I love to talk. I haven’t always been like that (some might argue) but I have become worse since being a stay home parent. I think, more for men, that being “at home” can make for a lonelier life than that of a person working outside of the home.

During the day my conversations usually don’t go beyond what kids want to talk about. I’ve had some deep conversations about some really weird things with my four year old. Sometimes I bounce more complex ideas off of my 16 month old because he doesn’t know the difference. By the time my wife gets home the kids are so excited to see her that I don’t stand a chance so I go to the store or something. I know all the people at the stores and can spend a good amount of time keeping them from their work. By the time the kids get to sleep she’s exhausted and I’m trying to get stuff around here done and then find myself awake by myself. I’ll then jump online or plant myself in front of the TV. I’m usually having an online/phone conversation with a friend or indulging in whatever the DVR has recorded.

One thing that REALLY bothers me is how the dads are discriminated against. I know the women like “girl time” but they don’t seem to realize that we dads are partially in the same boat. We’re home changing diapers, giving bottles, rocking babies to sleep, doing dishes, and grocery shopping. I’m not a weirdo (shut up), I’m not a child predator, I’m not hitting on you, I’m just trying to relate to an adult species. It’s not often that there are other dads doing the same thing during the day so take it easy on us.

I know that I have a choice. I’m not forced to stay here and do what I do but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Sunday is just around the corner and the excitement can’t be greater. We’re flying to Orlando THIS WEEKEND!!Preparing has been a blast. The books I choose are Birnbaum’s Walt Disney World for Kids 2008, Little Black Book of Walt Disney World: The Essential Guide to All the Magic, and PassPorter’s Walt Disney World 2008: The Unique Travel Guide, Planner, Organizer, Journal, and Keepsake.
The PassPorters has been the best for preparing and I’m anxious to use it in Disney. The also have a big online community of Disney fanatics at http://www.passporter.com. Some of the best advice I got from PassPorters is to order groceries and have them waiting for us at the hotel. We ordered from The Garden Grocer.Since we’re stating at a Dsney Resort (Disney’s Yacht Club) we can use the Disney’s Magical Express Service. It’s a shuttle and luggage delivery service that takes you from the airport directly to your Walt Disney World® Resort hotel. A rep meets you at the airport and walks you to the shuttle and your luggage will be delivered to your room. Once we check our luggage in Baltimore we won’t see it again until it’s in our room.I bought a new backpack that’s big and sturdy enough to carry everywhere. I wanted something with a laptop sleeve and a lot of room. After a lot of research I chose The North Face Heckler.You can create and have sent to you some free custom maps. I selected all of the sites for kids and toddlers. This will be a great resource I’m sure.If you’re planning on robbing us while we’re gone I must warn you that my next door neighbor Ira: is an avid lethal weapons collector and has a terrible violent streak. He’s a trained ninja and cannibal. You’ve been warned!!

disne

 I found this great blog post on this site. I love it!! People that know me know that I’m terrified of death and the finality of the whole thing. I’ve come to the conclusion that the only thing that makes sense to me is that we return to what we were before we were born. I think I still have the old post I wrote about dying..I’ll have to repost it.  I really enjoy having the blog to catalog things, not just for other people to read (although, I love when others read my stuff !:) ). 

You’d start out dead and get it out of the way. Then, wake up in an old peoples home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy; go collect your pension, then when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day.You work 40 years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement.You drink alcohol, you party, you’re generally promiscuous and you get ready to start school.You go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a baby, and then………. you spend the last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury, in spa-like conditions; central heating, room service on tap, larger quarters every day, and then, you finish off as an orgasm. 

When you’re in your office can you turn around and see this?

There are times during the day that I lose it with laughter. This was one of those times but pretty mild compared to some of the stuff I’ve seen them do or heard them say. The funny stuff usually revolves around something the older brother/s do to the younger/youngest one.

I know, the design of my blog keeps changing. I’m trying to find “the one”. I used to have “the one” until I lost “the one”.  Remember to back up your blog’s database. Don’t lose it all because of laziness, like me..lol

What the hell went wrong? The kid had no criminal record, no mental issues, was an Honor Student at one of the best schools in the country, a student athlete, and an interview away from being an Eagle Scout. How can someone not have a mental illness and kill their father, mother, and two brothers while they were sleeping? Somehow the kid managed to hangout with his friends between the time he killed his family and staging the discovery. I’m totally baffled.Being a father of three boys this story scares the shit out of me!  It appears that this kid had a good family life and that his parents tried to be good parents.  What makes a person snap like this?? What makes a kid like this snap?? How are people expected to raise children not to be killers when you read this story? I keep reading that people are forgiving Nicholas for doing this but I don’t see how. Put aside the fact that he killed his parents. Why his younger, innocent brothers? I don’t see where forgiveness fits but that’s just me. My last question is why didn’t he turn the gun on himself?   Ben, age 11 (Photo from Facebook)Gren, age 14 (Photo from Facebook)John, age 45 (Photo from Royston, Mueller, McLean & Reid, LLP Web site / February 4, 2008)Greg, Nick, Ben (Photo from Facebook) 

I had been supporting (quite a big word for what I have to offer..lol) Hillary for the Democratic nominee. Now, my position has changed and I am now a Barrack Obama supporter. I think we about to experience something on the level of John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King. George Bush has so tarnished our image that it is going to take someone like Obama to bring us back. 

