Dallas Cowboys' 2007 Draft

I am withholding most of my judgement regarding this recent draft until we get to see what these players can do but I will say I like the fact that the Cowboys were able to acquire a possible top 10 pick next year from Cleveland. I think until we see what that pick turns into we won't be able to accurately judge the quality of this draft. But, I do think the Cowboys did a pretty decent job of addressing needs and getting quality players.

1 Anthony Spencer DE PURDUE
3 James Marten OT BOSTON COLLEGE
4 Isaiah Stanback QB WASHINGTON
4 Doug Free OT NORTHERN ILLINOIS
6 Nick Folk PK ARIZONA
6 Deon Anderson FB CONNECTICUT
7 Courtney Brown CB CAL POLY
7 Alan Ball CB ILLINOIS

Heard around the house

This morning Chase (the two year old) was on the phone with my mom when she asked him what he was going to do today.

"Church." he answered.
He was asked what else he was going to do.
"Play." he replied.

I'm glad he had is day planned out.

Then when Seth was getting dressed for church he stated, "My underwear is pinching my pickle." I think that falls in the "too much information" category.

Flying First Class

Yesterday I flew to San Diego and back all in one day. That makes for a long day but at least on my return trip I got to fly in first class. I'm not sure how because I didn't upgrade and I didn't purchase a first class ticket. But, it made it awkard because I was travelling with my boss and he was in coach. So, I had that internal battle as whether to give my boss my seat or not. Ultimately, I chose not to so we'll see how that works out for my career.

The New Guy

I was gone to San Diego yesterday and went I got back to work this morning I had 0, yes ZERO emails. It sure is nice being the new guy.

Tornado Warning

Last night we had our second tornado warning in two weeks. This spring has had the worst weather that I can remember in a long time. In fact, since Seth was born 4 years ago, I don't think we have had to take shelter in our hallway. If we have, it was when he was very little because this is the first experience he remembers and he doesn't like it.

Two weeks ago, we had very large hail and high winds and it was quite scary. Last night was not nearly has bad but both boys were already in bed when the sirens sounded so we had to go wake them up to bring them to the hallway and, all parents know once they are asleep, it takes an act of God for you to have to wake them up.

Since we got them out of bad, I think Seth knew that this was serious and he was very scared. He was actually shaking as he sat in Shelley's lap and was full of questions.

The storm passed with no damage and amazingly both boys went right back to sleep.

Disappointing my kids

When I knew I was going to be a father I made a lot of promises to myself that including things that I would never do and things my kids would never do.

First, I would like to apologize to all parents out there that I had negative thoughts about, especially all of the ones in various grocery stores, movie theatres and Wal Marts through out the years. I was wrong and hope you forgive me.

I made promises that I didn't want to do and one of those was not being there for my kids. I didn't want to miss their birthdays, school plays, or baseball games. But, I was realistic and knew that it might happen time to time.

Well, this past week, I have missed 2 Kindermusik classes and 2 soccer games and the pain I have felt was horrible. The thought of disappointing my kids has been excruciatingly painful and I am further committed to my promise.

I hope someday they read this and know that I will always do whatever it takes to be there. I have further appreciation for Neal Page in Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Dancing and Cake

Last night we attended a wedding and after the traditional first dance between the bride and groom and the father and bride dance, the DJ asked all married couples to go to the dance floor. Those around us including Shelley all looked at me and I tried to resist the peer pressure.

I commented that it would end the streak. The last time we danced was the night we met but I finally gave in to go dance with my wife for the 2ND time since we have known each other.

But, soon after we started dancing the DJ began calling off couples who had been married less than 2 years, less than 4 years, etc. We finally stepped off at less than 8 years and it finally ended with a couple who had been married 40 years.

The DJ then asked everyone back on the dance floor to dance to Unchained Melody so I grabbed her hand to take her to the dance floor but she blurted out, "I want cake."

HUh?
(Note to self, if I want to get out of dancing in the future, offer cake.)

My reprieve didn't last long because the next song was I Can't Help Falling in Love by Elvis.

So, now the count is up to 3 dances in 10 years.

My First Day

Today was my first day on my new job and it was relatively uneventful. The majority of my time was spent doing HR stuff.

The biggest issue I am having is a lack of control. Yes, I have control issues. When you are someplace for 11 years you get to where you dictate your own day and events. Right now, my office is temporary, I don't have a laptop yet, I don't know how to access my voice mail and until about 4:30 today, I didn't even have a trash can. I haven't even met the people who report to me. It is quite the adjustment for me.

Also, after running the IT department I am finding it odd not having some of the perks I was use to or the level of access. Oh, well, I'll adjust (I hope).

VA Tech

I have been trying to summarize what my thoughts are regarding the horrible events at Virginia Tech and I haven't been able to do it very well. I have posted a few things over at Live To Shoot if you are interested.

I am just going to keep everyone at Virginia Tech in my prayers and someday I hope to understand it all...

A Healthier Diet Coke

Coca Cola has released a healthier Diet Coke, Diet Coke Plus. It is Diet Coke with vitamins. It has 15% of the daily allowance for Niacin, B6 and B12 and 10% zinc and magnesium.

Now, I HAVE to drink Diet Coke because it is good for me...

Cowboys' Stadium Update

Here are the latest pictures of the Cowboys' new stadium. This article has the latest updates on construction.

Severe Weather

Last night we had one of the worst storms we have had in a long time. A tornado touched down just five miles from us and we got pelted by hail bigger than golf balls. It sounded like the hail was going right through the roof at times and this morning we woke up to find that it had actually broken the window in our youngest son's bedroom.
I am just thankful that all we had was one broken window..

My Last Day

Today is my last day at the job I have had for almost 12 years. Today is going to be an emotional day for me.

Since I have had this job I have (in chronological order) built a new house, gotten divorced, moved into an apartment, started dating Shelley, married Shelley, moved into a rent house, bought a new house, Seth was born and then Chase was born. The only constant has been this job.

I am not going to miss this job because it has become a beating. But, I am going to miss the people.

I have worked with some of the best people and I will really miss them.

I am a horrible person at keeping in touch but I don't want to lose touch with many of them so I hope between email, instant messaging and cell phones we won't lose touch. There really isn't an excuse these days is there?

Priorities

My ninth post on Dadbloggers is now available. Read it here.

Firearm accidents are very low

The National Safety Councils released its 2007 Injury Facts report and firearm accidents are very low in comparison to other accidents.

In 2005, out of 109,000 unintentional fatalities, firearms accounted for 730. This is in comparison to 44,757 motor vehicle accidents, 19,000 poisonings and 17,000 due to falls.

Out of those 109,000 unintentional fatalities, 5,280 were among children under the age of 14. Firearms accounted for 56 of these deaths in comparison to 2,408 motor vehicle accidents and 782 drownings.

It could be argued that having a pool is 14 times more dangerous than having a firearm in the home.

I know these statistics will never make it to the main stream media and they will continue to report every unfortunate child death because of gun as if it is at epidemic proportions.

Sleep Disorders

Shelley could be the poster girl for sleep disorders. She either can't go to sleep at all or she is able to sleep all day if she wanted to. There isn't much in between. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that our boys have sleep issues as well.

We have to drive Chase around every night before he will finally go to sleep but it isn't as easy as it sounds. First, he has to be pried away from Shelley as he clings to her screaming at the top of his lungs. Sometimes he can be bribed by the fact that he will get to listen to I'll Fly Away. But, once we start driving the screaming usually starts and I'm sure the motorist driving by can hear him and are probably wondering if there is Amber Alert out for this poor child. Eventually the screams will suddenly stop, his body will go limp, his head will drop and the pacifier in his mouth will dangle in his lips.

But, this isn't often the end of the story and last night was a perfect example. First, somewhere around 1 AM Seth shows up in our room needing something to drink. Then about an hour again he showed up again and Shelley took him back to his room. Then during this same time Chase showed up and was very upset to find Shelley's side of the bed empty. I forgot to mention that I am of no use to them at night. They are in search of their mother and have no need for daddy.

I am also certain that during all of this, Shelley also gathered up her pillows and went to sleep in our guest room. This is also a common occurrence as she searches for some combination to help her fall asleep. Then at 4 AM, I'm out of bed and hitting the streets for my morning run.

Our home isn't a very peaceful place during the night...

What are men doing?

Yesterday while I was in the waiting room at my dentist I picked up a womans magazine. I'm not sure which one but it wasn't Glamour or Cosmo because it had food on the cover. But there was an article listed that caught my eye so I start leafing through it.

This article stated that 40% of husbands had NEVER cooked dinner. NEVER? They hadn't even grilled a hamburger at sometime, I wondered. It also stated 40% had never done the grocery shopping.

The article had a lot of other stats that I didn't get to because I got called back for my appointment but I couldn't get those figures out of my mind. 40%? What are these guys doing?

In our house I make dinner about 50% of the time and I do about 90% of the grocery shopping and I don't consider myself all that helpful around the house. Heck, I spent five hours Sunday sitting on butt watching the Masters all day.

But I just keep wondering what these guys are doing....

Camera Phones

I've never really used the camera functionality of my phone and then last week I used it to take the picture for this post.

