Droppin' Some Deem

Potty Mouth

RKDeem — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:29:34 GMT

Dalia's testing my patience with the whole potty training. If I ask her where she should pee or poop, she answers, "In the potty". Unfortunately, her knowledge of the theory does not come into actual practice and she instead goes in her diaper and then hides from me because she knows I will be annoyed. It is funny how things are so relative, I am not terribly annoyed that I have to change a diaper, I am annoyed because she knows she should go in the toilet, but chooses not to. When I confront her on this issue, she yells at me, "I AM NOT NAUGHTY!" Dalia, you are not naughty, but please work with me on the bathroom thing.

Winston poses his own challenges, his new thing is that he refuses to flush the toilet after pooping, he wants to share his good work with the rest of us...I had a roommate in college who did the same thing, hopefully we can break this habit for Winston before he gets to college.

On a separate topic, I was thinking athletes who always point to the sky when they get a single in baseball, or get a first down in football, to thank the God up above. I think it is BS that athletes are the only people who get to do this, I think parents or corporate folk should get in on this action. When I am presenting to our sales force, after showing a really cool graph on powerpoint, I will do the point into the sky, maybe blow a kiss in that direction too. Or, when Dalia has a dirty diaper at Target and I put a new diaper on her on the changing table, I will point up to the sky and then do the Sign of the Cross on myself.

Going Out With A Bang

RKDeem — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:57:05 GMT

"Among her last wishes was to have her cremated ashes mixed with fireworks and then skyrocketed over the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border this Independence Day."

The above line is from an article I read today about a 31 year old woman who was a quadriplegic. Well, she wasn't a quadriplegic when she was 25, she broke her neck in a terrible swimming pool accident. Goodness gracious, I sometimes wish I was the one in a million person who won the lottery, but sometimes I need to remember that it is just as good not to be the one in a million person who breaks their neck in a swimming pool. She starved herself to death.

Things are off to a good start in 2012. We've had a spare TV sitting on the floor in my office, not doing anything for the year we've lived in our home. I mounted it to the wall and hooked up a DVD player to it and it looks good. I forget to check if it was level until I hung it up and it miraculously ended up being level! We also put a futon in the room, it is the cool place to hang out now. Jaclyn caulked the upstairs bath tub. I called an electrician, but he's in the hospital, he hopes to recover in a week or two, so we'll wait to he recuperates before we begin that work. And finally, what I am most excited for is we're having our chimney sweeped! We've lived in the home for over a year and haven't used the fireplace once because we're afraid it might be clogged up with dead animals or whatever a chimner sweeper sweeps. Keep your fingers crossed that he doesn't point out some structural deficiency that results in an enormous estimate for repair.

Jaclyn made me go through all my "important files" that I had in our filing cabinet from two years ago. All my files that were important two years ago were not important today, I threw them all away.

Work is going great, really thankful to work at a good company.

Can't wait to see some fireworks over the Delaware River this summer, I'll be thankful for what I have.

Dolls & Action Figures

RKDeem — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:30:29 GMT

The old catch 22 of blogging has hit me recently, "When you have nothing going on, you have plenty of time to blog, but nothing to write about, when you have tons going on and lots to write about, you have no time to blog." I have been in the latter category recently, with a trip out to Garden Grove, California and cramming in lots of time with my family when I'm home from work.

Garden Grove, California is very close to Anaheim and Disney Land is in Anaheim. Disney Land is in a really strange area because Walt Disney didn't buy up all the surrounding property and it ended up being developed by lots of Mexican run establishments like the Zapaterias, Dentistos, and Bodegas. It's a lot like Bustleton Pike or Street Road with a giant amusement park in the middle of it. I've heard that this pissed off Walt Disney and when was looking for places to build Disney World, he ended up created tons of fake companies to buy up land in Orlando, so he could get it cheap and not alert other retailers to drive up the land value. I ended up being very busy with the photoshoot and lots of meetings on East Coast time, so I was getting up at 4AM each day to be on conference calls and WebExs, which left me too tired to do much in the evenings. One night we did sneak out to a place called Maki Yaki (sushi) and we ordered up tons of food. I think there were 15 of us and each of ordered appetizers and two or three rolls. The table was completely covered with food and the restaurant owner was thrilled with his good fortune. He came over with bottles of this apple flavored liquor and told us it was on the house. He also told us that he'd bang a gong if we all did a shot of it at once. It was irresistable, we all filled little shot glasses of the apple concoction and poured it down the hatch...GONG!!!! The next day I was sick, I think I ate a bad sea scallop. I ordered a sea scallop roll, had one, and couldn't eat anymore for the night, immediate negative reaction. I'd go back though, it was a good time.

