Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
King Parent Officer
King Parent Officer
I am somebody's father.
Let me say that again.
I... am... someone's... faaaaather!
What a prestigious title. I marvel on it not because of the inherent responsibility that goes with it. At 32, I can handle and be ready for just about anything, but I am somebody's father.
King of country, the most successful CEO, the greatest artist the world has ever known - they have nothing on what it means to be a parent. I intimately control the outcome of this child's life. It's up to me if she is going to be happy or dysfunctional. Again, the responsibility is not the weight here. This is a title I gladly and confidently don; zero fear in my child-rearing skills. I just didn't realize how much pride it would give this megalomaniac to assume the position. I deserve a crown; a jeweled-encrusted scepter; to be surrounded by yes-men who would wash and perfume my feet.
Think of the power. I elected myself without my daughter's consent. She didn't ask to be born but her parents made a decision and created her. She's going to begin life whether she wanted to or not. With the life expectancy at nearly 80 years, we've dumped her into quite a committment not to mention it's up to us how she lives it. What control!
In a kingdom, subjects have to be subjugated, there's work involved and it's also implied they were free at one point. My daughter was born into slavery and complete depedence on me, her life leader. Think about what that means.
Now realize that anyone can take this role. Anyone, including the unqualified.
Kings, CEOs and artists can blame their subjects, stockholders and fans for failure. A parent is absolutely responsible and has power beyond imagination, beyond philosophy, beyond science. Religion comes close but even Jesus Christ did not have this much power. His power was a fix to a calamity sustained and perpetuated by us parents. Without us, there would have been no need for the sacrifice. We summoned the Son of God.
Only God has as much power as a parent does and even He only created two people then handed us the torch to create many more. We are God. This is the way it has always been in nature. It has gone on millions of years and an inifinte number of times, but that awesome power of being a parent isn't diminished in the least. It may not be recognized or executed properly, but the power is still there.
I am somebody's father.
Let me say that again.
I... am... someone's... faaaaather!
What a prestigious title. I marvel on it not because of the inherent responsibility that goes with it. At 32, I can handle and be ready for just about anything, but I am somebody's father.
King of country, the most successful CEO, the greatest artist the world has ever known - they have nothing on what it means to be a parent. I intimately control the outcome of this child's life. It's up to me if she is going to be happy or dysfunctional. Again, the responsibility is not the weight here. This is a title I gladly and confidently don; zero fear in my child-rearing skills. I just didn't realize how much pride it would give this megalomaniac to assume the position. I deserve a crown; a jeweled-encrusted scepter; to be surrounded by yes-men who would wash and perfume my feet.
Think of the power. I elected myself without my daughter's consent. She didn't ask to be born but her parents made a decision and created her. She's going to begin life whether she wanted to or not. With the life expectancy at nearly 80 years, we've dumped her into quite a committment not to mention it's up to us how she lives it. What control!
In a kingdom, subjects have to be subjugated, there's work involved and it's also implied they were free at one point. My daughter was born into slavery and complete depedence on me, her life leader. Think about what that means.
Now realize that anyone can take this role. Anyone, including the unqualified.
Kings, CEOs and artists can blame their subjects, stockholders and fans for failure. A parent is absolutely responsible and has power beyond imagination, beyond philosophy, beyond science. Religion comes close but even Jesus Christ did not have this much power. His power was a fix to a calamity sustained and perpetuated by us parents. Without us, there would have been no need for the sacrifice. We summoned the Son of God.
Only God has as much power as a parent does and even He only created two people then handed us the torch to create many more. We are God. This is the way it has always been in nature. It has gone on millions of years and an inifinte number of times, but that awesome power of being a parent isn't diminished in the least. It may not be recognized or executed properly, but the power is still there.
Monday, April 04, 2005
A Father/Daughter Moment In The Morning
A Father/Daughter Moment In The Morning
I got up this morning to get ready for work. Baby Lock was in bed with us on the other side of Mrs. Lock and using her food source as a pillow. STOP! Think about that. I'll wait... Looks like they both fell asleep during one of the night feedings.
