Dad on the Rise

Posts Tagged ‘Special Occasions’

Our family was selected by Panasonic to be one of there Living in HD families.  We are in fact LiHD family #66.  The equipment, which includes a 50″ plasma HD TV, BluRay entertainment system, HD digital video camera, digital point and shoot camera, digital SLR camera, portable BluRay player, toughbook laptop, four BluRay movies, multiple SD cards, and all cables.  The equipment was even installed free of charge.

We have have been playing with our new toys for two weeks now and have loved every minute of them.  The great pictures taken on Halloween were taken using the Lumix point and shoot camera.  My Wordless Wednesday selection was taken with the Digital SLR camera.  My XBox360 looks incredible on the 50″ plasma and NCAA Football 10 has such vivid color and I can actually read the text.  I have upgraded my Netflix to include BluRay discs whenever possible because watching National Treasure 2 on the BluRay player has me hooked.  The movie looks almost 3D as you can really see depth in the picture.  The Tornado and I watched Ratatouille on the portable BluRay player in her room and it too had such a sharp, vivid picture.  Both movies were given to us by Panasonic.

All this great stuff was not given to us without a price.  On Tuesday we were visited by four members of Panasonic, two from the New Jersey office and two from the Osaka office.  They all were very nice and we all had an in depth discussion for over two hours about mainly the television and a little about the BluRay entertainment system.  The purpose of the discussion was to see how easy it is to operate the equipment and to see where improvements could be made.  My wife mentioned how it felt like we were being quizzed and we both remarked that we were failing as we didn’t know how to use all of the features of the television.  The representative handling the conversation was great and even commented on the fact that we had only a week to figure everything out.  And I tell you the tv does a lot.

Our guests took pictures and sketched the setups and proceeded to leave and back to playing we went.  Though, next time we have the Panasonic reps over we are going to study and make sure not to fail the quiz again.  All and all it was a great experience and we look forward to more visits.

This was the best Halloween ever. The Tornado was the perfect age to enjoy this pseudo-holiday. At 3.5 years old she was able to fully immerse herself into the festivities. First of all, she selected her own costume and yes she was a football player. That is the costume she wanted and who am I to argue. Actually, the wife and I do not believe in forcing our child into societal gender roles, though to be honest I doubt I could let my son be a princess. Luckily, I only have the one Tornado to worry about.

Second of all, she was so enthused and was practicing for an entire week on her door spiel. “Trick or Treat,” nice and loud followed by “thank you,” after receiving her bounty, and ending the house with “Happy Halloween.” When it was time to actually perform she was relatively flawless with one exception, before the Happy Halloween she would start to walk away and look at me and say, “Daddy, let’s go to the next house,” with a huge smile, eyes filled with excitement, and her head nodding affirmatively.

Finally, my little Giant was able to walk on her own the entire time, or at least until the very end when we had to walk up hill back to Nanny’s house. She would not even be deterred by the rain, as we had to endure a constant misty drizzle the entire time.

The highlight for me was when we arrived to the house on the block with the outlandishly decorated front yard that leads to the costumed freak giving out candy at his front door.

You know the type? There is one in every neighborhood and again, to be perfectly honest, I actually think it is pretty cool.

When we came to this house The Tornado was scared and did not want any part of this house and who could blame her. To a toddler this house had to be absolutely terrifying, I told her not to worry as they are just decorations and not real, but that was not working. I told her that daddy would protect her and she just looked at me looking ridiculous in my costume and was not reassured. So as we were about to skip the house altogether, she grabbed my hand and stared me in the eye and firmly stated, “daddy, I brave,” and marched up the driveway, through the spooky walkway, and up to the door to claim her prize. I was so proud of my brave little Giant.

The night was far from perfect though, as it seemed that my family of ghouls were surrounded by Halloween grinches. My sister, who has 4 kids with the youngest a 5 year old, was miserable as she hates hiking around the neighborhood on All Hallows Eve. Add the rain and she was just bitching and moping the whole night. Her daughter was feeding of her negative energy and would go it random crying fits and refused to go up to doors for seemingly no reason.

Mom could not accompany us as we prowled around because her asthma was bothering her because of the weather so she had to endure my mother at the house giving out candy to the trick or treaters, but that is a far too long of a story for today’s entry.

Despite the challenges we had a great time. The funniest moment of the night occurred when The Tornado approached one house and stopped abruptly at the bottom of the small flight of stairs leading to the front of a house. I told her to go ahead, but she just waited there until the door opened and released the sound of a barking dog. The poodle poked it’s head out and yelped, but The Tornado heard the growl of a great dane and did a 180 and sprinted across the yard befitting a football player. My sister and I could do nothing but laugh. My niece stayed behind and got candy of her cousin, so it was far from a complete loss.

We already have made plans for next year as we are dressing up as a family in matching costumes, actually we have the next two years of costumes picked. No matter what the three of us are going trick or treating together. This probably mean that we ditch the grinches, but so be it. I hope Halloween was fun for all.

Tomorrow is the big March of Dimes March for Babies.  I am so excited as the weather is going to be great, sunny and in the 80′s.  We are all gearing up for the 6 mile jaunt around White Plains, NY.  This is my first weekend off from work where they weather has been nice in over a month and after the long, cold, snowy winter we just endured some sun is much appreciated as is the heat.

It’s not too late to support our team, Team Samantha Michelle, in honor of our first daughter who was tragically born prematurely after 19.5 weeks. Please come and join our team and walk with us or simply donate to our team through the March for Babies tag on the right of the page. Please help support the March of Dimes efforts. We lost Samantha (lost but not forgotten), but were blessed with Mya who was born almost a month early. This was only possible by the research and dedication from organizations like the March of Dimes and the excellant care she received from her OBGYN and the NICU staff.

On April 26, 2009, March of Dimes is putting together the March for Babies.  The fam is participating in the little 6 mile jaunt around White Plains, NY, but I am sure there is an event going on near you.  Please support this wonderful event by donating to our team, Team Samantha Michelle, or by walking with us on what hopes to be a nice spring morning.  You can click to the right on the March for Babies banner for more info, to register, or to donate.  Please reach into your pockets and lace up your walking shoes.