Likes: Apart

Dislikes: Together

Narrative vs. World Building

I just finished 'Ender in Exile' the new book from Orson Scott Card (that Mia got for Christmas). If you haven't read the book yet but plan to (Mia) you might want to skip reading the rest of this post.  Also, if you are a huge fan of OSC and cannot bear to hear any criticism of him, you might want to skip reading this post.

But for the rest of you that know one of my erstwhile hobbies is literary criticism, I invite you to join with me in examining the text, meta-text, and author.

First, the text itself is worth reading. OSC is an excellent writer and his ability to develop dynamic characters -- even in supporting roles. I use the word dynamic in the deliberate literary sense. His characters show growth through the course of the narrative.  And his main characters are well rounded (again in the literary sense).

The main thrust of my critique is that this book is not a narrative but rather an exercise in world-building exposition.

(SPOILER ALERT!!!) The main plot can be summed up thusly: Ender does stuff.  And if I wanted to be verbose about it, I would say: Ender does stuff really well.

My sense reading through this book is that OSC wanted to flesh out more of the universe now that he's had more years to explore it in his own mind. My first clue were the exaggerated chapter intros. Typically these were short emails or other documents that provided some context without being part of the main story. When I was reading 3-page chapter intros, I knew something had changed. He used them to expound on points that couldn't be worked into the main storyline. Then, the book is littered with internal monologues that details an arcane point that doesn't really fit into the main flow of the story. But fortunately, his characters are all so introspective that he's able to use them to voice the tidbits of knowledge he's had tucked away.  And, other scenes seem entirely constructed to give him a platform for retrofitting new information about the Formics that expand on their telepathic/hive structure. I won't even comment on his moralizing.

This is coming out much harsher than I mean it to. It's not that I think OSC is a poor writer, he's proven many times over that he is not. (And who would I be to judge him as one anyway?) But he does seem to have fallen into a style that I've seen many times in my work as an editor for a magazine that published world settings for role-players. He's put so much time into the details of the world that he needs to push them all out to the audience, fill in all the cracks, show us just how intricate his vision of this alternate universe is.  

And when that happens, the narrative suffers.  It has to because it takes a back seat to the exposition. The clever insights and cool details that aren't really relevant to the storyline but can't be left out because... because... because!

I have a second criticism as well. Related to what I felt was a lack of plot, was a lack of action. Part of what made Ender's Game such a seminal piece of work was the action. Ender was constantly moving, one challenge to the next, one game to the next, one army to the next, one war to the end. And through it this incredible tension of whether or not he could handle it physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Was he going to win the war? Yes, of course, that's a given. But was he going to be emotionally and mentally broken after he did so? Quite possibly. The 'happy ending' of the book still held (still holds when I re-read it) the terrible thought that even in victory the hero might be defeated. It's a wonderfully delicate tension and would be nearly impossible to re-create.

In this book, the storylines are all about manipulation and who can do the best political maneuvering in order to achieve the outcome they want. And of course we already know that Ender's skill is in understanding people so thoroughly that he can crush them. We know what the outcomes will be but there is no tension about the consequences.  We are simply along for the ride as Ender continues to out-subtle his various (but rarely nefarious) antagonists.

And the minor antagonist characters (as they all must be minor in comparison with Ender) are what I would have to describe as 'collectively flat'. The definition that I would provide is that they all share the same characteristics of being both willing to overtly manipulate the people around them to reach their goals and they are cognizent and introspective about doing it. This turns everyone into a psuedo-narrator when we are shown their perspective because rather than seeing their actions, we are also privvy to their thoughts about why they are taking those actions, what outcomes they hope to achieve, and who they are either hurting or helping by doing so.

Again, my feeling is that OSC enjoys orchestrating these encounters because if he's describing the most brilliant children in the world and how they overcome the overwhelming odds against them ergo he must be a step above to conceive of the entire scenarios from start to finish. Again, I don't blame him, it's a wonderful position to be in and I should like to try it sometime. But, on the level of the meta-text, it feels as though he's using the auspices of narrative to show-off.

Now, since I've disparaged the book so thoroughly, let me also say the good things about it. First and foremost, it is an engaging read. I finished the book in 2 days.  Secondly, it does add depth of some of the loose ends surrounding the end of the war and questions raised about how would Ender really deal with the knowledge of what he'd done. And, as Mia likes to say, he writes great characters. The most compelling reason to keep reading is because you do care about Ender. Just like the people within the story that almost immediately find themselves caring about him, so too as a reader it's nearly impossible not to admire Ender. Even when you know he's going to come out on top, you want to be there with him, to have some of his glory shine out through the pages and illuminate your own life.

Ender is one of the most enduring characters in modern science-fiction because we both see ourselves in him and we admire the traits in him we cannot imitate.

Winter Wonderland

Austin High Temperature Today: 81

Austin Low Temperature Today: 60

We finished off our leftover potato soup today. Nothing like nice warm soup on a warm winter day. ;)

First!

Yes, we are blessed with two boys born in December.  So we get to have two birthday parties (and Christmas) all in one month.  Fortunately, Edward's party was pretty low key. We just baked some banana muffins and let him open like 4 presents. And even that was a lot, he would have been fine with just one. We had to pull presents away from him to get him to even consider opening the next one.

This was Edward's first birthday, so I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk about the other first things he's been doing lately.

I'm actually going back a ways on this one but Mia has agreed that Edward's first word was "Da" when referencing his dad. He still gets so excited when he sees me coming home from work and just chants "Da Da Da Da Da" It's a great feeling.

