A mismash of things

It's kind of ridiculous how not very often I write here, but whatever.  I have 3 things here.  Two are sort of related, and one is not at all.  But you should read them all (especially #3, since I need feedback).

1. I am officially an uncle today.  My sister, Maria, had a baby boy at 1:26pm this afternoon down in Mississippi.  His name is Micah (after his dad) and he was 5 lb, 14oz.  This is cool and I am excited for them.

2. Being a parent is way better then everyone says.  You can't get that until you are a parent.  Granted, being a single parent would be very hard.  Or being a parent and not having a strong marriage.  I think about people in those situations a lot.  We should all find ways to support those in those situations (the Bible pretty much commands it).  But since I have a great marriage and am not a single dad, being a dad is pretty much amazing.  Especially since my little girl is do darn cute.  She has been rolling from her back to front for a couple weeks.  And just today, she rolled from her front to back (but only with a little encouragement).  She started "solid" food a couple weeks ago too.  She's growing up too fast.  Want to see pictures and videos of her?  Go here: http://www.picasaweb.google.com/porostosky.

3. I drive a 1999 green Saturn SL1.  My parents purchased this car for me new (of which I am very very thankful) in September of 1998.  It has 133,000 miles on it and still runs great.  When I got married, it was no longer "my car," it was "our car," since Tricia did not have a car.  And for 6 years, it was the only car we owned.  I mentioned in an earlier post that we bought a second car finally, and that car is mainly Tricia's.  So, the Saturn is now "my car" again (Tricia never drives it).  When I was single, I did not have things like nice smelling lotion in my car.  But I did for the last many years.  So, I want to make my car more masculine, whatever that means.  And this is where you can help.  Give me some suggestions as to how you think I should make my car more "Joe like" or masculine.  I don't care what the suggestions are, I just want them.  I'll post again sometime in the future and let you know what suggestions I implemented.  Thank in advance!

Eliza

I've been meaning for some time to post.  But time is tight, as usual, and more so with a new baby.  Eliza Grace was born on November 16, 2006 at 4:21am after 21 1/2 hours of labor.  My wife is tough.  This may sounds weird, but Tricia and I have very fond memories of that day.  Tricia woke up a bit early to do some baking and I woke up a bit early to get a stew in the crock pot for the day.  Tricia started feeling contractions around 6 or 7 am (November 15, which was our due date), but since I wasn't convinced they were real, we headed to work (Tricia worked at my place the last 5 months or so).  By 10, it was obvious they were real, so we said goodbye to everyone at work (and they were very excited), and we headed home.  We finished getting our bags packed and then called the doctor.  They said they needed to be stronger and longer (although from the very beginning they were no more than 3-4 minutes apart).  So we walked around our neighborhood.  And then we headed out to Lane Ave mall and walked around several stores.  We headed over to La Chatelaine for lunch.  We headed over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  By this point, they were getting quite strong, but they needed to be that way for an hour.  So we slowly walked around the store, stopping at every aisle so Tricia could hold on to something while she had the next contraction while I timed them.  We bought this cool back massager that really helped with Tricia's pain.  Then we headed to Target at the Lennox, where we called our doctor and were allow to head to the hospital.  We got there at about 2:45pm and finally got admitted into our room a bit before 6pm (I think).  Se wasn't progressing very fast, but they gave her the epidural, so she was more comfortable.  We sat around watching some movies, doing a bit of reading (or at least I was).  Jill was there from about 6:30 or so until the birth (doing grading, and sleeping).  We napped a bit.  And finally started to push at 3am.  A long day, but it was fun.  Just Tricia and I playing hooky for a day.  No agenda.  Nothing to do but wait for our baby.  Just time for the two of us.  It really was a good fun day.

So, Eliza was 20.5 inches long, 7 lbs. 4 oz.  She was very cute, and very soft.  She ate well right away, and was an angel in the hospital.  She's learned to cry a bit since then, but it a relatively good eater and sleeper.  Plus, she just so darn cute.  I have pictures located here: http://picasaweb.google.com/porostosky and update it frequently.  It had a lot of Eliza pictures, but also highlights of the last year in general.

In other news, OSU lost bad last night.  Frankly, I was really surprised that they are #2 in the final AP poll.  I don't think that is justified.  It also makes me realized how weak of a conference the Big 10 really is.  I know people like to knock the Big 10 (and it usually bugs me), but look at the facts.  With the exception of Texas, NIU, we only played Big 10 teams.  Almost all the Big 10 teams lost their bowl games, and most badly.  I hate to say it, we were overrated (as a conference and as a team).  This is what happens when you assume you are going to win before you actually play the game.  But guess what, I kept thinking during the game how much less I care now that I have a little girl.  I can't imagine thinking football is better than your kids.

Interesting Time of the Year

This is an interesting time of the year for me for many reasons.  First, we have a baby on the way.  It doesn't get much more life changing that that.  It could come at any time, but I hope it is closer to it's due date, which is Nov 15.  We still have some things to do and classes to attend.  As part of this huge life change, we finally bought a second car.  This is bittersweet for me, since I like the fact that Tricia and I have made it 6 years with one car.  Very economical and environmentally friendly.  But we got a slightly used (7000 miles) 2006 Hyundai Sonata GLS V6.  It's a larger car for a larger family.  Plus, it's very very safe. Which is a large part of why I purchased it.  It will be Tricia's car for getting around town with the little one.  I get to continue to drive my Saturn, which I am happy about, since I actually prefer to drive a manual transmission to an automatic.  Plus, the Saturn's feelings were hurt when we bought the new car, so I had to have a talk with it about how important she is to me, and how we will continue to have many good days together.

Secondly, today is the beginning of the holiday season.  Some may disagree, but the Fall holiday season starts on Halloween and ends with 3 Kings day (Jan 6) in my book.  I really enjoy this time of year.  Holloween is a funny holiday for Christians.  I actually enjoy the holiday.  I have very fond memories of getting dressed up and then visiting extended family for candy.  And when I got older, I would get dressed up in something that allowed me to run quickly and go around with a couple of my guy friends, pick the densest neighborhood we could find, and see how much candy we could get.  My typical load was about 1/3 to 1/2 pillowcase during those years.  Plus, my sister wasn't much into candy, so she would give me almost all of hers (by her own free will, I didn't even ask).  Holloween was good to me.  Of course, for some Christians, this is the worst kind of holiday.  Some of these people have no problem with violent movies and video games but have all sorts of issues with Holloween.  And of course, they have no problem letting you know about it.  And implying how terrible of a person you are (or that I should lose my credentials as a pastor) for looking forward to dressing up your kid and letting them get free candy.  Interesting.  The reality is, it's how you celebrate it.  It's like any other Americanized holiday.  You can celebrate Christmas as a non-religious gift getting event or as Christ's birth.  You can celebrate Thanksgiving as a chance to eat too much food or as an opportunity to thank God once again for his blessings.  And you can celebrate Holloween for some of it's non-Christian ideals, or you can just enjoy the community spirit that most neighborhoods have once a year and enjoy the free candy.  It's all about perspective.  Agree/disagree with me?

 **EDIT** Before I get in trouble with someone.  There are many good Christians who disagree with celebrating any aspect Holloween, who are respectful to others about it.  My comments above are clearly in regards to those that are not respectful (and somewhat inconsistent in their lifestyle).

Currently Listening Facedown By Matt Redman see related

Haven't written in a while.  I'd like to do better, but I probably wont.  Couple things that stuck me recently.