I made this

Just downloaded Windows Live Movie Maker.  I'm going to take a stab at video logs for work while I'm at the Game Developers Conference in San Fran, next week.  I wanted to play with it, first, before publishing videos online.  You get to see my first attempt.

The video is from our trip to AZ over Christmas. 


Playing with the Movie Editing tool from Jason Pankow on Vimeo.

Nothing exciting...just some random pictures

This one is called: Shaundar on Bench

Stayin' Alive

Aunt Lise and Mommy watch him run away.

Shades

This is how Daddy drinks his beer.

That last blog post...yeah, I wasn't kidding.

And, this is still going on, too.

More similarities to Daddy

Every day, Desi shows another way that he is his father's son. The latest? Desmond loves to do something that Daddy also loves to do...read on the toilet.


That's right...Desi will sit on the toilet for much longer than necessary with a book on his lap. He working on that whole potty training thing, too. But, who cares as long as he's got that classic mystery, "The Cat in the Hat" to entertain him while he waits for Captain Poopy to make an appearance.

Not right now, not right now, not right now I can't poo. I have to keep reading 'bout Thing 1 and Thing 2.

And, thus it goes, every night, some afternoons and the occasional morning. We plop Desi on his little potty seat on top of the big potty. First thing he says is, "Buh, Buh". (by the way...this sounds just like Book, without the K. Not Buh, like Buh-Bye.) We give him whatever is nearby. Sometimes a Dr. Suess novella...sometimes a Newsweek...and he flips through the pages. Sometimes he goes potty...sometimes he doesn't.

He'll get there, one day.

Thanks for the books and a Baby Video of the Day

Thanks to Grandma P. and Aunt Jennie for buying books for the little dude.

The book party went well.  It sounds like Mara sold just over $200 worth.  And that's before we submit Shaundar's wish list.  With is a full page long.  At the party, she handed me the form and said, "Add anything you want.  There's one line left."

Also...for your viewing pleasure.  I've had people tell me about this video.  I just pulled it.  It's pretty humerous.  And, I have a feeling we'll be seeing behavior very similar to this is the coming months...or hours. 

Who taught him this?

Desi has developed a new, rather rude, habit at the dinner table.  Can you tell what it is?

Buy books

Desi loves books.  If you would like to buy him some, go here: http://www.mara4usborne.com/

We're holding a book party at our next PEPS meeting.  So, the more people that buy, the bigger discounts we get.  BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Desi has a rep

For those of you that have recently seen Desmond around the house have probably met Bubba. Bubba is Desi's duck-headed washcloth (often called a "lovie"). Actually...there are four of them. One is yellow with a duck head, one is light blue with a bear head. One dark blue with a dog head. And, one is white with what I think is a bear head but it has sheep fur, so it's some kind of sheep-bear washcloth something.


By the way...Desi has named these creepy washcloths Bubba. We had nothing to do with it.

I've always meant to write a blog about how good Desmond has been about weaning himself from things. He weaned himself from nursing, weaned himself from the swaddle and the sucky, and he's even weaned himself from the bottle.

However...I think it will be another 15 years or so before he weans himself from his Bubba.

At home, if Bubba is out and in site, he will instantly point to it and say, "Bubba!" As he's getting ready for bed, "Buba!" When he's playing in the living room, "Bubba!" Basically...just about any time.

Bear-Sheep Bubba stays at daycare for him. He sleeps in Desi's cubby and comes out at needed times of day. These times are typically 8:30, 8:43, 8:55, 9:10, 9:30, 9:47...you get the picture.

Sometimes, he won't relinquish his death grip on one of the home Bubbas until I can get him his daycare Bubba in hand. Even then, it's sometimes a fight.

So...what's this rep, you ask?

This morning, as I was dropping him off at work, he was getting mad at me when I was trying to take off his coat. See...he had a cracker in one had and he wouldn't let go. I couldn't get his coat off without moving the cracker and he wasn't being cooperative. I finally got the coat off, but the cracker went with it. Desi was not happy. So (as I have been trained to do by my son) I went to the cubby and got Bear-Sheep Bubba. This calmed him down.

This was when Teddie, the teacher in the toddler room, informed me of what happens when Desi gets cranky during the day. If he starts fussing, about whatever, many of the kids will instantly start scanning the floor and saying, "Where's Bubba? Where's Bubba?" Because, clearly, even at school...the only thing that can stop the whining of my little man, is Bubba. And, everyone knows it.

I'm so proud.

I feel bad for our garbagemen

Shaundar and I are pretty good recyclers. We probably recycle 90% of our trash. Also, we have a separate container to dispose of food waste. Paper, cans, bottles and even leftovers and spoiled foods all go into recycling or food/yard waste.

So what does that leave for the garbage can, you may ask.

The answer: Poop.

Yup...Poop. Dog poop, cat poop and baby poop.

