Find your center.

Summer is winding down (although some may argue it never got started around here) and with it comes that time each year when we contract into our family and set about planning more structured time management. It's not easy because summer is (and should be, by my way of thinking) typified by free and easy times with significantly less regimentation. My lawn is a great example of that.

Now is the time for all good parents to begin the task of setting up the kids for one of the most exciting and anxiety-producing days of the year - (in doomlike voice) The First Day of School.

Thankfully many things have already begun without my knowledge or planning which is terrific for someone who rarely thinks anything major in our household cannot happen without my terrific influence and knowledge. Sad, but true. I am coming around though thanks to the great other in the house who sets about getting things done and not merely talking about them.

To achieve that centered feeling without creating a hysterical panic about the new schedule does require a bit of discipline and no procrastination. Little bits each day rather than a mass of chaos on the final days. This method is not in my nature apparently, but as I said, I am coming around... slowly. Today is Monday, and I am vowing to begin working toward a more regimented and consistent schedule both for myself and the kids.

Which means I must stop wasting my time blogging for now. Thanks for checking in and I'll see you down the road, more centered, more focused.

What? Why are you laughing at me like that?... (harumpf)

Rest In Peace Uncle Louie

A funeral is on my schedule for today.

My uncle, who meant a great deal to his family and friends, died this past Monday morning peacefully in his sleep after an illness of several months that gradually weakened him. He had just celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary with his wife Vivian on Friday the 1st of May.

I knew my Uncle Louie as a warm, kind, and loving uncle whose time spent with his family and friends was always filled with laughter and easy company. For many years he owned and operated a nice little Schwinn bicycle store for which I was the lucky groundbreaker and my family's construction company built. That great place from my childhood was always called 'the bike shop'. I hold great memories (sights, smells, feelings) of the bike shop and also their home on 8th Street which hosted many terrific family gatherings. I remember his laugh and smile. I will certainly miss him, his voice, his twinkling eyes, his humor, his manner.

The connection with my family and past he represents is nearly unparalleled for me. He and Aunt Viv always made sure that their childrens', nieces' and nephews' childhood was filled with joy. For this I am eternally grateful.

The way I can honor him best is really the only way and that is by striving to be as warm, kind, gentle, and loving as he. I don't think it is nearly as easy as it sounds because I know few who could compare. If it is hard, he sure made it look easy and that's why he will certainly will be missed.

Are Wii Crazy?

We Got a Wii last night.

And by we, I do mean 'we'. Not the Royal We (mq-nsfw: movie quote - not safe for work), or we as in 'me', but we.

It was an instant fam-favorite move but, with my seeming inability at this early point to stop playing, uhhh, setting up the Wii room, I now question my judgement. The Sony PS that's up in the attic has barely been touched and likely due to the fact that nobody but me enjoys Gran Turismo 2 (and I we haven't bothered with showing the kids another time-wasting tool). Fine. I can live with that. It's 10 years old anyway.

Nowwww, now, now there will need to be more family communications, more scheduling and prioritizing, more sharing and give and take. I can see the almighty Wii may already have us hamstrung. Damned machines. Enslaving all peoples to their basal instincts for pleasure and recreation. Damn you Nintendo, damn you to hell. What? It doubles as a DVD player? Welllll, that's actually relatively somewhat practical. Oh, and there's 'yoga and fitness' and stuff like that? Hmmm...

OK, maybe... juuust maybe, it won't be so bad. Perhaps abstract thoughts such as 'give and take' and 'work before pleasure' and 'communication' and 'sharing' and 'I said it's bedtime' will actually have some genuine meaning. Maybe this will open a new chapter of family togetherness and co-operation. Perhaps all will be well with my soul.

Yeah, and as long as my household 'to-do' list is currently, multiplied by my current rate of completion, I won't getting any more turns on the Wii until approximately August of 2011.

Wii may not be ready for a Wii, but at least it doesn't poop on the carpet.

(it doesn't do that too does it?)