Loss

As October draws to a close and the leaves fall off the trees (they will eventually, right?) It seems to be a season of letting go and saying goodbye. So here is a random list of things I am going to miss:

1. Touchy McToucherton. I have had a first generation iPod touch since they were brand new. Amy, my amazing wife, bought me one as a totally extravagant and amazing gift for Christmas shortly after they came out. I think I have used it every day since to listen to pod casts, watch movies and TV shows when my job required frequent flying and for playing Plants vs. Zombies when Jonah's baseball games got too boring. I have recently acquired my first iPhone (yay!!) so Touchy McToucherton will be sitting in a drawer somewhere. Not even my kids will play with it. Too old. No speakers. (First world problems, I know.)

2. On a related note, goodbye Steve. I have been a Mac enthusiast since I was 15. We were outsiders, once. But we knew great design and amazing products, even before iPhones became ubiquitous. When I heard the news of his death, it hit me harder than I expected. I think it is easy to say that someone changed the world, but I do think that Steve's products have forever altered the way that we consume media.

3. Sort of loving things. Amy has pointed out to me that I never say "I love" something. Just that I "sort of love" them. "Did you try these new turkey burgers from Costco? I sort of love them." "Are you watching the second season of Work of Art? I sort of love it!" You know how people point something like that out to you and then you hear yourself saying it all the time? And then you feel like an idiot? So I am going to miss sort of loving things. I need to either just like them, or love them. It is time to commit.

4. Sleeping at night. Tis' the season of spooky things on TV. From American Horror Story to The Walking Dead to late night viewings of Insidious on AMC late at night. For some reason, during October, I intentionally seek out scary things and then immediately regret it when I am laying in my bed terrified and imagining a home invasion happening, right then.

5. Nachos. My favorite late night snack.  Juanitias tortilla chips. Melted tillamook cheddar cheese. Jack's special salsa. Sour cream, pickled jalapenos and a few dashes of Choloula hot sauce. I could literally eat it EVERY NIGHT. But I've gained a few too many ellbees (as Juliana would say) so I am doing Weight Watchers. I know they say you can eat anything on their plan. But if I ate those nachos, I would have to eat nothing else for 19 days.

6. Football practice. "What?!" you may be saying. See, our new house backs up to a park. And when it was a bit warmer and we had the windows open in the evening, we could hear the teenage football teams that practice in that park. It is a bit too cold now, so the windows are closed, even though they are still out there rehearsing. (That's the right term, right?) There is something intrinsically autumnal about listening to football practice on a warm fall evening. And I don't even like football. Maybe it is because I am missing Friday Night Lights. Yeah - I am sure that is it. Texas forever.

7. The 80s being retro. Remember when we were kids and we would have 80s parties and we thought it was hi-lar-i-ous. Because the 80s were just so funny? Well, now the 80s are ancient history. You know what is retro and hilarious? The 90s! When you were in high school! On a recent episode of Two Broke Girls (please don't think I am watching this show - I heard this from a friend.) they had a 90s party. And guess what were the hot items at Old Navy this fall? Long denim skirts, high waisted jeans and baggy plaid shirts. We even got these boots in:

Did I own boots EXACTLY like these when I was a freshman in college that I would wear with my loose fitting Quicksilver jeans and baggy plaid shirt? You bet I did! Am I planning on on buying them again? You bet I am. 

8. Lila being tiny. Does everyone remember when Lila looked like this?:

I mean, she was such a peanut. She could sit in the palm of my hand. Now she looks like this:

C'mon! She gorgeous but when did she get so grown up? Her poncho doesn't even fit anymore! She is just so old and funny and talking a lot and wearing skinny jeans and it makes me a little bit sad. She's still my baby, but I miss her being teeny tiny.

I gotta wrap this up. I need to go flip through more pictures of nachos on Google images. It made me feel good. What are you going to miss as the seasons change?

MMM Mondays: I'm His Dad

Every Monday I am reposting blogs which originally appeared on another blog I used to write for, Modern Mormon Men. Here is a post about Noel and his Asperger's Syndrome. See the original post here.

N at Disneyland.

