Indians lose again

While I've not published it prior to today, those with whom I've talked baseball during the off-season can attest to the fact that I am not an Eric Wedge fan. I've never believed he's the best manager available to the Indians. Ultimately, the reason I'm most down on Eric Wedge is that, with one exception, his teams get off to slow starts. In a town where we like to think of our team as a contender, entering the month of June with a sub-.500 record makes it tough to make the playoffs, and only once has Eric Wedge taken the Indians into June with more wins than losses. In 2003 the Indians were 21-32 by June, in 2004 they were 22-26, in 2005 they were 25-25, in 2006 they were 26-26, they lit it up in 2007 at 33-19, but then in 2008 they fell back to earth going 25-30. That's five out of the last six seasons finishing up May at .500 or worse. And now in 2009 they're off to a whopping 0-5 start. Eric Wedge had better thank his lucky stars that the Cavs are so hot and that Cleveland fans still care about the Browns' Draft. If the Indians are sub-.500 come June, especially after having spent the off-season bringing in the show-stoppers Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa, I'll be the first one calling for a change in Indian's leadership.

Daddy Day at Gander Mountain

April is moving along, and among other things, we're really tired of the cold, wet weather. I'm not one of those Ohio residents that complains about the cold weather... I actually like it. I love snow, I like driving in the snow, I like playing in the snow, I like wearing sweaters and flannel shirts and heavy coats. But I've reached my limit with the cold weather. My now-absence of patience is a combination of having a taste of warm weather just a few weeks ago, my sickness of a few weeks ago, and the need for us to get outside as a family (Lincoln is getting bored with the inside routine). So I'm calling on Al Gore and the rest of the Global Warming believers: Where is the warming? When can I expect this abnormally warm weather? It's supposed to be "warm" today and if it remains that way, our plan is to take a trip to the Akron Zoo.

Lincoln's first word was "dog." No surprise there!

The Gateses had a great breakfast this morning. I went to a local bakery and picked up some cinnamon rolls and scones and the three of us enjoyed a pleasant sit-down morning. Lincoln had a morning meal of the cinnamon roll, blueberry & lemon scone, cinnamon Life cereal, pear juice, Puffs and raison bread toast. Guess what? He likes cinnamon rolls! Shocker, I know.

Yesterday was not a good resting afternoon for Lincoln, so the two of us took a drive up to Gander Mountain to

Lincoln likes to spend his time learning how to do the important things.

look at handguns. My experience looking at handguns has been very mixed, and most of it has to do with the salesman helping me at the time. I've worked with some real jerks, guys who want to, let's just say, show how cool they are. But yesterday I worked with a guy named Dennis who was very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. So that was a good place to start. I've been giving gun purchasing a lot of thought, and after talking with Dad about his experiences with some instructors and what they've had to say, my choice of firearm has really changed. At first I was interested in a .357 Magnum or a .45, but when considering those guns for a CCW license, those are some big guns that are hard to conceal, and would be pretty uncomfortable to carry. And if the gun isn't comfortable to carry, am I really going to want to carry it? Probably not. So when I combine those thoughts with my experience shooting Dad's old .38 Special, I started considering a .38 Special. If you would have asked me to consider one of those a few months ago I would have said, "No way."

So yesterday on our trip to Gander Mountain, Lincoln and I looked at .38 Specials, and Smith & Wesson has some really nice new models. One of them is hammerless and one of them is standard. The hammerless is much more costly, and I'm pretty settled on the .38 S&W Special +P. It's small, very light-weight, and packs a punch. Lincoln was an all-star at the store. He always is at any kind of store. He loves to look at all of the new stuff, especially the shiny stuff, and Dennis was very friendly with him, as well.

I had the CCW stuff on my mind yesterday because I was talking to a client who had recently been assaulted by a thug in a family restaurant at 11:30 on a Saturday morning. This client of mine did nothing wrong. He was stopping to get some breakfast before visiting his grand-daughter in Columbus. He's licensed, and while the assault happened so fast he couldn't have protected himself with his weapon, he's glad he's licensed now because the friends of the defendant (who will be arraigned this coming week on felony charges) who were at the restaurant now know where he lives because his address was published on the police report. Nobody ever plans on having to defend themselves, but it would be nice for one to know that he had the legal right to do so should a situation ever arise.

