David turns three months old this week.  He's sleeping through the night almost every night now.  Like his dad, he likes his sleep … although his father is blogging right now instead of sleeping.  His mother on the other hand just walked into David's room to make sure he was still breaking.  He must be since she came back into the room and wasn't panicking.  She just reported that, "he's moves around that crib more than I do in bed."  — Trust me and the dog, we get pushed to the corners of our king size bed.  So that trait must come from his mother's side of the family.

I'm just amazed on how cute that kid really is.  My worst fear is that David would be an ugly baby and he'd have my DNA to blame for it.  Fortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case.  I've been amazed on how much he's grown in three months and how much he is absorbing the world around him.  The lights still amaze him, especially the bright colorful one in the living room that he shouldn't be looking at … at his age.  It's sucks that it's winter and there's not much outside we can do. (An aside…to the dog at my feet  is going to end up on the floor if he doesn't stop annoying me.)

Today was a lot of fun, and I was deathly worried that it was going to be a disaster.  Sandy spent the afternoon across town at a baby shower, and dad was left with baby duty.  Now the last few times dad had baby duty, it was more listening to the kid scream for an hour before frantically texting mom asking when she'd be back home. 

I was able to get David down to sleep, which he comfortably did for two hours!  Dad even got a game in on the XBox while he was sleeping and watched the coverage from Hawai'i on the tsunami.  Afterwards, we got our diaper change in, fed him a bottle, burped and another diaper chance — all before mom got home.  Once she returned, David got fussy.  But for me, my job was a smashing success.

Having David has been a great addition to my life, even when I want to trade him in for a three-year-old.  It finally has given me a reason to try to put down work once and awhile and just spend time with him.  Of course, I say that and then spent my entire Saturday evening pushing updates to my Wordpress blogs, photo gallery and all the associated plugins.  That does sound fun doesn't it.  Probably explains why Sandy dozed off so early.

I'm finally getting a bit sleepy and Sandy is already sawing logs, so it's time to check my Facebook and Twitter before I turn in myself.

If you want to see more of my really cute kid, just check out our photo-gallery over on the main site or our videos we're uploading all the time now to YouTube.

Posted: February 27th, 2010 under Just another entry.
Comments: 1

I spent the better part oruf this week in Austin at our company meetings. After a long week and a flying home I was a bit pooped.

One thing I learned is I can update my blog via the iTouch. Giving it a spin now.

My choice in fashion showed as well. I went to work Friday sporting the pride of Parma … White socks and dress shoes. Guess I was just a bit sleepy this morning.

No harm, no foul right?

Hey, at least I’m not getting screwed over by Jay Leno!

Eyes getting heavy …

Posted: January 15th, 2010 under Just another entry.
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After a long journey, our bundle of joy has finally arrived.  David Nicholas Crundwell arrived early in the morning on December 5, 2009.  A small turkey, he weighed in at 8 lbs. 6 oz. and a power forward in the making at 21 inches.  We spent two days at the hospital, he was healthy and was able to come home on Monday.

Sandy and I were so happy to have him home and to start the next chapter in our life.  It’s amazing what little things you notice.  Right away, I saw that David’s lower lip quivers when he cries.  How small the fingers and toes are.  The sharp finger nails, and how he has nearly as much hair on his head as his father.   It’s been interesting to see the dog’s reaction and how he’s still not so sure about David.  He doesn’t like it when Dave is in daddy’s lap.  Casey thinks that belongs to him.

The only issue was eating.  It took a long time to get him to feed.  Sandy’s milk wasn’t yet in so that was the challenge.  Our first night was a very long one, not knowing he was hungry was the issue.  He wouldn’t breastfeed so we initially thought he wasn’t hungry. He was up all night crying and two parents who took turns consoling him. 

As a new father, I have to say it was one of the toughest nights emotionally I’ve ever had.  I can see how new parents who aren’t mature enough can do things to their little ones to hurt them.  You definitely feel helpless not being able to get a crying baby to stop.  David likes it when I sang to him…all that church choir training came in handy.   Singing to him didn’t even console him.  It was tough.  Since he wouldn’t breastfeed, off to Marsh I went for a bottle of formula.  That helped a bit, but he still wasn’t happy.