Whenever I am in hotels, I am always excited to see what is on HBO, I ended up watching a movie called Fast Food Nation, which I'm guessing was produced solely make someone sick as hell after seeing a McDonalds. The final 5 minutes of the movie show how a live cow enters a slaughterhouse, gets shot in the head with the crazy device from "No Country For Old Men", then gets lifted upside down, sliced open, etc. etc. etc. It goes on for 5 minutes and it would make a normal person sick or possibly a vegetarian. For me, it just confirmed I like meat, as sick as it is, I love meat. I watched a documentary about how hot dogs were made on PBS once, that nearly made me throw up, but I think I ate a hot dog a day later just to get over it.

Dalia's hair is finally growing out, she is really quite fond of her hair and idolizes Rapunzel. Dalia asked that I play dolls with her on Sunday, we played for about an hour. All our dolls ended up going to a big ball and danced. Could women and men be wired more differently, I don't think so. I mean women just love the things men dislike, dancing, getting dressed up, and formal events. If men had dolls, they'd sit on couches in sweat pants, with pizza and video games. I guess men have action figures, so they kick ass. We either like to lounge or kick ass.

I did a Spring music upload and grabbed a bunch of music I've been wanting for months from iTunes, including Beethoven's ninth symphony (ode to joy). I listed to ode to joy while assembling a futon, very triumphant...kick ass!

Where I Thought They'd Be

RKDeem — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:52:59 GMT

Had a great weekend filled with local adventures. On Saturday, I parked the car in an apartment complex near the woods behind Font Hill. I told the kids that they had to navigate through the woods to find the enchanted castle where mom & dad got married. They got pretty into it and Winston even asked a couple of strangers to point him in the direction of the castle. Winston led us through the woods and Dalia was more content taking in the scenery. When Winston saw the castle, he ran out of the woods and saw two kids having a sword fight with another kid filming it. Winston thought it was awesome and ran full speed towards it, I screamed for him to stop and he finally slowed down, but I'm pretty sure we ruined the take.

After walking around Font Hill for awhile and reminiscing about our wedding, we headed back into the woods to get back to our car. Jaclyn saw a weird cave-like opening under a big piece of concrete and we thought it would be inhabited by an animal. Winston got closer, poked his head inside, and said it was awesome and wanted to get in. Before he could, Jaclyn took a look and saw several blankets and empty soda cans. Jac grabbed Winston's wrist and yanked him back to the trail and encouuraged us to move on. I guess Winston thought it was an awesome fort, not the home of someone homeless.

On Sunday, we walked from Bulls Island park across the walking bridge and headed to the Lumberville General Store for some hot chocolate. I told the kids a couple times to hold off on taking a sip, but they each took a big gulp as we sat on a bench outside and in unison spit it out crying of burned mouths. Afterwards, we drove through Frenchtown and it looked wonderful, a complete recovery. I'm dying to eat at The National again. I pulled the car into the apartment complex where we used to live, it really brings back so many memories, that's where life began...literally.

I have to make a quick trip to Garden Grove, California. I have a rental car and think I might make a side trip out there since I'll have a little time Wednesday afternoon. Just need to figure out what would be a good use of that time. Otherwise, things are calming down, I feel like life is entering a new phase, like things are where I thought they'd be, where I used to be trying to get to where I am now.

San Diego Freaks

RKDeem — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:40:17 GMT

As my meeting was wrapping up in San Diego, I discreetly pulled out my cell phone and sent a text to San Diego Dave suggesting we catch the Broncos vs. Patriots game. Dave's a great friend and grabbed a cab to meet me at the hotel. It seemed late to me, but it was only 5PM Pacific time. The game quickly became out of hand and we popped in and out of bars trying to find something more entertaining. We found a place called Maloney's, they asked for my ID and then ran it through a machine that took a picture of it. Dave asked why they took pictures of our picture IDs and the bouncer calmly explained it was a precaution in the event we went crazy and busted up the place, he could give the picture of our picture ID to authorities to track us down. A bar with this kind of protocol in place must get crazy, it seemed encouraging.

I had to pee, so I stopped at the restroom before getting to the main bar area. Dave proceeded ahead and secured a spot at the bar for us to sit. The bar had about 250 open bar stools, I can't even remember anyone in the entire place other than the bartender and an old guy with what appeared to be a tattoo on his face.  I emerged from the bathroom to find Dave sitting next to the old man with the tattooed face.

Dave and I caught up and made conversation with the tattooed gentleman, but he was really difficult to understand, I think the only thing he said that was remotely coherent was that he was an "angel who came down to planet earth every hundred years to make love to a woman."  I asked his name and I think he said "Armageddon".

We spent at least an hour in the place before we had enough of Armageddon, we found a dance club that was vacant. It still looked cool, so I made Dave take a picture of me dancing.  Dave was an excellent guide of the super cool gaslamp district and it was a good thing we weren't aiming to fit in, as most of the fellow patrons were really cool people who weren't enthusiastic of our presence.  They just aren't cut out for me and Dave.

Guns vs Literature

RKDeem — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:05:39 GMT

Isn't it amazing that books have been banned, but guns are something
everyone is entitled to?