Somewhat related to the Second Amendment, I've been reading the Federalist Papers recently, and holy cow, those guys were wise and prophetic. Many things are striking, but one of the things that I notice is that we have so few leaders in Government today with the wisdom of our Founding Fathers. Certainly there are wise men today, but Washington is full of politicians that want the benefits and the power that comes with elected office. We have few, if any, politicians that seek to solely advance American Exceptionalism during their time in D.C. How great would it be to identify the great American thinkers, and have the media not destroy them before they could get to Washington to defend liberty.

But enough about American History for now. Time for an Easter thought. Jenn and I want to extend our Easter greetings to you this day. May you take a moment today, and every day, to consider the love that the LORD showed by taking the punishment for your (our) sins so that we can enjoy close fellowship with Him without penalty. Wow!

Waking up from his naps.

For a few weeks now Lincoln has been sitting up in his crib when he's either not interested in sleeping or after his naps. Sometimes this is funny, and other times it is not. And then when he gets up, he's on the move. Sitting still and playing is a thing of the past. He's also back to eating a ton of food at each meal now that our sickness of last week has passed... and he's more and more interested in feeding himself.On Monday Jenn had a dinner at Hyde Park with her clinic and that left me to take care of the evening routine with Lincoln. It started with a dinner of left-overs at Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug's house. I wasn't sure how Lincoln would take his evening bottle after he ate the turkey and biscuits, and the near 100 Cheerios that his Grandpa Doug gave to him, but he took the bottle like it was the last thing on earth.

Today, Jenn fed him tofu bites rolled in crushed Cheerios... it would have been an Enviro-weenie's dream. Most of it made it in his mouth. We've just got one funny eating story after another here at our place.

Easter is approaching. We've got some fun family plans coming. It's also a neat time to especially focus on Jesus and his resurrection.
And speaking of Easter, this is one of my favorite Easter songs. For those of you who know me from way back, you'll remember that the Gates Family has been big Carman fans for a long, long time.

Snow in April

Lincoln doesn't know enough to be tired of the cold weather, but his mom and dad are ready for the warm weather. We had a taste of it a couple of times, as evidenced by our visits to the Zoo (see below), but this beating of snow that we've taken is getting a bit old.

We're all feeling better!

The three of us were feeling much better yesterday, and it was relatively nice outside yesterday so we decided to go to the Zoo. Jenn settled on the Cleveland Zoo, thinking that Lincoln might nap on the way there. Silly us. But when we arrived, he was still very pleasant and we had a great time. There's a huge California Condor there that he really got into. He also liked the Giraffes, some of the Primates, and the fish.

Lincoln and the Red Panda

He did sleep in the car for most of the way home, and when he woke up, he was really good. This may not seem like much, but it's allowing us to reconsider our travel plans come May when we drive to the Outer Banks. Oh, boy, are we looking forward to that vacation! Of course, there's a lot to do between now and then, but we've had our minds on it for a while now.

Jenn and I loved this picture above because it's so typical of our visits to the Zoo. It's fun to point things out to Lincoln, and he usually gets around to seeing what we're seeing, but he often has his own pace and agenda when it comes to these things. It's not unusual to see one of us pointing at something interesting and also see Lincoln gazing lazily off in a completely different direction.



What you see above is Betty's job. This is what she does when she wakes up in the morning after she eats her breakfast and realizes that she's not getting anything more to eat. Some may joke that she's Union because she takes a lot of breaks for naps, but when she's at her job, she works really hard. We were laughing recently that Betty would be disappointed to hear about jobs leaving Summit county. In her little Pug brain she would think of it in terms of thousands of bones leaving the county! Oh, the crazy humor in the home of a pair of veterinarians!

We just about cannot keep Lincoln down. He doesn't like to play as long while sitting down. Rather, he enjoys standing up next to his toy basket and emptying it out. He also enjoys standing on the outside of his Exersaucer. Every now and then he'll tolerate sitting inside of it, but he'd much rather work his way around the outside of it.