Another first is taking his first tentative steps. He will occasionally, when he forgets, let go of whatever is helping him stand and take a step over to something else. Or he'll stand for a second, then realize he's not holding on and sit down. We're getting there. We want him to walk but at the same time we don't really mind waiting for it.

First wave was recently. He did it in imitation first (naturally) but now he'll wave when he knows you are coming or leaving. He gets excited about waving.

Beyond just his first word, he's know really doing his first attempts at talking. He can say 'Ma' and signs 'All done.' And, after getting a lion in one birthday present started saying 'Rar' back to Mia when she would roar for the lion.  That is very cute and we are going to get some video of it.

He is also trying to feed himself. With a spoon. I was giving him rice cereal this morning and after he was done taking it from me, if I got some on the spoon and put it in his hand, he'd move it into his mouth. Then he'd try to scoop some more, often with the handle side.

We have a very active, very smart, very fun 1-year old boy.  We love him.

Birthday Party

Ethan had a birthday party yesterday. It's his first real one in four years. In the past, we've done a low-key approach, mostly just the family and maybe some neighbors. But never really did any decorations, or themes, or large groups of friends.

But, now that he's old enough and been going to parties for his friends so we decided to host one as well.  It went surprisingly well, everyone played nicely, no one had any meltdowns.  We had a superhero theme and made red felt capes for everyone with blue ribbons to tie them on.  We had an obstacle course, did some races, decorated some train cakes, and opened presents.

Ethan commented that he wanted to play with his friends presents all week. So I'd say the party was a success.

Here's a video of one of the superhero races the boys did.

Seriously?

Ok, seriously? Seriously?

(If you can't tell, yes that is snow in Austin.)

Thanksgiving Update

I've been quiet this week on my blog because Mia and the boys have been out of town.  There hasn't really been much for me to say unless you want to hear about how boring the house is without any kids.

But, fortunately, the monotony was relieved yesterday when my Dad and I went down to have Thanksgiving with family in San Antonio.  It was very nice of them to invite us down, especially since we didn't have to bring anything!  (But we did bring some chips and dip to munch on during football.)

We have a very nice meal, delicious turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing and green bean casserole and pie (lots of pie).  It was also nice to get to see my grandparents (maternal).  

I have a lot to be grateful for this year. 

My amazing family.

A safe move to Texas.

Finding a job now that we are here.

A house that is big enough to fit us all.

A yard behind the house.

A mild winter.

The list could go on and on.  

Audio: Dropping off the family at the airport

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Sleep-Over

I'm on my way to a sleep-over. It's with Ethan.

He's been asking me to sleep in his room for the last few nights, mostly because he doesn't want me to leave after the bedtime routine (a stall tactic). But, he's also been coming into our room early in the morning and lying down on the floor next to our bed.

So, I agreed to have a sleep over with him. He is on his air mattress (his typical bed when he's sleeping at someone's house) and I'm going to be on my air mattress.  Ethan said that when I came in, he wanted to hold my hand the whole night.

I'm really looking forward to this.

Ethan writing his name

3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Commentary on the process included:

"Where is that silly H"

ccccccccc

yyyffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

Fro-Go

I have had a few observations from the family on my goatee recently.

Mia told me that my goatee is "like a fro-goatee" because it's getting a little bushy and needs to be trimmed.  I've dubbed it a 'fro-go'.

Then, today she pointed out that "With your goatee like that, you notice your face." I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or what. So I asked for some clarification. It got complicated and went something like this:

Mia: "I don't know, you just don't notice your face when it's shorter."

John: "What? Like you don't see me at all, or my face is just too hideous to look at directly?"

Mia: "No! It's just that... the goatee doesn't seem out of place"

Which was actually the heart of it. She's gotten used to the goatee that it's not a separate feature of my face. But when it gets long, then it's like a chunk of hair stuck to the bottom of my face and you do notice it.

Following that conversation Ethan said: "You have a hairstyle on your chin Daddy."

My family is hilarious.

Isolated

We've done it. We have joined the time-shifting revolution. But... not with TiVO.

Nope, we did something even more drastic. We un-hooked our television set from the cable in the wall. It's now in our front-room where there are no wires to give it content-rich nourishment.  Now, unfortunately, the arrangement of our furniture hasn't altered our lives in any dramatic fashion. Mia and I are still both sitting on the couches with our laptops doing some blogging, uploading pictures, and watching TV.

Wait... what? This is where we come back around to time-shifting. We haven't completely given up on TV shows. Now we just watch them on Hulu.com.  In fact, we'll often be watching different shows while sitting in the same room.  We try not to turn up the volume in an audio version of mutually-assured destruction (though sometimes I'm tempted).  

Oddly, when I'm watching shows on my laptop, I feel more able to get other things done. I put the player window down in one corner and keep my other apps or sites open around it. Of course, it would be even better if I tore myself away from a screen of any variety and started going to the gym.

I wonder if there's a wire for that.

Bite-sized Love

Mia loves me. She went shopping yesterday and picked up a bunch of snacks for me to take to work. I've not been eating so well, so having these makes me feel happy.

It's the little things in life that keep us going.

Deep Thoughts

Tonight, Edward was talking in his sleep, saying "Da Da Da Da" over and over. I went upstairs, thinking he was awake. Fortunately, all I had to do was stick a pacifer back in his mouth.

Then I went in to check on Ethan. He had moved his pillow to the foot of his bed. It was propped up against the footboard. He was sitting up leaning against it.  His legs were crossed, and he had a finger up by the side of his head.

I asked what he was doing.

"Thinking," he said.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

"My halloween party," he said.

