Before & After

Mt. Whitney & A Wreck

Dave recently went for a hike on the Mount Witney Trail. (If you'll recall, we've hi-lited a previous hike of his.) Here are a sample of his pics. Holy cow!

On another note, pics will be taken soon of our house. I know I've been "promising" this for some time, but we've got to get them taken because we've got to get them up on the realty website. So look for those soon. Jenn's been investigating how to purchase homes that are in preforclosure and foreclosure. Just keeping our options open.

I was in my first wreck last night. I got rear-ended while at a stop in Blossom traffic last night on Steels Corners road. Not something I'm interested in doing again. Nobody was hurt. Now I've got to figure out when to get some body work done on my Envoy. I'm glad I was in the Envoy and not the Honda!

Second verse same as the first...

It's late-summer/early-autumn in northeast Ohio, so you know there's a "quarterback controversy" in Cleveland. It's about as predictable as a sunrise. We had Bernie-Vinnie, Couch-Detmer, Couch-Holcombe, Dilfer-Frye, Frye-Anderson, and now there's Anderson-Quinn. What I find absolutely fascinating is not that the Browns as a franchise can't seem to find a solid, predictable quarterback (the Browns have been described as dysfunctional in times past), but that the media and especially the fans fall for the same stupid story line year after year after year.

It really is a broken record. Is there no other story to cover in Cleveland? Are the writers at the Plain Dealer and the Beacon Journal that devoid of imagination? History suggests: Yes! So it's time for me to tell you how to manage this situation. My wisdom in this matter comes from watching years of football with the breadth of many different teams. Here's the scoop, from the players' perspective:

If you're part of the "quarterback controversy," you don't want to be named the starter for the first game. To be named the starter means that the media focuses on you for the entire week leading up to the opening game. Meanwhile, the scrub that you beat out in practice gets to take reps in relative obscurity during that week. The best job in the world is the #2 quarterback: much less risk of injury, big money, and you can't thrown an interception from the sideline with a baseball hat on.... plus, you still get to call yourself a quarterback.

Once the games roll around, you'd better be on yours because there's another quarterback on the bench that just barely lost out to you that's been studying and working and is waiting for you to fail. The fans will stick with you as long as you're throwing touchdowns and winning games. Ditto the coach. The first interception you throw will send a low frequency of thought through the fans' minds, "I knew we should have started _x_." After the second interception... hit the showers, because that #2 is lookin' like a #1 and you're lookin' like a #3.

And the scoop from the fans' perspective:

If the above is the story on the field, then don't get emotionally invested in it! You have no control over it, and whoever is named the starter is going to screw up in the first couple of games and the second-stringer is going to be the new starter. Any exception you can think of occurred 15+ years ago. In today's age, with 24/7 coverage from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, FSN, Fox Sports Radio, ESPN.com, CBSSportsline.com, etc., there's so much pressure on these teams to make the "right" choice that they screw around with the players' heads, and unless each quarterback has their own sports psychologist on speed-dial, they'll be toast after one round of one-time-starter-now-benched quarterback (see Tim Couch).

So if you insist on emotional investment in the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback job (let's talk about priorities after you're through reading this, e-mail or call me... really) then I suggest you root for your quarterback to finish training camp #2... that's the only way he'll eventually be #1.

We're on the market (!)

Well, we're listed now. After much work and lots of help from mom & dad and Grandma & Grandpa Mullen, our house is now officially up for sale. It's an odd feeling having something as big as a house purchase and a move completely up in the air and out of our control. Kind of a metaphor for life. Our first showing is on Sunday, so we've got until then to get all of the little things done. The biggies are done: wall paper pulled, major painting done, big items moves taken care of. It's all the of the tiny details that are lingering. Kind of a metaphor for life.

Yesterday was our kick-off for our ABF and it was great. We've got a new teacher as our past (very good) teacher moved on to a new job, and we had a great time re-focusing after the summer. I'll probably sprinkle in details and tidbits over the coming months about the ABF as Jenn and I are looking forward to what's in store.

Working away

We've been working like mad cleaning, painting, moving, etc. to get the house ready to list. Great Grandma & Grandpa Mullen have been extremely helpful this weekend. They came to help us with odd-jobs and to follow Lincoln around the house. Lincoln, too, has been very busy!

In the middle of the Home Work, I attended Edge Leaders Training for my upcoming work with the Edge Middle School Ministry at church. It was both neat and eye-opening. Certainly there are issues that have been common to all middle-schoolers through time, but there are some big, new issues that were not a "thing" when I was there. For instance: cell phones for texting & sexting and cutting... didn't know about that stuff. All in all, I'm looking forward to working with my sixth-graders, and it's going to be a big commitment.

