EVERLAST SPONSORSHIP!

Is it to early to give my son boxing lessons? The little bloke is 14months. When the wife and I picked him up from infant care he had a red mark below his eye. The daycare lady said another kid hit him in the face.
WTF, these spoiled ass rich kids!
This immediately made me think about the email I received from babycenter.com marking his 13month 3week birthday. It stated; If your toddler indulges in fits of screaming, hitting, and biting, you can take some solace in knowing that his development is right on track.
(AGAIN) WTF!
In my house discipline starts at 13months 3weeks and that’s how I know my sons development is on the right track!

Last year I made it a point to start insisting on a higher level of customer service from businesses I patronized. This required me to follow up when my expected level of customer service was not received and be willing to stop doing business with companies that did not address my customer service complaints in a proper manner.

This practice caused me to stop doing business with two stores. Unfortunately both stores were small business owned. I prefer to give the small business owner my dollar but in both situations the customer service was horrible. You would expect a small business to place more emphasis on customer service. Both businesses were unique to the area in the sense that they were the only local store to offer their products/services. One was a cigar shop and the other was a saltwater aquarium shop. I often wonder if this played a part in their lack of highlighting customer service.

From this point on I will use my blog to spread the word regarding bad customer service experiences. In fairness to companies I will first give them the opportunity to address my concerns as one local grocery store recently did in a timely manner.

If you experience poor customer service please empower yourself via communication with the powers that be. Address your concerns to the owner of a store or the corporate office of a company and feel the since of liberation that comes with being heard.

HOME AGAIN?

Having children has a way of changing your priorities.
I never intended to leave New York to attend school. The offer of an academic scholarship lured me to Washington DC. In retrospect I’m glad it happened. For someone like me, with close family relationships, staying close to home can hinder growth. The man I am today is directly related to my experience isolated from family in the metro DC area.
Now, as a husband and a father, I no longer think isolation from my extended family is necessary for my development. In truth, I believe the distance is now detrimental to my immediate family.
My wife was raised about five minutes from where we live. She has an abundance of local relatives. With the exception of my brother-in-law, shout out to Naz, we hardly see her family. This is not entirely their fault as we do not make a concerted effort to socialize. The problem is; when my wife and I want to catch a movie and we can not find a babysitter, and we live within 10 miles of a few dozen relatives, it becomes hard to justify staying in this locale for “family” reasons.
So now I find myself wondering if it is time to move back to New York. My wife would embrace relocation to NY as she contemplated the move before we even met. The little bloke would miss his uncle, but I’m sure it wouldn’t take much arm twisting for uncle Naz to visit regularly. The bloke would be near his beloved Grandma GG and she would be more than eager to keep him as my wife and I have some “Us” time.
One thing is certain; if we decide to relocate it will not be as easy as typing words in a blog.

WHEN YOUR BODY BETRAYS YOU!!!!!!!!!

I will be 30 in less than a month. My goal has been to be in better shape at 30 than I was at 25. I have spent the last 6 months devoted to this goal.
Like most people with fitness goals I’ve suffered setbacks due to temporary lack of discipline or momentary weakness. Of course there were the “Holidays”, several birthdays and events that threw me off course. By far my biggest problem has been my own body’s mischievousness.
Maybe I should call it spitefulness. My body has dealt me a blow after blow. Getting in shape at 30 is nothing like getting in shape in your early 20s. I have suffered through countless injuries and illnesses over the last 6 months. Many people don’t realize that working out can actually compromise your immune system as your body tries to rebuild muscle. Accompany that fact with the presence of a little germ magnate of a son running around and you have a recipe for constant sickness.
Currently I am recovering from a cold I caught at work and horrible lower back pain. I have not been in the gym in four days which is my longest drought in months. I am dragging my ass to cycling and basketball today if I have to load up on meds to do it. Hopefully over exhortation won’t force me to post from the confines of my bed tomorrow.

BYE BYE BLUE MOOSE!!

Blue Moose is being placed on performance related probation. Many children grow attached to a certain “blankey”. My son’s “blankey” is actually a blue beanie baby moose given to him by his Grandma Misko.
For over a year Blue Moose has faithfully comforted the young bloke. However the moose may soon be sent packing.
The last few weeks have been besieged by restless nights. My wife has left bed to tend to my son far more often than normal. Typically the young bloke can be soothed by a properly heated bottle of organic grade A milk and his Blue Moose. This technique has not worked of late. These 2am tirades have impacted the entire Carmina clan. A sleepless Momma bear is detrimental to us all.
So I got to wondering…. What happened to Blue Moose? Has he been on vacation? …Blue Moose has lost his touch! Blue Moose no longer possesses the power of pacification. The magic is gone!
What went wrong? Maybe Blue Moose was soaked with milk one too many times. Maybe his stints in the washing machine laundered his sway away. Whatever the reason Blue Moose has been put on notice!! Either Blue Moose starts getting results or he will be replaced!

Hallelujah! Sunday Insanity

My Wife’s Professional Opinion!

My blog layout is constantly changing. Why is this? No, it is not because I am fickle or trying to achieve layout perfection. The truth is I am fortunate to be married to a “Social Website” specialist. In her “professional opinion” the flowers in my blog layout made it to difficult to read. To remedy this situation I have condensed my Indian wedding floral arrangement (my wife’s professional term) so my newest post will be easy to read. I hope I have made my wife proud and no longer shame her with my lack of social website savoir-faire.

