ALP!!! (Another Lame Post)

As you can see, I missed a posting. :(. Sorry, this is due mostly to my being an airhead. I got to work yesterday before I realized I left my laptop at home. Luckily, I haven't really started working yet since I am still in training, so I didn't need it, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to post during my downtime

Then, when I got home, it was just me and the kids, so I still wasn't able to post.

So here is todays lame posting!!

Looking forward to Christmas as my son is absolutley excited about it!! I love this age. My daughter will only be barely 3 months at Christmas, so not much excitement from her.

Yes, we've already got the tree up. Took care of that Friday after Thanksgiving. So far, we've only broken 2 ornaments and a Christmas Train. I hope it lasts the remaining 26 days, or I'll be forced to get a sturdier representation of Christmas, like, oh say a Minora (sp?)!! Just Kidding!!

That's pretty much it. I told you it would be lame....

Hmmm....

Well, I'm back after a loooong weekend, and sadly enough, not much to write about!!!

There is DEFINITELY a reason Thankgiving is a 4 day weekend, especially if you are the one hosting the dinner. Thursday, of course was extrememly busy. We had a house full of people, but I didn't get to really talk to any of them, because of all the crazy things you worry about when you have the Big Dinner. All went well, all the food was great, but of course, it took the other 3 days to recuperate, mostly due to the fact that every piece of silverware and dishware I owned were used.

I think we need to lobby for Monday off as well. It should be one of those holidays that are gauged by the amount of leftovers you have. Simply put, you can't go back to work until all of your leftovers are gone!!! If that were the case, I'd be off 'til march, cuz we got a 24 lb turkey. Yes, it was big, but you don't really get an idea how big until after 12 people have eaten until they are full and you see that you have MORE than half of the turkey still left!!!

Now that I AM back at work, it's just a few weeks away until Christmas, and we pretty much do it all over again. Thankfully someone else is doing the dinner for that one....

'Tis the season.....or not?

With the Holiday season about to go into high gear, it is time for all of the NONCelebrants to come out of the woodwork and cry foul. Not so much over Thanksgiving, per se, but more to do about what December 25th is. I am already sick of hearing people whine about Xmas being a religious holiday. And while though it IS a religious holiday, Xmas has come to be more than the anniversary of the birth of Christ, but it amazes me that people can't see past that.

Like with all things, the Xmas holiday has evolved. I find it more to be an extension of the Thanksgiving holiday in that it is more of a time to reflect on the past year and to be around friends and family. Personally, for me, religion does not enter the holiday season.

So rather than me cry out against all those who DO celebrate Christmas as a religious day, I prefer to wish them a Happy Holiday. To those who are offended, I say the following:

Lighten Up!!!!!

I am saddened that we are now in a time that people get offended by the notion of someone wishing them welll. I can remember a time where you could say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" to perfect strangers and either get a smile or a warm wish in return. Now, it's safer to ignore our fellow man and to seem to not care about their spirits in fear of them lashing out and crying that I am "forcing" my religions or beliefs!!! This is AMERICA, where we once were proud of the "melting pot" or "salad bowl" society composition.

I guess at least around the holidays, we as Americans (and HUMANS, for that matter) should try to be a little more tolerant of our fellow man. Live and let live. If someone comes up to me and says "Happy Kwanzaa", or "Happy Hannukah", I am going to take that to mean "I hope you have a nice holiday"

So my message for the holiday season is "Lighten Up"!!!

Give it up SONY!!!

This just in from slashdot:

"As reported by InformationWeek, Sony BMG Music's controversial copy-protection scheme can be defeated with a small piece of tape. According to thinktank Gartner analysts Martin Reynolds and Mike McGuire, Sony's XCP technology is stymied by sticking a fingernail-size piece of opaque tape on the outer edge of the CD. 'After more than five years of trying, the recording industry has not yet demonstrated a workable DRM scheme for music CDs. Gartner believes that it will never achieve this goal as long as CDs must be playable by stand-alone CD players.'"

I remember Sony's last such feeble attempt was foiled by using a sharpie on the outer edge a few years back. I'm glad they keep failing, because they keep spending TON$ of money and getting screwed trying to screw people over.

So what If I copy a cd to give to a couple friends. At $17 a pop, they are MORE than making enough money from the less savvy consumer. And quite frankly, I make it a point that if I like the artist, I WILL buy the album.

