Happy New Year

So not my best New Years ever. The wife is not feeling well and has gone to bed - leaving me with the TV on mute, listening to a Star Wars podcast (Order 66 - check it), and typing this. Bring on the New Year - HAH. There's a joke in here about waiting for a ball to drop - I'll let you run with that.

Work is going well - bonus day - so always a good day. Especially since so many are not getting some. I've been on the wrong side of a pink slip/lay-off notice/sold the company. Take heart - every time this has happened to me, my feet have landed in a better place. Here's hoping for a good landing.

So...

I waited in my cube for the call. Still trying to fix that one armrest that never seems to be right or stay put. Benny is on the other side of the fake wall that barely makes a pass at trying to preserve any privacy. He's tapping. We're both on the way out. Our application fell out of favor with the new VP. Didn't really have a chance. None of his sycophants (I looked that one up after someone used it) had any experience with it so it was automatically suspect. Probably didn't have enough current buzzword acronyms on the website.

Quote from the podcast "Icing on the Cake of Shame" - sweet - especially since it's about the Dallas Cowboys. I hope to use on the Yankees.

Anyway, I tell him to stop tapping, and I don't think he even heard me.

"What"

"Stop tapping - it's annoying", I tell him.

"You always say that", he looks at me with a smirk, still tapping.

"You're always tapping - you're going to get carpal tunnel whatever", I smirk back. "And you're about to lose your benefits".

OK, that went over the line, and I'm about to apologize when a phone rings. Silence. It's not mine. Someone a couple chairs over gets up and walks toward the big office. More silence.

"That was wrong dude - your Mama wrong", smirk.

"Your Mama gives me benefits", double smirk.

For just a moment, all is right with the world.

Ring - my phone - my boss.

"You need to go down to the VPs office. Take something to write with. I'll talk to you after...hopefully." She sounds tired. She's looked tired for a couple weeks, ever since she came by and told us to stop any new development.

*******************
"What are we supposed to do?" That was Benny, he's quicker than I am.

"Don't get caught." Silence, what are you supposed to say.

Benny says it, "caught doing what?"

"Whatever you can find to keep you busy. Online training, companies book library, whatever..." She closes her eyes and puts her head down. "I've been told to stop all new and current development for your app. I wasn't told what to do in its place."
*******************

I grab a pen and pad and walk to the back.

Off to Gaming

It's Tuesday - and that normally means gaming.

Role-playing games are my favorite hobby. Playing the trombone is second, but I don't do that nearly as much.

Anyway, there's a good chance that I'm DMing tonight and will be able to take play the monsters tonight - fun. If not, It is still enjoyable to sit around and shoot the bull with the other players.

One thing about role-playing like this (face to face, pencils paper and dice as opposed to on-line) is that it's a social interaction. I've learned a lot about topics besides gaming just by spending time with this same group for almost ten years (wow).

So what have you learned wookiee (I can hear you - really).

Parenting - almost all of us have kids - and every parent talks about their kids.
Money - hey the economy happens
Pop Culture or what passes for it amongst gaming. I wouldn't have found Firefly without my gaming group.

I'm sure there's more, but it's almost time to go roll dice, save the dragon and slay the princess.

Magic Pills

They're not magic pills. They have side effects. The main one being the fact that you have to explain to your son why he's taking a pill. Why it wont make him any different. You have to explain to him that there isn't an end to it. Why...

God doesn't give you more than you can handle.

God also doesn't consult before handing out the burdens.

ADHD doesn't have a cure, it has treatments. I thank God that we know now - that we didn't struggle through and wait till things were different - worse.

Rowan is different when he takes the medicine. He's able to focus, instead of scattering all directions. It also makes him less impulsive, less hyper.

I think it is still Rowan. That's the most important thing, that it is still Rowan inside the little boy body.

We're going to try behavioral changes also. The first is Taekwando. The second is talking to a psychologist at the same clinic that we took Dominic to for his autism diagnosis.

This feels like a marathon, and someone is moving my finish line.

Do better tools help?

So I'm the proud recipient of a new MacBook Pro.

A profound thank you to everyone that gave me a gift card along the way. One of the things I promise to do is to update this blog more frequently. Based on past results that wont be too hard.

Anyway, a wonderful toy filled Christmas was had by all at the Larson household. We now have even less floor space than I thought as possible. It is only a matter of time before someone needs a tetanus booster after puncturing their foot on a Hot wheel or Pokeman toy.

More to come. I promise a kid update, and even stories.