the gangs of the sesame street labyrinth

Last weekend we drove to Minneapolis with the family to see the fabulous Sesame Street show "Elmo grows up". Everything was going great until we left the show. It was about 60 below zero outside so we decided to walk back to the hotel via the complex labyrinth called the skyway system. Here is the map that we used to navigate the system. As you can see it's a little hard to follow.


Now the hotel was actually only about 3 blocks away, but somehow we ended up walking about 35 miles. I actually started seeing mirages at about mile 29. But we were determined to make it. When we were finally within sight of the hotel we ran into a vicious and crazy Minneapolis gang. Somehow I was able to snap a picture before they mugged us. You can see the rage in their eyes. Needless to say we were terrified!
Luckily they didn't get my camera. But they made fun of our shoes and they took all of my bubble gum and Xavier's toys. Then they ran off screaming something about payback for Mr. Hoooper. I don't even know a Mr. Hooper except the one on Sesame Street. I'm starting to think this gang was from Sesame Street, but I can't say for sure. The police are still looking for them. Have you seen them?

Besides getting lost and the mugging we had a fabulous time. My mom babysat for us Saturday night so Anna and I went out for sushi and cocktails.

Boy those kid free nights sure are sweet. It's so rare that we get a chance to have an adult night out that I always feel like a giddy teenager when we do. It's like that feeling of freedom you had when you were 16 and your mom let you take the car out for the first night after getting your license. I love my kids to death, but everyone needs a break once in a while.

Here's some more highlights from the trip...

Me and my girl







Cotton Candy and hot dogs!

My little hippie type ballerina.







Peace!

winter in northern minnesota

this is what winter looks like from northern minnesota. the first picture was taken just outside of aurora, mn at the beautiful lake kumpala; where we celebrated christmas.

the second two were taken in duluth, mn after a good snow.

superman is living in Duluth, MN... at our house!

recently Superman arrived at our house. He just kind of dropped in one day and plopped down on the couch. If you don't believe me I have some pictures of him as proof. Although I always thought he was a little bigger than he is.


It's been pretty nice having him around. He's really good at opening those really tight jars and fighting any bad guys that might show up at the house. When he's not fighting bad guys he is mostly just lounging around the house watching movies, playing with our toys, and eating all of our food. Sometimes he is surprisingly selfish. In the movies he is always portrayed as such a nice guy, but you'd be surprised at how he doesn't like to share toys with our daughter Aubrey or anyone else for that matter. And superman never seems to want to sleep by himself. It's really kind of cutting in on my chances for intimacy. But I guess it's worth it to have superman around.

real estate agents. what a racket!

Ok, sorry if I offend any of you fine... smiley... shiny real estate folks out there, but I've got to point out that you guys... well... you suck. I really don't understand what an agent can do for you besides open locked doors and follow you around making you feel uncomfortable. I shouldn't be so quick to judge I suppose, I've only bought one house and I couldn't afford much. But looking back on the miserable experience of buying my house I think I'd do things a little different.

The first thing I'd do different ...
is NOT HIRE AN AGENT. We let go the first agent we had because she didn't seem to know anything about what she was talking about. Then we hired another one that seemed really knowledgable and qualified. Well at least he told us how knowledgable he was, and how he was a super duper agent from the planet krypton and that he was the highest raking agent in the solar system, or something like that. He also had a big red "S" on his shirt which stood for "super" and he had a really bright white smile. I thought we hit the agent jackpot. But alas, what a terrible mess. After dragging our two kids to look at about 3000 houses that weren't even close to what we were looking for, we finally found one that was acceptable. Or maybe we just got tired of looking at houses and we would've bid on anything that didn't have walls falling down or standing next to a toxic waste dump. That was his method, to break us down into submission.

Looking back on the experience..
Our agent did not look out for our interests at all during the closing. I'm pretty sure the only thing he was concerned about was making a quick sale. I foolishly agreed with him on a few points that he minimized that turned out to be a big ordeal. I won't ramble too much about it, but in the end we bought a house that the sellers didn't want to vacate in any hurry. My agent convinced me to agree to let them move out after the close since they needed the down payment for their new house. We were told a bunch of lies, then we had to argue with the sellers to get them to leave. then when they finally left a few days later, they left us with a mountain of garbage that we had to get rid of and a lot of damage that we hadn't seen on the walkthru (since all their crap was still in here). I'm still trying to get rid of all the junk. Thanks a lot agents. You've done a fine job. And how much commission did you get? You get paid either way don't ya, and it sure is conveniently difficult to reach you since the close. bad agent! bad!

