Firethorn – Father, Gamer, Geek.

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 spent Saturday afternoon at a small bar watching the first two rounds of the NFL draft. Really, the Packers picks ended early and we sort of drifted into watching the start of the Brewer game.

Anyhow, the bar was small, smoke free, had wi-fi, and was very accomodating to us. They were not that busy so we pretty much had white glove service to boot. As for the draft itself, I have to say this was the most enjoyable one I’ve watched for several reasons.

First, I by and large agree with the picks made. I think BJ Raji is just what the doctor ordered, an intersection between organizational need and player capability. I will be surprised if he is not starting this fall. The pick of Clay Matthews was also a solid one made all the more surprising that Ted Thompson moved up in the draft to get him — a very rare thing in the Thompson era. A lot of questions have dogged the organization with their announcement to transition from 4-3 to 3-4 defense and clearly the goal all along was to address the change via the draft.

The second day I did not watch but in looking at the picks I see a bit of a mixed bag. The selection of a full back is very odd to me — there are already two at this position and I don’t see what the player Quinn Johnson adds to the mix. Two offensive linemen seem like a good selection although this low in the draft I am not optimistic that they’ll be able to step into Clifton or Tauscher’s shoes any time soon.

You can not judge a draft until several years down the road so looking back at the 2005 draft:
Aaron Rogers – starting QB, great pick
Nick Collins – Pro Bowl player, great pick
Terence Murphy – underperformed
Marviel Underwood – underperformed
Brady Poppinga – good pick, still on roster
Junius Coston – underperformed
Mike Hawkins – underperformed
Michael Montgomery – good pick, still on roster
Craig Bragg – underperformed
Kurt Campbell – underperformed
Will Whittacker – underperformed

So four picks that have panned out at an NFL level. I would say that is probably a B level execution; a little better than a lot of teams but not above the rest of the league.

Here’s a shot of my friend at the bar with our laptops out watching the draft and watching what was going on across the intarwebs:

I’ve intended to post more but work has been so busy and the days so long it has really made it hard.

Let’s start with real life:
We had an au pair selected and she backed out. The story we heard is that she was in a minor car accident and her uncle got sick. It seems to me like she might have gotten cold feet. These things happen, we still have some time and the next candidate we were matched with looks like she might be a fit as well.

The boy is crawling like crazy and his sleeping patterns are messed up. This is normal at this stage. The current thinking is that they are so worked up over whatever it is they’re working on in their development is consuming their mind. He is waking up at 5:45 AM which … is tough. The UFC fight last night was fantastic. One finished right at the bell, and perhaps even more surprising, BJ Penn’s corner threw in the towel. I never saw that coming. I must say though, GSP was really hammering on him and while he never was knocked out, the fight was out of him. He looked like a broken man. Happy for GSP, puts BJP in an odd place though … he dominates 155 but clearly going up in weight is not the right move.

I’ve recommitted to GTD. I just ordered a voice recorder and some baskets for my office so I have a true inbox at home. My office and work life are in better places but at home I’m disorganized and it is getting frustrating.

I saw today that Hellgate: London has officially been shut off. While the game was enjoyable it more than anything made me realize that I have not played any computer games at all for about three weeks. I wish there was a game I was excited about but right now there is truly nothing out there. I’ve actually thought about getting Tiger Woods and playing some golf online to pass the time. Something I can play with not much stress or commitment. I can also play it while talking to people. MMO games, which I don’t have time for, seem to require too much attention.

With the new vehicle, I now have the ability to pair my car to my phone. So, before running some errands today I sat in my garage and hooked it up. I must say, this is the greatest thing ever. To drive and have nothing to hold, no ear piece to install, is a joy. Not that I make a lot of calls in the car but now if someone calls it is not the huge effort to find the phone — I just click a button.

So I actually watched the Super Bowl this year and it was an amazing game.

On Friday, I headed home from work and ran a ton of errands. Best Buy, Home Depot, Copps. All items completed with lists successfully utilized and all items required in stock. Success. We then proceeded to rearrange the house. My wife has a burning desire to rearrange on a regular basis. Anyhow we moved the large screen television into the basement as well as a large chair from the living room. We brought up the smaller television and a recliner. The reasons were multiple. We wanted to de-emphasize the television in our growing boy’s life. We were preparing for company to come over. I wanted to be able to play the 360 more.

On Saturday we got up and both of our parents came into town for family pictures. We headed to the mall to one of those kind of crummy “kid photo” stores where they churn you through a bunch of poses in short order. I did not have high expectations but they did manage to capture a few great images that we’re now going to get ordered.

After lunch and photos we headed home to prepare for friends to come in for the Lesnar/Coture UFC fight. At 3 PM the first of our friend arrived and he hit a deer on the way here. People slowly started trickling in throughout the afternoon. We watched some college football, played some Rock Band 2, and then watched a great fight. A few friends stayed over night as the fights ended around 12:30 AM.

Sunday we had even more family and friends over to watch the Packer game. What a great game it was, too. The Packers looked like it was 2007 instead of the inconsistent team they’ve shown to be in 2008.

Of course, the primary reason for all of this was so everyone could see Frank and we could see our friends. It has gotten very hard to get out and do things since he was born so we make it a point to make sure everyone gets to see him.

Latest photo:

It is definitely fall in Wisconsin. The leaves are coming down, the temperature is dropping, the rain feels colder, and the days are shorter. The good news however is that Halloween is coming. It is a fun holiday and while we’ve not gotten dressed up in a few years, it’s still a fun holiday.

Our neighbors had an early party this past weekend and it was great to see everyone there. On Sunday I sat on the floor all day and watched football with the boy pretty much all day. I was glad to see the Packers win in pretty convincing fashion. I lost again in Fantasy Football but I’m pretty much resigned to the fact that I am not going to win this year — although nobody seems to particularly want to dominate, either.

My father in law and I worked on baby-proofing the kitchen. I took a nap on Saturday and again on Sunday. We tried a new restaurant in the town we live in (the food was merely OK). While not a particularly eventful weekend, it was extremely normal. I enjoyed it a great deal even if it wasn’t long enough.

I can summarize how awesome my weekend was in one picture:

We headed to Milwaukee on Saturday morning to head to my parent’s house. My step-father had hip surgery and needed to spend some extra time doing physical therapy in an assisted living facility. We tease him that “he’s in rehab”. He was in lousy spirits earlier in the week, and he gets out Monday, so we spent all of Saturday with him.

It was a bit of an effort on Friday to get ready for the travel weekend. I left work after my last meeting and picked up groceries. From there it was lots of mowing and house cleaning. We got up at 5:30 AM on Saturday. I now understand why people become “morning people” as they get older — they have kids. Anyhow by the time we ate breakfast, fed the boy, bathed him, took our showers, loaded up the vehicle, and were ready to go it was about 10 AM. We got to my parent’s house and walked down to Milwaukee Ale House for lunch. It is awesome to have such a nice place to walk to for lunch.

We made it to “rehab” around 2 PM and hung out in the afternoon. For lunch we picked up subs. We stayed there until around 7 PM and proceeded to head home.

Sunday started little later (6:30 AM) and we got ready, picked up bagels, and made it to the place at 8:45 AM. We relaxed for a few hours and then proceeded to Nee-hah’s house for the Packer game.

Nee-hah’s got a great house and an awesome television. It’s also the first time I saw AT&T’s Uverse and I have to say that I’m impressed. I like DirecTV but this was clearly a generation ahead of even the best that DirecTV has to offer. The channel changing is instantaneous and the UI has no lag.

So two big things happened this weekend:
1) On our way out from “rehab” on Sunday, the boy waved good bye to grandpa. We just started working on waving good bye and he figured it out very quickly. It was exciting and I’m glad that he did it — it was a great way to end a pleasant day.
2) His first tooth is definitely coming in. You can feel the little edge on the lower gums in his mouth. The wife told me the technical term is “breaking through”. I think the Doors wrote a song about this.

I know it is already Wednesday but I am in the unique position of still recovering from last weekend. It started early on Friday when the full family (wife, son, three beagles, au pair) headed to my parents house for the weekend. This was only our second extended trip with our son and our first where everyone was on board.

I tied down the pack and play and the stroller on top of my wife’s vehicle and we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa’s at about 6:15 PM on Friday. Not bad. We unloaded and had a great dinner.

On Saturday morning I went for breakfast with my stepfather and then headed home to get ready for a wedding rehearsal. A close friend was getting married on Sunday, so rehearsal was on a Saturday afternoon. Following rehearsal we tried a new restaurant right next to my parent’s home, The Milwaukee Ale House. It was very nice to walk to dinner and still go out to eat. I’m still adjusting to all the growth in my parents’ town but I will say the town looks a lot nicer than it did just ten years ago.

Anyhow we spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and catching up. I was happy to see my parents so excited about their grand son. I am still not quite used to calling my mother “Grandma”, that’s for sure.

Sunday was the wedding and that went off without an issue. It started a few minutes late, like all weddings, but other than that it was great. Surprisingly warm for an early September day in Wisconsin. Following the wedding were pictures and then on to the reception.

The reception was in down town Milwaukee, on the south side of down town actually. I think the bride and groom underestimated the number of people who would attend the reception. There were over 250 (maybe 300) people there, with seating for not much more than 100. People were still in line for food at 8:30 PM! Luckily there was enough food.

After the reception we headed home yet on Sunday night and got home around 12:30 AM. I was up the next morning around 7:30 AM and had to proceed to get ready to head up to Green Bay — going to the Packer game!

I met Nee-hah, Corporate, and his new wife half way there. We arrived about three hours before kick off and had a few drinks and a very Wisconsin lunch (bratwurst, french fries). The game was fantastic and Rodgers looked very solid.

The fly over before hand featured four F-16s. I never get tired of fly overs. The thunderous roar of the engines is very exhillarating. People who live in the neighborhood and don’t know what’s going on have to jump out of their chairs.

The game was a back and forth affair. The defense did not do a good job of shutting them down when they had third and long. The Packers extended a few drives thanks to Rodgers ability to scramble for a first down. The running game, other than one long run, didn’t exactly dominate. However, for a first game of the season more things went right than went wrong.

The only real concern was the officiating. It was not a well called game with entirely too many garbage penalties. Pass interference was called when not deserved and then was not called when it was blatant. I’m not sure what game they were watching. Either way, it reinforces my dislike for the referee who called this game. He’s the only referee in the NFL that I don’t think is at the same level as all the others. The fact that I know all the referees in the NFL by name probably says something about me, doesn’t it?

Anyhow, I got home from the game around 12:30 AM on Tuesday morning and have been trying to catch up on my sleep since. I am ready for a weekend!

It’s not that I’ve made a decision to work on the web site here less, I’ve simply been very involved in lots of other things. Work is going extremely well and I’ve really been putting myself into it this year. I think having a son has made me focus on ensuring I have a successful career both as an example to him as well as to ensure that I can provide for him. I mentioned I got PMP certified, I’ve also been in a year long leadership development course, doing some volunteer work, and giving a few extra training presentations.

At home, our au pair has taken a lot of my time in teaching her to drive and shuttling her around until she learns to drive. I’ve also been playing some single player computer games just to get back to all those games, some that (yes it is true) I had never even opened. It’s not that I don’t want to play a multi-player game, it’s that there’s nothing that all of us want to play and the group is kind of just hanging out right now.

The family been spending more time with extended family and hanging out outside this summer. The dogs are all in the best shape they’ve ever been and we are getting in the habit of playing with them outside, especially as the summer has been so mild.

I’m gearing up for football — both NFL and fantasy. I’m looking forward to it this year, I’m going to the first game with Nee-hah, and the fantasy league is looking like everyone is pretty interested. I’ve finally put the time in up front to make sure the league is a little more organized than it has been in the past.

I watched some Olympics. I’m spending some time helping a friend get a new festival in Milwaukee off of the ground. I’m getting ready to stand up in a wedding in two weeks. I’m preparing for another business trip to England. So it’s not any one thing that’s taking my time, just the sheer volume of different things going on.

I have to say, I can’t complain — it’s good to be busy.