For those of you who may have missed it at the Moblah’g, check this out.

No…he still won’t pet a dog.  But he will allow a six foot python around his neck.  Love that boy.

-Sting

Something about having a notebook with me where ever I go encourages me to write.  Although I still wish I were a pen and paper guy; my brother keeps a journal with him wherever he goes so he can jot down ideas and thoughts immediately.  I guess it shows the 10 year disparity between us.  I do remember the thrill of the open, blank page too, but my tenure with such an environment was shorter lived and thus my transition to typing everything was much more rapid.  

Even in the dawn of the digital revolution, writing on word processors was more engaging than most contemporary computer programs.  All you had was the cursor and maybe a menu.  Nothing to distract you; nothing to lead your writing down the wrong angle.  It’s what I dislike most about Microsoft Word.  They seem to think you want 9,000 options when really, all you want to do is make something bold, or change your font.  

Writing with the pen is an art.  I should put more energy into it.

Spent most of the morning cleaning up the house with the family’s help.  Too much was neglected yesterday; Wednesdays are generally nasty.  The wife is at work all day.  Waffles came to the rescue though.  Waffles make everything better.

We did manage to get Sumner’s hair cut though.  When the time came for Sumner to jump in the chair, the young lady called out “Summer”, as happens more often than not.  The wife and I both knew this was a possibility when we named him, but I didn’t realize how annoying it would be.  This, coming from the person who was called “Ryan” or “David” or some other combination his whole life, but never “RyanDavid”.  SaraJane won’t fare much better, I’m afraid, even with the lack of a space betwixt her pronouns.  What have I done?

There’s much for us to look forward to in the coming weeks, as we get to travel to Utah as a family to see my niece’s baptism in early May.  I haven’t been in Utah in spring time in years, so it will be nice to go back.  I called Snowbird today to make reservations like I do every year, but received word that Summer packages won’t go into affect until a week after we leave.  Sigh.  There’s always next year!

No word yet on when the volunteer work at the hospital begins; I was hoping for a call this week.  With Friday on the horizon, I’m leaning heavily toward next week.

The boy just came upstairs; he seems a bit restless.  I’m going to do the daddy thing for a little while.  Thanks again for reading!

I’ve always known that Sumner likes salty foods.  As soon as he was young enough to reach the salt shakers at restaurants, he has tried his hardest to put sodium on everything he eats*.

Yesterday evening, I set myself to task with the weekly laundry duties, while putting SaraJane down for a nap and turning a movie on for Sumner.  It’s acceptable to me that Sumner can choose a snack for himself from the shelf he can reach, usually a granola bar or some fruit snacks.  Instead of one of these more sensible choices, Sumner decided to take it upon himself to scramble up the rows of shelves to find an entire bag of pretzels, one of his favorites.  I have nothing against them, however; Sumner has no portion controls skills yet, especially when tuning out to a movie.  So, unbeknownst to me, Sumner whiled away the time snacking on the whole bag.

After the movie was done, he ran upstairs to greet me and see if I needed any help  with the laundry duties (good kid, afterall).  I said no, but that we should go back downstairs to clean up.  It was then that I found the empty bag, and more purposeful to the story, it was then that Sumner decided to vomit abundantly.

It should be noted that Sumner is a good sport, and realized the error of his ways even while throwing up the consequence of his snacking indulgence.  He looked up at me and said, quite matter-of-factly, “I had too much salt, I think”.  I agreed with him, and continued on cleaning up the mess he made.

Much later that evening, while discussing the event with the wife, Sumner gave me further revelation into his snacktime adventures.  Seems that Sumner didn’t stop at the end of the bag, oh no.  He decided that waste not, want not, and ate every grain of salt left over in the bag.  The boy.loves.salt.

If possible, next time you have an empty bag of pretzels, check and see how much salt is left in the bottom.  Then picture a five year old boy eating all of it.  Then imagine my gratitude that Sumner did end up puking it all out.   

A pretty grand adventure in the world of parenting, indeed.  

*No, we don’t let him.  Though he still tries to angle himself toward the salt shakers at every restaurant we go to!

Today was a long day for some reason. Not really something I can pinpoint at the moment, as the standout emotion I am feeling right now is a calming one.  I am fiddling around on my laptop while Sumner swims in our neighborhood pool.  Very satisfying.  I still have a lot to learn on Mac OS X, so much in fact that I really don’t care that my computer isn’t currently connected to the Internet.  I don’t think I’ve felt that way since I was using Windows 3.1.