Why do we get married?

A couple of nights ago I was forced to watch the unrealistic nonetheless hilarious “Why did I get married?”. Countless movies are made with this same premise. Does this signify the current mindset in our society?
At the end of the day are we not merely animals? Mammals that by nature feel the need to procreate, seek stability and shelter. It seems more married people are worried about what they are missing out on by being married while their single counterparts do not yearn to experience marriage.
Is our society broken? Is there a problem when people see having children as more of a burden than an aspiration?
What about the religious aspect? Most people claim to be religious and most all religions stress marriage and procreation.
We now live in a country with more single/divorced adults than married ones. I have been married for almost 2 years and have yet to wonder “Why did I get married?”. For that question to enter one’s mind I would imagine you must first think about life without your husband or wife. I do not and never want to imagine life with out my wife. I guess I can be filed under the ever dwindling group of “happily married” individuals. Besides who wants baby momma drama anyway ;) !

today work has drained my creative juices. Hopefully I will recover and have enough energy to say something meaningful later.

WHAT AM I MISSING????????

From the moment your child is born you realize that you will never have enough time with them. Now I know there are house moms that will read this (mainly my wife) and think to themselves “Time with my child is great but I always can use a break”.
For those of us that do not have the option of staying home with our children the thought of missing moments and losing time is unrelenting.
Maybe I am being a bit presumptuous. I have heard countless women talk about how uninvolved their husband was in raising their children. The tone used when stating this “fact” is normally one of condescension. I wonder to myself if their husbands “neglect” was by choice or did they fall victim to the fleeting nature of time? Did their responsibilities make in nearly impossible to be as involved in their child’s life as they and their wives desired?
I guess in the end the most important person in this equation is the child. What is the child’s perception? When I was young I always wondered why my dad seemed to never make my weeknight baseball games, as an adult I realize I was lucky he made as many as he did.
Parenting is difficult job. Balance is essential and compromise is inevitable. I know my wife’s job as a stay home mom is tougher than my job as a provider, but at the end of the day both jobs are equally vital. The one difference is my wife can choose not to be a “stay at home” mom where as I can not choose to stop providing for my family.
I yearn for more time at home with my family but I must resolve to make the best out of the time I have.

WHERE DO I WORK?!

Where do I work? I mean seriously, how I’ve ended up in this field is beyond me. I have spent my day assisting in the production of Valentines Day bags for coworkers, 99% of whom are male. The best manager has the weirdest sense of humor.

Sleeping Beauty Interrupted

There are several dudes at my job that have a pregnant wife at home. At least once a week I sit and laugh as they claim to have baby rearing all figured out.
News flash buddy! There is not figuring it out, and the abundance of warnings you will receive will not prepare you for the sleepless nights and persistent worrying.
My son is now 13 months. Typically the little bloke sleeps right through the night, but lately he has been waking up and terrorizing his poor mother who wants nothing more than 8 hours of beauty sleep.

PLEASE SON, LET MOMMY SLEEP!!!!
P.S. I would like to thank my lovely wife for letting me lay in bed while she responds to the emergency shrieks that permeate through the baby monitor.

DIGEST

"Religion is not just some dry intellectual idea but rather your basic philosophy of life: you hear a teaching that makes sense to you, find through experience that it relates positively with your psychological makeup, get a real taste of it through practice, and adopt it as your spiritual path. That's the right way to enter the spiritual path."

TIME TO MAKE THE DOUGHNUTS

After 4hours of sleep (not my little bloke’s fault) I am back at the “LAB”. I would of never imagined wearing a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts hat at 7am on a Sunday!

"Give it a name"

THE CATCH

DUNK

THE GREATEST WORTH IS SELF-MASTERY

And here I am joining the wonderful world of blogging. How have I arrived? I was pulled through the door by my lovely wife. I guess it’s only right since I call myself “the writer” that I do something to prove my prowess.
What do I hope to gain from blogging? It is said the greatest effort is not concerned with results. The Buddhist in me hopes that I will type words that improve my silence. The husband in me hopes I will type words that impress my wife and bring many smiles to her face. The writer in me hopes I can get out this terrible funk that I can no longer refer to as writer’s block since I can not remember what it is to be a writer and therefore can not identify my funk as “writer’s block”. What I would give to be a writer again, I would embrace blockage with the knowledge of passage ;)
I won’t waste MUCH time introducing myself since I will be keeping this blog rather private. Anyone reading this blog should know me. To summarize, I am a rather happily married man, married to the love of my life to whom I hope to one day truly be able to convey the depth of my love. I have the best son a man can ask for, he was catching a NFL football before his 1st birthday and can dunk (albeit on his barely 3ft fisher price basketball hoop). Outside of my son’s athletic aptitude he is also quite (not quit baby) the character. He is a local celebrity whom all the ladies coo over and his smile can light up a Reston bike path at midnight (northern VA humor).
As much as I love every minute of time with Noah Bear (my son), my wife and I are on the hunt for a babysitter so we can get away one night a week. We are trying to enjoy some “Carmina” time before attempting to procreate again. We pray for a girl this time since we have the best name picked out (which I wont share) and we enjoy balance in our house. Husband and wife with one son and one daughter is a Feng Shui family!