Monday, July 21, 2008

Compressing My Interests

Part of being a huge geek is knowing all sorts of up-to-date information on tons of subjects.

Part of being a new Dad is having very little time to get said information.

It provides an interesting conflict, the result of which is that I have to pick and choose what I want to stay up to date with, and what information I'm fine with falling by the wayside. For example, I'm staying current with Rock Band 2 news, but I have no idea what's going on with the Star Wars franchise. Today I made a conscious choice to stop reading forum posts on the PS3, getting condensed news via a couple PS3 blogs instead.

The second part of this story is that I have a new set of interests, relating to parenting. So not only do I have less time to deep-dive into my interests, but I should have more interests competing for my attention as well.

I have a newfound respect for parents of all varieties - athletes, geeks, musicians ... combinations of all the above. Whatever. Kudos to you for being able to balance it all. Looking forward to making it work for me, too.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Please like what I like

Yesterday evening, I downloaded some of the new songs available for Rock Band (two master tracks by my favorite band, Rush). I was eager to try them out, and our daughter was quiet and content after a bath. So my wife and baby sat together and I plugged in my fake plastic guitar.

I wasn't a third of the way through Closer to the Heart before Evelyn was crying and fussing.

I hope this isn't a pattern :).

I want at least a few years of my child enjoying what I enjoy before she turns into a terrible teenager who hates everything I like just to spite me.

Maybe I should give her longer than three weeks, eh?

Saturday, July 05, 2008

I'm a Dad ... and my Dad's a grandfather

My daughter Evelyn was born on June 23. She's nearly two weeks old. The hours race by (except when they crawl) and the days all blend together.

Today, my father and my daughter met for the first time. My father was not a big part of my life when I was growing up. My parents divorced when I was young. The situation was complicated, and neither he nor I made a big attempt to stay in touch as I grew up.

New lives come into the world, and old lives are thrown into disarray. My Dad and I have a lot of catching up to do.

I hope he makes an excellent grandfather.

And I hope I make an excellent father.