Richard Branson: Screw Business As Usual
Sir Richard recently spoke at Colgate and I got a copy of his new book for working the event. The basic gist is that businesses need to start doing good to change the world. They need to reinvent the way they operate and also reinvent the way they view philanthropy. (**)
David Baldacci: Zero Day
Baldacci introduces the new leading character, John Puller (combat veteran and military investigator), who with the help of his brother, who is incarcerated for treason, helps to foil a plot of a nuclear attack in West Virginia. (****)
Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs
I really enjoyed learning more about Jobs. The creation of Apple and his early innovations and insatiable drive were equally as impressive as all that we know he accomplished with iPhone, iPad, Pixar etc. (****)
Tinsae is officially a member of the "Knot Hole Gang" and is becoming a fan of the AAA Syracuse Chiefs. Unfortunately, he missed out on seeing Bryce Harper play this year during his brief stint there but he went to a game last week with his Mom where he had this photo snagged with the Chiefs mascot.
He'll be going to another game this weekend with his Opa and is looking forward to the post game fireworks and the kids being allowed to run the bases!
Tinsae and the "Cream Team" had a game this morning and he played his little heart out.
He scored his team's only two goals and had a lot of fun.
When baseball and lacrosse practices start later this summer, it will be interesting to see which one he likes the most.
Future Big East Player of the Year?
It's official! The training wheels are off the bike. About 10 days ago, Tinsae tried to ride on a two wheeler for the first time and Kristi said that he picked it up in only a few minutes. This picture was taken when they were riding around a park on that special first day.
Unfortunately, the weather didn't really cooperate this week and I couldn't get him back out to try again or to see it in person, but the one time that we did try quickly he was pedaling for a few feet on his own but still incredibly wobbly. I have no doubt that by the the end of April or mid May he'll be buzzing all around the village green!
He also continues to demonstrate just how ridiculously smart he is for a little guy who is still only 5. We've been reading a book about all the US Presidents before bed and he asks great questions and soaks up every bit of knowledge that is thrown his way.
His babysitter, Maureen, shared a video with me (I really need to figure out how to post videos on this blog because I have some great ones) of a conversation they had this week before bed where he was referring to our 44th President, "Mr. Obama", and read how he says "Yes We Can!" The best part of the video though is when he basically starts to inform her of how the Kennedy assassination ("the 4th president to be assassinated" as he explains to Maureen) was probably not a one man job! And that part is not in the book so that was his own personal commentary and idea!
Too smart! Our little conspiracy theorist!
Yesterday morning as we are getting into the car to drive to school, Tinsae stops and listens to a bird chirping and tweeting a two-note call. With temperatures in the 60s all week it has definitely started to feel like spring. Here is the funny conversation that followed:
Tinsae: I love that bird.
Doug: Aww, that's sweet. It might be more than one bird though and they all make that little call to each other.
Tinsae: No, it's one bird and I love him.
Doug: What do you think he is saying?
Tinsae: He is saying "It's......spring"
Doug: I think you're right! Wow! Tinsae, I didn't know that you speak bird!
Tinsae: (with a straight face) Well, some brown people are really talented.
Tinsae just finished his two months of the Hamilton Hoops basketball clinic for kindergarten kids and really enjoyed it. His dribbling improved tremendously and he was practicing shooting on a 7 foot rim on the last day.
Now he's joining both a soccer and a lacrosse league in Cazenovia and will probably do teeball here in Hamilton also. He is quite the busy little guy and obviously loves gym class. Last weekend he bought new Nike cleats with a red swoosh for soccer and he's very proud of them.
He also gave me quite a few academic lectures on the phone the other night with TONS of accurate information about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was amazing to listen to him speak about segregation, civil rights and equality, and how MLK won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Tinsae is enjoying kindergarten and is continuing to excel. He recently won a "Responsibility" award that his teacher nominated him for and was presented a cretificate from the principal and honored at an assembly with the K-4th grade students.
At our first parent-teacher conference, Mrs. Valente told us that "he is a great role model and takes rules very seriously." No argument there! She also described him as "very bright and an excellent independent worker." The areas that he needs to continue to work on are his speed of completion of some tasks (he definitely works at a careful pace) and attempting to write more full sentences instead of just single words or short phrases. His second report card was just mailed home and I'm sure he'll receive glowing remarks again.
Tinsae is also enjoying a basketball clinic here in Hamilton every Saturday afternoon and has been working on his dribbling and shuffling his feet for defense. He really enjoys it and is looking forward to showing his "skills" to Nana and Grandpa when they visit this weekend.
Another person adding to their already long list of life accomplishments and honors is my dad who on Friday will add the distinction of Guest Lecturer at Colgate to his resume when he comes to speak with the students in HIST 354: History of Coffee & Cigarettes. Obviously, he'll be covering his decades of knowledge with the first topic and not the second one. Congratulations, Dad - I'm proud of you.
Happy 2012! I hope that everyone enjoyed the holiday season and that your new year is off to a happy and healthy start.
Star Wars and Legos were some of the themes of this year's Christmas and Tinsae was very pleased with Santa's deliveries as you can tell from the picture above. We've also watched Cars 2 about 10 times in the last 10 days.
We spent New Year's Eve with some of Tinsae's friends from school and went to Bruno's 6th birthday party in the afternoon and then spent the evening at Taven's house playing Wii, Angry Birds, and having a dance party in their living room. Despite cramming all that fun into one day, both Tinsae and I were home and asleep before midnight.
I didn't make any major resolutions this year other than the standard "lose weight/exercise more" along with every other person on the planet but I also hope to spend more time this year reading before bed to wind down at the end of the day.
Back in 2004, I started keeping a list of every book that I read and it is always fun to look back at that list and see what books caught my eye from year to year. I've averaged 23.5 books a year (high of 40 in '06, low of 11 in '09) and I finished 2011 with 24 books. Hopefully this year that number will increase a bit with my new resolution.
With that being said, here are the Top 5 books that I would rank from my list that I completed last year (in no particular order):
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Hidden Empire by Orson Scott Card
Divine Justice by David Baldacci
I think Tinsae's Top 5 included anything from the Lego City collection.
We spent last Thursday night on The Polar Express train that departs from Utica and it is quickly becoming a family tradition. Tinsae was very excited to be on board with Mommy and Daddy and it was a fun evening. After our 45 minute trek up to "The North Pole", we watched Santa present the first gift of Christmas to one of the passengers and then he hopped on board to spend time with each child on the ride home.
Santa liked Tinsae's festive pajamas and pointed at his likeness and said, "Who's that handsome dude?" And when Tinsae said that he wanted Lego Ninjago for Christmas, Santa responded, "Oh that's fun. I have that and play with it all the time." There were lots of smiles, laughs, caroling, and of course, hot chocolate and cookies. We even had to stop the train and honk the horns and flash the lights because there were some "caribou" blocking the tracks on the way home!
