I'm without the family for a second day. Its funny how quickly I resort to old habits: making a whole pot of Jambalaya, and eating for two days; not cleaning at all; not making the bed; getting ready for work in about 15 minutes from the time I wake up; and driving faster with more lane changing. Its been only two days, yet I feel very different. I can't wait to have my family back and have life return to normal.
But that will all change tonight, when I pick up Jenna and the babies ("the kids" makes me sound rather old) after trick-or-treating in Dayton. Lily will be a flamingo. Ben will be Dracula. A 4-week-old Dracula.
I've been listening to some old jazz CDs lately. I realize I may be able to get back into the genre again now that my job doesn't require 8 hours of constant concentration. I like some Big Band, but mostly "cool" jazz, particularly Miles' Birth of the Cool days. His later stuff is a little too abstract for me to get lost in.
Guess who I re-discovered? Ashley Bradford, who is out in Long Beach, CA these days.
NBA Basketball (is that redundant?) starts tonight, and I couldn't care less. Wake me up when college basketball season starts! (for my Maryland Terrapins, that would be Nov. 11) For all you English majors, should I put any punctuation after that last close-parenthesis? Or is it bad form to write a fragment in parentheses after the previous sentence has been properly punctuated? These are the things I need to know!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Football; Family-less
There's nothing quite like throwing the football around on a blustery fall day. Mike, Dave, and I worked on accuracy by trying to thread the needle, so to speak, by launching footballs through small spaces on a swingset. 10 points for throwing it between the ropes. 20 points for getting the football to stay in the swing ("make the ball the baby!"). And 10 points for throwing it over a tree and onto the captain's deck. Meanwhile, little Ben watched (read: slept) through his first OSU game. It was a special moment.
Jenna is at her mom's for a couple of days, which means I'm suddenly wife-less and child-less for the first time in months. I don't know how well I can convey how different this feels. "Now I can do whatever I want, all the time." Except its not whatever I want, its home improvement, minus Tim Allen. I feel like I am in bizarro-world, mentally. When at home, I'm so used to knowing exactly what the babies are doing, what they've been doing, and what they will need in the next two hours. Now that I don't have to (for two days), all this "thinking space" is freed up so I can think about important issues, like Dumbledore's sexuality, and wish I had never known.
I did, however, sleep through the night for the first time in four weeks. I woke up completely refreshed...yet somehow I am more tired during the day. Go figure.
I will write nothing about the Red Sox except a response to your comment, Justin. I actually don't mind Ortiz. Its Manny that gets me...he's such a good hitter, but his defense and baserunning are so bad...he's the opposite of me in pretty much every way, down to the pajama uniform. But I like Beckett as well.
Jenna is at her mom's for a couple of days, which means I'm suddenly wife-less and child-less for the first time in months. I don't know how well I can convey how different this feels. "Now I can do whatever I want, all the time." Except its not whatever I want, its home improvement, minus Tim Allen. I feel like I am in bizarro-world, mentally. When at home, I'm so used to knowing exactly what the babies are doing, what they've been doing, and what they will need in the next two hours. Now that I don't have to (for two days), all this "thinking space" is freed up so I can think about important issues, like Dumbledore's sexuality, and wish I had never known.
I did, however, sleep through the night for the first time in four weeks. I woke up completely refreshed...yet somehow I am more tired during the day. Go figure.
I will write nothing about the Red Sox except a response to your comment, Justin. I actually don't mind Ortiz. Its Manny that gets me...he's such a good hitter, but his defense and baserunning are so bad...he's the opposite of me in pretty much every way, down to the pajama uniform. But I like Beckett as well.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Oh, Baseball
I watched a few innings of Game 2 of the World Series last night while Grey's Anatomy was on commericial (not that I watch it, I can't stand the sight of blood, but its one of Jenna's favorite shows). Its amazing how quickly I went from tolerating - heck, even rooting for - the Red Sox to loathing them and treating them with my highest disdain. Well, maybe not highest, but 2nd highest (thank you New York).
What turned me against the Red Sox? Suddenly their cuddly, lovable loser-ness faded into a Yankees look-alike that can afford to have three #1 pitchers on their staff. It isn't fair, blah blah blah. I don't want to rant on this blog ("thank you").
But I would really, really like to see some sort of salary cap in baseball to force teams to be smarter about how they spend their money. For example: the Reds paid #3 starter Eric Milton over $10 mill to stink it up and sit the bench. Consequently, they had to start several AAA prospects in his place. But what do the Red Sox do when they make a similar mistake (Matt Clement for $9.5 mill)? They buy the next best pitcher available (Dice-K, who gives them 15 wins).
Do I think MLB will ever adopt a cap? Sadly, no.
I just hope my cynicism doesn't continue to increase...because there are only so many sports I can care about.
