How does one teach a child to become a lifetime reader? Is it something that can be taught or just another life choices made somewhere along the line. For myself, I distinctly remember the library of my school when I was in the 5th grade as being a  place that I frequented and found books that I would read for hours. What cemented my interest, though, was a copy of The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, that Santa put in my Christmas stocking that same year. I still read voraciously, as does my wife, although I have never inquired as to what got her started. My two daughters are now in their late teens and can also almost always be found with a book nearby. I remember reading to them most nights when they were younger but at some point they took it up for themselves. Aside from that reading, and perhaps the fact that our house has books stacked in every space available for a shelf, I do not remember ever “pushing” them to read. And yet, they not only read constantly, but they both have such a “love” for books that family vacations often find us all wandering for a few hours through local book stores wherever we happen to be. I am also fairly confident that when they read this and see the pic below that I found on http://theblogonthebookshelf.blogspot.ca, they will both want something similar for their eventual weddings…

So my question still remains…is it simply the exposure to books that they grew up with that made them become the readers that they are? Or is it some inheritable gene that got passed from one or both of their parents? The advantages that reading as much as they do have given them already have been very apparent to me and my wife. If a method for evoking this trait in children could be positively identified, it would make a huge difference in the lives of many.

About 15 years ago, when we moved to where we are now in South Florida, my wife and I were discussing Christmas traditions that we should start for our young family. We were in a new place and Christmas was approaching. We saw an announcement for a “Festival of Lights” in a nearby park. It runs from shortly after Thanksgiving through Christmas. You drive through slowly and look at a variety of holiday light displays sponsored by local companies. We decided to get some burgers and go after work one day. 15 years later and it is still a tradition. This year, we figured out what date my older daughter would be home from university and set the date. The light displays change only marginally every year, the burger place we visit has changed occasionally, but we still go. We look for small changes like the huge lit teddy bear which this year seems to have changed which side of the road he sits on, and for new additions, although some of us remember them from the previous years and some are sure that they are new. On the way home, we normally drive through a few local neighborhoods and look at how people have decorated. I am of the firm opinion that you can judge the economy on the basis of these displays. This year looks good. This event always puts me in the holiday mood and is now one of our family traditions. We may eventually move from here but it is something that we will always remember fondly.

When I was about 8 years old, my father took me and my siblings to the gun range and taught us how to properly handle pistols and rifles safely and enjoyably. Before I was 10, I took and passed the NRA’s Hunter Safety course. I lived throughout my life with those weapons in the house, safely locked away. Early in my teens, we even went hunting a couple times. Because of this, I have always been in favor of gun ownership. I still possess my grandfather’s single-shot .22 caliber target pistol from the 1920s, safely locked away.

Over the years, however, I have come to the realization that there is no way to mandate what I was taught to everyone. I was all for the former ban on assault weapons as I cannot see why anyone would need them. It should not have been allowed to expire. Those people who are paranoid enough to feel that they need those weapons for self defense are precisely the people that should not be allowed to possess them. 

Despite my own enjoyment of firearms, and the fact that I own an antique weapon that has a great deal of sentimental value to me, I would give it up in any effort to prevent another instance of school shootings…

Snow in D.C…. love the “snOMG”…

Friday, the first memory slot on my office pc decided it wanted to retire. My computer was out of warranty so I had to go get one asap and of course, all the the new models come with Windows 8 installed. So I have now spent the last couple days rebuilding my work environment on Windows 8 and thought that I would describe my first impressions…

My very first impression was that Windows 8 was terrible and I would certainly not be implementing it throughout the company. Now, after a couple days actively working on it, I am reconsidering that stance as I have found that if you completely ignore the metro interface, Windows 8 is not a whole lot different than Windows 7. The metro interface looks interesting, and, as an Android tablet user, I can see how it would be nice on a tablet device. The problem that I have with it though is that it gets in the way of my work.

My Windows 8 machine came pre-loaded with a number of “apps”. Unfortunately, these apps are all full screen and not re-sizable. So when I first go to open a picture, it defaults into this full-screen app. So I had to go in and change the default open program to one that can open in a window. Next I open a pdf, and sure-enough, it defaults into a full-screen “reader” app. So I have to load Adobe ReaderX and set it as the default. 

I am trying to get used to the new interface and am slowly finding where they have hidden all my frequently used functions. Besides the annoyance of the full screen apps, I have seen many people complaining about the lack of the “Start” menu. I am trying to live without it currently to see if there was some sense to Microsoft removing it. So far, I have not been able to determine what that may be. I miss not being able to click start and shutdown/restart. I now know how to find things like Computer Properties but it requires more steps than the good old Start button. I have seen a registry hack to bring the Start button back and may still have to do that but for the time being I will continue to try doing without to see if it all becomes clear.

Everything seems to come back to Microsoft attempting to make things easier for the Metro interface user. Unfortunately, that process makes it harder for the keyboard/mouse user. I think that they would have done well to add a selection during install that asks whether it is going to be used on a touch/tablet or traditional setup and reconfigure accordingly…

I felt that for my first post, I should write about one of the most important things in my life…

Twenty years ago, I believed myself to be ready for fatherhood. I found that it was not something for which you can truly prepare. Certainly, you can take the prenatal course, read a dozen books from people who have been there, decorate the nursery and figure out how to properly attach a child seat in a car so that you need a jack-hammer to release it…but then you are suddenly holding six pounds of human being and your first thought is “oh my god, now what do I do?”. And that same thought then hits you every day, for the rest of your life. 

I have two beautiful daughters now and, when I look back, I see mostly the joyful experiences; their smiles and laughter through the years. Those are many and easy to recall. The not-so-joyful times are there as well but seem to hide away most times. There will be more of each, and I am sure that often I will not be prepared for them either. But somewhere, between that first moment of holding my daughter and now, I came to the realization that fatherhood is a state of mind and not a state of preparedness or ability. I have gained the awareness and confidence that I was then, and will always be, ready for fatherhood.