I am a very lucky man – I’ve got an amazing wife and am the father to three wonderful kids. Lylli was born on Halloween in 2008, Gracie was born November 2010 and although she only lived for 17 months, she will remain as much a part of this family as the rest of us, and Mickey Gray, our first son, was born in June of 2012. I’m not going to say that life has gone exactly as I would have wanted, but it is a good life and I am determined to make the best of it.



This blog is an attempt to document my quest to become a dad that my family can be proud of.






Monday, August 31, 2009

5 weeks from yesterday

It occurred to me last night as I was trying to go to bed while my eyes burned from the icy hot that I had all over my shins and calves that the Twin Cities 10 mile is just under 5 weeks away

Things are getting better my workout on Sunday consisted of:

4 miles run nonstop
1 mile walk
1 mile run
.5 mile walk
.5 mile run
.5 mile walk

For a total of 7.5 miles -- I've got a LONG WAY to go!!

Friday, August 7, 2009

I want a "Book Club"

Ok - now that I've got your attention, don't be too shocked -- I don't planning on reading anymore than I have to, but this whole book club gimmick that women have today is pretty ingenious.  There are only 4 Fridays a month and especially in the summer, most of the weekend nights (including fridays) are booked.  This eliminates the opportunity for me to do anything with my biddies.  But because book club is scheduled one friday every month -- that means that I get to stay home with the baby while she goes to one of the hens house to drink wine and talk about everything besides the book -- don't get me wrong, quality time with my daughter is something I treasure, but it makes me bitter that I don't have a catchall standing excuse to hang out with my buddies at least one friday a month.  The thing that is brilliant about this book club thing is that because they have to put effort into reading the book all month, they are emotionally invested in the book club meeting.  I'm afraid if I organized something like this - there wouldn't be that same commitment because I didn't read a book or whatever and would be difficult to skip a family obligation or something without having investing in the meeting by reading the book.  I was in an investment club briefly several years ago, but was so bad with my money at the time that I sold my part to a friend to get out --regret #7,495 from my single days  (bygones).  An investment club might have some legs -- that way I could say that I researched all month for the meeting.  I also thought of cards, but that would be lacking the investment leading up to the mandatory meeting night.  Exotic beer night - everyone could bring a 6 pack of something out of the ordinary they've found?  Brewing beer? Anyone have any ideas?  At the very least I figure, if I can't figure out a guys version of a book club, I figure I should be able to get an annual Canadian fishing trip out of this by saying -- "Hey, all I ask for is this one long weekend, you get book club all year long"      

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

the stall ninja


You know the accoustics in the office restroom are very interesting. They don't pump in the same white noise as they do in the rest of the office so when you sit in a stall you become extremely sound sensitive. Its nothing to hear someone texting they're girlfriend from three stalls away. But the guy that I have a problem with is the guy that I'll call the ninja. We've all ran into them - you sit in the stall next to some guy and as soon as you get ready to do what you had planned to do in there -- he decides to stop still in his tracks and pretend he's not there by not making so much as a peep. Your first instinct is to think to yourself -- ok, he was in here first, so you will follow suit and wait him out -- so then you both sit there in absolute silence until you realize that he has also decided that he will not finish until you are done. Normally I don't care and sometimes push even harder to make things louder as I get a little internal chuckle by making my neighbor uncomfortable, but today - I decided I couldn't wait -- got self conscience about the noise and found myself reaching back and timing a flush at the exact time of the noisiest portion of my transaction. I guess I assume that if a persons feet are facing the door, that they are doing the same thing in there as I am and there's no need for these silly games.