Back in the saddle
Posted on October 11, 2007 in the Parenting, Stay At Home Dad category
I have been finding it difficult to focus lately on just about anything. Partly because of my boys not sleeping well and partly because of other stresses - my sleep has been totally screwed up so, during the day, its all I can do to keep the kids entertained during the day. On the rare occasions that I do get working, there is usually some sort of crisis within minutes of my fingers hitting the keyboard. Take, for example, this post - it has taken me a half hour just to get this far.
Vinny - the little rat - was up this morning from 3-5 am. Perhaps he was unable to sleep or just wanted to play but every 20 minutes or so, I had to put him back down. He is such a little schemer already, quick to come up with an excuse for why he is up. For example - I’m thirsty, I’m hot, wheres my pacifier, where is my monkey or lion, etc are his primary stall tactics. If he is quiet enough, sometimes he grabs my glasses and plays with them. It is hard not to laugh when I catch him and tell him sternly “lay down and go to sleep.” He immediately drops what he is doing and flops down as quickly as he can.
Simon has been a tough one lately when it comes to sleeping. During the day it has been difficult to put him down for a nap - he usually wails for 20 or more minutes before he falls asleep. And that is with me rocking him to sleep - forget about falling asleep in a crib. But most of the time he will wake up with a smile - especially when Vinny runs up and shouts “HELLO!” right in his face, Simon finds it so funny.
Tin foil and fillings
Posted on October 8, 2007 in the Ranting category
I have no idea why I did it, but when I was younger, I chewed on tin foil. Seemed like an amusing thing to do until that slightly painful twinge in your head reminds you that you are being an idiot. Come to find out that you are actually getting an electrical shock when this happens. How it works is that, if you have fillings and you chew on foil, there is a reaction between the metals and, because there is saliva in your mouth you create a battery - hence the shock. Apparently just another one of God’s ways of letting you know you are being a dope.
Another amusing way to cause unnecessary dental pain is to lose a filling all together. An extremely effective way to do this, as I found out, is to whack your head on a desk. I had dropped a pen under my desk which, of course, I had to pick up. So I am down on all fours under the desk, grabbed the pen, and began the ascent back up to my chair. Having no situational awareness whatsoever, I hit my head on the underside of the desk. Well, the rapid deceleration of my head in relation to my jaw caused my teeth to smack together and, voila! Out popped a filling.
At first, I thought I chipped a tooth but realized what it was after I spit it out. After the throbbing in my head went away, I couldn’t believe how much the tooth hurt. Worst thing about it was that it was a Saturday evening - no chance for a dentist appointment for a couple days. Now, I am no hockey player so I never felt the need to concern myself with temporary dental repair. If I had known about Dentemp OS, I would have cried much less. Dentemp OS provides fast, temporary relief of pain associated with lost fillings or loose caps. Its actually easy to use - you just open the multi dose container and apply it. You can even eat within 30 minutes of it setting. While it wont cure stupidity (i.e. hitting your head on hard objects) at least this way you wont have to be the only grown man walking into the dentists office crying.
Posting by proxy
Posted on October 8, 2007 in the Ranting category
Yes, my computer is still broken. Right now I am using my brother-in-law’s computer while mine is out getting fixed. I would fix it myself but I am not very good at soldering nearly microscopic bits back onto the motherboard . . . here is what happend.
Back last Wednesday night, I think, was the first night of the American League Division Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I was busy watching the game and Mary wanted to watch a movie. Being the great husband that I am, I set up the laptop in the bedroom so she could watch a DVD. As I was placing the movie in the tray, I heard chearing comming from the living room - not wanting to miss a thing (forgot I have TIVO) I raced out of the bedroom. In my haste, my foot caught the power cord for the laptop and everything came crashing down to the floor.
