tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8701656656360040112024-03-13T09:30:08.592-07:00Parenting The Hard WayThe ongoing adventures of a father who is finally finding the answers by dedicating himself to his family.phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.comBlogger3108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-76617787884475201892018-03-21T09:36:00.001-07:002018-03-21T09:36:11.347-07:00Cauliflower Rice
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In our
quest to bring healthy vibes to our household while helping yours
truly maintain his girlish figure, we've been leaning more toward the
meat-free, lower carb diet. Not because we're crunchy and holistic
(well, maybe a little), but for a whole host of reasons that I won't
bore you with. In addition to my phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-32106991655058129472018-03-20T06:17:00.001-07:002018-03-20T06:17:23.998-07:00Youth Hockey Comes to a Close
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This
weekend marked the end of N's youth hockey career, and I think it's
been a good run for him, culminating in some changes that will be
good for all of us in the years to come. I thought I would have mixed
emotions about the end of hockey, but I have to confess, I feel good
about it all. Not too much in the way ofphredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-87896975576134112422018-03-16T12:47:00.000-07:002018-03-16T12:47:13.856-07:00Stranded in the Capital (again)
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This
past weekend N had his hockey state tournament, and it was a fun
weekend but at times long and excruciating. The reason for this is
because it required some time sitting around and awaiting our fate,
and in retrospect, I definitely did things the wrong way. You'd think
I'd have learned the drill by now.
N hadphredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-48578904703271803292018-03-15T06:48:00.002-07:002018-03-15T06:48:31.257-07:00More Toys = More OCD
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As if I
needed something more to stroke my OCD, we are currently in the
market for a new mountain bike (MTB) for N. Not only has he outgrown
his current bike, but we are thinking that it's time for him to move
up to some serious MTB equipment, namely a dual suspension unit. He
currently rides a single suspension MTB phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-2109720839092350502018-03-14T18:54:00.000-07:002018-03-14T18:54:03.331-07:00Last Hurrah
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Ski
season is winding down, and would under normal circumstances be done
and over, but we hardly (ever) have normal circumstances here in New
England. First off, the winter has been all over the map, starting
off with a couple of cold brutal weeks (with snow) in December,
followed by up and down temps for the rest ofphredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-3462232782641463142018-03-14T18:52:00.000-07:002018-03-14T18:52:02.278-07:00Winding Down
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As the
hockey season draws to a close, I often have mixed feelings because
on the one hand, it's a long season (6 months) and I'm ready for it
to be all done. On the other, it's fun to watch the kids play, and I
enjoy many aspects about it. This year is particularly poignant
because it's N's last year of youth hockey, phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-77806220993410275962018-03-14T18:50:00.001-07:002018-03-14T18:50:42.300-07:00Getting What You Pay For?
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I know
My Mentor is shaking his head right now, but my cheap phone recently
bit the dust, and for the life of me, I can't explain why. It was only a few months old. It just
conked out. What's crazy is that it was working the morning and when
I went to use it a few hours later, nothing. I was going to give it
to N to phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-14161106079278505932018-03-10T12:44:00.001-08:002018-03-10T12:44:08.326-08:00More Snow?
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I'm not sure if it's worth mentioning that I'm ready for spring
because the weather is about as predictable as the, well, the weather, right? Case in
point, we were having some nice, warm temperatures that really
got me in the mood to don shorts and a t-shirt, and lo and behold, we
got slammed with another storm. Notphredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-78808893754236496352018-03-10T12:41:00.002-08:002018-03-10T12:41:29.402-08:00Sugar Free
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I never
thought I'd see this day come in my life of gluttony, but I recently
tried to stop eating sugar, or at least cut back, because in reality
it's virtually impossible (for someone like myself) to completely
avoid sugar. In light of this, I guess the most accurate way to put
it is that I cut dessert out of my phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-18683819112004920542018-03-06T09:35:00.002-08:002018-03-06T09:35:30.909-08:00Placement Test
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N is
officially taking the first step toward going to school - he took
his placement exams for school, and before you know it, he'll be
off into the complex world big boys and girls. The big question is, what are his
parents going to do with their lives? I was a little concerned about
him embarking on this journey, phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-8901023419329825612018-03-06T09:34:00.001-08:002018-03-06T09:34:27.243-08:00Time For New Skis?
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It must
be that time of year, but I'm once again toying with the idea of
getting new skis. I don't know what keeps coming over me, but let's
face it, my skis are old as the hills, and I've been told again and
again that I should really check out some of the new stuff. I am not
sure how to best approach this, however,phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-5057757701408327212018-03-02T09:23:00.001-08:002018-03-02T09:23:05.656-08:00Liking Portland
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Since we
were vacationing in Maine with two restless young people, we thought it might be nice to check out
the big city in that part of New England, and I think A in particular
was interested being the hip girl that she is. We spent the day in
Portland and found it to be a pretty cool and hip town. It was an
phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-61793396833930245072018-03-02T06:19:00.001-08:002018-03-02T06:19:23.544-08:00Maine Event
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Sorry
for my absence (again), been away on school break and not quite
feeling it. Lame excuse, I know.
