As he surveyed the scene he asked, “Where’s Jesus?” I thought it an odd question since he had placed the baby Jesus in the stable himself. I reminded him of that, to which he responded, “Where’s the real Jesus? Where’s the Jesus of God?”

That kid has a knack for asking penetrating questions. A month or so back we were watching daily mass when he abruptly asked, “What is God?” After a nervous explanation, he followed up with, “Is God a person?” Nothing like jumping right into ...

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Christmas break has been bad for me, though. I’m not surprised, but that doesn’t make me any less disappointed. I got as high as 168.8, but thankfully I’m down to 165.4 today.

My goal for 2013 is to get down to 150 lbs. What are your goals for this year?

Maybe it was a nightmare. Maybe she was cold. It’s impossible to know, really. Her mommy had tried to comfort her, but nothing she said or did helped. The screaming just got louder and more insistent, until she finally screamed a single word in repetition.

“Daddy!”

I calmly walked up the stairs, confident that I could soothe her. As I opened the door to her room, I saw her standing in her crib. She was distraught, but her screaming had subsided to steady sob at the sight of me. I stepped in and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around me and immediately calmed down.

And that’s when it hit me. He’d better be a hell of a guy.

What guy? That guy. The one she marries. The one who takes over my job.

You see, for the ...

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Alex Reading Shel Silverstein at Age 4 from Eric Williams on Vimeo.

Daddy in 1979 or 1980, at age 2 or 3

Alex in 2012, age 4

I just hope puberty is kinder to him than it was to me.

Image from the Muppet Wiki

The 1977 Little Golden Book “Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree” (which I think was also a segment in a Sesame Street episode) is ostensibly a fable about sharing, but I have a different perspective. Yeah, I know it’s pretty dorky to write a serious critique of a children’s book. Humor me, though.

There’s a reason we read fables and other morality tales to our children. In addition to teaching them to read and entertaining them, we’re hoping they assimilate some of the lessons. Other times, we keep some stories away from our children, because we don’t want them to assimilate those lessons. That’s why we care so much what they watch on TV, and how much, right? So, it is in the spirit of preferring some lessons over others that I bother to present my perspective on this silly book. (Besides, it’s a ...

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However, there is good news. My 25:42 finishing time was good enough to beat my personal course record by sixteen seconds!

Even more good news can be found in the context of my previous course record. That 25:58 finish happened in 2008. That was also the year I ran my 10K PR at the Great Race, finishing in 50:49. That means I have a very good chance of beating my 10K PR this year!

Great Race, ...

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• Camcorder with charged battery? Check.
• Camera with charged battery? Check.
• Flexible mini tripod? Check.
• LED spotlight? Check.

We got there on time. I got a seat up front without any hassle. I setup the camcorder and spotlight on the tripod, which I wrapped around my left knee so I could operate the camcorder with my left hand. I had the camera ready to be operated by my right hand.

I was ready to watch my first child’s first preschool performance and record it for posterity.

But it didn’t happen as I imagined.

Things started going badly before the performance began. A lot of the kids were antsy, but none as antsy as Alex. He was everywhere but where he was supposed to be, touching everything he wasn’t supposed to touch. His teacher had a hard time keeping him under control during the opening performance ...

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“Brothers and sisters: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.” – Ephesians 4:30 – 5:2

Um…yeah. Guilty as charged. There’s a lot more bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling in my house than I’d like, and not nearly enough kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. Aside from that, though, the reading was very ...

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“Meh.”

No, I didn’t prompt him in any way.