My son N was never an easy child. As a baby, he was fussy and didn't eat well. He slept restlessly and woke us up for years at 5 a.m. As a toddler, he seemed easily shook up. At home he did OK, but anything out of our routine was a bit of a nightmare. We have vacation home movies where it seems like he is crying in every shot. Our first born had had colic, so we just assumed that N was a tough baby too, and left it at that.

As N got older, there were elements of his behavior that felt a little different somehow. Every kid goes through phases, but these phases felt longer and more relentless. By the end of N’s first year of pre-school, we knew something was off. He was arguing with other kids, refusing to follow directions and there were a couple of times we had to come to the school and pick him up because his behavior was too much for the teacher to handle.

Late last year, with the help of a great pediatrician, a lot of prayer, and a lot of research (done by my wife who knew in her heart this wasn’t just a phase), N was eventually diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome.

Asperger’s Syndrome is on the autism spectrum and it is typically defined as people who have difficulty communicating and socializing with others. They see the world though a literal lens and have trouble understanding nuance, flexibility and adapting. Kids with Asperger’s typically have a singular focus - something they are obsessed with that they spend all their time thinking about. While Asperger’s is more understood now than it was a generation ago, when hearing about it, people still give you a bit of a blank stare. N is not retarded (and really, can we just do away with that word all together?). He can’t count things really fast (like Rainman.) He is not stupid. His intelligence is not developmentally delayed at all.

Modern Mormon Mondays: (e)Book?

Each Monday on the blog I will post a post that originally appeared on the blog Modern Mormon Men, where I was formerly a contributor. There is nothing new. I just want these posts captured on my own blog. Read the original post and comments here. Feel free to leave new comments. I am validated by your comments. 

It's a Book by Lane Smith

It makes me happy when children's books are smart and funny. It makes me even happier when they are topical and well written. (If I have to read another one of those Hot Wheels books again when on every page the cars are on a different continent, I am going to tear my remaining hair out.) It's a Book by Lane Smith is fantastic in that regard. Gorilla (or whatever he is) is reading a book, and his friend Jackass (which is kind of a funny name to have in a children's book) can't seem to get his head around it. He keeps asking questions like "How does it scroll down? Does it need a password? Does it tweet?" to which Gorilla simply replies "No. It's a book."

I read it to the kids last night and laughed (especially when the book ended with the pithy "It's a book, Jackass.") but it made me think about the books and their place in our world.

I am a great lover of books. My wife and I were both English majors, so we own plenty of books. Just last week we were measuring the home office to see if we could fit another bookshelf in there. We have bookshelves in our living room, in the kid's bedroom, in the upstairs hallway. The china hutch in the dining room holds our collection of cookbooks and food literature. The floor next to my nightstand is stacked with an ever growing and expanding collection of books I want to read. I meticulously catalogue it all on Goodreads. Our house is overflowing with books.

But I am also a great lover of technology. I got a Kindle a couple of years ago (not this new one, mind you. I covet this new one.) and have loved it. A lot of my book-loving friends pooh-poohed it when I got it and said things like "Oh, I would never want to read a book on a screen." or "I just love new books! I love the smell and the feel and everything." Some even asked me "Are you just not going to read actual books anymore?" I do still read a lot of actual books. Last year I read about seven books on the Kindle and about 26 actual paper books.

Right now, I can't see myself ever giving up paper books. But there are some things that I love about reading books on the Kindle. In fact, I prefer to read certain books on it. The first book I bought on my Kindle was Drood by Dan Simmons. It's a fantastic book but it is also about 975 pages long. I got it first from the library and it weighed about 14 lbs. I couldn't imagine carrying it around on business trips. It would need its own ticket. I also love the convenience of a Kindle book. Because I have a free Kindle app on my smart phone, I have a book with me wherever I go. If I am on a lunch break at work, or waiting for an appointment, I can pick up in my current novel of choice and read a few pages. When I get back home, my Kindle is already synced to the same page. It's magic.

So will books ever go away? Slate's Julia Turner posed this question in the great Culture Gabfest. Paraphrasing her, she pondered whether the day would come where all physical representations of cultural media would go away. Think about it - when is the last time you bought a DVD instead of getting it from Netflix or downloading it from iTunes? Or when was the last time you bought a CD? Do they still even sell CDs in stores? Are books the next icon to fall?

