Fit Bit and the Wii Fit

For Christmas, I got a Fit Bit Surge. I had mentioned something to my wife about it while I was working at Macy's as a seasonal picker. I did a lot of walking during the ten hour sifts and mentioned that it would have been cool to know exactly how far I walked each night.

By the time Christmas rolled around, I was informed that my services as a seasonal employee was no longer needed. So, I didn't really get to see how far I was walking while working but I still like the device.

It has given me insight into how lazy I am while not working so I decided to get my lazy ass onto the treadmill, going on walks and resuming using the Wii Fit. I actually did see some weight loss the last time I used the Wii Fit, but had a hard time getting into a routine.

Since it is the new year and I now can track my progress better, I have decided to try as hard as I can to keep exercising in some manner, every day. According to the Wii Fit, I am overweight and my Wii Fit age is 51. I am actually 50. Now, if I could just get a job to keep us from going bankrupt. I found that no one really wants to hire a 50 year old with grey hair. But that is a story for another day.
I am hopign that the combination of the two and quitting soda will at least get me in the right direction.

I have gotten soft in the middle after ten years as a stay-at-home dad and need to get healthy, not just for my sake, but for my family's.

Now, if I could just get a job to keep us from going bankrupt. I found that no one really wants to hire a 51 year old with grey hair. But that is a story for another day.

All About a Bird

So here it is. My sad story for "the happiest time of year". It all started a number of years ago when I quit my profession to become a stay at home dad to my kids.

Fast forward ten years. Because we were a one income family, we have found ourselves in a financial crisis at a time when when we should be celebrating the birth of best person who has ever walked the Earth.

But here I was, a pathetic fifty year old, who can't get a regular job, at the beginning of a ten hour shift at a "fulfillment" center working a seasonal position my kids can have a Christmas. They have cut back the staff in my area because the "season" is winding down. I was walking up and down the isles picking products off the shelves to give to the packing department to send off when I heard a bird chirping. A bird in a warehouse.

How did this little bird get in? I thought to myself. Actually I said it out loud. Don't worry, no one was around. I often talk to myself at work.

Throughout most of my shift, I kept hearing this bird chirping away. After a while, I started feeling sorry for it. I mean, I highly doubt that a warehouse is a good place for a bird to be in. No food, water, other birds. So, I started feeling sorry for it. It was all alone, calling out for another bird. But there were none. At least none that I could tell.

Now, here is the pathetic part. For the rest of the shift, I keep thinking about this lonely bird and it made me sad. Then I asked God to help this little creature that had probably flown in when one of the loading bay doors was open, not knowing what it was getting itself into.

Of all the things I could have asked God for, money to pay our bills, rent so we don't get kicked out of the house, fix our broken down van, things the kids need for school, money so my wife doesn't have to kill herself working, or a million other things. No. I walked around asking God to help this bird. I mean a bird. Pathetic isn't it?

While writing this post, I am getting sad all over again for this little bird.

Damn, fucking bird.

God, please let this bird get out one of the doors again and not die alone in that warehouse. Amen.

A Good Gift Doesn't Have to be Expensive

Santa doesn't always give kids new toys for Christmas. He gives the best gifts. At least he tries to anyway. This year, I think that I got really good gifts for my two sons this year for Christmas.

A year or so ago, my youngest son got an old digital camera from his aunt for his birthday. It was a very simple model, low resolution, but he loved it. He takes pictures all the time. It also takes videos. He took a lot of those also. But a few weeks ago, he started trying to make his own movies. He would set out some of his army guys in front of the camera, press record and begin moving around his actors and engage them in an epic battle. Once, I saw him tie strings to a small stuffed dinosaur and try and recreate a Godzilla movie. I couldn't help but laugh and smile. He had the right ideas, but not the right tools.

I wanted him to have a good camera so that he could make his movies that also contained sound. We couldn't afford to buy him a new video camera and used ones would be too complicated I thought. I searched eBay with no luck. Then I remembered a digital camera that I was interested some time back that seemed to fit the situation.

