What Don’t I Know Now That I’ll WIsh I Knew Then?

Recently seeing the lifespan of our kids in 3 years of photos, the pregnancy of one friend and the birth of another’s child all makes me think of things I’d do differently if I started over. that naturally spills over to not just with them, but in my entire life. It often occurs that, when looking back at the course of my life, I always end up thinking ‘if I only knew then what I know now‘. While hindsight is 20/20, what’s foresight? In 10 years, when I look back on today, what “don’t I know now that I’ll wish I knew”?



That’s the question I’d love to solve. Somehow, in many ways, such as health, finances, relationships, I know that I can circumvent that eventual statement There are lots of things I already know but don’t pay as much attention to as I should [again, such as health, finances, relationships…] but I’m trying to.



And yet I know there’s plenty I don’t know and I can’t anticipate… I’ll just have to wait and see.



I hate to wait.

Urine Deep Do-Do

As does every parent at some stage of their childs development, we've used this past weekend to start serious toilet training. No more diapers. I anticipate many weeks ahead of constant reminding, encouragement, accidents, etc., but hopefully it'll go smoothy. In the end, I will be thrilled to flush the concept of changing diapers. It's a crappy job. :-)

Self Improvement

I often find myself thinking about ways I want to improve who I am. I think about losing weight. I think about eating better. I think about improving my work productivity and relationships. I think about being a better husband, a better father, a better friend. I think about being a better presence in the world, less of a curmudgeon, less cynical. I think about these thoughts daily, yet as is the case with 80% of the thoughts that pops into my head when zoning en route to work, strolling in between meetings, staring blankly out the window of my office, or listening intently to my wife's breakdown of the day... they're gone moments later. These aspirations are seldom kept in the foreground of my thoughts, where I'd be more inclined to act on them. Instead, their pushed off my mental plate as the next batch of thoughts takes their place, only to be pushed off themselves moments later.

My Brother Makes The Big Leagues

I just got this email from my older brother, shown here pulling a bus behind him in the 2003 Strongman competition, who's set and achieved an extremely impressive and motivating goal in just 3 years. Instead of trying to paraphrase it, I'll just share what he sent... way to go, David. I'll be there this year to cheer you on.

On Labor Day Sep. 2003 in Pleasanton Ca. Julia and I sat in the stands watching the best Highland Games athletes in US compete and now three years later I will be one of the athletes on the field. 

Now for the reality! I have only been doing this for two years and three months. I have to compete with the following Ron McKee college track and field star who through the 16 pound shot 63' 11”, former Highlands Games Pro and Masters World Champion, 2001 & 2002. Dan John is ranked 5th as a Master Highland Games athlete, holds the American Record in the Weight Pent and holds numerous National Championships in weightlifting and throwing. Brent Abbott ranked 2nd as a Master Highland Games athlete, 2005 31st U.S. Champion, SAAA National Master's 2006 Champion. One is a former NFL offensive center the Browns! The list keeps going, but you get the idea! Gee whiz welcome to the big leagues! 

My goal was to be good enough to compete with the very best. I made it! I'm still in shock and honored! Now my goal is to break some if not all of my personal recorders, not to take last place and most important to have fun. Not to worry, I'll give it my best shot. They may have to carry me off the field, but my name will be forever in the record books. 

This is the best Highland Games Festival (www.caledonian.org) in the US, with so much to see and do for the whole family. Over fifty Highland Games athletes will be competing on Saturday and Sunday. I can’t visit with anyone when I’m on the field but for those of you that would like to see me compete I can send a games events schedule once it’s been update for this year’s game.

Truely Charbroiled Burgers

We had a small BBQ last Tuesday to celebrate the 4th of July, inviting some family and friends over for burgers, beer, guacamole, chips and margaritas. We had a great time, the kids played to the point of exhaustion, and there was way too much food. In retrospect, there were two very valuable lessons to be learned from this effort...