It looks as though the house that Jenn and I really had our eye on is now off the market. Bummer. It kind of takes some of the motivation to sell away, but we've got to be forward thinking, and we're going to continue to look at what's available, especially in the world of foreclosed homes in the Hudson area. So much of it is out of our control. The LORD led us to our current home, and it was a great buy at the time. We'll see what's in store.

Start of a Busy Week

Jenn and I went to work today to get some rest.

This weekend we were very busy working here and there around the house getting it ready to list. Lots of scraping, painting, sanding, scrubbing, touching-up, banging, drilling, land-scaping etc. The alarm rang this morning and it had a particularly taunting sound that it had not had in previous mornings. We ought to be able to get the house in listing shape by next week, and then we need for the LORD to send the right buyer to come look at it in the near future. The house we want has been available for quite some time, and is currently unoccupied. It's been completely revamped and updated inside and is literally ready for someone (us?!) to move into immediately. It is our prayer that this house that we have our eye on will be available when our house sells, whenever that is. We have reason to be optimistic, we hear, because homes in this range are just not moving much in the area. Hopefully that will work to our advantage. There are a series of steps that must come in a specific order, and we've got to take care of the listing step first. You know we'll keep you posted.

Lincoln has been a good boy for the duration of the work. Sometimes he plays by himself and allows both Jenn and I to work. Other times one of us needs to take a break to occupy him, but that's alright. His vocabulary is growing. We're not always sure what he's saying, but he is quite sure of himself.

House Hunting

Jenn and I looked at houses on Wednesday and found some real winners, one in particular that we'd like to move into right now. The catch, and it's a major catch right now, is that our bathroom is trashed and we've got to finish it before we can list it, and then we have to sell our house. So we're working like busy little home decorators this weekend hoping to get things moving along.

From The Hopwoods:

I received this yesterday and the operation is today:

Some of you may have heard Jeremy or I mention our nephew Skylar, some of you may not know of him, but please be praying for him tomorrow. He is having a serious back surgery tomorrow morning. He is a 14 year old functioning quadriplegic. It will be a long and difficult surgery for him. He is understandably very nervous.

In addition we have some family members (including Skylar's parents) who already struggle with God because of Skylar's condition. So be praying for them to find a new understanding of God's love, peace, and provision.
I appreciate your prayers.
Emily

Hot, Sunny Day

The hottest day of the summer was today. If you were watching Tiger dismantle the field at Firestone you saw just how hot and humid it was in northeast Ohio. We turned our air conditioning on for the first time... August 9^th! While it was too muggy for us to spend much time outside in the mid-day (I think it's that we're so out of "summer-shape"!), we set up Lincoln's water park in the late afternoon, and he had a blast!!!

Jenn has been working like crazy to get the last bit of wall paper and glue down in our house. She's done a wonderful job. Next up is a few rounds of sealing, joint compounding, sanding, re-joint compounding, etc.... then painting, and we'll be done with the major projects in the house. We can't believe it's been 3+ years. Soon it will be time to move again... OH BOY! We'll post pics when it's done, maybe in the next couple of weeks.

Say NO to Gov't Health Care

I was in quite the blogging mood in July, but lately I've not been into it as much. It's also hard to take photos of Lincoln right now because (a) he's walking all over the place, and (b) when I get the camera out now he makes a bee-line for me making focusing pretty difficult.

Also, I'm pretty fired up about about the Health Care debate and this isn't really the place to air it all out. I ask that you inform yourself about the Health Care bill as it is written and then contact your Congressman and let them know what you think. Also, visit Drudge to see not only that Americans are not happy with their government but also what our politicians have to say about American citizens (concerned citizens are Nazis, mobs, etc.). We're living in a unique time.

A No-Doubt Walker

Lincoln learned to stand up on his own today. He's now walking everywhere. Everywhere.

Three Month Count-Down

Three months from today Jenn and I will be on our way south and Lincoln will be spending

You know Lincoln's tired when he's sitting back in his seat and his fist isn't full of the puffs sitting to his right.

a week at Grandpa Doug's and Grandma Paulette's house. We're definitely not looking forward to a week without Lincoln, but we're very much looking forward to a week together on total vacation. But three months is a ways down the road...

Jenn is easing back into the home-shopping right now. There are a number of very do-able houses on the market. We just have to finish pulling the wallpaper in the master bathroom (ughhh) and then get it painted.

We're looking forward to a nice time of visiting with Uncle Jim and Aunt Linda along with Grandma and Grandpa Mullen on Sunday!

Turning in my Indians card...

The Indians traded reigning Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee yesterday to the Philadelphia Phillies. This follows their trade last season of then-reigning Cy Young Award Winner C.C. Sabathia to Milwaukee Brewers. (No team in the history of baseball has traded reigning Cy Young Award winners in consecutive seasons.) One conversation that could be had at this point is how the Indians have proven that they cannot keep the superstars that they develop such as Jim Thome, Albert Belle, Bartolo Colon, Sabathia, Lee... even the lesser stars but All-Star caliber players like Sean Casey, Jeremy Burnitz, Richie Sexson were traded to bring hopeful players to the fold. But there is a tangent to this point that

Indians Fan of 2009

I believe is something that all fans of Cleveland Indians baseball need to consider at the start of each season, and this point was made loud and clear with the trading of Cliff Lee.

