Meeting Minutes

It has been a month since I've rapped at y'all. Sorry about that. My life has just been a crazy mess of all sorts of stuff. 

Let's recap June-

All I remember was my daughter's birthday. She turned the big 5 this year. Wow, time really flies. If you have kids then you understand this well. It hits home even more when you sit back and look at photos of them growing up right before your eyes. A few of them that I looked at seemed like they happened just last week; only to remember that it was actually over 2 years ago. Hold on to them tightly and treat them well because the time is short. 

Another June moment was the confirmation that we are now expecting our 3rd child. So far the pregnancy is going well and my wife is still looking pretty hot. Well, she's always a hot preggo but I am sure that we won't have much time to really worry about that stuff. Now that we've already got 2 kids to keep us busy, and with how quickly the this last year has gone by, I'm sure that the pregnancy will breeze right by. I am pretty thankful for that because I remember how hard our first pregnancy was. The first few months blew right by. The next 4 months went by at a "life as usual" pace. The last month was killer. The anticipation kept me up each night thinking that my wife's every move meant that she was going into labor. Baby, when you're ready, we'll be waiting for you.

Pivot point 3 for June was my decision that I really needed to start working out again, seriously. My daughter told me one day after I got out of the shower that I looked like I was going to have a baby. That hurt...but she was right. 

I will be 30 next month and although I am still about 5 years away from entering those "mid-life" years I don't want to be one of those fat and unhappy middle-agers. My diet needs adjusting, which I'm working on, and I need to offset all of my hours sitting at a desk during the day with physical activities. Admittedly, getting into the swing of things is really hard, but I can say that I already feel a difference. I've lost 10 pounds and I feel a little more confident about myself. I don't need to be Mr. Universe but I also don't want to maintain my staus quo. 

On the job front-

I'm still at my regular day job. Not really going anywhere with that one.

The computer gigs keep coming in. I am usually making 2-3 calls a week on my customers and I am continually getting new ones.

I have also started to take off with painting. So far I have done the interior of 2 rental houses and a display wall in a photo gallery. Coming up sometime in the future I will have another home interior, a photo studio backdrop wall, 2 apartments and possibly 2 condos. If you or anyone that you know of is in the need for a painter just let me know or send them my way.

My book is still very slow in development. I have some upcoming time that I need to take off of work though so hopefully I can find myself in some secluded places for a few days and finally get it finished. I imagine that it would be a lot easier to crank out more books in less time if that was the only thing that a person did. 

My parents' divorce isn't getting any easier. My dad has been out of my mom's house for about 2 months now. We seem to see him every few weeks when he comes up to visit. It is nice to see him but it is hard because he seems to always be on a limited schedule and he's really unhappy. 

My mom is doing much better than expected though. She has begun to find ways to pick up the pieces of her life and move on. She is a strong woman. She is keeping herself busy with people and things to do and I'm very proud of her. 

Back to work.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Birthday

These days just go by so quickly. Yesterday marked the 5th anniversary of my daughter's birth. 5 years ago we had been in the hospital welcoming her into the world. Now, 5 years later I start a new tradition- taking the day off of work to spend with the birthday child. So the day went like so:

We started out by taking her to the last day of Vacation Bible School at church. I thought that it might make some kind of difference to her having me there but it didn't really. I should have taken my laptop along and worked more on my book. [The Unauthorized & Incomplete Autobiography Of Rage Perry, set to be finished sometime in the future]. 

When VBS was over then it was time for the birthday girl to pick the destination for our noonly feeding. I figured that the choice would be Culvers. She surprised us by picking McDonalds. Bear in mind that we pretty much gave her the choice of anywhere in town. So off to McDonalds we went to stuff our faces.

After we were done eating it was then time for my wife and son to go sleep in the van while I continued to sit in the booth fighting the Sandman and watching the girl run around in the play area and periodically call out my name and wave to me. It was kind of nice to feel like she still needed me for something, but when she was done playing I was only good for carrying our drinks  back out to the van. I sooooo wanted a nap, but that's the story of my life. 

From Mickey D's we proceeded to the theatre where we all nustled our bums into the chairs and prepared to be amazed by Kung Fu Panda. Both of my kids really liked it and so did I. You can take the guy out of martial arts but you just can't ever fully take the martial arts out of him. I have always also been a fan of some of the Confusian thought that comes from the far east. The whole "less is more and more is less" kind of thought. 

