the driveway, watching how much loot you're getting.
So the new garage door opener is installed allowing us to park inside again without having to get out of the car to open the door. Manual door operation would not be fun in the dead of winter (which may come at any moment now).
I've realized something though, while we were installing this contraption.
Homeowners generally don't care about the garage, right? Just a place to store junk, leave the lawnmower sitting out all year long. You know, like a big ol' junk drawer. I want mine to be straightened up. Not out of some obsessive compulsive disorder, but mainly so I can
No way that's happening now, unless you fill up the cars with all the extra stuff in the garage. Tarps. Tools, Painting supplies. Firewood. Snorkeling equipment. Lumber. It's a mess.
Maybe a weekend of nice weather and a big garbage can is what I need. We'll see what Saturday brings.
Without the benefit of ESP, I've decided to look to the future on a couple job prospects. My boss is actually assisting me in my pursuit of bigger and better things, and it's great to have advice from people who are knowledgeable in corporate ladder climbing.
I'm really not dissatisfied with my current job, although the consensus it that support positions should work their way out of their jobs, leaving the business groups well equipped to handle things on their own. It's time to move on to another area, to share and extend my expertise, to learn new things, and to get out of my comfort zone.
I'm looking in several directions at this point, but mainly focusing on technology and technology management positions in non-IS parts of the company. I believe I have a lot to offer, and my resume certainly points to some extraordinary successes in the last couple years. I'm hopeful that a position will open up that I will be able to move into with enthusiasm and excitement. Time will tell!
Gas prices are driving me batty.
I know that we, as Americans, enjoy petrol prices that are tiny compared to a lot of the world. We also enjoy one of the longest standing democracies, AND a capitalist economy. Combine this all with technology that allows to to monitor and maintain product pricing structures anytime we wish, and what do you get? Gas prices that change several times a day.
Personally, I don't like to think of Bill's Suprette as a mini stock market (buy! buy! BUY!) but I find myself watching the signs around town for the best gas prices, even though I take the bus to work. Sometimes stations within 3 miles of each other have prices that at 20 cents different for the same grade of gasoline.
Ok, It's annoying me big time.
Will I stop driving? Boycott this practice of ever-changing gasoline prices by not using my car, truck, or motorcycle? Probably not. I'll keep right on paying what they ask. So, when it comes time to get another car, will we opt for a super-efficient car like the Honda Insight (www.hondacars.com/insight) or a Toyota Prius (www.toyota.com/prius)? Probably not. It'll be another normal car, burning cash at the same rate as our current car.
I'm actually looking forward to the day when we can buy hydrogen-powered, drive-by-wire vehicles like the GM Hy-Wire. Cool design. Fuel we will have a hard time depleting.
By then, I'm sure, technology will allow each one of us to never pay the same price for our fuel. Oh wait, the gas companies have only to contact the airlines for that.
The new Macs are cool.
The first computer I owned was a Mac. All my friends pretty much laughed at me, but it got me through college just fine. After college, I used my Mac as a business tool (contact management, word processing, and the like) and it continued to serve me well.
Then all my friends got into playing Doom.
Well, the consensus was that I needed to get a PC. So, I shopped around. I finally decided on an IBM Aptiva with a 90 megahertz Pentium processor. It was awesome for the time. And very expensive. But I was thrilled. So much software, so many games, so much to do and learn. I pretty much became a mouse potato within a month. Programming for the Web. Databases. FPS games. Clean presentation of full motion CD-ROM materials. Then I had to get more, better, faster.
I buy a new PC (or two) every year. It's like an addiction. I'm not trying to keep up with friends, I just want new stuff so I can eek out ten-milliseconds-faster performance of my games and video. So I'm in Pentium 4 1.4+ gigahertz heaven, right? No need to get a 2.4 at this point, right?
In comes the Mac. We bought an iBook for my mom this year and I've teaching her how to use it. It's a little clumsy at first, if you are used to Windows, but it's easy and fast to learn. So now I'm falling in love with Mac OS X and all the features. So now I want a new Mac to go alongside my PCs. They are as expensive as my first PC, but perhaps that will not stop me. Who knows. My wife will be less than thrilled... unless she gets one too.
I'll have to keep thinking on it for now. And I'll have to be envious of my mom and the colleagues who have the new Macs until I get one. My PC rooted friends may think I'm straying from the path, but adding another solid machine to the electro-menagerie in my home office will add more color and flair, not detract from the current residents. Besides, I think they are cool.
Douglas Adams said it plainly in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book: Don't Panic. Unfortunately, I'm panicking. Too many things to do in too little time today, especially since I've missed software publishing deadlines at work, and I'm worried the deployments will not coincide with the server migrations.
Sound crazy? Probably. Will it matter in 100 years it this was done or not? Who knows. Will it matter this week? Yeah. 5000 employees will be wondering why they can't open their applications if the changes don't make it to production. Yikes. I may be coming back up to my office later tonight.
On another note, only slightly related to the panic outlined above, dinner is scheduled to be at Copeland's here in Minneapolis. Great food, great music, great place. I've been there a few times, but tonight I'm going with my wife and my mom. Hopefully everything will be as excellent as usual. Then its back home to help mom on her new iBook. Awesome little computer... I'd like to get one, but I'll wait till I can get a PowerBook.
Then, well, I may be back. Gotta get this stuff done. Otherwise I'll have to catch the 5:00AM bus in the morning to get in on time in time.
Take a deep breath. Count to ten. Back to work...
