Blog updates

In the last week I made two updates that I would point out. The first is the last.fm widget on the right hand side of the screen. It is titled "What I'm Listening To." I have been looking for something like this for a while. It tells you what I am listening to on my iTunes. Not that you were that interested, but I think its cool.

The other is a small update to my template. I was thinking of a big change, but with the super cool banner image that Gregg made for us, only goes with certain things. The main difference in this template is that the posts are stretched out. No more scrolling thirty miles down the page to read the whole post. I hope you like the new changes. Give me an suggestions or comments.

Benny's heart

As I read Tricia's post about her trip back from FL today I teared up as she wrote so eloquently about her new friend Patricia. I cry like that a lot. Lately Benjamin has been following suit. There are times when I look at him and he is tearing up over something and it is so sweet.

A few weeks ago I got home from work and Amanda said that he was not doing very well. I took him into the bedroom to talk to him. I asked him what was wrong and he started to tear up and said, "I'm just having a hard day." I asked him if I could pray for him. He said yes and I as I began to pray he really began to break down. How many times has this kind of emotion overwhelmed me? Many.

Yesterday we went out for dinner at Cafe Latte in St. Paul (one of Amanda's favorite restaurants). There was a woman and her daughter sitting just across the room from us. The daughter, early college aged, was crying and Benjamin was watching her. He started to get the tender hearted look on his face. Amanda pointed it out to me. I said to him, "Are you watching that girl cry?" He shook his head. "Its kind of sad to see other people be sad." He shook his head again. I gave him a kiss and hug. I told Amanda that I loved so much this side of him. I want to do whatever I can to continue to foster his tender heart.

When most men (I struggle with this) are confronted with emotion, they work so hard to stuff it away. I long for my boys to become emotionally aware men who can laugh well, care much, righteously anger and cry when life is not the way it should be.

Snow Day

I would wake up in my little twin bed. Run out to the kitchen, turn on the tv or radio and hope beyond hope that we would have what every northern Michigan kid longs for, a SNOW DAY!!! It is blizzard conditions here in MN and the college president has just sent out an e-mail closing school for the day at 1:00 and closing the college tomorrow. Here's to a long weekend. No long weekend for all of you suckas in FL (with the exception of Mom, whose life has become a long weekend.)

Minnesota Blizzard

We got dumped with snow this weekend as you can tell from the post below. The boys and I finally got to do our quinzee. It turned out really cool and was a lot of fun. Matty wanted to be outside so bad. Once he got out, he couldn't keep his mittens on so headed in pretty quickly.

Shube was over Saturday night and got snowed in until this morning. She "slung hash" and we got some great meals. Thanks, Shube. It was a good weekend of being with family and hard work (my whole upper body is so sore.)

Work

I have been thinking about work a lot lately. I have been thinking about how I was raised and how my father taught me about the importance of work. I have been thinking about how I will teach my boys to work. Growing up, I was not always the first to jump in when there was a job to do. Joe, on the other hand, seemed to even like work. This made for some difficult comparisons growing up. My dad was always nervous that I might turn out to be a couch potato that couldn't hold down a job. As I seek to work with my boys, it appears that I have a Joe and an Andy. (We'll see what Matty ends up like.)

Yesterday I shoveled the driveway (twice). It seems as if I am 12 years old again. I thought of my dad as I worked to make sure the walls on each side of the driveway were uniform. Caleb was out with me, dying to get his hands on the shovel and give it a go. Ben was in hanging out inside in his PJ's.

I think one thing that I want to avoid with my boys, is the fact that I always felt a little tinge of "If you would only be more like your brother," around the issue of work. We'll see how that all turns out. It is difficult because the two boys need different kinds of teaching in this area.

A fun time in FL

I think I am almost recovered from our trip to FL. If any of you are thinking about taking three little boys on an airplane when they are supposed to be in bed, give me an call and we'll talk. Here are some of our highlights from what was a great trip.

-Some quiet in the house while the boys were gone
-Lunches at the Turtle Club and Buzz's Lighthouse
-Being outside
-Walk with Amanda
-Ben & Caleb loved the park with the sand place
-The boys' new goggles from Gigi
-Playing at Drew's house
-Joe coming home early for dinner
-Being outside (did I mention that?)
-I always love swimming with the boys
-Mom, Joe, Carrie, Drew

Thanks FL family for a great week. We love you. Here are some pics. Enjoy and thanks for reading.

Kensington support

It has been one year since my beautiful wife gave me my first iPod. Soon after I got it I decided I wanted to listen to it in the car. This meant that I needed an FM transmitter. I scoured the web for reviews on the best one to buy. The one that I came up with was the Kensington Digital FM Transmitter/Car Charger for iPod. I have been thoroughly satisfied with it but about a month ago it began to come apart a little. Last week it finally gave up the ghost and stopped working. I decided I needed to write the company (ala Jeff Cutler and his Nike shoes.)

Yesterday I got an e-mail back from my new friend, Venkata Satish Kumar from Kensington Tech Support. She (or he) told me that she (or he) would be happy to send me a new one in replacement. I was THRILLED. This is the way that the world should be. Then today I got an e-mail from Venkata's supervisor, Lakshmi Narayana.

Dear Andy: Thank you for providing the required information. I am glad to inform you that, I have placed an order for the replacement of the product with the model number 33185 and you will be receiving the product with in next 10 to 12 business days from now for absolutely free of cost. You do not need to send us back the defective product. Just as soon as you receive the product mark the old one as a defective product and trash it if you wish. Our primary concern is to make our Customers COMPLETELY SATISFIED with Email support. We strive for this and go to any extent to make our customers happy with Kensington products. You may receive an e-mail survey regarding your e-mail support experience. I request you to participate and encourage us. We appreciate your feedback. It has been my pleasure to assist you. Regards, Lakshmi Narayana Kensington Technical Support.

So, thank you to my new friends at Kensington Technical Support. If you, reader, are ever in need of computer peripherals, be sure to check www.kensington.com first.