We were
in fact away on vacation, and it dawned on me that we can longer go
on vacation like we used to now that A is firmly entrenched in the
school system. N will soon follow suit, but more on this later. We
phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-38333341752733387222018-02-19T12:24:00.001-08:002018-02-19T12:24:20.571-08:00No Rest For the Fanatical
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I've
been doing the adult learn to play (LTP) hockey program in the big
city and it's been such a blast, though I started thinking that it
would be nice to have one more day to just scrimmage. The LTP is a
blast, and it's awesome to be with DD, the coach, who is not only
just a great guy, but a great coach whose phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-85106298284514104742018-02-19T12:21:00.001-08:002018-02-19T12:21:49.845-08:00Moving Over
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In yet
another step of our big sports transition, N has indicated that he
would be amenable to playing LAX in the big city, thus completing our
exodus from the old lame program. To be fair, it makes sense to
transition, and not just because of my bitterness, which of course
makes perfect sense to me. In the old lame phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-39009255424125794712018-02-19T12:19:00.000-08:002018-02-19T12:19:21.550-08:00Hanging in the Big City
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I should
have seen this coming but it still sort of came out of left field. N had
a game down in the southern part of the state, near the NH capital,
and also near his girlfriend (okay, I said it, though I don't know
what exactly the status is). I figured it would be a good opportunity
for him to hang out with her but he phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-33126996594213729732018-02-16T06:29:00.001-08:002018-02-16T06:29:12.239-08:00Fortuitous Hockey Transition
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There is
plenty of bad blood between myself and our old lame hockey program,
most of it (of course) on my side. Yes, I have issues. Whatever be
the case, it motivated me to encourage N to change programs, and
change we did. It was an unusual move on mine and N's part because he
grew up in the old lame program, and I phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-11541285566167784992018-02-16T06:28:00.000-08:002018-02-16T06:28:15.418-08:00Designer/Photography Girl
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This is
one of those things that a shameless dad as myself feels is too cool
for words, but A has been doing some graphic design work, and she's
actually getting some paid gigs. Needless to say, I'm totally stoked
for her. She has always had a thing for drawing, even as a little
kid, but she also has a good eye for phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-81357441332008258802018-02-14T07:59:00.000-08:002018-02-14T07:59:05.327-08:00Feeding Again
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This
summer I stashed the bird feeder away in the barn because not only
were the squirrels driving me crazy, but there is the ever present
concern about bears. In fact, I've been told that it's against the
law in some states to put feeders out during certain times of the
year just for that reason. I'm not sure I phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-31357932855890080062018-02-04T06:38:00.001-08:002018-02-04T06:38:30.301-08:00Ready to Serve
After
all this talk about bailing out on the Inn, I did actually do a job
for a private caterer out of the big city. I'd like to clarify that
for much of the time that the Inn was putting me on the schedule, I
couldn't because mom was away. Now that she's back, there wasn't much
going on so the Inn wasn't calling. However, the big city caterers
dropped me a line and asked if I could do a gig phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-1995816185782371592018-02-04T06:37:00.000-08:002018-02-04T06:37:22.448-08:00Build It, and They Will Come
As I
mentioned, N is interested in building his own computer from the
ground up, and a PC, no less. I've been informed that it's not
necessarily cheaper to build your own, it's just that you can
customize various features, and keep the door open to upgrade in the
future. There is a modular aspect to the components, as well, so the
machine can be upgraded over time. It is worth noting that phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-55979178955090985652018-02-02T09:18:00.001-08:002018-02-02T09:18:28.798-08:00Back to Scheduling
When N
transitioned to the big city hockey program, I was willing to help
out if needed, but in the end, I realized that they have their act
together and my services (or lack thereof) weren't needed. In this regard, I was looking
forward to just being a spectator at my son's games. The biggest plus
was not having to coach, which was tough for a hockey neophyte as
myself surrounded by real menphredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-25848910332061800252018-02-02T09:13:00.001-08:002018-02-02T09:13:38.990-08:00Absent With Leave
I have
to extend a bit of thanks to the Inn for understanding my current situation,
which has been a bit hectic, to say the least. I took the entire
month of December off, and there were events where they asked me to
work. Nothing like the summer time, but big ones nonetheless. January
had one or two events, but nothing too big, but with February in full
swing, I think things are starting to phredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-31079747386941278232018-01-29T14:22:00.000-08:002018-01-29T14:22:13.250-08:00Mac Resistance
We are a
Mac family, and have been for about as long as computers have been a
commonplace household accoutrement. This puts us in the minority with
most of the world, because most people opt for PCs, for a number of
reasons - they are cheaper, more commonplace, on the whole more
practical, and did I mention they are cheaper? In most cases, by a
large margin.
The
simple reality is, Macs arephredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-870165665636004011.post-30811810168036687112018-01-25T05:34:00.002-08:002018-01-25T05:34:23.776-08:00Big City Concert
Last
weekend while N and I were hanging out near the capital, mom and A
were heading in the opposite direction, hanging out in Burlington to
catch a concert. A and her buddies are interested in a band called
Tennis, and they were playing at what I consider to be a great venue
to see a show - Higher Ground. The only problem was that A is the
only one of them who drives, and we weren't about tophredudehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03837233997888071418noreply@blogger.com0