Do Alfred Newman, Mike Huckabee and Gomer Pyle not look a lot alike? Which one is running for President again?.

Someone else put a pole on their blog asking which is your favorite social networking site. I laughed as I thought about which was my favorite because I subscribe to so many!  These are the sites I can think of off the top of my head, I’m so embarrassed..lol. I’m sure I’ll add to the list. If there was one place that provided for all my wants I’m not sure I’d drop all the others I would just add it to the list… If you belong to any or decide to join let me know and I’ll give you an add:

•  Facebook- A site that started for a college campus but since mutated into a network for friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, and people of similar interests.

•  DailyStrength -A place that allows people to help each other through health issues and medical challenges.
• Friendster-Sort of like facebook but not a big. They were one of the first.
• Digg-A techy, newsy type place where the visitors vote a story up or down.
• Del.icio.us-A social bookmarking site whose primary goal is to store bookmarks online and shares them with others. A good place to see what sites are popular at the moment (I say moment because it changes so fast).
• Plazes-A place that connects local users with local business.
• Twitter-A microblogging service that keeps your friends and family updated with what you’re doing at any given time.
• Classmates.com-This is a place that keeps/gets you in touch with people from high school.
• Flickr-A photo management and sharing site.
• Yelp-A great place to get user reviews on restaurants, dentists, hairstylists, and anything local.
• Stumbleupon-Helps you discover websites based on your interests. A link goes in your browser and launches you to random sites.
• Pownce-Sort of like twitter but more instant messenger. A great way to share files, etc..
• 43 Things-A tagging based social networking site. Users create accounts and list a number of goals or hopes and you are joined with others that have similar goals.
• TripAdvisor-Find out everything you need to know about a particular hotel, restaurant, or attraction.
• Myspace-The ghetto of the internet IMHO.
• epinions-A site where users review everything from toasters to bed frames..
• mashable- Where all the other places are sort of mashed together.

I’ve posted this exact same post before in the old blog but since that one is gone I’d like to repost it (backup your database people!! lol). At the breakfast table one Saturday morning in July 2006 I noticed a lump on my throat. It seemed sort of strange and not part of my anatomy (from what I understood my anatomy to be). I first though I was getting a cold and my glands were swollen. This, however, felt like a golf ball and just didn’t seem right. This was one of those times when I knew something was not right. We went to a neighbor’s house for a cookout and I couldn’t stop feeling this lump. No one else believed anything was wrong with it and that I should ignore it but I knew better. I went to see my doctor who confirmed it was abnormal and referred me to an endocrinologist.My doctor said it was likely a benign lump but I pushed her to tell me what the worst case scenario was and she said cancer but that it likely wasn’t. I went to the endocrinologist at St. Agnes, was given a fine needle biopsy and was told not to worry and that it wouldn’t necessarily have to come out but that I should see a surgeon to make sure. The results came back normal and cancer free. I knew that once they started talking about surgery I wasn’t going to settle for anything less than the best. I’m fortunate enough to be able to get the best care possible and made an appointment with an endocrine surgeon at Johns Hopkins University for a surgical consult and second opinion. The surgeon wanted the Johns Hopkin’s lab to get their own results from the biopsy and got a different result, suspicious cells. The surgeon decided in fact that the left half of my thyroid should come out.This was my first surgery and was quite nervous about it. The morning of the operation I went to the hospital very early in the AM and waited for my name to be called. Once called I was lead to the pre-op where I changed into a gown, had an IV inserted, was asked a million questions, and waited. My wife, father, and step mother were with me. My surgeon came and marked my neck where the incision was to be made (maybe so I didn’t get mixed up with another’s surgery?) and then the anesthesiologist. I made clear to the anesthesiologist that I was a 215lb baby and was terrified of all of this and that I didn’t want to be conscious when going back to the operating room. She told me not to worry and then added something to my IV. After 30 seconds or so I remember thinking that it wasn’t working. The next thing I know I’m being awakened after the surgery..hahaha. I don’t recall being in post-op and the first thing I remember is my wife holding my… ahem… in one of those urinals (I’m sure she loved that..). I was wheeled to the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center for recovery and care. The rest of the night I spent eating italian ice and watching television. I was walking around within a couple hours and the next day I was went home with instructions to rest and how to care for the wound. A few days later the surgeon called me and said that the pathologist’s report said the tumor was positively follicular cancer.The first time I heard the “C” word I felt like I was kicked in the gut. I lost my mother at 18 to cancer and really started freaking out. He assured me that we would take out the other half and all would be fine. We set up the second surgery for September and then was to have other treatments. After the second surgery I was told that the other side had cancerous cells as well and that we were lucky to have had it removed. I was given a pill called Cytomel and took that for a few weeks and then was told I would have to starve my body of thyroid hormones for the 131-iodine radiation treatment. This treatment is to kill off any residual thyroid tissue that may not have been removed in the surgeries. After getting the 131 treatment I stayed in a hotel for a week so as not to contaminate my kids (especially since we had a newborn baby in the house). Some people believe that you only need to be isolated for 48-72 hours. Now I take my thyroid hormone replacement medicine everyday and get blood tests every so often. I’m getting ready to start a second round of treatments beginning on January 28. Here are the pictures from the surgery: