Life is good

Wow, has it really been four months since I last had something to complain about? Pretty much. I used to always have things come up and finally had a way to displace some of the tension. I guess I've learned to just take it as it comes and try not to let things bug me as much. A lot of that has to do with my kids, especially Hailey.

Hailey is in Kindergarten now and has started to pick up some habits from the kids at school. Unfortunately, most of those are not good and cause her to have a bad attitude. This gets me upset and then it escalates from there. Meghan will pick up on it and then everyone is not in a good mood. So what to do? Well, I have to be the adult and learn to control my emotions better. They are watching me and feeding off of that. I'm trying to remember that they are still young and have a lot harder time controling how they think and act. Sometimes I forget they are still kids. Part of me wants them to grow up so we can have better discussions, but then I think of having teenage daughters and go right back to hoping they stay where they are.

At least my son hasn't got there yet. He does have a temper, but he is usually pretty happy. Except of course when his sisters take what he wants to play with. Well, he'll just have to learn to deal with it. I don't think that is ever going to change.

So life is good. I'll try to post more often, and hopefully be a little more positive.

Merry Christmas?

Most of you know that I'm not a big fan of "hallmark" holidays. I'm not really big on celebrations of any sort, but I usually give in to the wife's desire to celebrate for the kids. The one thing I don't do, though is Christmas/birthday gifts. Growing up I didn't get a lot of those gifts from my parents and we never really celebrated with a party. The problem is that Christmas has become so commercialized that it is hard to get away from the pressure of gifts. I mean, displays are already popping up all over the place and October hasn't even ended!

There is no end to the ways advertisers are willing to go in order to sell. Especially in this down economy, people are pushing Christmas earlier and earlier. It is just real annoying to see these type of things when Thanksgiving isn't even on the current calendar page! It just goes to show that our society is so much about money these days. The "celebration" is all about what you give/get not about the actual holiday itself.

Now some may argue that Christmas isn't really Jesus' birthday (most believe it is sometime in the fall). Regardless if it is or not, that is the day by general consensus that His birthday is celebrated. So we should celebrate the birth of the greatest person to live on the earth. I just don't think we need to that by buying gifts for each other. And really, do we need a reminder two months in advance?

School

Tomorrow is Hailey's (my oldest) first day of Kindergarten. It will be at Twin Creeks Elementary school which is a public elementary school that runs from K-5. The school is about a mile and a half from the house, just a little too far to walk. The school has its act together, having a back to school picnic and allowing families to get a tour of the facility and get familiar with the campus. The only real complaint I had about that night was that the Kindergarten teachers were nowhere in sight. Maybe we didn't look hard enough, but it would've been nice to see them.

As with every other business or institution, there is a shortfall in the funding to the school. Therefore all parents are encouraged to donate money. This school had a registration day where all families had to go to make sure all the paperwork was filled out correctly. They went "green" and e-mailed all the appropriate flyers and forms, most of which were for raising support. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, we got out of there spending less than $300. The only thing that was kind of weird to me was the $3 disaster preparedness donation. I had to ask what that was for. Turns out it was for food during a disaster. Apparently if there is an earthquake or fire or whatever and the kids have to remain on campus, they will get food and drink if you pay $3. I dutifully paid my $3, but it left me wondering. Do they have a list? How will they know to feed my daughter and not someone else? If you don't pay, do you just starve? Kinda strange, but at least I'm assured (I think) Hailey won't starve in case of a disaster.

Overall, I think that the school is doing a good job. The San Ramon School District has always been perceived as one of the better districts in the area. I've heard reports that this is more perception than reality, but so far I'm encouraged by Twin Creeks. They seem to have the kids' best interests in mind and are doing what they can to make it an enjoyable experience. I'll find out more tomorrow

Happy Birthday Hailey!

Today is my oldest daughter's fifth birthday. I can't believe how fast my kids are growing. Somedays I wish they were older so we wouldn't have to do so much for them, but they are really at a pretty fun age right now. Boy do I dread the teenage years. Maybe I can convince my wife to home-school and the girls would never have to meet teenage boys. Well...I'll just have to cross that bridge when it gets here. Anyway, Happy Birthday Hailey!

