Hoping 2011 is Better Than 2010

2010 ended on a gloomy note.

Just before Thanksgiving a close friend was diagnosed with leukemia, which seemed completely unbelievable at the time but led to a wave of worry for my wife and I, as we know her husband and kids really well. Thankfully her ongoing treatments are proving successful and she is now, thankfully, in remission.

Shortly after that initial news incredibly devastating news followed. Another longtime friend unexpectedly passed away.
Something strange happened to me that has never happened before in that experience: for the first time ever, when I saw his wife, I was utterly and completely speechless. At the moment, it hit me how that could of easily been me, departed, and how would I in the same situation console my wife if that were her grieving for me? He was in fact close in age to me; lived an extremely active lifestyle (possibly more so than I) and had similar hobbies, no signs of being ill or dire vices. It completely frightened me.

Trouble sleeping soon followed worrying about all sorts of things including my life insurance now that we have two kids. Writing down all of our accounts and pertinent information for my wife. Bringing up conversations with my wife wondering if she even knew what kind of arrangements I’d like to have. What if my wife and I both passed, who would be the guardian of our kids? We still haven’t fully agreed on that.
All of those serious questions came into mind because for the first time ever it feels like something can really happen.

As we now move in to 2011 I look ahead with a bit of anxiety wondering what’s in store this year. I still am hopeful it’ll be nothing but pleasant times, but at the same time scared of which ailments will hit to who and what, and which (gasp) funerals, if any, we will be attending next.
For me it’s odd to be so dire, but with recent events I find myself upset by such things now.

I’ve never done any resolutions in years past, because I’ve personally found them to be a little peculiar, but if I did have any it would be that I’m more cognizant of appreciating every little thing in life and making every effort to spend as much time as I could with my wife, kids, family, and maybe some friends that I haven’t seen in way too long.

Perhaps another resolution would be NOT caving in and creating a Facebook account this year. I can’t imagine dying and all I have for showing my appreciation and gratitude for friendship is “friending” them on Facebook. Just the thought drives me nuts.

The Good, The Bad, And The Weird – 2007 Year in Review

I can’t believe how fast 2007 flew by. This time last year my daughter was barely 18 months. Now she seems like an entirely different kid.
I can’t even imagine what she’s going to be like next year when she’s 3 (God, I hope she’s potty trained by then!)

Here’s a look at 2007:

The softer side of CTD:

• The Battle Between Work And Family Life. What Would Elmo Do?
• It’s Days Like These I Wish I Had Magical Powers
• Father’s Day – Things That I Love and Hate About Being a Dad
• To My Daughter On Her 2nd Birthday
• Are You There God? It’s Me Tony…What’s Happening To Me!?

Parental predicaments and rants:

• Kid Birthday Parties at Chuck E Cheese's: Sit Down! Shut Up! Eat and Leave!
• "First rule of Toddler Fight Club: There is no Toddler Fight Club!"
• The “War On Terror” Should Be Expanded To Include Stores That Require Gifts Receipts
• Virginia Tech Coverage: Media Frenzy’s Make Parents Like Me Even More Paranoid
• School FundRaisers: Just What I Needed - A $30 Roll Of $1 Wrapping Paper And Subscription To Outlaw Biker Tattoo Magazine
• The Crazy 4-Year-Old Thinks She Owns The Place, But The Parents Are Cool
• Why Do Teenagers Have To Be So Weird Looking? They’re Scaring Little Kids
• An Open Letter To A Parent That Buys A Hooker Halloween Costume For Their Daughter

What happens when Dad (me) didn’t read the “What to expect” books:

• I Think I Just Scarred My Daughter For Life
• Warning: The Car Radio Has Been Taken Over By a Toddler
• When Mommy’s Gone, It’s Gummy Bears and Ice Cream for Breakfast (Hooray!)
• HELP! Aliens Abducted My Sweet Baby Girl And Replaced Her With A Toddler!
• What To REALLY Expect When You're Expecting: My Advice To A New Dad
• “Stop It! Because I Said So!” And Alternative Forms Of Discipline
• The Questions 2-Year Olds Ask And How NOT To Answer
• What? Santa Claus Makes Toddlers Behave And Use The Toilet…
• Potty Training Idea #87: Coloring Pages That Use "The Power Of The Mind."

Colonel Sanders, I like my chicken spicy:

• An Open Letter To The Great Creator Of Chicken In A Bucket - Colonel Sanders
• Creative Pumpkin Carving Ideas and FREE Stencils That Will Impress The Neighbors
• Colonel Sanders and Santa Claus Must Be Brothers. Or Just Angels Sent From Heaven

Weird stuff. And I don’t eve have a mustache!

• Help! I Think They May Take Away My Man Card
• It's Official - I’m Starting MY OWN CIRCUS!!
• Halloween Night Randomness! Pet Parents, Pimps, and Christmas, Oh My…
• Five Things You Didn't Know About Me (And Some That May Scare You…)
• Men Are From Mars, In-Laws Are From Uranus
• Mommy, Why Does Father Stay Up So Late...? And The True Meaning Of Friendship

If lost, please return here:

• Bula! Want To See What Fiji Looks Like?
• “The” Trip To Fiji: I Wish I Had More Money To Stay Longer…

Have a safe and happy new year!

