more coming

Hey blogosphere. I know I’ve slacked hard as far as output is concerned. An explanation is forthcoming, and I vow to post more stuff soon. That is all.

Helmets Galore!

I had a sudden realization yesterday that I must have as many helmets as women have shoes. So I thought it would be fun to gather them together and see what they were for. (of course they each have their own specific boots as well) So from left to right they are:

Snowboarding , Rock/ Ice climbing, motorcycle, whitewater kayaking, bicycle, luge, and martial arts/ sparring. This pretty well encompasses my various hobbies. Does that say something about my personality that pretty much anything I choose to do for fun I need protective headgear for? I wouldn’t consider myself an adrenaline junkie but now I’m not so sure. What kind of crazy stuff do you do?

2010 Reading List with reviews

2010…………………………………………………………………………………………………………66

2010 was another great year in my reading life. I would have to say that my top favorite books this year were:

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

This book was integral to our getting a real handle on our finances, getting on a budget, becoming debt free, amassing six months worth of expenses in an emergency fund, and starting to build wealth.

The “In Death” police procedural mysteries by J. D. Robb.

These near-future, gritty, sexy mysteries really grabbed me this year and I have now read more than half of her 30+ books. The characters are great and the interplay between all their relationships kept me intrigued enough to keep picking up the next one in the series. I especially like the audio books because Susan Erickson does such a great job acting all the different characters with distinct and entertaining voices.

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett.

I don’t normally read a lot of pure fantasy with magic and things, but this was some awesome, hardcore demon slaying goodness. I also really like how we followed three characters from very early ages up through adulthood. This is a great book. A mysterious world with captivating characters pull the reader along on an incredible journey through years of their lives. It was hard to put this one down until I was done. I could see this being a great video game or movie in a few years.

After that, there were so many others and I enjoyed almost all of them. The books on Afghanistan were very interesting and also a few of the survival type books, both fiction and non-fiction.

Another quick life update

So… I was laid off again. Now I am doing some freelance work at home and helping to watch our two boys when I can. The job market here is not great, but I think I can swing it if my wife gets a decent job with benefits in the fall. Now we are back below the poverty line again for the moment. But, thanks to proper financial planning (thanks Dave Ramsey) we have six months of expenses in the bank so we are not in full blown emergency mode just yet. However, if anyone out there in the greater blogosphere wants to offer me a job, I’ll be more than willing to take a look at the offer!

 

50,000 views!

This is just a quick vanity post, but I just wanted to thank you, the readers for visiting my blog 50,000 times. I hope to write more good stuff as my life settles down again after the birth of my second child.

My sister: news anchor

My awesome sister Catherine is studying journalism at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. Recently she has been doing radio updates and some on-camera work for their news site: http://edinburghnapiernews.com. Here she is doing a 12:30 bulletin for March 25th, 2011. Good job Cath, keep it up!

My new son!

Nathan Roarke was born yesterday, coming in at 9 lbs. 6.8 oz. and 22 in. long. My wife is a champion at natural childbirth! No drugs or anything. The labor went well, but it’s not called labor for nothin’.  It was work. But after 10 minutes and 4 pushes, he was out. ( I hear second children are faster that way.)Still, the entire labor was long and we were both up for more than 24 hours. Exhausted doesn’t begin to explain it. But we are very happy and thankful that both mother and baby are healthy and safe.