How many times I have been burned by buying an album and there only being 1 good song. Not anymore.

I think SONY should spend less time trying to screw John Q Public for the benefit of folks like Lars UlRICH who have million$ and can do just fine without my $17 a year for their crappy albums.

First Day

Today was my first day at my new job. As a matter of fact, it was the 5th such day in 2 years. As far as 1st days go, it was pretty good. 1st days are usually very unproductive, but today was not the case. I was surprised that in my 1st day I was able to accomplish the following:

1. I received a network logon
2. I received a working laptop
3. My e-mail was configured
4. I received my permanent badge and parking pass
5. I attended a mandatory training session that others had been waiting 2 years for

Now, this list usually what I would see in the 1st month, so as you can see, I got a lot done today.

I can't say I was nervous or really looking forward to today. Either switching jobs 5 times in 2 years has numbed me, or it has taught me not to get excited. Either way, I went into work today confident and ready. One thing is almost for sure; today was my last first day of 2005... :)

I QUIT!!!

Today is my last day working for my current company....AGAIN!!! I start a new job on Monday. Looking back, this is the 5th job I have quit in 2 and a half years. YIKES!!!!

I've found that depending on the culture or job type, my fellow employees have acted differently toward me. Let me reflect back to when I left my job in Arizona. Most, if not all of my colleagues were sad to see me go, management put forth a grand effort to get me to stay (to no avail, unfortunately) and my friends were also sad. Since I've been back in CT FREEZING my A$$ off, the experiences I've had quitting (and I've done it 4 times so far here) pretty much from job to job has been quite the opposite. With the exception of 1 employer, there have been no counter-offers or any trying to convice me to stay, or anyone sorry to see me go.

Actually, at least among my fellow workers, the mood has often been congratulatory, like they are happy that I am escaping. One thing is for sure; every time I've quit somewhere, I am always sure whether or not I'm doing the right thing by the attitude of my co workers and supervisors.

Though I haven't minded it here for my 2nd time, I am excited to be going on a new venture. I'll miss a few of the folks I've worked with here that I do consider my friends, but, alas, it's not like I'm leaving the state.

It's been a rough couple years for me career wise, and I hope I can finally be done searching. I finally found a job that should be challenging and definitely is finally going to pay me what I have been looking for.

So, when I say "I QUIT", hopefully it means I quit looking for a job!!!

Getting Old

Sometimes I scare myself. I've always kind of thought of myself as kind of liberal in terms of my discretion toward the types of things I read, programs I watch, video games I play, and what I listen to. Now that I'm a father of two, I totally find myself getting more conservative in these respects. I am aware of what I am actually watching or listening to when my 3 yr old is around, and I find myself almost (I stress ALMOST) appalled at what is on tv and radio.

Now, violence and language pretty much don't offend me in the least, but everyone knows how young children are sponges, so I gotta be extra careful. I think it has been like 100 years since I have listened to the radio with my son in my car, because my radio stations of choice are pretty crude, and the conversations can be sexual in nature with mild profanity.

I am NOWHERE near ready to explain to any of my children what they are saying and why it is funny, cuz it is a FACT that if you think something is funny, so will a 3 yr old, even if he doesn't understand why.

So my point is, I feel like I'm "gettin' old" because of my knee jerk reaction when my son is exposed to these things. My son is old enough to figure out the computer and can even start some of his own games. The other night while feeding my daughter, he wanted to play on the computer. Usually I start the game for him, or I watch him just to make sure he can do it. Well, I had my hands full with a 6 week old who was hungry so I let him try by himself with me in the other room.

After about 10 minutes, he gives up and needs help. At this time, my daughter is full and fast asleep and I can help him. To my surprise, he not only was unable to start his game, but in the random clicking fashion native to Pre-readers, he somehow managed to launch Doom 3 and was attempting to join a Network game. I was shocked as well as impressed. Luckily, he hadn't encountered any "minions from hell" as of yet, as I'm not sure what his reaction would be. He would either think it was totally cool, or we would be entering a new stage called "Night Terrors"!!!

Already, I am thinking about having to really control what he has access to. I'm not too far from having to "lock down" internet usage. This bothers me a littel cuz I want him to enjoy the freedom of being a kid, but at the same time, don't want him exposed to questionable material.

My GOD, I'm becoming my parents!!!! Every adults fear!!!!

