I spent my birthday just staying home and building this fancy R2-D2 Lego set yesterday. No, it’s not finished yet. Which is fine!  I wanted something that would take me a few nights to put together.

It’s actually my first lego set in years and years. I forgot how fun it was as a child to build these things. It got me thinking about my boy Kingston and when he’d be able to build his first Lego set of his own. I look forward to that day.

I often wonder when Kingston is ready for a lot of other “firsts”. Whenever I get together with my other friends who have kids I often get their feedback how old their kids were when these things happened. It’s always fun to hear!

• When he can build his first Lego set that doesn’t just involve 2 pieces of Duplo sized parts.
• When he’s ready for his first rollercoaster ride (we’re taking him to Disney next year)
• When he can seriously join me for some online video game deathmatch (he’s already surprised me how good he is at figuring out how to play my iPhone apps)
• When he’s able to have his legs long enough to peddle a regular bicycle with me.
• When he might be able to join me for a morning jog (yea right, my dad couldn’t get me out to run with him)
• When he can settle down enough he can sit through a whole movie theatre experience with me. (perhaps for an “Avengers 5″ movie?)

The list can probably go on…it’s nice to have all these things to look forward to!

Shhh! Don’t tell anyone I bought myself a lego set to build for my birthday next week!

Which is more pathetic…buying the Lego?  Or having to end up buying my own bday gift? I’m going to go with neither, because I’m going to LOVE it. It’s got tons of pieces which should keep me occupied for at least a good few hours while my boy is in school and my wife is at work.

While we’re in the subject of lego…this fan based set of minifigs is pretty good. But this other series is even better! Dear God when will you deliver me my box of plastic box of lego block goodness?

Kingston suffered a fall at school last week. It didn’t look like anything…he had no bumps, bruises or scrapes, but we had enough concern to take him to ER a couple days later to get an xray. Turns out he had a hairline fracture that might end up having him in a cast for a couple weeks? Boy the things this little guy has been through.

I swear my hair will all fall out in a few years at this pace. You know, the one thing about parenting stress isn’t always about the child himself. (King is often oblivious of his own pains…he’ll continue playing like it’s nothing). The stress comes from all the stuff that surrounds the incident — how do you handle this with his caretaker?  How might you prevent this from occurring again in the future? How over-protective can you be?  (my wife suggested buying him a helmet and pads for him to use in the school playground; I fear he’ll be laughed at by classmates or treated differently by teachers), etc.

The list goes on and on about the details that goes around raising these little people. No manuals. No straight answers. I just forge through from incident to incident handling it best that I can.

You better appreciate this someday Kingston…the next time you stare at your old pops when he’s 90.

Gorgeous, gorgeous photography, HDR, time-lapse work coming out these days. I’m both inspired yet envious of the skill that these photographers exhibit sometimes. Not to mention a bit jealous that they’re able to visit some of these beautiful places in the world. Add more things to my bucket list!  (via Gizmodo; Sean Reeder)

This little shirt film gave me joy & hope.

Joy that this world isn’t all just about terrorism, capitalism, dirty politics and taxes. Joy that there are good dads out there who care as much as I do about the lives of their children. Joy that there are simply good people out there who will go out of their way to make someone’s day a little happier.

Hope…that Kingston grows up to use his imagination as well as little Caine.

King is growing up to be a pretty smart little guy too. But he’s very fixated on his iDevices which I’m increasingly trying to ween him off and force him to use his imagination to entertain himself. Those iDevices have amazing devices for exploration, concentration, and coordination for him…but I fear the time when he can’t simply sit in a quiet room and create his own fun just like Caine did.

Where can I get a fun pass? (via CainesArcade.com)

Call me crazy, but I kinda want this crazy pixel crayons. It’s a little gimmicky yes, but it looks like with some practice, they could be used to do some nice finishing touches on shading effects like in those cupcakes. I want!!  (via Gizmodo; AssistOn)

What fun! Who didn’t, at some point in their young lives, like to use stickers on things? My boy hasn’t really gotten the idea of using stickers to decorate an object permanently…but he still enjoys the actual practice of sticking.

So I got a bit envious of the folks here who had the chance to walk tinto Yayoi Kusama’s art installation where they were allowed to stick these colored dot stickers anywhere they wanted in the room. Interesting observation how most of the stickers were stuck on the walls and only a small proportion of visitors stuck things on the floors or chairs where they sat? Does it say anything about conformity…or laziness? My favorite section was the part on the wall where folks collected colored dots into some grouping that almost looked like a flower bloom out of the 60′s (via Toxel)

I find temporary art like this pretty inspirational sometimes. The fact some artist somewhere can feel the need to create something beautiful that just lasts for an hour or two and then late nature wipe it away…is amazing to me, and at least provides me a little bit of thought the next time I feel depressed a website I struggled months to achieve gets obsolete in just 1 year.

Artist Andreas Amador’s website demonstrates more of his work and some fun videos about how he gets up at some ungodly hour of the morning to accomplish these works of art. (via Gizmodo; Andres Amador Arts)

It’s been a long time coming…what started last Summer when I first heard about the news that this position was available (I had skipped the same opportunity the year before but my friend convinced me to try for it) turned out to be a HUGE eye-opening experience in the ways of a State-run college campus hiring procedure. Everything you now about how to type up your resume, how to give answers for an interview, even details about how your old college transcripts are judged, goes out the door. Simply put, getting a job in the State is a process better experienced than explained. It’s taken me almost 1 year from the date I handed in an application till I got the offer letter just last week.

Anyway, it should be cool…the faculty and staff have all been very receptive and supportive of me so far, so I feel very appreciated so far. Plus there’s no question that the 21 days of sick & 21 days of vacation will be SO NIIIICE the next time I head off on a trip. No more worrying about the bills getting paid while on extended vacation! Life is getting simpler.

Still doing LoweStudio work…no plans to kill this business yet. It’s still like a 2nd child to me this business. Can’t believe it’s nearing 7 years old!  Probably in the next 2 or 3 weeks I should be able to debut a couple of new client websites I’ve been working on. They’re looking quite nice I can’t wait to show them off a bit. (fingers crossed my clients don’t ask me to change them last minute)

What a journey. This blog started 7 years ago when I left my last full-time job setting off on this scary journey of self-employment. And now…I’ve just about come full circle, landing this new position almost BECAUSE of my success in LoweStudio. I guess it’s just like I always thought…everything always happens for a reason.

I think I found my next gift idea with these head pillows. Too bad Valentines just passed…I think these would have been perfect for my wife in case she misses me on those cold evenings alone. Or if she wants something to throw around every once in a while? (via Toxel)