Ahh Mexico

Starting the Friday after Thanksgiving April, David and I had the pleasure of spending a week in Mexico with my parents.  As with every trip my parents go on, this trip was planned months in advance.  They ventured into Mexico a few times previously and had a great time.  They even took my sister and her family for a week and they had a great time as well. 

During the planning phase, things in Mexico took a nose dive.  Violence was at the forefront of news coming from our neighbors to the south.  When we first planned the trip it was far from our minds.  As we got closer and closer to Thanksgiving the perceived danger of traveling to Mexico filled our thoughts.  We were not so much worried about ourselves but rather David.  Once we started thinking about the danger regarding the violence we also started thinking about the logistics of taking a 22 month old to Mexico. 

Think about it, Mexico is a third world country.  We had no idea what would happen if David fell ill and we needed a doctor.  How does that work in Mexico?  You can't really count on the police or the government for help...  We were nervous.

How did it turn out?

It was fantastic.  It was easy.  It was a great trip!  The water at the resort was treated and was perfectly safe.  The resort had a doctor on site and on call 24 hours a day.  The violence was concentrated up near the border and we were in Cancun.  Very far away.  Add to that the federal police presence, and it seemed as if it would be very bad idea for any criminal element to make a move. 

David really enjoyed having his run of the entire resort.  He loved the pool, the beach but most of all, he loved it iguanas.  He wanted to see them every time we went somewhere.  He thought they were some kind of cool.  He had a bit of a hard time pronouncing iguana.  It came out more like benihana than iguana. 

We spent the afternoons on the beach digging in the sand.

He even liked lounging by the pool.

David doesn't get to have juice at home.  He drinks water or rice milk.  While on vacation.... he likes to live a little.

But most of all, David enjoyed spending so much time with his Grandma and PopPop (the mere fact you call it that, tells me you're not ready yet).

Overall the trip was a great success.  Due to the terrible economic status and the violence up near the border the resort was sparsely populated.  It seems that this is a popular trend around all of Mexico.  So much so, the Mexican government, in an effort to incent travel, is giving each room booked $1500 worth of funny money.  It is like resort credit that you can spend on tours, golf or even the spa.  I had THREE 80 minute massages, April had two, got her nails done and got a hair cut.  We also got to experience something that I thought was incredible.  We swam with dolphins. 

It was really a great way to spend a vacation.  I would have no problem recommending the place we stayed. 

One of our favorite parts of the trip was the relationships we developed with some of the workers.  Our favorite was a kind man named Carlos.  He was the father of a little girl about the same age as David.  He was really kind to David and would go out of his way to make sure David was always well taken care of.  At the end of the trip we traded addresses with Carlos so we could keep in touch. 

Of course, I got sick.  I got hit by a massive stomach bug that haunted me for several days after the trip.  Stomach problems not withstanding... it was a great trip. 

Mistakes

Sometimes I surprise myself by the things I forget to do.  It is not uncommon for me to try to put on my shoes only to find I haven't yet put on my socks.  Or I'll head to the car on my way out somewhere and I'll be barefoot.  These things seem pretty normal to me.  It happens.  We all have a lot on our minds and we dismiss the things we don't feel are important. 

Today I saw a lady with a lot on her mind.  I was at the local pseudo post office store.  April wanted some holiday themed stamps so we could send out Christmas cards (hope you made the list).  (As a side note, April made a special phone call to me yesterday to remind me to pick up these exact stamps on the way home from work.  I forgot to do it...) On my way out I encountered the subject of this blog.  She was placing her kids in the car and on her way out of the parking spot.  She put her car in reverse and started drifting backwards out of the parking place.  Thing is, she skipped a step.  As I noticed the car going backwards I also noticed the car was making no noise.  In today's world of hybrid cars this is not all that unusual; however, in this instance, this was not the case.

Poor busy lady placed her car in reverse (somehow) and had not started the engine.  I am not all that sure how she accomplished this but she managed the impossible.  Being the good Samaritan that I am, I walked to the lady's drivers side window and informed her that her car was not running.  She looked at me completely dumbfounded.  I had to repeat myself three times for her to understand what I was saying.  I had to repeat myself three times for her to understand what I was saying.  I had to repeat myself three times for her to understand what I was saying. 

These are the things that give me great pleasure in life.  Thank God for wonderful Asian ladies with so much on their minds.  Seems to be a running theme...  Now I can never run for President.

What's a dad good for anyway?

