And I was complaining about OUR sports?????

Chanting "Osama, Osama". Pelting players with objects. Riots in the streets and in the stands. Government officials publicly berating teams for losing. This is the all encompassing, world wide sport of soccer, or Futball as it is known everywhere but here. We are sheltered. We have our own sports. Ones that we made up. Soccer is not one of those games. The Osama chants? Not from a Middle Eastern country in a world cup match. MEXICO! You know, the country kind just under us. The country where hundreds flee through OUR borders daily. Yet our soccer players are treated to this just because we play a match against our southern neighbors. Wow. I was complaining about Barry Bonds a few days ago. I apologize for making Barry's childish remarks and pouting seem important. I did a bit of research about the international "sport" and found out that there are people, towns, cities, and even countries that shut down when a match is taking place. A government publicly admonished the players for losing on its state run TV show. The post game rioting was THIER fault for not winning the match. They will pay for thier failure. I am sorry, I know this has been going on for years and years but it kind of put things in perspective for me when I read the latest news blurb after I ranted about Barry. True he might be a baby. True he is overpaid. But we don't riot in the streets when his team loses. We invite our WINNERS to meet the president. They have a parade. They give the pres a jersey (which by the way is one of the cooler perks of THAT job). But we do not trash our capital city and then have W tell the team that they are losers of the worst kind as every citizen watches.

I am sheltered. I admit that. I have been to Mexico, a couple of times, but never to Europe or any place else across any of the ponds that seperate us. Therefore I have no idea of the furvor this sport holds in other areas. We are a different country, sports-wise. We pay our professional athletes, very well. We hold them as idols, as role models, even if they don't want to be or don't deserve it. We have several sports that any child can choose to participate in. Baseball, Football, Soccer, Basketball, Water Polo, Racing, even Ping Pong so I guess having just one and concentrating all of my emotional energy on that one is foreign to me. But I do know that an athlete, any athlete that tries and fails has done just that, tried.

At least put a twenty on the dresser afterwards....

I am a single dad. I am a single dad that pays a lot, in my opinoin, of child support. I am a single dad that pays a lot of child support and I feel like the whole system is against me. I pay my child support faithfully. Every paycheck it is deducted automatically and sent to the child support enforcement agency. I have never missed a payment. I even kept up with the payments while I was unemployed last year. I had the wonderful state of Ohio take out the maximum they were allowed, half of the unemployment check. That left me with less than $200 every two weeks to live on. I did that for 4 months. Now, there is your bit of historical data, now I can rant.

I applied for a child support review. A child support review is a process that takes the previous child support worksheets and figures and compares them to your current situation. Life changes, incomes change, lifestyles change, so in my estimation, that is very fair. Here in the county that I and my ex live in, you are allowed a free review every 3 years. When my ex and I seperated and divorced she had not been working for over 4 years so I was ordered to pay the maximum I could pay for what I had earned. Being an IT professional, that is not bad pay. Anyway, I requested the review. After sending in mounds of paperwork, my W2s, the unemployment paperwork, a rather long questionairre, copies of my last years taxes, and insurance information, I recieved a notice in the mail that the child support had been adjusted, in my favor. That is good news. My beef is with the system and the process. I was ordered to carry the insurance on my children. I have no problem with that but that little sentence does not cover the fact that my fiancee or spouse might be able to get cheaper or better insurance. So even though hundreds of dollars are coming out of my household income each month, I cannot use that figure in the child support review. Also, my ex gets a credit for any children she has with another man! She has another son with her new husband and that is calculated against me! Why? If she popped out 4 more kids does that mean that my child support goes UP???? And the IRS, since its tax time I will include them in too, does not allow for me to deduct that child support, even though it is taken out after taxes. And she does not have to claim it as any sort of income on HER taxes either. So the money that I provide as support for my children is tax free for her and penalized as taxable income for me. I love my kids and I will happily provide for them probably forever. Parents never really stop caring or providing for thier kids. But I think that the system needs a bit of review itself.

Easter and Baseball

Good Easter Sunday to every one.

