I was expecting a lost limb or something with the cry I heard from Eliana this morning. She came running to her mom and I in shock saying that she needed to go to the dentist. It was then I realized she probably had a loose tooth. I guess for a child that hadn’t experienced this, a loose tooth would be quite the shock. However, after closer inspection, we found no tooth, and a small gap in her mouth, and a small amount of blood. After I explained to her the virtues of the pending visit by the Tooth Fairy and that this was a normal process, she understood, and is now ready to receive her magical tooth fairy gift.

Eliana and Annabelle have been in taekwondo class for nearly two months now. Yesterday was the first of hopefully many important days for our girls. They both received their yellow belts for Taekwondo. Their part of the promotion ceremony was small, and entertaining. It’s just so much fun to watch a 3-year-old do taekwondo kicks, punches and yells.

I look back on my own childhood, and see the missed opportunities based on my family’s circumstances. It’s great that my girls can have fun learning something that will help them in their lives both physically and mentally. I know their mom has a special place in her heart for taekwondo since it is the korean martial art.

I’m happy that I was able to make it to see them break the board as part of their promotion. I have been quite busy lately, trying to gain ground in other areas of my life, but I will always find the means and time to attend important events like this in the lives of my girls. Their mom tells me that the fact that I show up makes them want to do things better. They pay attention more, they shout louder (a good thing in taekwondo), and, in Annabelle’s case, she listens for a little longer to the instructor before getting distracted. I’m humbled that they think the world of me, and I hope one day they read this blog to know that the reverse is also true.

Not too many people know this, but growing up, I played the cello for several years. Like nearly 10 years, starting from 5th grade all the way through high school. It was a long journey, and only added to my nerd status growing up. Playing in the orchestra was definitely not as cool as playing in the band.

The one key lesson I learned from all those years of playing cello was that natural talent only goes so far. I had a an aptitude for learning new music and techniques very quickly as a child. Armed with that knowledge, I would do what most kids in that position would do, take it easy. In my world, things were easy, so I could just float by on raw talent alone. This was my downfall later on in my musical career as those who practiced far more than I eventually became far better cello players than me. I was slow to get over  a certain plateau, and never did quite make it further.

As I look back on those days of my musical past, I am forced to realize one single fact: I never owned my own instrument. We had always used an instrument provided by the school. I never really cared as a kid, I was able to do well enough with the school cellos. My music teacher would always tell me to get one. I never did. Until today. It has been a full five (5) years since I last touched a cello, but today I found a basic starter cello that I actually own.

It seems odd that it took more than 20 years for me to own a cello. And, quite frankly, I don’t have all the time in the world to play. However, I do have two small daughters whom I can teach the basics of cello to, and who already seem quite enamored with it and the opportunity to play. From there, I can get in a couple hours a week of quality practice time. With a solid foundation, I truly hope to branch out musically in ways I was never able to as a kid.

Despite my torrid past with the cello, one thing it did give me is an understanding and appreciation of music and a desire to pursue music as a way to express myself.

As we enter our final week prior to our big family trip to Hawaii, I’ve been scurrying around trying to get things in place. Flight info, travel, hotel, the usual things right? Well, as a Dad, a geek and a budding amateur photographer, I’m also struggling with the questions of what gear do I take? This isn’t going to be a camping trip where electronics aren’t allowed. But, I still want to take the fewest things possible. Here, I present my vacation suggestions.

First, take your laptop. I recently upgraded my MacBook Pro to have 500 GB of drive space. That sounds like a lot, and normally it should be enough space. But, since I’m going to basically be on a mission of gathering digital artifacts, I’m going to need all the space I can get. I’m also bringing along an external drive with 250 GB of space. This drive is a normal laptop drive housed in a nice enclosure. In all, ~650GB of space should be enough. I like to be prepared. But, what is all this space for? Well…

Second, take a digital camera. I’m taking two. Recently, I upgraded my DSLR to the Canon Rebel XSi. I’ve got a few good lenses now, and I plan to set aside some time during this trip to just take some photographs. Hopefully the kids won’t mind. I’m also taking my new Canon SD880. The photos that come out of it are terrific for the size of the camera, and I’ll have it in my pocket, ready at a moment’s notice. Perfect for those times when you just don’t want to lug around an SLR and three different lenses. But these cameras only take a few GB of pictures, you say? Sure, but I use the DSLR in RAW mode, so I’m using 12 MB per picture (it’s a 12 megapixel camera). Ok, fine, but that still seems like overkill on the space…

Until you consider the digital camcorder. While my SD880 does have a movie mode, I also plan on packing my Sanyo HD1000. This high definition camcorder is capable of recording in 1080i resolution. I have a 4 GB card for it to help my be more mindful of my recording. I may yet still find an affordable 16 GB card for it. But, if you add up a few hours (over two weeks) of video, well, you can easily eat up the 250 GB drive alone.

Now, if you’ve read down to this point and started thinking “This dude is a total geek, and is crazy for trying to do all that to his family on vacation”, well, you’re right. I don’t plan on record every single second of my trip. However, there will be days where I will be focused on the pictures, and others where I will focus on the activity in front of me. But, it sure doesn’t hurt to bring along these little items just in case because they are just so small these days.

So, check back here, our vacation site, or on our photo page to see how our vacation is going!

Aloha!

I always love an excuse to have pizza at Zach’s pizza in Tucson. We’ve been regular patrons of this place for nearly 10 years as it is located very near the University of Arizona campus. A few years ago, my good friend Tom took up croquet, and has encouraged us to give it a try on more than one occasion. Recently, however, it has been a regular post Zach’s pizza staple. This particular game was made particularly interesting because the course was very dry (it makes the ball go fast) and bumpy. The real tough part of staking out (winning the game) was that the stake was in the middle of an elevated mound, like the 18th hole in a mini golf game. The drama lasted longer than most of us had wished (we finished our game near midnight), but in the end, we all had a good time. I’m looking forward to the next match, Tom.

I’d consider myself fairly patched into the grid. You can search for me on Google, and get something fairly accurate. I do nearly everything online: search for restaurants, get maps of the world, watch TV shows. In fact, when we first moved into our house three years ago, the cable guy said he could connect our TV that night. We told him it was more important to connect the Internet. We didn’t get cable TV for another three days, and later cancelled it anyway.

There are many a days where I feel like a character from the Matrix: weaving my way in and out of weird places on the Internet, looking for the answer to the ultimate question. Of course, regular life isn’t as exciting as a multi-million dollar cult movie, but I still can’t help but feel the similarities. I’m sure I’m not alone. Most of my waking day is near a computer of some form or fashion. Thus is the world we have made for ourselves.

I find it difficult to remember a time when computers were still a hobby for most people, or when most technologies were based on analog foundations. Can you remember how it was in a time before cell phones? Life is more convenient in many cases now, but I still can’t help but wonder if this is the right direction for society to move towards.

I still love what I do, being in on the edge of technology and being there for the next big thing. But, working in a field that changes on almost a daily basis takes a toll. Add in other life interests and children, and there is not a whole lot of downtime factored in there. As such, it is easy for someone like me to become overloaded.

Many days, I find that my brain just can’t do everything it needs to do in order to grok the latest information of the day and deal with family issues and still try to work on things that I find personally enjoyable. I’ve had a backlog of personal todos for quite a while, but I find that I haven’t been able to make a significant dent in any of them.

This may sound like a problem whose solution is the GTD system. While I like the idea, I never really seem to modify the system to work for me. I think I’m not trying hard enough. Maybe I’m just too tired of looking for the next system that will work for me. Always looking for the next big thing is part of my job and career and life, and not doing that is tough.

I want to be more proactive in tackling things from here on out. But, still, I feel that I (not to mention my family) is in dire need of a true vacation. So, we’re going to head out to the Islands of Hawaii in the next couple of months. We’re going to do our share in helping the american economy as much as we can (it’s just one excuse we joke about). And while this trip was a spur of the moment decision, as the days approach, I find myself more and more excited. I feel like a kid on Christmas day; a feeling I don’t think I’ve allowed myself to have for many years. It feels good. But still, I wonder if these feelings arise because we’re going to travel to a whole new part of the world for us, or is it due to the simple fact that we’re going to Hawaii. The reason I wonder is because I really think I’m more excited to go just to be away from everything for two whole weeks. Instead of just taking a week off here or there, and taking care of things at home, really pack up, get out and don’t think about the grid for a while. That is something I haven’t done in a long time, and frankly, it’s probably going to feel like trying to break a bad habit cold turkey. In the long run, it will be better for my to unplug from the grid for a while and try to soak in some tropical nature. I can’t wait. And, neither can my family. Aloha!