My Predictions (Not Resolutions) For 2007

No, these aren’t “resolutions”, they're more like “prophecies”, Ya’ know, since I’m bad like that.


*Finish Christmas shopping before Christmas. Would you believe we haven’t finished from last year? Unless you’re one of our friends (or possible relatives) reading this who we haven’t seen yet, then yeah, we got your gift weeks ago.

*I will learn to speak French (again). Before going to Japan my wife and I used those audio-only Pimsleur learning CD’s. They worked pretty well - natives were pretty impressed. I’m hoping to do the same thing for our trip to France in October. And it helps that the wife speaks fluent French.

*My daughter will be potty trained by the end of the year. I wish she were trained now because on some days you’d swear she eats nothing but raw meat and beans. A diaper is a real nasty thing. Actually, she’s been telling us “poo-poo” when she’s done her business or is about to seal the deal. That means something, right?

*Apple will release a “real” movie iPod. And I’ll buy the thing the day Steve Jobs announces it wearing those stupid jeans, black turtleneck, and tennis shoes (somebody’s got to tell him it’s not 1986 anymore.)

* I’ll never knowingly use the urinal next to the big boss at work ever again. That just happened this morning and well, talk about ‘stage fright’.

*I’ll stop watching Golden Girls late at night. It annoys the wife and she leaves the room. Actually, I’ll have to really think about this one - Rose and “Ma” are pretty funny. Count this as the first one to go down in flames.

*Nintendo Wii’s will be plentiful. And I’ll laugh at myself for waiting in line at Best Buy with those crazy people a few weeks ago.


What about all of you...have any 'resolutions', I mean prophecies?

It’s Over: Christmas/New Year’s/Family Vacation. And I’m Avoiding Disney World For A Few Years

We’ve returned. Yes, there’s nothing like spending New Year’s Eve evening flying into LAX with a bunch of crazy people who smell like Frenchmen in the summertime and then driving through Wendy’s at midnight (we were freakin’ starving!) and the fast-food worker yells “Happy New Year’s” in Spanish and then asks what kind of sauce do you want with those $.99 chicken nuggets (did I mention he had 3 teeth?) It sure feels good to be back in L.A.
Oh yeah, and some famous basketball player was flying with us on the plane. I don’t know what his name was (I don’t watch sports, remember…although I did enjoy G.L.O.W. in the 80’s.)

I hope everybody survived Christmas and New Years. Overall we did have fun out at Disney World. Although it was challenging at times with 3 families and 5 kids – though the kids weren’t the ones who had all the drama - we have a controlling brother-in-law who practically needs to give bathroom permission to his wife, which was really annoying to my wife and I (he grew up in a farm in Ohio, I don’t know…maybe in 1870) and a father-in-law who brought along his new lady-friend (who’s 73 but looks not a day over 85. He's 62) and they shared the same room and bed (thankfully the kids didn’t ask questions) Oh the joys! And the weather was really weird- when we first got there it was all ‘hot and humid’ (we didn’t pack for that- so we went shopping), and then it rained like a mo-fo for a day or two (went shopping again), and then it got really cold (just what we packed for.) And just before we left, it got really nice. I’m not sure how you Florida people put up with that craziness.

Interesting things I learned:

*Never go to Disney World between Christmas and New Years. I’m not sure what we were thinking; several parks got “full” on some days (not a good thing.) Everybody said Thanksgiving is much better time or even the week before Christmas.
* Stay in a Disney hotel. Most of the time we were in a vacation rental house, the other days we stayed at Disney hotels (Wilderness Lodge and Port Orleans-Riverside) it’s easy to get around with those resort buses and the parks stay open late just for hotel guests (up to 3 a.m.) so you can actually go on rides.
*My daughter’s favorite ride? Can you believe it was walking up and down steps!? There must be something about those steps that’s better than the ones here in California.
* Really “large” (a nice way of saying ‘fat’) people in those electric scooters are annoying. I can’t tell you how many times they tried to run us over while honking with those annoying whining, hissing horns. I saw about 12 of them getting up to buy ice cream and turkey legs a few times. We don’t have nearly as many of those out here.
* I can survive without touching a computer for 10 days (I never thought that could ever happen unless I fell in a hole) Although that has some drawbacks -I didn’t know Saddam was hung, and Ford and James Brown died. So it was like being cut off from the world.
*Go to the Kennedy Space center. It was only an hour away and now I’m pretty sure that the moon landing wasn’t “faked” on a soundstage like that crazy professor in college claimed.
*That Expedition Everest ride was pretty cool.
* Stores in Orlando didn’t have Nintendo Wii’s either (yes, I checked)

Does anybody make New Year’s resolutions? I was thinking about it today, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to scream when I see the new credit card bill.