The Last Ephor

When I told my 6 year old we had to hurry, he ran off ahead of me yelling "Start the plane Jock!" (For the record I have no idea where he's heard this as we've never let him watch the movie.)

"Our biggest concern right now is brain damage" the doctor said as he reviewed my son's file.

Just decloaking for a minute to say that I'm still breathing. Thing have been, well, not dull. Too much to report at the moment. Some of it good, some of it not. If you've read this far and have checked in after all this time thanks for sticking with me. Updates to resume shortly.

largely because of personal difficulty which I was going to elaborate on. That was, until I read this . Comparatively my post seems like petty friggin whining so I'll continue to shut up. God bless Dom and her whole family. Especially Ashley. "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet princess. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." -Hamlet Act V, Scene ii

Very very bad. Explanation forthcoming. Bear with me on this one.

I’ve been thinking of late about Shelley’s poem (sonnet really) Ozymandias. I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said -- "two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert ... near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lips, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, Look on my Works ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away." I’ve always liked the imagery. The narrator doesn’t see the scene he describes. Rather it was related to him but his description is enough for the reader to feel the sand shift beneath his feet. All things pass away. No matter how powerful and omnipresent they are at their zenith...

When we last left our hero, he was unceremoniously given the boot by CandyCo in the wake of budget cuts. I moped around despondantly for a week or so. brow furrowed and mutering to myself. The second week was actually quite nice. I fell in with the rhythm of the household. Waking when the kids did and going through the day. Week Three: The longest break from work I've had since college. Getting concerned about finances. I called past contracts to see if they needed anyone and scoured Monster, Thingamajob, BrassRing et al. No Dice (if you'll pardon the pun). Week Four: I'm having trouble sleeping. Worry keeps me awake. My eldest is not sleeping either. He's awake @ 2:30 AM for 6 consecutive days. He does not nap and is very aggressive. Wife and I are tired. We fall into a pattern wherein I get up with him and nap later when the baby takes one. Week Five: Still nice to be off but being unemployed sucks. I get to spend a lot of time with the kids esp. b...

It's Friday at 3:30 and I get a call on my cell phone from my recruiter and account manager. For those of you who are consultants, you know this is not good news. I can practically hear the sympathetic head tilt in their voices as they start talking. I stop them in mid sentence. "They're cutting the contract aren't they?" "Yes. But it's not performance related." "Small consolation. How long?" "Two weeks which is generous." She's right. Most contracts end the day they cut the funding for the project. In any case I finished the job and on my last day home from work I stopped to get gas. When I got back in my car it wouldn't start. Had the car towed to the dealer who got me back on the road a mere $900 later. Cause that's what I needed now that I'm unemployed. Oh, and yesterday the A/C stopped working. I can only imagine what that's going to cost me. The long and the short of it is: I'm unemploy...

I'd have no luck. So last night about 6:00 the lights flick off, then on, then off. Pitch black and the kids are not thrilled. Eldest is incensed that the light switches are not responding. He's putting my hand on the switch and when I can't make the lights come on he has a meltdown. The baby thinks all of this is very amusing. Samneric* have exactly opposite opinions. Sam is ecstatic that he gets to use the flashlight and Eric is afraid of the imminent arrival of monsters. We get him calmed down and manage to get everyone bathed and in their pj's. "I wish we were in heaven. The lights never go off in heaven." says Eric. We read a few books by flashlight and get Eldest and The Baby off to bed. Suddenly, the lights come back on. Eric says, "Can we turn the lights back off?" This from the child who was in tears an hour ago. *Bonus points for reader(s) who get the reference.

(With apologies to Mr. Ayers for the hyperbole) An event filled weekend. First of all, I did something that I rarely do. I went out for the evening. I'm something of a homebody largely because my job and my kids pretty much run me into the ground by the time the weekend rolls around. I do go out once in a while with friends or dinner with the wife but those are rather infrequent. On Saturday I was invited to a beer tasting. That's enough to get me motivated and out of the house for once. The twist here is that the host of said beer tasting was hosted by Don Viti (Yes I know I'm breaking my own rule but more on that in a moment). My trip to the Fever Swamp of Delaware Liberalism DV's house started with this guy bringing my trip to a halt. I saw the car in the woods and knew that whoever was in that car was in pretty bad shape. Good thing I don't believe in omens. I follow ever faithful Google Maps to find the house and turn into the driveway. I park ...

