My Random Walk
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Mother's Day makes me want to be a better Dad...

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Mother's Day makes me want to be a better Dad, husband, and son.  I celebrated Mother's Day by doing what the best mothers do well...

Everything without complaining!

Today I tried my best.  I woke up early this morning, prepared my son Lucas, reminded him to be extra nice to his mom, took him to his chess tournament, gave him all the support and encrouragement he deserved, brought him back home, greeted and spent time with my mom and mother and law, went to the supermarket for our mother's bbq stuff, minded the grill for a bit, helped my daughter get ready for her show, served as roadie and carried the guitars, watched the show, snapped a few photos, brought her back home, got my son to do his homework, put everyone to bed then wrote this post.  Honestly, my wife Dolca can and has done this many times.

Thanks to all the mothers who do Everything and never ever complain.

Above is a pic of wife my Dolca and below is a pic of my daughter and her band mates at their show this evening. 

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Lucas debuts and I learn something about Rock-n-Roll

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Today Lucas played his first public performance before an audience at Kenny's Castaways in Greenwich Village.  He played guitar while his sister, Alex, sang Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.  Naturally he was nervous.  He didn't practice much and we decided to switch things up a bit 15 minutes before heading out for the show.  Moreover, he and Alex never once rehearsed the song together from start to finish.  In spite of all this, he played it better than I ever heard him play it at home.

Much is made and said about practice... but more should be said about what one does while in the moment.  That's Rock-n-Roll.

Thanks to the NYC Guitar School for organizing this.

 

Low-Tech Transportation

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It's Spring Break, and no, we didn't fly to a far away land where we might find some sun... sorry Cancun.  Instead, we stayed home.  We've been doing jigsaw puzzles, playing scrabble, watching movies, and today we tried some horseback riding.  We live near Prospect Park where the folks at Kensington Stables provide riding lessons.  I didn't want to spoil the surprise so I mentioned it 15 minutes before our scheduled lesson with Samsam, our wonderful instructor.

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Needless to say, Lucas wants to go back.

Deux Chattes opened for Titus Andronicus

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Last week was awesome!  My daughter's new band, Deux Chattes, opened for Titus Andronicus at the Mercury Lounge along side Care Bears on Fire and Toy Sugar for a benefit concert in support of the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls.  Then I won tickets to every Titus show in 2011 to boot... Man, I'm pushing my luck.

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Deux Chattes with Titus Andronicus.

 

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Deux Chattes with Care Bears on Fire.  Care Bears on Fire blew me away... funny, smart, and totally rocking.

 

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Titus Andronicus at the Mercury Lounge

 

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The Mercury Lounge.

 

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The Mosh Pit

 

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More Deux Chattes... got more action shots coming with the rest of the band.

 

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The Practice Sessions.

 

"A More Perfect Nation" by Titus Andronicus

 

Alex and Abbie's other band Reverb

My Life in Pictures 2010

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2010-mosaic
Every year I create a mosaic of some of the years photos for my twitter background. It's great to look back and appreciate those moments again. This year our trip to Greece and our first Halloween party were the highlights.

Check out the mosiacs for 2009 and 2008.

For a 2 minute glimpse of 3 years of photos see this.

3 years of photos in 2 minutes

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I created this video using a new service, Pummelvision. The vid contains all my flickr photos dating back to 2007.

Transatlantic Family Portrait via video chat

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Video-chat
Dolca and Alex are in London this week.  Lucas and I missed them.  The photo above is a screenshot of our gchat session.

Thanksgiving 2010 - New Family Tradition Started

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We host every few years or so with modest expectations.  Amazingly, the family showed up early this year.  We had a great time eating, dancing, and singing.  And before the it was over, at 1am, Dolca put the stake in the ground and proclaimed that we'll host every year from here on end.  The tradition is official!

Dealing with Winning and Losing

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That's my son Lucas at a tournament on Sunday.  He won 3 of 4 matches.  The top player only won 3.5, so I'm really proud of him.  I kept my cool the whole time. But it's crushing when we experience a loss.  I let him have his moments of grief.  I've learned that you can't take loses well when you want to win so badly.  The pendulum swings both ways.

Halloween 2010: A few ghoulish pics

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Just a few ghoulish pics from my Halloween get together... Sweet Dreams.

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