to persevere: parenting stories and other geekery

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not my iPod, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not my Blackberry, I am nothing.

- a reprise from my thoughts on the weekend

I think the worst combination in the world has to be a love of tech gadgets and a love of comparison shopping. There’s so many permutations and stats to compare between models, between configurations. Like when shopping for a digital camera, sites like www.dcresource.com just feed the fire. You can do a search on various models, and include certain features that you really want, and then it spits out a list of all the cameras that meet your criteria.

Or the MacPro… rather absurdly, Apple declares that there are 4.9 million possible combinations. I already know which one I want…

I can spend hours comparing things that I have no real hope of buying. At least I can be thankful I’m a J and not a P (Meyers Briggs)… I think the satisfaction of coming to a decision pushes me to make the decision rather than endlessly filtering more and more information.

Aaaahhhh! I need to get out of this idle-ness! More productive time! Are we, to borrow a phrase, amusing ourselves to death?[a] Why am I even writing this blog?! I should be doing something else more important!

For a week I would love to forgo all the tech news, all the comparison shopping, all the idle dreaming… maybe I just need to unplug… go take pictures or something…

I’ll still write here, though… it helps me think, I think.

See ya!

[a] Neil Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985)

technorati tags:thoughts, MacPro, MeyersBriggs, unplug, postman

Blogged with Flock

After a whole day of being loud, fighting, not sharing, getting time outs, not using your ‘inside’ voice, being rude, jumping on the bed, putting cherry covered hands in your hair, getting your sister to jump on her bed, choosing mommy over daddy, telling us over and over that you “hate” your blue slippers, staying up late…

we put you to bed, and we read our stories, pray, and say good night, and I get

a hug

a kiss

and an “I love you”…

and somehow the whole day is worth it.

Daddy loves you.

Blogged with Flock

As recently as last month, Tasha would cry when we dropped her off at nursery during service. She would get really upset, to the point of throwing up. But one Sunday, we asked her if she was going to cry this week.

She said, “No. No cry. Babies cry.” (except she says cry with a “w” instead of an “r”… so cute)

“And you’re not a baby any more?”

“No. Babies cry.”

Now we just laughed and thought it was so good that she would say that, and indeed, she didn’t cry that week, or thereafter. But now, she’s turned it on her big sister:

(Jackie gets upset about something and starts crying.)

Tasha: “No! Babies cry!”

Jackie: (crying) “I know, but I just can’t… I have to cry!”

Tasha: “No! Babies cry!”

Jackie: (crying) “No Tasha! I can cry!”

Tasha: “No! Babies cry!”

Parents: <sigh>

Oh, the drama!

technorati tags:cry, kids, drama

Blogged with Flock

what we did when I was home with the kids… (it’s a plane, in case you can’t tell… and yes, they’re both wearing CANADA T-shirts! represent!)

technorati tags:radio, flyer, canada

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J: How come not everybody goes to Costco?

Well, not everyone has to…

J: Maybe they already have everything…

Yes, maybe they already have…

J: I know why not everybody goes to Costco!

Why, honey?

J: Because if you are dead and gone to heaven, right?

Uh, right…

J: Because you don’t need anything in heaven, ‘cuz God already has everything, right?

That’s right, hon…

J:Although you might still need a toothbrush, I think…

technorati tags:heaven, costco, toothbrush, kids

Blogged with Flock