Before Extreme Makeover

In the past three years since we’ve lived in our current house, I have managed a painting project, on average, twice per year. I have single-handedly added a bit of color to an otherwise drab-white color scheme. I tend to like wild, solid colors, but those don’t work to well for housing interiors sometimes. Besides, if had left the internals of the house plain white (or the default off white color from the builder) I would have gone mental a long time ago. Some will argue that I already have gone mental: that’s another topic. As far as the house painting goes, I was first tasked with painting the entire downstairs area, visible to visitors and guests. The entire painting job was done by me, myself and I with some help from my then pregnant wife. I managed to go from masking to painting in 24 hours. It was not pretty. I was not pretty after that. I didn’t think I would ever paint again, but, like all things, time tends to heal wounds, even psychologic wounds caused by bad planning.

The next rooms turned out better and better over time as I had gotten the hang of masking to save time later. So, while still not perfect, each painted room in the house looked a bit better than the previous one. The colors help set the tones for each room, and give a bit of variety to an otherwise common house. While most rooms are still in the “mostly done” stage, they are a lot more fun and colorful.

After Surgery

The last room that remained to be painted was the girl’s bedroom. We had high hopes in transforming their bedroom into something every girl would want. I wanted them to have a bedroom that they would look fondly on in their older years as a room they cherished. So far, it hasn’t happened for one reason or another. Whether it was because we (the parents) were busy with work, or just tired, I think mainly it was because I hadn’t spent the time to put a plan of action or a color scheme together that would be to our girl’s standards. (When did they get so picky?) I had planned on making them some sort of princess themed room, despite my best efforts to convince them otherwise. We ended up with some pretty nice colors from the official palette of Disney colors from the Home Depot. And so, yesterday afternoon, I set forth to complete a task that I had started three years ago: to paint the house for every member of the family. The journey has been long, and wrought with disappointments, trials and tribulations. Its also been really tiring. Every time I paint a room, I find more muscles I never knew I had. But, pain in temporary, and the rooms will at least be that way for a few years. I think next time they want to paint their rooms, they are going to have to help a lot more.

Nearly two weeks ago, my wife and I took the kids on a trip to the North Pole. Amazingly enough, there was a train that goes right near Santa’s village. The Polar Express was a fun ride for the kids, and they had a chance, ever so quickly, to see Santa Claus.

The trip to Williams, AZ was fairly quick from Phoenix. I guess that’s just me getting old. After three hours of driving, we arrived at our hotel only to be greeted with cold air and a long checkin line. Santa set up accommodations for us in his hotel, the Grand Canyon Inn. The checkin line went very quickly, as this seemed to be the normal daily routine.

After settling into the hotel, the kids, excited to see Santa again, put on their pajamas. The rule is, on The Polar Express, you can only see Santa in your pajamas. After dinner, we ran out in the chilly air to our seat on the Polar Express. The silly Dad, me, picked the wrong car to get on, so we had to run back up to the head of the train to the correct car. After a few minutes, the friendly helper elves gave us friendly instructions on being safe on the Polar Express.

And then we were off to the North Pole.

On the train, we were provided refreshing hot cocoa and a chocolate chip cookie. And, then we read the Polar Express story. And, it happened so quickly, that after a short while, we eventually made it to the North Pole. And Santa was there waiting for us. The girls we excited to see Santa. As the train turned around, Santa had disappeared. Then, the conductor told us that Santa was on the Train with us! Great!

Santa made his way to our car, seeing every girl and boy on the train and making sure they received their christmas present.

On the way home, we sang christmas carols, something I haven’t done in years. I only wish the cold air hadn’t had an effect on my throat.

I think next year, we’ll make reservations on the Polar Express again. Seeing the joy and excitement in the kids is what makes being a parent so fun. The girls, in their excitement do get a little wild, but the world melts away when you’re on the Polar Express. After all, Santa knows when you’ve been bad or good.

For the past six months, my job has taken a huge chunk of my life away from me. While I wasn’t working 12 hour days, it sure felt like it since I would see my girls for only one or two hours at night. Many times, I wouldn’t see them at all since I was on the road dealing with traffic when they woke up, and attending other functions around the Phoenix area by the time they went to bed. And while the absence of my girls from my life was leaving a huge whole emotionally, I was also suffering physically. The added commute time directly subtracted from my daily exercise time. And, while over time I didn’t have to commute two and a half hours per day, every day, I was not very motivated to exercise on the other days either. So, over the past six months, I’ve gained 5 pounds about an inch in the waist, and lost far too much fitness. As a result, I’m most likely in the worst shape of my life.

This is a far cry from three years ago, when I was in the best shape of my life. Three years ago, I completed El Tour de Tucson in 4 hours and 58 minutes. Fast enough to qualify as a Platinum rider. I then ran a half marathon, only to be hindered by a sore knee. I easily had enough juice at the time to complete the run. Slowly, family life took control of my life requiring more and more time. This is natural, and now I can see why and how so many middle aged parents gain weight while their kids grow up. It’s happening to me now. But, I’m not going to let this continue!

First thing on the list was to take care of the job. Check.

Next, I need to get back to the thing that had me fit enough to do 110 miles in one day, and still be ready for more: bicycling.

This is where I start my New Year’s resolution a month early. I can’t start this early enough. I miss being on the bike often. I’ve managed to be on my bike only once a month at best recently, and I have always been painfully reminded how much I miss using my own power to get my butt around town. This is the time of year to do this, and the time is now.

While my new office doesn’t have an official bike setup, they are very open to the idea, and I’ll figure out a way to get back to one of my favorite things: bike commuting. BIke commuting is what dropped my weight from 240 pounds to 195 pounds. Bike commuting is what helped me gain enough fitness to finish el tour in personal record time. Bike commuting is what gave me balance in my life. I am going to start commuting by bike once again…finally!

Tonight, I pulled the big fake Christmas tree out of the closet, and helped my two girls set up this year’s Christmas Tree. The smell of fake tree, the glow of the mini lights, the glass ornaments always leads me on a trip down memory lane. More over, I think of how Christmas for my daughters is different, and will always be different, than the Christmases I remember.

In particular, I thought back to the times (I can’t be so sure about how many) when we would all go to with my mom to her store, and help set up the Christmas displays. When my brothers and I were small, each under 10, and living in our original childhood home in the southern part of Tucson, just east of I-19, my mom was working hard at what as then Skaggs Drug Store. This store was nearly a 30 minute drive one way for my mom, and she would always come home late. Nearly always after our bed time. Even being so young, we knew our mom had to work. Besides, we would call her after school every day complaining that one of us was breaking some house rule … but that’s another story.

From what I remember, these Christmas parties were part work, and part Christmas party. There was food and drink provided. I think some times it was even a potluck. But, as far as each employee knowing everyone else in the store, this was definitely the case. I mean, my mom knew everyone, and we had several good family friends working with her at the store. Me and my brothers at least knew the names of the other kids in the store. In all, it was a fun time, even if there was some work involved.

These are fond memories of a time long ago. In fact, every time I visit a local store with a big Christmas display, I think of the people who took the time when the store closed one day, and put up all the ornaments and helped to decorate the trees. I doubt there was a big family gathering when it came to putting up the displays in stores nowadays. In fact, I’m guessing, the family has been taken out of the retail work environment. From what I remember, I think the modern retail store worker is missing out on some good ol’ fashioned family fun, with some family memories thrown in for good measure.

Every year, since Eliana was born, I’ve gone through the task of gathering the best pictures we’ve taken in the past year and add them to a calendar for the next year. It’s been somewhat of a time capsule since there have been times in our busy lives where I look at the pictures on the calendar and say out loud

“Golly gee willikers, that was a year ago?”

Every year, I print out three copies, one for us, and one for each set of grandparents. This year, I’m going to do something a tad different, and make a PDF available for your viewing pleasure to see what we’re enjoying every day of the year.

I welcome your feedback you have on the preview PDF.

When this phrase usually pops to my mind, I’m usually referring to my girls. With my oldest at nearly five, and the in depth conversations I have with her on a daily basis, I can hardly believe the time has passed so quickly. No, this time, I’m going to really refer directly to myself.

This weekend, with our short trip to Tucson, will mark the 8th wedding anniversary of my wife and I. Has it been 8 years, already? Sometimes it feels like it was yesterday, but most times lately, it feels like a lifetime ago. Back then, things were different…

My wife and I met in Tucson, Arizona on July 6, 1999. I was an intern at IBM, and she was assigned to be the Korean translator on the product. Times were different as this was before September 11, foreign travel like this was common among translators. I remember she was wearing a black suit. I think back then, she wore mostly black anyways. (She’ll have to correct me in the comments.) It was a quick three weeks or so, but we managed to keep in touch because she went to school in Boulder, Colorado. Eventually, I finished my schooling, and a year later, I moved up to Boulder to start my new fresh out of college job at IBM. That was the summer of 2000.

