Mozart and Bread and Jam for Francis

My favorite book of all time is Bread and Jam for Francis.  When I was a kid, I had a little red record player and the book and the narrated record to go with the book.  I played it and read along many a nights.  Tonight, after John Cannon's first Mozart session, he was still active.  I put a battery in the microphone and read Bread and Jame for Francis to him.  He kicked and squirmed with interest... or so I think.
Today I am grateful for:

• Technology and baby research.  They help me be a better dad.
• Kristina for buying me Bread and Jam for Francis a few Christmasses ago because she knew it was my favorite.
• Kristina's new found energy.
• John's predictable activeness - like when Kristina tries to settle down on the sofa for a little nap.
• Finding a new neighborhood to look at more houses
• Friends and colleagues giving their advice regarding our home inspection. 
  
• Not being attached to any house until we move in a call it home.
• Easy days at work.
• You

H.H.

paperwork... ugh

Well... definitely been one of those days, but today I am grateful for:

• an abundance of paperwork... an abundance of this usually means an abundance of surplus or debt.  We've been good, so it's surplus.  Sure, the paperwork is a headache, but better than the alternative
• getting the new house inspected (paperwork).  even though the report is not what we wanted, better to know now.
• having an interested buyer.  even though their questions were insulting and their offer without seeing the house quite rude, it's nice having interest without advertising.
• not having to sell our house for less than we want.
• Kristina being home.  She's so organized when she has the time.  I can feel it becoming infectious and I sorely need to be more organized.
• working from home today.
• being focused on only a few things.
• a set back in my rehab that let's me know I am in complete control of healing.  if I am going to be a dummy and move things, I will pay the price.  the positive is that if I can give myself time, I will heal.
• being ready to walk away from our new house if it's not the right deal.

That's about it... ooh... you.

H.H.

Here's to long weekends

I'm really grateful for an awesome wife and a kicking son... I like how John gets active every night about the same time.  Let's talk serious for a little bit now.

Regardless of your politics, today is a day to be grateful for Memorial Day and those that have given their lives fighting for what we Americans believe.  On this day or even when you read this, give pause to be grateful for just a few of these things:

• That the war against terror is not being fought on American soil
• The last war fought on American soil was the Civil War.
• Despite how poorly we fight wars against drugs, poverty, and illiteracy, we are bold enough to fight them
• That while we have more troops and civilians deployed than ever in our history, we still go about our daily lives: shopping, eating, etc.
• That we don't have to do bomb drills at work
• That our children learn duck and cover for tornadoes not for bombs
• That being patriotic is your choice
• That you can be an apathetic slob: never vote, never serve, never volunteer, and still feel safe.
• That you do not know true corruption nor live in fear that the army will overthrow your government
• That American - US of A is the greatest place to live on planet earth.  Now if we could only grow up!
  

Now, educate yourself.  Learn why you have a long weekend the last Monday of every May.
Original Article:

"Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

General John A. Logan Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [LC-B8172- 6403 DLC (b&w film neg.)]

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee."

Abundance

Glogging is starting to work it's magic again.  Today I am grateful for:

• Having family in town and making them waffles.  Bar none, absolutely the best waffles ever.  Maybe they were enhanced by the mimosas!
• We made an offer on our house and were able to come to terms with our seller
• Michelled reaching the centennial mark glogging... way to go Michelle.
• Kristina and my mother bonding with pregnancy stories
• Doug doing so well with his knee replacement
• The pain in my back becoming more centralized - a sign of healing
• My physical therapist says I could be back on the back on a limited basis in a week
• Snuggling with Krisitna and John Cannon.
• You.

H.H.

Found it

• We found our home and offered. Let's keep our fingers crossed.



• Found out today that the carpet which looks new is actually 1 year old. That's important as we thought we'd have to replace with a natural fiber carpet
• John Cannon is kicking like crazy
• Kristina only has 2 days of school left!
• My hommie E telling me that the FJ Cruiser is a safe care and he's right!
• Having sore muscles other than the ones in my back - this means I've been working out.
• Working from home
• Maybe having a buyer for our house
• Buying some new workout clothes as a reward to myself for making improvement
• Getting to call off the workaround because it won't work. Approval to wait for the fix.
• Parents coming to town.
• 4 day weekends
• You

H.H.

What chew, what chew, what chew want? What chew want?

