Grandma and the Kids

Here are a couple of good ones of mum with the kids!


Nim with the Grandma


His hair is so wild!


Really cute one

He Loves His Little Sister

Now I Have Seen It All...

Mum is a big rugby fan. No doubt about it. However, every game day we have to be subjected to her nerdiness.

The kids want to watch Cars on the big screen, while Grandma dons her headphones and watches Setanta on the laptop where she can get her rugby.


Serious geek!

I suppose it could be worse. She could be one of those grandmas in adult diapers. I am sure, eventually, it will come to that.


"Daddy, Grandma scares us..."

Nim at 3 Years Old

So damn cute!!

Click here.

What A Difference 19 Months Makes

Enough said....

Tribute to Bam Bam Bigelow

The wrestling world was saddened last week when another legend, Scott 'Bam Bam' Bigelow, passed away at the age of 45.

Almost exactly 12 years ago, American football legend Lawrence Taylor appeared at the Royal Rumble in Fresno as a member of the audience.

The confrontation he had with Bam Bam Bigelow, though entirely scripted, caused a huge buzz and the pair went on to headline WrestleMania.

It is not by accident that Bigelow was the man asked to 'carry' LT in a match of this magnitude.

Wherever he went - including WWE, WCW, ECW and Japan - Bam Bam quickly made a name for himself, not just for his in ring work, but also for his reputation as a true professional.

Bigelow's first stint in the WWE was largely unheralded, although he did take part in the inaugural Survivor Series PPV, but a return in 1992 saw him receive a bigger and more sustained push.

In the cartoonish world of the early 90s' product, the larger-than-life Bam Bam - with his bald head adorned with tattoos, menacing glare and fiery outfit - was a natural heel. He had the world's worst theme music - just someone saying "Bam Bam" over and again!



While never holding a major WWE championship, Bam Bam worked with all the top names of the era, including Bret Hart and Diesel, and was a member of Ted DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation.

He eventually turned babyface when The Million Dollar Man fired and ordered his charges to attack Bigelow, who had "let him down" by losing to Lawrence Taylor.

In the mid 90s, upstart promotion ECW was gaining momentum, and many point to the more experienced grapplers who worked for Paul Heyman's Philadelphia based organization as being a key reason for this swift success.

Terry Funk and Bam Bam Bigelow are the two names most frequently mentioned in this context.

Bigelow went on to win the ECW world title from Shane Douglas, only to drop the strap a month or so later to The Franchise.

The Beast From The East also created one of the enduring images of ECW, when during a match for the television title with Taz (now commentator Tazz), they crashed through the ring before Bigelow was able to clamber out and claim the title, in his home town of Astbury Park, New Jersey.

It was Bigelow who dropped the ECW television championship to Rob Van Dam, after which RVD began his hottest streak and record-breaking title reign.

Both Taz and Van Dam acknowledge the contribution Bam Bam made to their careers, with RVD having this to say of WWE.com: "One of the favourite moments of my career was the night in Buffalo where I beat him for the ECW television title.

"I got the biggest rub of my career that night, and that match turned me into a superstar.

"I enjoyed watching him as a fan, working with him and wrestling him. In and out of the ring he was a tremendous professional and I have a lot of respect for him."

In 1998, Bam Bam moved to WCW, where he stayed until the company was bought out in 2001.

While in WCW, he fought mainly for the hardcore title, often with fellow ECW alumni Raven, Hardcore Hak (Sandman) and Mike Awesome.

Bam Bam will long be remembered as one of the most agile big men in wrestling history.

Typically using a slingshot splash or diving headbutt as finisher, he would also take to the skies with a textbook moonsault - not bad considering his weight was approximately double that of a Rey Mysterio.

It remains to be seen whether the WWE will include Bam Bam as one of this year's Hall of Fame inductees.

No-one could claim he does not deserve it.

by ROB McNICHOL

Great Commercial

This commercial almost made me cry! 'Almost' because I am a tough guy, but seriously, this was brilliant.

This is what being a dad is all about.

Click here to watch.

Steve Jobs Heralds New Wave of Street Crime

Apple boss Steve Jobs proudly unveiled the new iPhone this week promising that the latest must-have gadget would see the beginning of a new era in robbery- with- violence. The shiny new iPhone which packs every desirable modern gadget into one handy, easy-to-steal device, can be used to make phone calls, surf the net, take photographs, play music files, send emails and trim unsightly nasal hair. Possession of the much-hyped device means that there is almost nothing that a busy iPhone owner cannot do while on the move, apart from going outside.