Immediately upon inspection, I thought everything was ok . . . but then I noticed that, even though it was still plugged in, it was operating under battery power. When it landed, the power connection broke into pieces while simultaneously breaking off various transisors, resistors, etc. from the motherboard. Lucky for me that my brother in law is an electrical engineer. He took it to work today to see if someone can put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I should no later tonight.
In the mean time, my dad may be able to set us up with a new laptop anyways. Now that I dropped it, I no longer would trust it with mission critical data. Besides, it would be nice to have a second laptop - Mary would love to actually use the computer once in a while but I am usually on it. We’ll see what happens . . .
AHHHHH!
Posted on October 7, 2007 in the Uncategorized category
I broke my laptop - will be back soon, I hope!
Its just not working
Posted on October 3, 2007 in the Ranting category
It has been quite a grind lately - I wake up early with wifey to make sure she gets out of the house on time. To make that goal even remotely achievable I make her coffee, breakfast, and lunch so she can take it with her to work. Usually within minutes of her leaving - or lately, before she actually leaves, the children get up and the day begins.
Originally, the idea had been that I could get work done after Mary left but before the children woke up. For the first couple of weeks after Mary went back to work, that is how things would work. Mary would leave between 630 and 730 (depending on if she goes to the gym) and the kids were sleeping until 9 or even 10. But that all soon changed. Now I am lucky if they sleep until 8 which leaves me no time to get any work done. And forget about getting anything useful done during the day - nap times are usually random and fleeting. By the time I get focussed on my work, one or both of them wake up.
Lately I have been getting work done after they go to bed - problem is that they don’t get to bed until after 9 usually which mean I stay up till midnight most nights. Definitely no fun when I get up at 5ish. So now I have this problem of when do I actually get anything done? Unfortunately we are in no position right now that I can just stop what little work I do get done - the money I bring in from various sources is absolutely needed. We are at a bit of an impasse - I cannot grow my business without having more time to give to it and Mary cannot quit her job until the business can make up the difference. We are almost to the point of sink or swim - contemplating having Mary quit her job before for the sole purpose of being able to focus entirely on the business. Doesn’t sound very logical but we have made worse decisions in the past.
Vinny’s first Halloween
Posted on October 2, 2007 in the Parenting, Stay At Home Dad category
Yes, Vinny is almost 21 months old so technically this will be his second Halloween but for our own selfish pursuits (i.e. dressing him up in something painfully cute) this will be his first. Truthfully, I don’t even remember what, if anything, we did last year for Halloween but this year will be fun as now we have two children to torture by putting them into costumes and taking pictures that can be used to bribe them when they are teenagers. Besides, it is unlikely that the grandparents will watch the children so we could get Sexy Halloween Costumes for Mary and I.
So what to dress them in. We know it must be something that is worthy of their cuteness - in no way do we want to detract from their shining, happy faces. Of course, being this young, Halloween is so much more for the parents than for them - and has nothing to do with being scary. What we need is a double dose of cute. I will, of course, have to talk it over with wifey, but here is what I have come up with for Vinny and Simon.
My son is absolutely in love with Gwen Stefani - he even sings along and dances to her videos (my fault, I do the same thing:). This, of course is a dead end as I am not about to dress him up as Gwen, nor would it be likely that I find a Gwen Stefani Costume made for a toddler. Besides, if he was dressed as Gwen, what would Simon be. . . a Harajuku Girl? I don’t have that kind of money for therapy.
When looking for something a bit more age/gender appropriate, I found a Tigger costume for Vinny. I guess that might mean that poor Simon is stuck with Eeyore! Either way, I know Vinny will have fun - he just has such a personality and I can already hear him saying “Trick or Treat!” We will have to be careful though as Simon scares easily. 
I found these costumes at CostumeCauldron.com. Something else I found was that, at CostumeCauldron there is a secret HAUNTED HOUSE backdoor on the website that gets people a great discount. To find it you need to go to the homepage and at about halfway down click on the comma in the line that reads “Our Store now has over 14,000 masquerade items for you to choose from!” This will whisk you away to the discount page. Don’t worry, I will post some pictures to let you know how things turn out!