So after a very long night and a visit to the pedetrician first thing in the morning we got the answers we were looking for.  She got us through our concerns and sent us on our way.  So after feeding him a second time, we finally got him to sleep.  (Then we got some as well.)  The other good news is Sandy is now producing milk so, if we have to bottle feed him breast milk, that’s still better than formula.

Best part, he sleeps in his car seat.  So if that works then great.  Even changing diapers hasn’t been that bad.

I think the Lord tested us last night, but we passed.  I’m sure we’ll have many more sleepless nights, but like last night we’ll pass the test.   In the end, it will all be worth it.

Posted: December 8th, 2009 under Just another entry.
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Something dawned on me today when the intern sitting outside my office was putting together promotional packages for our community affairs department.  Ten years ago this summer, I happened to be doing the exact same thing as ironically … a community affairs intern for WKYC-TV in Cleveland.  My first though as I was telling the intern about this I thought…holy crap!  It’s been 10 years since my Internship, really?  She took the time to say…well that means you must be like 30 or something.  It didn’t help my confidence, but neither does my thinning hair.  That means there’s probably a Class of ‘99 reunion this year at Mansfield University that Sandy and I should have attended.  I’ve gone and taken a look back at the last decade and all the accomplishments that I’ve made.

Read more »

Posted: July 25th, 2009 under Just another entry.
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Our parish had an organizational meeting this morning, and I was the only Knight from my council who could attend on my behalf.  One of the discussion was trying to get folks in my generation more involved in the church.  My reaction was with everything going on in our lives these days, finding room to squeeze something more into one’s life is tough.  

I think I’m busy now, so I can’t wait to see what life is like this time next year, chasing after a six month old.  (This is the part where all my friends with kids just smile with anticipation.)  So it got me thinking.  (Yes, ignore the burning smell.) 

Do the Amish have it right?  They’re unconnected simple lifestyle still keeps the family at the center.  They’re not running off to soccer practice, updating their Facebook status or Twittering with their friends.  They go to school, come home and work on the farm or at the family business.  At the very least, they develop a good work ethic, something that my generation and the ones younger than me really lack.  I’d bet we’d be hard pressed to find a "lazy" Amish man or woman.

I bet the Amish could develop a cottage tourism industry for the brave English. (that’s how they refer to the rest of us.)  Pay a few hundred bucks a day to spend the week with an Amish family and unplug from the modern day trappings for a week.  Of course this would be no vacation, you’d be working your but off bailing hay or milking a cow.   Then head home for dinner, no TV, just a good night’s rest.

Someday, I’ll find the time to stop everything and unplug from the rest of society for a few days.  It would make for a good holiday.  Just shut everything down and relax. Maybe even bake a pie.

That’s it…I just have a taste for some good Amish pie.  This whole post wasn’t about time and the lack of it, just the need for a big piece of Butterscotch pie, or silk cream…Better yet fresh strawberry pie.

I’m going to go look for some pie.

Posted: June 13th, 2009 under Just another entry.
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It’s with great joy to announce that Sandy and I are expecting our first child.   We are 11 weeks along and mom-to-be and baby are doing just fine.  Call us a bit old fashioned, but we didn’t want to announce until we had made it most of the way through our first trimester.

We had our second visit with the doctor today, and we were able to hear a good strong heart beat.  The due date is 12/2/2009, so we’re expecting the snow storm of the decade to fall on Central Indiana that week.   Now that’s my dad’s birthday, so we know what day he’ll be picking in the baby pool. 

At this point, not much else to tell, our house hunt continues and we hope to find something this summer. 

Posted: May 14th, 2009 under Just another entry.
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Okay, I haven’t truly blogged in awhile.  It’s that Facebook crap that keeps me from the blog.  Not really, but it sure is much easier.   It’s been a very busy spring.  The workload is great and there’s no sign of relief, but what doesn’t kill me will only make be better right?

It has been nice to see our ducks return to the pond behind our house.  It doesn’t help I feed them, now they come up to the back door looking for their dinner.   They won’t let me be near them when they eat, they just waddle back down to the pond.  They do have a nice calming effect, they don’t have too much to worry about.

What’s fun to watch is these two ducks have become protective of their pond and their free food.  There’s another male duck that will try to land in our pond.  Our male duck doesn’t like that and chases him away, and then returns to his partner.  They make a lot of noise while doing it and gets Casey all up and barking.