I pick the dog poop up in the yard and throw it right into the garbage can over the fence. I pick up the kitty litter, dump it into a bag which goes into the garbage can. And, of course, the poopy diapers all go in.

Therefore...other than some dirt and the occasional ziplock bag, or something...this is what welcomes the garbage man when they open my garbage can. The wonderful fresh smell of poop.

The other day, when I was throwing a bag of garbage in, I left the can open for a few seconds too long. UGH. Never again. I almost want to request a new can. Either that, or throw away some Arm & Hammer.

Some pics from the weekend

Nothin' but walking. from Jason Pankow on Vimeo.

Photography by Mason

While we were in AZ for Christmas, my cousin's kid, Mason, was playing with my camera.  Here are some of the results. 

Desi gets his cleaning genes from his mom

I didn't even acknowledge the existence of brooms until I was 35.


Brooming...or Swiping...or, something. from Jason Pankow on Vimeo.

Stupid Daycare crap

I swear...someone in the house has been sick since November.  Just when we think we're getting over something, we get nailed with something else.  Desi has had a cough forever.  Now, I'm all phlemmy and coughy, again. 

Daycare is nothing but a garden of viruses.  Any given day, when I go to pick up Des, I look around at the kids.  Every single one of them has something disgusting dripping from some oriface in their face.  Nose, eyes, ears, mouth.  It's disgusting.

Supposedly, this is supposed to strenthen Desi's immune system.  I'm not sure I buy that.  I mean, I've been through school and all the diseses that come with that.  Yet, here I am suffering from the same Daycare sludge.  I think we'll all be passing this back and forth until Desmond is out of the house.

Molly Hightower

By now, everyone has heard about the tragedy in Haiti. The earthquake that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, and counting.


Today I learned about one casualty. Molly Hightower. Molly is the niece of a friend of mine, Therese Hightower, and an old Gonzaga acquaintance, Craig Hightower. Therese and I met at Washington Mutual. We're not close, but I like to keep tabs on her. Last year, we happened to be together in San Francisco to get drunk watching the Zags lose in the NCAA tournament. Craig was a baby J (a Jesuit priest in training) while I was at Gonzaga. He is now a Campus Ministry leader at Gonzaga.

Anyway, Therese and Craig are siblings. Molly is the daughter of their brother Mark.

She died in Haiti when the building she was in collapsed. She was on the 7th floor. Miraculously, her friend, who was with her, survived.

I am very very sad for the Hightower family.

I am also sad that Molly had to leave so early in life.  But, she has left me inspired.  And, I am sure I am not the only one.  Her story is amazing.

You may wonder what she was doing in Haiti. She was working at an orphanage. Caring for children and babies that were abandoned. Often abused or neglected. She was truly doing God's work.

She kept a blog, if you're interested. http://mollyinhaiti.blogspot.com/  It's seen a ton of hits since we all learned of Molly and her fate. Take a look through it. It's great.

Few people inspire me. However, the Hightower family seems to produce many people that do. Craig, a Jesuit priest. Therese, a successful HR professional, and now Molly, a 22 year old graduate spending her post college years helping people in a 3rd world nation who can't help themselves.

Death is terrible for the living, and my heart goes out to the Hightower family.

But, while we grieve and long for the ones we lost...I have no doubt that Molly is with God, now. And, God is so so proud of her. She is at peace and she is happy.

This is a piece done by Ron and Don, a couple local radio hosts. It had me in tears, this afternoon.

More audio at MyNorthwest.com

I'll get it back...I'll get it back...I'll get it back

This is what I have to keep telling myself now that I am participating in the Dependant Care Flexible Spending Program at work.  I'll get it back.

Here's how it works.  I am allowed to set aside up to $5000 from my paycheck, tax free, to be spent on child care costs.  Pretty cool, right.  5 grand tax free!  At the end of the day, this means that we will save about $1400 in taxes.  What could be the problem?

The problem is...I don't get it back from benefits until I spend it.  Therefore...for about the next 5 months, I will be spending $1000 per month on daycare, as usual.  AND...Microsoft will be taking $416 out of my paycheck every month. 

$416.  That's a substatial amount of cash.  I just got my first paycheck with the deduction and, sure enough...$208 less.  Ouch. 

Ouch ouch ouch.

But...I'll get it back.  I'll get it back and the Feds won't get any of it!!!  I'll get it back and I'm saving $1400 by doing this.  It's like having a savings account that gives me 28% interest.  Actually...it's not like that.  It's my money, I just get to keep more of it.

To do this, however, I just need to spend the next 5 months eating Ramen and Mac and Cheese.

Babycenter's Top 100 names of 2009

http://www.babycenter.com/top-baby-names-2009?scid=momstodd_20100105:2&pe=2UvmyQf

W00T!  Desmond is not on the list!  That's 2008 and 2009 where Desmond is not one of the Top 100 names.  Mission to pick a rare, non-made-up name, accomplished!