Fancy Cheese

RKDeem — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:19:42 GMT

I've been traveling a lot again and works just plain ol' busy. A couple regulatory advisors from KC were in town yesterday and they wanted to do dinner, with all my obligations, I declined. Later in the day, they modified their proposal limited to a brief happy hour as Chickie & Pete's...that I could do, I'll stop in and see the crew from KC, shake some hands and be out of there by 6PM, Jac will never even know I was there.

At around 5:30PM, I'm drinking a Miller Lite and picking at some Crab Fries when my cell rings. Uh oh! It's Jaclyn. I pick up the phone and answer, "Hello?" Meanwhile, the bar sounds of shifting chairs, AC/DC, and hollering waitresses reverberates in the background. A long silent pause on the other end with the sounds of Chickie & Pete's bouncing around echoing back from my phone into my ear, reassuring me that my location has been exposed. She asks, "Where are you?"

I had a feeling she would ask that.

Ultimately, it was communicated that RKDeem could have played this differently to achieve greater matrimonial harmony, but it was forgiven and I was given a list of grocery items to secure before I returned home. At Wegman's, I decided to make things up to my wonderful wife. We have a cold bottle of champagne in the fridge, I can just pick up some fancy cheese and crackers and she'll return to a state of bliss. I bypass the old standby cheeses and head for the counter with the built in cheese case with the extra special cheeses, I see a package that looks extra special, buy it, and look forward to winning over my lady's affection.

When I return home with the requested groceries, I manage to keep the cheese a surprise as we try to get the kids to sleep. As Jac reads one last story to Dalia, I sneak downstairs and begin putting my little champagne and cheese tray together. As I open the fancy cheese, it fills the kitchen up with a vulgar potent smell, something like a dead Walleye on the banks of Lake Nockamixon, or a Taco Bell bathroom, my mind races to quickly reconcile the vile smell with the premium price, concluded that it needs to air out.

Jac comes downstairs into the kitchen, momentarily gags and asks what smells like stinky feet? I show her the fancy cheese (my token of amor) and explain it needs to air out a bit, but it will be excellent (it's fancy). Dalia wanders downstairs, curious of the commotion, and I offer her a whiff, she starts to repetitively dry heave, over and over. Finally Jaclyn walks our girl out of the kitchen and gives her water to clear the olfactories.

In the spirit of romance, I suggested we watch Moneyball, I had read the book and really loved it (who wouldn't love a movie about baseball statistics while eating fancy cheese?). She agreed and we snuggled on the couch, drinking champagne, nibbling on cheese (she stuck with cheddar), and finally relaxed with each other.

What A Year - 2011 Edition

RKDeem — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:16:42 GMT

The annual tradition continues, RKDeem & the Report live another year.

Yogurt isn’t too bad, especially for breakfast.
Champagne’s better when it’s cheap, you can enjoy it with vigor. Buckingham Vineyard makes a good bottle for $12.
The best people at work are just decisive and take the responsibility that comes with it.
If you’re ever in Florida, get on an airboat, defines adventure.
Take care and extra precaution with large fireworks.
You’re probably better off avoiding Colfax Avenue in Denver.
I finished with the Bulldogs this year, it was a heck of a run.
ATVs are freaking awesome.
Winston is starting to ask some tough questions, “why’s the Earth round?” and “how do the stars stay up in the sky?” He asked me if he’s going to die someday too, he’s a deep kid.
One of my favorite meals this year was a hot dog joint in Kitty Hawk, NC called Captain Franks. If you ever find yourself in Kitty Hawk, don’t miss it.
I was playing Call of Duty on the Xbox at 6:30AM one day and Winston came down in his pajamas, he asked if he could have the iPad to play Angry Birds. I nearly blurted out that it was way too early to be playing video games, but bit my tongue when I remembered what I was doing.
I have geeked out on cheese this year, my two favorites are Jarlsberg Swiss Lite and Beemsters Farmer’s Choice. I’ll also take any ol’ goat cheese with honey or dried cranberries on it.
Thank God our house made it through the year unscathed, the neighbors to our left got flooded badly and the neighbor to the right had a tree nearly smash their house (saved by a basketball hoop). Thank you, thank you, thank you for sparing us this year!
Glad I won that award at work this year, I’ve eased up on myself a tiny bit. I used to work like crazy to finish everything everyday, I’d also to respond to everything at anytime, just to prove I was on top of it all. I am still on top of it all, but now am more willing to prioritize, which is important with me taking on many more responsibilities.
Read a lot of books about Wall Street this year, I’d love for my kids to make millions of dollars, but would be disappointed if they ended up in that industry. Disgraceful way to make a living.
I always said I’d be a fair and low key father with my kids, I would just work hard to rationalize with them. I am sorry to report that rationalization does not work with children, fear and loud noises seem to work best.