1. No matter how hard you try to apply your male engineering logic regarding the concept of casual and simple, a gathering on a holiday means 'social event' to a female, and your initial idea of a minimal effort day goes out the window.




2. Don't mess with a BBQ grill when it's loaded with cooking food for a hungry and waiting set of guests. This latter lesson played out like something out of a Seinfeld episode, with me in the hapless role of "George".

After working with the landlord to learn the ropes on lighting and operation of the rather large brick gas BBQ on the property, only to have him relate not having any recollection of it's being used for about 25 years, and a couple of slightly uncomfortable attempts to light it, we both agreed the right choice would be to just disconnect and cap the gas line, shutting it off from even before the BBQ, and use charcoal. That worked for me just fine, and after a thorough scrubbing of the horizontal grill, I piled up the briquettes, soaked them once or twice with some lighter fluid, returned the grill to it's resting place, and awaited the arrival of our guests. Once they arrived, I successfully ignited the flames, allowed the charcoal to read it's optimal heat, spread the coals and set about the task of cooking the burgers, hot dogs and sausages.



I'd positioned about 4 burgers, 4 hot dogs and a couple of sausages atop of the grill, when my efforts to adjust them, while talking w/my good friend who'd come w/his wife and two children, caused one of the hot dogs to fall from the grill and onto the coals. My friend wisely suggested i raise the grill to access it, and he'd run it inside, wash it off, and we'd return it to complete cooking... no guests being the wiser. A brilliant plan and one of the reasons he's on the payroll. The BBQ has a rectangular grill suspended with a chain on each side, and a circular crank used to raise and lower it. I raised it, grabbed the renegade wiener, and off it was whisked for a quick charcoalectomy.



Lowering the grill, I paused for a moment and attempted to moderately adjust it within it's 'seat' on the chain, with the intention of positioning it such that any further loss would be prevented, and in one glorious and slow motion moment, the entire grill dislodged from it's frame, and fell directly onto the coals below, the selection of cooking meats all going along for the ride. The impact caused a large plume of steam, made all the more apparent by my son's gleeful cry of 'STEAM' at the occurrence, and an audible increase in the sizzling only drew more attention to the snafu. Although it appeared to have not drawn any further attention, all but one burger stayed in position... yes everything was now directly atop of the coals, and I had to act fast or they'd incinerate in seconds.



About this time, my friend returned with the resurrected frankfurter in hand, and somehow managed to both groan and laugh at the same time as I was frantically removing the meats. He stepped in to help out, and between the two of us, each using one or more various bbq tools, we lifted the grill out of the embers only to have it drop again and again... realizing the limited options we had at that time, we determined the only course of action would be to rotate it 90 degrees, offset to avoid falling again, and complete the task of feeding the masses. The coals, due to the repeated crashing of the grill upon them, were turned to dust, so the remaining cooking took longer and longer, but fortunately i kept up with the guests and it all worked out in the long run. Only one guest had actually seen the fiasco play out, everybody else had a good time, and i learned not to mess with the grill. :-)

Little Dickens

My wife recently phoned me, and in reference to my son's difficult behavior at the time, stated "he's being a little dickens". Although i held back my reply, my immediate thought was, "I'd not take it that far." Think about it. :-)

Add Another Year

Well, once again, another year has blurred by, and I begin the next year of aging.



In somewhat typical fashion I've spent the last week formulating a brilliant entry into my blog, only to have the day arrive without the time to get the thoughts from my head onto the printed page.



The day was a great one, started with a spectacular breakfast with my wife and children at one of my favorite restaurants, then a visit from my oldest [duration, not age] friends, a few family members, and capped with a chance to see 'Lost Horizon" in the spectacular Stanford Theatre. The day was nothing but a well paced day of relaxation. Just what I wanted and needed.



I'll try and make time in the near future to capture those thoughts that remain in my head, and reflect more on the start of another year. But for the moment i'll borrow from the final line in tonight's movie... "Gentlemen, I give you a toast. Here's my hope that Robert Conway will find his Shangri-La. Here's my hope that we all find our Shangri-La."