During the bedtime routine I had told him that he needed to get plenty of sleep to be ready for his party tomorrow. Apparently this was weighing heavily on his mind.

After collecting the ghosts from his room (he knew the specific places they were) I left him dusting the fan that acts as a side-table for his nightlight.

Yes, night's with Ethan are typically that random. Part of what makes them bearable... er I mean, so much fun.

Halloween -- All week long

We are in the middle of Halloween week. Yesterday was the ward Trunk-or-Treat (we all meet at the church, they have crafts and games inside, then trick-or-treating at the back of people's cars outside). 

Ethan was very excited to wear his Buzz Lightyear costume.

Tomorrow is Ethan's pre-school Halloween party, as well as my work Halloween party.

Oh, and finally on Friday, is Halloween.

P.S. On Saturday, Ethan will be going to a Halloween-themed birthday party.

I'm thinking we should just go all the way and wear our costumes to church on Sunday.

A First

I've led a very fortunate life. I'm 31 and never lost anyone in my immediate or extended family.

Until today.

Monica called me just a few minutes ago to tell me that our Grandpa Jo had passed away. Grandma Jo has been in and out of the hospital the last few weeks. We've all been so worried about her and praying for her so much.

Monica said that he was taken to the hospital for sudden chest pains, and shortly after that he passed away.

This was rather unexpected. Mia and I really wanted to have a chance to go down with Edward so they could meet both of their Great-Grandchildren.

I'm sad tonight. That's... an understatement but I can't really put better words on it.

William Tell was a rocket scientist

Yes, it's another poem post. I know that I had one not too long ago but I'm going ahead with another one. Hopefully, if you know me, you are the kind of person that will appreciate my odd style of creative writing as well.

But, more importantly, this poem was a good exercise in reminding me that I've got at least a little bit of skill as a writer. I follow some pretty great blogs online and read some pieces that are very well crafted. When I do, it makes me wish I could dedicate more time to my own writing and improve my skills.

So, I'm going to run you through some of what I did yesterday working on this poem. Here's the draft I had after some tinkering. I felt that it was in reasonably good shape but something was missing. See if you can spot where.

William Tell was a rocket scientist.

He aimed for the stars.

For the moon.

"One day," he told me, "I will get

to the moon." And he would look

up into the night sky as he walked.

He always walked at night. Watching

the moon, measuring, calculating.

563,009 miles; 3409 minutes; 898,008,023

gallons of rocket fuel; 1 lifetime.

I walked with him by the river, at night.

"I'm so close," he would say and stretch his hand

to the sky.

In front of us, along the river, a boy stretched

out his hand to the girl next to him. They're eyes

looking down at the river, at the reflection

of the moon.

When I read through this version to Mia, she agreed that something was missing but couldn't put her finger on where. What I saw as I was writing and tweaking was that I needed something at the end of the 4th stanza to tie William Tell's connection to the moon into the connection between the young couple. With some help from Mia, this is what I came up with.

William Tell was a rocket scientist.

He aimed for the stars.

For the moon.

"One day," he told me, "I will get

to the moon." And he would look

up into the night sky as he walked.

He always walked at night. Watching

the moon, measuring, calculating.

238,900 miles; 4,549 minutes; 500,000

gallons of rocket fuel; 1 lifetime.

I walked with him by the river, at night.

"I'm so close," he would say and stretch out

his hand like he could bring the moon

to him.

In front of us, along the river, a boy stretched

out his hand to the girl next to him. They're eyes

looking down at the water, at the reflection

of the moon.

Now, if you want to look a little deeper into my mind, I'll explain a little more of my thoughts. I don't really write love poems. The kind of stuff that just gushes mushy metaphors and lacks any deeper meaning. But, I like to write poems about love. Something that lets me explore the condition of love in a way that is meaningful to me.

In this case, I'm exploring the pursuit of achievement that the protagonist (William Tell) is seeking by his quest for the moon. In that pursuit, we see that he's lost sight of everything else in the world, and developed an unrequited infatuation with the moon.

In contrast, the young couple walking along the river not only have each other but through their connection, they are able to appreciate the moon that is nearer to them in the river's reflection. Their sight is aimed in a different direction and yet it brings them closer (metaphorically) to the goal that William Tell is pursuing (but since the moon itself is a symbol the metaphor works).

Anyway, that's what I was trying to put into the piece, I hope that's what you got out of it as well.

Trip to Disney World

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Trip to Disney World

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Trip to Disney World

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Trip to Disney World

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Trip to Disney World

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One week down

I've finished my first week of school er... work. The timing of this job felt a lot like school, and since the dress code is different (Snowbound was business casual, Bulldog is "No Swimsuits") I had to do some back-to-work clothes shopping. We did this as a family last week, just cruised up to the Round Rock Outlets. Mia and I were both in need of some new athletic and everyday shoes (and have been for a while) and I needed more than one pair of jeans that really fit.
We ended up getting new shoes, some Nike's for both of us -- which we are breaking in now for our trip to Disney -- and some everyday work shoes (that aren't athletic shoes) for me. Mia and I both got some pants as well, and Ethan got a Buzz Lightyear costume for Halloween.

In the end, shopping for clothes is always expensive but we did better at the outlets than we would have anywhere else so we can't complain. They are all things we've been putting off buying for a while, it's our own fault for not spreading out the purchases.

But, enough of the boring stuff. Let's talk about my job.

While my official title is Campaign Manager, that's a fancy title for Project Manager. I keep the pieces moving, preparing for the inevitable launch and trying to make sure that we have as much done as possible before our clients open them up to the world. This is a role I've had before. The daily insanity is similar to what I remember. However, I do have two distinct advantages coming into this role.

