4.0 to Four-dot-done

On Sunday we welcomed William Michael to our family he was 9lbs 2oz and 20 inches. A big boy and the final installment in our collection. Will and Rachael are both doing great. The "big" kids are very excited about their new baby brother.

HAPYFOTHRDAY

On Father's day we went out for bagels before church. I had just ordered and we were waiting for our bagels to come out. I was sitting with Rachael and Blythe Ann. The big kids were over at a corner "play area" with some toys, crayons and stuff. I was just drinking my coffee and talking with Rachael about our plans for the day when Drake walked up and gave me this on a napkin he had asked for earlier.

It made me tear up. Not only was it very sweet of him to give this to me, but he has never written anything before. He will write his name and write out letters, but not words. He started reading all on his own about 6 weeks ago by sounding out words. Now, he is sounding them out in his head and writing them down.

There are not enough words to express how much I love this little guy.

I have told people before and I will say it again...I am continually amazed at how my kids manage to make everyday better than the one before. Every day is a Happy Father's Day.

Of Sir Francis Drake and Minivans

For those of you who do not know, my family is a descendent of Sir Francis Drake, the first European to circumnavigate the globe. My mother's family has lived off the sea as fishermen for over 200 years and many cousins in my generation were fishermen for most of their lives. My father's family is from Norway from an island named Reksta, so I am sure they spent some time on the Nordic seas as well.

I can make the argument that I come from a long line of seafaring people. In fact, my mother was actually named after her father's schooner, the Lucy Mary (see below). Yes, she grew up in a culture where the children were named after ships and not the other way around.

Fast-forward over 350 years from the birth of Sir Francis Drake and you get to me - a marketing manager living in Atlanta, Georgia. I yearn for the cold seas of the North Atlantic but alas I am trapped in North Atlanta. We are in a drought and there appears to be no chance of getting a ship out of port. One day I may sail on the seas like many generations before me, however today I must just drive to work.

Yet, the call of the sea is still in me.

So....this weekend we transitioned from a one car family (for almost a year) to a two car family. I believe it was my pining for the sea that caused me to purchase a new flagship for my Asphalt Armada. We bought a Silver Kia Sedona minivan. I now have 2 minivans in my armada...the fleet is growing. Sir Francis Drake had his ship, the Golden Hind and therfore I shall now refer to my new minivan as the Silver Hind. She is a glorious vessel and my entire "crew" is very excited about the new flagship.
Stock Photo


As an additional footnote, I would like to add that we bought this minivan outright. We walked in, negotiated our deal, wrote a check and walked out with the van. 4 years ago, I would never have believed we would be able to do this and it was a great feeling. I thank my wife for getting us on Dave Ramsey's debt elimination plan which helped make us believe this was even possible.

The odor of a young Paul Anka

I scoff at you who love your iPods. I think you are living in a bubble. There is a monstrous world of music out there and you are trapped in your flourescent colored box. From a form-function perspective, you cannot beat the iPod, but from an experience perspective it comes up short...very short.

As the MP3/iPod craze swept the country, I decided to go in another direction. I went with XM Radio. I held back behind the first wave of available radios and was fortunate enough to catch the XM Inno and ride the big wave. The Inno has full XM functionality, portability, MP3 play-back, recording capability, auto tuning by artist, scheduling and much more. It is an awesome product.

What I love about the Inno is the experience. It gives me access to music I would never find on my own. I typically camp out on Alternative Rock, Jazz, the Starbucks channel, 80's, 90's, NPR, Yankees games, Big Band Jazz...lots of stuff I know and love to hear. Most of the time I know the artists and I even know the lyrics. I can hum the tune and it is all famliar...just like you folks trapped in the "walled garden" of your iPods. However, since I am listening to live radio, I also get to hear music in the same genre that I have never heard before. And that is where the Inno provides such a great experience. When I hear a song I like; I just hit "record" and it pulls the song off the internal buffer and it is on my Inno to be replayed forever.

So, I hear songs I would never hear otherwise...which brings me to the great "find" that motivated this post.

The other day I was listening to the Big Band station (channel 73) when this gem came on. The sum is so much stronger than the parts. I wasn't paying complete attention when it came on and then I realized what I was hearing. I could not believe that my Inno was going to give me the opportunity to bottle up this magic....it is gold, pure musical gold.

Enjoy the magic with me...I give you Paul Anka (of "Puppy Love" fame) singing the Nirvana classic, "Smells Like Teen Spirit."