At owner Paul Dolan's initial press conference, the one at which Dick Jacobs essentially handed over the keys to the Indians to him, Dolan revealed his business-of-baseball philosophy: He indicated that when the fans bought tickets, he would put a winner on the field. This is entirely and completely backwards in the world of professional sports. What Indians fans can expect is this: unless all of the farm-developed talent peaks within the same season at the Major League level and wins the World Series, there will be no baseball championship team in Cleveland any time soon. And even if there is one title, there will not be a hope of a repeat because Dolan will not spend the money to keep the talent around when contract talks arise.

Further, as my barber often reminds me, Dolan said to the media, "I don't want to win just one [World Series], I want to win a string of [World Series]." What an idiot. First of all, a franchise can't win two or more until the franchise wins one. Secondly, what doofus, virgin owner talks about winning multiple championships when the franchise he's purchasing hasn't won anything for generations?

I'm tired of rooting for a perpetual farm franchise for the rest of the league. Dick Jacobs gave us a taste of what spending money on a baseball team could produce, and we got sooooo close ('95, '98). Now we've got a professional baseball team owner who's worried about the bottom line... that's so '80's. We're now in the era of Dan Gilbert, Mark Cuban and Dan Snyder (and I won't even mention John Henry and the Steinbrenner family)... guys who spend money on their team and don't care about the bottom line because either their real jobs make them more money than they know what to do with or their team's TV deal can fund the team without worrying about ticket sales. Larry Dolan just doesn't stack up. And until he sells the team, consider me a baseball fan looking for a team to follow.

Christmas in July?

Did you know that at the Gates Home we like to make plans? That's right, neither Jenn nor I are exactly spontaneous with big events, especially when it comes to traveling. That's why over the past week or so we've been talking with family and setting our Holiday Season schedule. (For friends visiting here, feel free to skip over this post. I'm only mentioning this here so our extended family can know what we'll be up to and when.)

First of all, the philosophy behind our plans: (1) Lincoln won't be as into Christmas this year as he will be next year. (2) There's a decent chance Lincoln will have a brother or sister at Christmas 2010 (no, we're not announcing anything right now). Making big trips with 2 kids, 1 being very young, will not be nearly as easy (and will be more costly) as traveling with 1 this year. So...

We're spending Christmas in Scottsdale this year. Jenn and Lincoln will fly out in mid-December and join Great-Grandparents Mullen out west. I'll fly out on Dec. 23 and we'll spend Christmas in the desert. We'll then come back to (hopefully) some snow on Dec. 27, and a GGH Christmas sometime between Christmas and New Year's (I understand the Hopwoods are still working on this one).

We understand that most extended, out-of-town family will want to see Lincoln this year, and we're sorry that this isn't going to work out for everyone. Beginning in 2010, it will be the priority in the Gates Home to have Lincoln and future little Gateses at their home on Christmas morning, and our Family Christmases will be planned accordingly. So for the out-of-towners who will be coming to NE Ohio... we'll be here.

On the subject of travel, Grandma Paulette and Grandpa Doug have agreed to watch Lincoln for an extended time so Jenn and I can go on a vacation together. As we were thinking about long term plans, it became clear to us that the best opportunity for the two of us to travel without kids is at the end of this year. Vacationing when Jenn is pregnant or after there are two kids will be very difficult (Grandparents watching two little ones will be an even bigger task, too). We're hoping to schedule a cruise in the next couple of days for the first week in November.

Finally, it's looking as though Jenn and I will be staying in northeast Ohio for Thanksgiving this year. Work primarily is keeping us here, but we're not disappointed... this will just be a more low-key Thanksgiving for us this year. (Recall parts One and Two from our Thanksgiving fun at the Hopwood Home last year!)

"Dada! Dada!"

Sometimes Lincoln will put his food in his hair.

Yesterday marked a new era in the Gates Home. Sometimes on Saturdays I'm able to sleep until 7:15 if Jenn has a later start and the dogs stay quiet (2 big ifs). But yesterday morning I woke up at 7:00 to banging on the crib and Lincoln yelling, "Dada! Dada!" So much for some extra sleep...

Walks
For those of you who have seen our house, you know that we don't have sidewalks around our place and that there's some decent traffic outside. We've found that if we drive down to First & Main, park the car, and then walk around the neighborhoods near downtown Hudson, it makes for a pleasant time, and it keeps Lincoln adequately entertained. Those are neighborhoods we could definitely see ourselves in.