I have a bridge to sell you...

Pushy sales people are the worse. I understand that in this economy, you have to push products and make sales. This doesn't mean you have to badger the customer. Just try to be helpful. This is why I prefer shopping through the internet. Nobody is pushing you to do anything. All the options are there, but there is no person standing next to you telling you to add this warranty or that accessory. You can browse with no pressure to buy and compare to your heart's content.

I know people who like the interaction with sales people. There is something to be said about the "community" aspect of going to a store and interacting with those in your neighborhood. But if that is really what you want, join a club or go to church. There are plenty of opportunities to do that outside of the retail experience. I would be a lot happier if I didn't have to deal with sales people by talking to them.

Something Different

Since it has been over a month since I last blogged, I figured I should post something. It is a good thing that it has been so long, because that means there really isn't anything new to vent about. I must admit that I have a pretty good life. So no ranting about stupid people in line today or crazy drivers on the road. This will be a positive post.

Do you have kids? Remember when they were under the age of 5? Well, I have three under that age and they are a handful. I'm very thankful that my children are relatively well behaved. They hardly do anything "bad" and they don't eat much junk food or candy. They get along most of the time and are generally willing to play alone or with each other. The most important thing, however, is that my wife is willing to take care of them on a full-time basis. I know it isn't easy, and I'm grateful that she can do it.

Unfortunately in this day and age, that is more and more rare. Most families have both parents working, if they even have two parents, to support the lifestyle they live. Thankfully we have relatively inexpensive tastes in life, so we can afford to live on my salary alone. The City of Walnut Creek, my employer, has good benefits so my whole family is covered. Winnie doesn't have to work and can really invest in our kids as they grow. I think this is really important. Parents really need to be involved in their children's' lives and the best way to do that is spend time with them. I have to continually remind myself of this after coming home from work. I need to be a part of the process of caring for them and not just zone off in my own world.

So for all you parents, or future parents, out there, make sure to spend time with your kids. This time will not come again.

I've Fallen and I can't get up!

It's been awhile since my last post, life has kept me busy. Also, I haven't had anything truly annoying happen to me in awhile. I must admit my life is pretty good.

What prompted this post was a Facebook post by my cousin's husband's niece. She apparently fell down for no apparent reason this morning. Her fiance turned around and saw her sprawled on the ground and his FB post was "All I heard was a loud *THUD*...and I turned around...And you were sprawled out on the sidewalk...The only thing funnier would have been if there was a chalk outline...LOL" You would think his first instinct would be to check her well-being and then help her up. I'm sure that crossed his mind initially, but incident was probably just too funny to not laugh.

So why am I annoyed? Well, not because of what happened in the post, but the similarity to the whole government bailout thing. Millions of people are being affected by the economy tanking and especially hard hit are those who over extended themselves when buying a home whether using an ARM loan or assuming that their salary would catch up to the payments. Whatever the case, they've fallen and can't make the payments. So who do they turn to? The government.

Now my understanding of how the government "should" work is that it is there to help keep the country( town, city, county...etc) infrastructure running smoothly and to regulate the rules so everyone is playing on the same field. It is not the government's job to bail you out when you make a mistake or have a decision go south on you. Just because your company is failing or you can't make your home payment doesn't mean the government should bail you out. It all goes back to personal responsibility (as my blog readers know is my biggest pet peeve). You made a decision, you have to live with the consequences. Don't go clamouring for someone else to bail you out. You made the choice, live with it.

It boggles the mind to think that what our country needs is to put itself into more debt to help "relieve" the debt of those who made poor decisions. How does that help? Why is that a good idea? Most of those people who are getting the help knew what the potential consequences of their decisions were, they just didn't believe those would come into play. Now that it has, they are crying foul. They should have to suffer for their choice, made to feel the consequences of their actions. Otherwise, they'll just keep on doing it. And that doesn't help anyone.