Today another dog was doing his best to try to get to the ducks in the water.  He must have made 15 laps around the pond to find a way to be closer.  No luck.  All the while, Casey just barked and barked at the whole scene.  I needed two asprin after that.

Well I could type all day, but I have laundry to do and then have to do some wireframing.  Oh the fun.

Posted: March 28th, 2009 under Just another entry.
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I just wrapped up three days of corporate conference… went to relax this morning by playing my XBox, and got the "red ring of death".   Now it’s on it’s on it’s way to Redmond or some other Microsoft hideaway.   I was storming the Reichstad in Call of Duty World at War when it happened.  Hopefully I don’t lose my data on the hard drive.  The only consolation is I get a one month extenstion to my XBox live account.   Now it’s probably going to be a month without any gaming. I’m surprised my wife didn’t ask for us to get the Wii today.  So tonight at least I have the Buckeyes to keep me entertained.  They’re playing that team up north, so that’s always a good match.  Going into halftime it was a pretty good game.  

One of my many tasks this weekend is to review resumes for my new creative designer.  After two weeks, we have some solid candidates.  It amazes me the people who sent resumes without even reading the job description.  My favorite was one who said they’d be a great asset to our team, knowing both Excel and Access.  Not a job that requires Excel and Access skills, but thanks anyway. 

Aside… Cleveland Indianas Play-by-Play broadcaster Tom Hamilton also calls Buckeye games for Big Ten Network … man he’s aged since the last time I saw him.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to conducting interviews, it should be fun.

Lately my Internet free time has been obsessed with Facebook.  I’ve quickly jumped to well over 200 friends, not that most of my former classmates and co-workers have jumped onto the Facebook bandwagon.  I remember creating my Facebook account in Texas, but never did anything with it.  I was all MySpace all the time back then.  Right now, it’s been over a year since I done anything worhwile with my MySpace page. — Scratch that.  I just went in and did some basic profile updates.  Now  I can wait three monhts before logging back in again.  Though I do miss those suggestive dating site ads that MySpace always runs in my profile.   For some reason the "Married" flag doesn’t seem to filter them out.

Ok… I’ve been working on this post for the better part of three hours now.  I guess it’s time I get some work done.  I promised I’d put out a traning manual this weekend.

Posted: January 17th, 2009 under Just another entry.
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My dog is one goofy creature.  He’s ten now and acts like a grumpy old man more every day.  The best part is his eating habits.  For years he’s pounded on his dog dish when he eats, and I’ve never understood why.    He also bites and kicks it around the kitchen.

We’ve moved it around the room, placed it away from the wall, all things seem to accomplish nothing to please him.  He still eats, but sure makes a lot of noise doing so.

Posted: January 3rd, 2009 under Just another entry.
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There are times in my life where the phrase, “That’s five minutes of my life I’ll never get back.”  Today was the first time I got to say “90 minutes”.   I spent it this evening in Dell Hell.  Lets bring everyone up to speed.

Back in 2005, we purchased a Dell Dimension desktop from the Dell Outlet store.  It was a really good deal, of course it was refurbished.  But there’s nothing really bad about refurbs. Actually this computer was one of the best systems I’ve ever used.  When it was under support, I never once needed a service call.  Over the past few years, I’ve added memory and cards with out any issues.  Last night we came home and the system wouldn’t power up.   Took it to work this afternoon, ran it on some of the IT folks testing equipment determined it was a power supply.   Great, I’ve dealt with Dell support before, no problems.    Here’s where the fun starts.

Log on to Dell Support.  Enter my service tag. Get a message that says support isn’t available for a non-U.S. machines.

Call Dell Support.  Then the transferring begins.  First I spent about 30 minutes of being bounced around the planet because they can’t find my Dell Service Tag number.  Finally was told to call customer service.  Called customer service, fortunately that was in the U.S.   It took her about another 30 minutes working to find my original order.  (She asked if I still had my receipt.  I told her I did…it was scanned and saved on my broken computer.)   Turns out Dell thought the computer with that tag had been returned to Dell.  (Note to Dell, you sold it in 2005 in your outlet store.)     Anyway, once they reinstated the tag, I was then transferred to Out-of-Warranty support.  Those folks finally were able to look up a part number for me. …

Posted: December 18th, 2008 under Just another entry.
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