Happy Family
Whoa!!!
How do you really feel about your game right now? LOL
Fruit Ninja!
Had a great day for my 40th.
Took the day off, got in a deadlift training session, rested, went and played some handball & four square at the big man’s school, then went to Dave & Busters for dinner and video games. Perfect day.
Also upgraded phones and the new one has a cool feature for animated gifs so I can capture more things like this priceless pic of Dawn playing her favorite. Cracked me up.
I thought I would take a moment and reflect on what I am thankful for.
I am thankful for my wife.
I am thankful for my son.
I am thankful for my Buddhist practice.
I am thankful to have a good job.
I am thankful for m
Dawn and I celebrated our anniversary today; we’ve been married 16 years! And the big man’s school carnival fell on the same day so, we celebrated by working in the haunted house. Had an absolute blast in ‘Freedain’s Freaky Surgery Center’.
A tiring but extremely fun way to celebrate with my precious wife and wonderful son.
I’m a very fortunate guy.
Truth be told, back when Dawn and I met I was not the biggest Depeche Mode fan. They have always been her favorite, longer than I’ve know her for sure, which, is definitely saying something considering I have the privilege of being able to say we have been together for more than half our lives. Over time, she turned me in to a fan and I have been to a number of their shows with her. One of their songs had a significant role in our wedding. Dawn and I welcomed an amazing little boy into our lives just over 10 years ago. In a wonderful gesture by a life-long friend, the first music our son heard on his way home from the hospital was Depeche Mode.
In summary, they have been a very welcome part of our relationship for as long as it has existed.
Dawn and I have been to tons of concerts over the years. It was something we enjoyed throughout our lives, growing up together, moving between the phases of our relationship from boyfriend/girlfriend to husband/wife to mom/dad of our little man. She has always had her favorites and I mine, but for most of them we have shared the experience.
And then there is this weekend.
You see, ever since becoming a Momma she has wanted to be able to take the little man to see Depeche Mode. On Saturday, September 28th 2013 we realized that dream. And I’ll tell you this… it is now the most memorable, significant concert moment I’ve ever been witness to. Being able to see the love of my life overcome with an absolute, pure joy, well, there are just no words for things like that.
I will tell you this though, I haven’t felt so alive, in years…..
I still remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. Each and every day since, you have continued to amaze momma and I.
We are so proud of you.
Love,
Mom and Dad
My wife and son have been away for the past few days. They went on a trip to see some friends of ours. I have too much going on at work to be able to join them.
A few friends have asked if I am enjoying my bachelor time.
It’s ok, but it has given me time in the evening to reflect on life. Also, it confirmed something I have always known; I am extremely fortunate.
I am married to my best friend in the world, and I miss her a lot.
I am Dad to my best buddy in the world, and I miss him a lot.
Now, don’t get me wrong, quiet time is nice now and then. I think we all need quiet time on a regular basis. It is beneficial to have. But, I’m fortunate to be happily married. I’m fortunate to have an amazing boy who calls me Dad.
Life is good.
In my slow but relatively steady move towards a version of minimalism that fits my life, I have decided to remove at least one thing every day this month. Continuing to ‘clean things out‘. It may be a small goal, but it is reachable. It may be a short amount of time, but it is a commitment that will (hopefully) be easily accomplished.
It can be done.
To assist myself with this task I have set up a couple automated reminders.
A 7:00 AM reminder in my Google Calendar:
This starts my day with a reminder of the goal. It also put another thing in my inbox, forcing me to think about it, also forcing me to take action to I can delete that email.
A 8:30 PM reminder in my Google Calendar:
Accountability – it asks the question assuming the task is done, and has a link to where I have decided to log everything this month.
My Fargo.io ‘Getting Rid of Things’ log:
“Fargo is a simple idea outliner, notepad, todo list, project organizer.” Fargo is an interesting, fairly new site built by Dave Winer. (Yes, that Dave Winer, the same guy that wrote the 1st blogging software, and RSS, among others.) I find it perfect for this; web-based, uses Dropbox to store the file, simple.
In people’s own journeys to de-clutter and de-stress their lives, I’ve read a lot of different approaches; from having a packing party, to the approach I am working on this month. There was a great post on Becoming Minimalist today: 10 Decluttering Principles.
We will see where this road goes.
The big man and I were cleaning his clothes out yesterday and once we removed everything he had outgrow, decided it would be good to wash all his t-shirts. He had so many in his drawer that it was overflowing (and a side effect of the overflow was wrinkles). He’s been very helpful with folding, but this time he decided to sit on the couch and whine a little when I said it was time to help.
I took that opportunity to talk to him about his reaction and suffering.
“You know, how you react to this task is only affecting you”
“I don’t want to fold”
“It’s not my favorite thing to do either, but, how I react to it directly relates to whether it is hard to get through, or easy. You see, if there is something I don’t particularly enjoy doing, I can make a choice; do I decide ‘this is horrible, I hate this’, or, ‘this isn’t my favorite thing to do, but I can get through it pretty quick so no big deal’. If I choose the first reaction, I suffer. However, if I choose the second, I don’t, and I also usually get through the task much quicker. Which do you think would be the better decision?”
