Showing posts with label marriage husband children dad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marriage husband children dad. Show all posts
Friday, June 15, 2012
9th Anniversary
My family stayed in Columbus two extra days after attending Cousin Lisa's wedding and got back late Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday were busy because my oldest daughter Claire still had school. So my wife Nancy and I didn't plan anything special for our anniversary yesterday because there were too many things to do. However, my sister-in-law Jen called to baby-sit if we wanted to go out. So even though things didn't settle down until after 9 o'clock at night, we got to have dinner alone at the Cheesecake Factory. It was great a night and it's been a great nine years.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Painted Dogs
I wanted to talk about everything that happened while proctoring the SAT's yesterday, but I didn't think I could put a good spin on all of it. However, it's easier to put a good spin on it now that I've heard what my day would have been like if I hadn't been needed. I would have been at the zoo.
We wanted to go to the zoo this weekend since both days were supposed to be partly sunny and in the 70's. We always go at 9:00 in the morning when they open because it's less crowded and then come home around nap time to put 2-year-old Emily to sleep. Since I was proctoring yesterday, we went today and it went great. However, yesterday at 9:20 AM the zoo was put on a code-red lock down because the Painted Dogs, which eat animals like deer, got out of where they were supposed to be. That meant that the visitors had to go to the nearest building and remained there for a little over an hour before the Painted Dogs could be caged up.
I suspect that there are usually two or more lines of defense and that the dogs got past one, so hopefully there was no real danger, but I don't know if that was the case or if that was made clear to the visitors in lock-down. We imagined being near the elephant house at that time, which even I, with my severely disabled sense of smell, can sometimes get a whiff of how bad it is, and being locked in there with our three girls for over an hour. As it stands, I'll probably not proctor SAT's again, but I wonder if I would have felt the same way about the zoo if I had been there instead at that time.
We wanted to go to the zoo this weekend since both days were supposed to be partly sunny and in the 70's. We always go at 9:00 in the morning when they open because it's less crowded and then come home around nap time to put 2-year-old Emily to sleep. Since I was proctoring yesterday, we went today and it went great. However, yesterday at 9:20 AM the zoo was put on a code-red lock down because the Painted Dogs, which eat animals like deer, got out of where they were supposed to be. That meant that the visitors had to go to the nearest building and remained there for a little over an hour before the Painted Dogs could be caged up.
I suspect that there are usually two or more lines of defense and that the dogs got past one, so hopefully there was no real danger, but I don't know if that was the case or if that was made clear to the visitors in lock-down. We imagined being near the elephant house at that time, which even I, with my severely disabled sense of smell, can sometimes get a whiff of how bad it is, and being locked in there with our three girls for over an hour. As it stands, I'll probably not proctor SAT's again, but I wonder if I would have felt the same way about the zoo if I had been there instead at that time.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Wrong Number
First of all, Pennsylvania's primary elections are tomorrow and my wife told me she has already gotten eight recorded political calls today. So when the phone rang and another number we didn't recognize came up on the called ID, we let our four-year-old Sarah answer. This wasn't a pre-recorded call and she told us it sounded like Pap-Pap. I got on and there was some guy on the other line saying "Hello? Hello?"
I said "Hello," but got nothing but more of the same back, so I hung up. Seconds later the phone rang again. It was the same number, of course.
I picked it up and the guy asked, "Who's this?"
So I asked, "Who's this?"
Then he asked me, "Why'd you hang up on me?"
I answered, "I'm going to do it again."
Seconds later the phone rang again. This time my wife let voice mail get it. He left a message. He was still mumbling, asking who this was and there was even a little kid babbling in the background. It guess he was a harmless drunk, but it was still sad that some kid somewhere was trying to her father's attention and he was aimlessly dialing random numbers.
It didn't give me any more faith in the average voter. I try to vote for the person that I think is best overall. I can appreciate how important voting is because of how many teachers in Pennsylvania lost their jobs when $860 million was cut last year and how many more may lost theirs next year when an additional $100 million is being cut this upcoming year by the new Governor, over 100 in Pittsburgh alone. Our union researched the candidates that are pro-education to help. They are mostly Democrats.
I can also appreciate how important it is to vote pro-life when President George W. Bush was able to ban partial-birth abortion. Our church researched candidates that are 100% pro-life to help. They are mostly Republicans.
It's frustrating that more people don't see education and pro-life values go hand-in-hand. Saving lives is more important than saving jobs. On the other hand, lives don't appear to be on the line. This Congress isn't going to reverse Roe v. Wade. However, jobs will come back if funding returns to previous levels.
Since tomorrow is the primaries and I'm only allowed to vote for Republicans, I'm going to vote for candidates not endorsed by our Republican governor where possible. That way there will be two people running that do not agree with the Governor. Hopefully that will mean changes no matter what happens in the November elections.
I said "Hello," but got nothing but more of the same back, so I hung up. Seconds later the phone rang again. It was the same number, of course.
I picked it up and the guy asked, "Who's this?"
So I asked, "Who's this?"
Then he asked me, "Why'd you hang up on me?"
I answered, "I'm going to do it again."
Seconds later the phone rang again. This time my wife let voice mail get it. He left a message. He was still mumbling, asking who this was and there was even a little kid babbling in the background. It guess he was a harmless drunk, but it was still sad that some kid somewhere was trying to her father's attention and he was aimlessly dialing random numbers.
It didn't give me any more faith in the average voter. I try to vote for the person that I think is best overall. I can appreciate how important voting is because of how many teachers in Pennsylvania lost their jobs when $860 million was cut last year and how many more may lost theirs next year when an additional $100 million is being cut this upcoming year by the new Governor, over 100 in Pittsburgh alone. Our union researched the candidates that are pro-education to help. They are mostly Democrats.
I can also appreciate how important it is to vote pro-life when President George W. Bush was able to ban partial-birth abortion. Our church researched candidates that are 100% pro-life to help. They are mostly Republicans.
It's frustrating that more people don't see education and pro-life values go hand-in-hand. Saving lives is more important than saving jobs. On the other hand, lives don't appear to be on the line. This Congress isn't going to reverse Roe v. Wade. However, jobs will come back if funding returns to previous levels.
Since tomorrow is the primaries and I'm only allowed to vote for Republicans, I'm going to vote for candidates not endorsed by our Republican governor where possible. That way there will be two people running that do not agree with the Governor. Hopefully that will mean changes no matter what happens in the November elections.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Repetition can be a good thing
What have I learned recently? Even though I know some things, it's nice to hear it from someone else occasionally. So even though someone else may already know something, it may be worth saying it again occasionally. The best example is saying, "I love you." It's not only good to hear it, but it's also good to say it. Ironically, most people hear it after they say it. So if you want to hear it more, try saying it more.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Actions
I love the Word of God, but sometimes actions speak louder than words and today those actions served as my prayer because I struggled to make time to really read any prayers between getting the baby and the five year ready while mom was struggling to bring the three year old home from the doctor because mom was having an episode that required us to head to the ER as soon as they got home and have the kids miss lunch (but got to watch more than the usual amount of TV in the waiting room) to eventually come home when mom was better and take the 5 year old shopping while the younger two slept at home until dinner and then return everything that was due at the library only to have the two older girls get into a fight and cry in the children's section, so we returned what we were going to take out back to the shelves, only to be informed that the DVD we returned wasn't in the case (it was still in the player at home) and would have to be renewed and returned later, which leads up to now trying to get all three of them into their bedtime routines as close as possible despite all the deviations from the rest of today's routines. Amen.
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