Having a Merry Christmas...

My oldest son is now three years old, and he really understands who Santa is, and what he is about. This has really made for best Christmas so far since my wife and I have been together. It is amazing how a little boy can bring back all of the little Christmas joys that kind have been forgotten as I have gotten older. I loved putting up the tree, and decorating it and the house. Buying presents, and figuring out which ones will be from Santa has been so fulfilling. It really makes me long for the days when all three of our children will be of the ages to enjoy Christmas. I can't wait for them to be pulling on my arm at 5:00 am because they are so excited to see what Santa left for them.

My son also loves watching all the Christmas movies that come out at this time of the year. Again, I have been amazed at how much fun it has been to sit on floor with my son and watch "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I kind of forgot how classic those movies are. I have been sitting and just kind of taking in the enjoyment my son is getting out of the holiday season, and it is only going to get better as all my children get older.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas!!!

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Barack speaks to my heart!

Addressing a crowd of more than 1,600 in Manchester, Obama urged
Democrats to harness the momentum of last month's election and craft an
agenda that reaches beyond party lines. After years of partisan bickering and
"slash-and-burn politics," Obama said, Americans are yearning for a new style of
leadership.
"There's no reason why we can't create a system where everybody
has decent health care. There is no reason why we can't have energy independence
in this country," Obama said. "There is no reason why we can't craft a national
security strategy that is tough and smart, because what we've seen is tough and
dumb.
"That's not a Democratic agenda or a Republican agenda," he said.
"That's an American agenda."

Read the full Concord Monitor article:
http://www.barackobama.com/2006/12/11/concord_monitor.php

I will never claim to be a guru in politics. I majored in Political Science for two years in college, and switched to English, because I found it very hard to enjoy my time in the classes that were needed. Yet, now since I have become a husband, dad, and, I guess, a grown-up I have taken much more of an active role in who is representing our country. Obama, is the first politician since I have become educated enough to know what kind of politician I want representing me, that I have felt drawn to. I have heard the comparisons to Bobby Kennedy. Now, I didn't ever get to see Bobby Kennedy, but I am much more interested in him know because of Obama. So, I will now become a better person because I will go back to our history and learn more about Bobby Kennedy and the Kennedy family because of Obama's influence. He has really spoke to my heart. He makes me trust him, and I have not ever felt that way about a politician. I am not some love sick teenage girl, although I may sound that way right now. I am doing more and more research into Obama, so I can truly make an educated decision of whether or not to follow him, should he chose to run. So stay with me, and let's find out if he is the real deal. And, if he can find a way for everyone to have health care (like most countries do) I think we all would feel like he is right for us.

It's a GIRL!!!

Yesterday my wife and I went to the doctor to get an ultrasound for our third child (due in April). We currently have a three old son and a nine month old son. I was under the assumption that we just wouldn't have a daughter. For some reason I just didn't see us as parents of a girl. But low and behold, when the nurse was searching around my wife's belly with her magic wand lavished in goo, she came across an image that was undeniably a little butt and some little legs, but no little wiener. She looked at my wife and I, and asked to make sure we wanted to know the sex, and we nodded in agreement that we did. Then she uttered the words, "it's a girl." I could see the excitement in my wife's face. She would finally have a teammate in the household sarcasm wars. I was shocked, and still am. In fact, I am not sure I will believe it until the doctor actually holds her up after delivery, and says, "say hello to your daughter."

I know this sounds like an odd situation to be worried about already considering our daughter is not even born yet, but I am not looking forward to walking my daughter down the isle someday. Now my wife will attest to you that I am not a very emotional person. Sometimes she will tease me and say that I do not have a soul, because I never get choked up about anything. I am now, and have always been a true believer that everything happens for a reason. Which at times keeps me from being emotional about it. Or it could be that I just cried so much as a little kid, that I am just all cried out now. But anyways, I can not think about my little girl getting married without welling up, in fact, I have tears in my eyes right now. I don't know if deep down inside that is what kept me thinking that we would only have sons, or if I was just really looking forward to some really good two on two basketball games in the driveway (I am sure that will still happen, I am sure she will be a huge tomboy). Anyways, I am thinking that having a daughter may bring back my emotional side. I mean she is not even born yet, and she already has tears running down my cheeks. I am sure she will test me over the next years, but she is now and will always be Daddy's Girl.

Where have all the cowboys gone?

I work with kids (even though they are between the ages of 18 and 22), believe me they are still kids. I wonder on a daily basis what kind of standard their parents held them to. When today's youth leave the comforts of home to venture off to colleges and universities they are not ready to accept reality. They have very thin skin, and take everything personally. I wonder if we are locked into a generation of parents who feel that making life better for their children means spoiling them, so they do not understand what it means to "earn." "Earning" means working hard to deserve success, and I feel like kids expect success without work. They come here thinking success (or what they term success) is a right, instead of a privilege.