So again, I’m just fiddling around while trying my hardest not to break anything super important.  Oh yes, and I’m also keeping a close eye on the lad, though I’m very impressed with his swimming skills.  He’s trying to follow a much larger teenager around the pool right now while he swims laps.  I think this bothers the teenager.  So much annoys them.

Now he’s attempting to make conversation with him.  I’ve counseled Sumner to keep to himself and mind his manners, and the teenager made no protest.  I’m going to assume that Sumner is, in fact, annoying him.  I think I’ll let him be for now.  Pretty good entertainment.

Earlier today, I had an orientation meeting at the local hospital that I will be volunteering at.  I arrived at what I thought was late, but was surprised when I found myself the first in the lobby.  As each minute rolled by, more and more volunteers sauntered in the door.  There was a total of eight people in my very diverse group.  Living next to Leisure World, I expected a group comprised mostly of older people (or citizens, as the 34 year retired LAPD volunteer called them), but instead saw a complete range of individuals from all backgrounds.  Some, like me, had decided to pursue a different career and were hoping that serving at the hospital would give them further direction and light.  Others were graduated from their undergraduate program and wanted to learn specialties such as Social Work.  One older couple wanted nothing more than to share the joy they had found with their 3 1/2 year old Golden Retriever with others in the hospital.  One young woman was there to simply deliver cookies.  A great group of people that genuinely wanted nothing more than to serve their fellow man.

I learned near the end of the orientation that we would already be receiving our ID badges, pictures and all.  My most previous experience with ID badges was not such a pleasant one, with a scowl on my face and grown out fuzz atop my balding head.  I began to regret not taking the extra time to shave my head that morning, when all of a sudden the power went out in the building and the reserve generator kicked in.  The volunteer coordinator gave us a sigh and admitted that there would be no ID badges today, as all non-essential devices would be powered down for the time being.  Small miracles.

Now, the hour grows late and the sun has set beyond the point of lighting my keyboard for efficient use.  There’s always more to come from me, nevermind you that.  Thanks for listening to my tales this evening.  Till next time!

I really wanted to post something April Fools style today, but the uncanny number of Web sites and blogs pulling pranks was staggering enough to turn me off of it pretty quickly.  You never know what to believe on a day like this.  It’s like one early poster said, “April Fools + The Internet = Crap”.

So, instead of a hastily concocted lie about pregnancy or moving or some other nonsense, I thought I’d post a few pictures of the new yard for your enjoyment!

The entire project flowed smooth as silk; I can’t really think of anything major that stopped the show.  It’s nice to have a place to relax outside now, the kids seem to have a good time and Sumner likes having another place to go other than out in front.  We’ve already watched two movies outside.  We rented “Bolt” the other night.  It wasn’t that bad, really.  The voice acting by Travolta (Bolt) was really well done, too.  It sounds like he had fun during the production.  I can’t imagine many other “jobs” more entertaining than voice-over work.

So other than what you see in the pictures, we’re still waiting on and budgeting for a new grill, a fire pit (or a chimney stove?  not sure now) and further plants and trees.  Speaking of the budget, we blew through money so fast with this endeavor that we haven’t gone grocery shopping, even though we’re way, way past due for a trip.  I mean, we’re getting creative with our meals.  Today, I made rice.  I’ve never actually made rice for myself.

So the wife and I made a list of the things we’ll need when we go this Friday, and the length is staggering.  Seeing as how the local grocers are throwing all sorts of sales, right now seems the perfect time to go.  Maybe it’ll only cost us a billion and a half dollars, instead of a quadrillion.  We’ll see.

In other news, you may have noticed my Facebook status the other day, when I mentioned that I am starting to volunteer at Banner Gateway hospital.  Seeing how I have a bit of free time now and again, and how I’d like to change career paths, the hospital seemed like a good choice.  It’s local, maybe only a five minute drive from my house, and I’ve wanted to look into becoming a nurse.  Yes, I know. You can call me a “murse”, if this all pans out.