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath to hear my latest whine about being tired. Wah. I know. So here's the latest; Friday came and went very very slowly. I was working on very tedious administrative duties at work (cleaning up user ID's on the security module. Just shoot me). I have to remember to put this off until I find myself unable to sleep again. It has to be an instant cure. I did, however, get the Unexpected Urgent Support Call from a user. In England. I'm getting ahead of myself. First; some background. I was working from home on Friday as is normal and my wife had to go to a parent/teacher conference for #3 to discuss whether or not he's ready for Kindergarten (long story short, he is). The meeting was about 15 minutes and it was a 10 minute drive each way to the school. For those of you who are native to Delaware that'd be 10 + 10 + 15 = 35 minutes. For those 35 minutes I'd have to watch both kids. It's easy to watc...

Two Thirty three AM. He was up again at 2:33 AM. For. The. Day. I feel like death warmed over. It's like being hungover without getting to enjoy the beer the night before. He was very upset and crying and wouldn't stay in he bed or even his room. I have a headache of truly epic proportions that nothing seems to quell. I'm crankier than Keith Olberman at a GOP convention and my eyes are burning like I've been in a swimming pool for hours. Best of all? A birthday party for tomorrow for my son and, God help me, 14 other 5 year olds. This is supposed to have passed by now as the medication should be out of his system. If this is not a side effect of the medication and simply the new norm, I have major, major problems. Other than slightly increased aggression he seems totally unaffected by the whole thing which is, frankly, unfair. I wish I had half his energy. If I could bottle it and sell it, I certainly wouldn't be blogging to you lot. I'd be sitt...

So, the lack of blogging lately can be attributed to one thing: lack of sleep. No, it's not the baby, it's my eldest. He started some new medication recently and when we discussed it with the doctor she never mentioned that insomnia was one of the possible side effects. (Shame on me for not reading the fine print on the side effects). After about a week, he stopped sleeping normally. He would go to bed at regular time (circa 8:00 PM) and then he'd be coming into our bedroom around 2:00 AM. Up. For. The. Day. I have to mention here that the his energy level is also atypical for kids his age. He's 7 but in addition to being autistic, he has ADHD. Yes. So imagine your 7 year old after 3 Red Bulls at 2:00 AM for 8 days in a row. I'm literally falling asleep any time I'm not actively doing something. My wife and I are at our wits end. We stopped the medication a few days ago but this insomnia has not abated. In fact, it may not. This may be the new n...

Love the look in the kid's face.

Fair warning: possibly graphic post and not for the squeamish. So it all started Friday night. Wife and I had a long day (as usual) and had finally finished with dishes, laundry and the rest of the normal daily grind. The baby had been fussy most of the day and had spit up here and there. Mostly we thought it had been switching from formula to milk which can sometimes cause this type of thing. By the time kid #4 rolls around you tend to let these things slide. If this were #1 we'd have called in a medivac at the first sign of vomiting in a 1 year old. He finally calmed down and we got him off to sleep. We watched a bit of The Wire and retired (very) late. About 10 minutes later #2 wakes up crying complaining of a stomach ache. I ask if he has to go to the bathroom and he says no, it's not that. His stomach really hurts. OK, into my bed and I'll get the heating pad for a bit. We get him settled and he calms down. Knowing that he tends towards the dramatic, I s...

Merry Christmas!

Worst. Weekend. Ever. So, it all started on Thursday when the 'fridge gave up the ghost. It had been plotting and planning and waited until my wife had gone to the grocery store and filled him with tons of food. I came home and found the fridge smirking and churning lukewarm air into the fridge. After throwing out hundreds of dollars worth of now spoiled food. The fridge guy came and $247 later and 9 minutes of labor he replaced the errant part. Whatever. The dishwasher must have been feeling neglected because he decided to run a few cycles without opening the soap dispenser. I threatened said appliance with percussive maintenance involving crowbars which got his attention and he's now working without any $247 parts. Thursday night my wife and I packed the whole crew up for a trip to the beach. After packing most of what we owned into the Family Truckster (TM) we collapsed, exhausted onto the couch. If we were on the highway and some sort of Mt. Vesuvius style disaste...

Me: I was thinking we should put Super Soakers in their Easter Baskets Her: Super Soakers? Me: Yeah, you know, water guns. Her: No! They'll shoot each other with them Me: Well, that's the general idea. Didn't you have them when you were a kid? Her: Well yes but with these the water is too....(starts gesturing vaguely with hands) Me: Too....? Her: Too sharp. Me: The water is too sharp. Her: yes. Me: I give up.

I'm proud to announce the birth of my son on 12/31/06 @ 3:59 PM. 7 lbs 14 oz 20.5" Mom and baby are doing well. This is our 4th and it doesn't get any less amazing with each delivery. To my wife, thank you for blessing me with 4 perfect children.