Night Vision

I am convinced that you can see more at night vs. day. During the day, when the sun has illuminated the world around you, it's more and more difficult to see... everything. At night, I can sit outside, listen to the crickets and see my grandparents house...more specifically the bedroom I stay in when I'm visiting, the screen door to the balcony and the leaves dancing in the moon light just steps from my bed. I would venture to guess most kids don't see the boogie man's shadow on the wall until they've been tucked in, the door left open just and inch and the lights turned....off. And on a long road trip into the wee hours when Mom or Dad says we're almost there, just around the bend, you believe them, you can see it... .well, you believe them until you've gone around three corners, been just beyond the bend twice and were just over 4 or 6 hills (you'd have a better count, but you were too busy wet willy'ing your sleeping sister in the bench seat in front of you).

I feel this is why I get energy as the sun sets. More seems possible. Perhaps I'm just rationalizing my inability to sleep some nights, but the world seems both bigger and smaller at the same time. The projects you want to dive into are within reach and the goals you set are attainable, regardless of scale.

I've had a great deal of night vision lately, some examples of which are below:

- I've seen my little pregnant goddess begin to become a Mom

- I've realized that fort building skills really come from the Matriarch, and typically begin with pillows

- I've seen the calm before the storm

- And most importantly I've learned it's in the best interest of someone's wife that I figure out how to sleep at night.... you're googleable my Love, and it's probably best you lock your Picassa albums..

Counting the minutes until I'm asked, very sweetly.. to remove the gunslinger from this post..

short, sweet....until next time, enjoy what dreams may come

-dp

Another "real" inside look into pregnancy....the pillow inbalance

Life's Soundtrack

So... I walk

A lot.  It's how I think, or better put, it's how I think a bit more clearly. I've done it ever since I can remember needing to relax, or work something out. I remember times grabbing my bat as a junior in high school and strolling throughout our barely constructed neighborhood trying to figure out how to get over not getting over stuff... like failure, like not hitting the ball off the wall every time I came to the plate (thank God it was sparsely populated as I'm thinking the "lost in thought" teenager roaming the streets with a 33 inch 30 ounce metal bat, at dusk, may have caught a few folks off guard). I was in the midst of my worst baseball season ever and I was obsessing about failing, failing at what I absolutely loved, playing baseball.

* Please note I've saved you all a great deal of time and aguish...right about...here..X.., as I've just erased a great deal of regressed, should only be spewed from a counselors couch, BS


Walking didn't necessarily get me hitting again..I didn't do that until my senior year, but it began to shed some light on how I tackle things. It slowed my racing head to a point where I could decipher my thoughts, it was calming. If I've discovered one thing recently it's that I need a much bigger neighborhood for my walks now.

On a recent exercise of putting one foot in front of the other I was sorting through where I was with my next adventure in life. Our little dude is here in weeks and I know he will forever change our lives, but what I don't want is for our personalities to change, or our sense of adventure, or how much my wife and I make each other laugh, or our ambition. I wan't those things to remain in tact and I want to be an incredible Dad and husband at the same time, and I want to know we/I can do this with no sleep and some adjusted priorities. Whew.. I'm exhausted just unloading this.

Where this recent stroll put me upon my return to our doorstep:

- Both Kari and I have no delusions that having kids will be easy, nothing worth doing is

- We will be very good at it, you know...parent stuff. I will just constantly look like I've recently suggested to the biggest dude at the bar that we should take a shot and then give each other wedgies and he took that as, please punch me in the face.

- That mornings, although scary looking...can be quite beautiful if you mange to get yourself out of the horizontal "I'm pretty sure I can get away with sleeping one more hour" position.

And most importantly that perspective is everything and if you have the right music playing, things will be just fine.

Similar to smelling something familiar and immediately being transported back to a past memory (most memories are in the past I hear), music is an incredibly beautiful and powerful thing. I recently re-discovered one of my favorite groups (The Roots) and it's given me a renewed perspective on things...which, I love.

-dp

* Note - The Roots are bigger than Jimmy Fallon, their not just his house band

Some recent life stuff....illustrated

Test driving the new wheels...

Granby Lake

 Moose Butt

My beautiful wife... and son




.

High Speed Moose Chase

Comfy.post freakouts

Found ourselves a renter...moves in in October

Traffic jam...note, Zeus is in the back having the freakouts

Not THE Moose...but pretty cool run in nonetheless

There are two there, I promise

I am Jack's addiction to Dexter...

Kari  Quote of the day - "I'd rather you work on your blog then watch another episode of Dexter"

I'm going to side on the side of my bride on this one as I'm pretty sure it's time to take a break from the Season 4/Season 5 marathon when it becomes hauntingly clear that my inner dialogue is now in the voice of Dexter Morgan. No where near as grave or plotting, but nonetheless an unmistakenable subconscious tribute to one Showtime serial killer and his code.