I just got a new phone and Seth saw me testing the camera functionality and it really caught his interest. Here is some of his recent works.



Now, when I was four, I'm pretty sure I wasn't surfing the internet and becoming proficient using a camera phone, how about you?

AT&T U-Verse Install

Today we got our AT&T U-Verse installed and everything went great. Three techs showed up at 9 AM and it took them about four hours to do the install.

I really like the service so far. Our Internet speed went from 4 Mpbs to 6 Mpbs and our upload speed went from 500 Kpbs to 1 Mpbs.

We also now have the ability to record up to three shows while we watch a fourth. We will soon be able to access our recordings from any tv in the house. We are also able to schedule recordings from the Internet.

Every receiver is already HD ready so no additional expense was required and AT&T gave us HD service free for a year.

I am not a big fan of how they do their guide. They overlay it over the current picture but it is somewhat transparent so you can still see the video through it but it is kind of strange. Also, I find it ironic that we are purchasing this from the phone company and the one feature we lost was the ability to have caller id appear on the screen when a call comes in. But, this is something they will be adding soon.

I have dealt with AT&T a lot in the last few days and have been very pleased. In addition to adding U-verse I also switched my work phone from Sprint to Cingular. Every person I have dealt with has been very nice and very professional.

Cell Phones on Planes

The FCC has been reviewing its ban on cell phone usage on airplanes since 2004. The FCC is concerned with cell phones in the air interfering with cell phone networks on the ground.

The agency said that there is "insufficient technical information" as to whether cell phones in the air would jam networks on the ground. So, the agency as decided to keep the ban in affect. But, they also received an outpouring of comments from travellers not wanting to lift the ban and I have to agree. Can you imagine being on a three hour flight and having to listen to the yahoo next to you on his phone?

Read the article here.

Another ban I would like to see put into affect is a ban on cell phones in public restrooms. Nothing I hate more than listening to the guy in the stall next to me talk to his wife while I am trying to do my business.

U-Verse Install Update

We got a call yesterday just reminding us about our install on Thursday and the fact that it might take up to 8 hours. I imagine the 8 hour install is something that is a bit of a problem and they really want to set expectations properly. My AT&T insider tells me they are actually averaging 5.5 hours.

Then last night another AT&T tech came to our house to check out our lines and he was very nice.

The one thing that has impressed me in comparison to my experience with the cable and satellite companies is that all the employees appear to be actual AT&T employees and not local contractors they have hired. Even the customer service person I talked to was in San Antonio and not India.

Cleaning out my desk

The last few days I have been cleaning out my desk at work and it has been a struggle. First, when you have been somewhere almost 12 years, you accumulate a lot of junk. Also, I have a lot of stuff I haven't looked in some cases 10+ years. Now, at the time, I knew "I might need this some day." but obviously I didn't but don't you have a sense of comfort knowing "it's there if you need it."

As I go through each of these items I still find myself thinking "I might need this." But, the practical side says, "You haven't needed it in the last five years, why would you need it now?" But, it is like giving up a safety blanket of information that you have accumulated over the years.

When I survey what I am taking with me I keep thinking "this is it?" If I don't count the pictures of my kids, some various books, and my collection of Hot Wheels cars, there is maybe only 1 box of stuff. How will I get by without my stuff?

What Are Some Parents Thinking?

Sorry about the picture quality but it was the best I could do inconspicuously with my camera phone. This is a picture of a little boy I saw today in the waiting room of a doctor's office. He is wearing a 1 piece, pink, short jump suit thingy and flip flops. It was the most ridiculous outfit I have seen and to compound the problem, what the picture doesn't show is that his older brother (not a twin) was dressed EXACTLY like him. How will these boys ever have a normal life.

Then just a few minutes after this picture was taken, he was standing in front of his mother with a death grip on his penis telling her he had to go to the bathroom. She was on the phone and told him to wait. He stood there for almost four more minutes, was on the verge of tears and I was just about to grab him and run to the bathroom before she finally got off the phone. (Come on, the last thing a boy dressed like that needs is to wet his pants.) His mother then had the nerve to tell him to hurry as they were running to the bathroom.

Spring and Sports

Spring is here and that means the start of two of my favorite things, baseball and The Masters and they both start this week. Today is Opening Day and Thursday they will be teeing off at Augusta, I couldn't be more excited.

Greatest Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Seth is somewhat picky about his grilled cheese sandwiches. His favorite is Chili's grilled cheese and that is followed by a close second from Sonic. He won't even eat one that Shelley and I make. Maybe we should try the one that won in the Kids Category in the Greatest Grill Cheese in America contest.

Did you know the average American eats 8.4 grilled cheese sandwiches a year.