1. I understand the marketing. I get what we do, the messaging, the landing pages, the automation, the emails, the marketing side of things I've been doing at Snowbound for 3.5 years. (Also, I really enjoy this kind of stuff.)

2. I understand the chaos. I'm not trying to figure out what Bulldog does while also trying to learn how to juggle projects and keep clients happy. I have a foundation for both of these as well.

But, like I said, this is just a foundation. I still have to learn the intracacies of how Bulldog goes about their process. I still have to learn how to handle my particular clients, and I have plenty to learn about Webinars.

Actually, part of why I took this job (besides not getting an offer for the other one :p ) was so that I could learn more about Webinars. Video is exploding as an online medium and I want to try and get ahead of that wave. This knowledge will definitely be useful to me in future positions.

Bulldog is still a small company. Which means they face an interesting challenge. Any loss of staff makes a big impact on the allocation of resources and work. But, they are also growing so hiring new people means getting them up to speed. Typically for a Campaign Manager they spend a month in training/shadowing on the accounts that will become their clients before getting introduced and taking over the work.

On my first day I was introduced to a client that I'll be taking from one of the CMs that is leaving (I'm pretty much replacing her spot, though they have hired 1 more CM so net gain of 1). In the first week, I have been introduced to 2 more clients, and will be in the kick-off meeting for a brand-spanking-new client next week.  In other words, my training period has been cut a little short. While that makes me a bit nervous, I'm also glad they have confidence that I am able to jump right in and start contributing. This is smart because asking the experienced campaign managers to shoulder too much work will only serve to burn them out, leaving more holes.  (Which no one wants.)

I'll keep you posted on how things progress at Bulldog. But, at the moment, I'm confident that I've found a good place for me to be here in Austin.

Ike-Caramba

Well, this post is a little late, but I came up with that great title so what the heck.

We didn't get hit by Hurricane Ike. Austin was fortunate that way, and from what we've heard while Houston was hit hard most of the people from the area were safe. A lot of people left for places like Austin and San Antonio. We had some friends from Boston come out after the worst day to buy a generator since their power went out and they were told it could be 2 weeks before getting it back.

Up here in Austin we got an afternoon of wind. Not even any rain. So, we've survived our first hurricane in Texas and it wasn't so bad. ;-)

William Tell Had a Poker Face

And, in case you want to read the text, I'm providing it below too.

William Tell had a poker face. 

I never looked into his eyes. 

You could get lost in his eyes.

"Fold," I said and laid my cards on the table. 

William smiled, halfway, or rather with only

one side of his mouth. I looked down at his

hands. He flipped over his cards. Two of diamonds

and ace of hearts. He had a pair,

on the the River,

on the two.

"Poker is like love," he said flipping $100 chips

at each of us. "You play the player, not the game."

I smiled, halfway, or rather I felt smug inside

without moving my mouth. "Tell us," I said,

"about love."

William Tell looked at his cards then flipped the dealer $100.

"Deal," he said.

Edit: My wife thinks I'm boring, so I cut out the bit of me talking and just jumped right to the point of the video. ;-)

Job Description

I'm finishing up my full-time work at Snowbound and realized that my job title shouldn't be "Internet Marketer" but instead should be "Problem Solver." We are implementing a new marketing system and as Mia pointed out, pretty much my last 2 weeks have been dealing with getting it set up.

I've figured out a lot of issues, done a lot of back-end work, and started looking into what we need to do from a process standpoint to keep moving forward. As I was telling Mia, this isn't just a Snowbound skill. Even back at Protocol I was a problem solver. Keeping direct mail going is a huge juggling act and if any of the balls stop moving, it all comes crashing down.

With my experience on the back-end of Websites, front end of writing copy, project management in direct mail, and constant problem-solving throughout, I think I'm going to handle my new job just fine. (For those that aren't as familiar with the role as I am, it involves all those things I just listed.)

Real Haircut, Real Job

Ok, I admit that I got the haircut after the job but I don't think the order is important in this case. Let me tell you a little about my new job. I'm going to be a Campaign Manager at a company called Bulldog Solutions. They are a Lead Generation service company. Which means that I'll be managing marketing campaigns that Bulldog executes for our clients to generate more leads.  

This is similar to what I'm doing now at Snowbound. I'm responsible for a lot of our lead generation and do all the execution for them.  So this is going to be a change of pace for me since I'll be doing it for multiple clients instead of just one company.

But, it's also a small company so I will hopefully continue to have opportunities to expand my skills and experiment with other things.

I start on Monday. It's getting exciting to think about but also makes me a bit apprehensive about going back to an office job. Fortunately, I've been down to the office a few times and the people are great. I think that I'm going to fit in well.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Reading (People)

I have done some reading recently (YAY!) but this post isn't about books. It's about reading people. I have been doing some interviews recently.

In one of them, I got a skills test. Analyze a 14,000 record data set and do an hour-long presentation about the results. Well, this was a little outside the realm of what I've been doing with our Web Analytics and search analytics at Snowbound. But, it was an interesting experiment to see what I could do.

The presentation went well, but when it was over I came home and told Mia that if I didn't get the job it wouldn't be because I wasn't competent but because they needed someone with more experience than I had.

I got a call from the HR person I'd been working with later that afternoon telling me almost that exact thing. I have to admit being a little disappointed but also grateful for the chance to expand my horizons and give me something to work on personally.

Fortunately, one of my other interviews that also went extremely well ended in a job offer. More on that soon. ;)

Full On Tantrum

Ethan doesn't throw tantrums. He gets upset about things (and hits us sometimes, we're working on that) and will show his anger but doesn't take it to the point of being irrational.