Shortly after we got back home my wife's mom, aunt and uncle came over for dinner before they had to head on to some school reunion activity. It is always good to see that clan. They brought with them gifts for my daughter and food. 

My daughter was excited for many of her presents. Barbies, movies, clothes. She actually asked for some Caroll Burnett videos....and she got them.

Food, cake, movies and more movies, company, a miriad of phone calls...it made for a busy day.

It is hard to imagine life without kids. I spent more of my life not having kids but now it is hard to be where I am and imagine not having any. They add another dimension to life. Like today....

Today my daughter successfully did a pretty long bike ride....without the training wheels. She was peddling and riding all by herself, stopping when she should, avoiding parked cars, she was a pro. I need to go ride with her a little later today so that she can get a little more practice.

Right now she has a friend over to the house who lives a block away. The girl is polite and they have been playing well together but I can't help but wonder what her home life is like. Do her parents ever wonder where she is? Do they feed her often? How concerned are they for her overall well being? It is just hard to know any more the parental involvement out there. Many parents are just in it because they forgot to use contraception. I hate that for the kids and I hate to assume the role of neighborhood babysitter; but if the only safe place is my place then I guess I feel a certain moral obligation. All I know is that they seem to be getting along well and my daughter has needed some other kids to be able to play with. 

I am happy because she is happy. That's all a daddy ultimately wants for his little girl. 

Captain's Log- Star date 4.19.08

It feels like it has been an old school G.I. Joe kung fu action grip since I've dropped a post on y'all.

So much stuff has been going down these days that I just can't seem to catch up with it. I'm just going to go in the order in which things creep up on me thinker.

I have been working my way through watching Dexter- Season 1. I have got to say that it is probably my new favourite series. It was originally made by and aired on Showtime but CBS also tried to make it into a slightly sanitized version for prime-time television. I have not been watching it there. I've been watching it in its raw form as originally aired. The premise is that Dexter is a blood spatter expert [do those even really exist? who cares?] for the Miami police department. He's got a secret though. He's really a serial killer...but the catch is that his victims are only deserving ones who have caused great harm for others. So it's really one of those that even though you know that he is in the wrong for what he is doing you still cheer for him. Kind of like Porter in Payback. I love the show and can't get enough of it.

My wife and I recently had to work through miscarrying a baby. Thankfully it was only after a few weeks of pregnancy, but I still feel sad about the loss. We are doing alright though.

Speaking of the wife, she is down in Des Moines this weekend only getting Jesus.

It has just been me and the kids tonight and will do the same tomorrow until she gets back. While I admit that there are certain times that I do look forward to the brief moments of temporary bachelorhood...things are just not the same tonight without her being here. Even though most nights we might be doing our own things around the house I guess tonight I just miss her presence.

We now have another cat again. We weren't sure what to think of her at first. She came to us from a house where she had 13 other companions to share litter boxes with. For the first several days she didn't really seem to want to have anything to do with us and then slowly she started warming up to us. Now after a few weeks she is roaming the house, trying to snuggle up to the dog and occasionally letting our daughter pet her. We finally named her. Fiona. She'll probably never catch on. She is a sweet cat that sounds like a dog's squeaky toy when she meows but she needs to learn the art of cuddling. It makes the dog jealous though.

The recent earthquake in Illinois has once again reminded me to try and be aware enough of my surroundings and the unknown that I don't get too overtaken with surprise about anything. It's even more amazing to me that the place where the earthquake happened is also the same place that holds the record for the worst earthquake in U.S. history.

I am still [very slowly but surely] working on my book. In case I didn't mention the title here before it will be called The Unauthorized & Incomplete Autobiography of Rage Perry. It's been fun so far. Now I just need to finish the damn thing.

I am now beginning the initial stages of what I hope will be my new career path. I have high ambitions to leave the cut-throat corporate IT world to pursue painting again. So if you want your house painted just let me know and I'll see if we can work something out. :-)

I am currently listening to a classic Radiohead tune called Creep. The song is a perfect stimulant for conversation as to various contextual relevances of the "F" word.

Earlier I listened to a tune from Red Hot Chili Peppers. One thing is for sure about them- whether you love or hate them they are a band to be commended for their diversity and substantive offerings. I just wish the drummer would wear clothes.

What ever happened to Dave Matthews? And where in the world are Waldo and Carmen SanDiego for that matter?

I need to go let the dog back in. I'll be right back......

OK, I'm back.

