Black and White Wednesday

It's such a shame when people throw out a perfectly good toddler.
Although, at least she's being recycled.... :-)

Join in the fun at The Long Road to China

Black and White Wednesday

I'm getting better... only 2 pics this week.

Shot in my home studio when Sam was 5... one of my favourite pics of him. EVER.

BTW, Sam (who is now 10 years old) has started a blog of his own. If you've got kids, send them over to http://i-sam-iscool.blogspot.com/ to fill out his questionaire of the day! Heck, if you're young at heart, do it yourself.... I did!

For some reason we have lots of pics of Jordan in fields...


Have a great day!

Black & White Wednesday

Still playing catch-up to my amazing wife, so I included a few photos instead of just one.... Robin said I could... ppbbthhhh!

Julie, the young ballerina, as shot by my beautiful wife Katie...



Julie, the contemplative cowgirl....

And another one...

The Little One...

And you just HAVE to catch the rare moments like this...

Sorry for all the photos folks... I'll try to play by the rules next week but with amazing kids like these, it's hard...

Be Well!

OK... so here goes my first Friday Five, as linked from MamaM

1. What are you most afraid of?
2. Do you use a flat iron or curling iron?
3. Hands-free or phone to the ear?
4. Do you have a matching bedroom set?
5. Do you believe in the paranormal?

1. What are you most afraid of?
I'm by no means a fearful person. For the most part, I think of fear as a stepping stone to faith (a topic for a future blog... watch for it). Fear certainly exists, but for the most part I take delight in finding opportunities to march through fear to the satisfaction I feel on the other side. To quote the title of a book I bought once.... "Feel the fear and do it anyway". So the only real fear I have is something that I'm NOT able to march through... that something would happen to my amazing wife or great children that could have otherwise been avoided. I mean, it doesn't make sense to worry about the unknown, if a meteor crashes into our house or a stampede of wild boars trample my children's playground... but the dangers that my family may KNOWINGLY walk into and be given the opportunity (I believe by God) to do something about but choose not to, THOSE are what I'm fearful of.

2. Do you use a flat iron or curling iron?
Sorry ladies, I'm a guy. The only type of iron I use is for my dress shirts...

3. Hands-free or phone to the ear?
Both.... to the ear if at home or office, hands-free (usually) in the car or running errands.

4. Do you have a matching bedroom set?
Umm... sort of. Although it's possible I could be mistaken since it's been a while since I've seen my side of the bedroom because of all the clothes I still have to put away in my tiny armoire. (sorry LWOM..... "lovely wife of mine")

5. Do you believe in the paranormal?
Yes, although as both a person who has considerably researched this and also having been a professional magician for 25 years, I have a somewhat unique take on this. I know for a fact that the majority of "psychics" are nothing of the sort, having performed "psychic" routines myself. The current show "The Mentalist" is actually very accurate in dealing with how many psychics actually use a method of cold reading to demonstrate "paranormal abilities". However, the REAL psychics and other paranormal phenomenon (as rare as they may be) can be extremely dangerous and are not something for the casual lay person to mess around with. I'm open to discussing more but only when requested... no soap box tirades for me.

And that's about it.... if there's anyone there reading this, welcome to this little information circle of my life.

Black & White Wednesday

Not that anyone will see this but at least for my benefit....

And maybe one more since this is my first time and I'm playing catch-up...

Katie - MY Wonder Woman

OK, so as you can see (that is, if anyone is out there) it's been a loooong while since I posted... so before I get to my new post, I should probably answer the question that is on everybody's (again, one or two) minds... "Hey Ian, why the delay in sharing your incredible thoughts and observations on daily life with us ever thirsty-for-knowledge readers?"

Well, there's a couple of reasons... first of all, the number of things that I am really passionate about are very few. I like to think of myself as someone with some pretty strong priorities.... faith, my family, making the world a little better place than I left it, etc. But I'm not one to get really upset about some of the daily bizarre incidents or people in my daily life...

Pajama wearing lady in Wal-mart - Crazy, granted. Total lack of self-awareness, probably. Worth taking an iphone picture of to show my more blog-capable wife, definitely. But just don't care enough to do an extensive blog about.

Insanity in my office life - probably more blog-worthy but a) don't feel like getting sued and b) WAAAAAY too many unbelievable stories to tell. I'd probably just lose credibility because they seem too crazy to be real.