As Apple proudly unveiled the new touch screen device, Jobs boasted ‘It’s a phone, it’s an iPod, it’s a palm top, it’s a great big arrow pointing to your head saying ‘Please mug me.’ Jobs continued, ‘We’re confident that this phone is so sexy that opportunistic criminals will be unable to prevent themselves from knocking owners to the ground before wrestling the device from their hands and running off down the road.’ As part of the huge global launch, Apple will be running special worldwide promotions rewarding any owner who can hold on to their new device for more than a fortnight. iPhone owners are being advised to hang on their old technology for the time being; ‘Use your old phone to take a picture of your new iPhone,’ said Jobs. ‘You’ll want to remember what it looked like.’

The new iPhones even includes Satellite Navigation technology, so that you can log on to your laptop and locate the dodgy housing estate where your £250 phone is now being sold for a tenner. This facility is of course two-way, ensuring that your Apple iBook and the phone will be reunited by burglars later in the evening.

(courtesy of Newsbiscuit)

I Love Keith Olbermann

Bill O'Reilly is a tool.

Click here to see why.

It isn't until the last part about Fox News scrubbing their reports that it was really bad.

My Little Sister!

Even at this tender age, you can see that Jack is absolutely in love with his little sister. He is very attentive to her, and even though he squeezes a bit hard, he can't go more than an hour or two without hugging or kissing her.


Check out Jack's hair...awesome!


One of my favorites

Bundle of Joy

7 days old


Kissable lips


Proud Grandma

Snow Day !!!

When I was a kid I used to love it when it snowed. Who didn't?! Well, last night we got dumped on! About 6" overall.


Winter wonderland

It was brilliant. I had been bitterly cold for about a week, but no moisture whatsoever. We went to bed at about 11pm that night, and sill no snow, but after waking up at around 7am, the whole place was white.

Oregon gets snow, and most winters we get a slight sprinkling, but nothing ever sticks. Every 5 years or so we get a good dump, but that is about it. Well this is one of those days.

Of course, that brought out the kid in me, and we got Nim and Jack all bundled up, and out we went. Snowball fights, sled rides, and snowman building was the order of the day, and Steph was out there snapping some great pictures!


All bundled up


Wicket loved it, too


Fat man in a little coat


Jack's first real snow fall


Nim was loving it


At top speed...


...when cornering...


...sleds don't handle too well...


...and tears are the result.

Mike Tyson's Craziest Moments

This is without a doubt the most insane person I have ever seen.

Wow.

Click here.

Oregonians: PLEASE READ

This was on the front page of the Oregonian Newspaper today.

If you are living in Oregon, or know someone who does, you need to check out the Oregon State Sex Offenders online tracking system. (I am sure they have similar things for other states online).

Click here to make sure you know which registered sex offenders are living around you, and where they live.

It only maps them from a one mile radius from your house, but it is still a little un-nerving to see.

Love you all, and stay safe.

Some Clarification on HV...

Hmmm....quite the response about my earlier posting about Hollywood.

First off, the people I forgot to mention. Come on...get over it, there was a ton of people and I was bound to miss some. If I forgot to mention you, I have added you, and if your name is Betsy and/or Mario I understand that I will be forever in your debt.

Second, the piece about the leadership may have been misconstrued. I said it had all but disappeared. I meant "physically" not "practically". Nearly everyone that I had known to be in charge of it has since left (hence 'disappeared'), and that is what I meant! Not that any existing leadership was bad. On the contrary, I would say that the current group are better off than anything I ever saw. My sincere apologies if that is how it was taken. A couple of people rightly called me on that one, and I could have chosen my words more carefully. Anyone who knows me, knows I think the world of TW and the job he is doing, and he is at least one bright spot on their horizon.

The rest is staying, as that is how I feel. I have a ton of friends that still work there (and apparently more people that read this than I thought!) and have had many conversations with them. They know me, and know how I feel, and I know how they feel.

I had some of the best times at Hollywood, and some of the worst, and that is what made it all worth it. I certainly wouldn't change it for anything. I made some life-long friends there.

Great Shot of Ruby

It pays to have a nice camera!

Katrina vs. Denver

This made me smile.

