Ninja on a two lane road

I was blog browsing…I mean working today

And I stumbled across a poem that is said to have been written by and found on the wall in Mother Theresa’s Home for Children in Calcutta. I was skeptical, did a little snooping around, and found that, despite some bad plagiarising, the poem is real and seems to be accurately credited to her.

Anyway, it’s a little hokey and those that know me as the bitter, cynical bastard may laugh, but here it is anyway:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

The "Four Things" quiz

Since I get these in some variation or another, I thought I’d finally answer one of them here. Not one question, but one whole quiz. I have only read one of the questions, and it asks me to “name four jobs you’ve had.”

That’s a laugh. I think I had four jobs in a week once. If you’d like to read my employment history blog, click here. Which reminds, it might be fun to list why I left each one too. Maybe I’ll do that later.

Anyway, here we go:

1) Four jobs that you have had in your life?
IT Professional for WWLITFBT (World Wide Leader In Thin Film Barrier Technology)
Customer Service Representative
Dishwasher
Bouncer and Waiter

2) Four movies that you can watch over and over?
Field Of Dreams
Shawshank Redemption
Office Space
The Anchorman
Days Of Thunder

3) Four places that you have lived in your life?
Anoka, MN
Mission Viejo, CA
Auburn, AL
Various places in Metropolitan Atlanta, GA

4) Four TV shows that you love to watch?
Celebrity Fit Club
Survivor
My Name Is Earl
LOST

5) Four places that you have vacationed?
Sandals Royal Bahamian, Grand Bahama
Sandals Inn, Montego Bay, Jamaica
Some resort in Playa Del Carmen, Cancun, Mexico
Boston, MA

6) Four of your favorite foods?
Ribeye Steaks
Veal Rib Chops
Rack Of Lamb
Baby Back Ribs

7) Four places that you would rather be?
Ireland
Boston
The Bahamas
On the road with my family following NASCAR

If I get any more of these with different questions, I’ll either make a new entry or add to this one.

How exciting, eh?

I’ve made a decision about the audioblog.

The first one I do for real is going to be titled “Ten questions with urchin 1.0″

What I’d like from you is what you think those ten questions should be. Please hit comment or email me and I’ll get this done over the weekend, and maybe it’ll even be entertaining.

Stay tuned…

Thursday night…

So yesterday we switched urchin 2.0 to soy-based formula on her pediatrician’s instructions in an effort to ease her evening / nightly discomfort that results in unGodly screaming from her. She’s not been this way for the first 3.5 months, so this shocked us a bit.

The wife had a rough day yesterday, so upon my arrival home it was me, 2.0 and the baby bjorn for a little wander around time. It’s funny how an 11 pound baby doesn’t mind being held like a baby, but the 16 pounders of the world all want to be upright and facing outward, making it virtually impossible to carry them for any length of time.

Anyway, the wife got 2.0 to eat and at around 8:15pm, she put her to bed. We’re starting to wonder if being in our room instead of hers until 10pm or so is causing some of the uber-tiredness we’ve seen. I mean, she sleeps on our bed so it’s not like she’s up or anything, yet she seemed to deal with this pretty well, so we shall see…

Last night saw the repeated return of the Ninja visit (about four times). Luckily, we were already up at 2:30 feeding Sophia, so instead of Ninja-sneaking up on me and scaring the shit out of me, I reversed the Ninja and opened our door just as Lauren was grabbing ghe knob. Her fear turned immediately into shoulder hunching, stomping disappointment as she was summarily ordered to return to her room.

Upon my returning to tuck her in there, she mentioned an old theme. You remember, the fire breathing dragons?”

Anyway, I got her tucked away and went back to bed to catch some sportscenter, and the Ninja attempted to storm the tower again. Once again, she was smote by the anti-ninja…me.

This time, the wife dealt with her, what with Sophia having quickly finished her seven ounce bottle. Upon returning to Ninja Headquarters, 1.0 tried a different spin on an old theme.

“I’m scared of the red things again.”

So the wife asks “In your eyes?”

“No,” the Ninja replies. “In my stomach.”

Bzzzzzz. Wrong answer. What does our stalling malady-inventing daughter win, Don Pardo?

Well TMLSB, she wins a one-night stay in her dark and sleep-ready bedroom. Then, she gets to get herself dressed, make her bed, have breakfast and go to school!!

Awesome prizes, Don.

Ninja-urchin, thanks for playing “Who can outlast the imaginitive stalling child?”

Anyway, about Sophia and the formula. Molly found that when she gets totally worked up and has already been fed, she holds her the old way (belly to belly with 2.0′s head facing the right side), but she just holds her a little tighter, especially if 2.0′s all stiff and resistant.

Suddenly, 2.0 was sleepy and comfy and relaxed, and in bed much earlier than usual.

We might have just stumbled upon her secret. And combined with our thwarting of the repeated ninja attacks, I think we’re looking at a pretty top-shelf weekend.