Previous Editions:

2007

http://rkdeemreport.com/2007/12/18/what-a-year.aspx

2008

http://www.rkdeemreport.com/2008/12/22/what-a-year-2008-edition.aspx

2009

http://rkdeemreport.com/2009/12/30/what-a-year--2009-edition.aspx

2010

http://rkdeemreport.com/2011/01/03/rkdeems-year-in-review.aspx

Big Jamaica Fishing Trip - 19 hour edition

RKDeem — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 13:18:52 GMT

My father and I boarded the 125 foot Big Jamaica fishing vessel around 11:30PM. As we crossed the threshold, the captain handed us our passes to bunks within the cabin. It was going to be a long ride that night and a little shut eye would be crucial. I set my gear down under a table, passed through a door with a porthole, and descended down a stairwell into a dim room containing a couple dozen bunk beds. Dad and I secured bottom bunks and a couple minutes later I heard an asian man complaining that only top bunks remained available, he was scared he might fall out, and with the wind howling like it was, I think his concern was legitimate. The mate advised him to speak with the captain, ultimately, he came back and slept on the top bunk. The engine was roaring, there's no way you could have been heard if you needed to speak in that room, the engine emitted a consistent loud grinding booming hum. Dad handed me yellow ear plugs and a sleeping bag, within minutes, I was sound asleep.

I woke up 6 hours later, the lights were now on and the big boat rolled back and forth as heaving waves passed under it. I made quick assessments, am I sick, is dad next to me, are we at the fishing spot...the answer to all of these questions was no. I folded up my sleeping bag, walked up the stairs, out the door with the porthole and saw dozens of fishermen sleeping on the cabin floor, on benches, sleeping in the sitting position, sleeping in the standing position, their heads rolling with the boat, it all looked horribly uncomfortable, like fisherman zombies that needed to be put out of their misery, I was so thankful for the bunks we had.  Still no sight of dad, the sky outside was black, but my watch said it was six in the morning.

I ventured outside and found dad in gear suitable for an Alaskan King Crab expedition, which was perfectly suitable for a late December day 60 miles out into the Atlantic with strong winds. He was rigging up the rods and preparing our spot on the boat for a long day of fishing. In every direction, just ocean, as the sun came up, you really came to appreciate it's ability to give you perspective on where and when you are.  As the sun breached the horizon, the captain sounded the horn and that meant it was time to fish.

I pushed the button on my reel, letting the line release, a twenty ounce sinker pulled the rig down into the ocean, quickly making my baited clam disappear.  The line raced out of my reel, my thumb resting gently on the spool to keep it from tangling up, still deeper, and deeper, and finally, after about 12 seconds of furious descent, the sinker crashed into the shipwreck 300 feet below. Immediately, my rig gets hammered and I use both hands to jerk the rod up swiftly, driving the hook into the upper lip of a 3 pound sea bass.  I do not reel to play the fish, I mechanically crank with no pause with a single minded purpose of raising him from the deep. As the sea bass emerges from the water, I give one more thrust of the rod to yank it from the water, 10 feet up from the water and over the boat's railing, landing with a thud onto the deck. The sea bass' stomach is popping out of his mouth, he has a bad case of the bends (Did you know people got the bends while digging out the foundation of the Brooklyn Bridge, that's how the bends was discovered and first diagnosed, ultimately, digging for the foundation on the Manhattan side stopping before it reached bedrock because people were dying too frequently, fortunately there has been no consequence thus far). This activity of dropping down the bait, immediately catching a fish, and purposely reeling up the fish was repeated non-stop for the next 9 hours.

My body got beat up pretty good during the exercise (but I fared better than the 25 sea bass with the stomachs popping out of their mouths!), I think the most abuse occurred as waves knocked me into the railing.  I caught some other random fish on occasion, such as porgies the size of dinner plates and a Conger Eel!

The fellow fishermen were far from a homogenous group, resembling a United Nations session held in arctic conditions, I would say that no race held a majority, but the group was so like minded and driven by a similar purpose, it made for decent camaraderie. No one ended up on this trip by accident, 19 hours in the Atlantic in late December is not for amateurs, even I, who has fished my entire life, felt like an imposter among them.

The horn sounded 3 times, it meant it was time to go home. I shedded several layers of clothing, changed shoes, and headed back down to my bunk, I fell asleep again and awoke 5 hours later as pushed into the inlet and were minutes away from the dock. By this time it felt like I was on the boat for 3 days, with two satisfying rests in the bunk. It was dark again and without my watch, it would have been difficult to make heads or tails of what time or day it was.

So, would I do it again? Yes, but I'd probably want to change it up, perhaps drive up north for cod, or venture out for tuna. But, I wouldn't mind taking some time before that next trip, those 19 hours left me plenty satisfied for now.

Favorite Pics of 2011

RKDeem — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:47:05 GMT

Here are my favorite pics from 2011. The first is Winston sprinting by the Washington Monument (before the earthquake cracked it!)

