Career Opportunities - Revisited

I have posted previously about The Boy and his professional goals. Well, that has apparently changed. Last week we used our Best Buy Reward Zone Certificates to purchase Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. The Boy has now stated that his new purpose is to become an Olympic High Jumper. He also decided that he would like to live at Disneyland. I suppose a gold medalist would have a better chance of convincing Mickey to share his digs. However, I was a bit puzzled by The Boy's next question.

"Dad, are there windows at Disneyland?"
"Yes. Why do you ask?"
"When I'm living there, I'll need to look outside to see if it's foggy or raining."

He is really thinking this through!

As an aside, if you shop at Best Buy frequently and you are not part of the Reward Zone program, you really should consider it. Unless, of course, you hate free money. Also, if you have a school-aged child, you should definitely check out Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. The Boy is learning so much about the different events and all the various countries that compete. Plus, it is actually quite physically demanding, even for a Wii game. Great for the muscles, timing and, most importantly, sapping every last bit of energy just before bed time.

Valentine's Day

I want to let all who may read this blog know that The Wife is a fantastic woman. I am exceedingly fortunate to share this life with her. You might read that and think, "What a sweet Valentine!" But, the fact of the matter is, we do not celebrate this holiday. And, I use the word holiday loosely.

In the earliest incarnation, St. Valentine's Day commemorated eleven Christian martyrs, all of whom were named Valentine, and had died for their faith. I think we have swayed a bit from that, yes?

What we presently have is a capitalist mechanism to pry open our wallets. It is quite sad really. Should we not daily go out of our way to show our spouse that we love them? I cannot imagine only having that feeling communicated to me once per year. Or vice versa. If you are reading this, I sincerely hope that is not your fate. But, make no mistake about it, there are people out there who are left in the dark 364 times annually. I can point to one of my co-workers as a prime example.

I love The Wife very much. For a great many reasons. One of which is our common outlook this topic.

Favorite Artists

You may have noticed that I mentioned music as a large component of my daily life. And, while I will inevitably tell my personal story, today I thought I would simply list the artists who I most enjoy.

AC/DC
Aerosmith
Alice in Chains
The Beatles
Big Brother and the Holding Company
The Black Crowes
Black Sabbath
Bob Dylan
Bob Marley
Cream
Dave Matthews Band
The Doors
Grateful Dead
Heart
Incubus
Jimi Hendrix
Jefferson Airplane
Judas Priest
Lacuna Coil
Led Zeppelin
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Machine Head
Mastodon
Megadeth
Metallica
Nirvana
Pantera
Pearl Jam
Pink Floyd
Queen
Rage Against The Machine
Rush
Silverchair
Soundgarden
Stone Temple Pilots
Tenacious D
Throwdown
Tool
Trivium
Van Halen
Veruca Salt
Weezer
The Who
Wings
311

Thank you iTunes for alphabetizing my list.

This list is likely not exhaustive as I am sure I have albums by great bands that I have yet to load on my PC. Anyway, if you like rock and you perhaps have not looked into some of these artists, definitely check them out.

Star Wars

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I am almost thirty years old. So, if you do the math, you can infer that I was born in 1978. Which means I grew-up with Star Wars. Which also means it is imprinted on my very being. Which, you might say, means I am a geek.

I clearly remember going to the theater in 1983 to see Return of the Jedi with my parents. At that age, I found George Lucas' galaxy to be absolutely fascinating. And, I believe it has only captivated me further as time marches on. Just ask The Wife!

Why am I telling you this? Not only do I wear my fandom proudly, but my excitement has spiked. Lucasfilm released an announcement today that Star Wars is returning to theaters with the new computer-animated Clone Wars. So, mark your calendars for Friday, August 15th. Furthermore, once we've seen the cinematic debut, we can enjoy it each week as a 30-minute program set to air on TNT.

But, the best part is, this time around, I get to share it with The Boy.

Career Opportunities

For quite some time now, The Boy has decided that when he grows up, his job will be a Major League Baseball player. This, of course, is every father's dream and I encourage him to do so. However, he has recently debated another profession ... "getting bad guys." He wonders aloud if he should have "two swords, like Leonardo or one sword, like Link." I smile from ear-to-ear knowing that he truly believes "superhero" is a legitimate line of work.

Surprise!

We are big on surprises at our house. It started out as a way to maintain our sanity. I believe The Boy was just two years old. A few months in advance, we purchased tickets to see The Wiggles live in concert. In our excitement, and ignorance, we told The Boy about what awaited him. He was ecstatic! He then proceeded to ask us each and every day, "Is today the day we go see The Wiggles?" At first it was very cute, his hopefulness renewed each morning. But, this went on for sixty days minimum!

After that event was over, we vowed to never share knowledge of such events until The Boy had a better concept of time. On one occasion, we were half way to Disneyland before he asked, "Where are we going?" It was great! No relentless questioning. He was wonderfully surprised and we were at the park having a great time merely hours later.

Back to present day, The Boy can tell and understand time now, but he enjoys surprises so much that we have continued the trend. However, it is getting more difficult as he becomes increasingly astute. Two days ago, we were fortunate enough to catch him completely off-guard.

If you have school-aged children, you may be familiar with Pokemon. The Boy is completely enthralled with it at the moment. So, when I found an adorable plush Pachirisu online, I immediately e-mailed the link to The Wife and she ordered it. When we picked up The Boy from Grandma's house, Pachirisu was sitting in his car seat. He was overjoyed! I don't think he has broken physical contact with it since.

Something The Boy occasionally does is assign a personality to a toy and then have a conversation with said toy. He speaks in his normal voice for himself and speaks in a higher-pitched voice for the toy. And the entire dialogue plays out as a singular, run-on sentence. This exercise in imagination has been especially employed with Pachirisu.

"You're coming home with me. Great! Can I play with your toys? Yes. I'm going to take you to school. Yay!"

I've discovered The Boy in various other role-play settings, such as Pachirisu sitting on the floor with The Boy standing over his toy and directing it to "use Discharge!" And, when I ask, "What are you doing, bud?" he replies as if it is completely obvious, "I'm making him stronger. He's brand new so he's only at level one."

Now, that I've thoroughly explained this would-be simple tale, the zenith of the story is ... what a spectacular feeling to give your child such a small gift and see it bring them such a large amount of happiness. This is easily the best ten dollars we have ever spent.

Exposition

Greetings!

You may be asking yourself why I am here.

My wife has a fantastic blog and, in reading it each day, I have decided to take up the hobby myself.

You may be asking yourself why I call myself "The Man."

I promise it is not conceit. That is how my wife refers to me in her blog. I find it rather flattering so I adopted it as my blogger alias. Just so you are in-the-know, she refers to our son as "The Boy," a grand tradition I will continue here, and I will hereby refer to her as "The Wife."

You may be asking yourself what is the meaning behind the phrase, "Almost 100."

The Boy is rather excited about my birthday, which is less than two months away, because I will be turning thirty. Much more excited than I am. He tells anyone who will listen, "My dad's gonna be thirty!" Anyway, one day while we were driving, the following conversation happened ...

"Dad, you're SO old."

"No, I'm not! I'm almost thirty!"

"I know. And thirty is almost one hundred!"

So, there you have it. He's pushing me into the grave already.

You may be asking yourself what kind of things I will be writing about.

I probably will not be as focused and disciplined as The Wife. Each post will simply be how I feel about my life at that particular moment. I am quite sure you will find reoccurring themes such as family, work and music. After all, that is mostly what each day consists of for me.

Enjoy!