------------
WEATHER BULLETIN - Denver

In the "Mile-Hi City", they just recovered from a Historic event--- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --with a blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI:

George Bush did not come.
FEMA did nothing.
No-one howled for the government.
No-one blamed the government.
No-one even uttered an expletive on TV.
Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.
The Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.
The Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.
CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5 snowstorm. Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.
No one looted.
Nobody - I mean Nobody - demanded the government do something.
Nobody expected the government to do anything, either.
No Larry King, No Shepard Smith, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson.
No Sean Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types to be found.
Nope, we just melted the snow for water.
Sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars.
The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and didn't ask for a
penny.
Local restaurants made food and the police and fire departments delivered it to the snowbound families. Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.
They fired up wood stoves, broke out coal oil lanterns or Coleman lanterns.
They put on extra layers of clothes because up there it is "Work or Die".
They did not wait for some affirmative action government to get them out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for "sittin at home" checks.
Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early, we know it can happen and how to deal with it ourselves.

In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate.

It does seem that way, at least to me. I hope this gets read. Maybe
SOME people will get the message. The world does not owe you a living.

Big Sister Meets Little Sister

Naomi came to the hospital yesterday to check out her little sister. While Jack's response could have not be less enthusiastic, Nim's reaction was just as I suspected...full of joy!

Having been through this before, she was convinced that no-one needed to remind her how to hold the baby's head, or cradle her, or what to do when she cried...it was old hat...and it was adorable!

Here are some pics of the girls meeting for this first time.

Introducing Ruby Patricia Autumn Date

I am overwhelmingly proud to introduce you all to the newest member of our family.

Ruby Patricia Autumn Date was born today at 12:16pm. She weighed 6lbs 15oz, and was 20 inches long. She had a 13cm head (every woman cringe...go ahead...) and is absolutely the cutest thing I have ever seen. Oh, and did I fail to mention that Steph did it drug-free AGAIN!!!


That's right, and she is beautiful

Just like I did with Jack's birth a brief run down of the day is as follows:

5:00am
Woke up and decided that this is entirely too early to have a baby. Consider sleeping in, but decide against it when I see Steph up and ready to roll. I can't be the one letting the team down. Jack stayed the night at Aunty Jo's so he was not a factor.

6:15am
Arrive at the hospital all excited. Remember that today is Elvis' birthday, which makes Steph happier than anything! We get checked in to Room 3K07, and settle down to our luxurious surroundings.


Slightly smaller than the one we had with Jack, but nevertheless it was very comfortable

7:00am
Our nurse, Jennine, is very nice indeed, and she hooks Steph up to the various IV drips. This was an induced labor, so you need pitocin to get that going. Steph had decided, like with Jack, that she was going to do it naturally. I had some reservations when Jack was born that she could do it, but having seen her cope with Jack's giant melon, I had no doubts she would do it this time.

8:00am
The mood is good, she is doing well, and the first contractions don't bother her really. She is hooked up to the heart rate monitor, and we laugh and joke about what she will eventually look like, and what if Ruby isn't actually a girl after all.


Up and about, all is well after about a hour into it

9:00am
Doctor Polo comes in and breaks Steph's water, and examines her quickly. Water is all normal, and baby is coming down the pipeline. Note: 'pipeline' is probably not the medical term.

9:25am
The mood changes. For those of you yet to experience this, there are really three key areas to labor. The first is the excitement stage. You are ready to roll, and are looking forward to seeing your little bundle of joy. The second is the serious stage. This is where the contractions start to kick in, and the pain starts to increase to levels that 'can' make you irritable. The third, and last, stage is the exhausted/mad stage. This is where you have often been through hours of pain, and just want this damn piece of crap bundle of joy out of you, and you don't care what it takes, it is coming out!
Now, with Jack this more serious stage came later on in the day, but Steph was ready to roll after only about 25 minutes. This was when my wise cracks and constant texting to people to let them know we were here ceased to be amusing.

11:00am
The nurse comes in and checks her again. Decides that we are moving along a lot quicker than before, and so she she will call the doctor again (he leaves and comes back constantly as he has a medicacl office in another wing of the hospital, too).
Doc arrives, checks, verifies, and the room transformation begins.

11:30am
Steph is getting mad, but in a good way. She is pushing slightly against the contractions. This is good, and is encouraged by the nurses, just to ease the pain. The nurse described is as your way of fighting back against the pain. Kind of like when you cut yourself, and you rub it really hard, or you push hard on the cut...it takes some of the pain away. We concentrated on our breathing a lo during this part.

12:00pm
Doc arrives, and decides it is go time. Attachs a fetal heart rate monitor to the baby's head, as the heart rate seemed to slow slightly.

12:10pm
Steph starts to push and we are all rocking and rolling. (Just in case you are wondering, I am doing fine at this point).

12:16pm
Yes, that is right, SIX minutes later, Ruby Patricia Autumn Date is born. She starts to scream right away, as would I if I had just been through that! She has a great set of lungs on her, and as you can see from the pictures below she has a full head of hair, and finger nails, and some serious dimples (thanks mum!).