Over the next few months, we stayed in close contact, and, well, we somehow ended up at the Boulder County Clerk’s office. There, we officially became a married couple in Colorado. That day was November 22, 2000. It was an odd feeling, as I remember asking her “Do you feel like we’re married?”. It turns out, she was thinking the same thing.

Over the next few years, we’ve had our ups and downs, as does any normal couple. We moved into the same apartment in Boulder. Eventually had to live apart for six months while I worked at a new job in Tucson. We bought a house. We had a baby girl, and learned how to be parents together. We then had another girl, and started it all over again. We moved to Phoenix, into another house. It’s been a long journey, and it’s been 8 short years. We’ve been through things for better or worse, thick and thin. Where this wild ride will end is anyone’s guess, but after all the crazy things we’ve shared together, I’m pretty sure we’ll be tackling life’s challenges together for many years to come.

Happy Anniversary, W.

What a night. In my short time on this earth, I have been witness to a few events in history, but all of them had little to no effect on me or my family. Tienanmen square, the fall of the berlin wall, even the attacks of September 11 while close to home, had little direct impact on my life (yes, I’m not counting the police state that followed shortly after). But today, the dawn of a new day, a new moment in history, the first African American President. The different between those other historic events, and this one is those others were clouded in fear, terror and suppression. Last night’s history represented change, hope and promise.

As an avid Internet user, I was watching the chatter floating along the tubes, and all of it was so positive, as if the Internet breathed a collective sigh of relief. Relief that the stupidity of the previous two elections had managed to not repeat itself. Relief that hope has prevailed over fear.  Relief that democracy still alive in the heart of America.  While the country can’t ignore it’s recent past, it now has the leadership and capability to deal with those issues intelligently and move on.

As I watched Barack Obama’s acceptance speech last night, I couldn’t help but grab my two daughters close. I knew it was a joyous moment. I wanted to have them there to listen to what was being said, because at some point in the future, those words would have a positive effect on their lives. They would look back in time and ask, “Daddy, did we listen when we when the United States elected Barack Obama”. I wanted to give them the honest ability to answer yes to that question, and be proud.

While Obama will not be the magic bullet to all problems, I do feel that he is the right man for the job. A man who actually does represent me, personally, in the executive branch of the government. He does represent hope, and that is what this country needs after eight years of agonizing fear and terror.

I’ve never been a political person, as I always thought politics was a sideshow intended to keep some people busy. Of course, this is the worst possible way to treat the democratic process, and this current election cycle is having a profound impact on my view of politics and the democratic process in the United States.

I would still classify myself as a Ron Paul supporter. If you see what is happening in the financial sector these days, it was pretty obvious that Ron Paul knew what he was talking about. He is the only person who ran in the primaries that wanted to not only end the war in Iraq, but remove all United States occupation of foreign countries. That meant closing all foriegn military bases worldwide. Perhaps this would be a drastic step to some people, but one that is necessary. Other countries have embasys here, but no military presence, so why does the United States have almost 200 bases abroad? Not that I know about foreign policy, but I do know that all those bases cost money to maintain. And rather than spend the money outside the US, why not spend it here? I could go on and on about the American Empire, as my research has lead me down some very disturbing rabbit holes. Needless to say, I didn’t like what I found, and it has motivated me to at least try to participate so that my children will have a future without such problems.

So, as it was today, part of my journey toward being a patriotic citizen of the United States, I took the opportunity to check out the Obama Rally in Denver today. I am in Denver for a programming class, and decided to use the time to recharge my batteries. I set up this trip nearly two months ago, and only last night, after trying to figure out what to do, did I find out that Barack Obama was going to be giving a speech at the Civic Center Park in Downtown Denver. I thought if nothing else, I would be able to hear what he has to say without media interruption, and I would be able to experience firsthand what all the fuss is about when it comes to political rallies, and take some cool pictures while I was out there.

From my friend’s place, I took the lightrail to downtown, and in the process already ran into several nice people who were obviously voting for (or have already voted for) Obama. From there, it was on to the park, where a line that streched around several blocks awaited me. I forgot to bring my jacket because the forecast was supposed to be for nearly 70 degrees; it was 45 according to my iPhone. I wasn’t sure of what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by the civility of the crowd. Only after I looked at the Denver Post heading did I find out that 100,000 people attended the event; the single largest crowd to attend a political rally in the United States. I feel pretty humbled to have been part of it, even if I was just one amongst many.

I was in the back of the crowd the whole time. I didn’t even catch a glimpse of Barack Obama, however, I did hear his speech. While I can’t say that I was deeply moved, I was impressed by his few moments of candor with such a large audience. He repeated many of the political jibber jabber that goes on in a campign without being demeaning or attacking his opponent below the belt, or with subjects that don’t really matter.

He arrived, he talked, and he left, and I was at least part of the moment. It’s not much, but it was still an impressive sight to behold. Prior this his appearance, but after his opening acts had completed their local campaigning, the sound of people chanting his name was something that I hadn’t heard before. I heard this faint chant of “obama” coming from somewhere. In less than a second, it grew lound enough that I could determine the source: the amphitheater where he would soon be speaking. And shortly after that, I could truely hear the chant in full blast. It was very impressive.

In all, I would say, that I am still a Ron Paul supporter. If the republicans had the wisdom to nominate him instead of their current nominee, well, things would be different. However, I actually took the time to read (listen) to Barack Obama’s book, The Audacity of Hope, and was agast to find out that his struggles as a youth, as a working class man, as a parent and as a human were so close to my own, that it was clear that if I couldn’t vote for the guy to who made the most sense, well, I could vote for the man who at least symbolicly represents me in the government. And, that is perhaps the reason why he is so popular. The nation can see in him a little piece of themselves, somewhere. From the minority angle, to having only mom around, to having to fight for everything he ever had, this is the story of most American voters.

I’m not a drastically different person after all this political soul searching. I am moved after seeing so many people dedicated to the cause of getting one man elected to the office of President of the United States. I see their enthusism, and somehow find it containgious. I will continue to push myself to particiate in the greatest experiment in the history of the world, as it is the only way it will succeed. I want to continue to set a positive example and leave a good foundation for the future, for my children, and for everyone else’s children. That is what drives me these days, and it seems, that is what drives Barack Obama, and that is why he gets my vote.

I can’t believe that the time for the 4C (Cochise County Cycling Classic) has come around already. It seems like only yesterday I was beaten down by the harsh winds and crazy hills and struggling to pull my butt across the finish line. Wait, why am I doing this event again?

This year, I thought I would have enough time and motivation to get back into cycling to be able to finish the 92 mile trek across the backroads of Southeastern Arizona with minimal trouble. I have been going to the GABA rides, lately, and getting in a few full weekend spins in under my belt, but I haven’t put in anything near the 92 mile I needed for this event. I knew I was in for some pain at the end, it was just a matter of how much I could endour.

The ride out was a tad wet, as the rememants of a hurricane were making their way across the gulf and into the desert. I was trying my best to stay with the lead group at this early part of the ride beause they would help block the wind at least until the ride started to go up into the hills behind old town Bisbee. No such luck this time. It turns out that I’m in the worst shape of my cycling life. I couldn’t even manage to keep up half way to the uphill portion of the course. I was so tempted to turn off onto the 45 mile route. I knew that if I couldn’t even keep up with those guys, I was done for the day. I reluctantly journeyed up the hill with a monster headwind while climbing a mild 4 or 5% grade. I actually made some progress on some people, so I started to feel a little better about myself. Then came the 8-10% part of the course. In my very early days of cycling, I hated hills. Then, I grew to love them as they made me stronger, and I could finish them off without too much pain. I wasn’t at the point of hating the hills, by then, but I really wasn’t looking forward to this one either. I took my experience and knowledge and kept riding up the hill at my pace, and mine alone. The trip through the Mule Pass tunnel on bike is always a little freaky, but this time wasn’t so bad. I guess I am just used to it by now. Once the big hill was over, it was time for the big giant downhill. This part of the course made the uphill so worth it. I flew down as fast as I could, I wantedt o enjoy the ride down. Unfortunately, head and cross winds made it difficult to catch the 50 mph milestone I was trying for. My top speed down that section was 45 mph. Not too shabby, but I’d been that fast before.