Aside: I understand that a number of Emily's college friends drop by this blog every now and then. I'm not sure if you're interested in looking for what to expect from your own kids or you're just interested in knowing how things are going with us. Either way, thanks for coming by! If you've got your own blog going of your experiences, let us know and we'll post the link on the side bar. Feel free to comment, too... we love hearing from our readers.

Sick

As it turns out, this past weekend was not a fun one. Things were going along great until Lincoln threw up twice on Saturday evening. Then Chris and Val came over for dinner and we were having a great time when all of a sudden, I completely lost my appetite. This was a major downer because Jenn had made a great pork tenderloin and risotto. And then I proceeded to be sick as I haven't been sick in years... I actually had to go to bed before our guests left (that was embarrassing). So before Jenn came to bed, she checked on Lincoln and he had thrown up a couple of times in his bed. Then at 2:00 am Jenn began feeling as I had 5 hours prior, and we spent Sunday just trying to get through the day. Lincoln had it much better than the two of us. I called Dad on Sunday morning to see if he could bring us some groceries, and he sounded awful. He and Mom had what we had, and until they knew we were sick, they thought they had food poisoning.

So it's Monday morning. Jenn didn't go to work. I'm at work and though I'm not as achy as I was yesterday, I still feel like I don't have much energy. Dad isn't much better. I'm off to lunch now. I don't want to eat, but I know I should.

On the move...

Lincoln got to know his Auntie Em during her couple of days in Ohio.

Lincoln is officially a crawler now. I saw it yesterday with my own two eyes. And he's doing it with ease. Having a mobile little boy in the house changes things: Can we leave the Wii on the floor anymore? Where can we put the dogs' toys? Why does he voluntarily bump his head on the coffee table, and will he decided to bump it harder if I'm not around to watch? These are the questions that went through my head the first time I saw him crawl across the floor.

And then...
When I got home from work today, Jenn had just put Lincoln down for a nap, but he was still making some noise (not unusual), and then he started crying very loudly (again, not unusual). So we went to his door to see if he was sitting up, and to our surprise, he was standing up! He has now officially learned to pull himself up. Two weeks ago he couldn't crawl forward to save his life, and now he's pulling himself into a standing position. Holy cow!

How big is Linocln??? Sooooo Big!

Chris and Val are coming over for dinner tonight, and Jenn is in the process of planning a really good dinner. We're looking forward to it. I understand we'll be adding a new element to our get-togethers this evening. We always have hours of great conversation, some good wine-tasting, the usual sprinkling of political banter... but tonight we're adding Mario Kart on the Wii. Nothing but high-brow entertainment for us!

I received Aaron and Randi's wedding invitation yesterday and I just had to laugh. If you know Aaron (for those outside the family, Aaron Bradley is my cousin from Denver), you wouldn't be surprised by the not-so-subtle humor sprinkled through the envelope. Anyway, Emily and I are both going to the wedding, and it is actually pretty convenient because there is a Frontier flight from Nashville and one from Akron that arrive in Denver within 15 minutes of each other. So we're both headed out to the Rocky Mountain Wedding and really looking forward to it.

After Grandpa Doug bounces Lincoln up and down, this is the smile we get.

Back Home

Jenn and Lincoln arrived back home yesterday and it was great to see them again! Lincoln is bigger now than when he left, and he's rolling over like a log, sitting up on his own, and definitely getting particular when it comes to what he wants now. Jenn was a great mom during the trip because with the travel and the time change, Lincoln's routine was way out of whack, and he required stimulation most of the time. Not-so-funny part of the trip: the kids that sat behind Jenn and Lincoln on the trip out (with the mother that talked rudely to her mother/the kid's grandmother) had the row behind Jenn and Lincoln for the return trip. Jenn couldn't believe it. But once again, it made Lincoln look like a little angel!

Lincoln made another trip to the Phoenix Zoo.

Grandma Paulette, Grandpa Doug and Auntie Em came over in the early part of the evening for a brief Birthday party for Jenn. We had a great take-out dinner from Pad Thai. The Grandparents gave Jenn a cake-decorating kit, which will be awesome for Lincoln's birthdays. And the Hopwood family gave her a giant Cook's Illustrated cookbook (with >1,000 recipes). It's the kind of book that is more than recipes... more like food science. So Jenn started working through it last evening in anticipation of Chris and Val coming over for a good dinner this Saturday.

