Aedan's Birthday

Yesterday was Aedan’s first birthday. I am completely amazed of how quickly he has grown. As noted before, this is my first go around with a baby. In the past week I have spent time late into the evening putting together a toy for Christmas and his birthday. I successfully used tools and did not cuss once during the process.

I got to be part Carol’s family tradition for 1st birthdays. Her family has a lamb cake mold that has been in the family for generations. This mold is used to bake a cake for everyone’s first birthday. She has shown me the pictures of Brett and Tamara eating their cake. Actually the kids don’t really eat the cake, but more play with the frosting. Tamara took the head off of her cake.

Aedan seem quite confused by the whole affair, but followed suit of the generations in front of him and played with the frosting.

Christmas

Christmas was very busy in our little home in DWG. We were blessed to have a White Christmas in Texas. Carol’s Christmas cactus really knew what day it was and bloomed brilliantly.

My favorite moment was at Ton’s Mongolian Grill on Christmas Eve. When Carol and I started dating we made a tradition of eating Chinese food every Christmas Eve. There were lots of factors in this decision, including the fact my parent were in town that year. We have done a good job following that tradition.

This year it was Brett, Brittany, Tamara, David and of course Aedan. The storm that was bringing our White Christmas called into question whether or not we would all get there. In the end, Carol sat at Ton’s with her magnificent smile enjoying that she had her kids, their significant other and her grandson around the table. It was more than worth braving the storm to see that.

Leaves

I took a day off of work to run some Christmas errands and to bag the leaves in our little house in Dalworthington Gardens. Carol and I live on a 1/3 of an acre lot that has many trees and thus the yard gets covered with leaves.   I have been diligent this year is keeping ahead of the front yard, but have not attacked the back yard. In fact, due to reasons that involve how I prioritize my life, I really never got to the back yard last year.

I am not a big fan of raking and bagging leaves, but the back yard was getting out of control. So 6 hours and 34 bags of leaves later, the leaves are back under control. I do not think I am ever going to skip doing the back yard in the future.  I wager I will be sore tomorrow.

Troop 5 Senate

Every December Little Troop 5 has a senate. It is actually the Annual Planning Conference, but Troop Senate sounds much cooler.

The purpose of the Senate is for the boys to lay out their program for the next 12 months. They plan where they are going camping, high adventure, and summer camp. It is also the Senior Patrol Leader election, for the next six month term. It is a busy day; it should take an hour, but usually takes about two.

Over my years as Scoutmaster, they have taken varies forms.

1. Complete Anarchy- They boys just squander the opportunity, no one takes leadership, and it is like pulling teeth to get anything accomplished.
2. Dictatorship- One boy takes the lead and plans the year and tells the Troop what it is going to do. They boys vote and approve the calendar, but there is no real discussion
3. Actual Senate- The SPL acts as the President of the Senate uses a much modified version of Roberts Rules of Order, the Troop participates in the process, everyone’s opinion is heard and formal votes are taken.
4. Political Elite – The older boys of the Troop take charge of the Senate, insure participation, but tend to steer the discussion to things that they are more interesting in, but in the best interest of the troop. They do understand it’s serious, because they were stuck in a meeting like number 1 or 2 above in the past.
   

This past Saturday Senate was more like number 4. With the large number of first year scouts participating in their first Senate, it was really not a bad way to go. I was very pleased we stayed away from number 1 or number 2. In fact the older boys did a fantastic job of counseling the first years that were not interested in the process and steering the Senate to complete Anarchy.

Did I notice?

It is important to not take yourself that seriously, because it helps lighten the mood when one discovers self imposed embarrassment.

I am a "wear a suit and tie to work" kind of guy. It is really much easier than business casual in my opinion. I have about 12 suits I rotate through, with an assortment of dress shirts, suspenders and ties to make my work wardrobe quite varied. My dress shoes are not that varied, but I do have a few pairs.

Today as you can see below, I really could not make up my mind on which shoes to wear to work. I did not even notice my mistake until about 10:30 in the morning. I got a bunch of work done at my desk today.

DWG Natural Gas Well

Progress is often confused with change.

When I walked up to the Montessori Academy on Monday night for the Scout meeting, I could see the looming natural gas well on the back side of the Gardens Park.

This well is going to bring a lot of revenue to the City of Dalworthington Gardens, the Montessori Academy and many residents of little DWG. Carol and I may or may not be in the pool for this well site, depending on how it is drilled.

I do know this, the little fire ring that Troop 5 has used for years is gone forever. The Wildscape, the nature trail, and the bat houses in the back of the park are no more. I don’t think its progress; I think it’s just change.

Snow!

We had snow this morning in little DWG. We get really wound up about it in the Metroplex. The roads get clogged and employees request to go home early. Regardless, it is pretty cool thing in Texas. I just hope it does not dampen my plans on getting the Christmas Lights up on the house tomorrow.

Jerry’s World

David Tull (my son in law) and I went this past Saturday to the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium to watch Texas Tech play Baylor in the last regular season football game. It was my first trip to “Jerry’s World”. I found the facility to be ultra modern and it felt like you were watching the game from your living room with the big HD video board. However, I think that is the problem with the facility. I felt it was really sterile and the last few minutes of the game really hit that home.

Tech did not play its best game of the year and Baylor was in position to win or at least tie being down by 7. It was 1st and Goal from the Tech 10, 3 minutes to play. The crowd of almost 72,000 made up of at least 60,000 Tech fans got to their feet and tried to make noise. There really was not any. It was just like yelling at the TV at home. When it got to 4th and Goal from the Tech 8, you would expect the stadium to be rocking, but it was not. Tech made its stand and won the game.

I was noting to David on the way out that I did not get the college stadium vibe for the game. He noted that it may have been because the roof and the sides were open. I am sure that played a factor, but in the end, I don’t think Jerry’s World will ever replace the Jones.