Except for yesterday. Ethan hasn't been napping since we left Boston and it finally started catching up with him.

Now, I have to pause here and recognize some culpability because we have been keeping him up late sometimes as we meet new friends and go over to their houses or take him out to something new down here.

But back to the point, last night Ethan was miserable. He wouldn't stop crying about everything. I couldn't do anything without him screaming. He was hitting, screaming, crying, repeat. This was the worst that I've ever seen. Finally I wrestled him into pajamas and got him into bed.

At which point he promptly fell asleep.

Skinny

Have we mentioned that Ethan is skinny? Well he is.

In fact, the other day he wore a pair of Edwards (6 mo) shorts around all day. They fit around his waist a little snugly, and looked a bit short, but they fit and since he always wants to be dressed before we get breakfast, I wasn't looking too closely.

When we finally checked at the end of the day, Mia and I had a good laugh.

Dinner!

I made dinner tonight. No, that's not a reason to post to my blog. Though, since we moved here we've been making menus. Our deal is that if I help make the menu (Mia hates thinking about what to make) she'll cook the dinner. I've been very impressed with her on what she's cooked for us.

But, the reason that I'm posting tonight is because I made stuffed peppers. With ground sausage, rice, chunky tomato sauce, Worcestershire and some spices. I just cut off the tops and dumped the filling in then covered them in sauce and baked for about an hour.

They were so good!

The Olympics!

We are watching the opening ceremony of the Bejing Olympics and it's making me realize that Ethan only has 12 years until he could be competing in the Olympics himself.

Time to start pushing him. Any suggestions on sport?

Maybe trampoline, or kayak, or shooting?

This is not a joke

You may think that this is a joke. You may desperately wish that this was a joke. You may think that this is someone's idea of a cruel joke (that may be true).

But, at the end of the day, this picture really did see print.

Day 11 -- Debbie, Kathy, Crew Redux

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Day 11 -- Debbie, Kathy, and crews

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Day 9 -- No Utilities but plenty of Biscuits and Gravy

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Day 8 -- Arrival in Austin!

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Day 8 -- Dallas with Desirae and Kyle

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Day 7 -- Full Circle

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Day 7 -- Ethan's Pictures

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Day 6 -- Listening to Edward

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Day 6 -- Pigeon Forge: Bright Lights, Big City

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Day 5 -- Smoky Mountains with G-rents Linda and Tim

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Day 5 -- Happy Birthday America

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Day 4 -- The Pillow Incident

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Day 4 -- Farewell to the Luke's

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Day 3 -- Street Cricket at Midnight

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Day 2 - Dinner with Edward

While Ethan and Mia went inside to the restroom, Edward and I talked about our day.

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Day 2 - Grandpa and Grandma McCurdy

We stopped in New Jersey for one last visit to Mia's grandpa.

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Day 1 - Boston to Austin

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Technical Prowess

This post is coming to you from my new laptop. We decided that we weren't going to take our desktop when we move. But, since I'll be a contractor I'm going to need my own computer pretty much every day. And Mia didn't want to be left without anything to help her find things in our new location, check the weather, pay the bills, and do things during the day.

The downside is that I got a computer with MS Vista. We flirted with the idea of getting a Mac but the price was just a little more than we wanted to spend at this moment.

The real technical accomplishment though was that I had to re-configure our wireless network so I could connect this computer. This may also solve the problems that Mom runs into when she tries to connect at our house during the summers. I thought it would be difficult but it turned out to be fairly simple.

I'm rather impressed with myself. Now I'll have to see if I can get the printer to work wirelessly as well. Yikes!

Leaving Boston in our Dust

Mia has already made the post about it but I feel like I should say something too.

We are moving to Austin, TX at the end of next month (I'm sneaking this post in on the last day of May). It's going to be quite the change but we are ready for a change. Boston has been good for us, and we would like to stay, but purchasing a house is next on our "major life decisions" list and we can't check it off while here.

As many of you know, I was looking for jobs down in North Carolina. It looked like a good place, especially the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill triangle area we were focused on. Unfortunately, not that many of the places I applied got back to me. And once I'd done a deep search on the job boards, I kept finding the same positions over and over as I tried news ways of searching.
So, it just didn't seem like the right market for me to head into.

With Austin, I've actually got some professional contacts in the area, as well as some personal friends. And, of course, my Mom's family down in San Antonio. That will make the transition much easier for us and is another reason we are excited about going down that way.
Austin also has a number to tech start-ups and small companies which is the kind of environment that I think I want/need to take the next steps in my career. Marketing is undergoing some significant changes and I want the freedom to keep-up with them. Going to a large company with an entrenched bureaucracy would make that more difficult.

If we haven't mentioned before (though I'm sure we have) we are outgoing our current apartment. It's been 5 months since Edward was born and the place keeps feeling smaller every day. Soon, we will be crushed by the closing in walls, we will be like the skeletons at Pompeii, frozen in the midst of our daily lives.

Ok, that may be a little exaggerated. But we are excited. We'll keep you posted on developments.

Different Kids

The intervening 3 years have dimmed many memories of Ethan's habits as an infant, but one remains clear: His need to be held while falling asleep.

Enter Edward. I've heard stories about how different your children's personalities are, and how you'll see that they're different right from infancy. But honestly, most of the eating, sleeping and pooping as been the same. Until now.