A quick note on the name:
Ruby was going to be Jack's name if he was a girl, and over the last two years we decided that we still loved the name, so stuck with it.
Patricia was a no-brainer. Both our mothers are named Patricia!
Autumn is Steph's best friend in the whole world, and it was our way of saying thank you and how much she means to us. It is also a little shout out to my English heritage by having TWO middle names. It is not common here in the US, but is very common in England.

Jack got to meet his little sister a few hours after the birth when Aunty Jo arrived, and Naomi will meet her tomorrow morning. Jack could not have been more underwhelmed. It was cute, but he obviously doesn't grasp it yet. I can't wait until Naomi sees her.

As for how things went after the delivery, I will let the pictures speak for themselves.


One of my favorite shots


Cut me, Mick...


Is this coming home with us?


Oh, I get it. My little sister.


She had good parents to help!!


Finally, clean and sleeping, nice and safe!

There is also video !!

Click here to see Ruby's first bath.

Click here to see Ruby right after she was born.

Click here to see a very relaxed mommy after the birth!

Last Night With Friends

I guess sensible philosophy says that the night before we are scheduled for induction to have baby Ruby, we would be mellow, taking it easy, and relaxing with ourselves, and just chilling!

Hell no!

Okay, so it wasn't exactly a raving party, or a party at all really, but we had some of our best friends round for dinner. Mike and Mindy brought the kids, and cooked us a fabulous 'last meal' and Autumn came round to chill out, too.

It was pretty low key for the most part, except there was some Trivial Pursuit trash talking early on from Mr "what frog emcee's the muppet show?" Veary, which had to be dealt with in the swiftest of manners by yours truly. We duked it out for 2 rounds of first-to-25 and it was close, but there was some serious help being handed out by the girls in the second game. Now I am not saying I am competitive, but I had to punch my pregnant wife once for helping out (is that assault?), and kicked Mrs. Veary under the table several times for assists which were clearly not part of the game.
Note to self when attacking women:
Rule #1: Never play punch (even mockingly) a woman about to give birth. She will hand out a whoopin' twice as bad as you gave her. The pain associated with her flicking your ear at Mach 2 speed will overwhelm you easily.
Rule #2: Never kick someone (even mockingly again) under the table who posseses a crab-like pincer claw for a big toe. You are no match for her in a toe wrestling game, and she will remove most of the hair on your lower leg.

After M&M left, we took Autumn to her car in Beaverton, and went to the store to grab some last minute supplies.

So, as you can see it was quite the night. The lasagna was awesome...seriously one of the best I have ever had, the company was great, the smackdown was severe, and we had a good old-fashioned chilled out evening with our friends. It was really nice, and I don't want to make more babies to have more of these evenings, but I would like some more just because.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow, and let's hope everything goes smoothly.

New Years Resolutions

It was a very tame and relaxed (and very enjoyable) New Years Eve this year. Steph and I spent the night in with the kids and Autumn. When you could have a baby at any minute there is not an great incentive to get out and shake your booty!

So we just stayed in a chatted, had a bit of champagne and generally just chilled out. The three of us (Steph, Autumn, and me) also wrote our New Years Resolutions. We did it with a twist this year, though. We decided to write eight of them ourselves, and then each write two resolutions that 'could' apply to anyone of us, put those in a bowl, and then each picked from the bowl, with the resolutions we picked then becoming part of our own list. It was sort of fun, and a little bit extra that you might not otherwise add. The ones I drew are the ones labelled 'bonus' at the end of my list.

So, here is where I netted out in terms of my resolutions. I stayed clear of the unrealistic ones this time (skydiving, be a millionaire, own an Humvee etc) and went for a more attainable approach. I think, for the first time in a long while, I can actually achieve all my goals.

1. Start and maintain 'Help For Daddy' business, including website, marketing, direct mail, and other collateral

2. Workout at work a minimum of 3 times per week

3. Take family vacations to Disneyland, and to Hampton, Arkansas by the end of the year

4. Learn to play my new guitar

5. Become a Grade 7 referee

6. Sign up for a dance class with Stephanie

7. Volunteer at a children's hospital and/or Naomi's school at least once a quarter

8. Take the kids water skiing in our own boat

9. BONUS: Only eat dessert once a week (to make it a real treat)

10. BONUS: Put $20 per paycheck into a savings account that I can't access easily. Not linked to checking account

So, Happy New Year to everyone, and let's get going!