What is it about me?!?

I’m a little confused yet again.

After all that time working in the government and wondering why it was that so many people cared about things I did or said – non-work related – I can to the conclusion that it was them, and not me.  When I left the government, some whack-job googled me and used that to pressure my former manager into investigating my leave.  Whatever.  The issue that creeped me out was why someone would even care about what I was doing so long after leaving there.

It’s not my problem, it’s theirs right???

And then I get an email in my inbox Friday morning, and it reads something like this;

“Dude, I can no longer be friends with you because when my spouse and I were having problems I confided in you.  You and your wife obviously talk to each other.  My spouse and your wife have mutual “acquaintances”.  I don’t want what we talked out to get back to my spouse.  That would suck for me.  Have a nice life”.

I read it over.

Then again.

Blinked a few times.

Read it again.

 

Then I started shaking my head.  My wife does not know your spouse, and the “mutual friends” if we use the Facebook terminology, are 4 people that my wife has not spoken to in years and has not seen since I met her 9 years ago.

Besides, over the past year or 2 if there was any opportunity to talk to any of these “friends”, I’m not so sure that your situation would come up at all.  No offense.  It’s just not that important.

Wondering why you think I, or my wife, would tell anyone about what happened with you guys.  Thinking that being “friends” with me must have either been that insignificant that it’s easy to toss away, or you must really feel that I have some ability to broadcast to the world specific details of your life – which you described to me and a few others using your name, your spouse’s name and exact details.

I have a hard enough time getting a full night’s sleep and remembering where my office pass is in the morning.

Oh well…

Sorry.

Hope you have a nice life too.

The hunt for the missing kitty…

Maybe you can help.

 

It’s the white, well grey now, kitty that my son shleps with him pretty much everywhere in the house.  It’s been to the table, to play, to the bathroom, under the bed, in cars, toys and even in it’s own homemade bed.  No matter how much we wash that stuffed cat, it just seems to be getting dirtier and dirtier and more and more stinky.

UGH.

But it’s missing tonight and at 10:30 Linus came looking for it.  I sent him back to bed.

I have checked EVERYWHERE.  Seriously.  In drawers, in the pantry, under pillows, in the ball-pit, closets, on other toys, in and under beds… Geez.  I spent 35 minutes looking right after the kids went to bed, then another 35 minutes looking just now.

It has disappeared.

We hate this kitty so much that I took a picture of it and made it my twitter avatar.  That’s kitty, sometimes referred to as Zoe.

Where can that stinky piles of recycled fibres be…

My back hurts

It’s really tight this morning… I’m in a lot of discomfort because someone decided he was scared and needed to come sleep in our bed last night – at 9:30.  He tossed,he turned, he talked, he moaned, he groaned.  At 4am I noticed my wife was up and on her iPhone checking emails and the sort.  Neither of us slept.

It’s been 2 weeks since the “monsters” came…

It’s been 2 weeks since I had a restful sleep.

 

Help!

Grrrr. Damn monsters…

Keeping my son up at night and getting him out of bed at all hours to come sleep with us…

 

I’m at my wits end.

He told me this morning that he was not going to have dreams about monsters anymore.  Tonight he was going to dream about Elmo and the chicken dance…

It’s 12:47am and he’s still asleep…

Quick!  Time for bed!!!

He didn’t have to eat them all…

My 2 (almost 3) year old hates me sometimes.  Then again, sometimes her loves me.

Tonight… Hate.

Every night before bed he has a snack.  Used to be “cheese sticks” (me cutting match sticks out of a block of marble cheese), then grapes, then raisins, and now it’s yogurt and seeds (plain yogurt with sunflower seeds in there). 

Tonight before bed he wanted blueberries.

He sat, ate, then all of a sudden he started to cry.

“My tummy hurts Daddy”… He said.

“Sorry buddy, what can I do?” I asked.

Then came the response…

“I don’t like you Daddy!  You gave me too many blueberries.  My tummy hurts.  I don’t like you Daddy!”

Oh.

He calmed down and 15 minutes later sucked back a huge bowl of berries, seeds and yogurt…

Then he pooed.

Went to bed happy.

But not before saying this to me; “I like you Daddy”.

OY.  Kids…

Follow me on Twitter

I’m legit now.

I give up.

I am no longer anonymous.

If you would like, please follow me on Twitter.  I can be found under the username: Taxman18.

I work in tax, and 18 is a lucky number in Judiasm, and my number of choice for playing sports – like 15 years of ball-hockey.