Lincoln loved the pool.

And Lincoln loved the hikes.

Funny story about the playground. Laura took Lincoln to a small playground in their neighborhood and he really seemed to enjoy it. Then on the following day when Jenn had him out for a walk, they went past the playground, but when Lincoln realized that they were going to stop, he pointed at the playground and started crying. I know, I know, not so funny, but 2 weeks ago he wouldn't have done that.

Maybe Lincoln will show better musical ability than his parents!

Jenn's last birthday present was a Wii, so you know where to find us after work... playing tennis and bowling in our TV room!

One last thing, check out this Pro Life website and look for them on facebook, too.

I Watched Celebrity Apprentice

The soffet is done, the rooms are almost all cleaned, the laundry is done, and the dishes are clean and put away. Why can't Jenn be here now to see this?

I spoke with Jenn yesterday and they're having a big time in Phoenix. They've been on a number of big hikes, and Lincoln loves riding in his pack. One of the hikes was 3 hours, so he was able to enjoy most of it, nap through some of it, and then stop half-way through to eat. Sounds like a fun activity to me! On Friday Jenn and Elise went to The Melting Pot and got The Big Night Out w/ the Quattro Formaggio Cheese Fondue, The Fondue Feast (includes Filet Mignon Florentine, Limoncello Balsamic Sirloin, Shrimp Diablo, Sun-dried Tomato Chicken, Orange Fennel Pork Tenderloin & more), and the S'mores Chocolate Fondue. Wow. Jenn said they had a great time talking about lots of stuff. There's plenty of time to do that at The Melting Pot.

Meanwhile, back in paradise (Ohio... don't snicker), Emily and I got a pizza and hung out for a while. She got me caught up on Celebrity Apprentice. I had forgotten how much I missed that comb-over.

Tomorrow evening I'm going out for wings with some friends. What a way to spend Jenn's birthday, huh?

Coming Along

The designated project is coming along nicely, and faster than I thought it would. That'll leave more time for dusting!

The house is just not the same without Jenn and Lincoln. I just got off the phone with Jenn and things are going pretty well. Lincoln isn't sleeping much... at all. And he's getting up in the middle of the night, which is unusual. But he's mostly pleasant when he's awake, so they've been able to have fun going to the zoo, hiking and swimming.

Here's the latest from the kitchen:

Solo at home...

I miss my wife.

Jenn and Lincoln arrived in Phoenix yesterday safely, and I understand Lincoln was an all-star traveller. He didn't nap much with the transition yesterday, but when I spoke with Jenn today, she said Lincoln was doing well. He's apparently very interested in the pool. When Grandma Laura takes him for a walk in the back yard he points at the pool and waves his arms. He'll get a lot of swimming in this week.

Meanwhile, I'm by myself at home. It's not all wings, orange pop and lounging in boxers. No, I was charged with finishing the soffet (I'm not sure how to spell this, but it sounds right) in the kitchen. It's only been 2+ years, but I can't put it off any longer. So there's lots of drywall and joint compound dust flying around. This is the week to do it because I'm not sure Jenn could go without her kitchen for a week. The joint compound and sanding is moving along faster than I thought it would, and I seem to be on pace to get painting this weekend.





Emily is coming to town this week. We're going for a birthday dinner on Saturday, and then she's staying through Thursday so she can spend a day with Lincoln.

Right now I'm blogging while watching the Zips play the Zags. I just like to say that. Akron's keeping it close in the first half.

First Zoo Trip of '09

Since yesterday was the first nice, sunny, semi-warm Sunday we decided to make our first trip of 2009 to the Zoo. It had been years since I'd been to the Akron Zoo. I seem to recall that one of my elementary school classes went on a field trip, but I have no real memories of inside the zoo. On top of that, there have been so many changes and improvements that I wouldn't recognize it anyway. Jenn took Lincoln a couple of times last year and we have a pass, so it was the perfect idea (Jenn's a smart chick!). Many of the animals weren't too interesting to Lincoln at this stage of his life. He did enjoy the Condor when he spread his wings out. He also liked the Barking Deer, and the Trumpeter Swan caught his interest when it started to trumpet! The Akron Zoo's claim to fame is their Jellyfish exhibit. The tanks are really cool and full of jellyfish and the lighting is phenomenal. Lincoln really gets into the jellyfish, probably because it's like a light-show that he can almost touch.