Tales of being a part-time children's magician / wizard / "Kris-Kringle" stand-in (shhhhh.... don't let your kids read that) - probably more blog-worthy but only once I get the momentum going. Remind me to tell you about the drunk father that tried to beat me up while I was dressed as Barney the stupid dinosaur (pause.... shudder!! Deep breath... moving on). Oh, and that was IN FRONT OF his 6 year old daughter... on her birthday. Can you say "therapy bills"? SURE you can!

OK, so one more reason - because the things I DO get passionate about can land me in hot water. I'm madly in love with my amazing wife, fanatical about being a great dad for my kids, and try to be very loyal to my friends. But the downside to this is that most of my opinions that are important enough to share are about one of those 3 things. And that's not always good. I'll see what I can do to keep that in check but when I fail to, believe me... there are people that will let me know. (quick shout out... Love you Katie!)

So now for the other question... why am I blogging now?

Because this weekend I got to see something in action that is the very thing I wanted to celebrate when I created this blog... Dominos! To put that in context, I'm VERY slowly writing a book - a series of life observations CALLED Dominos. Dominos are very important to me. As a child, I loved stacking Dominos in patterns throughout our basement... over boxes, card tables, books.. whatever. Then I would knock down the first domino and watch all the others fall. As I've gotten older I've adapted the philosophy of dominos into the daily meaning for my life. The actions I take and the decisions I make are like the first domino in a chain. If I lose my temper or unjustly injure someone, there are effects beyond my actions... maybe somebody I lost my temper at then blows their cool on someone else... and so on. Maybe my choosing to put off that task I should have done puts it in someone else's way instead - causing stress, disruption, or put simply, problems. That's not the way I want my dominos to fall. So as much as it's in my power, I try to do the right thing - to get the dominos to fall into a more attractive pattern. Helping, instead of hurting. That's what Dominos mean to me.

(at this point, you've been reading a while - I've got a little more to go so if you want to go grab a drink, use the restroom, whatever... go ahead, I'll wait here.)

.....

.....

(whistling, checking watch...)

....

...

Ah, you're back. Perfect. Ok, so the recent Domino that got this going today. If you're reading this post, you probably already know my amazing wife Kate. One of the best things in the world to happen to me (even if she too often questions it). Also the most beautiful and desirable woman I know (she WAY too often questions THAT... really bugs me too).

Anyway, many, many moons ago, there were, umm... incidents (that should work) where Katie would get really mad about stuff - the 1 hour photo guy that took 63 minutes. The fast food place that took 5 minutes instead of 3. etc etc. Didn't matter to me (did I mention I'm madly in love with her?) but I tried, whenever possible, to be the calm in her storm.

This weekend though, something different happened.

THIS weekend, Katie used that (what's the word here.... Anger? No - that'll get me in trouble. Wrath? DEFINITELY not!... Oh, I know!) Katie used that PASSION in a really great way - to benefit someone else. Someone who needed defending but couldn't defend themselves. You see, Katie and I went to see Avatar as part of a Saturday night date night (we have one every 5 years whether we like it or not... KIDDING!)

So Avatar was REALLY cool..... I hear.

I wouldn't know because it was sold out all the way until Sunday night. So instead we went to see Legion, a supernatural thriller where God has lost all faith in mankind so he sends his angels to wipe us all out. Suffice to say, there were swear words BEYOND the normal swear words, EXTREME violence, and disturbing images involving young kids becoming angel/demon possessed and biting out throats, being shot to pieces, etc etc. Almost more graphic than even I, in all my manliness, could handle!

But the worst part?

That would be the two IDIOT parents sitting with three kids aged 2 to 8 throughout the WHOLE movie. Kate cried for almost 20 minutes that these children would be exposed to this completely UN-kid-friendly crap. I agreed. So when the movie finished, what did my own personal Wonder Woman do? She took on those parents using the aforementioned ang.. (oops) PASSION. Told them how ashamed they should be, how sickened she was, etc etc. Full wrath of God stuff beyond anything the movie had dared show. Afterwards, I had to help Katie to our van because she was so upset. It was at that point that she had asked if I was embarassed by her outburst. Embarassed? NO! Proud as heck is more like it! Because of her and ONLY her, there's a chance, regardless of how slim or great... still, a CHANCE that the next time these parents decide to take their 3 victims / children to some ultra-violent horror flick, they just might remember the tongue lashing they got and even if they're not thankful for it, MAYBE they'll say "maybe we should skip this one." Might be a week from now, maybe a month, maybe even a year. But regardless, there's a good chance it will happen, and THAT's a good way for the dominos to fall.

