Your Happy Read of the Day

Props to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Seattle Sounders FC (professional soccer team, for the non-locals) and everyone involved.  Here's the link to the story: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011740342_electronboy30m.html

Local boy with cancer turns into a superhero for a day


Erik Martin, who is living with liver cancer, has always wanted to be a superhero. On Thursday, the regional chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted him that wish with an elaborate event that involved hundreds of volunteers in Bellevue and Seattle.

By Katherine Long

Thursday was shaping up to be just another school day for 13-year-old Erik Martin, but then something extraordinary happened: Spider-Man called.

Spider-Man happens to be one of the few people who knows that Erik, too, has a secret identity — he's Electron Boy, a superhero who fights the powers of evil with light.

And Spider-Man needed Erik's help.

Erik, who is living with liver cancer, has always wanted to be a superhero. On Thursday, the regional chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted him that wish with an elaborate event that involved hundreds of volunteers in Bellevue and Seattle.

The local chapter, which serves four states, grants more than 300 wishes every year to children with life-threatening medical conditions, but only a few of them involve so many participants.

Pulling off a wish like this one required a big story, and a lot of heart. And so, with a note of panic in his voice, Spider-Man explained the dilemma: "Dr. Dark" and "Blackout Boy" had imprisoned the Seattle Sounders in a locker room at Qwest Field. Only Electron Boy could free them.

Erik got into his red-and-blue superhero costume, and called on the powers of Moonshine Maid, who owns a DeLorean sports car. For good measure, more than 20 motorcycle officers from the Bellevue Police Department and King County and Snohomish sheriff's offices escorted Electron Boy to Seattle.

"They shut down 405 — they shut down I-90," marveled Moonshine Maid, aka Misty Peterson. "I thought it would just be me, in the car."

At Qwest Field, Electron Boy was directed by frantic fans to the Sounders locker room, where the entire team was shouting for help behind jammed doors. With a little help from Lightning Lad, the alter ego of local actor Rob Burgess, Erik opened the door with his lightning rod. The Sounders cheered.

"Thank you, Electron Boy," said defender Taylor Graham.
"You saved us!" exclaimed forward Nate Jaqua.

"Good job, big man," said defender Tyrone Marshall. And forward Steve Zakuani mutely bowed his thanks.

Electron Boy seemed a little dazed by his powers. Out on Qwest Field, the Sounders gave Erik a hero's congratulations, posed for pictures and gave him a jersey and autographed ball.

Everyone was startled when, overhead, the Jumbotron crackled to life.

"Electron Boy, I am Dr. Dark and this is Blackout Boy," sneered an evil voice, as the villain — Edgar Hansen, and his sidekick Jake Anderson, both of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" — taunted the young superhero. "We are here to take over Seattle and make it dark!"

On the Jumbotron, a video showed a Puget Sound Electric employee Jim Hutchinson trapped in the top of his bucket truck in front of PSE's Bellevue headquarters. Only Electron Boy could save him.

As Electron Boy's motorcade — the DeLorean, the 25 motorcycle officers and a white limo — rolled through downtown Bellevue, pedestrians stopped in their tracks and pulled out their cameras to take pictures. Clearly, somebody famous was in town. But who could it be?

"It's Electron Boy," Erik's older sister, Charlotte Foote, shouted out the window of the limousine.

More than 250 PSE employees gathered outside the company's headquarters and cheered as Electron Boy freed the trapped worker. "It was so loud, people in office buildings were looking out the window," said Make-A-Wish communications director Jeannette Tarcha.
But Dr. Dark and Blackout Boy were still at large. Electron Boy got a tip that the evil duo were at the Space Needle, where they had disabled the elevator and trapped people on the observation deck. Racing back to Seattle, Electron Boy stepped out of the DeLorean to a cheering crowd of dozens of admirers, and confronted his nemesis.

"How did you find us, Electron Boy?" Dr. Dark demanded.

Erik wordlessly leapt at Dr. Dark with his lightning rod, freezing the villain. Then he unlocked the elevator and freed the people trapped upstairs.
Bellevue police Officer Curtis McIvor snapped handcuffs on Dr. Dark and Blackout Boy, who couldn't resist some last words: "How can we thank you for saving our souls?"
A tiny smile played around Electron Boy's mouth. Just for good measure, he held his lightning sword to Blackout Boy's throat again. The crowd went wild. "Hip-hip, hooray!"
Seattle City Councilwoman Sally Bagshaw stepped forward with a key to the city and a proclamation that Thursday was Electron Boy Day. Afterward, Erik posed for the TV cameras, flexed his muscles and spent some time astride a Bellevue police motorcycle.