The fast part of the downhill is fairly long, but then it levels out into a more gradual downhill, where you can pedal moderately and still get some good speed going. It was here all alone, just me, the bike and the road where you can achieve bike nirvana. Hearing the sound of the wheel rolling on the road at a speed of 35 mph is sweet music. And having to put as little effort into generating that sound is icing on the cake. After coming down from that high, it came time to tackle the second half of the course. The long road home, riding into headwinds no matter which direction you are going. My legs were pretty much spent by this time, so I just decided to go at the best pace I could, and try not to hurt myself. I eventually flatted, and recovered. It took nearly 4 hours after reaching the turnoff at Davis road to reach the finish line. Not a good performance. The last 20 miles on highway 191 were done at 10mph or less with a 30 mph headwind howling at us the whole time. I eventually made it to the turn off that was 6 miles from the finish. I took a break and sat down with an old man and woman who were there to make sure all riders were safe. They sat me down in a chair, held my bike, offered me some water, fruit and candy to make sure I would make it to the finish line. The old woman offered to drive me to the finish, however I felt bad in doing so after having ridden so far, and come so close to the finish under my own power. She said she would drive me a half mile to the end and drop me off so they wouldn’t know. But I would know, and I in the future, I could not, in good conscience, tell my kids not to cheat if I did so myself. I turned down her generous offer and rode for 6 more miles of tormenting winds.

I eventually made it to the finish line, tired and dehydrated. As soon as I checked in with the event officials for my time, I plopped on the grass, and laid there, for at least 30 minutes. My legs were sore, I needed water and fruit, but knew that I wouldn’t be able to stomach them. I must have worried my brother, who finished with no problem. I mean, I looked and sounded like I was going to be sick. I felt like it too. I found something at the Circle K to get me hydrated and give me a little energy until I could make it to dinner. After a while, although I was still sore, I was able to walk, and felt much better in general. At least good enough to have some food.

In all, the 4C event is a good ride to see how well you will do in el Tour de Tucson; it is a much tougher event considering you are battling all the elements on your own. I know that I won’t be doing all that well this year in el Tour, and will probably switch to a shorter route for my own sanity and safety. So, until el Tour, ride safe

Yesterday was a busy day, but one marked with celebration. It was the third game of the season, and the nerves of the kids had settled a bit as there has been a few less tantrums about playing in the games.

But, there was cause for celebration as Eliana scored her first goal of the season. She had been pretty close in her previous games, only to be distracted at the last second.

While it is always great just to see her play, it’s nice to see her have fun and score and just stay involved. I want her to love this sport, and many others, and pushing her into it is not going to instill that in her. But, a little hug and encouragement, especially after a goal should do the trick, now and in the future.

Yesterday, we made our first family trip the Chase Field to see a major league baseball game together. As part of the deal, we went with the AYSO package that let us in at a slight discount, and as an added bonus, let is walk on the warning track prior to the start of the game. It was pretty neat to be down on the field, and I was able to get a few good pictures.

It’s been about two and a half or 3 years since I purchased my first DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera. Over that time I’ve documented much of my families activities as well as grown my own personal picture taking abilities. My introduction to the hobbyist world of photography was with the ubiquitous Canon Digital Rebel XT (350d). This camera was so popular, that everywhere I would go that required picture taking, I would see at least 2 or 3 other people with the exact same camera. Even yesterday at the Diamondbacks baseball game, I saw someone with one. It’s a great camera, and it was easy to understand why it was so popular. Alas, it was time to put the past behind me, and step up to a new camera.

Since my experience with the Rebel XT was so positive, I decided to stick to the same line, and simply upgrade to the Canon Rebel XSi. My favorite improvements are the larger screen (3.0″  vs. 1.8″) and the better kit lens that comes with it. I’ve only had it for a day now, and the only grip I have is that the image size is even larger than the 8 megapixel images I had with my old XT. And, now, I’ve got to find a faster SDHC card since the ones I have are a tad on the slow side. So far, the images have been great.

Keep shooting!

Today was the first soccer game of the season. It was a pleasant 90 degrees at game time here in the desert. Over the next few weeks, this should decrease to even more pleasant temperatures.

Anticipation, excitement and nerves filled the air. The fields were packed with on-going soccer matches as far as the eye could see. As we hauled our supplies to the fields, we found the coach and the rest of the team. Eventually, we found out we were on the wrong field, so off we went to find the correct one.

Once the games started, it was fun and tears. Some players were pretty excited. Others wanted the ball more often. Some just had performance anxiety.  I felt a little upset that Eliana didn’t want to play, but then I reminded myself why we wanted her to join the team in the first place: to play and have fun.  And, that’s all I told her all day. Have fun, kick the ball and score a goal. We’ll have a great snack and lunch after you score.

I’m sure the layers of protection didn’t help as it was rather hot under all that padding on their legs. When we finally arrived at the car, she basically took all the soccer gear off until all she was left with was her shorts and shirt. 

As I was walking with Eliana back to the car after the game, she said:

Do you remember when you played soccer when you were a kid?

I had to give her an honest answer:

Dad didn’t have chance to play when he was a kid.

I’m glad she has this opportunity to play, exercise, be social and have fun.

Make sure to check out today’s fun pictures!

Recently we signed Eliana up for a local AYSO soccer league (football for you English speakers). Yesterday was her first practice. It’s fun to see a bunch of four and five year olds out there having a good time with a fun loving coach. While we can always dream big for Eliana, the goal (pun intended) of her soccer is really for fun and exercise. I also want her to play an organized sport that I wasn’t able to as a kid for various reasons. I guess I can relive some of my childhood through her. But, her Mom and I, after watching the Beijing Olympics for the past two weeks, need to be careful not to push her, but still be encouraging. Maybe one day she’ll have one name like one of the Brazilian women soccer players!

Make sure to check out all the photos from the first day of practice!

Every now and then, it’s worth the time to take a step back from your regular life and ask some important questions. What questions you ask yourself depends highly on your character. Here are a few questions that I want to know the answers to:

1. Would the your 8 year old self like the you of now?
2. Is this what you thought you’d be doing 5 years ago? 10 years ago? Ever?
3. What have you missed that you wanted?
4. What do you have that you never wanted?

The purpose of this exercise isn’t to make you (me) cry, or to try to bring up regrets of the past. This is a gut check. This is to make sure that all the turmoil in your life as it’s occuring now is the life you really want. And, while it can’t change over night, with the knowledge you gain from answering these questions, perhaps you can make a change or two that will realign your journey along life to the path that will be the most fulfilling to you.

Starting from the top:

Since my 8 year old self was 24 years ago, it’s pretty tough to know how I would react to myself. I’d like to think that I would be able to get along with my 8 year old counterpart. However, being the introvert, I’d have a hard time talking to him, and getting him to talk to me. Although, I would easily bring up the subject of computers, and video games and get a whirlwind of words.  I think my 8 year old self would still find me funny just because I still seem to have a way with kids.

Five years ago, I was leaving Colorado after having been with IBM for five years. It was a tough time, and I never thought I would have a chance to work for Intel. Ten years ago, I was just finishing college with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering. Clearly a time for joy and happiness, if for no other reason that I didn’t have an exam or a homework assignment due the next day.  From a career standpoint, I should be further along. I’ve had some pitfalls and bad luck along the way. I’d had to learn many things from the school of hard knocks, but I’ve become a better professional for it. I feel I am on the verge of taking it to the next level as my technical skills have never been in doubt no matter where I’ve gone. From a personal standpoint, I had no idea I would be the first amongst my closest college friends to settle down with a family. It has been a pleasant surprise, and it has encouraged me to be a better person one day at a time. Some days, that doesn’t quite happen, but I try to learn from those days. I always had a plan for my fatherhood. I knew I would do things a tad differently to my kids than what my parents had done for me. That’s not because my parents did anything bad; far from it. However, there is always room for improvement, and I want to do things for my kids the way I thought would have been best for me in my childhood. The bottom line to the question at hand is, sure, I thought I would be doing what I am back then. Although, some things I would have thought were to happen later, occurred earlier.

Have I missed out on some great opportunities along the way? Sure. The best examples I can think of are: High School prom and two month trip to China, as well as just time wasted doing meaningless things like watching television. While it was just a one night thing, the High School prom was just one of those things that I wanted to know what the whole fuss was about. This isn’t anything other than curiosity. The trip to China would have been pretty neat though. I had studied mandarin Chinese for one year at college level up to that point. I was to leave after school, but before my working adult life. I should have gone, is all I can say. While I have no plans to rectify that error, I still wonder how I can achieve a trip like that with my current responsibilities. It may seem odd to some that I married a Korean woman, yet I try to pursue learning the Chinese language. I am a student of the world, and I admire aspects of all cultures. However, I found that throughout my life, I have constantly gravitated back to the Chinese culture. Perhaps its the history, the odd government, or just the sheer contrast to American culture, the Chinese language, art and culture just keep peaking my interest. And it’s not to say that the Korean culture doesn’t interest me, I found many sites and history compelling on my trip to South Korea (over 5 years ago).