And that's why my wife is MY hero.

TTFN! Maybe I'll post again soon. Maybe I'll just go home and kiss my wife.

Other Duties As Required...

OK.... so it's time I got this blog underway.... but even as I thought of what I would want to say, being the very deliberate person that I am, I tried to think of what (if any) purpose I would want this blog to have.... this is what I came up with....

Some of this blog is for you, my potential visitor, and some of it is for me. So I'll lay out which is which so we understand our virtual relationship from the get-go... communication is key.

For You - this purpose will change day by day.... sometimes I'll just seek to entertain (part of being a professional magician and a very enthusiastic storyteller). Sometimes I'll seek to enlighten (yup, that's me - the enlightened one.... bwa ha). And sometimes, I'll just try to provide a distraction when the negativity of the daily news, daily life, or just the day itself seems to be so overwhelming that you need a safe place to go.... how's that for service?

For Me - this will be a place to show off my family, photos, videos. It will be a place to lay out my personal philosophies and beliefs - not for the purpose of preaching to others (which is how I think it seems to my beautiful wife sometimes - but more about her amazing self later) but instead to see how they hold up to the light of day. I believe passionately that anything worth living by is worth examining, so this will be a place of self-examination. Occasionally this will also be a place to get things off my chest - to vent - although I'm also a believer that venting should also be done with a purpose - otherwise it's not venting, it's complaining. I have a larger philosophy about venting but I'll save that for another post - suffice to say that the very word "vent" indicates a very clear purpose and I think that is often misunderstood - but I digress (oh by the way, I'll be doing that a lot too). Finally, sometimes I'll just post for my own amusement or entertainment - my blog, my choice.

Oh, and it will also "accomplish other duties as required". And that's where I'll start my first blog topic....

"Other Duties As Required"...

What a ridiculous phrase that is and yet it works its way into every job description I've ever had. Basically, it says that my job could be sales representative but if they suddenly decide I need to clean bubble gum from the underside of the desks, then so be it. Do you ever think about what the reaction must have been the first time it showed up? I can just imagine some poor schlub, having just been hired as a shoe salesmen back in the 70's at some small family-owned shoe store, suddenly reads on his official job description....
Duties: process transaction and sale of shoes, restock shelves, report cash transactions, other duties as required.
"Uh Mr Johnson"
"You can call me Boss"
"Right. Um... Boss.... what's this last part on my job description"
"You mean the 'other duties as required'?"
"Yeah, that."
"Isn't that great? My wife came up with that last night when I asked her what exactly she wanted me to do around the house."
"Yeah, but what if those duties aren't anything to do with my regular job."
"Bill Bill Bill.... trust me! If you can't trust your boss, who can you trust?"
"Umm.... okay."
And Bill signs the paper. And three weeks later Bill is dressed up as a clown on his day off getting beat up by fifteen little rugrats at the Bar Mitzvah for the boss' kid. And that's how it came to be.

Oh and by the way, the above story, while fictional, is actually almost a completely accurate retelling of one of my own experiences - just change the job description, the decade to the 90's and turn the clown into a poor schlub climbing onto the icy roof of his boss' house on Christmas eve wearing three pillows, slippery boots, and a Santa suit.... no.... really.

Well that's it - one post down, millions to go. Expect to hear a little about my nightmarish experiences as Barney the dinosaur (I actually had a drunk father try to beat the snot out of me IN THE BARNEY SUIT in front of his 6 year old daughter!!), the freaky experiences as Cookie Monster, a whole lot of views on my life, and even more about my amazing family (aforementioned Light of my Life Kate, budding philosopher and fulltime family guardian angel Sam, cup o' love and drama queen Julie, and the newest mystery prize... 5 month old Jordan....yes, it's a girl.... shut up about the name because I like it!)

TTYS!

Oh and BTW, comments about anything and everything are always welcome