Ok, enough pleasantries. I need to rant about a certain spoiled baseball player. Yes, you all know him as Barry Bonds. That scripted little pity-fest last week was Oscar worthy. For someone who claims to be manipulated by the media, jumped off a bridge was how I believe it was put, he can sure swing a mighty pen. He knows that when he speaks that dozens or hundreds of reporters will rush his every raised eyebrow to the front page of the sports section. His son was there as a prop. Poor pitiful Barry and his family. The media ruined him. They have made him "tired". He needs half a season to recoup, maybe the whole season. Could that be how long it will take the DHT to get out of his system for a clean test? You gotta know the trainers and docs that are getting paid, err I mean treating Barry, are making sure that he is out long enough to be clean. I live in Cincinnati, I know what having a bigger than life sports figure whine (thank you Pete) and never fess up to a mistake. I saw Big Mac shoot himself at the hearings. I saw a lot of Pete's (and boy did he have a lot of them) media circuses. We have a street that runs in front of all of our stadia named after him. A local sports "commando" has named his only son Peter Edward. They chant his name at GABP. Anyway, enough about the indiscretions of a sports legend. I am convinced all he had to do was to admit and ask for forgiveness. We are a forgiving nation. We forgive all of our lost sports heros. We forgive our "entertainers" as Barry was wont to have himself called. Admit and move on. We will. But please stop playing us, the public not the media, like we are going to feel sorry for someone who has lived a pampered life. He is the son of a former major leaguer. He is the god son of one of the best to ever wear a glove. His youth was spent in the dugouts. He suffers from over exposure, that is the most serious burden he carries. His sullen attitude and his orchestration of the public statements have gotten older than Pete's ever thought about.

Wow

Wow, that seems to have worked. Not that I would blame blogger.com, heck it coulda been my ISP. It coulda been the router or firewall or even my browser. But how much fun would that be to blame something that I could actually CONTROL.

I had written a rather lengthy blog concerning the power of touch...a more intimate view of it, not quite for the kiddies, but informational in my humble opinion. The I tried to post and it puked. Took a dirt nap, so to speak. So I logged back on and promptly wrote a whole new entry blathering on and on about technology, double-edged sword, all of the wonderful advances in technology, be careful what you wish for, on and on. Tried to publish THAT post and got the same damned error message. Not being a glutton for punishment, I promptly closed my browser and went on my merry way. I have learned that things like this are just not worth getting worked up about. Its just a blog for crying out loud. I really like posting entries here but its not life and death. So no reason to get upset.

Then why was I so freakin ticked off? It stuck under my skin for at least an hour. I had to pull myself away from the blog a couple of times just so I wouldn't attempt another post just to be thwarted (I love that word, thwarted, as a society we should use that word more often). I am not in any way an English major. I am lucky to consider that my first language, I know some would argue that point. But I do like using words that normally don't get used. Not ones that people use to impress someone else. Nothing like exemplary instead of good or great. I am thinking more like platypuss, pomagranate, yolk, words that feel funny saying them. Maybe one day I will put a list out.

Test

This is a test post just to make sure I don't go through the same s#!4 that I did a few days ago. Thank you beddy much.

Be careful what you wish for

I had about 500-1000 words typed in here 10 minutes ago. I hit the post button and lost everything. That tends to piss a person off. For those who don't know, I am a computer geek. Been there done that, for 15 years. I know that this happens. I know that there is nothing that can be done, under normal circumstances. Especially when I am updating a personal blog in the middle of the work day. But still....technology is a double edged sword that cuts deep. It is wonderful when it works. Just ask any patient at any hospital in North America. I benefit from it every day. I bet my career on technology, and so far I have come out a winner. I love being able to share my thoughts, whether one or ten thousand people read this, I don't care. I just like the idea of doing it. I live on my PDA. I check all 5 of my email addresses daily. Several times a day, in fact. My kids have Macs in every classroom. Thier school is wired for internet. My apartment has wireless and Bluetooth. Every coffee shop and bookstore is a hotspot. There are countless ways technology helps out in every day life. There are the perks. Cellphones that are cameras, PDAs, and even phones sometimes. Computers are in almost every device you operate. They keep people alive, they keep people safe, the keep people working. They also crash. You push that save button and the next thing you see is the BSOD (blue screen of death). Or you hit that post button and the next page you see is a Page Cannot Be Found error message. The last 10 minutes you spent typing your thoughts (that are not so easily repeated with such flowing oppulence) are gone. No way to get them back. I knew what subject I was blogging about, touching. The types of touches. It was a personal topic. One that might not have been for the kiddies. I even started off with that warning. I talked on and on about kissing, touching, massages, body language, and all of that. And when I got the error message I so wanted to repeat what I had said but the moment was gone. All I wanted to do is rant about how mad I was that my prose was ruined. Oh well...like I said. Be careful what you wish for. I started this blog because I thought it would be cool to post some thoughts out there for the world to see and read and maybe even comment on. With that knowledge, I knew deep down that there was a possibility that my posts would get lost. That when I pushed the Post button that I would get pissed off. I got the other side of the sword today instead of the one I am used to and it cuts just as deep.