Now that Edward is weaned, he's actually been getting enough to eat. This has made a big difference in his attitude and routine. It's also started to show in his sleeping pattern. We've been putting Edward to bed in his Moses basket and longing for the day to get him into the crib. But he used to wake up too much in the evenings, require too much holding, and occasionally he would just scream for an hour or two. The difference that we are noticing now, is that he doesn't want to be held when he's tired.

Let me say that again, he doesn't want to be held while falling asleep. We put him down in his crib (while Ethan is out with Grandpa Gibson) and put a blanket over him where he can grab it and snuggle it. Even if he's still awake, he just lays there quietly and drifts off.

Mia and I are not fighting it. If that's how Edward wants to express his unique personality, we are not going to fight it.

Missing Ethan

Ethan is out in Albany for the long weekend. While it's a nice relief for Mia and I, apparently it was a bit of a concern for Ethan.

When he and I were talking about it yesterday he got a very sad look on his face and asked me "Daddy, will you miss me?" And to Mia he said "Momma will you miss me when I'm gone?"

This was a bit of a surprise to us because normally he asks it the other way when I go to work. "Daddy, will you miss us when you go to work?" And I always tell him yes I will. And I mostly do ;)

But this time, we could both answer honestly that we will miss Ethan while he's gone. In fact, when I got home from work today I was a little sad that no one ran shouting to meet me at the door.

We have the cutest kids in the world (sorry, everyone else) and I wouldn't give them up for anything. Though I might loan them out for a weekend (and miss them).

Mother's Day Gift

I know that Mother's Day was last Sunday and I've been meaning to write this post since then but I've been busy job searching. Fortunately (?) Edward woke up at 5:30 this morning so I've got some time now.

This year I decided to give Mia something special for Mother's Day. Don't get me wrong, I still got her the Godiva chocolate she asked for, and Ethan helped me pick out some roses, but those were just trappings. The real gift was spending the weekend (while Mia worked) weaning Edward.

Weaning is something we've talked about for a few weeks now because Edward has been eating every 1.5 hours (if not more often) and wasn't able to fall asleep without nursing. We knew he wasn't getting enough to eat, which accounted for the frequency, and assumed that being hungry was also a factor in his incredibly short naps and constant wake-ups at night.

One of the hardest parts of weaning is taking the attitude that your child will take a bottle when he gets hungry enough. The time before that happens can be quite miserable. Especially if he screams when you try to give him the bottle. On the bright side, using sleep as a defense mechanism against eating from a bottle does provide some relief.

But, I stuck to my plan, and even when Mia was home we kept pushing the bottle. At 2AM he wouldn't be comforted back to sleep by nursing but by getting a bottle from Dad. Finally by Monday, we had him doing pretty well with taking a bottle and he was starting to drink more at each feeding. This was a key part of the change so we were glad that it materialized according to plan.

This morning, as I write this post, I'm tired but got a solid night of sleep. Uninterrupted sleep. It's like Nirvana. So while I am still groggy, at least I'm not frustrated.

And it looks like he's just about done with his playmate. He might be getting sleepy again himself. That would be nice.

Best. Purchase. Ever.

Mia just bought the best thing in the world from Ikea this week.

A clock.

Yep, a clock. A simple, digital clock with big red numbers. But, it's not really the clock that is so fantastic. It's the alarm.

While, I really just wanted an alarm, this one has the feature of allowing you to record your own voice as the alarm.

But, it gets better! Ethan had been coming into our room at about 6-6:30 every morning and it was just a little too early for me. So, when we got the clock, we told him that he had to stay in his room until 7:00AM when he heard his alarm.

AND IT WORKED! On the first day, he didn't come in until 7AM. Needless to say, it's the little things that make us happy these days.

Singing

Ethan loves to sing. And he learns the words to songs pretty quickly. And if he can't quite get the tune right, he makes up for it with volume.

We have a tape of primary songs that he sings in the car. He's getting to know pieces of most of the songs. It's cute to hear him join in when it's playing. He'll sing all the way to wherever we are going.

Then, when we are at home, Ethan will also start just singing at random. Today he was climbing on the couch singing the "Follow the Prophet" chorus (over and over) at the top of his lungs. Then, on occasion, he would mix in "I lived in Heaven" to the same tune as Follow the Prophet. It took me a few times before I realized what words he was actually using.
Of course, he didn't care. He was just happy to be singing and dancing.

I love that he likes singing so much. I hope he gets his mother's talent for singing too.

News from the frontlines

So, I've been told that my blog has been neglected of late. And I can't deny it. However, today, I will not be parading around the same tired excuses with their threadbare rags tenuously clinging to their dead-horse-beaten bodies.

Instead I have a fresh new batch of excuses, still shiny with new-car smell. These I will present for your reading pleasure with the expectation that you will not question them or look under the masks.

Excuse number 1. Life is hard. There, I said it. Life is just hard, and as the blog is a all about me anyway, I'm elevating that selfishness to my frequency of posting. Sorry if this demolishes any preconceptions I have may presented over the last four years about my blog being a place to stay current on the happenings of our family.

Excuse number 2. Raising kids is hard. And, while you might think it only gets twice as hard with two kids, well, you'd be silly for thinking that. Rather, the second child is more like an exponent, squaring the level of difficulty and space required for childrearing. Our apartment that has been roomy enough for us to live in for 5 years has suddenly shrunk, seemingly overnight, until we feel that we're living in a hotel room rather than an apartment. There is no space in our house that, if not entirely consumed, is not laced with the paraphernalia of children. (Also, every trashcan in the house has a dirty diaper in it.)