Where has John Wayne gone to? I remember being a young boy, and staying up late to watch John Wayne movies with my dad (I love John Wayne, and I am only 28 years old). I remember one very well, it is called, "The Cowboys." John Wayne's character takes a bunch of school aged boys on a cattle drive, because there is not enough men in town available to help. Anyways, as you can imagine, John Wayne is very tough on the boys throughout the drive. "Tough love" is the way I would describe it. But throughout his disciplining ways, you can tell he is trying to teach the boys how to become men. Towards the end of the movie, a group of outlaws, who are trying to steal the herd, kill John Wayne's character and take the herd for their own. The boys decide to give Wayne's character a proper burial, and take back the herd. They make this decision based out of respect for Wayne's character. Obviously, they take the herd back, and ride victoriously to their destination. But that is not really the point of the movie. The point is the relationship forged by the boys and Wayne's character. He was tough on them, but he respected them, and they felt that, even though they hated him at times during the movie. They were growing up, and Wayne's character held them to a high standard to make sure they would become good hard-working men.

This is exactly opposite of how I feel we are raising our children as a whole right now. If you discipline, come down hard, or even just speak the brutal truth (though it is the truth) today's youth take it personally. Then they run home to Mom and Dad, and tell them that their teacher or coach hates them. Then, instead of Mom and Dad searching for the truth and telling young "Jimmy" to buck up and find a way to positively deal with the situation, they go to the administration and try to get the person fired.

I receive kids when they are college aged young adults, and I feel like I spend most of my time trying to teach them how to grow up, how to thicken their skin a little, and how to honestly self evaluate themselves. I believe those are qualities their parents should have set in motion during the previous eighteen years. I don't feel like parents are doing this with intent to do damage to their children, but instead they are trying to improve the quality of life of their children from what theirs was. I think we all want to improve the quality of life for each new generation, but I think instead of helping them, we are actually handicapping them. Today's youth, overall, are not accountable.

Getting back to us!

To whom this may concern: especially to my wife, since she will be the only one reading this (not any more). For these past three years (since we have moved up to ______) I feel like we have gotten away from some of who we are. I think we will taking a step back in the right direction with me leaving my job to start our own company. But beyond that, I would love to see us get back to our love(s) of reading and writing. I feel like I have so many things that I want to get down on paper, but I am just too damn tired to pick up the pen (or tap the keyboard). I want us to challenge ourselves, and eventually our children. I want them to come up with a belief system that they have thought up, and challenged, then changed, and challenged again. I want them to learn to love to read way before I did. I want them to be great athlete’s, but not athlete’s who are dependent upon athletics. I want them to be intellectual and creative, and to be able to speak intelligently on many topics. I want them to challenge us, and their teachers. And most of all, I want us to instill that in them, not by telling them, but by showing them through us reading, and writing, and talking about more than just “sports”. I love sports, and I believe we have so much to learn through athletics and competition, but I think we gotten away from the other side(s) of life, mostly through no one’s fault but mine. I believe this company is going to give us so many freedoms, and I want us to take advantage of those by opening our children’s (and our own) eyes to this country and this world, we need to show them, and write it down, and read it, and then challenge it, and then show them some more. I know that we GET life, so let’s start giving life (not just through birth).

LOworldVE

The Phenomenon that is Greg Maddux

Greg Maddux is the opitomy of why I love baseball. He just gets it done, and you never hear anything negative about him. He is the kind of guy you want to pull for. Maddux doesn't overpower any hitter, he just pitches them to death. He knows how to extend the black of the plate, and change speeds better than any other pitchers in the game right now. That is a huge reason for his longevity.

Last night, Maddux threw eight shutout innings, including shuting down Bonds. Maddux is one of four pitchers who has given up eight homers to Bonds (eight is the most by any one pitcher). Maddux not only threw just 68 pitches last night, but he flashed that Gold Glove leather also, by snagging a laser off of Bonds' bat.

Maddux just keeps getting it done, and I believe he can still pitch at this level because he deserves to be successful. Not enough athlete's live there lives with charma in mind. Maddux conducts himself in a way that he deserves to have success on the field. You never hear about him in a negative light, he has always been a good clubhouse guy, and constantly trying to pay it forward to the young pitches on the staff. When he takes the field, he can concentrate on pitching, because he doesn't bring baggage with him.

Overall, Maddux is what is right with baseball, and I can't wait to see him lead the once dismal Dodgers to the playoffs soon.