What do have now that I never asked for? The easy answer, my kids. The second easy answer, my health. The politicaly correct answer, my wife. I know that none of these answers contains any of the material things I do have these days. I have a nice house, a decent portfolio, relable cars. The other items in my possesion that are priceless to me, other than my family are items like this blog, my work of photography over the years that shows me growing as an artists versus an analytical computer guy. These photos can never be restored if lost, which is why I have gone through great pains to back them up in several places: amazon.com and a 4-disk redundant drive array.

Other opportunities that I’ve seized were the chance to get married to a woman who was able to see the kind of man I was, and would become despite an extra 70 pounds. I jumped at the chance to return home when offered a job back in Tucson, only to jump at the chance to work for one of the computer industry’s revolutionary companies, Intel. I’m glad I had the opportunity to visit New Zealand, if only for a week. I’m most happy that I decided to become a physically active individual using cycling as my vehicle to a better life. I never thought I would ever have the ability to ride my bike across the Rocky Mountains, or from one large western state to another. Cycling as changed my life, and I will have to ask for more from one of my favorite pastimes.

What does all this reflection tell me? I don’t know yet. I’ll explore these questions in a near future post. Thanks for allowing me to indulge myself, and feel free to send me any comments regarding my experiences or answers.

Maybe it’s just me, but it really seems like Annabelle is too old for diapers now. She speaks and plays and just does things that we adults can understand.  But I am reminded on a regular basis that she is still in diapers. I guess it’s worse for her mom who changes the majority of them on a daily basis. While both her mom and I both want this diaper phase to end, I think Annabelle wants it to end pretty soon too.

Annabelle has grown more disdain for her diapers over the past few months.  She’s been in the naked toddler phase (on that Eliana thankfully skipped) for the last few months. There is something about the birthday suite that is just comfortable to kids her age. However, there have been occasions where she has done her business in the diaper, and then, well, she doesn’t seem too comfortable after that. Since it is the only way of relieving herself with which she is comfortable, she sometimes asks us to let her wear a diaper. Well, as she starts to learn that she can avoid the uncomfortable feeling if a dirty diaper, I think she’ll start to see the benefit of not using diapers.

Annabelle is growing so fast, and I’m not in a particular hurry to see her grow up, however, one stage that I truly wish was over is the diaper stage. Diapers, go away!

This morning I noticed that Eliana was being especially perky. I decided at the last minute before I left her at school to take her picture. Just then, her best friend walked into the room. She was quite excited. The other day, when I dropped her off, her friend was very excited to see Eliana. I’m glad that Eliana is making friends.

The Olympic Games is a masterful event I look forward to every four years. I have only ever participated in a handful of sports (I’ll never try to learn gymnastics), but I enjoy the spirit of the competition. More compelling though, is the Olympic Spirit, the feeling that transcends the athletes, games and politics that makes each and every Olympic games truly special.

The gathering of the world under one common goal: to compete against each other, and to promote the human spirit. Of course, this isn’t the goal that shows up in much of the media. With the Chinese defending themselves against allegations of faking parts of the opening ceremonies, and a few athletes testing positive for performance enhancing drugs, my grand vision of what the Olympics tries to achieve and actually does achieve are slightly different. I know this, yet, I still hurry home every day to catch what I missed in the previous day’s events. I find myself wandering the Olympics web site for news.

Why do I still look forward to the games? Perhaps it’s the competition. Perhaps is the inspiration of having a world of peoples gather in one place to confer with each other. It’s kind of like having a family reunion, and everyone is there, in principle, to have a good time. The games are really there to promote a bond between family members. The Olympics should help the world form bonds with peoples they would otherwise have never thought of talking to. Sports crosses the boundaries of language and culture.

In short, I am still in awe of one of the greatest man-made spectacles in history, and I wish I could experience the Olympic spirit every day.

This week, school started for the Chandler Unified School District, and that means that Eliana is back in class. This year, she is in pre-kindergarten class, and as far as I can tell, she is having a blast. Her sister, on the other hand, is seeing things a little differently.

Over the summer, Eliana and Annabelle spent a lot of time together. They went to every class and activity together. They played with each other, they fought with each other often. But now that Eliana is going to school, the mornings are a little more difficult for Annabelle. The morning routing is normal: wake up, eat, clean up and go. But that last part is where it falls apart. This morning, as Eliana and I were ready to walk to the car and head to school, Annabelle wanted to go too. She put on her dress as Eliana was getting dressed for schoool. As Eliana walked out the door, she thought she would go too. She went to get he diaper so she could go out. As I was walking out the door, she said she wanted to go to school, too. I told her that she had to poop in the toilet in order to go to school.  She immediately headed to the bathroom. She took me a little too literally, I suppose. When she returned, she was sad that her efforts were done in vain as Eliana and I were in the car, rolling out of the garage. I saw Annabelle’s sad face, and felt a little bad for her.  I remember as a kid, I always just wanted to get out of the house…often.

I understand that Annabelle wants to go everywhere with her sister. But, what she doesn’t realize I guess is that she now gets to spend a little one on one time with her mom. I’m sure her mom is really excited.

Like to be naked?

Of all thing strange things I’ve witnessed from my children so far, Annabelle’s fondness for her birthday suit has been by far the most baffling. This has only happened lately, I think since we started to really “try” to toilet train her.

When we come home from a trip to the store, Annabelle makes sure to venture out of sight just long enough to remove her clothes, and her diaper. The upside of all this nudity is that it does help us to remind her to go to the toilet more often.

In the mornings, she still wakes up earlier than we do. However, now after she peeks into our room in the morning, she will sneak off to her room again, and remove all excess clothing, and arrive again in our bedroom…sans diaper. Just want I want to see first thing in the morning.

Well, at least she’s usually smiling about all this nakedness.  I just hope this is one phase that ends soon.

I don’t know why I never did it before, but I’ve finally gotten a new web site up for the main web site. So, if you point your web browser to:

www.casademora.com

You will be greeted with a brand-spankin’ new home page. It’s not a whole lot, and I’ll probably be adding to it over time, but hey, it’s a start. I plan on using iWeb for this home page, just because it’s easy, and I’ve got another site for my personal projects now.

I welcome your comments on the new home page!

I was having a conversation with someone today, and a mysterious thought occured to me: My generation is currently living a social transformation very similar to the one that happened back in the early 20th century.

The 1900’s in America and the World were just starting to industrialize. But, modern society as we know it today didn’t happen until there was wide spread use of automobiles. Indeed, many historians will go on and on about the days before cars (the horse and buggy days) and the days with cars (urban sprawl days, present day). They will mention the huge societal transformation from quiet rural towns and small communities to huge megalopolis’s.

The people born in the late 1890s saw the whole world change in their lifetimes. They saw cars evolve from their very beginnings, to the affordability of the Ford model-T to the luxury liners. They also witnessed their way of life change. No longer was it fashionable to walk to the local store to get your groceries. If you had a car, you were high class. Hence the drive-in movie phenomenon of the 1950’s. In all, it was a huge shift.

Fast forward to the end of the 20th century, and cars are an all too common family item. But, a couple of new revolutionary devices made their ways to the mainstream culture due perhaps to their sheer utility. The Internet and Cell phones have become the two catalysts of our generation.

While it was born in the middle of the century, the Internet has grown into the vital tool for everyday communication and entertainment. In fact, the Internet is a vital component of many businesses. It is also a mainstay in or household. When we first moved in, the cable guy happened to be outside hooking things up. He said that he could have TV up by the end of the day. I quickly thanked him, but asked if we could have the Internet turned on instead. I have not subscribed to cable TV since then. Not a day goes by that I don’t use the Internet. These days, if it’s not on the Internet, I just don’t need it. All the information I need to get along with my daily activities is provided somewhere online. Electronics, check. Money, check. Clothes, check. Food, check. Books, check. Education, check. Friends, check. News, check. Everything is there. This is a huge shift from my own childhood when computers were luxury toys that were expensive and slow. My how fast times change.

The days before cell phones were difficult. If we were in trouble in the middle of an interstate highway between major cities, we were left to the mercy of the passersby to stop and lend a hand. If we didn’t make carefully laid out instructions to the late night rendezvous, we would never meet. Now, the electronic leash keeps us in touch with our friends, or sends us messages when we have events due on our online calendars. Sometimes, we even talk on our cell phones. Indeed the days before cell phones were nasty. I find it hard to believe that kids nowadays may grow up without ever knowing what a landline is, just as I never grew up with a rotary dial in any house but my grandmother’s.

All this makes me wonder: is this sort of social transformation on some sort of cycle? If so, what is it? At first glance, it seems that it’s comes about once a century. If that is the case, I can only wonder what awaits my children’s children when they grow up. What sort of major change in lifestyle will occur that I can’t even imagine?