So I went to get a TB test (looks good so far), and  I’ll go back again in a week to get a second screening.  You know, just in case the first test is wrong.  The CDC recommends it.  How often is the first test wrong?  I guess enough times to warrant this double-test, neh?  After the background check comes back, I’ll be cleared to go and working in the ICU.  The Volunteer Coordinator gave me the gist of the responsibilities, and it sounds awesome.  I think it’ll give me a good idea whether I want to do nursing or not.

Time to go, for now.  I’ve reached 500 words, which is more than most wish to read during the time set aside for blog-hopping.  Thanks for the visit, and come back as you wish.

I realized today that I hadn’t published any of our pictures from our awesome trip to Disneyland on March the 13th.  Here are a few of them!

Cue the drama, folks.  The names were dropped into a hat (dish, actually), and the wife pulled the names, one by one.

Congratulations to Eric M. and Chelsea L.!  The gift cards will be e-mailed to you electronically within the week.

So, that was pretty fun, neh?  I’ll do this again in a few months.  What type of prizes would you like to see?

Hello, what’s this?  A new blog?

I had a heck of a time getting this new site ready for launch.  I thought that it’d be nice and easy…install a new blogging software on my Web site, take the main page down for a while, and voila…but no!  I had 42 headaches to contend with.  But now I can take a deep breath, relax, and begin posting the daily rants and ramblings of my mind.  And I hope you’ll find some entertainment value in reading what I have to say.

Because if you’re new here, you may notice that I’ve been writing posts for a while.  Seven years, to be exact.  Well before such publishing tools like Blogger, Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter became insanely popular, I was trying my hardest to get content online.  I’ve met some success throughout the years, but have been reduced to smithereens over and over again because of my uncanny ability to wax lazily into oblivion.  Why do I feel like this time will be any different?  I suppose I never said that.  I’m just crossing my fingers this time!

So, to those of you who haven’t stopped by here before, welcome.  What do I do with this site?  The blog page, which you find yourself at currently, is the main portion of the site.  This is where I spend the most time pruning and cultivating the inner workings of my mind.  I try hard to stay relevant, sticking to topics that matter to people that read my work.  Religion, politics, and similar subjects are not necessarily taboo, but rarely discussed here.  But again, trying to stay relevant, they may pop up more as time goes along.  And I must admit, long blocks of text aren’t my thing.  Normally, there will be pictures to go along with whatever story I have here. 

Other sections of the site include the Moblah’g, which is powered solely by my iPhone.  There’s rarely anything said here of real substance; but there you’ll find some of the best personal pictures around.  There’s just something about having a camera that can post anything your eye sees, whenever the mood strikes you. 

You’ll also find examples of photography, but I must warn you…this is not my strong area.  In recent years, I’ve noticed the literal explosion of Web sites dedicated to close friends who have discovered the flair for digital photography.  Many of my friends and acquaintances are exceptional at their art, and they nobly make it known with remarkable finesse.  I make no such statement with my photography.  Indeed, as is mentioned on the front page of Outsidetheworld, these pictures are simply what I saw when I was lucky enough to have a camera by my side.  Hopefully I’ll get a bit better with time. 

So, that’s it for now.  You’ll notice that I have a bit of a promotion going on right now, so if you’ll be kind and leave a comment at the end of this post, you’ll be entered to win one of two $10.00 Amazon.com gift certificates.  To be sure I know who you are, please leave your name.  Any other type of personally identifiable information isn’t necessary.  Anyone who leaves a comment will have their name put into a hat for the drawing.   Comment as much as you’d like, but you’ll only get one entry.  Sorry!  I have to maintain some semblance of order here.  The contest will run until Saturday night at midnight.  The winners will be announced by Monday.  I’ll run campaigns like this every so often to show my efforts toward maintaining a respectable and consistent blog, so keep your eye on the site and bookmark me, neh?  I promise to make it worth your while!

Geez.  I’ve spent way too much time in front of the computer today.  Time to go play some basketball.  Sorry for the heavy tone of this entry!  I promise to be much more candid in the weeks to come.  This really doesn’t even sound like me.  I suppose I’m trying to put my best foot forward, as I only have this chance to make a good impression.  See you next time!

I ordered myself a new Dell Mini 9 “Netbook” today with the money I had been saving from my birthday.  They had a great deal going at only $199, though I did choose a few small upgrades.

Ship date isn’t until mid-April, so I’m not holding my breath for a quick arrival.  But when it does get here, I’m removing Linux and installing OS X.  It should be a fun adventure.