Hello...hello

LONG time since I posted. Lots going on. Things I've discovered:

1. Rather than buying stuff for your kids when shopping, give them a little bit of money and let them decide what they want/need. When we were at Disney World a few weeks ago, we loaded up a couple of gift cards for the kids and trusted them to spend their OWN money. Both did a good job managing this, and my youngest even had about $15 left over on his he was "saving" to spend on Club Penguin merchandise when we got home. I needed to set up my own gift card for my own usage as the Credit Cards came out more than I would have liked for stuff I wanted.

2. Surprising kids are great. We surprised them with the trip to Disney World, and we've decided to plan low cost, simple things without necessarily telling them what we're doing. LOVE IT!

3. I spend a lot of time listing to Podcasts. ESPN daily offerings, WDW Fanboys, BS Report (with Bill Simmons), Vinylmation, Adam Carolla, WDW Today, Firewall & Iceberg, Kevin Smith stuff (I can't keep up with his daily stuff, and I'm kind of pulling away from him a bit, REALLY VULGAR and differing points of view than me). Other than the Foo Fighters, can't remember the last time I listened to much music. I must be getting old and my podcasts are to me what WBBM talk radio was to my father.

4. I don't read enough books. I read A LOT, but it's either newspapers, news articles, twitter, linked articles, and research for work. We're starting a family reading program this summer and WE'RE ALL reading the same book. In Cameron's case, I'm reading to him.

5. I think I'm getting too old to make new friends. As I've gotten older, I've found I'd rather spend time with my family, old friends, or alone, than to reach out and make new friends. This is kind of sad, but I think who I am becoming.

6. I'm eating less and working on my cardio a lot more. I hit the eliptical probably 5 or 6 times a week. Not for an extended period, but I'll crank out about 3.3 to 3.5 miles in a half hour, and burn around 400 calories. Since I've started reducing my food, I'm down about 8 or 10 pounds. Need to start back on the push ups.

All for now. More later