The camera of note is the Kodak MC3. It is actually a bit more than a camera. It wasn't really well received when it came out and didn't have a very long production run. But, the features that it had appealed to me and what I thought would be good for my son. . It isn't big on resolution, but it does take movie clips with sound, pictures, and it is even an MP3 player. It is very easy to operate. No problem for my son, allowing him to concentrate on making movies. I also like the fact that it uses Compact Flash memory cards.

After another search on eBay, I found on for $14 and purchased it. Afterwards, I saw my two sons making another movie. My older son was running the camera at the direction of his younger brother. They made several "movies" this way, both enjoying it immensely. They even made papers with the title and credits on them.

I got to thinking and searched for another Kodak MC3 for my older son. I found another one cheap and ordered it. It came with a case so I found a case for the one I ordered previously plus two high capacity memory cards to hold lots of "movies" and pictures.

They finally came in the mail. I tested them, put in fresh batteries and wrapped them up. I also included a small tri-pod for each that I had purchased for my digital cameras but never used.

I am really excited to see them open their gifts on Christmas and see the look on their faces. I think that they will really like them.

A good Christmas gift doesn't always have to be a new one. Just the right one.

My Sons’ Christmas Program

For several weeks, my sons were telling us about their school Christmas program that was coming up. They would each sing with their respective class and one of them was going to play the cow bell with several other of his class mates. We promised that we would be there and they happily went their merry way.

The day of the program came and my boys were told me they had to be there as such and such a time. I informed them that I had to go out of town for the day and would try and get back in time. They weren't happy about that, but they excepted that I had to go but were still worried that I wouldn’t make it back in time.

On my way home, my wife texted me that they were on their way to the school for the program. She said the my boys were worried that I would not be there in time to see them perform. I checked my watch and realized that I would be cutting it close. It was dark and rainy so I couldn't go any faster because of the driving conditions.

I got another text message that they were at the school and going into the auditorium. Fortunately I made it in time despite the weather. But, as it turned out, it seemed that most of the people in town had showed up also. I found a parking space and rushed in and quickly found my wife and my two youngest daughters and took a seat. My girls were surprised to see me. They didn't think that I would make it in time.

The principal spoke for a few minutes, thanking everyone for being there and supporting the kids. The curtains opened and they started right in with their singing.

After the first two sets, it became painfully obvious that the kids would be performing all the same songs that they had performed the year before, but probably in a different order. I would have thought that they would have chosen different songs. There were many good songs were not sung that could have been. It would have been a better program instead of just a remake of last year.

Don't get me wrong, they kids performed well and the audience enjoyed the evening, but it could have been better with fresh songs.

After the event was over, it seemed like everyone was rushing to exit the building and head to their vehicles, but I and other parents had to go locate their kids before they got lost in the rush. It was not an easy task. People were going in all directions. I finally found my youngest son but could not locate my other one. We looked the place over from one side to another. There were several other parents that were having trouble locating their children and were up on the stage speaking their child's name into the microphone, blasting it all over the whole building.

My youngest son got on the mike and called for his older brother. By that time I was getting very worried that I couldn't find him. With in two minutes, here he came running up the aisle to the stage. It turned out that he was in the lobby with other kids waiting for us to find him. I was so relieved when I saw him. I know, I worry too much, but I can't help it. Anyway, we rushed out to meet my wife who was waiting with our two girls.

My sons told me that when they were up on the stage singing with their class, they both were scanning the crowd looking for me, worried that I wouldn't have made it. They were happy that I did.

After a brief reunion outside the auditorium, my wife took the girls and I took the boys and we made our way to our separate vehicles to head home.

The parking lot was a mess. Everyone trying to get home as fast as possible, it made for stressful situation. I got the boys fastened in started the van and waited and waited for someone nice enough to come along and let me in the line.

As luck would have it, despite being parked in separate parking lots and getting to our vehicles at different times, I pulled out onto the road and headed home, right behind my wife.

Overall, it was a good day. I got to visit with family out of town and made it back in time to see my two sons perform on stage.

The point of this story? There really isn't one except that I didn't know what else to write about.

Next week, my daughter in first grade has her Christmas program. We will attend that one as well. Hopefully they don’t sing the same songs as they did at my sons’ program.