Excuse number 3. Looking for a job is hard. In case you haven't heard, or been confused by Mia's post, I'm still just in the looking phase. Te first place we decided to look was North Carolina. Oddly enough, a few people we knew from Boston have moved down there. And some others here in Boston came from there. So, apparently there's something to the place. I've found a couple of jobs that are right in the field I'm looking for (haven't landed any of them yet) so it's got work I could do.
If North Carolina doesn't work out, I may look in such exotic locales as Austin, Denver, and Portland.

Excuse number 4. I've got a bigger, better blog now. Well, I don't know if it's better but I'm getting some attention on a professional blog that I've started. It's giving me a space to think about marketing, the Internet, and social media. I'm starting to carve out my career in this space, so I like having a place that I can posit on ideas that I wouldn't normally get to deal with at work.

And if you buy all those excuses, then I've also got a nice bridge we should talk about. ;)

Killing time

Things you can do while your infant son takes a 4.5 hour nap... in your arms.

1. Watch a session of conference.
2. Catch up on your RSS feeds
3. Eat a snack
4. Read a fair chunk of Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
5. Take a nap yourself

Yes, you can do all of those things and more in just one nap session. If you want to try it for yourself, come on down to our place. We'll set you up.

They Live!

Some of you have been wondering if the boys are still alive considering the recent lack of documentation. Well, I've finally got something for you.

First, are the recent uploads located on Flickr.

And here's a little video that I uploaded to YouTube. (It didn't work when I tried to upload it through my blog.) So, if you've been wondering what Edward is up to, here is his latest accomplishment.

Movie Quotes by Ethan

Ethan watches a couple of movies over and over. No surprise for a 3-year old. And because of that, he has some favorite movie quotes. Here are some samples:

Toy Story: To Infinity and Beyond.
Toy Story2: Not today Zerg. *motions to arm for laser and makes shooting sounds*
Incredibles: I'm Dash.
Cars: Ka-chuga, ka-chuga.
Blue's Clues: I skeedoo'ed into the picture.

And, then, just yesterday we got an unexpected one. He was holding the folded poles to his tent, one in each hand, he turned to me and said, "Say hello to my little friends."

WHAT!?! Where did he pick that one up? We certainly haven't been letting him watch Pachino movies. It must have been a reference in one of his other shows but it still caught me off-guard. Not to mention, carried much different connotation for me than he intended.

Forget the Easter Bunny

We have a new favorite Easter animal in our house.

When we came out in the morning, I found in my basket a very cute, cuddly looking plastic cow. When you push him down, he poops out a jellybean. A brown jellybean.


The first time I did it, Ethan just stared at it for a few seconds. Then he said, "That cow made a poop on the carpet." The cow was really calling into question his reality because poop on the carpet usually gets a bigger reaction from mom and dad.

So, I told him that it was just a jellybean like he got in his eggs. But, he didn't want to eat it anyway.

Fast forward to me coming home from work today. One of the first things Ethan said to me when I walked in the door was "Do you have the poo-poo cow?" He wanted to see it make another poop.

Of course, he still says he doesn't want to eat it afterwards.

It really is uncanny

I've posted about this before.

I'm not sure what the connection is but it's starting to scare me. This time the battery on our big car keeps getting drained and we didn't know why. Turns out the box controlling our lights has a faulty fuse that continuously drains the power.

This only started happening last week.

In Sickness and in Health

Mia got the flu last week. She got it hard: headaches, runny nose, fever, chills, fatigue. We were fortunate that Ethan was vacationing in Albany. Unfortunately, we didn't get nearly as much done around the house has we hoped because Edward screamed like a banshee.

Finally Mia broke down and bought a swing. It was amazing. Edward loves to be in the swing and will immediately calm down no matter how loud he is being. In fact... we are starting to think he likes swinging more than being held. Yikes!

At the end of last week, I got the flu. Mostly it was just a runny nose (I went through an entire box of tissues on Sunday) but when I get sick, I get hit hard with fatigue. I went to work on Monday and felt exhausted when I came home.

Fortunately, my mom has been in town so she's taken very good care of us. We've really gotten more sleep that we would otherwise with an extra set of hands around.

But, as I was telling Mia the other night, when I'm sick I realize how much I appreciate her and all the things she does. Maybe I just notice them more because I can't do them for myself. Whatever it is, when I'm sick it's more obvious to me how much I love having her in my life.

And now... more sleep.

Only Smaller

Ethan and I went to the mall on Saturday for some Dad/Son time. He's been getting kind of pushed aside lately because of Edward. Not that we want to push him aside but we can't be as active as he wants when trying to get baby Edward to sleep.

We stopped by Circuit City first, so I could browse around and try to spend my gift card. Ethan immediately wanted to go over to the fake living room areas. With the nice couches and the big TVs. He climbed up on a leather couch (and since it had been snowing) I told him "no shoes on the couch." He made it easy by just taking his shoes off entirely. Then he was able to climb around, and move between the different set-ups. He would have stayed there all night, I think.

But, we had to move on. In the mall, Ethan loves to run along the wide corridors, ride the escalator, and go into toy stores. He also asked if we could get ice cream after he saw some people eating some. Which we did before leaving.

One of the insights that I had while walking around was that tweens are like miniature horses. They look just like the real thing, only smaller.

The high cost of gas

Now, you might think that I'm talking about gasoline. Well, you'd be wrong.

This is a baby post, so you can guess what kind of gas is involved. As all conversations about babies eventually turn to poop, I'll just start this off with it and avoid beating around the bush.

Edward tends to get a lot of gas. And it's painful for him.

Now, with that context, please enjoy this anecdote.