Baby needed changed so I took her into the nursery to get a fresh diaper on her. She felt me pick her up and started to wiggle and fuss a little. She shakes her head back and forth, throws her hands up into her face, sticks her tongue out. She even turns a little red and makes these duck noises to let anyone know who might be listening that she's uncomfortable. She's still asleep though, the reactions are only semi-conscious.
I got her outfit off of her, had the new diaper out ready to swap it for the full one but Baby finally pulled herself out of her slumber. I halted what I was doing to try and catch her attention as she woke up. I wanted to be the first thing she saw this morning (although technically the first thing she probably saw this morning was a nipple).
So those baby eyes opened, looked around the room for a second to take in her surroundings and eventually locked onto my face. A face that was directly in front of hers about 12 inches away. She looked at me. Her expression went to confusion - that furrowed brow, narrowing of the eyes as one focuses on its target looking for some sort of recognition and importance to whatever one is staring at. She held that expression for a full five seconds (a long time to stare at someone in silence), and I saw it happen. She finally recognized her target as her father (or at least some guy who hangs around her a lot) and that complete facial expression changed to utter glee - big smile, eyes smiling, mouth open wide in a mock-laughter (nothing pearly to flash as far as teeth but those gums deliver the message). She's happy to see me. I'm happy to see her. I make some faces to get her to giggle then I finish the job I brought her in here to do.
That brief interaction set the tone for my whole day.
Market:
DJI 10460, NASDAQ 1999, SP5 1181
#1 Movie at the box office:
Sin City
Last movie I saw at the theater:
Sin City
Last movie(s) I saw not at the theater:
Cat In The Hat
Employee Of The Month
Freddy vs. Jason
Books I'm currently reading:
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
Don't Panic by Neil Gaiman
Albums (cd/mp3) I'm listening to:
Eagles Greatest Hits I & II
Moby - Hotel
Video games I'm playing:
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Doom 3 for Xbox
I got up this morning to get ready for work. Baby Lock was in bed with us on the other side of Mrs. Lock and using her food source as a pillow. STOP! Think about that. I'll wait... Looks like they both fell asleep during one of the night feedings.
Baby needed changed so I took her into the nursery to get a fresh diaper on her. She felt me pick her up and started to wiggle and fuss a little. She shakes her head back and forth, throws her hands up into her face, sticks her tongue out. She even turns a little red and makes these duck noises to let anyone know who might be listening that she's uncomfortable. She's still asleep though, the reactions are only semi-conscious.
I got her outfit off of her, had the new diaper out ready to swap it for the full one but Baby finally pulled herself out of her slumber. I halted what I was doing to try and catch her attention as she woke up. I wanted to be the first thing she saw this morning (although technically the first thing she probably saw this morning was a nipple).
So those baby eyes opened, looked around the room for a second to take in her surroundings and eventually locked onto my face. A face that was directly in front of hers about 12 inches away. She looked at me. Her expression went to confusion - that furrowed brow, narrowing of the eyes as one focuses on its target looking for some sort of recognition and importance to whatever one is staring at. She held that expression for a full five seconds (a long time to stare at someone in silence), and I saw it happen. She finally recognized her target as her father (or at least some guy who hangs around her a lot) and that complete facial expression changed to utter glee - big smile, eyes smiling, mouth open wide in a mock-laughter (nothing pearly to flash as far as teeth but those gums deliver the message). She's happy to see me. I'm happy to see her. I make some faces to get her to giggle then I finish the job I brought her in here to do.
That brief interaction set the tone for my whole day.
Market:
DJI 10460, NASDAQ 1999, SP5 1181
#1 Movie at the box office:
Sin City
Last movie I saw at the theater:
Sin City
Last movie(s) I saw not at the theater:
Cat In The Hat
Employee Of The Month
Freddy vs. Jason
Books I'm currently reading:
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
Don't Panic by Neil Gaiman
Albums (cd/mp3) I'm listening to:
Eagles Greatest Hits I & II
Moby - Hotel
Video games I'm playing:
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Doom 3 for Xbox
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Labels... bah
Labels... bah
Anyone that still thinks the media is liberal isn't seeing the stories on this right to die case in Florida with headlines reading the symptoms of starvation, dehydration, covering every quote from the family who is saying anything trying to save her. These are stories that seem to go to bat to try and save this woman.