• Sharing a bagel and coffee with Kristina before heading off to work.
• Michelle's glog about a vision board.  I can't wait to learn more about visualizing what I want.
• Kristina telling me "no" on a new house.  Why?  Because it doesn't meet the criteria we've set about what we want in a house.
• Seeing a pattern in getting what you want.
• The Beastie Boys (in case you hadn't figured it out)
• Little kicks and hiccups.
• Putting a season pass on ninja warrior.
• My back not getting tired until 3:58 pm rather than 1 pm.
• Making progress on the Siebel product defect work-around
• Trying to focus and keep things simple and binary.
• Helping people with nutrition and fitness.  I wish I could figure out how to do it and not be a poor trainer at 24 Hour Fitness.  Another day.
• Implicit compliments.  Thanks for thinking of me for an architect position, Heather.
• Spring showers with Sunshine.  It's going to rain some more.
• Uncle Tito's and 2 olives!
• Fun mexican food.
• You

H.H.

Lazy Sundays

Yeah, sleeping late is good. Not many of those Sundays left. Today I am grateful for:

• Never setting my alarm clock.
• A walk with Kristina
• A pee break
• Then another walk :)
• John Cannon really kicking away
• Ninja Warrior Marathon cracking our junk up - go Shingo Yamamoto.
• An afternoon nap
• Getting a little work done
• You

H.H.

Ninja Warrior

OK.  This is the best show ever.  You have to find Ninja Warrior.  It's a game show out of Tokyo.  It's a mad crazy obstacle course that makes you realize how important your core really is.  Let's get down to business.  It's been an awesome day.  Today, I am grateful for:

• Having such a truly blessed life.
• Finally getting to do my new back friendly gym workout. 
  
• Spending the day in Richardson and realizing that city is not for us.
• Hanging out with my nephew Trey and realizing what an important role that is.
• Trey being old enough to ride without a car or booster seat.  It's so unbelievable that he is that old.  I really enjoyed his company today.
• Lillie.  I love that little girl.  I am so glad John Cannon is coming and would have him first a million time.  However, I hope I am blessed enough to have a little girl I can love and spoil ABSOLUTELY ROTTEN.
• Kristina.  She's such a trooper.  I am so lucky to wake up and get to tell her I love her while she's still snoozing.
• Pregnant Wife = Designated Driver
• Being invited to hang with Canadians.
• I wonder if Canadians talk about how funny they are when Americans aren't around.
• Making new friends
• Glogging
• You

H.H.

Thump, thump, thump...

September 21, 1991.  That's the day Kristina came into Gadzooks, where I was working, and we officially met.  There's an alleged encounter that spring at her school's sports banquet, but I was there with the girlfriend du jour.  On 9/21/1991, we flirted, I gave her my phone number by telling her that parents' phone number was the same as mine except instead of ###-###-4049, mine was ###-###-40 19.  Two days later her friend Aubrey called in proxy and ultimately... well, the rest is history.

Today, May 18, 2007 is a date I want to remember the rest of my life.  Today I am grateful for:

• John Cannon's little thump.  That's right today, May 18, 2007, I felt my son move in Kristina's belly.  He was so active.  Just thumping around.  This is surely more incredible than the movements to come.  This is the FIRST time.  He's still so small and his playground so roomy.  Somehow he wiggled to a place where he could give a good little thump.
• Speaking to John and feeling a connection as he thumped around.
• May 18, 2007
• Calling Kristina "you two" and "you guys" and "ya'll." 
  
• Kristina calling herself us, we, and our.
• Cooking breakfast for dinner... for 3.
• Kristina and John having 3 pieces of bacon, 3 pieces of French Toast with my special hot brown sugar apples, and 1 egg.  Me: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of French Toast, 2 pieces of bacon.
• May 18, 2007
• Getting another chance to offer on Shoal Creek and taking it.  The bank dropped their price and I raised mine... barely. :)
  
• Having lunch at Jason's Deli with the work gang and getting to pick the table.  I picked the 4 top next to the table with 2 moms and 5 kids.  None of the kids were older than 5.  Only 1 boy in the whole bunch.  Funny little 20 mo. old crawled down from mom, chocolate ice cream all over his shirt, walked right over to me to say hi and show me his new teeth.  Blonde hair, blue eyes.
• You
• May 18, 2007

H.H.

More Coordinated...