I truly have a wonderful wife.  When we had our son together on New Years Eve 2008 I found out what a wonderful mom she is too.  She takes care of easily 90% of the issues regarding our son.  It was way over 90% during the beginning stages of life because we choose to nurse the baby.  Really the only thing I had to do in the first year was change diapers and assist with the late nights (which in our case, there were very few.)

So I ask the question, what is a dad good for anyway?  Mom feeds, clothes, cares for, plays with, chauffeurs and all around takes care of the baby.  I guess the obvious reason a dad is around is to provide for, or at least provide for the mom so the mom can in turn provide for the baby.  I take that duty quite seriously and I try to provide nicely for my family. 

But it seems like a light duty compared to what a mom has to go through.  What else can a dad do.  Well, I've got a good idea.  I have included a few videos to describe a skill that will empower my son for his whole life. 

That's right.  Pick up lines.  He needs to know.  And let's face it, what else could I teach him that his mom hasn't already taken care of.  Nothing.  He's set... well, after a full compliment of pick up lines he'll be set.  I love showing April the fruits of my labor only to see her roll her eyes and acknowledge "this is what a daddy is for."  Darn straight!  So to all of you dads out there, be empowered.  We are all good at it!  I mean, how else did we land the wives we have?  Somehow we convinced our wives to marry us.  How did that first date come about?  Naturally, a pick up line of some sort.

Oreos

Currently, Oreo makes a Halloween Oreo.  The only real difference between it and original oreos is the filling is orange and there are nifty Halloween characters on the cookies themselves.  Or is it? 

You see, I would normally not eat an Oreo.  When I eat an original Oreo the filling to cookie ratio seems a bit low.  Fortunately, Oreo has addressed this issue with double stuffed Oreos.  With the double stuffed Oreo the filling to cookie ratio is now too high.  These are the reasons why I stopped eating oreos.  I found this out years ago.  So long ago, in fact, that I cannot remember the exact date.

While April was pregnant she craved oreos.  So while I was in the store looking for Oreos I came across Holiday Oreos.  Little did I know, that moment would change my life.  These holiday oreos solved all of my problems regarding oreos.  Now, I too can enjoy one of America's favorite snacks.  Finally an Oreo that meets all of my criteria for a quality Oreo.

These special segregated Oreos have more filling than a normal Oreo but less than a double stuffed oreo.  On top of this, as if it could get any better, they changed the color.  Now I just feel like it tastes better. 

I tell this tale not to impress upon my readers (yeah there's two of you) my love of Oreos but rather to admit that with the holidays quickly approaching I am more jazzed up about holiday oreos than the holidays themselves.  Don't get me wrong, I look forward to seeing my son open up his Christmas gifts, celebrate his birthday, kiss my wife on New Years Eve (the one in New York) and so on.  But with the addition of the Halloween Oreos to the Holiday Oreos I know have special oreos for three months.

You know what really grinds my gears?

So this is what I think blogging should be all about.  Things that tick me off, make me mad, annoy me or just otherwise need to be pointed out so others can avoid the same level of "pissedoffedness" that I experience.  Well, today a couple of my good friends (yes Mark, I know it's hard to believe but I do think of you as a good friend (so we don't hang out on the weekends or talk on the phone, but I think being good friends is more than just that)) pointed out that blogging is so much more than that.  It's pizza and shoes or sports and examples of craziness.  It's what you want it to be.  So now, with the little free time that I have, I have to think of things to share with my hundreds (probably more like millions) of followers and somehow make it entertaining. 

I hope to share my opinion on world events, chicks, dudes, sports, beer, food, dogs, TV, movies, babies, family, crazy people, funny people, business, work, social life, politics, religion and just about anything else that comes to mind. 

So I have found that writing a blog is nothing like I expected.  I don't have to be in Washington DC complaining about this party or that, or even contemplating something serious.  Lite is the key.  It's like an iPhone app you don't have to pay for... it's lite... 

To end for tonight I'll share a funny moment in my day today.  A co-worker of mine came into the office and uttered a completely incredible phrase.  I enjoy it when people say innocent things that can be converted by only the most immature individuals to the perverse...  My co-worker was referring to getting customers into the door and said, "we should just slide up next to the back door and slip on in..."  No one else in the room caught it.  But I did.  I immediately notified Matt of the great thing I just heard.

If you don't think that was funny then you probably won't enjoy anything that is ever written on my blog.