Boys Day Out

Has it really been 2 weeks since I last posted something, jeepers. Sunday was my birthday (and Seis's!) and I got to spend it with one of my favorite people in this world...my oldest son A.J. Not saying he is my favorite kid, he is one of the 8 most important people in my life!

When I found out the Patriots were playing the Cowboys earlier this summer, it was my mission to make that Dos's first football game. He loves football, likes the patriots because he wants to be Tom Brady (their quarterback) and likes the cowboys because when in Texas, do as the Texans do (I guess). So with approval from the president (read: the wife) I was able to get 2 tickets. I'm not sure who was more excited to be going, but I think at the end of the day, I might have been a little more excited :)
So we got up at 4:30AM to start our 5 hour drive out to Dallas. (Love living in the middle of nowhere!) Dos did great on the ride, just watched the 2004 Boston Red Sox Championship DVD (did I tell you I love this kid) and then played his game boy. Before we knew it we were pulling up to the stadium. After about 20 minutes or so of trying to find the proper parking lot, we finally pulled into a spot, which happened to be the Patriot section or something! Patriot banners and flags and jerseys were everywhere, felt almost like we were in Massachusetts again (sniff sniff...I miss home).

We then began our official tailgating party. Tailgating with a 7 year consists of grilling up some hot dogs, having a bag of Cheeto's and of course a sprite! We threw the football around for about an hour, ate up our most awesome grilled meat from the back of my truck and sat around for a while and watched all the crazy fans. Around noon or so we made our way into the stadium. After walking around for a bit we went down to the Patriots sidelines in hopes of seeing some of the players and getting autographs.

2 hours later we went back to our seats, with no autographs :). I think Dos was kind of disappointed. In his little 7 year old mind I think he expected Tom Brady to come out, have a soda with us, maybe bring us out on the field and play catch, then afterwards we'd all go out to dinner and a movie :). But, as Dos said, he got a few things that were way better than an autograph. While hanging out behind the Patriots bench one of the trainers came up to Dos and gave him an authentic NFL wrist band (which hasn't left Dos's arm yet!!!). Then a little later one of the security guards came up and gave him a stack of printouts the team uses after each play, which show how the team lined up on that play. They all have coaches markings on them and Dos was in heaven with those.

Finally we made it to our seats and the game started and the Patriots just kicked "Dem Cowboys" butts!! It was great. By the 3rd quarter Dos was ready to leave, but he stuck it out until near the end of the game. We got in the truck, headed over to the hotel, goofed off a bit and the next morning we drove back home. It was one heck of a trip.

Here are some of the notes I took during the day:

• So we are in the parking lot. 5 hours of driving starting at 4:30am. We found a spot in patriot country here, its great. Surrounded by a whole bunch of patriot jerseys. Dos told me on the ride here that this is going to be one of the best days of his life! That's so awesome.
• Dos is in his glory, being called "Little Brady" over and over again by Patriots and Cowboys fans here in the parking lot as we throw the football around
• He just told me he "wouldn't sell our tickets even if the guy gave us 5,000 dollars!"
• At the hotel now and little man is asleep, even though 18 seconds ago he said he wasn't tired and wanted to watch the football game that's on :) Reflecting on today, and this has to go down as one of the best days of my life. This is what you dream about when you have a son. Spending a day bonding and just hanging out together. Whether its at a sporting event, fishing or whatever it is you like to do. I think he had a good day. He got a little bored and tired near the end of the game, but I think he'll remember us throwing the football in the parking lot and the man on the field giving him an official NFL wristband and play sheets and us wrestling back here at the hotel. Those are the real bonding times...that and belly bumping and high fiving when the patriots scored against Dallas (which was A LOT!)
  
  What an awesome, fun way to spend my 31st birthday. I missed being with Wife and the other kids, but this was lifetime memory making fun today. I always wanted my dad to spend time with me, and while I hope Dos liked today, its more selfish for me to have spent the time with him.

Dads...Get out and spend time with your kids. It's not only great for them and shows how much you love them and brings you so much closer....It's amazing for you as well.

God is Good...so is being a Dad.

Whoops...Funny

So...without being too dirty here, I wanted to share this. I work in the IT department. Part of my job is to monitor how much hard drive space our servers have. For the computer illiterate that means I need to make sure there is room on the computers for people to save their files. So, I noticed today that one of our servers was very low, so I wrote up an email and sent it to the appropriate people and copied myself on the email. I proudly hit send, thinking "Man...am I on the ball today!!!" (no pun intended...you'll get that in a minute).

As I look at the email that pops into my in-box, which I had just sent to about 15 or 20 people, I notice a slight error. The subject line doesn't quite say what I had intended. My brain told my fingers to type: "Add Disk Space". My fingers decided to be funny and replaced the S with a C (and not in the word Space, but rather in the word Disk).

My stomach dropped! I immediately thought about HR coming to my office with a pink slip and a few boxes and how it would feel to be standing in line for food stamps. After that 5 second mental freak out was over, I then went through the names of the people I sent that too, and thank heavens it was only 1 woman and no major management people. I then laughed out loud at how funny that statement is, "Add Space"...that is stinking funny. Then I realized, oh crap...i need to send out another note to that same group of people and let them know I'm quite happy with....err I mean I had to email them all and apologize for that major mistake in typing.

Thankfully everyone has laughed, mostly at me, which is a huge sigh of relief. One guy came up to me and said he couldn't help me with that, only God could. hahhha. Man oh man, what a major idiot I can be...

Another funny from today...It's bathroom humor, so stop reading now if you are easily offended (as if that last story wasn't offensive enough). I went to the bathroom and the stench was just down right nasty. Too much Mexican I guess. BUT, thanks to my newest 3 year old son Cinco....through my trip to Liberia and his 4 or 5 trips a day to the throne, I was able to persevere through the hanging cloud of death and do my business. While in there, the cleaning lady knocks on the door...she's ready to clean up the place. She pokes her head in and asks if anyone is in there, which I quickly and nervously shout....Yes...SomeoneIsInHere...Don'tComeInHere!!!!!!

Be Honest now...You know that crazy nervous feeling you get when someone tries to open the bathroom door when you are in there...that "I can't quite jump up right now, so I have to shout out a garbled mess of sounds to let that person know I am in here" reaction...don't lie...we've all done it!! You end up groaning/mumbling/screeching like a rabid monkey.

Now before this lady even listens to hear if anyone is in there, she starts grumbling..."Ooooh...Good Lord...how in the world can you stand that...that is just down right nasty" and she sprayed this terrible grape/potpourrie spray stuff in the room...which stuck to my clothes. (I guess it could have been worse than smelling like the grim reaper and the death he brings) But that bad part is I still had to exit the bathroom...and now this lady thinks I have the ability to peal paint with my bodily functions...wonderful. She gave me the most disgusted look when I left.

ahhh....the things that make me laugh...I like being a boy.