The Jellyfish really capture Lincoln's attention.

Lately, the cure to all of Lincoln's fussiness is Puffs. We've mentioned Puffs before, but we cannot sing their praises enough. Fussy in the afternoon? Puffs. Babbling during the sermon? Puffs. Interested in watching Lincoln doing something funny? Puffs. He likes Cheerios, but Puffs are like Cheerios on steroids. Jenn took him to Kim's house on Saturday morning while the two of us were at work, and when she handed Lincoln to Erin (Kim's daughter) he began crying. She then gave him some Puffs, and they were like best friends.

Lincoln reaches for Puffs.

So after a long day at the Zoo, and after eating some Puffs, Lincoln was completely tuckered out. He's been waxing and waning between 3 and 2 naps per day, and sometimes now when he gets really tired, instead of getting really fussy, he'll reach for his bear-blanket and suck his thumb. It's really cute!

Sleepy Boy

Jenn and Lincoln are excited about their trip to Phoenix on Wednesday! Keep Jenn in your prayers this week... the thought of moving Lincoln and lots of luggage through the airport is causing some anxiety. Thanks!

Toilet Paper and Fewer Naps

We're suspecting now that Lincoln may be moving down to two naps per day. There is still some evidence to the contrary, but yesterday we took him shopping with us to Aurora Farms and he stayed awake and mostly pleasant through what used to be a nap/awake cycle. We heard from at least 5 people while shopping that he was the cutest baby they'd ever seen. Lincoln responded, "Yeah. I get that a lot."

Before bath time, Jenn and Lincoln were watching the tub fill (this is apparently a fun thing to watch) and Lincoln noticed the roll of toilet paper. It was all downhill from there.

Also, yesterday was the first day that Lincoln began to repeat specific sounds. He's been imitating a few things like hand motions and fart-sounds. But yesterday Jenn said to him, "Hey, Lincoln... Da-Da." And he responded, "Da-Da." He still doesn't know what/who "Da-Da" is when he says it (when Jenn asks him where Da-Da is he looks around for me), but it's neat seeing him begin to make specific sounds.

Been a while...

Holy cow, it's been a while! You're probably wondering just how sick we all are since it's been several days since our last post. We're doing well. I've got a lingering cough, but Lincoln is doing well, and Jenn has not been sick at all. Contributing to our lack of posts is the fact that our computer is in need of repair after a fall. It will be going to Bill @ Housecalls for Macs for a check-up and hopefully a fix-up.

View from my room.

March, April & May are going to be busy times for the Gateses. Jenn's head to Phoenix in less than 2 weeks. Lincoln was shopping for warm weather clothes over the weekend. Then in April I'm headed to Santa Monica for a Pfizer meeting. I'm having a bunch of fun working with Pfizer as a Local Expert on canine obesity and Slentrol.

The Grand American, Salt Lake City

I never wrote about it on the blog because my trip was before this wonderful piece of communication began, but in January of 2008 I went to Salt Lake City to learn about Slentrol and the latest research with regard to canine obesity. Since then I've spoken to a number of clinics about canine obesity and the role of Slentrol in helping dogs lose weight in a healthy way. So in late April, I'll be off to California to have a follow-up meeting. It ought to be fun, and I'm hoping to get some good pictures at the Santa Monica Pier during some free time.

Salt Lake City, 5:00am.

The Santa Monica trip is a new addition to the travel that I described in an earlier post.

Getting Better

Lincoln has improved significantly. He coughs here and there and his nose is runny here and there, but he's sleeping through the night again and he's napping well (at least until right now... he's been talking to himself for 10 minutes).

The bummer is that he's got me sick right now. My throat started hurting last night, and after reading to Lincoln for a loooong time, it's really sore. Hopefully Jenn won't catch it.

Jenn's been pulling the trim/wallpaper in our bedroom and she's made big progress today with the steamer. Perhaps the bathroom will pull as easily as the trim (fingers crossed).