The media is pro-people. Any agenda that happens to conflict with a party's idea automatically makes the media completely opposite of the political party. People forget the media have been around longer than any political party so any ideology that is in conflict with it is the party's own doing.
The irony out of all of this is it should be the conservatives who should leave this woman in Florida alone. After all it is a Republican agenda to keep the government out of the people's lives. But they have a problem with someone wanting to end their own life. They have a problem with a woman's decision on abortion, they want to enforce family values that parents need to be favoring and they want to control the content of tv, movies, radio and video games. They also want constitutional amendments defining a religious ritual - all from the same party that supposedly wants less government. The Republican party is popular and the country is seemingly conservative because people quickly identify and support a party of common sense. The question is, whose common sense are we supporting?
That's why the political parties are hypocritical and no one should affiliate themselves with one that conflicts with its own agenda. Support the representative that best represents your ideas, not the party he or she is affiliated with because it could just be a cover. Our President is not a bad representative because he's a Republican, he's a bad representative because he's a bad Republican.
Anyone that still thinks the media is liberal isn't seeing the stories on this right to die case in Florida with headlines reading the symptoms of starvation, dehydration, covering every quote from the family who is saying anything trying to save her. These are stories that seem to go to bat to try and save this woman.
The media is pro-people. Any agenda that happens to conflict with a party's idea automatically makes the media completely opposite of the political party. People forget the media have been around longer than any political party so any ideology that is in conflict with it is the party's own doing.
The irony out of all of this is it should be the conservatives who should leave this woman in Florida alone. After all it is a Republican agenda to keep the government out of the people's lives. But they have a problem with someone wanting to end their own life. They have a problem with a woman's decision on abortion, they want to enforce family values that parents need to be favoring and they want to control the content of tv, movies, radio and video games. They also want constitutional amendments defining a religious ritual - all from the same party that supposedly wants less government. The Republican party is popular and the country is seemingly conservative because people quickly identify and support a party of common sense. The question is, whose common sense are we supporting?
That's why the political parties are hypocritical and no one should affiliate themselves with one that conflicts with its own agenda. Support the representative that best represents your ideas, not the party he or she is affiliated with because it could just be a cover. Our President is not a bad representative because he's a Republican, he's a bad representative because he's a bad Republican.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Weekend At Lockies
Weekend At Lockies
Since the birth of my kid and a lot going on at work including doubling the staff on site, my posts have suffered. It's ironic that with the increased activity in my life that would give me something to talk about, I just don't have the time to talk about it.
I had a good weekend. Friday night we stayed in. I watched some of the NCAA tournament going on. Mrs. Lock had a friend over and the two of them put together a delicious dinner for us.
Saturday we made our rounds around the city as we visited Grandma Lock for her birthday. We gave her a framed picture of her holding her great granddaughter, Baby Lock. We visited for a few hours, went home for a breather only to head back out and visit friends of ours, some of the last remaining souls on the planet who haven't seen Baby Lock in person.
Tonight we spent most of the day at home, sitting on the couch and watching anything that was on the newly installed High Definition channels. I'm starting to see repeats already but the picture is so beautiful to look at, we are suckers for any programming as long as it looks good. Oh, Cannibal Goldfish? Turn it up. Latino Lady Secret Garden Tips? Ok mute that but don't look away.
Mrs. Lock's father and step mother visited us in the morning just to say hi and see their granddaughter.
After they left, it was back on the couch for six hours of HD TV.
We realized we needed some supplies before the week started, I need milk for my breakfast and Mrs. Lock wanted eggs for next weekend's Easter egg hunt. We packed up Baby Lock, headed out to Costco, the hippest place where we like to shop, only to find out they close early on Sunday's. No problem. We'll go tomorrow, but we were hungry.
Mrs. Lock suggested one of her favorites - P.F. Chang's so we stopped in for dinner. I had the chicken chow mein, Mrs. Lock had orange chicken and Baby Lock had a nap. During dinner, the water boy was gracious enough to come around and refill Mrs. Lock's Sprite and disappeared in a flash, off to ruin other drinks. Once we realized what happened, we flagged down our waiter to get her a fresh and not-so-watery refill. We got our usual fortune cookies. I couldn't get the paper out of mine. I'm used to breaking the cookie in half and pulling the strip out like a ticker tape but this time, it ripped off the end. I cracked the cookie open a bit more to grab hold of a new corner and promptly ripped that off as well. I smashed the cookie to bits, pulled the rest of the fortune out and pieced it together. I felt like a FBI lab tech piecing together parts of a ransom note. The fortune seemed appropriate in another example of the day's irony.