I've been looking around at the list of "things to buy" suggested to new parents. Wow. I never knew there were so many things available! I'm sure that I'll want to buy all sorts of stuff long before I need to, but I'm astounded at all the things to buy. Of course, now I stop by area garage sales looking for fun stuff, while not trying to look to long at kids stuff. I have to admit that I bought a pair of tiny slippers and little work boots at a garage sale this weekend.
I'm already thinking about the baby's room. What color? What furniture? So many things to think about. I'm thinking about it roughly every 30 seconds, I gather. Not much productive work going on today because of it.
It's still snowing. Not that it's sticking to the ground or anything, but it's getting to be more than just "oh, pretty!" and moving on to, "oh, no."
I think the snow blower needs to be fixed again. I'm thinking that we should just suck it up and buy a new one, but I've really got it in mind to finish the bathroom floor (new, heated tile floor) before I get a new snow machine. Maybe I could just tile the driveway and heat that too... A plow for the pickup would be a great way to take care of the snow problem, but Heidi does not drive a stick, and if I'm out of town... well, I think I'd be in trouble for making her use the shovel.
Nah, I'll visit the trusty hardware store, the home improvement warehouse stores, and certainly my local lawn/yard maintenance dealers. I want a good machine, and I really want to get something that will last. Maybe a Toro or a Honda. Easy to operate and something that I can run while standing up (most make me bend over to reach the controls). At 6'5" I need to make sure I keep good posture or my back will go out again.
So the exercise factor goes down dramatically as opposed to shoveling, but I think the long term health benefits are worth the trade off. Plus I don't have to spend as much time outside in sub-zero temperatures if I get a good snow thrower. I'm really not trying to talk myself into this, just reasoning through it. We'll see. Maybe it'll stop snowing and I won't have to worry about it!
Yeah, right.
My mom is in town. We had a few people over tonight for burgers, mom, Mike, Jen, and Rachel (our niece) tonight, and had a wonderful time. I can't help but wonder what it'll be like when we have our own kids...
My mom is so great. She listens with an open mind and for the most part only offers advice when asked. She did a great job raising three boys and now she's getting to enjoy her grandkids (and "granddogs", as she likes to say, Hershey and Gus). With the passing of her parents this year, she'd been through a lot, and I'm glad she is taking some time away from the Cape for herself.
The yard got finished this morning, and then it started to snow late tonight. I can hardly believe that it's only the middle of October and it's already snowing. With luck, we will not have another year where we get 26 inches of snow on Halloween.
Speaking of that, next weekend is the Halloween party at Andy and Christine Schwarz's house. I've got no idea what I'll dress up as, but I'd better think fast! Maybe I can get the fabric and make a true Roman Senator's Toga... Hmmmmm.
Leaves. Lots of LEAVES. I love our yard, truly I do.
When we moved to our new house (actually built in 1972) I was thrilled that we would have beautiful shade trees and a place to hang the hammock in the warmer months. It's autumn again in Minnesota and the trees look beautiful. They are dropping leaves, however, at a rate that makes me wonder if I'll ever see the grass again.
The pickup truck is getting pretty full as I'm raking and mowing the lawn in an attempt to clean up the yard for my mother's visit this weekend. She's in town from Cape Cod and this will be the first time she's seen the house. Heidi and I have been working very hard to get everything in order. The yard is pretty much what's left, and it's turning out to be more time consuming than last year. The ground is wet and the leaves are pretty heavy, so piling up the leaves on the big ol' tarp is not as easy a task as it could be. Oh well. Two trips to the compost place in the morning (assuming I get all of this done before the sun comes up) should take care of it all. For this week.
I have to admit, I love the fall. The trees are gorgeous, all dressed in red, gold, orange, completely splashed with color. I just need a mower with a bigger bag! Or maybe some big yard-vac...
Captured by the idea that I will be a Dad in a few months, I've not been able to sleep much. My thoughts keep turning back to the question, "Am I ready?"
Well, it's begun whether I'm ready for it or not. I keep trying to remember all the things I've heard about raising kids, but you know, with no experience in the matter, we'll simply do our best. I know Mom and Dad, and Dave and Mary will be happy, and we're SO looking forward to the opportunity to be parents.
I've waited on some pretty important things in my life, but even waiting to get married was not 9 months long =)
I hope that Heidi knows how excited I am. She and I have been talking about so many things the last few days... We're working to get the house cleaned up for company this weekend, and hoping that we don't slip up and inadvertently tell anyone that she's pregnant. It's tough to keep such a wonderful secret.
Wow. Today was a big day.
Heidi told me this morning that she is pregnant! We've departed the sidestreets of simply being aunt and uncle and moved onto the road to parenthood. The doctor gave her an approximate due date of June 20, 2003! We don't want to tell people yet, because so much can happen in the first three months. When December rolls around, that's when we'll spread the news.
So far, I guess I'm stuck somewhere between surprised, ecstatic, and nervous. Am I really prepared for this? Probably not, but I suppose that feeling is natural. My first instinct is to go out and buy a bunch of books to read up on what's coming over the next few months (let alone the next few years)... that'll happen soon enough. Heidi gave me a wonderful bundle of "dad-to-be" stuff. A couple books, baby bib thaqt says " I love Daddy", and more. I think it was such a beautiful way to give me the news.
Right now, I just want to be with Heidi, to quell some of my nervousness and to let her know who excited I am.
Wow. Wow!
Me, a Dad!