The one where I wish I owned horses

For the first time ever, it cost over $50 to fill the pony. At this point I'm seriously considering getting a Conestoga wagon.

A couple of shout outs, a question, and a clarification.

Added a couple more dads that I enjoy to the list over yonder, Backpacking Dad and Lost Parent Diary. Both of these dads write wonderfully and are well worth the read and subscription.

Now, a question. Is there some physiological explanation for the fact that the elderly feel it alright to walk up to my son and touch him? How is this behavior acceptable? The only thing that kept me from going all Royale with Cheese on the latest octogenarian to partake in this liberty was the death look from my wife... and the three MPD officers in Jason's Deli at the time.

And the clarification. This is not a gaming blog. I game, but that's not what this is about. I'm a thirty-something gamer turned full-time stay-at-home dad, guess which one occupies more time? (But I am almost ready to give my take on GTA4.) With this in mind, the next time someone feels compelled to leave an anonymous comment saying how much I suck as a games blogger, at least dad up and use your name.

A philosophy

I'd like to think myself rather even handed and objective when reviewing anything that gets sent down the pipe. I mean, if you're looking for someone that'll unquestioningly pat you on the back all the while holding your bottle for you as they review your game/product/whatever, then you're better off looking elsewhere. Your mom did that for you oh so many years ago, but this fat, white, out of shape (unless you count round as a shape), thirty-something gamer turned full-time stay-at-home dad won't coddle you so. I flatly refuse to compromise what tiny bit of credibility I have in the bowels of teh interwebs, which I know is like claiming that Fox News is credible journalism. If I don't like something, I'm not going to sugar coat it and look for the good in something I consider bad as a whole.

That said, the forever brilliant and unabashedly honest, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, takes on some of his detractors in this week's Zero Punctuation in a manner that I feel captures my philosophy to a tee.

My Summer

This about sums up my summer movie plans:

Flying the Friendly Skies

I've been unfair to Southwest over the years. Without so much as one second in their seats, I've passed judgment on what I am told is a perfectly acceptable airline. Part of this bias comes from working for Mr. Woolman's airline, which I found out recently will be closing the office that I worked at due to industry wide tightening of the belt. I found while working there that one developed a loyalty to not only their employer's product, but to the family that was Delta.

That, now, has a reason to change. I'm giving Southwest a chance to impress me. I'm giving Southwest the most important thing I can think of. I'm giving them my daughter.

On June 2nd I will be winging my way Califory bound to get my precious little girl for a month. To say that it's going to be a great day is on foreshadowed by the fact that it's going to suck as well. You see, I'm going all the way out to California and back in one day. O-N-E.

It'll work out to thirteen hours in the air and six hours of layovers. Of course that's a small and welcome price to pay in order to get Mac and bring her back to where she belongs. I'd gladly do it everyday if it meant that I got to see her.

So, t-minus twenty-eight days.

Plenty of baby. Not much gaming.

When I first set out on this little slice of the blogging cesspool, I had every intention of the bits of prose that would inhabit the pixels of your computer screen would be told as a thirty-something gamer turned full-time stay-at-home dad. It seemed at the time a rather unique and untold manner of making a mark on the greater blogsphere. But, more than a year later, I realize that things here have never been that one dimensional.

You see, life is complex. That revelation may shock and scare some of you, but with the harsh reality of age comes the enlightenment of the truth, no one person is any one thing. I've been wrestling with that even more of late. It seems that the more that I've stayed home with my son the more I realize all of the things that I am. And some of the things I've lost.

The obvious bits need no explanation to any of you that have shared this journey. But, the gaming portion of gamingwithbaby.com has seen a decline. I haven't been sent a title to review in quite some time. The last thing was Professor Layton for the DS, and it's been so long for the Wii that the title of the last game I was sent escapes me. It's not that I expect anything, really I'm still quite shocked that the great folks at Nintendo think highly enough of me that they send me things to peruse.

But the forever paranoid, agoraphobic in me wonders if my neighbors aren't stealing packages off of my doorstep. Just another in the long list of wonders of apartment dwelling I suppose. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.

And I'm up to my ears in baby. Butters continues to delight, amaze, and prematurely gray me just as his big sister did (and still does). He still steadfastly refuses to walk. I let go of him to get him to stand and he remains upright for a few brief moments, then gently squats down. Not the sudden "Issac Newton was right about gravity" butt connecting to the floor type fall, but rather the type of gentle graceful squat that one would generally associate with sitting down on the toilet to read the Sunday paper.

No change with Mac. She's still in California, we're still here. She misses us, we miss her. We miss her so much in fact that Butters' newest word is "Sissy." Now tell me that doesn't tug at the heartstrings.

As for Rotormommy, well that deserves much in the way of narrative. Too much for this meager post. Let's just put it this way, as stressful as things are, it's the status quo.

And yours truly is still here. Growing as a photographer and trying to make a couple of bucks at it. It's slow going, and truth be told I suck, but it's there. I'm learning however that my artistic sensibilities often have to bend to the needs of the person with the cash, and that's something I'm not enjoying very much. I think as this little venture continues I'm going to have to do as I did when I sold cars, and just be honest with people. I'm going to have to tell them what I am about, and if that doesn't meet their needs, then I can point them to someone who can.

That in a nutshell, is the happenings. It's a small nutshell, but it'll have to do. As it stands right now I've got about 500 shots to go through from Rotormommy's hockey tournament this weekend, dinner to figure out, and laundry to do.

Oh the joys of being a domestic goddess.