This evening finds me in the North Shore cabins on the..... um....North shore of Granby Lake in Colorado. Kari's parents are in town and since we both had to work through the first few days of their visit, we're taking a day or two off work to do the Tour de Colorado. I have no complaints as it takes me into the mountains and in amongst Mother Nature. Getting here, however, has been nothing short of an adventure:

Cell phones - Although very shiny and clean, they don't seem to work very well after a "heavy soil" trip in the washing machine, followed with a contacts tossing spin cycle. Good job Dave

Siberian Huskies - When allowed to hike sans leash in the Rocky Mountains, they will find Moose. 5 times his size and pissed off, someone chased a mom and her little one into a lake. Nice work Zeus, now you have to swim, run over rocky out croppings, swim again and then run the entire length of the beach back to Dad to get scolded (and have a leash returned to your collar).

Crazy neighbors - No matter how unintersted you look, the crazy lady that lives on the corner will continue to rant at you during the annual block party about last years block party and how we so should have been there (we were), that this is what this block does every year (we gathered that) and that she really loves the new dog on the street that she's been seeing on walks near her house, oh he's right here at your feet (that's Zeus, you've met him many....many times, last year even...at the block pary).

Nursery's - Holy $#!% I have one? Really? Well, we have the beginnings of one. The room is paintend (Thanks Grandma Dar for your help), the crib is put together and furniture is in the garage being painted. This, folks.....just got real

On a slightly diverted note (if you read any of my earlier stuff....enter stream of consciousness), I need to find a different approach to getting healthier, leaner...I continue to feel like crap and I have a sneaking suspicion it's at the hands of over eating and a place called Little Man Ice Cream.  I'm pretty sure I sabatoge my own success, afraid for some reason to succeed. I train, and usually love it, especially the weight sessions (I could get better a the swim, bike, running stuff), but struggle with the food consumption thing. Not sure what changes are going to take place, but my plan is to be a bit more conscious of portions and somehow get my swim, bike or run done in the a.m. (I say "somehow" 'cause I Do Not Like Mornings)... and continue the weight program Mr. Velazquez has created for me.

Changing direction again...Something else that kind of ties into my last verbal cookie toss, I want a side project. I want to create something, I want to be passionate about it and I want to be able to do it along side of my family (which I love) and my job (which I enjoy and want to grow in and do well at). I would go so far as to say there may be some sabatoging going on here as well, and it's all self inflicted....My plan is to slowly come up with one, a plan that is (ok, and to be completely honest...I need to come up with "it"... the project, as well)...and begin to take steps forward in executing that plan. Feel free to throw some ideas my way

In closing... double rainbows people, today we saw double rainbows.

Pics to follow (Wednesday most likely...)

-dp

Testing...1, ehm...1,2

Is this thing on?...

Bored and annoyed with Facebook stalking (damn right I'll still announce new posts via Facebook...but I digress) I've decided to pick up where I may or may not have left off, in and amongst my stream of consciousness.

I began a blog to chronicle my first full Ironman a few years back and thoroughly enjoyed the creative outlet, that is... when I remembered to write. In hopes of finding that outlet again I begin this new chapter, one that is certainly starting with a bang. Since we last spoke I've asked the love of my life to marry me, moved to Denver, Colorado, said "I do" amongst family and friends and am now eagerly anticipating our first child... a boy.

I don't want to sit here and say, "this blog is about x" because it will be about many things. As life, it will be an adventure. At the very least, I hope it's enjoyable reading and takes you away from your craziness, if for a second.

My earlier comment about Facebook wasn't necessarily a complete smack to the Facebook nation, but carries with it some personal introspective. Although I'm sure we'll see study after study of how social networking is dumbing us down (it will come full circle and build us up stronger at some point, this I'm sure.. but it needs to evolve), my comments are more me looking back at my self in a sweet sweet self portrait taken with the digital camera you can see in my right hand in the bathroom mirror. After a day or two of feeling removed from the friends and family I truly love and sifting through there status updates, or lack thereof, I felt like a horrible friend.

Instead of picking up the phone, which I hate, I signed in and got status updates in mass. Instead of writing an e-mail, I stalked photo albums. My realization is this, either I put on a helluva campaign to get all of those closest to me to see the light and move to the Denver/Boulder area or I figure out how to better communicate to those that mean everything to me since apparently thinking of them doesn't seem to filter it's way to where they are at all aware of those thoughts. I'm thinking my telepathic lines have been cut in hopes of ransacking my memories without me knowing.

In my revelations I've come to the conclusion that I need to find ways to communicate that for me, promotes action and has me actually doing it. Not just one way, but several. Since I seem to have trouble hitting talk on my phone, perhaps clicking post to an entry of this blog is more likely to happen. Maybe instead of a text I'll mix in an e-mail (most likely with the link to this blog)...you get what I'm saying.

I hope this journey in thought takes me to a place one day where my son comes up to me and say's, "I didn't know you had a blog? I mean, I didn't even know you could write. I thought you were just the over protective Dad that makes me clean gutters and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation every year because you think it's the perfect way to start the season...oh, and 2 followers? Really? Were you even hooked up to the InterWebs?"

And so....it begins

I will leave you with this. My beautiful wife, who at the moment is in her 8th month of pregnancy, has mentioned that she wants to do maternity photos. I'm all for it, but it got me thinking of a sweet coffee table book that I'll call "How it Really Is - Pregnant in Pictures", my leading entry follows: