Well.. in about 24 hours, we should know if we're having a boy or a girl. This is your last chance to put your guess in on [the baby] blog. Right now Girl is holding the lead.
Rock the Vote Baby.

On [the baby] site, I've put up a poll... will it be a boy, or a girl? Make your guess.

On various baby related sites there are countdown images available. However, I didn't like any of them. So, I made my own.The source is available here: babygenerate.phps if you'd like to have a look.
Special thanks to: Fweeb, Korgan, PHP Princess, Seriocomic, and Web Monkey.

Yesterday was Father's Day. What did you do for your father. If you're like most people (myself included) you put maybe half as much thought and effort into Father's Day as you do for Mother's Day. Did you ever wonder why this is? I have some theories. Yes, Mothers are more important for the first few months of life. and the raising and nurturing responsibilities frequently fall more to the Mother than the Father. Additionally, at least in this country, the courts are more inclined to put children with the mother in cases of seperation.
None of these really apply in my case though.
You see... my father is my hero.
I have other heros, but the standard by which they are measured is my father. And you'd think that it wouldn't be an incredibly difficult standard to live up to, since I have no illusions about the fact that my father is human and not infallable. But that's not true. The flaws he has had, he has worked hard to repair. He thirsts to learn and grow, mentally, and spiritually... all the time.
And he passed that gift to me. Here are just a few of the things that my father taught me, that I think define my character:

• The most important question is "Why?"
• Don't trust anyone who can't answer that question.
• If you don't get an answer you like, go find your own answer.
• Books are better than TV, Video Games, Movies or just about anything else.
• You can learn as much from fiction as from non-fiction
• It's never too late to rethink your philosophy.
• You should rethink your philosophy frequently.
• An unquestioned, unexamined belief is not worth holding
• Questioning is good for faith
• Real bikes and real boats don't need motors
• Anything worth doing, is worth doing right. (yeah, it's kind of a cliche, but hey... it's true)
• Stupidity should not be rewarded
• A smart kid is a pain in the ass... two is worse.
• It's a good pain in the ass
• In any situation, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle
• That doesn't mean there are no absolutes
• Finding the truth is worth the hard work
• Try new things, you never know what you'll love.
• Men should say "I love you."

There's much I could say about my father, and the list above could go on for weeks. But the best tribute I can pay him is to say... soon I'll be a father. My goal is to be as good a father as he is. If I can acheive this, I think my kids will turn out great.
I love you Dad.

FromMindful Musings: People Getting Married

Stop glorifying it, stop hating it, stop making it such a pain for people to get into and to get out of! If you finally decide to get married, do it without too much pomp and show, and do it in spite of the people around you!

Mark is rapidly becoming one of my favorite bloggers. I find what he has to say to be honest and lacking in pretense. Which is great. It doesn't hurt that I seem to agree with him frequently. However, I have to take issue with the comment above... or really just the part I've marked in it. Marriage should not be easy to get out of. It's a contract. Contracts should be hard to break. I'm not so sure it should be so easy to get into. This is a contract you're making, not just with the person you're marrying, but with many other people. If you're to the point of getting married, you should already be wholeheartedly committed to dedicating your life to this person. (Not giving up your life in the process, because if you have to give up who you are to make their life better, you also shouldn't be getting married.)
In my opinion, a marriage is a contract with society. It is an event where you make public your already existing committment to another person. You are telling the world that you are going to fulfill the roles of a married couple. That never again will society be able to single you out for something because every good thing you do, they have a some responsibility for. Every good thing that happens to you goes to them as well. Every bad thing you do, they share some of the blame and every bad thing that happens to you, they share some of the hurt. A marriage is your chance to tell the world "You can count on me to love, cherish, protect, defend, support and stand by this other person. You mess with them, you'll have to deal with me." Every marriage that breaks up takes a part of every other marriage down with it. But on the same account, every marriage in which people stay together despite one or both of the people deciding that the commitment isn't there, takes a bit away too.
This does not mean that a single mistake is the end of any marriage. Nor does it mean that you can't get married until you know everything about the other person. That's just not possible. Finding someone who knows everything about themselves is impossible, let alone someone who knows everything about another person. People change and people make mistakes. That's what makes them people. But unless you're willing to give all that you have to make it work you shouldn't be getting married. And once you are, you have a contract with your spouse, your family and your society to work even harder. Marriage is hard work. It's great work, but it's hard.
Maybe we need to make getting into and out of it a little harder too.

In December, there will be an addition to the family. TBWITWW is pregnant. The due date is in Mid-December. We're running another blog to track all of the interesting developments at www.morydd.net/baby/ Feel free to pay it a visit.

My mother has decided that the she will not be able to meet the fund-raising goals to do the Chicago Triathlon, largely because she will be out of the country for an important part of the fund-raising period. So, she's doing the Chicago Martathon instead. Here's the link for donations. Please help if you can.