Jac and I in Colorado, having an incredible time ATVing up some mountains

Here's Winston making his angry face, it is very apparent when he's disgruntled

Here's Dalia and I on a fishing trip to Lake Nockamixon

Here's an image that sums up how things have changed in my life with the introduction of kids

Here's the magnificent Jockey's Ridge

Again, Lake Nockamixon as a backdrop for me and my beautiful wife

Hurricane Irene gave us a good scare, here's the road in front of our home, didn't make into our house. Our neighbors weren't so lucky

Dalia with an enormous soda at Dorney Park

Winston and I on a crabbing trip

The kids and I at Bushkill Falls

Check out the bump on Winston's head. That is from him diving inside the log flume into the front area where you put your legs, seconds before impact with the basin.

This girl is totally unique and I hope she never loses it!

Lots of good times this year, we're a lucky family that stuffs a ton into every month, week, day, and minute. It leaves tired, but thankful and content. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Music

RKDeem — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:36:32 GMT

Today's my final day at work and then I'm off for 12 days. Work has been painfully slow with most people already on vacation, I reached the end of the internet by Googling "Do Sumo Wrestlers Have Hot Wives?"

It was announced that my work's office is making a pretty significant move, adding 30 miles each way to my commute. Adding to the misery is that the miles are straight through areas filled with heavy traffic, my work is trying to ease the transition and is taking suggestions to lessen the burden. I said more money would be helpful.

Our Christmas festivities officially begin tomorrow. I'm taking my posse (Dalia, Jac, and Win) to Philadelphia where we'll take in the model train show at the Reading Terminal Market, the light show in Macy's, the huge video show in the Comcast building, and then we'll retire to the Sofitel to do some swimming and perhaps watch some Christmas specials. Friday we have a Christmas party at the Fellman's. Saturday a party at the Laurie & Lev's. Sunday is Christmas with a big dinner at my parent's house.

I heard that Santa may be bringing me a wall mounted TV since our last one broke. I heard Winston whisper to Dalia that he was going to buy one for me, but he didn't know how to drive a car.

I can't wait to watch the kids on Christmas morning, I think I might make them eat breakfast before they can open a present.

Starting to get sick of the B 101 Christmas music, I would love to hear Sufjan Stevens play some Christmas music...wow, I just Googled it and he has tons of Christmas music. I'm hitting up iTunes tonight!

Memory

RKDeem — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:51:20 GMT

Winston did something last night that made me very happy, I asked him where we watched the fireworks this summer and he replied, "On the bridge." For the first 5 years, we've poured a lot of activities, places, tastes, and sounds into the kids and it is exciting to know that they're now going to remember some of them. We were watching a show called Redneck Rocket Scientists (or something along those lines) and it is all about a rocket scientist from Alabama who makes crazy stuff from junk yards and spare parts. In this episode they made homemade fireworks and rockets, Jaclyn was visibly uncomfortable as she could see the wheels turning in the heads of Winston and I. I have agreed to make a rocket with Winston. Perhaps in the January time frame, updates to come.

I had the opportunity to take in a Flyers game on Saturday. Flyers won 5-3.. Hockey is an incredible game to watch in person, the sounds are brilliant and the pace of the game is frenetic, despite all that, I still would take sitting in a baseball game on a summer day anytime.

We've been invited to several New Years parties, but I talked to Jac and convinced her to see if we can get the kids to stay up late and try to do a kid appropriate celebration at our house. I think they'll probably fall asleep around 10:30PM, but we'll see.

This is my last full work week of the year, then I work 2 days next week and have the last week completely off. It has been a good year for me and look forward to looking back on 2011 in my annual year in review post.

Mystic, CT

RKDeem — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:23:28 GMT

Had dinner in Mystic, CT last night and really loved the town. You're surrounded by water, I had to make a K turn at one point and didn't realize I was backing into a boat launch at high tide and I'm sure my rear tires kissed the water. The town was all lit up with festive lights and they have a drawbridge that brings the town together as a centerpiece. The shops, restaurants, and bars all have a laid back but formal feel, it isn't a total parrothead retreat like the Florida Keys, but far from stuffy. They have a ton of musuems and from what people tell me, a top tier aquarium, I think I'll be heading back there this summer with my family, especially it is only 4 hours away.

I was driving home from Mystic this morning and getting gas in New Jersey, they fill up your tank for you. I make this mistake often, instead of pushing the gas cap lever forward to open the gas cap, I pull it back and it pops my trunk. This mistake always provokes the same reaction, the gas attendant looks at me with disgust and says "Not the trunk! The gas cap!"

I think I've nearly wrapped up my holiday shopping, I still need something for Dalia, but all she really wants to do is run around acting like a monster with rabies, monsters with rabies are very difficult to shop for.

Winston has become addicted to the ipad. When I wake up in the morning he's waiting for me to open my eyes so he can ask "Can I play Angry Birds on the iPad?"