"You will put together something successful."
After dinner, we wanted to stop by Babies 'R Us to pick up a jump swing for the kid. Remembering the Sabbath to keep it holy means all the shops close early and the 'R was no exception. Turned away again by an unwilling vendor, we headed home not accomplishing anything we set out to do.
Back on the couch to watch HD for about an hour. We gave the kid a bath and since she turned my jeans into a spit swamp, I took a shower myself. Now she's swinging her way into oblivion giving me the opportunity to write that for my neglected blog.
Peace.
Since the birth of my kid and a lot going on at work including doubling the staff on site, my posts have suffered. It's ironic that with the increased activity in my life that would give me something to talk about, I just don't have the time to talk about it.
I had a good weekend. Friday night we stayed in. I watched some of the NCAA tournament going on. Mrs. Lock had a friend over and the two of them put together a delicious dinner for us.
Saturday we made our rounds around the city as we visited Grandma Lock for her birthday. We gave her a framed picture of her holding her great granddaughter, Baby Lock. We visited for a few hours, went home for a breather only to head back out and visit friends of ours, some of the last remaining souls on the planet who haven't seen Baby Lock in person.
Tonight we spent most of the day at home, sitting on the couch and watching anything that was on the newly installed High Definition channels. I'm starting to see repeats already but the picture is so beautiful to look at, we are suckers for any programming as long as it looks good. Oh, Cannibal Goldfish? Turn it up. Latino Lady Secret Garden Tips? Ok mute that but don't look away.
Mrs. Lock's father and step mother visited us in the morning just to say hi and see their granddaughter.
After they left, it was back on the couch for six hours of HD TV.
We realized we needed some supplies before the week started, I need milk for my breakfast and Mrs. Lock wanted eggs for next weekend's Easter egg hunt. We packed up Baby Lock, headed out to Costco, the hippest place where we like to shop, only to find out they close early on Sunday's. No problem. We'll go tomorrow, but we were hungry.
Mrs. Lock suggested one of her favorites - P.F. Chang's so we stopped in for dinner. I had the chicken chow mein, Mrs. Lock had orange chicken and Baby Lock had a nap. During dinner, the water boy was gracious enough to come around and refill Mrs. Lock's Sprite and disappeared in a flash, off to ruin other drinks. Once we realized what happened, we flagged down our waiter to get her a fresh and not-so-watery refill. We got our usual fortune cookies. I couldn't get the paper out of mine. I'm used to breaking the cookie in half and pulling the strip out like a ticker tape but this time, it ripped off the end. I cracked the cookie open a bit more to grab hold of a new corner and promptly ripped that off as well. I smashed the cookie to bits, pulled the rest of the fortune out and pieced it together. I felt like a FBI lab tech piecing together parts of a ransom note. The fortune seemed appropriate in another example of the day's irony.
"You will put together something successful."
After dinner, we wanted to stop by Babies 'R Us to pick up a jump swing for the kid. Remembering the Sabbath to keep it holy means all the shops close early and the 'R was no exception. Turned away again by an unwilling vendor, we headed home not accomplishing anything we set out to do.
Back on the couch to watch HD for about an hour. We gave the kid a bath and since she turned my jeans into a spit swamp, I took a shower myself. Now she's swinging her way into oblivion giving me the opportunity to write that for my neglected blog.
Peace.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
St. Patty Cake
I could've had Raisin Bran this morning but I chose Lucky Charms instead to get in the spirit.
I'm hoping to provide you this year the same theme I had last year at this time. It'll be even more special this year since Mrs. Lock's cupboard is stocked with Baby Lock natural formula.
I'm hoping to provide you this year the same theme I had last year at this time. It'll be even more special this year since Mrs. Lock's cupboard is stocked with Baby Lock natural formula.
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