Yesterday, Eliana and her friends stopped by for a their weekly visit. We decided to take some pictures, finally. After looking at the pictures of Eliana, I again started to notice that she has grown so much over the last few months, it’s just astonishing. Check out some of the new pictures I’ve finally been able to capture over the last couple of days on my account at flickr.com

Tonight we set in motion the initial step in a series of events that we hope will benefit the future of our first born daughter for the rest of her life. Eliana’s mother and I have growing concerns regarding her future health and well-being. We do not want her to follow the same patterns we followed as children. Personally, I want to let her be her own person, but she has to enable that herself.

As we were trying to think about ways for Eliana to get more exercise on a daily basis, I thought about one of the things that I wanted to do as a kid: play soccer in a league. Of course I was deprived of this opportunity due to the circumstances of our lives, but Eliana doesn’t have to barriers. She is able to stand on my (our) shoulders even now and benefit.

While I hope that she takes to soccer like a fish to water (or a kid to a candy store), I sincerely hope she just has fun. This little conspiracy, experiment or whatever you want to call it, has it’s roots in encouraging exercise for Eliana, but I still hope that she develops a love for the game of soccer, and learns to have fun while exercising.

This also gives me an opportunity to watch her perform at something that neither her mom nor I will teach her. However, I won’t be far away, because she will need me at the most unpredictable times. I will be there for every game, and as many practices as possible. I want to be there when she scores a goal. I want to be there when she passes the ball to her teammate. I want to be there for all the other fun times she will have, because as she will be having fun, I will be having fun watching her.

…Of diaper days, that is.

I took a look back at the blog archives and noticed that my first post about Annabelle’s toilet transition time started way back last September. That means that we’ve been waiting almost a year for her to figure out that toilets are easier for us to deal with than her diaper. But over the last week, she’s made some major steps forward on the road to pre-K toddler.

Last weekend, we stayed home for most of the time, so we let her run around the house without her diaper. She likes to do this, and this has had some messy consequences as well. However, this time around, we asked her a little more frequently if she had to go to the bathroom. We even took her, and placed her on the toilet, and waited with her. She started out by going once on the toilet per day. We tried to give her as much praise as possible. We wanted to make sure her learning experience was as stress free as possible.

Over the last few days, the reports are that she has gone to the toilet more and more. Today, she even made it to the next level. (You know which level that is.) We are hoping that the end of her diaper days are near, and the next level of childhood growth will soon be upon us…

Every so often, my big life To Do List makes an appearance on this blog. It’s always a good idea to revisit your life lists to make sure that you are gaining any ground, or to see what is really important to you. Things that were important to get done one or two years ago may not seem so high in priority now.

Looking at my 4 year old list from 2004, I notice that some things on here had no chance of being done. Traveling to other countries wasn’t going to happen due to the demands of having a family.

Learning is the core of my being, and it shows in my old list. However, I think I never learned how to learn without instruction. Thus, I never followed through. I still would like to learn the chinese language. I still want to learn the philosophy and beauty of kung fu. I want to experience the joy of playing cello again. I want to feel the rush of being in a real band as a smokin bassist.

Somethings that were never on the list are now a big priority in my life. I have committed myself to being a better software engineer. I will also find time in my life to volunteer at the lower opportunity schools as one of the best impacts Intel has had on me.

Learning cello. That item is there in reference to my childhood as the nerd with a cello. Growing up, I don’t think I appreciated what I had. Now that it isn’t there in my daily life, I miss some part of it. I also want to pass that along to my kids to experience the joys and challenges of learning oneself through music.

In all, I haven’t made the progress I had hoped on my list, but then again, I’ve also done some worthwhile things that weren’t on the list. Now, it’s time to redouble my efforts somehow, and to prioritize what’s important to me, and to be able to leave with no regrets.

Recently, a couple of friends of mine began to grow their families one baby at a time. All of them are experiencing the things we last encountered two or three years ago. I’m not sure if it’s the drum beat of daily life, or just that we have all grown to become accustomed to each other, but it’s been a while since I thought of my girls as the little babies they once were. And, a recent video of a friend with his newborn had me living through my own first day experiences with Eliana.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about my kids, and how to make sure their lives will be pleasant and rewarding. Having a child, someone who will rely on me for so many things, whose lives I will revolve around for the rest of my own life, was a very difficult concept for me to grasp those few years ago. It’s not that I couldn’t handle the responsibility, actually, I think I took to the role quite well. My wife can attest to that. But, for nearly a year, something in the back of my mind was watching my go through the motions of being a first time Dad. Perhaps it was my own youth, the rapid change from just a married guy to a married guy with a child. Or the fact that someone else’s life was actually depending on me; that was something that had never happened to be prior to my first daughter’s birth.

Indeed, I have thought a little about those days recently, mostly in that the growth of our children make it easier for us adults to measure the passage of time. When I look at, and talk with Eliana these days, I can’t help but marvel at her. Her mannerisms, her wit, her charm, everything that has developed before my very eyes over the last 4 years. Annabelle is growing just as fast. Some days, I think I am literally watching her grow as from one day to the next, she seems to have sprouted longer legs. I know now what it must have been like for my parents to see us grow up so quickly, from diapers to college in the blink of an eye.

Kids, they grow so fast, yet, we also should realize that we grow just as fast, with them. We are not young forever. We need to capture the moments with our kids at every opportunity. Daily life can turn into a daily grind, and as the children learn to assert their individuality, some days will be more difficult than others. Rest assured, that even on those days, I try to remember that those moments are what makes life worth living. Those are the experiences we will all remember as we all travel through this world, with our families as our guides and companions.

I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since I’ve taken any pictures…of anything! No pictures of the girls, none of me, random stuff…nothing. I only realized this when I opened my photo library and noticed that the month of June was not even there. As in, there were no entries, so it didn’t show up.

As I’ve grown to appreciate the art of photography over the last few years, I’ve tried my best to learn the techniques and try to take better pictures. One some occasions, I’ve succeeded: I’ve got several great pictures of the girls. On another level, I can’t just stop there either. I need to keep practicing, keep improving. I often find it difficult to find good subjects to take pictures of, or find inspiration from. I’m sure my excuse doesn’t fly just because I find no beauty in the desert or the searing summer heat.

Having taken a workshop last year, I realized that it isn’t my surroundings that make for great photography, it’s how I see and interpret them. I just haven’t made effort to see the beauty here. But, on the other hand, I have been here for quite a long time, and at some point, its like staring a a pot of water: it just won’t boil.

The other day, I met the kids at the pool after work, as had been the norm lately. It was a nice 105 or so, and the pool felt great. I got in the water more than normal and played with the kids to loosen up after work.

I’m trying to teach Annabelle to relax in the pool. As it is now, she is very scared of going under the water. It’s a perfectly natural response, however, I would like her to at least be able to float on her own. I try holding her up in a swimming position, I try floating her on her back, with her head on my shoulder. Nothing seems to work. So, I just tried to have a little fun with her. So I put her on my back, and started to take her around the big pool. She enjoys this, as she has control over her position in the water to some extent, and she has something solid to hold onto: me.

As we were walking over to meet her mom, she slid off my back a little, and was about to fall into the water. I caught her (as I reminded her, that I would catch her), and put her back where she was on top of me. She then patted me on the head, and said “Thank You, Horsie”. I quickly retorted “I’m not your horsie”. I knew she was playing, as we usually horse around at home. It was one of those times where the baby voice and the situation made it for one of those cute moments to remember.

Since I started working at GoDaddy a few weeks ago, my daily routine has changed a little bit. Before, it was such a pain to stop by the gym because we would always go after I got home from work. I never felt motivated to go just because it I was inconvenient. I had to drive home, eat dinner, get my stuff ready, and get to the gym. Once there I had to take the girls to the child-care center and check them in. This whole process has several variables, most of which I didn’t want to deal with after work.

As a mental picture, making three points out of work, home, and gym, they formed an L, with home being the point. Enter the new daily office location. The new shape of my commute more closely resembles a line (albeit jagged due to the streets), with the gym being in the center. This had made going to the gym a whole lot easier as it’s just on the way home. But, this leads to a couple other dilemmas: dinner time with the family is nearly non-existant at this point, and I don’t usually get home until at least 8pm.

Getting home late is not really that big of a deal, but it does feel like I’m never home anymore. It feels more and more like my time with the kids on a daily basis has shrunk from the 3-4 hours after work to 1-2 hours. Sure, the kids make it to the gym too, and they all eat and get other things taken care of before I get there, but that just means less of the classic “quality time”.

I’m not trying to complain about this new schedule. On the contrary, it’s actually a pretty good deal on my end. I do worry about my wife, and the load she has to carry every day. I also worry about some of the time I miss with the kids. At least right now, I can do no wrong to them, so I guess I’m ok for now.