Current Events

I have quite a few things I would like to touch on today but I am going to try to keep it down to just a couple. I would like to start off with a question, though. If you were the husband or wife of someone that suddenly became ill, ill to the point of being a vegetable on life support and a feeding tube, could you pull the plug?

The lady, Terri is her name, in Florida is in a vegetative state. After 10 plus years of fighting her husband and her family are at odds over her survival. Her husband wants to pull the feeding tube and her mom and dad do not. Could you do this to your respective spouse? After 1 month, 1 year, 10 years, 20 years? I know I would not want to be kept alive via feeding tubes or life support. My argument is the same as most in my position. I do not want the financial and emotional burden on my family. Years of constant round the clock care along with day after day of seeing someone lying there motionless with barely a brainwave and no hope of recovery (as far as the doctors are telling you). There is always hope. As long as that woman is alive there is hope for a miracle to bring her back. Scientifically, they say its not going to happen. But the argument lies in the moral arena. What is the best for her? Her husband is arguing that she told him that she does not want to be kept alive like that. Her family says differently. Who is right? I can't say either way. I can tell you that the decision to pull the plug on one of my kids or my wife is a decision that I cannot make right here right now. Plus, this is not like turning off a machine and her life ending, this is stopping a feeding tube. I am not a doctor or a lawyer but I am pretty sure that pulling a FEEDING tube will be a slow end to her life. She will be starving to death days after it is pulled. That, to me, is suffering. Unless a doctor was to tell me differently. Now, should our President of the United States get involved? He signed a bill authorizing the federal courts to be able to review the case. He didn't sign a law keeping her alive, just a bill to move the debate to the federal level. I would have thought that the appeals process would have done that anyway, but oh well. This bill is based on a rights issue and that is the argument for moving jurisdiction. Now we have a different "Right to Life" debate in the forefront. Not the normal abortion rights but the rights of an adult to continue life when they cannot speak for themselves. This is scary for many reasons. Biggest in my mind is, when can a doctor proclaim that you no longer have this right? Or does a doctor even make that call? Would a judge or lawyer be in charge of making a life or death call like this? Someone with no medical training whatsoever? What if a doctor makes that call and it is wrong? Doctors are human. They are people. They make mistakes. And I sure do not want our federal government getting muddled into this mess. Politicians change thier positions more often than runway models change clothes. This has all of the markings of a cluster of the most extreme proportions.

What would you do?

Apologies and Brackets

First off, let me apologize to my faithful readers...ok reader...for not updating this blog as often as I should. I am hoping that I can be forgiven, or at the very least pardoned for my transgressions. I am trying to straighten my halo back. ;-)

Second, onto one of the single biggest days in sports right now. March Madness begins in earnest today. College basketball. The last bastion of true competition. Sport being played because of the love of the game. Sure, some of the athletes know they are going onto the NBA but most of the kids on these 65 teams are in it just to play in this tourny. Yes, I will admit to having a bracket or two. Yes, I will admit to holding out a wish for my alma mater. No, no money will be changing hands in the brackets I participate in. My picks are strictly for fun. I no longer pour over the "experts" picks in hopes of getting my sawbuck back in two weeks. All of this plus the baseball congressional hearings on steroids. Ugh, what a mess. Current and former players going to D.C. to submit to questions (yeah right) about what they took, who they knew took it, and when it was taken. Does anyone out there realize that they cancelled the ENTIRE professional Hockey season this year?????? Anyway, questions will be avoided and everyone will try to make baseball look like a fair sport again.

As another aside, I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, so I know a bit about cheating in baseball. And yes, I did at one time support Pete and still think he should be in the Hall. Of course, that is a whole other topic. Hell, that has even been the subject of many books.

Baseball. This was my sport growing up. Before soccer invaded our children's lives. Before the days of every kid needing his or her own PDA and administrative assistant just to keep up with thier schedule. Before the car window stickers. Baseball in the summer and football in the fall. If you were quick enough, basketball in the winter. That was it. My oldest lives for his baseball season. It starts in January and runs through September if he finds a fall team to play with. For me to think that he would juice up to get that scout to notice him or so he can lift that extra 50 on the bench scares me. I am not naive, I know there are high school kids out there who will get there hands on steroids and will take them and make the playing fields just a bit unfair but I hope I can instill something better into my kids while they are growing up. I hope.

