or how i learned to elevate the mundane

Twice a month we get together with the remaining 3 families of our PEPS (Program for Early Parent Support) group to socialize and watch our kids play over a meal. Today we had a brunch at our house and it was also our annual “Christmas” (or “Holiday” for those so inclined) meeting.

We had a nice brunch of pancakes, ham, bagels, fruit, coffee, and juice, but the real show was to have Santa show up for the kiddies and give out the gift swap presents. Now, the boys are currently all 3.5 years old (and the matching girls range in age from 4 mos – 11 mos old), and the previous 3 Christmas get-togethers have resulted in some wary children when it came to Santa.

Since we were hosting, the Wife pulled a “Johnny Bravo” on me since I apparently “fit the suit”. Well, being game and all, I capitulated and was Santa this year. While last year’s Santa was the source of some crying and other mistrust, the boys have all come to realize the symbolism of Santa this year and the moment I showed up, the Christmas lists were flying! I could hardly take in all of the requests. I have to say it was pretty amusing to watch the boys’ faces light up when they saw who it was. I had figured they’d see behind the suit and see our son’s father, but they didn’t seem to catch on.

So, the boys and the girls all got their gifties and Santa had to depart. Shortly thereafter I showed up after having made a “trip to the bathroom” and found that I had missed Santa. I have to say the even though the magic has dulled for me over the years, it was a real treat to see the boys’ (the girls were skeptical about the whole thing) reactions to Santa’s appearance.

When they release the “Best of…” DVD boxed set of my life, I would imagine the fade in to be of me sitting in a chair with the soft-white glow of a monitor lighting up the front of my upper body. Much of the time I spend awake is dedicated towards illuminating my face with liquid crystal goodness during which I generally happen to have various looks ranging from boredom to outrage to incredulousness (incredulousity?). Occasionally, I get up and away from the computer in order to give myself a bit of a break, so I fire up the PSP or Xbox or perhaps enjoy a bit of hi-def eye candy in the tv room. I feel blessed by all the different types of activites I have at my disposal. Oh, btw, you will probably find – should you be a long-time reader of this blog – that I will rant and rave about the utter crap that is my Comcast HD DVR. This is likely to be a great source of content inspiration for me.

I guess since this would be the boxed set, it would be expected that I would not actually play myself. So, I suppose if I had to choose, I would have John Cho of “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle” fame play yours truly. The wife happens to think he’s cute. Since we’re casting here, I think I’d have recently killed-off “Lost” hottie-pottatie Maggie Grace play “The Wife”. They would make quite a good looking couple, don’t you think? Perhaps they would be worthy parents to our kids whom we feel have far surpassed their parents in the looks department (I know all parents think their kids are just the cutest darned things on the planet, but this is mostly a lie they tell themselves to make them feel better. Not all, I’m saying. Just some.).

Anyway, back to the original point, which was to kick off this blog. I have many interests so perhaps I can mine the great store of things I give a shit about for things to write about. It’s hard to say. I just may end up spending more time dorking around with the blog infrastructure than actually posting. I already find that I have much to learn about all of the different ways I can customize this thing. So you’re likely to see everything from:

What you’re unlikely to find is specific blogging about specific work things. I’m still leery about doing that. Besides, you’re probably not going to be all that interested in the inner day-to-day workings of a megacorporation anyway. You can find that stuff elsewhere in the metaverse.

So, anyway, this is how the world begins. At least my blogging world, that is. And since it’s December 15th, I’ll wrap it up by giving a shout out to my little sis since it’s her birthday. Hope you had a good birthday, sis! I’ll have to think about who to cast as you.