Yep.  Things are starting to come together.  I think maybe I work better in 3s.  It's pretty hard to focus on work with the back and the house thing, but I really have to dig in now.  Siebel is not going to produce a fix patch in time, so I have to produce the goods and write the work-around.  Nonetheless, today I am grateful for:

• Seeing the forest and picking out a few trees.  Life is a myriad problem; or can be.  The problem: the minutia in their dense numeracy grow a forest, or so it would seem.  Far away, a forest seems solid trees.  Close up, mostly scrub brush, briar bush, old fallen logs, compost.  The forest is my laundry list of problems to solve.  Today I realize most are just dense briar bush.  Thorny, a pain to get through, but not the heart of the forest.  Just a necessary part of the ecosystem.
• 3305 Wareham.  Could be the one, if "the Price is Right."
• Bob Barker, why not.
• Knowing that I can fix the problem and hoping I find the motivation to do it 91 times.
• House hunting for lunch.  Healthier than one might think.
• http://rehab.chrisbeckworth.com
• Grey's Anatomy, Lost, ER.  So what.  I've missed the entire season.  I watched pieces tonight and apparently not much is different.
• Vive il Giro d'Italia.
  
• The internets helping me solve the mysterious smoke alarm issue.  Hint: if it isn't your batteries then vacuum them for spider webs.  If one goes off they all go off.  Just one little spider web can do it.
• 6 more days of school (in proxy for Kristina).
• You, kiddo, you.

H.H.

Me

Sure, it's a day of me.  I deserve it.  I'm the best.  Right?  Well, I'm working on it and really "me" is only the best because of we.  Me does so much better when me remembers that we are here to help.  Well, everyday can't be a pulitzer nominee.  Long story longer I'm grateful for the people that help me, people like:

• Jarol at physiotherapy associates.  I don't know how anyone can be that witty in the morning.  It's refreshing to meet someone that loves their work.  She's put together a staff of like minded individuals.
• Advice from Casebolt.  He's a great sounding board and helps me learn the PT terms so I can speak intelligently about the affect of the PT.
• The compliment of being called a Technical Advisor by a client when she was asked by her manager to rate the role I fulfill.  FYI TA is the highest position a technical employee can obtain without having any direct reports.  Her manager agreed.
• Helen juggling her schedule to sneak over to show me some houses tomorrow.
• Adrian shooting Kristina and I straight about the foreclosure.  If it's meant to be ours, we won;t find anything new and in 22 days, we'll offer again.  Banks tend to give up after 150 days.
• Lisa and Shannon riding along and telling me whether or not I should show Kristina this new house... a resounding yes.  Tomorrow could be good.
• Charles' wife making sushi and getting to share some of it.

I'm also extremely, profoundly blessed when I get to share a moment with Kristina waiting for John to kick.  He's moving I just don't get to feel it yet, but the anticipation is unique, unlike any other anticipation.

Just another day on the glog

Nothing miraculous today.  Just putting in the work.  Today I am grateful for:

• Keeping my glog 2 days in a row.
• Putting an offer in on a foreclosure and not being emotionally tied to it.  I think we will get it, but if not, we'll be ok, and we're already finding other places to live!
• A great day of house hunting with Helen.
• Knocking some houses off the list which we thought would be ringers.
• The "memories" house we knew would be a loser but was actually our favorite.  We still don't like the formals.  Who needs formals anyway?
• Looking forward to another day of PT.
• John getting his first personalized blanket. 
  
• Kristina working hard to take care of herself during pregnancy.
• The special meals Kristina and I have at McAlister's.  Sure, it's just a sandwich shop, but we always get quality time there.
• You.

H.H.

Go Joe...

Did you watch the G.I. Joe cartoons when you were a kid.  I did.  I remember the last part, after the commercials when they said they'd be right back.  It was always some safety announcement or some kind of useful information a kid should have.  Stuff like: wear a life preserver, or swim with a buddy, or never talk to strangers, or wear reflective clothing at Halloween, etc.  However, at the end of each little announcement they'd say, "And now you know."  Then G.I. Joe, himself, would flash on screen and say,"And knowing is half the battle."  Then the whole crew: "GO JOE."  Roll credits: "Real American Hero, Geeeee Iiiiiiii Joooooooooe."  Absolutely riveting.