That's the briefing for now, but you should check out Mystic, CT, you won't be disappointed.

Perspective

RKDeem — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:46:35 GMT

A couple quotes that I remember hearing this year that made an impression on me:

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."
"Inspect what you expect."
"Do right & fear no man."

Dalia got shoved off a chair this weekend by Winston and whacked her head on the fireplace. The health care professional evaluated her and said she probably suffered a concussion. She's bounced back very quickly and remembers everything from that day, evidenced by her telling me that her mother bought me a football earlier that morning, but I can't have it until Christmas.

Winston, Dalia, and I set up Christmas lights & decorations around the house. The kids were pretty proud of the lights, the 3 of us walked to the end of the driveway as it darkness crept in and took in the Christmas display. Winston walks around the house singing "O' Christmas Tree" and Dalia is constantly rearranging the ornaments.

I went to a baseball card show on Sunday and picked up a Tommy Lasorda rookie card from 1954 and a Yogi Berra card from 1956. For a baseball card to enter my collection, it must fit one of two criteria:
1. Has to have some connection to Philadelphia (Tommy Lasorda was born in Norristown, PA)
2. Has to be a somewhat notable character beyond being a good player (had a weird mustache, memorable quotes, broadcaster, coach, or perhaps a TV/movie actor)

You need to have a good criteria, otherwise, you could just have a crazy huge collection and never feel like it is complete. I am open to recommendations for interesting cards to add to my collection.

Wreck-A-Thon

RKDeem — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:00:45 GMT

On Black Friday, my father and I headed to the Jamaica fishing boat in Brielle, New Jersey. He told me to set my alarm for 2AM, but of course, I was awoken at 1:30AM by him tromping around downstairs preparing for the adventure. It didn't matter much to me, what's the difference between 1:30AM and 2AM...it was going to be a long day. We loaded the truck, dressed in our gear, and left at 2AM on the nose. I think we ended up at the boat around 3:30AM, which my father concluded was "probably a little too early" since the boat was scheduled to depart at 5AM. We loaded our stuff on the boat and picked out what turned out to be a great spot for the both of us and watching our fellow fishermen sleepwalk into the boat, pursuing a blurry dream of big fish and adventure.

An old man traveling solo was having difficulty removing a patch for seasickness from its wrapper and was unsuccessfully soliciting help from the crew.. I offered him a hand and quickly removed the patch for him, but then he needed help applying it to him. At this moment I gave pause and asked where the patch needed to go. Fortunately, he just wanted it behind his old ear and I pressed it on like I was touching a hot stove and received a warm "thank you" from the man. One thing I've learned in my life that is that it's great to be a nice guy, but sometimes it can really backfire on you. Like giving a homeless guy some change and him calling you an asshole for not giving him at least a dollar. I was fearful that this guy might need more assistance throughout the trip and I'd become his go to guy, these fears were unwarranted though and he kept to the back corner of the boat content to fish alone.

At 4:45AM the captain began roll call (By the way, why is roll call called roll call? According to phrases.org, its origin is from the long scripts that were rolled up on a long sheet of paper, like a scroll...our captain did not have our names on a long rolled up scroll, he did more of a clipboard call). My father ordered us a bunk for the trip out, we went down stairs into the belly of the boat and picked out a clean and basic bunks and closed our eyes. The engines were so loud it was impossible to be bothered by anyone who may have been snoring or talking, I was too tired to be bothered by the engines, I was thankful for the bunk. It seemed like I was asleep for ten minutes, but who knows how long it was, but I awoke to the sound of engines slowing down and lights coming on, I popped up and headed for the deck.

You grabbed your rod, hooked up pieces of clam for bait, and drop it down 100 feet into a perilous ship wreck. You can feel the line bouncing in and out of debris, fish darting out from the wreck to tap your bait, and as the boat rolled over the waves, your rod yanked the heavy weight from the bottom causing your rod to bend as the weight was lifted off the bottom. As your line drifting in and out of tangled ship debris, you'd feel short taps on your line, the first one would be real quick, like a fish pinching your bait and immediately letting go, the second tap was two quick pinches and then release, you waited for the fish to get greedy and grab onto the bait, put their weight into it, at that point you would violently jerk your rod up and try to slam that hook deep into the fish's mouth. My average rate of successfully hooking a fish was worse than Ryan Howard's batting average in the playoffs. I was constantly ripping the rod up trying to hook onto something, the fish must have been startled to see a huge sinker and clam fly 2 or 3 feet up of the bottom after they took a nibble.

The whole day we were bumping our lines into fish and ended up catching at least a couple dozen. The fish were mostly cod, ling, sea bass, and dogfish (sand sharks). This made 14 hours on the boat pass in an instant, it was a lot of fun trying to keep pace with my father and talk a little trash when I'd catch something a little bigger. Ultimately, he caught the biggest fish between the two of us, a fat slimey ling that had definitely been living the good life at the ocean's bottom.