I'd sue, but I'm just not the suing type. Life goes on. Live and learn. Se le vie. ladi dadi, we likes to party. bawitdaba, da-bangy bang and all that jive.

Wait a minute, what was I talking about?
Oh yea, click the picture to see more great real estate cartoons by Eli Stein.

Peace!

dad blogs

Here is a link to some great dad blogs. Creative-type dad is my favorite.

monsters upstairs

Ever since we've moved into our new house Xavier refuses to go upstairs by himself. He insists there are monsters up there. This is a problem because our bathroom is upstairs. So this has led to frequent "accidents".

One of the hardest things there is to do in this world is try and rationalize with a 4 year old. Check out how creative-type dad deals with monsters without any exorcisms needed.

worst parent of the year awards

Sometimes you just feel like a rotten parent. Things don't always go as planned and you just hope you don't cause any permanent damage to them. But seeing this makes me feel a little better about myself. check out the "worst parent of the year awards" pics. http://damncoolpics.blogspot.com/2007/12/worst-parent-of-year-awards-2007.html

relativity of time as a father

it's so crazy how time seems to speed up every year. Einstein was quoted as saying "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity."

This can definitely be said about being a father too. Since I've had kids, time seems to be moving at full throttle. You're constantly on the move with no time to really relax and realize how much time has past. It's nice to sit back once in a while and reflect on life and slow it down a little. As a parent you really start to appreciate these rare moments. And in these moments of reflection, time tends to move even faster. How unfortunate that once you really start to live life to the fullest it passes by that much faster. Live in the present, enjoy your time on this earth. It seems to be both a gift and a tragedy all rolled into one.

If only we knew why we were here. Of course that is the big question, but too deep for this conversation. I've been reading a great book that my sister bought me for Christmas entitled A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. The author does a great job of describing complex physics and astronomy in a very romantic way that appeals to a layman like me. Whenever I read about the universe and it's creation and space/time it really starts to make me wonder about our place in the universe and how amazing our situation is and how lucky we are to be here. We seem to just be a big, unlikely, cosmic accident that was waiting to happen. "To be here now, alive in the twenty-first century and smart enough to know it, you also had to be the beneficiary of an extraordinary string of biological good fortune. Survival on earth is a surprisingly tricky business. Of the billions and billions of species of living things that have existed since the dawn of time, most-99.99%-are no longer around. Life on earth, you see, is not only brief but dismayingly tenuous. It is a curious feature of our existence that we come from a planet that is very good at promoting life but even better at extinguishing it." "Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than the earth's mountains and rivers, every one of your forebears on both sides has been attractive enought to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so. Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from life's quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result, eventually, asoundingly, and all too briefly,-in you. "

Apparently we are a miracle!

Happy Holidays! It was a good year..

I just want to thank my family and neighbors for a great holiday. We celebrated Xmas 4 different times with 4 different families. Anna and I's parents are both divorced and remarried, so the kids have 4 sets of grandparents, a kids dream at the holidays. Needless to say the kids are spoiled rotten. They get at least 2-3 times the amount of stuff I used to get as a kid. I really appreciate the fact that the kids are close with all of their grandparents and they all have a very special relationship. I posted a new photo album from the holidays at picasa and piped it into this blog, a really cool feature since blogger is now integrated with google picasa I might add.

It's been a good year for us. I bought my first house ever - which was a miserable experience - but we are finally getting settled in. Our family was also very helpful in our move and every other aspect of our lives. The kids are healthy and happy, I finally graduated college (it only took me about 13 years since high school) and Anna is finishing her senior year at UMD as a philo major. We've been lucky to live next to some great neighbors that we've actually developed a great relationship with. Xavier was so sad to move away from Superior because we had the greatest neighbors there. But now we have a new great neighbor that has been very helpful with our move and welcoming us to the neighborhood. Thanks again!

I think this is something you just don't see in today's America anymore. When I was a kid I remember everyone in the 'hood knowing everyone else in the 'hood. We were always looking out for each other and each other's kids. That's a rarity in today's world. At least judging from my experience it has been. Everyone seems to be wrapped up in their self-absorbed cyber world. (I'm even guilty of that at times. I am a techno geek, but I try not to let it consume my life.)

I'm torn between a love for technology and a sadness about it at the same time. It seems to bring people around the world closer together, but it brings communities further apart. People stay indoors now trying to connect with the rest of the world instead of going outside and playing street hockey or football with their neighbors. It's transforming into a more digital society. There are many philosophical theories that say technology is at the root of all our problems. The constant struggle to automate things has actually created a much more complex, impersonal world to live in. Perhaps I'll expand on this in another post.

Happy Holidays.