This blog, for anyone new here from my Twitter account, is about life as a father to 2 boys – almost 5 and even closer to 3, a husband with a lot to learn and a baby on the way in November.  I worked in the public service for over 10 years and they were 10 of the toughest years of my life.  I have been in the private sector for almost a year and love every minute.

If you “tweet” and would like me to follow you, please send me a message.

If you want to read some of my ramblings on sports, hit me up here; www.daddyknowssports.wordpress.com.

If you want to see the more professional side, I have been neglecting my tax blog; www.intaxicating.wordpress.com.

I have opened my kimono for everyone to see.

Back from vacation

Had a great time hanging with my wife and kids.  Kept my annoyingness to a minimum and my patience as high as I could. 

Did a quick check to see that www.urbandaddy.comis a night-life type website and everything on it is spelled “urbandaddy”, which means I shall remain the “Urban Daddy”.  Just wanted to be sure before I made this blog public again. 

I thank all of you who read my ramblings and those who take the time to comment.  Nice to know you are out there.  I still look in amazement whenever my hits for the day exceed 20.  I know it’s small but it’s kind of neat to me.  I appreciate it.

Changes are on the way as is an update from our vacation…

On vacation

No posts this week.

 

On vacation with the family.  Weather looks to be very nice.

 

Can’t wait.

 

By the time you are reading this, we’re already there and having fun.

 

urbandaddy

August 15, 2008

It was one year ago today that the HR recruiter of the company I now work for contacted me on my cell phone to see if I was still looking for work.

Thinking it was yet another recruiter who wanted to see me to pad their stats and prove their worth, I agreed to meet them the following day. 

She urged that I read up on the company through their website.  I did.  I realized the company was either legit, or they had great IT people who created and managed a kick-ass site.

I had every reason to be sceptical… I had a back ground in tax, was a level 3 CGA, had my MBA and had taken, but not completed my Canadian Securities Course.  I was also pushing the project management work that I had completed while working in the government.  This HR recruiter had a position which needed each and everyone of these skill sets…

Uh huh… Sure.

So down I went and met the HR recruiter.  Asked a bunch of questions and knew once I left, I was going back to government hell.

As I left the subway on my way back home, my cell phone rang and it was my wife.  Turns out the recruiter was so impressed with me that she wanted to set up another interview  with two of the GM’s ASAP.  I offered to turn around and go back on the subway, back downtown.  We agreed upon the following day.

I immediately called into the office and took the rest of the week off.  We  were going up to a resort north of the city the following week and I could use the extra day off.

I remember sitting on the bed talking with my gal, both of us laughing at how funny it would be for me to land a manager position considering all the hurdles I had to jump over in the government just to be a team leader, and how they prevented my growth there over and over again.

I went to the interview, asked a bunch of questions, remained calm when presented with the challenges, the task ahead and the risks involved.  After being told for years and years that you’re no good, it is refreshing to talk about successes and feel validated.

I thought the interview went well, but as in the past, expected it to end there.  I went home, wrote up thank you notes and mailed them off to the GM’sand the HR recruiter, but not before stepping off the subway yet again, to arrange a 3rd interview with the VP of Operations at this global company – a telephone interview – to be conducted at this resort we were going to.  This interview lasted 2 hours.  They told me it would take some time, possibly a week to make a decision before making me an offer.  By 3pm that day, I had the offer in my email.

We spent the next week negotiating and I started September 15th – the first official day of the recession.

I love my job!

Today is August 15th.

This week we’re going back to that resort.

September 15th will mark my first year there.

Funny how a year can go by so quickly…

You want her?!? She’s pregnant, remember…

Had lunch with a new friend of mine.  He’s older than me by about 14 years – he’s engaged to my wife friend and him and I have hit it off.  He works near me and we’ve had lunch or coffee together about 5-6 times in the past couple months.  We email each other, talk about how to grow tomatoes (he asks advice and checks in on the progress – or lack thereof – of my 40 + heirloom tomato plants grown from seed.

On Monday we met up and the conversation went something like this;

Him – Hey!  Do you want to go fishing with me?

Me – Errr, I’ll go to hang out with you but I don’t like fishing.

Him – It’s $99.00 and you get picked up, taken up north, fed, accomodations, licenses, fishing and brought back the next day.

Me – Errr, yeah.  Fished as a Boy Scout – sort of.  But, hey!  My wife loves fishing… You should take her!

Him – LOL.  Really.  What happens if we bond over fishing, get cozy at night and I bang her?!?

Me – Without missing a beat – Well you can’t get her pregnant… She already is!

 

Have you ever had a conversation like this with a buddy?  I’m glad he thinks she’s bangable… I certainly do.