monitorhead

Last weekend I watched the kids while Megan went to California to work with some friends at a scrapbooking convention. To help manage the time with my boys, I took them to Blockbuster to rent some videos. As usual, they chose Spiderman The Venom Saga cartoon and The Batman Superman Movie. This began a week-long Batman obsession for Connor. First, he watched the movie repeatedly. Next, he wanted to draw numerous pictures of Batman (with dad’s help). Megan fed the passion by buying a Lego Batman toy as a souvenir. The culmination however was the Batman costume we put together yesterday. I’ll post a picture the next time he dresses up.

This all reminded me of being a kid and wearing my Underoos and a pillow case around my neck, transforming myself into Superman. It doesn’t take much imagination to take on the persona of an unstoppable hero with special powers or abilities. It might seem silly to dress up like a fictional character, but the desire to emulate heroes doesn’t go away with age. It’s just that the heroes change. Just think of all those boys and men out there wearing the jersey of their favorite ball player. That is not too far removed from donning a brightly colored T-shirt with a big ‘S’ emblazoned on the chest. After all, everyone wants to be a Super Hero.

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1. I have never responded to a tagging…until now.
2. I started the blogging trend in my family.
3. I am the least proficient blogger in my family.
4. Nicknames I’ve had: DT, Thurmanator, Del, Derek the perek, Derelichte, Mago
5. I am a geek.
6. In grad school, I had 7 PC’s, at the same time. All of them worked.
7. Currently, we have 4 PC’s, 1 Mac, and 1 handheld computer.
8. My favorite hobby is gaming.
9. I am a big geek.
10. Calling me a geek or nerd will not hurt my feelings.
11. I started playing soccer in the first grade when I was 6 years old.
12. I still play soccer on an indoor team once a week.
13. I was inspired to play indoor soccer by Ryan.
14. I don’t enjoy interior decorating.
15. I mow my own lawn because it is the only time I regularly spend outside and because I am cheap.
16. I reached my full height by the 10th grade.
17. I weighed 165 lbs. from age 15 to 29.
18. I had my first stitches at age 2.
19. I have had stitches 4 times…all on my head or face.
20. I subscribe to A Word A Day.
21. I still remember the first word I learned on A.W.A.D. 6 years ago: Potemkin village.
22. I have been accused of having a photographic memory.
23. I rarely remember things my wife just told me 5 minutes earlier.
24. I have lived in 9 cities.
25. I had my first paying job at age 9: paper boy.
26. My formal education spans 24 years.
27. My favorite color is blue.
28. During junior high school I rarely wore clothing that was not grey, black or blue.
29. I played organized football for the first time in the 8th grade. I made the starting team.
30. In the 9th grade, I played football and soccer at the same time and often left football practice after school and went to soccer practice.
31. My personal best in the high jump is 6′.
32. Growing up I often claimed my goal was to be a garbage man.
33. My boys get up early on Tuesdays and Fridays to wave at the garbage man.
34. I eat the same breakfast and lunch almost every weekday: bagel and coffee for breakfast, PB&J, chips and an apple for lunch.
35. I am a creature of habit.
36. I love cars made by Honda and may never buy anything else.
37. I have performed x-ray scattering experiments on two continents at 3 synchrotron sources.
38. I enjoy reading science-fiction and western novels.
39. Being a good dad is one of my top goals in life.
40. I have no fashion sense and it does not bother me at all.
41. I wear a size 8.5 shoe.
42. I like sports but rarely make time to watch them.
43. The World Cup is the exception.
44. I have written a simple computer program before.
45. I like skiing.
46. I have not skied for nearly 10 years.
47. I would like to learn snowboarding.
48. I tore a ligament in my knee.
49. I have never broken a bone in my body.
50. I have worn a beard since high school with only short clean-shaven stints.
51. I don’t like to shave.
52. Growing up, I was the only one in my immediate family who did not wear corrective lenses.
53. Growing up, I was the only one in my immediate family without mold and pine alergies.
54. Growing up, I was the only one in my immediate family with blue eyes.
55. My wife married me for my blue-eyed genes.
56. Science-fiction is my favorite genre for movies and television.
57. I believe chocolate and coffee are better the darker they are.
58. Lately, I only read books while on an airplane.
59. I love electronic gadgets but don’t care about advanced mobile phones.
60. Of the 350 minutes of cell phone airtime we use in a typical month, my calls account for about 25 minutes.
61. I always liked dogs better than cats until we got a cat.
62. I saw the recently released The Transformers at the theater by myself.
63. I have an original series Optimus Prime toy along with original packaging in my parents’ attic.
64. I have a box a box full of all my old soccer jerseys since I was 13.
65. While in college, I once got two speeding tickets in the same week.
66. I got my driver’s license at age 17 (a year late) because I didn’t own a car at 16.
67. I get freckles.
68. I got braces when I was 18.
69. I don’t wear hats anymore. Not as a rule but as a habit.
70. I think khaki pants are the new blue jeans.
71. I haven’t bought a new CD for more than 5 years (with the exception of Zane Williams music).
72. I am an author on 5 scientific papers.
73. At one point, I had a library of nearly 200 videos and DVDs.
74. I only purchase children’s movies now.
75. I have been bungie-jumping.
76. I asked my wife to marry me in a magnolia tree.
77. I hate local news programs on television.
78. I get my news from the internet.
79. I don’t generally care for politics or politicians.
80. I read the newspaper when I am traveling but never when I am home.
81. I don’t get sick very often.
82. I taught myself to play guitar.
83. I was in a band in college.
84. I like fixing things.
85. I actually like my commute to work. It’s relaxing.
86. I always eat italian dressing or vinagrette on salad.
87. Between January and May this year, I spent 0 of my working days on business trips. 
88. Between June and September this year, I spent 1/3 of my working days on business trips.
89. I prefer water to carbonated drinks.
90. I have a fear of riding motorcycles that stems from childhood.
91. I read slowly but tend to retain what I read.
92. I am not a picky eater and I will eat almost everything except liver.
93. I think chiropractrics is useful.
94. I never wanted to be a medical doctor because I get shivers just thinking of bodily harm to other people be it accidental or intentional.
95. I have a very high pain tolerance.
96. I have visited Carlsbad caverns.
97. I have never visited Niagra Falls.
98. I think boxing is a good way to hurt your face.
99. I am a good speller but I missed the first word in the only spelling bee I ever participated in.
100. The longest blog entry I have ever posted is this list.