“Saying it’s no big deal.”
“Yep. Do you know where I learned that?”
“Your Dad?”
“Great guess, but actually, it was <I point my eyes up and to the left, towards our Buddha that sits in the front room>”
“From Buddha. <as he smiles>”
“Yep. That is one of the most basic, yet, most important teachings. It is also why I sit every night. So the mind I have when I sit, can be the mind I have when I work on a task that I don’t particularly care for.”
“<he smiles some more> OK”
And you know, we got through folding that laundry basket full of his t-shirts pretty quickly.
Got a text from Mom with nothing but a picture, and the word ‘Wow!’ yesterday:
My Dad has been talking about getting a Porsche for as long as I can remember, so I asked if we’d see that in the driveway. Mom replied “Yup, Dad is purchasing it right now. OMG.”
Cracked me up. Glad he finally went and did it.
A couple hours later, I received another text with a picture:
Look at that. I really need to go visit soon!
We are back from Comic Con and rested up! What a great time we had. Here are a few highlights:
Our drive down to San Diego. Overall, we made pretty good time and we were excited to be on our way down there.
Then we RAN to the Nintendo Lounge so a very special little boy would get to see what he had been waiting for.
Then we walked over to the Vikings area so Ian and I could go raid a village with shield maidens by our side! SKOL!!!!!
Then walked over to the Sega Arcade to play more games before heading to the hotel to rest up for a few days of adventure.
Link to my gallery of Thursday pics on Google+
Dawn has this amazing ability to function on little to no sleep, and when Comic Con comes around, she is always on a mission! This years mission was The Walking Dead panel. She was in line for Hall H by 4AM. (Yes, Hall H is officially that ridiculous at this point.) Ian and I met up with her early in the morning as well to get our badges and make sure we were there for the panel too.
‘The World’s End’ panel with Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright. The movie looks hilarious, cannot wait to see it.
‘The Walking Dead’ panel!!!! Along with hearing from the majority of the cast, we saw scenes from the next season. Bring on the zombies!
Next up, ‘Vikings’ panel!!! The cast were great to see in person, and seemed to have great chemistry with one another. They showed footage from Season 2 and I think my jaw stayed open for a few minutes afterwards. Huge huge huge season to look forward to! After the panel, we raced outside to try and meet them as they left, and we were in luck! We met Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha), Travis Fimmel (Ragnar), and Clive Standen (Rollo)!
One of the highlights of my Comic Con experience this year was meeting Katheryn Winnick. Not only did I get a picture with her, but I was also able to tell her thank you for portraying such a strong female character on the show. She seemed truly appreciative of the comment. (We need more of this!)
Dawn and I both got our picture with Travis Fimmel. A friend of mine commented that he and I could be brothers; I’ll take it! haha.
And finally, I was lucky enough to also meet Clive Standen! He really seemed like he was having a great time at Con meeting the massive amounts of fans that came out to support their work and the show.
I recorded the cast introduction:
and the entire panel (without footage, since that isn’t legal):
Link to my gallery of Friday pics on Google+
Dawn went off to a few TV show panels, while Ian and I headed over to the Nintendo lounge. He loves it there!
The happy guy playing the new Mario game for about the 400th time. haha.
The big man with his friend Prill from Nintendo. She is very nice and remembers him at every event!
Even the photographer working for Nintendo commented that this was the best picture he’d seen all weekend! I have to agree, our little Viking rocks.
Then we went out to the exhibit hall again for a while. Had to get a picture of this; Minecraft + Lego + Ian = awesome.
Great costume from Popcap promoting their new Plants vs Zombies 2 game.
Dawn and I waiting in line for Hall H again. Tried to get in for the Thor panel. Unfortunately, we didn’t get in.
Amazing special effects makeup on display!
And finally, an extremely impressive Lego ‘The Hobbit’ display.
Link to my gallery of Saturday pics on Google+
Walked around the exhibit hall and saw more great cosplay!
Killed a couple of zombies at The Walking Dead booth.
Then we met up with a couple of Ian’s buddies.
Next, it was off to the SpongeBob panel. During a sing-along, one of the people from Nickelodeon approached me and asked if I would be captain for Team Patrick. I had no idea what this meant, but of course I said yes. Later found out what it meant – getting up in front of the entire ballroom with Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick Star) and Tom Kenny (SpongeBob) to dance!! What the heck,,, when in Rome, right?!! Ian wouldn’t come up with me, but his buddy Corbin did and we made a great team. About half way through I look over and Dawn is in tears she’s laughing so hard! Ian said I was really goofy. Mission accomplished. After I asked Bill Fagerbakke to take a picture and later realized (when I actually looked at the picture on the phone) that Tom Kenny photo-bombed us!! How many chances do you get to say you were taking a picture with Patrick and SpongeBob photo-bombed you????!!!! After the panel we even got to talk to them again for more pictures and they signed shirts for us. Definitely another major highlight of Comic Con this year. (We have video of the dancing, will post it as soon as we can)
Next, it was back out to the exhibit hall. We even got to sit on the Star Trek Bridge.
Finally done, and extremely tired….