I will keep tabs on my brackets, my teams. I will scan the headlines for any blockbuster comments out of our nations capital. And I will get up tomorrow and goto work just like every other day.

Kids...and Parents

It is very hard being a parent. I say that knowing that neither one of my kids is even a teenager yet. Some people say I have no idea what hard is until they are teenagers. I say difficult is relative. Its difficult now. I know it will be difficult later, a different kind of difficult. When kids go through that "terrible two" stage its hard. They push boundaries, they struggle with selfishness, social skills, seperation anxiety. They are talking, learing to potty train, its all hard on both kids and parents. School starts and its hard again. Kids are going away, which is very difficult for first time parents. Homework. More social learning. Bullies at school. Friends at home and at school. Teachers, mean and nice. More homework. Both of my kids are in school and have left the terrible twos behind years ago. But I still find parenting hard to do. My oldest is at the age where is he becoming coversational. By that I mean I can talk to him about every day things and he can comment on an almost adult level. The conversations are still centering around "kid" topics, school, sports, what he wants for his birthday, what he is going to do this weekend, but its still nice to be able to just talk to him. My youngest is not quite there yet but not too far away from that level.

My oldest just got in trouble. I won't go into details but suffice to say he is grounded for a couple of weeks. That part of parenting is not that hard. They do something wrong, they get punished. Action.....Reaction. Consequences. Everyone in life has to learn them. Has to learn that consequences exist. Has to learn what certain actions will do and what consequences will come with those actions. That is the easy part of parenting. Here is a hard situation. I have a couple of things that we all do as a family that are kind of traditions. We goto breakfast with Grandma. That is something we try to do as often as possible. Not this weekend. Sure, that is kind of hard. Its not just for us, its for her too. This weekend is Grandma's birthday. We are taking her out to dinner. It was going to be ALL of us taking her out but now I have one that is grounded. It sounds like an easy decision. He stays home. Then you think about it. Well, its not really for HIM, its for someone else. But it still breaks the discipline rule. You have to stick by what you say or its meaningless the next time. He does not get to enjoy dinner or gifts or whatever the celebration might be. But then you are taking away from Grandma. Is that really fair? Maybe not but then parenting isn't fair. Neither is life.

Taking things for granted

I have been in IT, a geek, for over 15 years. In that time I have seen a lot. Working on green screens, dumb terminals for AS400s or Main Frames, the PC, Client server technology, wireless, the web explosion, the .com boom and bust, and finally the settling. In some ways my career has mirrored IT over the last 15 years as well. My first true IT job was in an office of no more than 30 PCs. Offices didn't have more than that in the 80's.

As my career began to take shape, the .com boom started. My timing was great. I was able to triple my salary inside of 5 years. I also had 7 different employers in a span of 10 years. Talk about chasing the money. In that time, I not only chased the money for myself but I did that for my family. It was nice seeing the raises and bonuses come in. But then I almost got used to switching jobs. It became too easy to leave and find another job. Then the bust happened. I survived the initial bust (it caught up to me last year) and actually kept the money as well as a job.

Finally, after meeting the turbulence head on I have found that I need stability. I relish the fact of telling someone that I have been at the same job for 5, 10, or 20 years. I need that. My family needs that too.

Told you I was sick

I told you I was sick and a bad patient. And for being a bad patient and not taking the medicine and not listening to everyone (she knows who she is...) I now am officially sick. Sick enought to take a day off of work. Now lemme splain sometin to ya....I am a contractor. What that means is that I get NO benefits. Taking a day off of work means I do NOT get paid. No sick pay, no vacation pay, no PTO, no holidays. Nope, nothing. So I lost 8-10 hours of my paycheck, recovering. I did goto the doctor. Why the hell not? I am losing money already, why not SPEND some while I am off. He confirmed, yes, I am sick. Normally, I am the typical american male. No doctor until I am too sick to drive myself there and even then I am protesting. This time is a bit different. Last year, around this time, I got a sore throat. This sore throat of mine developed into the worst tonsilitis I ever had. My left tonsil, yes just my left one, was so infected that the ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) doctor was seriously discussing surgery. I couldn't swallow, so the I wrote a diet book and made millions. No, I didn't. I couldn't swallow so I was drinking every meal. No antibiotics were helping. No amount of sprays, cough drops, or Robitussin did any help. This lasted for over a month. So, obviously, I wanted to avoid a repeat of this little episode. I was cleared of everything but a "cold". Yeah, that one thing that science has not figured out a cure for. So I took my day off, rested, let someone take care of me (yeah, her again), and got ready for the rest of the week. Not only did I not work, I didn't update the blog either. And for this I would normally be sorry but hey, sitting around while my every need was attended to was kind of nice.