Child Care

Hello and welcome to my 2nd post. I've been thinking a lot about child care lately, mostly due to our new addition to our family. We have our son in a daycare and it is expensive, so chances are, our 2nd won't go in until he is out.

I've found there are definite differences in types of daycares and I want to applaud the one my son is in. Now I will always love my children no matter what they do or how well they do it, but I am extremely proud of how well he is doing. He is only 3 yrs old and already has quite a few skills, and more importantly the confidence to get more. This is pretty much all because of the day care he is in. It is very structured and organized, and I find my 3 yr old referring to it more often as school than day care.

He has been in a home day care before, which while meeting the needs of the attendees such as meals, diapers, and averting boredom, I do find them lacking. His daycare has a staff of probably close to 15 "teachers", some of which are actually accredited and accomplished educators.

Most of his day is usually play time, especially the afternoon, since the kids are picked up at random, depending on the parents, but the mornings are where he gets the most out of his experience. Structure is good. Especially structured learning, where he and his peers are learning and doing the same things together. At the home day care, the day was mostly filled with playing with toys while something was on the television while the SOLE provider took turns feeding and changing each kid.

I guees I am just saying that I really appreciate where my son is at, because he is getting so much more than someone just making sure he is ok when we pick him up. My wife and I also appreciate the personal attention each teacher gives all of the kids, and we make sure we do something nice for the staff about once a year. Granted, we pay them a handsome bit on a monthly basis and don't need to do this, but I know it's not an easy job, so if buying them all pizza for a staff meeting shows my appreciation, then great!!

On another point, it's almost a known fact that 99.9% of Day Care employees are female (I avoided saying 100% because there is probably at LEAST 1 male crazy enough to want to work at one). Kids take energy and patience, both of which are qualities men lack, imho. Bless the women who love these jobs!!!

So it goes almost without saying that my daughter WILL be going to the daycare as well, because I can see all the benefits she will get. I feel my son will be so well prepared for when he does start school and hopefully it will be a less traumatic experience (for me and my wife anyway, he'll do just fine!!!)

So if you're torn between putting kids in a home daycare and an actual Staff run kind, I recommend the latter, but be sure spend ample time looking into them carefully. Home rum daycares are usually cheaper, and probably better if your child is still an infant, but I recommend switching to a Staff run daycare once they are walking and exploring and communicating.

Thanks for hanging around for another Rumbling...

El Blog Primero

Well, well, well. WTF am I gonna write about? What is this whole 'blog culture about? I've been musing on the idea of doing a blog, and as unoriginal as it sounds (and it is unoriginal), I've always feared I wouldn't have enough to say, or anything interesting enough to say. I've never really been too political or religious, so I don't get to heated up on those topics, so I guess I'll try and find something a little closer to home.

I've always been a big football fan and do follow one of the NFL teams very closely. Than it got me to thinking...What makes a person a Fan of any 1 certain team? Sure, there are many different reasons for being a fan for any one particular team, and very few can explain what incident or driving force MADE them a fan. For me, I became a Patriots fan about the same time I started to become aware of Football. It was pure coincidence that this period of enlightment was in my 1st year living in the Northeast coinciding with the Local Team's 1st trip to the superbowl and being heavy underdogs. Now, they lost the game (probably in one of the MOST lopsided contests in history) but since then, I have remained a loyal fan.

So, my reason for being a fan probably falls under the category of supporting the local team. But what about people who root for teams in a city they have NEVER BEEN TO? What is this? Especially when there is a local team in their market to follow. I am speaking specifically about people who are fans of team in Texas, who with the exception of a good run of superbowl victories in a couple different decades, have not always been "Americas Team". This drives me absolutely nuts, mostly only during the time when that team is doing good, do these fans come out of the woodwork, but in the last few years, they have been pretty scarce(I AM NOT complaining, I'd like it to stay this way). When asked why they are fans, they can't answer with any REAL reason, thus leading to the conclusion of being a FairWeather fan, and only want to root for successful teams. REAL fans are the ones who suppor their team by wearing the hats and merchandise during the 2-14 season, or after the embarassing loss.

Fans of "Americas Team" DON'T do this. They are usually found cowering somewhere complaining about how it was someone else's fault their team lost. PLEASE!!!

Well, anyway, that was my first CRAPTACULAR Blog. If you made it this far, thanks for hanging in there and hopefully I'll get better topics and won't stumble so much. This probably reads something like a Homer Simpson essay, so I apologize.

Slap ya later