Originally, I had planned to take a short trip to Portland over the weekend of the Seattle to Portland bike ride. It’s a short trip over the course of a weekend covering the 200 miles between Seattle and Portland. I rode this event a few years ago, and I have been eager to visit Portland in the summertime again ever since. However, the cards didn’t play out in my favor this time around (probably something to do with the rest of the family wanting to go too), so I’ll be rescheduling my summer bike trip around the Taylor House Century. This will let me and the family take a short break from the blistering Phoenix area heat for at least a weekend and it will let me get in some miles so I can try to get ready for next year’s El Tour de Tucson. I am sooo out of shape.

Annabelle is your typical 2 year old. She’s energetic, active, happy and all in all having a good time. It’s interesting to try to figure out what her personality will be like in the coming years based on what we see now. I would like to think she is going to be the popular girl in her class; her beauty is fairly obvious, when she’s not injuring herself. She is also fairly outgoing, more so than her older sister.

Annabelle is quite a mischievous little girl. Add that with the energy of a two year old, and you have a dangerous mix. Everyday, Annabelle wakes up at or near the crack of dawn. Here in Arizona, that’s about 5:30. Since she sleeps in the room down the hall from us, I can hear the door open, then close as the pitter patter of little footsteps grows louder and louder as she approaches our room. At first, she would yell, and jump and crawl on our bed. She always heads for her mom first, who is sleeping, of course. Sometimes, when she can’t get a reaction from her mom, she’ll come over to my side and see what she can get out of me. However, lately, she now seems to know that we’re not going to do a whole lot to entertain her at that point in the morning, so she will do one of two things: Go down stairs, or stand next the bed and wait.

When the little stinker would go downstairs, I thought she would just start playing with some of her toys. Especially those which she usually doesn’t play with when her sister is awake. But lately, this little stinker has started to be more mischievous by getting into the pantry. She also learned how to move one of the dinning table chairs to the counter, and climb up there to get a snack, or whatever is available.

When she stays up stairs, depending on how tired she is (I think she wakes up even when she’s a little tired), she’ll stand there and stare. Or when she’s being nice she’ll just crawl into bed with her mom.

There is no rest for the weary in this household. We have to be on top of what the kids are doing the whole time they’re awake. Maybe one day, we’ll get a brake, but I’m not going to be holding my breathe for that to happen.

Recently, I was browsing for some educational stuff for the girls to watch. I’ve set up the family TV with an Apple TV and such, I put a lot of our existing content, and new content on it for them to watch on demand, without the use of a DVD (I hate when they scratch the DVD’s). Among the usual suspects, Seaseme Street, Dora and Super Why on PBS, I saw a link to a show called “Ni Hao, Kai-lan”. It’s a new show with a Chinese American girl as the main character. It’s a lot different than Dora in that it’s not as formulaic. The kids enjoy watching it (and almost anything else we put on the TV). But what I like about this is the introduction of the Mandarin Chinese language.

Back in college, I studied chinese for two whole semesters. Yes, my wife is Korean, as are my kids, but I find the written chinese language to be elegant, artistic and beautiful. Perhaps that was why I was drawn to it in the first place. In college, I heard about the upcoming chinese boom, and I figured learning the language would be useful; so I was also trying help my future career. It was also great in broadening my horizons and introducing me to a new culture. But, it has been quite a long time since college, and I never practiced enough to gain a decent fluency of the language.

I have long known that now is the best time for the kids to learn all languages as this is the easiest time of their lives to learn that stuff. I want them to learn chinese just so that they can have another tool in their toolbox at their disposal for the rest of their lives. But, I would like to be able to use it too. Well, all this post is trying to say is that I will hence forth be trying to teach the kids my limited knowledge of the chinese language, as time permits, of course.

I’m going to have to find other ways for the kids to learn chinese too. They will learn Korean fairly easily because they have daily exposure to the language. The same goes for English. Chinese (and Spanish, for that matter) will be more difficult since none of us are native speakers. But, to start, at least being exposed to this new show has let me help the girls start learning some simple words in chinese like “Hello” and “Thank You”. Over time, I will try to pursue this avenue of knowledge as well to help them, as well as myself.

We’ll just have to see how this experiment plays out.

Recently, we’ve again been caretakers of two korean girls because their parents are hard working individuals that need our help. I love the extra company, and our girls love having friends over for the night. In all, it’s an interesting, but fun situation. Yesterday, however, we decided to pick everyone up at the gym pool. Letting the kids play in the pool is an easy way to let them all get tired for bedtime (a sneaky trick, I know, but they enjoy this one).

So, it was my, my wife, my two girls, and our two guests playing at the pool at dusk. Usually when we’re done, we all grab towels and make for the indoors as the indoor pool area is humid, and keeps everyone warm. Since there was a total of 6 of us this time, instead of the normal four, we all looked like one big family. As we were walking back to the locker room, I heard someone say

“Wow, what a beautiful family.”

I’m sure the comment was based on all six of us walking together, and that means that the comment was aimed at the family she thought she saw: A husband and wife, leading their four kids, two of them obviously no theirs by birth, to clean up after a fun day at the pool. Normally, I think our family is above average, but I guess with two extra girls (who aren’t ours) we’ve moved up a few notches (whatever that means).

We were moving too fast to say thanks, but it did get me thinking. I mean, I am perfectly fine with having only two kids right now. At times, it seems even that is more than we can handle. However, I have always thought that at some point in my life, I (rather, we) would adopt an unfortunate child or pair of siblings. My argument is that since our lives are blessed with so much, from a financial and well-being standpoint, that we could afford to spread the wealth and give someone a chance in life who otherwise would have none. But it’s not all about financial stability; it’s about having a warm heart, and the patience to help other children through life’s hurdles.

This comment reminded me of that thought as I wondered how things would be if we adopted a couple of kids who were past the baby stage (I’m totally done with that).  I still can’t answer that as it all depends on personalities, and a number of other factors. But still, the thought remains.

As our girls play with our guests this morning, I still wonder if we could really deal with a larger family. I know they all get along now basically because they don’t see each other all the time. But I still wonder…

This past Sunday, we were going through our normal hurry up routine to get to the gym. We were almost in the car when we noticed that there was someone doing some yard work in the house next to ours. Naturally, we thought someone was there from the bank to try to clean some of the mess up. After talking with the guy for a few minutes, we learned that we will finally have some new neighbors in the next couple of weeks.

About a month ago, our house we put up for auction as a foreclosure. One of the many houses that have been foreclosed and sold in this crummy real estate market. It turns out that the person who bought it (for 60% of the price we paid) is going to be moving in. 

It’ll be nice to have someone actually living in the house next door. One by one, I think the market is going to come back eventually with people like that being able to buy up the empty house of their dreams, or the opportune house of the moment and live in them cheaply.

Annabelle is your typical, active little 2 year old. She runs, and plays and can get into trouble just well as, if not better than, any other toddler out there. However, it really seems that Annabelle is injury prone. At some point, it has to seem that we are trying to injure her on purpose, but really, we want her to be as safe as possible.

Over the past year, we have been thankful for our health insurance plan. It has given us much piece of mind when it’s come to Annabelle’s visits to the ER. Grand total thus far, Annabelle has seen the ER at Desert Banner in Mesa four times. She has had stitches twice, once on her eyelid, and another under her chin. I was there for both.

Recently, Annabelle had a mishap at the childcenter at the gym. In the child center, there is a computer area, and a huge play area, and both are divided by a walkway. The play area is closed off by a hingeless door that is at child level; that means that any child who can walk and grab the door handle can open in. And worse, close it. About two weeks ago, Annabelle somehow didn’t retract her fingers quick enough and got several fingers smashed. It looked as painful as it must have felt to her. Her fingernail was bleeding underneath for a couple of days, on and off.

For as bad as that particular injury was, we thought that was the worst of it.  Then, about a week or so later, two fingers down, her fingernail started to just come off. She was just sitting calmly in her chair in the van, while we were driving, and then we noticed that she had been playing with something on her finger. It was a double-take when we realized that she was playing with the fingernail that was coming off. Annabelle didn’t seem to mind it; but for those of us looking at this, thinking about our our fingernails, it just looked painful.  Eventually, the fingernail did come off, and well, she will now have about 6-9 months before it grows back completely.

In these coming months, so many more things can happen to Annabelle that we can’t foresee, but we can only hope to do our best that nothing happens to her fingernail-less finger. Everything I look at it, I just can’t stop thinking about my own fingernails—<shutter>.

Last week, we were at the local mall, waiting for lunch to be made, when Annabelle started to pose and started to make funny faces. Then she looked bored. Annabelle, I guess, was just tired of waiting, and tired of making faces. She’s in her swimsuit because we were on our way to the splash park at the mall. That day, the mercury only topped 90 degrees (F) , but it was still warm enough for the kids to have a good time.