Passion

This past Sunday we went to a Passion Play. For those of you not familiar with this, this is last year's film, The Passion of the Christ, only in play form that has been going on for about a hundred years. Here in my town this was first started back in 1918 by a church downtown that wanted to remember 8 parishoners that were in World War I. Ever since then, the founding church has sponsored, along with many others, the Passion Play. We know a few of the actors int he play and it is always a wonderful production. This is only my second year going and the second different church I have attended for this. This year we decided to take my oldest child. He is fairly interested in religion having grown up with it and we thought it would be ok to let him go. My youngest one is still a bit young, although there were many kids there his age and younger. I think these types of decisions are made on a child by child basis and it is entirely up to the parents to do the censoring. But that is a whole other rant and blog post. My oldest liked the play very much and is looking forward to next year's already. We'll see how my youngest is next year before I make any decisions about adding another ticket to my troupe.

The play runs about 3 hours and takes the viewer through the story or Jesus' final days. From the time in his life where he was starting to be taken seriously as a prophet and the messiah to his crucifixion and his resurrection. The actors are all volunteers and all, every man woman and child, do a terrific job of telling this story. Every Christian should see this moving production. Now I am not an overly religious person. I do believe and I have practiced. Not recently, unfortunately. My first marriage was done into a religious family. My exe's father is a retired baptist preacher, and after 10+ years of that marriage I do know the religious side of the coin. In fact, I still remain good friends with my ex-inlaws. After all, they are always going to be my kid's grandparents and they are very good people that I respect and admire. Anyway, back to my psuedo-review. The play is in two acts, with a short intermission. But the 3 hours seems like 15 mintues when you are enraptured in the story. The characters come at the stage from all angles. From the rear of the sanctuary, from the sides. The passion in this Passion Play is real. The actors are all very passionate about this story. I cannot single out one particular actor or character, that would be unfair. But suffice to say that the main characters are all portrayed with as much vigor and heart as can be done.

I look forward to next year's Passion Play. Probably more than I did this year's. Every time I see it, I am able to take away another piece of the story that I may not have learned or paid attention to previously. I can't wait.

More insight into the inner workings of a geek.

We ordered some items from an electronics, computer, audio/video retailer whose initials are BEST BUY. First off, we went into the store and had one really bad experience. More about that later. After not getting what we wanted, at all, from the bricks and mortar side of the retailer we ordered online. Another geeky move. Anyway, we ordered our items and had them shipped two day. And we have BOTH checked on the status of the order more than once today. That screams geek and borders on pathetic. Now onto our experience in the store yesterday...

Being a geek, I know when I walk into a place like this what I want, how much I am going to pay for it, and what accessories I might need to go along with it. We proceeded to the counter where they sell phones, PDAs, etc and asked for an item. Something we had seen online and available was not offered in the store! There are some items they just don't stock. What?!?!? Why would you advertise any of the models if you don't offer them ALL in your stores. And to top it off, the guy at the counter gave us an attitude when we asked him why they sell some and not others. Something about not selling enough to keep in stock. Well, there's a shocker. They don't sell enough of the items so they don't carry it in their store. That is because they don't stock it in the store!!!!!! Hello!!!! And this is not a cheap item either, it is one of the most expensive ones they have. So, off to another department to ask about an item that we need to add to one of our computers. I waited for an associate to get freed up, which they always seem to be understaffed, but I understand why. People usually don't make thousand dollar purchases without some research and questions. So waiting is not a big deal to me. Besides, I spent most of my school years, High School and college, working retail so I know how it works. Anyway, he asks if we need any assistance and I proceed to ask about the piece that I need. He responds that they don't make anything for that model of laptop. No biggie, so I ask about an adapter that I KNOW will work and he says he knows what I mean but they don't sell them. Listen, if you carry models that can't be upgraded but need accessories, then why not carry the accessories. This is not rocket science. But wait, it gets better. I mutter something about them not carrying anything that we wanted today and he proceeds to try and answer my complaint with an attitude. Now, here is a little lesson in Retailing 101. The customer is always right. Ok? Not a hard concept to grasp. If I can't find what I want, wether it is sold there or on the moon, apologize for it and ask if there is anything else you can do. Do NOT proceed to tell me that you do not carry certain items and then argue as to why. Now, this is not me buying plumbing or electrical supplies where I am clueless. I have been in IT longer than that kid has been walking. I have forgotten more than he knows but yet he still feels the need to get in my face and tell me what I should be wanting and why. It took me over an hour to calm down after I left. I was so heated that I didn't even get his name. Normally, I love to chat with the store associates wherever I shop. The checkout lines at Kroger and Meijer are my favorites. Just ask my fiancee. I have a grand old time. I know that what I want is not going to be bleeding edge in 5 years, maybe not even 3 years, or even 1, but I want it and you don't have it. End of discussion as far as I am concerned. Pacify me, tell me you are sorry, and let me go. Thats all. I may not leave happy, but at least I am not leaving wondering how I can get you fired.