What turned me against the Red Sox? Suddenly their cuddly, lovable loser-ness faded into a Yankees look-alike that can afford to have three #1 pitchers on their staff. It isn't fair, blah blah blah. I don't want to rant on this blog ("thank you").
But I would really, really like to see some sort of salary cap in baseball to force teams to be smarter about how they spend their money. For example: the Reds paid #3 starter Eric Milton over $10 mill to stink it up and sit the bench. Consequently, they had to start several AAA prospects in his place. But what do the Red Sox do when they make a similar mistake (Matt Clement for $9.5 mill)? They buy the next best pitcher available (Dice-K, who gives them 15 wins).
Do I think MLB will ever adopt a cap? Sadly, no.
I just hope my cynicism doesn't continue to increase...because there are only so many sports I can care about.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Welcome Back, Eric. Thanks.
Back to the blogging world...
You see, I had a blog back in the day (2003-2005). I now have some time in front of a computer, so here we go.
It seems like the first two years of marriage where a whirlwind, with little time to reflect on what life has been like and where life is headed. That happens when you have two kids and have only been married for 2 1/2 years. Now that my work is slower (same job...just less work), I have more time to think and dream and, evidentally, blog.
First, I'll catch you up on life: The fam has been growing at an alamring rate. For 23 years, it was just me. Then Jenna and I were married in the summer of 2005. Lily came along in the late summer of 2006, and Ben arrived in the fall of 2007. Like, three weeks ago. I've had the same job since I finished grad school - an Aerospace Engineer for a company in Cincy - where I do some sort of work on aircraft engine design and analysis. This last part is surprising because my Master's thesis was on a completely different subject, that of micro-scale helicopters. But whatever.
Now that you are caught up on life, let me tell you where I am now. I'm a Dad when I'm not at work, which is both very rewarding and very tiring. I won't bore you with the details now (to which you say, "thanks") but I'm sure fatherhood will make its way into this blog from time to time. I am happy to be a husband and a dad, and life is very full. By "full" I am slyly referencing the type of diapers I change.
"Well," you think, "now that Eric has written about his past and present, it makes sense that the next paragraph would be about his future." And you are right. (See how I'm still trying to apply lessons from Dr. Emery's english class on transition sentences?) The future is the tricky part. It is a subtle kind of tricky though. You see, life is ridiculously settled right now. Married, two kids, a house, a career...I'm all set, right? Well, kind of. These things are great, and I'm happy to have them...but you know as well as I do that life keeps changing, and when that happens, where do dreams go? Do they change, too? Or do they stay the same?
To a cynical person, the questions might be rephrased as, "is my life over as I know it?"
I certainly don't think so. What you will see in this blog is an attempt to continue living life and to continue dreaming, while keeping responsibilities at home, work, and with the Lord.
I will probably be able to update this blog most weekdays, so do check back and leave comments as you can.
You see, I had a blog back in the day (2003-2005). I now have some time in front of a computer, so here we go.
It seems like the first two years of marriage where a whirlwind, with little time to reflect on what life has been like and where life is headed. That happens when you have two kids and have only been married for 2 1/2 years. Now that my work is slower (same job...just less work), I have more time to think and dream and, evidentally, blog.
First, I'll catch you up on life: The fam has been growing at an alamring rate. For 23 years, it was just me. Then Jenna and I were married in the summer of 2005. Lily came along in the late summer of 2006, and Ben arrived in the fall of 2007. Like, three weeks ago. I've had the same job since I finished grad school - an Aerospace Engineer for a company in Cincy - where I do some sort of work on aircraft engine design and analysis. This last part is surprising because my Master's thesis was on a completely different subject, that of micro-scale helicopters. But whatever.
Now that you are caught up on life, let me tell you where I am now. I'm a Dad when I'm not at work, which is both very rewarding and very tiring. I won't bore you with the details now (to which you say, "thanks") but I'm sure fatherhood will make its way into this blog from time to time. I am happy to be a husband and a dad, and life is very full. By "full" I am slyly referencing the type of diapers I change.
"Well," you think, "now that Eric has written about his past and present, it makes sense that the next paragraph would be about his future." And you are right. (See how I'm still trying to apply lessons from Dr. Emery's english class on transition sentences?) The future is the tricky part. It is a subtle kind of tricky though. You see, life is ridiculously settled right now. Married, two kids, a house, a career...I'm all set, right? Well, kind of. These things are great, and I'm happy to have them...but you know as well as I do that life keeps changing, and when that happens, where do dreams go? Do they change, too? Or do they stay the same?
To a cynical person, the questions might be rephrased as, "is my life over as I know it?"
I certainly don't think so. What you will see in this blog is an attempt to continue living life and to continue dreaming, while keeping responsibilities at home, work, and with the Lord.
I will probably be able to update this blog most weekdays, so do check back and leave comments as you can.
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