Firethorn – Father, Gamer, Geek.

I’ve struggled with what to write. Then I read a good article about having a topic and sticking to it. That article resonated with me a little bit.

I’ve gone all over on this blog and it has been fun. With Twitter and Facebook, it’s become easier to communicate with friends there so I end up doing more frequent little updates there.

I’m putting this blog on hiatus until I know what I want to do.

My lawn is dormant
More time to play with my son
Enjoying the Fall

Last weekend was a truly epic weekend.

It started Friday afternoon when Frank got his first haircut. A haircut that Mommy put off for many months. I provided no pressure and it was entirely her decision but in her mind it was time. A picture from the big event:

I think Mommy still regrets the haircut but also is glad that his hair isn’t so long and curly.

On Saturday morning we got up and headed to Chicago for the U2 concert. We stayed near O’Hare as the hotels were much cheaper than down town. We then got a limo to take us to and pick us up from the concert. This was a genius move. The hotel and limo were covered by virtue of selling the extra two tickets I had purchased as part of being a long term member of the U2 fan club. I have a lot of pictures of the show in my Flickr stream but long story short, the concert was amazing and the weather was perfect.

Here is a shot of the stage mid show:

I’ve not seen any numbers but there had to be at least 70,000 people there if not more. The opening act was Snow Patrol and they left me quite impressed as well. Just a great show.

Sunday we slept in and then headed home. My wife discovered that my iPhone plays games and she played Bejeweled the entire ride home. I had to buy a car charger in Chicago as she killed my battery after discovering the game in the limo.

I spent about five minutes at home on Sunday (the entire day, no exaggeration) and immediately got back in the car to meet Nee-hah to go to the Packers game. And what a game it was.

No point in retelling the game story here but when the Packers scored and then picked off Cutler to end the game, the entire mood of Lambeau turned from tension to euphoria. The crowd was really into the game, we had a great group of people around us, and they beat the hated Bears. I also won a steak dinner thanks to the team beating the Bears.

The final stats:

The week started out great on Monday and today I got some more good news at work. Life is good.

Aaron Rogers would beat Brett Favre in an open competition and I think we all owe Ted Thompson an apology.

Admit it people, Ted’s smarter than you are or I am.

So Brett Favre is now a Viking and the world didn’t end. I can not blame the guy for wanting to play and as a Packer fan I kind of don’t care that he’s a Viking at this point. Has anyone been paying attention? Aaron Rodgers looked great in the first pre-season game. He had a very good first full season last year.

I wish Favre well. I think people are in love with what he used to be and not what he is — a quarterback who is a huge upgrade for the Vikings but isn’t a QB that you’d ask to put the franchise on his back.

I have a label in GMail that is “@na” and I have just completed everything in the list. Some of those items were months old. It feels great to start a “staycation” with that as a first step. Tomorrow: cleaning the entire house.

For no reason in particular, I have not focused on updating my blog. Not for any major reason, but rather I’ve been too busy doing and have not prioritized updating my blog. I felt that it was time and I have a few moments to do so. So here I am.

On the fatherhood front:

• The boy is now a little boy and the only milestone left to close the gap from infant to toddler is the first haircut. It has not happened yet but likely will at some point before Thanksgiving.
• The boy has had some busy weekends. Family visits, visits to the zoo, visits to the beach, and in general being on the go has helped him a lot in the area of socialization. He’s still shy around strangers but he does not fear them.
• The boy has a lot of toys. My parents came out and brought a van load (literally, to the roof) full of toys. His favorite seems to be the small rolling toy that has a handle. We walks all over with it.
• Good things are going on for a good friend.
• Even though I’ve not posted them, I’ve been taking a lot of pictures of the boy; you should check out my Flickr feed if you aren’t already.

On the home front:

• Have not had a ton of time to work on the house myself save for last weekend my father in law and I weeded everything. My hamstrings were sore this entire week but it looks a lot better. I do need to mow pretty badly but on balance the lawn has looked better this year thanks to the neighbor doing some weed and feed with commercial grade chemicals.
• My wife has done some planting this year but not a lot. Like me I’m sure she wishes she had more time to work on this sort of thing.
• We ordered a new front door as the one we have is bent and leaks a ton of air. It got delivered and we returned it as, despite having it professionally measured, it was the wrong size. After two months we got our money back and have not done anything since.
• Last weekend I had the opportunity to try jet skiing. The au pair got to drive one as well. Overall it is a lot of fun to go zipping across the water. I know some folks love to do it every weekend and while I had fun I can’t see owning them. That said, I think I might get the chance to go again Sunday.
• Two weeks ago I had the chance to go fishing on Lake Michigan. I can see why people own boats. The weather was perfect, the water was calm, and it was a very relaxing and enjoyable afternoon on the water. I hope to go again soon.
• I am happy that Brett Favre stayed retired. Really, I don’t think it would have gone over well if he played for the Vikings, even for a guy like me who has autographs and magazine covers on the walls of my office.