Parent of an ADHD child

I am the parent of an ADHD child. My youngest is 8 years old and suffers from ADHD. Currently in the second grade, we held him back in the first after he was diagnosed, he is doing well in an advanced class. He does very well, he gets two doses per day. One with breakfast and one at school with lunch. It took his pediatrician, teacher, and school counselor all of 30 seconds to diagnose him. We struggled, all of us. But his struggles were by far the worst. I can sit on here and bitch and whine about how much I had to handle. About how bad it was to be at a restaraunt, or shopping, or how his school work suffered but no one, and I mean no one suffered like he did. He had what we called "bad" days. He knew he was having them but he couldn't help it and that was the most awful part. It was frustrating for everyone involved but I still can't imagine what he went and still goes through. He would constantly be disciplined. Not just by me but his teacher, the bus driver, his babysitter, it didn't matter. And he tried. He would cry at night asking why he was always being yelled at and why he was doing so badly. It would break my heart.

Let me state a few things....I am a very lucky guy. I have two wonderful kids. Both are loving and caring kids that go out of their way to do what is right. My youngest is so eager to please and to do what is right, and kind, that it is almost to a fault. He is always first with a hug and an "I Love You". His teachers cannot say enough about him. He will be the first one to give something up for someone else. I know I am biased being the dad but oh well. That is the way I feel about it. On top of the two wonderful kids, I have a beautiful woman that I intend on spending the rest of my life with. I live close to my family so that my kids can see thier grandparents frequently. I am still on friendly terms with thier mom, but only for thier sake, but still friendly. I get to see them about half of the time, not including sports or school functions. My kids love my fiancee, and I KNOW that is lucky. I have heard horror stories and thankfully she is wonderful enough that we have been able to avoid any real problems.

Ok, back to where I was before. His school days were bad. He would get up and walk around class. Just get up and walk around. It was distracting for the teacher and all of his friends. After a lot of counseling with his teacher and the school counselor, not to mention his pediatrician, the decision was made to hold him back. I have not regretted that decision at all. He is able to excel in class now, giving him a much needed boost to his ego. We took him to the doctor with the express intention of making sure anything that was done was not going to take away from his "personality". I wanted him to be better but not at the cost of becoming one of the horror stories you hear about. Walking zombies that were not kids any more but lumps. If I lost my perky, energetic, and most important loving, child then it wasn't worth it. The doctor agreed and he is on the lowest dose available right now. He will still struggle on days that he might miss his medicine but I do not regret any decision that we made so far. His "good" days far exceed his "bad" days. He is still loving. We still get hugs and kisses and I Love Yous all of the time. He is still as energetic as before. He loves his sports. I just wish we could have seen it sooner and helped him avoid so many "bad" days.

Geeks

I am a computer geek. I have been in IT for over 15 years. I have worked on everything from a 286 back in the mid 90's to the present where my laptop is a P4 with a Gig of RAM. I have seen the evolution of the PC, the Client Server side, software, Microsoft. I have even bet my career on Microsoft by becoming a certified Engineer and Trainer. I have kept up with the technology, or at least my little corner of it, via geek mags, websites, daily emails, whatever it takes to retain the edge. Currently my niche resides in the Disaster Recovery, Business Continuance arena. But that is not the point, just random background noise.