I think that's going to be all for tonight. If I think of anything later I'll scribble it then.

Compiliation

A Wild Wild Adventure

I want to talk a little bit about my adventure this afternoon.

My wife gave me a $1 off gift card to Wendy's so I decided after not being able to find it yesterday that I would venture out again today and look for it. I found it. It was inside of this fairly new mall near my office that is about 5 times the size of the town that I live in. So I sat in the food court eating my food [at $1 off the regular menu price] and watching everyone else.

This mall is located in a very suburban part of town where the food court was littered with what I am guessing were pre-soccer-mom's whose husbands were all off to work so they had congregated together for a lunch and play date. I applaud that, but it is just funny to see them do it in such a suburban way with their kids wearing Baby Gap and American Eagle and what not.

Now, the question is this- do I get out much? No.

I decided when I was done eating that since I had some time that I should kill before returning to the office that I would walk a lap around both the upper and lower levels of the mall to just get some exercise and see what all was there. It is a good walk around that place. I think that I probably walked 2 miles. There were all kinds of stores that I don't even really have enough money to walk into, let alone actually buy something there. The thing that intrigued me about so many of those places was that as I walked past the stores actually smelled like designer cologne or perfume. HOW DO THEY DO THAT? Does Glade make air fresheners in those scents?

There isn't a discount store of any kind in this mall. The whole place smelled like credit cards because I'm not sure what else the patrons were paying with.

I walked around there for about 20 minutes or so and then decided to head back out to my car so I could get back to work.

Dude! Where's My Car

So now that I'm outside I start walking and I get distracted by a man-made pond [with fountain and outdoor music] and a walkway. I stood there for a few moments and enjoyed the view before making the trek back to where my car was.

10 minutes later I'm still walking up and down rows of cars that don't contain my own. "Did I park here? I'm sure I was this far down...That truck looks familiar. Do I look like I'm ready to boost one of these?"

AARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

So I decide to go back into the mall to try and decipher which door exactly I came in so that I can retrace my steps in getting there. 10 minutes later I finally found my car and we enjoyed a brief embrace before some onlooker was preparing to call mall security.

Shoo-fly-shoo

So now that I'm back at the office in the parking lot I decided that I needed to check my Blackberry since I felt it zinging me with emails on my drive back from the mall. Why, you ask? I dunno....I was only about 100 feet away from my desk by this point; I should have just headed into the building so that I could check them at my desk.

Instead, I'm standing out in the parking lot like an idiot checking my email and dodging this fly that was pestering me. This thing just kept swarming around me and honing in on me for some reason.....so now I'm the idiot on his Blackberry running around in the parking lot trying to flee the evil clutches of a fly. Dum-duh-duh-dum.

I return to my email in peace now that the fly has decided to leave me alone; so I think.

I then finish up in the parking lot and head back to the building. Once back at my desk I plop down in my chair and reach for my phone. Now drowning in my hair I do one of those flip numbers to get it out of my face....only to have that damn fly emerge from beneath my nest somewhere. It rapidly zoomed out brushing my face as I cursed it.

I'm going home now. I hope you all have a good weekend.

Happy Birthday

Today is my son's 2nd birthday. What a flood of memories come to mind when I think about the day he was born; talk about excitement!

The night before my son was born my wife had been having trouble sleeping due to what felt like just an upset stomach. Since she couldn't sleep she decided to just go downstairs and watch TV and lay on the couch.

I woke up at 04:30 that morning to find that she was not in bed with me so I decided to take a journey downstairs to see what was going on. She was laying on the couch saying that she was uncomfortable with what felt like gas pains. She had been in and out of the bathroom many times hoping that something would happen to make things more comfortable for her but nothing seemed to be working. So we called the "First Nurse" people at the hospital and they gave us some suggestions that didn't work either. So I then jumped online and read whatever I could on the subject of relieving gas pain...the one thing that we had not tried was peppermint tea. So I jumped in the car @ 06:00 and drove to the nearest town in search of it. I went to a few places before I found it. Once I had it in hand I drove back home as quickly as possible.

When I was just about 10 minutes away from home my wife called and said that she hoped I was on my way because she was really getting uncomfortable. I assured her that I would be there very soon and to just hold on.

When I got home she could barely stand up straight because of the discomfort; and nothing was happening in the bathroom. So I called "First Nurse" back and told them the situation- that she was pregnant with 2 weeks left to go in her term and that she was a very unhappy camper. The lady on the phone did some mumbling of sorts and then said that I should bring her in.