You know what?  Know is half the battle.  If you don't know the problem, you will never find a solution. Half or more of the battle to solving any problem is knowing just what that problem is.  Lately, I've been fighting a lot of battles.  Fighting them by myself.  Not winning.  Oddly I didn't even know what I was fighting.  I needed help.  We all do from time to time. 

The lesson here is screw the imposition, the modesty, and all other hold-backs that slow us down.  People are social creatures.  By and large, they like to help each other.  I almost always receive greater satisfaction helping than being helped.  It was high time I realize that and give that satisfaction to others.

Today I am grateful for knowing:

• That I have a herniated disc in my L4 & 5.  That it's been there long enough to hit the nerves that tell my leg how to peddle and my hip flexors how to flex.  That this is why I am in pain and why I can't train.
• That there are exercises I can perform to alleviate, repair and heal.  That highly trained folks are ready to help me do that.
• That knowing is half the battle.

I am also grateful for:

• Kristina understanding how emotionally tough these past few weeks have been and understanding how none of it has to do with her.  More importantly, her expressions of love tell me how she knows that her and John are keeping me going!
  
• Michelle's counsel when I found out about my back
• John Cannon
• Making an offer @ Shoal Creek.
• Getting news we may not get our offer accepted and then finding another house tonight that looks like a perfect fit!
• Doing my PT
• Havng the Giro d'Italia on Tivo.
• Glogging
• You

H.H.

Challenges and Purpose

Lately, I've been in a complete and total funk.  There's no other word for it.  I've been angry, disappointed, sad, despondent.  I can't train or race now because my body needs time to heal.  I've been working for months to fix a Siebel patch for a client so I can upgrade them to a supported release and allow them to upgrade to a supported IBM DB2 platform and upgrade to a supported AIX release.  No matter how hard I try or how late I work there are still product defects and bugs and Siebel isn't so keen to fix them in any kind of hurry.  Lastly, no matter how much I look, I can't seem to find the right house.  Our current house is too small for John Cannon and we, or I, really want to move before he gets here.
It's absolutely awful timing.  I just want to sit back and relax.  Which for me, means cooking for Kristina, enjoying our pregnancy, and racing my bike.  Maybe work on the business a little bit, maybe not.  Why do I need all these challenges.  Things used to be so easy.
Not finding the answer within, it was time to start finding it without; as in, without me.  I laid down next to my beautiful pregnant wife last night and began to pray for what I really wanted.  I want Kristina to enjoy being pregnant.  I want her to experience the beauty of creation that He has given to us.  I want John Cannon to be healthy and strong and have all the opportunity and potential all little ones receive.  I want John to have the best of all we can give him: childhood, environment, values, everything.
In that moment of  focusing on things without me, I realized that my challenges have a purpose.  My body breaking down for so long, my work being seemingly impossible, the great house hunt.  Normally, rest, a couple of late nights on the computer, and luck would solve these three.  Instead I find that I've been staring at the same problems for nearly 3 months and longer.  Now, I understand that the challenges are for me to learn valuable lessons. 
I don't know what these lessons are yet, but today I am grateful for the gift of understanding that life's challenges are not without purpose.  I am grateful that I have a companion with whom I can meet these challenges.  I am grateful for such strong challenges that I may have the opportunity to learn so much about life, others, and myself.  I am grateful for Him.  I am grateful for you.
H.H.

The House Hunt Continues...

Yep, still looking for a house.  Now we know all the places that we would live.  We understand how houses are built from each decade and know what  to expect.  We may have even found a house or four that we like.  However, I am grateful for much more than that:

• Quality time with Kristina (and John).  House hunting is not the most pleasant thing but time is time.  We only get so much of it.  Spending it with someone we love when doing something that's not so pleasant kind of balances things out.
• Our healthy pregnancy.  Kristina is doing so well and in such good spirits.  It's cute to see her get winded climbing stairs.
• Coffee at the Daily Grind
• Unexpectedly making new friends with an acquantaince of Kristina's.  It's nice to hit it off with a couple. Helps to feel more connected.
• Learning to be realistic about our expectations in a home.
• Yoga.
• My little sister getting over the death of her cat so well.
• Finally deciding on a direction with my business - now if I can just start working on it.
• Doug getting his knees repaired.  He's such a great grandpa and we really want him to be able to play with John.
• Just 2 short weeks of school remaining for Kristina
• Officially halfway to John!
• Kristina.
• You
• John Cannon

H.H.