Just Collin
Originally uploaded by ratsinis

Oh look how clever I am! I made a lolcat reference in order to introduce my son to the world!

Okay, truth be told, I fucking LOVE lolcats, but even I am unwilling to put a caption on my child’s photo using a large outlined Impact font.

Anyway, yeah, kid #2. Collin Alexander.

Sort of.

If you look between the front two legs of the lead elephant, you’ll see my and Gare’s legs and part of his green jacket. WE’RE FAMOUS!!!

Life was much simpler when my weekends consisted only of playing Banjo-Kazooie in my underpants.

These days, however, there are so many competing interests vying for weekend time.

• Miracle League games - Gareth is signed up for the Blair County Miracle League this year.  The ball games are on Saturdays, but we don’t yet know what time of day they are.  They are, however, all held in Altoona.
• Camping trips - This weekend, I’m heading out to Hammersley Fork to get the camp ready for the season.  And then, of course, I’ll have a desire to use it throughout the summer and fall.
• Bike/kayak outings - These are typically Saturday affairs since our Sundays are already hectic as is.
• Trip to Philly at the end of this month - Well, that’s a no brainer.  It’s to visit the Star Wars exhibit at the Franklin Institute.
• Putting in time at RBR - I’ve been offered the opportunity to work at the shop part time to learn recumbent mechanics, help coordinate bike accessibility efforts, and barter my time towards the purchase of a new bike.  But the hours are only until 6PM on weekdays, and the only day they’re open on the weekend is… Saturday.
• Kayaking with coworkers - Somebody at the office is organizing a beginners group outing for May 3rd, same day as the first game in the Miracle League season.

Yeesh.  How did I get this busy?  At least I can look forward (I hope) to once again just paying somebody to mow the lawn.  But other than that, I’m pretty much screwed for time.

Let me start by saying she was absolutely right to do this. Also, I would like to say that she’s only doing this because she knows me, knows that of which I am capable.

Having said that, Brandy has granted me a limited allowance for weekly spending … on downloadable songs for Rock Band.

One of the promises of developer Harmonix is that there will be weekly releases of new content for Rock Band consisting of sometimes single tracks and other times packs of three songs. For example, here’s what they’re planning to release between now and the end of this year (the following list was taken from Shacknews):

Week of November 20, 2007

Metallica Pack
- Ride the Lightning
- Blackened
- And Justice for All

The Police Pack
- Can’t Stand Losing You
- Synchronicity II
- Roxanne

Queens of the Stone Age Pack
- 3’s and 7’s
- Little Sister
- Sick Sick Sick

Individual Tracks
- Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Fortunate Son Revival” *
- Foreigner, “Juke Box Hero” *
- T-Rex, “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” *
- The Knack, “My Sharona” *
- The Runaways, “Cherry Bomb” *
- Wolfmother, “Joker & The Thief”

Week of November 27, 2007

David Bowie Pack
- Moonage Daydream
- Heroes *
- Queen Bitch *

Week of December 4, 2007

Black Sabbath Pack
- N.I.B. *
- Sweet Leaf *
- War Pigs *

Week of December 11, 2007

Punk Pack
- Ramones, “Rockaway Beach”
- The Clash, “I Fought the Law”
- Buzzcocks, “Ever Fallen In Love” *
Week of December 18, 2007

Individual Tracks
- Radiohead, “My Iron Lung”
- Weezer, “Buddy Holly”
- Pretenders, “Brass in Pocket” *
Confirmed Full Albums

The Who, “Who’s Next”
- Baba O’Riley
- Bargain
- Love Ain’t for Keeping
- My Wife
- The Song Is Over
- Getting in Tune
- Going Mobile
- Behind Blue Eyes
- Won’t Get Fooled Again (included with full game)
Nirvana, “Nevermind”
- Smells Like Teen Spirit
- In Bloom (included with full game)
- Come as You Are
- Breed
- Lithium
- Polly
- Territorial Pissings
- Drain You
- Lounge Act
- Stay Away
- On a Plain
- Something in the Way
Grateful Dead Collection
- Sugar Magnolia
- Truckin’
- Casey Jones
- Uncle John’s Band
- Touch Of Grey

Now, the prices for these things vary. Most songs are to be $1.99 each, some as low as $0.99 and some as high as $2.99. The 3 packs sell for $5.49. I hadn’t actually mentioned any of that before Brandy set my allowance - $10 per week. That should definitely be sufficient. At least, one would hope so since that translates to $520 a year. Jesus Christ.