I tag Patrick and Caleb. They are the most likely people to still be reading my blog.

This post was prompted by Caleb’s recent comment in which he inquired if anything blog-worthy had happened recently. The answer is: not so much.

So why am I writing today? I stayed home from church this morning with Logan who is a little sick. He had the “croop” and was not breathing well on Friday. We are keeping him away from other kids until he is better. The funny thing is that he has been taking some cortisone to reduce the inflammation of his airways. This seems to be putting him into an ultra-high energy mode. He has spent the last 15 minutes running around the living room, bouncing off of furniture, wiggling, dumping Legos in between couch cushions, and babbling. He is very sick.

I knew I would be staying home this morning, so I got outside around 8am to mow our lawn which has been neglected for the last couple of weeks. Between my excessive traveling schedule this month and the weekend rainstorms, I haven’t been able to do regular yard work. Today was partially successful. I cut about half the lawn when the downpour started. We also got our annual home owners association notice reminding us to trim our trees to allow 9ft of clearance above sidewalks and roadways. The yard work never ends.

I mentioned my traveling schedule. I have been lucky enough that I haven’t traveled for business since November last year. However, June has seen that change. By the end of the month, I will have taken 4 trips for work: Tennessee, Tennessee, California, and New Jersey. I counted 14 days that I will be traveling this month.

I have found a friend and fellow xbox lover at church. We have managed to get together a few people for some multiplayer Halo sessions on the LAN. I think it will become a monthly ritual on the 3rd Thursday.

That’s a flavor of the un-bloggable news that has been occurring since the end of March. Expect another update around September 25 when Halo3 is released.

The day after Disney we decided to head for the beaches of the Atlantic in Daytona. It was early summer, so there were not as many people as I expected.

DT tried his hand at boogie boarding. For some reason we didn’t use much, if any, sunscreen. We paid dearly.

Side Note: DT has his eyes closed. This is a very common occurrence for him during picture taking. And I think Megan has finally figured out a way around this…

At some point we went back to Orlando. We decided to head to Church Street Station for some food and fun. Derek gladly posed for a picture by an antique car…

And I was manhandled by a guy with a funny mustache while I was trying to play with his monkey, as his dwarf friend (himself with cool facial hair) looked on…

There are parts of this trip I am leaving out. Some you wouldn’t believe anyway (see DT’s hook-handed guitar player reference), some you would be embarassed for us (think daisy duke orange shorts), and some that would bore you (we found an Adidas outlet mall).

At some point we headed home. Derek drove from Orlando to Pensecola, and I drove (through the night) from Pensecola to Arlington. I got to sleep for one day, and then I was due to start my first youth ministry internship. So this trip took place in the last days before I met my bride and my current preacher.

We pulled into Pensacola very late in the evening. For some reason it never crossed our minds that two 19 year olds would have a hard time finding someone to rent them a hotel room. We finally found a dump that would take us, and the next day we spent some time on the white sands of Pensacola.

We moved on to Orlando where my Aunt and Uncle live and stayed in a guest room. My cousin’s girlfriend’s mom worked for Disney and got us both a free 1-day park hopper. So our goal was to see Magic Kingdom, Epcot and MGM in one day. We got through Magic Kingdom and Epcot but never made it to MGM.

We also parked for free b/c my cousin and his girlfriend knew a trick entrance that was supposed to be for people staying at the resorts. Also during our day I bought a 20 oz. Sprite. They were doing the twist-top-win-a-free-Sprite promotion and I won. I got my free Sprite and I won again. 3 Sprites for the price of 1. We probably spent the smallest amount of money anyone has ever paid for a trip to Disney World…less than $10 a piece.

(to be continued)