In closing...

I found myself watching more this year than I have in the past winter Olympics. My favorite events had to be the Snowboarding events this year, with Snowboard Cross taking the over all top position. Congrats to Seth Westcott for bringing home the Gold in that event to the USA.

I kept an eye on most of the events and found myself watching just about every night. I would turn shows off or mute the TV when news would come up telling what had happened. I did follow the over all medal counts, but had no clue as to who or what event. So off an on I would see the USA bounce from the 5th overall spot to 3rd and then the past few days into 2nd and hold on through the end of the games.

I was happy with Germany taking the top spot for overall medals, being half German, its cool to see them do well. I tend to do that in a number of areas, I like them doing well in World Cup Soccer and I always pull for the US teams. I was even happy when the recent Pope took office to find out he was from Germany.

The US did a great job in a number of events and I can only imagine how things will be in 4 years at the 2010 Winter games. I even liked most of the Ice Skating events this year. I would have liked to see more Curling and will have to watch for that in 4 years too. Seeing Apollo take gold made a perfect ending to the games for me last night and hope to see him come back for the next games.

The Art of Reading

Time and the enjoyment of reading is really all it takes for the art of reading. Sure you have to know how to read & write to start with, but I think to really read you need to make the time and enjoy reading.

Lately I've been making the time and rather enjoy the books that I've selected to read or should I say consume. I would not have called myself a heavy reader when I was younger. I went to the library and I would pick out some books to read, but as I grew older I started reading less and doing other things.

It wasn't till I started reading the Harry Potter series that I turned into a heavy reader. I found myself moving quickly through the books and wanting more. After each book I was ready for the next and eager to see what would happen. Now I'm waiting like so many other for the last book of the series to come out, but I've found that I really enjoyed reading over those past months and want to read more.

So I moved on to the Chronicles of Narnia and these stories are a lot shorter. I also wanted to read them in the order they originally were published and started with the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and wanted to read it before the recent movie came out. I have the nice hard back collection and was told to skip the Magicians Nephew, because it explains a lot of things that happen later and if I read it first, it would spoil some of the enjoyment of the other stories.

I'm taking a brake from reading the whole set at once and I let myself enjoy some other subject matter. I picked up a series by Eoin Colfer called Artemis Fowl and have really enjoyed the first three books. The first book has been described as "Die Hard with fairies" and is about a 12 year old criminal mastermind named Artemis Fowl, who forms a plot to divest the fairyfolk of their pot of gold. Set in modern times and filled with all sorts of techno gadgets and fantasy themes, the anti-hero Artemis is trying to regain the former glory days of the Fowls' family name and fortune.

Dan Brown's Angles & Demons and the Da Vinci Code has been the latest set of books for me to read. Quite a difference from the other books, I started with Angles & Demons, the first book for the Character Robert Langdon, who also appears in the Da Vinci Code. Both stories weave real world facts and fiction together in such a way, its hard to tell what is fiction and real. The thrillers have been a real enjoyment and I found myself reading page after page and making my way through the books. I've liked them so much I want to read Deception Point and Digital Fortress and I look forward to the third book with Robert Langdon when it comes out.

A lot of these books are later made into movies and I've found that reading the books in almost every case is by far better than just watching the movie. I guess its to be expected when they cut stories down into a 2 hour movie. I'm glad I've started reading more and my list of books to read keeps growing. Which story should I start on next, lets see...

Happy Valentines Day

St. Valentine's Day, February 14, is the traditional day on which lovers in certain cultures let each other know about their love, by sending Valentine's cards, which are often anonymous. The Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas.

The middle of February has been associated with love and fertility dates back to the ancient times of Athens & Rome. In Athens the period between mid January and mid February was dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera.

In Rome, February 15 was the festival of Lupercus, the god of fertility, who was represented as half-naked and dressed in goat skins. As part of the purification ritual, the priests of Lupercus would sacrifice goats to the god, and after drinking wine, they would run through the streets of Rome holding pieces of the goat skin above their heads, touching anyone they met. Young women especially would come forth voluntarily for the occasion, in the belief that being so touched would render them fruitful and bring easy childbirth.

Now days gifts of flowers, chocolates, cards, and even fine jewelry rank high on the lists. It's a time to say I love you and do something special for that someone you love. This year I'm going to need to celebrate on the ancient Roman date. That's right tomorrow I'll do my best to be home early and spend sometime with my wife & daughter. I managed to pick today of all days to do a server switch and as you can guess, it did not go off with out a hitch. Crossing fingers I'll have better luck in the morning.

The New Spring Arrival

I'm counting down now from around fifty days out, till the birth of our second child. It's an exciting time for us and we have so much to do still. This weekend we'll be in the Child Birthing class, a refresher course I would say to help us be some what prepared for the big day.

Meanwhile, we still need to work on clearing out the old office and preparing the new babies room. I'm also working on some activities for Freya and I to do after the baby arrives.

That reminds me, I need to get her signed up for Soccer again and start thinking about practice and games. She should only have about 6 games again and they'll have Spring Break off. I better see if my brother or another parent would like to help in the event of the baby coming early by chance.

Should be a really great year and a lot of fun for all of us I think. I'm off to a busy start and expect it to be 2007 before I know it. At least I know the next 50 days will be as fast as can be fore sure.

Wireless Baby...

Contact at last... After many attempts at trying to connect wireless at the house. Finally success of sorts has arrived. The night started off with Nathan and family coming over for dinner. While the two Martin boys played with Freya, Nathan & I looked over the situation (mainly Nathan as I looked on). Joy finally met Edith at last and I found out Joy use to play Soccer (Note to self, remember to see if Joy wants to join C0-Ed team).

We tried and tried to get the laptop and wireless router to speak, but with little luck at all. Dinner was great and the kids had an awesome time together. I was really proud of how well Freya played with the boys.

The kiddos getting tried and everyone full from dinner and time ticking away, it was time to call it a night and try to regroup and figure out the wireless connection later. Well... I decided to give it another go and banged around some and luck was in my favor. Connection at last with Internet Access. Finally the hope of no wires in the house is in site. Still working on a few bugs, but for the most part I'm happy with the results.

Plus it was great having the Martin's over to visit.

Siblings is the new word for the week

We are looking at about 8 weeks till the new addition arrives. Last night was the Siblings class for my daughter and I'm glad I decided to attend the session.

She did so very well in the class and I think she's starting to get excited at the thought of a baby Sister or Brother coming soon. That's right we don't want to find out until the baby arrives and so we're not sure if its a girl or a boy.

My daughter seems to think she'll have a little Sister and we tell her that will be fine, but we also tell her the chance is there that it could be a little Brother and no matter what she'll be a big Sister soon.

So last night she learned the word Sibling and how to help take care of babies and what they do. She learned about diapers and was one of the best at changing the practice baby. She carried the baby around during the hospital tour and had a great time.

It's been great seeing my daughter grow up and I'm really proud at how she's been with the changes leading up to the arrival of her Sibling to the house. Time is starting to pick up and 8 weeks will fly by fast. This week we have our first Daddy & Daughter dance, she has her 2nd season of soccer starting, with me coaching and I'm in another season of indoor soccer myself already. We still have to work on clearing the office out and decorating before the baby arrives.

This is all provided the baby stays on schedule... I better get busy on the baby room.