Deerfield Fair
Posted on October 2, 2007 in the Ranting, Stay At Home Dad category
We spent most of the afternoon and early evening at the Deerfield Fair on Sunday. Initially we weren’t going to go but Mary’s sister and her family would be there so we thought it would be a good excuse to see everyone. Besides, Vinny loves his cousins! This was Vin’s first trip to the fair - I was so excited to show him all the animals, rides, and junk food. I was probably more excited about it than he was but he still was absolutely enthralled by the sheep, goats, cows, horses, etc.
At one point we were watching the oxen pull - the idea is that the handler has to direct them through a course with turns and places to stop. The announcer let everyone know that we were to remain quiet for the duration of the course. While the oxen were stopped at a way point, Vin decided it was a good time to shout “ONE, TWO, THREE! GO, GO!” It was a bit embarrassing but at the same time it was all I could do to not bust out laughing.
There was only one ride that I took him on - the giant slide. I was such a chicken growing up that this was my favorite ride at the fair. Vin is such a fan of slides at the park, I just knew he would be excited to get on a giant one. Below are some pictures of his first and second trip down the slide. Yes, he is balling on the first trip down. I know it looks like I was torturing him but, really, the only reason he was crying was because I wouldn’t let him climb up the stairs by himself. We waited a bit before the second trip down - he was much happier that time. 
Trouble with money
Posted on October 2, 2007 in the Debt Elimination category
I have mentioned before our troubles with money and how we are working our way out of quite a hole we dug for ourselves. What is surprising to me, even now, was the ease with which we were able to obtain obscene credit lines with what I now consider to be to little income. Don’t get me wrong - we had great credit with both of us with a score over 700 but it was too much, too fast. Pile on top of that several poor decisions, a couple of (expensive) failed businesses, and life happening, we are just starting to dig our way out.
Now, with the increasing popularity of payday loans, it is even easier to get a short term loan. Marketed as a quick stop-gap an immediate financial need and your next paycheck, payday loans are really a fancy cash advance. The idea is simple - if you have an immediate need for cash (usually under $500) that you can basically use your next paycheck as collateral. Of course there is always a price for convenience - how does 90% or more APR sound to you? To put this into perspective - how would you like to pay $30 just to borrow $100 for a week - sounds absolutely ludicrous to me. However the fear of financial desperation, allure of instant gratification, and no credit check makes this a popular way to get some cash. This is should not be seen as an option.
To help us get out of our financial hole, we have contemplated using a mortgage loan to consolidate our debt and reduce the amount of interest we are paying. Problem is when we tried to refinance, we were turned down several times because of a lack of work history for me. Being a home business owner definitely has its perks but can create some issues in the short term. If you are looking for advice from someone who has gone through financial hardship, try this - spend less than you make.
Mt Passaconaway was a great hike
Posted on October 2, 2007 in the Hiking category
After a series of busy days, I am back at it finally. I have been unable to post anything since Friday because I was busy hiking, going to the fair, and even getting a little work done.
Friday night, my friends from CT Dave and his wife Tara came up for a Saturday hike up Mt Passaconaway. One of the White Mountain 4000 footers is 4043 feet at the summit and number six on the list of 48 such peaks. We got up somewhat early Saturday morning and, after a health dose of my pancakes, our trip began. I had wanted to get there by 8am because I wanted to avoid hiking down in the dark - the round trip from car to summit to car is about 9.2 miles. But sleeping in proved to be the winning opinion so we did not get there until about 10am and, after some last minute packing and snacking, we started at 10:17am down the dirt road.
The actual trail does not start for .3 mile after following the dirt road and then hiking through a couple of backyards. I think it is so great that these people that own the property still allow hikers to walk through their yards. So about a half mile from the car, the hike actually begins. It is quite pleasant and gradual for about a mile and a half passing by and over streams and other trails. Fall is firmly in place as evidenced by the wealth of yellow, red, and orange leaves on the ground. They had a tendency to make the trail a pit slippery in spots but not bad.