"He's over the moon," said Foote. "This is definitely beyond anything we thought it would be."
Watching her son run across the plaza in front of the Space Needle, mom Judy Martin said Erik goes to school when he's able, but is often too tired. "He hasn't had this much energy in a long time," she said. "They called it the power of the wish, and they're right."

Like any good superhero, Electron Boy kept his innermost thoughts to himself. But he did have one important thing to say:

"This is the best day of my life."


Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com

Opening Day

Better late than never.

Modeling his Mariners gear.

On the way to the ballpark.

With our friend Duncan's mom...Mrs. Andie.

With Mr. Kevin and Duncan.

Death Cab for Cutie...for my parents and my grandpa: that's a band. They're famous and from Seattle.  Apparently, the lead singer is a big M's fan.

He did much better this year. No crying during fireworks.

Watching the player intoductions.

Sitting in Mommy's seat since she was late.

With the Moose.

Dancing to Death Cab for Cutie

New item in the bedtime checklist

Yes, I know I haven't posted in forever.  I've got some pics I'll try to get up later.

But, I thought I would let you all know of a new requirement in putting Desi to bed. 

Kiss Bubba goodnight.

That's right, after hugs and kisses for Desi, he holds Bubba up to both Shaundar and me so that Bubba can also have a kiss. 

That is all.

Boys

Okay, first of all, I will fully admit that I am being "one of those dads" by posting 2 videos that are very similar to each other.  But, I honestly couldn't decide which one I liked better.  The laughing in the one with just Duncan and Desi cracks me up.  But, the other video has Desi giving Braden a hug.  Can't decide.

So...for your enjoyment: 2 videos of Desi playing in the curtains and pillows with his buds.  It's about 30 minutes long.  Actually...together, they're about 4.  But, it might feel like 30, unless one of these kids is yours.


When the boys get together from Jason Pankow on Vimeo.


When the boys get together #2 from Jason Pankow on Vimeo.

Our trip to the Oregon coast...OR...Desi is forever traumatized

A while back, we planned to take a 3 day weekend.  We booked a "beach" cabin at Rockaway Beach.  The plan was to take the kid and the dog and just hang out on the coast.

The trip was pretty "eh."  Not great, not terrible.

The cabin was just shy of a mile from the beach.  To me...Beach house means on the beach or across the street from the beach. 

The house itself was nice.  No complaints there.  Except the bed.  Both my and Shaundar's neck and back are in need of a massage.  Bed sucked.  But...there was a hot tub.  This help ease some of the morning pain. 

We spent some time at the beach, but not as much as we would have wanted.  Primarily because Desi just wasn't in to it.  It was windy and the ocean was loud.  As we approached, he kept saying, "No, no, no."  We plopped him on the ground at one point, and he just kind of stood there, staring at the water.  Shaundar hiked him closer, but misjudged an oncoming wave.  Don't worry...not misjudged as in, "Oh, no!  A giant wave came in a took our baby out to sea!"  But, misjudged as in, "Oh no...that swooped up onto our feet and, now, Desi's pants are wet and he's mad."

Here is the result of that wave:

It wasn't all bad.  It was pretty relaxing.  I had connection to NOTHING, including cell phone reception.  This was annoying, at first.  But, probably a blessing in disguise.  The hot tub was super nice.  Shaundar and I are thinking about spending next years vacation budget on one for our yard.  Although, I think the HOA might have a few things to say about that.

That's about it.  Pricey, and probably not worth what we paid, over all. But, it was good to get away. 

Have we told you we're going to Mexico in September?!  Hopefully, we won't get shot. 

Here are a few more pics from the weekend:

Hi's and Bye's

Sorry for the backlighting.  I didn't expect him to move. 


Hi/Bye from Jason Pankow on Vimeo.

Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup

I recently introduced Des to the delicacy of Grilled Cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  As evident in the photos, he likes it.

Why Daylight Savings Time can bite me

For those of you that have known me a while, you have probably heard my rant about why Daylight Savings Time sucks.  Therefore, I will save you the many reasons I usually spout on the subject.

But...I would like to add a new one.

Kids don't get it. 

Desi doesn't realize that it's actually 7:30 because it sure feels like it's really 6:30.  Therefore, he doesn't understand why we're making him go to bed.  So, he'll make a fuss in his crib for 45 minutes or so until it's now approaching 8:30 (or 7:30 by his clock) and he actually is ready to go to bed.

Likewise, in the morning, when I have to wake him up for daycare so I can go to work, he is M-A-D. 

You know the phrase, "5 more minutes?"  Well...his is a variation of that.  Only, if I were to translate, it would probably be something like, "What the hell are you doing?  Do you know what time it is?  Get out of my room and let me sleep!"

Anyway...Daylight Savings Time is stupid.  Get rid of it. 

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.