Back when DDR Ultramix was still being supported with downloadable packs, I ended up purchasing 13 packs at a cost of $5 each. I am, apparently, the target market for downloadable content because I eat this shit up.

Except for that Grateful Dead collection. I think I’ll pass on that.

Whatever… Thanks go to my loving wife who understands both my desires and my limited self-control. Without her, I would be homeless, warming myself only with the heat generated by my consoles.

Oh blog, how I have neglected thee.  So here’s a roundup in order to save folks from seeing a ton of separate entries.

The family biked Tour du Port on 10/21.  We actually made an entire weekend out of it, doing the Baltimore inner harbor tourist thing for two days and then participating in the ride on Sunday.  We did the 10 mile route since Gareth was in attendance, but that was plenty.  Gareth was tired out by the end of it, Brandy was scared shitless by her first road ride, and I barely broke a sweat.  The scenery along the ride wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t anything special, either.  It just didn’t compare to Bike Philly.

Once the weather turns for the better again, I’m going to look into what it would take to bike from Pittsburgh to DC along the Great Allegheny Passage and C & O Canal Towpath.  I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it both ways, though.  I’m sure I can talk Brandy into meeting me in DC for a post-ride vacation.  I know my goal for next year was originally to ride the MS 150, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to maintain the average speed necessary to do that in a timely manner.  If I’m going to do the 316 mile ride from Pittsburgh to DC, I’m definitely going to need to train throughout the winter.

Of course, I can’t spend all winter on a bike, which is where video games come in.  There are too many games being released this season.  Of the 30 or so titles for Q4, a mere four are on my radar.  First up with Ace Combat 6 with the flight stick bundle.  I picked that up on day one.  Next up are Super Mario Galaxy and Rock Band.  And, while Guitar Hero III is already out, I have delayed my purchase of it due to hating the demo.  No, Halo 3 was never under consideration.  I tend to wait a year before playing Halo releases.

Pumpkins have been carved in anticipation for tonight’s trick-or-treat visitors.  For the first time ever, I have carved a pumpkin with a Star Wars theme.  A stormtrooper, to be exact.  It’s not the most technically accurate rendering in the world, but it gets the point across.  Photos coming soon.

Speaking of Halloween, I attended Gareth’s school Halloween parade.  He was having a blast in it, as were the 10 Darth Vaders, 2 Jango Fetts, 1 Clone Trooper, and 1 Storm Trooper.  Oh, and some kid was dressed up as a power droid!  Hell yeah!  GONK.

And, uh… I think that’s about it!

As I’m not known for being emotional, it may surprise you to know that emotional moments are not foreign to me. In particular are what I call the “Dad” moments - those times in fatherhood when you’re so happy you could (and nearly do) cry. Unfortunately, all of my dad moments are rather odd, but here goes:

Reading “The Hobbit” to Gareth in the hospital - This one almost doesn’t count since it was Gareth’s second day of life and he was largely unresponsive, having just the night before gone through his traumatic entry into this world. Still, it was something I really wanted to do, so I headed into a little bookstore in Danville, grabbed their last copy, and got back to the NICU to proceed with the narration. It was something I had always pictured doing as a dad, even if I didn’t picture having to do it in those circumstances.

Introducing Gareth to Quake 3 Arena - Holding him with one arm and gaming with the other, I sat Gareth in my lap so he could see what his dad did for fun. We’ve revisited Q3A a few times since then when I was adapting joysticks for his use as input devices. Since then we’ve moved onto other less bloody games.

Gareth’s first trip to a movie theater - For Shrek 2, of all things. Years have been spent honing the sharp edge of my movie snobbery. I am intolerant of chatter, children, phones, and comedians in my theater environment. As such, I was always very concerned about taking Gareth into a theater with his suction gear which consists of a small suction pump connected to a canister and tubing. When you kick it on, it makes quite a bit more noise than one would imagine, which does nothing for a normally quiet movie setting. After Shrek 2 had been in theaters over a month, I took Gareth to a show I thought would be largely empty. It sort of was, but there were enough other attendees that I started feeling self-conscious. But when the lights dimmed, the trailers played, and the opening of the movie started to run, I forgot about everybody and just marveled that I was sitting in a theater with my son. Seriously, I teared up. Then, about 10 minutes into it, Gareth lost all interest and started crying like crazy. We left shortly thereafter.