The trail picks up to a moderate grade for the next couple of miles - we were all panting before long. One key difference between this one and the trail up Mt Tecumseh was the distinct lack of large rocks and boulders. The trail up Tecumseh was much more punishing to my legs and joints because of the constant up and down and teetering on the edges of rocks. This trail was mostly dirt and sand - of course with some rocky parts. Either way you get beat up because what it lacks in rocks, it makes up for with distance.
We did find that, within a mile of the top, there were a few challenging and quite steep sections of trial - the next two pictures show my perspective of the trail as I took a picture of Dave above me and Tara below me. The trail remains pretty steep for at least a half mile.
We all make it to the top - Dave and I sprinting (really a slow jog) about 150-200 yards from the top. Funny thing is that we both wanted to be first at the summit but each of us ended up at a different dead in some trees. We didn’t realize that the true summit is not really marked and is totally occluded. After calling it a draw, we head back down the trail about 100 or so feet to a tremendous rock outcropping offering what I think is the only view from the summit. The next few pictures are of Mt Chocorua to the east and Mt Washington (peak in the clouds) to the north. It was a great climb - we summited at 2:25pm, hung around for a while and grabbed some food. We didn’t make it back to the car until 6:50pm - we assumed that it would be a quick trip down with gravity on our side but didn’t take into account how fatigued we would be due to the length of the trail. My legs are still a bit sore:) Dave and I hope to get one more hike in before it gets too cold for us - Mt Whiteface which is actually right next door to Passaconaway.
Southern comfort - Free Raleigh, NC Getaway
Posted on September 28, 2007 in the Travel category
I miss the South.
I grew up in Florida - still have family there and in Alabama. Every time we visit (not often unfortunately) I get the bug and think about moving back down there. There are so many things that, when I first moved up north, would get me in trouble. First off, you can’t just order a sweet tea when you go to a restaurant. I remember the first time I tried to get a sweet tea (it was at a Pizza Hut) the woman looked at me like I was crazy. She then proceeded to bring out a pot of boiling hot water, a couple of tea bags, and some sugar . . . what a disappointment. My next mistake was using the word “y’all” . . . I thought everyone recognized the contracted form of the phrase “you all.” For example, a waitress might ask “are y’all goin’ ta want more sweet tea?” If you didn’t know, the answer is “yes.” Of course, one of the most important lessons I learned is never, under any circumstances, show your respect for anyone by addressing them by Sir or Ma’am. This was a part of me growing up, you referred to nearly anyone as Sir or Ma’am - you were likely to get smacked if you didn’t. I found it to be the complete opposite up in the north. In spite of the numerous threats on my life by insecure women, I still address strangers consistent with my heritage.
I have visited many great Southern cities in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas. One place that surprised me was Raleigh in North Carolina. No, really - its one of those places that seems like a hidden treasure of sorts. When one thinks of Southern cities, the first thing that comes to mind are places like Atlanta, Miami, Daytona, etc. but Raleigh eludes the radar of many travelers.
Raleigh holds its own when it comes to entertainment. As host to all aspects of performing arts, music, sporting events, nightlife, and museums, Raleigh confidently displays its heritage while exuding newness and vitality.
Believe me, Raleigh is a great place to visit - but you don’t have to take my word for it. You can see it for yourself - for free. Check out this site for your Free Raleigh Getaway. If you win - you get accommodations, food, theater and museum tickets . . . the whole VIP treatment. Now is an awesome time of year to visit - the summer crowds are gone, along with the humidity. You will have the chance to catch Mamma Mia!, a story about a mother, daughter, 3 possible fathers, and a wedding. It is among the most popular musicals in the world, with more productions than any other show. With everything that you can do in Raleigh, it would make a perfect Fall Getaway.
