To Catch A Tugboatcapn...

My Wife's Aunt Cathy and her five year old daughter Amy came to visit with us for Thanksgiving, and they are staying through the weekend to help Xena with the baby.

(Which has made Xena very happy.)

Last night, I was entertaining Amy by sitting with her at the computer and visiting the various websites that she likes to play around on. One of these was TyGirls.com.

Now TyGirls.com has a free tour type deal, for which you have to enter the free secret code on the homepage.

Okay.

After we played the three or four games available there, Amy wanted to log in and play around on the password protected side of the website. She didn't have her own account, so we decided to call her sister, and get her username and password.

Piece of cake, right?

Her sister hesitated for a moment, and then told me that "I don't want you playing around on that account, because I use that password for everything."

And she wouldn't tell me her password.

She's TEN.

And I respesct that. She is absolutely entitled to her own password and privacy. I will never ask her again for anything like that.

But now we still can't get into the website.

So, I said to myself, "Self... We will just set up an account of our own, and then we can play around on TyGirls.com any time we feel like it!"

Okay, here we go...

Username: Tugboatcapn

Password: {Password}

Email: tugsemail@domain.com

So far, so good.

Zipcode, State, First Name...

Date of Birth: 05/26/1966...

Age: ... Uhnm... Forty One...

(Select One:) O Male O Female

Wait just a long-eared minute!!!

What in the world am I doing!?!?

Chris Hansen will be knocking on the door any second if I do this!

I had to cease and desist on setting up my own account at TyGirls.com.

I wish that we lived in a world where I could do things like this and no one would ever accuse me of something that I cannot imagine doing.

I wish we lived in a world where a five or ten year old girl did not have to worry about keeping her password a secret.

I wish that we lived in a world where there wasn't a monster lurking around every corner, within every website, behind every keystroke, bent on perverting, damaging and destroying our children...

But we don't.

So we have to be careful, and not just for our children's sake, but for our own as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As everyone with a public school education knows, the first Thanksgiving was when the Pilgrims held a feast to thank the Indians for helping them not to starve, and for giving them the continent of North America (which the Indians weren't really using anyway,) upon which this great Nation was built.

Right?

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

"Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

"And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

"Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789." - George Washington

This was the first official Presidential Proclamation issued in the United States.

I'd say we were off to a very good start.

Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

The Adventure Continues...

In the late nineties I took a couple of years off from driving trucks, and got a job working as a "Utility Man" in a manufacturing plant making fifty-five gallon oil drums.

I was one of about three people in the whole plant who was qualified to run every piece of equipment there, so if the Welder Operator didn't show up for work, I ran the Welder that day. If the Paint Booth Operator laid out, I ran the Paint Booth.

If everyone showed up, I worked on the loading dock loading trucks.

There was a rollerstrip that came off of the end of the assembly line conveyor belt, and I and one other man would get into the trailer and pick the drums up by hand, and stack them in the trailer, three high, and four across.

A 53' van trailer holds 318 fifty-five gallon drums, and we would load four or five trailers per day.

And at the end of a whole week of that, I was not as tired as I have been these last few days.

We brought the Baby home on Friday Afternoon, and my Mom and Dad, my Wife's Dad, My Wife's Aunt Betty, and my Brother-in-law were all waiting for us when we got here.

They cooked and cleaned, they brought us stuff, they changed diapers, rocked, burped, dressed and undressed the Baby, and offered advice, tricks and tips, and congratulations. (Which was great!)

And then they went home.

And Caleb woke up.

And nobody has slept since... Not here, anyway.

No, I'm exagerating... We sleep in fifteen or twenty minute stretches, two or three times in a given twenty-four hour period, so it isn't like we aren't getting ANY sleep...

And he is a pretty easy baby. If he's crying, check his diaper... No, scratch that. Don't waste time checking it, just go change it. It's dirty.

If he's still crying, make sure he's fed and burped, then swaddle him, give him a pacifier and rock him.

Piece of cake.

But the more tired I get, the more I begin to second guess that formula... (Could he be too hot/cold?... Is it too noisy/quiet/bright/dark in here?... Does he want his Mama/Grandma/Uncle/Aunt/Nurse?... Does he need Tylenol/Benadryl/Vaseline/Desitin Cream/Morphine/Heroin?)

But I'm overthinking it.

Diaper, fed, burp, swaddle, pacifier, rock, sleep.

Every time.

If only his Mama were so easy to take care of...

My Replacement Is Here!

Meet Caleb.

At the time of this photo, he was about two minutes old.

He's seven pounds, twenty inches long, and perfect.

He is happy, healthy, and beautiful.

He looks like his Mama, and he looks like me.

And he looks like himself.

He was born on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007, at 18:26, by C-Section, after a long, hard night and day of Labor.

But now he is here, and everyone is very happy. Mom is doing great (though VERY tired), and Dad is completely overwhelmed.

There is so much to teach him, so much to show him... And so much to learn from him...

And I can't wait...

Rejoice with me!!

(Now, look at the pictures, while I cry...)

Temporarily Out Of The Office...

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The Blogger you have reached is temporarily unavailable.

He has stepped out to help his Wife have a baby.

In case of a Blogging Emergency, please consult the list on the right hand sidebar, and choose a blogger from there.

They should be able to help you.

And again, we apologize for any inconvenience.

Ready Or Not!!!

"WOW, EIGHT DAYS TO GO!!!" Said Trader Rick...

Uh, yeah...I should have updated that by now.

Actually, it's FIVE days to go.

I haven't talked about the pregnancy very much here, because frankly when I think about it I get so overwhelmed that I cannot put my thoughts and feelings into words.

First off, let me say that I have never been more proud of anything or anyone in my life than I have been of my wife these past few months.

This has not been easy for her. We had a false start last October, and losing that pregnancy was very hard on her emotionally. When we were sure that this one was going to be successful, she was so happy that she could hardly contain herself...

And at the same time very sad.

Her Mother passed away in May of '04 at age 52, and this would have been her first Grandchild.

She has missed her Mother so very much. There are certain things that a pregnant woman desperately needs to talk to her Mother about, and try as they might, no one else can quite fill that roll.

Another thing that my Wife has done that has absolutely made her my Hero is that she started working in June for Florida Virtual School, teaching Geometry on-line from home, and she still has not missed a day of work. (Even though she is LITERALLY nine months pregnant.)

Now, granted, she does not have to stand in front of a classroom crowded with America's children all day, but the workload is pretty heavy.

She has not complained at all.

And then there is the matter of the Gestational Diabetes. For the past few weeks, she has had to inject herself with Insulin three times a day, and has kept a detailed journal of her blood sugar levels, but she has it under control, and by all accounts, the baby is fine despite the problems she has had.

Last week the Doctor told her that she has gained a total of three pounds over her pre-pregnancy weight, and the baby weighed 7.3 pounds... She's absolutely beautiful. She is carrying the baby all out front. She's round, she's firm, she's fully packed.

Until this coming Tuesday. That's Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, D-DAY.

Because of the Sugar problem, the Doctor decided that we shouldn't wait for the baby to make the decision, especially since he apparently is like his Daddy, and is in no hurry to get the project started, from what we can tell.

So labor will be induced on Tuesday, November 6th, at 8:00 am.

And sometime later that day, my Wife will become Mommy to Mr. Caleb Michael [boatcapn].

And I will be Daddy, for the first time, at the ripe old age of forty-one.

Unless I die of a heart attack Tuesday afternoon.

Please pray for us.