It’s been a few days, but to make it official on my blog: I’ve recently resigned my position at Intel. It was a difficult decision to leave, but with new avenues come new opportunities. Intel is a great company to work for, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to learn from some very smart people. However, it came to a point where I was just doing busy work, and not learning any more. My brain needs to absorb new things and ideas, or else I will go insane!

I did not resign just based on a difference of work style or professional differences. I have accepted a position at GoDaddy.com, in Scottsdale, AZ. I’m hoping for a slight change of pace, with new opportunities for career growth. However, in order to spend some time with my family and to get a few things done around the house, I decided to take an unofficial break from all work entirely for the next couple of weeks.

But, with a new job or career opportunity, it feels like there should be more change in my life right now. The last time I made the major shift to join Intel, my family went through quite a few changes. I was traveling between Tucson and Phoenix on a weekly basis. I was seeing my family only on weekends. We bought a new house. Those were crazy times, but worth the hassle considering the effect on my career.

While we’re not going to undergo similar craziness this time around, there will be some changes in our lives. For one, I will be driving to Scottsdale on a regular basis for the next several months. Go Daddy is also seemingly the antithesis of Intel corporate culture. So, this experiment in my career will lead to a very interesting period in my life. I’ll try to keep up with my blog.

Every time I have to stop my children from doing something from which they can get hurt, or to eat their vegetables, or clean their room, I hear a little I hear a little bit of my parents in my voice. Is this an inevitable evolution? Why can’t I think of something new to say to them? Am I doomed to not being in touch with my children in the future as my parents seemed at times?

In a way, every time I tell my children to eat their vegetables or other good-for-them food, I am like every other rational parent out there. As parents, we want the best for our kids. But, if we remember our own childhoods, we hated the same things our kids hate now. I never liked vegetables. However, as I became older, I found that they really weren’t that bad. All we want is that our children enjoy their childhood as healthily as possible, and eating their veggies is just one piece of the puzzle that will help achieve that.

We have all heard that voice when the time comes to scold our kids. I hear my Mom and Dad in my voice in many of these scoldings. When I hear that, I realize that all these flashbacks are there to keep my anger in check. I do get annoyed by many of the things my kids do, but when I start to hear my parents in my head, my perspective starts to shift from my view to what my kids are seeing, and feeling. Or at least to what I understand the kids are seeing from me.

Growing older, I notice mental changes in myself as well as the typical physical changes. But, the mental changes, at least, will have more impact on my relationship with my children when they start to become more independent and have social lives of their own. I find I’m still able to keep up with trends right now, but who knows what will happen as we venture into the new eras in our lives. Of course, when we’re kids, we all think we’ll never get old, or never be out of touch, but then we all thought the only occupations available to us were: astronaut, fireman, or policeman, etc. Our world grows as we grow; mine continues to grow, and probably will continue well into my old age.  I think it is going to be up to me to be able to balance being a good parent and a good friend to my daughters as we all grow older.

Maybe by then, my children will be hearing the voices of us in their heads…

Over and over again, I find myself repeating the same stereotype phrases of parents of yesteryear; and I find it a little disturbing.

Last night at the dinner table, Annabelle was doing her normal thing: eating only what she wanted, and ignoring all the salad and other healthy items on her plate. Don’t get me wrong, most everything on her plate is healthy, but we want to encourage her to eat salads. Her older sister eats them with no issues.

Annabelle, generally will start to chew a salad or vegetable, and then spit it out. Last night was different, but not by chance. As she started to repeat this routine I knew all too well, I, in my fatherly voice, instructed her to finish eating her salad in her mouth. At 2 years old, Annabelle already knows how to play the cute card. I am not immune to it, but any weakness in the “angry armor”, and all that you are trying to do gets tossed aside by a small giggle. As I finished scolding her, she looked at me with her cute face, and just froze. I did my best to be stern, and encourage her to continue eating the salad in her mouth. After half a minute or so, she continued eating her salad. But after that, she started to let her mom feed her salad. Of course, with any food, you have to put a little sweetness in it, and we always try to put some raisins and salad dressing to make it taste better. Amazingly, Annabelle picked up speed in eating her salad, and finished the remaining salad without anymore issues. I was encouraging by moving my stern voice to a more positive tone, so she knew that she was doing what I asked.

In the end, I think Annabelle will still eat and spit out the food she doesn’t find tasty, but this is the job of all parents, and this part of the can not end soon enough.

It’s been a long week for me. I’ve had a ton of work, flew to Portland for a few days, and today, I had to take care of my girls morning routine. This is something that normally is handled by their mother. But, since I was out of town for three days, I figured I at least owed her a little break from the kids.

The morning was as normal, everyone scurrying around trying to get the kids dressed for school. Since Annabelle had a Little Gym class, she had to be clothed as well. I think my mere presence helped keep things on track, as the girls listed fairly well. Then, it was off to drop Eliana off at school. I do this twice a week, normally, so no big deal. It was tough to make sure both of them didn’t wander off too far on the walk across the parking lot at school.

After the first stop, we had about one hour before the Little Gym class, so we stopped at McDonald’s. I have never been to McDonald’s so often in at least 10 years. It is fairly handy to have a place with a play area for Annabelle.  As soon as we walked in the door, she bolted directly for the play area. She had a blast for about 10 minutes; then she became a little bored. At least some other kids showed up to keep her interest while I worked for most of the hour.

Next, we headed to the Little Gym. I’ve been to her class before, and Annabelle is such a free spirit in these parent-tot classes. It’s tough to get her to follow along with the rest of the group, but I do think she is making progress.  The class is very structured, and Annabelle is picking up on the structure. Today, she knew about the bells, and the balls and wanted to take part in those parts of class. She wasn’t too interested in the skill of the day, or with playing with the other kids.

Afterwards, it was back to the school to pick up Eliana. We arrived with a few mintues to spare, so we waited with the gathering crowd of pre-school moms. I was the only dad in attendance. Eliana was the second person in the line today, and something amazing occured when Eliana walked into view.  As soon as Annabelle saw Eliana, she ran yelling “Oni! Oni!” (Big Sister in korean). She gave her a big hug. And Eliana gave her a hug back. Sisters, indeed. It was a short, cute and nice moment to watch. I think those two will have a bond for life as the grow together.

But, back to the crazy morning, I packed everyone back into the car, and headed home. I gave them some snacks their mom had prepared, and everyone was happy, and a little sleepy. I wasn’t too bad; in fact, I thought the morning had gone off pretty well. It was nowhere near the hazard I imagined it to be considering how beat my wife looks after doing this all the time. either way, it was interesting to live the other side of the coin today and see a little of what goes on while I’m toiling away at work everyday.

Again, my topic for today references something from the “I’m a man living in a house of women” refrain. This weekend, I received my fill of princess time watching the movie Enchanted with my two girls. We hadn’t seen it prior to this weekend. This is not a movie review, but rather an attempt to pull out some of the key ideas, and some feelings about those proposed in the movie. After all, these ideas are planted in our children’s minds when we let them watch the movie in the first place.

Enchanted’s main character, Giselle, seems a bit simple minded when she first emerges from the animated fantasy world. People are always nice over there, and she is so trusting of nearly everyone. While this is fodder for a movie character, I got to wondering, what if the real world was as hospitable as this character would like it? I don’t imagine these questions because of my own desire to have “world peace”(tm), but rather, I try to think of the context of my daughters who, while they don’t understand the words now, will eventually come to ask these very same questions in the future. They will grow up. And, then, what will I tell them?

It’s a big nasty world out there, be careful

Watch out for boys, they only want one thing …

The Disney princesses are as real as Santa Clause…

These are things that I dread having to tell my kids in the future. Not because this is the cold reality we live in, but these statements will drag them down from their own private little world, a place of happiness, to the state of reality we currently occupy. That isn’t to say that it’s all bad in reality. But, if you had a choice between fantasy and reality, which would you pick?

As they grow up, I want to give my girls certain things that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. For one, I want them to know how much we care for them, no matter how upset we may seem at any one moment. And two, I want them to have the confidence and imagination to dream the dreams they choose, and to have the ability to follow up on those dreams. I want my girls to do anything they dare to achieve in this world, and to not take no as the final word.

It may seem like a huge tangent to go from a fun girlie movie (of which I will be watching more of, I’m sure) to my girl’s futures.  However, I can not help but think about what will and won’t effect the developing minds with which I have been blessed. As children, remember, than our parents had many great aspirations for us, that we were to break out of their mold, to achieve things they never could for reasons within, or beyond their control. At the same time, I don’t want to pressure my own children. It’s not about me, it’s about making sure they have everything they need.