I decided yesterday that we don't really do much as a family after I get home from work because Mia is exhausted and goes off on her own to take a break. I don't blame her after a day with the kids. But, yesterday, I suggested that we go out to dinner together. So we went to the Olive Garden.

Mia had a salad (I had the sausage soup, yum) and the Mixed Grill. She was very careful not to eat any of the vegetables she knows give her gas, including all of the squash and peppers that came with her meal. She was rather disappointed but we didn't want to deal with Edward getting even worse.

Jump forward to this evening. I came home from work and was trying to get Edward to calm down. Mia said she would make dinner for us. She poked around a bit and came up with a quick meal: Chili.
Wait, wait, I know what you're thinking and it gets better.

So, I'm dealing with Edward while we eat and as Mia finishes up her second (yep, #2) bowl of chili, Edward starts fussing and won't calm down. Mia looks up at me and says "He's probably still got some gas..." There is a pause "Oh no."

This was the moment we realized that she'd just eaten two bowls of what is probably the worst possible food for avoiding giving our baby gas. I have a feeling we are going to be in for a very exhausting weekend.

Facebook is an open book

I know that some of my friends and family are using Facebook now. If you haven't thought much about your privacy settings, please do a little research and make sure they are set how you want them.

Passing of a prophet

I was very sad to hear this morning that President Hinckley had died. I don't have time to write up all my feelings but he really was a defining influence in my life and in the growth of my faith.

He was the prophet that signed by mission call. As well as being the prophet that I really started paying attention to as someone revealing God's will to his children. I will miss him greatly.

Which came first?

Life or Blogging?

I've been doing a lot more living lately. Is that the right word for it? Life has been more busy for me anyway. Work, Family, Hobbies, all the things that get in the way of telling you the stories you want to hear about how we are doing.

It's an odd paradox. Do I go on with the living or do I take the time to record it. I know that journaling is an important heritage for the future generations. I'm actually glad that I'll be able to give Ethan and Edward a glimpse of their lives when they were too little to remember. (Like now when they are still so cute.) But, sometimes I take for granted the fact that I will have memories of these times though no one else will (except Mia). The boys are too young and the parents are too far away (for the day-to-day experiences).

It's amazing how fleeting the days really are. How quickly the time passes, even when Ethan's bedtime feels like it's dragging on forever. I suppose the new year is making me feel more of my age.

But, not to leave you empty-handed after my waxing philosophical. Here are a few stories of what's been happening in our lives.

Earlier this week, Ethan decided he wanted to wear ties to church just like dad. However, he didn't really have any button down shirts or (good) ties. So, he and Mia went out shopping and got him a little white shirt and green truck tie. He looked very handsome today wearing it to primary.

Edward has started giving us little smiles. Or at least we are interpreting them as smiles, they might still just be gas but we like to think it's otherwise.

Ethan loves to play with his Buzz Lightyear action figure. He knows all of the phrases he says, he loves to say them while playing with him. But just playing with a superhero, as he calls him, isn't enough. Ethan also likes to pretend that he is a superhero and makes appropriate poses before dashing off to rescue someone.
Edit: I should mention that Buzz's full name (per Ethan) is: "Buzz Lightyear To The Rescue Space Ranger." And, he calls him by his full name every time he's talking about Buzz.

Edward also loves to lie on his playmat and wave his arms trying to hit the hanging toys. Sometimes he is successful.

Ethan is big into making forts out of the couch cushions on the blue couch. He likes them built a specific way. Sometimes he wants a door, sometimes he doesn't. But he always wants a roof. Then, he likes to bust out of them to surprise us.
Also, related to that, Ethan always hides in the ruins of a fort when I come home from work. It's fun to walk into the living room and ask "Where's Ethan?"

So, those are just some of the things going on in our lives. Please tell us what's going on in yours.

Imagination Running Wild

Ethan has a very active imagination. If you've ever known any 3-year olds, this might be familiar to you.

Today a couple of funny things have happened:

1. He was lying on the couch (something that I was doing this morning) and told me he wasn't taking a rest but was just thinking. When I asked what he was thinking about he said, "Forts and TV shows."

2. Ethan and I were building forts out of couch cushions this morning. It's one of Ethan's favorite things to do.

3. During nap time, Ethan was lying in bed and pulled the covers over his head so the Evil Emperor Zerg couldn't kill his head. Then he put his hands out to see if Zerg would kill his hands. Then he put his feet out to see if Zerg would kill his feet. He pulled his feet back in saying, "No, I need those to walk."

4. He was captivated while watching an episode of Vroom Riders. Is that out on DVD yet. ;)

What a fun, funny little boy.

Memories of sleep

I know that it's been a while and I apologize. Unfortunately, my schedule has been extremely erratic lately for a few factors.

1. Edward. He sometimes sleeps well at night and sometimes doesn't. It's kind of a craps shoot. Last night he was up at midnight until 2am. Then he woke up again at 4am :(

2. Laptop. The power cord on my laptop broke, right near where it connects to the computer. This has made getting online to update my blog (or anything) much more difficult. I can't sneak in a few minutes before bedtime and the office computer is slowly dying.

3. Sleep. I fell asleep at 8pm on Saturday. That's how tired I was. This is not an entirely uncommon occurrence for the last few weeks. Some days we'll stay up late anticipating a rough evening with Edward, some days we'll go to be early anticipating middle-of-the-night troubles. Sometimes we guess right and sometimes we don't.

So, those are my pathetic excuses. I'll be getting up and running again soon (should have a new power cord in tomorrow and only 2 more weeks till Edward should start sleeping better). We do have some cute stories, pictures, and videos of the kids to show, please be patient and I'll get them up.

I'm Alive...

barely