I consider myself a fairly capable fisherman, but was very appreciative of the crew/mates on the boat, my father as well. Without their help, it definitely would have been frustrating at some points when my line got snagged, a new rig was required, or a hook was far inside a fish's mouth that had vicious looking teeth. The weather was beautiful, it was my favorite Black Friday so far.

Raymond Roussel - Shades of Winston

RKDeem — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:29:49 GMT

In the latest Harpers Magazine, they review the writings of Raymond Roussel.. Roussel died somewhat anonymously in 1933 and from what I can tell, his writing is difficult to digest. While I couldn't enjoy his writing, I loved a letter he wrote to his idol's (writer Pierre Loti) secretary:

"What I would like to know is if Monsieur Pierre Loti, towards the age of nineteen or twenty, when he began to write and discovered that he was endowed with genius, if he did not experience, during a short period of several months, a sensation of universal radiant glory...It would have been purely interior sensation and one doubtless followed by a terrible disappointment when, on the publication of his first writings, the public did not immediately realize that he had been a great poet."

This quote reminds me quite a bit of Winston who is always telling me, "Watch and learn my friend!" or "Prepare for the world's greatest (fill in the blank [train, car, monster truck, etc.]) show!" Winston has unbridled enthusiasm for his activities which he always deems spectacular...and they are. I hope he never worries about his audience and just keeps building and inventing, because the audience isn't creating anything.

Rankings

RKDeem — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:56:50 GMT

Well, my crazy year of traveling is complete and I wanted to rank the top ten places I've been in 2011:

10. Dallas, Texas - This place has promise, but you really need to have a car to get around. I think I like Texans, they speak in opinions but most often are correct.
9. Houston, Texas - I really only remember two things about this place, an enormous Gallery Mall that had an ice rink inside and a strange bar called Big Woodrow's. Big Woodrow's was one of my favorite experiences all year, crawfish was sold by the pound, they put a ziploc bag of ice inside our pitcher of beer to keep it cool, and we also sampled quite a bit of alligator there too, that was a good spot.
8. Miami, Florida - This place is growing on me, I figured out why I don't like it that much, it's sexy without substance.
7. Charlotte, North Carolina - I could live here, it's a small town, a college town, a wealthy town, a rural town, and it's not overly southern.
6. Orlando, Florida - There's only one reason Orlando made the list....airboat ride. If I grew up in Florida, I would captain airboats and charter fishing boats, I know it.
5. Atlanta, Georgia - There's always something to do here and Buckhead is a great place to be if you're not paying. One of those places that is smart enough to incorporate all of its flavors and Atlanta has a lot of them.
4. Chicago, Illinois - I went to Chicago 3 times this year and still haven't had the "Chicago is the greatest city" experience, but it is pretty good.. I need a local to show me the ropes sometime. I did take in a Cubs day game which was on my bucket list, but I'll be honest, watching the Phillies play at Citizens Bank Park is a better experience. The foot long hot dog at Wrigley Park is absolutely the best hot dog I've ever had in my life, can't imagine anything better.
3. Denver, Colorado - I went to Denver 3 times this year too and I like it more every time. I love the first steps out of the airport and inhaling that air, it is pure. Jac and I had a good trip to Beaver Creek deep in the mountains, was terrified by a homeless person on Colfax Avenue, tasted their local brews, ate a gin berry, was nearly hit by their electric bus on the 16th street mall, and have walked all the way across the city. It must be the air, the city makes me feel great.
2. San Diego, California - Beautiful weather, beautiful people, beautiful town. Best of everything and nothing else. While Miami tries to impress, San Diego impresses without trying. It is casually superior, just can't help but being perfect.
1. San Francisco, California - You can sit down in a Starbucks and see 100 people walk by your window and not one will be remotely similar. Same goes for the streets, restaurants, bars, shops, and landmarks. Golden Gate Bridge, Haight Ashbury, North Shore, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Chinatown, and the list could go on forever, it is a strange and wonderful place.

I still love my Florida Keys and New Orleans, but San Fransisco has earned it's way into the top 3.

Updates

RKDeem — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:01:06 GMT

Celebrated Dalia's 3rd birthday a couple nights early because I have to travel this weekend to Boston. Can't think of anything more precious than Winston giving Dalia a big kiss on the cheek and wishing her a happy birthday, she opened her present from Winston and gushed over it, then returned a big kiss on the cheek for Winston. I've seen those two battle it out and really get into some brawls, maybe deep down they really like each other!

I have traded in a bunch of old video games for a nice pair of headphones so I can play my games late at night without waking anyone. Jaclyn is confident that they have raised my level of geekdom to an all-time high.

I downloaded a bunch of Tosh.0 TV shows onto my iPad for long flights, only problem is that the shows are really inappropriate. One of my last flights had me seated next to a board member of a college and I'm pretty sure she thought I was appalling for watching it. I didn't realize how messed up some of the web videos are on that show, I wonder how much more weird and disgusting things will get as our culture advances, like there once was a generation of people who thought Elvis was obscene, what would they think about the weird stuff on YouTube. I now will watch only if seated next to a young guy.