Gareth discovers that the soul still burns - Due to the various joysticks I have for console games, we eventually gave up on PC gaming and moved to the basement where Gareth discovered Donkey Konga, Taiko Drum Master, Dance Dance Revolution, and Soul Calibur. After just a little time with Soul Calibur, Gareth picked up on the fact that movement was handled with the joystick and attacks were handled by the buttons. He quickly learned to move his hand to the stick to position his fighter and then move that same hand to the buttons to kick, punch, and throw. How could I not be proud of that? He has now added Wii Sports Baseball to his list of regular games. He also has an insane love of video game theme songs - I have only to whistle the Donkey Konga theme or hum the intro to Taiko Drum Master to make him burst into instant laughter. No, he does not know the Mario theme.

Gareth faces down Darth Vader - I spent so much time worrying about taking Gareth away from his support staff (nurses, doctors, therapists) that I spent no time contemplating how great a vacation could be, so imagine the 180 I did when we arrived at DisneyWorld and almost instantly ended up on a stage with lightsaber on hand, swinging at Darth Vader. Holy shit. From that moment on, we all had a great vacation, and I had another dad moment. That one became a Gareth moment, too. He enjoyed telling everybody he knew that he fought Darth Vader and that daddy dropped the lightsaber.

Gareth gets his first bike - And probably his last.  About the time I decided to get back into bicycling, Gareth decided he loved nothing more than to pedal a trike around his preschool playground. From that moment, I planned for us to find a way to ride together. I got three dad moments out of this event: a first moment when he sat on his bike for his fitting; a second moment when we rode it for the very first time even though it was raining and in January; a third moment when we rode together in the RBR rally. Our ride in the Colyer 4th of July parade comes close, but that wasn’t emotional enough to qualify under my “Dad moment” rules.

Walking Gareth to school - This is the moment that inspired today’s entry. This morning, I walked Gareth to his second day of kindergarten, meeting one of his classmates on the way, hanging out while we waited for the crossing guard, and dropping him off in his classroom. On the way back, I just realized how great it felt to do that, to be an honest to goodness parent of a child old enough, smart enough, and lucky enough to be going to school like any other kid when his whole life has been stacked against him.

I’m bound to have plenty more dad moments in my lifetime, but these are a good start. Here’s a prediction, though - my next major dad moment will come when Gareth is able to express himself without the help of others. I’m going to be a blubbering mess when that happens.

And then I’m going to worry about all the stuff Brandy and I have said in front of him over the years. There are some words he definitely knows that shouldn’t be repeated in polite company.

As I get older and my family more complex, I find that going camping is a huge god damned production. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy camping - I really do - but just check out this list of stuff we take:

To buy
Gallon Zip Loc bags
Batteries - 2 D, 1 brick
Firewood
Lunch Saturday - Something easy
Dinner - Mountain Pies
Bread
Pizza sauce
Cheese
Pepperoni
Butter
Breakfast Sunday - Eggs (beaters), bacon, juice
Lunch Sunday - Cold cuts, chips
Bread
Turkey
Mayo
Tomato
Lettuce
Potato or Sun chips
Snack - marshmallows
Diet Coke
Bottled water
Ice

To pack
Tent
Chairs
Flashlights
Sleeping bags
Pan
Cooler
Sleeping pads
Bikes
Draftmaster
Hatchet
Lighter
Newspaper
Mallet
Shovel
Gareth’s food and meds for two days
Gareth’s suction, catheters, and charger
Toys/books for Gareth
Diapers, wipes, et cetera
Clothes for the three of us
Swimsuits
Towels
Biking bag, water bottles, trike cushion
Kayak and related gear
Camera and batteries (recharge them)
trash bags
paper towels
bug spray
Toiletries
Sunscreen

Part of me wishes that our camping could be simplified to a tent, some trail mix, and a good pair of hiking boots, but the reality is that we are suburbanite flatlanders who require some level of comfort while recreating in the woods. One time, I even looked at prices for pop-up campers. Doing so filled me with the same sense of dread as shopping for a mini-van, but I know that, at some point, a camper will be more and more appealing to me.

Dear Santa
Originally uploaded by ratsinis.

Happy holidays, everybody. May you find joy with the ones you love.

Since our morning is going to be consumed by Gareth’s gifts and the arrival of my family for breakfast, Brandy and I exchanged our gifts this evening. Here is the haul:

• Pink Floyd The Wall, CD and DVD
• Call of Duty 3 for Xbox 360
• Monty Python desk calendar
• Battle for Middle-Earth II Rise of the Witch-King expansion pack
• NRS kayak paddle leash
• NRS Farmer John wetsuit

I was really gunning for that last one. It’s the thing that will make cold weather kayaking feasible. Yep, I tried it on. If you can imagine a black Michelin Man, then you’re pretty close to knowing what it looked like.