Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Ain’t fatherhood grand?

This weekend, Amy and I went to Fredericksburg to celebrate our eighth anniversary, and Sydney went to her Memere and Papa's house. She had a great time going to a high school football game and watching her aunt Maddie in the marching band and seeing all of the friends and relatives that were in and around the house for various events. On our way back to the metroplex, I called to see how things were going and Memere handed the phone to Sydney for a few seconds. Hearing her voice made me realize how much I was missing her, and I couldn't wait to see her. Unfortunately, we weren't going to get back until late, so Sydney was spending Sunday night at Memere and Papa's.

The next morning, Amy and I were going to drive together to pick up Sydney, and then Amy was going to drop me off at my office. Several urgent pages from the office interrupted that plan, and I got dropped off before Amy picked up Sydney. I was bummed I wouldn't get to see Sydney until after work, so Amy dropped back by my office with Sydney a short while later. As I walked out of the building and down the walk to where Amy and Sydney were waiting, Sydney saw me and started running towards me and laughing gleefully. We ran to meet each other and I scooped her up and gave her hugs while she put her head on my shoulder and tried to tell me all about her weekend.

Those few minutes were so awesome I can't put it into words! It more than offset the rest of what was not a great day (as evidenced by the early pages). I wouldn't trade being Sydney's daddy for all the world!

Friday, October 6, 2006

Ridiculous legislation

While I'm in my cynical mode (see the post below about junk food in schools) let me just say that the decision by the Flower Mound town council to pass an ordinance requiring prepayment for all fuel sales is just plain silly.

What to do with snack food?

For a while now, we've been hearing about schools starting to crack down on junk food and snacks available to kids. In the (worthwhile) cause of combatting childhood obesity, many schools and their suppliers have removed soft drinks and started stocking water, unsweetened fruit juice, milk, and other healthier drinks. Now, according to a new agreement reached in New York, snacks will be banned according to several formulae based on fat and sugar content. Gone are the days of getting a Coke and a Snickers out of the vending machine for lunch.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Call me Gadget Man

For the last three years I have had a great pda/cell phone in my Treo 600. There have been several models since the 600, but mine did all I needed it to, and still does. One of the biggest updates in recent models, though, has seen the battery become a removable item that is easily replaced. Not so the 600.

Tuesday, October 3, 2006

Daddy, Jesus?

Sometimes you just can't say no...

Yesterday I took Sydney to her grandmother's house for the day. As we were getting out of the car, Sydney held up a little book (more of a booklet, really) called "The Miracles of Jesus" and asked me if she could take it with her. I said "Oh, you want to take your book about Jesus? Of course!" I showed it to her Memere (pronounced Meh-may) and explained that Sydney had wanted to bring it along. Diane (aka Memere) thought that was great, and proceeded to read it with Sydney during the day. When I arrived to pick Sydney up at the end of the day, I had her in the car and strapped in to her seat when she looked at me and said "Daddy, Jesus?"

Several possible responses flashed through my head, because I didn't want to walk all the way back down the driveway to the house and go searching for the book, wherever it might be. Despite the inconvenience, though, I did end up going back and spending a good five minutes looking around the house until we found it. I just couldn't bring myself to tell Sydney "We're leaving Jesus at Memere's today."