I think Boston is my last trip of the year! Thank God, it has been a long freaking year with too much travel.

Outer Banks Vacation

RKDeem — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:43:08 GMT

Winston snapped this photo with our camera. It is a picture of the beach right outside the hotel we stayed at on our vacation. Early in the morning and late at night, I was often fishing midway down the pier. I assumed the end of the pier would be the best spot to fish, but I was most productive fishing just a couple yards beyond where the waves broke.

Dalia was well prepared for the beach and packed her butterfly shades. I've never met such a character.

Here's a pic of Jockey's Ridge State Park. This place is basically a vast sandscape with enormous dunes. In August, I am sure this place is awful to visit, but we actually spent a couple of amazing hours trudging through the sand and over the dunes. At one point, thousands of little black birds flew by us and you just felt really far away from everything, which is a sensation I most enjoy.

Dalia mistakenly thought it was a topless beach. We were flying the kite seen above. At one point, Dalia dropped the kite and I had to run about a quarter of a mile to catch up with it.

The view of the pier at night from our hotel room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk. From the pier, I caught Bluefish, Speckled Trout, Croaker, and Spot. Typically just dropping bait to the bottom and waiting for the fish to tap it, not sophisticated in the least, which is how I fish best! One night I was determined to catch something huge, I hooked up a big piece of bait, walked to the end of the pier and casted it as far into the ocean as I could. I waited under a full moon with a soft breeze for about 2 hours, didn't get a single bite and enjoyed every second of it.

Winston enjoying the Wright Brothers Park & Memorial. The hill in the background is where they perfected their gliders and wings that would later become critical for their airplanes. Un-Fun Fact, the Wright Brothers actually came up with most of their ideas and plans in Dayton, Ohio, Kitty Hawk just happened to be a sandy windy vacation spot where they tested out their creations from Ohio.

The Wright Brothers Memorial is a cheap place to visit, $4 per adult and well worth the price of admission. Even just to walk the grounds, you can really still taste the sense of adventure of those crazy brothers soaring off those sand dunes, crashing, repairing, and trying over and over again until they got it right.

My posse fell asleep on me during a night fishing excursion. Jaclyn picked them both up and carried them back to the hotel at the same time. This makes Jaclyn one of the strongest females I know and makes me a pretty lame husband.

An older picture of the kids sleeping in our bed. When you wake up and see this sleeping next to you...you can be pretty certain you got a crappy nights rest. The kids are marvelous though, wide eyed, filled with energy and adventure, we are lucky parents.

Percentage Points

RKDeem — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:42:13 GMT

Life's been pretty good lately. You won't hear any complaining from me. I have been thinking about my life in terms of percentages lately, it helps keep me focused on things that are constructive...constructive is definitely not the right word, let's just say it puts things in perspective.

I do not like the fact that someday I'll die, I even thought it was somewhat unfair to bring kids into a world that they'll someday have to die too, but that is sort of a depressing perspective. The percentage way of looking at things is regardless of how long you live, you lived 100%. If you lived 30 years, 5 years, 100 years, it doesn't matter, your life equals one unit, 100 percent. If you have 100 percentage points to use between birth and death and the thing that really matters is how you use each one of those points and it doesn't make much sense to spend a lot of your percentage points worrying about dying. If you sleep 8 hours a day, you waste 30% points there too. I've tried to get by with much less sleep, but that doesn't work out too well.

I have been trying to decrease some of my percentage points from work and move them into relaxing, family, and adventure. I'm also trying to squeeze some points into the "take better care of myself" area. I turn 33 on Friday, which puts me roughly 32 years away from retirement, I guess that's another half full statement. I think I've been more reflective lately because I'm really seeing my kid's personalities take shape and it is a pretty powerful thing, like a thumb print, there's just no changing it (not that I'd want to, I just expected both kids to be like an exact combination of Jac and I).

Jac, Win, Dalia, and I are all heading to the Outer Banks next week for a vacation. I cannot wait to roam around on vacant beaches and turn the kids loose for hours. Being near water, Jac and I have decided that the kids will be wearing life vests all the time.

My good friend Andy and I were talking about how wonderful the Phillies have been the past couple years and he asked me, "Do you sit your kids down and make them watch the games and tell them that they are witnessing the best baseball team we've ever had?" The funny thing is, the thought has definitely crossed my mind. I told him that my kids couple care less about sports, playing sports, or watching sports on TV. It is sort of dissappointing, but it would be also be weird if a kid looked forward to laying on a couch for an entire Sunday to watch football. I think I'm very lucky that my children's percentage points are completely dedicated to adventure, exploratation, learning, and building. Maybe someday sports will be important, but they've got bigger fish to fry.