My first thought, though somewhat distant, was that possibly there were complications brewing...was everything alright? were they going to have to induce her? were they going to have to do a c-section? do i need to be worried? I did entertain the possibility though that we might end up having a baby by the end of the weekend.

So we notified to neighbour so that she could come over and be with our daughter. [Author's note: We had already been talking to our 2 year old daughter about what might happen if mommy should have to have the baby when she was sleeping. We told her that Lindsay might come over and be with her until Memah and Papa got there to be with her.] We then packed up whatever we thought we might need and we then zoomed off to the hospital. When my wife said that she thought that she was feeling some pressure I stepped on it. We were soon flying down U.S. Highway 30 westbound at 90mph. I blew right past a state trooper who was dealing with someone one the side of the road. He didn't do anything about me; it may have been because I was driving with my emergency flashers on.

When we got into Ames I continued to drive like a road conscious mad man through town. I even blew through an intersection that had a red light staring me in the face and a local cop driving right toward us. He just pulled into the gas station like he didn't even notice.

We get to the hospital and I wheel my wife in to the Emergency entrance in the wheel chair and when we're greeted by the receptionist who said "Hi, what are you here for today?" my wife said "I need to have a baby." So they got the room lined up for us and we set out to find it.

After we got to our room it wasn't very long before the midwife came in to see us. [If you've never used a midwife, we HIGHLY suggest them] She checked my wife's dilation to find that she was already at 8cm. HOLY CRAP!!! Not a minute too soon!!! We could have had the baby at home if we didn't come in...

In just a matter of about 2 hours or so, our son Liam Robert entered the world with us. Man, I was so proud as a dad to now have a son. I was overjoyed to find out that our first child would be a girl. I knew that my soft spot in my heart would have to get bigger because of her, but now I had a son. Someone who could one day pee just like me. I cried as I watched him come out.

Meanwhile, when our daughter woke up at home to find that we were gone and Lindsay was there-- she thought for a minute of two [now she's always been a very sharp girl, but for a 2 year old this was amazing] and said "Linneys, mamma, daddy gone...MOMMY HAVE BABY?!?!?!?!"

Lindsay held the fort down until my wife's folks got there to collect our daughter to come to the hospital. When they got there I went down to the lobby to meet them and to tell Keelin that Liam was finally here with us. I cried again. She was such a proud big sister. You could see it all sink in as she dimly understood that Liam was no longer in mommy's tummy, but now out with us.

Kids can be such pains sometimes. I really hate to say it, but it's the truth. Our parents can vouch for that fact with multiplicity...but how they are worth it. To think that we could be responsible for the raising of the next generation right under our roofs.

Liam had a big day today- a doctor appointment to get checked up on, then swimming at his aunt's house, then a house full of family and friends tonight to celebrate his life. So he's asleep now. I like to watch him sleep.

In so many ways he is my spitting image, but I am so glad that he is not me.

I love you buddy...more than you'll ever know.

Happy Birthday.

10 Years Later

This past weekend I had my 10 year class reunion. I really had my reservations about going but I decided that I'd bite the bullet and go. I figured that there would be people there that I really didn't care to see; but there would also be others that would be nice to catch up with.

Right off the bat I did notice that a lot of the same cliques were still functioning. I must admit that I had my own, but primarily just because I stayed away from the others who had theirs.

Some people had really changed. By this I mean several different ways. One way is that there were those who were kind of shy in school that have since come out of their shell a bit. There were those that have lost weight since then, and then others of us who have put on some pounds since then.

It was really nice to talk to those that I did, but how do you really catch up 10 years worth of history in only about 4 hours? And then take those 4 hours and split them up among all those that you'd really like to talk to. Needless to say you end up with a good time but still much that is lacking.

Even though I fought it for quite a while and still have my reservations about it this is where MySpace has become a great avenue to keep in touch with those that I have lost touch with. Because of the ability to input your school and graduating class you can find almost anyone who has registered and made themselves available to the world. This is great because now all of the time that I didn't feel that the reunion afforded can be made up through cyberspace. However, there are still some features about these forms of virtual relationships that are absent.

All in all, I am ultimately glad I went...even if it was only to catch up with a select few.

The only regret- if I had known beforehand that we could come and not eat the food that was provided and save $50 then I would have done that. Something to keep in mind for the next time around.