February 2015

A quick trip to Georgia

LeeAnn had a business trip last week so I was solo parent, with a ton of help from my daughter Marcella. Mornings

Packed and ready for the car ride..

were easy, the boys follow Dad’s leads and are helpful. School drop off is a regular routine of dropping James at the bus stop, take Ty to daycare, and then I head to the gym to workout In the afternoons I cooked dinner and had it ready for Marcella to put in the oven each evening. She bathed her brothers and got them to bed while I went to school. Knowing she is like me – a rule follower and somewhat OCD – she kept structure for her brothers and it helped make the week easy. No unpredictable evenings, no chaos in the mornings. James even took to making his own lunch by the end of the week.

iPad to occupy time

So, I had wanted to go to Georgia to see my parents and am very sensitive to our weekends as we seem to over plan. Thus, I knew this past weekend was my best chance to get to the cabin. However, I did not see the late afternoon conference calls I had and we did not hit the road until just after 3:00pm. We stopped for dinner, gas, and Saturday morning groceries in Tifton, Georgia – the halfway point.

Watching Toy Story!

Finally, we arrived at 11:45pm. The boys made it to their beds with no problems and were happy to be “home.” I poured a cocktail, Buffalo Trace, to settle in and loved being in my favorite place, our cabin.

We took a Hike

When James was just a month old we went to the cabin for Christmas and took a hike. That trail was to Dukes Creek Falls. I remember carrying baby James in his car seat. Jack was about to turn 7, Marcella almost 9, and Haley was 11. It was cold because it had snowed. Most of all I remember us laughing and having fun as we walked this trail that took forever.

In sharp contrast this weekend James is now 7 and Ty is 3 (he wasn’t here last time!). Jack of course is nearly 6 feet tall and just turned 14. Unfortunately though he was not with us.

The boys and I had a blast. They threw rocks and sticks. They grabbed icicles, they let me take pictures. The weather was nearly 60 degrees in the sun and about 50 in the shade near the ice. Beforehand we grabbed lunch at Creekside Deli in town. With full stomachs and having had plenty of sweet tea and water we were ready. Ty used his legs and walked the entire distance. Of course, he fell asleep quickly when we got in the car.

Mom and Dad Came to Dinner

My parents live in Cleveland, Georgia just a few miles from my cabin. I try to get up every few weeks to see them. It is important to me as I put a lot of value on recognizing the mortality we all face and understanding each visit could be the last as we all get older, face medical issues, and take risks.

I love to cook for my parents. Somehow LeeAnn and I have come to realize we are GREAT cooks and can whip something tasty together without much effort. In other words, we make something that seems hard really easy. I grilled a pork roast, made fresh steamed broccoli and julienne potatoes. Since we rent the cabin on AirBNB it is well stocked with dishes and supplies so cooking is effortless. Mom had stopped and bought ice cream and ice cream cones for the boys – Grandmas are great!

After dinner we had the fire roaring to keep the house warm and watched a movie. The boys snuggled with my parents while I studied. It was home. Peaceful, full of love, and no expectations on anyone. I miss the regular dinners we used to have with my Mom and Dad when we lived at the cabin before moving to Dallas. Family is critically important.

I Read Books – well I Listened

I am a technology and product guy. I cannot reiterate enough how much Android technology surpasses iOS and the iPhone. My favorite example is outlined here on my blog. In short, I have an incredible e-book reader (MoonReader +) that I have intertwined with better text to speech technology. I then purchase books from Barnes and Noble or Amazon and remove the DRM as these are for my own use and not shared. Doing so allows me to read the books in MoonReader.

On the drive to Georgia I finished a great survival book, “Going Home.” I then went on to read a book for work, “Cold Calling Techniques.” Afterward, I started the second book in the survival series, “Surviving Home.” Eight hours each way would be wasted if one just listened to music. Thus, I usually study by listening to Bar Prep lectures or in this case listening to books. I managed almost 16 hours total of learning time. An easy way to pass the miles going down the highway.

The Several Things I did this Weekend

Jack won First Place in the Science Fair

My son Jack continues to amaze me! This weekend he won first place in the computer science category of the district science fair. This was for all middle school students in two counties. His topic dealt with the efficiency and impact of performance on a computer when changing the graphical processing unit (GPU) clock speed. Jack did all of the work on his own as I am not a supporter of parents doing projects for their kids. Of course, with James (my 1^st grader) that means his projects look crappy compared to the parent built projects. For this science fair project it was Jack from start to finish – design, data collection, presentation, and putting the board together. Jack did not make it to state, but he does get to go to the Orlando Science Center for another round.

We Built a Pinewood Derby Car

James has his Pinewood Derby Race on Saturday February 21 (stay tuned for more). Because we have plans the next two weekends (the cabin, Marcella track meets, Miami boat show, skydiving) I needed to ensure I helped him build his car. We did NOT go out to the web and look up anything. James first sketched on a piece of paper what he wanted his car to look like. I took that and drew it on the block – he was excited, “Dad, it looks like your Corvette! Cooooool!” We cut the block and then did some more trimming. Jack jumped into help James with the sanding and reminisced about his own cars, even comment, “James should just race one of mine.” When done we painted the car and James made sure he stuck his “1” on the car.

Of course, the real excitement during this time was when James came and said, “Has anyone seen Rabbit?” Ugh! The dog got away. Fortunately a neighbor found him. More interesting though was the neighbor had tried the vet (good) and then called animal control to have him scanned for a chip. I found Rabbit before animal control came. However, this made me realized we never updated Rabbit’s address even though we have lived in Georgia, Dallas, and two places back here in Florida. I took care of the paperwork yesterday.

Things for Me

I managed to get to the gym on Saturday. That was a big deal because I normally do not take time from family to go workout. However, I dropped Jack at Spruce Creek High School, where he will go next year, and LA Fitness is located two minutes away. I rode the exercise bike and did my reading for Evidence. After that I attacked shoulders, it was an incredible start to Saturday as the rest of the day was back and forth with the science fair. On Sunday I pulled my bike out of the garage and rode nearly 22 miles. I signed up for the cross Florida ride on April 12, 170 miles. The clock is ticking and I have to train!