Thirty

So today I am thirty.  Thirty years of heart pumping, sweat inducing action.

Or sitting behind a computer desk typing.

The good thing is that I’ve learned some things since turning 18 and being legally an adult:

  1.  If you find a girl worth marrying – don’t wait!  The worst part of 18-21 was not being married
  2. Church legalism kills – I left a few churches and tried out many more.  If you find legalism – move on.
  3. Credit cards are not free money – they have cost me thousands of dollars in paid interest and interest unearned on investments
  4. Waiting to lose weight is a dumb idea.  I am finally down to below 170 after spending the latter half of my twenties above 170 and 180 and 190
  5. I stink at fulfilling new years resolutions like 99% of the rest of the Earth’s population
  6. If you find a company worth working for – stick with it.  I love working for my major client because they’ve got great character in the owners.  I can honestly say I love those two guys [and many of the employees there].
  7. Be patient.  With your wife/husband, kids, friends, relatives, co-workers, animals, other drivers and yourself.
  8. Keep smiling and laughing.  If everyone is laughing, they may be getting a break from a lot of hurt.  Or if they’re doing well before, they’re doing better now.
  9. Kiss your wife every day as often and as caringly [SIC] as possible.
  10. Spell check your blog.

My children are beautiful, my wife is amazing, my church home continues to amaze me, my job is going well and I’ve learned a lot.  Thanks for participating in my thirtieth birthday!

DVR Saves Me on a Late Night Sick Kid TV Fest

Last night Evie was puking her tiny little guts out.  She got some sort of bug and just let it all come out.  All over me, Jessica, her bed and some even on her blanket that she likes to cuddle.  While she was awake feeling bad I was up watching shows on the DVR after quickly scanning and seeing that late night infomercials were all that was on.   I would have preferred to have been sleeping and have had Evie well and not being sick, but at least the Good Eats episodes I watched were consistently weird Alton Brown creations that I enjoy watching.

Oh, and Ask This Old House was kinda cool to learn about vegetation in Las Vegas.  Weird.

A Post Wherein Abby Joins Girl Scouts

Abby will be going to her first Girl Scouts meeting this afternoon. Jessica is taking her and has told me (though I’m not convinced) that its not going to involve cookies at this age. At this age.  Next year or the year after she’s going to be hawking diabetes-in-a-box to help send her to a camp where they’ll teach her how to be a feminist [I’ve put my foot down, once the cookies come out, so does Abby].  Yeah! Sure, I sound skeptical, but the truth of the matter is that I’m actually just afraid that my girl is growing up.

When I was a young boy I had the chance to join the Boy Scouts but I passed up on it because of reasons I don’t even remember. However, Abby is a little social butterfly and so the idea of her turning into a brownie or whatever they call the girl scouts her age – twinkies, dough-girls, or what have you – just means that she’s going to have yet another place to be extroverted. Its good for her. I’m just going to keep telling myself that.

Thankful Thursday: Singing Children

My girls both sing loudly about random things they are thinking.  Abby will walk around on our terrace in the back yard and sing loudly about princesses, God, jungle gyms, bikes and rocks.  Loudly.  Evie, right now as I write this, is singing in the other room as well.  I can’t make out what she’s singing, but she’s doing it joyfully.  There’s something wonderful about little girls singing and making noise that just brings a smile to my face.  I am thankful to God for my little girls and their singing.  I hope they never stop – as long as they keep off of American Idol.  Heaven forbid they get on national television singing some made up song about jungle gyms 😉 [not really – unless the judges mock them]

Oxygen

I was recently in at the 16th street mall in downtown Denver and I saw an ‘oxygen’ booth selling oxygen for the partier who was trying to avoid a hangover.  Seriously, that was their gimmick.  But instead of fun happy looking people sitting at the booth two women who looked rather stressed and tired were sitting there with hoses around there face.  In the middle of downtown.  With hundreds of people passing by.  The weirdness did not stop there.  We passed the booth going South the first time.

Going North we passed the booth which had no customers, but the employee was standing there.  Next to his oxygen tanks.  Smoking.

Dumb!

Sealants

Yesterday I went to the dentist and had two cavities taken care of.  Cavities that were not from bad brushing recently, but cavities from when I was a young teenager or tween.  The dentist I went to then was big into using sealants, which if you haven’t had or heard of are basically bits of melted plstic that are incredibly durable, and sealants last for around ten years.  Except in my case they lasted for 17 or so years.  So finally the sealants came out of my teeth and I had to have fillings put in.  My cheeks are sore from holding my mouth wide open for the 30 minutes or so that was required (with short breaks here and there).

I used to be afraid of the dentist, but the truth of the matter is that I’m really glad that we have the technology we do today to fix our mouths up.  Dental practitioners are still not all equal, but they all have access to some pretty amazing technology and I’ll take a few hours or days of discomfort for a life of teeth 🙂

Big Fat Happy Birthday to Ed!

I just wanted to say, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” to my brother Ed.  He’s 28 today.  If you do the math that makes him 28*12=336 months old.  I wouldn’t normally point that out except that when you have young children some of their ages are in months.  Evie is 22 months old.  Ed is a dad to three beautiful children, a husband to one beautiful wife (much to the chagrin of some reclusive Mormons), and the owner of many tools for working on automotive type contraptions.  I’m really glad Ed is my brother, he’s given a lot to me over the years.  A few black eyes, but a lot of good times talking and having fellowship.  Ed is my ‘Thankful Friday’ brother 🙂

Apple Does Right with iPhone Changes

I just read this post from Steve Jobs on Apple.com regarding the iPhone price drop this week.  Good on Apple for offering to at least a small repayment for the major price drop after only two months of their iPhone being on the market.  I know I probably sound like a fanboy, but Apple continues to impress me with their customer service and their customer centered model of business.

Why should you buy an Apple product?  Because their customer service is not matched by enough tech companies and it will shock you [in a good way].

Thankful Thursday: In-Laws

Two of my four in-laws are in town this week and I’ve really enjoyed the time with them.  They put up with my craziness and sometimes contribute to it.  They’re neat folks, they both love Christ, and they both walk in liberty.  This morning they took us out to breakfast and then they’re off in the mountains with the rest of the family while I work (or blog as the case may be).  These in-laws are the ones I knew best during my dating and engagement to Jessica and so I have longer memories with them.  They’re a hoot to play cribbage with if you can get them to do so.

My other in-laws, who I don’t want to forget about in this post, are also pretty neat.  They’ve got two teenage girls in their home… so I’m watching carefully because eventually I too will have two teenage girls in my home.  Since I’ve known them a shorter amount of time (just shy of nine years of meeting in person) its been a different relationship because the time has been less and the frequency even lesser.  They also put up with my shenanigans and contribute to them on occasion.  These in-laws play a nasty hand of cribbage as well, but also will play Aggravation, Risk and Scrabble.

You can’t beat in-laws (its against the law [see previous notes about shenanigans and understand this is a play-on-words]), and I love mine.  I’m thankful for them.