On the work front:

• Work is still strange. The re-org is going on at a snail’s pace with high level communication but zero detail or direciton.
• That said, lots of contractors are getting let go. The economy is catching up even in the medical industry. I am not surprised by this. Pending what legislation gets approved eventually, I think the whole industry could change. I kind of doubt it will change profoundly over night, but I can not imagine it staying the same.
• My projects are moving forward guns blazing but mine are among the few to do so and for that I’m thankful — both for me and for the people working on my projects.

On the gaming front:

• I picked up Dead Space and have played that for a few hours. Incredibly well done single player game.
• I picked up Demigod a few months after it came out. The game is not perfect but it works as a decent distraction that all of us can play together.
• I picked up the UFC game for the 360 but have only played it once. I like it, the graphics are incredible, but the controls are complex. I need to work on the tutorial.
• Some years there are too many games on the horizon to be excited about. Right now for me there is only one game on the horizon that interests me and at that it feels like “more of the same”.

And that is the summary of what’s been keeping us busy. I leave you with my current favorite picture of the boy:

The weekend more or less started yesterday when I picked up the new iPhone. I love it. Anyhow, I dropped our au pair off at the DMV and she took the non-driving portion of her driver’s test. I then headed to work.

Everyone wanted to see the phone and know all about it. It was surprising how many people were interested in it. I needed to get a personal phone, it’s the right thing to do. I definitely didn’t want to spend the money but I’m cutting the phone bill at home to off set the cost so it’s a net zero change to the family budget (which is nice). We then picked up some summer clothes for the boy at the mall, I got groceries while Mommy went home, and pretty much called it a night.

This morning I got up and we all got ready by 9 AM. We asked the photographer who’d done so much great stuff with our son to take some pictures of our dogs. In particular our oldest dog Madison is really starting to show her age and we would feel horrible if we didn’t get at least one more picture of her. As we’ve done so much with the photographers as “models” (I use the term loosely) they help us out by not charging us anything other than for the pictures we purchase. It’s a great deal and they got quite a bit of photos with us for use in materials (we’re on their web site).

Anyhow, with that done the boy took his nap and we hung some home organizer things in the kitchen (a small white board, cork board, and the like). The boy woke up, we ate hot dogs for lunch, and headed to a local park. The park is somewhat like a zoo but “zoo” makes it sound huge, it’s not. It is closer to a wild life preserve. Anyhow it’s a free way to walk around outside and have the boy see some animals. We were there at feeding time so that was extra fun for him.

We then picked up the au pair who was staying with a friend down town and got home to make dinner. By the time that is cleaned up, the dishes are put away, and breakfast is ready for tomorrow, it’s 8 PM and time for the boy to go to bed.

I’ve spent the last two hours getting everything set up for the phone and figuring out how best to manage my contacts in it — no clear answer yet. All I know is that it is 10:30 PM, I’ve been up since 6:30 AM, and the day has flown.

First pic on the iPhone at the mall:

First video (at the park today):

Growing up, one of the life lessons that was taught to me was the importance of vehicle maintenance. I have owned the care I drive for about six months and today was the first time I’ve had the time to clean it. Granted, I did not get to do everything needed but it was a very therapeutic session. I also learned just how knicked up the front of the car is from I guess road gravel. Surprising to me.

Date night last night was a hit. We went to see Hot House and had a great dinner beforehand. It’s the first time I’ve had very good filet in months. The wife got some kind of pork dish. The boy stayed home with the au pair. The whole night was enjoyable and it was so great to get out.

It made me realize that we probably need a vacation. I don’t know where, I don’t know what we’ll do, I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but I think we need to get away as a family. I need to investigate.

I also learned today that if you wash a car in the hot sun, and get some horrendous stains on the windows, you can use vinegar to clean them back to a perfect finish.

For whatever reason, the little voice in my head thought it would be a good idea to call DirecTV and ask what they could do for me. Sure enough, by just asking the question they lowered my monthly bill to below what they advertise on the web site. I’ve been with them for two years and have no desire to change my service, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.

I’m going to try this more often. I’ve read that in this economy that vendors are more than willing to bend over backwards to keep good customers. I’ve had that experience at work and thought I’d try it at home. It worked.

If you’re a DirecTV customer, it might be worth five minutes of your time (that is all it took) to save some money.