Shallow Thinker

Ladybug is now two-and-a-half years old.  She has had a cough for the past few days which has required some parental assistance during the middle of the night and early morning hours.  This morning, I got up with her and rocked her for a while before she decided that she was ready to go play.  Before the sun came up, we sat in the den playing with some toys on the floor.  It was in this tender moment that she let me know how much she appreciated my sacrifice.

Ladybug: “Daddy” (she says this with a grin and the sweetest little eyes)
Me: “Yes, dear?”
Ladybug: “You don’t smell very well.”
Me: “I know.”
Ladybug: “You go play in the other room.”

I’m always scared to tell about good things for the fear that they will be gone.  I tempted fate in March of last year by bragging how I had free XM radio in my car.  At that point, I had been enjoying 6 months of free XM radio.  Surely, I wouldn’t be so stupid to post something like that again and tempt the powers of XM…

I’m about to start month 26 of my 3 month trial of XM radio.  I have tried to not become accustomed to it because eventually they’ll flip the switch and I’ll have static.  But I can’t help it.  There’s just so much good music and comedy I’ve always got it on.  Heck, I don’t think that I’ve listened to my CD’s or Zune in the car for several months.

A few months ago, I discovered what might just be my favorite music channel.  The coffee house provides acoustic versions of songs from singers, songwriters, and even some acoustic covers of famous songs.  Granted, some stuff is boring, but for the most part, it’s an amazing listening experience.  About a week ago, I heard Adam Rafferty do an acoustic rendition of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition.  It’s a stunning version of one of my favorite songs. (The googles helped me find a clip on you tube that I’ve added at the bottom of the post.)

So, what’s the bottom line?  XM radio is some of the best money that I’ve never spent. If you ever get the chance to not pay for XM, I highly recommend that you choose to…not…pay. Otherwise, I suppose that you would be stuck where you are now which is to be not….paying…um….for not…listening. Ah, crap. Just watch the video.

Regular blog readers, please disregard this post as it is the only method I know to share some photos in full quality without jamming e-mail inboxes.  But feel free to browse, if you like.

The clock continues to move forward, but I’m not ready for the date that is circled on next year’s calendar.  Kelley and I are having to make decisions now about kindergarten for Butterfly for the upcoming summer.  The toughest part of the decision making process is that no matter what we choose, my daughter will be in the hands of someone else for large chunks of her day.  And that’s tough.

Kelley recently penned some thoughts regarding our school choices.  She and I grew up as products of public school systems and show few negative effects from the process.  (Doctors indicate that my issues are due more to my adverse personality.)  However, in our current location, the public school system has some deep, inherent problems.  Granted, the elementary schools receive rave reviews, but the middle and high schools have as many controversies as they do graduates.  With things in the shape that they are in now, there’s no way I’ll send my daughter to the public middle or high school.  Partly because of the system and partly because I’m over-protective.  Our choice then comes to either choose one of the many private schools in the area or to move into a different school district.  Both of these have their pros and cons.  And, since we’re fine with the local elementary school, this is a decision that can wait for another 5 years.  Which seems like an eternity until I stop to consider that our little cooing baby just turned five years old.  Wow…it’s not that far from here.

Over these past five years, we have loved Butterfly, babied her, taught her, disciplined her, marveled at her, and watched her grow into the wonderful young girl that she is now.  It is a very difficult reality to face that someone else will be handling a part of these duties for the next couple of decades.  We’ll evaluate and make the best decision for kindergarten.  Then we’ll look at schools and decide what is best for elementary and eventually middle and high.  I am confident that we’ll make the right decision regarding our girls and their school.  It most certainly won’t be an easy one, though.  It’s tough to give them wings.

For years, I have avoided salads and green things.  It just so happens that I might have been onto something!

http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/cspi_top_10_fda.pdf

Just look at that poison.

I have yet to see the official posting from the Jay’s Hope 5K that shows all of the finishers in order, so I have absolutely no idea how close I was to getting beat or how much I got blown out of the water, but at least I got my name in print!

Of course, this brings up a troubling trend.  In my first official 5K, I finished first in my age group.  In the Run4 Missions 5K this past spring, I finished second in my age group.  Now third.  Extrapolation says that by the time I’m 40, I’ll be “that guy” who is still jogging slowly long after the event is over.  Sweet.

Facebook seems to be the culprit for a lot of dying blogs on the internet (mine included).  It instantly connects people and provides a wonderful waste of time.  Twitter came a long, but has been unable to dethrone the Book of Faces in it’s reign.  But I submit to you that the all powerful Google will be the downfall of Facebook.  Why?  Try it and see:

http://images.google.com/imagelabeler/

Sure, it seems so simple, but it’s catchy.  And if I know the Googles, it won’t stop there.  Watch out internet.  Here they come!

Saturday was a LONG day.  It started bright-and-early with a 5K and ended dark-and-late with me asleep on the couch.  There was a bunch of dressing up, door knocking, candy getting, and girl giggling.  Somewhere between the excitement and the exhaustion, I realized that my Butterfly is growing up.  Allow me to recap a portion of the morning:

After I finished the 5K, I walked back along the course until I met Kelley and Heather.  I walked the last mile with them.  By the time we made it to the car to wait on the in-laws to bring the girls to the event, I had logged about 8 miles.  Little did I know that the day had several more in store.  Around 9:30, Kelley and I were faced with the fact that Butterfly’s 1-mile fun run started at 10:00 while she and her sister were trapped at our house.  Apparently, we did not leave them a key for our van.

With frustration and fury, I drove QLAB (quick like a bunny) to our house, grabbed Butterfly and then darted back to the event.  I stopped at the house just long enough for Kelley to jump out (she did a nice roll when she hit the grass) and take care of Ladybug and come along a few minutes behind us.  Fury took over once again as we sped quickly to the park, grabbed a parking spot, and jumped out.  In order to make it on time, I allowed Butterfly to climb on my back and “we” ran the 1/2 mile from the parking to the starting line.  Exhausted, I made it with about a minute to spare.

Butterfly was excited.  I had prepped her about how we were going to do the whole mile this time.  (She cheated with me last time.)  We also discussed how we weren’t going to run as fast as we could at the beginning, but we should just jog.  She nodded in agreement.  Then, with a few more moments to spare, I suggested that we stretch a little.  I raised my arms high, then touched my toes, then stretched my calves a little.  Butterfly did not follow suit.  Instead, she gave me a penetrating stare.  I knelt down beside her and asked “What’s wrong?  Are you OK?”  With a loud whisper and darting eyes she responded “Daddy, you’re embarrassing me!”

Oh dear.