Too Much of Anything

I’ve always been a portable gadget geek. I carried a PDA before there were enough devices on the market for them to be called PDAs. I have a box at work that is filled with devices, like the Palm V and the Apple Newton, that I believe were just too far ahead of their time [...]

The Best Phase of Child Rearing so Far

I have enjoyed every phase of raising our children. I still remember Susie and I eating and sleeping in shifts during our first few days at home with Kimberley. I got immense pleasure in seeing Alex take the field in his first soccer game, or watching Christopher ride his bike solo the first time.
All of [...]

The Things Children Ensure

I attended the annual conference of the North American Council on Adoptable Children ( NACAC) in Columbus Ohio. I’m here because Susie and I adopted our third child 15 years ago. Those who know us well have watched us love thru some difficult times. One of the bright spots from the experience was our role in [...]

Turning Play into Work

I just finished reading Play by Stuart Brown and Christopher Vaughan. some of the best information I get from reading inxolves reminding me of things I already knew. That’s the case with this book. We all played as a natural part of our childhood, then we grew up and eschewed play. We feel that adults [...]

Playing Games for the Fun of It

I grew up in a family that loved to play games. In fact, we still do. On the first Friday of each month, we all gather at my sister’s house to eat and play games. We’re an extremely competitive bunch too. My house wasn’t the kind of place where the adults would “let” the children [...]

Games People Play

I love to play games. I especially love it when I’m playing with people who love to play games. Susie and I started a game company with a group of friends a few years ago. We really enjoyed testing the games by playing them at our “meetings.” We found that we weren’t really any good [...]

Movies on Demand

I was a latchkey child before sociologists had coined the term. I got home from school every day and let myself in using the key around my neck. Then I proceeded to watch TV for the next three hours until my mother came home to fix dinner. I still remember the theme songs to Gilligan’s [...]

Avoiding Confrontation

When my wife and I started living together more than 26 years ago, we came to an unspoken agreement about divisions of labor that has worked well for us. Quite simply, the person who cares the most gets to choose, or the person who is most picky has to do it. There are occasions when [...]

Things Santa Didn’t Bring Me

In the last few years, Santa Claus and I have had a very intimate relationship. You see, he just tells me to pick up whatever I want, wrap it, and put it under the tree with a tag that says it’s from him. I’ve been more than willing to oblige the old man and do [...]

It Beats a Kick in the Head

Yesterday’s post was the firstone I did using the WordPress iPhone app. It’s a different experience writing that way (as I am now).
I received some very unexpected news yesterday. Those who know me know that I’m not afraid to be in charge. In fact, most would say it’s my preference. My desire to be [...]

Giving Thanks is Easy

I started my winter workouts this week. When it’s warm outside, I get quite a bit of exercise running and bike riding. As cold weather sets in, I usually have a period of extreme lethargy running from mid-October until early January. During that time, I eat more, drink more, sleep more, and exercise as little [...]

Readings that led to Ruminations

I have been reading a lot lately. Our Indianapolis Marion County Public Library has a wonderful online system that lets me reserve a book then pick it up near the front desk of my favorite branch. The reservation system is first-come, first-served, so I tend to have lots of books on reserve [...]

Some Friends are Forever

  Port-to-Port Consulting is in one of its busiest summers ever. We have five schools that each have significant summer refresh work to get done, in addition to our normal routine. It’s not exactly the best time to take off for personal stuff. That made it strange for many on my staff when I announced [...]

Time is Fleeting

I found out today that one of my fraternity brothers died. Brian Fabel was a healthy man. He was just one year older than me. He went out for a run last night with his dog and had a heart attack and died. I read about it in an email that goes out to a [...]

And Still Counting

My wife and I got married over the Memorial Day weekend in 1983. On our first anniversary, I was about to head to Air Force Officer Training School (OTS) and we were to be apart for the summer. A good friend lent us her apartment for the Memorial Day weekend so we could have some [...]