My point is this...you can be a computer geek and still have some semblance of a social life. I have worked with, for, and over a lot of geeks. In my humble opinion anyone who chooses computers for a career, or lifestyle because let's face it, if you are going to work with or on them for 8-10 hours a day then you are going to be learning about them 12-20 hours a day. Anyone who chooses to work with computers is a geek. And this does not include those who work in Excel on a spreadsheet at thier desk. I am talking engineering or programming.

That being said, there a differing levels of geekdom. There is the initial level. Those who work with computers daily but still carry on more than active social lives and skills. These are usually the fringe of IT. The sales side, the executives and the like. The ones who have a need to keep up on the technology but not in depth enough to sacrifice social skills. These are usually the people who everyone knows works on computers but is not quite knowledgeable enough to have everyone ask them about thier "computer problems".

The next level is a bit more complicated but it also holds the majority of the IT world. This is the level of geekdom that most people relate to. This person has the need and want to read all of the latest news websites, gets all of the pertinent publications, and still finds time for a family or friends that do not include an XBox party until 4am on a Tuesday night.

Now we start to sink into the next level. Very close to becoming nerds. The next group of people WILL sacrifice social skills for the gain of knowledge. But these are also the people that know, eventually, they will have to make that decision about family or friends or career. These people are or were gamers. The ones who had that ISP in thier basement in the 90's when IT was booming. The ones who can take thier area of expertise and put it up against anyone. The ones who understand packets, protocols, and project management.

The last and deepest darkest of these levels of geekdom is the nerd. The person who thinks getting to work at 10 is early because they were up until 4 rebuilding thier FTP and Web server to host 14 of thier friend's websites. This is the group that can tear apart a router and program a flash webpage in the same night. Thier expertise is only limited by the hours in the day and the more knowledge the better. No social skills to speak of but they don't care either. They want technology, the more the better. The last "party" they attended was a Halo 2 party where to get in you had to bring an XBox. These people don't get asked "computer problem" questions because normal people fear them.

This whole wedding thing...

For anyone, and I mean anyone out there, who might have read this blog at all they know that I am engaged. Over this past weekend, in fact. One of the things that my lovely wife-to-be and I discussed was the actual wedding itself. Now, being as we are both on our second trip down the aisle, things do not have to be nearly as big, huge, humungous, large, unwieldy, immense, enormous, gigantic, hefty, substantial, sizeable, or massive. It does however, have to be perfect. Yeah, I will admit that. This is my last try at this. I fully expect to be with this wonderful woman until I am old and crotchety. Ok, I am already half of that, so how about just old then. I would think that this would be no big deal to plan. Small wedding, bigger reception (for reasons that are personal) and thats about it. But we are dealing with the same things first timers deal with like who, where, when. I thought about it off and on all weekend and still had no real firm grasp on what I really wanted. I know part of the who....me and her. I know part of the when....before I retire. I know part of the where....on the continental United States of America. Other than that I am clueless, even more than normal. Why is this so hard? I will tell you why. Because it still has to be perfect. When you exchange vows, for the first or fourth time, it still has to be perfect. It still has to have all of the wonder and romanticism of every other wedding. It still has to be memorable. Everyone wants that. At least everyone who cares about thier partner. I have known some who have gone to Hawaii to get married. I have known some who have gone down the street to the closest church they could find. Why do you see people walking out of the chapels in Vegas or Gatlinburg in dresses and tuxedos? Because it still has to be perfect, even if Elvis is performing the ceremony.

Ugh

I hate being sick. I will tell you now, I am a horrible patient. I feel so sorry for my fiancee. I feel sorry for anyone that has to be around me when I am sick. I never want to rest. I never want to take my medicine. I will usually work and not even think about calling the doctor. If I am stuck in bed I get grumpy. All the usual symptoms of a really bad patient. And God love my fiancee for putting up with me. She makes my meals, brings me everything I need. A true saint. And I love her for it. But at the time, I argue with her about it. Every bit of it. Of course, after about 9 hours at work, I am praying for the day to end so I can go home and climb into bed. Promising to myself that I will get to sleep early and let her take care of me. Then I get home. I always see something to do. Put the dishes in the dishwasher. If there are none, then clean out the dishwasher and put the clean dishes away. Pick up my clothes from yesterday or this morning. Get the mail. Fix something to eat. Something that catches my eye to make me not follow exactly what I said I was going to do when I felt like crap just an hour earlier. You would think that after that many years, it would sink in. Yeah, right.