I can hear your arguments now. And I agree with you. Remember, I love books! But remember when mp3 players first started hitting the scene and audiophiles complained that the sound quality was poor and that a digital copy of a song could never have the same depth and soul as an actual recording? I am no audiophile, so I can't argue with that point. But I do think that the convenience and ease of carrying 1 million songs in my pocket outweighs any loss I might have in sound quality. So will the ability to carry every book I've ever read and ever want to read in my pocket at all times outweigh the need for that great smell or great feel of a new book? I'm not convinced yet. But I can feel the tide shifting.

Author's Note: Even though it sounds like it was, this post was in no way sponsored by the Kindle or by Amazon. However, if Amazon feels so inclined to send me a free new Kindle, I would gladly take it. I am a blogger, so I have no journalistic integrity and love handouts.

On Consignment

I really do plan on posting a photo tour of the new house soon. We have worked really hard over the last couple of weeks to get everything out of boxes and looking good around the house. We painted the kitchen cabinets an apple green and have a couple more projects to do before we are totally done. All in all, I love this house and I am happy that we get to live her forever. We call it La Settanta. It's Italian for "The Seventy." The house was built in 1968 (I think) and has a great 70s modern vibe. Mark my words; Seventies architecture and design: In. Mid-Century Modern: So five minutes ago. (That's totally not true, I am sure. I will always love mid-century modern. But we want to be cutting edge.)

When we moved in we knew we were going to need to get some new furniture pieces. La Settanta is a little bigger than our Portland home. But we wanted pieces that made sense in the house, and somehow the $1999 HDTV TV, sofa, love seat, coffee table combo from RC Wiley didn't seem to be the vibe we were going for. So Amy started scouring KSL.com. local used-furniture stores and consignment shops. It was like a revelation.

You know when you are watching Secrets of a Stylist and you see some super awesome chair that Emily got and it says she paid $125 for it and you don't understand how that is possible? Well, it is all about used furniture stores, baby. They vary greatly in quality. Some look like junk heaps and you really have to dig. Others are thoughtfully curated, well merchandised and you want to buy everything in the store. There is something about a piece that you know has been around for 50 years and is still in good shape. It just seems to have more gravitas than the particle board desk from ikea (which I also own and love.) You didn't know we were going to be talking about furniture gravitas today, did you?

Our favorite shop is the The Old Flamingo. It is owned by a group of artists/ furniture restorers. They buy from estate sales and either refinish the furniture or sell it as is. Everything is well done and Amy and I want to spend every spare penny we have there. If you are in the Millcreek area, it is worth a visit.

I am planning a more thorough home tour on the blog soon, but until then, here are some favorite pieces we have gotten since moving in.

This vase/bowl is from the OF. I think it was $13. I love it. The X is from Anthropoligie and the red screen is from TJ Maxx. (painted red to match the other furniture.)

Our dining space is small so we wanted a bench to go against the wall instead of chairs. The ladies at the OF custom painted this for us to match the curtains in the kitchen. The seat is all leather (or vinyl? Who knows) Super comfortable and the kids love it.

We got this baby grand at an antique store for $11!! Just kidding - it is from a real piano store. But the green rocker, the spindly coffee table and the leather sling chair are all from antique stores. The green rocker is super creaky and comfortable. I think the coffee table is about the most beautiful piece in the house. If you look closely you can see the dovetail detail on the top. The legs and support pieces underneath are all gracefully curved. I love it. 

This is a close up of the leather sling chair. Real leather. I think it was in an office somewhere. 

I am sitting in this chair right now as I am writing this. Both these pieces are from the OF. The chair is wool and mid-century and swivels and is the greatest red-orange color. The ottoman is white leather (or vinyl. Who knows/cares) with gold legs. What's not to love! (The ghost pillow is from Target. 75% off post Halloween sale.)

In a way I am kind of sad we are done decorating. There is no need to buy more big items from our friends at the Old Flamingo. I am sure we will continue to go and get accessories and additional pieces here or there. If you have never been to these kinds of stores before, check one out.